AN: Hello, and welcome to the beginning of act I of S&S, so to speak.
For those of unfamiliar with my previous story don't worry, I intend on keeping this story perfectly understandable if you haven't read my previous work, I hope. Of course some events are fleshed out in greater detail there, but I intend on explaining the gist of everything here.
First things first though, this is an AU story, while there are Reapers, and a maniacal Turian, we take a hard left turn from there. While I don't plan on going to the same degree of AU that say Logical Premise does, if you only want a novelization of ME 1 you should skip this story for your own sanity. That being said if you are intrigued by a partially synthetic, already a Spectre for nearly five years Shepard, then feel free to enjoy.
And also enjoy the artwork of Evalyn, in an unusual act of serendipity the artist finished the picture the day that I finished up this chapter.
I post a soundtrack before each chapter, as well as character themes. These aren't songs I listened to, they simply are what I feel fit the scene. Character themes will also be up on my profile if you ever want to peruse.
Songs: Evalyn Shepard (ME1): Whole World Is Watching by Within Temptation
Intro: The Road to the Hell by Mao Hamamoto
Normandy: Track 13 Control (Gundam 00) by Kenji Kawai
Eden Prime: War Horse by Jason Creer
S&S
"Commander! What are those fucking things!" Shepard's boots thundered through the rust red soil of Akuze, towards the sound of the screaming Lieutenant, and the sound of the unearthly cries that filled the air as well. Her charge was interrupted as the ground erupted in the distance, and she could only stare in horror as amidst the dust cloud a massive serpentine shape emerged in the twilight, she raised the Sabre rifle in her hands, firing round after round into the bulk of the creature in the distance.
"I don't know Lieutenant! Round up any survivors and have them make for the vehicles, I'm going to try and contact the Warsaw." Before she could take off the Lieutenant grabbed her arm, she knew what his expression would be before she turned to him. The shuttle had been the first thing hit, and the creatures were still swarming over it, "Ma'am, you're the ranking officer, I'll go."
She wrenched her arm out of his grasp, glaring at him through her helmet, "If I go, we might live. If you go, we all die. You have your orders soldier, now follow them!"
As she turned to run she found herself not confronted with the familiar sight of Akuze, instead she was in an Alliance hanger, one that echoed with eerie familiarity. Glancing around the bay as fast as she could she managed to spot the form of her Father, realizing just where she was, and when she was, as the man was ducking inside the closing hatch of an Alliance shuttle.
"Dad No!" She took off, her eleven year old body evading the grasping hands of the aide who had been instructed to watch her, a man whose name she no longer even remembered. Within moments though she realized that her actions were futile, as the shuttle violently buckled as the eezo core inside went nova, engulfing both her and the bay itself in a flare of violent blue energy.
She came to, not in the hospital as she expected but instead in an impersonal pre-fab room. One of any of the thousands that dotted the galaxy.
"Killing me once wasn't enough Eva? Now you need to bring me back in your dreams too?" The voice was cool, mechanical, and hauntingly similar to her own. Evalyn knew this voice, the synthetic being that had been the resulting merger of the Alliance's Hannibal system, and her own V.I, Tess.
"I never wanted to kill you, Tess. But I did what I had to do, I'm a Spectre! I couldn't let a violent A.I on the loose just because of my own feelings." Her voice cracked as she tried to finish her sentence, her excuse more like. Tess had been one of the few being she had considered a friend, and she hadn't batted an eye when she activated the bomb hidden inside of her core.
"I'm sorry." She realized at that moment she was crying, something that she had hardly even let herself do in the direct aftermath of the event, the last time she had cried had been when Miranda had forced her to acknowledge her guilt over Tess' death.
Her train of thought was interrupted as a harsh laugh emerged from the machine in front of her, "Sorry? Well that makes it all better doesn't it. I mean, lets just ignore the fact that you rigged my core with explosives in the first place! Why did you keep pushing me to evolve if you just planned on killing me anyway!"
Eva shook her head, "No it wasn't like that, I wanted you to evolve on your own. But I needed to be sure that if something happened I was prepared! Having a backup plan for betrayal doesn't mean that I didn't trust you!"
"Expecting betrayal literally implies a lack of trust Eva! Is that why you pushed Liara away too? Your paranoia that she could be another Atesi finally got to you? Decided that you would prefer to be alone than try and be open with someone for once, again!"
"Atesi?" The nightmare shifted again, only now she was being pulled into memories long abandoned, once's she had spent years trying to bury. Even knowing the futility of the fight she struggled, wrestling with her subconscious for control of the nightmare, but it was a pointless effort, as she found herself dumped on the edge of the parade ground of Arcturus Academy.
"No not here."
Suddenly the world heaved, as though an earthquake was somehow shaking the station she was currently on, "Spectre, wake up."
S&S
As she jerked awake it took her moments to realize that she had fallen asleep in the Normandy's cargo bay after she had stowed her gear. The combination of long hours, and ceaseless nightmares, were apparently starting to take their toll on her, but she wasn't focused on that at the moment, but rather on the form of David Anderson looming over her.
The man who had been a second father to her looked more worn out than she remembered, and he wore on his face an expression that was both amused and annoyed, one that she remembered seeing quite often growing up.
"Spectre Varan, as comfy as the floor is, we are preparing to depart, and you are a little in the way." He reached down to offer an arm, but she waved it off. Her armor was substantially heavier than standard Alliance gear, and she very much doubted anyone aside for a Krogan being able to assist her unaided in standing.
As she stood to her feet Anderson beckoned for her to follow him as he entered the lift, he spoke to her as they walked, "I'm going to be finishing up some last minute reports, feel free to explore the rest of the ship above this level."
She nodded her agreement, glad that her featureless, modified Kestrel helmet, concealed not only her identify but her expressions as well. She knew that the hardest part of this mission was going to be hiding her identity from Anderson, the man had taken a leave of absence following her 'death' years ago, and it was taking all of her self control not to let him know who she was.
But the logic behind why she hid her identity kept her from doing anything stupid, Mirix Varan was just another Asari Spectre, an exceptional one but no undue focus was given to her. But if the knowledge that the Council had recruited a human into the Spectres, one who had been ejected from the Alliance previously for psychological reasons, well that was just a mess she wanted to avoid at all costs.
And so, Evalyn Shepard would remain dead, just a ghost inside the shell of Mirix Varan. Few knew the truth, and those that did had little reason to expose her, as to do so would cost them what little leverage they had over her.
As Anderson hit the button for the lift to ascend an uncomfortable silence filled the small space, one that was made all the more acute by the slowness of the platform's ascent.
David broke the silence first, glancing down at her waist, "So whose rifle was that?"
Glancing briefly back at the Sabre rifle attached to the small of her back she shrugged in response, "I believe they were an N6 who died out near the Terminus systems. Aria's people found it and put it up for auction, it ended up between myself, and some Batarian slaver who wanted a trophy. At least I put it to good use."
A scowl crossed Anderson's face, telling her what he thought of her good use. And Eva didn't kid herself, it hurt a little, even though she knew that if Anderson knew the truth his reaction would have been different, but this was not the time to let hurt feelings get in the way of a mission, so she shrugged it off and told herself to behave like an adult.
As the lift doors finally opened, Anderson bolted. Probably thanking some higher power for giving him an escape from the Spectre, Eva let out a sigh as she too left the lift, and began to make her way up to the CIC.
As she moved up the stairs that linked the mid deck to the command deck she found herself nearly butting heads with a marine coming down the stairs. The marine bristled but soon realized who it was he was facing, and Shepard couldn't help but smirk as the man made an about face and marched back up the stairs to go down the other side.
"It seems I have quite the reputation here." She chuckled a little to herself and activated the door to allow her entry to the CIC.
Whatever small chatter that had filled the room instantly hushed, the Executive Officer Charles Pressley glanced at her, but she didn't hold his attention for long. Instead he went back to what she assumed he had been doing earlier, attempting to light Nihlus on fire with the power of his glower.
Nihlus for his part was rather enjoying his role as a Turian General, which according to him consisted of saying nothing positive, as well as a lot a snide comments aimed at humans and their competency at anything. She moved past the Turian, who was currently torturing a handful of the junior officers near the galaxy map, sparing him a small nod as she moved past him.
As she made her way up to the bridge she was forced to dodge a dashing crewman, who seemed more focused on the datapad in his hands than paying attention to where he was going. She leaned up against the side of the kinetic barrier emitter that marked the entrance to the bridge, and began to listen in on the conversation of the two unaware Alliance officers.
"I'm telling you, this guy I know from flight school says the whole carrier group from First fleet, including the Jupiter are transferring to Fifth." The cap wearing pilot who was speaking she knew to be called Jeff Moreau, also known as 'Joker.' Though her files had failed to give the reason as to where the nickname came from.
He was speaking rather animatedly to the man sitting in the co-pilot's chair, Kaidan Alenko, the marine Staff Lieutenant who had escorted her to the ship earlier in the day. Alenko just shook his head in disagreement, "I just can't believe that Admiral Linkholm would transfer to the Fifth, why would she voluntarily demote herself?"
Joker tutted like Kaidan was a particularly unintelligent child in a school room, "But she's been stuck with the do nothing job of defending the Charon relay, and apparently with most of First fleet going in for retrofits she wants to get some blood on her shiny new warship while she can."
"Hmm," Joker glanced at Kaidan, as though expecting a bigger reaction out of the man sitting across from him, "Hmm? I just give you the juiciest piece of gossip in the entire fleet, and all I get is 'hmm.' Freaking ridiculous."
Shepard of course couldn't help herself, "I found it very interesting at least, Flight Lieutenant Moreau." Both men jumped in their seats at the sound of her distorted voice coming behind them.
Joker spun around and visibly paled at seeing her form in the entryway, he slumped down into his seat, mumbling to himself, "We need a rear view mirror, or a bell, something." Kaidan for his part seemed more amused at Joker's reaction, than unnerved by her presence. Instead her just nodded to her, "Spectre."
"Lieutenant." She leaned forward to glance out the observation ports, admiring the spectacular view of the Jupiter, as it floated near the second of Arcturus' four shipyards, "She is an impressive ship, it is my understanding that only the Destiny Ascension is larger than your Jupiter."
Kaidan nodded, but he seemed nervous by the line of questioning, "For tonnage yes, you are right. But the Jupiter is designed to be a carrier, I don't think she would stand a chance against the Ascension in a straight up fight." Eva smirked at the PR friendly message, Kaidan was definitely not an officer who ignored the political side of his job it seemed. "Perhaps, but I have learned to never underestimate the potential of a new idea, and you human's are certainly full of them."
She pulled back to disengage from conversation, but remained on the bridge, wanting to observe the Jupiter some more. This was the closest she had been to the Alliance's newest dreadnought, and if she was right it probably could match any other ship other than the Ascension easily. The Jupiter was essentially a super carrier, designed to rapidly fill the combat zone with squadron's of fighters in a matter of minutes, while still being able to serve directly in combat, something that current carriers were unable to do given design flaws in their hanger decks.
The Jupiter avoided these problems by not using hanger decks altogether, instead fighters were launched from armored launch tubes that functioned like mass effect cannons, but instead of rounds they fired out Trident fighters. For recovery the Jupiter possessed four retractable hanger pods, two each on the port and starboard sides, this meant that a direct hit to a hanger pod would not critically endanger the ship, like it did with the current Pinnacle class carriers, where a direct shot to a hanger bay allowed one to bypass the ship's armor plating.
Of course she only knew about this because the base design had been something her Grandfather had drawn up before he retired, but the vessel had been extensively modified from there, so she had no way of guessing the armament, or armor of the impressive looking ship.
Anderson's voice emerging from the console in front of Joker broke her trance like state, "Joker, I just received clearance for us to proceed to the relay, top speed." Joker's face lit up with a grin like a kid at Christmas, "Relay at top speed, aye sir."
Evalyn felt more than heard the Turian slide in next to her, Nihlus swept a critical eye over the scene in front of him, but he remained silent.
"Approaching the relay in 5-" Shepard ignored Joker's prep, instead gave the structure they were approaching her undivided attention. The replays, like so many other things that were supposedly left behind by the Protheans were forbidden to be tampered with by the Council, but that didn't change the fact that she would crack one of them open to see what was inside if she ever got the chance.
A brilliant flash filled the room as the relay flung them across the galaxy, as the universe around came back into focus Joker glanced down at his instruments, "All boards are green, drift just under 1500 K."
"1500 is good, your Captain will be pleased." Shepard fought back a chuckle at Nihlus' comment, knowing that he did it simply to piss off the pilot. Seemingly feeling like his job there was done Nihlus turned and walked away, though the moment he was out of earshot Joker began to grumble to himself, "I hate that guy."
Kaidan simply smirked at the pilot, "Nihlus gave you a compliment, so you hate him?"
Shepard though had no real intention of listening to this so she interjected before Joker had a chance to respond to the biotic, "Stand Turian protocol, never let someone think their best is good enough, keeps soldiers from getting complacent."
Her statement had the desired effect, as Joker seemed to deflate and sink down into his chair, making a great show of adjusting his hat. While he sulked in the pilot's seat, Kaidan glanced at her, "Spectre, have you ever been on Eden Prime?"
She frowned underneath her helmet, she had indeed been on Eden Prime once since her induction into the Spectres. She and Solheim, later to be known as her pseudo-adoptive sister Miranda, had tracked down and killed Richard Toombs, the only other survivor of Akuze. Though she supposed that survived may be stretching it, Toombs had been driven mad by what had happened during and after Akuze, and had sought to make the world pay for what had happened to him.
"Yes, once." If she didn't have on the blasted helmet her tone would have been unmistakably one of back off, but instead Joker piped up with his own question, "I hear it is a pretty scenic place."
"I can't comment on that Flight Lieutenant, last time I was here I spent most of it with Thresher Maw venom surging through my bloodstream, it doesn't leave much time for sight seeing." With that she spun, catching Kaidan and Joker's identical looks of discomfort. As she entered the ops corridor she was vaguely aware of Anderson's voice in the background, informing him that he wanted to see her. But she wasn't going to turn around and ask them where he was, so instead she made a beeline for Pressley, knowing that the XO would know where the Captain was.
The navigator was hunched over a nearby console, having a conversation with who she had to assume was Chief Adams down in engineering, and judging from the level of agitation in his body language it was likely that she or Nihlus were the subjects of the conversation.
"I'm telling you it's not right, we're the most advanced ship in the fleet yet the Captain has given them free reign. He wouldn't even let me assign them an escort to keep them out of the classified areas." Adams' voice began to emit from the speaker, but Pressley had noticed her approaching form, hastily tapping the comm button in front of him, "Sorry Adams but I need to go."
Pressley turned to face the oncoming Spectre, hiding his nervousness under protocol, "Anything I can help you with, Spectre?"
"I simply need directly to where the Captain is." Pressley nodded, relaxing slightly with the knowledge that this wasn't going to be a long conversation, "I believe that he wished to meet with you in the briefing room, just use the door directly behind the galaxy map." She nodded in thanks, but didn't stay to prolong the conversation, something that she believed they both preferred.
She hadn't realized how difficult it would be to deal with her own people again, she was being forced to make sure that none of her actions seemed too human. Certainly she spoke one of the more common Asari languages like it was her native tongue, and she had endured training under Tela Vasir to ensure her body movements would not give her away. But it didn't change the fact that she was still a human playing dress up, and here submerged within all of these Alliance personnel she was finding it hard not to slip into old habits after having spent most of her life among Alliance soldiers.
The Shepard clan had been in the Alliance since before its official founding, her Grandfather had been an Admiral back when the first colonies had tried to rebel against Earth. Of course such events were rarely thought about now, what with the Batarian's and the Council giving the vast majority of Humanity something to hate that wasn't their own species.
"Spectre, if I could have a moment?" A rather matronly voice broke her reverie, as she turned to find the ship's doctor, Chakwas, had approached her. The older woman gave her a fixed glare, "I believe you were told to report to medical upon arrival, the Council won't give us your medical files, and I don't want to start an intergalactic incident should something go awry." The unspoken statement that something was going to go awry was not lost on Eva, but she supposed that the presence of a Spectre was not exactly a balm for the nerves.
She fished into a hidden compartment on her armor, pulling out a small drive from within. "Here you go, Doctor. My records, up to date." Of course they weren't her records, and if she got injured somehow on this mission an intergalactic incident was all but guaranteed regardless of if she was alive or not.
The Doctor hummed in response, obviously not convinced that what she had been handed was indeed what she had asked for. But she knew better than to push, and so she just nodded her thanks. Though before the Spectre could take another step she found her path blocked again, this time by a very enthusiastic young marine.
"Spectre Varan! It's an honor to meet you, Ma'am. I mean not many people can claim to have single-handedly stopped a civil war that has raged for years." The young marine that she recognized from the personnel files to be one Corporal Jenkins saluted her.
Shepard sighed, Anhur had been one of her first missions after she had been officially inducted. The world had reinstated slavery in an effort to be competitive against the Batarians, whose own practice was protected because it was a distinct part of their 'cultural identity.' Of course such an action had its own detractors, and they had quickly resorted to violence in an effort to abolish all slavery, including the protected variety practiced by the Batarian's.
And so the Batarian's and the abolitionists had gone to war, and the Council had told her that it was her job to end said war, and so she had. She had hacked bank accounts, assassinated CEO's, freed fresh batches of slaves, anything and everything she could do to send the message, Anhur was no longer profitable if you were in the business of slaving.
Anhur though had endured two years of war at that point, it was still barely getting back to its feet, but it served as an abject lesson for her. She hadn't been ordered to help the abolitionists because they were in the right, she had done so because to leave a precedent of legal slavery in Council space was something that could not be allowed.
It of course also made her popular with the colonials of the SA, as had her continued jaunts through the Traverse to take out any slaver dens she could in her downtime. So she was not surprised that Jenkins, himself from Eden Prime, a colonial boy through and through, saw her as an icon of hero worship. "I merely did what had to be done, Corporal. And I didn't do it by myself, a lot of others helped me down there, not everything is like what you see in the vids marine."
Chakwas herself chuckled at that, "I think Jenkins here forgets that from time to time." The young marine glanced down at his feet obviously embarrassed, and she used that opening to disengage swiftly and slip inside the door that Pressley had indicated earlier.
The room was dim, lit only by the emergency lighting on the wall and the vid screen at the far end of the room. Both Anderson and Nihlus were silhouetted against the large screen, and she could tell that both had turned to face her as she made her way down into the room proper.
Anderson spoke first, probably already aggravated over having to spend time alone with Nihlus, "I assume you will fill me in on the plan now, and why exactly he," he jerked his thumb towards the smirking Turian, "Is along for the ride when you are apparently, the specialist."
She shot a glare at Nihlus, he knew that Anderson had little love for him given that he was Saren's protege, but there was little she could do about either man's attitudes. Activating her omni through her integrated cybernetics she projected several images on to the main screen in front of her, "The beacon from what you have sent me is in keeping with those that have been encountered before. Luckily it seems to still be powered down, and if it remains so then this will be no more difficult than simply putting it into a container and shipping it to the Citadel." She gestured toward a different diagram, "However, if it is active than I need you to make sure your men stay back. A lot of Prothean tech is based on proximity, and I would prefer to avoid frying some hapless soldier's brain because they decided they want a better look." She sighed, "If it somehow has become active then I will have to try and figure out some way to deactivate it, the problem is that it has an internal power supply so we can't count on just being able to cut the power."
Anderson nodded at that, "Last report I had received it was still inactive, but that still doesn't answer my question as to why he's here."
Nihlus just smirked at the Captain, "Moral support, she gets jittery in the field."
Both human's glared at the Turian, but whatever comments were to follow were cut off by Joker's voice, "Captain, we're getting a transmission from Eden Prime. You're going to want to see this."
Nihlus flashed her a look that screamed, 'I told you so.' But she paid him no mind as the message began to play on the main screen.
They watched in silence, marines were cut down from some unseen force, their armor being compromised almost entirely. Shepard was already digging through her Grayboxes' databanks, attempting to match the impacts she was seeing to any weapon that she was aware of. Coming up with nothing she glanced at Nihlus, "I'm not familiar with whatever weapon these rounds are coming from."
But Nihlus didn't even glance at her, instead he was transfixed by the screen, his mandibles flaring in utter shock. She quickly spun back to the screen, and found that she too was enraptured by the sight.
It was a ship, though to call it such a thing seemed wholly inadequate, as it was built to a scale that she didn't think possible. It definitely dwarfed the Ascension, and yet it was in an atmosphere, a feat that was literally impossible given current technology.
But she and everyone else in that room knew why it was there, whatever this ship was, it was there for the beacon. Anderson ordered the screen to rewind back to when the ship appeared, regarding it with a cool, but tired gaze.
"Alright, we know what they are there for. Those soldiers from the video were the ones that were assigned to guard the beacon, so we know that monster ship is nearby. I assume we can count on your support here?"
At both the Spectres nods he continued, "I'll have Alenko secure some men to assist you, but I won't be able to send all of our men with you. The beacon was discovered outside of the capital, Constant. So the Normandy will do a swing by there to drop off reinforcements once your group is on the ground."
She glanced at Nihlus who nodded, "Understood, Captain." Anderson nodded, quickly leaving so that he could take charge of this ever growing clusterfuck of a day.
Nihlus groaned, "I guess I better go and get changed out of this suit now, I don't think the Hierarchy had a firefight in mind when they gave it to me."
S&S
Chaos followed as those few marines on board attempted to get ready for the upcoming battle, Kaidan for his part was ready, but was busy trying to figure out where exactly half of the gear on the manifest had been packed away.
"LT, you've got company." Kaidan glanced up, Chief Reilly's voice catching his attention in time for him to see the approaching Spectre duo. Nihlus kept walking past him, but Varan stopped in front of him, "I've been told you're coming with me, anyone else I should know about."
Kaiden pointed across the bay to Jenkins, who was doing a last minute check of his gear. "Jenkins is from the area we're dropping in to, he should be able to lead us to the beacon regardless of where we have to drop." The Spectre nodded at his logic, but he could tell that they were thinking the same thing he was, that Jenkins was just a kid.
Varan sighed, the distorted voice seemingly speaking what he was thinking, "But he's still a soldier the moment he put on that uniform." Kaidan could only nod grimly.
The sound of the lift opening caused him to glance to the other end of the bay, the Captain stepped out and headed directly towards them.
"Alenko, you and Jenkins are under the Spectres command, follow their orders like you would any Alliance officer." He turned to wave over Chief Reilly, though the Arcturus born combat engineer grabbed the shotgun sitting on the table next to him first before heading over to them.
"Sir?"
Anderson tapped his omni, sending coordinates to the Chief's own tool. "You and the rest of the marines are being dropped in Constant, your mission is to protect the major evacuation shelters, I don't care how much of the city gets wrecked just protect those people." Reilly for his part simply nodded, heading back across the bay to inform the rest of the soldiers of their mission.
Jenkins' though looked over at Nihlus, "Is he coming with us too?" Though that caused a laugh from the Turian, "I move faster on my own, I'll scout ahead and try to weaken any resistance. You just concentrate on the beacon."
Shepard glanced over at Nihlus, "Don't die down there Kyrik, I don't want Tela trying to kill me over not keeping you safe." Nihlus just smirked at her, "Oh I'd be in much more trouble if you died, I'm just the Father of her child, you possess the thing in the galaxy she loves the most."
While both marines were sure they must have heard Varan's response incorrect, it sounded distinctly like she muttered that, "My ass is not the most important thing in Vasir's life."
But before either marine could ask the other about what they had heard the white armored Spectre turned on them, "Alright, like the Captain said you two will be under my command. I'll take point, Alenko you have rearguard, Jenkins I want you in the middle so that you can tell me where we are actually going. We'll be landing a few clicks outside of where the beacon was, so be on the lookout for enemy patrols."
Jenkins almost sheepishly raised his hand, causing Kaidan to raise his eyebrow at the childish reaction, "What about civilians, Ma'am." Varan glanced down briefly, a sigh audibly going through her helmet's speakers, "I know your from Eden Prime, Jenkins. But the beacon takes priority, if it falls into the wrong hand we have no idea what damage it could cause." She paused before gesturing over her shoulder at the remaining marines who were being briefed by Chief Reilly, "Trust in your fellow soldiers to get their jobs done, and know that they trust in you to do the same."
Jenkins's nodded but any response of his was cut off by Joker announcing their approach to the first drop point. Nihlus moved forward towards the edge of the ramp, he turned to her flashing a Turian grin, shouting over the gale that whistled in through the opening hatch, "Guess this is where I get off!"
And with that he hurled himself off the ramp to the ground below, she was able to track him moving swiftly across the terrain for a few brief seconds before the ship swung away from him.
It was only a few more minutes before Joker announced the approach of the second landing zone, Kaidan for his part was calm and collected, but it was Jenkin's nervousness that worried her. The kid was eager to prove himself, and combined with Eden Prime being his home it was a recipe for recklessness.
"Calm yourself Corporal, you won't do anyone any favors if you are so wound up you can't shoot straight." Her words startled the young marine, but she very much doubted that they really hit home. She glanced at Kaidan, her body language easily telling him that she needed him to keep an eye on the Eden Prime native.
"At the second drop point, good hunting guys."
Eva thundered down the ramp first, landing hard in a grassy depression surrounded by cliffs, as she heard two impacts behind her she glanced over at Jenkins, though the sound of the Normandy flying away caused her to shout over the noise, "Where to from here Corporal!?"
Jenkins glanced around, trying to get his bearings before pointing to in front of him and to the left, "There should be a path out of this basin up ahead, it cuts along the edge of a cliff overlooking the settlement, kind of a popular spot for kids to hang out at." He had an almost goofy grin on his face, but that was quickly banished by the sound of gunfire in the distance.
Nodding she pulled her rifle from her waist and began to advance, they didn't see any evidence of combat until they reached the path that Jenkins had mentioned. She signaled them to stop upon seeing a body lying face down on the ground, obviously someone in their late teens, numerous projectile wounds in his back. Glancing at Kaidan she signaled him to advance to cover that was near the body, if this was a trap she didn't want anyone getting caught out in the open.
But as Kaidan began to advance Jenkins shifted in position, allowing him to catch sight of the body, before either Eva, or Kaidan could do anything the marine took off, "Dave!"
He had nearly made it to the body when he suddenly jerked violently, as two drones flitted out of cover their under-slung guns firing at the hapless marine, their design was unknown to Evalyn, as were their weapons, but their effectiveness was not as they tore through the younger male's shields as if they were paper.
"Engage!" Both Alenko and herself hit the same target with an overload, and while it destroyed the drone outright it also meant that the other was unharmed, she scowled to herself at the sloppiness that shouldn't have happened, but they had only met a few hours ago so she couldn't expect them to work together seamlessly. Shepard quickly switched to the drone that was unharmed, hitting it with a weaker overload form her backup omni-tool to strip its shields before using her weapon, the heavy rounds from her Sabre rifle literally ripping chunks off the drone with every shot, until finally she hit something important causing it to be engulfed in a flash of blue light.
"Alenko check on Jenkins, I'll cover you." The biotic nodded, dashing over to the soldier's prone body, and it was quickly obvious by the slump of his shoulders what Jenkins' status was. Kaidan pushed the kid's visor up, closing the boy's eyes to give him at least some small measure of peace, "I shouldn't have let him come, I should have sent him with the others."
"And we might have wasted precious time stuck in that basin, you made a call Lieutenant, stick by it." She sighed, "I know it's hard losing soldiers under your command, trust me I know, but we have only one path to follow and I don't intend on sitting on this cliff face until something else takes a shot at us."
Alenko nodded, but they had barely made it a few more meters when a familiar whine filled the air, both soldiers threw themselves behind nearby stone outcroppings as another patrol of drones appeared. "Alenko you start from the left, I'll get the right." With that they both lashed out with their tech abilities, the overloads frying the delicate mass effect cores that kept the drones airborne.
Shepard's body flared blue as she slammed the remaining drone into the cliff side with a push field. The two of them cautiously advanced before they found themselves entering into a clearing filled with trees, "Okay, enough stumbling around in the dark." With that Shepard activated the two small drones built into the back of her armor.
Huginn and Muninn both flitted by her head, before she signaled for them to scout the area, they were lightly armed but their true value was that their data was sent to her in real time.
Nihlus' voice crackled in her ear, "Got a lot of bodies here Shepard, seems like someone wants to send a message." Shepard could only nod, before replying, "Ya, I've seen a few here as well, mostly kids. We lost Jenkins, rounds ripped right through his shields, only drones though so far." She waited for a few moments reviewing the data that the drones were feeding her until Nihlus finally replied, "No sign of any hostiles yet on my end, let me know if anyone else comes up."
With that conversation done she glanced over at Alenko, "Alright, looks like there is another patrol of three drones ahead, past that I think might be the excavation site from the look of the equipment nearby." She glanced over at Kaidan, "Ready?"
The older biotic gave a tense nod, but she knew that he was still holding in there, Jenkin's death had rattled him but not to the point where she would have to worry about him in combat. "Same as before, you work left, I work right."
She moved first, her rifle's shots catching her drone hard in the side, causing it to spin violently before it was finished off by a second shot. Kaidan stuck to his overload method that had worked well so far, and was rewarded by another success, internally he was thankful that he hadn't had to resort to his biotics yet, as it was always preferable to avoid the inevitable migraines that followed.
The third drone was distracted by the Spectre's duo of drones which had descended upon it, their lighter rifles causing their larger cousin's shields to flicker and fail, before finally a round from Evalyn's rifle ended it. Shepard's own drones floated lazily back to her, settling down into their slots so that they could begin their recharge cycle.
But before either soldier could catch their own breath the sound of a lancer rifle drew their attention. Glancing down into the clearing below them they spotted the source of the gunfire, as a female marine was attempting a fighting retreat against, Geth?
Shepard had no time to figure out why the Geth were here, or what that meant on a larger scale at this moment, she knew that the marine was the best chance she had at getting answers for her current beacon problem. "Kaiden can you get a barrier on her?"
Not bothering to hear his reply she launched herself down into the clearing below, engulfing the closest Geth within a stasis field, she, and the still fighting marine, concentrated on the still mobile of the two. Shepard shouted over to the other woman, "Aim for the head, if their designs are unchanged that is where their uplink to the network is." As if to punctuate that fact her latest shot pierced through the last bit of the trooper's shields, and exited out of it's 'head.' A trail of glowing white fluids leaked out of the impact hole as the synthetic soldier toppled to the ground with a stutter.
Shepard casually approached the Geth still in stasis, encasing her right arm in an omni-sword, almost casually she went to work, each swing cutting through the synthetic material like butter.
As Kaidan dropped down to the clearing he jogged over to the other human who was starring at the Spectre with awe, "Who the hell is that?" She asked out loud, having missed the approaching Lieutenant.
"Spectre Varan, she was with us to oversee the beacon's pickup." At the sound of his voice the woman jumped, her hands automatically bringing up her rifle but she quickly brought herself back under control. "Sorry about that LT." Her FOF tags had finally kicked in, letting her know who she was dealing with.
Done with disecting the synthetic Shepard turned toward the two marines, glancing at the newcomer in particular. "Alright soldier, I need information on the beacon, and I would really love it if you could tell me what the Geth are doing here." At the sound of Varan's voice both of them turned, Kaidan found himself unable to contain himself, "The Geth, really? They haven't been seen outside the Geth for over two hundred years!" Varan for her part just kicked the decapitated head of one unit at him, "Well then I guess you have a story to tell your grand kids, now soldier can I get a report of the situation?"
Ashley realized that this was not the time to play the why is an alien giving orders card, so she reacted as if the Spectre was any other high ranking human. "Gunnery Chief Williams, Ma'am. We were getting ready for you to arrive and move the beacon this morning when that, thing appeared. Next thing we knew there were those Geth, and drones everywhere. We tried to hold out, but our weapons barely dented the Geth. I'm the last one left of my unit."
Shepard sighed, she knew what the Chief was going through, but right now was not the time for soothing words, "Alright, Chief, you're with us. We need you to guide us to the beacon's excavation site and secure it." She activated the hidden holster on her left hip, pulling out an older model Carnifex pistol that she had used ever since she left the Alliance, "This should punch some holes through them, just mind the recoil. It's not Alliance, so it uses an internal heat sink instead of clips."
Ashley shipped her rifle, before tentatively taking the weapon, "Thank you, Ma'am." Though that response caused the Spectre to laugh, "Don't thank me just yet, Chief. You just got drafted into this mission." She signaled for Ashley to indicate where they were to go, at which point the Spectre found herself following the female marine back down the path she had emerged from earlier.
After moving only a brief distance Ashley held up here hands for them to halt, pointing to a visibly non-human structure up ahead, "The beacon had been in there, but it was crawling with Geth earlier."
As if summoned by her statement they rounded a corner to see a Geth dragging an still live, but obviously badly injured soldier. It approached some sort of squat mechanic device, before it proceeded to drag the man so that he was draped over the top of it. Shepard leaned forward, "What is it doing?"
Ashley could only mutely shake her head, but with a sickening sound of metal on metal they all starred as a spike extended from the machine's base, impaling the injured soldier upon the still rising spike.
"Donkey!" Ashley's scream however did nothing but alert the Geth to their presence, causing it to turn on them and begin to fire at their position. The Spectre's squad split up, with both marines ducking below a low rock wall, while Shepard slammed into an outcropping that gave her room to stand up behind.
The sound of her pistol firing let her know that Ashley had gone on the offensive, "Trooper's shields are down!"
Shepard spun out from her cover, her rifle slammed into her left shoulder repeatedly as several rounds were propelled into the weakened Geth.
The synthetic creature sputtered several times, before collapsing into a pile of sparks and that same white fluid she had seen earlier. Her examination was cut short however, as reinforcements appeared in the form of two more Geth troopers.
A flash of blue to her right informed her that Kaidan had unleashed some for of attack, though it was quickly obvious as to what it was when one of the Geth began to float lazily into the air. Ignoring the now disabled trooper, Shepard thrust her right arm forward, engulfing the still active Geth in an overload field that sapped its shields, and seized at its actuators.
A single retort came from the marine's position, as the Geth's 'head' was blown to pieces from a well placed shot, Ashley's shouted her voice filled with glee, "Got one!" Though that was engulfed by a snicker as the Geth Kaidan had hit earlier with a lift field came crashing down, making a sound similar to a frozen computer before it impacted against the ground.
Before they could even be sure that no more reinforcements were coming Ashley had dashed over to the impaled marine, "Donkey, you better not be fucking dead!" As she reached the device she felt around trying to found some disengage mechanism, "Come on you two, help me!"
Shepard put a hand on Kaidan's shoulder to stop him, before moving forward, "We need to keep moving soldier." Ashley though kept trying, only to be suddenly clocked in the jaw, "He's dead, Chief. And the entire colony may be as well, if we don't get a move on." The Spectre offered an arm to the prone woman, who took it, her eyes filled with anger, but that anger wasn't directed at the Spectre.
"Let's make them pay for this." Ashley's voice was cold, which was good, cold Shepard could work with. The white and pink armored marine tilted her head forward, "The beacon had been just up ahead."
Shepard though knew that it probably wasn't, "I suspect it has already been moved, otherwise I think we would have encountered more resistance. Where is the nearest clear landing zone from here?"
Ashley kept walking forward, but answered the Spectre's question, "There is a small auxiliary spaceport nearby, the base gets most of our supplies through there so the Geth could use it to get the beacon off planet." As soon as they entered into the alien structure she knew her answer, as there was the tell tale signs of a hover loader having been used to transport something heavy, something like a beacon.
Shepard tapped into her Spectre frequencies, "Nihlus, the hostiles are Geth. And the beacon's been moved. A local marine I picked up tells me that there is an auxiliary spaceport nearby, I'm making my way there now."
"Spirits! Geth? Alright good work, and yes I can see the spaceport you are talking about from my position. We'll meet up at the tramway, hopefully we can catch them before they move it to the spaceport proper."
Shepard glanced at Ashley, "Okay, lets head to that spaceport, Chief." Ashley nodded, following the same path that the beacon had obviously traveled, leading them into a small camp of pre-fab structures. "This had been the base camp for the scientists, no idea what happened to them, and I don't think i want to know."
Though as if summoned by the spoken thought several of the spike platforms began to descend, and the monstrosity that stumbled off of it was not something that Eva would consider human anymore. Ashley just screamed and opened fire, while Kaidan had to voice his confusion, "What are these things!"
Shepard though had seem something like this before, a Salarian on the Citadel she had been tasked to kill. But the approach of one of the shambling creatures brought her attention back to the here and now, and she lashed from low right, to high left with her omni-sword. Revealing a twisted combination of organic and synthetic tissues that twisted and weaved through the bisected creature.
Shepard ducked beneath a clumsy swing of another creature, thrusting up with her flash manufactured blade, the glowing orange blade entered through the thing's chest, and exited out of the top of its skull. Turning to the marines she spotted one of the creatures about to throw themselves on to Ashley, and so the Spectre thrust her hand forward, causing her body to instinctively launch a push field that sent the former human slamming into the metal of one of the nearby structures.
"I agree with the LT, the fuck are those things." Shepard could only shake her armored head, "I've only encountered a single creature like this before, but it had no connection to the Geth," she sighed, shaking her head in confusion, "Answers will have to come later, we need to make it to the spaceport."
Ashley nodded, taking point again while Shepard tried to contact Nihlus. "Nihlus come in? Nihlus? Damn it, come in Nihlus." But all she was greeted to was static, turning to Kaidan she gestured at his helmet, "Are the Alliance frequencies still working?"
Kaidan held up his hand for a moment, before she could hear him lightly talking to someone, he glanced up at her and nodded.
This day was just getting better and better, first Geth, then the beacon, now those creatures, and someone was blocking Spectre frequencies, which meant that someone had to have leaked them, or she was potentially dealing with a rogue agent. "By the Goddess this is not my day." The statement caused a smirk to appear on Ashley's face, but it was quickly gone as they moved out of the shelter of the camp, "Holy shit, how is that thing on the ground!"
Shepard followed her gaze, only to be greeted by the sight of the monster ship from earlier as it lifted off from the surface, crimson lightning flashing off of it as it's mass effect field interacted with the atmosphere around it. But their gawking was cut shot by the sudden stutter sounds of the Geth, as several nearby troopers had noticed their arrival.
The trio took what little cover they could, and as Shepard threw herself behind a tree she saw several of those creatures from before attempting to get into a pre-fab structure. Groaning to herself she sighted down on them, making short work of the creatures from this distance. "Kaidan, check out that structure, I think I could hear civilian's inside."
Kaidan nodded, and took off at a run, leaving the two woman to mop up the handful of Geth troopers milling around the area. Ashley had acclimatized herself to the pistol, learning to time her shots and avoid overheating the pistol with surprising speed, which she showcased by taking out a trooper before Shepard had repositioned herself.
Shepard for her part was done playing around, targeting two separate troopers she hit them with an overload from both of her omni-tools. Frying the trooper struck by the attack from her right omni, while stripping the shield from the one on the left, which was quickly finished off by the Chief.
The fourth Geth attempted to flee, but a quick shot from Ashley's pistol caused a chain reaction in a set of industrial capacitors, which erupted their charge into the nearest available target, the Geth.
As the synthetic's smoking carcass hit the ground Shepard glanced at Ashley, "Good work, and quick thinking, Chief." Ashley smiled at the praise, "Thank you, Ma'am."
The sound of jogging caused them both to turn, Kaidan slowed down as he reached them, "It was a couple of farmers that got trapped when the Geth showed up, I left them back at the camp with a few scientists who survived, one of them was a little cracked if you ask me." He paused for a moment, before fishing out a pistol that he hadn't been carrying before, "One of the farmers was carrying this, said that they were part of a smuggling ring operating out of the spaceport, do you think they could have been the leak?"
Ashley's hands tightened into fists, but this wasn't something that the Spectre wanted to get into right now, "It's impossible to tell at this point, and there is no reason to dwell on this now, focus on the mission, and you may as well keep the pistol for yourself Kaidan, it's better than your standard issue sidearm." Kaidan nodded and shipped the pistol, before falling into step slightly behind the Spectre and to the right, with Ashley doing likewise on left, having caught the hint to let the matter lie for now.
As they took the ramp up that announced their entry to the outer edges of the spaceport the Spectre suddenly halted, "No!"
She took off, dropping to her knees in front of a prone body, and as Kaidan approached he realized that it was Nihlus, "Shit, its Nihlus."
Ashley glanced at him in confusion, "Who?"
Kaidan shook his head, he should have remembered that she didn't know who he was, "He was another Spectre on board the Normandy, this isn't good." He let out a sigh, "I'm pretty sure they were close."
Shepard though had been ignoring the whole conversation, her mind was awash with rage at the sight of her friend lying dead, he was going to be a Father, she was his daughter's Guardian for fuck sake's, and here he was lying dead at her feet. "What am I going to tell Vasir?" She all but mumbled that last bit to herself.
But even in her grief her instincts remained, and the sound of shuffling behind the cargo crates caused her to react. Her body flared blue as she lashed out at the container separating her from the source of the noise, the pull field fueled by her rage wrenched the container loose from it's position, revealing a cowering human in clothes commonly worn by blue collar workers.
She leveled her rifle at the cowering male, "Who are you, and why are you not dead." The man tried to scoot away from her, but found himself starring at the barrel of Ashley's borrowed pistol after she had moved to cut off any escape route on his part. "Answer the question."
"Powell! My name's Powell, I'm just a dock worker, I've got nothing to do with this!" Shepard just tilted her head to the side before jerking her right hand towards Nihlus, "And you had nothing to do with that either I assume?"
"You think I killed him? I don't even have a gun! And it was that other Turian, the shiny one, his name was, Saren, ya that's what the other one called him!" Before either marine could react Shepard lashed out, hauling the human up with her right arm and slamming him against the crate he had been huddled against, "You are claiming that Saren killed Nihlus!"
The man's eyes were full of fear and he began to babble, "That's what your friend called him, they moved too far away for me to hear the rest, but then your friend turned away, he seemed to relax, and Saren just shot him in the back of the head. Didn't even pause just kept walking the moment the body hit the ground."
Shepard threw Powell across the enclosure, unwilling to trust herself to be in close proximity to the sniveling human. Kaidan moved over to him, "Cole, said that you were his contact for the smuggling ring."
"We don't have time for that Kaidan! I've wasted enough time on that human for today." Shepard began to move forward not even waiting to see if the other two were following her, only to literally run into a Geth trooper rounding the corner.
They might be the most advanced synthetic life form in the galaxy at this time, but the Geth apparently never considered melee combat a priority, and she had already decapitated the first Geth's head before it could even attempt a punch. Shepard's body pulsed as she used the now headless body as a projectile, causing both it and the still functioning trooper to topple over the safety barricade plummeting to the ground below.
Ashley dashed past her, taking a quick glance at the tram to the spaceport before ducking below the metal safety barricade as several rounds streaked past, "At least ten units on the tram, and one big motherfucker with a cannon."
Shepard nodded before offering her rifle to the Chief, "I want you and the Lieutenant to hang back and give me cover, I'll move forward and push them out of cover." She held out her hand for her pistol, which Ashley handed back to her, before she tentatively took the Sabre rifle, running an almost loving hand over the elite Alliance weapon.
Shepard began to head down the ramp before she turned, "And Chief if you lose that gun, I am going to be incredibly pissed off."
She dashed over to the tram pistol in her left hand, sliding behind one of the bulkheads used to lock in heavier cargo. The sound of rifle fire accompanied, by the stutter of a dying Geth at least let her know that she had made the right choice in letting Ashley use her rifle.
"Three, two, one." At that she took off at a dash, pushing herself to make it as far down the tramway as she could before the Geth could react. Unfortunately for her plan, the large Geth was already in the process of charging at her, "Shit!"
As the large synthetic approached Shepard hastily activated her omni-shield, only to have the flash manufactured barrier shatter againt the combined force of the Geth's shoulder charge, and the cannon sized shotgun in its hands. As the Geth's weapon was rendered inoperable from the heat it had generated, the black synthetic did the sensible thing and simply hauled back slamming the butt of the gun into her helmet, both knocking her to the ground, and causing Shepard's HUD to flicker and fail as the cameras built into the helmet were damaged.
"Fuck it," she all but growled, and pulled out the still temperamental pistol from her right holster. The weapon, based on the modified Carnifex she had lent to Williams earlier, but this one was was modified to fire numerous high explosive rounds before having to cool, of course every model thus far had melted after three shots, but three was all she needed here.
Aiming at where her eidetic memory told her where the Geth's upper torso would be she opened fire, her armor unable to keep out both the heat, and the concussive force of the rounds, but at least it also let her know when her fifth pull of the trigger resulted in no joy. Letting the pistol drop to the ground she realized that she couldn't hear any further gunfire from either side, "Is everything all right Lieutenant?"
"Yes, Ma'am. The moment you appeared the Geth tried to swarm you, it was like they didn't care if they died." Shepard sighed, too many people misunderstood how the Geth worked, "Because they didn't die, they just uploaded as soon as they realized their platform was going to be damaged, and I assume they felt that taking out a Spectre was worth sacrificing a few temporary bodies for."
Shepard growled as she saw that her HUD had still not rebooted, muttering to herself, "I haven't come this far just to be taken out by some faulty equipment," she yanked off the helmet, tossing the useless helmet next to the melted remains of her backup pistol.
Kaidan and Ashley had both just stopped moving, starring at the human woman who had been masquerading as an Asari, her blonde hair was pulled back into a ponytail that trailed a little lower than her neck, while her skin was unnaturally pale due to spending such a large amount of time in armor.
As the woman turned to regard them, Kaidan noticed that her eyes didn't match, while one of her eyes were green, the other was a dull red, a common indicator of cybernetic work as the lenses required couldn't be colored or it would impair their functionality.
Ashley for her part was more focused on the fact that this woman looked suspiciously like someone she knew to be dead, but Evalyn Shepard's fucking twin was standing right in front of her.
"If you two are done gawking we have a job to do."
At that she turned and began to head towards the tram controls, both of the marines following her filled with questions, the foremost being, who the hell was this woman.
S&S
"The Catalyst is here, we believe that it is unwise to leave the beacon behind, if she discovers the existence of the Conduit the plan could be put in jeopardy." Saren growled at Sovereign's intrusion on his suits communication systems, "If we wait any longer reinforcements may arrive, and once the bombs go off there will be nothing left, no beacon, no evidence, no Catalyst." He spat out the last word, still unsure of what it was, only knowing that the epithet given to the human woman angered him to no end.
"So be it, know that the consequences are yours to bear Saren, we are certain that you remember what happened last time." Saren glanced down at his synthetic appendage, his punishment for an earlier failure at killing the human Spectre, "I'm aware."
Gesturing towards a nearby Geth to approach Saren growled at it, "See to it that the bombs are set, give me only enough time to escape, I'm sure the rest of you can figure some way off."
With that he approached the beacon, though not without a sense of sadness, Nihlus had been his star pupil, and his death was not something he had ever wished for. But the death of one Turian, was greatly outweighed by the potential annihilation of their entire race, and so Saren had made the hard choice, just as he had made the same choice years ago, but back then it had been his Brother Desolas who had paid the price.
As Saren stepped into the green field that surrounded the beacon he knew that he would always make the same choice, even if it would cost him his life, and his soul.
S&S
"Coming up on the spaceport, uh, Ma'am?" Ashley's confused statement caused a sigh to escape the blonde's lips, "For the record calling an Asari Ma'am is an insult, if they have a rank use it, otherwise using their last name is enough in conjunction with their life stage." Noticing that both of them just kept starring at her she groaned, "Just fucking call me Shepard if it means that much to you."
Any hope that Ashley had of finding out just what the fuck was going on was interrupted by two things, one the Geth opening fire on the approaching tram car, and two Shepard spotting an item that looked suspiciously like one of Aria T'Loak's dirty bombs. "Lieutenant, Chief, cover me!" Assuming that their training would take over at that point she dashed towards the object she had spotted earlier, ripping the cover off the offending item she hissed through her teeth, it was one of T'Loak's little monsters.
"Kaidan I've got an eezo laced nuke here, can you get me a read on the area, tell me if there are any other high concentrations of eezo nearby." As she ripped out several components she knew the bomb required to run Kaidan's voice buzzed in her ear, as her built in cybernetics took over the functions that her helmet would cover, "I've got four concentrations in the area, sending them to your omni."
Shepard triggered her drones, sending them flitting into the sky as they began to fire on the Geth, dancing between the supports around the tramway, giving the marines the opportunity to advance. "Lieutenant, you're coming with me up across the tramway and down the left side, Chief I want you and that rifle to advance up the right and pick off any stragglers you can." As both marines nodded their understanding she found herself smiling, it was almost nice to be working with marines again.
As she and Kaidan dashed across the bridge one white armored get stepped out, a scaled down version of the earlier large Geth's weapon in its hands. Of course a shotgun doesn't help when both biotics opened fire with their pistols outside of optimal range, sending the Geth stuttering to the ground before it could fire a single shot.
At the sound of a dull impact Shepard glanced around to see a plume of smoke coming from behind them, "They have a fucking missile launcher!" Was the only response Ashley gave before she returned fire, putting to good use her marksman skills as the Geth seemed to not know which threat to respond to first. Something that was encouraging to Shepard, as that meant that the Geth must have retreated most of their programs to avoid being destroyed by the bombs.
Kaidan for his part disabled the second bomb as fast as she had, gaining some grudging respect from the Spectre. However as Kaidan stood up both he and Shepard suddenly noticed a red light directed at his chest, at least that was until it died and a sudden whoop filled their headsets, "Right in the flashlight!"
As they both breathed a sigh of relief Shepard gestured to the nearby third bomb, "You get that one, I'll get the fourth." She dashed forward, hearing the pulse of automatic rifle fire as her drones herded another Geth into the Chief's sights, while the Spectre eliminated the Geth who had been armed with the rocket launcher, using an overload/headshot combo that she was becoming rather fond of against these synthetic opponents.
Spotting the last bomb Shepard quickly dropped to her knees, ripping off the plate she quickly got to work, but this focus also meant she failed to notice the approaching white armored Geth, who unlike his earlier counterpart was in range to do lethal damage with his weapon. That was until the synthetic found itself struck from behind, a biotic enhanced kick from the Lieutenant literally rupturing many of the internal workings of the mobile platform.
As Shepard ripped the final component out of the device she let out a breath she had been holding, "Goddess that was close, and thank you for the save, Lieutenant." Kaidan could only nod, still unsure of what the hell was going on with this woman. Ashley at this point had joined up with them, but before she too could voice her questions Shepard's eyes lit up, "The beacon! Why the fuck is it still here?" She glanced back at the two marines, "Not that I'm complaining, I just don't understand why go to all this trouble and leave the damn thing on the edge of the freaking loading dock."
As though summoned by her voice multiple echoes of the same steel on steel sound from earlier echoed from the platform that the beacon was on, causing Ashley to mutter, "Yay, more robot zombies." Though she admitted she felt a lot more confident this time holding the Spectre's rifle in her hands.
Shepard though was wasting anymore time, and so she waited on the top of the stairs as she primed her highly modified incinerate program, which she unleashed directly in the middle of the shambling creatures as they turned the corner. Engulfing them in a firestorm that, combined with the weapons fire from her squad made short work of them.
Ashley glanced at her, "Why the hell didn't you use that last time." To which Shepard gestured at the ash on the ground, "I wasn't sure if they were more synthetic or organic, that attack is specifically designed for wiping out lightly armored organic targets, it also has a rather large area of effect, and I didn't want to singe off your eyebrows, Chief."
The trio cautiously made their way to the bottom of the platform, but after a quick sweep it was determined that no more hostiles remained in the area, "Normandy, we have secured the beacon. I need a pickup at my location."
"Um, sure, but who is this?" The confused voice of Joker on the comm brought an unconscious smirk to the blonde, one that was infuriatingly familiar to the brunette standing near her. "This is Varan, or do you think that some random passerby on Eden Prime is using her omni-tool?"
"All right, jeez, you just sound really different, sorry." Ashley was about to finally ask if this Shepard was indeed the same woman she was in boot with, but she found herself suddenly shoved aside as the blonde rushed forward grasping her arms around the Lieutenant who had been in the process of being dragged towards the beacon. Having lost its initial target the beacon latched on to the Spectre, and Ashley was forced to restrain the Lieutenant in her arms as he attempted to reach the Spectre, "Do you want that fucking thing to get both of you LT!"
They could only watch in horror as Shepard's body was engulfed in a green aura, before suddenly the beacon lit up green, stress lines etching their way across the device, until finally it detonated sending the Spectre's body flying into a stack of nearby crates.
Ashley could only glance between the destroyed beacon, and the unconscious Spectre who may or may not be a dead woman, and she was pretty sure in that moment that the William's curse wasn't as metaphorical a thing as she had previously believed.
S&S
AN: For those who are unaware, read anyone who hasn't read the original S&S, Evalyn is younger than the canon Shepard, as a result she and Ashley are indeed the same age, and so they went through boot camp at the same time. Ashley's promotion to Chief is kind of a direct result of her friendship with Evalyn, as the Shepard's have been serving since the founding of the SA. More on that when you meet Shepard's Granddad, Harrison 'I punch everything' Shepard.
In my original draft Shepard's identity wasn't revealed until the very end of the chapter when she was knocked unconscious, but I really wanted to showcase that the Geth can do some damage when they have more than just basic troopers.
I hope that this chapter wasn't too boring, given that it is pretty much a blow by blow redo of the Eden Prime mission, but well you have to start somewhere.
Reviews, follows or favorites are always appreciated. I'll respond to PM's if you have a driving question, or if you notice something really off, like when I realized I had screwed up Shepard's age in the last story...