Dragon's Teeth: Mass Effect 1 (Shenko)

Chapter 6

Milky Way/Artemis Tau Cluster/Knossos System/Therum

After searching the planets and systems within the Artemis Tau Cluster, Joker reported their sensors had finally found Dr. T'Soni on the planet Therum.

A hot, rocky, inhospitable planet with active volcanoes, it was currently under Alliance jurisdiction. According to the records they had, the planet was also the site of hard to reach Prothean ruins. So far, only the most dedicated asari researchers had ever attempted to study them.

Kaidan was in the cargo hold when he heard what planet they were heading to. He hadn't thought of Therum in ten years. He couldn't believe the ruins hadn't been destroyed by the ever increasing volcanic activity the planet was subject to.

This Dr. T'Soni must be very tenacious, he thought as they landed in the Mako. (An armored tank, the M-35 Mako was, at present, a standard military vehicle for planet exploration.) Either that, or she was crazy, he amended. Yet he couldn't deny the irony that once again, he was going to Therum to save an asari.

Once inside the mine, they came to the elevator Kaidan remembered from the last time he'd been there. He was surprised when the elevator took them to a raised walkway leading to a second elevator, rather than the bottom of the shaft. He wondered if the researchers had excavated it or if a flow of lava had somehow carved out the space. Where he and Aryana had fought the batarians ten years ago, nothing remained.

The lift ground to a halt, the frame damaged - they weren't getting back out that way. Beside the shaft was a wall that contained strange, hollowed out spaces that reminded him again of bathroom tiles. He couldn't believe they were still there, only this time the one closest to them contained an asari. She was behind a blue kinetic barrier, helplessly suspended in mid air, trapped inside a bubble of blue light.

"Can you hear me out there?" She cried. "I'm trapped!"

"Keep your voice down!" Callie admonished. "There are geth down here, they'll hear you."

"I know, I'm sorry." Dr. T'Soni replied, "I panicked when they arrived and I activated the barrier to keep them out. But I must have touched something I wasn't supposed to and became trapped."

Shepard scolded her for messing with things she didn't understand and though the asari agreed, she also said she mostly did understand - which Kaidan thought was silly. If what she said was true, she wouldn't have gotten trapped. After getting the Dr.'s assurance she wasn't in league with her mother, Benezia, Shepard told her they'd find a way to get her out.

Callie clenched her teeth. Damn scientists, always messing with things they didn't understand then needing people like her to rescue them. Whatever, she thought with a sigh, let's get on with this.

They moved off the platform and after taking out a handful of geth, found a working mining laser. Kaidan played around with the controls and after firing up the laser, blasted a giant hole beneath the area Dr. T'Soni was trapped in. It led to a large platform that took them up to her location. Shepard released her and as they spoke, they heard a loud explosion and the ground shook. Dr. T'Soni reasoned it was likely a seismic event triggered by their use of the mining laser - they had to get out, now.

After another battle with a small contingent of remaining geth who were being led by a krogan warlord, they ran for the exit as the tunnel and support structure began falling down around them.

Callie gasped for breath as they escaped the mine. She smiled in relief at the welcome site of the Normandy which appeared in the sky above the platform - just in time to pick them up.

Milky Way/Artemis Tau Cluster/Normandy

Once everyone was on board safely, the crew assembled in the comm room for a mission debrief.