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"Please, have a seat." Takahashi stepped aside so everyone could enter his office.

Chula walked past him, stood out of everyone's way, and took a look around. Paintings and objects in locked cases hung on the wood-paneled walls, an enormous desk sat at the far end of the room, and behind it was a bay window overlooking a tree-packed valley and a mountain range. Between the door and the desk sat a half-dozen sofas and armchairs.

"Nice," Quint said, stopping beside her and holding Dakka's hand.

"Very." Chula walked over to the nearest wall for a closer look at some of the cases while the rest of the team entered. She didn't recognize most of them, but a few were familiar; several were ancient forms of currency she'd seen in historical files focusing on alien civilizations.

Wow. She leaned over to look at a set of coins and a small, rectangular sheet of green paper. That's a dollar bill. Must be a couple hundred years old, but no creases or tears. Probably worth a fortune, if it's not fake.

She picked a chair, sank into it, and crossed her ankles.

Dakka lowered herself carefully onto a sofa to Chula's left. She grinned, tugged on Quint's hand, and pulled him onto her lap. She put her arms around him and licked his cheek. He laughed, gave her a quick kiss, leaned against her chest and placed his hands over hers.

Takahashi flicked a surprised look at them, covered it up quickly, and smiled as he took the chair across from them.

Magnum sat on the opposite end of the sofa Dakka and Quint had chosen, reached up to adjust her costume's headpiece, gazed at Takahashi and waited for him to begin the briefing. Yutani took a position beside her and remained standing.

"Okay, about the reason I invited you here." Takahashi waved a hand at the valley outside the window. "My husband stumbled onto something while hiking through the forest last week. We wondered how it was missed when this part of Bekenstein was being colonized, but I figure it's simply because no one had really explored that far out from the settlement before." He chuckled. "Benny loves going off the trail and exploring where no one else has been. I'm always terrified that he's going to fall off a cliff or some damned thing, but I haven't been able to talk sense into him in fifteen years, so I just have to go along with it. And in this case, his adventurous spirit has paid off."

"I can appreciate an adventurous spirit." Chula laughed softly. "What did he find?"

"There was an entrance to a cave at the base of one of the mountains on the far side of the valley. Barely big enough for an adult to squeeze through. So, of course, Benny had to check it out." Takahashi shook his head. "He told me that he kept feeling a sense of dread; it kept getting stronger the closer he got to the entrance, but that only made him more determined to have a look. He said it was like something outside his head was trying to trigger a fight-flight response."

"Creepy," Magnum muttered.

"That's exactly what I said. I've heard of other discoveries like this one in the last few years--alien artifacts that screw with people's minds or alter them physically, even turn them into mindless ... I guess you could call them 'husks." He shivered. He stared out the window for a few seconds before letting out a quick breath and turning back to his guests. "Anyway, Benny's been camping out there, keeping an eye on the cave until we can move the stuff out of there. Neither of us is a xenoarcheologist, so we're not sure what we've got, but I've been in contact with some people on the Citadel who can study what we've found."

"So," Quint said, "you want us to guard whatever's in the cave until these people get here?"

"Actually, no, they're not coming here. We need to move the relics to the Citadel so they can be examined in a secure location."

"Huh. Why not here?"

"Probably to keep a low profile," Dakka said. "A lot of the people on Bekenstein got rich by being opportunists, and quite a few of those are also pretty ruthless. For instance, the name Donovan Hock springs immediately to mind. That kind of activity at the discovery site could attract the wrong kind of attention, and the defensive options would be pretty limited if anyone dropped the hammer on 'em."

"Exactly." Takahashi nodded and smiled. "Merely speaking with scientists about this might've already aroused someone's curiosity. I've had my share of 'competitive analysts' sneak into my company, and one can never be one hundred percent certain they've all been caught. And since my company is small, I don't have the resources to hire a detachment of mercs. I decided a small team would be able to do the job just as well, and much more discretely."

Chula leaned forward and toyed with her sonic screwdriver prop. "So, you want us to transport the artifacts to the Citadel?"

"Yes. Benny's been packing them into crates over the last few days, and I have a vehicle that can carry all of them to the spaceport, plus smaller ones you can use to provide escort. There's nothing else of interest in the cave, no signs that it was ever part of a larger structure, so there's nothing to study that can't be moved. I'm thinking the cave is just a depository, a place someone used to hide a few vitally important things." Takahashi's face took on a haunted look. "Probably to keep them from being destroyed in some sort of cataclysmic event."

Yutani raised an eyebrow-flap. "What exactly did your husband discover? Relics, video logs, written records of this event?"

"All three, actually. I haven't seen them, but Benny described them to me. The writings are in a language he's never seen before; at first I thought that ruled out the Protheans, but what few traces of the Prothean civilization have been dug up ... well, they're not quite consistent. So this could be theirs, or it could be from a species that predates even the Protheans."

Okay, my curiosity is definitely aroused. Chula exchanged a glance with the others. The Protheans died out fifty thousand years ago, so naturally, artifacts and records from that era were few and far between. If something solid had been found that originated even further in the past ....

"Did he describe the video logs?" Yutani said.

"Yeah." Takahashi shivered again. "He told me about one in particular. It showed a whole planet burning. Entire continents were on fire. He guessed it was from orbital bombardment. Then he saw vids of the ... things ... attacking the planet." He drew in a deep breath and let it out slowly. "Enormous ships that looked like they came straight out of a Lovecraft story. Kind of squid-shaped. Heavily armored, with kinetic barriers that shrugged off everything the planet's inhabitants threw at them."

A chill rushed through Chula's body. "I've heard of ships like those."

"Yeah. One matching that description attacked the Citadel two years ago, along with a fleet of geth ships. Everyone assumed the big ship was an advanced prototype of geth origin, but if similar ones existed fifty thousand years ago--"

"That was no geth ship, and they've been around for at least a billion years. And the geth following it were a very small faction of the total geth population." Chula shook her head. "I got my hands on a report filed by Tali'Zorah vas Normandy a few weeks ago; she had a ton of information about those ships, including a recording of an actual conversation with the one that attacked the Citadel. Its name was Sovereign. The Normandy crew also had an indirect encounter with another one named Harbinger. The report led me to the work of an archeologist named Dr. Liara T'soni, who spent decades studying the Protheans and has firsthand knowledge of the ships in that video log."

"They are not ships," Yutani said. "The geth call them 'Old Machines.' The Protheans called them 'Reapers.' They appear to be sentient artificial intelligences."

"Oh, boy." Takahashi crossed his arms tightly over his chest. "That sounds ominous."

"Yeah," Chula said in a quiet tone. "If you want to give yourself nightmares, look up the report by Tali'Zorah--the bits that aren't classified, at least--and the articles published by Dr. T'soni."

"I think I have a good idea of what's in them. Benny said the ships--Reapers, or whatever they are--weren't just slaughtering the aliens in this vid. It looked like they were harvesting a lot of them."

"Yeah, that sounds right." Chula looked up at Yutani. "So, do we accept the job?"

"Affirmative." Yutani turned to look at Takahashi. "This discovery may be of far greater importance than either of you realized."

Takahashi nodded slowly and let out a long sigh. "That's what I was afraid of."

#

"There's something bugging me," Dakka said to Takahashi as the team finished gearing up and headed for the garage beside his house. "You mentioned your husband was being affected by something in that cave. Like something was trying to keep him away from it. Can you be sure it's not affecting him in other ways?"

"That was the first thing I started worrying about as soon as he said it." Takahashi shrugged. "He seemed perfectly normal in every conversation we've had since then, but ... well, I always had that concern in the back of my mind."

"An affect of Reaper technology has been documented recently," Yutani said. Everyone else had removed their costumes and packed them for the return flight to the Sulaco, but the mobile platform had left the lady-Santa costume on. "It is been termed 'indoctrination.' Known symptoms of indoctrination include paranoia, headaches, hallucinations, and voices in the victim's mind."

"Benny didn't exhibit any paranoid behavior and didn't mention headaches or voices." Takahashi led them across the garage, stopped beside a six-wheeled Mako and wrung his hands. "But something was screwing with his head outside the cave."

"It might not be anything to worry about, then." Dakka turned to frown at the Mako. "The video logs sound like a record of someone's last stand against the Reapers, if that's what the squid-ships actually were. So, not Reaper technology." Assuming something else in that cave isn't a Reaper artifact. She kept it to herself; there was no point in worrying their client even more than he already was.

"I hope you're right. Still, we should keep an eye on him until a doctor can check him out, just in case." Takahashi shook his head and grimaced, as if hating himself for even suggesting such a thing. He pulled himself together and pointed at the Mako. "Uh, anyway, this is our ride. The stuff he found is pretty small, so we should be able to fit all the boxes in the rear compartment."

"If you don't mind," Dakka said, "I'll take one of the escort vehicles. I hate riding in those things. It's like trying to drive a bar of wet soap. Last time I was in one, my stomach contents ended up all over the console."

"There's something that can actually make a krogan puke?" Quint shook his head slowly and laughed.

"Only one thing in the galaxy." Dakka aimed one last scowl at the Mako and walked over to one of the small, two-wheeled vehicles. She was almost too big for it, but she'd make do.

"If none of you want to ride in the Mako, that's okay. It can definitely be a little bumpy." Takahashi chuckled. "We've got enough bikes for all of you if you'd prefer those."

"It's been a long time since I've been on a wheeled vehicle." Chula had a grin in her voice as she hopped onto one of the bikes. "This reminds me of some antique motorcycles I saw in really old vids from Earth."

Yutani stared at another bike for a few seconds. Her head flaps raised and lowered, a sign that the nearly three thousand geth runtimes housed in her body were pondering something or doing an extranet search. Probably looking up an operation manual for the bike, Dakka guessed as Yutani climbed onto the bike.

Quint snickered and pointed his left arm at Yutani. His Omni-Tool appeared around his forearm and a light on the end flashed. "Sorry, I just had to have a photo of that."

Yutani nodded and tugged on her Santa hat, pulling it a bit tighter. "Is everyone ready?"

Dakka grinned and started her bike's engine. The others followed suit, and Takahashi climbed into the Mako.

"I've set the waypoint on your nav computers," he said. "Just drive to the blip."

Dakka glanced at the nav display on her control panel. "Got it. Let's ride."

Chula and Yutani took the lead, Takahashi cruised along behind them, and Dakka, Quint, and Magnum brought up the rear. Dakka set her armor's sensors to scan continuously and alert her if anyone else came within range, especially from behind. She let her gaze wander as the team entered the forest, taking in the overwhelming amount of green all around her. This world was the polar opposite of Tuchanka, a radioactive wasteland with almost no surviving vegetation and few buildings that weren't reduced to piles of rubble.

"How's the fishing here?" she said after a few minutes of silent driving.

"Dunno, really," Takahashi's reply came over her radio. "I'm not the outdoorsy type, but I do know there are some lakes and rivers on Bekenstein that are packed with fish. Some of them were transplanted from Earth."

"Nice." Dakka grinned. "Last time I went fishing was about three weeks ago, when a job took us to Earth. After it was over, I talked Quint into taking a boat out with me. It was one of my first attempts to get into his pants."

Quint snorted. "Fishing bored me out of my mind, but at least I had good company."

"Not good enough to start up a relationship, apparently."

"Well, we made up for lost time last night."

"We sure did." She giggled.

Chula laughed. "If you hadn't cut your fishing trip short, who knows what might've happened?"

"Ha! True."

"Why'd you have to cut it short?" Takahashi said. "What happened?"

"There we were, out in the middle of nowhere. Nothing but ocean all around us. Sitting back-to-back in the boat, just relaxing." Dakka smiled at the memory. "I'd never seen so much water until long after I left Tuchanka."

"Yeah, it was nice," Quint said. "Really peaceful. Just a few seagulls in the distance every now and then. Until I finally hooked something. I tried to reel it in, but that sucker just wasn't gonna budge."

"Caught yourself dinner, eh?" Takahashi said.

"Not exactly. Quint said, 'Wow, I don't know what this thing is, but it's big.'" Dakka burst out laughing and couldn't continue.

"And then Dakka just kind of casually said, 'Whatever it is, it's on this side, too.' I immediately tossed my fishing rod into the ocean, fired up the engine, and hauled ass outta there."

"I wanted to ask him what the hell had spooked him, but I was laughing too hard."

"Well, as it turns out, I made the right call. Once we were far enough away to see that thing--"

"It was a giant stingray. And when I say giant, I mean that motherfucker was bigger than our boat." Dakka sighed. "I wanted to go back and take it on myself, but I was still laughing so hard I could barely sit up straight."

"Wish I could've seen it," Magnum said.

After the laughter subsided, the group continued making small talk until they reached the mountains.

"Okay, we're almost there," Takahashi said. "About fifteen, twenty more minutes and--"

Dakka's sensors pinged and several dozen blips popped up in her helmet's HUD. "Hold on, I'm picking up a lot of unidentified targets."

"I see 'em, too," Chula said. She parked her bike and shut the engine down. "Mr. Takahashi, you should wait here while we check this out."

"Okay," he said, keeping his voice low. The Mako's engine powered down.

Dakka dismounted and joined Chula in front. Magnum walked over to the Mako.

"I'll stay with our client, just in case."

"Acknowledged," Yutani said, also keeping her volume down.

Chula turned her head slowly, giving the area a visual sweep. She pointed up at the mountain on the left. "I just spotted one of 'em. Probably a sniper."

"Can you see any markings on his armor or uniform or whatever? If we can find out who we're dealing with--"

Chula gasped. Her fists clenched and she snarled, "Cerberus!"

"What?" Takahashi said. "Who?"

"Aw, shit," Quint muttered. "Bad, bad guys. Paramilitary human-supremacist group. Real 'ends justify the means' types. Anything to advance humanity, even at the expense of every other species in the galaxy. That includes unethical experiments, sabotage, and assassinations. They're nothing but a bunch of goddamn terrorists."

"I'm familiar with them," Chula grumbled. "Not too long ago, they attacked the Idenna, the ship I was born on."

"Jesus," Takahashi moaned. "This means Benny could be in serious trouble."

Chula took a moment to get a grip on herself. She took a slow breath and said, "I recommend we sneak past them and try to slip Benny and the artifacts out. We don't want everyone shooting with a noncombatant in the middle of it."

"Agreed," Yutani said. She pulled her plasma shotgun from her back and crept forward.

"I'll take care of the sniper." Dakka glanced around, picked out a suitable pathway up the mountain, and plucked her Claymore shotgun from her hip. "From where he's standing, he can't miss anyone approaching the cave."

Yutani nodded. "We will wait for your signal."

Dakka made her way quickly but silently up the mountain. A minute and a half later, she reached the armored figure Chula had spotted. Light gray armor with the black and yellow Cerberus logo on the right shoulder. A sniper rifle hung on his back and he held a grenade launcher in his hands.

Gotcha. Dakka grinned, put her shotgun back on her hip, and eased forward. If she could take him out quietly--

Her right foot dislodged a fist-size rock and sent it tumbling down the slope behind her.

Aw, fuck me.

The Cerberus agent glanced over his shoulder, saw her towering over him, and spun around.

"Hwaaaaah!" He swung the grenade launcher toward her. Before he could get it into position, his finger tightened on the trigger and fired a grenade at the cliff wall to his left. The grenade bounced off the rock wall, deflected back into his face--and exploded.

The blast overloaded her shields and made her stagger. She regained her balance and gaped at the body as it tumbled over the edge.

Then she burst out laughing.

"Dakka?" Quint said, sounding panic-stricken. "What the hell was that? Are you okay?"

She leaned against the cliff and kept laughing. Finally, she managed to choke out, "Fuckin' stupid!"

"Dakka." Chula's voice. "What happened?"

She took a few breaths and managed to regain her composure. "I startled this guy and he blew himself up."

"Well, that's wonderful. If they didn't know we were here before, they sure as hell do now."

"Hey, it's not my fault Cerberus is hiring from the shallow end of the gene pool these days." Dakka pulled her minigun from her back. "Oh, well, I'll just make sure they're all shooting at me while you slip in and grab Benny."

Chula sighed. "Okay, maybe that'll work."

"Be careful, babe," Quint said.

"Don't worry about me. I once survived a stabbin' that bisected both of my uteruses; I can handle a few Cerberus bitches."

"Okay, then," Chula said. "Let's go. Keelah se'lai."

#

"Whoa." Chula stopped and stared at the bodies strewn over the level ground in front of the cave entrance. Six batarians, all apparently killed by shots to the head.

"Pirates," Quint muttered. "They must've heard something was going on here and figured they could steal it. Then Cerberus took 'em out."

"No, the Cerberus team is behind us. I don't think they made it this far."

Yutani walked over to one of the bodies and pointed. "This wound appears to be self-inflicted."

Chula joined her, took one look at the body, and shuddered. "You're right, this guy ate his own gun. What the hell?"

Behind her, the near-constant gunfire, screams, and occasional gleeful laughter from Dakka, continued echoing up the mountain. And in front of her ...

Sobbing.

She gripped both Phalanx pistols a little tighter and crept toward the sound. After stepping around a boulder nearly the size of a Mako, she found a batarian leaning against it, rocking back and forth and weeping like a child.

Chula glanced around, but found no one else. She scanned the area with her Omni-Tool and found a single human life sign in the cave.

The batarian seemed unaware of anyone else's presence. Or if he had noticed them, he just didn't care.

"I've never seen a batarian cry before," Quint said numbly. "It's ... kind of unnerving."

Chula lowered her guns and took a step closer to the batarian. "Hey. Can you hear me?"

His whole body shook with the force of his sobs. He reached over to the left, picked up a hand cannon, and raised it to his own head.

Chula lunged at him and wrenched his gun away.

"No!" He grabbed at it, but she leaped back out of his reach and handed the gun to Quint.

"What happened here?" Quint said.

"Let me do it," the batarian sobbed. "Let me do it. I can't--it's inside my head! I can't take it anymore. I can't--I can't--" He sucked in a deep breath and wept even harder. "I can't I can't I can't I can't--"

"Hey, take it easy." Quint took a cautious step toward him. "What's inside your head?"

"Death," he moaned. All four of his eyes opened wider. "They're all dead! Everyone! The whole planet!" He flopped over, curled into a fetal position, and wailed. "I can't go on. Kill me. Please! Just end it."

Chula shuddered again. Her heart pounded. She put her guns back under her duster and activated her Omni-Tool. "Shhh. It's going to be okay."

"No, it won't." He aimed his crazed stare at her. "It's coming for us next. It's coming. We can't stop it."

Chula leaned over him, pointed her Omni-Tool, and fired a mild jolt into him. He turned limp, but kept moaning and sobbing. She looked up at Quint. "See if any of these guys was carrying a med-kit. He needs some serious tranquilizers."

"I'm on it." Quint walked off to check the bodies.

"Benny," Chula whispered. She turned to stare at the cave entrance. "What the fuck did you dig up?"