Hello, this is the second chapter to story.
This was checked by EclipsePheniox, who also provided help in writing this chapter, and he approved it.
Enjoy.
Also, Happy Valentine's Day 2013.
Disclaimer, I do not own anything, except my own OC's and what also belongs to EclipsePheniox.
I am sorry for any grammar errors. English is my second language.
Publish date= 2-14-2013
Location: Freedom's Progress
In the middle of the now deserted colony, a green sphere appears in the middle of the colony and out of it comes Team 147. The sphere then disappears. The team looks around and immediately feels that there was something wrong about the place.
"Okay, does anybody else feel like we landed in a ghost town?" Yuma said.
"What gave you that idea, the silence or the empty buildings?" Serena said sarcastically.
"Knock it up you two, we need to be vigilant at the moment, we don't know anything about this place." John said.
"Yes sir." Both girls said.
"Shroud, activate your tracking beacon, the faster LSA forces get a ping on your location, the faster they will send help." Shepard ordered.
"Beacon has been activated. Anything else Captain?" Shroud asked.
"Scan the area for anything that is moving." John ordered.
"Yes sir." Shroud said as he then made a large area scan. (Think the scanning that Didact does to the Infinity and the Dawn)
Five minutes later, Shroud speaks again.
"I have detected several lifeforms; among them are unknown beings and humans. They are about three minutes from our current location due to the west. Also, there is also the possibility of a battle going on because I also detected what scans say is weapon's discharge." Shroud said.
"All right people you heard him, let's move." John ordered as they then started to run to where Shroud had informed the people were.
Shepard had his Light Rifle out, Naedrun had his green psi-blades and his plasma cannons ready, Lance had his Bolt gun out, Shroud was charging up his beams and both Yuma and Serena had their Forerunner Blades (though in Serena's case, hers was a chainsaw/Forerunner hybrid) out.
It took them two minutes to get there, and upon arriving they saw a duo of humans, a woman and a man, alongside 5 unknown aliens wearing some sort of environmental suit firing at what appeared to be several human size mechs, along with some flying drones.
"Oh damn." Lance said as he was looking at the battlefield with his gun's scope.
"What?" John asked.
"The man and woman, look at their uniforms." Lance said as John looked at the two with his scope.
"Cerberus." He snarls at seeing the logo on their clothes.
"John, remember what Carl said, we need them alive for now." Serena said.
"I know, but still." John said.
"Come on, let's go save them." Lance said.
"Alright, team we go in quietly. Naedrun open up the mind link." John said.
Naedrun then stays still for a moment and then his voice is heard, but inside the minds of his friends, including Shroud, thanks to the nanites that Naedrun has in him.
'Can everyone hear me?' Naedrun asked.
'Check.' Yuma said.
'Check.' Serena said.
'Check.' John said.
'Check.' Shroud said.
'Check.' Lance said.
'Okay team, here is the plan. Yuma and Serena go in first by stealth and then start cutting down those mechs. After that; Lance, Naedrun and I will go in for a frontal assault. Shroud, you will snipe the enemy from afar, starting with the flying drones. After the fight is finished, you are to join us but in stealth, just in case someone attacks us. Everyone understood?' John said as he changed his rifle for a Scattershot gun.
'Yes.' All of them said.
'Good, move out.' John said as Yuma and Serena cloaked themselves and started running toward the mechs, while behind them the three men were charging in with their weapons primed. Shroud moved into a perfect sniping position and waited the chance.
Meanwhile…
"We can't hold on much longer." A quarian marine said as he continued to fire at the mechs coming at them.
"Damn that idiot Prazza, if he wasn't dead already, I would have killed him myself." Tali said as she fired a shotgun round at the nearest mech, destroying it.
Tali could not believe this was happening. She had been sent along with her team to this colony to rescue one of their own, only for them to come across two of Cerberus operatives. Then when they actually found Veetor, he ran like hell and then he activated the colony's mechs, setting them on her group and Cerberus.
She ordered Prazza and his group to flank the mechs, but the bosh'tet ignored her orders and decided to go after Veetor, leading him and his group to be killed by the mechs. This only left her, 4 more quarians and the two from Cerberus, who she had to admit they at least had the decency to follow her suggestion of teaming up against the mechs.
'At this rate, we are not going to make it.' Tali though as she saw one of the Assault Drones come near the group. Just as the drone was about to fire, a green colored beam came out of nowhere and hit the drone, destroying it completely.
Tali was shocked at what she had seen, but then she and the rest of the group, including the two humans, were shocked even more when one of the mechs was literally cut in half, but what was weird was that the sound of a chainsaw could be heard, and then the mech exploded. Then another mech was also swiftly cut, this time in an X form, destroying it as well.
'What that…' Tali thought but then her thoughts were interrupted when in front of the group two human females, wearing what could be describe as dominatrix armor that show so much more sexuality that it would put an Asari stripper to shame, appear out of thin air. They were both wielding some unknown advanced looking blades. The mechs around them took notice of them and began to fire at them. The rounds then came into contact with the personal shields both women had. Both of them then move at speeds that were impossible to follow, the two women began to take care of the surrounding mechs.
Up in the sky, one by one, the remaining 5 drones were destroyed by the same green beam without any problem.
'Drones destroyed sir.' Shroud said.
'All right guys now.' Shepard ordered as he and the other two remaining members of the team then jumped into the fight, surprising the defenders once again.
Naedrun cut the nearest mech in pieces with his psi-blades. Then a FENRIS Mech got close to Naedrun but just as it got close, Naedrun just lifted his right arm and using his plasma cannon as a hammer, he smashed the mech, destroying it. He then continued to fire on the mechs nearby.
Shepard went running toward the nearest mech and fired off a shot at it, taking it down. He then ran to the nearest cover behind some crates, dodging the shots that were being fired at him. After a few seconds of cover, he looks out and fires at the nearest mech and destroys it. He then looks to his right just in time to shot at a FENRIS Mech that was nearing him. He then continued on doing the same.
Lance was running in like a tank, his bolt gun, which sounded like a mini cannon every time he fired it, destroying mechs left and right.
After a few minutes, the battle was over, all the mechs were destroyed.
'That was so easy. Even the mock spars and training simulations we have back at home are way tougher than this. I want a challenge.' Yuma said. This caused the rest of the team to groan.
'Dammit Yuma.' Serena said.
'What?' Yuma asked.
'You just jinxed it.' Serena said.
'…..Oh, crap.' Yuma said. No sooner than she said that, a bigger, more bulky mech appeared into the area.
'Told you.' Serena said.
'Oh come on, why is there always a big fucking robot at the end of these things?' Yuma said.
'It must be an intergalactic law or something.' Lance said sarcastically.
'No shit Sherlock. Everyone, take cover now!' John said as he and the rest of the team took cover behind anything they were near when the heavy mech started attacking with rapid shots and shooting rockets.
'So what's the plan?' Lance asked.
'Okay, here is the plan. I will levitate the damn thing, during that time; I want everyone except Yuma to fire everything they got at it. Once the mech's shields are down, Yuma you go for the kill. Got it?' John said.
'Yes sir.' The team said.
Raising his arm into the air and glowing, Shepard lifted the mech into the air. Without a stable platform the heavy mech moved helplessly in the air. At that moment, Shepard gave the order.
"Fire at will!" Shepard ordered. Shroud, Lance and Naedrun needed no further encouragement as they fired a full barrage at the mech, pounding it away.
Finally, after its shields went easily down (apparently while hard-light ammo does have some mass in it, they have energy in them that allows them to easily crush kinetic barriers) and its armor at half strength, Yuma got out of cover and ran at full speed toward the mech. While jumping into the air, she began to collect chakra into her right hand, forming one of the most famous jutsu's of all time. The chakra formed into a green colored ball that seemed to be spinning.
"Take this, Rasengan." Yuma said as she slammed the ball into the mech's chest, which after three seconds, the mech got propelled forward, during which it blew up into pieces.
To say the quarian and Cerberus group were shocked was an understatement, they were speechless and in Tali's case, if she had not been wearing her mask, her jaw would be on the floor now.
'Keelah, this people, who are they?' Tali could not believe what she was seeing. She just saw two human females, along with what she believed two more human males, if the armor they wore was any indication and a never before seen species wearing what seems to be a yellow ceremonial armor that had a cannon on each arm, decimate an entire group of mechs, including the way that woman destroyed that mech with that strange ball that she called Rasengan.
'Okay, note to self. Do not, I repeat, DO NOT PISS THIS PEOPLE OFF.' Tali said to herself as she saw the group of five head toward her and the rest of the survivors. Also, the one in black armor, the way he glowed, she swears she's seen it but can't for the love of all that is sacred remember where.
'Everyone, we are going to introduce ourselves, however, use your code names only. Got it?' Shepard ordered.
'Yes sir.' Everyone said.
'Also, Shroud stay hidden for now until I give the order but while we are at it, hack into their omni-tools, I want to know everything about this place.' John said.
'Okay.' Shroud said.
"Well, I think that's it. Any of you injured?" The one in black armor asked in perfect English, shocking the natives once more.
After a moment to get herself in order, Tali answered.
"Yeah, we are fine. Some scratches but we are fine. Unfortunately I can't say the same for the rest of my team." Tali said.
"I am sorry for the loss of your team." Shepard said in a sad tone.
"It's sad, but the fault lies with the one who lead them to their death instead of following orders, hope he is burning in hell." Tali said.
"He deserves it. Now, maybe we can have a proper introduction. My name is Captain Zero, of the LSA, and this is my team, Blaze, Leaf, Priest and Terminator." Shepard said as he pointed at Serena, Yuma, Naedrun and Lance. Each of them nods at their introduction.
The natives were silenced at his declaration. They all had the same though; who or what was the LSA.
"The LSA? We have never heard of that organization." Miranda said.
Shepard looked directly at Miranda, and even thought his face could not been seen, she swears that she could feel that he was glaring at her.
"I wasn't talking to you Cerberus lapdog. We will talk later." Shepard said in a controlled but angered voice.
Miranda would normally talk back at someone who said that but after seeing what Zero and his team did and the tone he used when he said Cerberus, it made Miranda shut up.
Tali was surprised at what happened. Whoever the LSA was, Cerberus must have done something to make them angry at them.
"You were talking miss?" Shepard said in a friendly tone.
"My name is Tali, Tali'Zorah vas Neema, my species is called quarian. Um, if it's not too much problem, I have the same question as her. Who are you, and your teammate Priest, we never seen his species before. Also how do you know about Cerberus?" Tali asked.
"Well, miss, while most of that is considered classified until we can have an official first contact but suffice to say the LSA is our government, we just come from a different part of the galaxy. We known of this area of the galaxy for some time but we decided to withhold contact due the fact that the ones that made contact with us first was Cerberus and let's just say that what they did, well these two here are lucky that we are under orders to talk to their boss, otherwise they would have been dead on the spot." Shepard said in a tone that made Jacob and Miranda scared to the core.
Tali also heard the way he spoke of Cerberus and now was really curious about what happened, but for now, she had a mission.
"I don't mean to interrupt but me and my team came here to rescue one of our own, his name is Veetor. He is the one that set the mechs after us." Tali said.
"Why would he set the mechs after you? Didn't you come to rescue him?" Serena asked.
"That's the thing. He called for help when this colony was attacked. When we saw him, he was in a state of shock. Ran like hell, we need to help him." Tali said.
"Ok then. While we may not know much about you or your people, we would like to help out." Shepard said.
"Thanks for the offer. Quick we must go get him." Tali said.
"Move out." Shepard said as his team nodded. But unknown to the rest of the team, Shepard feels that he seen Tali somewhere before, like déjà vu, but he could not place her.
After a short walk; Tali and Shepard then entered the pre-fab unit, while the rest of people were outside waiting; and saw Veetor typing away at a console.
"Veetor?" Shepard called out.
Veetor babbled while typing. "Monsters... Mechs will protect..."
"I don't think he can hear us." Tali said.
Shepard activated his omni-tool and waved it causing the screens to go into sleep mode. That broke Veetor's concentration. He turned around and stood up. Veetor was surprised to see Shepard. "Y-You're human. Where did you hide? How did they not find you?"
"Who didn't find him?" Tali asked.
"T-The monsters. The swarms. They took everyone." Veetor said.
"I wasn't here, Veetor. I just got here." Shepard said.
"Then you don't know about the monsters. You didn't see. But I see everything." Veetor activated the console and security footage started playing.
"What is that?" Tali asked when an insect-like alien walked by the camera.
"My god," Miranda, who just entered the room, gasped. "It's a Collector."
"A what?" Shepard asked.
"They're a race that comes from a system past the Omega-4 relay. They come through and make trades with various organizations for unusual requests like a certain number of twins and people with genetic disorders. They are known to be the only race to be able to use the Omega-4 relay, because any other ship that has entered the relay has not been heard from again. It is also reported that they have very advance technology, more so than any of the known races in this galaxy. Though, it's weird, usually they only go after small groups of people not entire colonies." Miranda said in a professional tone.
"The seekers find you," Veetor said. "No one can hide. They freeze you and then the monsters take you away."
"What happened after that?" Shepard asked.
"The monsters took them onto their ship and then they flew away. But they'll be back for me. No one escapes!" Veetor said.
"Thank you, Veetor. You were very helpful." Shepard said.
"I studied them. The monsters, the swarms. I recorded them with my omni-tool. Lots of readings. Electromagnetic. Dark energy." Veetor said.
"Veetor, could you pass me a copy of that data? I might be able to decipher it." Tali said.
"Yes Miss Zorah." Veetor said as he copied the data to her omni-tool.
"Could we please have a copy of that data? We might find it useful." Miranda asked somewhat politely. She was going to originally going to demand that Veetor come with her and Jacob to find out anything else, but with Zero right there, she was not going to risk angering him or his teammates.
Tali and Shepard looked at Miranda for a moment and contemplated what she said.
"Well she did say please and unlike that quarian marine that screwed up, she and her partner did help out." Shepard said.
"I don't know." Tali said.
"How about this, I need to talk to their boss, how about I get a copy of that data and with it I can make her get the meeting I want. What do you say Miss Zorah?" Shepard said.
Tali thought about it for a moment and realizes that she owes him for saving them and he is only asking for the data.
"Of course." Tali said. "Consider it a thank you gift for helping us." She then pressed some buttons on her omni-tool and transferred the data to Shepard.
"Thanks." Shepard said as he turned toward Miranda.
"You heard her. You want the data; I want a meeting with TIM. What do you say?" Shepard said in serious tone.
Miranda contemplated what he wanted, she needed the data but to actually lead this man her boss was complicated. But in the end she decides that the risk is worth it, besides, her primary mission was to find different 'specialists' for the mission, and after what she saw out there, having this group on the mission would be a boom.
"Ok, I will take you to the Illusive Man. Need any transport?" Miranda said.
Shepard smirked under his helmet. 'Gotcha.' He thought.
"Yes, my team and I will need transportation. Ours was sort of a one way only." Shepard bended the truth a little in regards on how they got there.
"Very well, I will have the pilot bring the shuttle over here. See on the outside." Miranda said as she left the room.
"Well, Miss Zorah I guess this is where we part ways." Shepard said.
"Yeah, well, it was nice meeting you as well. It's not every day one meets a new civilization." Tali said but in her mind she remembered when Shepard introduced her to his civilizations.
"Yeah. Heck, maybe one day we will find each other again. Well, nice meeting you Miss Zorah." Shepard said as he raised his right arm, waiting for Tali to shake it.
Tali wasted no moment and shake Shepard's hand. "Nice meeting you as well Captain Zero. May we will meet again one day." Tali said. Shepard then left the room while Tali went to help Veetor. Shepard briefly through the link explained what happened and then waited for the shuttle to arrive.
An hour later….
Inside the shuttle, due to the size of Naedrun, Yuma and Serena had to sit in their husbands' laps. The trip to Cerberus' base was quiet; the team kept an eye on the Cerberus operatives. From looking at them, the team deduced that Jacob was actually friendly while Miranda was an ice queen, they could somehow that there was a reason for that, one that was personal. Unknown to the operatives, Shroud was inside the shuttle but he was still cloaked.
'So, what did you find Shroud?' John asked.
'Well, it has taken me sometime, but I managed to analyze everything from all their omni-tools, including accessing their version of the internet or extranet in their case. And let me tell you what I found was a docey, especially about you John." Shroud said.
'Well, what did you find?' Serena asked. And at that moment, Shroud began to explain all about the part of the galaxy they just arrived in.
Hope you enjoyed this chapter. This is my first battle scene, hope it was good.
Please review.
If you have any questions, I can attempt to answer then if they are not too much spoiler.
The mind link concept I got it from Young Justice, just like Miss Martian does with the team. So if a teenage martian can do it, I think a more than 200 year old alien warrior can also do it.