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When the underground facility Shepard and her squad were traversing through inevitably caved in, none of them had been surprised. The mission had been going too well: they'd gotten in without attracting the smugglers' attention, swiftly taking out their hired guards before they could call for backup, shutting down the red sand smuggling ring once and for all with a bullet through the ringleader's head.
By Hackett's definition, it was an easy in-and-out-again mission. Really, any Alliance team could've done the job. The reason Hackett had sent Shepard was, in his own words, that she was the only member of the Alliance in the vicinity to get the situation under control before word spread that humanity had started selling red sand to turian colonies in the fringes of Council Space.
Best to nip the problem in the bud before it could become a diplomatic incident, Hackett had said. Shepard cursed those words under her breath as she stared at the mounds of rubble laying where the exit from the mine was just stood. This wasn't the first time Hackett had sent her into a situation like this and she was sure it wouldn't be the last. Before embarking on her hunt for Saren, Shepard had been more open to taking on missions like this since there was admittedly a level of excitement to be found in them, as well as the fact that she wasn't on a time limit to save the galaxy from the rogue turian spectre. She'd had all the time in the world in between her official assignments to scour the galaxy for low level criminals to take care of.
That was precisely the problem now, though. Saren posed a great threat to the galaxy. Every moment wasted was a moment Saren got closer to achieving his terrible goal. There just wasn't as much time as Shepard would like anymore for stopping crime on the side of her important, galaxy-saving mission.
“Damn it, I should've been prepared for something like this. These mines are really old turian design from back when our species first began colonising away from our homeworld. I can't believe I forgot about reports of others like this one caving in around this sector of the galaxy.”
Shepard turned to the source of the voice. Garrus was stood glaring at his omni-tool as though it had personally wronged him, desperately scanning the area for alternate routes of exit.
Another voice spoke up, “Do not blame yourself, Garrus. All of us have had a lot on our minds lately. It would be unreasonable to expect you to remember such a small and irrelevant detail when the fate of the galaxy rests upon our shoulders. With my experience as an archaeologist I could have also been more attentive of our environment.”
Shepard glanced between Garrus and Liara, both wearing troubled expressions as they tried to come up with a plan of what to do next. She sighed, “Look, let's not take responsibility for anything until we've gotten out of here. I'm going to see if I can get a connection with my 'tool to contact Hackett. See if he can send in a rescue team for us.”
Unfortunately there was no such luck to be had as Shepard waved her omni-tool around, trying hard to find a spot with enough signal to send out an emergency message. As she searched, she couldn't help but think about the situation at hand. Ordinarily the greatest threats to her life came from being in firefights in the line of duty. What were the chances that a freak mine incident would be the thing to take her out? What an anti-climatic end to her chaotic life, to be buried or simply left to starve to death because the forces of nature couldn't wait until the mission was over to throw in the towel.
Shepard didn't want this to be how she died. She really didn't want this to be how her friends died, either. She huffed, quickly giving up on the idea that she could email her way out of this situation.
“Liara, I need you to clear as much rubble as you can from the exit with your biotics. Once you've moved as much as you can away from the area, Garrus and I are gonna pelt the remaining rubble with bullets. We may be able to shoot our way through to the other side.”
Garrus and Liara exchanged unenthusiastic glances.
“I'm not sure that's such a good idea, Commander.” Garrus admitted. “It was gunfire that caused the instability to begin with. If we try to shoot our way out, we'll probably end up bringing even more of the ceiling down onto ourselves.”
“And I don't believe I can move enough rubble before overexerting myself for that to be a viable strategy.” Liara added.
Shepard pinched the bridge of her nose. “Right. Okay, so we need a different plan.”
Shepard paced back and forth, brainstorming ideas until she accidentally tripped over a body on the ground. The dead smuggler was unremarkable; Shepard was about to push him aside with her foot until something unusual caught her eye. Leaning down, Shepard realised that the guy was holding a datapad. On it was a diagram with a layout of the area. Something was different to the map she'd previously seen, though.
“Hey, Garrus. Take a look at this. Isn't there something new on this map? Something that isn't included on the one we've been using?”
Garrus studied the map. It didn't take long for the realisation to dawn on him. “That long bit by there isn't marked down on our map.”
Liara wandered over, taking a break from trying to figure out whether it would truly be impossible to clear the exit with her biotics should it come to that. She could feel beads of sweat forming on her head at just the thought of it.
“What do you suppose it could be?” Liara asked. Met with shrugs, she studied the map closer. “Ah! I believe I know what we are looking at here. There appears to be a tunnel leading out from this area somewhere.”
Shepard didn't want to get her hopes up yet. “Where is it? We've searched the area but none of us found any tunnels.”
“That's true, but there are crates stacked up against the walls. That's the perfect way to conceal a hidden exit for if you need to make a quick getaway. Say, for example, your illegal base of operations get stormed by the Systems Alliance.” Garrus mused, shooting a grin in Shepard's direction.
Shepard smirked in return, though she couldn't help but remain skeptical. “If that's the case it didn't do them much good. Doesn't look like these smugglers tried to move any crates.”
“We ambushed them suddenly. They might not have had enough time or wits about them to get to the escape before we came in, guns blazing.” Garrus suggested.
“Or perhaps it isn't really a tunnel. Maybe it's a hidey-hole and some of the smugglers crawled in and moved the crates back in place while we were distracted by the fight.” Shepard countered.
Liara shook her head slightly. “While that is a possibility, I doubt that it is the most realistic possibility. It appears far more likely that we caught the smugglers unprepared before they could think to escape.”
On Shepard's orders, the squad started searching for the crate standing in between them and their freedom. It didn't take long to pick out the correct crate lining the wall on the right side of the mine. With the force of Liara's biotics combined with Garrus and Shepard's physical strength, the crate slid aside, revealing the exit as shown on the datapad.
“Looks a bit steep. Not professional standard at all.” Shepard huffed, hauling her body into the narrow tunnel one leg at a time.
“This is far from turian craftsmanship.” Garrus agreed as he followed her up. “I'm no expert but even I can tell that the walls aren't supposed to be crumbling like this.”
Once everybody was safely in the tunnel, they activated the lights on their omni-tools and carefully trekked into the narrow darkness ahead. It wasn't a comfortable fit, with Garrus trailing behind Shepard and Liara, his taller height causing him to duck awkwardly as he walked along.
“I have been to ancient ruins tidier than this.” Liara lamented.
Garrus felt something brush against his foot. He turned back and gasped as a small landslide of dirt came down behind him, settling where his foot had just stepped.
“Uh, guys? I know we're being careful not to bring the whole tunnel down but I think we better get a move on. This tunnel is already coming down around us.”
“Guess we couldn't have expected better from a band of cheap smugglers.” Shepard sighed. “It's not like they were gonna hire professionals to build a safe tunnel out. This thing couldn't hold with a group of people running through to escape.”
Garrus chuckled. “So either way, they were screwed the moment we got here.”
“They dug their own graves, literally.” Shepard said with a chuckle of her own.
“I know you are joking but that may not be far from the truth.” Despite the dire circumstances, Liara couldn't keep the amusement out of her tone as she weighed in. “I get the feeling that whichever method they used to create this tunnel may have weakened the structure of the mine as a whole. That could explain why it caved in as it did during our firefight.”
It made sense, but Garrus wasn't fully convinced. “But this mine was already old to begin with. Remember those reports I mentioned earlier?”
“Certainly that didn't help either. Regardless, a mine of this structure wasn't designed–”
Liara's words were cut off by a piercing snap underfoot; the harsh sound echoed through the tunnel, far too loud and close for comfort. A brief glance around didn't reveal the source of the worrying noise and it wasn't wise to stick around to find out.
“Goddamn it, we really need to haul our asses out of here before we get buried.” Shepard muttered, more to herself than anybody else.
Garrus shuddered at the thought. “Why does it feel like this tunnel goes on for far longer than the one we came in through?”
Shepard quickened her pace slightly. “I want to say it's just perspective, but it sure doesn't feel like it right now.”
With those decisive words, the group fell into an uncomfortable quiet, with only the overlapping echoes of their footsteps filling the silence of the tunnel. Their only reprieve from the tense atmosphere was from Shepard's barely contained laughter when Garrus hit his head against the ceiling as he straightened up momentarily to stretch his back.
“Don't grumble, Vakarian.” Shepard snickered, “You're gonna start making me think you're too old to be brought out on missions.”
“By the time we get out of here, it might be time for me to retire anyway.” Garrus replied, only half joking.
Fortunately for Garrus, the darkened route they'd been trekking through for so long had started to give way to a faint brightness up ahead. Garrus could only hope that the source of the brightness was the exit of the tunnel and that he wasn't about to “see the light” sooner than expected.
“Almost there, Commander!” Liara declared, her voice full of relief.
“About time. I can't wait to get back to the Normandy. The crew is gonna get such a kick out of this.” Shepard chuckled.
“Goddess, this was not the archaeological experience I was intending on having today.” Her words may have sounded like a lament, but in reality, Liara couldn't deny that the experience was a little exciting. Sure, she'd gotten used to exploring underground ruins by herself over her several years as an archaeologist, but it wasn't every day she got to escape from an illegal drug den inside a caved in mine through a makeshift tunnel with her friends.
With how hectic her life had become lately, this felt like a comforting change of pace and a positive bonding experience.
The group finally made it to the exit. A door stood between them and their freedom, but much like the tunnel itself it was in no fit condition. The metal plating was likely salvaged scrap, full of dents and holes, which allowed for the light to pour through and act as their navigation as they approached. A forceful kick was all that was needed for the metal to pop off and no longer impede their escape.
After their eyes had adjusted to the sudden flood of daylight, Shepard glanced out of the tunnel. Unsurprisingly there was no structure awaiting them on the outside. No stairs, no handrail, nothing to suggest that this area inhabited life to anyone passing by. Shepard was essentially poking her head out from an awkwardly angled hole in the ground. It worked best for the smugglers to keep things subtle, she supposed.
Pulling herself up out of the hole, Shepard turned back to offer a hand to Liara and Garrus as they followed suit. Once everybody had exited the tunnel, they took a few moments to orientate themselves and take stock of their environment. Specifically, they needed to know where the hell they were and how far they had travelled from the Mako.
With barely disguised sarcasm, Garrus asked, “Whose genius idea do you think it was to dig up into a large hill?”
They were standing about three quarters of the way up the hill, the high altitude treating them to a scenic view of the distant landscape. It also allowed them to see how far uphill they'd walked during their journey through the tunnel.
“I knew it was steep in there but I didn't realise we were basically climbing through the inside of a mountain.” Shepard frowned, crossing her arms indignantly. “How did we manage to miss a giant fucking hill when we approached in the Mako?”
“Beats me. If we'd known it was there, I've no doubt we would've recklessly driven over it.” Garrus shrugged, shuddering internally at the thought. When Shepard opened her mouth to protest, he added, “No offense, Commander, but we know all too well by this point your idea of fun.”
“Given your love for throwing us into hazardous situations in the Mako, I would have to agree it's unusual for none of us to have noticed.” Liara added. While Shepard pouted and Garrus looked bemused, she scanned over the area in search of the chaotic vehicle.
Suddenly, a glint caught her eye: she had successfully located the Mako. Sunlight bounced off the exterior of the old Alliance truck, drawing her attention to the mine entrance close to where Shepard had haphazardly parked.
“Found it, Commander!” Liara called over to the pair behind her.
Making their way down the hill was expectedly easier than trekking through it. The group beelined towards the Mako. The vehicle stood alone, untouched, and if it weren't for the tire marks in the ground revealing where Shepard had grinded the old tank to a halt, it looked almost tranquil.
Once they arrived at the Mako, they signalled to Joker that they were finally done with the mission and, after Joker's laughter had subsided, waited less than patiently for the Normandy to land for pickup.