Mass Effect: Transcendence

Han

Han

by writeowl

The lavender sky was painted with swirling clouds that drifted low over the mountains. Shepard surveyed the horizon; ragged peaks and valleys saturated the landscape and appeared to continue on forever in the distance. Garrus walked beside Shepard, his feet sinking deeper into the snow drifts with each step. "It's almost...peaceful here," he mused, "Cold as hell though. The more we walk, the worse it gets. Although I bet that skyline would inspire a few of your playwrights, Liara."

"Indeed," Liara replied as she followed behind Garrus. "Although the location is no accident. We're deep in the mountains and with the temperatures and weather, it would be difficult to pick up on any activity here with normal scanners. Even back then, the krogan knew what they were doing here."

"The krogan?" Garrus asked.

Liara nodded. "An ancient krogan warlord constructed a base here during the Rebellions. It was well hidden, only accidentally discovered not long ago with all of its secrets intact."

A light snow was falling around them as they walked. The flakes swirled, larger and faster, filling their tracks. The frozen crust crunched beneath Liara's feet; the sound made her shiver inside of her environment suit.

"Commander," Cortez called out over the communication channel. "I'm picking up some weather patterns moving in from the north."

"How bad?" Shepard asked.

"It's hard to say, but it's blowing through quick. Real quick. So I'd go with bad enough."

Shepard adjusted her sidearm as she climbed a section of rock. "Got it. Keep monitoring it and let me know of any changes. Wait there. We'll make this quick," she responded.

"Understood, Commander," he said.

"I don't get it. Shouldn't we have been there by now? Where is this base?" Garrus asked, climbing onto the plateau.

Shepard accessed her omni-tool. "These are the exact coordinates Polidus provided me with. We should be right in front of it."

Garrus surveyed the crystalline landscape. "Hmm. Just rocks and snow as far as I can see."

Liara walked forward and looked down, resting her knee in the ice. Dragging her fingertips through the snow, she studied the ground. "That's because you're not looking in the right place," she said.

Stepping backward, she struck the ground with her biotics. The mass of energy easily cracked the ice and she pushed a few pieces away, revealing a section of interlocking doors. Liara pressed a command into the access panel. The doors responded, opening as the coating of ice crackled and crumbled away. A mist of snow settled on the steps of carved rock that led into the darkness below.

Garrus thumped the side of his helmet. "Well I'll be damned."

Liara stood with a smug smile on her face as she extended her hand toward the opening. "After you," she said.

They made their way through the caverns of the underground base, their path lit by only the lights affixed to their weapons. Liara stopped, nearly kicking an old shield as she walked beneath an archway. She knelt down and touched the broken and rusted metal, brushing her fingers over the large gashes cut into the shield's surface; flecks of rust fell like sand. "Incredible," she breathed.

"A rusty old shield with a blood smear," Garrus said. "What's so incredible about that? The krogan have left a million like that all over the galaxy for centuries."

Liara turned, her fingers splayed over the marking. "It's raw truth about who these people were and the many facets of what they were capable of. And while I've always looked from a researcher's perspective at thousands of artifacts like this one, my mind instead turns to other things when I see it. It makes me wonder, now more than ever."