Getting to the roof of the complex was easy enough, but there was no one on the roof.
"Tali..."
"I know, Captain, they've burrowed into the snow, so be careful."
"In the snow, then?"
I thoughtfully scanned the snow-covered roof and, helping myself with a gesture—which was generally unnecessary—created a Singularity over a particularly large mound. It immediately sucked in the nearest antenna—of which there were many—snow, and a couple of Rachni.
The Rachni shrieked like mad, and this forced the other creatures, which had been hiding until then, to crawl out of the snow and rush toward us.
There was no need to explain tactics, so I just created a Barrier to cover us and prevent the Rachni from breaking into the complex, while everyone else opened fire. Well, almost everyone. The twins preferred to control the Rachni with Biotics, slowing them down or throwing them back so the others had a chance to shoot.
"I am Krogan!"
I thought Wrex would rush forward with that cry and start tearing the ancient enemy in half, but no, he continued to pump bullets into the creatures from his assault rifle with the methodical precision of a machine. One trigger pull, one burst, one Rachni carcass lying on the roof.
"Don't shoot the bodies! The legs! Aim for the legs!"
Unable to help himself, he gave us advice on how best to deal with these creatures, and things immediately went smoother. If before it took a lot of ammunition to deal with a Rachni, now it was enough to just shoot off a leg, and these cockroaches turned into completely harmless lumps.
"They're kind of simple..."
A slight bewilderment was heard in Williams' voice.
"Simple? It's always like that at the start of their invasion. If you repel their advance and destroy the Queen that arrived on the planet, it all ends there. But if you miss the moment of their arrival... if the Queen had even a year to build an army..."
Tension appeared in Wrex's voice.
"...imagine a wave of bugs stretching to the horizon... that's the least of what awaits you. I won't even mention that they know how to tunnel..."
"That's..."
"Quiet, Williams."
Jane cut her off, not letting her say anything. Of course, she might not have blurted out anything bad, but apparently, she decided not to test how well the girl controlled her tongue.
The first wave of creatures ended, the rifles went silent, and we listened.
"Lissi, Missi, use Singularities to clear the bodies..."
"Copy that."
They answered in sync and created large enough Singularities that sucked in the squealing legless bodies, as well as a few more antennas.
"Wrex?"
I turned slightly toward the Krogan, who was thoughtfully scanning the roof.
"They're still here..."
"And how did you determine that?"
"Hear those quiet clicks? That's their mandibles... Though they're mostly mindless—at least these aren't being controlled by a Queen—they have a self-preservation instinct. They won't rush us head-on anytime soon, but the moment we turn our backs..."
"So, maybe we should do just that?"
"Hm?"
He looked at me with confusion.
"Well, I'm not taking the Barrier down, and few of these creatures have had a chance to get acquainted with it yet. So we'll turn our backs, pretend we're leaving..."
"That's a good idea..."
Wrex's maw stretched into a satisfied grin.
"Let's do it."
Obeying my gesture, Jane began giving orders, and soon we turned and headed for the roof exit, only to hear the Rachni jumping out of the snow behind us and rushing in our direction with wild shrieks. This time there were a few spitters that spat acid at us, though after the first spit, the lives of most of them ended, as Garrus simply picked them off with his Sniper Rifle.
And judging by what I saw, he was shooting at the moment of the spit, exactly into the mouth, which ruptured the acid-storing organ right inside the bug's body, and it died from its own acid!
"The Turian isn't bad!"
Approval was heard in Wrex's voice.
"You're not bad either... though you yell a lot... those 'I am Krogan!' shouts are deafening."
"Deafening, he says..."
Wrex clearly found a reason to grumble.
"...don't listen if you don't like it."
The second wave was destroyed just like the first, after which we locked the door to the complex and walked across the roof, checking all suspicious snowdrifts, but we found no more signs of Rachni life.
"Tali, how could Rachni be here?"
"From that lab we're heading to. At least while I was trying to fix the VI, I stumbled upon fragments of information about the Rachni. But right now, it's impossible to understand what's what."
I smiled to myself. Good girl, she understands that the whole team shouldn't know she was engaged in industrial espionage on my orders.
"If they're breeding Rachni there..."
Wrex shook his head.
"...then this could be the end of Citadel Space, because this time my people won't fight for a bunch of Pyjaks."
"They'd be a threat to you too, you know..."
"Oh, we'll defend our own world somehow. At least we'll have front-row seats to watch the Turians and Salarians get wiped out, and then we can leave ourselves."
"Can't say I approve of that approach..."
Garrus didn't stay on the sidelines.
"...but I can understand it."
"Ha... understand, he says... you don't understand a damn thing."
Wrex got a little angry at Garrus's words but didn't start a fight; he just began acting a bit more aggressively. And when we were triple-sure there were no more Rachni upstairs, we headed back to Tali.
"How are things here?"
Jane addressed Chifuyu Orimura, who shrugged indifferently.
"Quiet. The little one is working, and we're bored."
"I'm not a little one..."
"Sorry, sorry, didn't mean to offend you, but when we're in these exoskeletons, you really do look like a little one next to us."
Tali didn't comment on that at all.
"Alright, is the monorail okay?"
"Yes, once the VI started functioning normally, the monorail started working too. I also managed to connect to the cameras at Rift Station... something not very good is happening there right now."
"Something like what?"
"Rachni... they're attacking the part of the complex where there are still survivors, and there's also some disease that has struck down some of the people. At least, that's the conclusion I've drawn from the observations."
"Forward the disease data to Dr. Karin Chakwas, let her analyze it."
"Copy."
Tali immediately sent the data to the doctor, and we meanwhile headed for the monorail.
"By the way, I've disabled the PKO over the complex, so we won't have to return to the port. We can call a shuttle right to the roof and fly away peacefully."
"Now that's good news, except it's pointless since we still need to pick up the Mako, which means we have to drive out of the complex anyway. And I still have business to finish with Matriarch Benezia and Aria T'Loak, so we'll need the port too."
Tali slumped her shoulders a bit.
"Hey, don't worry, it's fine, you're doing great."
I gently put an arm around her shoulders.
"Stop."
Raising a hand, I stopped everyone before we boarded the monorail car, which was actually quite large and could easily fit us all.
"Waiting for an answer from Dr. Karin Chakwas."
"But just in case, everyone seal your helmets. We're working under biological weapon protocol."
Jane added to my order, followed by clicks and quiet hissing, indicating that everyone had followed her command.
A couple of minutes of silence, and the answer from Dr. Karin Chakwas arrives. It really does visually look like the effect of some BW, but she can't say specifically what they were doing there.
"Tali, maybe..."
"No, I'm coming with you. You need a technician, and my suit won't let any infection through to me."
"Liara..."
I realized Tali couldn't be talked out of it, and she was right—we would really need a technician.
"I'll take responsibility for her protection. She'll have a personal Biotic barrier on her at all times."
"Good girl."
I nodded with satisfaction, after which Jane monitored the boarding of the monorail car, and soon we were off to Rift Station. To the place where the lab is, where Saren Arterius was doing something and where, according to canon, the Rachni Queen is located.
Anticipation...
And I also wanted to understand exactly who was on Saren Arterius's side, whom he managed to lure into his web if Matriarch Benezia was on my side.
"What are you thinking about?"
Jane tapped me lightly on the shoulder to distract me from the thoughts I was immersed in.
"Thinking about what else our brave company might need."
"Well, overall..."
Jane looked over our landing party with some bewilderment.
"...though I'd make an individual suit for Tali. Hers isn't bad, of course, but it's not a commando suit. Two shots from a pistol and that's it... nothing but holes, not a suit."
"Hey! These suits are worn by all residents of the Migrant Fleet!"
"That's the problem, little one, that's the problem..."
Jane turned her head slightly to see Tali and said this with a hint of sadness, making it clear despite the lowered helmet visor that she didn't approve of such an approach.
"And anyway, I've added extra protection to it! Look..."
She patted the chest plate she had indeed attached to the suit.
"Except the suit itself didn't become a commando one because of that. So..."
"I'll handle it. Tali, send me the data on your suit, everything... and don't be shy. If there are systems you'd like to have but aren't in this suit, you can write them in. I won't go broke if I create the perfect suit for you."
"Uh-huh..."
An embarrassed-grateful sound was my answer.
"Listen, will you make something for me?"
Liara was beside me and peered into my helmet visor.
"Provide a list of necessities... and if you're talking about a gift, a list is also better, because as you surely remember, I'm not very good at choosing gifts."
"Hmph..."
Liara smirked with satisfaction and took a step aside, but froze and slowly turned to Jane, who, judging by her clenched fists, wasn't very happy with what was happening.
"You should make a gift list too..."
"Eh?"
Those words from Liara caught her off guard.
"John is a total zero when it comes to gifts, so if he ever gets it into his head to give you something, it's better if he has a list of items that you at least need, or at most, you'd really like to have. Because back in the day, he gave me a cat suit for those..."
She snapped her fingers a couple of times.
"...cosplays. No, it's interesting, of course, but useless for me."
I pointedly turned away from Liara, showing how much I was offended by those words. She hadn't even changed into it back then so I could take a picture of her.
"Um..."
"So both you and Tali better make a gift list, since John has decided to turn his attention to you. Because right now he doesn't have time..."
I pointedly looked at the ceiling—well, I couldn't say I had already ordered the first gifts for Jane and Tali, as well as another gift for Liara... But the latter was too boring, and I already had her wish list.
"...actually, no, you're already too late."
"Eh?"
"When you get your first gifts, you'll realize it's better to make a list."
Liara lost interest in the conversation, while Jane and a Tali quietly dying of embarrassment clearly didn't understand what was going on at all.
However, our car reached the terminus just at that moment, and we began to disembark.
"Shots ahead..."
Garrus drew our attention to what we already heard.
"John, shields on you, the rest work according to the situation. Move, move, move!"
And we literally ran through several corridors, ending up in a large room where someone was fighting Rachni.
Without an order, we opened fire on the Rachni, who were confused by the fact that they had another opponent. At the same time, one of the twins created a shield in front of the lab's defenders, so very soon we dealt with all the cockroaches.
"Stop!"
As soon as we took a few steps forward, the defenders pointed their guns at us.
"Who are you?!"
"Spectre Shepard, here on Council business."
"Judging by the armor, you're human, and there are no humans in the Spectres."
"Captain, excuse me, but you're wrong. Before the comms went down, there was information on open channels that a human had been accepted into the Spectres. I don't remember the name, but..."
The man's subordinate trailed off.
"Still, I can't let you through. I have orders..."
"Ready..."
A single order from my side, and all guns were pointed at our opponents, while a barrier appeared in front of us.
"You know, Captain..."
I said the man's rank with a hint of irony.
"...I don't really care if I walk in over your body or if you let us through. But think... if we fight now... I think you understand the result."
He frowned.
"And who will protect the civilians then? After all, I'm not here to wipe their noses; I'm here on behalf of the Council."
"Tsk... let them through..."
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