"Garrus, the last armature is getting back up, enjoy. Wrex, concentrate fire on that rocket trooper, the normal troopers are barely going to do anything but scratch the paint work even if they do get through the shields." Turning sharply, in order to avoid fire from said rocket trooper, Shepard braced with the brakes as Garrus let rip with the COATs twin 155mm cannons, the recoil causing them to roll back a few metres before coming to a stop as the armature was blown backwards and in several different directions by the explosive impact of the mass effect rounds.
The COAT was the pet project of several members of the Normandy crew along with the Quarians from the Ontario, Garrus and Tali having approached him with the idea shortly after his discussion with the Quarian girl about the Ontario. What they proposed was effectively the rugged love-child of the M29 Grizzly and the Mako as a second vehicle for his strike force to use, heavier and better equipped than the Mako but still a more capable off roader and faster than the Grizzly. It wouldn't useful for away missions on planets with difficult terrain or swamp like conditions, but in less hazardous conditions against opponents such as the Geth it was a considerable boon.
"Bullseye!" Even as Garrus was gloating over his kill, Wrex was blasting away with the twin mounted machine guns that were on a small independent turret on top of the main turret, the Krogan grinning as he gunned down every Geth who tried to approach them.
"That's the last of the tin cans here Shepard, we can tell what happened to the ERCS units that were sent to try and reinforce the target, given the distance to the target this won't be the last of them." The Krogan's remark made Shepard a little happier about the situation, even if there were more of them ahead, as long as they destroyed them as they went there was no chance of being attacked from behind.
"Confirmed Shepard, sensors aren't picking up any more activity in the area. We can try and see if there are any survivors in the wreckage..." It was clear even as Tali suggested it that she didn't believe they would find anyone.
Despite what had been alluded to, Anoleis had actually sent three ERCS squads to try and find out what had been going on at Peak 15 about four hours prior to their arrival, which was why the hangar had been so empty when Shepard had arrived. Obviously the Geth had been using jammers when they finally dealt with the encroaching security forces, as Captain Matsuo had merely assumed that they had been caught up in whatever had been going on at Peak 15 and were struggling with the storm to get communications back online.
"Relay the coordinates back to the Ontario, they can clean up the Geth and check for survivors once we move on, how are Kaidan and the others doing?" It turned out that the Geth they had defeated in the hangar hadn't been the only units stationed at Port Hanshan, though with Linron's data analysis capabilities and Kaidan's strategic awareness they had been able to identify and isolate the three main clusters from the main body of the Port before closing in to deal with them.
"Kaidan's last report confirmed over 80 destroyed Geth and the deactivation of several bombs remotely activated around the Port, though even our marines have two dead and three seriously injured, the ERCS casualty rate is in the region of 40% even with our help. Goddess only knows how badly things would have ended without us being there." Shepard didn't need to imagine what Liara was implying, the reports of colonies disappearing overnight without any off-planet contacts being registered suddenly sounded a lot more like how Port Hanshan would have been whenever Benezia was done with her business...
Yet the Geth in the hangar hadn't activated the other Geth around the Port, which didn't make sense if you were trying to stop someone from accessing Peak 15, as the sheer destruction and chaos 80 odd Geth could bring would definitely distract someone from making the trip for a significant amount of time as a minimum. Filing the thought away for now as he couldn't make any further guesses without grasping at straws, Shepard focussed on the road ahead once more.
"Ash, how far are we from Peak 15?" Given the larger internal space of the COAT, there was space for five combat stations that could be used to take control of different sections of the COAT's operations if there was crew available to do so.
Garrus and Wrex had the main and secondary weapons stations, Liara had communications, leaving Tali and Ashley with the sensors and navigation functions respectively. Given the tone of Ashley's voice as she responded to his question, she would definitely be trying harder to get one of the guns if they anticipated trouble on the way back.
"As the crow flies about three miles, but given the nature of this road more like four, four and a half? There are at least a dozen more locations along this route where the Geth could have ambushes set up, though the nature of this frozen hell hole means that if they want to use heavy armaments they aren't going to be able to be subtle about it." That was true, especially given the large number of terrain warnings that Tali was now screening for him that lit up his display, different colours highlighting suitability of the area around them for the COAT to use if he needed to leave the roadway.
Whilst the COAT was heavier than the Geth Walkers it also spread its weight more effectively across the ground, meaning that the walkers would likewise be restricted to the roadway rather than the cliffs and ravines they would soon be traversing through as he had originally feared. His driving was interrupted, along with his musings, a moment later when Tali gave a sound of surprise.
"Sensors picking up possible life signs Shepard, to the North East, could be survivors." That was leading away from the ambush site, but it was also away from Peak 15 which might be why the Geth hadn't pursued any survivors, it wasn't as if they could walk back to the main station in this storm.
It also meant that they couldn't use the COAT, as the ground would be to unstable and it would be far too easy for them to get stuck.
"How far?" He wouldn't leave potential survivors if he could avoid it, but if it was a trap then if it was beyond the easy covering distance of the COAT's guns it was a risk that he could not afford with whatever was being hidden at Peak 15.
"About 300 metres that way Shepard, it looks like three or four signatures, but they are somewhat distorted by the weather..." And if they had survived this long in these conditions, then they had probably found cover which wouldn't help with the scans either.
"Wrex, you and I will investigate, Ash will man the guns in case we need cover." Wrex was tough enough that he would be able to weather an initial ambush if it came to it, and the less people that came on this excursion the less people he would have to worry about if they needed to bug out in a hurry.
"On it Shepard, make sure not to shoot us whilst 'calibrating' bird face..." Wrex's version of 'friendly' banter still needed work, but given some of the other Krogan they had now met Shepard knew that Garrus wouldn't take the dig to heart, it was just how the lizard like behemoths were.
"I wouldn't worry about me doing it accidentally, given the number of complaints we have had about your ugly mug upsetting people everywhere we go, I would be doing the Commander a favour..." Huh, obviously Garrus had been working on his responses whilst Shepard hadn't been paying attention as his jab was far less hot headed than Wrex usually goaded him into.
But he could worry about that later, as he stepped into the modified entry/exit port of the COAT with a grumbling Wrex beside him, the door shutting and sealing behind him and sealing the cockpit from the icy blast that came through the opening cargo doors a moment later. The cold was noticeable even through his armour, and if it weren't for the handy GPS location on his mini map that Tali had fed into his suit then he would have struggled to discern the direction of their destination as hail buffeted into his armour powerfully enough to activate his kinetic shielding.
"You take me to the nicest places Shepard, should the women be worried about your plans for me?" Wrex chuckled at his own joke for a few moments, before slipping into what Shepard was referring to as his 'murder face', as they passed a burned out wreck of one of the transports the ERCS teams had used. Shepard knew that it was a little cruel to the memories of the dead, but he was glad that his helmet and the climate meant he was in a self contained environment, he had smelt enough burnt human flesh to last a lifetime...
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"Every single security system for this place is designed to stop things breaking out..." It was something they had noticed the moment they arrived at Peak 15, and even without Tali bringing it up as she hacked another access panel for him it was something that was making more than slightly paranoid. If it hadn't been the security systems for this place keeping the Geth in the Peak's transport hangar, why had they not merely attacked the Peak's occupants on mass in order to remove any witnesses/useful intelligence that Shepard was after?
"Similar to the prison we have on the Citadel, though even we had some precautions about people entering the place without us knowing. The Geth didn't seem interested in going into the base, which means that they weren't here to rescue Benezia or something like that. That means that she is probably in command of what is going on inside and there are probably hostages for us to deal with." Garrus' musings made a lot of sense, and that hopefully meant that they wouldn't need to deal with everyone in Peak 15 before they made it to Benezia, at least some of them had to be here unwillingly for the defences to be set up as they were.
"What about the scrabbling sounds we have been hearing in the walls? At first I thought it was just me but the noise has been getting louder and louder, it's almost as if..." Ashley's comment was accentuated by a large banging noise from in front of them, the noise making everyone jerk in the direction of the disturbance with weapons drawn as Wrex finished the soldier's thoughts.
"We are being watched. And there is at least a dozen of the bastards in the walls right now..." Shepard was already running through the list of possible creatures they could be about to face that matched the noises they were hearing, but he was glad that they had waited with the three surviving ERCS members they had found in an improvised snow shelter less than a kilometer from the ambush site until the Ontario crew caught up in the Mako to take them back to Port Hanshan for further treatment, he had enough people to worry about without the injured to consider as well.
"Some kind of Vorcha hybrid? Varren wouldn't have stayed in the walls this long..." Liara's thoughts were along the lines Shepard had been thinking of, but he had the feeling that whatever was so important as to justify the sneaking of almost 300 Geth of various sizes onto the planet, along with the other surprises Benezia no doubt had waiting for them in the main body of the base, was going to be something slightly more spectacular/horrifying than some basic bio-engineered parasites.
"We are about to find out, they are gathering in front of us now rather than around us like they did before, orders Shepard?" Wrex was looking unusually uncomfortable as he hefted his shotgun defensively, though given he didn't say anything more specific Shepard left it alone for now, they had bigger things to worry about.
"Form up, Tali and Wrex at the front, Ashley take left and I will take the right, Garrus cover the back in case there are any surprises..." That was as far Shepard got with a strategy when the enemy revealed itself, the floor grating in front of them violently shifting as several Varren sized beasts forced their way up out of the floor, flailing tendrils cutting into the metal flooring with worrying ease even as the team opened fire almost simultaneously.
Even with mass effect rounds having the momentum to punch through several inches of hardened steel, the monstrous creature Shepard was aiming for took half a dozen rounds from his pistol and still barrelled into him with the force of a charging Krogan. Shepard managed to mitigate the danger by shifting to avoid the thing's gaping maw, firing off a warp lance into one of the thing's eyes that seemed far more effective, the thing giving a piercing screech before collapsing to the floor twitching.
Firing twice more to make sure the thing actually stayed down, Shepard then rapidly turned his attention to the others to make sure they were okay, taking in the situation in an instant. Ashley and Garrus were fine, both having switched rapidly to their high calibre sniper rifles that seemed far more effective against this new enemy than their assault rifles judging by the three dead bodies in front of them, whilst Wrex was impaling another with the bladed end of his shotgun and firing repeatedly as he forced it back into two of its fellows with a vicious grin.
"Tali!" The young Quarian was using her shotgun to stave off one of the creatures that was attempting to crush her beneath it's bulk, it's tendrils flailing wildly as John focussed his senses and with a thrust of his hand used his biotics to send thing flying off Tali and into wreckage of the floor grating the things had left in the wake of their 'ambush'.
There was no time to collect his thoughts however, as another of the beasts thundered across the floor in his direction, spewing a green acidic mucous that thankfully was blocked by his hastily raised barrier, though the rate at which it started eating into the metal flooring was alarming to say the least. As he dodged to the side whilst firing off the taser dart he had built into his gauntlet as one of the upgrades to allow him to neural shock people at close range, Shepard grinned as the electricity arced into the thing, causing it to stumble and collapse as its legs twitched uncontrollably.
The thing's momentum caused it to continue sliding along the floor, right to Garrus' feet, the Turian placing a boot on the thing's head for a moment to steady himself before lifting his sniper rifle to point at the thing's maw and firing, the large caliber round removing a good portion of the thing's 'face' as its limbs flailed twice more before stopping awkwardly mid twitch.
"Targets down, what the hell was that Shepard?" Garrus managed to maintain a relative calmness in his tone even as Shepard moved to check on Tali, the girl doing her best to clear some of the gore from the front of her body suit in a manner that made it clear she trying not to squeal eww and flap her arms in a panic.
"No idea, but whatever they are, I can see why Saren wants some. Everyone okay?" After getting an affirmative nod from a still obviously shaken Tali, Shepard turned his gaze to the rest of his group to see Wrex sniffing one disdainfully smacking it with the butt of his shotgun.
"When I said I wanted you to take me to some interesting fights Shepard, even I didn't think it would be as crazy as this..." The Krogan seemed distracted as he trailed off, wiping the blade of his shotgun on the carapace of the last of the things he had killed, and after waiting a few seconds it was clear enough that he wasn't going to continue on his own.
"You know what these things are Wrex?" Ashley's question seemed to jerk Wrex out of his contemplations, but before he could speak Linron came over the comms with her usual no nonsense tone.
"Probably recognises them from childhood stories, the few that Krogan share, suppose reason for species being uplifted warrants place in cultural history even if they were enemies. Have already told Normandy to notify the Alliance, would advise waiting for back up against such a threat." It was difficult to tell whether Linron was being deliberately vague about what they were facing, or whether she simply didn't understand that others couldn't access the extranet with a thought to join the dots, but it was clear that at least two of his team knew something.
"Wrex, she isn't implying..." The grizzled Krogan nodded at Liara's question before giving an amused barking laugh that Shepard was slowly recognising as a sound that only came out when they met some enemy or obstacle that was above and beyond what would be normal for even a Spectre.
"I've only hear stories, as even I'm not that old, but this matches what my father told me when I was a child. Well done Shepard, you've managed to get us to encounter the only race in the galaxy that is more comprehensively considered extinct than the Protheans." Wrex splayed his arms out to the side to dramatise his next words.
"We are about to see the return of the Rachni..."
A/N: Not the longest of chapters, but when a cliff-hanger appears like that I can't resist stopping it there. Bits and pieces covered here regarding the new vehicle, arrival at Peak 15 and the introduction of the Rachni.
Personally, given the amount of trouble the Rachni gave the Council during the Rachni war, I think there would be something automatic in place in terms of procedures for a potential Rachni sighting. This will be expanded on in another chapter, but you'd think a species that required the uplifting of the Krogan to defeat would be taken a little more seriously than it seemed to be by the Council. And on that point, I like to think Wrex would recognise the creatures based on the stories he had heard even if he hadn't been born around that time...
As per usual, let me know what you think and see you all next time!