We entered the complex territory, and I immediately took a quick look around. A bit to the side stood an Asari Huntress, who tensed slightly when we entered. There were also representatives of various corporations who noticed us.
"You've come to save us!"
Representatives of three corporations at once rushed toward us, but when I made a short gesture and the soldiers in exoskeletons pointed their weapons at them, they froze in place.
"You must save us!"
One lady decided to demand her rights, to which I only mentally shook my head, as in my humble opinion, it was idiocy.
"We are not here for your rescue. A Spectre operation is underway. Do not interfere, and your lives will not be threatened. Any attempt to obstruct will result in you being declared an accomplice to the terrorist Saren Arterius, whose Spectre status was revoked due to his crimes."
The people went silent, processing the information.
"Step aside!"
Strangely enough, they listened to me and immediately cleared the way.
"Wrex, ensure the safety of Specialist vas Normandy; she needs to find out where we go next from any terminal convenient for her. If anyone tries to interfere..."
"Got it, boss."
I could hear him smirking under his helmet as he said it.
"T-this is industrial espionage..."
A Salarian who tried to croak this out shut up when Garrus's Sniper Rifle was pointed his way. Meanwhile, Tali, along with Wrex, approached the nearest terminal and immediately connected to it.
"Here..."
"Just break in. I'm not interested in the security of their systems; I'm only concerned about Saren Arterius and his accomplices, and if..."
At that moment, the Asari Huntress rushed toward Tali, but before she could run three steps or fully cover herself in Biotics, she froze in the air and was fired upon. And by whom?! It was Ashley Williams!
I can say the girl earned a couple of points for herself by not arguing or asking questions and flawlessly taking out the enemy in the front ranks.
Panic and screams—that's what surrounded us now. However, people were mostly running away from us rather than trying to attack, so it didn't bother me much.
"Specialist vas Normandy?"
I addressed Tali, who, I could see by her body movements, was very grateful that I was including her in the ship's crew in such a way.
"I've found everything... and sir, they were also developing biological weapons here..."
I frowned slightly and took a quick look around, but there was no one left in the hall, and the guard who had let us in, having looked in and seen only one corpse, didn't do anything. He perfectly understood that if I wanted to, we would have destroyed them and everyone here, but we let everyone escape peacefully.
"Forward the weapon data to the SSV Normandy; let Dr. Karin Chakwas dig into it while we deal with Saren Arterius's lab."
"Yes, sir!"
The girl immediately fulfilled my request, then pointed in the right direction.
"We need to go that way. But we'll encounter Rachni there, many Rachni."
"Good, let's move out, and don't take unnecessary risks."
"Of course."
She nodded, and we continued our way, passing through several airtight airlocks to find ourselves in a corridor swarming with Rachni. And they immediately detected our presence.
"Barriers!"
Jane gave the order, and the twins immediately created barriers—one created it from below, the other from above, leaving a small slit between the barriers through which fire could be directed from our monstrous guns held by the soldiers in exoskeletons.
"Damn, this isn't even interesting..."
Wrex sounded somewhat offended.
"...kid, tell me honestly, why did you hire me anyway?"
"Wrex..."
I cast a short glance at the Krogan, which was almost impossible to tell because of the helmet.
"...it's better to have a specialist of your level and have him be bored than not to have one and be in need. Besides, this is only our second deployment, and it's not over yet. And something tells me that when we're close to capturing or destroying Saren Arterius, your skills will be more than welcome."
"Eh... no, that's your business, of course. I have nothing to complain about; our contract is more than favorable for me... it's just... not what I'm used to..."
At that moment, he raised his shotgun and discharged buckshot into the gap between the barriers at a bug that had run too close to us.
"See? And you ask why."
"Yeah, yeah... that thing wouldn't have gotten through the barrier anyway."
The Rachni were finished, and we looked around.
"Shepard, should I hack the terminal?"
Tali pointed to a small terminal near the next airlock.
"Well, if you think it's necessary."
"Yes."
She nodded and, noticing my nod, immediately hurried to the terminal, with Wrex accompanying her. He gripped his shotgun more comfortably, and soon he needed it, as another bug dropped from a ceiling vent, and he discharged his first shot into it. His shotgun was powerful enough to simply tear the Rachni's body apart at such close range. Then he raised the shotgun and pumped a couple more rounds into the vent opening, but no one else fell out.
"Thank you."
Tali was clearly very grateful to Wrex, and he felt it by the tone of her voice. I, however, gave Wrex a disgruntled look—not because he saved Tali, but because of the warmth with which she thanked him.
"You're welcome, kid, you're welcome."
"Oh!"
Tali quickly hacked the terminal and took a step back from the door, clearly seeing something in the terminal.
"Did something happen?"
I went up to her and, with slight concern, put a hand on her shoulder and peered into the terminal itself. And there was something to see. The airlock was simply packed with Rachni. So many that they seemed to have turned into a single, writhing, homogeneous mass.
"Shi-i-i-it..."
"M-da..."
Wrex shook his head.
"Maybe my help will be needed sooner than you anticipated."
"Quite possibly..."
I looked more closely at the screen.
"Tali, why are there so many of them there? Can you try to find out?"
"Uh-huh..."
She nodded and, going to the terminal, began digging into it. After a couple of minutes, she looked up at me.
"As far as I can tell, something was placed there that gathered Rachni from almost the entire complex, after which the airlock was closed. There's a special system in this room that would simply destroy them, but for some reason, it wasn't activated."
"Most likely, they couldn't. Can you do it from here?"
"If I had authorization—easily. But hacking the system so I can activate it from here won't work. But we need to go over there..."
She pointed to an inconspicuous door.
"...through that door, we'll be in the security room, and from there, we can activate the system."
"Then let's go."
I waved my hand, and we went to the door, but we all perfectly understood that the soldiers in exoskeletons wouldn't be able to pass through there.
"Lissi, Missi, stay here with me. Liara, Wrex, Garrus, go with John and Tali."
I smirked under my helmet but didn't contest Jane's decision, and we split up as she suggested and entered the security room.
"What the..."
Wrex's voice sounded puzzled, as there were no Rachni inside, but there were clearly bodies torn apart by them.
"Got out and we lost them? Well, in that corridor..."
Garrus nodded toward the corridor we came from.
"Aha..."
Derision was heard in Wrex's voice, which he didn't even think to hide.
"...and after leaving this room, they politely closed the door behind them."
"Well..."
Garrus shrugged somewhat indefinitely.
"...anything can happen, right?"
"Pff!"
"Tali, you're up."
"Understood."
She nodded and headed for the terminal. Immediately after she started digging into it, screens on the wall activated, showing the Rachni mess inside the locked room.
"Damn... my hands are itching..."
"They're always itching; the reason just changes..."
I decided to tease Wrex harmlessly.
"...either to kill someone, or to punch someone, or to drink."
"Ha! True enough!"
At that moment, the vent grates on the ceiling began to fall, and some sections of the floor started to rise, with Rachni crawling out from everywhere.
"Rachni!"
Wrex shouted this, and we were already surrounded by a biotic barrier created by Liara, while the rest of us, including me, opened fire on the Rachni, who were crawling out from everywhere like cockroaches.
"I'll try to be quick!"
"Don't rush."
I answered the panicking girl in a perfectly calm voice. It made her freeze for a couple of seconds.
"Just work at your own pace; we'll cover you."
"Yes!"
This time Tali's voice sounded worried but much more composed. After two minutes of shooting, during which we destroyed quite a few creatures, the flamethrowers in the room we had to pass through activated—not ordinary ones, of course, but extremely high-temperature ones. Within two minutes, all the Rachni were incinerated.
"I'll never get tired of watching this..."
Wrex, having finished off the last Rachni—which had stopped coming at us as if on command—glanced at the black ash that settled on the floor after the flamethrowers turned off.
"An incredible sight!"
I only shook my head, after which we left the security room. Tali, however, locked the terminal first so no one could set us on fire the way we just burned the Rachni.
"Listen, the kid is currently one of the most effective fighters in our group..."
Wrex said these words with a slight smirk as we approached the airlock.
"...destroying so many Rachni—not every Krogan could do that! And she did it in minutes! Little one, if you ever have problems in the Fleet, you'll always be a welcome guest in Clan Urdnot!"
"Thank you."
Tali's quiet squeak made it clear she was very embarrassed.
"Hold your horses, lizard..."
Wrex turned to me, but there was no aggression in the action, just as there was none in my voice.
"I don't call her Tali vas Normandy for nothing. Whatever happens, she can count on my protection and help."
"Thank you!"
The squeak became even quieter and more embarrassed.
"Enough embarrassing the girl already!"
Jane raised her voice slightly, forcing Wrex and me to stop praising Tali, who really didn't know where to put herself.
"When we get back to the ship, do whatever you want, but here..."
"Alright, alright... the big guy and I won't embarrass Tali anymore... at least for now. Но that doesn't change the fact that we both spoke from the heart."
"Agreed."
Wrex nodded, after which we continued moving.
After we burned the Rachni, we encountered significantly fewer of them, so we moved through the complex quite peacefully.
"It's gotten too quiet."
Jane was clearly not very happy with the lull, and I understood her perfectly. It was... unsettling, especially when you know what's supposed to happen next and when you don't know what will happen now.
, when everything changed slightly.
"Don't jinx it..."
Chifuyu Orimura said this in a dissatisfied voice.
"...nothing has happened yet, and you're already scowling."
We approached another airlock door, and when it opened, we could see a tank containing a Rachni and an Asari standing next to it. She seemed completely absorbed by the predatory beauty of the large Rachni specimen, which did not look like the ones we had encountered before.
"The Queen..."
"You are right, Krogan, this is a Rachni Queen, but it is the last thing you will ever know, for your journey ends here. Not if I am Matriarch Elysia..."
The Asari shifted her gaze toward us, and I realized that this fight would not be simple.
***
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