Chapter 7
"So…You have a good night?" Jack asked.
"Please, not now," Jacob sighed.
"Come on, what's to be ashamed about? You nailed a hot local."
"I appreciate you helping me, but can you please talk about something else?"
"Hell no, that was too funny to let you forget," Jack laughed.
"Dammit, I knew that was a mistake."
"What? Afraid to get a magical STD?"
"I really don't need this shit right now."
"So you move your workstation inside the ship to avoid her?"
"No, because we can't have dirt and grime getting into the guns and messing up the inner workings. These things aren't as tough as you'd think."
"Uh-huh. Keep telling yourself that."
The door to the armory slid open and Shepard walked in.
"Careful, Jacob. Boss lady just walked in," Jack grinned.
"Did I interrupt something?" Shepard asked.
"No, Shepard, you didn't mess anything up," Jacob said, glaring at Jack.
"Good," Shepard said, giving Jacob a disbelieving eye. "So what's the news on the gun front?"
"Got a good alternative to the thermal clips," Jacob said, holding up a modified Mattock heavy assault rifle. Sticking out of the thermal clip slot was a massive, although crudely made, copper-finned heat sink that ran along the length of the rifle. "According to some, uh, of the locals, they use gold, silver and copper for currency, copper being the cheapest. I've gotten some copper pieces from one of them, and was able to turn them into a heat sink, so it should work like the weapons before the thermal clip retrofit."
"Hopefully they won't blow up like they used to before the retrofit," Shepard said.
"Pussies," Jack said.
"Is that ready to test?" Shepard asked, ignoring Jack.
"Should be. The on-board systems will need a little tweaking to compensate for the heat sink, but physically it should be ready to fire," Jacob said.
"Good. Get Legion, Mordin or Garrus to help you run the tests. Once it's safe to handle and shoot, start converting more guns over."
"How many do you want, Commander?"
"As many as you can make."
"You getting ready to fight a war or something, boss lady?"
"We might be. Tali found a replacement for the lost eezo, but to get it, we'll have to go to some place called the 'Deep Roads.' According to Hawke and his company, that place will be crawling with hostiles."
"Sounds just like the suicide mission all over again," Jacob said.
"That's what I don't like about it, and that's why I need as many weapons converted as possible," Shepard said, trying not to cringe. "If we're walking into a death trap, I want to make sure we have enough firepower to shoot our way out."
"Wouldn't Legion be a better help than me?" Garrus asked, attaching the Mattock rifle to a tripod.
"He might be, but you're a gun nut like me. I think personal experience would be better than technical know-how," Jacob said. "'Sides, I thought you would like getting out of the ship."
"It is nice, I'm just worried that the locals wouldn't take too kindly to a Turian," Garrus said.
"They actually were very calm when they met Legion and Mordin."
"So they didn't yell 'abomination' and try to cut them in half with a sword?"
"That seems to only be a group of locals called the 'Templars.'"
"Note to self: avoid Templars," Garrus said. "Okay, the gun should be ready. You got fire control?"
"Got it," Jacob said, adjusting his omni-tool.
"Let's test this thing out, then," Garrus said, jogging away from the tripod mounted gun. "Think this will work?"
"It'll work. The question is whether it blow up eventually," Jacob said. "Got the water ready?"
"Ready," Garrus said, holding up one of the four water filled bottles.
"Testing heat sink! Fire in the hole!"
Jacob pressed the button on his omni-tool, and the Mattock rifle fired. The shot hit the nearby boulders. Jacob and Garrus stood twenty yards away, waiting for the rifle to blow up. Twenty seconds passed, and nothing happened.
"Well, this was kind of anti-climactic," Garrus said. "Didn't get any negative readings. Did you?"
"Nope. Just a normal discharge. Let's try it again. Fire in the hole!"
The Mattock rang out again, and still didn't explode.
"So far, we're batting a thousand," Jacob said, grinning.
"'Batting a thousand?'" Garrus asked.
"Sports analogy. Ever heard of baseball?"
"Think I saw a game once on the Citadel. Didn't seem that exciting."
"You just got to get into it."
"Where's the hole that on fire?" Varric asked, walking up.
"There isn't a hole that's on fire, it's just a military term," Jacob said. "Your name is Varric, isn't it? I don't think we've met."
"No, but I've heard plenty about you," Varric grinned. Jacob blushed.
"How did he hear about you?" Garrus asked.
"Whoa!" Varric said, jumping back. "Tell me when there's going to be an alien around! Almost stopped my heart."
"Sorry, I didn't mean to scare you," Garrus said. "I'm Garrus, a Turian."
"Varric. Dwarf."
"So I've heard. Need any help?"
"Just wanted to see what all the racket was," Varric said, still holding his chest. "Gotta say, it's kind of nice to actually see an alien that looks different than humans. All this hype about 'how they look different than us,' and all we saw as Tali. Bit of a letdown."
"Glad to live up to your expectations," Garrus said. "We're testing our weapon out to see if we can make any adjustments on them."
"What adjustments for?" Varric asked.
"It's, well, complicated," Jacob said.
"All you got to say, Jacob my man. I won't ask any questions," Varric said. "Is this what you shot at me when we met?"
"You're talking about the rock we kicked up near you?" Garrus asked.
"That's the one."
"Actually, I was the one who took the shot."
"I'll be! From one sharp shot to another, it was a nice shot," Varric said.
"Thanks."
"Just to let you know, we'll be testing our weapon more, so you might want to cover your ears," Jacob said. "It takes a while to get used to the sound."
"Don't think I'll ever get used to it. Sounds like an explosion going off," Varric said.
"You want an explosion? You should hear Legion fire off his Widow anti-tank rifle, or Grunt shooting his Claymore," Garrus said. "Now those things kick."
"I think I'll pass, thank you," Varric said. "Well, test when ready, gentlemen. Don't let me stop you."
"Rapid firing! Fire in the hole!" Jacob called out. He worked the Mattock, and it faithfully spat out shot after shot. Varric held his hands over his ears. Soon, the heat sink started glowing a deep red.
"That supposed to happen?" Varric yelled over the gun.
"Yep," Garrus said, scanning the rifle. "Still in optimal temperature zone. Keep firing."
"Just past the twenty mark," Jacob said, still pressing the firing button. "Thirty and counting."
The heat sink grew from a deep red to a bright cherry red. Smoke rose from the gun.
"Hitting the heat limit," Garrus said. "A few more should do it." The Mattock clicked on empty, and began beeping.
"Thirty-six shots before overheating," Jacob said. "Not bad. You could raise a lot of hell with that."
"Is that supposed to happen?" Varric asked, pointing to the heat sink. It slowly started sagging, bending closer and closer to the ground.
"Shit!" Jacob grabbed a water bottle, ran to the gun and dumped the water directly on the heat sink. Hissing, steam billowed from the heat sink. Garrus was quick to follow with two more water bottles, pouring them onto the heat sink.
"That was close," Jacob said. "How's the temperature?"
"Still pretty high, but in normal operating ranges," Garrus said, reading his omni-tool. "Good save, Varric."
"What did I save?" Varric asked, walking over.
"If the heat sink snapped off, the gun could have exploded," Garrus said. "I thought you secured the heat sink to the gun."
"I thought I did, too," Jacob said. "Maybe it melted the mounting bolt?"
"It did get pretty damn hot," Garrus said. He experimentally tapped the heat sink. "Pretty warm, but safe to touch."
"We got to find a way to mount these better."
"Now, I know you said this was complicated, but why exactly do you need these things, anyways?" Varric asked, pointing to the heat sink.
"When our guns fire, they generate heat, and they have to get rid of that heat if they want to keep firing," Garrus explained. "We usually have something called thermal clips to cool the gun, but those are designed to be expendable.
"If the gun generates too much heat, or shoots too much, the clip will go bad, and you'll need to replace it. Thing is, we don't have a lot of thermal clips to use, so we have to come up with an alternative, namely these heat sinks."
"So the gun stays cool and you can keep shooting?" Varric asked slowly.
"That's the idea," Jacob said, examining the gun. "Doesn't look like any damage was done. We should be able to use this again."
"Good. Hate to see you wreck a Mattock. Those are good rifles," Garrus said.
"What if we water-cool them?" Jacob asked.
"How will you cool the steam and condense it into water?" Garrus said. "The condenser will be too big to carry around. Maybe for a mounted weapon, but you'll have to air cool all the weapons."
"A mounted weapon might not be a bad idea. These Deep Roads are supposed to be dangerous," Jacob said.
"You have no idea how right you are," Varric said.
Hawke was sharpening his sword when Shepard walked up.
"Hawke, we'll have to talk with you and your people," Shepard said. "Think we can talk over dinner?"
"Sure thing," Hawke said.
"Good. I'll save you a spot. See you in a few minutes," Shepard said, walking away.
"Looks like I'm still on her shit list," Hawke sighed.
"I don't know, she didn't seem so angry as embarrassed," Merrill said.
"Then here's hoping I'm off her list. Dinner would be awkward if I was," Hawke said, getting up.
"Ah, having dinner with enemies. There's nothing quite like it," Isabella said sarcastically as she got up. "Any ideas what we'll have for dinner?"
"I'm wondering how Tali would eat," Merrill said. "She said she can't take off her mask without getting sick."
"I'm actually interested to see what she looks like under that mask," Bethany said.
"You and everyone else," Aveline said. "But it'll be rude to ask her, won't it?"
"I guess so," Bethany said.
Hawke and his group walked to the make-shift dinner table that Shepard's crew had set up. Men and women were already getting their food from a chef and sitting down.
"Come on, Rupert, left over chili again?" One man said. "You trying to stretch this out?"
"Suck it up, princess. We're rationing food right now. No idea when we'll be getting back," the chef replied.
"So good to know you care," the man said, sitting down.
"And here are our new friends!" The chef said. "Hope our food is to your liking."
"The food is great, thank you," Hawke said.
"It's so good to know that I'm wanted here," the chef said, yelling at the man who complained. He waved it off as his friends laughed.
"There's Shepard," Hawke said, walking past the Normandy crew. She sat with her crew. Hawke could see Jacob and Tali sitting with her. The other people he didn't know. Hawke took a deep breath. Here goes nothing, he thought.
"Thanks for inviting us to dinner again," he said, sitting down across from Shepard.
"Don't mention it," she said flatly. "Things going well for you and your group?"
"They're going well enough," Hawke said. "Need our help again?"
"I am in that unfortunate position," Shepard admitted. "Jacob says that he can modify our guns, but we're going to have to ask you for more copper."
"You're getting bent out of shape over some copper?" Isabella said. "You can have all mine. I only gave Jacob about half."
"I think it's only fair you get some money out of the deal, seeing how you saved our lives and are putting us up," Hawke said. "But don't you want some gold instead of copper?"
"We're not using the copper for money, we're using it to modify our weapons."
"You should see what they're doing with it," Varric said. "It's really scary stuff, Hawke."
"Was that the explosions we heard around noon time?" Hawke asked.
"That was exactly it," Jacob said.
"Well, I think I've got close to eighty copper in my purse," Hawke said, thinking.
"I have seventy," Varric said.
"And I know I have a few silvers worth of copper," Merrill said.
"What do you do with all that copper, Dasiy?"
"I like buying the homeless children pastries," she replied. "I only use copper so they don't steal."
"Good to know pickpocketing has wised you up," Varric said.
"Still doesn't feel like we're helping out that much," Hawke said.
"Believe me, you are," Shepard assured him. "Although we do need your expertise in getting to the Deep Roads."
"Shepard, you really can't be thinking of going down there. It's suicide." Shepard twitched, and Hawke stammered as he continued. "The only reason we survived was because we went in after a Blight, when most the darkspawn were either out on the surface or dead. Now it'll be crawling with them."
"Unfortunately, we need that lyrium to power or ship. We really don't have much of a choice," Shepard said. She put her spoon down to hide the tremor in her hand. "Can we have your help?"
Hawke sighed.
"Yes. I'd hate to see you die down there," he said. "But you'll need to learn some sword play in case those weapons of yours don't work."
"And you'll need some different clothes," Varric added. "Unless you like explaining to people that you come from the sky."
"There are people who live in the Deep Roads?" Tali asked.
"No, but you'll probably run into the odd merchant or two getting there," Varric said. "Who knows? You might even run into some Templars."
"So we'll need clothes and weapons," Shepard said. "I take it we can get those in Kirkwall?"
"Definitely," Hawke said. "I'd help you, but the Templars want us dead, so there's not much we can do to help."
"Maybe you can," Tali said. "We can get a few people dressed up in spare clothes, and you can guide us through the city using our comm lines."
"That's a good idea," Shepard said.
"Is that more of your sky-magic-technology stuff?" Hawke asked. Shepard nodded. "That just might work, as long as you don't start talking to the thin air."
"I'm sure we can manage that," Shepard said. "Do you have any spare clothes?"
"I'm pretty sure we can scrounge up a few odd outfits," Bethany said.
"And we can lend you the money to buy everything," Hawke added.
"Can I ask for a favor?" Aveline said.
"It's only fair. What is it?" Shepard asked.
"My husband, Donnic, is with the City Guard, and I want to make sure he's okay," Aveline said. "If I write a letter, can you deliver it to him?"
"I'll make sure it gets to him," Shepard promised.
"Thank you," Aveline said.
"This is really coming together," Shepard smiled. "How many outfits and weapons should we buy?"
"We should probably limit the number of non-humans we bring," Jacob said. "Just like Varric said, we might run into people on our way there."
"Then it'll probably be me, you, Miranda, Kasumi and Zaeed," Shepard said.
"I think I should come," Tali said. "If we're bringing customized guns with us, I can manage repairs, and even scan for lyrium."
"Sounds good," Shepard said. "So we'll need six outfits."
"How will we disguise Tali?" Merrill asked.
"We could put her in Chantry robes," Bethany said. "We can hide her mask in a hood. Plenty of sisters wear the hood at all times."
"And may I suggest you buy plenty of one-handed swords and shields?" Hawke said. "You'll need the extra protection with the darkspawn, even if you're bringing your own weapons."
"Good advice," Shepard said. "Who are you bringing?"
"I'm coming, obviously," Hawke said. "Anders! Ready for another trip to the Deep Roads?"
"In the Maker's name, why am I always being dragged back to that pit?" Anders groaned.
"You're one of our healers. Consider this payment for the mages," Hawke shot back. "Varric, Aveline?"
"I'm with you, Hawke," Aveline said.
"I'm coming, too," Bethany said.
"No, you're not. It's too dangerous."
"No, I'm not letting you talk me out of this again," Bethany said. "I've spend the last five years in the Circle, cooped up in a room, and I am going to see what the world has to offer, even if it is a vile pit filled with darkspawn."
"You're going to regret this," Anders warned.
"I don't care, it feels like life is passing me by," Bethany said. "Besides, you could always use another healer."
"You're a doctor?" Shepard asked.
"No, a healer," Bethany replied. "I can use magic to heal."
"Like, wave your hands over someone, and they're fine?"
"Exactly."
"I don't want to make the choice for you, Hawke, but that sounds like a good skill to have," Shepard said.
"It really is," Hawke admitted.
"By the way, do you think you can help heal some of our crew?" Shepard asked. "They got injured in the crash."
"Sure thing," Bethany said.
"I can help, too," Anders said.
"This is great. Do you think we can get those outfits tonight? I want to head into Kirkwall as soon as we can," Shepard said.
"We'll get them after dinner," Hawke promised.
