Rebirth The Mass Effect is old

"What do we have to do?" A quiet rumbling voice put an end to my doubts. I breathed a sigh of relief. I believed it! Emotions don't lie. Determination, excitement, burning curiosity... Nihlus is ready to embark on a new mission, perhaps the most consistent with the essence of the SPECTR — the protection of the Galaxy. This is a challenge to his skill, his knowledge and experience. The most global assignment he can find. The tip of the blow and the center of the storm. He's doubtful, I can feel it, but he's willing to take the risk, because if I'm not lying...

"A lot of things. And there's only a year left."

"Why?"

"Because I'm going to die in a year."

Nihlus choked on air and coughed.

"What?!"

"After we deal with Saren and the Lord, I will be sent on a mission where I will die. This is a key point that CANNOT be bypassed. But in two years, I will return to the world of the living again, when my dear superiors need a Hero to save the world from another Enemy." venomous sarcasm came out of his mouth by itself. "So they'll remember about me, take out my carcass frostbitten by the cosmic cold and burned by fire from the stash, carefully shake off the dust, resurrect and put the Hero back into action." I grinned into his bright green eyes. "The perspective is just great, right?"

It must have been hard for this worthy representative of a warlike people to comprehend, because Nihlus looked at me in deep fucking shock.

"You... Are you going to die?"

"Of course not!" I snorted. "I'll use suspended animation. "This will allow me to hang out in space for as long as it takes. And it's not difficult to resuscitate: the body itself will begin to revive as soon as it gets into habitable conditions. I'm not going to burn up in the atmosphere."

Nihlus slowly raised his hand, rubbed his comb in confusion, staring at me unblinkingly.

"Can't we get in the way?"

"If they don't remember about me before the Collectors attack, fly down and catch me." I shrugged, not seeing the problem. "I'll take the lighthouse."

"You know. If I had any doubts at first... in your sanity... they are now..."

"Are you stronger?" I asked ironically.

"They're gone!" The Turian grinned, showing sharp teeth. "Do I understand correctly that you won't be making any major changes before THIS event?"

I nodded.

"And after that?"

"and then YOU HAVE TO."

"I agree." and a predatory fanged smile.

A boulder the size of a Citadel really fell from my soul.

"Why did you believe it at all?"

"You speak my native language." Nihlus informed me with a slight irony in his voice.

I froze.

"What?"

"Everyone is so used to relying on the uni-tool and its translation abilities that they no longer pay attention to which language the other person is speaking." A hint of sarcasm flashed through the rumbling voice. "This is the first time I've heard you speak your native language on the Normandy since that strange seizure. Irene Shepard couldn't know our language. The human throat is not capable of reproducing it. The human ear cannot hear all the features of speech. And you spoke cleanly. It's so pure that at first I didn't understand what language you were speaking.

"And now?"

In response, a smile and a cheerful look.

That's how you lose money on inconspicuous little things. Wearily rubbing the bridge of my nose, I asked:

"Why didn't you say anything?"

"I should have appreciated you. I appreciated it. What I saw is for me... liked." The Turian chuckled. "Unlike... The first one... What is the correct way to say it?"

"Are you talking about my recipient?"

"Yes. The real Irene Shepard... It didn't fit the requirements of the Special Corps very well."

"I'm glad I didn't disappoint." My head was slowly turning leaden. "I'll sleep here for now. If they ask, you'll say it's information overload."

"But really?"

"A sensitive shock. The mentalist's abilities are activated, and the mind cannot cope with the information it receives. In fact, it's the same overload."

I settled comfortably on the elastic cot and put my folded uniform jacket over my eyes.

"When should you wake up?"

Nihlus asked ironically.

"Do not wake up, even if the "Norm" is boarded! It's an eight-day flight to Tau Artemis. I'll sleep for ten hours, maybe twelve. All this time will pass in flight via the repeater channel. If I twitch or grumble, don't pay attention. I still managed to hear a soft rumbling laugh as consciousness slowly faded. The sounds disappeared completely, and I was plunged into blessed Darkness. The activation of mentalism always occurs under conscious control. I have a lot of work and little time. And Gods forbid, someone interrupts me!

Chapter 11: The Tau of Artemis: Therum

Eight days later, the Normandy emerged from a jump over the plane of the ecliptic of Knossos near the repeater.

The flight was uneventful, except for the constant clashes between Ashley and Garrus. To my deep annoyance, the ship's crew also joined in these skirmishes, quickly dividing into two camps: the former simply ignored the outsiders and did not get into conflicts, but the latter, with Ashley at their head, were unhappy with the presence of non-humans on board and demonstrated this in every possible way. But our small international team quickly rallied.

Tali found a common language with Greg Adams, the chief engineer of Normandy. The engineer was filled with pure, uncluttered delight at the young Quarian's skills and knowledge. Professionally, the two worked well together, and Tali quickly gained credibility with the ship's technical staff. Rex didn't give a damn about people's troubles, and he spent most of his time sleeping in the cabin, ruining food supplies and refining the weapons I had given him. Garrus was more difficult. The Turian took the crew's attitude quite painfully and quickly closed himself off, preferring to spend time in the company of his kinsman in the infirmary. I also spent almost all my free time there, because I enjoyed talking with Naylus and Garrus, and I didn't see the faces of the crew. Fortunately, direct work could be done on an instrumentron anywhere. From time to time, Jeff would join us, leaving the ship for Kayden. Pressley watched all this with a degree of equanimity and displeasure, but did not say anything.

Nihlus terrible wound was healing rapidly: I increased my energy output, since these days there were no stresses on the body. I slept, ate, and occasionally walked around the ship, and I gave all the excess energy to Nihlus. By the time he left the repeater channel, Spektr was already calmly getting up and moving around the ship, even though the loads were contraindicated to him.

To my surprise, Naylus was able to find a common language with the scruffy pilot. To do this, it was necessary to praise his professional skills and thoughtfully talk about the topic of ships and the specifics of their piloting. Spectrum turned out to be a good pilot, and the Joker soon recognized this. The two spent the five-hour flight from the repeater to the Terminal very productively. True, their communication sometimes shook the ship, but no one was in a hurry to be indignant, and I wasn't going to. It's in my best interest if Jeff and Nihlus find a common language and become friends, which the demons are not joking about. They shared the duties of the navigator amicably among themselves, completely excommunicating Pressley from laying the ship's course. However, the XO didn't mind, even giving up some of the work with some relief. He had enough problems with the crew, which I safely unloaded on him.

* * *

Half an hour before arriving at Terum, I gave the order to prepare for the landing, and our motley squad occupied the arsenal. I left a disgruntled and offended Ashley on board. Maybe her brain will turn on, otherwise she must have decided that I was joking about being excluded from the landing party.

We'll be dropped onto the planet in a Mako that could hold six sentients. The team consisted of me, Garrus, Rex, Kayden and Tali. One place for Liara.

"Rir, five minutes to reset!" Jeff's voice came through the headset. The rifle folded, coming out in a non-combat position.

"Understood. Garrus, what's with the Mako?"

"Ready."

"Finish it. Rex, if you want to, take another cassette of grenades with you and stop hypnotizing them with your eyes!"

The Krogan snorted, but Box scooped it up.

We armed ourselves thoroughly, and carried even more into the conveyor. I warned you directly that there might be problems. We boarded a couple of minutes before the deadline, secured the boxes with grenades, panacelin and weapons, checked the armor and ammunition.

"Joker, we're ready."

"Okay, I'm dropping it! Hold on tight!"

The Mako rocked and fell out of the Normandy's hold, falling like a stone to the ground. Kayden was driving. The brake engines roared, slowing down, we were shaken, hit, the car got on its wheels, the running engine rumbled. Garrus slipped to the gun turret.

"All systems are working properly. We can go now." Alenko reported calmly.

The Mako shuddered and rolled smoothly over the rocky surface of an almost dead world.

* * *

Terum looked... strange. A heavy, gloomy sky covered with dense blue-steel clouds, heat, lifeless reddish rocks corroded by corrosion and time, dimly glowing lava lakes that give the planet the appearance of one of the branches of the Underworld, and the buildings of a processing plant towering on the horizon.

"It's a nasty place." Tali whispered. "We would never colonize such a planet."

The Mako crossed the ridge and rolled out onto the paved road. Jeff dropped us much closer to the factory, and we didn't have to go through the locked gates.

"It was not colonized in the usual sense." Kayden replied calmly. Mining and processing plants are located here. And a lot of Prothean ruins. The Mako rolled easily along the road, dodging between protruding rocks here and there, while I sat on pins and needles. Will there be Gethas or not?

Will be.

Garrus screamed gutturally in the tower, and the turret came to life and slid away.

"The Geth!" The Turian growled.

There was a roar overhead, and rockets leapt from their pylons and raced toward the cars that were getting to their feet.

"The Joker!"

"Rene, what happened?"

"The Geth! Their ship could be in orbit!"

"Understood."

The connection was interrupted. There was an explosion, the tank collapsed, and Alenko jerked the car away from the string of blue discharges.

"Keep driving. But be careful. If there are these, then there are more." I rubbed the bridge of my nose. "Saren is either on the planet now, or he was here."

"Or he sent someone." Garrus finished the thought.

The road for us sitting in the cabin was blurred into a kaleidoscope of gunshots, sudden jerks, unexpected braking and starting, Garrus' rasping curses and Kayden's curses. It wasn't difficult for a Turian to shoot Geth at long range, preventing them from even getting close to us, and Kayden did everything so that not a single shot hit us, so we got to the factory without any problems.

We found the entrance to the Prothean ruins based on pure intuition and my memory: it was located near a small processing plant consisting of three huge tanks with small scaffolding and a control room on struts, and it was no different from the many mines scattered around. Tellingly, there was no blockage preventing the armored car from passing.

Nevertheless, the station was working, the road to it was used by much more massive vehicles than our six-seater Mako, and was kept in order.

The Mako braked at a bend in the road. Kayden looked skeptically at the high tanks of the station, shifting his gaze to the map and back to the screen.

"Spectr, take a look. Could this be it?"

I checked the map and looked at the screen.

"Are there any other such stations near the entrance to the mine?"

"I don't see it in the neighborhood. There are bigger ones. There is a factory with three exits nearby."

"The factory is not suitable. Come on, little by little. If there are Gethas, then we guessed right."

The Geth were! As we pulled up to the station, Garrus noticed the geth ghost curled up on the strut, but he was a little late: the creature darted up somewhere, and heavy bullets knocked out sparks in the metal.

The Geth ambush collapsed under the roar of turrets and rocket explosions. Garrus had a good time, literally mowing down the unexpected synthetics. The tank rising from the landing position was shot and blown up before it could become a real threat. The last to kill were the nimble Geth ghosts. These creatures were too nimble and agile. And finally, Garrus' voice said:

"Clear!"

We're going out. Alenko, drive the Mako away. Terum greeted us affectionately with a powerful heat stroke, the smell of scorched flesh and the heat of a red-hot stone. Open lava bubbled near the station, stinking unbearably of chemicals and spewing a column of thick black smoke into the gloomy skies. A cargo truck was burning down near the rocks, half drowned in lava, gaping holes from missile hits.

While Kayden drove the vehicles to the sheer cliff, we quickly checked the station, but found only the charred corpses of the workers. Three nascent Huskies were blown up with a grenade launcher along with the stakes they were hanging from.

Alenko came up and took a pistol from his belt.

"Don't go ahead." I said. "If I find out that I've used an implant above the standard value, I'll send Karin to the infirmary for a decade. Your task is to put barriers on the group."

Alenko nodded slightly.

The entrance to the shaft was blocked by a massive locked round hatch. Tali darted to the terminal, the twilight was dispersed by the golden light of the instrumentation, and the door squeaked open, letting us into an inclined tunnel punched into the rocky soil of the planet. Powerful cables stretched to the left and right, and every ten meters there were massive arc-shaped supports with long lamps illuminating the tunnel going into the depths.

Rex came down first with a shotgun, followed by me and Kayden. A little behind — Garrus with a "Harpoon" in his hands and a hoist. The Turian periodically scanned the tunnel with optics, and it was he who first noticed the Geth.

A sniper rifle rumbled loudly, a reload squeak, a shot. Somewhere in the distance, something sparkled. A couple of seconds to cool the weapon, and again — a booming shot.

"Clear."

Rex just spat.

"Vakarian! You robbed me of fights at the Citadel, and now you won't let me do it here?"

A low rumbling chuckle.

"I'm not going to confiscate your guns this time, Rex."