Chapter 16a: Tali pt 1
Before the geth revolt 300 years ago, the quarians colonized Haestrom to study the mysterious instability of its sun, which threatened premature eruption into a red giant. As a scientific outpost of minimal military value, Haestrom was ill-equipped to repel geth forces during the insurrection and fell quickly under their control.
Captured geth planetary survey data indicates that despite sustaining damage, Haestrom's architecture remains as it was before the war, preserving a quarian architectural style that no longer exists anywhere else in the galaxy. Because Haestrom's sun has overwhelmed the planet's protective magnetosphere, humans foolhardy enough to venture into geth-controlled Haestrom must exercise extreme caution. Minutes of radiation exposure will overload shields and hours of exposure will kill. Furthermore, solar output renders surface-to-orbit communication nearly impossible.-Dossier
Shepherd tapped his foot on the floor of the shuttle restlessly, as the shuttle got close to the planet. Although, Kaiden and Garrus told him to get some rest before the mission, he couldn't sleep. All he could think about was the safety of his girlfriend. Shepherd wasn't the only one worried about Tali, Kaiden and Garrus were worried also, but more so of how Shepherd would react if he found Tali dead, they suddered at the thought.
Shepherd frowned. "Can't this shuttle go any faster?" he asked impatiently.
"We'll get there, Wayne" Kaiden said.
"Yeah, she can handle herself and I doubt they'd have sent her without support." Garrus said. "We'll get our girl out of there"
"Yeah…" Shepherd said worried.
Hours before touchdown
Shepherd brought the hologram of Haestrom, Shepherd, Garrus, and Kaiden were in the conference room, planning out a way to get Tali out of the clusterfuck the fleet sent the quarian in. The hologram changed to the planet's orbit. "There is a Geth cruiser hiding behind one of Haestrom's second moon. I know Geth are synthetics and patient, but even the Geth would have no reason to just have an assault ship sitting behind a moon on the off-chance that someone showed up in a system that hasn't seen sentient organic visitor's since the Geth-Quarian civil war."
"Through, very much like Cerberus" Garrus said dryly. "Still, a whole cruiser for a small research team, a bit overkill for the geth, not their style"
Shepherd face became grim. "It's a trap…"
"How so?" Garrus asked.
"Think back to Horizon, Garrus, the attack on the colony was anything but random…they wanted Wayne" Kaiden said with a frown. "Tali is just the bait to lure him in reaper hands, just like I was"
"Yeah, but unlike Horizon the Quarians won't get the same treatment of that us humans have" Shepherd said grimly. "They'll be killed, no questions asked."
"So what's the plan?" Garrus asked. Shepherd pressed a button, and a holograph sprung up over the table, showing a map of a large complex. In the middle was small dot.
"According to the data, this is the area that the quarian vessel touched down, it is logical to surmise that they are looking for data from somewhere within this complex. Unfortunately the geth have reached the same conclusion. One dropship has already touched down on the surface while another is on its way from the frigate" Shepherd said. "Since the dropship is capable of transporting a standard company's worth of geth soldiers, along with support armatures if properly equipped. We're looking at no more than fifteen to twenty quarians on the planet, and from the data they lost half that"
"Damn that many?!" Garrus asked shocked. "The fleet sent them on a suicide mission…"
"Which is why we're going to be the wild card in this, cause so much of a ruckus that the geth will focus on us" Kaiden said.
"Lightening the Quarian's load, plus we get to wreck some geth" Garrus said with a smirk. "I like this plan already"
"Alright, let's do this" Shepherd said. "Be prepared" Garrus and Kaiden nodded.
The shuttle made touchdown on the planet and landed. The team came out of the shuttle, ready for battle. The first thing that hit them, was the heat which was overwhelming even in the shade. As the team moved out, Shepherd couldn't help but notice the buildings, maybe at one point Haestrom was a thriving colony. From the all the equipment that litter the area, it was a former mining colony, but now all that was left were shattered windows or walls full of scorch marks from the burning sun. Shepherd understood why Tali and the other quarians talked so much about the homeworld, stories of their former glories were only thing keeping them going…
As the team moved through the complex, solar radiation weakened the team's shields. "Having problems with my shields" Garrus said.
"Let's move to the shade" Kaiden said. They went inside the building where the saw a destroyed geth and a video log with a Quarian.
"Emergency Log entry: The geth are here. I've stayed to buy the others time" the log said. "If anyone gets this, find Tali'Zorah, she and her data are all that matters, Keelah Sa'lai"
"We have to hurry" Kaiden said. Shepherd and Garrus nodded. The team went to an open area full of containers, equipment, and stone structures when some geth dropped in and opened fired. They quickly went to cover, first up was several troopers, Kaiden and Garrus overloaded their systems while Shepherd smashed them against the wall with a throw field. More came dropping in; Shepherd noticed that the geth wasn't as effect with Haestrom's sunlight as they were. In fact they seemed to be actively trying to force the team into the sun.
"Watch out don't let them flank you!" Shepherd said. As soon as he said that a geth appeared at his side pointing its shotgun at him. "Shit!" Shepherd rolled out-of-the-way, but unfortunately he rolled into the sun, right were the geth wanted him. He heard his omni-tool beeped, and saw that his shields were draining, Shepherd moved quickly to get to the nearest cover. However, the geth had other plans as they were now ignoring Kaiden and Garrus and focusing exclusively on the spectre. A bullet struck him in the arm, his shields drained faster than he thought, more of the geth were about to open fire on Shepherd, until shots rang out, it was Garrus with his sniper rifle. Kaiden froze the hunter and threw it against the prefabs; Garrus overloaded their systems and then took their heads off with a headshot. And soon the battle was done; Shepherd went back to the shade to patch himself up with medi-gel.
"You okay, Wayne?" Kaiden asked.
"Yeah, caught off-guard by that cloaking geth" Shepherd said moving his arm. "Shit, I didn't even know they had cloaking capabilities, won't make that mistake again…." Shepherd got up as soon as his shields recharged to full, and scanned the area, lots and lots with barely any shade to go around. The geth was definitely going to make them work to get to Tali. "Let's go"
They moved forward; advancing quickly from any shade they could fine, one man point and cover, two advances, repeat. The geth did not make it easy as they using every trick in the book to run them out of cover. The toughest of the geth were the destroyers with their flamethrowers, it was even worse if the hunters got involved, making the team to abandon good cover, while the rocket troopers shoot them afar. Eventually they were able to get through the heavy fighting and made it to some ruins with shade.
The ruins were clearly ancient, much of the details etched into the stone having faded with time, but surprisingly most of the heavy hardware was intact. Apparently back when they had planets the quarians built things to last. It was an odd juxtaposition considering the way they survived in present time, constantly salvaging used vessels and patching up damaged ones. In one of the rooms they found the dead quarian, his suit riddled with holes. The damage to the door made it clear that he'd barricaded himself in to attempt to hold back the attackers.
Kaiden shook his head. "A pointless waste of life" he said.
"We can't help him" Shepherd said. "Let's go" a radio near the fallen and a rough voice come from the speaker.
"This is Kal to Afa team, is anybody left over there? Come on, you bosh'tets answer me!"
Picking up the radio, he spoke. "This is Commander Shepherd of the SSV Normandy. I'm afraid your team is down."
"Shepherd? You're Miss Tali's human captain, what are you doing here?" Kal asked.
"Never mind that, Is... is Tali still alive?" Shepherd asked worriedly.
"Yeah. The name is Kal'Reegar, Migrant Fleet Marines. We're getting tore up here, the last of my squad has sealed Tal'Zorah in a bunker but it's a mess down here, though."
"Where is she?"
"To the north," Reegar replied. He felt relief even as they kept moving. The radio line dissolved into static for a moment before Kal'Reegar came on again. "Whoa. Gotta go!"
"Move out" Now those they had a firm location, the team moved double time. They relied on the element of surprise and superior firepower to quickly overtake the remaining geth in their path. However they didn't go down without a fight, especially in the area full of pillars where they had to face a bunch of geth drones, reinforced by four geth primes. Kaiden and Garrus took them out quickly because their pulse emitters, that could rip through their shields faster than the sun. However more and more came flying in, with the Primes coming in trying to flank them. While Kaiden and Garrus handled the drones, Shepherd focused on the Geth Primes. Shepherd took out his rocket launcher blasting them with rockets, when the drones were all done, Garrus and Kaiden joined Shepherd in the onslaught, taking down the primes.
Within a few minutes they had rounded a corner to find quarian soldier kneeling behind cover, holding his side. Seeing them he quickly motioned for them to get down, the reason quickly apparent as a massive blast of energy tore into the rock face behind him. He drove and rolled, coming up next to the marine. "Commander Shepherd. Are you Kal'Reegar?"
Kal smirked. "Shepherd, huh? Thought you'd be taller" He joked. "Miss Tali is in the bunker behind me, my men made sure to lock down that place good. The geth tried to hack their way in...But let's just say it's hard to hack a door when some Prdel is shooting rockets at you."
"And the colossus?" Garrus asked, not even bothering to peek out from behind cover.
"That would be the big problem of the day. I can't get a clear shot at the thing where it's at, best I can do is rattle its optics before it huddles down to repair and recharge," Kal'Reegar said, patting the launcher sitting next to him. Kaiden spoke up.
"You're hit, marine." Kaiden said. Shepherd saw his other hand still at his side and it was stained.
"Yea, one of the bastards punctured my suit when I tried to get closer for a better shot, but don't you worry about me. I'm swimming in antibiotics and enough painkillers to make an elcor woozy. Every marine on this mission was prepared to die to protect Miss Tali'Zorah and complete this mission, and it looks like most of them did."
"Right, Keep your head down, we'll take it from here." Shepherd said.
The quarian growled, a sound he had never heard from before from one of his people. Though his experience was limited to Tali. "Hell with that, I've got some fight left in me. This launcher still works, I can still fire." Kal tried to get up, but Shepherd held him down.
"Stand down now, how do you think Tali would feel if you died?" Shepherd said.
"But..." he said.
"Look, Kal, you've done enough" Kaiden said.
"Besides, we need you to keep an eye on the way we came for when they try to flank us." Shepherd said.
Kal sighed and picked up a rifle. "Alright, Shepherd. I hope you know what you're doing," he replied, gripping the rifle tightly. "Most of the Geth are located on the left side of the area, so if you take that catwalk on the right side, you should be able reach the Colossus without much problem. Keep in mind that it has a clear shot of you there; watch out for its siege pulses." Shepherd nodded, he took the power cells from Reegar's missile launcher to replenish his own. With his rocket launcher replenished, he was ready to fight.
"Let's go" Shepherd ordered. He ran towards the catwalk, staying behind cover as much as possible as he heard sniper rifle shots behind him.
Afa: Keelish for Alpha
Prdel: Keelish for asshole