IIML: Beyond - Chapter 15: Trust In Me

If It Meant Living: Beyond - Chapter 15

“Trust In Me”

“If you are ever going to have other people trust you, you must feel that you can trust them, too – even when you’re in the dark. Even when you’re falling.”

– Mitch Albom

Apérta, LMC-Daidalus System, Large Magellanic Cloud

Andrew’s head dropped back against the cool stone wall. “How exactly did we manage to end up caught in the middle of a conspiracy involving a power struggle between political factions, a plot to overthrow the government and hasten the genocide of the Escena, and a secret robot army? We’ve only been here three days.”

Kaidan arched his eyebrows in a mock smirk. “Talent. Lots and lots of talent.”

They were locked in a plain, empty room, about four by four meters. There were no windows, but the elevator ride down had been long enough for it to be a reasonable assumption that they were below ground. They had been held in the back of the shuttle and thus unable to see their course, but the flight had been short – less than ten minutes – so they were still in the city.

The floor their “cell” was on had been filled with labs and scientific equipment, to the extent they had been able to observe as they were hurried down the hall and shoved into the room by the mechs.

Kaidan ran his fingers along the miniscule seam between the door and the wall again, searching for any weakness; he could find none.

Andrew closed his eyes and breathed in deeply, reaching for a little Zen and coming up mostly empty. He was now officially out of his comfort zone – which was to say he had never actually been kidnapped or held prisoner. He had feared for his personal safety before, mostly during The War, when though holed up at a secret Alliance armament facility he had known that the Reapers could show up on any day. But he’d never, to his knowledge, had someone actively want to kill him before. Well, possibly the owner of the patent on thermal clips.

He reopened his eyes to find Kaidan still studying the door, slowly running his Omni-tool over it. Which wasn’t particularly surprising, seeing as it was the sole feature of the room. He’d probably been held prisoner before… “What do you think Brandalar plans to do with us?”

 Kaidan shut off the Omni-tool and sank down against the wall next to him. “Well, considering he didn’t try to kill us first thing, he’s probably seeing if there’s any way he can use us to further his plans. If not, I expect he’ll try to kill us.”

“Lovely.”

“Hey, I said ‘try.’”

“I’m fairly certain one of those mechs could crush my skull without too much difficulty.”

“True enough…” Kaidan sighed. “And of course Comditoroso thinks we left, so he won’t be looking for us.” He glanced back at the door. “It’s touch-locked from the outside; no way to open it without getting some kind of pressure on it.”

Andrew just nodded.

Kaidan tapped his fingers rhythmically on the stone floor for a moment. “You got a shield generator on you?”

“Yup; Ash would have my ass if I left the ship without one.”

“Good. Be ready to activate it. I think the first time anyone opens that door, we make a break for it. The elevator should be…working backwards from how we came in…”

“Second right, first left, third right.”

Kaidan ‘s eyes twinkled in appreciation. “Right. So we’ll head – ”

They both jumped in surprise as their comms began loudly squawking static.

August 8, 2194: Normandy SR-3 Cargo Bay

Garrus and Miranda were greeted on their return to the Normandy by the fearsome sight of Ashley’s Glare of Death. Her arms were crossed tightly over her chest and most of her weight was on her back leg, her expression a complex mix of anger, annoyance, worry and desperation.

As soon as they stepped off the Raptor she exploded in a flurry of motion, hands flying around in animated motions as she stomped back and forth in a wide arc. “Where the Hell have you two been? Did you decide to take in dinner and a show on Aethraene? Do you have any idea how frustrating it’s been, waiting here helplessly? I couldn’t – ”

Garrus placed a firm hand on her shoulder, forcing her to a halt. His voice was calm and reassuring. “We had to stop and pick up something on the way back – and I think you’re going to be glad we did.”

She glared over his shoulder, eyes narrowing as a large container was unloaded off the back of the Raptor. Her eyes cut back to him, then over to Miranda. “Meet me in the Conference Room in ten.”

Conference Room

Ashley forced herself to sit down at the head of the long table; almost immediately her fingers began drumming erratically on the hard surface. They couldn’t possibly understand how nerve-wracking the last twenty-two hours had been…Andrew and Kaidan literally beneath her feet, so close she could almost touch them, yet unable to do anything about it.

She sucked in a deep breath as Garrus walked in, followed closely by Miranda and EDI. “I’m sorry I snapped at you; it’s just been a stressful day.”

Miranda merely raised an unimpressed eyebrow, but Garrus smiled affectionately. “I can only imagine; don’t worry about it.”

She abruptly leaned forward, clasping her hands on the table, positively vibrating with pent-up energy. “So what’s the story? What did you learn? What’s up with this planet?”

Miranda brushed her hair back over her shoulder and sat up formally. “The inhabitants are a splinter faction of Escena – at least, they were Escena when they broke off about three hundred thousand years ago, who knows what they are now. They call themselves ‘Diramae,’ for whatever that’s worth.”

“Why didn’t the Guides tell us about them? Why did they say there was nothing here?”

“Because officially, from their perspective there is nothing here. When the Diramae split, they were essentially erased – from Escena society, culture, history. For all intents and purposes, they do not exist.”

Ashley frowned, looking rather perplexed. “Are the Guides…morons or something?”

Miranda rolled her eyes. “Well, that’s a matter for some discussion, but I assume you mean did they not realize that, societal customs aside, the Diramae did in fact exist and we would encounter them.” She smiled a little haughtily. “I realize you haven’t met them, but they are decidedly…peculiar.”

“Joker’s peculiar; Thane’s peculiar. No, I haven’t met them, but they strike me as mental.”

EDI draped an arm over the back of her chair. “I believe how Shepard put it after initially meeting them was, they were ‘profoundly arrogant, utterly certain of the rightness and absoluteness of their way of doing things.’ I think that is a fair assessment. They lack the ability – or perhaps simply the desire – to see things from an outsider's point of view.”

Ashley massaged her temples with her fingertips. “And I thought the Council was stuck-up…okay, fine. Seeing as they admitted these guys do exist, do they know anything about these shields, or what it’s like on the surface?”

Garrus nodded. “They indicated that the Diramae are not overtly hostile, at least in the sense that they are not aggressive militarily. They believe that the shields are intended primarily to keep them – the Escena – out. It, uh, took some rather creative threats from Miranda to get that out of them.” Miranda just shrugged in acknowledgment.

“Well we’re not the Escena, and they’re keeping us out…”

“Not completely – that brings us to the reason we were late getting back. The Guides let slip – they were a bit flustered by this point – that the shield can’t keep wormholes out. Which I’m told makes scientific sense; unless the shield is somehow four-dimensional, there’s simply no way to block a wormhole that originates outside it from terminating inside it.”

Ashley’s eyes widened; she jumped up and took two quick steps toward the door. Then she stopped, her shoulders sagging in defeat. She went back to the chair and plopped back down, her hands coming to her head. “No…I can’t risk the entire crew and the ship, not when we don’t know what’s on the other side. They’re highly advanced; they could blow us out of the sky in a heartbeat for all we know.”

“I thought you might say that – which is why we convinced the Guides to ‘loan’ us a portable wormhole generator.”

Her gaze shot up to meet his. “How portable? Wait, that’s what was in the container – it’ll fit on a shuttle, won’t it?”

He smiled. “Or even a reconnaissance drone.”

She jumped up again, this time to lean over and hug him. As she pulled back she glanced over at Miranda awkwardly. “Thank you both. Great job.”

Miranda tilted her head slightly in Garrus’ direction. “I’m afraid getting the generator was all Garrus’ doing.”

“Well, in any event.” She stared down at the table for a moment, thinking rapidly. “Alright; we send in a reconnaissance drone ASAP to see what’s down there – hopefully get a sense of their defenses, as well as the layout of the area where our guys are. The shield will prevent it from sending data back en route, so we’ll have to bring it back here to analyze the data. How long will it take to integrate the generator onto a drone?”

Garrus responded. “Eight hours, give or take.”

“Let’s get to it, then.”

August 9, 2194: Normandy SR-3 War Room

Eight hours later happened to be the wee hours of the morning; but soldiers were used to ops taking place when they needed to happen, not according to a clock. Needing to know first and foremost if they were looking at a worst-case scenario and not wanting to risk losing the drone and with it the information it would collect, they had programmed it to merely do a high-altitude flyover of the region of the planet Andrew and Kaidan were located in. But even that took time, and it was past midday before the drone returned.

Most of the team had congregated in the War Room, many with lunch in hand. News of the probe returning successfully evoked a collective sigh of relief and an easing of a bit of the tension. Within minutes the data and vids it had recorded were on display above the data center.

Legion began. “Sensors indicate a loose network of proximity alert buoys and a small military base housing eighteen fighters, ten frigates and three cruisers. No ballistic missiles or laser arrays were detected. Over the brief time observed, there were not regular military patrols.”

Garrus nodded at Legion. “So it looks like they’re moderately prepared for an attack but aren’t expecting one. Given the supposed lack of enemies in this galaxy, a reasonable stance.”

EDI zoomed in the display until the vague outline of skyscrapers could be made out against mountains. “Kaidan and Andrew are no longer in the open area where they arrived; they now show as being located in the heart of this city, the largest one on the planet.”

Ashley ran her hand along her jaw thoughtfully. “Shit.”

She worried at her lower lip. “Okay. The drone’s stealth held up, right?” EDI and Garrus both nodded. “Send it back in. I want a block-by-block layout of that city, as detailed as possible. We can’t be wandering around like a bunch of tourists trying to find them.”

Miranda gazed at her speculatively. “So we’re going in after them, then?”

“Hell yes we’re going in after them. As soon as the drone gets back, transfer the wormhole generator to one of the Kodiaks.”

“Not the Raptor?”

Her head shook tightly. “The Raptor’s too conspicuous, and could be mistaken for a hostile fighter. Hopefully we won’t need fast, just stealthed. Garrus, I want you studying that map with me as soon as the drone returns; we’ll come up with a game plan. Dismissed.”

***

Ashley sat cross-legged on a table against the wall of the War Room. The detailed map of the city below rotated slowly above the data center, two tiny little dots superimposed on it. The guys had been moving all day – around the city, then out to the mountains to what the drone scans had identified as a shipyard of some kind, then back into the heart of the city.

Moving that fast meant they had transport. Which, more likely than not, meant they had friends. It definitely meant they were alive and mostly well.

They were fine.

They were almost certainly fine.

The plan was to wait until night fell planetside, when they would stand less chance of being detected and when the guys would presumably be stationary for a few hours; they would wormhole in, contact them, set down reasonably near wherever they happened to be, and pick them up. Piece of cake.

She looked over as the door opened and EDI walked in.

“Ashley, do you have a moment?”

“Yup. Whatcha got?”

EDI leaned against the data center and draped one ankle over the other. “A possibility occurred to me. There may be a way to get around the communication shield and contact Kaidan and Andrew from the Normandy.”

Ashley straightened up off the wall. “Really? How?”

“I apologize for not thinking of it earlier, but as you know, much of my processing power is tied up in analyzing the Trafero data.”

“As it should be – but what’s your idea?”

“The Escena, and presumably the Diramae, are quantum creatures; inherently digital. I believe it’s possible the shield is not configured to block analog signals.”

Ashley’s face screwed up quizzically. “Analog?”

“Yes. Despite the fact that all our technology is digital-based, many things, such as our vocal communications and electromagnetic waves, are natively analog in nature.”

She grinned. “And music.”

“I’m sorry?”

“Music is also analog – at least, the music made by old-school physical instruments. You know, guitars, saxophones, drums…” She shrugged. “Or so I’ve been told. Repeatedly.”

EDI chuckled lightly. “I…suppose that is true.”

“That’s a terrific idea, EDI – do it.”

“There are two complicating factors. One, it will require some physical adjustments to our external-facing communicator, to set up a secondary path that bypasses the digitization routines.”

“Okay. Authorized.”

“Second…it will not work unless Kaidan or Andrew has modified their Omni-tool to receive analog signals. With Kaidan’s technical expertise I believe he would be capable of doing so; however, they will need to both be aware that something is interfering with their long-range communications and think of this as a method to bypass it.”

Ashley smiled knowingly. “Well, I’m sure they’ll have realized there’s interference by now – and seeing as Andrew’s Omni-tool already has an analog bypass on it, I’m willing to bet he’ll think of it. Let me know as soon as we’re ready to try it.”

August 10, 2194: Apérta

“Normandy to shore party. I repeat, this is the Normandy – Andrew, Kaidan, do you read? Norm– ”

Andrew dropped his head back against the wall as a huge grin broke over his face. “Ash, baby, is that you?”

There was a brief pause. When her voice returned, its tenderness could be heard through the static. “Hey you.”

“Hey back.”

“Are you okay? Are you hurt?”

“Oh, I’m just dandy.”

Kaidan was smiling, though it didn’t quite reach his eyes. “I’m good, too, Ash, thanks for asking.”

She laughed over the comm. “Don’t be a drama queen, Kai. I’m sure you’re fine.”

“Shepard isn’t there.” It was a statement, not a question; if she had been there it would have been her on the comm.

Another pause, and the teasing tone left her voice. “No, I’m sorry. We haven’t located her yet.”

He swallowed; the vein in his right temple pulsed. “Understood. What about Liara or James?”

“We haven’t found them either. I was the first.” She cleared her throat, and her voice took on a more business-like tone. “What’s your sitrep? There’s a physical and signal shield around the planet, but we’ve figured out how to get around them; we can be at your location and pick you up within the hour.”

Andrew chuckled ruefully. “Yeah…unfortunately, we’re not exactly in a position to be ‘picked up’ at the moment.”

He could hear her scowl over the comm. “Why not?”

“That’s kind of a funny story…”

***

Normandy SR-3 War Room

She hurried into the War Room and straight to the data center. A quick glance told her everyone was here. She didn’t waste time on pleasantries.

“Here’s the situation. Andrew and Kaidan are being held captive in an underground facility here.” She gestured briefly at the dots overlaid on the city map. There’s no guarantee how long they’ll be there, so we need to hurry. We – ”

Kasumi frowned slightly. “Held captive? So the locals are hostile then.”

Ashley grimaced. “Sort of. Not really.” Kasumi raised an eyebrow, waiting for more. Ashley sighed and rolled her eyes melodramatically. “Apparently they managed to stumble into the middle of a plot by a faction within the government to overthrow the current administration and other nefarious shit. I don’t even know…”

Garrus couldn’t help but laugh. “They couldn’t just lay low and not cause any trouble, could they?”

“As if…” She blinked and refocused. “And that means that this mission just got a lot more complicated. For one, the vast majority of these people are innocents and will not be hostile. But – and this is important – at first glance, they’re going to look like Escena. They are not. For one, it seems they talk. For another, though not likely to be armed, they are capable of violence if provoked.”

Litha shook her head slowly. “Dude. And I just got used to the Escena not talking.”

“Well, these do. And we’re going to see a lot of them, because the guys are being held right in the middle of downtown. Which brings us to the other complicated part – where they are being held is hostile. We can expect resistance, primarily in the form of mechs. Word is they’re super-strong and well-armed.”

Litha nodded appreciatively at that. “Prison break. Cool.”

***

Miranda caught up to Ashley as she hurried toward the elevator. “Can I talk to you a minute?”

“Can it wait? We really need to – ”

“Please. In private.”

“Fine.” They slipped into the Science Lab. “Okay – what?”

Miranda met her stare. “I think you need to remain on the ship.”

“What? There is no way – ”

“You’re emotionally compromised.”

“Damn right I’m emotionally compromised! My husband and my best friend are down there. But I have more groundside combat experience than anyone on this ship – there is no one more qualified to lead this mission than me – ”

“I know that. You’re absolutely right. But in the heat of battle your judgment is going to be clouded and – ”

“I am in command of this ship and this op, Lawson – not you. If you think there is any way in Hell I’m not – ”

Miranda reached over and touched her shoulder; her voice was remarkable soft. “Ashley, please. I’m not trying to usurp your authority. I mean it. In fact, the opposite. If you won’t stay behind for emotional reasons, stay behind for this reason. You need Garrus’ combat skills on the ground; that means one of us has to remain on the ship in case something goes badly wrong. Someone has to continue leading the mission. As much as it pains me to say it…the crew respects you; likes you. They will follow you.”

She smiled a little sadly. “They won’t follow me. If something happens, you need to be here. For them. They’ve lost Shepard; they will have lost Alenko. They’ll need you.”

Ashley groaned and pulled away. She slowly spun around, glaring at the ceiling. Abruptly she turned and punched the wall. Hard.

“Dammit, Miranda. That’s not fair.”

“I know. I’m sorry.”

She sucked in a deep breath, lips pursed tightly, then stared at Miranda, eyes wide and pleading and a little threatening. “You bring him back to me, you hear me? No matter what happens, you get him back to this ship, safe and alive. I don’t give a damn how you feel about me personally – if you have an ounce of humanity in you, you will do this for me.”

Miranda’s expression was inscrutable. “Maybe I have a bit more humanity in me than you think. Regardless, I will. Just this once, you need to trust me.”

***

Ashley paced around the Cargo Bay like a woman possessed, checking every item that was loaded onto the shuttle then rushing over to watch the weapons being checked over at the armory, then back again.

She dug into the weapons locker, coming out with two heavy pistols. She shoved one into Miranda’s chest. “Kaidan will want this.” She half-turned and tossed the other one through the air to Garrus. “Make sure Andrew gets that, in case he wants to shoot something.”

Then she went over to the worktable and opened a drawer beneath it, pulling out grenades and scattering them on the table. “Timah, take grenades. Take all the grenades.”

She paused as she felt Garrus’ hand on her shoulder. His voice was soft but firm. “We know what we’re doing, Ash. We got this.”

She nodded tightly. “I know. I just – ”

The elevator door opened and EDI hurried out. Ashley had asked her to stay behind, not wanting her to divert even a fraction of her processes from the search and to combat.

“Ashley, we have located Liara – but there is a problem.”

Keenon’s head had snapped over at the mention of Liara’s name. He quickly ran over. “What kind of problem?”

“The shuttle that was deploying probes as part of the search for the others just jumped back into the system. A probe has registered her locator on a space station in a system that was hit by the Aduri day before yesterday.”

Most of the team had dropped what they were working on and gravitated toward EDI while she talked. Miranda spoke up immediately. “Can the Escena create a wormhole onto the station and get her out?”

EDI’s head shook. “No. Apparently the aftereffects of the Aduri will degrade the mouth of the wormhole too much for it to be stable.”

“Fuck!” Ashley rubbed her jaw roughly. If they went to get Liara they would lose the nighttime window to rescue Andrew and Kaidan; in practice that meant they would lose a day – a day in which the guys could very well be executed by their captors. “We won’t have time to…”

She looked over at Keenon; his facial markings were pulsing brightly, his eyes shining like suns.

“Let me save her. I beg you.”

She smiled a little desperately. “Here’s what we’re going to do. The ground team shuttle launches in five. As soon as it's away, the Normandy will make a wormhole jump to as close as it can safely get to the station Liara’s on.” She hit her comm. “Lieutenant Rogers? Get suited up and ready to pilot the Raptor.” She turned back to Keenon. “You’ll take the Raptor from there and get her out, then retreat to a safe distance. The Normandy will return here, in case the ground team needs support. We’ll come pick you up as soon as the op is over.”

He nodded rapidly. “Understood. Thank you, ma’am.”

“No need. We’ve got to save her, too.”

***

One Hour Earlier: Hub Station orbiting Auranta, LMC-Erebus System, Large Magellanic Cloud

Liara tumbled into blackness.

At first she thought she had been deposited into the void of space; it took her longer than it should have to realize that she was lying on a hard surface, and thus couldn’t be in space. Disorientation from the journey through the wormhole, no doubt. Still, it was with some caution that she took a breath, sucking in air that, though oddly stale, was breathable.

After mentally noting that she didn’t detect any major bodily injuries, she carefully stood. She tried to look around – but it was so very, very dark. Where the goddess was she?

Shepard? Shepard, do you read me?

Keenon, are you there?

“Normandy, come in. Shepard? Does anyone read me?”

Nothing. She wasn’t overly surprised; the wormhole would have sent her some distance away. She merely needed to locate some assistance in order to contact them.

She moved until she felt a wall, then followed it by touch until it turned sharply to the right. The pitch black became a hazy slate gray. She looked up. The ceiling was transparent; stars shone through, too sharply to be filtered by atmospheric haze.

That meant she was in a space station. There would be terminals, communications, transports. She parted with the wall and stepped out into the –

– she tripped over an obstacle. Stumbled forward and stepped onto something soft. Jumped away, and careened to the floor. Her hands landed on a curved, pliable object. She blinked and tried to see what it was in the dim light. She frowned; it was almost like…she gasped in horror, scurrying backward on the floor until she found the wall.

Her eyes were wide as they slowly adjusted to the minimal light and began to make out shapes scattered on the floor in front of her.

“Oh, goddess…” They were bodies. Escena bodies. At least a dozen that she could make out, and she couldn’t see to the other end of the room.

This was a tomb.

The station had been hit by the Aduri, she assumed – which meant that everyone in the station was dead. She had no idea how large the station was, or how many people had been on it. However many, though, they would all be dead.

All dead.

She suddenly realized she was in danger of hyperventilating. Dammit, she was a scientist! She had excavated entire ruins of the dead, had performed autopsies, studied tissue and bone samples. She had watched cities be destroyed and had killed with her bare hands. More than once. She could handle this.

But it was so dark. So quiet.

Suddenly a far more desperate thought distracted her from the corpses. How was she going to get out of here? If the Aduri had hit – which they clearly had – then all the equipment and technology would be nonfunctional. The transports wouldn’t fly. No one would be visiting.

Was this her tomb, too?

She scoffed at herself; certainly not. She was one of the most intelligent people alive – and she wasn’t even exaggerating. All she had to do was think it through, clearly and logically, and she would discover a solution. All she –

The station started tilting, the floor angling down to the right. One by one the bodies began sliding toward her.

She leapt up, frantically stumbling across the now sloping room in the opposite direction, hopping over bodies and trying not to step on any heads or chests. She finally reached the far left wall and pressed herself flat against it.

Why was the station tilting? It almost certainly wouldn’t do that in normal operation; the Escena were far too refined to allow such an unseemly disruption.

The brightness of the room increased just slightly; she looked up. At the far end of the room, the view through the ceiling changed from stars and darkness to something else. Hazy, pale orange in color.

 Her hands rose to her face. “No…please, no…”

It was a planet. The station orbited a planet. And it was losing altitude.

The prospect of days, perhaps weeks, spent among the dead had suddenly become hours. She quickly ran through everything she knew about orbital mechanics. A decaying orbit was normally a gradual matter, taking years or even decades; then suddenly it would accelerate, the orbiting structure tumbling rapidly into the planet or sun.

The problem was that she had no idea how long ago the station had been hit. Also that she had no idea how closely the station had been orbiting the planet; Escena planets often had multiple layers of orbiting stations. And that she didn’t know the strength of the planet’s gravitational field. And that the tachyonic fields left in the wake of the Aduri disrupted gravity and eventually all the laws of physics, making conventional analysis irrelevant.

In short, there was no way for her to determine how long she had. But the fact that the station was tilting meant it wasn’t a particularly long time.

She had to move, had to find something useful, something she could…

She gingerly made her way across the room to a door; it was frozen half-open, and she slipped through the opening.

She was in a hallway, and again in inky blackness.

She activated her Omni-tool; the orange glow lit the few meters in front of her. The scanner quickly mapped out the layout of the station. It was small-to-medium in size, just under a kilometer in length. But with no power signatures to detect, the layout was little more than an imprint of the interior walls; the rooms it identified could be anything or nothing.

She fell back against the wall, despair overcoming her once more. If Shepard were here, she would just smile confidently, beautiful lavender eyes sparkling, and say that they would find a way to get out of here. And if Shepard were here, they probably would; she had yet to fail at finding a way.

But Shepard wasn’t here. No one was here.

And she didn’t want to die, alone in the darkness.

August 11, 2194: Apérta

Garrus stepped cautiously out of the shuttle. A quick assessment revealed nothing but snow, so he motioned the rest of the team out. As the door closed behind them Steve activated the optical camouflage, and the shuttle faded into the background. If you didn’t look directly at it, you would never know it was there.

It was late in the night, but the golden nebula reflecting off the snow gave the air a subtle glow; the bright lights of the skyscrapers in the distance added to the effect.

Garrus confirmed their location on the map overlay projecting onto his visor. “Kaidan, do you read?…Excellent. We’re groundside, four-point-two kilometers from your location; ETA fifty minutes…Understood.”

He cut the comm and nodded to the team. “We are a ‘go.’ The situation and the target location are unchanged. Until we reach it, do your best to not look like a heavily-armed military squad.”

The cold night air made that task considerably easier. Advancements in armor technology had resulted in gear that was lighter, thinner and more flexible; heavy coats concealed their weapons and rendered their armor virtually indistinguishable from utility clothing.

“Litha, Kasumi, I want you scouting ahead, a hundred meters out north-west and –east of our route. It’s late enough that civilian traffic should be minimal, but not zero.” They both nodded then vanished.

He gazed around speculatively. “Everyone else, let’s take a stroll. Spread out enough so we don’t look like a mob, but stay in close enough proximity to be able to respond quickly if there’s trouble.”

Within a few minutes they had reached the city edge. It began rather abruptly; fifty meters out a wide stone pathway appeared, rimming the outskirts. Then suddenly they were in the midst of a busy, vibrant downtown. The civilian traffic was rather more than he had expected; people walked purposefully down the streets and milled about outside boldly lit clubs, music spilling out through open doors.

Thane huffed a quiet laugh; he smiled at Keiji when he looked over. “Now this is most intriguing.”

“How so?”

“Sociologists would kill for such a chance as this – to study how different choices led a single species, when separated, to develop radically different cultures.”

Litha came over the comm. “Well I for one prefer these guys…looks like they know how to have a good time.”

Kasumi snapped back. “Other than the fact that they decided to kidnap Kaidan and Andrew – otherwise, I’m sure they’re a barrel of laughs.”

Miranda’s voice was low. “Cut the chatter, everyone.”

They moved quickly but quietly through the streets, sticking to the shadows and attracting as little attention as possible. They did get a few strange looks and double-takes, but no one started pointing and screaming about the alien invaders. Was their telepathy, like the Escena, effuse enough that they all already knew aliens were among them?

Their destination was the Security Division Headquarters, a block-wide complex composed of several mid-rise structures surrounding a dramatic tower.

Litha’s voice was all business as she reached the Headquarters. “Cameras on the perimeter.”

“Not a huge surprise. Can you find a gap in their coverage?”

“I doubt it, give me a sec…Kasumi, anything?”

“Seeing if I can hack the feed…damn, these guys’ encryption is much tighter than the Escena. I can’t do it without risking tripping the alarms.”

Did you try to infinite-loop the feed?

Yes, Keiji. Each camera is silo’d and has an embedded atomic clock. I’m not an amateur.

I…I know that.

Litha came back over the comm. “That’s a negative on gaps; perfect symmetrical coverage.”

“Dammit.” Garrus switched channels. “Kaidan, there’s a good chance they’re about to know we’re here. Be on your guard.”

He looked around at the team as they reached the edge of the Headquarters complex. “Spread out in a modified v-formation, try to wander in casual-like. Maybe that won’t raise a flag.” He took a deep breath then walked up the three steps leading to the raised courtyard.

It didn’t work.

***

Hub Station orbiting Auranta

Liara remembered a time when she had relished solitude, had sought out the peaceful silence of ancient ruins and the secrets they held. Even if she were still that person, this wasn’t –

“ – read? I repeat, do you read, Liara? This is the Normandy shuttle Raptor, come in – ”

“I’m here! I read you, this is Liara – come in, Raptor!”

“Keelah, Liara…it’s good to hear your voice.”

She grinned like a schoolgirl. “Keenon, is that you? How did you find me?”

His voice grew serious. Calm, but urgent. “I’ll explain later. Right now, you need to get to the shuttle bay.”

“So you can pick me up, right? I don’t know where the shuttle bay is.”

“Listen, it looks like your orbit is decaying rapidly; we won’t be able to make it to you in time before the station crashes into the planet below. The only reason we’re able to contact you on the comm is because we’ve boosted the range significantly. You’re going to need to fly yourself out.”

She was already running down the hallway, leaping over bodies as they came into view, even though she had no idea where she was running to. “But Keenon, the shuttles won’t work. Nothing on here works, it’s pitch black, I can’t – ”

“I need you to calm down and listen to me. I can talk you through getting a shuttle started. So you need to find the shuttle bay.”

“But – ”

“Just trust me, okay? I’ll see if I can contact someone who can contact the Escena and get a schematic of the station – but you really need to try to find it.”

“Right…” She skidded to a stop at a crossway; the hallway continued forward and also branched left and right. She studied the skimpy layout on her Omni-tool; there were larger rooms both to the left and the right; if she went far enough forward, that way, too.

She stared helplessly down the left hallway, then the right. She took a deep breath and started to turn to the right, when a flash of light caught her eye. She spun back to the left to see a faint, rippling pale blue light in the left hallway; it pulsed slightly then moved to the side until it vanished.

What in the…

Seeing no reason not to, she turned down the left hallway and followed it; when she reached about the place she thought it had been, there was another hallway to the right; she could see faint blue light in the distance. She turned into it.

It went on seemingly forever. “Keenon, do you have anything yet?”

“I’m sorry, not yet. There’s no communication with the Escena in this system, for obvious reasons, and…”

The blueish light flashed brightly and disappeared to the left ahead. She hurried down the hall, turned left…and stepped into the shuttle bay. The planet loomed large through the outer force field.

She exhaled heavily in relief. She didn’t understand, but for the moment she didn’t care. “I found it, Keenon, but…” Reality crashed back over her. “But they’re not going to work. They’re dead.”

“Pick a shuttle that will be easy to maneuver out of the bay. Also, the smaller the better. Other than that, it doesn’t matter. You’ll need to pry the shuttle door open with something; there should be a maintenance area with some tools, probably along one of the wa– ”

“Keenon, they won’t work! Didn’t you hear me? They’re dead! If they could be turned back on the Escena would have figured out how; and even if they didn’t, I would have figured out how! I would have brought those bodies back if it could be done, and – ”

“These aren’t living beings; they never were. They’re pieces of machinery and, with respect, that’s my area of expertise.”

She paced haphazardly in the entryway. “But the concepts are the same, and we know the Escena are consistent in their application of – ”

“Liara, would you shut up for one second? Darling, I love you madly, but you are arrogant and insufferable. Now you need to trust me, okay? I promise if you do, I will get you out of this.”

***

Security Division Headquarters, Apérta

Perhaps the cameras were programmed to distinguish between locals and strangers; it was unlikely the defenses would have responded so violently to a few civilians that happened to cross onto the grounds.

Floodlights illuminated immediately, bathing them in harsh white light. Within seconds the first mechs appeared. Three meters tall, they were roughly humanoid in shape but made of shining metal and highly armed. The courtyard erupted in gunfire.

Actually, “gunfire” might not be quite the correct term. The mechs’ weapons shot arcs of a super-heated plasma; it burnt through the marble that paved the plaza when it landed. As for the team, their weapons spanned the spectrum, from the heavy-metal slugs of Timah’s miniature missile launcher to the pure electric energy of Keiji’s modded pistol.

All of which passed idly through Garrus’ mind as he sprinted to the right and dove for the meager cover of a decorative fountain.

Trusting the fountain and his shield to hold for a few seconds, he quickly updated the locator scan. His comm was on full broadcast.

“We’re headed for the rightmost building – Timah, Jacob, Keiji, hold this area and keep the mechs occupied; bring them down if you can. Everyone else converge on the right building – we’re breaking in!” He rolled onto his back and threw an overload at the closest mech. It sparked briefly as its advance stuttered; he yanked up his sniper rifle.

Two shots hit the mech at the connecting point of head to body; it flailed wildly then crashed to the ground. He looked to his left as Thane lowered his own rifle slightly, and nodded in thanks. It was the first shot he had fired in live combat in more than four years – and damn did it feel good.

Then he was on his feet, sprinting for the building.

Miranda was flattened against the wall. As he approached she leaned out and overloaded a second mech that had been sighting down on him. He reached the wall and turned around in time to see Litha briefly materialize and jam a long, curved knife into a seam in the lower back of the mech; in less than a second she had pried it open and ripped out a core of crystalline fibers. She threw it to the ground then vanished again as the mech fell forward.

Across the courtyard an explosion lit the sky as two mechs stepped in range of the proximity mines Timah had thrown. The others took advantage of the resulting confusion to slide around to the door, which faced in toward the central tower. Kasumi shimmered in and out of existence as she worked on the door lock.

“Won’t fool me twice…” She grinned to herself as the door slid open, sparing a moment for a grand sweep of her arm welcoming them to enter. She gave a quick glance over her shoulder at where she knew Keiji was, stealthed as he rigged power spikes along the inner perimeter, then slipped inside.

Garrus quickly motioned everyone in ahead of him; in the doorway Miranda, Garrus and Thane turned and collectively mowed down a third mech with sheer gunfire, then backed in and let the door close.

Litha’s Omni-tool lit the entryway. “Scanning layout…elevator is down the main hallway and to the right. No stairs.”

Two mechs, slightly smaller than those outside, rounded a corner and opened fire. Shields sparked as they repelled bullets, or something akin to bullets. Likely recognizing that metal-melting plasma wasn’t practical indoors, these mechs wielded weapons that fired thousands of electrified pellets.

The hallway flickered brightly with the force of twin overloads. Thane crouched low below the spray of gunfire and sprinted forward, sliding around one of the mechs; he grasped it around the midsection as he did and sent it spinning to the floor. He pressed the barrel of his rifle to the core and fired three shots in rapid succession.

At the same moment Litha re-materialized behind the second mech, repeating her performance from outside. This time she pocked the glowing core and crystalline fibers, shrugging at Garrus’ raised eyebrow. “Research.”

Garrus chuckled. “You guys okay out there?”

Jacob responded. “You’re clear; we’ve got the remaining mechs cornered and are wearing them down.”

“Good job.” He switched channels. “Kaidan, we’re inside; ETA five minutes…gotcha.”

“He says there’s lots of activity on their floor – and not just mechs; be ready for more resistance.”

Miranda switched to her heavy pistol and nodded. “Ready when you are.”

In a stroke of luck, there was only one level below ground, albeit a long way below ground. As the elevator slowed, Garrus palmed two grenades. Everyone flattened along the side walls of the elevator and turned away; the second the door started opening he tossed the flashbang out, followed a second later by the frag grenade. Screams echoed down the hallway; when the flash receded it revealed three guards bleeding a pale, milky red plasma-like blood all over the floor.

Kasumi teleported instantly to them, kicking their weapons away even as they reached for them. “Sorry, gentlemen. Too slow.”

Thane raised his rifle and sent a single shot through the head of a Diramae that rounded the corner at the end of the hallway.

“Litha?”

“Left where that guy came from; third right, first left. Third room.”

Kasumi responded from an unknown location. “First turn is clear…scratch that.”

They sprinted down the hallway, turning the corner to find Kasumi frowning over a body in a white lab coat. “I don’t think they have much practice at this sort of thing.”

Miranda smirked. “Doesn’t mean their guns don’t fire.”

The rest of the path was clear until they reached the last hallway. As they rounded the corner a Diramae was sprinting for the target room, gun raised. To execute the guys? It seemed a reasonable assumption.

Garrus shot him in the heart – well, in the center of his body anyway. Kasumi materialized at the door, shot the man in the head as he fell, then began hacking the door open. Not a security door, she had it open in seconds.

Kaidan was flattened against the wall to the right of the door, shimmering bright blue; Andrew was pressed against the wall to the left, albeit with less shimmer.

“Friendlies!” Garrus shouted before stepping in. He grinned as he grabbed Kaidan in a bear hug.

“Nice of you to drop by, Garrus.” Kaidan chuckled in relief and patted him on the back.

“I even brought some friends.” He turned and gave Andrew a quick hug as well. “Your wife has requested your presence on the Normandy, pronto.”

Andrew smiled as he accepted the Paladin that Garrus handed him. “I bet she has. However…we’ve got one or two things to take care of first.”