AN: Well I'm back sorry for the slight delay but my cows busted from their fencing so I had to repair it and expand so they could get to some green grass because it has been so dry here. That's not the only reason though I'm proud to say that I did a little drawing (2 drawings) over the weekend (don't know where the urge came from) and posted it on my deviantart account ( .com). If you look at it forgive me if it's not that great haven't drawn for the fun of it since elementary school so my 'artistic ability' might not be that great. I would also like to add that I actually spent some time on this one working on it for a week from the time I awoke till the sun came up for the next day. Well I'm going to stop talking so you can read this.
Soon after the Luna mission ended we returned to the Normandy ready to face the next. As I walked into the Engineering Bay I quickly removed my armor, I'm so happy I don't have difficulties with this thing. I finished removing my chest plate last, setting it back in my locker and I then proceeded to put on my Alliance crew uniform.
I turned and stretched my arms and rubbed my right shoulder after the stretch, still feeling the pain from slamming into that metal door. I look around and saw everyone except Garrus and Wrex remove their armor.
"You want to get something to eat?" Jesse asks me as he places his armor in the locker
I looked around to see if Liara was nearby but I couldn't find her "Sure" I say figuring I could hang with him for now.
We walked into the elevator and rose to the Mess Hall. "I'll grab the food" Jesse remarked as he walked past me.
I sat down and watched as he grabbed food, just slapping the food on the plates. He made his way back and set the food on the table while taking his seat across from me.
We began digging into the food, he's taking his time but I'm just downing the stuff. I looked up from biting into an apple and saw him looking at me. "What?" I asked raising an eyebrow as I set the apple back on the table
"Nothing just thinking" he said as he looked at the food
"About what?" I questioned uncertain about what could be on his mind
He paused for a minute and looked around to see if anyone was nearby. Finally seeing that no one was around he leans towards me "Isn't bad that we kill these people without remorse. I mean that's not a good sign."
I leaned back "Dude we just finished killing drones. It's not like we went into a school and killed kids. Where is this coming from, I would figure you of all people would never raise this problem?" I finished resting my hands in the back of my head
"This isn't about what's happened recently but rather the whole time we've been here. We killed mercs, turians, asari, humans and what not. I just want to know does killing them without remorse mean we are bad people."
I released a sigh and began to stand "Look you bring up some really weird questions out of nowhere and I understand that, you and Brent share that trait but man this one is just too weird. I'll answer but I'm going to leave after so you pull another question out of your ass that I really don't want to answer." I say smiling to show him I'm messing with him
I took in a breath as I prepared to answer one of those questions "Ok the only reason you should feel sorrow for killing someone is if they are an innocent person. That is really the only logical reason I can think of for feeling remorse or regret. The human's survival instinct is to live and not die; it's in our nature to press for survival. So don't feel too bad for killing the person that tried to kill you. However you can feel bad for taking the life of someone that was alive and had relatives because that is also what makes you human as well, but don't hold onto that regret. The death of that person was not because of you but because they chose the path that led them to that conflict. If you linger on the death of the people you kill you will go insane, so mourn but don't hold onto it." I state trying to appeal to a psychological side "Is that good enough of an answer?"
I watched as Jesse continued to look at the table thinking about my words. "I guess" he whispers but whispering high enough for me to hear
"Good" I say walking over to him and placing my hand on his shoulder "now any other questions you wish answered just come find me." I continue as I release my hold on his shoulder "I'll check you later… oh and you get to clean up" I finish as I began to walk fast
"Jackass!" I hear Jesse shout causing me to laugh as I reached the elevator
I pressed the button that would bring me to the living quarters where I would proceed to get some sleep.
Hours Later
I awoke to a shock of pain to my face causing me to hit the metal floor. I rolled and got into a defensive stance to protect myself till the world cleared. The world finally cleared and I saw Jesse standing in front of me holding back his laughter.
"Dude what the hell, you could have just shook me or said my name!" I shout as I shove him
"But that wouldn't be as fun" he said smiling as he stumbled back "Think of it as payback leaving me to clean up."
"Now what the hell is so important that you woke me up after a…" I pause to check the time on my Omni-tool "five hour sleep" I say letting my voice get lower "I've been asleep that long" I say feeling like it has been only a couple of minutes, soon I began to wonder off into some other zone when I hear snapping
"Hello, come back to us Joseph." I hear Jesse say bringing me back to reality
"Oh right sorry, now what did you want?" I asked remembering what the original question was
"We're in the Kepler Verge and we found Dr. Saleon's ship. Shepard wants you to suit up we're going after him." He said as he adjusting his chest plate
"Wait, who's Dr. Saleon and why are we going after him." I asked not connecting with this mission; I'm still waking my brains not fully functional right now
"Dude, he's the guy Garrus rants about. He's the doctor that made people mobile test tubes." Jesse replied in a tone that was clearly one of annoyance
"I thought that was Dr. Heart?" I comment really confused right now the whole mission details of the Mass Effect game have been getting blurrier the longer we've been here… damn memory you're failing me.
"Well that's the name he's going by now. Don't you talk to Garrus at all?" he asked making me feel like an idiot
"No I don't really interact with everyone." I say truthfully "Hold on shouldn't it take weeks to travel to another system. In the game he was in the system that didn't have the relay so we would have to travel there which should take days or even weeks not mere hours." I say as I remembered some info about the mission
"Actually his ship was near Ontarom. We found it only minutes after we arrived. Ah, you're getting me off topic. Shepard sent me to wake up and tell you to grab your gear." Jesse finished as he turned, with me following, to the elevator
I exit the elevator with Jesse at the Engineering Bay. I approached my locker opening it revealing my Heavy Mantis armor. I removed it from the locker and equipped it quickly. As I made the finally adjustments to the armor I took a quick look to see who will be joining us. I saw Shepard cleaning her guns with Garrus who seemed to be very anxious. Just by looking I would say that the team going would be me, Jesse, Garrus, Shepard, and Wrex. Although Wrex was questionable because I think he is always holding his guns and wearing his armor.
"Wrex are you coming with us!" I shout to him across the room
Instead of giving me a response he looked at me, still leaning against his crate, and shook his head before he went back to his own little world he seems to have going. "Taking that as a no" I shout as I attach my tempest to its magnetic clip on my hip. I reached in my locker for my pistol but couldn't find it. I looked on the table where Ashley worked figuring it was on there but it wasn't.
"Hey Ashley have you seen my pistol?" I ask observing the table
"Yea Shepard switched it for you." She said as she searched the table "Here it is" she said once more handing me a new pistol
"It's a Karpov Pistol" I said recognizing the shape of the pistol "Thanks Ash" I stated as I turned and headed to meet with Jesse.
As I walked up to Jesse, Shepard called for us to head up to the CIC where we will dock with Doctor Heart's ship.
Moments Later
Soon I found myself in the ship of a mad doctor with my friends backing me. I looked around the ship cautious of what might appear. This mission wasn't that familiar to me so I couldn't really remember what we would be facing.
We moved forward and away from the airlock that led to the Normandy. Once at the end of the corridor we came to a door.
Upon opening and entering through the door we came to a room filled with crates, well I can see where this is going.
"Jesse take the lead, Garrus cover our back." Shepard said as we moved through the maze
"Yes ma'am" they both said in unison as Jesse and Garrus drew their Avenger Rifles
Continuing our way through the maze I could smell the scent of a rotting corpse. I walked up to Jesse, Tempest drawn ready for whatever might come at us when I felt a large force strike me in the shoulder taking me down.
I rolled and saw a Salarian screaming at me and clawing at my bare face. I tried to push him off gently not wanting to harm him. I grabbed his wrists to stop the clawing when I saw the sharp end of a knife pierce through his face, spilling blood onto me. The Salarian went limp and I rolled him off.
As I stood I saw Jesse clean the blood off his knife and then sheath it. I guess my talk helped him
I was preparing to say something when the room filled with the deafening sound of people screaming. I couldn't help but hold my ears to shield them from the sound.
"Hostiles up front!" Jesse shouts unleashing a barrage of bullets as Salarians, Humans and even Asari come pouring through the path in front of us.
"Hostiles in the back as well!" I hear Garrus shout as more people came running at us.
"Where are they coming from?" I asked as I pulled out my Tempest and shot a human that tried to charge me
"Back to back!" Shepard shouted over the gunfire
We all obliged and formed up shooting the crazed people as they continued to pour in.
This continued for what felt like minutes but was really just seconds. Going through a pattern of shouting and reloading as the waves of people continued. I suddenly remembered this being easier in the game.
"Fuck!" Jesse shouts as an Asari grabs him by the shoulders with more people piling up on him, unable to grab his gun he is unable to fight off his attackers
Soon the sheer amount of weight and people overwhelmed him bringing him to the ground. I watched as Jesse scrambled to get away. He reached his hand out for me and I quickly grabbed it as someone jumped on my back and began clawing at me. I ignored the pain fighting to get to Jesse. I wouldn't lose another friend.
I gripped Jesse's hand and pulled with all that I had, slowly lifting him from the pile of people. With Jesse in the clear I flipped the person on my back and shoved them into the encroaching mob sending the people in front to fall.
Knowing Jesse was behind me I knew what I was going to do wouldn't hurt him. So with the extra time that was given to me from that previous toss I readied my biotics and created a large push. The blue energy erupted from my hands and threw everyone and the crates in front of me against the wall. To ensure that they were dead I released my push and grabbed a larger crate from the side and swiped it against the pile of bodies and crates tossing them across the ground. Anybody that survived that and stood up was immediately shot down by Jesse.
With our side cleared I turned and saw that Garrus and Shepard were still holding back their wave. Jesse and I walked beside them and released our own volley.
It was only seconds after we joined them that the crazed people stopped flowing through.
"How could there be that many people and what was wrong with them." Jesse said breathing heavily probably still tired from the ordeal that happened before
"I don't know maybe they stuck in tight packs. As to what was wrong with them I think we need to discuss that with the man responsible." Garrus said sounding angry
With the horde defeated we began to move forward again. However we didn't have to travel too far before the maze of crates ended.
We walked through the corridor that held three doors. I checked the left and Jesse went to the controls to see if we could find the person responsible.
It wasn't long after Jesse and I cleared the other rooms that Shepard and Garrus found the only sane, kind of, person on this ship.
As I walked up to the room I saw a Salarian that seemed absolutely terrified.
"That's him Shepard." Garrus says as he removed his pistol and aimed it at the man's head.
Garrus's sudden draw made me step in front for some odd reason "Wait are you even sure that's him" I say as I look down the barrel of his pistol. Why did I do that of course I know it's him
"Please I've been trapped in here" the Salarian states throwing his hands in the air like a surrender
"You can't talk your way out of this Saleon." Garrus proclaims becoming very irritated at the man
"Garrus are you sure, like one-hundred percent sure that's him" Shepard says as she moves me away from the line of fire
"I'm sure commander, this is the end of the line for you doctor." Garrus says giving the doctor a death glare
"Please your friend is delusional, you can't do this!" Saleon shouts. Seeing that Garrus was set to kill him Saleon turned around to escape but fails to get far as a bullet round rips through his head. Saleon slams into the ground as blood and brain matter pour onto the floor
With the man dead you could see a look of satisfaction on Garrus's face. I walked past him and looked around the room and find different colors of blood smeared on the floor.
"Guess he was the guy you were looking for Garrus." I state as I examine the various colors "You feel better" I ask turning to him
"Yea it felt good to get that business taken care of." Garrus said nodding his head
"Good now let's head back to the Normandy. I'm getting tired of this place." Shepard said as she turned and left the room with all of us following
Back on the Normandy
Finally making it back to the Normandy I headed to the Engineering Bay. There I removed my armor once more and stored my weapons back in my locker. I stretched my arms feeling a little tired from the last mission. I began to yawn and when I went to scratch my face I felt a stinging pain on my face.
Curious about the pain I headed to the bathroom and when I walked in I found Jesse in there too.
"Checking yourself out in the mirror?" I ask as I nudge him in the side as I lean and check my face
"Yea" he chuckled "I'm checking my face, I felt some blood trickle down it earlier." He said as he moved his face to reveal a gash on his right cheek "Those bastards really scratched the shit out of me." He stated as he washed the blood away
Turning my attention away from him I observed my face as well seeing that I had some deep gashes as well. They were mostly across my cheeks, forehead, and neck. "Damn you were right they really did scratch the shit out of us." I said as I began to wash away the dried blood "Thinking about going to Chakwas to see if she can fix this, what about you" I ask as I dry my face with a towel.
"Nah, I think I'm going to let it scar." He said running his hand across the gash
I chuckled "Women dig scars mind you most of them are Krogan women." I say quoting Garrus, one of my most favorite quotes
Jesse looked at me and laughed getting the reference. "Good one" he said as he continued to wash off the blood that continued to come from the cut.
"Well check you later" I said as I exited the bathroom and with a new course, Chakwas's med-bay.
Soon I was walking into Chakwas's med-bay "Hey doctor" I said smiling at her, she was always one of my favorite NPC's
"Hello Joseph how are you doing today" she said as she typed at her computer
"Oh good I guess except I got clawed up on the last mission" I said motioning my hand across my face
"Let me see" she said as she stopped what she was doing, walked over to me, grabbed my head and observed it "You'll be ok nothing a little medi-gel wouldn't fix
I released a silent sigh "Thanks doc" I said faking a smile as she applied the medi-gel. Well I would have figured that medi-gel would work but I wanted something that wouldn't leave a scar
"Just don't pick at the wound and it won't scar." She said looking at me like I was stupid
"How did you…" I started to say however Chakwas interrupted
"You just thought aloud" she said smiling and shaking her head "You'll be fine" Chakwas finished as she motioned me to shoo.
"Thanks doc" I shouted behind me as I gave her a small wave bye
As I began to walk away something came to realization, Tali's mission is next. Maybe I can prevent us from having to system hop to destroy the individual Geth bases.
I began to think about how I could convince Shepard to go with what I say though. What am I thinking of course she'll believe me she has no reason not to. Now the question rises what system was that damn base that held the Geth information. I know it was the in the Armstrong Cluster of the Skyllian Verge but what was the system.
I walked into the elevator and headed to the living quarters where I could think more clearly.
As I walked into the living quarters I sat on my bed and began to think. Damn what was the system was called but what.
I sat there for minutes thinking about the names of the systems and planets but couldn't think of it. Giving up on it I sat up and jumped off my bed hitting the floor. However instead of landing feet on the ground I ended up slamming into the floor with my head. I rolled over holding my head as if it helps and looked on the ground. "Damn Kaiden leaving his magazines on the floor" I exclaimed as I leaned over and grabbed it
As I was ready to toss it something caught my eye, a picture of Grissom Academy was on the cover. It was celebrating its outstanding work with biotic children. Looking at it for a second it hit me "The Geth base is located in the Grissom System!" I shout as I jump up happy for this strange event
Now with this information I ran to find Shepard running across the ship looking for her. After running through the whole ship I found her in the CIC looking at the galaxy map.
"Shepard what are you doing?" I asked as I tried to catch my breath
"Trying to figure out how I'm going to help Tali with her pilgrimage." She said as she focused on the galaxy map and clearly not interested in why I'm breathing heavily
"I think I can help" I say as I take control of the galaxy map "See there have been reports of Geth activity in the Armstrong Cluster" I say as I expand the map to reveal a larger view of the Armstrong Cluster "Now based on reports read and scans I've done I have isolated a strong signal coming from the Grissom System. Now I think there is a large Geth base there and the possibility of information great enough to end Tali's pilgrimage." I finish lying as I place my finger on the moon Solcrum the place the signal would be coming from
Shepard looked at me with a look that told me, good job. "It's worth a shot" she said as she headed towards Joker to give him the destination
As she left I did fist pump for pulling that off, complete bullshit racks up another point. Now comes the wait of travel to the system
Weeks later
The time was finally here this was to be the last mission we do with Shepard, for now. Not much has gone on here except sleeping, eating, talking to Liara, showering, and trying to keep the marks on my face from turning into scars; geez I'm boring
It was only minutes ago that Shepard alerted me that I was right about the Geth Base being on the moon and gave me the rundown of people accompanying us on the mission. So right now I'm in the Engineering Bay by the Mako with the team in my armor waiting for Shepard to call for us to go. Yep waiting patiently… just sitting here… what is taking her so long?
"Alright let's go, Joseph, Garrus, Tali get in the Mako." Shepard commanded as she exited the elevator
"Yes finally" I exclaim as I jump into the Mako sitting in my normal seat next to Garrus while Tali sat next to me and Shepard taking her usual spot at the driver's seat
By the time I had gotten settled in, the Mako had already landed on the moon.
"So who gets the turret?" I asked leaning to Garrus hinting that he should do it
He looked at me for a second, seeing that he wasn't getting the hint I motioned my eyes towards the gun.
Releasing a light sigh Garrus stood up "Fine I got it" he said as he squeezed past me and Tali so he could take control of the gun.
Once we reached the location of the base I was sitting on the seat relaxing while Garrus and Shepard took care of the Geth that were stationed outside. Arms and head back I was just trying to relax as we approached the base seeing no point in helping right now. Strangely enough I didn't find it hard to relax over the shooting and Shepard's driving, must have gotten used to it.
"Already everyone out" Shepard ordered as she got out of the driver seat, good thing to I almost fell asleep
Once we placed on our helmets we exited the Mako, landing on the empty and barren terrain.
I looked around and saw that we were on a mountain or a really tall hill and the sky was red. After taking the sights in I examined the base. Didn't take long it looked like the same structure that seems to be very common in this galaxy. The building stood up about two stories and was in a metallic grey. The contracting company that made these really needs to branch out in designs.
I shook my body loose and stretched my arms. "Let's do this" I whisper knowing what was on the other side of those doors.
I walked up to the door and opened it. As the door slid open it led us to another room that seemed to be nothing but open space. "The air seems good" Shepard comments as she removes her helmet which I soon followed
Our helmets off with the exception of Tali, I readied my Tempest, Garrus drew his Avenger rife the same as Shepard while Tali took out her Katana shotgun each of us prepared for a full out firefight. I walked up to the door that led to the main room and looked at everyone. Shepard gave me a nod of approval and I opened the door.
As the door opened all was quiet. It wasn't until we walked in did the shit hit the fan. Bullets began to rain down forcing us to scurry for cover. I took shelter behind a small wall that rested in front of the door while everyone hid alongside the crates that were placed by the door.
"Garrus take out the ones at the top, Tali send in your drone to draw their fire, Joseph hack one of them, and I'lllay down suppressive fire." Shepard shouted at us "Now go" she yelled over the fire as she rolled out
Tali launched her drone, Garrus quickly switched to his mantis rifle while I hacked a Geth that wandered out of cover. The hacked Geth then began to tear into a group of Geth while Shepard began to advance
I rolled out of cover and fired my Tempest at a Geth Trooper that tried to flank Shepard. My bullets ripped through its shields and metallic skin spilling a grey fluid on the floor.
Seeing how the Geth were focused on Shepard, Tali's drone and my hacked Geth Trooper I used the diversion to my advantage. While everyone was shooting at a drone, a Geth, and Shepard, I dead sprinted for the stairs that rested on my left.
Turning in the door way I ran up the stairs, reloading with a fresh thermal clip and then grabbed my new Karpov Pistol in my other hand. I stopped at the top of the stairs and quickly turned unloading my Tempest on two Geth snipers that were positioned on my right. I then slid my Tempest back on its magnetic clip, turned, lifted another Geth sniper with my biotics allowing Garrus to get a clear shot. I saw a bullet tear into its chest killing it as it sputtered. With three Geth down I rolled to a nearby crate as a Geth Trooper began to shoot at me. I waited for the trooper to come closer and when I saw its foot step past the edge of the crate I jumped up, grabbed it by the chest-piece and slammed it into the ground causing it to sputter. The second it hit the ground I dropped my pistol and slammed my fist into its face with a biotic punch crushing its head.
With the Geth being cleared up here I stood up and looked down from the top to see how everyone was doing. I watched as Tali shot the last standing Geth in the chest with her shotgun. Reassuring me that they had everything under control
"Everything is clear up here!" I shout from the top
Shepard nodded in response and put her assault rifle away and everyone soon followed. I looked around on the top floor for anything of value. I searched the floor for anything but was unsuccessful. Frustrated that I couldn't find anything I scratched my head as I looked around the second floor, then something caught my eye. There was a door on the left of the stairs, like if you didn't look to your left the moment you walked up you would miss it.
I approached the door cautiously with my pistol out. I opened the door and entered and am left speechless by what I see. The room was filled with monitors, hardware, and terminals, I felt like I was in geek heaven. I walked up to a monitor that had a lock on it. Figuring whatever was on that terminal must be important if it was locked, so I did what any technologically trained and fanatical person would do I began hacking into it.
It took me only moments for me to override the Geth's firewalls and decrypt the codes on the terminal. "To easy" I whisper with a smile on my face, so glad I know how to do this
With the lock removed I began searching the files on the terminal and what I found worried me. This terminal held the beginning stages of a virus that would affect even the most advanced weapon and shielding systems on a ship. Even though the virus was in the beginning stages it could be finished by the Geth and used against us. One side of me said delete it while the other said take it. Falling for the other option I copied the files into my Omni-tool and destroyed the local copies. Because of the development stage of the virus I figured that this was the only copy so the virus was gone except for the one that I had.
This information was important and Tali could use it but I had other plans and I didn't want anyone else getting ahold of this virus otherwise it could leak to unwanted hands. With the file wiped I began to search through the other non-secured terminals. While searching through a terminal I heard the door open. I quickly turned with my pistol drawn but stopped short of shooting when I saw Tali and Shepard standing in the doorway.
"I found a number of terminals with some information mostly nothing new." I say returning to searching through the terminals files
"This is amazing" Tali said as she wondered around the room
"You can check those terminals for anything you could use for your pilgrimage. There has to be something of value to the Migrant Fleet." I say motioning my hand at the other terminals
It took us a couple of minutes of searching but we did find something. Honestly you would think with all these terminals there would be more information worth value. I found detailed information about the Quarians history.
"Here you go Tali I know you could use this" I state as I transfer the files of her peoples history to her
"Thanks Joseph I appreciate it" she said sounding quite happy and if I could see under her helmet I would say that she smiled.
"It's no big deal" I said as I collected information about the Geth's operating systems and wiping the local copy, can't have Tali getting this back to the Migrant Fleet wouldn't like them to use it and have it affect Legion somehow.
"Alright if that's everything then we should be on our way." I say as I motion everyone to leave. As we walk out I quickly wipe the terminals of all information stored on them using my Omni-tool and rushed to catch up with everyone one
Back on the Normandy
We returned to the Normandy and I was removing my armor when Shepard approached me
"So where to next?" I asked as I placed my chestplate in my locker preventing her from asking a question first
"That's what I was coming over here for. There's nothing left for us to do so we're going to run through the Terminus System for the Council."
I put my stuff down and sighed, so the time has come. "Ok Shepard sounds good" I say hiding the sorrow of knowing what will happen
"Although we are going to be a little light when we go"
I stood even though my lower half still had the armor still attached "What do you mean lighter" I asked as I began to remove my guns from my side
"Well Tali is returning to the Migrant Fleet with the information so she can end her pilgrimage. Wrex is talking about going to Tuchanka to unite his people before the Reapers arrive. Garrus wants to head back to the Citadel so he can report the death of Doctor Saleon and settle some family matters. However we are going to drop everyone off at the Citadel that way we don't spend a lot of time traveling to drop off each person." Shepard finished as I placed the last of my equipment in my locker
I tilted my head down slightly feeling kind of sad that they won't be here for her death. At least they are safe from the Collectors. "So we got a few weeks left before we head off to the Terminus System. Well I guess I should spend some time with them." I say as I stretch my arms "I'll see you later Shepard" I state as I wave bye "I need to talk to Jesse" I whisper as I enter the elevator and head to the Living Quarters
When the elevator stopped I exited it to find Jesse just relaxing on his bed. I walked up to him to talk about the future plans. "Hey man" I say as I hit his leg to stir him out of his phase
"What" he said sounding irritated, he must have been really comfortable
"We'll be heading to the Terminus System in a few weeks so you might want to spend this time to hang out with everyone before 'certain events' transpire" I say using air quotes
"Yea I guess it would but I've always hung out with everyone it's you who refrains to just me and Liara as your regular social group." He countered
I sighed seeing where this could go and I didn't want to deal with his smart ass attitude right now "At any rate I'm going to head up, I'll check you later." Now all that's left is to just let things unfold
Well there's chapter 13 finished and I am hoping to get the next up as soon as I can. Now I read over this a few times but it seems I always miss some mistakes so sorry if there were any. As always thanks for reading and until next time.