Authors Notes: If it isn't obvious by now to my usual readers, I am in a bit of a writing mood. Which is good news for you all, means quicker updates for all my projects! Last chapter was a bit of a filler, now to see how Faragonda and the others will react to the Trix being present during Blooms tale.
Now, as I stated in my Dynasty of Evil story, I have joined up with Project Dark Jade. A collection of stories of the Jackie Chan Adventures series that highlights little Jade Chan either willingly or being forced to become evil. Here in the coming few weeks, I will be adding my own contribution to the project. Be on the look out for Dark Tides!
Further information on Project Dark Jade can be found on my profile.
PierceTheVeils – I think the situation with Blooms sudden trip to the future was slightly different. Did she miss her friends and Sky, yes. However, she doesn't feel like she abandoned them. We have seen the beginning of her struggle in the future of what Saren intends to unleash upon the galaxy. Without giving too much away, the threats upon the galaxy have increased dramatically.
Bloom sudden departure back to the past, couldn't of come at a worse time during the conflict. Which is why she feels she's abandoned Shepard. You'll see when I get there.
As for the Trix, they were relatively silent during Bloom's tale. Sadly, they are not very vocal in this chapter either. Though fear not, I will make up for it, I promise!
DreadedCandiru2 – Yes, I can't wait to get to that part. I have the sequence all planned out. We'll just say that Bloom has become a legitimate bad ass.
Firehawk242 – Don't worry, she wasn't born with that kind of alcohol tolerance. I do fully intend to regale you with stories of her first experience with the Krogan beverage. We have seen Bloom already drink some alcohol, but mostly light stuff.
Shepard of Fire
Chapter 13
Alfea, The Next Morning
The headmistress stared in silence at the three witch sisters whom were now seated between Stella and Tecna on the couch at the back left corner of the room. When asked why the Trix sisters were present, Bloom had simply given the explanation that she didn't want to have to repeat her tale, and that the three witches were also curious as to what happened. It was a surprising development to say the least, but even more surprising is how behaved the three witches were acting. They truly feared the young commandos wrath.
Of course with the presence of the Trix, tension hung heavily in the room. Sky had been extremely vocal about his stance on the three witches being here. Which was no surprise as there was a lot of bad blood between the Prince of Eraklyon and the three sisters. However only Layla and Brandon supported him as the others either remained silent or simply trusted in Bloom's judgment to allow them to be present.
None the less, the headmistress had allowed them to stay. So long as they behaved themselves; and to their credit they have. So far.
"Well, now that that is settled." The headmistress sighed a bit exhausted. It had taken nearly twenty minutes to get Sky to relent and accept the witches being here. Frankly, he should be thankful it was only these three and not the entirety of Cloud Tower. "Perhaps we should move on."
"Of course." Bloom commented. "As I said yesterday, Commander Shepard became the first ever human Spectre. Shortly afterwords, Captain Anderson had stepped down as Captain of the Normandy, turning the ship and her crew over to Shepard."
Therum, Knossos System
Bloom let out a frustrated sigh as she worked diligently to reassemble her assault rifle, after having completely dismantled it to clean it and ensure that all pieces were in working condition. However, the complexity of the maintenance of the weapon wasn't what frustrated her. It was the recent choice that Commander Shepard had made. Which was why she was here at the ships work station located in the dimly lit cargo hold of the Normandy.
Ashley had originally tried to make some conversation, however the asari trained commando wasn't exactly in a social mood. After a few minutes of trying to start up some sort of conversation, the human Lieutenant gave up and left the red haired woman alone. Bloom was so focused on what was in front of her, that she didn't notice Kaiden had been standing at the elevator bay door for the last hour.
"Something bothering you?" He asked as he got closer.
"Just keeping myself busy." Bloom responded, not looking up from what she was doing. Putting the finishing touches on her rifle, then immediately pulling out her pistol to repeat the same process.
"Right." Kaiden stated in a disbelieving tone. "You've already went through your entire arsenal four times, your assault rifle five. What's really bothering you?"
The asari trained commando gave a relenting sigh before looking over towards the young man.
"We have two solid leads that would take use closer to Saren, yet the Commander opts for the one lead that is so vague, we don't even know which planet this Prothean expert is on." Bloom vented. "We've been to damn near every system here in the Artemis Tau cluster.
We've found pirates, smugglers, slavers, and a few small time merc's. Even a handful of various mineral and gas deposits for the Alliance to come gather. Not to mention a thresher maw(1) as well. Still no prothean expert."
"I agree that it feels like we are wasting our time on a wild varren(2) chase." The young man replied as he leaned up against the workbench that Bloom was at. "However consider the fact that this Prothean expert is the daughter of this Matriarch Benezia. That alone either makes her a great threat or a strong ally."
"I suppose." Bloom sighed. "Just wish we didn't start at the furthest system in our search."
"Well, look on the bright side. At least this is the only planet we haven't checked in the entire cluster." Kaiden laughed, prompting the young red head to do the same. Effectively lightening the mood.
"Speaking of which," He continued. "We should be arriving within the hour, so get your gear ready."
"Alright." She replied. "And Kaiden; thank you."
"No problem."
With that, Alenko turned and made his way over towards his own locker to secure his own gear. Leaving Bloom to do the same with her own gear. While it wasn't said, she already knew who was going to be the ground team. It was the same every time. Shepard always chose Tali, Garrus, and herself for the away missions. It wasn't as much favoritism as it was about utility. Tali and Garrus specialized in tech, while Bloom herself was an adept biotic. Add Shepards combat expertise to the mix, it was essentially the perfect team.
True to Kaidens word, Shepard had called the assemble the ground team as they neared Therum, and just as she suspected, the usual ground team was called forth to meet near the Mako; an all terrain infantry transport and combat vehicle. Equipped with the latest micro thrusters, as well as a small elemental zero core, which was used to increase the vehicles mass to provide greater traction on awkward terrain. The only real drawback that the stout little tank like vehicle had was that with four crew members, it was extremely cramped.
"So, nineteenth time is a charm?" Bloom teased as she crawled into the cramp vehicle, manning her usual position on the turret. As previous missions proved she had better aim then the others.
"Very funny Bloom." Shepard sighed as he situated himself into the drivers seat. While Tali and Garrus took their positions at their respected navigation and radar displays.
The next hand full of seconds seemed to have slowed down as the Mako was dropped from the cargo bay of the Normandy, rocketing down towards the planets surface. A sense of weightlessness filled the interior of the vehicle before being violently sucked back down into their seats as Shepard hit the thrusters to slow the decent for a somewhat smoother landing as the Mako hopped and skipped across the ground before finally to a complete stop just before a lake of lava, allowing the ground team to get a reading on the bearings.
"Well," Tali began. "I think you are getting the hang of it Shepard."
"Agreed, at least we didn't roll like the first drop." Garrus added.
"Are you guys ever going to live that down?" The Commander asked, though a smile could still be seen at the corner of his lips.
"Nope." Both Garrus and Tali replied at the same time.
"Commander, I'm picking up some strange readings. Really strange, like off the damn charts." Joker's voice interrupted through the intercom. "It looks like it's coming from an underground complex a few klicks away from the drop zone."
"Thanks for the heads up Joker." Shepard responded.
Shepard then began to maneuver the Mako away from the lake bed of lava. Readings flashed across the screen in front of the young Quarian, indicating that there was a settlement not far from where they had landed, just as Joker had reported. However, it didn't take long for them to find trouble as they breached the summit of a small hill top only to be greeted by a geth drop ship flying overhead, dropping troops further down the path.
"Well, at least it looks like we're on the right path." Bloom commented as she zoomed in with the Mako's canons. Getting a clear look at the get troops ahead.
"What do we got?" Shepard asked.
"We have two destroyers." The asari trained commando answered. "Equipped with launchers it looks like, and two I haven't seen before. They look like walkers of some kind, four legs, long neck."
'Almost like a fat giraffe.' Bloom thought to herself in humor.
Bloom didn't get much time to describe it more as the 'fat giraffes' began to fire off plasma balls in their direction.
"Evasive maneuvers!" Bloom called out, prompting Shepard to immediately put the Mako in reverse, just barely dodging the attacks. Bloom wasted no time as she zeroed in on one of the geth walkers and returned fire, hitting it directly in the head, causing it to explode, raining shrapnel down on the walkers companions.
"One down." Tali stated.
"Make that three." Bloom commented, as the walker she had just hit exploded a second time; wiping out the two smaller destroyers that was in front of it. In response, the remaining two walkers continued their assault, slowly ambling forward. Though this only made it easier for the red haired woman to lock in on her targets.
Switching over from the main canon to allow it time to reload, Bloom held down the triggers for the coaxial mounted machine gun. Prompting the chain guns to roar to life, sending a barrage of bullets towards the walkers. Effectively cutting through one of the shields and disabling the geth machine.
"Brace!" Bloom shouted, as she saw the flash of another plasma attack heading directly towards them, with no time to evade it. Just seconds after she called out the warning, the small stout vehicle shook violently as the outer haul took the brunt of the blast; jumbling the four crew members inside.
"Son of a bitch!" The red head cursed, just then hearing the tell tale click of the main canon finish reloading. "Payback time."
One again locking in on her target, Bloom squeezed the trigger. Sending the shell directly into the chest of the walker. At this close of range, even it's shields didn't help it as the shell exploded on impact. Creating a large hole in the chest cavity of the walker. Exposing it many entangled wirings and other mechanical parts.
"You can bet we can expect more geth to closer we get." Garrus warned.
"Agreed, let's proceed with caution." The commander stated, once again pushing the Mako forward.
For the most part, the next leg of the trip happened without incident. The only small hold up was when they had arrived at what could be assumed as a check point for the local settlement, armed with heavy turrets that the geth had been so kind enough to activate. Prompting the team to take a side route to get around the gates.
It wasn't until they reached an area with too small of an opening for the Mako to fit through did they encounter their next issue. Forcing the ground team to abandon the small tank, though not before Shepard issued the commands for the Mako to automatically use it's thrusters to rendezvous with the Normandy for a mid air pick up. A dangerous maneuver but required in this case.
"Looks like we proceed on foot now." Shepard stated as he readied his own weapon.
"The settlement Joker told us about shouldn't be far now anyways." Bloom added, as she pulled out her own assault rifle. "Probably just over this ridge."
"Garrus, take recon and be on the look out for any geth." The commander ordered.
"Right, Shepard." The turian stated before pulling out his sniper rifle and beginning his climb of the hill beside them to get a better vantage point of the area ahead of them, and to hopefully catch any geth forces off guard as the rest of the ground team pushed forward. Giving the former C-Sec officer a surprise advantage.
As Garrus made his climb, Shepard took point and navigated the remainder of the ground team through the small maze of debris that lay ahead of them. Obviously, this was were the local settlement dumped it's recyclable waste. Almost immediately they were assaulted by smaller geth forces, prompting the three to take cover behind various rocks or metal debris. However the geth were quickly dispatched between Tali's own drones, Bloom's biotic abilities, or Shepards pin point accuracy with his weapon.
"Well what was the point of having me climb this hill if you aren't going to save any for me?" Garrus playfully complained as he had finally reached the hill top.
"Don't worry." Bloom replied through the radio. "I am sure there will be more."
True enough, just as they rounded the next small corner the red haired woman spied a couple of geth snipers are the far end of the basin in small watch towers. Quickly she motioned for the Shepard and Tali to hold position as she radioed in to Garrus, informing him of his potential targets. Almost like clockwork, the turian dropped the two snipers quickly; alerting the remaining ground forces to his presence. Shepard and the rest took this as a sign to push forward, completely flanking the geth as they were busy firing at the hidden turian on the rocks above them.
"Look's to be the last of them." Garrus reported as he gave the area another scan through his scope. "Up ahead looks to be a mining refinery of some kind."
"May be where our Prothean expert is." Bloom stated as the turian slowly made his way down the hill side to rejoin the ground team.
"Alright let's move out, but keep it tight. The geth may still have some surprises for us." Shepard instructed as he once again took point. Prompting the rest to follow him.
While the other two figured that the commander was always like this, Bloom had a sneaking suspicion that Shepard didn't want a repeat of what happened to Jenkins. She was sure he still felt guilty over what happened on Eden Prime, as he had ordered the young Corporal to take point, which cost him his life.
As they drew closer to the large complex, they could tell immediately that something wasn't right. It was just too silent for them. Out of the corner of her eye, Bloom noticed a quick movement from the above catwalk as a small, almost frog like geth began jumping around quickly. Just as they were about to open fire on the new version of geth, a loud hum could be heard overhead as another geth drop ship came in; dropping off a small detachment of geth forces. Including a large walker, known as an Armature.
"Well, this is just great." Bloom commented sarcastically as the ground team scrambled for cover.
"Take out the smaller geth first!" Shepard commanded, as he ducked out from behind his cover and flung one of his grenades at a trio of geth destroyers making their way towards him. Waiting until the powerful explosive was just in between them before he remotely detonated it. Effectively taking out two of them, and severely damaging the third one. Enough for him to finish it off with his assault rifle.
Tali and Garrus quickly made short work of the small leaping geth. Utilizing their own technological abilities to corner and destroy them. The quarian had identified them as Ghost's, though Bloom couldn't figure out why call them Stalkers when they leap everywhere. Personally she would of called them Leapers herself, but quickly shrugged it off as she focused more on the task at hand. Namely the large geth walker that was rearing up for an attack.
"INCOMING!" Bloom called out, alerting the others to quickly seek shelter as the large walker fired off a powerful plasma attack that rocked the earth below them as it exploded.
"I am sure that attack as a recharge timer." Tali offered.
"I bet it does too." The red haired commando agreed as she turned from her cover and opened fire at he large walker.
Tali and Garrus quickly followed suit, as well as Shepard. However, as their guns began to overheat it was becoming clear that the larger walker's armor was proving to be too much, even with it's shields gone. A tell tale hum from the large geth unit prompted the team to once again duck behind cover as another powerful plasma blast ripped through the air. Just like the last time, the team began their assault once more, though with only marginal degree of success in chipping away at the large geths armor.
'We need something with a bit more fire power.' Bloom thought to herself as she took cover once more to evade the massive blast once again. It sort of reminded her of her first mission with her asari team, on Thessia of all places. When a renegade scientist by the name of Rana Thanoptis had stolen research from the facility and reprogrammed the mechs to fire on anything and everything. The same mission that Nyeesa had died on, when her team had tried to confront the large battle mech alone. Except this time Bloom didn't have a rocket launcher to take it out. That is when the idea hit her.
"Hold your fire!" Bloom called out to the others as she reached into her leg pouch and pulled out the last two of her grenades. "Use your grenades, and aim for the head."
Though at first confused, the others complied and when given the opening they each flung their remaining disc grenades towards the Armature's head. Each of them exploding on impact, causing noticeable damage to the geth before the final grenade hit, bringing the massive synthetic to the ground in a heap.
"Good thinking Bloom." Shepard commented as he gave her a small pat on the shoulder.
"Bad news is, we don't have anymore grenades." Garrus stated. "Good news is, I don't think the geth could fit one of those in there." He continued, gesturing towards the mine shaft entrance.
"Well, let's go get our Prothean expert." The commander instructed. Once again taking point.
Cautiously, the four of them slowly descended into the mine shaft. Though immediately greeted by a small geth patrol at the base of the entrance. Though after the conflict with the massive walker, the smaller geth units didn't seem that much of a challenge for them as they quickly dispatched the patrols. Quickly navigating their way across the cat walk to the first elevator.
With limited options of where to go, they rode the elevator to the lower level, being once again greeted by a small squadron of drones. Though this did prompt them to quickly seek cover as they were not expecting it, which resulted in Bloom getting grazed along the shoulder as the drones weapons ripped through her already worn shields. The red haired commando clenched her teeth at the pain before quickly returning fire, taking out two of the drones as the others took care of the rest.
"You all right Bloom?" Tali asked as she moved forward to assess the damage done to her comrade.
"Just a graze." Bloom answered. "I'll be fine."
"Mm, looks pretty bad." The quarian observed, as she quickly began to apply a coating of medi-gel to the wound. Quickly easing the pain and sealing the wound.
"Thanks"
"No problem, in my species even a small wound like that could be deadly."
Bloom once again nodded thankfully before standing up and rejoining the others, as they descended down a second elevator. However unlike the first trip down, the second elevator jammed nearly halfway down, probably a result from the battle above ground earlier with the Armature. Forcing the ground team to get off and gradually work their way down the broken cat walks.
"Uh...hello? Could somebody help me? Please?" A soft voice called out from nearby. Prompting the others to look around for the source. What they found was a lone Asari being suspended in some sort of sphere behind an energy curtain.
"What happened to you?" Shepard asked as he stared at the asari in a rather embarrassing predicament.
"This thing I am in is a Prothean security device." The asari answered. "I can not movie, so I need you to get me out of it."
"How did you end up in there?" Bloom asked, a little curious as to how this asari, which she assumed was the Prothean expert they were looking all over the Artemis Tau cluster for, though had decided against voicing that assumption just yet.
"I was exploring the ruins when the geth showed up, so I hid in here." The trapped asari explained. "Can you believe it!? Geth! Beyond the Veil!"
"Oh yeah, we can believe it alright." The red haired commando replied, though a bit sarcastically.
"I activated the tower's defenses." The trapped asari continued, either ignoring or simply not noticing the sarcasm from Bloom. "I knew the barrier curtains would keep them out. However, when I turned them on I must of hit something I wasn't suppose to. You must get me out, please!
There is a control in here that should deactivate this thing. Though you will have to find some way past the barrier curtain."
"We'll figure something out." Shepard responded.
"Be careful." The asari warned. "There is a krogan with the geth. They have been trying different ways to get past the barrier."
"Noted." The commander acknowledged. The geth were bad enough, but a krogan just made things worse in his eyes.
Taking a moment to scan the area below him, trying to find something that would help them get past this barrier curtain that the asari had imprisoning her. However he was instead greeted by a volley of bullets as another geth force began to swarm below. Once again, Shepard and company ducked behind cover and return fire.
"Well, would be nice if we had some grenades about now." Garrus teased.
This of course caused Bloom to scoff some before she spied a small container in the center of the group of geth shooting at them. Smirking a bit to herself she leveled her rifle at her new target and opened fire for a short three round burst. As her bullets hit their mark, a large explosion ripped through the lower level, incinerating all of the geth in range, leaving only a handful to be picked off.
"There's your grenade." Bloom commented with a smirk towards the turian, whom just chuckled.
"And I see something else that may help with our trapped asari problem." Shepard stated as he gestured towards a large laser drill.
Not wasting any time, the four of them quickly descended the last of the broken catwalks; quickly arriving at the controls for the massive drill. There was no real promise that it would work but it was the only option they could see before them. Under Shepards instructions, Tali quickly set to work hacking into the electronic controls of the drill, prompting it to fire off a strong but precise laser towards a pile of rocks just below where the were moments ago. Opening up an entrance to the lower chambers of where the asari was trapped, and at the back looked to be an elevator of some sort.
"Nice." Garrus commented as the four of them strode forth.
While the symbols on the control panel looked foreign, even by the standards of most of the species that Bloom had encountered, she could still somehow read them. Judging by the reaction of Commander Shepard, she ventured to guess he could to. Somehow, these symbols before them were hard wired into their minds. The red haired commando made a mental note to dwell on that later, preferably when they were not being shot at or trying to extract a high value target.
Shepard hit a few of the keys, which commanded the elevator platform to begin to rise until they were just behind where the trapped asari was. To say that the trapped asari was surprised by her sudden company would have been an understatement. Though after a handful of seconds she composed herself and instructed the commander in which button should release her from her confines.
"Are you sure we can trust her?" Garrus voiced his concern. "Her mother is working with Saren after all."
"I am not my mother! I don't even- I don't know why Benezia joined with Saren." The asari exclaimed, clearly upset at the mention of her mothers recent actions. "I don't want anything to do with that turian bastard!"
"If she was with Saren the geth wouldn't be trying to capture or kill her." Shepard pointed out as he moved over and hit the button to release the trapped asari. Dropping her down from her confines rather unceremoniously.
"Now, how do we get out of this place?" Tali asked, seeing as their previous route had been destroyed by the mining laser.
"The elevator we rode up on should be able to take us back up to the top." Bloom pointed out, earning an agreeing nod from the newly freed asari.
"Then let's go." Shepard stated as the group moved back to the center of the tower. Just like before, Shepard hit a few of the buttons on the alien device. Allowing them to begin their ascension towards the top floor once more.
During the trip upwards, the asari; now identified as Liara T'Soni, confessed. It was even debated among the ground team if Benezia even knew Saren had sent geth after her daughter or if she was in on it herself. Of course short of asking the asari matriarch herself, they would never really know. Though the only thing that made any logical sense was that Saren more then likely wanted Liara alive due to her work with Prothean ruins. No doubt linked to this Conduit he was looking for. However any further discussion was promptly halted as the underground complex began to shake violently, just as the reached the top level of the complex.
"Well, that's not good." Garrus stated.
"Might of triggered a seismic event with the mining laser, Shepard." Bloom offered, though her frown turning to a smirk. "Knew it was too easy to get in there. Always a catch."
Without waiting for any further confirmation of the disaster that was about to befall them, Shepard immediately radioed to the Normandy, instructing Joker to get the ship airborne and lock onto their signal. Though as fate would have had it, the krogan that Liara had previously warned the team about now blocked their exit, along with a handful of geth.
"And that's not any better." Garrus commented, gripping his shotgun that he preferred for close quarter combat.
"Never easy, right?" Bloom smirked as she began to charge up her biotics, though instead of the bluish color they normally possessed, it was a reddish hue. If the others noticed the difference, they didn't mention it.
"Surrender." The Krogan commanded. "Or don't. That would be more fun."
"In case you didn't notice, this place is falling apart." The Commander tried to reason with the krogan before him, though it fell on deaf ears.
"Exhilarating, isn't it?" The krogan stated.
"Don't bother trying to reason with a krogan Shepard." Bloom advised. "The more dangerous the battlefield, the more joy they get out of it."
"Indeed." The krogan agreed. "Now, hand the doctor over."
"Whatever it is you want, you're not getting it from me." Liara stated defiantly.
"She'll stay with us, thanks." The commander responded, gripping his own assault rifle.
"Not an option." The krogan replied. "Saren wants her, and he always gets what he wants. Kill them. Spare the asari if you can. If not, doesn't matter."
That was all it took for the fire fight take begin, though this time with extremely limited cover. Namely, the center control panel and all of them were not going to be able to fit behind it. However Liara quickly proved useful as an equally adept biotic as Bloom was as she erected biotic sphere around the group. Though it was small in size, it still gave some protection as they Shepard, Garrus and Tali began to whittle down the geth.
Bloom however, trained her sights on the krogan before her as he began to charge. Unfortunately the red haired commando underestimated the speed the large alien could run and was rewarded for her unpreparedness as he went in to tackle her. Bloom barely avoided the full force of the charge, though was still roughly cast aside. Effectively dislocating her left shoulder from how she landed with a loud popping sound. Grunting in pain, she worked her way to her feet and regained her composure once more, despite her ragged breathing from the pain she was in.
Once she was on her feet, the krogan once again charged forth. However, this time Bloom was ready as she sent a massive red biotic wave towards the hulking brute. Now it was the krogans turn to be unprepared for the power of the biotic energy the small girl before him unleashed. All of a sudden he began to burn up, almost as if a fire ignited from within him.
Desperately he tried to rip his armor off to ease the burning sensation from within as flames began to erupt from his mouth and eyes, as he began to burn from the inside out. Bloom smirked as she watched on, glad that her little experiment work. To be honest she wasn't sure how it would of turned out with her combining her dragon flame powers with her biotics. It was a gamble for sure, but she was thankful it worked.
By now the rest had destroyed the rest of the geth, only to be rewarded with another violent shake from the complex.
"Time to move!" Shepard called out as they began to run as fast as they could up the catwalk.
Bloom gently cradled her shoulder as she moved to avoid the falling rocks from above as the cavern began to collapse upon itself. Another tremor sent the red haired commando crashing into the side railing, earning another painful grunt from her as she looked over the edge to see magma beginning to rise from the lower levels. Giving her a depressing flashback of Gelix. Shaking it quickly from her mind she pushed herself forward, leaving her left arm hanging as she grabbed Liara who had just fallen in front of her and pulling her along. She was not going to lose another team member, Not this time.
Fortunately Joker was waiting for them with the cargo bay door of the Normandy open and ready for them at the entrance of the mine, allowing them to easily jump inside and make their escape before the makeshift volcano erupted below them.
Normandy, 15 Minutes Later
"Too close Commander." Joker voice sounded through the intercom as the team Shepard had assembled sat in a circle in the debriefing room. "Ten more seconds and we would've been swimming in molten sulphure. The Normandy isn't equipped to land in exploding volcanoes.
They tend to fry our sensors and melt our hull. Just for future reference."
"We almost died out there, and your pilot is making jokes?" Liara asked, a little confused by the pilots behavior.
"Joker pulled our asses out of there." Bloom defended. "I think he's earned the right to a few bad jokes."
"I see." The asari replied, though still sounding confused. "It must be a human thing. I don't have a lot of experience dealing with your species. "
"But I am grateful to you." She continued. "You saved my life back there, and not just from the volcano. Those geth would have killed me or dragged me off to Saren."
"Don't mention it." Bloom replied as she gave a small, though awkward bow due to her left shoulder still being dislocated. Though Liara seemed to recognize it and returned the gesture.
"Bloom, why don't you go have Dr. Chakwas take a look at your injuries. I'll handle the debriefing." Shepard suggested. "I'll give you a copy of the report after we are done."
Normally Bloom would of refused, insisting on being present though the pain was getting too great for her to tolerate. Reluctantly she agreed and slowly made her way out of the debriefing room and down to the lower deck where the sickbay was located. Though not missing the snide comment from Ashley about Shepard giving Bloom a copy of the debriefing. Something about her being his second in command.
To which Shepard had responded that on away missions, she is.
Additional Authors Notes: Well, this is certainly my biggest update so far. Clocking in at over 5,000 words in this chapter alone. New record for me! Originally, I was going to end this chapter after the defeated the Armature, but decided to go ahead and write out the entire mission. Hope everyone enjoyed it. Now for some descriptions.
(1)Thresher Maw – Thresher Maws are subterranean carnivores that spend their entire lives eating or searching for something to eat. They are enormous, violent creatures that burst up from the ground without warning when disturbed.
They reproduce via spores that can lie dormant for a millennia or more, and are robust enough to survive prolonged periods in deep space and atmospheric re-entry. As a result, thresher maw spores appear on many words, spread by previous generations of space travelers.
(2)Varren – Varren are omnivores with a preference for living prey. Originally native to the Krogan homeworld of Tuchanka, they are; like most life from Tuchanka, savage, clannish, and consummate survivors. They are pack hunters when vulnerable prey is readily available and become scavengers when outnumbers or outclassed. Their supreme adaptability, vicious demeanor and rapid breeding cycle have made them ubiquitous and dangerous pests on many words. Virtually everywhere the Krogan have bee, varren infestations have followed. Wreaking havoc with the native ecology.
The krogan have had a love-hate relationship with varren for millennia, alternately fighting them for territory and embracing them as treasured companions. To this day, krogan and some other species, including Batarians, raise them as beasts of war. A common sub genus of varren has metallic silver scales. Leading to the rather unusual nickname, 'Fish-dogs'.
And as always, please leave your thoughts, comments, and suggestions in your review!