Title: Protoculture Effect (9/?)

Author: Cyclone

Feedback: Please be gentle.

Distribution: Gimme credit and a link.

Rating: Harsh language, violence, that's about it.

Spoilers: Just about anything.

Disclaimer: The characters depicted herein belong to a bunch of other people. I'm just borrowing them for a while.

Summary: Just as robotechnology altered the course of human history, so also did another discovery hidden within Charon.

Author's Note: It was inevitable, I suppose, that I'd try crossing over these two of my favorite science fiction universes. I'm not exactly sure what possessed me to do this beyond just wanting to.


The newly-minted Commander (Cmdr) John Shepard, UES-SOC, Citadel Spectre, stood pensively in the Normandy's rear observation deck. The upcoming mission had him tied up in knots. He hated batarians. Intellectually, he knew they weren't all the same, but after what he'd seen, it was... difficult, to say the least.

"John."

He turned. "Jane."

His blue eyes met her green. LtCmdr Jane Hunter, UES-SOC, stood before him. She wore her uniform easily, and it did little to hide her natural grace. She gave him a faint smile. "It's been a long time."

"Not since the Academy," John agreed. "Funny how things turn out," he added after a long moment. "If you had come visit while on leave like you'd promised, it might be you in charge of this mission. Lord knows we could have used your skills during the Blitz."

Her lips curled into a smile, and merriment dancing in her eyes. "I think I came out ahead in the end. I don't have to deal with the Council."

He groaned. "Don't rub it in."

"And then there's that statue on Elysium..."

"Stop!" he protested, holding his hands up in mock surrender. "Stop it, please!"

She smirked but relented and changed the subject. "In the continued interest of catching up, whatever happened to Jim? I would have thought he'd be at the center of action at Elysium, but I hadn't heard a peep out of him since." An orphan from Earth who enlisted to escape gangs like the 10th Street Reds he had run with, James Farmer had been the third member of their little band of miscreants in the Robotech Military Academy.

John sobered quickly. "He was transferred away from Elysium just before the Blitz," he answered. "His unit was ordered to investigate a colony we'd lost contact with. On Akuze."

Jane's face paled. "Akuze? He was there?" She frowned. "Lieutenant Alenko was there too, wasn't he?"

"The sole survivor," John confirmed. "I... haven't really spoken to him about it. I don't think he realizes I knew Jim."

There was a long moment of silence.

"What about you?" he asked gently. "I heard Torfan was rough."

After the Blitz, Jane had volunteered for Operation Clean Sweep and led a platoon at Torfan, but Major Kyle had held her platoon back from the final push until the last minute, and Ashley led her decapitated platoon down to take the last strong point on Torfan.

"It was, John," she said quietly. "We lost a lot of good people there."

Wordlessly, the two turned to gaze out at the stars and simply stood in companionable silence.

"By the way, here," John said, pulling out an OSD. "We'll be working in batarian territory, so I picked this up from Earth Intelligence."

"EIA's latest hits?" she noted as she inserted the OSD into her omni-tool and brought up the data. "Thanks."


Shepard was standing behind Joker in the cockpit when they arrived rather than at his command position at the rear of the bridge. He didn't much care for the turian bridge design.

"We're in orbit over Casbin, Commander," Joker reported.

"Sensor contact!" Operations Specialist Second Class (OS2) Monica Negulesco reported. "Heavy cruiser, unknown configuration. It's broadcasting a batarian IFF!"

"Going evasive," Joker called.

"Don't bother," Shepard said. "That's our liaison for this mission."

Joker paused, then turned and stared at Shepard. "You're not serious, Commander. Working with batarians?"

"Unfortunately, Joker, I am," Shepard said with a grimace.

"Incoming transmission, skipper," Operations Specialist Third Class (OS3) Alexei Dubyansky reported.

"Bring it up," Shepard ordered. "This is Commander Shepard, Citadel Spectre and captain of the United Earth Ship Normandy."

"We copy, Shepard. This is Captain Taban of the Khar'shan State Ship Ashar. I've been ordered to escort and support your investigation of the geth incursion into the Skyllian Verge."

For what it was worth, this Captain Taban didn't sound any happier about the situation than Shepard was.

"Thanks for the offer, but we'll manage," Shepard said flatly.

"I'm afraid I must insist on at least sending along an observer," Taban replied, his voice strained. "One of our SIU commandos, perhaps."

"Fine," Shepard agreed reluctantly. "Send him over."


SIU. The Special Intervention Unit. Shepard had never run into them before - not directly, at least - and though he'd killed more than a few batarian pirates and slavers who claimed to have retired from it, he was certain it was largely bullshit, the sort of self-aggrandizement and boasting criminals were prone to engage in. Their brutal training regimen - with a mortality rate of over 15% by EIA's best estimate - meant those who made it into the SIU had to be among the toughest bastards in the galaxy. Still, how they compared to SOC, especially N7 rates like himself and Jane, remained to be seen.

As he headed for the mecha bay, he considered who to bring along for this mission. Wrex and Garrus could probably keep themselves under control, as could Bhatia and Jenkins, but Ash was right out. Someone who fought at Torfan wasn't likely to keep a level head, and Shepard wasn't sure he could trust himself either. Liara still hadn't qualified on a Cyclone yet, and...

He paused and tilted his head curiously. "Tali? Is that you?"

The quarian turned. "Yes, Commander."

Shepard frowned. She was in her ever-present environmental suit, but clearly, it had been modified. He couldn't see the modifications directly, but only because they were hidden by the Cyclone wrapped around her. Which shouldn't have been possible.

"What's going on?"

"When we stopped by Space Station Freedom after Eden Prime, I asked one of the armorers if he could help me, and he took it as a challenge," the quarian girl explained. "He modified two of my environmental suits to interface with Cyclones. I want to help. Your team is lacking a dedicated tech specialist."

Shepard closed his eyes and pinched the bridge of his nose. "Fine. Talk to Gunny Williams. You'll need to qualify on a Cyclone first, same rules as Doctor T'Soni."

The quarian nodded. "Understood, Commander."

The Spectre just shook his head and continued on his way. The day he figured out this crew was probably the day he'd have to resign his commission on mental health grounds.

They were trying, at least. Whether they were trying to drive him to a Section Eight or something else was another matter entirely. He decided to let them be. As long as no one started drawing up designs for Wrex, anyway. A kroganized Cyclone was where he drew the line.

Great, now I'm gonna be distracted the whole mission, Shepard thought sourly as his mind conjured up images of Wrex in an oversized Cyclone. He slid down the access ladder into the mecha bay just in time to see the small batarian shuttle slide in and land in the cleared area with expert precision. The shuttle powered down, and the hatch swung open, revealing a black-clad batarian woman.

Shepard stepped forward and held out a hand. "Commander Shepard, United Earth Spacy, Citadel Council Spectre."

"Lieutenant Kilika," she replied, eyeing his hand suspiciously. Her voice was guttural and husky. "Batarian Hegemony Special Intervention Unit."

Shepard let his hand drop and eyed the batarian SIU commando distrustfully, analyzing what he saw. She was definitely fit, as to be expected, her figure accentuated by her suit, which was light and flexible, hugging her body and giving her full freedom of movement. Still, it was hard to judge; something about the matte black hardsuit made his eyes want to just slide right off it, and though it couldn't possibly offer much damage resistance, he suspected it would have powerful kinetic barriers to compensate. As for weapons, she had what appeared to be a folded up sniper rifle strapped to her back and a pistol of some sort in a hip holster; sheathed along her forearms were a pair of knives with foot-long straight blades, probably double-edged.

Great, he thought, his hand twitching for his sidearm. An assassin. Why am I not surprised?

"Let's make one thing clear," Shepard said, jabbing a finger at her. "You're here as an observer, over my objections. This is my operation. You fall behind, you get left. You get in the way, and I'll kill you myself."

"Of course you would, 'hero,'" she replied acidly.


It was easy to find the geth outpost. As a classic "pre-garden" terrestrial world with the beginnings of plant life on it, Casbin was listed as a Sanctuary World by the Citadel Council, and not even the aggressively expansive Batarian Hegemony were willing to cross the Council over it. If it weren't for Shepard's Spectre credentials, even landing on the planet would have gotten the ground team locked up for years.

There was only one source of comm transmissions on the entire planet, narrowing down their search considerably.

Shepard had parked the Mako some distance away and was now observing the geth outpost. It was fortified, with turrets and watchtowers backed up by a trio of armatures.

"Shepard to White Star," Shepard called. "Bring the rain."

"White Star copies," Kaidan replied. "AMTAG inbound."

The Advanced Multiple Target Air-to-Ground missile - aka AMTAG - was designed to suppress ground forces. The missile flew overhead, popping over the mountains that surrounded the geth output before releasing its payload. Two dozen submunitions burst out, active sensors flaring. So-called "brilliant bomb" guidance computers analyzed the area and selected their targets, and the independently guided submunitions rained down on the geth, carrying their cobalt warheads with deadly precision.

Kilika snorted. "You humans have no sense of subtlety."

"We're dealing with the geth and a rogue Spectre," Shepard pointed out. "Subtlety was never in the cards."

"Subtlety was out of the question once you showed up, human," she retorted scornfully.

"You've never seen us try and be subtle. We're surprisingly good at it."

"I'll believe it if I ever see it."

Shepard held his tongue. She was obviously never going to let him win, let alone have the last word.

"We need to get moving," he said instead.


Clearing out the geth outpost had been a simple affair. Whatever the geth had been anticipating, it wasn't a frontal assault by heavily-armed Cycloners. This did nothing to ease their anxiety, though; they still had a whole cluster to investigate.

Their next stop was Antibaar in the Tereshkova system, a frozen ball of rock and ice. Like Casbin, it was uninhabited. Almost.

"Commander, I'm picking up a faint transmission a couple of klicks from the main transmission source," Kaidan reported.

"Drop us off," Shepard said, "then circle around and check it out."

"Aye, Commander."

The Mako plowed into the snow, but Taylor turned into the skid and quickly regained control. They approached the suspected geth outpost carefully. Shepard wanted to scout it out while they had the chance; he wasn't about to assault it without having some idea what they were up against. Before long, they were on a ridge overlooking the geth outpost.

At his order, the team clambered out of the Mako, leaving Taylor and Garrus once again manning the IFV. Shepard brought up the zoom on his integrated helmet-mounted display and scanned the facility. The central structure had what looked like a retractable roof, possibly for airlift access, as well as numerous smaller doors. Three guard towers surrounded the building, connected by waist-high portable metal walls which obviously served as semi-mobile cover. He then focused his attention on the enemy forces. "Doesn't look too tough," he murmured. "Snipers and rocket troopers."

"Sir, I can't see anything through this snow storm," Kaidan reported. "Gonna have to go lower."

"Be careful, Lieutenant."

"Will do, Comma- oh, shit!"

Shepard turned as the sound of explosions cut through the icy wind. "Alenko, report!"

"Sorry, Commander. Goddamned thresher maw nearly took a bite out of my fighter."

"Did you get it?"

"With the amount of ordnance I dropped, sir, I better have."

"Just... how much ordnance did you drop, Lieutenant?" Shepard asked with a frown.

"Umm, all of it, sir," was Kaidan's sheepish response. "Except the Switchblades."

Shepard mentally ran through the list, and his jaw went slack. "You unloaded two AMTAGs, six Chasms, and seventy-two Piranhas on a biological?"

"And four five-hundred-kilo gravity bombs, sir."

Shepard closed his eyes, then added, "Don't you start, batarian."

"Start what? Your people prove my case well enough without my input. Shall we, Commander?"

Shepard bit back a snarl. "Wrex, you have point," he said. "Jenkins, you have drag. Taylor, Garrus, keep the Mako on the ridge and provide us with heavy support. Bhatia, with me. Kilika..." he paused as his gaze met the blank visor of the batarian commando's helmet, "...stay out of the way."

Kilika vanished into the swirling snow, and the rest of the team fell into formation. They were nearly at the bottom of the ridge before the geth took notice of them, opening fire. Shepard trusted his team to take care of themselves as he fired his thrusters, getting some distance so a single rocket didn't take them all out. One of the side doors in the central structure opened, and geth troopers began streaming out.

Shepard's blood ran cold as he spotted a contingent of taller geth platforms in the crowd. Juggernauts... and a geth prime.

Wrex charged straight toward the barriers, crashing through and blasting his shotgun at the rocket trooper crouched behind it, and the nearest guard tower toppled under fire from the Mako.

"Jenkins! Garrus!" Shepard called. "Thin the crowd!"

Hypersonic rounds the size of a grain of sand from the Mako's minigun began stitching across the geth formation, and salvo after salvo of missiles streaked out from Jenkins's Cyclone. Shepard himself targeted the geth prime with his Scorpions, while Bhatia kept up a steady stream of suppressing fire.

Shepard never saw the rocket coming. All he knew was that, one minute, he was cutting down geth troopers, and the next, his shields were gone, and he was on his ass, looking up at the geth prime, which was firing its pulse rifle over him, presumably at some other member of the team.

"Oh, f*ck," he swore as he brought his particle rifle up and opened fire, stripping away its kinetic barriers as it pointed its pulse rifle at him. His sensors told him the story. Its shields, already lowered from his Scorpions, would drop just as it lined up its shot.

He was dead, and he knew it.

Just its shields collapsed, a shimmering figure leaped onto its back, driving a pair of long-bladed daggers into its shoulders through seams in the armor. The figure drew back the daggers and somersaulted over the geth prime's flashlight head, sheathing the two blades as she landed just past Shepard's head. Kicking off the ground, she leaped back at the geth prime, drawing the pistol at her hip and ramming it in its face. The staccato beat of full-auto mass accelerator fire intermingled with the sound of shattering electronics as the geth prime fell back.

"Okay," Shepard admitted. "I'm impressed."

Kilika leaned down, glaring at him. "Try not to die on my watch, Spectre. It would not do any favors for my career."

Well, he thought as he picked himself up, it's nice to know where we stand.

The team gathered at the door and paused to do an ammo check. Shepard still had eight Recluse-Ds in his GR-198 hip launchers, but that was about all for expendable ordnance. Once the other reports came in...

"Jenkins," he sighed, "you really need to learn some fire discipline."

"Sorry, sir," the lance corporal apologized.

"We've got some spare Recluses in the Mako," Shepard said. "Restock, and we'll move in."

"Aye, Commander," Jenkins said, snapping to attention before turning to the Mako.

He was halfway into reloading when they heard the roof of the central structure grinding open. A geth platform - some sort of white-armored variant of an armature - rose to its full height and stepped over the building's wall, swinging its glowing head around before looking down at them. Shepard looked up and met its impersonal gaze.

"We're gonna need bigger guns."


Author's Postscript:

So. Batarian squad member. Thoughts?