(Here is the next chapter, hope everyone likes it, sorry its short, I was trying to get something to you the readers as soon as possible, but there was tech problems)
(Please let me know what you think of this chapter)
(Sincerely Gods-own)
Chapter 11: From those flames
Nothing was ever simple, life had taught me that and it was teaching me it again as a second withering bombardment slammed into the ancient masonry surrounding my ground team.
"They're trying to flank us!" shouted Garrus as he lent briefly out of cover to snap off a few shots.
"Then stop them!" I testily barked as an enemy shock trooper thundered out of cover towards me. "I'm a tad busy at the moment." moments later there came a satisfying crack as the armor penetrating round smashed its way through the charging construct's left knee joint, sending the robotic opponent slamming into the stone floor with bone shattering force, a second, sharp roar from my pistol ruthlessly dispatched the assailant as its head exploded under the impact.
"Everyone sound off!" I forcefully demanded as the remaining enemy began falling back towards an easily defend location.
"Williams, fine"
"Wrex, fine"
"Alenko, fine" my mind suddenly froze as the line fell silent.
"Miss Zorah come in, Doctor T'soni come in!" still nothing, I hastily glanced around at the remaining members of my squad. "Does anyone have eyes on them?" I bellowed over the continuing conflict, fortunately someone did.
"I can see them!" stated Wrex as he came sauntering over towards me, "They're pinned down on the other side of the hanger, damn if I know how they got over their" I inwardly let off a deep sigh of relief as my ears picked this up.
"Can you get through to them?" I asked as rounds cut through the air above us.
"Not without getting my head shot off" muttered the mercenary as he stood up to return fire with his assault rifle.
"Then I'll do it myself" I retorted coldly as I backtracked along the causeway towards the Normandy. "Joker!" I snapped as my hands began grasping hold of the exterior.
"Sir?" enquired the helmsman's voice as I continued my ascent over the spacecraft.
"I'm in the middle clambering over the ship, do not activate the shields, do you hear me!" the man's reply came back dripping with sarcasm.
"I wouldn't dream of it Commander" stated the disembodied voice as I got my first glance of the beleaguered duo; the unhappy pair were squeezed in behind a fallen pillar and unsurprisingly they were rather surprised when first Tali and then T'soni caught sight of me scrambling across the hull towards their location.
"Tali come in" I ordered over the squad's intercom, but all that answered me was static, so I was forced to improvise with a number of crude hand signals, moments later the young quarian unleashed her own assault of hand signs, which came so fast that I was forced to slow the girl down. "Something's blocking their comms" I whispered softly as I slid down the other side of the ship and onto the exposed platform, in hindsight it was probably a bad decision because within a split second a large percentage of the enemy weapons were being fired at my general direction. "Damn it all!" I angrily snapped as my weapon blasted away at the distant figures on the other side of the hanger.
"Commander, can you hear me?" Alenko's voice suddenly cut through the surrounding static as a trio of explosions tour through the packed opposition. "I repeat can you hear me Sir?" hastily enquired the officer in concerned tones.
"I can hear you marine" I calmly replied as my right hand silently indicated for the prone women to follow me as we slowly began advancing towards the disorganized enemy. "Nice shot by the way" I added as our divided team slowly squeezed the life out of the geth rearguard, until all that was left was broken bodies and smoldering wreckage.
"Now that's what I call a fight" boomed the krogan happily as he kicked a ruined robot off of an edge.
"Speak for yourself" retorted Williams as she slowly rose from next to the gore covered remains that was all that was left of our welcoming committee.
"Report!" I snapped in an authoritative tone as I came sauntering over towards the pair.
"The colonist's dead" grimly replied the gunnery chief as she slowly wiped red crimson from her hands. "The carnage round pretty much blew him in half" I quietly cursed as I heard this.
"Now we have no clue about what's going on" grumbled Vakarian as step in behind me.
"Then we'll just have to find out" I coldly stated to the surrounding group as I silently indicated to them to fall in behind me as we head towards the exit; in hindsight it was a wise decision because within half a second of entering the installation we were set upon from all sides by more of those weird frog robots that Tali called hoppers; they didn't last long and as the last of them fell dead the ear splitting static that had been bothering several members of the team died with them.
"That's better" softly whispered the young quarian as she began rubbing one side of her helmet. "I was seriously considering shutting off my helmets audio receptors" I chuckled ever so slightly as they heard this, but for half a moment I could have sworn that the girl stiffened ever so slightly as she heard my voice.
"We better press on" murmured the suited figure as Ashley walked by with a concerned look on her face.
"I'll take point" firmly stated the marine as she quietly moved off up the staircase.
…
Something wasn't right, an unnatural aura seemed to leach out of the surrounding stonework and that wasn't the only thing.
"Tali" I calmly whispered over a private channel as we headed up the seemingly never-ending flight of stairs.
"Commander?" spluttered the woman in shocked surprise as she heard my voice gently echoing out of an earpiece.
"Stay calm and try not attract too much attention" I instructed as we both slowed down to allow most of the other members of the team to overtake the two of us. "I need to ask a favour of you" this unusual announcement seemed to strike a point with the young quarian, who visibly puffed up with pride as she heard this.
"You can count on me Commander" stated the individual eagerly as she attempted to remain nonchalant, or as nonchalant as one can be when wearing an environmental suit.
"Good" I quickly glanced over my shoulder at Garrus, who was bringing up the rear, fortunately for our little duo the turian wasn't paying us much attention. "Does your suit have built-in environmental detection?" the question caused the woman to pause ever so slightly before replying in a confused tone.
"Of course, but why?" I didn't bother to answer her question as I continued talking.
"Can you make the software run an air analysis, without anyone knowing?" more confusion from the female quarian, who almost came to a shuddering halt as she heard this.
"I can, it isn't too hard, I'll just adjust the scanning intensity in the filter section with my omni-tool" she suddenly fixed me with a concerned stir. "What is all this about Shepard" the sudden use of my surname clearly indicated the seriousness of her concern.
"I don't know, I've just got a bad feeling about this place" this remark was only partly true, because for the last half a minute the neural implants had been flashing a multitude of warnings across my internal heads up display. "Tell me if you find anything"
"Of course Commander" quietly replied Tali as she start the calibrations.
"What are you two talking about?" suddenly enquired Vakarian as he materialized behind me.
"Nothing important" came the steady reply as I gave my female companion an instructive look.
"The Commander was just apologizing for earlier" calmly stated the woman as she suddenly increased the distance in between us.
"Yes I was" I grudgingly muttered as my mind openly groaned at the remembrance of the briefing.
"Commander!" the energized voice of the gunnery chief clearly cut across to com channels, shattering the awkward silence that was threatening to send once more onto the proceedings.
"Report!" I barked as my feet thundered up the last few flights of stairs that separated me from the remainder of my squad.
"The colony is still standing, but they're being pushed pretty hard by the Geth Commander, they won't last much longer" I openly cursed as my audio implants picked up the distinct discharges of small arms as Williams homed into view.
"Orders Sir!" shouted the marine as she caught sight of me.
"Do not allow them get a foot hold" I roared as my sidearm was pulled free from its housing.
"Send them back to the void!" an ear splitting chorus of yells clearly indicated the willingness everyone else involved as I lead a thunderous charge across the opened space towards the heart of the fighting.
Commander Shepard, Alliance Marines, what's your name?" my voice was almost drowned out by the firestorm that was being unleashed all around us as I hurtled into cover next to one of the colonists.
"Fai Dan, I'm in charge of these people" spluttered the confused man as he glanced around in complete surprise as my squad spread out around him.
"What's the situation?" I had to shout the question as an explosion detonated in ear splitting distance of my head.
"We've got geth in the tower" the colonist jerked a thumb over his shoulder at the ruin structure in front of us. "We need to protect the heart of the colony" this particular comment set alarm bells ringing in my brain, but the ongoing chaos forced me to push the disquieted feelings to one side as I quickly assessed my options, no of them were good.
"Listen up!" I bellowed as everyone began laying down withering fire onto the archenemy.
"We're going to split into two groups, the first, led by me will rush the tower entrenched while the other gives five support" there were cries of acknowledgement down the line as the team heard this.
"Garrus, Tali, your with me, everyone else don't screw up" moments later I found myself storming towards the ruined doorway with biotic explosions and bullets slicing through the air all around me.
"Geth shock troopers!" Yelled Vakarian, as he emptied his assault rifle into a badly damaged opponent.
"I got them" Shouted Tali, who sent a tech mine smashing into one of the elite units; without pausing for breath the woman unloaded a soul destroying shotgun round into the unfortunate face of the synthetic, a split second later a sniper rifle bullet slipped effortlessly past the woman's head and drilled its way into the remaining opponent's throat.
"Nice shot" crowed Garrus as he caught sight of Williams calmly venting the excess heat out of her precision weapon.
"Stay focused!" I bellowed as my right fist smashed a robotic sniper over a nearby railing, moments later there came a significantly satisfying sound of breaking metal as the geth assailant came to a sudden stop at the bottom of the yawning stairway that was on the over side.
"The enemy are trying to reinforce their line!" the alarm call snapped my head around as I caught sight of a number of unwanted silhouettes coming hurtling down a crumbling staircase.
"Move!" I roared as my body started hurtling towards the hastening reinforcements, thundering projectiles hammered into the flickering blue energy field that surrounded me as I continued ever onwards; fortunately the sudden rush had taken the opponents by surprise as the dishevelled defences clearly indicated. "Surprise" I muttered as my shoulder slammed into the nearest assailant with body braking force, time seemed to slow to a crawl as the combat stimulants took hold, the world seemed to blur ever so slightly around its edges as I launched the pinned opponent into one of its nearby associates; moments later there came a blinding flash as the pistol held tightly in my other hand snarled into life; the first shot smashed clean through the pinned synthetics', the second round decapitated nearest one and the third disembowelled the other in a shower of sickly white fluid.
"Are you all right Commander?" stammered Tali as she came hurtling over towards me, shotgun at the ready.
"I'm fine, where's Vakarian" I calmly replied.
"Right here Shepard" Stated the turian as he moved out from behind his cover.
"Good, let go" I moved a hand up towards my head as our little group. "Group two come in!" the all too familiar voice of the lieutenant came blaring back over the internal headset.
"Group two here, what's your situation Commander?" enquired Alenko over the noticeably crackly line.
"The entranceway is secure, move your team up to our position, I'm going to push forwards towards the enemy's landing point, follow in behind us and take care of any hostile reinforcements that could attempt to encircle us, understood?" there came a clear and confident response from his subordinate as he dropped off the line.
"I take it that we're taking all the risk" said Garrus as he moved up to one side of my person.
"That's why I hired you Vakarian, you can handle it, let's go" this uncharacteristically announcement seemed to take the C-sec officer by surprise, who quietly glanced over towards the young quarian to see if he'd heard correctly.
"Yes sir" spluttered the alien as we started off up the crumbling walkway, after a long slog through an ever increasing number of opponents we found ourselves fighting a pitched battle in what appeared to be landing point for the invading Geth.
"Spirits they just keep coming!" Shouted the turian, who was blazing away with his assault rifle at an elusive sniper that was being particularly annoying at that moment in time.
"Group two will be here, hold on" I firmly ordered as more robotic assailants dropped in through the ruined roof.
"I've overheated!" stated Tali frantically as she dived back behind a fallen pillar, heat streaming from her weapon; unfortunately I wasn't the only one to notice this and moments later the synthetic invaders began pouring fire onto the isolated figure.
"Suppressing fire!" I bellowed as a distant sound heralded the arrival of unwanted attention, this was suddenly reinforced by a thundering crescendo as elite enemy forces dropped from low orbit onto this position. "Lieutenant what's your ETA!" I quietly snarled over my head set as geth shock troopers began advancing across open ground towards us.
"We're almost there Commander, hang on" hastily shouted the officer over deep lungful of breath as the remainder of my team hurtled towards us.
"Hurry the hell up!" I forcefully retorted as my sidearm roared into life, sending a white plated enemy flying backwards, shedding bits of armour in all directions.
"Destroyer!" Vakarian frantic call shattered my self-imposed calm as I caught sight of the towering colossus stampeding towards the lone figure of the female quarian.
"Shepard!" there was noticeable fear in the girl's voice as she frantically attempted to un-jam her weapon, but I didn't even notice as my body took on a mind of its own, one moment I was kneeling behind cover the next I was hurtling through the air as my entire weight came crashing down onto the opponent's resilient frame, it wasn't the smartest of moves as it turned out.
"Come on!" I chillingly growled as the gigantic assailant angrily attempted to throw me off, which it duly did, but even this didn't slow me down, because the instant I hit the floor I was back on my feet again wrestling with the monstrous synthetic as it desperately attempted to bring its heavy weapon to bear. "No you don't" I muttered from between clenched teeth as my right hand forced the lethal end ever upwards so that it was point directly towards the metallic face. "Suck it!" I spat as the weapon erupted in the things face; the world went white as the explosion sent me hurtling backwards into a pile of fallen masonry, the geth destroyer on the other hand fared even worse as the gushing fountain of hydraulic fluid that poured out of its ruined head clearly indicated, but even this didn't seem to put a stop to the frustrating adversary as it desperately attempted to bring its cannon to bear, this unwanted determination was finally silenced by a withering hail of solid shotgun rounds that smashed the towering enemy off its feet.
"Shepard" the familiar voice was quickly followed moments later by the unmistakable outline of Tali'Zorah leaning over my floored figure. "Keelah, are you ok?" I didn't have time to answer as a sudden crescendo of automatic fire began hurtling into the surrounding crumbling décor.
"Get moving!" frantically shouted Garrus as the two of us hastily scrambled back over the fallen pillar as more geth turned their attention in our general direction.
"Where is everyone?" nervously enquired the young girl as the improvised shelter began to disintegrate under the concentrated bombardment.
"Right here!" bellowed Wrex as he came storming out of the nearby entrance, all guns blazing and everyone else in tow; unsurprisingly the remaining opposition didn't last too long in the face of such determined aggression and when the smoke had cleared and all that could be heard was the sound of fallen masonry I allowed myself to take a much needed breather as my body started to purge the stimulants from its system.
"Are you alright skipper?" Asked the gunnery chief in concerned tones as she came sauntering over towards my position sitting atop a pile of rubble.
"What took you so long?" I coldly demanded as my vision drifted across the scarred landscape that stretched out in all directions.
"It's my fault Commander" interrupted the lieutenant as he forced his way into the conversation. "I wasn't fast enough following your instructions and by the time we'd reached your previous location the enemy had already deployed skirmishers to delay us" this particular revelation didn't come as surprise to me, I'd already come to a similar conclusion, but I wasn't going to tell them that.
"When I give someone orders Lieutenant I expect them to carry it out" I jabbed a finger in the krogan's direction. "I don't expect something like skirmishes to slow down Wrex, that's why I left him with you" I rose to my feet with quiet determination as I continue the tongue lashing "If you can't handle the responsibility of command then I'll find someone who can, are we clear!" it wasn't really a question and everyone within earshot new it.
"Crystal Sir!" hastily replied the alliance officer as I forced my way past him.
"Listen up!" I forcefully ordered as everyone turned to look in my direction, with expectant expressions upon their faces. "Vakarian, Dr. T'soni, you two with me" I glanced over at the female quarian. "Miss Zorah, what do you want to do?" the question obviously seemed to take the individual by surprise as she began giving off a whole host of confused mannerisms.
"Commander?" she spluttered nervously.
"Do you want to stay here or come with me, I'll leave this decision up to you" I turned to fix Alenko with a hard stare as I continued talking. "I'm sure that colonist, what was his name?" Williams chipped in at this particular point.
"Fai Dan Sir" I nodded in a polite thank you before continuing.
"I'm sure that Fai Dan needs help getting the colony back online, Lieutenant!" the man almost seemed to jump as my words hammered in through his ear dream.
"Sir!" barked the man as he thudded to attention with parade ground precision.
"I want you to give assistance; we don't know how long we're going to be in this sector and I want this place to be a reliable supply base" the man frantically nodded his head in quiet agreement as I turned to look at Tali. "So what do you want to do, stay here and help with the reconstruction or tag along with me?" the woman seemed to pause for thought for a long moment before replying.
"If it's all right with you Shepard, I want to come along, I'll be of more use that way anyway" I silently accepted her decision.
"Alright, Vakarian!" the turian looked up from where he'd been cleaning his sniper rifle. "I want you to do an equipment check with these two" I jerked both thumbs over my shoulders at the female members of my new team. "I want to be ready to go in thirty, am I clear?"
"Clear Commander" firmly replied the C-sec Officer as he quickly began to retrieve pieces of over people's paraphernalia that had been set down all around them.
"Wrex, with me!" I ordered as my figure headed towards a small side chamber set into the far end of the cavernous room.
"What's this about Shepard?" Muttered the krogan in gravelly tones as he pulled up short behind me as I came to an abrupt halt.
"Something doesn't feel right" I quietly replied as my voice dropped down low enough to avoid being detected by the turian's species famously sharp hearing.
"You're telling me" growled the mercenary in slight frustration. "This whole planet feels wrong" he sniffed the air before speaking again. "The air smells rotten" I slowly glanced around in silent agreement as I made up my mind.
"If anything happens I want you to shoot first, don't hesitate, we can't afford to be cut off here" Wrex grunted in an approving tone as I walked past him and back towards the rest of the ground team. "Vakarian ETA"
"Ready to go in ten" came the distracted response as I walked towards a gaping hole in the wall that just happened to be overlooking the final destination; the ExoGeni building towered upwards on the horizon, its broken spires silhouetted against the fading light of the sun, but my mind was firmly distracted by the twisting river of concrete that wound its way between the two installations.
"Let's do this" I forcefully whispered to myself as I turned my back on the unwelcoming scene and strode back towards the waiting trio. "Ready to go?" I firmly enquired as my internal heads up display came back with an all clear from a system wide scan.
"Ready whenever you are Commander" replied Garrus as he rested his assault rifle on an armored shoulder.
"Good, let's go" I barked as your little group split in two as we moved off towards our different objectives.
…
"What's the plan Sheperd?" Asked Vakarain as the elevator trundled ever downwards towards the improvised vehicle depot located at one end of the skyway.
"From what Intel we have I can say that the enemy has set up a fortified position at the ExoGeni headquarters here on Feros, we need to take control of this key installation" I looked over at the floor number as I continued talking.
"Our primary objective is to find out why the geth have come to this colony, keep an eye out for anything useful, working computer terminals, internal servers, personal hard drives" I looked over at Tali as I said this. "I'm leaving that task to you" the individual nodded as she had this.
"You can count on me Commander" replied the girl in a determined tone.
"Vakarian" the man looked over at me as I spoke. "I want you keep an eye on Tali, Don't let her go off on her own, am I clear?" the turian nodded in silent understanding. "Also any locked doors are your responsibility; I take it you've had training in hacking back at C-sec?"
"I was one of the best on the course" Stated Garrus with more than a hint of pride.
"Well so was I, get over it" I snapped as my gaze fixed itself on the asari next to me.
"I expect you're wondering what your role is doctor" the woman looked at my with a pair of deep, blue eyes.
"I will do my best Commander" She whispered in a firm but ever so tentative voice.
"I expect nothing else doctor" I replied calmly as the elevator began to slow down noticeably as we drew close to the designated level. "But I need to see you in action for myself, that why I brought you along on this mission" there came a sudden ping as the lift came to a shuddering halt, moments later the doors pulled apart to eject us into a withering fire fight.
"Take cover!" I ordered as one of the Geth drones turn its attention in our direction, fortunately for everyone involved Tali didn't hesitate and as the smoke cleared all that was left was burning wreckage, pitted with gaping hole and a smoking shotgun, grasped tightly in the quarian's steady hands.
"Remind me never to piss her off" Muttered Garrus as he watched the girl give the fallen machinery a decent kick.
"Noted" I replied coldly, as I manhandled a terrified colonist out from behind cover. "Is there another way across to the ExoGeni building?" I firmly demanded as the struggling figure in front of me desperately attempted to extract himself from my grasp.
"There's a maintenance walkway that runs underneath the skyway" the man started shaking as he continued talking. "But it's infested with those weird frog, geth things and they've locked it down" I inwardly cursed as I heard this; fortunately an answer presented itself in the unmistakable shape of a Mako, ExoGeni's logo painted on the side, resting quietly in a corner of the garage.
"Plan B, move." I snapped as the four of us made a beeline towards the parked vehicle. "Tali, you're riding shotgun" the woman gave a thumbs up, which was impressive given the figure only had three fingers. "You two, in the back" I ordered as I hurled opened the reinforced drivers hatch and lowered myself in.
"Roger that" Echoed Vakarian disembodied voice over the internal headset, moments later the engine roared into life as I gunned the armoured transport out of the depot's automatic doors.
"And now to the geth base, not something an intelligent being would typically say" Doctor T'soni's voice suddenly forced its way into the cramped compartment through the vehicles on-board speakers.
"Keep the chatter to a minimum doctor or close the intercom, I don't want distractions" I muttered as the unwanted silhouette of an enemy drop ship homed into view just in front of the Mako.
"I hate those things" spat Tali as she brought the main armaments online with a quick dance of her hands over the control panel.
"What's going on Commander?" quickly enquired Garrus as a sudden vibration thudded through the armored shell surrounding them.
"Enemy troop ship just turned up, it's dropping in Armature class units, they're trying block us in" I explained as the insect shaped vessel pulled an emergency manoeuvre and vanished from view overhead.
"Why did it leave?" Asked the quarian as I slowly adjusted my grip on the controls.
"Don't know, don't care" I calmly replied as my foot started fanning the throttle, building up the revs; I glanced over at the woman next to me who was starting to look more than a little nervous. "Hold on" I stated coldly as my right hand pulled the well worn sunglasses out of a coat pocket and placed them on my face in an unnerving motion.
"Shepard?" but the question was never answered as moments later there came a squeal of burning tires as I slammed the Mako into second gear and floored the engine; the effect was rather unwelcome for those in the rear compartment, who suddenly found themselves being thrown around like a leaf in a hurricane as we thundered over the crumbling roadway towards the waiting blockade
"Keelah" screamed Tali as one of the armored walkers' slammed bodily into the front of the vehicle as we smashed through the defensive line.
"Get off!" I snapped angrily as I flicked the wheel viciously, sending the enemy crashing to one side and out of site. "How far are we to the nearest cover point?" I demanded in focused tones as a glowing blue ball of plasma flashed past one of the side windows and hurtled into the ground with a roar.
"At least a quarter of a mile" replied my co-driver as there came a unexpected burst of static from over the external network as we began picking up a weak comm-signal.
"The last group went south, what are they looking for?" I pressed a robotic finger into my left ear.
"Vakarian, did you hear that?" there was short pause only broken by swearing as we vaulted over a large section broken road. "Vakarian!"
"Hang on I'm trying to isolate the signal" snapped back the turian's reply. "It would be easier if you weren't driving like a crazy person!" I allowed a slight smile to play across my face as I heard this before giving the wheel a sharp jerk to one side so that the entire vehicle jumped around wildly; I didn't clearly hear what the C-sec officer said next but whatever it was it wasn't pleasant as the trail of obscenities clearly indicated. "Any luck?" I shouted as a rocked slammed into the weakening shields.
"I can't pinpoint the location through all of the geth interference" came the frustrated response.
"Keep trying" I ordered as a second burst of radio chatter came echoing in over the network.
"Any sign of movement? Lizbeth could still be in there; it's only been a few days" I snapped off a quick stare at my companion as we heard this.
"What do you think Commander?" asked Tali as she sent an HE round hurtling down the field towards the enemy.
"Sounds like survivor chatter to me, it's too emotional to be anything else" as if to reinforce my statement the line crackled back into life.
"She my daughter, I'll wait as long as I have to" I gave the girl next to me a thoughtful look.
"Sounds like one of the research scientists survived, maybe we'll get some answers" I muttered as we rumbled into the cover of some kind of access tower that linked the skyways together.
"How do you know she works for the company?" enquired the quarian as I dropped the vehicle down to a more bearable speed.
"ExoGeni would have made sure that all their employees were housed away from the spaceport in case of emergencies" I decided not to tell her the true reason, which was being able to retrieve or purge the key personnel, whatever the parent company sure fit.
"We've got movement, some kind of vehicle, not one of the geth" I snapped my head around as we heard this.
"They've got us on visual, we must be close" Stated Tali as she began scanning the nearby surroundings.
"Dealing with the geth is more important Commander" said Garrus as he joined in on the conversation over the speakers. "Should we really be stopping?" I didn't bother to reply as I my hand pressed the rear door release button.
"Vakarian you've got guard duty" I quietly instructed over my shoulder as I softly edged my way towards a small access ramp that seemed to lead off down into the bowels of the installation. "I've got a bad feeling about this" I whispered as I pulled the Phalanx out of its holster. And I was right
…..
(I hope you like this chapter, sorry it's short, please leave comments)
(Sincerely Gods-own)