Not long after Shepard’s message dozens of Reaperfied Rachni poured out of the nearby tunnels.
Only a combination of heavy firepower, biotics, and a tremendous amount of Force Lightning had stopped them from being overrun by the sudden swarm of enemies, with Revan and Lymrase quickly cutting down the few that managed to get close with their sabers. But while the Rachni numbers were definitely great, there were only so many of them in one section of the cave system at once, and their numbers eventually ran out.
Either that, or they had simply pulled back to regroup and eventually attack again somewhere else.
“Status, anyone injured?” The Sith asked even as she scanned ahead for any more Rachni. The bigger ones seemed to have been modified to act almost as long distance fire support. In a cave tunnel like the one they were currently in, all it would take to disrupt her team would be one of them waiting in the distance for them to lower their guard and stepping out from behind the rock formations.
Thankfully, besides some scrapes and bruises, the other four members of Revan’s team had been uninjured by the ambush. How long that would remain the case was anyone’s guess however.
The only thing left to do was keep pushing further into the tunnels.
“More of those egg pods.” Kasumi commented as they moved on. “There must be hundreds of them just here alone.”
“Rachni normally keep their breeding grounds hidden, dwell on toxic planets. The Reapers must have changed them.” Javik said. “They are breeding another army here.”
“We’re having trouble with the ones they already have.” Tali’Zorah muttered. “The Collectors and Husks are bad enough. Even major worlds won’t be able to hold if Rachni start showing up too.”
“Then it’s up to us to make sure the threat ends here.” Revan said authoritatively. “Keep moving. The longer we stay here, the more likely we are to be surrounded again.”
More surrounded than they already were, Revan didn’t say.
There were plenty of small spaces above and around them for the tiny swarmer Rachni to hide without being spotted. Thankfully, in small numbers they were not too much of a threat.
Given the number of egg pods, Revan was not betting on those numbers remaining small.
As their group started moving again, a message over short-range comms came from Grunt.
“Shepard, Revan. I know what happened to the scouts.”
“What did you find?”
“They got hit hard. The leader ordered them to carry weapons deep into the caves.” Grunt said, a glimmer of respect undercutting his normal growling words. “He knew the next team would need help.”
“We’ve seen a few of them. They died making sure we could reach the central chamber. We won’t waste that chance.”
“Don’t be reckless, Shepard. You’re no help to anyone if you get backed into a corner and overrun.” Revan warned.
“Don’t worry, we won’t.”
“Heh, no warning for me, Revan?” Grunt chuckled over the comm.
“You wouldn’t listen even if I did.” She replied to the krogan. “Just try not to die down here. There are more important battlefields than this hole in the ground.”
“Heh, looks like you know how Krogan think. Don’t worry, it will take more than a few Rachni to deal with Aralakh Company!”
Revan said nothing and just closed the comms.
-o-
The next ambush came halfway through a much larger cavern than anything they had encountered before.
And without the tunnels nearby to help funnel the incoming enemies, Revan knew a defensive strategy was a death sentence.
“Find cover and hold position.” She ordered her team as her lightsabers blazed to life. “Lymrase, stay close to them. Shout if you start to get overwhelmed.”
“Wait, Revan – what are you…!”
The Sith was already bounding away before her teammate could finish their protest. The scenery seemed to blur a bit at the edges as her force-enhanced speed allowed her to cross the rest of the way across the cavern and land right in the middle of a group of Rachni that were positioning themselves as artillery.
Her sabers easily cut through the fleshy sacs that made up most of the modified Rachni’s bulk. It did little to actually damage the Rachni itself, but removing them destroyed the swarmers that hid inside. It also released a burst of highly corrosive juices that made Revan glad her armor provided full coverage.
Dodging away from as much of the spray as she could, Revan removed the head from one of the Rachni, split another down the middle, and crushed the third with a telekinetic grip before the rest managed to react to her appearance and open fire on her.
Revan dove off to one side, trusting her armor to protect her from the incoming attacks when her sabers were not able to block them, the amount of incoming fire simply too much for even a Sith Lady to block perfectly.
A quick check to confirm her personal shields were not too badly drained, and then Revan threw herself back into the Reaper horde. Her red and blue blades quickly tore a path of carnage through the cybernetically modified insects that was only aided by the lack of any care about friendly fire by the Reaper forces.
As she danced between bodies, for every one that cut down another was shot to pieces by the Rachni and other Husks making up the Horde. Something Revan was perfectly fine with since every Husk killed was another that wasn’t making its way towards her team. Unfortunately, she still had to circle back several times.
Just because she could hold off one section of the horde did not mean the others stopped advancing. And since they were nearly surrounded from the start, Revan had to pull back just so her team could reposition and escape complete encirclement. Twice now a teammate had been injured before Revan could arrive. Once, Lymrase had failed to escape the fluids bursting from a Rachni she killed, resulting in severe burns on her left hand. And the other was when Kasumi’s shields broke after a bad hit. Her undersuit had managed to prevent the shot from killing her, but the force had still thrown her off balance and caused her to roll her ankle.
Javik was forced to drag her back into cover and shield her while Tali’Zorah did her best to apply enough first-aid to keep Kasumi moving. Not that the thief had an option otherwise. Remaining still while they were being swarmed was a death-sentence.
“Revan, we are being overrun. We need to get out of this cavern.” The Prothean reported gravely even as he tossed a group of Husks back the way they came with his biotics.
He was right too. The Reapers had simply prepared too many bodies for this ambush. Even if Revan could eventually overcome it, at least some of her team would be dead by then.
“Make for the closest tunnel, don’t stop for anything.” She ordered as she released a torrent of Force Lightning to give the squad some breathing room.
“I’m going to need a hand there.” Kasumi grimaced. “A shoulder at least.”
“Lymrase, handle her.”
“Yes, Master.”
Lymrase was still clearly in pain caused by her own wounds, but the benefits of being a force-wielder meant that did little to affect how much she was capable of carrying.
Revan released another blast of lightning and Javik used that as a signal to break for the tunnel. His particle rifle jumped from Husk to Husk and did a decent job of burning through the obstacles in his way. Tali’Zorah was close behind with her own blaster rifle spitting red bolts of plasma into the horde, widening the group’s path. Finally, it was Lymrase and Kasumi bringing up the rear, the thief visibly uncomfortable about being held in the Apprentice’s telekinetic grip but doing her best to provide covering fire despite that. She ended up hitting the surrounding rocks more than the husks, but the intent was there. Lymrase on the other hand had shifted to being purely defensive, using her lightsaber to deflect any attacks that came too close to herself or her passenger, but making no attempts of her own to strike at the enemies besides the odd swarmer that managed to jump in her way.
The important thing was that despite it all, they were moving forward.
Because Revan had her hands full keeping the rest of the horde off of them and really couldn’t afford to assist them at the moment.
“Revan, we’re inside but there’s more Rachni in here too! If you have a plan you better do it now!” Tali’Zorah called over the comm.
“Focus on the ones in front of you, and prepare for some minor groundquakes.”
“Groundquakes? What–?”
Revan ignored her as she made a mad sprint for the tunnel entrance. The second she passed through, she extinguished her lightsabers and turned back to face into the cavern while immersing herself in the Force.
She also paid no more attention to the enemies attacking her, even when a stray shot came so close to hitting her head that it pulled her hood off. Instead her focus was on one of the large rock spires that dotted the cavern. Revan reached out until the entire structure was enveloped in her mental grip, and then she pulled.
There was an explosive crack that echoed through the cavern as the spire of rock suddenly tilted, seemingly on its own, and fell directly towards the tunnel Revan was standing in. Once it began to move, Revan turned and fled towards her team. Even for her – standing in front of several hundred tons of falling rock was… unwise.
And when the rock hit, it did so with a force great enough to rattle the walls and shake loose debris from the tunnel’s ceiling. Up ahead Revan could see Javik and Tali’Zorah stumble and fall to the ground. Lymrase fared a little better, but still needed to brace against one of the walls to avoid falling over. Thankfully, they had already dealt with the Reaper forces up ahead so the worst that came from the sudden tumbles was Kasumi letting out a shriek from almost being dropped.
“Did you just cause a cave-in?!” The thief yelled.
“Technically I caused an underground landslide.” Revan replied as she moved past her team to stand at the front. “We won’t have to worry about enemies coming from that direction for a while so take some time to recover. We’ll try to meet up with the others in a few minutes.”
-o-
“It’s quiet. Where did they all go?” Tali’Zorah asked once they were on the move again.
“We are getting close to the central chamber. If the Rachni still function like they did in my time, there will actually be less of them around the breeder. The eggs are surprisingly fragile for several hours after laying and need to be moved later.” Javik explained. “Only the bare minimum needed to tend to them.”
“The Reapers have been modifying them though, would that still be how they operate?” Kasumi asked.
“The base template of the Rachni can’t have been changed too much, or the Reapers wouldn’t need to attach the egg pods to those cables once they can be moved.” Lymrase said. “The freshly laid eggs must be basically normal Rachni until they are Indoctrinated and modified later.”
“It’s likely you’re right.” Revan agreed with her apprentice. “Which means there shouldn’t be much resistance up ahead until we reach the chamber.”
“It also means that we’ll have every Rachni in the caves between us and the exit.” Kasumi grumbled. “I’m an infiltrator and a thief, I’m not meant for fighting through swarms of bugs in a cave.”
“Well, look on the bright side, that just means we’re halfway out of the caves.” ” Tali’Zorah offered, getting a small laugh from Kasumi.
“Fair enough. By the way, does anyone else hear that?”
In the distance, the heavy booming sound caused by krogan weapons managed to echo down the tunnel.
“Sounds like we found Aralakh Company.” Revan said. “With some luck, Shepard’s squad is not far off. Let’s move out!”