[Book Three] Chapter 18: Hope & dreams

Chapter 18: Hope & dreams

Urdnot Wrex had not been very happy when Primarch Victus told him about his many times predecessor’s actions against the Krogans. Not happy at all. Jane did her best to calm him down and succeeded. Since Victus was still alive and no weapon had been fired it was deemed that Wrex had taken the revelation rather well and didn’t put a stop to the alliance (despite the cure already being ready) between his species and the Turians. Despite saying otherwise he saw Victus with a bit more respect than he gave any turian (with the exception of Garrus) for having the quad to fess up and do his best to fix the problem at hand.

The rescue mission of the Turian’s 9th Platoon had not been easy. Reapers were crawling everywhere. The battlefield was a complete maze of ruins of buildings from the glory days of the Krogan’s civilization and it made moving forward difficult. They did reach Victus’ son who was on the verge of being killed for his actions by enraged subordinates blaming him for the fiasco of their mission. Apparently Tarquin Victus ( and didn’t that make Rick snort) had chosen to fly low above the ruins instead of fighting head on the reapers forces and suffer heavy casualties. It was not a turian tactic to avoid conflict but to Tarquin the mission was too important to simply follow the turian military textbook on strategy. On paper it was the right thing to do, avoiding the enemy to avoid casualty while still preserving their cover. Rick had approved. However the turians  had the mother of all bad luck; reapers troops were also on the ground and took down the turians vessels obviously resulting in casualties and even more since the survivors were scattered in small groups in the area. In the end Tarquin lost more men than he would have if he had just followed the protocol. The poor guy was way above his head and out of sorts, so much that he didn’t even put back in his place his subordinate that was way past insubordination. Rick took pity on the Turian leader and punched the irate and aggressive turian and crossed the t and dotted the i so everyone was on the same page. Tarquin made the right call with what he had. It wasn’t his fault that everything went to shit.

“That’s war and that’s the black ops. You go out there alone with dubious intel and you adapt because most of the time everything goes to shit for reasons outside your control and because mainly the intel is bullshit. If you can’t accept that, soldier, then you’re not made for the black ops let alone holding a rifle and being in the army.”

That quieted down everyone, even if they were still unhappy with the situation. Things didn’t turn out for the best when on their way to the bomb, Cerberus blocked their way with massive numbers. The team had to go through a literal no man’s land with artillery shots landing everywhere. Unfortunately for the terrorists Jane and Rick just biotically charged to the other side, taking care of everyone in their way and killed the one responsible for raining hell on the area.  A pincer attack later and there were no more Cerberus soldiers.
When they reached the bomb, it was already dug up and armed if the tactical retreat of what was left of Cerberus was any indication. It turned out they were just regrouping to stop anyone from disarming the bomb. When Tarquin asked Jane to cover him with the team while he did the disarming she proposed Rick instead. That was not his first rodeo, he was a genius and perhaps the best hacker around. He declined citing that there was a faster and sure way and that Cerberus had probably booby trapped the code. In the end Jane let him do as he wished while holding the line against the multiple Cerberus groups shooting at them. It took the helmet man and Tarquin, who wanted to help, to physically separate the power source of the bomb and the detonator. That took less than fifteen seconds, giving them plenty of time to assist the team with what was left of Cerberus. Out of curiosity, Rick cracked the encryption and as he expected the code was booby trapped.

Getting back on the Normandy, Jane and Rick didn’t take a break and went directly to the com center, where Victus thanked them for saving his men, to plan the release of the cure. Mordin had joined them on the way as he had an idea and Wrex had some news to share.
The objective was to use a building that the Salarian called the Shroud. An immense tower built for weather purposes and that was secretly used to release the genophage in the first place. So far it was relatively easy, getting to the shroud to release the cure in the atmosphere, Mording assuring them that the cure would persist afterwards and that the krogans in stasis in Rick’s bunkers would be cured by simply going back on Tunchanka and get a blood transfusion if just breathing the air was not enough.
The hard part came from Wrex, he received information on the Shroud and a ‘small’ reaper (meaning the 160m tall kind) was blocking access to it. That’s when Victus came in saying that the 9th platoon still had enough able soldiers for an aerial distraction while the krogans and the Normandy  team would make their way on the ground. The mission was scheduled in two days to make sure everyone was prepared and to gather more intel just in case something changed on the planet.

The meeting over Rick went to see Diana on the engineering deck.

“So, how did it go?” he asked the reporter.
“It went well. I had difficulties at first to not be swayed by the actions, which by the way you’re all insane to do what you do, and EDI had no problem following my directions.”
“I managed to edit perfectly any segments Miss Allers gave me. With more guidance I could do it on my own.”
“You’re ready then?”
““We are.””
“Good, because the mission is in two days.” Rick replied and went to exit his former quarters when Dianna called him out.
“Is it always like this?”
“Like what?”
“So… Exhilarating? Nerves wrecking? I’ve never been on the field and I only ever reported what happened. The actual images and the edits? Done by someone else. But… seeing you and the rest on the team live it was… almost as if I was there. It… it was difficult to watch, my emotions were all over the place.”
“Well… I’m not sure. For my part I always fought like you saw but I think the rest of the team just adapted to me. I don’t think actual military fights like we do.”
“They do not, at least not the Alliance’s.” said Jane from the door. “ I came down to see how it went but you beat me to the punch.” she explained as she felt Rick wondering why she was there when he saw her going to report to Hackett when the meeting was over. Entering the room completely she spoke further. “Small ground teams are usually made of three people and they move in a thigh formation in unison moving forward slowly and with caution. If the team is bigger then the formation is spread wider but no one gets ahead.”
“Three people?” Diana inquired, not understanding why Jane’s team was made of four people.
“Yes. The ground teams of the Normandy are built up differently for many reasons. One, because the members come from different origins and different military backgrounds. I’m sure you noticed but more than half the team is not from the Alliance’s military so for the sake of efficiency we adapted.” the redhead said. “Two, because when we were chasing Saren we encountered the need to split the team many times. In a three man cell that would have left someone alone which is borderline suicidal. Three, leaving this guy alone is asking for trouble that no amount of headache medicine or alcohol will help deal with.” she added as she pointed to Rick with her thumb.
“Fair.” he replied simply, tilting his head.
“Four, because his fighting style is really aggressive and forward, we had to adapt so the reason for number three would never happen. Five, because the nature of the missions is more often than not, not the average mission than a normal Alliance team has to deal with. ”
“Half the reasons are because of him, then?” she asked bewildered.
“He is a troublemaker.” Jane said with a smirk as she looked at her brother who flipped her the bird.
“I’m a trouble finder, not the same thing and I always dealt with it properly. You’re the only one who ever complained.”
“You said that more than half the team is not affiliated to the Alliance’s military yet only Garrus and Liara are from a different species.” remarked Diana.
“Well EDI is… Normandy affiliated?” Jane began.
“I am the Normandy so that’s incorrect. I may have been created by humanity and chose to identify myself as one with my body, I am not part of the Alliance mainly because as an AI I do not have any rights with their laws. I prefer… team Shepard affiliated for now. ”
“Aww, EDI, Thanks!”
“Somehow, I’m offended.”
“Worry not Rick , you're still my favorite organic.”
“Good enough, I suppose. As for me, I'm Terminus affiliated. You’d never find me dead with an Alliance uniform on. Speaking of, EDI I’m taking you into my clan whenever and wherever you want.”
“This is duly noted. I appreciate the invitation, thank you.”
“Terminus affiliated? How does that…”
“Sorry, Diana but that’s classified. And honestly it’s better for you to not know. For everyone in fact.”
“I… I’ll take your word for it.” the reporter said a bit subdued.
“Smart choice, having both the Alliance or the Terminus on your ass is not a good thing.” Rick commented.
“Now if everything is in order with the test…” the redhead began.
“It is.”
“Then Rick, I need you to go over the mission.”

The man in question nodded and both siblings exited the room to go to Jane’s cabin where they sat on the couch. As it was purely work related the redhead behaved herself.

“Who do you think should come with us? I was thinking about taking Ashley  and Javik.”
“Hmm.. That’s a lot of fire power. If the second team needs to intervene it will be very imbalanced. I think… Garrus would be a good choice for the long range. I mean Ash is no slouch with a sniper rifle and you may be better than Garrus in that regard but both of you are better with an assault rifle in hand. As for Javik… why not? But again that leaves the second team with very little strength. Liara would be better, she’s more focused on her biotic than using weapons after all, so she’d sync better with us.”
“That makes sense.”
“Besides from Wrex’s information the terrain is advantageous for long distance shots with lot of covers. Liara’s singularity would help a lot. By the way, finally got around to practicing it?”
“No. The barrier trick is more important to learn and, honestly, I don't think that’s a skill that would suit me. I may have wished for it before but it’s really biotic oriented and I don’t see myself letting go of my weapons.”
“Well, well, well. Welcome to the Vanguards then, Red.”
“Or not. Fighting the way you do…  It suits me better but not really my thing either.”
“So you’re the run out of the mill kind of biotic then. If that suits you.”
“Is that disappointment that I hear? Disappointed that big sis is not doing like you?” she joked.
“Hardly. Anything else you need to talk about?”
“Yes, though I don’t really expect an answer.”
“Shoot.”
“Three years ago when we arrived on the Citadel, Udina asked you if you were interested in a career in politics…”
“And I declined.”
“Yes, but you said you were royalty. Many times you made references of belonging to a clan, is it Aria’s? Are there many in it? You didn’t seem that close to any one particular on Omega.”
“Aria doesn’t have a clan. She doesn’t need to, she is the Terminus. People can do whatever they want, form whatever clans with whatever name, at the end of the day they all answer to her whether they know it or not. The former live longer.”
“If Aria doesn’t have a clan, which one do you belong to?”
“Any more questions? I really want to take a shower.”
“Not currently, no.” she replied after letting out a defeated sigh.
“Then I’m leaving.” he said as he stood up.

Jane didn’t agree with that and grabbed his hand to hold him back. Without a word she got on her feet too and dragged him towards her shower. They had spent hours on the field fighting and they needed to wash up. She wasn’t about to miss the opportunity of having fun with him, not after how well the last time went. Unfortunately, Rick wasn’t of the same mind and wanted to get away. He tried to make her let go of him but without any success, her grip was ironclad.

“Nu-huh. Pretty sure you’re not spending the night with me tonight, so I’m having fun now.”
“No.”
“Whatever you say.” she simply replied as she pulled him inside the shower and pinned him against the wall. As she began to undress him with her free hand she stimulated his groin with her knee at the same time. Victory was hers when she heard him sigh in defeat this time.

____________________________________________________________

They arrived on Tuchanka early in the morning landing in the Urdnot clan’s territory. Eve was present among the group, she was still needed to synthesize the cure at the shroud. Despite the cure being developed it was all on data and Mordin needed a sample of the original genophage to properly produce it so he was present too. On their way to the Hollows, one of the Krogans most sacred ground. It was infested with husks and the team quickly cleaned the place out. When the clans arrived many were not happy with the presence of humans, Salarian (Mordin) and Turian (Garrus). Words were spoken and tension rose high on the krogan side. It was Eve that put everyone in place and rallied everyone’s help. As each clan began to prepare for the assault, Rick stood by the side with her and Mordin.


“Maybe calling you Eve was not right. Lilith may have fitted better.”
“Lilith?” the female asked.
“While I command you for your knowledge on Humanity’s main religion, Mordin. It’s inaccurate.”
“What was missed?”
“Eve is in fact the second female created by god. When he created humanity he shaped a man and a woman from clay and breathed life into his creations. The woman’s name was Lilith and was Adam’s, the first man's equal. She was not subservient to him at all and he didn’t like that. So Adam went to whine and cry to god who casted Lillith out of paradise. After some time alone, Adam felt lonely but he didn’t want Lilith back so once again he whined and cried to God who took a rib from him and created Eve. Because of this Eve was what Lillith was not. When you took charge you made me think of her. And while her story did not end well, Lilith had been a symbol of femininity and what women should strive for, being an equal to men.”
“Eve more than just mean for cure.” Mordin commented.
“Yes. Though it’s just a name and I don’t particularly care about stories written by men to wrongly make themselves feel superior and in charge.”
“Wrongly?” Eve asked curiously.
“Asari are an all female race and are, arguably, the best species around. Proof that male are not superior and the best at being in charge. While it may vary from species to species I believe male and female should work together on equal standing to get the best outcome. I don’t think the krogan will do as well with Wrex alone than with you by his side. Hence why Lillith would have been a better fit in my opinion.”
“That’s a very female perspective.” she replied.
“I was raised by a strong badass woman, maybe that’s why.”
“Are you referring to Shepard?”

Rick had not expected that. It was a valid question, one he needed to think about. Yes, Jane had raised him when her mother had discarded him. It was for five years only but it was at the most crucial time for the development of a child. She had taught him what was right and what was wrong, the dos and the don’ts and while he has always been smart way above the years and prided himself to be objective in the way he saw the world, she had influenced him, in good and bad, in how he took it on.

“You know… I wasn’t but that made me think… Yes, she may be responsible, partly.”
“No denial. Progress.”
“Why should I deny that?” he answered Mordin with a frown behind his helmet.
“Your relationship with her is not the best. There is a lot of tension and untreated issues between the two of you. Some moments you seem to reject her entirely.”
“True but denying it will not help me in any way. She actually mentioned something like that not too long ago. That some of my traits are identical to the thing that gave birth to me. I made my peace with that. I can’t change it as much as I can’t change the fact that Red influenced me. If there is peace for me to find, no matter how small the chances, it will not be by denying what is in favor of what could be or could have been.”
“Such a wise outlook on life for someone so young. Krogans have to live centuries for that much wisdom.”
“No offense, but my pinky is probably wiser than the whole male krogan population.”
“Probably.” Eve replied with a laugh.
“Why the sudden interest in me, though?”
“Concern for friend. Potential waste of… potential.”
“I’m just curious about a human who’s fighting tooth and nail to save my people and give them a future for nothing in return.”
“Who said I’d get nothing in return? I’d get many things; mainly? Satisfaction and I think that’s good enough.”

At that point of the conversation the rest of the team including Wrex joined the trio.

“Everyone’s ready, we’re about to leave. Are you?” Jane asked.
“I’m good.” Rick replied and so did Eve and Mordin.
“Mordin, there is something you should know. Before leaving the ship, Dalatrass Linron contacted me, promising the entirety of the salarian military if I sabotage the cure.”
“What?!” Wrex yelled in outrage.
“She gave me information, notably that the shroud is booby trapped.”
“Good to know. Probably standard STG procedure. Not a problem.”
“I’m going to fucking rip her skull out of her body!”
“No need, Wrex, we already took care of her. She just doesn’t know it yet.”
“What do you mean commander?” Eve inquired.

The explanation for Rick’s plan to get rid of Linron and at the same time get the Salarian support had left more than one in the group impressed. Even Liara as the shadow broker didn’t get a single snip of it from her agents. Wrex looked at Rick with an expression that the latter couldn’t grasp.

“What?”
“Nothing. Just…”
“Planning for the complete destruction of one of the most important political leaders in the Galaxy without firing a single shot… Sometimes you scare me.” Liara said.
“Wrex is my friend, Linron is a bitch and she pissed me off. Taking everything from her is just the basic pay back.”
“Really? Only sometimes?” Garrus interjected looking at the asari.
“You’re saying that like I’m fear personified.”
“After everything I’ve seen you done, yes. As far I’m concerned we’re all on borrowed time until you decide you’re bored and that starting a galactic war would be fun.” the turian’s reply made Jane snort.
“Ok, you got me there but I like you guys so it’s not happening any time soon.”
“And I thank the spirits everyday for that.”

____________________________________________________________

A long line of trucks rode through a ruined road towards the shroud. Everyone waited in silence to reach their destination, focusing on what each needed to do. When the truck stopped, they knew something was wrong. The team got out ready for action and to deal with any problem. Except the one they were confronted with. The small bridge the convoy needed to cross was busted. Not enough to completely cut off the road but enough to only let pass one truck or two at best before crumbling down for good. That put a damper on the plan which has been meticulously timed. The delay wasn’t good at all and the Turian air support that was supposed to distract the reaper couldn’t fall back as the ancient machine had already locked on them. Things changed for the worst when one of the turian jet fighters was hit and crashed on the convoy, resulting in a chain of explosion leaving only three trucks operational. From the crash, the reapers noticed their location and Wrex, smartly, began to drive the truck containing Mordin and Eve away, leaving the ground team on foot and a busted bridge.
Jane requested EDI’s help, to find a different path and the AI pointed them towards some underground ruins with an entrance a few meters away from their position. The said entrance was rather wide and leading down a room in absolute darkness. Activating the lights on their weapons and the lights on the cameras that were following the team, revealed a terrain that could pose problems for one of the members of the group.

“Rick, your heart rate is increasing abnormally.”
“I know, EDI.” He answered with difficulty and with his breath ragged.
“Rick…” Jane began speaking in worry, both for him and for the mission that would become insanely more difficult without him. Usually, she would have simply said to suck it up but she hesitated. Thankfully she didn’t have to say it.
“I’ll manage. The mission comes first.” the man replied as he began walking forward. “I’m claustrophobic, cleithrophobic and nyctophobic. Not the best combination of phobias in our situation.” he added to both Garrus and Liara who looked at him quizzically as he jumped down a big hole in a wall.
“Cleithrophobic?”
“Fear of being trapped, Garrus.”
“Are you sure…” Liara began to ask but was violently rebuffed.
“YES!”

That put an end abruptly to the conversation and with no other choice the group followed. Jane walked closely to Rick just in case. Not too much to give him room to breathe as much as he could despite the situation. When the entire structure around them began to shake violently Rick dived into the ground in panic.

“Shit, shit, shit, shit, shit.”

Jane came quickly over to him while asking EDI what had happened. The answer came from Eve who informed them of Kalros, the mother of all Thresher maws, living in the area since on her side they felt nothing. Pressed by time, Jane had no choice but to pick up Rick in a firefighter carry who was on the verge of breaking down from a panic attack. Garrus opened the way and the team moved forward quickly, discarding caution to the wind, going through a succession of rooms and tight corridors.

“I see light up ahead.” Garrus warned.

Jane hoped it was natural light indicating an exit. While Rick was heavy it didn’t bother her much and neither did his shaking, however what did was his heart. She could feel it beat so fast she worried it might fail. When they reached the intersection and bathed in the light they saw a dead ravager on the ground.

“Wrex, reapers troops on the ground, be careful.”
“Yeah, yeah. Worry about getting to us, we’re doing fine on our side.”

Walking up the stairs they exited the ruins to arrive at an open area. Liara gathered that it may have been some kind of krogan temple forgotten with time. The presence of plants and water amazed her greatly to which Eve commented that Tuchanka had not always been a desolated rock, that the Krogan had a real culture before the nuclear war and that not all part of the planet was dead.
On the side, Jane had put down Rick and removed his helmet, allowing him to breathe better. The expression of pain and fear plastered on his face, his eyes red for crying and the tear mark on his cheeks made her heart clinch. She put her hand behind his head and rested her forehead against his as she whispered.

“We’re good, we’re out. You’ve nothing to fear anymore, there is plenty of light and plenty of space. Just breathe.”

She whispered other reassuring words who had an effect on him, his breath beginning to be less and less ragged and the shaking going away. Once calm down he backed away from her, grabbed his helmet and put it back on. Raising up he took a deep breath and took in hand his shotgun.

“You good?”
“I’m going to kill that reaper. It and every fucking single one of his little minions on the way for making me go through that.” he replied with fury in his voice.
“Good enough. Let’s go.”

They barely walked fifty feet when they encountered hostels. A group of cannibals along two ravagers. Jane, Garrus and Liara had barely had the time to react that Rick was already charging a ravager unloading his shotgun into his bulbous flesh. The acid in it attacked his shields and barrier but Rick didn’t care. Grabbing the modified rachni by his barrel he launched it violently at his friend. The impact was strong enough that the second ravager’s aim was thrown off by a mile and the rockets it fired went straight towards a cannibal who exploded into a mist of blood and flesh. Quickly changing the clip in his shotgun he once again fired everything on the second ravager. As the first one was on the verge to stand on its legs, Rick let go of his weapon with one hand and with it took the lightsaber at the side of his leg. Immediately he slashed at the ravager’s rocket launchers, cutting through them like a hot knife would do on butter, finally he stabbed it right into its head and the thing died. He repeated the same thing for the second one before being joined by the rest of the team.

“I want one.” Jane said.
“No.”
“Why not?!”
“Because you’re not a close quarter combat fighter and even if you were I would not give you one without any kind of training in sword, you would only maimed yourself at best.”
“Well, I know what I’m going to train back on the ship.”

Rick didn’t bother giving her an answer with the headache he currently had thanks to the trip underground. Instead he just made his way in silence over the bridge leading to their destination, leading the way while the rest of the team looked at each other in wonder. His attitude had made a 180 from the time in the ruins and they worried a bit. One might have said that his actions when the fight began was reckless and borderline suicidal but they knew better. Their teammate and friend was absolutely livid and leaving him be was the best course of action, they were familiar with the animal after all.
When Rick was on the other side of the bridge he saw a brute and half a dozen husks coming from a corner of the area far ahead. Immediately he charged the brute and in one fell swoop decapitated him with his lightsaber then used his biotics to create an explosive dome that sent the husks flying  against the close walls on either side turning them to mush. Seeing him walking away the rest of the group was slack jawed.

“I don’t know what scares me the most, him being bored or him being angry.” Garrus wondered aloud.
“At this rate he’s really going to kill that reaper.”
“He’s behaving like he did when Saren attacked Eden Prime except this time the reapers are more dangerous than simple geths. He’s going to get himself killed at this rate. Come on, let’s hurry.”

They began sprinting to catch up and saw him deal with husks coming from the front as ravagers were aiming from the side. In no time they dealt with the latter quickly and the team regrouped.

“We’re going to talk about this once the mission is over.” Jane said to her brother who simply shrugged his shoulders.
“I’m pissed, what is there to talk ab…”

He stopped talking when the ground began to shake again and saw a gigantic dorsal come out of the ground and cut the bridge they were walking on. She was chasing two trucks and from what hear on the radio one of them was Wrex’s with Mordin and Eve inside. Mording was absolutely panicked.

“What the heck…”
“I guess that’s Kalros.”
“Kalros?” he repeated looking at the redhead.
“The mother of all thresher maws.” they heard Eve say on the com.
“She’s way bigger than what I thought.” Liara said.
“I wonder if we can bait it to attack the reaper.” Rick thought out loud.
“That’s what I was thinking also. Up ahead just in front of the Shroud is a ritual ground for her. On each side there is a hammer to shake the ground with enough force to call for her.” the female krogan explained.
“So we activate those hammers, Kalros take care of the reaper or actually distract it and we sneak into the shroud? Good enough plan for me.”
“I don’t think it will be that simple, Red.” before turning to Liara who looked at him in confusion.
“What?”
“Please, don’t raise any flag.”
“Why you…!”

The asari began to protest but the look her teammates were giving her and the past experience on the ship on the shadow broker stopped her from defending herself. She just glared at Rick for a moment and pouted.

“It happened one time!”
“If you’re done playing around maybe you could hurry up?! I don’t want to be like a sitting pyjak with Kalros around!” Wrex yelled with irritation through the com.

Jumping over the destroyed bridge - courtesy of Kalros - the team made their way towards Wrex, quickly dealing with groups of husks and Marauder. Just as they entered the truck, the gigantic Thresher Maw showed up, rising from the ground and eating in one gulp the truck of what the team learned, Wrex’s brother, Wreav. Not that much of a loss from what their krogan friend said which was supported by the hollow reprimand from Eve.
The ride was short but intense as Kalros was on their heels. When they arrived at the ritual site they had miraculously lost her, perhaps because of the reaper's presence. Not wanting to find out why everyone disembarked. Wrex, Mordin and Eve would go around through the building where the cure would be synthesized while team Normandy would deal with the reapers on its forces.

“Now, whatever happens, happens. You’ve been a leader, a teammate and a friend, to the krogans, to clan Urdnot, to me. I want you to know that for every krogan born after this day the name Shepard would mean hero!”

As he said this in a rare outburst of emotion, Wrex was facing Jane and clapped her forearm with his. He also sent a meaningful look towards Rick, the man who had directly and indirectly supported him and its people, even more than the redhead ever did.
As the team made their way towards the hammers leaving the trio behind, Eve spoke up.

“I’m surprised you know tact Wrex. And here I was thinking you’d expose him without thinking about it.”
“Well… spend some time with the two of them and you too will learn a thing or two.” he replied as he took his shotgun in hand and shooed her away with Mordin, charging the incoming ravagers.

____________________________________________________________

With the reaper being so tall and the team so small, they thought they could close on to him with ease. They had been wrong. Once they properly dealt with the waves of cannibals on their way, the ancient machine locked on them and began firing his red laser of death right in their direction. Thankfully the ruins offered a lot of cover, despite the way being a narrow straight path, and the very thick walls of rock were sufficient, barely. They could feel the surreal heat of the laser from a few feet away. The situation was dire, they couldn’t move forward without getting vaporized but fortune seemed to be on their side as what was left of the 9th platoon after their earlier attack on the reaper came to the rescue, getting the attention of the genocidal synthetic being.

“That reaper is seriously starting to get on my nerves!”
“Take a ticket and wait in line, Gingerbread!”
“At least now we can move unobstruc…”

As if the universe itself wanted to prove her wrong, the reaper popped multiple brutes from his body to the ground, while being in the center of the area. Navigating on foot while dodging brutes and a reaper may perhaps be the hardest challenge they had faced yet, greater than an army of collectors on their asses.

“““LIARA!”””
“I didn’t even finish my sentence!”

Rick immediately charged forward, percutting a brute and not unlike the previous one they encountered earlier, relieved him of its head, killing it instantly.

“I’ll deal with them. GO!” he said as he charged a second one.
“Garrus, find a good spot and support him! Liara with me!”
“On it!”

Jane opened the way and went down the right, towards the first hammer, Liara in tow. A combination of her Assault rifle and warps plus Liara detonating them, made it possible to advance mostly unhindered. What bothered them the most was the reaper landing its legs right onto them but thankfully thanks to the position of the sun they could see their shadow looming long before they could be stomped.
Meanwhile Rick was waltzing around, going from brute to brute. Sometimes not in the best of position as he tackled them from the side or back and couldn’t give them too close of a shave. Garrus expertly assisted him in cutting them off to pursue the other half of the team with well placed shots from his sniper rifle. Between the armor piercing ammo and armor piercing mod two shots in their head and they were done. It became a bit more complicated when the brutes began to hide their head behind their gigantic reinforced arm. When he could, Rick simply cut the arm off at the unprotected section and let his friend deal with it. When he couldn’t help, Garrus simply switched to target the hooks of the plate armor on the brutes stomach then went on shooting them in it. The numbers of brutes kept on increasing, for each they killed two more came but they held on. Seeing this Garrus exchanges his sniper rifle for his assault one, keeping on using the former would have depleted to quickly his thermal clip reserved and he would have been a sitting duck. When they felt the very earth below their feet tremor rhythmically they knew that Jane and Liara had activated it. The turian immediately moved from his position and joined Rick who had just put down one more brute.

“To the second one!” Jane yelled as she and Liara regrouped with them. Rick tossed his thermal clips to Garrus who had used all of his despite the portative cooling system he was carrying. Now armed again he gave support fire along Jane to Rick literally carving his way through what was left of the brutes. Apparently they had killed enough that the reapers didn’t have anymore to send. The continuous use of his biotics made Rick ragged but he was holding on. The last time he felt like this was during their infiltration of the Collectors’ base and he wasn’t looking forward to the inability to move afterwards by lack of stamina. At least he wouldn’t be run over by the Normandy this time so it was a plus.

When they arrived at the interrupter for the second hammer, the reaper , aiming at one of the last Turian jet fighters, missed and hit the said hammer to everyone’s horror. They saw the structure lean and fell to the ground broken in two.

“What do we do now?!” Liara inquired, panicked and desperate.
“We hit the nail ourselves.”

With those words, Rick backtracked to one of the brutes’ lifeless bodies and picked up the armor plate covering his stomach. Coming back with it towards the team, Jane instantly knew what he was thinking.

“You’re mad!”
“Do you have another idea?!”

The redhead simply shook her head. They didn’t have any other choices and time was running out. Rick put the plate on the ground and crouched on it.

“What are you doing?” Garrus asked.
“Liara and Red are going to lift me up with the plate. With a succession of biotic explosions they will send me high enough for me to punch the plate down right onto the drum. Hopefully that one beat will do the trick.”
“That’s not madness, that's insanity!”
“That’s the only thing we got, baby blue.”
“He’s right. Let’s do this.” Jane ordered.


They first used a Pull to make the plate float a few feet above the ground. Well above their heads, so Liara could use a Throw on it safely. The biotic explosion propelled him way up and when it stabilized in the air Jane threw her own Throw, not only pushing him up but forward. She alternated with Liara until they heard Rick on the came say that he was high enough and right on top of the drum. First, with his biotics He began to channel every bit of power he could into his fist while using his tricks to maximize the output and with his other hand used everything he could to increase the weight of the plate. Before his hand could blow up holding so much power he punched the plate downard. The speed at which it flew was astonishing and the collision made a very heavy thud noise. They felt the ground shake but both Liara and Jane knew that it wasn’t as impactful as the first hammer, having felt first hand the tremor it made. They prayed that it was enough but didn’t have time to dilly daddle as Rick was free falling from the sky. They sent Pull after Pull to slow or stop his fall but he was going too fast and all their attempts missed. Thankfully, at a few dozen feet above the ground Rick had recuperated enough to make himself float and land gently on the drum.

“Did it wor…”

Rick’s question needed not to be answered as a mighty cry was heard and the earth began to shake even more. Kalros had been baited and made her way towards the ritual ground with the reaper right in the middle of it. With her territorial instinct that Mordin had the displeasure to discover earlier, the only thing left for the team to do was to hope the mother of all thresher maws would put down that insufferable old machine. Unfortunately for the team, or to be more precise Rick, Kalros passed right next to the destroyed hammer and the shaking of the ground made the helmeted man fall, to his teammates’s horror.

“NO!”

Seeing her brother literally fall on Karlos’ path sent Jane into a frenzy, her worst nightmare having just happened right before her eyes. It was only when Liara smacked her shoulder and pointed to an emerging thresher maw from the ground that launched itself onto the reaper. Her jaw hit the ground when she saw Rick in a jumping position, holding for dear life with one hand while having his lightsaber out with the other, the blade being nearly ten feet long.
Karlos’ aim had not been quite good and the reaper dodged the attack but Rick for his part didn’t miss. He jumped from the huge worm’s back right onto their enemy ready to deliver on overhead slash.

“I have had it with your motherfucking species on the motherfucking planet of my motherfucking friend!!!” he yelled as the plasma blade sank deep into the side of the reaper’s head. Gravity did his job and with the velocity at which it came into the old machine he fell down carving a red line of red hot metal in his descent. As luck has it his fall stopped right next to the reaper’s big red eye. With no way to support himself he hanged on his blade with one hand while he picked his shotgun with the other and unload every shot it had with no effect, the reaper not even noticing. What the machine did however, was to charge a beam as Kalros went for an encore. Just like he did for the plate, Rick charged his fist with as much power as he could. He hit the side of the reaper’s eye with everything he had but that was enough to displace it a couple inches thanks to the damage he did with his lightsaber, making the old machine’s aim miss by an air breath Kalros who didn’t miss one bit and was right on it. Seeing his impending doom Rick used every ounce of power he had left to push on his leg and jump away, taking his blade with him. This time, things being different Jane and Liara succeeded in catching him more focus on him that Kalros putting the reaper down to the ground, ensnaring it and crushing it with her body while dragging it underground.
As Rick was laid on the floor Jane was about to explode. She didn’t know if she should kill him for giving her the scare of her life or fucking him here and there for what he did. In the end she did neither as she had more important matters to deal with.

“WE. ARE. GOING. TO. TALK.” She threatened as much as she said before leaving her brother to the care of Garrus and Liara as she went to the Shroud to join Mordin, Eve and Wrex.
“You know, I’m this close to killing you for your stupid stunt.” Liara said as she leaned forward above her boyfriend, indicating how close he was from a premature end with her thumb and forefinger actually touching each other.
“Well, now is the time. I’m beat, can’t move a muscle.”
“No surprise here.” commented Garrus.“I’m not dragging you back.”
“Me neither.”
“You two are the worst friends ever. If it’s like this I'll take a nap. At least in my dreams you guys are nice.”