Paying the Price

Paying the Price

Chapter Twelve

Shepard didn't like the idea of plunging head first into the darkness of the research facility once again. But the safe haven of the office they'd encountered the mysterious scientist in wouldn't help them in the long run. If they didn't move, and now, then the VI would escape off-world, or so he claimed.

That was one of the two things bothering the commander as she easily hacked the door controls and stepped into the dark and foreboding corridor beyond it. How exactly was the VI going to transmit itself off world? Weren't they constrained to their programming and installed location? She hadn't seen the VI on the Citadel wandering off, so what made this one any different? Maybe that was what they were researching here.

The other thing bothering her was Miranda withholding all this from her. Whoever had sent the message along had taken it from the agent, but it still begged the question as to why she wasn't allowed to know what the real situation was until long after they'd landed.

Shepard pushed the thought from her mind for now as she clicked her Omni-tool light on and scanned the corridor. After scanning the two ways they could go, she picked the left and set off slowly, her two companions close behind.

They couldn't delay for long, she knew that. But she had a feeling a handful of security mechs were the least of their worries in this place. The darkness could have held any number of dangers. Melina's hands tightened their grip on her rifle as she carefully picked her way almost blindly through the blood stained and bullet ridden corridor.

"I know everyone's dead. But this place is to damned quiet." Garrus commented as he swept his light over a patch of wall that was burnt and blackened.

"Tell me about it. You'd think a research facility would be constantly making noise, personal or not the computers and other equipment should still be working." Shepard commented, the power cut was a possibility, but if the door locks still worked, and the few terminals they'd passed still sparked or flickered into life, then that seemed unlikely.

As Shepard swept the corridor with her light, she caught sight of the now familiar green glow that seemed to be stalking them. This time however she picked out the details of a face staring back at her, before it vanished abruptly.

Another glance about the corridor revealed a security camera slowly tracking them. With a growl, she drew her pistol and fired a single shot, the device exploded in a shower of sparks and hit the ground with a bang.

"This place is getting creepier by the minute…"

Luckily they managed to avoid any mechs during the trip to the tram. Miranda naturally took charge of getting it running again, while Shepard and Garrus did their best to get comfortable. The commander's gaze was constantly being drawn to the massive communications dish in the distance.

Why the hell did such a remote outpost have such a sizeable communications station? It didn't make sense to her. This place was either very important, or did more then just research.

She spared a glance across the tram and noted Garrus staring at her. Normally that wouldn't have bothered her, but something about the way he was watching her just made the solider shudder slightly and look away. Luckily her armour hid the actions, save her eyes rapidly turning away.

"How are you holding up commander?" He finally asked. Shepard simply shrugged in response; she knew he wasn't asking about her physical well being. But in truth she wasn't sure how she was feeling anymore.

"Fine." She stated as her gaze shifted back to the dish, it was still aligning itself, they had time. A second later the tram jolted in to motion, Shepard didn't notice.

"We've got a mission to worry about now. We can talk once we put this mess behind us."

The rest of the trip went by in silence. Once the tram reached the communications tower and stopped, the trio quietly disembarked and checked their weapons. "Disable the comm. tower, kill any mechs that try to stop you." Shepard stated simply as she adjusted the mod on her weapon, the lights on the side blazed crimson as the inferno rounds were loaded.

With a nod she led the way into the base. Much like the previous station however, silence reigned and it appeared a battle had ripped the place apart. The power however was still online here Which was painted a rather grim picture.

Unlike last time when they were stumbling about in the dark, unable to see anything behind their flash lights. Here they could see quite clearly. Everything was laid out before them, from the body that lay by the tram station door to the pieces of mechs and discarded thermal clips that littered the floor.

"Looks like someone put up a hell of a fight here." Shepard commented as she carefully picked up one of the spent clips. "Hmm," The glow was still evident, indicating it was white hot. "These are recent, a few minutes old at best…"

"Someone else is alive?" Miranda pitched in, Melina simply nodded.

"It would seem that way. Maybe their putting up a resistance to keep the VI out of the communications systems." Shepard didn't see any other explanation. It seemed smarter in her mind to evacuate the base entirely if the VI had taken control of the security mechs and systems.

Dropping the spent clip, she brought her rifle up once again and approached the door they led to, her feet easily picking a path between the pieces of mechs and occasional pool of blood. "Strange, why is there so much blood, but no bodies?"

"No one could lose this much and still be alive." Garrus interjected. "Maybe the mechs are moving them somewhere else?"

"We'll know soon enough, I'm sure." Shepard finished the conversation, before tapping the light on the door, it slid open without protest. The room beyond wasn't much different from the corridor, or so it seemed upon first glance.

As the trio advanced however, they soon discovered it was strangely, untouched. A computer terminal in the corner lit up and displayed a handful of files and a indicator asking if they wanted the information purged. The walls and floor were devoid of damage or blood.

"Well that makes a…Change." Shepard commented as she lowered her rifle and scanned the room, aside from a camera in one corner turning to focus on them everything seemed calm, quiet.

Melina felt a chill run through her at the thought, the corridor not ten feet away had been a warzone, why was this room untouched?

A further examination revealed little else, a large table, a few seats. It looked like a conference room or something. Shrugging slightly, she approached the terminal and hit the cancel button on the purge.

"If someone was trying to erase the files, shouldn't we finish the job?" Shepard barely resisted rolling her eyes as Miranda appeared on her shoulder and started second guessing her choice.

"Clearly it's important; therefore I think we should know before it's purged." She responded calmly, her eyes narrowed just slightly as she heard Miranda say something to quietly for her to hear. "If you have a problem with it, say something!" She snapped, the only sound she was greeted by was the faint clicking of heels as the agent moved away from her.

Most of the files were logs. Some were damaged and unusable though a few still seemed to be ion working condition. Shepard shrugged slightly as she opened one of them.

And leapt back a step when the screen suddenly flashed green, a face appeared in place of the file and glared back at the commander, who instinctively raised her rifle. "The hell?"

ITtwas the same one she'd been catching glimpses of throughout the facility, but now it wasn't just appearing and disappearing, it remained in place, the bright glowing eyes darting from her to Miranda, then Garrus and back again.

"I guess that's the VI were trying to stop?" She turned slightly to focus on Miranda, who shrugged slightly.

As she turned back to the monitor with the intention of maybe talking to it, a deafening rush of noise came over the intercom and she dropped her rifle in favour of shielding her ears from the static ridden sound that filled the room. Despite her attempts to protect herself however, it still left her head throbbing from the sudden noise.

The face on the screen shifted from green to red, then vanished a second later. Finally Shepard risked lowering her hands as the noise cut off. "What, the, hell?" She spared another glance over her shoulder; her companions could only shrug slightly.

The terminal was now blank and lifeless; clearly it didn't want them getting the data for some reason. Or it wanted it for itself.

Scooping up her rifle once again, she simply nodded towards the door across from where they'd entered. As they approached however, the light abruptly clicked red and the door locked. "You've got to be kidding me." Shepard growled as she brought up her Omni-tool and started running a bypass to hack the door open.

Melina was only half paying attention to the display, her gaze constantly shifting from her Omni-tool to the doro as the indicator blinked from red to green and back. "Come on, come on…"

As she glanced down she hesitated as a flash of green washed over the display, before it abruptly cut off. "What?" She eyed the door for a moment, it was still red which meant she hadn't finished.

With a growl of frustration, she activated the tool again and started over. Only to stop when the door abruptly opened. "Huh?" Her arm dropped to her side as she studied the pitch black hallway beyond.

This place was just getting creepier by the second.

"You know, for once I'd like to find a hallway that isn't in complete darkness." Garrus mumbled as the squad went about drawing weapons and clicking lights on.

A second later the hallway abruptly lit up as power was restored. The trio exchanged a worried glance, before slowly advancing. "Looks like you got you're wish." Shepard said with a smirk as she scanned the area, her rifle quietly following her gaze.

Like the previous hallway, this one was devoid of damage. It seemed whoever had assaulted the communications center had either been wiped out before this, or had made it through without to much trouble.

"I don't know which is worse, carnage at every turn, or this pristine, clean room environment…" The commander whispered. Her gaze swept the corridor once more as they advanced, and she spotted a window looking out towards the relay dish.

Despite the need to move, she slowed to a halt as she reached it. A hand leapt to her ear as her comm. suddenly activated. "The dish is almost aligned; you don't have much time left!" She recognized the voice as the scientist they'd encountered earlier, though she didn't respond just yet. It was curious to say the least how he could see what she was seeing. Though she guessed he was somewhere nearby and probably watching the comm. center as well.

"Commander, I think you better see this." She spared a glance towards Garrus, whom was watching the comm. tower intently through his sniper rifle. After a moment he handed her the weapon so she could make use of the scope as well.

At first she didn't see the problem, a few mechs patrolled the area but that wasn't surprising, if the VI wanted off world it wasn't likely he'd leave his ticket undefended.

"Little to the left." She shifted her aim slightly, and froze as the real problem was revealed.

A trio of geth were patrolling the area as well. "Geth, damn it!" Zooming in a little further, she picked out the green glow in their optical units. "The VI can control, Geth as well? Hell…"

That wasn't the only problem, shifting her aim again; she spotted two more of the synthetic creatures, and a human wearing a Cerberus uniform. He was on his knees, hands behind his head, obviously a prisoner. "Looks like their taking prisoners…"

One of the geth raised its weapon and took aim at the scientist. "Shit!" Before she could act, she saw a flash and the human collapsed to the deck in a rapidly spreading pool of blood.

Lowering the rifle, she handed it back to Garrus before drawing her own. "We have to shut this place down…" She snarled, before spinning on her heel and setting off down the corridor once again.

"Why capture people, if their just going to execute them regardless?" Garrus asked quietly as he spared another glance out the window before falling into step behind her.

"Maybe it was a warning." Melina commented, her voice quiet and hollow as she contemplated her words even as she spoke them. "He didn't get shot until we were within sight…Maybe the VI was making an example. 'get in my way, and die' or something." She shivered slightly as the door opened without protest, leading into another mess hall.

That thought alone made her nervous, what if they'd been responsible, in a sense, for the scientist's death? She had enough blood on her hands as it was without having to worry about innocent lives being taken due to her actions.

One way or another. She was shutting that son of a bitch down, for good.