A/N: I have added two new options for the romance poll. Aria and Nyreen. If you would like you are free to change your votes. Also it will be extended to the therum chapter.
9-23-2183 1600 Hours (Galactic Standard time)
"Ramirez hurry up the Normandy is about to take off!" Shepard yelled to his friend.
"I running as fast as I can Shepard. I don't see you caring any of our weapons." Ramirez shot back.
"That's because I've already taken care of our luggage and armor!" Shepard yelled back to his friend as he reached the Normandy docking bay and promptly entering it. Ramirez managed to reach it a few minutes later.
The SSV Normandy, measuring at 147 meters in length, is the state of the art Corvette the first kind of its class and first ever to have 75% more power in its particle accelerator cannons. It was a joint effort between the Hierarchy and the Systems Alliance. The Hierarchy gave the Alliance the Corvette as a gift, showing how close the two governments were. It featured an overall Turian design, however it featured light weight Titanium-A sloped armor. The Normandy had the newest Desert Storm Barrier-Shield Technology (DSBST). Traditional barriers cannot block high-level kinetic energy attacks, The DSBST attempts to solve the higher-end limitations of traditional kinetic barriers by violently slapping aside incoming fire rather than halting it. Some have called the DSBST a hybrid Barrier/Shield because of its properties and protection. Significant drawbacks to current DSBST configuration prevent its use on anything other than corvettes and fighters. As of right now it is too expensive to install on destroyers and frigates due to cost and unnecessary on bigger ships. Also, contributing to stealth is the Normandy's revolutionary Tantalus drive, a Thorium core double the standard size allowing it to use more power while emitting less heat than other corvette-class vessels. It is also the first ever vessel to use twin stealth -EMP torpedoes that are able to be cloak. The motto used to describe the Normandy is "The last thing you never saw." The Salarian Union hase begun researching on applying this technology on dreadnoughts.
The Normandy is built on four main decks: The Command deck, Quarters, Engineering, and Storage. The Alpha-45 drone can be powered 24/7 and is usually found on the Command deck. The storage bay houses 4 Prowlers, 3 ATLAS mechs, 2 Blue Jay Carriers, and 2 Bushmaster Main Battle Tanks.
Commander Shepard and Lieutenant Commander Ramirez entered the Normandy via airlock and were amazed by the inside of the Normandy. Both proceeded to offload their gear and place their weapons in their own locker. After 4 minutes of struggling Ramirez managed to make his precious Cain fit.
"I'm heading to the command deck. Are you going to come to?" Shepard asked Ramirez.
"Nah, I'm gonna head to engineering." He replied.
"Alright."
Ramirez push the button on the elevator once Shepard got off on the command deck . The elevator stopped on the engineering deck and Ramirez stepped out. As he did he managed to bump into another crew member and they both fell, Ramirez falling on top the poor woman.
The young woman was named Daro' Xen of the Quarian fleet. Unlike her fellow Admirals, she believed using the humans technology to bring the Geth under their control. The Alliance, however had strict copyright laws put into place and warned Xen that any attempt to take Rannoch with Alliance technology would result in war. Furious she then did the next possible thing and that was to leave the flotilla entirely in order to work with humanities best scientists. Xen didn't feel homesick, mostly because she hardly considered any of the Quarians as family. The other Admirals weren't happy, but they were relieved that Xen was finally out of their hair. Xen then quickly became a prominent engineer in the Alliance which caused her to be transferred to the Normandy. Daro didn't mind working with Humans. They weren't as racist as the other races, but not any more sympathetic due to their closeness to AI. Still she preferred it here working with the best technology possible, instead of salvage and she got a decent wage so she could hardly complain, that is until now.
Ramirez with embarrassment said "I'm so sorry." while giving her his hand
The woman responded "Keelah. Watch were you are going boshtet." she refused his hand and got up on her own.
Ramirez asked her "What's your name?" while checking her out and thinking 'Please let her be single.'
Daro anwsered "Daro' Xen,…former Admiral Daro' Xen. I presume you are going to give me yours?" she asked. She thought to herself 'What a fine specimen of the human race. If only I can see what he looks under those clothes and see his endurance….keelah why am I having these thoughts?'
Ramirez replied "It's James Ramirez. By the way are you single?" he asked. Ramirez was pretty blunt and straight forward in his sexual life. Fortunately for him, his facial features and his body attracted many females, but not as many as Shepard did.
Daro narrowed her eyes and with a hint of suspicion asked "Why do you want to know about my sexual life human?"
Ramirez, god knows why, said "Because I want to be part of your sexual life."
Silence. An awkward and really long silence plagued the corridor they were standing in. 'I have been trying to determine human mating practices maybe this human can give me a personal experience.' She thought. With unknown courage she stepped closer to him and almost touching his face with her helmet said with a hint of lust "Come to my quarters after the mission and we'll see how much endurance you have human."
As she turned around and walked off Ramirez couldn't help but think 'And I thought Brazilian women had great asses, but Daro seems to put them to shame.' Slightly aroused he turned back to the elevator and started walking back when over the speakers he heard Anderson's voice say "Ramirez and Shepard report to the conference room ASAP."
'Well I guess I know where I'm going.' His thoughts soon drifted back to Daro and her magnificent body and what he planned to do to her. Needless to say he was highly aroused.
5 minutes earlier
Shepard stepped out of the elevator and proceeded towards the bridge occasionally maneuvering around crew members. . He saw a turian, a Specter by the gear he was carrying.
Shepard heard the pilot say "The board is green, approach run started. Thrusters…check, Naviation….check. Internal emissions sink engaged. All systems online, drift from worm hole exit….just under 1500K.
The red and white turian muttered "1500 is good, your captain will be pleased." He then turned and walk away to check on other members of the crew and possibly went to see Anderson by the looks of it.
"I hate that guy." the pilot said totally oblivious that Shepard was standing right behind his chair.
"Nihlus gave you a complement, so you hate him?" Kadian Alenko said smiling that the pilot, Jeff 'Joker' Moreau didn't realize Shepard was right behind him.
Joker responded by saying "You remember to zip up your jump suit on your way to the bathroom that's good. I just jumped us halfway across the galaxy through a worm hole and hit a target the size of a pinhead, so that's extremely incredible. Besides, he's a Specter, and Specters are nothing but trouble. I don't like having him on board call me paranoid."
As soon as he finished saying this the Alpha-45 drone said "Negative Flight Lieutenant. Many Medical And Military Officials Would Call You A Liability And A Crippled."
At this Alenko bursted out laughing and even Shepard smiled a bit at the drone's statement regarding the condition of the pilot.
This caused a frown to appear on Joker's face and muttered "I'm still the best pilot in the Alliance."
"Your paranoid, the Council sent us on a simple recon to set up communications with a colony." Alenko said when he stopped laughing enough to get a full sentence out.
Joker not satisfied with the reasoning said "Yeah, that's the official story, but only an idiot believes the official story."
At this Shepard took the best opportunity to reveal himself by saying "So you are calling me an idiot, flight lieutenant?"
Joker jumped from his seat, as if that was even possible and stuttered "Uh…no commander see I was…..uhhh…I was…I was mentioning how…ahem…how the Council doesn't send Specters for simple recon missions."
At this Shepard and Alenko couldn't help, but laugh at the pilot's expense. They were cut short as Anderson's voice over the speaker ordered "Ramirez and Shepard to the conference room ASAP."
Shepard made his way to the conference room. On his way to the conference room Shepard explored the bridge and CIC, he also stopped to talk to Navigator Pressly at his station, as well as Jenkins Doctor Chakwas outside the conference room. Shepard's initial thoughts to the Normandy crew were overall positive, with only slightly worrying about Jenkins. 'Poor kid. He should calm down before the mission or else he is going to go and get shot. Shepard thought to himself.
Shepard and Ramirez entered at the same time. To the see turian Specter Shepard watching a vid of some sort. Anderson turned to his two former protégé's and said "Shepard, Ramirez, this is Nihlus, he is a Specter here to help with the current mission we were sent on to retrieve a beacon from the dig site somewhere here on Eden Prime." They nodded at him acknowledging his presence.
Nihlus took this time to speak "63 Rail gun cannons orbiting the planet. Makes one think the Planet is Secured, but how secure is it really?" he asked them.
Ramirez then responded by saying "Secure enough to eliminate an entire Hierarchy fleet." This caused Shepard to smile, but they were both given the 'look' by Anderson and soon got serious.
After the initial debriefing Shepard asked "Sir, who am I to be taking with me on this mission aside from Nihlus and Ramirez of course."
"Alenko, and Jenkins should be more than capable for the task, now go get suited up you two.
Nihlus stayed behind behind to converse with Anderson. The conversation with Nihlus and Captain Anderson is interrupted when Joker reports a problem over the comm. A view screen opens up and shows a transmission from some marines on Eden Prime. Some heavy fighting as well as disconcerting footage of an immense alien-looking ship, about the size of a battle ship, is shown before the transmission is cut. Anderson concludes that "this mission just got a lot more complicated", and orders Shepard and Ramirez to get ready.
After gearing up Ramirez and Shepard were ready to embark on their mission. Shepard told Ramirez "I have a feeling this is going to be the beginning of a lot of 'first missions'. Ramirez then told him that he had the same thoughts.
Jenkins notices Nihlus is coming and speaks up "Nihlus you're coming us?" he asked.
"I move faster by myself." Said Nihlus as he attempted to get out Ramirez stops him and said "So you can get shot in the back in the head. No, I'm coming with you."
Before Nihlus could protest Ramirez brought up if a Thresher Maw couldn't kill him, then very little things could. Nihlus agreed to partner up and both jumped out of the shuttle and started scouting ahead.
"Well better get to it then, you guys ready?" Shepard asked, not knowing what else to say to his squad. As he was rewarded with simultaneous yes's Shepard headed out first and Kaidan and Jenkins soon followed.
They notice some bloated floating monster, which looked very repulsive to the squad.
'Could this be what killed our men?' Shepard asked himself. He could see Jenkins and Kaidan have taken notice of the monster. Shepard orders to engage them only if they become a threat saying they already had enough enemies without creating some more.
"Ship perimeter secure, Commander!", Kaidan says over the comms as Shepard turns around and head towards the dig site. Shepard hears Jenkins laughing and this caused Shepard to raise his eyebrows behind his helmet.
Jenkins without being ordered to, said "Those things are harmless, their called gasbags. They just sort of float around. They are only found on Eden Prime, I grew up here and is why Anderson thought I should be on the ground team."
'So he is a native. That can come in handy if we happen to get lost. Hopefully he knows this land well.' Shepard thought as he ordered his men forward.
Jenkins being a bit overzealous ran further then what he was asked to go and ran into a platoon of black armored batarians. They quickly gunned him down, but not before he managed to throw a grenade killing 3 of the 18 batarians.
"JENKINS!" Shepard yelled and angered over his death proceeded to gunned down the platoon. Alenko was more than a little afraid after seeing the destruction Shepard was capable of.
They went to investigate Jenkins body. Checking for a pulse and finding none Shepard told Kaidan "C'mon lets go nothing we can do for him now. After we are done with the mission we'll come back and give him a proper funeral." With that they continued walking.
After walking a while in silence Alenko asked Shepard "Are you okay?"
"Yeah I'm fine. A little upset about Jenkins death, but I'm alright. Poor kid he was young, had an entire life ahead of him, and in a blink of an eye that future was extinguished."
"Shepard I've dropped a beacon on his body so the Normandy or some-one else can pick him up."
"Good job Alenko. Let's move and try to find some survivors." They both advanced without another word on the subject.
At that moment the radio sparked to life "Shepard. This is Nihlus, I've got Ramirez with me. We just managed to ambush a batarian platoon-"
He was quickly cut off by Shepard who said "Yea, Alenko and Me managed too as well, but we lost Jenkins in the process."
Nihlus in an apologetic tone said "I'm sorry Commander, he was a capable soldier. But we haven't encountered just batarians. They're also appears to be black purplish armored geth."
Shepard caught off guard by what Nihlus just said, questioned "Wait the geth? The geth that rebelled agianst the Quarians?"
Before Nihlus could respond Ramirez said "No Shepard the happy geth who deliver ice cream to kids and provide sunshine and rainbows."
Shepard not liking the sarcastic tone said to his old friend "Ramirez, shut up and put Nihlus back on."
With Nihlus back on he said "Not the way I would have said it but Ramirez is right Commander. The geth being here raises a lot of quesitions."
Shepard responded "Alright. Keep your heads down and report anything else unusual."
"Copy that Commander." With that Nihllus cut the link and proceeded with Ramirez to a garage-looking building.
Shepard and Alenko continued to advanced and engaged the occasional recon drone that came their way. Nihlus then reported that he and Ramirez had encountered a lot of bodies, but no survivors.
Shepard and Alenko then saw a female-marine running from the geth Nihlus mentioned earlier seeing. She appeared to be alone. Shepard told Alenko "If it shoots at you kill it, if it doesn't shoot it to make sure it's dead." As they both ran to her position.
They engage the squad-sized geth force near massive spikes with people impaled on them causing Alenko to become slightly nauseous. Once the hostiles were dealt with Shepard and Alenko walked over to her in the hope of getting information on what is going on here. However they were interrupted by silver-grayish zombies that had tubes coming out of them.
"WHAT ARE THOSE THINGS?" Alenko yelled as he fired at them.
"THE COLONISTS." The female marine replied. They continued shooting until all of the zombies were dead.
Finally once the zombie looking things that Shepard starting referring to as husks were all dead, Shepard walked over to, and asked the unknown soldier "What's your name marine?"
She replied "Gunnery Chief Ashley Williams of the 212."
"Are you injured?" Shepard asked.
Williams responded "A few scrapes and burns, but I'm alright. Better than the colonists. We were patrolling the area when the attack hit. We tried to get a distress call but our communications were being jammed."
"Alright take it easy Williams. You're safe now." Shepard reassured her.
When asked if she knew where the dig site was for the uncovered Prothean ruin she remarked that the dig site was a little further up the road. The three of them then moved out together.
Before they left however, Shepard grabbed the two the crates to the right and the med kit across the clearing. Satisfied with the armor and loot he got they soon were on their way.
Once they got to a series of rocks, they took cover because there was more geth that started attacking from the dig site itself.
"Is this normal for the geth to attack in coordinated vicious patterns?" Shepard asked no one in particular.
Alenko replied "How should I know?"
Shepard took out his XMN-7 valiant sniper rifle to shoot a geth in the head, causing it to fall to the ground dead, or whatever classified as death for a half sentient machine. Another sprang from cover and it too was killed by Shepard.
This caused Alenko to remark "Hey Shepard why don't you save some for us?"
Shepard replied "No rest for the weary, Alenko."
Then a geth sniper attacked the squad from an angle that made it hard for them to get a line of sight or a shot at the machine.
Williams promptly took her out her Mantis sniper rifle and with a impressive display of talent managed to hit the machine right its eye.
Once all the geth were down the squad went to investigate the dig site. When they got there they noticed the artifact was gone prompting Ashley to say "This is the dig site, the beacon was right here. It must've been moved."
Kiadan questioned "By who? Our side?" Or the geth?"
Ashley answered by saying "Hard to say. Maybe we'll know more after we check out the research camp."
This caused Shepard to say "We make for the camp." 'Hopefully we'll find some survivors there.' He thought
At that point Nihlus came over the comm saying "Commander, there has been a change of plans. Ramirez and I will investigate a small spaceport and we will rendezvous there."
"Copy that Nihlus." Shepard responded and the comms went dead again.
The team headed up the ramps to the science camp. When they got close, Kaidan pointed out that it's a good place for an ambush and Shepard instructed them to keep their guard up. They soon came to an area that had the same spikes from earlier with husks impaled on them. Suddenly, one spike lowered and Ashley wondered how the geth were using the spikes to turn people into husks. Soon husks started advancing towards them.
Shepard asked his team "Everyone has ammo?"
Ashley and Kiadan nodded their heads and Shepard said "Good, now kill them all." 'And pray they don't have more men than we have ammo.' He thought as a ducked a strike from the husk shooting it in the abdomen. It let out a shriek before falling on the ground. The shriek alerted nearby batarians who soon joined the fight.
'Great, as if we didn't have enough to worry about.' Shepard thought to himself as he shot a batarian in the face. Ashley was sniping the batarians from medium range discouraging them from keeping themselves to exposed. This allowed Shepard to throw a grenade killing 6 of the 18 batarians. Alenko, using his biotics lifted 2 husks and 3 batarians and shot them all while they floated helplessly in the air.
"Hey, Alenko is this enough for you?" Shepard asked in a sarcastic tone.
"You know me Shepard, there is no such thing as enough." Alenko replied while he wrapped an enemy. He noticed 2 batarians were hiding near a fuel gas tank and shot it incinerating the unlucky couple of batarians.
Ashley managed to snipe 3 more batarians and threw a grenade to drive the last few out of cover. The plan worked, and as the batarians ran from their cover leaving them exposed the squad easily gunned them down.
Once the Husks and the Batarians were down, they came to a building with an advanced lock on the shack which the team needed to bypass. Kiadan easily managed to hack the lock unlocking the door.
Once inside, there were two scientists alone there: The Female scientist said "Alliance soldiers! Thank the maker."
The male scientist clearly in shock said "Hurry! Close the door! Before they come back!"
Shepard attempted to reassure them by saying "Don't worry. We'll protect you."
The Female scientist, now identified as Dr. Warren, said "Thank you. I think we'll be okay now. It looks like everyone is gone.
Shepard then asked them both questions about the attack and where the beacon went. Based on their testimonies, mostly Warren as he assistant seemed a little off his medications, it was apparently moved to the star port that morning. Shepard continued asking them questions about the area, once he was satisfied he left , which was a good thing as he was starting to get increasingly annoyed with Manuel.
Nihlus and Ramirez approached the spaceport. They engaged the geth and batarian forces stationed there. Hoewever the last geth trooper was killed by an unknown soldier.
Ramirez asked Nihlus "Did you shoot that geth?"
Nihlus said "No, I thought it was you."
Then another turian stepped out of cover and with a voice they both recongized said "Nihlus, Ramirez? Thank the spirits you two are here. I was starting to think the council didn't get my message."
Nihlus said "Saren!? Spirits what is going on here?"
"Let's get inside and I'll explain everything there." Saren responded.
Once there Saren explained everything "I was tracking a terrorist batarian named Balak-"
He was cut off by Ramirez who said "That asshole got my unit killed on Akuze. Shepard, Toombs, and I were the only ones to survive." 'Calm down Ramirez, an angry mind is a narrow mind.' Ramirez thought to himself.
Saren continued "Right. Anyway I caught a transmission from the Batarian Hegemony that they found the Leviathan of Dis."
At that Nihlus said "But that's only a story, a legend, a myth."
Saren's expression went grim and said "You noticed the giant squid shaped ship?" he asked them.
Nihlus and Ramirez nodded their heads and Saren said "Well that ship is the Leviathan of Dis."
Ramirez then questioned "Wait, but how did it get past our Rail gun defenses?"
At that Saren pulled put a strange contraption and proceeded to turn it on, but not before he put on some ear plugs. It let out a shriek causing both Nihlus and Ramirez to cover their ears.
Ramirez asked Saren "Why didn't you warn us it was going to do that?"
Saren replied "You did ask how they got past your defenses didn't you? Plus I thought it will be funny." he said.
'Asshole' Ramirez thought to himself. No doubt Nihlus also shared Ramirez's feelings, but quickly let it passed.
Saren went on to explain how the contraption sent a high frequency signal that momentarily disrupted the Rail gun cannons targeting systems and scanners.
Nihlus then radioed Shepard "Shepard. Nihlus here. It seems we now know what is going on. We are at the spaceport with Saren and once you arrive we'll fill you in."
Shepard then said "Wait what is Saren doing here?"
Nihlus repeated that when they rendezvous at the spaceport that they'll explain everything there.
Shepard heard a gunshot reverberate in the air, rounding the corner and heading down a path they saw a battle ship class ship taking off that resembled a massive squid.
When they reached the exterior of the spaceport they ran into some husks and some Geth troopers defending the position. The husks rushed the squad while the troopers stayed at a distance. Shepard hit the containment cell on top of the stairs, which caused it to fall and land right on top of the Geth troopers effectively eliminating them.
Shepard ordered his team "Fall back and continue firing at the Husks. Kiadan use throw to push those Husks back." They continued fighting until all hostiles were eliminated. Once the hostiles were down they bypassed the lock on the shack and meet some surprised farmers.
They exiting out saying "Hold fire, we are unarmed."
Shepard asked the farmer named Cole some questions on the attack and the ship they just happened see take off. One of the farmers mistakenly let out that there was a smuggling ring and the farmers were making some money by hiding the goods in their sheds. Shepard persuaded the farmer to lend those 'goods' to the Alliance. Ashley then asked him for the name of the contact. Cole initially refuses, but Shepard again persuades him and gets a name. A man by the name Powell.
They headed up the platform and Shepard came up the spaceport and saw 2 turians and a human firing at Geth and Batarian forces. He told his team "Come on squad they need our help." With simultaneous 'Yes sir' they went to give the guys some help.
They were vastly outnumbered by at least 5 to 1, however the Alliance/Specter team out matched the hostiles.
"THROWING GRENADE." Saren warned his comrades. The blast killed 3 Batarians and dropped the shields of at least 4 Geth troopers. Nihlus took advantage and eliminated them with his assault rifle. Ashley sniped 2 Geth rocket troopers, allowing the team to advance without having to worry about heavy fire. Shepard and Ramirez were working together killing a combined total of 12 hostiles before Alenko used his biotics to kill 4 Batarian snipers. The Turian Specters killed the remaining hostiles with excellent accuracy and disipline.
After the firefight Ashley noticed someone was moving behind the crates. Everyone pulled their pistols, however it turned out to just be a simple dock worker.
The dock worker introduced himself in a easily scared toned "Wait! Don't-Don't shoot! I'm one of you! I'm human."
Saren remarked in a sarcastic tone "Clearly not one of the humans I've come to know." Remarking on the workers cowardice.
Shepard then asked "What are you doing sneaking around back there?"
The worker replied "I….I'm sorry. I was hiding. From those creatures."
He then introduce himself as Powell and he talked about a Batarian leading a battalion of Geth and Batarian forces around the colony. Shepard asked him about the smuggling ring to which Powell denied. However, when Saren threaten him with jail time, Powell relented and handed the squad all the high explosive grenades he had, even a few upgraded ones as well. He also mentioned that the Batarian used the cargo train and then went to go find a hiding spot.
Saren remarked "The versatility of your species never ceases to amaze me Commander. They are those that partake in suicidal missions and then they are those who would cower in the mildest signs of aggression."
Ramirez then retorted "Well Humanity military strategy was founded on inspiration and coming up with stupid ideas that managed to work. That is why were are the most powerful military in the world."
Saren then retorted that they were not the biggest, to which Ramirez shot back by mentioning that the Persian army lost hundreds of thousands of soldiers to only 300 Spartans and 1,000 Athenians at Thermopylae, stating sometimes quality beats quantity.
The next area they arrive happened to be very linear.
Shepard after telling them to cut the chatter rounded the corner where they came face to face with two Geth troopers, which were easily gunned down. They headed down the catwalk and looked onto the train below. They were noticed by some Geth forces in the area, however Nihlus shot the explosive crate and took them out. They then headed down the ramps and onto the train. They took cover as further down were some nasty looking Geth troopers.
"What kind of Geth are those?" Asked Williams
"Geth shock troopers and a Geth destroyer. Keep your head down, they are harder to take down than the regular Geth trooper." Saren warned.
As they started to fire, the Geth destroyer started walking towards them, while simultaneously firing at them.
"Saren and Nihlus break off and engage the Geth shock troopers. Everyone else focus fire on that destroyer." Shepard ordered the team. After confirming their orders they did just that.
The Geth destroyer proved a challenge to kill, until that is Ramirez had, had enough and pulled out his Piranha shotgun and unloaded at the Geth destroyer. Eventually the Geth went down after the beating it took from Ramirez.
Ramirez commented "That was starting to become a challenge."
At about the same time Nihlus and Saren managed to eliminate the Geth shock troopers. Shepard then activates the train controls, as the train moves along the tracks they See Balack with some Geth giving orders to erase their tracks by destroying the entire colony. Balack then stands in front of the beacon, causing it to become online, and he was lifted into the air. After setting a charge, a Geth shock trooper notices Shepard and his team arriving, it then alerts all nearby Geth troopers to their presence.
Shepard knowing they had four minutes to disarm four explosives orders to his team "Everyone pair up and take a charge. Kiadan with me, Saren and Nihlus you two take the second one, and Williams and Ramirez take the third." After receiving their orders they each went to disarm their assigned charges, with one disarming the charge and the other providing covering fire.
Shepard and Kiadan took the first one right near the train. Kiadan began to disarm it while Shepard kept the Geth troopers off Alenko's back. Quickly Alenko was able to disarm the charge commenting "Well that was simple enough."
Shepard told him "Don't count on things staying like that Kiadan."
'Since when do things ever stay simple around you' Kiadan thought and they both headed up the ramp to help the other teams.
As Nihlus and Saren walked up the ramp they came under fire. "Spirits one would think they had enough of their own dying." Saren muttered.
Nihlus commented "Well they are machines and I don't think we can demoralize them."
After taking out the Geth forces they headed across the bridge and Nihlus used the last panel on the right of their position to take cover, while Saren moved to the left and began disarming the second chage. 'All right nothing to complicated and…..there charge disarmed.' Saren thought as he picked up his weapon.
They soon came under attack from Geth troopers, shock troopers, and a sniper.
"Watch out Saren, that sniper can take you out in one shot, even with full shields." Nihlus told his old friend.
"Thanks for pointing out the obvious." Saren retorted with sarcasm.
'This brings me back to the old days. Me and Saren accomplishing many suicidal missions.' Nihlus thought as he took out the geth sniper. After that was done they had little trouble finishing off the remainder geth forces.
Williams and Ramirez moved towards the first alcove on turned to their left where they found another charge. Williams moved to disarm it, while Ramirez took out his DMR and started firing at Geth forces. 'Come on, come on….there!' Ashley thought as she disarmed the third charge. "I got it." she told Ramirez.
He gave her a thumbs up and they made their way to the last charge along with everyone else. All six members of the team headed all the way down the platform and began disarming the last charge. After the last charge was disarmed they headed over to the ramps and headed down about halfway down the catwalk when they were met with two Husks and 2 Geth troopers. The enemies were easily gunned down without much effort from Shepard's team.
Once all enemies are down Shepard radios the Normandy for pickup while Kiadan and Ashley investigate the beacon. Ramirez walks over to talk to Shepard and tells him "I don't think the Geth are going to let us just walk out of here. They are probably sending another force right now."
Shepard then told his old friend "Which is why it is imperative we leave now rather than later." Ramirez nodded at Shepard's words.
Suddenly the beacon activates and begins pulling Ashley to it. Shepard sees this and along with Ramirez run towards her. Shepard managed to get to her first and pushed her out of the way, however as a result the beacon then grabbed Shepard.
"Hold on Shepard!" Ramirez yelled, however the beacon also grabbed him and both after receiving strange visions collapsed to the ground.
Shepard saw chaos, death, and suffering in an orange colored light and a masculine voice that said "I will be the voice of revenge for our people.". Ramirez, however saw through a green-like light soldiers fighting, strange-pods, re-emergence, and finally the last thing he saw a blurry picture of Luna, when a feminine voice said "This race seems to show promise, they're relentlessness and courage will be tested in the next cycle."
After Shepard and Ramirez blacked-out a Blue jay carrier arrived a few hundred meters in front of them, however it wasn't the only thing to arrived. 8 Geth drop ships on the near their position and began unloading troops. Nihlus grabbing a nearby mini-gun told Saren and the rest of the other team "Quick get them out of here, I'll cover you." he said referring to Shepard and Ramirez.
"But Nihlus you'll-" Saren began before he was cut off by Nihlus.
"Don't. I know the risks. I just want you to know that you have been like a son to me and you've made me extremely proud. If you're brother was here he'd be proud too and would want you to live, now go." Nihlus said with tears in his eyes.
Saren with tears in his eyes gave his old friend one last hug before grabbing Ramirez and ran towards the blue jay carrier, Kiadan and Ashley were already of head of him with Shepard. With one last look behind him he thought 'Spirits, why does this keep happening to me?'
They soon reached the shuttle and the shuttle took off towards the Nomandy.
Watching them leave safely, after killing 26 Geth troopers, turned his attention back to the Machines. 'Alright you sons of a bitches bring it on!'
With a yell he shot at every geth he could killing many of them in the process. Nihlus started to ran back to get a better position and once he got there he stared down the Geth troopers advancing toward him. With his mini-gun out of ammo he strapped grenades to it and threw it at the geth. The explosion killed 5 more geth. Nihlus got a shot to the leg. Cursing he got up and continued fighting and shooting taking out a dozen more geth. Unfortunately Nihlus again got a round, but this time to the arm. With his good arm he grabbed his assault rifle and in the other took out his pistol and fired at the geth in one last display of courage. The geth managing to take down his shields, fired at Nihlus bringing him down to his knees. He then armed all remaining grenades on his armor and ran towards the geth and a kamikaze run. The blast took Nihlus and well as a dozen more Geth troopers. Nihlus was later awarded the Nova Cluster by the Hierarchy for his bravery and sacrifice.
Back on the Normandy, in the med bay Shepard and Ramirez were slowly regaining consciousness. Ashley called out to Doctor Chakwas to inform her of the two Titians condition.
Still groggy Shepard asked "What happened?"
Ramirez responded "We got mind fucked Shepard. Plain and simple."
Hearing this Doctor Chakwas explained "Not how I would put it Lieutenant Commander, but both of your brains have been giving off unusually large amounts of brain signals."
After reassuring Ashley it wasn't her fault Shepard then asked what happened after they blacked out. Ashley informed them of what occurred. Shepard and Ramirdez became silent when they heard Nihlus had to stay behind to cover their retreat.
Shortly after Anderson came in and asked to talk to Ramirez and Shepard alone. Once they were he said "I won't lie to the Council is demanding answers on what happened on Eden Prime. They sent a request to debrief all of you so be prepared to answer some tough questions."
Shortly after Joker said "Captain Anderson we have arrived at the Citadel and are proceeding to docking bay over."
Once they docked they all got out and with the remaining ground team from Eden Prime headed straight to the Council chambers to tell of the events that have transpired.
In a remote location the Illusive man was enjoying a glass of whiskey when a call came in.
"Report." the Illusive man said.
On the other line a man said "We have acquired a copy of the device that allowed the ship on Eden Prime to disrupt our defenses."
The Illusive man said "Good. I want Cerberus scientist to start researching how to nullify their advantage. Once they create a device to counter this I want one of our companies to start selling it to all Council races."
The other man asked "All of them sir?"
The Illusive man replied "Of course Kia Leng. If there are more of those things out there I want to make sure we minimize Alliance casualties as much as possible."
Kia Leng said "Copy, out." and with that the link was cut.
The Illusive man went back to watching the star and thought 'This maybe the start of a war, if it is I want humanity to be ready.'
A/N: The exciting chapter is now finished. Yes I made sure Ramirez forgot to see Daro on purpose. Trust me that part will come later and you will not be disappointed.