by Cole Price
Harrison spun in his chair, tapped at his console. The screen appeared, full of static and transmission errors.
“. . . attacking urban centers world-wide.”
Humans in a crowded city street, running in panic.
“Power, communication, and transport grids are being taken down everywhere.”
Point-defense installations on an urban skyline, firing up at an unseen enemy.
“There’s been no word from the Alliance Navy or from Parliament. Communications with Arcturus Station are down.”
Whole city blocks on fire.
“Attacks are verified on Toyko . . .”
An enormous shape, made undefined by the camera’s violent motion, appearing to rise out of the sea as it moved to the attack.
“Shanghai . . .”
A terrible storm of meteors, soaring out of the clear sky to hammer at the center of a crowded city.
“New York City . . .”
A famous and iconic statue, destroyed in an instant as something far larger trampled it into dust.
“Mumbai . . .”
I gasped. First because I knew Mumbai and had friends there. Then because we finally had a clear view of the attacker.
Towering two kilometers high over the helpless city, like a vast sea creature somehow walking on the land, it lashed out with beams of crimson energy, leaving nothing but rubble and flames in its wake.
“Cam.” I felt a flash of amazement at the evenness of my own voice. “I think we had better see to those data. Now.”
A sharp sound from outside, like a ton of lab equipment suddenly falling to the floor.
Harrison turned, staring out the door.
Fletcher turned as well, looking down the corridor. “Hey, you guys don’t belong here . . .”
Gunfire.
Something picked Fletcher up and hammered him against the door-frame, tearing his body to shreds.
I tackled Harrison around the waist and bore him to the floor, then drew my Shuriken from inside my jacket and called up biotic power in my left hand.
Heavy boot-steps resounded in the corridor.
“Cam,” I whispered. “Whatever you do, stay down.”
He stared at me with wide, frightened eyes.
I saw a flicker of movement out of the corner of my eye. By instinct I lashed out with my biotics, bouncing a flash-bang grenade back out the door into the corridor.
Wham!
At once I leaped up and over Harrison’s heavy desk, flinging a singularity so that it would take effect just outside the door. I had just a moment to take in the two massive shapes caught up in my biotic vortex – heavy white and gold armor, assault rifles, Cerberus! – and then I fired, ripping through their armor and killing them both.
I leaned out just far enough to see down the corridor, glanced both ways. I saw three more Cerberus troops running in my direction. I took cover in the door-frame and fired at them, causing two of them to dive to the sides.
The third soldier crouched behind a heavy riot shield and continued to approach in the center of the corridor, firing back at me with a heavy pistol.
I bit my lip in thought, then reached out with my mind, grabbed the shield, and wrenched at it. Surprised, he failed to maintain his grip, and the shield flew away with a clatter. I riddled him with bullets.
“Taking casualties!”
“Damn! They’ve got some sort of asari commando!”
I bared my teeth in something that probably could not be called a smile.
Not quite, you nothos. But close enough, as they say, for government work.
Faiza had remarked on how stylish and attractive my white-and-blue ensemble was. She had not noticed that it worked perfectly well as light combat armor. With a built-in kinetic barrier.
I moved up, shedding Cerberus gunfire as I went, and took new cover a few meters down the corridor. From there I was in a perfect position to drop another singularity between my enemies. Once again they found themselves unable to deal with my biotics, dangling helpless in mid-air until I could tear through their armor with my sidearm.
I glanced around. For the moment the corridor stood empty, except for the dead. I ran back to Harrison’s office.
“Cam?”
He rose from behind his desk, sweating and pale. “What in heaven’s name . . .”
“Cerberus. I’ve taken care of them for the moment, but there are bound to be more on the way. We have to get to the Archives and transmit the data.”
He nodded, shaky but clearly thinking, and opened his omni-tool. “Faiza?”
No answer, even after he tried three times.
“Faiza planned to go to the mess hall while you and I met,” I told him at last. “The mess hall is centrally located and always has a number of people in it. Cam, Cerberus would probably have struck there first.”
He glanced at me in shock, and then nodded. “You’re undoubtedly right.”
“Do you have a sidearm? Anything you could use to defend yourself?”
“No. I’ve never learned to use one.”
I frowned. “You had better stay here, under cover.”
“No,” he said, some determination seeping back into his voice. “I know the Archives. I might be able to help you.”
“All right. If the Alliance is holding out anywhere, it will be at the tram station. That’s where we need to go.”
“Smashing. I know a short-cut through the labs.”
We hurried. I took the lead, sidearm and biotics at the ready, listening for any sign of more Cerberus troops. Soon we heard more gunfire up ahead, and the sound of heavy weapons. I began to worry: what if there are too many Cerberus between us and the Archives?
“This way,” said Harrison, pointing to the left.
“There they are!” More Cerberus troops, appearing some distance behind, breaking into a lumbering run to intercept us. Too many for me to deal with all at once.
I dropped a singularity into the corridor behind us and ran, following Harrison. He opened a door and rushed through, with me on his heels. As soon as I was inside, he locked the door behind me. I glanced around and saw several other human scientists, with confused expressions on their faces.
“Cam!”
“What’s going on?”
“These interruptions are intolerable . . .”
“Quiet, please.” Harrison held up his hands to gather attention. “The Archives are under attack. We must prepare to evacuate.”
Cerberus troops appeared in the corridor outside, looking at all of us through the transparent partitions along that wall. One of them tried the door, found it locked. Then he turned to a control panel beside the door and began examining it closely.
Harrison struggled to gain control of the scientists in the room. Uneasy, I glanced around to find escape routes. I saw another door in the back of the room, and moved in that direction, only to see the activation panel blink red as I approached it. A moment’s work with my omni-tool failed to crack it open.
“Cam!” I shouted, cutting through the growing babble. “We’re locked in.”
Harrison frowned, and then whirled to look at the Cerberus troops, still working with the control panel they had found.
“My God,” said one of the scientists. “The decon cycle.”
Another rushed to the corridor wall, began hammering on the transparent partition and screaming. The Cerberus troops took no notice.
Again I glanced around, my heart racing, frantic to find a way out of what began to look like a death trap.
Up there. The ventilation duct.
I saw a vent cover, large enough for someone to squeeze into the duct. My right fist flared blue-white. I seized the cover telekinetically and yanked it away. The humans turned to stare at me as I leaped up onto a lab table, scattering instruments and priceless artifacts. Another leap, assisted by a flare of biotics to manage my mass, and I had the edge of the duct in both hands. I scrambled into the tiny space.
“Cam! Come on!”
I heard a sharp buzz. Crimson light flared, giving the lab the look of a charnel house.
Time stretched out.
I realized Harrison had no way to make the climb in the moments we had left.
I caught his terrified gaze for just an instant. Then I recoiled, pulling myself up into the duct and rolling to the side, away from the opening.
I did my best to close my aural cavities to the sound, as the decontamination fields incinerated Harrison and his colleagues where they stood.
Chapter 6 : The Quest Interrupted
11 April 2186, Prothean Archives, Deseado Crater/Mars
Caught like vermin in a trap.
Stuck in a ventilation duct, two Cerberus troopers only moments behind me, I frantically crawled and squirmed to get away. Every time I paused to catch my bearings, my enemies began firing at me, forcing me to scurry further on.
I wasn’t sure where I was. I knew, though, that I was going the wrong way. The Archives chamber was behind me, getting more distant with every meter of duct traversed, and with it possibly the only hope any of us had to win the war against the Reapers.
Damn Cerberus!
I didn’t know how, but the Illusive Man’s soldiers had attacked the Archives with ruthless speed and almost no warning. The Alliance garrison might still be holding out, but I had found no other survivors on my side of the access tramway. I felt horribly alone.
The vehicle hangar might be in this direction. Perhaps I can get away somehow from these two beasts, steal a ground vehicle. But then what? Cross thousands of kilometers of rough country, to reach Port Lowell and my ship? That will take days, assuming I can navigate the Martian outback at all, and the Reapers will almost certainly be there before me.
It seemed like a terrible plan, but I had no other.
Gunfire behind me, much too close, echoing loudly in the tight space. I flinched as a bullet rang just beside my head, and tried to move even faster.
There. The end of the duct, and a vent cover. That must be the vehicle hangar.
I reached the cover, pushed at it, a sour taste of terror in my mouth as I heard the Cerberus troopers getting closer. Desperate, I flipped end for end and kicked at the cover with both legs, a blue flare of biotics lending some extra force. “Ai!”
The cover popped off with a great clang.
I flung myself into empty space, by great good luck landing with both feet firmly on a second-level catwalk. I vaulted over some containers, down to the floor, and ran. While I fled, I counted seconds in my mind. At the critical moment I spun around, just in time to see one Cerberus trooper jumping down and the other still in the mouth of the vent. My mind and my right hand went into motion. With a snarling noise, a singularity popped into existence right between the two of them, sweeping them both up into a vortex of forces.
Vermin in a trap can turn on you.
I drew my Shuriken and fired two bursts. They fell. I walked over, no longer in any hurry, and gave each of them their kill-shots.
Then the miracle occurred.
“Liara!”
I turned, and felt astonished relief wash over me like a joyous tide.
“Shepard!”
My bondmate had come, in full battle-rattle, two other soldiers at his side. I even recognized them.
“James.”
Built like a small mountain, even more imposing than usual in his heavy armor, James Vega grinned at me. “Doc. You’re a sight for sore eyes.”
“Ashley.” This time my voice sounded much more chilly.
Dark-haired and beautiful, looking as sleek and deadly as ever in her own combat gear, Ashley Williams gave me a silent, hesitant nod. Yes, she knew just why I had cause to be angry with her. Of course, she had reason to be angry with me as well.
Some unfinished business to resolve there.
Then Shepard swept me into an enthusiastic embrace. I strained for a moment to kiss him, just a brush of my lips against his to set fire running down my spine, and then he set me down.
“Thank the Goddess you’re alive,” I said.
“You too, Liara.”
“I was so worried when the reports came in. I’m sorry about Earth.”
“Yeah,” said Ashley, stepping up to stand just behind Shepard, her voice rough with strain. “It was difficult to leave.”
Compassion brushed old anger aside. “Ashley, I’m sorry.”
She only nodded, a hint of moisture in her eyes.
I turned back to Shepard. “Not that I’m ungrateful. The Goddess knows it’s a terrible mess here, and I was beyond desperate when you appeared. But why are you here?”
“Hackett ordered us to come. He wasn’t sure, but he said your work might have paid off.”
I gave him a small smile and turned away, leading them toward a window looking out on the Archives. “Yes. It has.”
“Hallelujah,” muttered James. “Some answers, finally.”
“Maybe. With the help of some of the researchers here, I’ve uncovered a blueprint for the Crucible.”
“Whoa, hold up,” said James. “What’s the Crucible?”
“A device. One that might wipe out the Reapers. If we can build it.”
“I saw your earlier reports,” said Shepard. “I guess I’ll believe it when I see it. How do we get the data?”
“We compiled everything in the Archives. I was almost ready to transmit the whole package to Admiral Hackett when Cerberus attacked. All we have to do is get across the tram or the pedway.” I pointed out the window. “That’s assuming Cerberus hasn’t locked them down. There were too many for me to deal with alone, but with all of us here, it might be feasible.”
“What are they after?” Shepard wondered.
“Yeah, they seemed hell-bent on catching you,” said James.
“I think they want what I’m here for,” I told them. “What we’re all here for. The Protheans came close to completing the Crucible. They were convinced that it would destroy the Reapers, but they ran out of time.”
Ashley nodded. “Anything powerful enough to destroy the Reapers . . .”
“Just might be something the Illusive Man would be interested in,” finished Shepard.
“So it’s a race to the Archives,” said James.
Boom. The floor trembled beneath our feet.
Shepard whirled, turning to stare at the main access doors on the second level of the hangar. A flare of light and heat appeared along the centerline of the door, signs of a cutting torch being applied to break into the locked compartment. “We’ve got company.”
“Bring it on,” growled James.
“Not this time, Lieutenant.”
“What?”
“Get back to the shuttle. If Cerberus beats us to the Archives, I need you covering the exits.”
“But . . .”
“Now, Lieutenant.”
James shook his head angrily, but he put up no more resistance. He stalked out onto the vehicle lift, checking his weapon and donning his helmet as Shepard operated the controls to lower him into the airlock compartment. The rest of us dove for cover as the lift closed.
“There she is! There’s the asari bitch!”
Cerberus troopers spilled out into the hangar.
This proved to be a serious mistake on their part. They were only expecting one asari archaeologist.
What they got was Shepard.
I did my part, of course. I dropped a singularity into the middle of the Cerberus formation, pulling two of them up into a helpless spin while Shepard and Ashley tore them to shreds with gunfire. Then Shepard produced a terribly powerful shockwave that detonated my singularity, throwing the rest of them off their feet.
“I didn’t know you could do that!” I observed.
“I’ve had a few months with not much to do but train.”<
br />
“All right, let’s see what else you remember.”
I called a warp up in my right hand, angry blue-white energy like a swarm of stinging insects. He saw it, remembered our fights against the Collectors, and nodded. He used a lightning-quick control gesture to fling a telekinetic pull across the open hangar, hauling two more Cerberus into the air. My warp slammed into his biotic field a moment later and detonated it.
BOOM!
Quite suddenly, no Cerberus remained alive.
“Come on,” said Shepard. “It looks like the lift to the second floor is offline. Let’s find another way up.”
We searched the room. It didn’t take long for Ashley to spot a tracked crawler mounted on a maintenance lift. With the lift extended, we climbed up onto the crawler and out into the second-level catwalk.
“Liara, there’s something I don’t get,” said Ashley while we worked. “This is a secured station. How did Cerberus even get in here?”
“I don’t know. We were watching the reports of the Reaper attack on Earth, and then chaos. Cerberus everywhere, killing anything that moved.”
“That’s very strange timing. Do you suppose Cerberus is working with the Reapers?”
“I have a hard time believing that,” said Shepard. “Unless their leadership has become indoctrinated somehow.”
“That’s not impossible,” I pointed out as we all emerged onto the catwalk. “Cerberus has been working hard to reverse-engineer Reaper technology. They may have crossed that line without even realizing it.”
“No way to determine that here,” said Shepard. “Come on. Where’s the nearest access to the Archives?”
“The pedway is nearby,” I said. “Through here . . .”
I heard a shout, saw one of the Archives researchers running toward us with raw panic on his face. Then we heard a bark of gunfire, and he fell dead.
Shepard growled in rage and attacked. Ashley and I opened fire, but I think Shepard alone accounted for all four of the Cerberus troopers in the next room. He hauled one trooper over a sheaf of conduits and killed him with a biotic-enhanced strike to the face, whirled to fire twice with his shotgun at another, and then flash-charged across the room to take out the last two. I barely had a chance to blink.