MASS EFFECT FAN FICTION
PART I-THE ERRAND BOY
The Crucible, the only thing that could save the galaxy and all we had to do is use it, if only it was that simple…
One Choice. The voice keeps replaying in my head, just those two words, and I keep wondering if I made the right choice. What if I made the wrong choice what if I'm dead, what if everyone, everything is dead and this is Heaven? No, the things I've done I wouldn't be in Heaven and this definitely isn't Hell.
"Shepard?" Someone's knocking on the door, get a hold of yourself and answer the damn door!
"Come in" The man answered as he got up from the bed, pulling of the damp sweat bed sheets from him.
The door opened with a swoosh and a young woman in Alliance clothes walked in, she had very dark hair and light brown, skin color. She had an almost eager face filled with excitement, with the smartest eyes you would ever see.
"Traynor?" The man said pulling on a black shirt that was laying on the ground.
"S-Sorry did I wake you?, I mean I didn't mean too, it's just we got a transmission coming in from the Counsill asking for you." She said feeling guilty for waking the Commander.
"Its fine, its better I'm awake, did they say anything?"
"No, only that it's urgent." She answered.
"Okay, thanks Traynor tell them I'll be there in a minute." Shepard said.
The woman left as quickly as she entered the room with the door closing behind her with another swoosh, Shepard walked over to the bathroom and stood at the mirror against the wall, looking at the mirror, that face, the face of a Hero, the one that saved the galaxy and yet he felt betrayed by that face, he didn't feel like a Hero. He reached down turning on the cold water tap and filled his hands, he splashed his face with the cold water. He closed the water again and dried his face with a towel.
"Time to get to work." He muttered to himself as he walked over to the elevator and set the destination to Deck 2.
He arrived seconds later and the elevator doors opened, he stepped out turning to his right going through another door, the door opened revealing a scanner and two young woman chatting over the war and how it was over. Over he thought to himself, if only it was, war is never over, there will always be another it could be small or big but that doesn't change the fact that there will always be war. The two woman suddenly stopped talking as the Commander passed through the scanner he only nodded and they nodded back.
He was walking through the Meeting chamber when he almost tripped over one of the wires coming from the floor tiles.
"Shit!" He cursed as he steadied himself. The Normandy really needs some work after the war.
He finally arrived at the Communication Room, he walked closer to where the Holograms would appear.
"Traynor patch them through." He called out.
Blue light began to shimmer in the air around the hologram generators and began to form four people looking at him, the Turians, Asari's, Humans and Salarians.
"Commander, Thank you for seeing us I hope you have rested well?" The Asari Counsilor spoke first as usual.
"Cut the chit-chat bullshit, what do you want?" Shepard asked annoyed.
"Very well, as you know after the Crucible exploded and wiped out the Reapers in all the connected Mass Relays, several pieces of the Crucible exploded and drifted of in space, while those pieces are completely useless there was one part one very important part , a Mass Effect Generator specifically designed to power the Crucible."
"Let me guess you want me to go flying around the damn galaxy searching for it!?"
"No, Commander", this time it was the Turian who spoke, "We already know where it is, all you have to do is go collect it."
"Then why don't you send someone else I'm not your goddamn errand boy!"
"We can't, we don't have any other Spectres alive or able to move to do this mission and you should note well, you are a Spectre, you answer to us!"
"Fuck you! I saved your asses!" Shepard was annoyed now.
"We know that Commander and we are grateful for that, but this mission is very important, if that Generator falls into the wrong hands…who knows what could happen." The Asari Counsillor said.
There was a moment of silence.
"….Where is it?" The Commander asked.
"On a planet on the near edges of the Terminal Systems, were sending the coordinates to your Pilot now, that will be all Commander, Thank you."
"No, Thank you" He replied sarcastically as he closed the line.
He turned around about to walk away when the pain came again from his leg, it never seemed to go away. He stood still for a while leaning on the rails, then started walking back to the elevator.
He climbed into the elevator, setting the destination to Deck 3. A few second later he arrived, he climbed out the elevator heading straight for the Med-Bay, time to see .
The door opened and he walked in expecting to find alone, but to his surprise there was someone else there too, a Turian. The two were talking, but Shepard missed too much of the conversation to know what they were talking about, he simply went to one of the beds and sat down, grunting from the pain. It wasn't even a minute then they stopped talking, Garrus greeted Shepard and went outside, while Dr. Chakwas came to see what's wrong with Shepard.
"Shepard, is it the leg again?" The doctor asked inspecting the right leg of Shepard.
"This time hurts like hell, doc." Shepard answered with a clear pain in his voice.
"Well there's not much I can do, I told you, all you can do to minimize the pain right now is try and stay off it."
"Can't you use some fancy medical equipment and just fix it or something?"
"No, not with you, remember you were rebuild by Cerberus and your nerves aren't exactly connected like other people, all I can do is give you some Medigell tablets that you can take." She answered back.
"I remember, all too well. What about my regeneration capabilities, I mean all my other wounds are healed?" The commander asked.
The Doctor turned around and went to one of the tables, searching through some medicine.
"Because, the nerves in your leg are much more damaged and it I'll take a lot longer than usual this time, hell Shepard your lucky you still have that leg!"
She finally found what she was looking for and walked to Shepard and handed it to him.
"Take this every time it start to hurt, but be careful to not over use it." She was almost whispering now, "I heard Traynor said you were having some…problems. Shepard you did well, you did what you had to, you saved the galaxy, you saved everyone"
"But at what cost..." He replied and got up from the bed, just as he was about to walk out he turned to the Doctor.
"Why was Garrus here?" He asked leaning on the door way.
"Oh, he sustained some wounds, but you know how he is, he won't take any medical help. He says that it will heal in time." She sighed.
"That's Garrus for you." The Commander replied walking away.
After taking one of the Medigell tablets in his quarters he felt better and the pain was beginning to go away, so he went to Joker to go see about those coordinates the Counsel had sent.
"Joker, you got the coordinates from the Citadel?" Shepard asked walking toward the bridge.
"Ya, just got 'em hey you sure about this?" Joker asked turning around in his chair to face Shepard.
"No, but if that generator's as dangerous as they say then we can't let it fall into the wrong hands." The Commander replied folding his arms.
"Alright, alright. Sheesh it's just one problem after the other we need a shore leave."
"We just had one, Joker." Shepard replied smiling.
"Ya, and look how that turned out, freaking clones, toothbrushes and hijacking my baby, I'm never having a shore leave with you again." Joker said turning back in his chair to the ship's interfaces.
"Sure, okay Joker set the destination to those coordinates and tell Garrus and Liara to get ready." Shepard said walking away to get ready himself.
It was about 2-hours later, and Shepard was still busy inspecting his armor when Joker announced that they arrived and the shuttle's waiting. Shepard pulled on his armor and went down to Deck 4 to the Shuttle Bay. Laira and Garrus were already waiting in the shuttle, Shepard walked to the weapon cache and equipped a standard Assault Rifle, couple of grenades and Medigell then he went to the shuttle.
"Shepard, had a nice sleep?" Garrus asked as Shepard entered the shuttle.
"No, I dreamt that I met this smart ass Turian." Shepard said smiling.
"Hey." The Asari said.
"Liara, how you feeling?" Shepard asked embracing Liara.
"Better now that this whole thing is over, but still I can't believe it's over, it keeps feeling like I'm just dreaming."
"I know what you mean" Shepard said breaking apart from the embrace.
"Commander, you ready?" The Pilot asked.
"Let's see what trouble we have this time, Cortez" Shepard replied.
"Aye Aye, sir" Cortez said closing the doors and began flying away from the Normandy to the Planet below.
The shuttle shook as it entered the planet's orbit, though it was over quickly, the shuttle flew down then suddenly stopped, hovering over some palm trees. Shepard grunted at the sudden stop and went to the front where the pilot was.
"Why'd we stop all of the sudden?" Shepard asked.
"I'm detecting some heat signatures and what looks like a base, and the coordinates say its somewhere in that area, I can drop you of here but it looks a bit too hot to go in flying right now." Cortez explained.
"Alright, do we know how it'll look?"
"If it's a Mass Effect Generator for the Crucible it has to be pretty big and I'm guessing underground or inside some containing unit to block the radiation." Liara said standing up.
"Alright, let's try and get in there as silent as possible first then will see about the generator".
"Right behind you Shepard" The Turian said checking his weapon.
The shuttle lowered into trees then the doors opened and the three of them climbed out, Shepard checked his Omni-tool for the location of the generator then began moving in the direction.
They moved through the trees taking cover at every stump and tree making sure not to be spotted, they moved around the camp, searching for a flanking position when they spotted a guard working on a sewage tunnel. They stopped behind the guard undetected, Shepard taking cover right against a concrete wall, Garrus at the left crouching at a corner and Liara covering the back. Shepard signaled Garrus to move in. It was lighting fast he moved in a second behind the guard, and snapped his neck. The guard's body flinched with a crunching sound, Liara moved uncomfortable. Garrus hid the body while Liara and Shepard moved closer to the sewage tunnel.
Liara looked at the tunnel then to Shepard already reading his mind.
"There is no way I'm going in there."
Shepard looked at her grinning and pointing his gun toward the opening.
"Oh yes you are." Liara just shook her head.
"Hey, I'll let you borrow my shower, how about that?" Shepard said smiling.
Garrus was coming back from hiding the body.
"Hey, mind if I use your shower too?"
"And there goes that the idea, thanks Garrus." Liara joked.
"Alright, let's see where this leads us, Ladies first" The Commander said gesturing to the opening of the tunnel.
Liara climbed into the hole.
"She's not going to like this, is she?" Garrus asked, walking by Shepard.
"No."
The sewage tunnel was slick and wet with green mold and other poisonous water and plants. Shepard almost slipped when he entered the tunnel. Strange enough the tunnel only went one way never splitting. They were walking for at least 5 minutes when they smelled something in the air.
"Garrus..."
"Don't look at me, Turians don't exactly-"Garrus was cut of as Liara said in a hush tone.
"Shhh, I hear something up ahead."
They moved slowly to the sound from up ahead, it sounded like a drill, then there was a scream.
They stopped, the sounds was coming from there right.
"Listen to me you little bitch!, you're going to start talking now or I'll give you to my partner here, and he gets real rough." They heard another scream.
"Shepard that sounds like a woman." Liara said looking at Shepard with shock.
"Start cutting here," Shepard said pointing at the metal of the tunnel. "Garrus get me scan of what's going on on the other side."
The Turian's visor suddenly lit up.
"…Looks like an interrogation, two men and a woman, badly beat but there not armed."
"Done." Liara said moving around to the other side.
"Alright, take out the two men and watch out for the hostage, ready?"
The Turian and Asari nodded.
"Go!" Shepard instructed as he kicked out the cut metal of the tunnel.
There was a sharp sound as the metal hit the ground, Shepard moved in followed by Garrus, in that mere seconds that they hit the ground there was two wub sounds as they aimed and pulled the trigger. Half of the one man's head exploded against the wall he was leaning against. The other one took a bullet to the chest.
"Clear." Shepard announced. Then Liara moved in covering the door for anyone who heard the gunshots.
"Please, don't hurt me!" The young woman screamed.
"Relax, miss were going to get you out of here. What's your name?" Shepard asked as he bent down to untie the bloody woman.
"L-Lysandra, I worked with the-the research center that was here before they attacked us." Lysandra said rubbing her free hands.
"Who, what were you doing here?" Garrus asked.
"I don't know who they are, they just landed here and began shooting everything in sight, turning over the place looking for something. We-we were just a research station for Bio-Medical equipment."
"What were they asking you?"
"Ummm…they…they asked about some kind of Generator." She replied curiously.
"Shit. There after the Crucible's Generator!" Shepard said walking to the door.
"Wha-what Crucible Generator...?" She asked.
"Hey!, is there any underground radiation dome or anything that could house something really big?!"
"I don't know. Maybe at the new storage dome at the other end of the camp, but there still building there, I can't think that, that could be there." The woman said standing up.
Shepard thought for a moment. "Liara take Lysandra back to the shuttle, me and Garrus will go check out that construction site, will tell you when we found it."
"Shepard…" Liara didn't want to leave him, not again. She started moving with the young woman behind her.
"Alright Garrus, check the corners were done sneaking around. Let's go get that Generator."
"Right behind you Shepard."
Garrus moved up front. Shepard was about to walk out when he heard a bloody gurgle behind him.
"Guh…guh...You'll…guh…you don't know what you're doing." The man that took a bullet to his chest was still busy dying.
"They'll kill you all…*cough*…your." The man suddenly stopped talking when Shepard put a bullet in his head.
They were coming out of a door, they were out in the open now. They took cover by one of the vehicle's that was parked nearby. They also saw the construction site it was big and you couldn't miss it. Problem was it was about 2.5 kilometers away.
"Shepard, I'm not exactly, how do you humans say, athletic."
"Then it's good, I know how to steal vehicles. Get in." Shepard said.
"I'm driving!" Garrus said going over to the driver's seat.
"No."
"I can drive." Garrus was sitting in the driver's seat now.
"No, you can't." The commander said.
"Then I guess you should hold on." The vehicle started with a loud sound. The tires reeled as the Turian pressed the gas pedal.
They were moving at a good pace till…
"Shepard! We got company!" Garrus screamed.
Shepard looked back.
"I see 'em. There's two." It was two scrap yarded vehicles that was totally open on the sides and at the front. "Hold it still, I'll take them out."
Shepard climbed over the vehicle clutching the railing as not to fall off. He moved to the back of the ATV and was almost there when one of the other vehicles rammed them. Shepard lost his balance and flew over the side, off of the vehicle.
"Shepard!"
The ground came fast and he bounced of one shoulder to his back. He opened his eyes just fast enough to roll away as the other vehicle came to ride over him. He pushed himself up, but his weapon was far away from him. He looked around and finally spotted it. The other vehicle was coming back again with full power. He ran for his weapon and the vehicle was coming to run him over. He jumped for the Assault rifle, then came down on top of the weapon. The vehicle was only meters away from him. He aimed at the driver and just pulled the trigger blasting the whole clip on the body of the driver. The driver lost control and fell out of the vehicle and the vehicle flipped over Shepard, missing him by inches. The body fell right next to him. He got up fast as Garrus was coming back for him.
"Shepard, get on!" Garrus yelled at Shepard as he drove past him.
Shepard grabbed one of the bars of the vehicle, almost ripping of his arm in the process. He climbed back on. He looked back at the vehicle chasing them.
"Get close to him." Shepard said.
Garrus slowed down for the vehicle to catch up then rammed up against its side. Shepard pulled a grenade of, activated it and threw it on the other vehicle.
"Get away!" Shepard yelled as he clutched the bars more tightly.
Garrus broke away from the other vehicle, then there was an explosion as the grenade went of, the other vehicle took flame and flipped. Shepard climbed back to the passenger seat.
Garrus looked at Shepard then back at the road quite impressed. "Told you I could drive."
"Meh, it's a work in progress." Shepard looked at Garrus. Then they were both laughing. "This Generator better be worth it."
The construction site was empty, there wasn't any one there by the looks of it. They climbed out of the vehicle. They went inside of the in progress storage dome. There was boxes of Medigell laying everywhere and medical equipment everywhere. Shepard looked around but there wasn't a sign of anything like a holding unit or any traces of the Generator. There was a sudden breaking sound.
"Shhh, I hear something." Shepard glanced back. Only to find Garrus breaking some bottles.
"Sorry…"
Shepard glanced up and saw an office being built on the upper floor. Probably the head office. He took one of the construction elevators up. He climbed out of the elevator, then headed for the office. He walked in, the office wasn't exactly stable so he walked carefully around. Strange there was a piece of metal sheet that looked a lot more new than the other, he ran his hand over it then knocked on it. It sounded strange so he began cutting it open, only to reveal a touchpad on the other side. There stood 'open' and 'close' so he taped the open button. Suddenly the ground of the dome began to separate in two, Garrus quickly moved away. When it was done it revealed a big glowing mechanism.
"The Generator!" Shepard exclaimed as he walked to the edge of the office, he was about to walk back down when the office began to collapse because of all the rumbling. The office's left support column broke first, and the whole office tilted left and so did Shepard. He fell against the wall with his shoulder, but the office was on its side now and the entrance was blocked the only way out was through, there were the glass would I've been. He started running then jumped as he was at the edge, the ground came fast, but he rolled as soon as his feet touched the ground. There was pieces of metal and wood flying everywhere as Shepard stood back up again.
"Shepard, you okay?" The Turian asked as he walked over to Shepard.
"Ya, I'm fine, thanks." Shepard replied.
"Now what do we do about…this."
Shepard activated his Omni-Tool.
"Cortez you there?" The Commander asked.
"I'm here Commander, so is Liara and her uhmm friend." A voice replied through the Omni-Tool.
"We found the Generator, I'm sending the location to you now." Shepard did something on his Omni-Tool.
"Got it, I'll be there in a few seconds."
"This was easy, too easy, Shepard this doesn't feel right." Garrus said.
The shuttle was coming in, Shepard saw it and something else.
"Were here Commander, I'll set it-"The voice was cut of as an explosion took the shuttle by surprise. It all happened in a second.
The shuttle spinned out of control, toppling over and over in the air then it went down. It crashed with some Construction materials. It stopped with its nose on the ground and its tail in the air, then toppled over. The sound was loud.
"Liara!" Shepard shouted racing for the shuttle, but instead he fell down, unable to move his leg.
Garrus shouted something he couldn't hear. Then there was another pain in his arm. He looked then saw a puddle of blood forming beneath his arm on the ground and two bullet holes in his arm. He looked at where the Generator should be but only saw another Ship grappling it, loading it onto its bay. Then it was gone, and Shepard blacked out.