"Well, I have some, decent, news for you, Commander."
The voice was of Dr Chakwas. She was sitting at her desk in the hospital room of the Normandy, as Samus was nearby, just having got up from the bed, got her armor back on, and walked over, sitting down next to the good doctor.
"All right. Hit me." Samus sat back, giving Karin a kind smile as she waited.
"Well, after giving you a full check over, it seems your still as normal as ever, except for a small sudden growth spurt by the X parasite, you're in good health."
Samus quickly sat forward, looking worried, that smile gone as fast as it appeared. "Whoa whoa wait, growth spurt? It's larger then before now? But, but it was dormant wasn't it? What triggered it?"
Chakwas thought about it for a moment, looking at her data pad in her hand, which carried the results of Samus's check up. "I'm going to assume it was due to the Prothean beacon you encountered. I did notice a minor reaction from the parasite while you were out cold after you were caught by the device, but it seemed like it was dieing. Suddenly it's now coming back, slowly but surely."
"I know where this is going. I'll need an operation soon, right? If so it'll have to wait untill I stop Saren." Samus was feeling tense. She didn't want anymore scars like she's already got on her body.
"Not anytime soon. It's growing larger on your central nervous system, for now, it's, I would say, not too bad. If anything, you might have more sudden waves of pain now and then. I'd recommend going back to four doses a day on the painkillers Commander. At least keep it masked while you handle the rogue spectre. The rate it's grown since Eden Prime is rather slow, so it shouldn't get too serious for some time."
Samus nodded, relieved, sitting back a little.
"You'll be fine, Shepard. I doubt it'll ever be as bad as it was before. Afterall, I'm here. Once you start breaking down again, I'll get the scalpel out." Chakwas gave a light chuckle, noticing Samus shaking her head and getting up from the chair.
"Gee, thanks. Well I should get going, gotta see Garrus and check if his settling in okay, and C-Sec haven't caused any trouble with my request to have him here. Take care doc." With that, she left, heading to the lift. Her mind drifted to when the X Parasite started to show it's hold on her, wondering why she was so stupid to not get herself checked sooner…
"So where will you go then?" Anderson stood there, next to her, as two C-Sec guards were behind her, and before her, was a transport vessel, ready to depart, heading out of the Citadel to the worlds beyond.
She had her power suit on, just it now lacked a few major things, as agreed with the Alliance and C-Sec for her release.
All the upgrades she managed to gain back on the B.S.L station for her damaged suit, or as she preferred to name it, 'Fusion suit', had been extracted and stored away.
Her helmet had been handed in, denying her the ability to go into any hazardous locations where the air would be inhospitable, and also prolonged time underwater.
Her arm cannon had mostly been dismantled, leaving her with what seemed like a chunky metal bracelet around her wrist and a little up her arm, her firing hand free and out in the open, her pale, vein showing skin revealed.
The power cells keeping her suit active, the core essence that allowed it to be disabled on and off at her leisure years ago after her suit was mutated by the Metroid DNA and X Parasite, was removed, pretty much shutting off all of the suits functions. Back then, the suit would disperse and be stored away…now, it was left on her, like alien body armor, light blue leathery-like bio-skin, and yellow metal fragments of a destroyed warrior suit.
Last but not the least, she had to give up her family name. Without anything to defend herself, she was vulnerable, and with a reputation like hers, that was a very bad thing. The Alliance agreed she had to change her last name on the Citadel, so from there, any transports she takes, it'll be under something else, to put off potential hunters and mercs who don't visually see her. Those that do see her and her obvious remaining power suit…the Alliance have plans to allow her to have a pistol, but the license acceptance hasn't gone through yet.
Being forced to leave so much behind only made her hate the outcome of what's happened here all the worse. "Anywhere, away from you." she didn't even bother to look at him, just watching others walk up the nearby steel ramp into the transport vessel, looking happy, chatting to those around them…some of them staring at her…
She felt she might as well be naked with the way they were looking.
"Samus, just remember, you're not Aran anymore. Anyone asks, it's Shepard now. Samus Shepard." Anderson reminded her. He looked to her, and must've felt she was ignoring him. "…You'll thank me someday girl."
She wasn't. She just was thinking about how far away from the Citadel she would have to go to stay out of communication range with him. Soon, one of the C-Sec officers finally typed on his data pad to release the restraint on her Omni-tool, no longer embedded into her suit system, through her arm cannon, it was now just a separate program. She quickly began to walk away, heading to the ship, not wanting to extent this farewell any longer.
That's when it first hit.
Her chest briefly clenched up, her lungs felt like they had closed on her, and she just coughed loudly, stumbling, grabbing on the side rail and feeling like she could vomit something if she didn't stop coughing, gasping for air, trying to breathe. Soon it all stopped, her lungs feeling fine, her chest, sore as ever. What she didn't notice was the fact she was leaning right over the side, and someone had put their hand on her shoulder, and was making sure she didn't fall down. Anderson. "Samus? What's wrong?"
She shoved him back, away from her, before standing up normally again, looking over at the way out, the ship. "Nothing for you, to worry about." She didn't want to admit there was something odd. Not to him, no more signs of weakness. She wanted out of this place.
The lift arrived at the cargo hold segment of the ship. Samus saw the Turian sitting down next to one of the wheels of the Mako. He had an Alliance sniper rifle with him, tweaking it with a set of tools nearby, looking at it carefully, and seemingly having his entire focus on it.
He didn't even notice Samus walking up till the last second when she stopped in front of him. He quickly got himself up, putting the rifle down. "Commander. I almost didn't notice you. Something I can do for you?"
"I was just wondering how things are with C-Sec. Did they approve of my request for you to be a part of my team?"
Garrus looked around for a moment, as if checking to see Wrex and Ashley were busy or not, then explained. "To be honest with you, they told me not to go. They tried to deny your request, but the council allowed it. They felt being around a spectre is a bad move and might give me some wrong ideas on how to handle criminals….especially, well, it's you."
"Oh? I don't think I've left a bad influence anywhere. I just arrest when I can, and if I can't arrest, I kill or threaten them to pay me off."
The Turian frowned. "That's precisely what they were going on about. C-Sec hates killing. It's not a resort we should go to, especially if innocents are included. My dad even told me to keep away from you."
Samus mumbled under her breath "I can guess why."
"He hates Bounty Hunters and Spectres, so, you're certainly not on his potential friend list. I told him I wanted to just be out of the red tape, get to do some rough decisions, stop being restricted. I told C-Sec I'm staying here. They decided to leave my post open for me."
"Well, that's good. Hopefully we get a chance to let you do something risky. See how you handle a situation. You have your own moral standards, use them." Samus was glad he was staying, she needed an extra gunner besides Wrex, and a cop who wants to be daring is perfect.
Jokers voice then rang through the comm-speakers. "Commander, we've reached the Artemis Tau Cluster, already starting the sweep for Prothean ruin sites as per your suggestion, shouldn't take no more then half an hour to finish scanning."
"Good work Joker, I'll be up there soon."
"Aye aye ma'am."
Garrus then spoke up, just as he noticed Samus was planning to go. "Commander, can I ask you something?"
Samus nodded. "Shoot."
Garrus clearly thought about his question for a moment, before saying it. "It's about your…old missions. I know you don't like your past and all, but I just gotta ask, what, was it like? Landing on worlds, hardly any maps, nothing but your power suit and your own company for days, even weeks on end, against some of the nastiest known bastards in the galaxy?"
Samus folded her arms, sighing after a little while, looking at the floor just before Garrus' feet, her thoughts going back to Zebes, SR388, Talon IV and many others…those lonely, frightening nights, forever on her toes, listening to every sound, every minute, every second…she felt a stinging sensation coarse her body for a moment, before looking at him, uncrossing the arms. "Garrus, I'll…get back to you on it, alright? I'm not really comfortable thinking about it right now."
The Turian understood, nodding, before moving and sitting back down, fiddling with the rifle once more. "I'll be waiting commander."
Samus moved away, heading to the engineering room, wanting to check up on a certain Quarian.
She had found Tali speaking to the chief engineer on the ship, Greg Adams, someone who seemed to be enjoying Tali's company, as they were discussing about the ships energy core, before Adams noticed Samus. "Oh, Commander. Hey." He turned his attention from Tali and shook hands with Samus.
They were on good terms, Adams served on the destroyer type vessel, the SSV Tokyo, along with her and Anderson, and he was hand picked by Anderson to be the chief engineer on this vessel. He and Samus would often discuss the condition of the vessel during meal times in the past, something they had yet to do with this ship.
"Hey Adams. So, how's everything down here? Still in good condition?"
"Of course. Engine's purring along, all systems good." He answered with a confident smile.
Samus then turned her attention to Tali. "How are you Tali? Getting used to being in this place?"
"Samus, your ship is just…amazing! After all the ships I've served on so far, this is just, pure luxury! It's all shiny, new, advanced…a little too quiet, but I'll get used to it eventually. Thank you for letting me come on board!" Tali sounded genuinely happy.
Samus couldn't blame her, she knows about the Quarian fleet, how it's all mostly a rag tag convoy of ships. Old Bird often expressed how sad it was to see such a fine race go into a ruined state like they are now, with no real home to call their own. "You're welcome Tali. Just promise me you won't cause any trouble for Adams."
"Oh she's no trouble at all commander. Actually I'm wishing the rest of my crew here would be just as interested as her when it came to the ship. She's great to have around." Adams reassured.
Samus was glad to hear that. "Well, it's good we're all being friends here. Keep up the fine work Adams, and Tali? Be as helpful as possible alright?"
"Of course!" Tali answered happily.
The commander soon left them alone, and got on the lift, knowing it was perhaps time to see if Joker has got any results yet. Once she reached the top, someone was there, once again, waiting for her. Kaidan. "Shepard. Hey."
"Kaidan." Samus simply answered with, before waling past him, and beginning her trek to the cockpit.
Kaidan was following. "So, I've been talking to Ashley lately and I heard you and her had a, small chat, before we left Citadel space…"
Samus sighed in annoyance, stopping and turning to face him. "Kaidan, I wanted things set straight between me and her about what goes on, on my vessel. I said my part to her."
"You could've been a bit more gentle Shepard. I know your rough on the edges but come on, ease up. Some people do take pride in their names, especially if it effects their career."
"It's your gun arm and your head that matters in a team Kaidan. Names don't protect you from getting a wave of energy bullets embedded into you." Samus responded.
"Yeah but you need motivation, and for Ashley, her family name drives her to do better." Kaidan argued.
"There's more to it then that Kaidan. Her issues with others. Non, human, others."
"Look at the reasons why she's not comfortable with them. She's never worked with them before, the only ones she mostly met have been enemies to her family before, and thanks to her posted positions, she's never gotten to know any."
Samus…couldn't deny that they were fair points. She knew Ashley said something along the lines about never working with them during her career, but obviously, with the signs of being prejudice towards aliens, Samus took everything being said offensively. "…"
Kaidan took it as a sign that she was listening still. "So, can you at least try to patch things up a little instead of leaving it rough for the rest of the mission? Ashley respects you, and you're her commanding officer right now. She needs to know you'll work with her."
Samus looked at him, and eventually nodded. "Alright. Once we've found the matriarchs daughter, I'll have a little girl on girl chat with Ashley, if it at least stops you from bugging me over it again."
Kaidan gave a little chuckle. "Sorry Shepard, but someones got to make sure you don't cause a mutiny or something just because you like to barge through things."
Samus continued on, heading to the cockpit, where Joker was waiting for her. "Hey commander."
"Found anything yet?"
"Well, besides nasty looking planets, a few dead stations, and an eerie black hole several dozen light-years away? Only one place had come up with several Prothean sites. Therum. Old mining location, mostly abandoned now. According to traffic reports of the Galactic Federation, there has been a little recent activity in the area, an Alliance transport ship had dropped someone off at one of the abandoned locations."
Joker paused for a moment, and looked up at Samus from his seat. "Lemme guess, plot a course to land near the site?"
"If you can." Samus looked back at him.
Joker focused back on the console in front of him. "Well, if you want our ship to cook up nicely, then sure, why not. If you don't, I'd recommend taking the Mako out to get down there. There isn't any real big enough location for the Normandy to land at besides the long seas of lava."
"Alright Joker. Keep the ship in once piece while I'm gone." With that, Samus turned around, heading off to the cargo bay.
"Aye aye commander."
The Mako.
Samus has always regarded these things as stiff and lumpy, never the sort of machine she would use. When she had training with it in the N7, she regarded the controls as unresponsive and lacking feeling. She understood it was made to make people feel protected, but there's protection, then there's being stuffed into a metal box on wheels and with a cannon sticking out on top.
What made using it on this trip, onto this rather hot planet, rather horrible, was the fact that there was a big, smelly Krogan in the machine, along with a Quarian, a Turian, and two other humans besides her. They could all just manage to fit in, with Ashley on the turret controls, Kaidan taking care of the sensors, Garrus and Tali sitting in the spare seats for passengers, and Wrex sitting on the floor near them, looking annoyed at the size of the machine.
"How much longer is this gonna take? I can't stand being cramped into a space like this." Wrex moaned about once again.
"Long as it has to Wrex. Ashley, see anything?" Samus didn't mind the heat too much. It was rather pleasant actually, probably compared to her visits to Norfair all those years back, this seems to be just a mild heat wave compared to that.
Ashley shook his head. "Besides lava and rocks all around us?" the turret on the Mako could be heard turning a full 360. "Nothing so far after the small site we saw earlier."
"Kaidan?"
Kaidan looked at his console in front of him. "According to the sensors, the area is lifeless. We're going the right way to the main mining site."
They all felt a bump…then another, then another. "Sorry, seems the road's a little bumpy from here on." Samus explained, her eyes focused on the window view ahead of her.
"Bit late on the information there." Garrus added.
There was silence after, as they rode on. But that soon was lost when Joker contacted them. "Commander! Just picked up a Geth dropship, it's heading to the site, seemingly going the same way as you!"
Just as he finished, a dim blue alien ship flew over head and past them, easily getting ahead, and as it went, it seemed to have dropped off several machines along the way, which smashed into the ground, all closed up, before opening, and standing about three times the height of a human, on four machine like legs, with a head that had a glowing light at the end of it, much like the Geth.
The Geth Armatures. Walking small tanks. Samus recognized them from the information she knew.
"The hell are those?" Ashley had to ask.
"Doesn't matter, just shoot the damn things while I'll do the dodging!" Samus replied, quickly making the Mako skid sideways, and come to a stop, waiting, as Ashley aimed the cannon and it's armament on the side, an energy machine gun. Samus watched carefully from her window, and soon saw a certain brighter glow coming on the heads of the machines, quickly pressing down on the acceleration, and turning the Mako towards them, shooting forwards, as several round energy bolts launched from the heads, and struck where the Mako was several seconds ago.
Samus felt the cannon fire as much as it could, the machine gun almost going endlessly, managing to take out a few of the machines as Samus forced the Mako to go as fast as possible. Unfortunately, not all of the machines blocking their direct way could be dealt with by Ashley…
So Samus dealt with them, by using the thrust engines underneath the Mako, causing it to lift off the ground, combined with it's speed, worked as a ramming device, slamming through the Armatures, most of the time just knocking them down, into lava, or just stunned on the ground. Two received direct strikes into their heads, smashing them in, as the Mako shoved past, with it's driver determined to not allow the Geth to stop her.
Kaidan was shocked by her tactics. "Jesus Samus! The Mako isn't meant to be used like this! The shields are almost dead thanks to you!"
"Relax Kaidan, this junk pile of a machine can take the blows. You just tell me when we're getting close to our destination." Samus couldn't help but enjoy this. The metal box on wheels was her little battering ram, she couldn't do this with her old ships.
Sadly the ride had to come to an end, as one Armature, before Samus rammed through it, got a lucky shot in, the bole of energy striking the side of the Mako, it's shields had died literally moments before, causing the vehicle to skid, before Samus managed to re-aim it, and strike the Armature into the lava.
The Mako though, was hurt, the ram didn't help it as it suffered indents on top of the massive scar on it's hull down the side, along with one of the wheels destroyed. Samus felt it shake as she tried to drive it on, noticing that was the last armature blocking their path, but it struggled, and eventually, she stopped.
Kaidan soon assessed the damage on his monitor. "The thrusters and the cannon are still in a good condition, just the rest of her down one side is in a bad shape. She needs repairs and a replacement tire, although I think it can still go pretty well with one out of six missing."
"Repairs can be done on the Normandy afterwards." Samus knew they didn't need from here anyway…she noticed just up a rocky hill beyond this point, was the main mining site. "We can walk the rest of the way."
Once they stepped out, the heat of the place hit them, with Ashley sweating a fair bit, and Kaidan commenting about the dry heat. Wrex seemed fine with it, as was Garrus. Tali….well, it couldn't be confirmed by the naked eye, but once Samus asked her, she seemed ok.
To Samus, the heat was quite nice…as nice as the sunny beaches of Elysium…
"What with the get up…"
"Is, is that, her swimwear?"
"Shut up. Don't you know who the hell that is? Can't you tell!?"
"Oh my god, it's the galactic saviour…"
"What's she doing here? Do you think there's a criminal?"
"I, I think she's here for a…break. She's just laying there on the beach chair…"
Samus was getting annoyed with the rather audible whispers coming from those around her. Humans, Turians, Asari…they all just can't help but try to talk quietly in her presence. All she wanted to do was to enjoy the sun on her second day here. She got a decent hotel to stay in, and this evening, she's heading to a local mechanic that can help remove the armor.
Thankfully, the guy said he'll do it for free. He seemed honoured that Samus would visit him, kept calling her the galactic saviour. Heck…it was scary in that a lot of people she's encountered so far, especially in the bar, wanted to buy drinks for her…even the barman, a Turian, gave her one on the house.
Speaking of her damned lump of gear, it was horrible to try and sleep in last night. Rarely did she have to back on her missions, most of the time she managed to get back to her ship and get some sleep, and when she needed to rest outdoors, the suit had decent padding inside for comfort…without the helmet, arm cannon, power cells…it just wasn't the same. She managed to get a few hours rest.
Even now it was hard to relax with her gear on. It was getting rapidly stuffy inside, and she had to use a tube to put through her suit in order to pee, making a little hole in it down there…she had no choice, and now her stomach felt a little uncomfortable without going to the loo…she had to wait, the mechanic only had free time at around 6 onwards.
She had her eyelids closed, seeing the sunlight through them…untill it was blocked out by a figure, who just stood over her…she gave whoever or whatever it was several seconds, before complaining. "If you failed to notice, I'm trying to soak up the sun."
The voice she heard surprised her. "So that's what your trying to do, eh princess? I didn't expect you to be the holiday type."
Samus quickly opened her eyes, her vision briefly blurry, before she saw before her, Anthony Higgs, wearing bright blue swimming trunks, and smiling at her. She sat up, glad to see it was him. "Anthony, I wondered where you went after I dropped you off at Aflair from the bottle station. How's Madeline Bergman?"
"She's doing, great. From what I've heard anyway. Don't often talk to her that much anymore. Think she's trying to move on from that incident." Anthony soon sat himself down on a nearby beach chair. "Speaking of moving on, what the devil happened to the suit princess? I don't remember it being this messy." He soon looked at her carefully. "In actual fact…what happened to you?"
"It's called being fucked over by a possible rogue science team who were creating Metroids, destroying their space station, a planet filled with dangerous life, and then getting fired from being a bounty hunter, losing my ship, NEARLY got my ass sent to jail for a term lasting years, and the Galactic bastards decided to take a fair chunk of my now mutated suit that had been done by said possible rogue science team or someone."
"…..So things have been pretty wild for you huh?" Anthony boiled it down to.
"Yep. Things just don't stop for me. Saw asshole Anderson, he helped me lose my ship to save my ass."
"Well a ship is a ship princess. I'm sure if you want, you can get another."
Samus looked down for a moment, then, looked over at the wonderful blue sea. "There…was something more to that ship Anthony. It had a good friend with it…One I can't get back again."
Anthony was shocked. "They destroyed a ship with someone on it?"
Samus didn't answer. Instead she focused on the sea.
"Say, princess. You ever been to city arcades yet?"
Samus looked at him with an eyebrow raised. "Why?"
"Just wondered if you wanted to play a few games, get your mind off things. Come hang around with me for a bit. My treat too, you can have alll the credits you need to try and best me." Anthony gave her a smug look, as he got up. "Course, you don't have to prove yourself…"
Samus got up from the beach chair, smirking. "You're on."
They could see the entrance to the underground mining facility. Samus wondered why there was no more Geth so far…surely they would have someone guarding the entrance if they had come here to make sure no one else could get inside.
"I don't like this hunter. Feels like we're heading into a trap." Wrex held his shotgun up, his eyes darting from place to place, looking at possible locations for Geth to be hiding out at.
"Agreed. Everyone, keep your kinetic shields up." Samus answered that with. She soon led them towards the steel walkway heading into the entrance, and stopped them. Listening out carefully, waiting for the attack…
….
Nothing. Nothing but a faint, distant stomping sound, slow, but soon enough, getting faster and more rapid, getting closer and closer and-
Samus swiftly looked up, assault rifle ready, and saw, flying over them in the air, a big, chunky looking, six legged machine, that soon smashed into the ground close by, landing on it's massive, yellow coloured, heavily shielded and armoured legs that finished with red spikes that it used for stabbing into the ground, it's central spot being completely protected by those legs, untill it rose up, it's legs moving away a little to show it's central armoured point, a round, silver painted cylinder, with one dark yellow glowing orb near the bottom of it, it's sensory system, and two machine gun turrets attached to the top of it, just appearing from within it's casing as it rose up.
A B.O.X robot. A once used security machine by the Galactic Federation that had organic components installed inside it, Samus had to destroy one on the B.S.L station as it had gone rogue, and eventually was infected by the X parasite.
This B.O.X gave them no moment to think, as it quickly begun opening fire to them with it's turrets, forcing them all to move quickly away from the walk way and go in separate directions to avoid being too close to one another.
"A BOX unit? I thought those things were decommissioned and dismantled by the Federation a few years ago?" Ashley quickly got her rifle ready and fired several rounds, all of them being absorbed by the leg armor.
Garrus quickly added things up, After taking a shot with his sniper rifle, noticing that it quickly responded to him targeting it's center by turning and using a leg to defend itself. "Obviously Saren being a spectre back then, he must've managed to buy one and keep it, and now passed it on to the Geth to use on us!"
Kaidan had just dodged several rounds coming from the turrets, and fired his rifle back, again, the annoying legs protecting it from harm. "The center point is weaker on the armor, we gotta somehow hit that! But these things aren't easy to get through!"
The robot soon starting stabbing it's claws-like appendages into the ground, as if digging a little hole, before lowering itself, protecting the cylinder entirely. The turrets on top folded inwards, and a hole opened up on top. Samus knew the machine from the encounter years back. "Watch out, it's either missiles or inferno grenades it's about to throw out!"
The grenades was the choice this time, as it spewed several out towards them, trying to hit them with the explosives, only to just about miss all of them bar Wrex, who got one right on the side of him, fire spreading over him in no time. Thankfully his shields saved his hide, as the fire soon died, and he was okay….though now furious. "Arggh, stupid machine! I ain't that easy to beat!" he quickly used, much to Samus' surprise, biotic powers to try and lift the robot….he lifted one leg, for a moment, before it forced the leg back down. It was too heavy.
The machine soon rose up again, as they all opened fire on it, and it responded with using the machine gun turrets, and, again, using it's legs to keep their bullets from causing harm. Samus was getting annoyed. She wished there was something overhead for her to grab onto, she could easily target it's center point like back on the station…she had to admit it was a good thing there was so many of them here that it needed to keep on a defensive stance, normally a robot like this would be jumping around and giving chance, obviously it's system is telling it, it cannot take that chance due to risk of exposure.
Once again, it soon dug itself in, and unleashed more grenades, this time not hitting anyone, as they all backed off…and due to this, the machine changed tactics a little, by also firing missiles after, managing to just miss Garrus, as he managed to roll out of the way of a few of them. "Is it me or this is thing figuring out the fact we can't hurt it like this?!"
It again fired more missiles…and more, and more. Samus was getting annoyed with this, despite the attempts at firing what was available to them, they couldn't get past the armor plating, even grenades, as they were thrown by Kaidan and Wrex, were countered by the homing missiles. "I REALLY wish there was some ceiling railing I could use right about now!"
Then, the machine shook like crazy, lifting itself up off the ground were it had dug itself in, and stumbled, it's legs being shaky, before the cylinder segment hit the ground, as the machine seemed, stunned.
Samus saw who had just effected it. During this entire fight, Tali had been only using her pistol now and then, keeping her distance. She had been fiddling with her Omni-tool, and managed to access it's systems via hacking, and somehow must've overloaded it's systems to stun it. Annoyingly, the legs were still in the way…
Samus knew how to sort that out. Soon, the machine began to recover, slowly lifting itself back up. "Tali, do that again! Kaidan! Wrex! Target one of the legs with your powers and lift it out of the way the moment it's stunned! Garrus, Ashley, Tali, when they do that, we all throw everything we can at it!"
"I'll trying to access it now!" Tali quickly answered with, before having to move to avoid fire from the B.O.X's turrets, a few of the energy bullets managing to strike her shields.
They all kept firing at it while Tali focused on her Omni-tool once again, Garrus managing to lay one hit past the legs on the cylinder…doing a tiny bit of damage, before it dug itself in again, and responded with missiles, this time one of them hitting him, and taking out his shields. Another struck Samus, doing the same, and knocking her back, the blast having been mostly stopped by the shield thankfully before it died off.
Tali finally got it, the machine shook once again as it got out of it's dug in mode, and it's center piece hit the ground, it's legs moving a little, shaking. Wrex quickly pointed out which leg to target, to which Kaidan nodded, and with both of their efforts combined, their biotic powers working together, the powerful, heavy leg of the B.O.X unit, began to rise up, out of the way.
Garrus, Samus, Ashley and Tali quickly rushed over to the direction of the exposure, and quickly began opening fire, the energy shots hitting the central point, the light steel armor becoming indented and damaged from the bullets, several holes soon appearing from where the armor was pieced.
Soon though, the machine began to move, to started trying to force it's legs back down. "Hunter!" Wrex warned Samus, as she noticed their opening was about to disappear.
Ashley decided to take action, by pulling out one of her grenades, and pressing a button it, causing small fin like parts to come out, and threw it, like a discus, straight at the center, as the leg finally came down, stopping the others…but not the grenade, as it struck it's target, the explosion causing the machine to take several steps back, and seem to have a hard time getting back in the fight…as Samus soon noticed why.
The sensory orb, as she saw between the legs, had been badly damaged, a good chunk of it destroyed, the wires and machine hardware exposed, the orb flickering weakly of light, as it tried to work.
It was blind, it was firing the turrets on top in all directions across the ground, it's legs were moving all over the place to try and protect itself.
They wailed on it, firing their guns at every chance they got at it's exposed center, with the machine unable to defend it's weakness. Wrex even dared to get close and in-between it's legs stomping around, he managed to fire his shotgun several times at close range, blasting holes into it's armor.
The machine soon finally collapsed, after they all shot into the exposed wiring from the holes formed by there attacks, damaging it's insides, and with a few grenades from Ashley, Tali and Garrus, it finally was beaten, the combined blasts causing it to stumble over to the ground on it's side, legs twitching and sparking, it's cylinder center damaged, smashed in, torn open…and soon, it shut down, no longer able to function with such damage.
They all look to each other, and knew they did a good job as a team, giving each other a look of approval, even Wrex was impressed by what they did together…Ashley though, who looked to Kaidan and the others, did not look at Samus, even as she spoke. "Alright, nice work. Now with that little annoyance out of the way, we need to head down into the site."
"To be honest commander, we should have a group of us kept posted out here, incase the geth decide to send an extra squad now their toy is broken." Garrus pointed out.
"Good idea. Who's up for guard duty?" Samus looked to them, wondering.
"I'll do it." Tali answered.
"Sure, why not. Could be cramped down there." Wrex was quite content with keeping out of tight spaces after the Mako.
"…I'll stay too." Ashley responded.
"Kaidan, Garrus, let's move." Samus quickly led them into the place, deciding that Ashley can be spoken to later.
The mines were a mix of modern Galactic Federation technology and of Prothean ruins, surprisingly decently intact, ruins. It seems from what the three could see, the miners gave up…or were shoved out, once they uncovered these ruins, or the resources they sough were drained dry, and just left the area alone.
As all three got on a mining lift that begun to head down deeper in the place, Garrus decided to speak. "So, I take it you met that kind of unit directly before Shepard? Because I didn't know the position it needs to be in to fire those missiles and grenades."
"The B.S.L station had one Garrus. I assume it must've went rogue when it came after me at one point. Tried to stop me from getting to an upgrade for my suit. Back at that fight there was railing I could use to get above the machine and unleash hell at it's center. Same for the second encounter too." She looked over the side, seeing how far the mine went.
"Second encounter?" Garrus repeated.
"I met it much later, just as I was about to look into the dirty little secrets the station had. By then it was infected by the X parasite thanks to it's organic components. Destroyed it this time. Then of course, I found out about what they were doing, as you probably heard what 'rumours and lies' I spewed out."
Garrus nodded. "My father allowed access for me to all the reports on your jobs, especially about the hidden Metroid developments. He never believed it, but I did. Everyone has their secrets, and creating an army of Metroids? I'd believe the Federation might try to pull that off."
Samus looked over to him. "…Why did he allow you access to my mission reports?"
"Well I wanted access to read up on the most impressive bounty hunter the galaxy has ever known really, and, to be honestly frank with you?-" Garrus didn't get a chance to finish, as the lift suddenly came to an abrupt stop, sparks coming from the machines it was connected to, the doors of the lift opening.
"Save it for later. Seems like the end of the ride." Samus looked, and noticed they were only a few feet from the second to last level to the ground. There was a perfectly good walkway to jump onto, and she did so, with Garrus and Kaidan following. They soon saw why the lift stopped working. Damaged bits of metal were underneath it, blocking the way…and damaging the lift now, as it no longer worked, meaning they had to find another way back out.
What Kaidan noticed, as Garrus and Samus were distracted, was, just a few dozen feet away, within a part of the Prothean ruin, was an Asari woman, seemingly held in place by energy, and a force field was in front of her. She seemed surprised to see them. "Uhh, Shepard? We're being watched."
"Hello? Hello can you help me? I'm trapped! Can you hear me? Hello?" The Asari girl seemed desperate. Samus moved closer, looking her up and down, as Garrus and Kaidan followed.
"What the devil happened to you? How'd you get caught up in that?" Samus had to ask.
"I was busy looking at the ruins when the Geth arrived a little while ago, so I hid in here, and triggered the force field, although, I fear I may have misunderstood this device, and now realize it is also a security trap." She explained.
"Well that what happens when you toy around with things…alright, how do we get you out miss…?"
"Liara T'Soni. Well, the console I used to activate this is on this side with me, and after the Geth tried, I don't think there's a way through this barrier. You'll have to look for a route that helps you get behind here."
"Why are the Geth after you? Are you Matriarch Benezia's daughter?" Kaidan asked.
Liara looked surprised. "My mother is involved with them? What is going on? Has something happened to her?"
Samus decided to save it for now. "We'll explain after we get you out of there, okay?"
Liara paused to think, seemingly unsure about Samus and her friends, but soon, nodded.
Samus and Kaidan then heard an energy shot being fired from nearby them, and both turned, to see that Garrus had been busy, now near the other side of the walkway, his sniper rifle out, and just fired it, taking out, as Samus and Kaidan came over to look, a Geth unit. "Seems like the Geth are hanging around down there Shepard. Want me to hold this position while you guys move in?"
Samus gave a nod, before starting to walk down the pathway, heading to the bottom level, with Kaidan in tow, hearing a second shot being fired from Garrus' rifle, and hearing a Geth make a gurgled noise as the round hit.
She and Kaidan soon stopped just before they reached the opening to the bottom level, which seemed to a big ol' mining laser machine, and a massive open area. She quickly looked up to where Garrus was, noticing he was looking through his scope. "Kaidan, the moment he fires, we move forward. Be alert, and shoot on sight."
Kaidan was about to answer, but the moment Garrus fired his third shot, Samus moved out of cover, rifle ready, and begun to move forward, already firing on a target. Kaidan just followed her as always, taking whatever shots he could at the Geth that had been hiding in the crevices and small caves in the walls.
They really weren't a match for the three of them. If any managed to avoid Samus, Kaidan would pick them off, and if he missed, Garrus had them covered from his higher position. Soon enough, there was around twenty trashed Geth across the area, and a one relieved Samus. "Well, that seems to be all they sent down here. Seems all clear now."
"Now, how to we get into where Liara is Shepard? I don't see a route we can take." Kaidan looked around carefully, soon noticing a possible way, one that led right into the ruins no doubt, but the amount of stone and rubble in the way… "Well, one that we can use now that won't take weeks to uncover."
Samus had motioned Garrus to come down, and soon saw what Kaidan had looked at, before thinking, and looking at the mining laser. "Huh, easy enough Kaidan. We blast it."
Kaidan looked at her with a face of slight, disbelief. "Uhh, do you even know how to use one of those? Miners have to be trained ya know, to use them safely without any danger to themselves. It's a pretty damn big machine, I mean first it's gotta be aimed, then of course, firing it…"
"It's a big gun Kaidan, that's all. Trust me, I know what I'm doing with this."
…
"Shepard, you REALLY should look at the energy output gauge before-"
"FIRING!"
Samus slammed her hand into the console on the machine, as the huge mining laser charged up it's energy, and fired a massive blast of red kinetic heat at the rubble and stone in the way, obliterating it in one fell swoop, the explosion noise vibrating through the whole place and echoing off the walls, shaking the place a little from the sheer level of power Samus had used.
The commander looked proud of herself, despite her ears ringing quite badly right now, yelling out to Kaidan and Garrus, who shook his head a little trying to get rid of said ringing noise. "You were saying Kaidan! I think that done the job pretty-uh oh."
She noticed that the console was sparking, and small electric currents could be seen flowing over it, making her quickly back away from the machine, and noticing her sudden move away, the others followed….before a large chunk of the mining laser, the rear part, exploded, sending debris all over the place, and forming black smoke afterwards, slowly rising up.
Samus had just blown all the energy conduits, in one use.
She noticed Kaidan was frowning after that, as the debris thankfully landed around them, and the ringing in their ears slowly died off. "…Oh come on, it did the job. Don't whine."
"It's not like anyone else needs it." Garrus pointed out, making Kaidan look at him with disapproval now.
"Thank you Garrus." With that, Samus walked ahead of them, to the hole they made into the ruins, which appeared to be in great condition, even with a workable lift of some sort in the center, that could led up to where Liara was, and thankfully, back up to the top floor it looked like, and thus, the exit.
As they got on the lift, Samus begun looking at the lift controls, not sure what buttons does what, but after pressing a few, it seemed to start going up.
Soon they were on the same level as Liara, who just heard them walk off the lift up behind her. "I, I heard two explosions and saw smoke, what did you do?"
"Isn't it obvious? Got into here." Samus begun moving over towards the device that was holding Liara in place, when Kaidan decided to warn her.
"Hold on Shepard. How can we tell she isn't really working with Benezia and this is all a set up? We should be questioning her while we have the chance."
Samus decided to answer that. "Well it seems to be well set up, I mean all that rubble really seemed to be placed well for a quick fix before we got here, with a non-preset mining laser that I just damaged beyond repair." The sarcasm was either obvious in the tone of her voice.
With that, she didn't even bother trying to work the device. She just pulled out her rifle and fired at it, frying the system, and making it release Liara, and shut down the force field that was in-between them all before. "Thank you, Shepard. Now, can you explain to me fully what is going on with my mother?"
Samus explained about the fact that Matriarch Benezia is working with the Geth, and with a now rogue spectre named Saren, on a mission to bring back something called the Reapers, a race of machines, and need to find something called the Conduit. She then told Liara that they were on a mission to stop her mother and Saren from finding such a thing.
Liara, didn't seem convinced on all that. "I…need time to think this all over…Reapers? The Conduit? I've never heard of such things before…"
Samus understood her disbelief, and wanted to explain, but her communicator went off. "Hunter. This is Wrex. You got trouble on the way."
"Trouble? Reinforcements from the Geth?"
"Yeah, first that damned robot went active again, then the Geth dropship came back, dropping off some extra friends, including a Krogan who's working for them. We had to pull back to the Mako. Only a few of the Geth gave chase, and we managed to bring them down. Couldn't fight them all though. The robot seemed to have gotten picked up by the dropship, before it flew off again."
"How many do you think are coming? Are you three alright?"
"I took a few hits, so did that human girl Ashley, but we're both fine. As for numbers, I'm not sure, just get ready for a fight when your trying to get out."
"Alright. Thanks for the heads up. Shepard out." Samus turned to the other two. "Got all that?"
Garrus nodded. "So, a little goodbye party before leaving this rock huh?"
Liara looked rather concerned. "More Geth? Why are they after me?"
Kaidan guessed it. "Rather obvious, your Benezia's daughter. She probably wants you to work with her, by force."
Liara wasn't sure to believe that. "No, my mother wouldn't allow harm to come to me…she never would…"
Then, the ground rumbled, like a minor earthquake…before cracks were seen on the cave walls outside the ruins, along with chunks of debris coming from above.
"Oh that's not good…" Garrus added to the obvious.
"Something must've upset the delicate stability of the mine and the ruins. They were already slightly unstable and at risk of collapsing when I first got here." Liara deduced.
Kaidan frowned again, knowing full well what has happened, two, things, that have happened, with the sheer noise, vibrations, and destruction could've led to this, looking over at Samus.
"Alright, I accept the blame Kaidan! Fine! Ugh, if it's not self destruction, it's collapsing in on itself…Let's move people!"
All four quickly got back on the lift, and pressing the same buttons as before, it began to move up again. Samus took this time to get on the communicator. "Ashley, this is Shepard, bring the Mako to the mining entrance, gonna need a quick pick up and lift off, this place is about to break apart!"
"Aye aye, ma'am."
Then, she got into contact with Joker. "Joker, bring the Normandy down for a pickup near the site!"
"Got it Commander, bringing her down!"
Samus then turned her focus to Liara. "Are you any good with weapons?"
"I, I have skill with my biotics, and I can aim a pistol pretty well." She replied.
Samus threw her the pistol she was carrying. "Just give us support as much as you can, we'll handle most of the fighting."
When they got to the top floor, entering the ruins from the mine, was the Krogan Wrex had warned about…not only him, but several Geth, one that held a sniper rifle, two with shotgun like weapons, and the others carrying rifles, while the Krogan carried a shotgun, he chuckled darkly as he saw Samus and the others. "Well, when I heard the job was going to be easy, I didn't expect to be THIS easy."
"I take it you've already noticed that this place is gonna crush all of us soon, right?" Samus asked it.
"A collapsing ruin, a battle for survival…it's wonderful, isn't it? Especially since I get to kill three of you, and collect the fourth, the Asari." The Krogan readied his shotgun.
"Well, I just wanted to make sure you know what'll happen to your messed up corpse when I'm through with you, that's all!" With that, Samus pulled out a grenade, activating the fins, and threw it right at a couple of the Geth, taking two of them out straight away, their torsos blasted apart, before quickly moving for cover, as did Garrus, Kaidan and Liara, all avoiding the shotgun blast of the Krogan and the rounds from the Geth.
Kaidan managed to give a headshot to another Geth, while Garrus took a few shots at the Krogan, it's kinetic shielding proving to be rather tough, as the bullets didn't get through, as it marched forward, heading towards Samus, who was ready for it, quickly rolling out of cover, and raining bullets on the beast while running to another place to hide behind, pissing the Krogan off as he managed to miss again and again.
Liara had been watching the fighting, and didn't notice that one of the Geth had been sneaking up on her, and was about to grab her when she realized on the last moment, and used her powers to throw the thing into the wall of the ruin, smashing it's back, and stunning it, before firing several rounds into it to make sure it was dead.
Garrus and Kaidan had been diverted now by the Geth as they opened fire on them, leaving Samus to wait for the Krogan to get close, then jump out again, and open fire, just dodging most of the energy blast from the shotgun, a little bit of the hitting her shields, as she was ready to move out of the way to more cover. The Krogan was not in the mood to chase again, as his shields finally were disabled, and felt a few energy bullets strike him.
With a mighty roar, he charged at Samus, and smashed right into her using his shoulder as a ram, knocking the wind out of her, shutting off her shields, and charging her into the wall, slamming her body into it, before stepping back, and letting her fall to the ground on her hands and knees, holding her chest with one hand, and dropping her rifle.
"Annoying little human! DIE!" He aimed his shotgun, and, as Samus was about to force herself up to knock his gun out of the way and beat the shit out of him, pain erupted down one side of her body…the X parasite was acting up, now, of all times.
Thankfully, she had luck on her side, as a certain Asari had seen the Krogan knock Samus down, and used her biotic like she did with the Geth, on the Krogan, except this time, she just lifted him off the ground, with him trying to grab somewhere to top himself going up in the air, in this vulnerable state.
For him though, being launched in the air was the last thing he knew of, before he felt something hit right into, and through, his skull three times, before everything went black.
Garrus had seen what Liara had done, and after smashing in one of the lights of the Geth with the butt of his rifle and kicking it down, he took the shots, making sure to kill the bastard, before Liara's power wore off.
The body soon hit the ground, and the last Geth was finished off by Kaidan, before he went over to Samus, worried, as she slowly got herself up. "Shepard, what's wrong?"
Samus was just recovering, the tingling sensation the pain left behind slowly fading away. "Just, my medical issues chose the wrong time to act up, knew I should've taken an extra dose."
She noticed soon that the vibrations in ruins were becoming constant and more violent. "We need to get the hell out now! Everyone MOVE!"
Samus had forgotten what it was like to run full pelt without the Chozo armor on and regular gear on. Certainly more heavy then what she's used when running for her life, dashing up the walkways, just missing the odd decent sized rock nearly smashing her head in.
As they were going up through, as Samus looked down the shaft of the mine one more then, she noticed something.
The place was rapidly beginning to fill with magma. Obviously the seas of it outside had managed to breach the walls now, and was quickly pouring in. it wouldn't take long for it to get to their level, making her only push herself more, and shouting to the others "DON'T STOP WHEN WE GET OUTSIDE! WE GOTTA GET IN THE MAKO AND GET OFF THIS ROCK!"
The heat of the air met them as they escaped, Samus leaving last, and waiting for them at the bottom of the walkway, was the Mako, the rear of it opened and waiting, as the vibrations could be felt out here, a good distance above, was the Normandy, it's docking bay opened.
"IN! IN NOW!" Samus yelled to her crew and Liara, making them all pretty much just cram themselves into the Mako, with her getting in and slamming the button to close up the rear of the vehicle, just as magma blasted out of the entrance into the mine.
The Mako activated it's thrusters, lifting them all away from the ground that was quickly being covered over by the burning liquid, and up to the Normandy, as the mine begun to explode, splashes of the molten lava getting higher and closer to the ship, as it finally got the Mako, closed it's bay, and took off out of the orbit, leaving the place to it's fate.
"Well Commander, 10 more seconds and we would have gotten a nice new lick of burning hot paint for the Normandy. Ya know, because we've always needed some of the hull melted, frying our sensors...hey, maybe if you wanted, we could've gone swimming in the molten lava. The Normandy isn't equipped to land in exploding sites like that, but hey, why not give a try huh?"
The sarcastic voice was of Joker over the intercom of the Normandy, an hour after their departure from Therum. Samus, Garrus, Wrex, Kaidan, Ashley, Tali and the newcomer, Liara, were in the meeting room, all of them but Samus were sitting in chairs circled around the room, with their commander standing in the middle.
"Joker, I've been in closer encounters then that before. Who knows, you might get the chance to try and get the Normandy away from an exploding planet in 5 seconds."
"Great." He answered in a dead, flat tone. "I'll just call my funeral directors in advance before you do that."
"Is he always like this?" Tali asked.
"Joker is allowed to be this time. He did save our asses by quickly getting the Normandy away." Samus looked at the Quarian, then, turned her attention to Liara. "You okay? You said you needed a little while to get yourself together."
"Yes. Yes I'm fine. The, shock of being chased by the Geth is taking a little while to get over, that's all…that, and they could've been sent by my mother of all people…" Liara hadn't gotten entirely over it, Samus could see it, but she was starting to understand.
"I take it your mother normally isn't the sort to do this kind've thing? Running to bring the end of life by a race of machines?" Ashley said to the Asari.
"No, not at all. She is a kind, understanding woman. To hear her working with Saren…Speaking of these, machines, these Reapers. What are they about? Do you know anything about them?" Liara sat forward.
Samus answered this. "They're a race that destroyed the Protheans, wiped them out. The conduit is what's needed to summon them back and do it again, probably to humanity, and all the Federation."
Liara had that face that showed she wasn't sure if Samus was insane or not. "Wiped out the Protheans? That's not possible. I've never heard of them before, and in my years of research, I've never found any recordings of such things. Where did you get this info from?"
"Geth know of them, and know of what they did to the Protheans. And from what, I saw from the Prothean Beacon, It may have been that same information. Fact is, it's a danger we can't ignore."
Liara now was stunned. "An, active, Prothean beacon? You interacted with one? How? …what did you see?"
Samus thought about it. "The images are hard to sort out in my mind. It's a blur, a fast blur, but from what I felt, what I saw, was death, and war."
"Well…Maybe I can help." Liara offered.
Samus knew what she meant with that. "Melding of minds? I don't really think that's a good idea…My mind isn't a place people would want to peep into, Asari or otherwise."
"Shepard, it could help you figure the images out better, maybe even give a clue to where the conduit is." Kaidan gave Samus a small smile of reassurance.
Samus obviously still wasn't in approval, but, with Liara being the only lead they had… "Alright, fine…But I'm not to be blamed if you don't like what you see, are we clear on this Liara?"
Liara was getting curious as to why Samus was reluctant, and got up out of her chair, heading over to the commander. "I'll try to not be alerted…now, Shepard, please…relax your body and mind…"
The Asari slowly closed her eyes, as Samus did so, taking deep, calm breaths, before Liara opened her eyes again, now pitch black. "Embrace eternity!"
Liara felt her mind fill with brief memories. The flashes of the images of war sprung by, shocking her at how quick they went, then, she saw an image of Samus being slowly pulled in by the beacon, hearing Kaidan call out to her.
Then, she saw what Samus saw after the images, the last one, of the Chozo that was her father, Gray Voice. Liara could only hear Samus's name being whispered by him, and one part of what he imparted to her.
"-There are many people in the universe who need your strength-…"
Then, Liara saw a baby Metroid, having just come out of it's egg, flying high, and making it's squealing sound, and saw, what seemed to be, a Chozo power suit arm cannon aim at the creature for a moment, before the Metroid got closer, making the same sounds, and begun slowly flying around her, in a passive manner.
A flicker of images, then, before Liara, was Mother Brain, with her large, hideous body, towering over her. She felt weak, exhausted. She couldn't stand, couldn't fight…she felt helpless, as Mother Brain began to charge something up within her massive eye…
Then, another flash of images, and for a small moment, she saw Adam Malkovich, dressed in his squad armor, holding his gun up, slowly marching towards a door from a dimly lit blue steel hallway…she was stumbling, reaching out to him…she heard Samus within this moment. "Wait!…ADAM! WAIT, ADAM!"
Liara felt a burning sensation across her cheek, as she was suddenly blocked out from the mind of the commander, woken up from her trance state…
Samus had slapped her, showing she could see what Liara was seeing…and obviously reacted when she felt Liara was digging too far. She was panting, the memories felt like they were fresh again…and had a few tears down her cheeks from seeing it again. Old wounds that she didn't want open…
"Commander!" Kaidan had stood up and walked over, noticing Samus was distressed.
Liara looked at Samus carefully, her eyes back to normal, and soon added up what she had seen. "You…the Chozo, your first name, the Chozo power suit….I don't believe it…"
Samus didn't answer her, she turned away from them all. "Everyone, dismissed. We're done here."
Wrex and the others were unsure of what to do at first, but eventually, Kaidan motioned at them all to get up and come out of the meeting room. He made sure Liara was okay, talking to her quietly as they left, leaving Samus on her own.
She didn't need to think about that loss, she didn't want to feel it again…Anthony understood her. He understood she was in pain over him…
"Hey princess…how long has it been now, since that mission?"
Samus and Anthony was sitting on the edge of a pathway that was a few meters above the beachside. The sun was just touching the horizon, the people who had been on the white sand of the beach were now starting to leave.
Samus had been to the mechanic with Anthony, and now, she was out of her suit. It was left there with the mechanic for now, who locked it up to make sure it was safe before they left.
She had been wearing her zero suit, but it got damaged in the process of removing the power suit, so Anthony got her several new pieces of clothing, including something she was wearing right now, A blue suit, made of a cotton like fabric, and was a set, a long sleeve shirt and a pair of trousers, that was slightly loose, and covered her up to her hands, feet and neck. She was wearing a bikini set underneath, incase she felt like taking a dip, and was wearing a deep blue pair of comfy shoes.
She didn't do it though, go swimming…she saw her skin for the first time in a long while after the removal of her damaged zero suit in dressing room after Anthony suggested she try several sets…it was pale, dried, and veins were showing in several areas. She was horrified. She was sure the last time she checked after the operation, her skin was a lot better then this.
She couldn't even hide it all, even now…she looked at her once wielding arm cannon hand, the blue veins showing up on it…in her other hand, was a plastic sealed cup with a straw, containing a pink fizzy drink Anthony got for her.
"Princess? Samus?" Anthony was trying to get her attention. He was wearing a pair of black sunglasses, a white short sleeve shirt, a pair of jean shorts, and a pair of green sandals.
"It's been 10 months and 17 days, to be precise Anthony." Samus replied to him.
Anthony then looked out to the sea, taking a sip from his drink. "…Still miss him, don't you?"
"Like you wouldn't believe….Still feels like his death has been for nothing too, the Federation never believed me about the Metroids. Then, and this last mission too. It would've helped if you were around, or even Madeline."
"Well I did warn you we needed time to get her somewhere safe. She didn't want to face the Federation, they would've tossed all the blame on her. By the time I managed to make sure she was completely hidden and safe, they stopped the whole investigation. Said they denounced what you said as 'A made up fictional story.'. That's why I just left the Alliance afterwards. Heck, if they weren't willing to stand up for you, I wasn't gonna keep following them."
There was a brief moment of quietness between them, before he spoke again. "Also, what exactly happened on this last mission of yours that royally screwed you over? You said about the scientists and all but, well, give me the details."
She did, she spoke to him about the whole mission, the SA-X, the parasites, the aliens she had to fight off, the revelation of more experiments by the Federation being conducted…and, eventually, admitted and told him about the good friend she had lost….she told him about Adam.
She told him Anderson had allowed him to die again, and it was Adam that helped her end the experiments and the X parasite. "Adam was alive again Anthony. I knew it was him. He talked like Adam, watched out for me like Adam…it was him, but David refused to see that. He didn't believe it, and let Adam die."
Anthony had been drinking his drink, and now, there was a little slurping noise as it just ran out, the straw no longer bringing up any more. He put the cup down besides him, as Samus started taking a sip of hers. "You know David and Adam were very close princess. And David never trusted self thinking machines, so, to hear his close friend being turned into one…"
"He was a father to me, Anthony."
"I know, but David probably done this to spare you princess. To him, Adam was dead. David was one of the only ones who believed your testimony about the Metroid experiments on the bottle ship, because he refused to think his friend died in vain. From what you told me, if Adam didn't die again, you would've been imprisoned for years on end, instead of getting this chance."
Samus looked at him, a little angered. "You agree with David then?"
"Think of this way princess, what would Adam have done if the roles were reversed?"
She was silent…she didn't want to admit that, knowing Adam, he would've done the exact same thing. Afterall, it was just her who knew him in his AI form, no one else did…to them, it was no loss…
She sighed, and leaned back a little. "…I can't just let him go. I took me years to let Gray Voice go."
"You'll pick things up and move on eventually." Anthony gave her a smile. "Why don't we go and get a bite to eat? You must be a little hungry now after you finally…ahem, 'evacuated the rear section of your vessel'."
She frowned at him, punching him a little in the arm. "Jerk. Sure, why not."
As Anthony laughed and got himself up, when Samus moved, that shocking pain struck again, making her nearly fall forward to fall down onto the beach, but thankfully, Anthony grabbed her, as she looked like she was having a fit. To her, it was like being stabbed in several places with plasma covered knives, the pain was spreading throughout her, and for a moment, she was sure she was going to black out from it.
But it soon wore off, and she noticed she was laying on the pathway, with Anthony over her, looking concerned, as were several people who were passing by. "Samus, Samus! You okay? What the heck just happened?"
Samus, could feel her body tingle all over, and with great effort, managed to sit herself up, looking at the small group gathered, then at Anthony. "It's…I'm not sure. It's been happening lately…maybe it's just being out of my complete power suit. Maybe I've caught something on the Citadel."
"You should it yourself checked up. Go to the hospital for a bit." Anthony suggested.
"Yeah, Yeah that's a good idea."
"Commander? Commander you there?" Joker's voiced called out over the intercom.
"Joker?"
"Just wanted you know we got a transmission from the Citadel council. They read your brief report on the situation with retrieving Liara T'Soni. Want me to patch them through?"
"Go for it. Patch them through into the meeting room." Samus turned and faced, soon enough, three holographic projectiles of the council members. "Councillors."
Sparatus nodded towards her. "Good work on finding T'Soni Shepard. I take it she's under detainment for now until you fully find out if she's working with her mother? Does she know anything about the Conduit?"
Samus shook her head. "It's not needed. She seems confused and concerned about the way her mother is right now. The Geth trying to get to her showed that. This means she's a dead end. She can't lead us to Saren. And for the Conduit, she seems just as lost as we are on that."
"Well, then let's be grateful we managed to find another one. We had it ready should this one fall short." Tevos looked over to Valern who explained.
"One of our agents who's been tracking some, business, on Noveria, has recently added in her reports about a matriarch arriving on that planet, and, after hunting out information, found out this particular matriarch is looking into Sarens 'investments' into the company known as Binary Helix."
Tevos then turned her attention to Samus. "We would like you to proceed to Noveria and pursue the matriarch, as it must be with no doubt, Benezia."
"Understood." Samus replied.
"And make sure not to destroy anymore Prothean ruins Shepard. We're trying to learn more about that species, not burn everything they had into the ground." Sparatus added.
"I had little choice in the matter, as it was the only way to reach T'Soni. If anymore ruins get in the way between me and Benezia, I'll blast them apart."
Tevos quickly raised her hand at Sparatus, who wanted to respond back to that, but was stopped. "If needs must Shepard. Good luck."
Garrus was sitting in the dining area of the ship, having a drink by himself, when Samus came down the steps and past the lift, just noticing him before going in it. "Ah, there you are."
Garrus looked up, and spotted her. "Commander. You alright now? Liara seemed to have worked you up a fair bit earlier."
Samus came over and sat down opposite him. "Yeah…just saw the past…didn't like it. I'll go and speak to her shortly. I just wanted to ask you about the lift back on Therum, about what you wanted to say."
Garrus looked away for a moment, unsure if he should. "Well, it's just about, your past, really. See, I know you have issues with it and all but…well…it inspired me. A lot. I kept reading up on your reports thanks to my father, read about the Chozo, their history, about the space pirates-"
Samus quickly knew where this was going. "-You're a fan."
Garrus nodded. "Even been putting funds on the side from my father and my own pay checks to create my own power suit back home. Course, it won't let me roll up into a ball or have an interchangeable arm cannon, but it'll be a lot better then this standard stuff we get. Been working on it for around 6 years."
Samus sighed and lowered her head, putting her hands in her hair. This is really what she doesn't need right now. Now she knew what'll be going on from here on out, asking questions all the time, wanting to know the experience, what was the tech spec of the power suit and so on…
"You being present Samus, is the reason I joined this adventure, not just because of Saren. It's to know you, and to know the feeling of setting your own laws and codes. Being a spectre can't be that different from being a bounty hunter, right?"
Samus gave out a loud sigh, before looking up at Garrus. "Garrus…"
"You were the reason I became a cop. I wanted to dish out some justice like you did, prove to those pirate bastards and any criminals that try to mess with people that they can't go around and do as they please with me on watch. I even tried to become a spectre, so I could get that freedom.-"
"Vakarian!"
That got Garrus' attention.
"I don't like having fans, especially of my past 'adventures' as a bounty hunter, who allowed it to shape their lives, on any ship Garrus. Most I beat the crap out of if they annoy me, others I just report to Anderson and he keeps their shifts separate from mine…You, have been useful so far, so what I want you to do is make sure you don't let your fan boy side hinder your use in our team at any time. Or I'll change my tune about allowing you on board, and personally put in a request to have you transferred back to the Citadel."
Garrus was taken aback a little bit, but, as he mentally thought to himself, he should've expected this from her, every time anything to do with those days have been visibly annoying or upsetting her. "Samus I didn't mean to offend…I just…" he nodded after a moment. "Of course commander. I won't let it. You can count on that."
Samus sat back after that for a while, before getting up, and looking over to the medical room, noticing Liara was there for a moment, speaking with Chakwas for a moment, before heading into the room next door. She was about to leave Garrus be, but remembered something. "…It was scary."
Garrus looked up at her "Huh?"
"Those weeks being alone, especially when you get into the deeper locations of planets, when your communications fail you, and it isn't easy getting back to your ship….it was scary. When you know everything was out to get you. When you know they'll be looking for you, and if you close your eyes for too long, they can kill you without you knowing…I wouldn't wish for anyone to know of what that feels like." With that, she headed off into the medical area, giving Chakwas a nod as she went by, and entered where Liara was.
Liara was sitting down at a desk, looking over a few data pads, just starting to read one, when she notices Samus had arrived, and quickly got up and turned to face her. "Ar-I mean, Shepard, I'm sorry about earlier."
Samus sighed a little, looking around the room. "I know. I'm sorry for slapping you. I'm just, sensitive about back then."
Liara nodded. "I felt your feelings in those moments. They were powerful, strong, controlling…That machine brain monster I saw…was that-"
"Mother Brain. Yes."
"I never expected her to be so large, or so frightening. If people knew, it would make them wonder how you overcame such odds."
"Luck and lost companions Liara."
Liara grimly nodded. "I take it that's what the man is. A person you lost…Adam."
"Yeah…"
The Asari wasn't sure what to say now, as Samus could see, so, she decided to continue. "So, do you know anything from the images you saw? The images from the beacon?"
"No, nothing I could recognize. They were rapid, and fast, the images of your past took over too quickly, as if they're linked. Either that, or your mind has been opened with a meld before."
"Well, the Chozo were the kind who believed our minds should be controlled, but not restricted to others. I was taught to open my mind, psychically and otherwise…obviously that's allowed you to look around."
Liara nodded in agreement. "It would seem so…I wish I could meld with you again sometime, or, at least, I'd like to examine you a bit more, especially due to your heritage."
Samus looked a little horrified and disturbed, on purpose. "Whoa whoa. You want to cut me open on an examination table? You want me to kick your ass or something?"
Liara looked shocked at that notion. "No! That's not what I…I mean, I just wanted to. Oh, by the goddess, I didn't mean to imply-"
Samus smiled a little, noticing she was getting the poor young Asari worked up. "Relax Liara. I'm joking. I won't kick your ass. I knew what you meant."
Liara looked dumbfounded for a moment, but then, realized. "Ah! I see! Oh by the goddess, you must think I'm an utter fool for panicking like that. I'm not used to false threats and jokes, even after being on several alliance vessels, you humans are quite vexing to me."
"It's fine. So, Liara, I take it by what you said, you wish to stay on my ship? I can drop you off at the Citadel if you prefer."
She shook her head. "No. I wish to remain on board. You said about my mother, no doubt you may encounter her as you intend to stop Saren…and if she really is allied with him…"
"You want to try and make her reconsider."
Liara sat down in her chair. "Yes. Especially if she really is trying to get to these 'Reapers'. Although I admit, I do not know what I'll do if she refuses to listen…"
"One step at a time girl. For now, I'll let you be the first to get the news. We might be seeing her soon."
"Huh?"
"We're going to Noveria to meet her…and knowing our luck, we might get the same reception as we did on Therum."
1. B.O.X is a unit that appeared in Metroid Fusion. I always believed it to have four legs, but it turns out, according to the wiki and other sources, it's six legs.
2. Anthony Higgs is of course, that guy. "Remembah me?"
-Dragonridley.
