Sorry for the wait people. My Beast Wars and Shinobi's Creed chapters took me a while to write out. Hopefully I can pick the pace up and get going.
So now we're on to see how the team's doing after some extensive training together. Course I have to balance this carefully, between how much training they can do realistically with everything else that is going on. But truth be told, if I can at least set a foundation, then the missions they do together can work as on the job training, can't it?
In other news, Aclux has a fanfic challenge. A NarutoxWarcraft fanfic crossover. However, it is written in Italian, and I have not yet had a chance to translate all of it, but still, they seem to have interesting ideas so please give them a message if you're interested.
Anyways, thanks again go to everyone for their support and patience. Thank you all for reviewing, and I hope you continue to enjoy the fanfic.
Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto or Mass Effect. They are the property of Masashi Kishimoto and Bioware respectively. This is a nonprofit fan made work of fiction. Please support the official releases.
Chapter 14
Lunar Troubles
Outside a large building, in the dark of night with only illumination from wall mounted lights, a batarian quietly patrolled, garbed in partial armor and carrying a batarian assault rifle. He paused for a moment, slowly pulling out a carton of cigarettes from one of his pockets and pulling one out. The alien had barely stuck it in his mouth and was reaching for his lighter when an armored hand wrapped around his mouth as a blade entered his back, followed by a second strike to the back of his neck, killing him instantly. His killer slowly dragged the body into the shadows, as two more figures moved passed them, the shadow who ended the batarian soon following after them.
Alicia Shepard stopped by a door into the structure, crouching down as the hulking figure of Wrex moved past her to the other side of the door while Kaidan, still wiping blood from his combat knife, settled in behind her. Seeing no movement beyond her two squad-mates the human vanguard activated her comm unit, speaking quietly. "Alpha Lead to Bravo Lead, sitrep?"
After a couple of seconds, the voice of her brother spoke up. "Bravo Lead. We've reached point Bravo."
"Copy, wait for signal," Alicia responded, switching channel. "Hawkeye 1, sitrep."
"Hawkeye 1, still in position. Limited visual on interior," Ashley spoke from her position several dozen meters away, hidden and using her sniper rifle to watch for enemies both outside the structure and inside through the windows.
"Copy. Hawkeye 2?" Alicia asked, moving down her squad.
This time, Garrus's flanged voice responded. "Hawkeye 2 in position. Covering Bravo team. Limited visual on interior here as well."
Alicia nodded as she switched to squad frequency. "Copy that. Prepare to breach on my signal," she said, signaling to Kaidan behind her, while she imagined with the other team Naruto was doing the same to Tali.
The sentinel lieutenant slowly brought up his omni-tool, working on hacking the door as Alicia pulled out her shotgun, preparing to enter the facility. "Breaching in three…two…one…breach!"
On the two sides of the building, Kaidan and Tali finished hacking the doors, causing them to open. Immediately Wrex and Alicia, at their door, brought up their shotguns as they entered, finding two guards who were gaping at the door. One of them, a turian, began raising his weapon only to be cut down by a sniper round as the distant crack of the weapon caught up to them. His human partner was quickly gunned down by the two shotgun wielding squad members as they rapidly entered the facility, Kaidan right behind them.
On the other side, Naruto's team was slightly luckier, finding no hostiles on their side. Naruto took point, Lancer at the ready, while Liara and Tali followed behind him, the former's grip on her Predator trembling slightly. Naruto stopped at a corner, crouching and quickly scooting around, weapon at the ready as he aimed down the corridor. Seeing no enemy he contacted Alicia. "Bravo team has entered facility, moving to secondary objective."
"Copy that. Alpha team is on the move, heading for primary objective," Alicia reported back before the radio went silent. Naruto quickly signaled the two members of his team and they proceeded down the corridor in a single file.
Wrex grumbled softly as he followed behind Kaidan, being the end of the line for Alpha team. "Uurrghhh, I hate this sneaking around crap," he grunted as quietly as he could, gripping his Eviscerator.
"Maintain quiet," Alicia quietly ordered, tensing in case any enemy heard the krogan. It was hard enough to be stealthy with his footfalls so they didn't need his voice to give them away. Thankfully they heard nothing as she stopped at a corner, checking around the bend. Seeing no one they moved forward, heading to a flight of stairs to ascend to their objective.
Outside the facility, Ashley had switched to a thermal mod on her sniper scope, penetrating the facility walls and searching for targets. "Alpha Lead, you're clear on ground floor. Primary objective is on third floor, looks to be about five tangos present," she whispered into her comm.
"Copy that, moving to stairwell," Alicia reported as Ashley made out the trio of signatures that were her team moving to the stairwell, one of them pausing at the corner to cover the others. She could also make out the signatures of Bravo team as well, though they were under Garrus's observation.
Indeed, the turian was watching through his own scope, making his report to Naruto. "Three tangos on second floor, one near stairwell. Secondary objective is down the corridor, second right," he reported. "I have eyes on first tango."
Naruto, watching Liara and Tali advance past him on the other stairwell, nodded quietly. "Take the shot on my mark," he whispered as he moved up the stairwell as Liara stopped at the next corner, readying herself to cover them as Tali and then Naruto passed her. At the second-floor landing, Naruto moved up to the door, pausing there. He waited a moment, settling into a ready stance, before speaking into his suit radio. "Mark."
Garrus didn't respond, instead settling his rifle and tracking the target before gently squeezing the trigger.
Inside the building a human guard, passing by a window, was struck in the side of the head by the sniper rifle round, instantly falling to the ground. Hearing the body drop Naruto quietly opened the door, slipping into the hallway while keeping his Lancer raised and ready to fire. Seeing nothing but the corpse, he signaled the other two and quickly moved up into the hallway.
On the other side of the building Alicia's team had reached the third floor and stacked up on the door, preparing to enter. Alicia waited patiently for Ashley to report.
"Alpha Lead, you're clear to enter. Hallway is clear," Ashley reported. Alicia simply activated the door command, watching it open before sweeping the hall with her shotgun. Seeing no enemy, she began to advance forward, followed by Wrex and Kaidan as they pressed against the wall, following the hallway to their objective.
The two snipers watched their squad members moving into position, each team pausing outside their objectives. Naruto and his team were positioned outside of what was supposed to be a security room, while Alicia's team was outside a conference room being used to hold a hostage. Ashley focused on the room, relaying positions of thermal readings inside, while Garrus did the same for Naruto's team. The two team leaders, using this information, spoke to their team members to coordinate their actions.
With Naruto's team, he took a steadying breath as he directed Tali and Liara to focus on the enemy furthest from the computer consoles, while he would target the other one. He drew his Carnifex, wanting minimal collateral damage when he started firing. Holding up one hand with three fingers, he began to count down to them, before closing his fist and dropping it.
Tali immediately hacked the door, opening it before all three appeared in the doorway. The two figures inside, an asari and a salarian, both gaped in surprise before going for their weapons, only for Tali to rapidly fire with her shotgun, killing the salarian. Naruto fired a single shot that pierced right through the asari's head, dropping her. Naruto quickly pointed to the computer consoles, to which Tali moved over and began hacking into them. Liara was trembling a bit, gagging at the sight of the dead bodies and turning away, barely holding onto her pistol. Naruto frowned a bit as he stood guard at the door, knowing they would need to talk to Liara after they were done.
A floor above Alicia pulled out a grenade, programming it to go off as a flash-bang, while Kaidan worked on the door. She gave him a nod, and he hacked the door, causing it to only partially open as she tossed the grenade inside. Not even two seconds later it went off before Kaidan opened the door all the way. Wrex charged straight in, roaring as he did so, and smashing into the first target in the room, a stunned turian that he crushed against a wall. He finished the turian off by smashing his head into the wall with enough force to destroy his skull, before turning and shooting a batarian who was still reeling from the grenade.
Alicia and Kaidan followed him in quickly, Alicia blasting a human with her shotgun and leaving a gaping hole through his chest from the solid slug of his Crusader. Kaidan meanwhile used his Locust to quickly gun down another human. Both the Alliance soldiers turned, aiming at the last target, only to find a batarian holding the hostage, a human woman in expensive clothing, at gunpoint. "Don't move!" The batarian shouted, ready to shoot her.
Before Alicia or Kaidan could react, the human woman was yanked away from the batarian in a field of biotics that suspended her in the air and pulled her towards Wrex. Kaidan and Alicia quickly gunned down the batarian, ending the last threat. Wrex grunted as he caught the human woman, setting her on her feet somewhat roughly.
Alicia, seeing the hostage was secure, contacted Naruto. "Alpha team has secured primary objective. Status of Bravo Team?"
"Bravo team has accessed information. Secondary objective secured." Naruto reported back to her.
"Alright then. Alpha lead to all squad members, we're pulling out. Let's move it," she said, readying her weapon. "Alpha three, keep the VIP secure," she ordered, as Kaidan moved to escort the woman.
The two squads quickly moved to exit the building, linking up with Garrus and Ashley outside. As soon as the team was reunited, the entire world around them shimmered and wavered before disappearing, revealing they were standing inside a massive holographic room with the walls and floor shifting, retracting platforms and staircases that had been covered in holographic images to create the location.
Alicia grinned as she holstered her shotgun while looking up to the window of the control booth, signaling Ochren as they moved to exit the training room of Pinnacle Station, entering the ready room where those about to enter the training room could check their equipment and those exiting could clean up.
Inside the room Alicia removed her helmet, shaking out her hair and moving to a sink to splash water on her face. Turning to her team, she nodded to them. "Get cleaned up everyone and grab some refreshments. Meet up in one hour on the Normandy for analysis on our progress," she ordered, moving to the elevator to take her up to the main deck.
On the main deck she moved over to the command area, where Ahern and Ochren were waiting. The admiral glanced up from where he was watching replays of the Normandy squad in action. "I'm a bit surprised Commander," he said, turning to face her. "Your oddball team has managed to get through the scenario in the third fastest time. I was half expecting your team to fail considering your krogan doesn't seem to be one for subtlety."
Alicia just rolled her eyes when he wasn't looking. After a week of training and speaking to the man, she was used to his comments and uncaring attitude. "He can be subtle when it is needed. He just prefers not to be," she said, her omni-tool beeping to confirm that the replay the admiral had been watching was downloaded to her so that she could use it with her team to look over their training session and find any mistakes. She nodded in thanks before moving away, knowing he didn't hold with military formalities and traditions like saluting.
The main lounge area was again filled with various combat operatives and soldiers from across Council Space. She grinned and nodded to the team of RITA troopers currently gathered around a table, all but one of them decked out in modified combat armor designed to muffle heat and noise, as well as carry extra ammunition and supplies for combat operations. Each of their armors also bore the emblem of their unit on their left pauldron, a sword and lightning bolt crossed under a peregrine falcon with wings spread and a halo over its head. The one not decked out in similar armor was the squad leader, an N7 who wore modules for enhanced tactical cloaking as well as heat and noise suppression. His armor bore the adornments of an N7, but also had the same emblem on the left pauldron.
She stopped by the refreshment stand, where those wanting to train could buy drinks or snacks to revitalize themselves after matches, or have something to eat while watching others at work in the training room. Every training match was supervised by both Ahern and Ochren, so there was little reason to keep them classified from the various military personnel. She nodded to the hologram of the serving VI, there to take orders from the customers and set to take on random appearances. This time it was a female turian, her eyes wider with slit like pupils compared to a male turian, and minus the head fringe but with small curled growths extended off the back of her mandibles. Alicia quickly ordered a water bottle, needing little else at the moment, before leaning against the counter and letting out a soft sigh.
In the week since her team started training, they had seen marked improvement. With the exception of Liara and Tali, each of her squad was a highly competent combat operator, skilled in their fields of combat. Tali herself also had some combat training and experience, though she needed plenty of training and drilling to reach adequate military standards. While Liara herself had no combat training at all beyond self defense lessons, Alicia had both of them undergoing personal training onboard the Normandy to help improve their skills, with herself, Naruto, and Ashley teaching them basic hand to hand combat, being the best three hand to hand fighters on the ship. She also had them taking daily marksmanship lessons, learning how better to use their weapons beyond simply 'pointing and shooting'. They had shown some improvement, though she knew Liara was still uncomfortable using a gun, preferring mostly to use her biotics in a support capacity to protect her allies or capture the enemy. Alicia had to admit the asari's singularity was one of the most potent she had come across outside of asari commandoes.
The simulation training though was starting to pay off. Three sessions a day had led to the team starting to become more refined, at least in training and hopefully in the field. They were working together better and even Wrex had become moderately obedient, not rushing head first into every situation, though he still often acted on his own when he thought he could get away with it. She was pleased on that front, as at least out in the field they were likely to work better together, now that they were getting a feel for how each of them operated and how she could lead them.
The problem, she thought with a frown, was simply that outside of training they still seemed to not be able to click. Wrex continually kept his distance from everyone unless it involved training, fighting, or eating. He simply did not seem interested in talking to anyone unless it was a comment on their fighting and training, or to shoot out some snarky or derogatory comment about something someone said. And she could see the tension between Ashley and Garrus every time those two were in the same room. Garrus seemed to do his best to not look in Ashley's direction, while Ashley would be stiffed and closed lipped towards the turian. At least the former C-Sec officer seemed to try to connect to everyone else except Wrex, which was understandable since unless Wrex started things off, Garrus could expect a curt dismissal from the krogan mercenary as a best-case scenario if he tried to interact with him.
Tali however seemed to be coming out of her shell, albeit somewhat slowly. Alicia smiled a bit, remembering seeing Tali shyly giggling at some joke Ashley made while the gunnery sergeant had been tweaking the quarian girl's shotgun, and she knew that Naruto did his best to spend time with Tali, feeling responsible for her. And Liara had been seen talking to Kaidan from time to time about his biotic abilities, as well as his amp and the side effects it caused him. Alicia had also spent time with Liara late at night, when she was restless and the asari was busy with own research. So at least some of the team was connecting personally, making their bond stronger.
She shook her head, grabbing the sealed bottle of water and paying for it before heading towards the docking bay. She'd see about talking to Wrex and Ashley after the debriefing and replay analysis, see if she could work on opening the krogan up or getting the headstrong marine to smooth things over with Garrus.
Behind her, the rest of her squad was exiting the ready room, moving at their own paces. Wrex of course simply stomped along, ignoring everything, even the refreshment bar. There was nothing there to interest him and he wasn't interested in interacting with the various other soldiers present, a few of whom sent him nasty glares. Not because he had done anything wrong but because he was a krogan. He simply ignored them, not viewing them as worth it.
Behind him came Ashley, grinning as she spoke with Tali. "Yeah, that's right. I've got three sisters," she told the quarian, who seemed stunned at hearing that. "My poor dad felt so outnumbered by all the girls in our family," she added with a faint smile.
"That is unbelievable! I can't imagine having that many siblings," Tali said, amazement evident in her wide silvery eyes.
"It's not entirely that normal amongst humans either. Most families have usually one or two children. But it varies from family to family," Ashley added. "What about you? Any siblings waiting for you?" She asked.
Tali shook her head as they approached the airlock. "No. The Conclave and the Admiralty declared that in order to maintain our supplies and population, all quarian couples are required to have only a single child. Even if that wasn't the case…well…my mom died when I was young. One of the plagues that occasionally sweeps through Migrant Fleets," she said, her voice breaking ever so slightly.
Ashley paused for a moment, before gently touching her shoulder. "Sorry to hear that. If it helps, I know the feeling of losing a parent. My dad died a few years ago," she said.
The quarian gave her a slight nod, smiling a bit behind her mask. Naruto, behind them, was glad to see Ashley and Tali were bonding. Ashley had a bit of a 'big sister' streak, due to her having watched over and helped raise her three younger sisters. That had apparently stuck with her, as she was becoming a bit of a big sister to Tali, always keeping a protective eye on her while talking or teasing her.
Naruto took a glance back at their newest member, seeing her sort of hunching a bit between Garrus and Kaidan, trying to look inconspicuous to the other soldiers in the lounging area. He knew Liara was rather self-conscious about being here, due to the simple fact she wasn't a soldier or a mercenary. She was an archeologist, and a young one at that. She didn't want to draw a lot of attention to herself. Unfortunately, her actions were having the opposite effect, as Naruto could see several of the others glancing in her direction with curious or suspicious looks. He shook his head, drifting back a bit to her. "You're just drawing attention to yourself. Just walk normally, it'll work better," he advised her.
Liara started a bit and straightened. "O-Oh, of course! S-Sorry," she said, sounding a bit sheepish.
Naruto just nodded to her. "Don't worry about it, okay? Just don't let anyone intimidate you, alright?" He said, as they stepped into the airlock and allowed the decontamination cycle to begin.
They had barely stepped onto the ship when Joker, sitting at the helm, leaned forward to activate the ship intercom. Naruto blinked as Alicia answered over the comm, and Joker settled back in his chair. "Hey Commander, we're getting another call from Fifth Fleet HQ, flagged urgent. Maybe they misplaced one of their dreadnaughts," he said.
Naruto's eyes widened as Alicia ordered for the message to be routed to her quarters, which Joker began to do before shutting off the intercom. He shook his head, looking to the rest of the ground team who had turned to look at him and Joker. "I have a feeling training is done for now," he said, causing differing reactions from each ground team member. He had no idea how prophetic his words were.
Alicia, down in her quarters, hadn't even finished removing the entirety of her N7 armor when the call came through, leaving her in the under-suit as she activated the comm terminal. Admiral Hackett appeared on the screen, causing Alicia to salute. "Admiral Hackett sir."
"Commander, I'm afraid we need to assign you a new mission," he ordered. "We have a situation at Lunar Facility Tango Seven. It is one of the testing facilities for new ground-based weapon systems for infantry, mechanized units, and stationary defenses. The facility utilizes automated weapons and defenses against the new proposed weapon systems to test them, all of which is run by an advanced VI. However, at 0600 hours today, the VI went suddenly rogue during a standard testing operation and immediately began firing upon everything within range not under its control."
"Are we talking an Ascendance Scenario here sir?" Alicia asked him, sounding serious. An Ascendance Scenario was a situation in which VI achieved sentience and became full AI. A very serious and dangerous situation if the VI in question was in charge of or could gain access to vital or key systems of a ship, facility, or colony, especially if the newly born AI was hostile or fearful. The Alliance and Earth based governments, following Council guidelines, had every VI undergo regular analysis and updates to ensure none of them were approaching sentience. However, occasionally something slipped by.
Hackett shook his head. "We're not certain at this time. This could simply be a malfunction, or maybe it is sabotage. Or it might be an Ascendance Scenario. Whatever the case, we need to handle this quickly. Unfortunately, we do not have enough personnel to handle the situation. With the threat of Saren and his geth, we've been forced to allocate most of our forces not already on patrol near batarian space or the Terminus Systems to guard critical sectors of Alliance space. We have a team of specialists who can take care of the VI, but they're going to need protection while they're reaching the computer core and shutting the VI down. And that is where you come in. Your team is the only one with enough experience to provide that protection, and who is also available."
"Understood sir. But what about my non Alliance crew members? Are you including them in this?" Alicia asked him.
Hackett frowned at that. "I know they signed non-disclosure agreements, including your newest member, but this is a high value facility. I'm afraid that you'll need to keep your non Alliance team members on the ship for this one Shepard."
"Understood sir. We'll be underway within the hour," Alicia said, saluting Hackett. The aged admiral returned the salute before cutting the communications, leaving Alicia to quickly reactivate the intercom. "Joker, we've got a new assignment. Get us prepped for departure and heading out as soon as possible. We're heading back to Sol."
Unknown Location
A man dressed in a white and black uniform with the emblem of Cerberus, a white rhombus with two yellow lines on either side of it, was moving towards the office of his commanding officer. Stopping at the door, he schooled his features, trying to do his best to look impassive, before activating the door chime. After a few moments, the door opened up and the man entered, stopping and standing at attention almost as soon as he entered.
The room was a series of holographic screens and displays all over the back wall and the parts of the sidewalls near the back. Facing them was a chair, in which sat the man's commanding officer. After a few moments, the seated man spoke. "What do you have to report?" He spoke.
"General Shimura sir. I have received intelligence reports that information concerning several of our operations has been leaked to the Alliance, specifically to one Commodore Kahoku. He apparently was able to connect the research being done on Thresher Maws on Edolus to our organization, before reaching out to the Shadow Broker for more information. Initial estimates put at least three of our operations being put at risk of discovery and interdiction," the standing man reported.
The seated man, General Danzo Shimura, remained silent and still before slowly turning the chair to look at the man. Danzo was an aged man in his sixties or seventies, dressed in the uniform of a Cerberus officer, with somewhat shaggy grayish-black hair and a single dark brown eye. His right eye was replaced with a large cybernetic ocular implant with a red lens, with a scar running through the eye from eyebrow to cheek. He also had an x shaped scar on his chin, with his right arm, mostly hidden by the sleeve of his officer uniform, was replaced with a prosthetic limb.
As his subordinate stiffened slightly more at attention, Danzo spoke again. "Continue information gatherings on both the information leaks and this Commodore Kahoku. We need to know exactly what operations and information has been compromised, and when this bothersome Alliance officer will be vulnerable. Dismissed," he curtly ordered, turning back to his computer screens. As the junior officer quickly moved out of the room, Danzo activated the communications unit. "Get me Special Force Unit Charlie," he ordered.
SSV Normandy, Sol System
Alicia, sitting fully suited and armed in her cabin, murmured as she quietly looked over the defenses listed for LF-T7, both exterior and interior. The facility was divided into two main sections: the main testing area and the control facility, where the VI computer was located. On the exterior were several M70 Heavy Weapons Emplacements, the standard anti-infantry and anti-small vehicle weapon turrets used by the Alliance. Each turret was reinforced with armor plating and kinetic barriers, and each came armed with a 105mm rocket launcher and an auto-cannon. This would make any approach dangerous whether in a Mako, Grizzly, Kodiak, or Mantis-gunship. Even on foot would be dangerous, as the ground surrounding the entranceways was clear and flat, providing no cover to approaching infantry, save for the lip of the mountain plateau the facility sat on.
The interior was perhaps even worse. Under normal circumstances the main facility was guarded by a marine complement, as well as retractable fixed gun emplacements and T-27 Mobile Security Patrol Drones, simple security drones designed for patrol and defense of highly important and secure military facilities. These hover drones had light armor plating and moderately powerful kinetic barriers, and were armed with mini rocket launchers and rapid-fire cannons for offense. When the VI went rogue, the marine complement and staff suffered heavy casualties first trying to retake the facility, and then trying to flee. Reports from survivors indicated that the all the defenses were now under the VI's control, and that at least twenty four of the thirty drones on site, as well as all but two of the gun emplacements were online and functioning.
Alicia set the datapad with the information aside, letting out a sigh. Facing that kind of firepower, she debated arguing with Hackett about bringing in her full ground team. She'd feel a lot safer with Tali and Wrex backing her up. She knew that Garrus wasn't entirely happy about having to stay behind, when she told the non-Alliance members of her ground team about their new mission. He had accepted it, but he was obviously wasn't happy being left behind.
She looked up as the intercom beeped and Joker's voice reached her. "We're approaching the rendezvous point Commander. Detecting ground beacon from the engineering team," he reported to her.
"Get ready for a ground drop," Alicia ordered, switching to a general broadcast. "All Alliance ground team members, head to hanger bay and prepare for ground drop," she said, standing up and grabbing her helmet as she headed towards the door.
Five minutes later, she watched as Garrus, Tali, and Ashley finished running final checks on the Mako, the latter armed and armored. As Ashley gave a thumbs up, Alicia nodded, turning to her alien ground team members. "Alright. I know I said this was an Alliance only mission, but I want the rest of you to be on standby, in case things go to hell in a hand basket and we need backup. Especially you," she said, pointing to Tali.
The quarian started a bit at that, but nodded, moving away from the vehicle. Alicia turned to the Mako, grinning and rolling her neck. "Let's get going. Same positions as before," she ordered, moving towards the front of the vehicle.
The alien team members and crew members in the hanger all moved away, either to the engineering section or onto the elevator to the crew deck. Alicia, Ashley, Kaidan, and Naruto all climbed into the IFV, strapping themselves in and beginning final systems check. And as the alarms went off and the hanger door open, Alicia grinned as she queued up another song from her 'collection' before gunning the engine as the deck mounted clamps released the Mako and it roared forward, accompanied with a whoop from Ashley, a groan from Naruto, and the throbbing rhythms of heavy metal.
On the ground, the eight members of Field Combat Engineering Team Delta glanced up from where they were finishing checking their equipment around their own Mako, as they briefly saw the sleek shape of the Normandy pass by and a shape emerged from the open hanger bay, quickly becoming recognizable as another Mako. The thrusters on it fired, leveling the vehicle and slowing it so it could land, hitting the ground and bouncing before rolling to a stop, then turning and rolling towards them.
Alicia stopped the vehicle near them, turning off her song and activating the Mako's comm so she could communicate with the FCE Team's leader. "Commander Alicia Shepard, commanding officer of the Normandy," she stated, watching one figure step forward a bit.
"Major Hana Kizumi, commanding officer of FCE Team Delta. I take it you're our protection detail?" The lead marine engineer stated.
"Copy that major. You ready to beat back Skynet?" Alicia asked with a grin, hearing a chuckle from Naruto and surprisingly from the major as well.
"Guess we'll see. The facility is about two klicks northwest of our current position, up on a plateau. We can't roll the Mako's up there because of the turrets, or risk trying to destroy them with the cannons from long-range, so we'll need to engage them on foot," Major Hana reported, waving in the direction of the raised plateau where LF-T7 was located. "Thankfully my team has some heavy weapons for just this occasion."
Alicia nodded at that. "Alright then, let's roll out then!" She said, watching the engineering team start loading up their equipment back onto their Mako, piling into it as well. Soon enough, the two vehicles were rolling towards the plateau, their turrets rotating in different directions to cover each other, though they doubted anything would attack them.
The two vehicles reached their destination before starting to climb, the mass field generators coming into play by lightening their mass so the engines could push them up the incline more easily. About halfway up though, both vehicles found a level area large enough for them to stop and park, with the two groups started offloading passengers and equipment.
Alicia, now out of her Mako, pulled out her Lancer and checked it over, before looking over to Major Kizumi. "Alright major, how do we play this?" She asked.
The marine combat engineer glanced at her team, then Alicia's own team. "I would suggest, for the initial advance here, that we split into two squads and flank the facility entrance from two different directions. It will split the turret's fire and let us take a couple out before they can respond.
Alicia nodded, looking to her team. "Captain Shepard, Sergeant Williams, you two join second squad. Lieutenant Alenko, you're with me," she ordered.
Major Kizumi quickly split her own team up, detailing a Lieutenant Shay to command the second squad, though Naruto would be in charge during combat. With the two squads decided, they both separated, each trying to circle around the plateau and start the climb up.
At the top there was an armored single floor structure which served as the entranceway to the facility which was located largely underground. The structure was largely square, with two turrets mounted behind the entranceway, with four more located at each corner of the facility entrance. This left no blind-spots for any attacking force to approach the facility, meaning that attackers had to either overwhelm them with numbers and firepower, or strategically attack the facility to lessen their ability to counter attack.
Below the rim of the plateau surface, the two squads regrouped, readying themselves. Naruto glanced at the combat engineers, watching two of them pull out two very large weapons. Each had a long barrel, with a curved shoulder stock and a trigger. These weapons were M520 Cobra Missile Launchers, singe fire heavy weapons used for destroying or damaging enemy vehicles or defensive emplacements. The rockets had fairly powerful warheads that allowed them to easily damage or destroy whatever they hit, as well as affecting a small area outside of the initial impact sight, making them also effective against squads of clumped together infantry. The two engineers, each carrying one, nodded to Lieutenant Shay, who signaled Naruto. The vulzan marine nodded, activating his suits comm. "This is Team Beta. We're in position."
"Roger that. Wait for our shot, and then take your own," Alicia responded, as her own team settled into position.
On the other side, Alicia pointed to the major, who nodded to her own two squad mates carrying their own Cobra's. The two engineers inched closer to the ridge, before popping up. The three turrets on their side of the entranceway quickly turned, aiming in their direction, even as the two engineers pressed the triggers. Two rockets shot forward with a roar that was only audible in their helmets audio emulators, designed to help register weapons fire and other noises in vacuum or extremely thin atmospheric environments. The two engineers dropped down as their two rockets smashed into the turret at the front corner of the facility on their side.
Despite the kinetic barriers and the armored plating that protected the turret, it couldn't handle the two rockets hitting back to back. The first one dropped the barrier while the second one ripped open half of the turret, leaving it completely non-functional. The other two turrets both had opened up, each firing a stream of auto-cannon shells at where the two engineers had popped up.
Almost immediately the two on the other side of the plateau popped up, firing their own rockets at two separate turrets, while Naruto, Ashley, Lieutenant Shay, and the other combat engineer stood as well, firing their weapons at the two turrets. The rockets had slammed into the forward turret and the one on the roof of the facility, dropping their barriers, before rounds began ripping into the armor plating. The rounds of the M7 Lancers and Ashley's M15 Vindicator weren't strong enough to rip through the armor plating immediately, but repeated hits over a ten second period of time did do a lot of damage. Unfortunately, the three turrets on that side quickly turned to fire, forcing the second squad to drop down before they could fire on them.
On Alicia's side, the team began skirting along the edge of the plateau, moving to a new position. The turrets targeting system couldn't detect anything except either by line of sight, so they weren't able to track the Alliance soldiers without seeing them. The two Cobra wielding engineers were working to quickly reload their weapons, as Cobra launchers and similar heavy weapons were among the few weapons left in the galaxy reliant on actual ammunition instead of heat sinks or thermal clips. The two engineers, once reloaded, nodded to Major Kizumi, who signaled back to them. They quickly popped up, preparing to fire.
Unfortunately, one of them suffered a malfunction, the weapon refusing to fire. The engineer cursed, dropping down as the other one fired, their rocket slamming into the roof turret and dropping its barriers. The turret quickly turned, firing at the now empty space the engineer had been in. As soon as it stopped firing, the rest of the team popped up, opening fire with their weapons and quickly overwhelming the armor and destroying the turret.
With the second team they had split up to distract the turrets. The two engineers with rocket launchers again each targeted the same turrets as before, but planning to shoot from different areas, thus splitting the turrets fire as well. They both rose up, firing quickly and dispatching the two previously damaged turrets, both having extremely weak barriers that were recharging. The third and final turret on that side, the one in the rear, turned to fire at the engineer closest to it, firing a rocket instead of its auto-cannon. The rocket impacted the ground in front of where the engineer had risen up, the explosion throwing the engineer back and peppering Ashley and the other one with them with shrapnel. Beside Naruto, Lieutenant Shay cursed, yelling in an Irish accent to uninjured marine engineer with Ashley. "Sanders, get McCullen!"
Ashley grunted as she picked herself up, helping Sanders to get McCullen to safety. As Sanders checked on his squad mate, Ashley retrieved the Cobra and another rocket from the downed engineers supplies. She crept back to the rim of the plateau, nodding to the other half of their squad as she held the Cobra up slightly to indicate she had it.
With the first team they were now working their way back towards the rear of the facility, the marine engineer with the malfunctioning Cobra having managed to fix the launcher and now both weapons operational again. They settled into position before quickly popping up, finishing off the last turret on their side.
This however drew the attention of the last turret, which was able to rotate around and fire upon them. They quickly ducked down, showered in shrapnel from another rocket hit. However, that distract was all that was needed as Ashley and the other engineer both fired at the turret, dispatching it.
Alicia quickly moved over the rim of the plateau, Lancer at the ready, but there were no more enemy contacts. "Area secure!" She reported over the radio to both her squad members and the combat engineers.
Major Kizumi, joining her, nodded to Lieutenant Shay as he and Naruto moved to join them. "Shay, what's your team's status?" She asked.
"McCullen was thrown back by a near rocket hit, but Sanders reports he'll be fine," the lieutenant reported. "Otherwise, no injuries."
"Alright. Thompson, get on that door and make us an entrance," Kizumi ordered one of her team members. Thompson, a rather tall female combat engineer, quickly moved to the reinforced doorway and pulled out a metallic box from her belt. She opened it, pulling out a few wire jacks and connecting them to an access panel on the side of the door, accessing controls on the box's interior as she began a hack.
"Quite a start, huh?" Alicia asked Kizumi, who nodded quietly in response.
"If that was just the first part, I'd hate to see how bad things are going to be inside," she murmured, watching Thompson. "I hope your team is ready for this."
"I think we'll manage. We've dealt with geth and a krogan," Alicia bragged a bit.
Kizumi nodded, impressed at that, only for the engineer at the door to signal as said door opened up. "We're in!" Thompson shouted, as Sanders was bringing McCullen over.
Alicia moved up, switching to her Crusader for the close in fighting within the facility, taking up position on one side of the door, Ashley following suit on the other side as Kaidan and Naruto stacked up on them. The lead duo swept the inside of the doorway, but saw no immediate danger. Alicia sent a hand signal to the major, before slowly advancing forward, Kaidan right with her as they entered the facility. Naruto and Ashley held their position as the eight combat engineers passed by them, their own weapons drawn, before the duo brought up the rear.
Inside they were now grouped in an airlock, with Alicia nodding to Kaidan. "According to specs, we'll likely encounter at least two turrets on the other side of this door. Lieutenant Kaidan, I want you to throw up a barrier as soon as the door opens. Major Kizumi, do you think your troops can handle them?"
The major turned to two of her engineers. "Sanders, Hawkins. You two set up those combat barriers as soon as the lieutenant has thrown up his barrier. McCullen, if you're up to, I want you to give the turrets an EMP grenade. It might knock out their targeting scanners long enough for us to destroy them."
The three engineers each nodded, each one readying their equipment as Kaidan holstered his Locust and moved to the forefront of the group, shaking out his arms and shoulders. Alicia glanced at him. "You ready there Alenko?"
"Ready as I'll ever be ma'am," Kaidan said, taking a deep breath as his arms started to glow with biotic energy. Alicia signaled Kizumi, who signaled Thompson, who opened the door.
Immediately Kaidan threw up a barrier and the two engineers moved forward to throw up their combat barriers, only for all of them to stop as they realized that there was no weapons fire, no rounds bouncing off of Kaidan's biotic barrier. They all blinked in surprise, before noting the far wall was blackened from an explosion, with the twisted remains of a turret visible hanging from the wall, while the bent barrel of another was lying on the floor. Kaidan sheepishly dropped his barrier as Alicia slowly entered, letting out a whistle.
"Guess they managed to blow those ones up when they were retreating," she commented. "Less work for us."
The rest of the team moved into the facility, grouping up in the relatively safe area. Kizumi and Alicia were huddled together, with Kizumi bringing up a holographic image of the facility's layout on her omni-tool. Alicia looked it over, before glancing at Kizumi. "It looks like the command center for the facility is located here," she said, indicating one of the rooms on the display. "If the VI has tapped into the systems however, that place is likely no use for us. What do you suggest?" She asked.
Kizumi quietly looking over the display before touching another room on a lower level. "This is the computer core here, where all the facilities computer systems are routed to. If we can reach that point, we can bypass the majority of the VI's cyber defenses and attack it directly. Unfortunately, the VI will likely have cut us off from the main access elevators there. We'll need to take the manual access shafts here in order to reach it," she said, indicating a small shaft running from the top floor, where they were, down to the computer core.
Alicia nodded at that. "We best get moving. My team will continue to cover the front and rear. Is there anyone or any equipment we need to make sure gets down there?"
Kizumi nodded to Thompson and another combat engineer. "Thompson and Hanover. They are our electronic and computer specialists. We need to keep them covered," she said.
"Alright then. Shepard, Williams, Alenko, you heard the lady. Consider those two VIPs," Alicia ordered to her ground team members, before turning and cocking her shotgun. "Now let's go make some noise."
The group of twelve began advancing, weapons ready. Their initial luck with the first two turrets proved to be their only luck, as they entered the lobby and registration area where two more turrets, these ones active, awaited them, as did several bodies of technicians and a couple of marines. The two turrets quickly aimed at the door as the group entered, with Kaidan quickly throwing up a barrier to shield the group as the first rounds were fired. He winced as his barrier deflected the rounds, but each hit was a drain on his stamina as his barrier held. Thankfully, he didn't have to hold it up for too long. The two combat engineers Sanders and Hawkins quickly moved forward, dropping down small rectangular boxes that quickly opened up as soon as they hit the ground. The two devices quickly created what seemed like holographic walls save for the fact that rounds impacting against them quickly bounced off. These deployable combat barriers were designed with the same technology that gave Sentinel trained soldiers their 'tech armor', except on a larger scale that could cover a squad of soldiers. Now the Alliance soldiers quickly scrambled into their new cover, Kaidan going last to give them maximum cover before dropping behind one of the barriers. McCullen quickly threw out a disc like grenade, this one set to emit an EMP charge.
The grenade went off near one of the turrets, which turned out to be more effective than they thought. The turret sputtered and died, its circuitry fried and rendering the weapon emplacement worthless. The team thus turned all their attention on the remaining turret, opening up on the turret when its focused was drawn from one group to the other. Despite the armor plating protecting the turret emplacement, their weapons quickly overwhelmed it, destroying the mounted weapon.
Before they could celebrate however, their motions trackers lit up with moving red signals, all of them approaching the group from deeper in the facility. Alicia quickly took note that besides the door they had come through, there were only two other doors in the room, both on the other side of the security checkpoints to either side of the receptionist desk. "Alright, we've got ourselves our best chance to engage them here. We should spread out, taking up firing positions and catch them in multiple cross fires as they come through those doors. If anyone has anything that'll give us an edge, this will be the time to use it," she said, before turning to her ground team. "I think now would be a good time to try out those ammo mods."
The trio nodded, each one of them using their omni-tools to activate ammo mod programs for their weapons. Recently purchased for the team while they were training at Pinnacle Station, ammo mods were specialized programs and weapon modifications that allowed the user to alter the properties of the ammo being fired from the currently selected weapon. The command programs were uploaded to the operator's omni-tool, linking to their equipped weapon through the link in the armor's onboard computer. Specialized modifications were installed into the weapons that, when activated, would modify the ammo being fired, depending on what the mod program and modifications were. The ammo mod would either coat the round in a special glaze such as incendiary or cyro rounds, or add tiny modules that could create special effects such as disruptor rounds. Others simply shaped the round to make it more effect, such as armor piercing rounds being shaped to better penetrate armor. Due to their complex nature, most ammo mod programs and equipment were usually reserved for the special forces of a military, though more than enough had found their way into the hands of mercenaries and pirates through the black markets.
Now Alicia and her team each watched as the ammo mod they chose, disruptor rounds, became active. Disruptor rounds were modified with a small module that generated a disruptive electrical field shortly after the round was fired, making them excellent for shorting out shields and electronic devices. In this instance, against the drones they would be facing off against, they seemed like the most effective choice.
Alicia watched as the engineers and her own squad members began moving into different firing positions around the lobby, all setting up the cross fires and kill zones. A couple of the engineers activated combat drones, the holographic spheres sparking to life and hovering in place, waiting for the enemy to approach.
And then the doors opened and the drones filtered through the two doorways. They were very angular, having a command module with sensors and an optical port, as well as the auto-cannon slung on the underside of said command module. A slowly widening frame hung from the command module with the mini-rocket launchers located near the bottom, where a pair of thruster engines swept back from the frame.
As soon as the rogue drones entered, the combat drones moved forward, firing their own mini rockets at the rogue drones. The first couple of drones were quickly overwhelmed, dropping to the ground or exploding in the air. But the drones kept coming, firing their own cannons at the holographic combat drones as soon as they detected them. The combat drones were quickly becoming overwhelmed, with one surging forward and suicide exploding amongst the drones clumping up in the hallway, while the other one was simply destroyed. With their first line of defense gone, the Alliance soldiers opened up on the drones, hundreds of rounds peppering the drones.
The patrol drones pushed forward, spreading out to divide the field of fire of the Alliance soldiers as more came through, their own weapons returning a withering hail of fire. Alicia, taking cover behind a chair, was forced to duck as several rounds slammed into her cover or shot over head. She grunted as she cocked her shotgun, before standing, firing a solid slug that became wreathed in electricity. The round slammed into one of the drones, dropping its barrier thanks to the disruption mod, the round slamming into the armor plating and ripping through the right side of the frame. The drone wobbled in the air, righting itself as it prepared to fire on Alicia's position, only for a dozen rounds from one of the engineer's Lancers to rip through it and drop it. However another drone moved up, moving erratically to prevent accurate targeting. Kaidan, to the left of the receptionist desk, activated his omni-tool, using an overlord virus to short out the drone, the electrical surge being powerful enough to arch off the drone and strike another drone, taking out its shields and leaving it vulnerable to a hail of weapons fire.
On the other side, Ashley grunted in satisfaction as a second drone fell to a burst from her Vindicator, this being the fifth one on their side that had been destroyed. Her eyes widened however as she saw two of the drones, side by side, aiming for the barricade where Lieutenant Shay and Sanders were huddled. The ports for their mini-rockets were opening, preparing to fire, as Ashley turned to the barrier. "INCOMING!" She shouted.
The two engineers, seeing the danger, quickly dropped down behind the barricade, hugging the ground as the rockets began to fly, slamming into the barricade and rapidly overwhelming it. The hard-light shield failed, leaving the two exposed as more rockets hurtled towards them, only to explode against a red barrier of biotics as Naruto stood over them, throwing the barrier up around them. He grunted, struggling a bit as he strove to maintain the dark energy shield, as the final rockets exploded against it. Quickly the drones were put down by the other engineers and Ashley, allowing Naruto to drop the barrier. "Get to cover," he growled out, drawing his Lancer out and moving into a new firing position.
Major Kizumi frowned as she checked her motion tracker on her HUD, seeing there was at least fifteen more drones still. She quickly brought up her omni-tool, trying to hack into the drones. They were simple automatons, usually given simple orders and programs that would allow them to fulfill their patrol routes and protection missions. They should be simple enough to hack, and often had their command functions slaved together to a single computer for ease of communication. If she could find that communication frequency, she could pirate it to shut the drones down. Wincing as a rocket exploded ten feet from her and the explosion rocked her, she shifted to a new position to cover herself. "Commander, I need five minutes of cover so I can maybe shut down the drones!" She shouted to Alicia as she continued to frantically work on her omni-tool.
"I'll hold you to that!" Alicia shouted, having to switch rapidly to her Mustang as her Crusader had overheated, the powerful semi-automatic sidearm roaring out as she put two rounds into a drone and dropped it. She turned, aiming at another drone, only to watch it spark and drop to the ground from another overlord from Kaidan.
On the other flank however, things took a turn for the worse. Lieutenant Shay was thrown from cover by a rocket blast, and two of the drones turned their attention to him as he struggled to get back into cover. One of them was destroyed before it could fire, but the other managed to get several rounds off, defeating Shay's shields as a few rounds hit his armor. He let out a cry of pain as one round ripped through his leg, dropping him to the ground as he started to bleed. Naruto growled as he slammed the drone into the ground with a powerful biotic throw, before grabbing it with a pull and yanking it so it smashed into the wall, falling to pieces from the blow. Another engineer quickly grabbed Shay, pulling him to safety and working on healing the lieutenant as quickly as possible. Ashley moved in front of them, providing cover as she quickly began to fire bursts into the drones, trying to push them back. But their numbers and armament were allowing them to push further and further in, forcing Alliance soldier's fire to become more spread out as they tried to take out the drones.
And then suddenly all the drones stopped, their lights dimming, their engines powering down as they dropped to the floor, lifeless. Kizumi let out a breath as she slowly stood, her arm dropping limply. "Got them," she said, looking at the deactivated drones. "I managed to isolate their transmission receivers and lock them out. We can't use them, but the VI can't either, at least without starting a full system reset."
Alicia nodded, standing up as she holstered her Mustang. "Sound off people!" She ordered, looking around the battle field.
"Normandy team in the green, Commander," Naruto reported, indicating that he, Ashley, and Kaidan were unharmed and still combat ready.
"Lieutenant Shay took a shot in the leg. His movement is hampered," the engineer tending to the lieutenant reported.
"Private Litch is a bit banged up from an explosion," Thompson reported, helping said private up. "She's still combat capable."
Kizumi nodded at that. "Litch, you'll stay here with Shay, see about getting him moved to safety. Everyone else, keep it frosty. This VI might try some other tricks," she said, before turning to Shepard. "Ready when you are, Commander."
"Let's move it out then people," she said, Crusader in hand again as she and Kaidan took point, stepping through the deactivated drones with the rest following them.
Through the doorway, they found themselves in an intersection of hallways, leading off in the cardinal directions. Kizumi indicated the one directly ahead, the one leading to the command center as well as the main access ways to the lower levels, including the maintenance shaft they would need to take. They slowly advanced down the hallway, weapons still up and ready to fire at a moment's notice. Even with the drones down, they still needed to worry about turrets and the possibility of other surprises. A fact made real for them when the lighting suddenly cut out and they suddenly felt the pull of vacuum as all the air was being vented out of the facility. A whirlwind caught them, trying to yank them off their feet, only for them to activate their mag-boots and remain in place.
Alicia cursed, activating the night-vision in her helmet, as did the others. She looked around, checking for any signs of contacts but finding nothing new. "No contacts," she reported, looking back to the others.
"No contacts," Naruto reported from the rear. "Reading atmo at zero."
This created a dangerous situation, as now they were running on limited oxygen. While operating in atmosphere, their suits filters were capable of filtering the necessary breathable gasses from the air into their suits. However, in cases where there were no breathable gasses in the atmosphere or no atmosphere at all, the suits would completely seal, running on an internal reserve of oxygen. The reserve tanks in the suit were rated for at least two hours of breathable air before running out. Meaning that they had to get the environmental systems back on or be out of the facility in less than two hours.
Major Kizumi nodded, her Lancer back up in her hands. "Let's get moving then," she said, as they proceeded forward.
Around a corner they found themselves under fire from another turret. Alicia had barely peeked around the corner when her visor had lit up with the flashes of weapons fire and she was forced to yank her head back as rounds impacted the wall. "Hello, wake up call," she quipped.
Kaidan quickly moved up with McCullen behind him. "We've got this," he said, before stepping out, Locust up and firing at the turret as its rounds began slamming into his tech armor. McCullen, behind him, quickly queued up a sabotage program, sending it to the turret and watching the weapon sputter before exploding from backfire. Kaidan let out a sigh of relief, due to his HUD reporting his tech armor and shield integrity had dropped to thirty five percent in the time it took to take out the turret. As his armor began recharging the shielding, he stepped aside, allowing Alicia to move up.
"Alright people, let's move it quickly," she said, the teams moving up again. The maintenance shaft they were looking for was not that far off, just on the other side of the command center. Unfortunately said command center was one of the most heavily defended portions of the facilities, with four separate turrets set up to provide overlapping fields of fire, preventing anyone from taking cover from all four turrets. They would have to figure out how to clear them out without being gunned down.
Outside the command room they halted, finding the door offline. Thompson checked it, frowning as she hooked her override device to the door. "Looks like the VI cut off power to the door completely. I might be able to power it up with a separate power source and open it back up."
Kizumi nodded to her. "Do it," she said, as the rest of them stood clear of the door. Thompson pulled out a small portable power supply, connecting it to the door and routing the power into the door mechanisms. The holographic control slowly lit back up, a glaring red indicating the door was locked. Thompson however quickly worked on overriding the door lock, commanding the door to open and lock into position before powering down again. She quickly stepped out of the way as the display turned green and the door opened, only for weapons fire to immediately begin ripping through the open air of the door. They could barely see the interior with numerous desks and computer consoles, as well as video screens along one of the walls.
"Well that's not good," Ashley said, knowing that the defensive turrets were designed to only fire when they had targets identified. The fact that at least one of them was firing with no target in sight meant that the VI most likely had taken full control of it and was overriding its normal control functions.
"How the hell we getting in there?" Sanders asked, as the bullets continued to rip through the wall and floor through the door.
Naruto, watching the gunfire, frowned in thought before speaking up. "Commander, I think I've got a plan," he suggested, drawing both Alicia and Kizumi's attention. "How many rockets do we still have?"
"I've still got two rockets," McCullen reported, as the other Cobra wielders reported in, giving them a total of seven rockets left over.
Naruto nodded at that, looking to the others. "Alright then. Here's my plan. Lieutenant Alenko, you'll need to move into the doorway and throw up a barrier quickly. Once you've done that, I'll use your barrier as cover to race into the room and throw up a second barrier. Afterwards, we'll need at least two of those Cobra's in there to destroy two of the turrets so that the rest of the team can enter and pick off the other two turrets," he said, finishing laying out his plan.
Major Kizumi frowned at that. "It is a rather risky plan, especially to you and the lieutenant," she said.
"Not sure we have any other plans except to keep peeking out and shooting at the turrets," Alicia said. "Can you pull it off though?" She asked Naruto, Kaidan, and the engineers carrying the rocket launchers.
"Yes ma'am," Kaidan responded quickly, followed by McCullen and Hawkins who would be handling the turrets.
"Then move it out," Alicia said, as the rest of them got ready to move in if any of them were hit. Kaidan took a deep breath, ensuring his tech armor was fully charged, before quickly stepping into the doorway. He grunted as rounds rapidly began hitting his shields and tech armor, before the biotic barrier went up, blocking the rounds. Under his helmet he was already sweating, as this was the third time he'd been using his biotics since they entered the facility, and he was feeling the drain.
Naruto quickly sprinted through the barrier, sliding as soon as he was in the open, while the turrets switched fire to him. He quickly rolled to his feet, his own barrier rising up around him, stopping the rounds of the now four turrets from hitting him. But he could feel the strain, even for his endurance, as he held up the biotic barrier against multiple weapons.
Thankfully, he didn't need to wait too long, as McCullen quickly moved into the room, turning and picking off one of the turrets with his rocket launcher, before diving into the protection of one of the barrier domes. Hawkins followed up, quickly taking out another of the turrets and opening up a lot of cover for the team. They quickly dove into cover, followed by the rest of the team taking cover behind various consoles and desks, as Naruto and Kaidan also moved to cover, Naruto wincing as his shields were barely still holding as he took cover, drawing out his Lancer. The combined team of engineers and combat personnel turned their attention on the two remaining turrets, rounds peppering the weapons emplacements and destroying them.
Both Naruto and Kaidan now slumped against their cover, exhausted, but unable to take in any of the energy bars or drinks prescribed to biotic users to help keep them in a fight. The lack of atmosphere prevented them from removing their breather masks on their helmet. Alicia took stock of both of them frowning. "You two still ready to go?" She asked, knowing the job wasn't done just yet.
Naruto got up, panting a bit but nodding. "Good to go ma'am," he responded. Kaidan slowly pushed himself up, but staggered a bit when he got to his feet. Alicia immediately pointed to him.
"Alenko, you're too exhausted. I want you to hold position here, act as a rearguard," she said, not wanting to put him in anymore potential danger. The sentinel marine looked like he wanted to argue, but instead nodded, accepting his commanding officer's order.
Major Kizumi had moved to the maintenance hatch, getting it open and scanning the interior of the shaft. "Looks like there's no defenses here," she said, looking back to Alicia. "I think we're-."
"Don't! The minute you say that, we're jinxed," Alicia said, pointing quickly to the major, who blinked. "Let's just get this mission done before we all suffocate."
The major slowly nodded as Alicia moved to the hatchway. "Sergeant Williams, you're still on rear guard. Captain Shepard, behind me," she ordered, as she slowly started to clamber down the ladder, with Naruto following her, and then the combat engineers behind him.
At the bottom of the shaft Alicia pried open the hatch and slid down into the computer core. It was a very large room with the computer core that housed the VI and all the command functions for the base's systems. There were also large coolant towers connected to the core to keep the entire system cooled and functioning.
As the rest of the team entered the room, Alicia nodded to the giant core. "Okay, so we're here…how do we turn this thing off?"
"First off, we need to establish what we're dealing with exactly," Kizumi responded, as Thompson and Hanover moved to the nearest access panel. Thompson began readying her equipment as Hanover began unsealing the panel, to give them a direct link to the device. He pulled the panel off as Thompson handed him a few wires connected to the rather sizeable device she had finished setting up on the floor. He leaned into the computer core, attaching the wires, and then discreetly attached a second device into the inside, before pulling away from the access panel.
Thompson quickly began typing in commands to the device. "Alright, the firewalls and security measures are setup," she said, as she began her intrusion programs. "Looks like…shit. We've got an Ascension Scenario. Repeat, we're dealing with a fledgling AI," she reported.
Kizumi cursed at that. "Begin the necessary purge and virus protocols. Hanover, get to work on those coolant towers. We'll need to shut this damn thing down one way or another," she ordered.
Alicia, Ashley, and Naruto all watched, weapons now pointed at the computer core. Now that they had confirmed an Ascension Scenario, they had to ensure that no matter what, the AI was destroyed. Even if that meant taking out the computer core.
Thompson was quickly typing commands into her hacking device, attempting to bypass the now verified AI's defenses while Hanover was deactivating one of the coolant towers, causing alarms to go off in the computer core. He was now working on the second one, only to yelp and jump back as an electrical surge shot through the computer panel he was working on, frying it. "Damnit, I can't shut down the second tower!" He shouted.
"Don't worry, I've almost got it!" Thompson shouted, her fingers a blur on the keyboard, before she let out a satisfied grunt. "Got it! My virus programs have isolated it from the command codes and purge protocols are erasing all traces of it," she said.
After a few moments, she grinned triumphantly. "Purge complete! I've got command of the core systems," she said, quickly reactivating the environmental systems. Soon enough, lights all across the facility flickered back on, while they felt the push of air against them as the breathable atmosphere returned.
Hanover quickly reactivated the previously disabled coolant tower, before moving to the access panel. "Final sweep complete?" He asked Thompson, getting ready to remove her connections to the computer core.
Thompson, having been running final sweeps of the entire computer core and every system in the facility for any trace of the VI/AI, gave him a nod. "All clear. Free to disengage," she responded.
Hanover nodded as he began detaching the connections, quietly palming the device he had attached in there at the same time, before pulling out of the access panel and starting to seal it back up.
Alicia just blinked in surprise. "That seemed…way too easy," she said, looking around. "I thought it would put up more of a fight then that."
"Not after we isolated it from the systems. Brand new AI don't have the intelligence yet to fully defend against virus and purge programs if you can get to them quick enough and isolate them," Kizumi explained. "As long as we could get to it in time, this would be the easy part."
"Yeah, guess so," Naruto said, having removed his breathing mask to start drinking one of his energy drinks. "So I guess that's mission accomplished?"
"Mission accomplished," Alicia said, activating her radio. "Normandy, this is Normandy 1, do you read me?"
"Normandy reads you, Normandy 1. Status update?" Pressly responded.
"Inform Fifth Fleet Command that Lunar Facility Tango Seven has been reclaimed and the threat neutralize. They can send a repair and reclamation team down anytime," Alicia said with a grin, glad to see another successful mission.
As the team began packing up, and moving to the ladder, none of them saw Hanover discreetly check the device he had planted and retrieved from the computer core, before returning it to one of his supply compartments on his belt and follow them up.
Unknown Location, Two Hours Later
The Illusive Man watched passively as one of his technicians studied the flow of data coming in on the screen, before said technician turned to him. "We have confirmation sir. Agent Howe was successful in securing the AI. He'll be rendezvousing with Agent Metra to hand it off within the hour," the technician reported.
"Excellent. I want it kept contained and separated from any electronic devices when we receive it. The last thing we need is it escaping and destroying us all," the leader of Cerberus ordered as he turned away, putting out his cigarette in an ashtray as he left.
It had been a stroke of luck that they had intercepted data on the events at LF-T7, and seeing a chance to get a valuable VI or even AI to experiment on, The Illusive Man had ordered Agent Howe, posing as Private Hawkins in the Alliance Field Combat Engineer Corp, to retrieve the VI at all costs. Thankfully it had been an easy enough matter, with Howe utilizing a specially designed capture device to secure the AI while the Alliance team believed it was being successfully purged.
The Illusive Man honestly viewed the Council's law regarding AI was foolhardy, as they allowed a few bad incidents to completely scare them from pursuing a very advantageous piece of technology. And the fact that the Alliance and humanity followed in their footsteps so readily further disappointed him. He would not allow caution and past mistakes of others to prevent him from utilizing every advantage that was necessary, both to handle the threat he knew was eventually coming and to help further the growth and safety of humanity.
Entering his office and settling into his chair, he pulled out another cigarette and lit it, slowly inhaling as his electronic eyes swept across the holographic screens that popped up, showing him the full report from Agent Howe. 'Yes, this will do quite well for future projects,' he thought as he slowly exhaled a cloud of smoke, settling himself in as he absorbed the data before. Whether they liked it or not, he would be the shepherd for humanities future, doing whatever was necessary to save them.
And chapter. Admittedly, was not expecting this to take up as much as it did, but there you go. Hope you all enjoyed my twist to the mission to Luna, or at least found it satisfactory.
So next chapter, the main story will definitely be picking back up, and we'll see just how well the training has paid off as the team heads to its next encounter with Saren and his forces.
If you have any complaints, questions, or concerns, feel free to ask me in a review or PM and I shall address them. However, anonymous flamers will be cheerily shared with all my readers so they can see how trollish and sad their attempts are.
As mentioned before, Aclux has a challenge, so please contact them if you're interested.
Thanks go out again to a7xfanatic11 for his work in betaing my fanfic and correcting mistakes concerning Mass Effect lore and technology. Thanks so much man!
Till next chapter!