Mass Effect Abridged

Chapter Three: The Beacon

It took a while to move around while trying to avoid the sensor drones as well as the robotic Geth troopers, but eventually the three of them reached the short wall that marked the perimeter of the colony. Shepard slowly raised her head up to take a look, and motioned for the others to join her since there were no enemies in the immediate area. From there they could see a small loading bay where large cargo containers were scattered about, and more importantly, they could see some survivors.

There were a hand full of humans being escorted away from the cargo containers by Geth troopers, well, not really being escorted, more like being forcibly moved. Each of the Geth was holding a human by the hair so that they were walking on their tip-toes, and with each step the Geth took, their large metal feet would kick that survivor in the ass.

"Okay, here's the plan." Shepard said as they ducked back down. "Ashley and I will make a wide circle on separate sides in order to flank the Geth and take them down before they even see us."

"Sounds good, Commander." Ashley replied. "Once we're in position, I'll take the first shot, and once their attention is on me, it will be easier for you to get them from behind. Oh, and Kaiden should cause a distraction so that they see him first, and think I'm the real threat when I start shooting."

"Well, that's certainly one option." Kaiden said nervously. "Or, well – we could always just put down our weapons and surrender – you know – to them."

Shepard had a look of disgust and confusion as she turned around in order to pistol-whip him for even daring to make such a suggestion. But then her anger turned into a startled gasp as she noticed the five Geth troopers who were standing right behind them with weapons aimed. She could see the red laser dots on her teammates' heads, so she holstered her pistol and put up her hands as the others did the same.

"On your feet, human units." The Geth leader as they got up. "In order to expose any hidden weapons, this unit suggests that a full body-cavity search be conducted."

"Hey, leave her alone." Kaiden replied. "I thought robots were supposed to be all superior, but what does it say about you if you pick on a woman, huh?"

"This unit was not speaking of the females."

Suddenly two Geth came forward, and each grabbed one of Kaiden's arms. He struggled and kicked at them as they dragged him away, but then one of them ended this resistance by kneeing him in the stomach. He coughed and his feet dragged across the ground as they pulled him out of sight, and then the sound of a rubber glove being snapped was heard before Kaiden let out a scream.

"Capture and search is complete." The leader continued. "Next phase is the breaking of organic spirits, and human female units are known to be demoralized by humiliation. Therefore, the female commander will lift up her shirt so that this unit may take a selfie with her."

Shepard was about to tell the robot where it could go, but then one of the others hit Ashley in the stomach with its rifle, dropping her to her knees at the same time Kaiden could be heard letting out another scream. Realizing that she had no choice, Shepard grumbled to herself as she removed her armor vest and lifted up her shirt. The Geth leader then put one arm around her waist while holding out its phone with the other.

"Smile." It said as it took the pic. "This will greatly increase this unit's street-cred, for you see – this unit did not choose the thug life – the thug life chose this unit."

It stepped away and pushed a few buttons on its phone before putting it into a sealed compartment within its own body. Shepard then put her shirt and armor back on, and a few seconds later the other Geth brought Kaiden back from his cavity search. He just hung his head and walked a little funny as the three of them were marched down to the loading bay where the other human survivors were standing.

"Nihlus." Shepard whispered into her earpiece. "Nihlus, we're in trouble – are you there? Nihlus, please don't play games with me right now."

There was no response as they were told to keep their hands on their heads, but then she saw something out of the corner of her eye, and her mouth ran dry when she saw what it was. The Geth leader was saying something, but all sounds of the world faded away as she saw the lifeless body of Nihlus lying on the ground. Suddenly all of her memories of him flashed through her mind, and with a scream of unimaginable rage, she ran toward the Geth leader.

Ramming her shoulder into its torso, her momentum was surprisingly enough to take it down, and she was so pumped with adrenaline that she was even able to pull the rifle from its hands. She straddled its chest and began shooting it in the head as Ashley and Kaiden grabbed rifles from the other surprised Geth, and between the three of them, soon the whole Geth squad was scrapped.

"Nihlus!" Shepard screamed as she dropped the rifle and ran to him.

She lifted his head and checked for a pulse, even though the large bullet hole in the back of his skull was a pretty good indicator of death.

"I'll get the Geth for this!" She yelled. "I swear, I'll junk every one of those God damn metallic-

"It wasn't the Geth." A new voice said. "It was that other Turian."

Everyone turned toward the cargo containers, and a frightened looking man slowly came out of hiding. Shepard slowly stood up after setting Nihlus's head down, and motioned for the man to continue.

"I hid back here when the attack started." He continued. "That giant ship laid down some funky beat, and then the Geth were all over us, and that other Turian was with them. I think your friend knew him, and called him, uh – Saren, I think. Your friend let down his guard, and Saren plugged him in the back of the head like he was in a Pacino film."

"But why did the Geth attack in the first place?" Kaiden asked. "Their beef is with the Quarians, I mean, they've never even encountered humans before today."

"Maybe they were after the beacon." Another survivor suggested. "We found some Prothean ruins a few weeks ago, and even a functioning beacon. Maybe the Geth were after whatever information was stored on it."

"It's possible." Shepard replied. "Where is the beacon now?"

Meanwhile, across the colony at the landing pad.

"Aw, man, that was priceless." Saren said as he and two Geth walked down the ramp. "I pulled the trigger, and Nihlus's head was like PBBLLT! Ha-ha, aw, man – I guess you had to be there, huh?"

The Geth troopers said nothing as they reached the bottom of the ramp where a large green and brown beacon was sitting near the wall. The light on the top was blinking, and Saren motioned for the Geth to stay back while he approached. Once he was close enough, his body began to emanate a green light as he was lifted off the ground, and then there was a bright flash of light before it all stopped. The light faded, and Saren was drooling and convulsing when he was dropped to the ground.

"All these squares make a circle!" He stammered. "Coke and Pepsi are the same thing!"

"Mission complete." One of the Geth said. "Evacuate the Saren unit, and then blow this mother fucker up."

The other Geth picked up Saren and slung him over its shoulder before walking away, and the remaining Geth began to place small devices on every structure around them.

Back at the loading bay.

"So how do we get to the landing pad from here?" Shepard asked. "Please tell me we don't have to walk all the way across the colony."

"No, it's easy." One of the survivors replied. "We have a train that moves cargo and people back and forth from there to here all the time. Just head over to the rails over there, push the button, and pray that they remembered to fix the brakes, or else – well – the good news is that the trail will get here really fast."

"Thanks for the help." Ashley said. "You all get to safety, we'll handle it from here."

The survivors waved goodbye as Shepard, Ashley, and Kaiden ran over to the rails where the big, obvious control panel was waiting for them. There was only one button, so Shepard pushed it, and a few seconds later they saw the train off in the distance. This thing was really moving, which filled her with confidence that they would reach the landing pad in no time, and she sighed with relief as she saw the smoke being kicked up from the brakes activating.

Suddenly there was a metallic twang as large pieces of metal flew out from under the train in different directions, and the three of them dove off the platform just before the full-speeding train slammed into the breaker-wall. The wall was no match for the train as the vehicle crashed right through it and was catapulted off into the distance, leaving them alive but without a ride.

"Maybe, um – we can fix it?" Kaiden suggested.

Shepard responded to this by smacking him in the side of the head, and then Ashley tapped her on the shoulder. Shepard looked, and saw that she was pointing to a small maintenance shed off a side-rail that housed an old manual hand cart. It seemed to be in perfect working condition, and the button even responded that caused it to automatically be placed onto the rails.

"All right, we have a ride." Shepard said as the three of them got on. "Get us moving, Kaiden."

"What?" Kaiden replied.

"Yeah, Kaiden, get to it." Ashley said. "You're the man here, so it's your job to do all the heavy lifting since I'm a lady and the Commander just suffered a personal loss, you insensitive prick."

Kaiden started to protest, but was stopped as Shepard and Ashley glared at him while folding their arms. So he hung his head, and struggled a bit to move the lever that began their journey toward the landing pad.