FFIC: Redundant: WIP chapter 34 (the real one)
WOOT! Plugging away! Not nearly enough words though. There's only 650 or so. :/
So. Public Preview! XD
Title: Redundant
Chapter: 34 - Singularity
Featured characters: Pressly, Adams, Shepard, Alenko, Williams, Liara T'Soni, Wrex, Garrus
Warnings: Have not yet checked for grammar, spelling or general FAIL errors. This is a rough draft, guys.
Synopsis: Pressly is beginning to realize why the fic is named Redundant. Also: Liara's rescue. FINALLY!!!
========================
Vasiliadis towered over most of the CIC crew. He, like the majority of the people milling about at their duty stations, had stripped down to his Alliance issue undershirt and lightest pair of BDUs. And even that wasn’t enough to cool off. “We’re within three clicks of the colony,” Vasiliadis reported and Pressly nodded, making a note on his datapad.
“Geth activity?” he asked.
Vasiliadis shrugged. “Can’t be certain, sir,” he replied. “We’re hidden for now, blending in with the background heat, but actively scanning the area will give us up. There are scattered geth comm signals, but they could be coming from anywhere.”
“Still no activity from the colony?”
The CMC looked disturbed. “No, sir. Passive scans haven’t picked up much more than static from the local radio stations.”
Pressly nodded again. “Damn it.”
“We could send out a team of marines, sir,” Joker suggested from the helm.
“No,” Pressly said. “We’re already sitting ducks. I’m not wasting any more lives than necessary on this mission.” He flicked the comm switch. “Give me some good news, Stan.”
Chief Adams voice filled the speakers. “How about mediocre?”
Pressly rolled his eyes, gave gruff grumble. “What’s the status?”
“Twenty-five minutes and we’ll be able to breathe normally. Recommend drydock immediately afterwards. Geth war and evil Spectre aside, we’ve got to replace the Solaris modules and a hell of a lot of wiring.” A voice sounded, but the comm didn’t pick up the words. Adams answered, “No, the Alliance has the resources that the Flotilla doesn’t, Tali. Better to replace it out-right.”
“Have you found the source of the problem?” Pressly questioned.
“Faulty Solaris module within the starboard IES,” Adams grumbled.
Pressly gave a sigh. “Can anything else go wrong with this mission?”
==========================
Shepard swallowed. They were at least five hundred meters under Therum’s surface. It unnerved her.
“Be careful,” the trapped asari warned. “There is a krogan with the geth.”
Shepard nodded, studying Dr. T’Soni and the field surrounding her. The field was nearly as blue as the asari’s skin so it gave the appearance of a floating uniform with disembodied eyes. Though all Shepard could make out were the whites.
“Lady, there’s a krogan with the humans,” Wrex replied. His gruff voice echoed off the cavern’s walls.
“So there is,” the doctor agreed. She said nothing more, shutting her eyes as though she were in pain or very tired. Shepard didn’t associate enough with aliens to know asari mannerisms. She could have been meditating for all she knew. There was blue blood that didn’t blend with the barrier’s color from a cut above T’Soni’s eyebrow. It streaked the side of her face and had stained the collar of her tunic. Benezia’s daughter could have roughed herself up though Shepard wanted to believe her story about not speaking with her mother for years.
Shepard’s eyes travelled once again to the force field. Barrier curtain. Alori’we’I’k make. Wait. How the hell - Cypher, Shepard reminded herself. The thought made her shudder involuntarily, and she cast her eyes around the cavern looking for a solution to get T’Soni out of there.
This had once been a place of worship. No, a commune. A vague sense of wrongness hit Shepard. As a culture, the Protheans had looked down on this place. Associating it with cult alleviated some of the doubt, but the Protheans were so alien to her that even that association made her uneasy.
“Commander,” Alenko said, pointing to the large piece of equipment squatting on the cavern’s floor. “That’s a mining laser.”
“Drill through to the other side?” she guessed.
He nodded as they left Wrex and Garrus to watch the doctor, heading for the ramp at the end of the catwalk. The three humans did not see Wrex shove Garrus out of the way and follow.
==========================
Liara was dizzy. When the barrier dropped her, she lay looking up eyelids drooping, the whole world spinning.
“Goddess,” she moaned.