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Author's Note: I was wanting to do one more one-shot before I posted this story, but since I've no clue who the hell Garrus's father is, that's pretty much out of the question. Bah. This is a post game story that just would not leave me alone because the Rachni are just that awesome, and because Noveria ended up being one of my absolute favorite parts of the whole game story wise, and it bothered me to no end that the Rachni queen or what becomes of her if you choose to save her wasn't even mentioned again in the game. I saw the renegade scenario on YouTube where you choose to kill her and... oh gods... I cried hard. It was that damn horrible. Anyway, I've pretty much had to come up with some stuff about the Rachni since there's only one codex entry about them in the game and the tidbits the queen gives you later on at Noveria. Since Rachni are basically a hive mind, I've based their habits mostly off of ants with a bit here and there from bees, and some of my own elements as well.
I'd like to give thanks to everyone who reviewed and favorited my six one-shots and special thanks go out to VoiDreamer, Devi Serene, JadeTheCon, and Viable-Solution who all put up with my PM rants and helped me to regain a bit of confidence in myself as a writer. I still feel that my stories aren't as good as so many others that are in this section, and that my Shepard character isn't as realistic and believable as others here, but I'm trying my hardest to write good stories for people to enjoy.
I'll try to get this story done before Mass Effect 2 makes it obsolete... I swear, if they dare make the Rachni queen evil and throw away all the things she said in the first game, I'll go through the damn roof like I did when I found out Garrus wasn't a romance option. That Turian is just too damn fun to write for me to just stop writing now, and I've never written so much fanfiction for a game before.. The romance is going to take a back seat to an actual plot in this, and the story will center around both Shepard and Garrus, and around an OC of sorts, which a lot of you will probably give me weird looks for. Future chapters may be slow-coming, providing people actually give this a chance rather than just skipping over it... Okay. This is the longest author's note I've ever written. And the longest summary. Jeez. Again, I do not own Mass Effect or any of the characters, they are © BioWare.
Summary: It has been two weeks since the defeat of Sovereign, and the threat of the Reapers has been thwarted for the time being; however, trouble brews elsewhere. When Shepard experiences nightmares concerning someone she had once saved, she sets off for Noveria on her own. When Garrus sets off after her, he finds himself tasked not only with finding her, but with aiding a species whom had once posed a threat to all other life within the galaxy... the Rachni.
Mass Effect
Song of the Rachni
By. Chaos Githzerai
Prologue
Deep within the bowels of the snow-covered planet, creatures worked endlessly with little heed to day or night.
These creatures were of a race many thought pushed to extinction by the Krogan. They were insects that looked like the stuff of nightmares, possessing four jointed legs which supported a base vaguely resembling the area of an octopus where all eight arms met. Atop this base was a torso which arched gently forward upon which a pair of small, two-fingered arms and a large, angular head were located. Set within the head were a pair of large, ovaline eyes, a lighter shade of rust-red than the chitinous exoskeleton, and above the eyes were two pairs of antennae, the innermost pair shorter than the outer. Two pairs of mandibles completed the overall appearance along with twin appendages which were situated upon the back, looking like a third pair of legs yet ending in what resembled whips each tipped by a thick, spike-like growth which in turn were covered in smaller, spike-like growths.
These creatures... were Rachni.
Two warriors flanked a quad of smaller workers on each side as they made their way down one of the larger tunnels which led from the hangar of the now abandoned laboratory located upon the planet's surface. Though the insects had managed to settle in fairly well underneath Noveria's frigid surface, preparations were being made for them to leave in order to find another world to settle, and to one day find the system on which their very race had originated. Soon, they would depart from Noveria aboard the abandoned cargo ship they had been salvaging.
One of the warriors clicked her mandibles, signaling for the group to stop. The other warrior joined her sister, moving in front of the little workers as both the larger Rachni glanced about, both pairs of antennae waving. They could sense odd vibrations through the earth, vibrations that were not the same as those produced by the movements of their fellow Rachni.
Which meant that there were intruders somewhere within the hive...
Shivering, Shepard wrapped her arms around herself in an attempt to find even the slightest degree of warmth. This was becoming quite... odd... and it only became stranger when an eerie wailing came to her ears, sounding like many female voices weeping all at once. The sound echoed off the tunnel walls, floor, and ceiling, causing Julia to shiver again, but this time, it wasn't from the temperature.
"Who's there?" she called, cautiously moving forward and trying to see up ahead, but the tunnel she was in ended only in darkness. "Is someone hurt?"
There was no answer, save for the same wailing which became louder and higher in pitch and volume until it was nothing but a pained screech that caused Julia to cry out and clamp her hands over her ears. What she caught of the horrid sound had been vaguely familiar, as if she had heard something like it... then she remembered...
Rachni... Rachni in pain...
"Stop!!" she cried, squeezing her eyes shut as the cries became even louder, nearly deafening. Then suddenly, there was nothing but silence, but the human hesitated before she slowly lowered her hands from her ears, only to cry out in surprise. Once again, she was surrounded by nothing but inky black darkness...
Exhaling, Shepard smoothed her hair away from her face before she took a glance over at the nearby chrono, seeing that it was still early morning. Still feeling shaken, she dragged herself from the bed, unceremoniously dumping her nightclothes on the floor before she climbed into the shower, barely noticing that the lights were adjusting themselves to her waking. There was no way she was going to get more sleep now after such a dream. Even though it had shaken her, it had left some questions unanswered. Could the pained Rachni she heard in the tunnel have been the queen? If so, who or what would try to hurt her? And why had her dreamcatcher not prevented such a nightmare from occurring?
Not waiting for her hair to dry, Julia pulled on some civilian clothing, just a simple shirt and pants, as the style of women's dresses completely put her off to ever getting one for herself... even though some of them came in very nice colors. She then moved to grab something she never left without: the arrowhead pendant that had once belonged to her brother. She gazed at the trinket for a long moment before she slipped it around her neck. It was an object of comfort to her, and she had a habit of grasping it whenever she would feel uneasy.
With a sigh, she ran her hands through her shoulder-length hair, not wanting to waste time messing with the halfway dried mass before she left her apartment. She wanted to talk to someone she knew she could trust to not look at her like she was going crazy when she explained her nightmare, and she knew just the person...
His sleep disturbed, Garrus Vakarian yawned, not bothering to cover it before he shook his head, letting his sight adjust to the darkness of his bedroom before he dragged himself out of bed, a second yawn gripping him. Somebody had the nerve to come pounding on his door at this hour, and he hoped, for their sake, that they very well had a damn good reason for doing so. He growled when the lights began to come on, since he was no longer asleep. He'd tried bypassing that little annoyance twice, but both times, one of those stupid Keepers had come to fix it, so in the end, he had given up on it. Muttering a string of curses to himself under his breath, the Turian moved to slip a shirt on, not wanting some random yahoo to see him in nothing but a pair of shorts.
"All right, all right! I'm coming! Stop trying to break the door in!" he snarled irritably, gritting his teeth when the noise barely let up. He was no longer in C-Sec, but why the hell did people not seem to remember that? Sighing, Garrus moved to open the door, readying himself to tell whoever it was off, but the words died on his tongue when he saw Shepard standing there outside his apartment.
"Julia.." he said, his voice losing its harsh edge, and he regretted yelling a moment ago. "What are you doing up at this hour?"
"Garrus, I need to talk to you," she replied, her voice trembling. "May I come in?"
"Sure," he said softly, moving aside to let her in, letting the door shut behind her. He blinked when he heard her give a soft (though half-hearted) chuckle, and he turned to see where she was looking... Oh, damn. "U-um... I'm sorry that I, er... haven't had a chance to clean the place..." 'That's because you kept putting it off, idiot.'
"Would you like some help?"
"N-no, I've got it." Blushing, he moved to gather up the various articles of clothing which were lying strewn unceremoniously about his living room before he tossed them into a pile in a corner at the far side of the room. Sighing, he moved to slump down on the couch before he beckoned for the human woman to join him. "I'm sorry for yelling, I'm just not used to people pounding on my door this late. So, what's bothering you?"
"It's okay, Garrus, really. I should have waited till you were awake.." she muttered, moving to sit beside him before she rested her head against his shoulder. "It's silly... but, I had a nightmare..."
"What about?" he asked, moving to curl an arm around her, and he blinked when she sighed and pulled away.
"You might think this is weird.." she said, leaning forward and holding her head in her hands, her dark hair falling around her face. "But... it was about Rachni..."