Mass Effect: Defiance

Prologue

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Author's Note: Mass Effect: Defiance follows the events of my first piece, Mass Effect: Transcendence (http://www.wattpad.com/story/1864573-mass-effect-transcendence). Please be patient for chapters, as I currently am short on time and working on this one when I can. Thanks for reading!

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Mass Effect: Defiance 

by writeowl

Prologue

Row after row of data load onto the computer console. The fingers of the quarian's red bioskin gloves brush over the lines of code as they appeared on the display. Overhead, the lights cast a green glow over the room. They flicker as if each jolt of electricity might be their last, but he simply hums in time with each power dip.  

"Finally," he mutters, disconnecting his datapad from the console's system.  

He flips the pad in the air. It falls inside his shoulder bag. Satisfied, he pushes past the roomful of overturned chairs and damaged lab equipment that litter the floor. He pauses at the doorway and turns to see a toy hanar sitting on a nearby desk. His fingers wrap around the squishy pink toy. He squeezes, compressing it to half its size. He squeezes twice more and laughs as the little hanar balloons back to its original shape. The smile behind his visor is invisible to the outside world as he places the toy inside his bag.  

The finished stone sections of the underground city sprawl outward and upward like an inverted pyramid cut from the rock walls. Artificial sunlight shimmers on the elongated pools of water recessed into the ground level of the city center. An asari stands, watching from the seventh level as the reflection of the quarian appears within the pools of water. His footsteps echo off the marbled floor. She follows him as he attempts to leave for the surface. Finally, as he passes a series of giant stone columns, she steps from the shadows.

"How did you do it? Execute an environmental system failure?" she asks, stepping into his path. 

He stumbles backward. "You shouldn't be here," he says.

She smiles softly. "Neither should you."

He reaches for his sidearm.

"I wouldn't do that. You'll be dead before you can pull the trigger," she says.

He hesitates.

"Relax. I'm not here to kill you," she says and crosses her arms. "So tell me. How?" she says again.

He shakes his head and tries to walk around her. "System failures are so obtuse. Any idiot can take a krogan striker to a computer system and cause it to explode. It takes much more finesse and intelligence to cause a direct and specific... glitch," he says. 

The asari matches his stride. "A glitch? Within the entire underground facility?" she asks, seemingly unimpressed. 

"A subsurface-wide evacuation of the entire city-state would be completely unnecessary. I needed information from this sector of the moon. So as in all things, moderation," he says and adjusts his bag as he approaches the elevator that leads toward the surface. "So. Now. Here I am, strolling through the depths of an empty salarian city in the heart of a Halegeuse moon. And here you are: An asari the most exquisite shade of blue, escorting me and my bag full of military-grade secrets to my shuttle. Are you simply a fan of my work? I don't do autographs; surely, you understand." 

She smiles. "I need your help. And you've come highly recommended," she says. 

He gasps. "I'm so flattered. Look, this job is worth more than whatever you're going to offer, I can assure you. Don't waste my time." He hacks into the elevator and the door opens.