Revenge - Part 1

Slight change of plan, will be doing the story set after the main one before doing the one about Thomson and the Geth. It'll give me more time to think about what comes after.


Tuchanka

Deep within the bowls of the planet, something stirred. At the surface, there was an eruption of sand and two giant shapes appeared, locked in combat.
One was giant and black, synthetic and robotic in nature. The other was clearly organic and was a light brown - long and relatively thin in shape, almost like a giant mutant worm. It had hundreds of tiny limbs jutting from its armoured skin, and its mouth was almost like a sharpened funnel.
The Thresher Maw wrapped its powerful body around the last surviving Reaper, and squeezed. Metal began to give way under its grip, but it was thrown off with a giant black leg and landed back down on the sand.
It burrowed beneath the machine, going deep down so the Reaper had not got a chance to sense the disturbances, then leaped at it from a completely different direction.
The Reaper was thrown off balance, but it managed to twist itself around and let loose with a beam of red energy that scorched the ground before hitting its target, ripping the Thresher Maw in half.
Kalros, the Thresher Maw, had once been worshipped as a god. And it had just been killed by something far more powerful than itself.
The Reaper was severely damaged. Sparks flickered across the surface of its punctured hull, and scratch marks from the Thresher Maw were visible after its talons had raked across its body.
But it was alive. Damaged, but still fully functional. Kalros and it had been trying to kill each other for the past week, slowly getting closer and closer to the surface. Ever since a human had called the Thresher Maw and made it attack the Reaper. The same human that had wiped out the rest of its kind.
Where previously had been a mass of open communication between the entire Reaper species, there was just silence. Not even a single packet of data had survived.
It considered itself lucky, under the circumstances. The ground had protected the Reaper from the energy pulse that had wiped out the rest of its race. It was the last of a kind.
There was an unfamiliar sensation. It felt alone. Sad, almost. No, not sad. The rest of the Reapers had annoyed it anyway... Since when had it started to feel emotions? That was new. Maybe the pulse had affected it after all.
It decided to take revenge on those who had been responsible for the downfall of its species. It was weak, almost powerless, yes... But it would be great again. It would finish what the rest of its kind had started.
It would harvest all life in the galaxy, starting right there on Tuchanka.
It would have to think of a title for itself. Something that would help people to understand what it was and what it was doing.
The Reaper thought for a moment, and decided to take something from a human language.
It decided to be called Revenge.


Citadel

Things had changed since Thomson had last been in civilisation. There were changes in political powers and the annihilation of several key groups of enemies had changed the stability of the galaxy.
Cerberus had been destroyed. The Illusive Man had been indoctrinated and had been killed by Commander Shepard. There were still signs of them, but nothing with any type of organisation. They no longer posed any kind of threat.
The Reapers had been destroyed by the same person. Apparently a device called "The Crucible" had been activated and had destroyed all the Reapers. The galaxy's fleets had stood against the Reapers and won.
Shepard really gets around, Thomson thought to himself.
The part that the Quarians had to play in the events granted them a seat in the council. And, much to everyone's disapproval, there was also a Geth. The Geth and the Quarians had finally come to an agreement, and were at peace.
Thomson lowered the report that had just taken him an hour to read, when someone just could have told him "everything's fine". All races in the galaxy, even the Krogan - who also now had a place on the council - were working together.
"And there's one last surviving Reaper," said an Alliance Commander from the other side of the table.
He had been called in to deal with the new threat. His friend had suggested to be a client of the Alliance and he had agreed. If they called him in, it must have been bad.
"You could just bomb it?" Thomson suggested to the Commander. He wanted to stay on the SF-2 Falcon with Emi and his children. The four things he loved most in the world - his girlfriend, his two kids, and his ship.
"Negative," came the reply, "All attempts have been averted by what seems to be a kind of inter-planetary defence system. Your ship has a Stealth Drive, one of the only ones that do. It can get you in undetected."
Thomson sighed, "But once I get there, what do I do?"
"Kill it. And there won't just be you, you will be in a group of four."
"Four people to take down a Reaper? Who are they?"
"There's a Turian called Srateris, a Salarian called Humin and a Quarian called Bei'Lucto. And then you."
"Why such a random selection?" he asked curiously.
"The Turian is the soldier, the Salarian is the medic, the Quarian is a technical genius and you're a biotic. Less random than it seems."
"When do I set off?"
"Immediately. We want you to deal with the threat before it can escalate. There will be another team inbound shortly, but it has been... delayed."
"And who are they?"
"Commander Shepard of the Normandy SR-2 and his team," the Alliance Commander pointed out, "Yes I mean the one who destroyed the Reapers. He and his squad will be joining you in a few days."
Before the Commander left, he had given Thomson a piece of paper stating the time and place to meet the rest of his team, so he sent Emi a quick message so she could meet the squad too, and then set off on his way to Docking Bay D17.

When the elevator hissed open, a blue scanner activated as he walked down a narrow corridor, passing by a landed shuttle. The corridor opened up into a large room. On his left hand side there was a lounge area, where only three people were sat. The Quarian was playing on her Omni-tool, on what looked to be a space invaders game. The Turian was checking his sniper rifle, that appeared to be a Black Widow - one of the more powerful snipers in the galaxy. The Salarian was just sat there quietly.
"So," Thomson said, walking up to them, "I'm Lieutenant Thomson. Pleased to meet you."
The Quarian, Bei, turned her head towards him, "Oh! You're the one who Emi'Derik chose, right?"
"You know Emi?" he asked.
"Yes. We're friends. We talked for a while before she set off on her pilgrimage. It's good to meet you. And nice work with the Human-Reaper by the way. I read the file."
"Thanks. Good work with the abandoned mine full of Husks. I read the file."
"There are too many damn files around here," grumbled the Turian, Srateris, "People can read them without you even noticing."
Humin, the Salarian, grinned, "Files needed. Must keep copy all data. There are still enemies in the galaxy. Need to be cautious."
"What weapons are you lot bringing on the mission?" Bei asked.
"Black Widow," said Srateris quickly.
"Geth Plasma Sub-Machine gun," responded Humin.
"M-8 Avenger?" Thomson grinned.
"... No offense, Lieutenant," Srateris frowned, "But the Avenger is a pile of crap. Why not something more powerful?"
"I like it," he shrugged, "Served me well. What weapons are you bringing, Bei?"
"Reegar Carbine," she replied, "Shotgun. Awesome for taking down well... everything."
"The Reegar Carbine. The one that fires beams. Right?" Humin questioned, "Like it. A lot."
"I think you missed out a verb there," Srateris pointed out with a slight chuckle.
There were several soft footsteps behind them, and Emi entered the Docking Bay. Thomson marvelled at the fact that giving birth hadn't changed her body in the slightest. She had gained no weight at all and looked exactly the same - maybe it was a Quarian thing. Maybe their bodies somehow altered themselves to the way they were before they had become pregnant. Or something.
Thomson and Emi embraced tightly.
"... So this is your team?" she questioned, looking at the mixture of alien soldiers in the lounge area. The lights from the room glinted off her purple visor.
"Yes. This is Srateris, Humin and Bei."
"... Bei?"
"Yes?" Bei responded, "Emi!"
Bei and Emi grasped each other's forearms, "It's been ages!" Bei said, "We were back on the ship the last time we met. How are you?"
"... I'm fine. How are you? And I know! It's been ages. How were the Asari?"
"I am good," Bei replied, "And they were fine. But then I got bored and decided to become a soldier. What about you? How were the humans?"
Emi nodded at Thomson, "... Well... it's been good and bad... mostly good... I'll tell you about it if I get the chance..."
"And you have children? How?" Bei asked.
Thomson smiled, "Some sort of development with the protein research. They changed my protein so it was compatible with hers."
"I heard about that, yes," Bei said, "And it worked? Your children are half human, half Quarian?"
Emi nodded, "... Yes. They're being looked after by some friends whilst we'll be with you lot..."
"We?" Thomson questioned, "You're not-"
"... I want to... I'll be safer with you... You said I should wait behind last time and then... I'll be safer with you than I will be on the ship..."
Srateris laughed, "At least she'll keep you occupied."
Humin cocked his head, "Sexual reproduction is not... advised... on Tuchanka. Bad atmosphere. Try somewhere with less radiation and sandstorms."
"Emi..." Thomson began.
"... Thomson... I'm not joking... Please let me come with you..."
"But it's a Reaper... They're dangerous... I don't want to risk you..."
"... But... I won't be in any dangerous situations... I'll just wait at the camp or whatever... Please..."
"I'd like her to come too," Bei pointed out, "We have a lot of catching up to do."
"And me," said Srateris, "Because damn those hips are fine..."
"You've never complimented my hips," Bei complained, folding her arms.
"Because your hips are armored. They don't have the same effect. Though they are nice too."
Bei shook her head at Srateris.
"... Ok," Thomson said, admittedly not very happy, "... You can come. But be careful..."
"... Thank you..." Emi sighed with happiness, wrapping her arms around him, "... I always wanted to see Tuchanka..."
Thomson hugged her back, and still held her as Bei turned around and asked Srateris when they were setting off.
"Less than an hour," the Turian replied, "Gather all the supplies we need and we can go. All we have so far is a few guns."
"How are we actually going to get there? Shuttle?" Thomson asked.
Humin shook his head, "Too small. We need ship. Who has ship?"
"Well I have a ship but it isn't exactly combat ready," he said.
"Bei and me are good in technology," explained Humin, "Can do repairs."
"I got the Alliance to look at it," Thomson pointed out, "They couldn't do anything but repair the hull."
"Alliance, ha," Humin laughed, "We have a Quarian. Can repair anything."
Bei put her hands on her hips, "I'm so glad you have so much faith in me, but I'm not the only Quarian here."
Emi looked down at the floor, "... I don't go well with technology... Remember what happened at the school?"
Bei laughed, "How could I forget? Seriously, you all need to hear this story. It's the funniest thing I've ever seen. We were trying to get a pencil to precision jump across the room, well to a other Mass Relay that was stationed a metre away. Emi was in charge of building one of the Relays, then the next thing I know, there's an explosion and a huge hole in the floor. She made a weapon out of a Mass Relay, and then was kicked out of the school."
"... That wasn't my fault... The equipment was faulty..."
Thomson laughed, "You should have told me this before."
"Well," Srateris chuckled, "You're the only person I know who is capable of making a weapon when you're supposed to be transporting a pencil. Nice one."
"I have lots of Emi's dirty little secrets to tell," Bei giggled, "If any of you are interested."
"... Dirty little secrets? I was always well behaved... Apart from the weapon thing..." Emi answered.
"As soon as anyone gave you a piece of paper you used to doodle pictures of humans and planets and starships," Bei explained, "We all knew about your love of their kind."
"... And now I have a human boyfriend..."
Srateris sighed, "Fine then. I'll go and get the supplies."