It was time for presents!
No, it wasn't Christmas time, a birthday or even an anniversary of some sort, but Shepard was back on the Citadel for one specific purpose. He'd kept an eye on his financial account set up by Barla Von and noticed the amount of credits he stored away continue to grow and grow. It was time to start spending some of that hard earned currency and he figured there was no place better than the Citadel. Shepard was walking alone through C-Sec, towards the requisitions office, down the stairs, and approaching the requisitions officer.
"Commander Shepard, are you back to purchase stock?" asked the merchant.
"Absolutely. I have a mountain of credits to spend. Figured there's no better place."
The turian chuckled. "Good to hear. Let me just opened the door for you, to your right."
A sealed section of wall opened, revealing a large room chock full of the latest gear. There were versions of all sorts of weaponry – assault rifles, sniper rifles, shotguns, and pistols – that he had never seen, alongside body armour, omni-tools and all manner of other tech that simply didn't seem available to regular soldiers. Shepard was gobsmacked at the choice available.
"Have fun, Commander," joked the turian merchant behind him. Shepard figured his jaw had been hanging open as the door slid aside to reveal the treasure trove of goodies now available to him.
Shepard walked into the room slowly, taking in everything he could see. He thought of one person to buy for before everyone else. First he headed to the tech section, looking through the omni-tools available. But after spending a few minutes looking, he realised he had no idea if the omni-tools stocked were any better. They probably were, but he had no idea what he was actually looking at. Figuring he should stick to what he knew, he headed to the weapons section. Now he was like a kid in a candy store, having to resist picking up every weapon and just handling it. He approaching a wall where numerous shotguns were lined up. He read the description of each one before picking out one model. It felt incredibly light in his hands, and according to the details, it could fire numerous shots before overheating and had tremendous range and power for a shotgun. He walked out of the room and approached the merchant again.
"Excuse me, but you don't know where I could possibly get an inscription on this?"
"Try the wards, Commander. There are one or two armourer's down there who may be able to provide such a thing."
"Thanks."
Shepard walked back into the room. A gift to himself was easy as he searched for the best assault rifle available, grabbing a second one for Ashley. Shepard knew she'd have fun dismantling them and rebuilding them from scratch. For Garrus, a new sniper rifle he knew the turian was eager for. For Alenko, the best light armour he could fine. But he was left wondering what to get Liara and Wrex. He searched high and low for something different other than what he'd already got for the others, but he realised he wasn't very good at buying gifts. So he simply got a pistol for Liara and shotgun for Wrex as well. If there was one thing Shepard knew he could buy with certainty, it was weapons. He lined them all up in front of the requisitions officer, who would have whistled if he could.
"Anything else, Commander?"
"Nah, think that'll do. How much does that come to?"
The turian keyed his console, adding up the price of all the gear lined up for him. His eyes opened slightly wider once he'd finished. Without announcing the price, he simply turned the screen around to Shepard, who let out a whistle of appreciation.
"Damn, didn't think it would be that much," he muttered to himself.
"Think this is a new record!" joked the turian.
"It's worth it. I have a good team and they deserve the very best." Shepard handed over his account details so the credits could simply be taken out directly. Once the transaction was completed, the turian simply nodded his thanks. "Nice doing business with you, Commander."
Back on the Normandy, Shepard had handed out most of his gifts to his team, everyone delighted to have received top of the line gear, Shepard merely stating in return that he appreciated everything his team had done for him and that they deserved the very best. He walked down into engineering with the last gift he had. Tali was standing at her console, hard at work like usual, only turning when she heard Shepard clear his throat behind her.
"Hi, Shepard."
"Hello, Tali. How's the core?"
Tali grinned. "All is running well like usual, Shepard." She then looked down at Shepard's right hand. "What's in the bag?"
"A gift. For you, Tali."
Tali continued to grin behind her mask. "Another gift, Shepard? People are going to talk," she joked, though still half-serious.
"They can't say anything this time. Everyone got one. But… Well, this one is still special."
"How do you mean?"
Shepard took the shotgun out of the bag, dropping the bag to the ground. He then handed the shotgun to Tali, who immediately felt the lightness in her hands.
"It's Spectre-grade. Best design you can possibly get. As you can obviously tell straight away, it's incredibly light. It also packs one hell of a punch as well. Probably triple the damage of what you current shotgun does. You should have fun dealing damage to whatever geth we run into from now on."
"Wow," she stated in wonderment.
"I also… er… Well, check the right side. I… um… added a little something."
Tali looked up at Shepard, wondering why he was suddenly so flustered. She turned the shotgun over in her hands.
Gasped.
An inscription.
Incredibly simple. Just a few small words. But, to Tali, coming from Shepard, it meant the world. As usual, he'd gone above and beyond to let her know she was important to his team.
Tali'Zorah nar Rayya
Engineer
Crew of the SSV Normandy
2183
"Thank you, Shepard," she said quietly, blinking back tears behind the mask. She quickly stored the shotgun on the small of her back and wrapped the Commander in a hug, who could do nothing but return the gesture, a small grin of his own, to see her so happy.
Tali was busy playing with her new shotgun as she waited beside the Mako. Joker was announcing over the comm that the Normandy had just arrived in the Armstrong Cluster, and it was now up to Shepard as to which system they would visit first. Shepard had earlier made Tali aware of the mission, understanding how important anything to do with the geth would be to her.
"Like your new shotgun, Tali?" asked Ashley, who was busy prepping her own assault rifle that Shepard had given her. Ashley was delighted to receive such a gift. She knew it was just Shepard being the generous CO they all knew, but she was still somewhat taken aback by such an extravagant gesture. She knew the rifle was Spectre-grade equipment and wouldn't have come cheap.
Tali could only grin in response. "Yeah, just haven't had a chance to try it out yet. Looking forward to taking out some of those geth bosh'tets."
"What's that written on the side?"
"Oh, that? Shepard… well, he just added a little something."
"Can I see?"
Tali blushed slightly but handed Ashley her shotgun. She read the inscription, a grin spreading across her face after she read it. "That's very sweet of the Commander, Tali," stated Ashley.
I bet the rest of us didn't get an inscription, I certainly didn't! He really likes the girl. Why doesn't he just say something?!
"You know what he's like, Ash. He's gone out of his way to make us all feel at home. You and I have talked before, you know how much it means to me as a quarian to be accepted by a non-quarian crew." Tali then let out a sad sigh. "My people are always looked down upon by others, that's why I'm always first in and last out of the core when I'm on shift. That's why I don't always understand why we are treated so badly, as so many who return from Pilgrimage have explored the galaxy and proven their worth, not just as a quarian but as a productive member of the galaxy. The reputation we have is just so unfair compared to what we have to put up with, regarding our lack of home-world, the fact our people were nearly annihilated, then there's the fact we are stuck on the fleet and have to live in our suits. It's just… different… nice, to be finally be treated as an equal."
Ashley didn't know why but she felt it was necessary to store her assault rifle and, to Tali's obvious surprise, wrap her in a hug. "You're a special young woman, Tali," said Ashley, softly but fiercely, "And don't let anyone ever tell you any different. And if anyone ever does, I have no doubt me, Shepard and everyone else on this ship would have your back one hundred percent." Tali couldn't help but just nod her head, almost overcome by Ashley's gesture. Ashley then released the hug but held her by the shoulders, lopsided grin on her face as she looked into Tali's mask. "Not that you'd need our help. You'd probably kick their ass yourself!"
The pair couldn't help but chuckle. "Thanks, Ash, that means a lot to me," replied Tali, trying to keep the emotion out of voice, shocked at the kind words. She almost expected such things from Shepard, but from anyone else, it was still a surprise.
"Any time, Tali. You ever need to talk, you know, woman to woman, about anything, I'm here for you. Particularly if it's about a certain Commander…"
Tali blushed behind her mask, but nodded in thanks towards Ashley. The pair then waited in comfortable silence for Shepard and the two others of his team to arrive. Garrus was the first to arrive, grabbing his new sniper rifle from his locker, lovingly playing with the scope and barrel as he made adjustments, before Shepard and Alenko arrived together, chatting away as they approached the other three.
"Nice armour, Kaidan," noted Ashley with a smirk. She swore that the Lieutenant blushed.
"Just a gift from the CO, Ash. Isn't that a new assault rifle?" he retorted.
Ashley held it up for the group to marvel at. "You mean this thing? Yeah, a real beauty, isn't it? And I bet it'll wipe out thousands of those geth fuckers, right, Commander?"
"That's why I bought it, Ash," replied Shepard.
"What's the mission, Shepard?" asked Garrus.
"Got word of a massive build-up of geth forces in this cluster. From the information we have so far, there are four systems in this cluster where a geth presence has been detected. The Alliance fear a general geth invasion across the Verge. The hope is that if we can take care of their forces currently stationed in this cluster that any potential invasion can be avoided."
"A geth invasion? Is such a thing even possible? What do they even have to gain?"
Shepard shrugged his shoulders. "I'd rather not find out, which is why we're here. As for gains, clearly this is a diversion from what Saren is up to. Which is why we're here, dealing with this, instead of directly with Saren."
The team could sense the frustration in his voice and body language, but the mission at hand was important, everyone realising that it seemed likely that Saren and the geth had made some sort of unusual alliance.
"Commander," announced Joker over the comm, "We've just arrived in the Vamshi system. Pressly has detected a geth presence on the planet of Maji. On your word, we'll head to the planet and make an air-drop."
"Very well, Joker. We'll prep and board the Mako when ready."
"Aye-aye."
The planet's surface of Maji had absolutely nothing redeeming about it, but Shepard couldn't help but find the two stars in the sky above absolutely stunning, the bright blue star of Vamshi-A sparkling in the distance, while Vamshi-B was a massive red ball, angry, burning bright, an enormous sphere that must have dwarfed the sun in the Solar System substantially.
"Shepard, the geth base appears to be at the top of that mountain range ahead of us," announced Tali, pointing into the distance, "From what I can see on the scanners and data, there is a path leading up towards the base, though there appear to be a number of defensive measures, primarily turrets, along that route."
"Noted, Tali," replied Shepard, "Garrus, you hear that?"
"I did, Shepard."
"Good. Stay sharp on that cannon."
The Mako lurched forward, the red dust flying into the air as Shepard steered the vehicle onwards towards the base. Soon the mountain range towered in front of them, leaving shadows in the dust, almost blocking out the two suns in the sky. Turning the vehicle, the path the Mako followed soon started to incline, those within the Mako starting to tense as they knew they would soon come under fire.
The cannon fired. Garrus announced a hit while a missile flew harmlessly over the Mako. Shepard floored the accelerator, the Mako soon level with the turret, swinging the Mako broadside. Garrus swivelled the cannon and fired again.
"First turret down, Commander."
And so it continued as the Mako ascended the mountainside, Shepard and Garrus working well as a team, Garrus never missing with the cannon, Shepard doing all he could to keep the Mako from being significantly damaged. One or two rockets did impact the front of the Mako, but Tali was barely concerned, the shields taking the hits and slowly regenerating. Turrets two, three and four were knocked out in relatively quick succession.
"Fifth and final turret is just around that corner, Shepard," stated Tai.
"Bit of an awkward position. What do you think, Garrus?"
"How are the shields, Tali?"
"They're at 80%, Garrus."
"Why not just steam in, Shepard, and we'll just take the impacts. The turret will only get off two missiles before I destroy the thing. How much of the shields will the missiles take off with each impact, 5-7% at most?"
"Fuck it. We'll do that, Garrus."
Shepard heard murmurs of discontent from Alenko and Ashley behind him. He turned around as he spoke to them. "What did I say on Feros about keeping you guys safe?"
"Fair enough, Commander, but purposely taking shots? Even that's a bit, as Tali would say, crazy!"
Tali chuckled beside Shepard. "Another day, another crazy idea. But the shields will be fine."
It was relatively simple once Shepard had the Mako positioned. The turret fired one missile, which Shepard managed to avoid by firing the thrusters, Garrus responding with cannon fire once the Mako had landed back on its wheels. The turret fired again, the missile impacting into the shields to the side of the Mako, Tali reporting a minor drop in percentage. Garrus then fired the cannon again, the turret exploding in a fiery ball of flame.
"Done, Shepard. Wish all these sorts of turrets were so easy to take out."
"Geth base is just a bit further up, Shepard," reported Tali.
The path narrowed significantly as the Mako continued to ascend the mountainside, the path circling around as the mountain loomed over them, Shepard slowing the Mako down, making sure that he didn't send it over the side and rolling down the mountain. He figured the Mako would probably survive such a fall, but the occupants within? Probably not. And, if they somehow survived, he didn't really want to hear the complaining about his driving.
Again.
Soon the path did level out and the Mako arrived in a wide, open area. Off to the left was a set of fortifications. The outpost. And geth, who started firing at the Mako. Shepard let out a breath, relieved that there only appeared to be regular geth troops with one or two snipers. Nothing the team couldn't handle. Garrus responded with the machine gun, though the geth were well protected by cover in the numerous towers dotted around the outpost.
"Garrus, keep on the machine gun. Ashley, with me," ordered Shepard as he stepped out of the Mako.
"What are you doing, Shepard?" asked Tali, obvious concern in her voice. She always fretted when Shepard chose to leave the safety of the Mako.
"Garrus can hopefully keep the geth in cover with the machine gun. Ashley and I can use our snipers to pick them off one at a time. Slow and steady but will keep us safe. Ashely, grab Garrus' sniper. It should work like a dream."
Garrus grumbled something about it being 'my bloody sniper rifle' but he handed it over nonetheless, and soon Ashely and Shepard were crouched in cover by the Mako, Shepard shouting to make himself heard over all the noise.
"You take that side, Ashley, I'll take this side. Just take you time lining up shots. The Mako should be able to take any punishment they hand out and the machine gun should keep them relatively busy anyway."
"Okay, Commander."
The machine gun constantly rattled in their ears as the two human soldiers took position at each end of the Mako. Shepard was crouched on one knee in cover, the scope of his sniper rifle to his eye, searching for a target. His hands were steady, his mind focused, his breathing and heart-beat calm as he lined up a geth trooper in one of the towers. The geth was too busy focusing on the Mako and the machine gun firing towards it, failing to notice the rifle aimed at it. Shepard took a breath, holding it briefly, kept his hand steady and pulled softly on the trigger.
The geths light bulb in its head disappeared, the body falling to the ground behind the barricade. He heard another rifle crack beside him, Ashley announcing another target down. Shepard didn't respond, searching for another target. It was the same again, as he lined up another geth machine, this time a rival sniper. This one seemed to realise what was happening, as it appeared to focus directly at Shepard. He saw a flash, Shepard instinctively pulling back behind the Mako into cover as he heard a bullet impact the shields, barely inches away. He was out of cover again in an instant, eye at the rifle scope. He saw the geth sniper still looking towards him through its own scope. It was a case of who fired first.
Breathe in, breathe out.
Calm the heart rate.
Steady hands.
Breathe in.
Hold.
Softly pull the trigger.
Watch through the scope as the bullet impacts the geth sniper. The light bulb in its head disappears. Movement as the body stumbles backward and falls to the ground behind the barricade.
"Another one down," he announced to Ashley.
Four down, one each to go. The two remaining geth were in towers on the other side of the fortification. There was no clear shot.
"Ashley, back into the Mako. The last two geth should be easy to handle just with the machine gun."
Shepard climbed back into the driver's seat, and with Ashley back in position behind, he drove the Mako up into the fortification. Garrus kept his finger on the trigger, and while the Mako took a few hits from the remaining two troopers, they stood little chance withstanding the constant machine gun fire, their bodies soon dropping to the ground as well. Garrus took his finger off the trigger, and silence enveloped the Mako.
"Is it just me, or was that a little too easy?" Shepard muttered to himself.
"I don't think it's over," replied Tali, "I've got something on sensors."
"What is it, Tali?"
Tali looked up from her console and Shepard heard her gasp. She pointed out the front. A large shape appeared from around the mountain and flew right towards their position.
"Dropship!"
"Shit!" shouted Shepard, slamming the Mako into reverse, stamping on the accelerator as the dropship flew to just above where they had been sitting. The dropship dropped a large package. Shepard and Tali both observed as the package unveiled itself.
A colossus.
Shepard heard the cannon immediately fire, the shell impacting against the shields of the colossus. He continued to reverse the Mako into relative safety, away from the pulse and machine gun fire of the giant geth machine. Space was tight on the top of the mountain. This was going to be a tricky fight.
"Ideas on how to tackle this one?"
"I've got one, Commander. You'll probably enjoy it," replied Ashley.
"I'm all ears, Chief."
"Well, how about Alenko takes the wheel, Garrus stays here and mans the gun while you and I circle around the barricades on foot and we hit the colossus from behind. We could even get close enough to do what you did on Therum. Whatever the case, the colossus can't possibly fire on our two positions at once."
"You can't be serious, Ashley?!" said Tali, "Not again?!"
"Good idea, Ashley. I'm up for it."
"Shepard…," started Tali.
Shepard just looked across at Tali and gave a small grin. "I'll be fine, Tali. Trust me."
"I do, but…."
Shepard reached across and took her hand. "I'll be back before you know it," he said softly. Ashley and Alenko just looked at each behind them, shaking their heads slightly as they grinned at each other.
Tali let out a small sigh. "Okay, Shepard."
"Alenko, take the wheel. Tali, just make sure those shields stay charged. Garrus, try and keep the attention of the colossus for the moment."
For the second time, Shepard and Ashley exited the Mako, this time armed with their two assault rifles. Shepard was in front as they took cover behind the Mako, peering around the side. The colossus sat in the middle of the outpost. For some reason it hadn't made a move towards them. Shepard banged on the side of the Mako and the vehicle lurched forward slowly, Shepard and Ashley jogging alongside in cover. Soon the Mako was in clear view of the colossus and started charging its pulse cannon.
"On the count of 3, Ash, we run for the barricade."
Ashley nodded her head as Shepard started counting down. On the count of three, the pair surged from cover, sprinting for the nearest barricade, lungs bursting, trying to suck in air as machine gun fire from the colossus peppered the ground around them, their shields taking one or two hits but nothing to cause any major concern for now. Once in cover, the pair circled around the barricade, out of sight, until they were behind the position of the colossus.
"Okay, Ash, we're in position. Any other thoughts? Guess we could be the diversion and allow Garrus to get off some good shots with the cannon."
"That was actually my plan, Commander," replied Ash with a smirk.
"Great. Cannon fodder. Just perfect," deadpanned Shepard in reply.
"Come on, Commander, this will be even easier than Therum. At least this time the Mako can do most of the work, and we can stay and fire at the thing from in cover."
"Right, you stay here in cover. I'll take cover over there," stated Shepard, pointing to the other side of the barricade, "Guess we'll just keep up the fire and get its attention." Shepard then put a hand to his ear as he used the radio. "Garrus, it's Shepard. One simply order – shoot that geth bastard."
"Understood, Shepard," came the reply from the turian.
Shepard sprinted across the gap in the barricade. He looked back at Ashley, took his assault rifle from his back and nodded at his colleague. She nodded back. The pair opened fire with their assault rifles. The shields of the colossus immediately started to wilt under their fire.
Fucking hell, these assault rifles are awesome!
The colossus slowly turned around as it focused on where the rifle fire was coming from. Shepard then heard sweet music as Garrus started to fire both the cannon and machine gun from the Mako. Shepard could sense the colossus was now left confused as to which it should focus on, as he maintained his fire.
"Keep it up, Ash!" he yelled.
"This fucker is going down, Commander!" she shouted back over her own gunfire.
The colossus fired its pulse cannon towards the two soldiers behind cover, but it missed at every opportunity, the shots either hitting the barricade or flying harmlessly by their position. The cannon continued it rate of fire, and soon the colossus made a decision, slowly turning around to focus its attention on the Mako. Shepard could see that the shields of the colossus had now disappeared.
"Ash, aim for the joints on its back legs. Perhaps our rifles will be strong enough to disable it."
"Which one?"
"Er… Take out the left one."
The two soldiers unleashed a hail of bullets at the back left leg of the colossus, as Garrus continued to fire the cannon and machine gun at the body of the giant machine. Shepard stepped out of cover, keeping up his rate of fire. He sensed Ashley joining in alongside him. The joint of the colossus was taking a pounding, the metallic skin soon disappearing, fluid starting to seep out from all the bullet holes. Soon there was a creaking sound, then a loud groan, and the bottom part of the leg detached from the rest of the colossus. The giant geth machine shuddered for an instant, before collapsing back on its other leg. Shepard stopped firing as the colossus was clearly crippled and ready to be put down.
Shepard put his hand to his ear again. "Alenko, close in with the Mako and finish this thing off."
"Aye-aye, Commander."
Shepard and Ashley walked around the colossus as they saw the Mako appear over the rise and stormed through the gap in the barricade, machine gun still firing. The pair jogged around into cover of the Mako, just in case the colossus kept up any sort of fire. The cannon fired again, the colossus now clearly damaged as it sparked and smoked, little fires breaking out all over its body. The two soldiers just keep observing, rapt attention, as the cannon fired a final time, the colossus exploding into a fireball, parts flying everywhere. The two soldiers could only nod to each other and finally take a few deep breaths as the adrenaline finally started to wear off, leaning against the Mako for a rest.
One planet down, three to go, thought Shepard.
A/N – Small note re: the small Ashley / Tali conversation. Ashley gets a bad rap by most folk (myself included) for being xenophobic earlier on in the game etc. However, it's clear her opinion changes, even in the first game, much like Pressly, and by the third, her outlook matches Shepard regarding all the non-humans - 'human or alien, we're all just animals'. But I guess I'm trying to make her character slightly sympathetic, and she always liked Tali in the game too.
Rogen mentioned in one of his earlier reviews that 'bosh'tet' wasn't used until ME2. I figured I would use it in my story of ME1, because the geth in ME1 are utter bosh'tets!