"You're still here?"
Benezia looked out from the office and approached me with a light smirk.
"We'll have a lot of business here, so let's resolve the issues quickly and you can go your way while we work here."
"Excellent."
I nodded.
"There is important information in Liara's head that confirms our efforts were not in vain, so..."
"Later."
Benezia waved it off briefly.
"We've long since just been doing what we must, without counting on confirmation or refutation of information. Simply because having a goal makes life more interesting; it's like returning us to the age of Matrons, when the itch in the soul has subsided, but sitting still isn't quite pleasant yet. And we get our dividends from our affairs. So, confirmation of information can wait a dozen hours..."
"Then what is your business?"
"I'm taking almost all the Huntresses; I'm leaving only the sisters Lissi and Missi with you. They are sufficiently trained to assist in various missions. Does that suit you?"
"More than."
I nodded calmly.
"And since you're currently holding the Administrator by something I thought he didn't have, you can give permission to unload two Mako. As I understand it, the PKO around the research complexes is much more serious than here, so our chances of breaking through there on the SSV Normandy are slim. We'll have to go by land."
"Of course..."
She turned around and, opening the office door, shouted.
"Aria, get our boy a pass for Mako-type vehicles, or better yet, for everything possible."
"One minute..."
Aria's voice sounded slightly muffled; she clearly didn't bother to speak any louder. A few minutes later, the authorization was forwarded to me, thanks to which the Mako were unloaded from the SSV Normandy without any trouble.
"I have a question..."
Williams decided to draw my attention.
"...why did we put on the Exoskeletons immediately without asking anyone's permission, but we got permission for the Mako? Sir, don't you think that's somewhat illogical?"
"Partially..."
I shrugged carelessly.
"...however, there are two big differences in actions when the port is managed by a conditionally hostile sapient, or when that sapient is controlled by friendly forces. If the Administrator had cooperated immediately, I would have requested permission from the SSV Normandy to move in armor, with weapons, and in Exoskeletons, as well as to move the Mako, however..."
"Nonsense..."
Williams shook her head.
"Williams, hold your tongue."
Chifuyu Orimura decided to shut up the girl who was thinking a bit too much of her own importance.
"You were only accepted because Jane took a liking to you for some reason, so you'd better think about how not to lose her favor, or earn Captain Shepard's favor, because you could still be kicked out, and with such a recommendation..."
"And what should I do... spread my legs for him?"
Williams lowered her voice, of course, but I heard her perfectly.
"What a fo-o-ol..."
Chifuyu Orimura shook her head.
"The Captain won't even look your way. The whole crew already understands he's looking with interest at Jane, Tali'Zorah, and Liara, so you don't even have a chance at a fling for interest here."
Chifuyu Orimura said this even more quietly, but I still heard it, just as I heard a quiet squeak from Tali'Zorah, who was also listening in on the conversation.
"Cut the chatter!"
Jane Shepard decided to interrupt these conversations, and judging by what I heard in her voice, the reason was not only that she wanted to call everyone to order, but also that she herself was a bit embarrassed by these talks.
Soon we were in the garage, loading onto the Mako—specifically onto, as most of our squad was in Exoskeletons and we simply couldn't all fit inside. The Mako pilots were the Huntress girls, though they were a bit unhappy about it, and the gunners were Liara T'Soni and Urdnot Wrex, for whom I simply didn't have an Exoskeleton.
On our way!
As soon as the gate leaves opened, a ragged fire was opened on us, which I took on a Biotic shield. At the same time, the gunners in the Mako didn't lose their heads, nor did those on the armor, and they opened extremely heavy fire on the Geth, who turned out to be a whole crowd outside the gates. And since the Geth guns couldn't penetrate my barrier, and there were no Geth Colossus to be seen, we dealt with them very quickly.
"And? Why are we standing around?"
"Boss, before we set off... and while we're not in a combat situation..."
One of the Huntresses decided to address me, but immediately an approving reprimand from Liara T'Soni was heard over the comms.
"Belay that. All questions later. I understand what you want to say, but now is not the time. So just do what you were told to do."
"Yes, ma'am!"
The sisters' synchronized response made it clear they weren't in the mood to argue, and the Mako immediately moved off, picking up speed very quickly. Unfortunately, not maximum speed, as the Exoskeletons were quite heavy and simply didn't allow the Mako to use its full potential. However, we didn't need that; the speed we attained was quite sufficient.
"Enemy at ten o'clock!"
Jane Shepard was the first to notice the Geth platforms and, immediately notifying everyone, opened fire on them. A second later, Chifuyu Orimura and Rebecca Lee began working on them as well. The others didn't waste ammunition, as there weren't many opponents.
"Behind us! Air!"
Tali'Zorah's voice made us turn, and immediately I created a barrier over us, which groaned but withstood the impact of several shots from a Geth Dropship. Meanwhile, Tali'Zorah and Garrus Vakarian opened fire on it with their guns, causing it to soon start smoking and falling. Except instead of falling away from us, the Geth decided it would be much more advantageous to fall directly onto us.
I had to change the shield configuration, causing the shuttle to slide to the side. Though, from the fall of such a massive object, the ground shook anyway.
"Well, fuck... kamikaze Geth... didn't think I'd ever see that."
Rebecca Lee couldn't keep her tongue behind her teeth.
"I didn't think I'd be fighting Geth at all..."
Jane Shepard decided to support the conversation.
"...so let's just accept that our lives will never be the same."
"Yeah... especially after what you saw after contact with the Beacon, right?"
Chifuyu Orimura spoke in a serious tone.
"And that's just a total disaster. No, seriously, I don't even understand how to fight those monsters that destroyed the Protheans!"
Jane Shepard even raised her voice slightly.
"Air! At three o'clock!"
But the new shuttle wasn't heading in our direction, and it was also too far for aimed fire, so we were forced to watch as it flew to a point ahead of us and dropped its troops without slowing down. And in the drop was a Geth Colossus, as well as about ten Geth.
"By the way, Tali'Zorah, do you need new platforms?"
Last time we couldn't stay on the planet for long and so we just loaded several Geth platforms on board, but on the condition that Tali'Zorah would dismantle them and ensure the ship's complete safety. And now I decided to ask if she needed additional materials for study.
"No... I haven't finished with the previous ones yet. And thank you for the offer."
"Always welcome."
At these words, we were close enough for the Geth Colossus to open fire on us, but we didn't stay on the sidelines either. However, the Geth Colossus itself wasn't such a difficult target, as the previous fight with a similar platform had shown, but additional difficulties were created by the fact that the road was quite narrow, leaving almost no room for maneuver.
I had to take several of its shots on the barrier; however, they turned out to be significantly weaker than the shuttle's shots, so my barrier held them without any problems. And while under the protection of the barrier, we dealt with the Geth Colossus as well as the Geth.
"Damn... Jane Shepard, no offense to you, but how I regret not serving under John earlier. This is just a stroll, not combat operations."
"It really is just a stroll..."
Jane Shepard clearly drifted into her memories.
"I've already told you, during the defense of Elysium, I was not far from the place where John was fighting. And there... even he as a Biotic could do a lot, but far from everything. And his subordinates, along with him, ended up in the deepest hole..."
"Like we are now?"
Garrus Vakarian spoke with a light smirk.
"Hunting a rogue Spectre who's acquired a Dreadnought belonging to a race that once destroyed the Protheans... is that not the deepest hole?"
"No..."
I shook my head.
"...for now, this is only its threshold. The deepest hole will be if the Council and governments don't start preparing and we, when the Reapers arrive, have to fly from planet to planet and negotiate mutual aid."
"Fuck..."
A hint of pain was heard in Garrus Vakarian's voice.
"...and that's likely how it will be."
"I hope not. Because I don't believe any of the currently developed races can withstand the Reapers alone. No, perhaps it won't be as profitable to destroy someone, at least until the others are destroyed, but..."
"And what should we do?"
"Prepare, obviously..."
"Complex ahead. Looks like we've arrived."
Lissa notified us of what we already saw, but when we drove up to the complex gates, they didn't open automatically, nor when we provided the necessary access code.
"And what is that supposed to mean?"
At that moment, Aria T'Loak contacted me.
"Let me guess, Peak 15 is out of order?"
"You've already arrived?"
"Yeah, and the gates at the entrance won't let us into the complex. So guessing some kind of malfunction wasn't hard."
"I see. End of transmission."
The connection broke, and I looked at the gates.
"Lissi, mine the gates around the perimeter. Not much needed, just in the places where the locks are likely located, so that afterward I can calmly knock the gates inward with Biotics."
"One second..."
The girl quickly left the Mako and began mining the gates.
All in all, it took her about ten minutes, and even then, only because she wasn't trying to do anything special. Just placed shaped charges.
"Everyone take cover!"
However, her command was just a formality, as by that point we were all already outside the Mako, which had been positioned sideways on purpose.
"Detonating!"
Following this command, a series of explosions rang out, and a few dozen seconds later, when the dust settled, I knocked the gates down with a push and we were able to drive into the complex.
"In the complex garage, emergency lighting was burning, and the voice of a VI was heard."
"Warning... error... communication system failure.... error, reactor malfunction... error... VI restart required... underground monorail to Rift Station is non-functional. Warning... error... communication system failure.... error, reactor malfunction... error... VI restart required... underground monorail to Rift Station is non-functional."
It kept repeating and repeating this message, and it was a bit annoying.
"Well, we don't seem to need to go there... so everything is fine?"
Tali'Zorah asked this question with a slight hint of doubt in her voice.
"We'll see."
I shrugged vaguely.
"According to the laws of the genre..."
Jane Shepard decided to enlighten Tali'Zorah.
"It's exactly that laboratory we'll need. So, most likely, we'll have to fix the reactor and set up communications, though I wouldn't do the latter. We don't need Saren Arterius, or rather his accomplices, getting information about our approach."
"That's true..."
Tali'Zorah nodded in agreement.
"...and what will we do next?"
"Next, we'll figure out the situation and first try to get the VI to talk. And that's your task, little Gadget."
"Gadget?"
"Hee-hee-hee..."
Rebecca Lee laughed, but the others didn't get my reference. And if Liara T'Soni and the other aliens weren't supposed to understand, then the humans... that's disappointing.
"And what's so funny?"
"No, are you serious?"
Rebecca Lee looked at everyone and even made her helmet visor transparent so those around could see her bewilderment.
"It's a animation classic! Oh, you... uncultured people... Tali'Zorah, all you need to know is that you were compared to a very cute cartoon heroine who could literally build anything out of whatever was under her feet. And if you're interested, when we're on the ship, I'll help you find the cartoon and you can watch it. There are many episodes, of course, but a few will be enough to understand exactly who is being talked about."
"Thank you..."
Tali'Zorah nodded gratefully, and meanwhile we reached the next door, which also refused to open.
"Blow it up?"
Lissi asked this question in a voice full of enthusiasm.
"Wait!"
Tali'Zorah stopped me before I could give a positive answer. "There's a panel on our side here, so I can just hack the system and open the door. A five-minute job."
"Alright, proceed."
I gave the go-ahead for technical shamanism from Tali'Zorah, who very quickly set to work...
Lissi and Missi, Huntress twins.
***
Read the story months before public release — early chapters are on my Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/Granulan