Chapter 16 - Chapter 16, Alone in the Dark

Here we go! The scary chapter. I've done my best to try make it scary and eerie. Just a bit of warning that this chapter is very gory and violent, and a bit sad as well when Benezia dies.

Anyway, I hope you really enjoy this one because I had a lot of fun writing it.

Chapter 16

Alone in the Dark

The drive to the peak 15 research facility was not an easy one. The roads to the mountains had been crawling with Geth. Plus the blizzard hadn't helped either. Eventually though they reached Peak 15. However, the entrance to the garage area was blocked by debris.

"The Mako should be safe out here. We'll have to go in on foot." Said Austin as he unlocked the Mako's hatch.

A huge gust of cold, snowy wind entered the Mako's cabin. Austin, Liara and Wrex climbed out.

"Bloody hell! Even with my suits heating system, it's bloody freezing out here." Said Austin.

Once they were inside they closed the door. None of them bothered with removing their helmets though. Austin always wore his, Liara liked wearing hers, and Wrex wasn't bothered either way.
They made their way through the entrance and into the garage area where they would've entered earlier. As they did however, several Geth appeared out of cover. With them also where several Krogan. The three comrades dove for cover as they were once again fired on.

"Liara, Wrex, deal with the Krogan. I'll worry about the Geth!" Austin ordered.

Liara and Wrex nodded to show that they understood.

Within seconds, the whole Peak 15 garage became a cauldron of battle. Wrex rolled around on the floor with the largest hostile Krogan, punching him in the face repeatedly and wielding his shotgun like a sword, while his opponent tried to keep up with the Battlemaster. Liara had picked up two of the Krogan and was pounding their faces to dust with warp after warp. Austin meanwhile was stuck behind a crate with several Geth firing on him. There was too much fire for him to lean out of cover and aim at the Geth. He resorted to blind firing but that didn't work. Then he remembered a trick he'd once used on a mission involving several targets. He took a smoke grenade from his combat belt and threw it at the Geth's feet. It exploded, surrounding the Geth in a large amount of smoke. It was so thick that they couldn't see anything. Taking advantage of their blindness, Austin cloaked and went out of cover. He quickly, but quietly, placed a few small detonators on their feet. He then retreated back to the spot where he'd been in cover. As they smoke cleared, the Geth could see Austin looking at them.

"Say goodbye to your kneecaps!" he said as he activated the detonators. They started to beep. The Geth looked down at their feet to see the devices flashing. Only too late did they realise what was about to happen. The detonators exploded obliterating all the Geth's legs.

"Not so tough without legs are you?" said Austin as he shot the struggling Geth in their heads.

"Nice trick, Shepard." Said Wrex as the group re-joined and headed up the nearby stairs.

When they opened the door they found themselves in a hallway. There where two turrets in the hallway. However they were facing the entrance, rather than the exit.

"Why are the turrets pointing the wrong way?" Liara asked.

"They want to keep their own people in as much as they want to keep others out." Said Wrex.

The narrow tunnels of Peak 15 kept making Austin very nervous. It wasn't that he was claustrophobic or anything, only it was that tight tunnels, very little light and no sounds at all often meant that something was wrong.

"Do any of you hear that?" he asked.

"Hear what?" Liara asked, slightly confused.

"Nothing. Absolutely nothing. It's completely quiet." Austin replied.

"Too quiet." Wrex added.

Suddenly, a loud voice echoed out all over the tunnels. It sounded like a VI

"User alert. All Peak 15 facilities have suffered a great deal of damage." It said.

"Goddess! That made me jump." Said Liara as she calmed down from the adrenaline.

"Me too. Keep your guard up everyone. I've got a bad feeling about this." Austin advised them as they continued through the tunnels. Then the VI spoke again.

"Alert! Biohazard materials present through facility. Virtual Intelligence user interface offline." It said.

"As if this couldn't sound anymore like something out of a horror movie." Austin sighed.

"We'll need to get the reactors back online." Said Liara.

Just as Liara finished speaking however the whole complex seemed to emit loads of loud creeks. Then a terrifying shriek echoed through the tunnels.

"What the hell was that?" Wrex asked. He kept his cool, but even he had to admit, things where starting to get scary.

"You two, keep close to me and stay alert. We're not alone down here." Austin advised.

As they proceeded further and further into Peak 15 the whole atmosphere grew even darker and even more eerie. Liara was starting to shiver. Goosebumps where forming on her skin. Austin however noticed her shaking and gently put his hand on her shoulder.

"It's alright, Liara. As long as we stick together we'll be safe." He said calmly.

Austin's words where like a little, calming song to Liara. She stopped shivering and smiled at him through her helmet.

"If it helps at all, you're not the only one that's scared. Even I'm a bit nervous. Something's clearly wrong here." he then added.

It made Liara feel a bit better to know that the fear was a natural reaction and that she wasn't just being cowardly.

Eventually, the dark tunnel ended. Unfortunately the door at the end simply opened up into more darkness. From what they could see, they were standing inside a large room. All the lights where broken, the windows had been covered by the safety panels, blocking out Noveria's sun and the whole place was a mess.

"Goddess. What happened here?" Liara asked.

Suddenly, just as they entered the room, the door behind them slammed shut and the whole room went pitch black. Austin tried to reopen the door, but it wouldn't budge.

"We're stuck in here." He said.

"I can't see a damn thing." Said Wrex.

Austin took his flashlight attachment from his combat belt and strapped it to his rifle. Once he had turned it on, he took two more from his belt and handed them to his comrades. He then activated some more very small headlights on his helmet. The extra light helped illuminate some of the darkness but that still didn't erase the feeling that something would suddenly lunge at them out of the darkness.

As if on cue the whole place once again shook violently and creaked. Then the scream echoed out again, louder this time.

"What was that?" Liara asked, now very frightened. Her hands shook as she slowly scanned the area using the flashlight attachment.

"Probably debris. Don't have a panic attack. I'll protect you." Said Wrex. Austin could tell that Wrex didn't really mean what he said. He was just trying to keep Liara from freaking out. He edged a bit closer to his girlfriend to try and comfort her.

Suddenly Liara recoiled back in fright and screamed.

"What? What is it?" Austin asked.

"I just saw something!" Liara said as she tried to calm down.

Austin moved his light beam over to where Liara had last shone hers. There was nothing there.

"I didn't imagine that, Austin! I promise you, there was something there!" said Liara.

"I did say don't have a panic attack." Wrex reminded her.

"No offense, Wrex. But shut up! That's not helping!" Austin said in defence of Liara. "What did you see?" he then asked the Asari.

"I don't know. I only saw it for a second before it scared me. It looked like some sort of big bug, it was green and covered in blood, but I don't think the blood belonged to it" Liara said through chattering teeth.

All three of team stood still where they were. They were in what looked like the centre of the room. It was hard to tell though, the only lights they had where the flashlights and they weren't designed for full illumination.

Then a strange sound began to fill the air. Footsteps. They didn't sound like normal footsteps though, the sounded more like bugs. Austin shone his lights around more but they didn't reach far enough to see the walls. But from what he could see, it looked like the walls where moving. There was definitely something else in the room with them, and from the looks of things, there was more than one. The sounds began to grow louder and then they were joined by a disturbing chirping sound.

"Something's in here with us!" said Liara.

Austin really had to admire his girlfriend's bravery. Even a normal Helldiver would be panicking by now. He did his best to keep his cool. In fact he wasn't that worried about the noise, he was more worried about Liara. Out of all of them, her armour was the most fragile, despite the upgrades. Austin's armour was stronger and although Wrex's armour was about the same as hers he compensated for that a tremendous amount of endurance, strength and Krogan had redundant nervous systems. True Liara had her biotics, but they were no good if she couldn't see her attacker.

"Where? I don't see anything!" said Wrex as he frantically moved his light around.

"There's definitely something moving in here, and it isn't us." Austin thought. His motion tracker was also off the scale. There was movement all other the place. If there was something alive in here, it had them surrounded. Austin didn't know what to do. If they killed the lights it would make them impossible to see. But at the same time, it could be exactly what these things wanted them to do. Perhaps the flashlights where the only thing keeping them from being attacked. Eventually he came to a decision.

"We need more light." He thought.

Despite the fact that it could make them even more visible than they were now, he took a flare from his belt and lit it. He then threw it into the darkness. The whole room now lit up. Just as the flare landed, the team caught a very brief glimpse of several little creatures scurrying away from the bright light. It was only brief, but Austin could not deny that those had been some type of insect. But they had been massive. As the last of the insects retreated, the walls stopped moving and the noises stopped.

While they were relived to be able to see now, at the same time they were now wishing they couldn't, because the flares light showed all the parts of the room they hadn't seen. A most unwelcome sight met their eyes. Thousands of blood splat coated the walls, there wasn't anything in the room that wasn't overturned or smashed, and there were dead bodies everywhere. Some simply dead, some completely torn apart or mutilated, some wit limbs torn right off and even some with acid wounds. To make the sight even worse, some looked like they'd been eaten, and they weren't just soldiers, there where civilians and scientists too. Men, women, and when Austin shone his lights on a small nearby pile, children.

"Goddess. It's horrible." Said Liara. She instantly looked away.

Wrex kept silent, but his face clearly had a look of disgust, and maybe sorrow on it. Austin meanwhile merely sighed. He'd seen this sort of thing many times so it didn't affect him as much as it might've done.

Just before he could try and comfort Liara however, the flair finally went out. Almost instantly, the whole room went dark again, and the noises returned. This time though, it was even louder, there were even more footsteps than before, and the screams returned. Within seconds the walls began to move again. This time they moved even more, almost if the walls had come to life.

"They're coming back. And it sounds like they've brought friends." Said Wrex.

"Light another flair! We need to get out of this room." Said Liara.

Austin didn't need to be told twice. His left hand instantly went for his belt. He reached for another flair but couldn't seem to feel one. Starting to worry, he looked down at the pouch where he usually kept the flairs. To his horror, there weren't any more.

"Oh no." he thought.

The noises were now even closer. Austin desperately kept fumbling at the pouch, hoping to find another flair, but it was completely empty.

"Crap! That's all I had!" he said.

Wrex and Liara froze in shock. Not just because of what Austin had just said, but also because they could now see what Liara had seen earlier. True enough, Liara had been right about their size. The where very big, in fact they were roughly the size of his arm. Austin shone his light down at the ground, what he saw turned his skin white. In the light, he could see loads of tiny green aphid like creatures crawling towards them very slowly. He tried to scare them off with the flashlights but it didn't work. The flashlights weren't anywhere near as bright as the flair and the whole of Peak 15 has similarly dark lighting. These creatures where obviously used to that sort of light. True to what Liara had said, some of them where covered in blood, and it wasn't their own blood, it was human blood. That clearly gave the message that these things weren't friendly. The dead bodies though still didn't make sense. Even in their vast numbers, these workers didn't look as though they were capable of this much damage. Another scream rang in the groups ears, but it hadn't come from the workers. Austin shone his flashlight up, what he saw next would haunt him forever.

Bringing up the rear of the workers where massive spider like insects. They seemed to move slower than the workers but they were massive, almost as tall as Wrex. They were like visions from a nightmare—disgusting combinations, like a centipede mixed with a scorpion crossed with a crab. They walked on four spider like legs. In addition to this, they had two small human like arms with claws and two long, thin tentacles ending in little pods. Their faces and mouths seemed to like the face of a cockroach. Like the workers, they too where bathed in still fresh human blood. In all his life, Austin had never seen a scarier sight.

The workers seemed to slow down a bit and let the larger soldiers get ahead. Clearly the creatures where being cautious. Compared to the humans they had just been feasting on, Austin, Liara and Wrex where a prey they'd never seen before. One of the pods of soldier's got dangerously close to Wrex's face. Unable to take it anymore, Wrex punched it away. The soldier that the pod belonged to recoiled slightly, more pods then edged closer to Wrex but he simply punched them away as well. Then one of the workers suddenly jumped onto his face. Wrex struggled desperately to fling it off, he even screamed in fright as the bug started to bite and claw at his already scared face.

"Get it off! Get it off!" he screamed.

Austin and Liara ran over to try and help the Krogan. The rest of the creatures took this as a signal to advance and slowly began to march towards the group. Both Austin and Liara grabbed at the green worker and tried to pull it off of Wrex as its pincers tried to bite into the Krogan's super hard crest. Eventually, it let go, but then it started to crawl all over Liara, who had yanked it off of Wrex. She struggled desperately to shake it off as the worker crawled all over her body and tried to bite into her armour. Wrex, who was now free again, went berserk. He grabbed his shotgun back up from the floor and started swinging it like a club at the soldiers, each time hitting them. More of the workers jumped onto him but he was prepared for them now, plus they all missed his face. He simply grabbed them and threw them off of him. Any others, he managed to stomp on with his massive feet. Blood, limbs and actual pieces of the insects splattered all other him.

Seeing Liara in danger and hearing her struggles, Austin rushed over to Liara and tried to help her get the worker off. More of the green aphids jumped onto the Asari to join their friend and crawled all over her.

"Get'em off me! Austin, help me!" she screamed.

Austin grabbed several of the workers and flung them off. Like Wrex, he too used the butt of his assault rifle as a club and smashed several others off of the Asari. Not wanting to waste ammunition, he holstered the gun and drew Excalibur from his back.

"Hold still, Liara!" he said as he sliced several other workers off his girlfriend.

Eventually he managed to cut the last one of. Liara instantly picked up her own rifle and began hitting several of the workers with it. She also used her biotics to send a lot of them flying. It was easy for her to use them now that she could actually see the bugs. Austin meanwhile hacked and sliced away at the soldiers with his sword. The two made sure to stay close to one another since they both had their advantages and disadvantages. Liara was better at dealing with the workers since her biotics singled them out very well, however she wasn't as well equipped to fight the big ones. Austin on the other hand was able to deal with large soldiers by cutting of their tentacles and stabbing them with his sword. Plus his armour was much stronger, so he could handle the damage. Wrex on the other hand was able to handle both versions. His strength, body mass, hardened skin and redundant nervous system gave him all the advantages there.

Austin continued cutting violently at the soldiers. One managed to latch its mouth onto his leg but he quickly decapitated it. Wrex meanwhile had gone completely blood rage. In these sort of circumstances though, that was okay. He pulverised any of the bugs that crossed his path. He was like a madman. More of the workers managed to get past Liara's biotics again and another managed to knock Excalibur out of Austin's hand. Without his sword to help Liara, Austin unholstered his SMG. He hesitated to fire though. The last thing he wanted was to accidently shoot Liara.

"Kill them!" Liara cried.

"Stay still! Stop moving!" Austin yelled.

"I am! Get it off my face!" Liar yelled back as she tried to hold one of the workers away from her helmet.

Austin fired and managed to shoot away all the workers. He quickly noticed his sword lying at Liara's feet and took it up again in his hand. He began slicing again and at the same time shooting several of the workers and soldiers. Liara meanwhile lost her patience and began throwing all the biotic powers she had at them. Wrex was having the time of his life. Worker after worker and soldier after soldier fell dead as he continued smashing them all to pieces.

Austin was beginning to notice that some of the soldiers where holding back. They looked as though they were having second thoughts.

"Drive them back! Show them we're no easy prey!" Austin ordered.

As the three continued slicing, shooting and punching they kept advancing, forcing the insects to keep backing away. Eventually, several of the soldiers screamed a retreat scream and they disappeared into the vents. The workers then quickly followed.

Austin, Liara and Wrex took a few long moments to recover. They were completely out of breath and where still recover from the initial shock. But they were alive at least, and they had managed to drive those creatures back.

"What in the name of Athame where those thing?" said Liar as she slowly got her breath back.

"Hell if I know. But they put up one hell of a fight." Said Wrex as he too took a moment to recover.

Austin walked up to one of the dead insect bodies and scanned it with his omni tool. The results made him even paler than he already was.

"No. That's impossible." He said as he scanned again.

"What is it?" Liara asked.

"I don't how this is possible… but it keeps saying that their Rachni." Austin replied.

"What? That's a load of crap, Shepard. The Rachni are extinct and I should know. Millions of my ancestors died to make that happen." Said Wrex.

"I know that, Wrex. Personally I don't think that's possible either but my suit keeps saying that their Rachni. The DNA is an exact match to Rachni samples collected back when they used to exist." Said Austin.

"What the hell is going on in this place?" Wrex asked rhetorically.

"I don't know. But we're gonna find out." Said Austin.

After a long time of wondering through more dark tunnels, they finally found themselves in a lit area. They had found the generator room at last. The lights where still very dim but it was bright enough now for them to see so they turned off their flashlights. Austin did the same for the ones on his helmet.

"Okay. Let's get this place back up." He said.

As the group entered the room however, another one of the creatures they had just fought earlier, along with several other workers burst out of the floor. Immediately though, the group opened fire on the insects. The soldier fell dead and the workers seemed to explode.

With the way clear, they made their way to a central chamber. Austin was certain this was where the VI user interface was. Inside the small cylinder that was in the chamber there was a small elevator. It led down into the VI's core.

"Stay here, you two. Watch the entrance, just in case." He ordered.

Wrex and Liara nodded while Austin descended into the core. After several long minutes Austin managed to fix the core and the elevator came back up. The facilities' VI, Mira came online.

"It looks like you're trying to restore this facility. Would you like help?" she asked.

"Help would be greatly appreciated. You're the VI that runs this place?" Austin checked. He just wanted to be sure.

"This system is monitored to respond to the name "Mira." May I ask your name?" Mira asked.

"Commander Austin Shepard. I'm with the Helldivers." Austin replied.

"One moment, please." Said Mira. There was a brief pause. "Service record confirmed. Due to the current emergency, you are entitled to Secure Access of all systems. Please not that queries relating to corporate secrets require Privileged access. Privileged Access is only available to Binary Helix executives." She finally said.

"I need to find Matriarch Benezia." Said Austin. Despite the sudden appearance of the Rachni, they still had a mission to do.

"Lady Benezia departed on the passageway tramway to the Rift station subsidiary labs." Mira replied. "User alert! The tramway system is currently inoperable."

"What's the damage then?" Austin inquired.

"Main reactor has been shut down in accordance with emergency containment procedures. Manual restart is required."

"I wish we'd brought Tali with us." Said Austin.

After managing to get the reactor back online with a lot of work, the group headed for the tram station that would take them to Rift station. Getting there involved having to go through the decontamination. They were at least thankful for this since now they could wash all the blood and goo of the Rachni off of their armour.

Once the decontamination had completed though, they opened the next door only to find themselves facing at least three Rachni soldiers. It was nothing they couldn't handle though. Just before the last one died though it spat something out of its mouth which narrowly missed Austin's helmet and hit the wall instead. Upon impact the wall began to bubble, melt and slowly dissolve.

"Great. As though this day couldn't get any worse. These things spit acid." Said Austin annoyingly. "Keep your distance from the big ones."

The tram ride was brief and they quickly arrived at Rift station. Unlike Peak 15, it didn't look as though this place had been attacked by the Rachni. There no bodies or signs of damage. Once again though it was way too quiet. As the exited the tram room they came across two doors. The one on the left said "Hot Labs." While the other appeared to be an elevator. Since the hot labs door was currently locked down they took the elevator. What surprised them though was when they exited they found themselves facing several human guards.

"Finally! Civilisation." Austin thought.

"Stand down." Said the leader.

The other guards stood down. But they still seemed to keep an eye on the group.

"Sorry. We couldn't be sure what was on the tram." The Captain apologised to Austin. "You're human and that's enough that I won't shoot. But I'd like to know who you are."

"Commander Shepard. I'm a Helldiver." Austin replied.

"Huh. I won't look a heavily-armed horse in the mouth." Said the Captain. "Those creatures overran the hot labs last week. Only Han Olar got out, and he ain't all there anymore. The first we knew, the creatures were clawing into my command post. We had a lot more staff then." Said the Captain.

"We're packing fire and steel. They want to fight with claws and teeth, it's their funeral." Said Austin.

"You got my support. The board sent an Asari to clean up the mess. She went to the hot labs yesterday. We haven't heard from her since." Said the Captain.

"Benezia. Do you know if she's still over there?" Austin asked.

"I don't know. I don't see what one person could do." Said the Captain.

"A Matriarch has the skill to keep herself alive for a long time." Said Liara.

"There's an emergency elevator out by the trams. This card will let you activate it. It can take you down to the hot labs." Said the Captain as he handed a card to Austin. The Helldiver took it and scanned it into his omni tool.

"Sounds like we've got work to do then." He said.

"Yeah, I hear th-" but the captain was interrupted by the sound of a loud rumble and the scream of a Rachni soldier. "Hell! Man the perimeter!" he ordered.

Almost immediately, all the Guards, Austin, Liara and Wrex whirled around, guns at the ready.

As if on cue, two Rachni soldiers burst out of the floor. Everyone immediately opened fire on them. The first Rachni spat acid which hit two of the guards. Austin quickly counteracted with a Frag grenade. Both the Rachni worriers where obliterated by the explosion.

"Thanks for the help. Every few hours, a group comes up the tram tunnel. It's actually better since we locked down the elevator." Said the Captain.

"We'll do whatever we can." Said Austin.

"I don't know why they keep throwing themselves against our defences. Even animals should learn not to stick their noses where it hurts." Said the Captain.

The room past the guards led into a large chamber which had a lot of survivors. They were surprised by the appearance of the Helldiver but they seemed happy to see a friendly face. They were all nervous about the whole situation with the Rachni. There were a lot of wounded survivors being tended to by doctors and scientists. Some of their injuries where quite extreme. Most of them just had acid injuries, but a few of the injuries where more extreme.

Pretty soon, the group found an unoccupied door. There seemed to be nothing but snow back there. Austin had made several inquiries about Benezia to the survivors. One of them had let slip on the Matriarchs location and had given directions. Within a few minutes, the group had the snow cleared. There were more Rachni in the tunnels but that didn't stop them. Soon they were in the more sealed off areas of Rift station. They turned a corner and opened a nearby door. Sure enough, standing right in front of them at the top of the stairs and looking at a massive containment cell, was Matriarch Benezia.

"Goddess. It's actually her." Said Liara.

Benezia took notice of the group. She didn't look surprised or shocked to see them. It was obvious that she'd been expecting them.

"You do not know the privilege of being a mother. There is power in creation. To shape a life. Turn it toward happiness or despair." She said. She then looked back at the containment cell. It looked as though there was something inside there. Something massive. "Her children were to be ours. Raised to hunt and slay Saren's enemies." She said.

The Matriarch then turned to face the group. Austin was quite surprised by old Benezia really did look. He had met a few Matriarchs before, but none of them had ever looked this old. Unfortunately, the most distracting and annoying part of the Matriarch was that the black dress she wore exposed an awful lot of her large cleavage.

"Something I see she passed on to Liara." Austin thought in his mind. "No! Focus you idiot! Stop staring at her breasts!" He told himself.

"I won't be moved by sympathy. No matter who you bring into this confrontation." Said Benezia.

Austin knew full well who she was referring to.

"Liara's here because she wants to be. Not because I asked her to. She's the mistress of her fate. Not me." Austin said defensively.

"Indeed? What have you told him about me, Liara?" Benezia asked her daughter directly.

"What could I say, mother? That you're insane? Evil? Should I explain how to kill you? What could I say?" Liara replied desperately. From the tone of her voice, Austin could tell she was trying to hold together.

"Have you faced an Asari commando unit before? Few humans have." Benezia threatened.

"As a matter of fact I have. But you're willing to kill your own daughter? I don't believe that." Said Austin. He could tell this wasn't going to end well.

"I now realize I should've been stricter with her." Said Benezia. With that, that she activated her biotics. For a moment, Austin was frozen. He couldn't move.

"I really wish biotics wouldn't do that. That's cheating!" he thought.

A door at the far end of the room suddenly opened. Two Asari commandos came out to assist the matriarch.

"Deal with the Helldiver and the Krogan. I want my daughter unharmed." Benezia ordered.

As the Matriarch turned her back on the group, Austin found that he could move again. He and the other immediately dove for cover and fired on the Commandos. Austin however picked a rather exposed spot and was fired upon. Fortunately, his shields took the most damage. Wrex distracted the Commandoes by bolting out of cover, relying on his own shielding to keep him safe. Needless to say, one of the Commandos did not take all that long to take down with the superior firepower of weapons.

Benezia and the Commandos where throwing biotics attacks at them throughout the battle, which resulted in Austin being thrown into a stack of crates and them sending him and Wrex flying around the battlefield like a large projectile, and other unpleasant effects. Though one good thing came out of it. When Wrex used his own biotics to counter the effect somewhat he took down the last Commando by hitting her over the head a little too hard, knocking her out.

Benezia then used stasis on the whole crew again, then called in a wave of Geth. They however didn't prove much of a challenge and were mown down like wheat by the powerful rounds from all three of the team.

The group assembled before Benezia's platform, which had extended toward the tank holding the creature. Austin held his pistol up just in case. He was really hoping that he wouldn't have to use it though.

"Listen, Benezia. I don't want to kill you. Surrender now and you will not be harmed." He said.

"Please, mother! Listen to him!" Liara begged.

"This… is not over, Saren is unstoppable…" Benezia said, standing despite her wounds. "My mind is filled with his light!" She turned back toward the tank where the creature rested "Everything is clear…"

"It doesn't have to be this way, Benezia, tell us, what's Saren's next move?"

"I will not betray him, you will… you…" Austin had the distinct impression that something was up and that if he was going to use his weapon he'd better do it soon.

"You must listen, Saren still whispers in my mind, I can fight his compulsions briefly, but the indoctrination is strong…" said Benezia.

Shepard understood now what had happened "We met Shiala on Feros, she told us about Sovereign's indoctrination."

"It is a terror to be trapped in your mind, to beat upon the glass as your hands torture and murder… I was powerless, nothing but a tool for Saren. He sent me here to find the location of the Mu Relay; its position was lost thousands of years ago."

Austin raised an eyebrow. "How does something that big go missing?" he asked.

"Four thousand years ago a star nearby went supernova, the shockwave propelled the Relay out of its system, but did not damage it, its precise vector and speed were impossible to determine, as millennia passed, the nebula created by the supernova enveloped the Relay." She paused "It is difficult to find any cold object in interstellar space, particularly something swathed in hot dust and radiation."

Austin didn't quite get the point of this information "So someone on Noveria found it?"

"The Rachni once inhabited that region of the galaxy, they discovered the relay, the Rachni can share their memories across generations, Queens inherit the knowledge of their mothers." Austin stiffened, so this was where all the Rachni were coming from, this queen… The creature in the tank…

"I took the location of the Relay from the Queen's mind… I was not gentle." Benezia coughed.

Austin could tell now that the Matriarch was dying.

"You can still make it right, Benezia. Give me the information." He said calmly.

"I was not myself… but I should have been stronger." Said Benezia. She walked toward them, holding a disk in her hand "I transcribed the data to an OSD, take it, please!" Austin did as she asked and took the disk "There isn't much time… I transmitted the coordinates to Saren before you arrived. You have to stop me, I… can't, his teeth are at my ear!" the Matriarch's voice was growing desperate. "Fingers at my spine!" She seemed to be almost clawing at her headdress, bent over in pain before the console she'd moved back toward "you should…"

Liara finally unfroze and moved forward. "Mother! Don't leave! Fight him!" she cried.

Benezia turned toward her daughter one last time. "You've always made me proud, Liara." Then she tensed and shuddered for a moment before her control failed and her biotics flared higher than any Shepard had yet seen "DIE!"

Before she could do anything though, Liara took out her own pistol and shot Benezia in the heart.

The Matriarch slumped against the wall. "I cannot go on." She spluttered. Blood was beginning to bleed from her chest and her mouth. "You will have to stop him, Shepard."

"Hold on! We have medi-gel!" said Austin as he knelt down in front of Benezia.

"No! He is still in my mind! I am not in complete control! I never will be." Benezia refused as she still clutched her wound.

"Mother." Liara cried as she knelt down as well, almost on the verge of tears.

"Come closer, Liara." Benezia urged.

Liara did so. Benezia stretched out her un-bloodied hand and stroked her daughter's cheek.

"So beautiful. I always wanted you to be like this." She said.

Liara put her own hand and Benezia's an let a tear fall from her eye. "I'm so sorry, mother." She said.

Austin put his hand on her shoulder.

"Shepard. Promise me that you will protect her. Saren may still want her. I cannot bear the thought of him taking her." Benezia pleaded to him.

"You have my word, Benezia. As long as I live and breathe, I'll never let that bastard have her!" Austin promised.

Liara smiled to Austin. The Matriarch noticed this.

"You love him, don't you?" she asked.

Liara saw no point in hiding what was clear to her mother's eye. "Yes, I do. More than anything."

"Does he know?" she asked.

"Yes. I love Liara as well. I'll never let anything happen to her." Said Austin. Even he was a bit saddened by Benezia's passing.

"I'm happy for you, little wing. I've read a lot about Shepard. He is most wonderful man. You deserve him." Benezia said to Liara.

Liara smiled and hugged her mother. Benezia returned the hug.

"I love you, mother." Liara cried.

"I love you too, Liara. And I always will." Benezia coughed.

"Shepard. There is something I must tell you. In private." Said Benezia.

Austin merely nodded and removed his helmet. He then edged closer to Benezia. The Matriarch then whispered something into his ear.

"Goodnight, little wing." She then said out loud to Liara. She looked up slightly and seemed to smile.

Benezia then drew her last breath and passed away. Austin bowed his head and closed the Matriarchs eyes.

"I'm sorry." He whispered.

"Mother." Liara sobbed.

Austin put his arm around her shoulder and hugged her tightly.

"Why? Why didn't you help her?" Liara shouted at him.

"You heard what she said, Liara." Austin said. He didn't try to retaliate or argue with her. He didn't blame her for being upset or trying to blame him. She'd calm down eventually. But it was still a bit painful to have to endure her being angry at him.

"That still doesn't mean you couldn't have tried!" Liara sobbed angrily as she pushed him away.

"Give it time, Austin. She'll come round." Austin said to himself.

He left Liara alone to grieve for her mother. Wrex walked up to him.

"Will she be okay?" he asked. Surprisingly, he did actually sound as if he cared.

"She just needs time." Austin replied. He tried his best not to let his own sadness show. Seeing his love in pain was more painful than anything he'd endured. He now understood why some Helldivers where so cold about love and intimacy. But that didn't change anything. He loved Liara and nothing would ever change that. All he could do now was just wait until she returned to normal. He knew at least that she wasn't truly blaming him for her mother's death. She was only trying to let off steam. He would probably have done the same thing. Though he might've controlled his temper better than her.

Austin walked closer to the tank that was holding the Rachni queen. He really hadn't expected the queen to be that big.

Unknown to the whole group, one of the dead Asari Commandos was getting back up. She limped towards the Helldiver.

Suddenly the Queen seemed to roar right at Austin, causing him to repel back in shock. He bumped into the Asari as he did. He immediately drew his sword on her but froze when he saw that she wasn't trying to attack him. The asari then slowly turned to face the group and opened her eyes. Despite what was happening, there was no life in them.

"This one serves as our voice." Said the Asari. The voice was strange. It sounded old and calm and at the same time, it seemed to have loads of whispers about it. "We cannot sing. Not in these low spaces. Your music's are…colourless."

"Music's? What do you mean?" Austin asked.

"You're way of communicating is strange. Flat. It does not colour the air. When we speak, one moves all. We are the… mother. We sing for those left behind. The children you thought silenced. We are Rachni." Said the Asari.

"Actual, living Rachni? I don't know what to say." Liara sniffed as she began to recover from her crying.

"How are you speaking through her? This Asari." Austin asked. He edged closer to the Asari and examined her. She wasn't blinking at all, nor was she taking any notice of the Helldiver in front of her. She also didn't appear to be breathing either.

"Our kind sing through touching's of thought. We pluck the springs, and the other understands. She is weak to urging. She has colours we have no names for. But she is ending. Her music is bittersweet. It is beautiful." Said the Asari.

Austin stood back from the Asari.

"You are not in harmony with those who seek to control us. What will you sing? Will you release us? Are we to fade away once more?" the Queen asked.

"There are acid tanks rigged up on that thing. Set them off. Millions of my ancestors died to put these things down. Don't let them come back!" said Wrex.

"They made a mistake. They let the Krogan go too far. This is a chance for us to atone. She has done nothing to us." Liara objected.

"Your companions hear the truth." Said the Queen. "You have the power to free us, or return our people to the silence of memory."

"How did you survive the war? Are you a clone or something?" Austin asked. He felt she should at least ask. He had already made up his mind.

"We do not know. We were only an egg hearing mother cry in our dreams. Then we awoke in this place. The last echo of those who came out from the singing planet. The sky is silent." The Queen replied.

"I won't destroy an entire race. Not even yours. I've seen too much genocide in my time and I won't add to it. You're free to go." Austin said calmly.

"Are you stupid, Shepard? You're people didn't fight these bastards, so maybe you don't get it!" Wrex objected.

"You've been blinded by old war stories, Wrex. If you don't like my decision you're gonna have to shoot me. I can understand how you might feel, but I won't commit genocide. That's not what Helldivers do. We're not all as soulless as some people think!" Austin said defensively.

"Do what you want. But my people will clean up this mess later, just like we did for the Salarians." Wrex grumbled.

"You will give us the chance to compose anew?" The Queen asked surprisingly.

"Yes. Yes, I will. Teach your children well." Said Austin as he smiled behind his helmet. There was something about this choice that made him feel a bit better now.

"We will forever remember you, mighty worrier. We will forever sing of your forgiveness to our children." Said the Queen gratifyingly.

"Great. Bugs are writing songs about you. Mark my words, you'll regret this." Said Wrex.

"We'll see about that." Said Austin as he walked over to the tanks control panel.

"Before you release us, we must ask your favour. The children we birthed, where stolen from us before they could learn to sing. They are lost to the silence. End their suffering. They cannot be saved. They will only cause harm as they are." Said the Queen.

"If you're sure they can't be saved…" Austin checked. He wanted to be sure that this was what the Queen wanted.

"It is lamentable, but necessary. Do what you must, great warrior." Said the Queen.

"As you wish." Austin said as he bowed his head the Queen. He walked over to the control panel and activated the release switch. The tank rose up to join a network of tunnels and the hatch opened.

"Before we leave… What is your name, great warrior?" the Queen asked.

"My name is Commander Austin Shepard of the Helldivers." Austin answered proudly.

"You will forever be remembered in or songs as, Shepard, the Great Helldiver Warrior." Said the Queen. "We are certain that we will meet you again. Thank you, Shepard." Said the Queen.

The Asari that the Queen had been controlling went limp and finally died. From inside the tank, the Queen bowed its head to Austin and then vanished into the tunnels.

"Let's get out of here." Said Wrex.

"What about my mother?" Liara asked.

"I'll carry her body for you." Said Austin.

"Thank you… Shepard." Liara said. She had clearly hesitated at using his first name that time. It worried Austin slightly but he pushed the thought aside. This would be something that they would sort out back on the Normandy.

He gently picked up Benezia's body in his arms and slowly carried her out of the room and back up to the tram. Before they left, he placed her body inside the tram and left it there so that they could head back down to deal with the last Rachni remnants.

As they exited the elevator the found that the tunnel led to a large open room. There was a lone scientist sat on a chair in the middle of the room.

"Are you here to secure the situation?" he asked.

"That's right. I'm a Helldiver." Austin replied. "Who are you?"

"I am Yaroslev Tartakovsky, the operations director. I would stand and shake hand but er…" He seemed nervous. "You must listen to me. If we do not contain our mistake, they will drop bombs from the battle stations. Do you understand?"

"Wait… Are you saying you let them loose?" Austin asked.

"Binary Helix found an egg. It was on a derelict ship. Thousands of years drifting. This was Rachni ship; inside they find many eggs in cryogenic suspension." Yaroslev replied.

"An egg thousands of years old just hatched?" Austin asked, a bit surprised. Could the Queen really be that old?

"Yes. Very tough to be so long frozen that it survived the centuries. This is miraculous. Binary Helix planned to clone Rachni. Mass produce them. Create an army. But when they get here, they find this egg is not a common Rachni. It is a queen. After she lays eggs, they move her to rift station. They're thinking that without her, they can raise the babies to be obedient." Said Yaroslev.

"Trust me. Separating them from their mother didn't work." Said Austin.

"Indeed. This was exactly the wrong thing to do. I am thinking without a Queen, Rachni do not develop properly. Her mind is shaping theirs. These Rachni are uncontrollable." Yaroslev agreed.

"How do we deal with them then?" Austin asked.

"We must activate the Neutron Purge. Arming controls are nearby. All you do is insert a key. Then I will give Mira the…" but Yaroslev was interrupted as a Rachni pod burst through his chest. It threw him aside and lunged at them. With lightning fast reactions, Austin unsheathed Excalibur and sliced the Rachni in half. Tones of blood splattered onto him. He groaned at the fact that he'd have to clean his armour again.

"Just no end to these things, is there?" Wrex said sarcastically.

"That's the thing about cockroaches. No matter how many times you flush them down the toilet, they always crawl back up the bowel." Austin joked.

Austin went over to Yaroslev's lifeless body and took the code from him. The group then proceeded into the next room and activated Mira's terminal.

"Connecting. I now have full access to the facility and am at your disposal." Said Mira as her orange hologram came online.

"Activate the Neutron purge." Said Austin.

"I'm sorry, but I can't do that without proper code authorisation." Said Mira.

"Code input: 8, 7, 5, 0, 2, 0, 0, 7, 9. Code omega local execution." Said Austin.

"Verified. Code omega execution in 120 seconds." Said Mira.

As soon as the VI deactivated, the whole place came alive with Rachni screams. Austin, Liara and Wrex immediately made a break for the elevator. They rushed past all the Rachni that tried to claw at them and barely managed to make it. The elevator stopped and the group proceed back into the tram, with Benezia's body still inside.

"Let's go home." Said Austin.

There you have it. If any of you are worried about the relationship between Liara and Shepard being strained, do not worry, they'll make up in the next chapter. In fact I can't really help myself. So fair warning that next chapter will be another sex one, then we can move to Virmire.

For anyone who might not have noticed, the fight scene between the team and the army of Rachni is actually based off the insect battle in the 2005 remake of King Kong. I used that for inspiration.

I hope you liked this chapter. Please do leave reviews for this one. I really want to know your opinions on this one.