The Firefly (Mass Effect Andromeda)

Chapter 13

They had been driving for almost three hours. Olivia had been forced to drive Kendra's vehicle, while the woman kept her at gunpoint. She wouldn't tell her anything, but simply mocked the younger woman for her ignorance. Olivia gritted her teeth and kept driving, acutely aware of the pistol still in her jacket, heavy against her ribs. She was desperate for water, for rest. She needed to cry, for the two dead soldiers, but she couldn't. Not while her life was on the line.

"You can stop here." Kendra finally said. "We'll walk the rest."

"What the hell are you playing at?" Olivia asked. "Why are we here?"

"They give me the activation codes for a Firefly prototype, and I give you back to them." She paused, "Simple. Just walk slowly, and you'll live to see another day Olivia Taylor. Get to see your precious dad again." The jibe about her dad made her glance at the other woman.

"Did you know my dad?"

"Maybe." Kendra smiled, "From before. We did some work together." They climbed out of the truck. "Get walking."

It wasn't long before they were closing in on the project's buildings, a ramshackle group of structures clustered together. She could see solar power generators and even vast vats of water. She wondered if her friends had made it there safely, if she would see them again now.

There were people wandering around outside, and she could hear them calling to one another as she and Kendra were spotted approaching. "Liv?" Nunok was first to recognize her. "Liv!" He ran forwards, only to be tempered by the sight of the gun.

"Dr Calon, it's been a while." Kendra said, with false warmth.

"She killed my escort." Olivia said quickly, "She killed Pavara D'Rossi. Give her nothing!" Kendra jabbed her with the gun hard in the back of the head and she shut up.

"I wondered if you were still alive somewhere." Lyora had reached them. "Dr Croasdale. Which rock did you crawl out from under this time?"

"Well that's not very nice!" Kendra looked amused. "I've been all over this cluster. Since you made sure I was exiled..."

"You were trying to pervert the project!" A salarian shouted at her. "You had to be stopped."

"I took one of the early prototypes." Kendra admitted, "When I left the Nexus. All I want are the activation codes. Then I'll be out of your lives forever." There was silence. She laughed bitterly, "I helped create this technology. I founded it. And you locked me out!"

"It's not going to happen." Lyora shook her head.

"Then I'll shoot Olivia."

"And then we shoot you." Vee snarled. "You made a mistake, coming here. Release Olivia, maybe we let you walk away. Hurt her and we'll end you."

Olivia, her cheeks hot with embarrassment, was silent. She was angry at letting herself be caught in this situation. However, she did still have the pistol in her pocket, and Kendra's grip on her own gun was fairly loose, so confident was she that no one would try anything.

Her hand slid into the pocket, making sure the pistol was loaded. She lunged suddenly, whipping out the weapon, crashing her body into Kendra's. Kendra's gun swung wildly and out of her grasp, banging into the dust. Olivia pivoted, raising the pistol. "Freeze!" She yelled at Kendra, who stared at her in fury.

"Really? You had a gun?"

"You shouldn't underestimate me." Olivia said angrily. Vee had hurried forward and kicked Kendra's gun away. She seized the woman's arms, pinning them behind her back and cuffing her. Olivia stared as the woman was marched away. That was easy, she thought.

"Are you alright?" Lyora asked her quietly.

"Fine." She said shortly, still struggling to process what Kendra had been saying. None of it seemed to make much sense. Then there were the two men whose bodies lay out in the desert, unburied. Basically, she was anything but fine. "Just tell me everything."

"What did she tell you?" Lyora nodded at the building where they had locked Kendra. Olivia frowned inwardly. She could see that she was keeping something back. Kendra had been right about that at least. There was something odd going on.

"Nothing really."

"You'd better come inside. You look exhausted." Nunok said, sharing a glance with his colleague. They led her into one of the labs. She saw an empty cryopod sitting among numerous terminals and machines. Heavily, she plonked herself down in a chair, guzzling from the bottled water offered to her.

Lyora sat opposite. "It's about time we told you the truth. Project Firefly started years ago, back in the Milky Way. It was a few of us, bored scientists who had finished all of the work for the Nexus prior to departure. It was invented as a medical technology initially, to preserve life in case of serious injury. Kendra was the one who brought the initial prototype to Andromeda. Then we were studying ways to use and communicate with Remnant technology here. This was before we knew that SAM could, obviously. Kendra had the idea of an implant that used Remnant technology to crudely interact with other Rem-Tech." Lyora explained.

"She suggested we use the old Firefly implant as our basis and so we did." Nunok continued.

"So, you're basically making a new Pathfinder?" Olivia asked, "Using Remnant VI? I still don't see what the problem is...why did it have to be secretive?"

"Because it involves injecting Remnant technology into people's heads. People are already freaking out over the SAM's being AI without the worry of alien tech controlling someone's brain." Lyora rolled her eyes.

"Plus imagine what would happen if the Kett found out we'd devised a possible way to interact with the Remnant? According to Ryder's notes, they're obsessed." It was a chilling thought.

"So why was Kendra exiled?"

"She wanted to add controlling elements to the tech. She said anyone with the power to use Remnant tech needed to be on a leash." Nunok scowled, "Tann agreed with her to an extent. But then she got caught trying to implement her mind control research into other medical implants. Lyora reported her and she got kicked out."

"I wish we could just shoot her now." Vee glared at the door.

She'd been there for several days, watching as the scientists packed their belongings, destroying hard copies of data and uploading it to the Nexus. "We're back on the grid." Nunok commented. "I have a dozen emails asking where I am."

"Part of me is glad it's all over." Lyora remarked, "Even if it means we've wasted all of this research. The whole thing always felt a little unethical." She glanced at Olivia, "It's just so good to see you again."

"It's good to be trusted." Olivia said, a little caustically. "Why does Kendra keep mentioning my dad?"

Once again, she didn't miss the way they all glanced at one another. "We all knew Martin." Lyora said, almost cautiously. "A lot of Initiative scientists socialised and collaborated before we left the Milky Way."

"But she seemed to make a point of bringing him up."

"Like I say, she knew him. We all did. He gave us a hand on some projects." Lyora replied, a little hurriedly.

Abruptly an alarm broke, loud and raucous. It cut across the work. Olivia looked askance at her friends. She saw Vee run past, brandishing a gun. Lyora strode outside, Nunok and Olivia at her heels. "What is it?"

"Kett!" Vee yelled.