Disclaimer:
Mass effect is the property of Bioware
Chapter 9
Vomit of Mass Destruction
So here we are again, in the hangar bay, ready for another hour of blood and sweat in the name of marksmanship training. Ashley, once again explained about gun safety and other things about gun just like before, just in case I forgot the last explanation and shoot myself in the progress. I, as usual, didn't feel like paying her attention, instead I try to grab one of the cool guns.
But unlike before, she was ready. Just before I grab one of the guns, a bullet landed just in front of my feet.
"Ckckck, try that again, it'll be your leg next," she warned me while placing the still smoking gun on top of the table.
I nodded immediately with cold sweat dripping all over my body
"All right then, we'll skip the assault rifle and the sniper rifle for you. You already know the reason, so refrain yourself from asking stupid questions." She now turned her back to me to grab a gun inside a crate.
"Here's the one just for you, the shotgun!" She placed the shotgun in front of me. "Here's the simple explanation, you just cocked it, point it, and blast your enemy with this, the bullet spread will take care of your bad marksmanship. But it's only useful in close quarter battle." And then her face turned serious. "Never ever shoot this with your ally standing in front of you." She emphasized the word ally really clear.
"Aye aye, ma'am!" God, I'm so excited to try this badass looking gun.
So now, the moment of truth. I cocked the shotgun, aim it, and then bang. . .
The shotgun butt smack my face really hard and made staggered a bit. That, and Ashley fist connected into my face.
"I'm not finished yet you dumbass!" Once again, she scolded me really hard. "No one with the right head aim a shotgun like they aim a rifle! It doesn't have a buttstock! Don't lean it against your shoulder and peep the sight directly in front of your eyes!"
"All right Ash, I get it! I gave her a thumbs up with my eyes blackened from the shotgun and her fist.
I stood 50 meters from the target. I cocked the shotgun, aim it like Ashley told me to, and squeeze the trigger. The Target fell off to the ground. It's the best feeling in the world.
"Now Joe, that's not bad! Not bad at all!" she patted me on the back to congratulate me.
"Joe?" she asked curiously because I didn't respond at all.
I sobbed with the tears of joy. I wiped my tears and turned my face to Ashley.
"I did it. . .," I whispered quietly to Ashley. "I DID IT!" I screamed hard with my hand launched into the air.
Ashley about to open her mouth to say something, but she refrains herself. Instead, she just smiled and shook her head.
"All right, time to take a break. Now, we wait for Shepard to take me on the mission! I don't know shooting shotgun is this easy," I said it bluntly.
That's enough to wiped Ashley smile from her face and turned that into a glare. And the inevitable things happened. . .
"Now get your ass ready for some target shooting with the shotgun, and after that we'll do moving target practice," ordered Ashley to me.
"Aye aye, ma'am. . ." I said it slowly because my swollen cheek.
And so, we continue another hour of pain and agony in the name of training with Ashley Williams.
After an hour or so we did our training, Shepard and the other team arrived from the mission. I immediately notice the gloomy atmosphere that's thick within the team. But the most prominent thing is sorrow and anger in Shepard's face.
I want to ask him what's wrong, but I didn't dare to say anything to him at the moment. He quickly leaves the hangar bay and shut himself in the captain's quarter. The rest of the team followed and leave to their respective area.
Ashley, who is unsure about what happened leave the hangar bay to the upstairs, I presume to comfort Shepard in some way. I didn't know what to do, so I went down to the engine room to ask Tali what's going on.
"Hey Tali, where's Doctor T'soni? I thought the mission was to extract her. Is something wrong happened?" I asked her worried more than curious.
"We do search for Doctor T'soni in the Sparta system. But instead of founding her distress signal, we found an alliance distress signal," explained Tali to me.
"All right, so where's the marines?", I asked her once more, this time out of curiosity.
Tali paused for a moment before answering my question.
"They're dead, attacked by a thresher maw. Apparently, the signal is fake, set by someone with unknown motives." Her head is hung low now. "I think Shepard is terribly upset about the event. It seems really personal to him. But none of us dare to ask any question."
Her voice is weak, she obviously worried about Shepard just like me.
I walked out of the engine room with a lot of questions in my mind. Who in the name of god luring someone to be eaten by a thresher maw? What did they gain by that? By the time I finished my deep thinking, I arrived at the mess hall. I saw Ashely sat alone in the middle of the room.
"Hey Ash, how's Shepard?" I took a seat in front of her.
"I don't know. There's no answer when I knock on his door." She shook her head, didn't have any idea about this matter.
Just before I ask more question to Ashley, the door to the captain's quarter was flung open. Shepard came out of the room in a hurry, and then he looked at us.
"Assemble the team in the Comm room. I have a news regarding Doctor T'soni Location," said Shepard, looking focused as usual. He seems to get over things quickly.
With that, Shepards leaves the mess hall.
We assembled in the comm room to hear the news about this Doctor T'soni. I sat in the middle of Ashley and Kaidan because that's the last seat available. I prefer the corner because it's easier to get out.
"All right, we have a news regarding Doctor T'soni location. Recently, we found an Asari Republic distress signal in Planet Therum of Kronos system. We will arrive in about 3 hours. Any questions?" Explained Shepards to the team.
"How did we know this isn't another trap?" asked Garrus to Shepard.
"There's Geth activity on the planet surface, and the signal is just recently turned on. Doctor T'soni may not have a lot of time. We must get there as soon as possible." Answered Shepard.
I raised my hand next.
"Hey, can I go to the next mission?" I plead to Shepard, hope he will take me on the mission.
"Ashley, how's the training going?" asked Shepard to Ashley
"Well, the shotgun training's went well, but-" I interrupted her before she finished.
"I'm ready." My eyes are filled with determination when saying those words.
Shepard stared into my eyes for a moment. And then he nodded in agreement.
"But Commander, he-" this time, Shepard interrupted Ashley before she finished.
"Therum is filled with Prothean ruin. I believe his skill is suitable for a close combat environment. Most of us already tired from the earlier mission, so it's not hurt to bring some extra help to the mission," explained Shepard to Ashley.
"Aye, aye,Commander," answered Ashley in agreement, not willing to disobey the Commander's order.
"All right, if there's no questions left, some of you may want to get some shut eye to replenish yourself from the earlier mission. I'll be in my room if you guys need anything."
With the final words from Shepard, the briefing is over.
I'm in the hangar bay once again, preparing my equipment for the next mission with the help of Ashley. She gave me a basic Alliance Storm shotgun, a Kessler pistol and Onyx medium armor. The armor is a bit tight, but it got a magnetic holster so I don't have to carry my gun all the time.
Ashley told me to stay by her side all the time after we dismounted from the Mako. Oh yeah, we're going to ride the Mako because apparently, the landing zone is littered with Geth anti air weapons, so we have to land a bit far from the objective. How cool is that, riding the Mako and blasting some Geth. I'm really looking forward to this mission.
Soon I find myself inside the Mako, descending into Therum surface. I immediately change my thought about the coolness of Mako. My face is pale with shock and horror. My head's heavy, and everything seems spinning. I cursed under my breath for allowing myself into this kind of situation. Everybody looked in my direction, their face is full of concern.
"Hahaha, don't tell me this Pyjak got a motion sickness!" Wrex laughed at my misery.
"I'm surprised! I thought as human said, stupid people can't catch a motion sickness?" Garrus snickered like a vorcha thrown into a lava.
"I believe it's stupid people can't catch a cold, Garrus. But I agree he's not so smart." Ashley joined the band with her teasing.
"Do you want some anti motion sickness medicine, Joe?" asked Tali to me.
I shook my head in disagreement. There's no way I would let my pride fell so low by taking anti motion sickness medicine.
"Do you want some candy? It'll help a bit," Kaidan offered me some candy from his pocket.
I glared at him. Candy? My badass point would drop so low I'll become an old granny pyjak. But I took it anyway. What could I say? I like candy.
When Shepard said the place is crawling with the Geth, he wasn't kidding. Our journey consists of shooting and jumping a lot that really turned my stomach upside down. Finally, after 45 minutes of agonizing ride that felt like a century come to an end. We dismounted from the Mako to check our surrounding because there's a huge gate blocking our way.
Therum is beautiful. It has this reddish rocky surface with mountainous terrain. There's also a stream of lava stretching across the land. Scary and evil looking, but it's nice. You might think this is the place where a mad scientist with a mwahahaha laugh creating an army of zombies, but once you look at the lava flow, it's hypnotizing. But, there's more important things to do right now than savoring the beauty of my surroundings.
I crouch near the lava stream with my hand clutching my stomach. Cold sweat dripping all over my body and my face is as pale as an albino space cow.
"Hoeeeeeeeeekkkk," I puked at the lava stream, leaving a trail in the form of a very stinky steam that could be made into weapons of mass destruction.
"Looks like this gate can only be opened from inside the compound," said Kaidan while examining the gate.
"We must find another way to go around it, Commander," suggested Ashley to Shepard.
"You know, how strange is it to have a convenient way around this gate like that pass over there? It's too convenient," said Garrus with his usual sarcasm.
"We don't have another choice Garrus. We have to go around through that pass or we'll run out of time. Everybody gets inside the Mako, now!" Ordered Shepard to the team.
Me who was silent the whole time finally spoke up some words.
"NO F*CK** WAY! I'll open this gate for you as long as I stay outside of that thing!" I pointed at the Mako as the source of my misery.
"What the hell are you talking about? Get inside now!" ordered Ashley to me.
I didn't listen. Instead, I climbed the gate to get inside the compound. I climbed down instantly after I reached the top. They're all looking at me curiously.
"There's a huge ass Geth Turret over there. . .." My voice are weak with despair.
I reluctantly climbed inside the Mako without saying anything else. Tali pat me on my back and offer me the anti motion sickness medication. I took it and sigh in defeat. My life is more important at the moment than my awesomeness.
The ride to the compound consists of the usual shooting and jumping stuff. The medication helped a lot, but somehow the floor of the Mako is so. . . Interesting. So I kept my head down. . . Uhm. . . To look at the super interesting floor.
Then the car suddenly stopped with a back and forth motion. That's somehow made the Mako's floor even more interesting. Did you know that the diagonal stripe motive on the floor is actually could move if you stared at it long enough?
There's more shooting from the outside, and not long after that, the Mako roared back to life and moving at a high speed. I didn't know what's happening outside because I'm too glued to this interesting floor. Finally the Mako arrived at the final stop. We dismounted from the vehicle immediately with combat gears ready. Tali once again pat my back in sympathy. I could only offer her a weak smile in return.
After a few deep breaths, I regained my focus and realize there's a huge cliff with a small gap that the Mako couldn't pass through. I sigh in relief before turning my attention to Shepards.
"All right, we'll split into 2 fireteam to cover each left and right flank. Each fireteam should be balanced in tech, biotic, and combat ability," He pulled out his shotgun and ready with the battle stance. "Garrus and Tali, you're with me. Lieutenant Kaidan, you'll lead the second team with Chief William and Wrex. Let's move out!"
"Waiiit! What about me?!" I yelled at them before they really move out.
"Oh right, I forget you're here, Joe. Which team do you want to follow?" He turned his face to me, still in his battle stance.
"I'll cover the middle and own the Ge-" Ashley interrupted me with a hit in the head.
"He's with me Commander, let's move." And with that we move out.
We moved towards the gap in the cliff. As soon as we arrived at the other end, we were greeted by rifle fire from the Geth. Ashley pushed me into a cover before she returned the fire and threw herself behind one of the rocks. I tried to aim and shoot some Geth. But every time I was ready to squeeze the trigger, the Geth head's already blown up.
And then we move out once again towards some sort of hill with a lot of Geth guarding it. It's the same story. Every time I'm about to shoot some stuff, they have already blown up. Man, this is suck. . .
Finally we arrived in some sort of mining camp. There's a few huge crates lying on the ground. On the right, there's this metallic tower with a catwalk in front of the tower that expand to the refinery on the left near where I stood. Below the tower is a stairway that leads towards an entrance to some sort of cave. And there's no enemy here! Nice! Just like a walk in the park!
Suddenly there's a crawling Geth called Geth Stalker launched itself towards me. I instinctively turned around and punched that thing in the face. There's a distinctive crunch noise when my fist connected to the Geth's face. It fell to the ground and went limp instantly. I guess that thing is dead since it's not moving after I poke him with my shotgun barrel. Well, I guess I spoke too soon about walk in the park thingy.
I was right. A Geth drop ship flies passed our head and dropping a couple dozen of Geth and a huge arachnid robot called Geth Colossus. How could I know about what are those things called? Actually, my helmet HUD displayed their name just above their head. Pretty convenient, right? Anyway, everybody immediately dives into the cover as soon as those Geth opened fire.
Everybody focused their fire into the Colossus. Shepard and Kaidan threw some kind of blue energy toward the colossus, made it unable to move. And then Tali typing something into her omni-tool and crippled the colossus shield. But it's still not enough because the Colossus slowly charged the shields the moment the team went back into the cover. I don't know what should I do. My shotgun range is too short to engage the enemy, and the only thing that could work in this range is my pistol. I shoot my pistol in the Geth direction, but none of the bullet hit the target.
I cursed myself because I couldn't do anything at the moment. I need to get closer to be able to shoot my gun at them. And then I notice the catwalk just above me. I immediately climbed the refinery pillar that supported the catwalk. After I reached the top, I bend over behind a crate to hide myself from the plain sight. I peeked over the crate to keep an eye on the situation. All of the Geth still focused on Shepard's group.
I crawl on the catwalk till I managed to get close enough to fire my gun. But apparently, I crawl too far and ended up being directly on top of the Geth. Well, I can't be picky at the moment. Any range close enough to fire my gun is good in my book. I draw my shotgun from the magnetic holster and aim it at the Geth.
I didn't do it. Something inside my head told me it's not cool to just shoot them like that. I have to do something grand to show Shepard that I'm good enough for the team. So here we go, time to nut up or fart up. I jumped down and landed on top of the Colossus's head.
The Geth finally aware of my presence began to shoot in my direction. Luckily, they were too close and didn't have a good angle to shoot. So, their bullet ended up hitting the Colossus instead of me. The Colossus shield went down fast from the combine attack of the Geth and Shepard's team. I guess the Colossus are fed up after being attacked by the other Geth, It began to hurl plasma shot into the Geth crowd below.
I try my best to hang on tight as the Colossus's head moving around to fire at the Geth below. But the constant movement finally took a toll on me. I began to feel sick, my stomach is grumbling, and I taste acid in my mouth. Then, the inevitable happened.
I threw up and the disgusting vomit landed just on top of the Colossus's single huge ass eye. It began to twitch violently with a smoke coming from the eye. I quickly fell off the Colossus's head into the ground because I can't hang on any longer before the Colossus exploded, creating a huge flaming ball.
And then everything went dark.