Revan's eyes roamed over the tactical map EDI had projected in the Normandy's main holotank, trying to ferret out any additional information to explain why the planet below them was giving her a bad feeling.
Unfortunately, the picture of the local star system was incomplete. EDI was limited by the scanners available to her and could only see so much. And without direction, Revan's own Force powers were great, but unfocused. She would need to spend time carefully searching to find the source of her feeling. Time she did not have since the ground team would be descending to the surface in a few minutes.
All she could confirm for now was that there was no immediate danger around the meeting point they were supposed to meet a backup team of Krogan commandos.
Revan smiled lightly at that. Krogan commandos. It almost sounded like a joke, when the stereotypical Krogan was just a berserker with a gun. Though considering Wrex's warped sense of humor, it could very well have started off as a joke.
"Revan, the shuttle is preparing to leave in five minutes." EDI's holographic image said as it appeared and interrupted Revan's thoughts. "Please make your way to the hangar and complete any final checks."
She nodded and took a step away from the map. While it was frustrating to know there was a threat down below and yet not what specifically was waiting for her or her team… it was a familiar frustration she had dealt with countless times before.
She would just have to be prepared once the moment came.
-o-
The shuttle ride down to the surface was rough as the Kodiak shoved its way through the atmosphere, but ultimately uneventful as it landed outside the krogan camp.
Revan made a note that if she and her own team were going to be operating out of the Normandy for an extended amount of time, she needed to donate a bigger shuttle for planetary transport. The Kodiak was getting cramped.
Especially if they were going to start picking up stray Krogan, Revan thought to herself as Shepard was practically run over by an excited Grunt.
"Grunt! How'd you end up in Aralakh Company?" Shepard cried out once the initial greetings were out of the way.
"When Wrex put Aralakh Company together, he needed a leader who represented the future of our species. Thanks to you, I completed the Rite and became part of Clan Urdnot. I was an equal. And being the strongest, I was chosen to lead this honored company."
"You've been moving up in the galaxy, Grunt."
"Heh, not as much as some though. Good to see you here Revan." Grunt laughed and turned to the Sith. "I heard you created an Empire while Shepard was locked up. Glad to see leadership hasn't made you soft."
Revan just nodded at the young Krogan. The two of them got along fine enough but he had been too eager to prove himself through violence for her to do more than offer the occasional comment after his battles. He reminded her too much of the disposable Sith acolytes that popped up under Malak. Brash, confident, and with a sense of unearned superiority that came from not being truly tested.
It had been a point in Grunt's favor that that last trait had mostly just been him parrotting what his creator had whispered in his ear than a true belief, but Revan had been convinced Grunt would've died throwing himself into his enemies before he learned the difference.
It seemed a few months with his own kind and being a leader had smoothed over those initial rough edges.
"Grunt." She replied simply.
"Anyway, we've got a scout camp further up ahead." Grunt continued. "Our scans show the tunnels down there lead to a central point. If we're lucky, it's a nest."
"Rachni?" Shepard asked.
"No idea. But if anything could make a group of Krogan scouts disappear, it would be our old enemy. Besides, this whole place smells wrong. Like a bad wound."
"Then we better get moving."
"Agreed – Aralakh Company, move out!"
While the ground team followed their allies deeper into the gorge, Lymrase moved closer and spoke softly to Revan, "I thought the Rachni were exterminated years ago. Why are they talking like they expect to run into more here?"
"Shepard found and released a Rachni Queen while she was on her mission to stop Saren. We don't have time to go through all the details but the Queen was supposed to go into hiding." Revan briefly explained. "It's possible that she either went back on that promise or the Reapers found her regardless."
"A corporation on Noveria found an egg and were trying to use her to breed an army." Tali'Zorah added. "It… didn't really go well for them. And once everything was done we couldn't just sentence a whole species to extinction."
"I see… and thanks to that decision, we might have another enemy to contend with."
"Possibly. But you cannot change the actions of the past." Revan commented. "Besides, things might not be that simple. Can you feel it in the Force?"
Lymrase paused and Revan could see the moment she noticed what Revan had. Screaming. A single uninterrupted note of rage and helplessness that almost faded into the background noise of the planet considering how consistent it was.
"What is…" She trailed off.
"I don't know." Revan replied. "But I have a feeling we are going to find out."
It wasn't far to what remained of the scout camp. And it quickly became clear why the scouts had suddenly cut off contact from just a glance. Several of the prefab buildings were perched precariously over a deep drop further into the canyon while others looked like the ground had simply given way underneath them. Combined with the several visible tunnels going deeper into the ground, it was fairly obvious that something had dug out the foundations and caused the collapse.
Even the ones that remained looked like they were ready to collapse at any time, and unfortunately they were the only path forward.
"Alright, we take it slow. Small groups one after the other." Shepard commanded as the teams started grouping together. "Who wants to go first?" She asked while already moving forward.
Revan held out a hand in front of her. "My team will go first. We should be able to sense if the path is too dangerous and react faster if it collapses."
Shepard paused for a moment before nodding. "Alright but take two more on your squad just in case this is a trap."
Revan nodded back and waved her team forward. She and Lymrase moved cautiously through the building while Tali'Zorah followed close behind with Kasumi and Javik bringing up the rear. The building seemed a little unstable, but nothing that should cause any harm. Once everyone had cleared the other side, she waved Shepard's team forward.
It was only when the Commander's team was halfway through that disaster struck. A small shift in the rock underneath the building that almost immediately turned into a landslide. Revan and Lymrase both reached out with the Force to shield those inside, but it was too late to stop the prefab from collapsing into the valley below.
"Shepard! You in one piece?" Grunt roared down below even as Revan saw him waving his team further back from the collapse.
"Seems like we're all okay!" Came Shepard's own shouted reply. "Doesn't look like we can get back up from here though. Keep in radio contact, we'll try and meet back up inside the tunnels!"
"Be careful, Shepard." Revan called down. "I don't think that was a natural collapse!" Especially not since it had been timed to perfectly split their forces in thirds. More likely was a trap set for whoever came looking for the missing scouts. And since it didn't go off when Revan's team crossed first, there was a watcher somewhere close by that triggered the collapse.
Could that have been done by the Rachni? Or was there some other enemy watching them right now?
Pushing those thoughts to the side, Revan turned to her group. "It's going to be tunnel fighting so expect to be surrounded and ambushed constantly. Tali'Zorah, Kasumi, and Javik, take position in the middle. Lymrase will cover the rear. I'll take the front position. Let's move out."
-o-
Almost immediately after entering the tunnels, it became clear that the Reapers were at least somewhat involved.
"Look at that, cables connected to those pods." The Sith empress pointed at the techno-organic fusion of materials.
"Reapertech," Tali'Zorah confirmed. "But what is it being used for?"
"I don't know, but keep away from them if you can help it."
"There's something moving on the walls." Javik reported. "Small creatures, though unknown if they are hostile or just part of the wildlife."
Kasumi shuddered at that. "I think I saw a horror movie that started like this. I should have just stayed on the Normandy. And I really don't want to end up like that guy."
Revan followed Kasumi's gaze and quickly found a dead krogan scout half covered by some kind of webbing. Nothing more they could do for this one.
"Keep moving, we need to meet back up with the others." She ordered.
Thus, the team returned to a mostly silent and very tense walk through the tunnels. Not only did every skittering creature keep them on edge, but the everpresent darkness also made navigation tricky. That wasn't even considering the growing density of the webs along the tunnel walls, until eventually the webs themselves grew thick enough to act as barriers themselves that Revan and Lymrase had to burn away with their lightsabers for the team to progress.
The worrying thing was that apart from some small cave insects and another dead krogan, there were absolutely no signs of life. Or of whatever creature had spun the webs in the first place. It was obvious that her team was walking into an ambush but Revan couldn't–
Sudden movement from a small side tunnel Revan almost overlooked caused the Sith to ignite and swing her saber almost without thought. The red blade easily cut through the first Husk and the glow allowed her to spot several more right behind it.
"Ambush!"
Against any other opponent, the tight spacing, sudden flood of bodies, and poor visibility would have made the sudden attack incredibly difficult to fend off. But with Revan and Lymrase forming bulwarks at the front and rear of the group, the fireteam was able to focus on gunning down the Husks without being overrun. Any Husk that tried to rush past the Force users were cut to pieces in the narrow tunnel and the ones crowding around the two of them were excellent targets to the remaining three's guns. Almost as quickly as they appeared, the tide of bodies was dealt with until all that remained was a pile of corpses.
"Well… I guess that settles if the Reapers are involved here at all." Kasumi quipped as she checked over her weapon. "Good thing we had a few primitives with swords here or it might have gotten dicey, eh Javik?"
"I've had the point proven to me repeatedly." The Prothean said dryly, refusing to fall for the thief's taunt.
While her squadmates bickered, Revan took the time to look more closely at the Husks they had just faced. The usual cybernetics found on Husks were fully integrated, so these were not freshly turned victims. But the majority of them were unarmed humans.
Unless Revan was wrong, it seemed that the Reapers – or at least their pawns – had come to this planet during the years the Collectors were active, done whatever they had needed to do with the pods Revan's team had found so far and whatever was likely creating those webs, and then left the newer Husks behind while the Collector drones went back into space to continue their abduction operations.
Which meant…
"Revan, Grunt, Rachni presence confirmed. Modified and very dangerous!"
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