Prologue VIII

"What about the beacon? Where is it now?" Sampson asks.

"They brought it here this morning. We loaded it up onto the train and shipped it to the other platform. Hard to believe that was only a few hours ago. Feels like a whole other life." Powell says listlessly staring into the platform floor.

"And this 'mother ship', what did it look like?" Sampson asked.

"I've never seen anything like it before. It- It was huge. Landed over near that platform. The whole place got dark as it came down. And- And it was making this noise, this- this sound that bored right into your brain. That's what woke me up. The attack came a few minutes later." Powell says, reliving the event.

"You're Cole's contact for the smuggling ring on the docks, aren't you Powell?" Sapphire asks resting her hand on her shotgun.

"What? No! I mean… What does it matter now? So I'm a smuggler? Who cares? My superior's dead. The entire crew's dead. It doesn't matter now does it?" Powell says giving up on denying the accusation.

"Depends, anything hidden nearby that we could use against the geth?" Sapphire asks with a knowing look.

"Yeah, a shipment of grenades came through last week. Nobody notices if a few pieces go missing from the military orders." Powell admits with a shrug.

"You greedy son of a bitch! We're out here trying to protect your sorry ass and all you can think about is how you can rip us off?!" Ashley shouts accusatorially at Powell with disgust.

"I never thought you'd actually need those grenades! Who'd want to attack Eden Prime? We're just a bunch of farmers! How was I supposed to know?" Powell says defensively.

"Hand them over, now!" Sapphire shouts.

"They're yours. Take them. My smuggling days are over. I swear." Powell says handing over a a case of grenades.

"I don't like it when someone tries to pull one over on me. What else do you have hidden back there!?" Sapphire says pulling out her shotgun and aiming it at Powell.

"Okay! All right. There was something else. Could be worth a fortune. Experimental technology. Top of the line. Take it. I don't need it. I didn't want to get hurt. Really. I'm sorry…" Powell says handing over a strange device.

"Come one, Phire. We need to find that beacon before it's too late." Sampson says, patting her shoulder.

"Take the cargo train. That's where the other turian went." Powell says pointing towards the tram.

"I… I can't stay here… I need to get away from all this." Powell says walking off into the distance.

The team silently moves forward when several geth fire upon them, beginning a grueling slog through to the tram, as Sapphire had to use one of her newest grenades on a geth destroyer charging at them.

Blowing them to smithereens.

Freeing up the path to the tram. Allowing Sampson to smash the activation button, lurching the tram into motion.

--------------------------------

Saren rushes towards a mud-caked geth before ordering, "Set the charges. Destroy the entire colony. Leave no evidence that we were here."

Then moving towards the beacon, before some unseen for seems to lift him from the ground as his head snaps up.

--------------------------------

The tram enters its station and the team finds a large industrial-grade demolitions charge ticking away with a five-minute timer slowly ticking down.

"Shit! Demolition charges! The geth must have planted them! Cover me!" Sampson shout rushing to the bomb and beginning to disarm it.

"Hurry! We need to find them all and shut them down!" Ashley urges firing up at the advancing geth.

"Done! Next one's near the top of the stairs!" Sampson shouts rushing up and across the catwalk while under fire from the geth before beginning to disarm the explosives while Ashley and Sapphire send a burst of return fire and biotic warp bolts respectively.

With the second bomb disarmed the team begin pushing up the cargo-filled walkway. Using the containers as cover, before coming across the third bomb.

Sampson makes quick work of this bomb while under the protection of Ashley and Sapphire.

Getting stalled by a hard push by geth shock troopers supported by geth snipers, suppressing them until the shock troopers get close enough to feel the brunt of biotic-infused warp punches from both Sampson and Sapphire.

Once the shock troopers are dealt with the snipers are quickly taken out with a few well-placed pistol and rifle shots as Sampson rushes to the final demolitions charge, working as fast as his hands will let him.

5…

4…

3…

*Beep*

The countdown stops with seconds to spare as Sampson lets out a sigh of relief.

"We're safe, let's go and get that beacon." Sampson says, leading the team into a catwalk overlooking a loading area with several large containers and a strange alien-looking structure.

Several geth take note of the team's arrival with several husks being detached from their impalement device.

"Weapons free! Secure the beacon at all costs!" Sampson shouts, drawing his pistol as he begins aiming at the geth troopers.

"Let's have some fun!" Sapphire shouts joyously bringing her shotgun to bear against the husks as she charges forward.

Ashley provides overwatch from the catwalk with her rifle.

After the quick skirmish, the team secures the loading zone and Sapphire begins to send a status report to the Normandy, "Normandy, the beacon is secure. Request immediate evac."

"This is amazing. Actual working Prothean technology. Unbelievable!" Sampson says in awe.

"It wasn't doing anything like that when they dug it up. Something must've activated it." Ashley says as Sampson turns around to speak with Sapphire.

"Roger, Normandy. Standing by." Sapphire says as a green energy begins to envelop Ashley.

Sampson rushes back to her, grabbing her by the side and throwing her to safety before the light fully envelopes him and begins to lift him into the air as strange sights, sounds, and other indescribable sensations fill his minds.

"Sampson!" Ashely shouts, trying to fight against Sapphire who is holding her back.

"No! Don't touch him! It's too dangerous!!" Sapphire shouts trying to fight her own urge to protect her older brother.

The information begins flashing at an even quicker pace before it overloads Sampson's mind and the beacon as he is forced unconscious and the beacon shatters into hundreds of little pieces.

Sapphire and Ashly look over Sampson while waiting for the Normandy's inbound evac.