We'll, here is the next installment in this series. I did not plan on it taking this long to get this out there, but once i get a 'groove' going, sort of speak, these should come out a bit more regularly, whether in chapters or in short stories or even in the next story installment.
The main purpose behind this chapter is to introduce how the 'Ground Team' (referenced in the early part of the chapter) will receive upgrades, new gear and armor. I believe this should make for an acceptable explanation for that. I would appreciate some feedback on it so that i can know whether i should rewrite it for something else that would make more sense in the plot.
Stories to read before this one (in order):
Mass Effect: Commander Shulon Shepard
Leaving the Citadel
As always, i hope you enjoy!
The SSV Normandy was nearly 8 hours away from arriving at its first destination: Feros, and its human colony, Zhu's Hope, located in the Attican Beta Cluster. The colony, founded by the ExoGeni Corporation, had dropped out of contact some time ago after reporting that Geth were attacking. Unfortunately, as of yet, no one had been sent to investigate this report and lack of contact afterwards. But it was because of the one report of geth that the Normandy, and its crew, was going there now.
"We're about 8 hours out, Commander. Feros is in sight," Joker said over the ships intercom, specifically the Captain's Cabin, where Spectre Agent Commander Shepard was located.
After Shepard had taken time to settle into the Captain's Cabin, he had been researching the different races that now were included in his crew, which included a krogan, a turian and a quarian. He had taken the time to look up all of the basic information on each species, feeling it would be better to know a bit about their people in general before working along side them on their mission to stop Saren. He had also taken the time to go through the ship's inventory, such as basic supplies as well as weaponry and armor, making sure to add the gear that he had been collecting since the mission on Eden Prime to the inventory list.
Truthfully, that had mostly been all he had been doing since the Normandy departed the Citadel. The time he had taken to settle into his new quarters had only lasted 5 to 10 minutes before he had given up and began to work. Shepard still found it hard to get used to the large space that he now called his own, being the Captain's Cabin. He even had trouble attempting to sleep in the bed that was big enough for two, so much trouble that he eventually left his room, found an empty sleeper pod and slept in it. When he had woken up and left the pod, he found Lieutenant Kaiden Alenko at his station next to the pods giving him a rather odd look. Shepard's explanation caused the biotic soldier to chuckle a bit before saying he would try to keep a pod open on the sleeping schedule for a week or two to help Shepard out.
Without looking up from his screen, Shepard replied, "Understood, Joker. Have Alenko and our three alien guests meet me in the cargo bay at the weapons lockers. Make sure Williams knows we're coming and that she is going to be included."
"Aye aye, Commander, I'll let them know," Joker said, shutting off the intercom.
Shepard finished what he was doing, saved what was left and logged off of his terminal. Standing, he stretched a bit, popping his back a couple times, and then headed for the door to his room. As he walked straight, heading towards the elevator, he looked to his left to see the mess hall with a few of the crew sitting there chatting and eating. Beyond that he noticed the med-bay, with its doors closing shut, probably from someone having just gone in. In fact it was from someone who had just come out, as Shepard found out when he turned the corner and found Alenko waiting for him at the open door of the elevator that would take them down to the cargo bay and engineering level.
"Everything alright, Lieutenant?" Shepard asked, referring to him having come out of med-bay.
Nodding a bit, pressing the button to take them to the lower level of the ship, Alenko replied, "Yes, sir, just having a word with Dr. Chakwas. You been able to get any sleep in your new quarters yet?"
Shepard laughed a bit before he replied, "Not yet. It'll take me a while to get used to it. I'm just used to the sleeper pods and such instead of actual beds."
"Well, like I said before, I'll keep a pod open on the schedule to help you out," Alenko said, having shared a laugh when the Commander laughed.
Shepard said his thanks right as the door opened to the lower level. As they were walking out of the elevator, Shepard saw that everyone had made it to the weapons lockers: Wrex, the krogan, Garrus, the turian, Tali, the quarian, and Gunnery Cheif Ashley Williams, who's station was at the weapons table, right next to the lockers. She looked up as he and Alenko approached, then finished with the assault rifle she was working on and put it down so that she could pay attention to the Commander.
With everyone's eyes on him, Shepard decided to start. "First things first, I hope everyone's gotten settled in and gotten some rest. I know it may take some time to get used to the ship," he said, addressing the three non-Alliance crew, "but I also hope that your stay aboard the Normandy is not unpleasant. If you have any issues or questions, know that you can all come to me. That includes you two, as well," he nodded towards both Williams and Alenko. They all nodded in return, showing that they understood.
"Good. Now then, on to business. I sent a message to all of the crew, excluding you five, before having Joker call you down here. I will send you all an official message regarding this later, but I want to cover this now. The majority of this crew is mainly for maintaining and running the ship. While they all have had basic training, and some have had training for groundwork, that was not what they were chosen for when picked for assignment on the Normandy. That being said, I have labeled all of you as the Normandy's 'Ground Team'. You will still have your jobs on the ship, but should I have to go groundside for anything, I will be calling for some, if not all, of you to come with me."
He noticed very little shock or surprise from some of them as he said this. Wrex showed virtually no response while Garrus merely nodded his understanding, Ashley doing the same. Kaiden and Tali showed the most surprise, Kaiden raising his eyebrows a bit before nodding, Tali having shown it through her body language that she was surprised to be chosen for such a team. He imagined she might ask about it later, but it didn't look like she would now.
"Since you're going to be a part of the ground team," Shepard continued, walking through the middle of the group and towards the table where Ashley had been leaning against, "I want you all to have decent equipment, not just standard issue. That includes armor, weapons, mods of any kind and so on." He had reached the table, Ashley having stood up and stepped to the side for Shepard to get to where she was at, and picked up one of the weapons that they had found on their travels so far, this particular one being a shotgun that he had found towards the end of the mission on Eden Prime. With the weapon still in its collapsed shape, he turned around and tossed it to Wrex, who deftly caught it and looked at it, analyzing it to see what kind it was and its capabilities.
Shepard continued while Wrex looked at the gun in his hands, extending it to sight it at the wall away from the group, "Any of the weapons and armor that you find in the inventory you are all welcomed to. But you will need to trade the weapon you already have for it and log it in with whoever is in charge of weapons inventory. For example, if you want that shotgun, Wrex," said krogan looked up from the shotgun he had just collapsed, "all you need to do is hand over your other shotgun to Williams, since she is on duty, and she will log it into the inventory. Then it's yours." The krogan nodded his understanding, keeping a hold of the shotgun with the intention to do just that.
"Mods will be up for grabs, so long as you check in with the soldier on duty. Said soldier can even install the mods, should you want them to," Shepard said, stopping when Garrus lifted his hand a bit to get his attention.
Shepard nodded to the turian, who asked, "Uh… 'up for grabs', Commander?"
"Sorry, I mean if you want it, you can have it. We've already found a number of them since the mission on Eden Prime, so I don't think we'll have a problem with running out. Also, if you don't see anything here that you need, we have a requisitions officer onboard who might be able to help. He is stationed in the back corner over there," Shepard pointed to the corner behind where the Mako was, right next to one of the doors leading towards the Engineering area. The man standing there had his back to them while he went over a datapad, presumably for his own inventory. "I've already talked with him and he said he would be more than happy to show any of you his stock, but his gear has a price tag since he doesn't get all of it from the Alliance."
When they all looked back around at him, he asked, "Any questions so far?"
This time it was Tali who partially raised her hand, asking, "Commander, are you sure about us just taking the equipment we need? I mean, the shotgun you threw to Wrex is an expensive model, and-"
Shepard cut her off with a hand held up, saying, "I'm not going to ask either of you to pay for newer or better equipment if we have it to spare. We are going to be the ones out in the field, and I'd rather have my team with better equipment than the basics. The way I see it, the better armor you have, the higher the chance of you staying alive to help keep the person next to you alive as well. Not to mention this equipment here is stuff we found, so it's not like we're losing money by just giving it to you. Now I will say this," Shepard said, catching all their attention again, "if there's stuff not getting used, I will eventually sell it to our requisitions officer. Usually I will let everyone know before I do so that you can double check to see what we have before it gets sold." Tali merely nodded her head after he said this, not saying anything else.
Shepard waited for a moment to see if anyone else had any questions, but no one else spoke up. "Now that we have that out of the way, we need to discuss the upcoming mission. We are less than 7 hours away from Feros. We'll be docking at a colony called Zhu's Hope. Said colony dropped out of contact after reporting that geth were attacking. We don't know what the full situation is and I don't want to take any chances, so I want all of you ready to go by the time we get there."
"What exactly are we going to be looking for, Commander?" Ashley asked, having turned back to the table and began doing basic checks on an assault rifle, probably her own.
Shepard crossed his arms and began to pace slightly away from the group, answering, "Survivors, Chief. Our first priority is to find the colonists and ensure their safety." He turned back around and faced the entire group. "After that, we try and find out why the geth attacked in the first place. Hopefully, that will tell us something about Saren or the conduit."
"Do we have any idea what this conduit is? What it does?" Garrus spoke up, shrugging his arms out slightly.
Shepard merely shook his head, saying, "No, we don't, on both counts. But right now finding out what we can about the conduit is our best chance of finding Saren. And stopping him from bringing back the Reapers."
"I've been meaning to ask about that," Kaiden said, turning to Tali, "Do you know anything else about these Reapers? Was there anything else in that geth memory core you took?"
Tali shook her head, answering, "No, there wasn't. I tried to go through it again in hopes of find something, anything that might be able to help us. But there isn't anything else in that core except those recordings and the references that say the Reapers are some kind of synthetic gods to the geth."
Kaiden nodded as he listened to her, recalling their last meeting in Ambassador Udina's office before Shepard became a Spectre and all they had talked about there. "Maybe we'll find out more about the Reapers as well as the conduit on this mission. I'd love to find out that its just some myth or super-geth or something other than what it sounds like."
Checking an accuracy mod, Shepard said to the two, "I couldn't agree with you more, Lieutenant. But," Shepard's eyes looked down slightly, recalling the visions he received from the Prothean beacon on Eden Prime, "I don't think that's the answer we're going to find." Shepard looked back at the mod, held it up to Ashley, who nodded her understanding to record it as being used, then tossed it up and caught it, turning away from the table towards the elevator.
"Everyone's dismissed until we dock. Make sure your ready. When we get there, report in at the Galaxy Map in the CIC," Shepard called over his shoulder. He reached the elevator, took it to the upper floor and took a left, towards the med-bay. But instead of going into the med-bay, he went past the door and to the lockers on the wall next to it. He opened his personal locker and pulled out his pistol, taking it apart and installing the mod he had just taken from the weapons table. When he was done, he put the pistol back and returned to his quarters to finish the messages regarding the ground team status.
Fresh out of FTL travel speeds, the Normandy began to enter Feros' atmosphere. Once it had done that, the advanced cruiser made its way towards the space dock at Zhu's Hope, veering between new and old skyscrapers to get there. Shepard had read a small, brief info page on Feros before they arrived and it had said that Feros was nearly completely covered in ancient Prothean architecture. It was believed that the planet was once a vast Prothean city, long since abandoned by the extinct race. The human colony here had decided to build on top of what was left behind, ExoGeni funding the colony in hopes of excavating the ruins and turning a profit from the finds. No one was expecting a geth attack out here. No one was expecting Geth in the first place.
Shepard turned to his team, all of whom, with the exception of Tali, had chosen to go without their helmets. He nodded to them and headed towards the airlock, the team following him. Feeling the slight thump of the airlock connecting to the dock, the group waited for the airlock to equalize the pressure. As they stepped out and looked to the right, Shepard saw a dark skinned man standing there, waiting for them. Shepard turned to the group and said, "Alright everyone, seems like things may not be as bad as we thought. Since this is a human colony, Williams, Tali and I will take the lead. Alenko," said soldier stood just a bit straighter, "I want you to stay with Garrus and Wrex for now, in case we get split up. This way we can use Alliance radio channels, and both groups have three in each. Understood?"
Everyone nodded their consent and Shepard turned and walked towards the man waiting for them with Williams and Tali right behind him, Alenko, Garrus and Wrex waiting a bit before following. As they approached the man, he said, "We saw your ship. Fai Dan wants to speak with you immediately."
"Who's Fai Dan?" Shepard asked.
"He's our leader. He needs your help to prepare for the geth. They're making another push." So the geth have attacked, are attacking. Shepard was already glad that he had decided to take the entire team, especially if the geth were making full blown assaults. The man continued, saying, "Please, up the stairs and past the freighter."
"Commander!" Tali shouted suddenly, right as the sounds of a projectile was heard. The entire group moved into cover with the only exception being the man that had greeted them, as he had been the target of the projectile, a carnage shot, that they had heard.
Shepard found himself against the corner stone piece with Tali to his left and Ashley to his right, across the firing path against a piece of cargo. Looking past Tali, he saw that the other three were crouched against the low wall of the dock. The entire group had their weapons out: Shepard, his pistol, Ashley, her assault rifle, Tali, her shotgun, Wrex and Kaiden with their own assult rifles and Garrus with his sniper rifle. The group that had assault rifles were giving suppressive fire while the others were trying to merely get a shot in with what they had.
Shepard called out, "Garrus! What's their head count?"
The former C-Sec officer did a quick sweep with his sniper rifle while Wrex and Kaiden gave him suppressive fire before he ducked back behind cover. "I count six along the walkway, but there may be more past that doorway around the corner!"
Shepard muttered to himself, "I'll bet there are," then aloud he said, "Kaiden! You guys provide support. We'll take point. Don't move up unless we clear you."
"Aye aye, Commander. Ready when you are," was his reply and was all that Shepard needed to hear. Just as he signaled Ashley to provide cover fire, he heard Garrus say, "Scoped and dropped," and walked out in a crouch towards the walkway, seeing the geth Garrus had shot fall, and another fall to Ashley's cover fire with her assault rifle. He fired a few rounds towards another that was in cover at the corner to the right, forcing it out of cover. He continued to fire at it, but the geth's assault rifle was tearing into his shields faster than his pistol was tearing into its own. Just before Shepard had ran out of shields, Tali stepped up from her position behind him and fired her shotgun at the geth three times, the geth falling by the second one.
Both Shepard and Tali stayed to the right, against the low barrier facing the remaining geth. Looking back, they saw Ashley make her way towards them, staying to the right as well.
"Alenko?" Shepard asked over the radio.
He got a quick reply, "One more down sir, two more t- hold it. Make that three more. One just came out of the doorway."
"Do we have any cover?"
"A few cargo crates and our cover fire is all," was Kaiden's reply. Shepard looked to the women behind him and signaled them to be ready. At their nod, Shepard moved to the left low wall, using his pistol to cover the corner the women now waited next to. Seeing nothing at first, Shepard nodded to the two and charged out, sweeping from left to right and firing his pistol at any geth that he saw until he made it to the far crate for cover, next to the wall. As soon as he had left cover, Tali and Ashley had as well, Tali giving the female marine cover with her shotgun, staying next to the corner they were just at while Ashley found new cover. When she had, both she and Tali focused their fire on one geth, taking it out.
Shepard looked over his own cover and saw two geth standing, another one waiting behind the doorway, and a fourth to the right, near a wall and out of sight of Kaiden's group. Just as he was going back behind his cover, he saw a red light, leading to the direction of Ashley and Tali, appear from the geth against the wall. A sniper! he thought. Knowing he didn't have much time to warn them, Shepard charged his biotics, stepped out from cover and threw the sniper back against the wall. Shepard immediately began taking fire and was forced back into cover.
From his right, he overheard Ashley say, "Damn, their shields are tough."
Tali then said, "I might be able to do something about them. Give me a moment."
Curious, Shepard asked, "What are you doing, Tali?"
Tapping on her omni-tool, she replied, "I'm going to try and overload their shields. It may only last a moment before they begin to recharge, but it should buy you two enough time to take them out."
"Can you do it on demand or do you have to signal us?" Shepard asked, working a plan.
She seemed to have understood why he asked, because she said, "I'm almost… ready. Just give the word, Commander."
"Now!" Shepard shouted, he and Ashley both stepping out of cover and firing on the Geth. Both of them saw a small flash of blue light, a sign that they both guessed was their shields overloading.
Shepard had taken a deep breath just before coming out of cover, focusing on his accuracy and the geth in front of him. Seeing one of the closer geth to his right start jerking, he looked to his left, firing at the geth behind the doorway in rapid succession. When that geth fell out of cover, he moved to the center one, hitting it in critical areas with every shot, then moved over and fired one last shot into the head of the one Ashley had been firing at.
Not seeing any more movement, Shepard blinked and shook his head a bit, giving the all clear to Kaiden's group. Looking to his right, he found Tali walking towards him, her shotgun still ready, and Ashley standing up and standing next to him as well. He nodded to them, and they nodded back, saying they were good. Shepard turned back towards the doorway that the geth had been coming out of, heading towards it and the stairs behind it. Right as they reached the doorway, Shepard saw movement to his right and remembered the geth sniper he had used his biotics on. Before he could turn and shoot his pistol at it, he heard a shotgun go off next to him. The geth sputtered and then went silent, no longer moving. Turning to his right, Shepard saw Tali lower her shotgun. He once again nodded to her, this time in thanks, and then moved on through the door.
As he stepped through the doorway that led to the stairs, Shepard heard some kind of movement. He immediately brought up his pistol at the ready position, his team doing the same. Carefully walking in, Shepard swept the room with his gun, checking the corners and peering up the stairs. When he looked up the center space between the stairs, he saw something white suddenly jump towards the opposite wall. Moving in to look for it, Shepard saw another in mid-jump, only this time he noticed the things head. Its curved head with a light bulb where the face should be. More Geth.
The group began to fire at them, hardly being able to hit them because of their continuous jumping. Shepard took cover at the small wall at the side of the stairs, turning towards Tali, asking loudly over the gun fire, "What the hell are those things?"
"I can't be sure, but I believe they are called Stalkers. There is another model like them that act like snipers, but I'm pretty sure that these are not sniper platforms," she replied, having to stand behind a pillar built into the stairs to avoid the supposed geth stalkers fire.
Ashley spoke up when she finished, also crouching in cover, "Yeah, I'd have to agree with you on that."
Just past them, at the doorway, Shepard saw Kaiden, Garrus and Wrex walk in, weapons ready. He also noticed that Kaiden was slightly glowing blue. As he got ready to shoot at whichever stalker was going to be hit with the Lieutenant's biotics, Shepard heard something make contact with the wall to his right, at the turning area of the stairs. He quickly turned and pointed his pistol at the stalker that was 'staring' right at him. Right before the stalker could fire, Shepard saw a blue light slam it back against the wall and fell off of its perch. He fired at it, piercing it with holes before it hit the ground. Turning back around, he saw Wrex let off a Carnage shot at the last geth, hitting it at its next jump-target and incinerating it.
Checking and clearing the area, Shepard asked the group, "Is everyone alright?"
Everyone's response was positive, Wrex's being, "Those things were barely a nuisance."
Shepard looked at Kaiden, saying, "Thanks for that push on that geth. If it didn't get a shot or two in, then it might have just jumped away again."
"Anytime, sir," was Kaiden's reply.
"Alright everyone," Shepard said to everyone now, "same groups. Lets see if we can find those colonists."
The two groups make their way up the stairs, all of their weapons at the ready position in case of any other geth ambushes or traps. After going up about two or three flights of stairs, they found a small hallway to the right, with a door at the end, sunlight coming out of it. Shepard held up a hand, telling everyone to slow down. From his position at the end of the hallway, he heard voices talking. He was immediately put at ease, knowing that geth didn't talk, at least not with words.
Deciding to play it safe, he called out while still away from the door, saying, "Friendlies coming around the corner. Check your fire!"
The voices stopped as soon as he had spoken up, but when he was done, there was only a short pause before a woman called out, "We hear you! Come on through!"
Shepard turned around at pointed at both Tali and Ashley, motioning them to come forward. He then turned back around, put up his pistol and walked forward, hands held out for the people at the doorway to see, saying, "Be advised, I have five others coming behind me, three are non-human."
He was walking though the doorway as he finished and was now staring at three humans who were holding lowered assault rifles. The woman to his left, the one that had called out a response to him, nodded her head to show she understood what he had said. Just after he walked through, Tali and Ashley walked up to be seen, their own guns lowered. Shepard used his comm. to radio Kaiden and the other two, telling them to come on through. When they were all through the door and behind the barriers that the three guards were using, they all stared at what was left of Zhu's Hope. There were a handful of colonists here or three, trying to do what they could to keep the place together against the geth onslaught.
Well, how is that for the first chapter? I am finding that my biggest challenge is the fight scenes. After having read plenty of other works by other people, i feel as though my own fight scenes are lacking something, but i am honestly not sure what.
As i said at the beginning, i do hope that you enjoyed this. I honestly have no clue how long this particular story in the series will be, though i honestly believe that this will be the longest of the series. I will be working on this as fast as possible, but with college and work and other things, it may still be a week or two.
Just like always, feel free to comment about anything, whether it be good or bad.
-halfbreed