"Commander, the alien's protection is lifted. There are two signals indicating the presence of intelligent organic life on board this ship," Ingvar reported. "Classifying... These are the Asari and the Turian, sir. They are alive, but they are in deep shock. Their vital signs... Crushed," the specialist clarified.

"Commander," Moro peered at the screens, "I see Geth landing ship, sir. Three pieces. They left the shrimp's hull through the portals and are now trying to fly away from the collapsed giant's position, sir. Will you allow fire to kill?"

"Permission granted," Anderson said. "Bill. Make sure that we don't have any problems with them."

"Yes, sir," there was deep satisfaction in the voice of the senior gunner. "Let's do it!"

Several volleys caused all the Geth's landing craft to crash onto the metal launch pads hastily prepared at the giant's feet. Hardly anyone except the automatons was able to mark the moment when they appeared there.

Chapter 12. Evacuation of the Turian and Asari from the Reaper. Seizure of the shrimp pilot.

"We doubted that the Geth had gone beyond the Veil" Captain Anderson said, looking at the final data processed by several of the frigate's VI on the screens of the Star Chart. "I think it's your turn to act now, Shepard."

"That's right, sir!" said the XO. "I suggest that we first deal with these two intelligent organics on board the shrimp. A rapid response team led by Lieutenant Alenko... I suggest, Commander, that she head to the archaeology camp and take the Prothean Beacon aboard the shuttle. On the external suspension," the XO clarified. "We managed to prevent the activation of the Geth landing... It is now clear that the task of the Geth subordinates of the Reaper was indeed to evacuate the Prothean Lighthouse aboard the shrimp. After loading the artifact on board, it would immediately take off. Whether he would have started shooting at the planet or not is another matter. To answer it exactly... Now it's hardly possible. And it is hardly necessary."

"Are you suggesting that the Geth are... indoctrinated?" Anderson asked.

"These are mashins, sir. And a mashin with a mashin will always come to an agreement quickly. Almost instantly," Said the XO. "By human standards, of course. So the "Soveren" agreed." Shepard gave a few short orders over the audio channel of the earphone speaker. "Lieutenant Alenko, sir, took the first shuttle back to camp. He has three policemen with him who are supposed to be on duty today. I'm taking five policemen and Corporal Jenkins with me. On the shuttle, we will reach the hole in the hull that is most convenient for our purposes and enter the ship through it. Recent scan data clearly indicates that the ship is hollow.

"Go ahead, Shepard," Anderson said.

The captain saluted and in a few minutes the shuttle was already carrying him to the defeated ship of an unknown race.

* * *

"We're on our way, sir!" the driver reported. This time, Shepard did not take Steve, the shuttle's regular pilot, with him, citing that the upcoming mission was very dangerous and it would be better if there was a military policeman in the driver's seat. Steve got it right. He did not object, giving up the chair to one of the policemen and remaining on the frigate. "It's huge. And we've made a good hole in it! It's a good thing I'm not alone. There is a choice." He brought the shuttle sideways to the sharp edges of the alien's outer armor. "Ready, sir. I'm opening a salon," By pressing a key, he unlocked the side door of the shuttle. "Shall I wait for you here, sir?"

"Yes," the XO confirmed. "Just keep the car away from sharp edges. The rasp was barely audible, but it was there. No need to aggravate the damage. It's extra work for the technicians," Shepard said, getting up and habitually twitching the bolt of an assault automatic rifle. "Take one of the insulating containers. Close the helmets. Turn the spacesuit systems offline. Keep your weapons ready at all times. Don't click your beaks, look around carefully. And — listen. To his feelings and sensations, too," with these words, he was the first to jump down onto the scaly plates of the inner lining of the cuttlefish's interior. Let's go and "take" the central control unit first. We need to finally knock out this monster. Is the task clear?" The captain turned his head to the left to see almost all of his bandmates.

He was met with silent, cautious nods. The Normans looked around, getting used to the sight of the alien's insides.

"Jenkins, you're next to last," having given this order, Shepard almost ran along the route he knew only.

There was nothing special about the fact that he knew exactly where to go, despite the fact that the path led through the rubble of pipelines, coils of cables, piles of boxes and various hard-to-identify "junk" for Shepard. The condition of the "String" allowed him to subtly feel the environment for many meters around, and it was impossible not to notice such a bright "spot" as the central control unit of the "shrimp" in principle. And his colleagues from Normandy were also used to the fact that the new second-in-command of the ship's officer knew and could do much more than one would expect from an elite commando.

The XO was bothered by only one feeling: he knew that soon the alien would wake up and be able to resist. The time remaining until the Reaper's protection was reactivated was running out. I didn't want to wonder how much time was left before switching on — I had to act quickly and efficiently, and you'd start wondering "how much is up to zero?" "you'll die." Or, at least, you won't complete the task.

Finally, a glowing armored sphere "appeared" ahead. With a short gesture, ordering his companions to stop, Shepard moved closer to the sphere. He peered as far as the cone of dim light from the helmet-mounted searchlight, adjusted to a quarter of the power, allowed into its surface. He ran the fingers of his arm, encased in an armored spacesuit glove, along the joints of the petals. He paused, without taking his hand off the rim surface. And with a sudden movement, he pushed one of the petals to the side, forcing the others to fold like a fan.

In the ligth bluish-greenish glow under the petals, a transparent sphere was revealed, held strictly in the center of the now open armored cocoon. Reaching out to the sphere, Shepard pulled it out of the holding field and felt the tension inside the ship disappear.

"Jenkins. Container. Quickly," Shepard ordered abruptly, without turning around, waiting for the corporal to come up and hand him an open isolation box.

After placing the sphere in it, the captain closed the locks of the inner trunk, dialed one code, closed the locks of the outer trunk and dialed the second code.

"Is he... dead?!" Jenkins asked quietly. "And we did it? Did they kill this monster?

"The ship is dead. And his pilot." Shepard looked at the container. Jenkins caught his eye and looked the same way. "He's alive," He looked around at his shocked companions. "Now we are looking for two intelligent organics. I believe they were caught in the ship's control room by the impact. Come on, come on, follow me," The XO ordered. "We'll have to carry both of them in our arms, colleagues, so let's move as quickly as possible. We didn't take a stretcher with us, not even the simplest fabric ones," the XO noted. "Nothing. We'll take it out." Saying this, Shepard almost ran along the winding path that ran among the ship's parts torn from their fastenings, heading for the beacons that clearly flickered on the helmet screen-indicators of biological activity. "Quick, quick, don't stop!" Despite the fact that the pilot had been removed from the center of the giant ship's control system, Shepard was not inclined to think that there would not be an emergency control system in the depths of the Reaper, operating, of course, completely autonomously.

We also had to hurry because the condition of the two intelligent organics was deteriorating. Although not so fast, it was getting worse. There was still time to return to the hole and board the shuttle, and that was all the time that could have been gone....

After climbing several ladders and climbing the side wall that had become a floor, the disembarkation group entered the premises of the Shrimp central post.

There was a Turian lying exactly under a work chair propped up on a bracket, "wrapped" in a heavy armored suit. Not far from him, an elderly Asari in a black and white robe with a strange headdress lay like a broken mannequin, slightly askew and revealing a large wound on her forehead.

The medical monitoring indicator on the XO's helmet display showed that the Turian was in good shape, but in deep shock and unconscious, but the Asari... As Shepard realized, she clearly did not have time to sit down in another chair, which was now hanging on the "side" wall, so she suffered multiple injuries. With tight, precise gestures, the XO ordered two policemen to aim at the entrances to the central post, while he and Jenkins bent over the asari.

"Nine hundred and fifty years... According to the standard chronology. The Middle Galactic. I can't believe it...." The corporal whispered as his drone received the first identification data taken from the Asari by the suit's automation.

Meanwhile, Shepard was liberally smearing panacelin on the spots of the most serious damage identified by the autodoctor on the screen inside the helmet medical diagnosis.

"She's nine times older than any of us!" The corporal added.

"Get used to it, Richard. Now it's part of our work," The commando took a set of tires out of his assault shoulder pack and fixed the Azari's left forearm and right shin with several precise movements, not forgetting to add another layer of panacelin to the wounds in these places. "Okay, that's it," he turned and walked over to the Turian. "But it's more complicated here," the XO turned on his wrist monitor and showed the data of the identification chip to his companions on its large screen.

— The spectr? — the surprised exclamation was not restrained by three policemen at the same time.

Shepard nodded, agreeing with the opinion of his colleagues.

"He's so tough! Although, according to the diagnostician, there are almost eighty percent of implants in it," said the senior policeman. "He's barely hurt. But I would..."

"Work hard, Orestes," Shepard finished his thought. "We need to get him to the shuttle. It will be more complete. You don't need him to start pulling out on the way. We still have to rent it out with a chaperone."

"I'll carry him, sir," the policeman injected the Turian with a full dose of immobilizer.

"All right, Orestes." Shepard made sure that his colleagues would help the policeman and turned to Jenkins. "Richard, do you remember the way?"

"Yes, sir," the corporal watched as a short policeman carried a two-meter-tall Turian almost effortlessly to the exit from the Central Checkpoint. "I remember, sir," he corrected himself, catching the questioning look of the group commander. "I'll go first, sir." I'll take it out, sir."

"Go ahead, Jenkins." Shepard watched the corporal leave and, going up to Asari, lifted her in his arms. "Go ahead, I'll follow you," he told the other policemen.

The journey back was predictably difficult. In particularly cluttered places, the limp bodies of both victims had to be handed over several times. Shepard looked doubtfully at the in-helmet indicator of biological forms, flickering with bluish light. There were no more living people inside the ship, and there were no corpses either.

The ship, devoid of a control link, was silent. This silence alarmed both the policemen and the captain.

The shuttle driver brought the car to the edge of the hole. The Asari and the Turian were placed on their backs on two benches formed by transformed chairs. The policemen, Jenkins, and Shepard stood all the way to the frigate.

In the Normandy hangar, they were met by Major Chakvas, who went up to the cabin, scanned both patients with her medical omny-tool and nodded to Shepard:

"Good. They may well pull through, John. Take them to my medical bay." Having said that, she exchanged knowing glances with Jenkins and the other policemen. Richard, as Shepard noted, no longer looked like such an omnipotent "hero," but he was commendably calm and collected.

Chakvas, as the XO noted, liked the corporal's mood.

"Yes, ma'am," Shepard nodded and picked up Asari in his arms again, this time being the first to step onto the ship's hangar slabs. Behind him, the senior policeman carried the Turian.

A few minutes later, both victims were placed on medical beds in the Chakwas kingdom, and the major of the medical service ordered everyone, including Shepard, to leave the Infirmary with a glance.

"May I go, sir?" The senior policeman and Jenkins approached Shepard as soon as the captain was the last to leave the Sick Bay.

"Go ahead. Get some rest. Thanks to everyone," the XO shook hands with the policemen and the corporal.

The first mission, involving landing on a completely unfamiliar ship, certainly excited all its participants, so the handshakes helped to moderate the tension somewhat.

"Yes, sir," saluting the senior officer, the corporal and the policemen went into the forecastle. Shepard knew that now they would have enough topics to talk about.

As Jenkins left, he placed a container with a control chip at the captain's feet. After placing the container in the frigate's isolation storage, Shepard dialed five lock codes and slammed the thick door of the safe. Captain Anderson approached him inaudibly.

"His heart?" the commander asked.

"More," the XO replied after a moment. "The mind. Pilot. Base," Shepard said, looking at the smooth surface of the storage compartment lid and wondering what-or who-was behind it. "I would never have believed it, sir. But... he's obviously not alone on the ship. I wanted to say that he acts as a single being, as a single mind.... But in fact, there are billions of them out there, these minds. To lock such a thing up in such a large building and send it to war. Through such unimaginable spaces for humans. How soulless do you have to be?!..."

"We can... understand... how they are, the ones who made up this Reaper's corps...." Anderson glanced at the storage door, "... did they look?"

"We can, Commander," Shepard replied after thinking about it. "But I don't think we're ready for that right now."

"While you were there, I ordered the ship's crew to secure the shrimp crash site and close it to the colonists. A fence has been erected and a barbed wire fence has been put up. With all necessary equipment. We also additionally shielded the landing site of the Geth ships and the places where individual Geth fell. All this is included in the general security zone," the ship's commander clarified. "Local... They were sympathetic to our demand for the establishment of a "restricted zone" regime, Captain" Anderson said. "Moreover, this "shrimp" is clearly visible and visible from a very decent distance. There won't be any "I'm just looking at it" problems. As soon as you removed the "chip", long-range communication from the planet was restored, but from the moment you boarded the shrimp, I ordered the area to be "closed" for now and not to send information about what happened on board the frigate to the Alliance. On my orders, the EW post placed Eden-Prime under an "information blockade." Filtering of information flows has begun. Several more people joined the EW post specialists — it turned out to be a lot of work for the usual number." Anderson was silent for a few dozen seconds. "To say that the colonists and the administration of the planet are in shock is an understatement. They don't even make any usual, and therefore quite predictable, claims about destroyed or damaged infrastructure and crops. It seems that they understood what this "shrimp" could become for them.... I also ordered all units of the Geth Marines and their ships to be assembled, and access to the backup landing table was blocked, where they had all been transported by this time. Engineer Adams has already been there and says that for the first time he sees such advanced machines that have managed to develop independently based on AI. Network AI."