Chapter 27. Sowing and Reaping

Hiding in the newly colonized areas of our sector of the galaxy is a fairly obvious move. It is precisely because he is so obvious that Miral, when she escaped from the Ardat-Yakshi monastery, went to sectors with already established infrastructure and a large population. But now, apparently, she has decided to try her luck in new regions. Well, yes, although the population there is smaller, there is not much order, and the delay in communication with large worlds served as an excellent cover from the strict eye of the law.

In general, we have been flying around the sector from colony to colony for two months now, looking for any clues, but we have not found anything. And it's already starting to infuriate you, as if time, precious time, is slipping through your fingers, and you can't do anything about it.

"...we're completely out of our minds!" the rather sharp voice of an asari passing by brought me out of my thoughts. "It would be nice if these savages sat in their reserves, digging in the dirt and eating grass." But these rallies of theirs are disrupting all my supplies, fucking Luddites!—.

"Interesting." The tense businesswoman looked away.

Indeed, until now we have been looking for documentary traces of Miral, such as registration at the entrance to the colony, or money transfers. Although there were some nuances here, but still.

By the time the thought finally took shape, I had already flown into the office of the colony manager, with whom Samara was now talking and, apparently, once again to no avail.

"How many reservations do you have?" I immediately asked the question to the taken aback matron, who closely matched the age of the matriarch. —How many Luddite settlements are there?—.

As soon as what I said reached them, the women looked at each other and the manager of the colony went into her personal computer in search of information on the Luddites.

—There are no more than a dozen of them, the largest has a couple of hundred inhabitants. "I'll send you their location," answered the asari, receiving a slight nod of agreement from the justicar.

And again we flew from planet to planet, only if on the colonies we were greeted from behind Samara with all cordiality, even with some trepidation, at least not without a share of wariness, then in the settlements of the Luddites we were always greeted with unkind glances.

-And they are really digging in the ground. "I can't believe it," he whispered incredulously, looking at the local ungulate, a scaly animal of bright colors harnessed to a plow and plowing the ground.

-Do not be distracted. They have the right to manage their lives the way they want. "I met asari who went to reservations to escape from the difficult life in the big galaxy," the justiciar sighed, patting the approaching cattle on the withers, receiving in response a savory lick with two long, fleshy tongues.

—But as for me, they are not victims, but cowards and hypocrites, or idiots. Instead of dealing with their problems, they ran away from everyone and hid in their own little worlds. They reject technology in words, but use it in practice. After all, how did they get to sparsely populated planets? And their houses, do you think they were built by hand? - He pointed to modular, standardized buildings that are resistant to different climatic weather conditions and temperature changes.

"And of course, the rallies interfering with your company did not in any way influence your opinion of the Luddites," Samara smiled slyly.

"Eh, let's go already." All I could do was change the topic.

However, this lead also turned out to be a failure, but it was even more demanding to check. If the colonies had any infrastructure for communication with the rest of the world, then the reservation did not have this. And they were located in the most inaccessible places possible, where large ships could not land. It was also impossible to relieve the stress by another purge of pirates, who were not found in these places due to increased patrols near the new colonies. In general, Samara's investigation has reached a dead end.

—Samara, are you sure that Miral was here at all? Maybe your source was mistaken? - I finally decided to ask after another unsuccessful check. —Samara?—.

However, he never received an answer. Azari sat in one of the support chairs on Victoria's second deck, intently searching through the data on the holointerface for something. Apparently she was so immersed in work that she simply didn't hear me calling her. I had to turn off the massage and get out of the comfortable, soft chair to approach my companion...or am I her companion? Doesn't matter.

As I thought, Samara delved into the reservation data received from different colonies. To examine everything in more detail, I had to look over the justicar's shoulder. True, my gaze immediately moved to the blue peaks, half hidden in the asari costume. Wow, how I miss female attention, maybe I should take Liara with me?

"Did you find something interesting?" Samara's mocking voice brought me back to reality.

"Hmm, I came to ask where to fly next." I hastened to look away from the asari to the screen and immediately noticed something interesting among the heap of unnecessary information. —What about Echon?—.

"What about him?" the justiciar instantly returned to her serious mood, peering at the lines of data.

When it's necessary, my brain works like a supercomputer, instantly finding and extracting the necessary information. A reservation on Echon, a Thessian-type planet with a temperate climate and fertile soil, would be ideal for creating a new agricultural world. It would have been if the path to Echon had not been blocked by an asteroid field. So huge that in order to get to the planet from the relay, you would have to make a detour and enter almost from the opposite side, and this would cost time and resources. In general, the planet was considered unsuitable for colonization, but a fairly impressive group of five hundred asari decided to set up their settlement there. And now there has been no news from them for two years.

"It's quite possible to hide from everyone on Echon, it's very similar to the truth," the asari drawled, looking at the map of this part of space. — Set course for Ehon Ivon. And when you're done, go to the hangar, it's worth checking your level of biotic control.—.

Well, great, three more months of flight. It's also worth replenishing fuel, air mixture reserves and discharging radiators and energy cells. Well, at least it's worth noting that during the entire trip with Samara, I grew greatly in skills, and even more so in combat experience. However, so far I do not feel ready to accept the title of SPECTER, and who would give it to me...

***

Echon really turned out to be a picturesque world. Untouched by progress, it seemed like a green-blue paradise, and somewhere on its surface there should have been an asari settlement, for which we have very little data. We had to launch reconnaissance drones and look for accumulations of energy and electromagnetic signatures, because even the Luddites do not deny themselves the basic benefits of civilizations, unless they use them to a minimum.

And when one of the drones did detect the signatures, Samara and I descended to the planet on a shuttle. Hmmm, recruiting a crew for Victoria would be useful; looking for a parking space in the field is a headache every time.

The asari settlement greeted us like other similar ones: with distrust and suspicion, nothing unusual in this regard. But the fact that almost the entire settlement, several hundred asari, came out to meet us was alarming. And even if there were no soldiers among them, every asari is a priori biotic.

"I should have put on armor." He nervously shook off his shoulder-length hair.

But Samara didn't seem to turn her gaze to the hostile crowd, she was just intently looking for something or someone among the asari and, judging by what she said quietly, "Miral" found it.

With the first step of the justiciar, it was as if a dam had broken; the settlers seemed to have gone mad at once and, covered in biotics, rushed at us. Some even had weapons and were not shy about using them, but the kinetic shield and biotic barrier regularly stopped the shots.

"Get out of the way or I'll have to eliminate you," Samara, covered in biotics, loudly warned with the singularity clutched in her hands.

Of course, no one listened to the wise advice, and therefore the justiciar simply threw the singularity into the crowd, immediately neutralizing about two dozen asari, who, due to the gravity of the miniature black hole, lost their support and floated straight to the ball of dark energy. Those of them who were the first to reach the singularity...well, judging by the cries of pain, you cannot envy them, and even the way the asari are compressed into minced meat and disappear into the belly of the anomaly is an extremely unpleasant sight. The difference between an ordinary paratrooper and a justiciar with centuries of experience is immediately visible; Shiala cannot do this, and for now I'm unlikely to be able to give out something like that. Or maybe I can, who knows.

However, Samara's attack did not discourage the settlers; on the contrary, they rushed at her with even greater frenzy, forcing them to fight back. However, a second later, the justiciar exploded with a wave of dark energy, scattering the attackers and immediately sent biotic charges in a straight line, which exploded at short intervals, scattered the settlers and created a corridor, at the end of which the wanted Ardat-Yakshi appeared. Moreover, she stopped the justiciar's attack without visible effort by hiding behind her own biotics.

"Don't let her escape!" the justiciar's cry reached me through the noise of the battlefield; it would be hard to call this bacchanalia a battle.

However, I myself was not idle. On the contrary, he was spinning like a snake, trying to neutralize the distraught women without killing them. It's one thing to kill militants, pirates, mercenaries and criminals. But civilians? And because of my indecisiveness, a relatively small group of asari managed to push me back. However, Miral cannot be missed either, there is a dilemma. Damn it, what would Ultron do if he were me?

It's strange, but after asking myself a question, consciousness accelerated to insane speeds, time seemed to freeze in perception, and the mind acquired crystal clarity. Now in front of me were not distraught civilians, but obstacles. Obstacles on the way to the goal that need to be eliminated. I didn't let the next blow charged with biotics pass me by, but intercepted it, extinguishing someone else's dark energy with my own, and then exposed the trapped asari to someone else's biotic blow. The next second, the asari's chest cavity crumpled under someone else's blow, dooming her to death, and I myself caused a biotic explosion, tearing one village into bloody pieces and scattering the rest with broken dolls.

For a few moments, an empty zone formed around me, which I did not fail to take advantage of by launching myself towards Miral. The charge of kinetic energy upon exiting the jump managed to stop Ardat-Yakshi, and I shot the asari who wanted to rush at me with a submachine gun. But Miral herself managed to knock out the pistol and almost blew my jaw off with a left blow, to which I put a hard block and hit me straight, but she was also able to intercept my blow. A dance began in which...I pressed her. Wow, all the efforts paid off, I was ahead in all respects of the formidable Ardat-Yaksha, even in terms of biotic strength I was not inferior.

In the end, we managed to break her left arm and squeeze her right, but we shouldn't have gotten too close.

"Get off the bastard!" the asari hit me with her head on the nose, so that sparks fell from her eyes, the state of pure reason disappeared, and I myself let her go. —Die!—.

A powerful blow, enhanced by biotics, knocked all the air out of my lungs and sent me flying to the living quarters, where I destroyed one of the walls. Damn, such a blow would have blown the hell out of anyone else, and her headbutt broke my nose, but bullets can't take my skin.

"Here...bitch, ugh." He spat out the blood that had flowed into his mouth, watching as a small transport ship of a very interesting design took off. —Run away.—.

Not only did she escape, but she also blew up our shuttle with the help of cannons mounted on the wings. Samara tried to stop her with the help of telekinesis, but only briefly slowed down the ship, and then was distracted by the asari, who attacked with renewed vigor, allowing Ardat-Yakshi to escape.

When I finally got to the justiciar, she had already finished off the remnants of the aggressive settlers.

"Next time I'll wear a helmet," he said in a nasal voice, wiping a trail of blood under his nose.

"The next time we meet with her will be the last," the asari who approached calmly answered. —We need to find out what happened to the locals. Miral has always been able to win over reasonable people to her side, but until now I have not encountered such fanatical devotion, and even from an entire settlement.—.

"I'll take care of the shuttle... as soon as I recover a little." I winced in pain while fixing the broken cartilage.

Natural regeneration will do its job, but in order for everything to grow together correctly, this process needs to be controlled.

***

I started repairing the transport after a couple of hours, when my nose hardly bothered me and my ribs stopped aching. Luckily, the engines and core were not damaged, but some of the wiring had to be changed and burned out, as did some of the internal systems. We had to gut the local equipment and adapt it to the shuttle. It was generally easier to straighten the body with the help of biotics. I'll do more thorough repairs in Victoria.

Samara at this time rummaged through the houses of locals and discovered hidden children. About forty-something from three to sixteen years old. Children...I'm not far behind with my eighteen years, but still. With their help, we managed to clarify the situation a little. It turns out they set up a cult here, worshiped certain Sowers and killed everyone who flew to them, and few people flew to them anyway, which completely cut off contact with the rest of the world. And a little less than a year ago, Miral arrived to them and quickly became either the embodiment or the messenger of the destructive aspect of the local gods - the Reapers. This is where I became interested, but I was somewhat busy and finished repairing the shuttle only towards nightfall. By this time, Samara had fed the children from the supplies of the dead settlers, put them to bed and went to remove the corpses away so as not to injure the baby even more. I decided to check out the local temple.

The temple was very different from local residential buildings; instead of a standard box, it was built from clumsily but carefully processed stone. Inside there were wooden benches in front of a raised podium and that was basically it.

"What do we have here?" noticed a light stingray on the podium.

The ramp was covered with a carpet, which I pulled off to reveal a hatch cover covering the passage leading into the cave. Quite a deep cave I must say. And there was no lighting in it; I had to use the tooltron as a flashlight, illuminating my way with a rather wide and bright cone of light.

"That's what I thought." I exhaled triumphantly when the cone of light managed to snatch out a drawing on the wall.

Cave paintings of crudely drawn humanoid figures wielding spears as they hunted under the watchful eye of the Reaper.

-Is the Reaper watching over them? Instructs? Reaping? No, I don't understand, it's some kind of nonsense." He finally looked away from the drawing to stumble upon another, where a drawn humanoid was holding out a small humanoid to three Reapers.

And what's strange is that the drawing seemed to smell not of threat, but of reverence and benevolence.

-What does this mean? This is where Liara would come in handy. It's probably worth saving the images. — I started taking pictures of the drawings with my instrument.

And this picture continued for several tens of meters, but then the content of the painting changed abruptly. The Reapers turned from good Gods into evil ones, killing and destroying everything that they had previously helped build. In some drawings, humanoids were depicted impaled on poles, and then killed their own kind. What does it mean, the Reapers were good and then turned evil? Disappointed in organics? I don't understand.

I was pulled out of my thoughts by an even blue glow from around the corner of the cave, where a round room was discovered, on the walls of which were depicted humanoids kneeling and offering prayers. But in the center stood an artifact, a strange device that began to shine brighter as I approached. I just wanted to touch it, study it, understand it. Maybe the Reapers really weren't evil? Maybe we just don't understand them? May be...

I was jerked out of a strange stupor by a sharp pain shooting through the back of my head, my vision swam, and then the pain pierced my entire brain, as if someone had poured molten metal into my skull. I screamed without hearing my own voice, and images, pictures, visions, memories flashed before my eyes. Reapers were never good. They had their creators, the Leviathans, they enslaved other peoples and helped them develop, and it was in the image and likeness of the Leviathans that the first Reapers and all subsequent ones were created. Created from the biomaterial of the Leviathans themselves. And this thing is nothing more than an artifact of the Reapers, which has stupefied the settlement and is trying to stupefy me. And I also learned how to protect myself from such an attack; the visions literally burned into my mind the knowledge of protecting this very mind.

-.... there... A... in... n... A... he! Ivon, what's wrong with you?!—I finally heard Samara's voice trying to bring me to my senses.

Two Samar...hmm, do I also see double?

"Grenades... Give me grenades." Instead of answering, he reached for the asari's belt, on which hung several disks with explosives.

"Why do you need grenades?" the asari immediately frowned, but followed mine and turned her gaze to the Reapers' artifact.

- This thing... It stupefied the locals, made them easily suggestible. Because of her, Miral left and many asari died. "You can't leave her," he wheezed, not paying attention to his dry, sore throat.

Apparently having decided to trust my words, Samara approached the shining device and, having removed all the grenades from her belt, attached them to its surface.

"Let's get out of here," the asari helped me get up, after which we trudged together to the exit.

Only in front of the stairs did the justicar stop, run her fingers over the instrumenttron interface and head upstairs, and already outside we heard the roar of an explosion, followed by an even more powerful and loud one that provoked local tremors. Apparently the cave collapsed, but that was for the best.

"What was that Ivon?" the asari demanded an answer, but...

- Sorry Samara, but I can't tell you, not now. And...it's unlikely you'll believe me.—.

It didn't seem like she was satisfied with this answer, but Samara just nodded, saying she took it into account, and headed away from the temple. And I was squeezing the handle of the pistol and thinking. What if the children are also drugged? It turns out they are potential Reaper agents. It would be logical to eliminate them. This is what a real SPECTER would do, this is what Ultron would do. Well, can I do what I have to do, will I have the strength to do what is right and will it be right to kill children in cold blood just because of suspicion?