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Chapter 3: Eden Prime: The Aftermath
"Naylus! Damn it!" I didn't want to let him go alone, but I can't help it.
I ran up to the Turian. To my great relief, the SPECTR was still alive. Hoarse, wheezing breath frothed bloody bubbles at the corners of his mouth, and his chest was torn open by a shot from a powerful rifle at almost point-blank range and resembled a mess of flesh, blue blood, and fragments of black armor. But at least not in the back of the head... It would have blown half my head off right away. It must have been a fight, not just waiting for Naylus to turn his back.
The flaps of Spectrum's armor gave way, and I carefully removed his cuirass, revealing an ugly wound and a blood-soaked coverall. I tore the first-aid kit from my belt and yanked the panacelin syringe out of its socket, injecting the miracle drug into my neck and a second injection into my chest between the twisted chitin plates. The injectors worked, and I put the end of the first-aid kit against the Turian's chest. She automatically gave a few more injections and printed out a thin film to cover and fix the wound. I quickly applied a film to the wound, then Dr. Chakwas will clean up everything along with the fragments, but for now at least. Damn, I need to treat my back, there are exit holes from rifle shells, but I just can't lift a Turin man, especially in heavy armor.
"Shepard calling Normandy!" I turned on the transmitter and yelled.
The answer came quickly:
"Shepard, this is Moreau."
"The Joker! I don't care HOW you do it, but in five minutes, Naylus SHOULD be in the Normandy Infirmary! Do you understand me?"
The pilot seemed to get fucked up by my tone and the essence of the claim, as the answer, spoken in a hoarse voice, expressed all shades of deep amazement:
"Roger that, Shepard."
"Five minutes, Moro! And not a second longer, otherwise I will wring the neck of whoever is responsible for the delay!"
There was a clatter of footsteps. I raised my rifle. Ashley and Alenko appeared from behind the container.
"Explore the port and train station!"
The fighters ran away. I hope they can handle the Geth without my help. Or what is it, really? Kayden's help is zero on the way out, just problems. It's like being with a child... then he sticks his nose where it shouldn't be, then he catches a shot and stands there, looking at the guilty face of the shitting cat...
"Shep-par-rd..."
The Turian's low, croaking voice was barely audible over the roar of gunfire.
"Naylus, shut up, you idiot."
"This... this..." The SPECTR choked on blood and coughed heavily.
"I know. This is Saren. Now, please be quiet! Then you'll explain HOW you caught that shot."
The fucking look of eyes clouded with pain will warm my dark soul at night for a long time! Such amazement! Such emotions!
I didn't leave the side of the dying Turian, keeping an eye on the surroundings. Gunshots and the buzzing pops of biotics could be heard at the train station as the fighters destroyed the Geth. Alenko is going back to the ship's infirmary with a migraine. As far as I remember, there aren't many Geth there, so we should be able to handle it. Soon the gunshots died down and Ashley reported:
"Clear!"
"Are you all right?"
"Yes, Commander."
"Take up the defense on the train. I'll join you soon."
I don't know exactly what the Joker did or what he said to Captain Anderson, but just three minutes later, the graceful silhouette of the Normandy appeared in the sky. Apparently, my reputation as a butcher of Torfan has worked, although judging by Rin's memories, she worked with Anderson in Tokyo back in the amphibious cruiser squadron. I watched closely as Niall was placed on a stretcher under the strict guidance of Karin and carried away to the ship, and for a long time I will not be able to forget the gaze of green eyes. Or rather, what I saw in those eyes. A powerful mix of guilt, disappointment, pain, betrayal, and gratitude. Well, Nilus, just try to die now! I have huge plans for you! For some reason, I am sure that this SPECTR will become part of the Normandy team. The concept of "gratitude" is not an empty phrase for Nilus. As well as "revenge".
The frigate disappeared into the sunset sky, returning to the safety of low orbit, and I ran to the fighters of the landing group. If my sclerosis doesn't let me down, bombs, a bunch of Geth, and a lighthouse are waiting for me on the other side. Well, and future nightmares, where without them.
The train rolled steadily, the engines humming faintly, and I peered at the platform emerging from the twilight. The optics of the rifle already made it possible to see the synthetics involved in installing bombs. Fuck, we had our own sapper in the landing group, but now he's not with me. Alenko with bombs on you. And Ashley... hmm, Williams might be able to.
"Ashley, Kayden, the Geth on the platform. They're doing something with..." I peered at the elongated cylindrical device. "Damn it! They're mining the colony!"
Well, if Ashley can't defuse the bombs, let handsome John mess with this universe, and I'll go on a rebirth.
Kayden flinched.
"Who can deactivate the Aen-3 bomb?" I asked a sacramental question, catching Geth in the crosshair. A shot, the butt pushed into the shoulder. The Geth collapsed to the floor, visibly sparking.
"I can." Ashley replied softly.
Shot, shot. The squeak of an overheated weapon.
"Kayden, cover her."
The rifle cooled down, to catch the creature in sight, a shot. The train was slowing down, automatically braking between the platforms. The Geth became animated, and bright lines of queues stretched in our direction, clearly visible at dusk. There it is, the muzzle sticking out over the box and invitingly shining a flashlight at me! A blue light touched the tip of the sight, a shot. The flashlight was gone.
Ashley and Kayden rolled off the train platform. The first bomb was practically under their feet. The woman bent down, and the uni-tool lit up...
"Shepard, it's five minutes on the timer!"
"Well, move it!" The rifle poked into his shoulder. "Kayden, check the transition!"
The man rushed up the stairs.
"Clear! I see two more!"
"Faster!"
The lights on the first bomb went out, and the panel collapsed.
"The first one is ready!" Ashley, ducking, ran after Alenko, and I noticed movement in the dense shadow of the box.
There was a brief flash of a flashlight on his muzzle, and a rifle roared loudly under his ear. Geth fell, rolling out from behind the container.
"I'm disabling the second one!"
I moved to the other side of the tracks, carefully searching the long platform.
"The second one is ready!"
Kayden ran forward, peering behind every crate, behind every support. I moved further away, stopping at the huge spacer. Here, the platform descended by a wide staircase to a loading platform, on which, as far as I know, there should be a lighthouse.
"The third one is ready! Two minutes!"
"Check the platform to the end."
Kayden darted into the gathering darkness, a moment of silence, and a natural scream:
"There's another one!"
Ashley took off from a low start, like a runner on the finish line, throwing a shotgun on her back. The seconds melted away one by one, the soft squeak of the instrumentron, the agonizing expectation, and finally:
"Ready!"
"Ashley, you're doing great." I whispered faintly, exhaling slowly. My heart was pounding in my chest, and my arms were shaking.
"And if there is more?" Alenko's uncertain voice.
"We'll find out now."
The minutes dragged by one after another, but, as expected, there was no explosion. There really were four of them.
"Damn it!" Ashley's voice cracked. The woman slid to the floor next to me, clutching the shotgun with trembling hands. "I haven't felt this way for a long time!"
"Hel's hand on her shoulder?"
The woman shuddered, shivering.
"Yes... The hand of Death on his shoulder. What an accurate definition..."
We cleaned up the platform with the lighthouse quickly, but Kayden was shot in the shoulder again and slowly fell into prostration due to excessive use of biotics. There were no Huskies this time, only five Geth. Ashley winced: her right arm was hanging like a whip due to the impact of the geth pulse.
And the Prothean lighthouse in all its dubious glory: a narrow pylon glowing with a ghostly green light, covered with dim lights. The pancake glows like negators in undead cities. It's generally dangerous for me to approach them, and even more so to sleep next to them — I don't give a damn about them.
"Unbelievable! The current Protean technology!" Kayden admired the ancient device, slowly walking around it in a circle. The lighthouse's pylon stood right in the center of the site, flashing green and gold lights and humming softly.
"How much time has passed, and it's still working." Ashley said, rubbing her hand.
"I wonder what he's hiding?" Alenko crossed the security zone and the beacon was activated.
A powerful arc of energy passed through the pylon, throwing out a tight beam. Alenko screamed, slowly rising into the air. No matter how much the man resisted, an invisible force persistently dragged him towards the ancient device.
"ALENKO! Curious idiot!"
Running, I slammed into this jerk, knocking him out of the beam. The fighter collapsed to the floor, and I felt an invisible grip lift me into the air and pull me towards the lighthouse, which slowly opened like a flower. The visions flashed suddenly, instantly overloading the mind with an abyss of information: coordinates, chronicles, excerpts of recordings and short videos. Blood, war, planets burning in nuclear flames, collapsing cities, armies of beetle-like monsters tearing sentient beings to pieces at various times, fleets of ships dying under the blows of black machines so familiar to me, Reapers descending on the planet. Episodes, excerpts, memories, emotions, feelings of despair, threats and hopelessness, drawings and diagrams, a strange planet... It seemed that my head would simply burst from the endless stream of data lavishly pressed into my poor brains! But finally, my consciousness could not stand it, and I plunged into blessed darkness. "The emergency reset to an organic carrier has been completed."
One last coherent thought: "Alenko, you moron... I'll kill the cattle as soon as I wake up..."
Consciousness returned painfully and slowly, pulling me out of the depths of a bloody nightmare. The information that was forced into my poor brains was slowly digested and sorted out, but its volume is such that colorful bloody dreams are guaranteed to me for a month in advance. My fingers were clenching convulsively from the desire to strangle Alenko, even though I knew in my mind that I would have climbed under the lighthouse anyway. But... Damn him! You idiot! With his L2, brains would definitely boil over!
The medical equipment beeped softly somewhere to the left, the rustle of the doctor's clothes, the tapping of fingers on the keyboard. I slowly opened my eyes. His vision cleared, revealing an agitated and anxious face.
"Dr. Chakwas..." I croaked.
"Shepard, you scared me again."
I slowly propped myself up on my elbows and struggled to sit up.
"Damn it, Dr. Chakwas, do you have any painkillers? It feels like a galactic library has been uploaded to my brain... I shuddered, cupping my aching temples with my fingers."
The doctor injected me with medicine from the injector.
"You have a lot of information overload, Commander."
"Yes, I've already figured it out."
There was another beep from the left. Turning around, I saw a naked Nilus on the next bed, studded with some tubes, medical devices of unknown purpose, wires and sensors. The Turian looked like a victim of a rabid spinner, wrapped in an untidy cocoon with a pile of strange garbage.
It's a good thing the doctor can't read my mind... I'm afraid she won't appreciate such a comparison and will be offended.
"How is he?"
His gaze involuntarily clung to the huge blue spot that spread across his chest, to the numerous scars, to the swollen cyanotic burn that crossed his right thigh, multiple bruises and abrasions. I didn't understand, was he beaten up? Given the xenophobic sentiments on the ship, it's possible that he got into a fight with someone. Or he came straight from another assignment. Or he managed to get into a fight with Saren before he fired an assault rifle at him.
"The condition is extremely serious, and the regenerator is not installed on the ship." The doctor sighed. "If you had not insisted on immediate hospitalization, he would not have survived."
That's how... Well, Naylus... If you get better, I'll punch you in the face. For making me so nervous!
"And in more detail?"
"The shot was almost point blank. It's a miracle that the fragments didn't hit the heart: several passed almost exactly. The ribs are crushed, the lungs are excised. A little to the left and that's it..."
"What are the chances?"
"It's hard for me to say yet. The Spectr has stabilized, but it is still critical."
"As I understand it, it cannot be transported?"
"Absolutely."
"That's great." I struggled to stand up. "Doctor, I would really appreciate it if you would keep me informed."
The woman smiled knowingly.
"Of course, Captain."
"Please don't be so formal." I smiled. "I have so many more times to visit you... Call me Rin."
"Karin. And that's the only way!"
The doors of the infirmary opened to admit the captain of the ship.
"Captain Anderson!"
"Shepard." The man nodded in greeting. "How are you feeling?"
"Brains are about to boil." I honestly admitted. "Information overload."
"A lighthouse?" The captain's gaze grew heavier. "Did he show you something?"
"Rather, he raped my brain." I grimaced. "Until the information is processed, it is useless. Disparate images."
"Doctor, what is Captain Shepard's condition?"
"Physically healthy. The painkiller should take effect within 10 minutes." Karin frowned.
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