Chapter 23: Feros part 1
John went back to the Citadel to face Nassana, the mission was a hoax, a glorified assassination mission to eliminate her sister from ruining their family. And John fell for it hook, line, sinker; he felt angry, but mostly at himself he should've never agreed to the mission. He was so emotional that he forgotten that not all people could be trusted. A mistake that will not happen again, he made it to the Citadel Lounge where some C-Sec officers saluted him. There was Dantius, sitting smugly and sipping her tea.
"Sir, we have orders to arrest her. Spectre authorization," said the Turian C-Sec officer.
"Granted," Ragan popped his knuckles. John gave a nod to indicate to follow his order.
John approached her. "You conniving little bitch," John growled.
"Whatever do you mean, Commander," Nassana was playing him.
"Don't play dumb. We know that Dahlia was a pirate and that you wanted her gone," Tali slammer her fist on the table.
Nassana smiled smugly, "And so the truth comes ou, it's not personal. But I couldn't let Dahlia ruin us."
"But she was your sister," Jane was looking at her with mean eyes.
Nassana scoffed, "And? Do you know how many sisters I have within my clan? Enough where losing one won't make a difference, as long as the family apparatus is intact. Now here, a little something for your 'support'," she pressed a few buttons on her omni-tool. "I hope to do business with you in the future."
John scoffed, "Don't count on it."
"Nassana Dantius, you are hereby under arrest for dealing with terrorists. Breaking Council Law "Anti-Cerberus of 2181 section five paragraph four subsection 4: "Any one that deals with money with a terrorist or mercenary group is automatically placed under arrest and any rewards given to the people that have done the job is collected at evidence," Ragan motioned two C-Sec officers to get behind her. "I suggest you give up or I will kill you."
"Fine, you may take me," one of the C-Sec officers grabs Nassana's arms and places handcuffs on her. The two officers leave the room. "She won't be able to escape. If she does, I know an assassin named Thane Krios to kill her."
The team left and went back to the Normandy. The ship took off and went into the mass relay. As the ship flew, there was a beep and the comm opened.
"John, good news, we got a lead on Saren," Joker said. "The colony of Feros has reported some Geth trouble." John smirked a little, maybe being back on the mission will help with the bad taste in his mouth from that Dantius mission.
"Joker, get us to Feros," John ordered.
"Aye-aye!"
"Feros is a habitable world in the Attican Beta cluster. Two-thirds of the habitable surface is covered with ruins of crumbling Prothean megalopolis. In the millennia since the Prothean extinction, the ruins have been picked over by looters many times. Feros was considered a poor prospect for coloization, as little open ground remains for agriculture. The only sizable fresh water sources are the pools, which are tapped by decaying Prothean aqueduct system. The dead cities, while in good condition considering their antiquity, are of uncertain stability. Ground level is congested by dozen meters of fallen debris and the air is fouled by dust. In 2178, the human ExoGeni Corporation announced its intention to place permanent colony of Feros, to thoroughly explore the ruins. The pioneer settlement was placed on the upper levels of several intact skyscrapers, using the surviving Prothean aqueducts and rooftop hydroponics gardens to support population," the Mako's VI started talking again.
"I hate that," Ragan face-palms his ownself and slowly lets the hand slide down.
"ExoGeni should get their money back, this place is in a bad way," Ashley was reading the codex. Tali nodded in agreement. Ragan didn't give a care about what company stays or goes. Zhu's Hope, the main Human colony on Feros, had been hit hard by the geth. The Colonists were repelling the Geth forces, but barely as they were constantly pounded by wave after wave of attack. John's intervention in the tunnels had driven off the latest assault. They met with Fai Dan, leader of the colony and John had ordered his team to help the colony get back on his feet.
Tali, however felt something strange about the colony, like something was out of place. After finishing up the varren hunt, the group met a strange man. "Ah! That was a good one," he laughed hysterically. John looked at the man warily.
"What the hell is wrong with you," John didn't think the man was right.
The man cheerfully, "Just invoking the master's whip! Reminds me I'm alive."
"O…kay," John narrowed one eye and had an eyebrow raised.
"Shepard, we could help him," Tali was moving forwards but was grabbed by John and shook his head.
"I don't think we can help, mentally anyway."
Tali looked at the man, he seemed to be in pain, but there were no cuts or bruises. The man shook and held his head, "The Geth…"
That caught the team's attention. "What about the geth," Jane asked.
"Thorn in the side of the -," he started but then yelled on top of his lungs.
"Thorn in the side of whom," John was confused like everyone else. Tali didn't know what to say, Jane just thought the man was mentally unstable and Ragan was trying to avoid another ear screech from the man.
The man stained as he spoke, "Must fight… but… it's like running… through… thorn bush."
Jane sighed. "We're not getting anywhere, we tell Fai Dan about this guy." Ragan, John and Tali agreed. As they walked back to Zhu's Hope, Tali looked back at the man; she knew something was wrong now. They made it back to the colony base, done with their errand for them.
"Thank you, we should be able to last a while longer," Fai Dan looked at the man that was looking at the hologram of the building.
Tali though about the man in the tunnel. "We found a man in the tunnels, he needs help."
The man that is looking at the hologram gets on is comm link, "Bravo Squad, head towards the tunnels now. Find the man and bring him here if you can. Be warned, Geth are still active."
Fai Dan looked at the man, "Maxiot, you need relax." He looked at Tali and then lowered his head. "Ian, I'm afraid there is nothing we can do but bring him back if the Geth don't ambush the people."
"He said something about the Geth being a thorn of someone or something. What did that mean," John tried to understand that when silence comes up, it means something that doesn't need to be discussed. Fai Dan and his assistant, Arcelia Silva Martinez, were hiding something. "Out with it, what's going on with this colony," John's forceful voice made everything seem like everything was about to come out. Secrets that Fai Dan didn't want the public to know about.
Fai Dan looked pale. 'They're scared of something,' Tali didn't need to think twice about that. Fai Dan and Arcelia looked at each other and nodded, "If you want to know, go to the ExoGeni building that is all I can tell you," fear consumed Fai Dan. Jane and Ragan looked at each other and shook their heads. 'Whaetever is at ExoGeni must be big.'
"Where is the building," Ragan asked. The team took the elevator that lead to the skyway after Fia Dan pointed at it. The elevator was a Human construction that must have been crammed somehow into the Prothean structure, leading them to what was basically an oversized garage pointed towards the skyway. They were ambushed by geth drones. "Get to cover," Ragan and John said together. They looked at each other and shook their heads. Everyone scrambled to what little cover the skyway had. John and Tali sabotaged the drones, Ragan did shadow strikes on most of the drones, and Jane picked them off with her sniper rifle.
The battle drew the attention of the colonists. "What happened," one of them asked.
"Geth drones, do you have weapons," the colonists nodded when they found out that John was a friendly. "Good, guard this area." The team made their way to the Mako. The garage door opened.
The view on the skyway was spectacular, despite the fact it was a war zone. The sun sent a dim light through the clouds, and the skyscrapers top of alien shapes could be seen to all sides. The skyway itself was not much a single bridge but an entire structure of different paths, something that must have been a cloud high traffic network between the towers in Prothean times. The support structures for those roads added to the alien nature of the landscape.
"I'm guessing that large white building is ExoGeni," Jane was confident about it. The road was long and full of Geth juggernauts and Geth armatures. John had to use the maneuverability of the vehicle to its fullest, using both curves and thrusters to evade enemy fire and Ragan returned fired with the main cannon that he outfitted before the mission.
"E e jigoku! Kono omona taihō wa genzai 10-bai ijō no kyōryokuna sore ga tame ni shiyō yori modesu," Ragan was speaking his native language, Japanese.
"John, we got radio chatter," Tali said. She looked at Ragan because her translator didn't understand one word but '10'. She went back to the radio and everyone heard a voice of a man and a woman arguing. "It's coming from that tunnel," the skyway led into such a covered passage, protected by walls, a roof and a gate door, the latter probably installed by Humans. As soon as they had passed it, the team got out.
"You can't just leave her, that's my daughter, you bastard," the mysterious woman yelled. The man was scattered and panicky. 'He looks like he has something to hide,' Tali thought. Tali moved her leg and a loud clang was heard. 'Kongkek' she thought.
"Who's there," the man asked. John and the team came out of hiding to a room full of security guards aiming guns at them. John and his team came out slowly with their hand up and walked into the open.
"Well this is just great," Jane muttered annoyed. The team was surrounded by a group of jumpy guards with guns pointing at them. Jane and Tali looked at both Ragan and John waiting for an order. Instead John spoke.
"If you're going to point guns at us, you better be ready for a fight," John was dead serious about that. The guards looked at each other not sure what to do.
"How would you like it if the council hunted you down for killing two Spectres," the guards start shaking in their shoes and lowered the weapons.
Jane looked on with a smirk, "You did the right choice boys and girls. Your lives did depend on that."
"Crap, I can't believe the Council Special Tactics and Recognizance is here now," the man was alarmed. The woman shook her head and stood forward. "Get back, Juliana," the man ordered and then turned to John. "Who are you? What do you want?"
Juliana rolled her eyes and looked at the panicked man. "Relax Jeong. They're obviously not Geth." She looked back at Ragan and John. "If you don't mind please state your names."
"Spectre and Alliance Navy Commander Johnathan Shepard. This is Tali'Zorah nar Rayya, Alliance Navy Commander Jane Shepard. Then we have Spectre and Alliance Marines Sergeant Ragan Shepard," John greeted them with an annoyed. She could tell he did not exactly enjoy weapons being waved at him. "And for the health of everyone in here I would suggest you never do that again." He said before adding a smirk. "We're here to stop the Geth siege."
Kongkek means fuck in Khelish.
E e jigoku! Kono omona taihō wa genzai 10-bai ijō no kyōryokuna sore ga tame ni shiyō yori modesu means Hell yeah! This main cannon is now ten times more powerful than it use to be in Japanese.