The small bits of matter that served for ammo riddled the air as Shepard ducked behind a chest high crate, narrowly avoiding being decapitated by a burst of fire from one of the many Geth troopers that occupied the surface of the endangered planet, Haestrom. Peeking above the piece of cover he had taken, the Commander was forced to quickly snap his head back down behind the crate for fear of his life. Looking out into the battlefield, he located one of his comrades, the Krogan warrior known to him as, "Grunt". Getting the large creature's attention, Shepard communicated to him through a hand signal to press further against the line of what seemed an endlessly respawning sea of Geth enemies. Without a second thought, Grunt nodded back to the Commander, and charged further into the storm of bullets, distracting most of the synthetic opponents for a critical moment.
Again, Shepard popped out from behind his safeguard and opened fire with his assault rifle on a nearby Geth that was attacking Grunt, obviously judging the large Krogan as a much larger threat than the small human that was situated toward the rear of the battlefield. Getting wiser, the enemy forces split their firepower amongst the two targets, pinning them behind their respective bullet shields, leaving the pair to take pot shots as the Geth continued the advance against the small group. Left with few options considering the circumstances, Shepard put his hand in the air, clamping down quickly, as if to signal what would be an unknown ally. The Geth disregarded his action as a desperate bid of forgiveness to his before death, and continued to bear down the spot Shepard was situated.
Out of nowhere, as if by divine intervention, a loud snap cracked the trance held by the warriors on the battlefield as the Geth trooper nearest Commander Shepard fell, and began to disintegrate due to a built-in failsafe mechanism consistent to all the Geth. The pattern continued as one by one all the enemies closest to Grunt and Shepard began to fall. Once again adjusting to an unexpected variable in the battlefield, causing the synthetic warriors to retreat behind nearby stone pillars, frantically peering out at random times in an attempt to locate their unknown assailant, only for them to suffer a lethal shot to their critical systems by said unknown attacker.
Time passed and eventually the Geth forces were whittled down to nothing more than a few resilient dregs that sat resolutely behind their protective barriers, waiting for the ragtag group to make a move on them so they could retain the upper hand as well as the element of surprise. Finally deciding they could make an advance, Shepard signaled for his group to make a push forward and eliminate the remaining Geth in the small mining yard. Meeting in an enclosed area out of the way of the sun, his Krogan ally trudging over in a nonchalant and disconnected fashion, seeming completely unphased by the combat he had just engaged in, or the various small wounds that riddled his body, then again, this was generally customary amongst the Krogan race. Settling in, Grunt leaned against a stone wall behind him, waiting for the third member of their small party. Shortly following Grunt entering the little hollow, a large figure moved into the shade, clearly a Geth but distinguishing itself as something far different as made obvious by the N7 armor that adorned it's right shoulder, as well as a massive hole that went clear through the chest of the Geth, but not seeming to hamper it's function in any way. Then there was the plates that ringed the thing's "face", moving about rapidly as it observed the area, as though it was a synthetic attempt to appear more human, but rather giving it an appearance that was slowly approaching the uncanny valley, not helped by the synthetic muscles that wrapped it's limbs.
Leaping forward and reaching for his shotgun, Grunt took an offensive stance against the new invader.
"Dammit Legion, don't sneak up on me like that, I was about to put a second hole in you." Slotting his shotgun to his waist once more, Grunt moved back into the small area, waiting for what Shepard had to say.
"We will log that knowledge so as to prevent any friendly fire during future endeavors." Replying in it's synthesized voice, not helping to assuage any of the worries the group had about the loyalty of their Geth ally, the fact that it said this while ejecting a spent thermal clip from it's M-98 Widow, only made Shepard and Grunt more nervous.
Finally replacing the rifle into the slot on it's back, Legion stood attentive for the Commander's words.
"Legion, can you do a calculation for me?"
"Specify task Shepard Commander." Legion asked, plates flaring on it's head in confusion.
"I need to know how much farther we are from reaching Tali."
"Calculating, we are approximately seven point two three miles from reaching the target, if we can keep our current pace, we will reach our goal in approximately an hour and thirty one minutes."
"Then I guess we need to get moving." Grunt said, moving toward a staircase at their backs that lead to a platform over the level below.
Starting to move upwards, Grunt bringing up the rear of the pack, the walls around them shook from the impact of an explosion. Wheeling around, the group saw a large, stark white Geth standing in the entrance to the small yard, reloading a missile launcher.
"Shepard, a Prime!" Grunt called out, barreling forwarding while simultaneously unlocking his shotgun from it's spot on his waist.
Before Grunt could reach the twelve-foot elite unit, it managed to fire a rocket in the Commander's direction.
"Shepard Commander, DANGER!" Legion cried, leaping from it's spot several steps up on the staircase, tackling Shepard out of the way of the oncoming explosive, pinning him to the ground in an iron grip, close enough so that Shepard was able to hear the various servos and motors at work inside of Legion's mechanical body, muffled slightly by the gun blasts and sounds of exertion Grunt was making while battling the massive Geth Prime.
Apparently victorious, the Krogan made his way back to the spot that Legion had Shepard pinned to the ground.
"Let's get going Shepard." Grunt said, some tension in his voice as well as conflicting knowledge, knowing exactly what the scene before him looked like, but Legion would never attack Shepard, as far as he knew.
"Legion, I don't suppose you would mind getting off of me?" Shepard sputtered, under the weight of the Geth, surprisingly heavy for having such an average stature.
"We are sorry for the inconvenience Shepard Commander," Legion replied, settling onto it's hands and knees, "However we cannot allow you to make an attempt to move before we analyze that you did not suffer any physical injuries from the recent impact."
The small flashlight-light "eye" in Legion's head dashed back and forth, strafing over the Commander's body before reaching his ankles and then making the return trip back up to the top of Shepard's head, and finally, Legion placed a three-fingered hand on Shepard's chestplate, before seemingly satisfied, Legion stood up and offered the same hand to the commander.
"You seem to be suffering from no serious injuries, save a partailly fractured fourth rib, but the pain should be able to be assuaged by localized anesthetic and a dose of medi-gel, once again we are sorry for the inconvenience Shepard Commander."
"Um, no problem Legion, I guess, so can we go?"
Opening the shutters in front of the console, Shepard peered out from his vantage point above the battlefield watching the movements of the Geth as they reformed their lines against the oncoming guerilla assault. Then Shepard noticed someting amongst the moving mechanical forms of the synthetic troops, what he had initially thought to be a large chunk of rock that had fallen out of a nearby cliff face, was now moving, unfolding, as it took a stance on four spindly legs, before he recognized it for what it was, the unmistakable visage of a heavy Geth unit.
"Colossus, get down!" He cried, dropping to the floor as he saw the large Geth unit charging up the familiar Siege Pulse he had encountered so many times in the years previous. However, this time he was in the heavily armed Mako tank, which would make this encounter more than it's fair share difficult. As they picked themselves up off the stone floor of the ancient Quarian architecture, Grunt turned to him, chuckling.
"This is why I follow you Shepard, big things."
Fearing another blast from the Colossus, and now severley exposed due to the open shutters of the balcony, Shepard directed the movement of his group down a set of stairs to the left to get a better vantage point on the Colossus. Rounding the corner, the Commander saw a Quarian in a red exo-suit, immediately realizing that this must have been the Kal Reegar that Tali had mentioned when he spoke to her earlier. Taking fire from small units, Reegar took notice of their presence.
"Over here, get to cover!" He called out. Dashing over to where the Quarian was holed up, Shepard got an assessment of the situation.
"Squad Leader Kal Reegar, Migrant Fleet marines," He said, after taking a shot with the missile launcher he held, "We talked on the radio before that dropship arrived, I still got no idea why you're here, but this ain't the time to be picky."
Another Siege Pulse collided with the stone support of the nearby building, causing dust and debris to fly up and make Reegar flinch.
"Tali's inside over there," He continued, motioning toward a door behind the Colossus. "Geth killed the rest of my squad and they're trying to get to her, best I've been able to do is draw their attention."
"How many Geth are out there?" Shepard asked, deciding to assess the strength of the opposing force.
"The Geth are near platoon strength," Reegar replied, "But the Colossus is the worst part, it's got a repair protocol, huddles up and fixes itself, can't get a clear shot when it's down like that. I tried to move in closer, but the bastards punched a shot clear through my suit."
"We need to get to Tali." Shepard pressed, trying to hurry the conversation along, "Got any ideas?"
"Just one," the Quarian replied, "I ain't movin' so well but I can still pull a trigger, and I got a rocket launcher that the sun hasn't fried yet, you move in close, I'll keep the Colossus busy, maybe you can drop it's shields, with any luck, you should be able to finish it off."
"Good luck Reegar." Shepard said, before getting ready to jump into combat once again, "Let's go shoot some Geth."
"Keelah Se'Lai." Reegar bid to him, "Say hi to Tali for me."
Sprinting across to a balcony that overlooked the workyard below, Shepard pressed against the heavy resistance that was put up by the collective of Geth that occupied the area, simultaneously dodging the devastating attacks tossed his way by the Colossus. Between the repeated attacks by the powerful Geth that were closing in on him, forcing him to resort to desperate close quarters against the synthetic enemies. Caught pinned against his piece of cover while reloading, a Geth trooper moved in on his position, Shepard left defenseless before it, was about to go toe to toe with the machine, using his assault rifle as a club, before being left dumbfounded as Legion sank a single shot into the foe with his rifle, saving Shepard for the second time, allowing the Commander to continue his attack against the Geth.
Stepping over the various broken pieces of the massive Geth colossus, Shepard ,Grunt and Legion moved to the door that lead to where Reegar said that Tali was conducting her research. Stepping into the small cavern, Legion looked about, seeing the two Geth troopers and one Prime that lay incapacitated on the ground near the door, Tali's lethality made apparent right then.
"Just let me finish this download." Tali muttered, not even bothering to look up from the console that she was working at. Approaching where she stood, Shepard saw Tali apparently finishing up with whatever work she was conducting, turning to face her hero.
"Shepard, I can't believe you-" Catching sight of Legion, she gasped, surprise apparent in the tone of voice she took, "Geth, get down!"
Drawing a pistol from her side, she opened fire on Shepard's synthetic ally, causing Legion to take somewhat unnecessary cover behind a nearby data tower.
"Allied fire, taking cover, requesting assistance Shepard Commander!"
In any other conditions, Shepard would have thought the situation funny, considering the irony of the whole mess, the powerful Geth taking cover from a small Quarian, and the way it called to him as if it was so helpless against her. It took alot out of Shepard to remain serious, before realizing that if Legion did suffer too many hits, he could actually get damaged, but before Shepard had to intervene, a realization dawned on Tali and she stopped firing.
"How does that Geth know your name?" Tali questioned, pistol still raised.
"This Geth is part of our team, it's fighting the other Geth," Shepard said, while motioning for Legion to come out of cover and stand by him, "I can explain it later."
"Fine, I'll drop it for now," Tali replied, hesitance apparent in her voice as she holstered her pistol, "But you had better have a good explanation for this."
AN:It has come to my attention from the reviewer Inverness that the site killed all my formatting upon upload, this should be remedied and I appreciate the feedback.