Paying the Price

Paying the Price

Chapter Eleven

A jolt ran through the tank as it struck the ground, and Shepard was forced to grit her teeth as her already sensitive bones were jarred as a result. She still wasn't fully healed, and Miranda had been quick to try and take advantage of that, insisting she wasn't well enough to lead and someone else –namely her- should lead this mission in her place.

The commander had soon put an end to that though, and as a result was now safely secured in the tanks pilot seat, Miranda and Garrus were safely onboard as well, now it was just a simple matter of getting to the lab and finding out what happened.

As had been expected, even when in close orbit they couldn't raise the facility, though they had discovered the communication systems were online, so it was a matter of no one picking up the phone rather then a mechanical failure.

With the tank online they soon set off for the nearest building, namely the communication center itself. "Nothing on scanners…Strange, you'd think the defences would still be online at least." Shepard observed, her eyes briefly drifting to the sensor readout, before returning to the main screen.

Aite was, beautiful if she were to judge. As the tank easily glided over the grassy planes she caught sight of a massive waterfall in the distance that ran across their path and over the side of a cliff where it no doubt continued onwards for miles.

Shifting their angle slightly, she inched the tank towards the edge and peered over the side. Everywhere she looked, the scenery was simply, stunning. "Hard to believe this place isn't colonized…"

Shepard kept to herself during the trip. She really didn't want to deal with either of her companions right now and in turn she had to keep her attention focused on driving. She heard a few snatches of conversation behind her, though unsurprisingly, Miranda and Garrus weren't exactly friends, and the conversations died quickly.

"Almost there." She commented as the base finally came into view. "No defences, no security…What the hells going on in there?"

"Maybe the security detail was recalled to deal with whatever the threat is?" Miranda suggested as she moved to stand behind Shepard's seat. The commander ignored her for the time being. Instaed she slowed the vehicle to a halt and began powering it down.

"We'll know soon enough." Unbuckling her restraints she pulled herself out of the seat and made her way to the door.

A few moments later and the squad were on the ground, weapons in hand and carefully advancing towards the building. "Eyes open. If they could take out an entire research facility, then their obviously well equipped."

The door opened as soon as they drew close, and the trio slowly inched inside. Melina arched an eyebrow upon discovering the main entrance hall was darkness. "Power must be out." Miranda commented, a few taps of her Omni-tool however, and a flashlight clicked on, closely followed by two more as Shepard and Garrus did the same.

The commander gasped as the lights played across the interior of the room. A few scattered chairs and tables made it appear to be some kind of entrance hall or waiting room, a desk on the far side of the room made her lean towards the latter.

What caught her by surprise though was the chaos that had obviously gone on here. Bullet holes marred the walls and several pieces of furniture. Here and there they spotted blood drying into the walls and floor, and the occasional body wearing a Cerberus uniform, none of them appeared armed.

She would have commented, had her light not chosen that moment to play across a geth soldier. A hand leapt to her pistol, though she halted when she realized the telltale glow of its eye was missing, and it was partly slumped over. "Geth? Here?" She heard Miranda whisper, and barely resisted rolling her eyes.

"Like you didn't already know." She snapped without thinking, earning a confused glance from the agent. Melina wisely shut her mouth after that, choosing instead to keep moving.

As they moved however, she casually drew her pistol and put a round straight through the inactive geths optical unit, with a flash of sparks it collapsed into a heap and remained still.

"Commander?" Garrus' eyes darted back and forth between the destroyed machine and Shepard, who simply shrugged and holstered her weapon. "Better to disable it now, rather then risk it shooting us in the back."

The turian appeared ready to argue, though he swiftly snapped his mouth shut and shook his head.

From that point on they continued in silence, their flashlights playing across the destruction. Bodies of scientists, security and even military personal were scattered about the place. Computer terminals and lights flickered and sparked and once or twice they would explode in a blinding flash that startled the squad.

"Don't look now Shepard, but I think were being watched." Garrus warned, and with a subtle gesture he indicated a section of wall, she wasn't sure of the purpose, but it was reflective, and she could just make out a glowing pair of green eyes staring at them, a second later they vanished, the only remnant being a green flash of light that zipped along the wall and out of sight.

"Strange…" Shepard pushed the thought from her mind, or tried to, as soon enough the strange sighting became a regular occurrence, as did security cameras mounted on the walls that held the same glow, and tracked them incessantly.

It also became abundantly clear that whoever was watching them, had access to the security network as a whole. Doors would randomly open one moment, only to slam shut and lockdown a moment later, Miranda's attempts at hacking them open resulted in the system only encrypting further and making it impossible, or shorting out entirely thus sealing the room forever.

Shepard couldn't shake the feeling their adversary was herding them into a trap. Lock one door, but open another, soon enough they'd end up right where it wanted.

Sure enough, another door opened and they found themselves in what appeared to be the mess hall. Tables were overturned, chairs were broken and scattered. And the kitchen itself appeared to have been converted into some form of last stand position. The counter had spent thermal clips scattered across it's surface , faint burn marks were noticeable as well where the over heated clips had been ejected and metal the plastic countertop.

Sparing a glance over the top, Melina found several bodies, one badly burned, two others riddled with bullets, and only one wore armour, clearly a soldier of some description.

"Damn it…Looks like they held out for a while. Still wasn't enough." Miranda cursed, Shepard couldn't help but nod slightly. As much as she disliked Cerberus, this wasn't right. Most of the people they'd found didn't have weapons, either they'd been taken or they weren't armed in the first place. This was a slaughter, not a defensive position being overrun by mercs or pirates.

"Commander, we've got incoming." Shepard lifted her head slightly when Garrus spoke, and in the silence that followed, she could pick up on the faint clinking of metal on metal, the sound of a safety being clicked off a gun.

"Cover now!" She hissed as quietly as possible, the trio wasted no time leaping over the counter and taking up position in the same place the Cerberus personal had made their last stand.

She really hoped their efforts would end better…

Peering over the counter she noted several security mechs had wandered into the room and were sweeping it with both optics and pistols. The familiar red glow of their eyes was replaced with an eerie green. Something about that color felt, wrong.

Shepard tensed when one of the mechs suddenly whipped around and focused on her. Before it acted though, a strange burst of intelligible noise came over what she assumed was the intercom before it suddenly opened fire, the rest of it's squad was quick to follow.

Ducking once again, she cursed quietly and checked the readout on her pistol, before tapping in a series of commands on the tiny keypad. A second later the sides of the barrel lit up and glowed sky blue to indicate the ammo mod was working.

Lifting herself up again, she fired several quick, almost blind shots and ducked once they returned fire, luckily one of the machines exploded in a shower of sparks and collapsed.

'What the hell is going on? Why are the mechs engaging on sight?" Miranda called out as she fired a burst from her smg and ducked, several returned shots struck the counter and she ducked her head down further instinctively.

"Why are you asking me? Ask the damned mechs!" Shepard shouted in response before picking off another. Garrus pressed a button on his Omni-tool and a third detonated as its power supply overloaded.

Melina paused to reload her pistol, before holstering it and drawing her assault rifle once again. Between the three of them, it only took a few moments to destroy the rest of the squad.

Aside from the occasional whine of a broken servo or spark from a mech as it powered down. The mess hall was silent.

"I guess we know what happened to the base." Garrus commented, as he scanned the room, before vaulting over the counter, closely followed by Shepard.

"I don't think so. The mechs weren't themselves, did you see the green glow in their optics. Something else was controlling them." The commander dropped to one knee next to a damaged mech, its broken arm trying to grasp its pistol, though without the hand attached to the end it couldn't retrieve the weapon.

The glow faded away to its former crimson and then black as it shut down. "Question is…What exactly is controlling them?"

The rest of the facility wasn't much better then the first few rooms, bodies damages and the occasional mech ambush made up the next half hour of creeping through the base. And each time there was a lull, Shepard caught sight of the strange green eyes studying them from a terminal or holographic section of wall, before vanishing.

It was beginning to make Melina nervous. The eyes reminded her somewhat of EDI, though while her ship bound companion always seemed eager to help. This one seemed to be watching their progress and was likely responsible for the security mechs that kept barring their path, and the doors that mysteriously locked each time they approached a area it didn't want them entering.

"Now would be a very good time to explain the situation, if you have anything to add Miranda." Shepard finally said, her gaze snapping to the Cerberus operative as they continued down another bullet riddled hallway. "Surely the Illusive Man kept you informed of the bases activities and what Overlord really is?"

She noted with a hint of suspicion that Miranda hesitated before shaking her head. The commander's eyes narrowed slightly. "Of course not, I know as much as you do."

"I find that hard to be-"

Shepard was cut short as they entered another room, and a terminal that had previously been switched off suddenly came to life. The trio halted as a human face appeared on the screen, what little Shepard could see of his uniform led her to believe he was a scientist. "Thank god, it's good to see a friendly face!"

Shepard had instinctively reached for her pistol, though swiftly removed her hand as the man spoke, he looked pretty harmless, scared witless perhaps but who wouldn't be in this situation. "I take it you're one of the science team?" She asked after a moment, the room appeared empty save a desk, the terminal; it looked more like an office then anything else.

"Yes, I believe I'm the only one still alive." He fell silent for a moment, though Melina didn't interrupt, having lost the rest of his team she didn't blame him for being a little emotional. "Listen, there isn't time to explain, the VI is planning to use the communications dish to beam itself off world! You have to disable the dish before it's to late!"

Shepard held up one hand. "Whoa hold on. VI? Off world, what are you talking about?"

"There isn't time for questions! But…We were working with an experimental VI, and it's out of control. It's taken over the base and anything automated and is planning to use the communications dish to transmit itself off world…Look around you! This is the devastation it's caused with just the research facility alone. Think about what it could do to the galaxy as a whole if it gets loose!"

As he spoke, the commander's gaze shifted towards a previously unnoticed window. In the distance she could see the massive relay moving into position. "That has to be a mile or more away; we'll never make it in time!" She cursed, a fist slamming into the table.

"No, there's a tram system that runs from here to the main comm. tower. Using that you'll get there and still have a few minutes to stop the transmission." She could see him tapping away at a unseen keyboard for a moment. "There. I've unlocked the door, now hurry!"

Shepard nodded, before spinning to face the squad. "Come on! We have to stop that VI."