Mass Effect: The Requiem Saga: Genesis

Mass Effect: The Requiem Saga: Genesis.

Volume 2.

Chapter 13.

Joker: Engaging stealth systems…

The Normandy flies into Eden Prime’s atmosphere as the colony begins to take shape.

Joker: Somebody was doing some serious digging here, Captain.

Down in the cargo bay of The Normandy, I was standing in the cargo bay along with Kaidan, Jenkins, Nihlus, and Captain Anderson. We were all suited up in our armor at this point, Kaidan was in the process of checking his weapons to make sure everything in order while Jenkins was just bouncing nervously, or excitedly, around.

Anderson had turned to us at this point, now taking the time to speak loudly, as The Normandy was making quite a lot of noise.

Anderson: Your team’s the muscle in this operation, Shepard. Go in heavy and head straight for the dig site!

Kaidan finished checking his weapons, walking up beside me.

Kaidan: What about survivors, Captain?

Anderson: Helping survivors is a secondary objective! The beacon’s your top priority!

Kaidan looked a little disgruntled with that, but Joker’s voice came over the intercom, cutting the conversation off.

Joker: Approaching drop point one.

Jenkins turned to Nihlus, who had also finished his preparations.

Jenkins: Nihlus? You’re coming with us?

Nihlus looked at his shotgun for a moment before jogging forward, yelling back…

Nihlus: I move faster on my own!

Nihlus then jumped off the cargo bay, Anderson spoke up again.

Anderson: Nihlus will scout out ahead. He’ll feed you status reports throughout the mission; otherwise, I want radio silence!

“Right. Well… we’ll try and have his back!”

Anderson patted me roughly on the shoulder.

Anderson: The mission’s yours now, Shepard. Good luck!

The Normandy swooped in low once more, the sounds of battle going on down below.

Joker: We are approaching drop point two…

The Normandy slowly dropped to the ground, but at about the height of thirty feet, Joker’s voice came over the intercom.

Joker: Commander, we’ve got a situation.

“What?”

Joker: The ground’s too hot, I can’t go in without risking the ship.

“Dammit.”

I looked around to see what we could do and then it struck me.

“Uh… go about ten feet to… your left.

Joker: Uh…

Joker tried his best to comply and then we were stationed right in front of a tree.

“Perfect!”

I looked at the two men under my command, took a deep breath, and ran forward. They tried to grab me, confused on what I was doing.

Kaidan: Uh… Commander!?

I leaped from the edge of the cargo hold to the tree, grabbing the branches as my body swung forward. I kept myself in place, finding my balance. I don’t know why I thought of that, but I guess it worked.

“All right… now you two!”

I started to climb down and sure enough, Jenkins and Kaidan followed suit. The cargo bay door closed up above us and The Normandy flew off.

Jenkins: Good thinking, Commander.

“It was nothing.”

We stood in the middle of a clearing in the nature around us near the edge of a cliff. We took a look around.

Kaidan: Ship perimeter secure, Commander.

“Good…”

Nihlus chimed in over the intercom as we all pulled out our weapons.

Nihlus: This place got hit hard, Commander. Hostiles everywhere. Keep your guard up.

I didn’t respond to him as the channel was cut off, but we took a few more moments just to scan the area, seeing a pathway out of the clearing. But even though we took that into account, the actual scene around us shook us a little bit.

Jenkins: Oh God… what happened here?

Kaidan: I don’t know… Smells like smoke and death. I don’t think Eden Prime will ever be the same again.

“Probably that damn ship’s fault…”

We moved quickly to the pathway, but we were stopped by… some odd little floaty things.

Kaidan: What the hell are those?

Jenkins: Gas bags. Don’t worry, they’re harml-

“Shit!”

I shot one immediately with my assault rifle, the thing exploding in front of us.

Kaidan: Damn!

“Ah… aheh… sorry. False alarm.”

We trudged through the river and headed into yet another clearing clearing, walking forward steadily.

“Whoa… wait, wait, wait.”

We all got onto our knees as I put one hand behind myself to make sure no one got in front of me.

“I swear… I thought I saw something.”

I let them move in front of me, their guard still up. Jenkins began moving quickly ahead as I heard something. A humming.

And then, as Jenkins started to move up the hill in front of us, two drones flew out from cover and began to fire.

“No!”

Jenkins: Argh!

Jenkins was riddled with lasers, his armor being ripped apart as he fell to the ground.

Kaidan: Shit… recon drones!

We didn’t jump into cover as I had already let out a large assault rifle spray that took out all three of the Geth Recon Drones. We kept our guard up, but Kaidan assured the both of us.

Kaidan: Negative contacts, Commander.

I let out the breath I held in my lungs, turning to the dead body next to me. Jenkins was sitting in a pool of his blood that was gradually increasing. I cursed under my breath. I swore this wouldn’t happen again. I swore, dammit.

As I clenched my eyes shut and tried to let the anger with myself subside, Kaidan kneeled down and closed his eyes.

Kaidan: Ripped right through his shields. Never had a chance.

“Dammit…”

I pinched my nose.

“We’ll… we’ll bury him properly. But we gotta go on now. We need to stay focused or we’ll end up like him.”

Kaidan: Aye, aye, sir.

After taking another hard look at our previous squadmate, we both made it up the hill, only for us to get greeted by assault drones.

Immediately, I slid into cover on both of my knees. I expected Kaidan to do the same, but I looked up, and saw him begin to glow blue. He shot his hand out and three biotic blasts were shot out and they all hit their target, throwing the drones back into object that caused them to explode.

“Oh. Right, you’re a biotic.”

Kaidan: Yeah. Comes in handy, sometimes.

I stood up from out of cover and we both started moving forward again past several oddly shaped trees when Nihlus came over our comm feeds.

Nihlus: I’ve got some burned out buildings here, Shepard. A lot of bodies. I’m going to check it out. I’ll try to catch up with you at the dig site.

We nodded and headed forward again, only stopping when we heard more laser fire.

And then, someone came into view.

A girl in white, pink, and black armor ran into a clearing as lasers fired from behind her, two recon drones hot in pursuit. One shot hit her shields, causing her to almost fall, but she jumped onto the ground, whipping out her pistol in a fluid motion and firing it at the drones quickly, taking them both out.

However, our attention turned from her to something she had ran past. Two Geth held a struggling colonist down on a strange device, the girl getting to her feet as a spike shot out from the device, impaling the human colonist.

Colonist: AAGH! Ghhrughh…

The colonist almost immediately died as blood dripped down from his body. The soldier ran back and took cover behind a boulder; breathing heavily as the two Geth began to investigate the area.

We jumped into action then, sprinting forward and taking the heat off of her. The Geth fired at us, but Kaidan hit a lucky shot, nailing one of them in the lense on their head and taking that one out of the fight immediately.

I stopped and watched the Geth die, but as I did, the other Geth ran up close and attempted to shoot me.

“Guh!”

I span around a shot and, holding my assault rifle as if it were a bat, I slammed the gun into the Geth’s head and its head caved in, sparking as it died and fell to the ground.

“Hhh…”

I turned to the soldier who had walked out of cover at this point and I immediately recognized her. I don’t know why or how… but I did. Ashley Williams.

Ashley: Thanks for your help. I didn’t think I was going to make it.

“Ashley…?”

Ashley: Uh… how do you know my name?

I looked at her face for a moment, but then shook my head.

“Uh… well… I don’t know, I saw your face somewhere I guess.”

Ashley: Oh. Well, uh, okay. As you seem to already know… I’m Gunnery Chief Ashley Williams of the 212. I guess you’re in charge, right?

“Yeah. I’m Commander Sam Shepard and this is Lieutenant Kaidan Alenko. Are you all right?”

Ashley: Well, a few scrapes and burns. Nothing too serious. The others weren’t so lucky.

Ashley took a deep breath, looking at the floor for a moment before pacing back and forth.

“What happened around here before the shit hit the fan?”

Ashley: We were sent out a couple nights ago from the main colony to secure the area. Seemed like a routine patrol until the geth hit us. We never knew they were coming.

“And the researchers?”

Ashley: I don’t know. They set up camp near the beacon. The 232 was with them. Maybe their unit fared better than mine.

Ashley shook her head.

Ashley: Oh man… we were patrolling the perimeter when the attack hit. We tried to get off a distress call, but they cut off our communications. I’ve been fighting for my life ever since.

“I’m guessing your squad…”

Ashley: I… I… I don’t think any of the others… I think I’m the only one left.

Ashley looked distraught, nearly like she was going to cry.

“Hey, hey. Don’t worry. This is not your fault at all. You probably couldn’t have done anything anyway.”

Ashley professionally nodded with a sigh, not showing too much emotion.

Ashley: Yes, sir. We held our position as long as we could. Until the geth overwhelmed us.

Kaidan: The geth haven’t been seen outside The Veil in nearly 200 years. Why are they here now?

Ashley: They must have come for the beacon. The dig site is close. Just over that rise. It might still be there.

“What else do you know about them? The geth, I mean?”

Ashley: Just what I remember from history class in school. They’re synthetics. Non-organic lifeforms with limited AI programming created by the quarians a few centuries ago. They were supposed to be a source of cheap labor, but ended up turning on the quarians and drove them into exile. After that, they just kind of disappeared behind the Perseus Veil. Nobody’s really heard much from them since.

“And the beacon?”

Ashley: They were doing some digging out here to extend the monorail and expand the colony. A few weeks ago they unearthed some Prothean ruins… and the beacon. Suddenly every scientist expert in the colony was interested. That’s when they brought us in to secure the site. I don’t know much about the beacon itself. But I heard one of the researchers say this could be the biggest scientific discovery of the century.

“Thanks for the info. But uh… by the way, have you seen a turian around here? Tall, dark, and gruesome-looking? Kinda Spectre-y?”

Ashley: There aren’t any turians on Eden Prime. None that I’ve ever met, at least. It’s a human colony. Not sure if I’d be able to tell if one was a Spectre, anyway.

Kaidan: If you saw this guy, you’d know. Carries enough firepower to wipe out a whole platoon. Luckily, he’s on our side.

Ashley: Well, sorry. Like I said, no turians.

“Well, let’s go. You should come with us, we need that beacon, we’re down one man and apparently I’m supposed to be the muscle of this operation.”

Ashley: All right.

Ashley took a look around.

Ashley: It used to be beautiful here. I swear somebody’s going to pay for this. But come on, the beacon’s at the far end of this trench.

We fought our way through the trench, the fight being easy enough as we approached them silently.

Ashley: This is the dig site. The beacon was right here. It must have been moved.

Kaidan: By who? Our side? Or the geth?

Ashley: Hard to say. Maybe we’ll know more after we check out the research cam-

“No, it was moved by us.”

Ashley: What?

“There are skid marks here and then they disappear. Meaning they must have put it onto a transport vehicle. Geth have better technology than us, they wouldn’t need to drag it, they’d probably have a transporter of some sort.”

Ashley: That’s true, I guess.

“Then we need to get to it fast before the geth do. I wonder if anyone is still alive…”

Ashley: If they were lucky, maybe. They could be hiding up in the camp on the top of the ridge. It’s up the ramps.

As we began to leave the area, Nihlus came in over our comms.

Nihlus: Change of plans, Shepard. There’s a small spaceport up ahead. I want to check it out. I’ll wait for you there.

Then we made our way up the dirt ramp and out of the dig site when we noticed a large smoke plume coming from up ahead.

Ashley: Shit… looks like they hit the camp hard.

A ruined and wrecked camp was at the top of the ridge with three odd spike machines that sat upon what looked like a tripod riddled throughout the camp. We took a good look around.

The corpses on the spikes looked… different, now. They didn’t look human. It was covered in wires, tubes, technology that glowed with an odd blue energy, its eyes in particular. It looked like all oxygen had been sucked from its body. A husk of what it once was.

Kaidan: It’s a good place for an ambush. Keep your guard up.

And then, almost a second after Kaidan said that, one of the spikes retracted, the husk moving off of the tripod with unnatural jerks and weird movements. It moaned as if it was in constant pain.

“Holy shit…”

Kaidan: Oh, god! They’re still alive!

Ashley: What did… what did the geth do to them?

And then, with a rabid screech, the husk ran toward us like a wild animal. I nearly ran back, but when I saw the others were holding their positions, I did as well.

But then I noticed… they weren’t moving. They were just kind of staying there. Almost as if they were hoping for it to stop.

Kaidan: Stay back!

Ashley: Hold it right there!

But the husk kept moving. It didn’t understand. It didn’t know. I don’t think it knew what it was doing at all. And if it did… all it wanted was to kill.

The husk lunged forward, but before it could grab either Kaidan or Ashley, I took a large step forward, whipping out my omniblade and stabbing it in the chest. I ripped the blade out, but before it completely died, it sent off a small shot of electricity, striking me and causing me to fall to my knees in pain.

“Ggh…!”

Kaidan: Commander!

The other two husks had gotten off of their spikes, coming towards the squad. I could barely register that as my eyes were clenched shut in pain. Kaidan and Ashley let loose a barrage of gunfire, stopping the husks short in their path.

Ashley: Are you okay?

I grunted, getting up onto my feet.

“Yeah… sorry. That hurt like a bitch.”

Ashley: I could tell. We should move.

And that we did. Toward the last building that looked relatively unscathed in comparison to the rest of the camp.

“Check the building. Maybe there are some survivors.”

Ashley: That door. It’s closed. Security lock’s engaged.

“I’ll try and override it…”

Kaidan and Ashley took cover on either side of the door as I went to work on this. While on leave, I had familiarized myself with the basic equipment of this new universe. Omnitools, omni-gel, most types of weapons, and how to fly a flying car. Which was particularly awesome.

And then, the door opened.

We burst into the room, our guns at the ready, but all we noticed were two people, a woman with short red hair and a man with brown hair. And one of them looked particularly glad to see us, her nametag read Dr. Warren, while the other one looked… not exactly here in the moment, and his nametag read Dr. Manuel.

Dr. Warren: Humans! Thank the Maker!

Maker? Isn’t that something from… Dragon Age? Agh. I don’t know. Whatever.

Dr. Manuel: Hurry! Close the door! Before they come back!

“It’s all right. You’re both safe now. We’ll take care of them if they try and come around.

Dr. Warren: Thank you. I think we’ll be okay now. It looks like everyone’s gone.

Ashley: Hey, I know you, you’re Dr. Warren, the one in charge of the excavation. Do you know what happened to the beacon?

Dr. Warren: It was moved to the spaceport this morning. Manuel and I stayed behind to help pack up the camp. When the attack came, the marines held them off long enough for us to hide. They gave their lives to save us.

Suddenly, the other doctor piped up.

Dr. Manuel: No one is saved! The age of humanity is ended. Soon, only ruin and corpses will remain.

I looked at him as his eyes blinked repeatedly, almost uncontrollably. He must have broken under the circumstances… but there was something about what he was saying. Something that rung true to me. Like… a memory. A memory telling me he’s right.

“What happened to him?”

Dr. Warren: Manuel has a brilliant mind but he’s always been a bit… unstable. Genius and madness are two sides of the same coin.

Dr. Manuel: Is it madness to see the future? To see the detruction rushing toward us? To understand there is no escape? No hope? No, I am not mad. I’m the only sane one left.

Something is telling me you’re right, Dr. Manuel. I looked at him with a hard stare once again.

What had he seen?

Dr. Warren: I gave him an extra dose of his meds after the attack.

I tore my gaze away from him to ask for more information.

“What happened during the attack?”

Dr. Warren sighed.

Dr. Warren: It all happened so fast. One second we were gathering up our equipment. The next we were hiding in the shed while the geth swarmed the camp.

Dr. Manuel: Agents of the destroyers. Bringers of darkness. Heralds of our extinction.

Dr. Warren: We could hear the battle outside. Gunfire. Screams. I thought it would never end. Then, everything went quiet. We just sat there, too afraid to move. Until you came along.

I scratched my cheek for a moment, thinking about what next to ask.

“Any information on the beacon would be helpful.”

Dr. Warren: It’s some type of data module from a galaxy-wide communications network. Remarkably well preserved. It could be the greatest scientific discovery of our lifetime! Miraculous new technologies. Groundbreaking medical advances. Who knows what secrets are locked inside?

Something tells me I already know. But I can’t remember. Dammit.

Dr. Manuel: We have unearthed the heart of evil. Awakened the beast. Unleashed the darkness.

Dr. Warren: Manuel! Please! This isn’t the time.

“Have you seen a turian around?”

Dr. Manuel: I saw him! The prophet. Leader of the enemy. He was here, before the attack.

Kaidan shook his head at the madman.

Kaidan: That’s impossible. Nihlus was with us on The Normandy before the attack. He couldn’t have been here.

Dr. Warren: I’m sorry. Manuel’s still a bit… unsettled. We haven’t seen your turian. We’ve been hiding in here since the attack.

I ignored her and walked up to the doctor.

“What did you see?”

Dr. Warren: I assure you, he’s just-

Dr. Manuel: Darkness… You don’t know… you’ll never know until it’s too late. Our lives are so fragile… we never knew it until now. You can’t stop it. Nobody can stop it. Night is falling. The darkness of eternity. You’re wasting your time. The age of humanity is over. Our extinction is inevitable. Can you hear them talking? They’re coming.

Dr. Warren: Hush, Manuel. Go lie down. You’ll feel better once the medication kicks in.

I looked at him as he began to mutter to himself, walking away from us. He knew something.

Ashley: Come on, Commander. I’ll take us to the spaceport.

~X~

Nihlus took cover quickly at the spaceport, holding his assault rifle at the ready as he peeked out from the edge. He stayed put for a few moments, then burst out of cover. He leveled his gun at the figure he saw in front of him, but hesitated as he began to make its features out. It wasn’t a geth.

Nihlus: Saren?

A turian in faded white, grey, and silver armor with tubes and wires coming from here and there, as well as a cowl over his long fringe. A cybernetically grafted arm that looked like it had come off of a geth had replaced his entire left arm. He looked like he had cybernetic implants in his body. His plates were pale grey with white markings while his actual skin was also pale white, with searing blue eyes to top it all off. He casually turned to Nihlus.

Saren: Nihlus.

Nihlus let his guard down, talking to what appeared to be his old friend.

Nihlus: This isn’t your mission, Saren. What are you doing here?

Saren walked past Nihlus slowly, patting his shoulder lightly and reassuringly with his non-synthetic hand.

Saren: The Council thought you could use some help on this one.

Nihlus: I wasn’t expecting to find the geth here. The situation’s bad.

Saren: Don’t worry.

Saren turned around, drawing his gun silently and pointing it at the unsuspecting turian’s head.

Saren: I’ve got it under control.

~X~

We walked up the top of the hill when we heard a loud machine roar.

“Holy shit…”

Kaidan: What is that? Off in the distance.

Ashley: it a ship… Look at the size of it!

There, behind the spaceport, stood the same ship we had seen on the distress call coming out of the clouds. The ship’s design resembled a mollusk of some sort. It glowed and pulsed with red energy, making that same roaring machine noise that had shook me to the core earlier. It stayed there, as if to watch us, attacking at something on the ground we couldn’t see. It… it was terrifying.

And I still had that feeling of familiarity that I didn’t understand. I wanted to kill it... I knew it was dangerous, but not only because of what it did, but because of what I knew it could do.

I know I know it from somewhere… but I had forgotten it. Damn it. Damn it!

Kaidan: Commander? Are you all right?

I was taken out of my own thoughts by Kaidan grabbing my arm.

“Oh… uh… yeah Yeah, let’s go.”

But suddenly, a laser shot past my head.

“Whoa!”

We all ducked down into cover, seeing that there were geth and husks moving in.

“Defensive positions, don’t move forward. Just pick ‘em off from here!”

Ashley began to shoot at the Geth soldiers who tried to make it up the hill, however, she had missed three husks that had come toward us. Kaidan was able to knock back one with a warp blast, but the last two got close enough to where I was in cover where it was in distance.

So I sprang to my feet, using my assault rifle to wrap around the husk’s head, slamming it into the waist high cover. I raised the rifle above myself and then slammed it back down, caving the husk’s head in. I then jumped back as the electricity fired from it.

The final one jumped at me again, but I fell to one knee, grabbed the husk by its shoulder, and shot a concussive shot into its chest, blowing it back into the air, killing it.

By that time, the last of the enemies had been taken out, so we made it onto the spaceport to see someone familiar lying on the ground.

Kaidan: That’s Nihlus, Commander…

“Oh shit.”

We ran up to the body on the ground and Kaidan immediately checked his pulse. I noticed a slight cut in the back of his head as well as one part of his fringe had broken off.

Kaidan: Commander…

I looked at Kaidan who was sighing in relief.

Kaidan: He’s alive.

To Be Continued…