The Firefly (Mass Effect Andromeda)

Chapter 63

Kendra released Nina the next day from cryo. Olivia sat at her bedside, watching her sister stir and then lean over the side to vomit. It reminded Olivia abruptly of that first day in Andromeda. Back then she hadn't been the Firefly. She'd been the wrong girl, the one woken up in place of her father, the doctor. Still, she had helped people that day.

"Liv?" Nina's voice cracked. It was unusual to see her older sister looking so vulnerable.

"It's me." Olivia replied, squeezing her hand. "You're okay. So am I."

"How long have I been out?" Nina asked, realisation hitting her quickly. She sat up with a groan. "How did you get us out?"

"Not too long." Olivia answered. "And not us. Just you. It was a bribe." She quickly summarised what had happened so far: Sara's condition, the sheer scale of Kendra's operation. Olivia gave her sister a look of caution. "We have a plan."

After what Olivia had discovered, an expedition to the Creeper base was being organised. Scott had been drafted into it. He was pleased. Security seemed to like and trust him as a soldier. He got Nina in. She was a soldier herself after all, and a biotic. They couldn't afford not to take her.

"I need to be on this expedition." Olivia piped up in the dining hall at the meeting in relation to the expedition. "What if you need doors opening?" Her tone was flippant, but it was true. They wouldn't get far without her.

Evans , the head of security, looked irritated, but nodded. "You're right. We'll put you at the centre unless you're needed at a console."

They were to leave in the morning, right after breakfast.

Later that day, Raleigh caught her as she passed by. "Olivia, can I have a word?" Dr Raleigh asked, his face creased with worry. Olivia nodded, leaving the room. "I heard you're joining the expedition."

"That's right." Olivia answered, "I'll be needed. I was the one who saw the nest after all."

"I don't know what you're planning, but it can't be a coincidence, you and Scott and your sister are all going down there." Raleigh was shrewd. "Look, you don't have to tell me what you're planning, but I need you to promise me something."

"What?" Olivia asked him.

"If you escape from here, don't leave me behind." His face was desperate. "I never chose to come here. I just want to get out as much as you."

"Alright." Olivia sighed. "We'll get you out too. But you have to be ready to move when I say. This is all one huge gamble."

A group of sixteen headed out, past the barricades, all armed and dangerous. Olivia was squashed at the centre of the team, keeping her tight and secure. Nina and Scott insisted on being on either side of her, both for protection and for conspiracy.

They weaved their way through hallways, the Creeper pods growing thicker and they stepped over vines with delicate care, anxious not to disturb any of the monsters that may lurk nearby. It was then that they reached the door. It was sealed.

"It's in here." Olivia said softly.

"You're sure?" Evans cocked his weapon. Olivia nodded. Evans looked around at his soldiers who all prepared their weapons, checking that they were loaded. "Alright. Is everyone prepared? Let us go forth."

The nest was vast. Amber coloured pods hung in every direction, black tendrils winding their way across the floor, across the walls, winding around consoles and machinery. The pipes, high above, were thick and interlocking. The tendrils had infected there too, wrapping tight around them, choking them.

The light was pale blue, filtered green through the amber of the pods. Olivia scanned the area, all of them huddled together in the entrance. Way above them, she spied the oxygen pipe, cracked and half destroyed.

Their way out. "Up there." She murmured to Scott and Nina, who flinched.

"How do you expect us to get up there?" Nina shook her head.

"We'll have to climb." Scott answered.

"While being attacked by Creepers, when the whole place will be ablaze, and everyone with us will be trying to stop us!" Nina hissed, stopping when one of the soldiers started looking their way.

The scraping sound of metal plates was unbearable. In every direction, there seemed to be monsters moving, swarming around their pods.

The nest needed to be destroyed. Olivia was sure of that. Some of the soldiers were carrying guns, others were carrying as many flamethrowers as Evans had been able to rig up at short notice.

"We're going to be barbecued in this, if we're not eaten." Swanson murmured gloomily.

"We need an army." Another agreed.

"That's enough!" Evans cut through the chatter. "Flamethrowers first. Set fire to the pods and vines. It'll send them into a frenzy and they'll attack. We must keep pushing forward. The whole area must be purged. We can do this!"

They ran forward. Olivia and her companions had guns, and Nina her biotics also. The flames took quickly to the pods and veins, spreading rapidly, smoke rising, thick and grey into the end. Olivia coughed, adjusting her mask.

Gunfire rattled, loud and staccato amid the shrieks of the Creepers. Olivia fired, once twice, her sister tugging her sideways away from the closest monster, who fell to the continued shooting and torched plants.

"What now?" Nina asked, her eyes scanning desperately.

"Can you use your biotics?" Olivia asked her, "Lift me up? I could then pull you up with the rope."

"I'm not sure I have enough control." Nina frowned. "I could throw you by accident. I could kill you!"

Scott dodged towards them, Swanson at his side, firing at a Creeper that advanced on them. "We need to get out of here." He wheezed. "We have to push on."

The fire began to spread out of control. The flames were rising higher, the smoke so thick and powerful that they were losing sight for one another. A machine began to fall, heavy and sparking. Scott lunged, he and Olivia rolling out of the way.

The heat was powerful. Sweat ran down her face, her clothes sticking to her. She felt weak, pushing her way onto her feet.

"We don't have a choice." Scott hissed.

"Ryder?" Swanson's voice called out. Olivia couldn't see him, lost in the flames.

"Nina, we have to get out of here!"

"Ok." Olivia's sister turned to her, her hands trembling with biotic power. "Hold on." Liv found herself lifted into the air as if on invisible strings, helpless, rising above the flames jerkily and then dropped upon the hard surface of a pipe.