Chapter 43e: Virmire pt5
"Finally" Shepherd said. After a tiresome marathon of fighting geth, and krogan, the team had finally managed to reach the center of Saren's base. The team hears large rumbling sound and sees the Normandy swooping in. Kaiden, the rest of the ground team, and members of the Normandy crew walks down the ramp with the salarian drive core that has been converted into a nuclear bomb and is place near the geothermal taps that power the base, and its one weak point. After everything is set up, Kaiden walked to Shepherd and team.
"Bombs already to go, Wayne" Kaiden said.
"Good we just need to get Ash and the STG and say good-bye to this kongkeku base" Tali said. Shepherd nodded and opened the comm to contact the distraction team; sounds of battle could be heard.
"Ash?" Shepherd asked. "The nuke is almost ready, get to the rendezvous point!" There was static for a minute, and the team looked on worried about their comrade. "Ash!"
"Negative, Skipper," Ash said "The geth have us pinned down at the AA tower. We're taking heavy casualties. Captain Kirrahe is dead!" More guns could be heard, and this time sounds of screaming. "We'll never make it to the rendezvous point!"
"Shit!" Shepherd said opening his comm. "Joker, get them out of there, now!"
"Negative, it's too hot! You can't risk it, we'll try to hold them off…" There was a break in the com.
"It's okay Wayne, I need a couple of minutes to arm the nuke, go get them" Kaiden said.
"You sure?" Shepherd asked.
"Don't worry, we got this boss" Garrus said with a smirk. "You just get Ash out there"
Shepherd nodded. "Wrex and Tali, move out" he ordered. The team headed to the door to the right, only to be led to yet another fight. In this trench were three krogan, and a few Geth Hoppers.
"Damn fakes" Wrex roared as mowed the first one down. The hoppers bounced between the walls and floors, like a life-size pinball making it hard for Shepherd and Tali to get a bead on the geth. Meanwhile, the battlemaster rammed one of the krogan clones against the wall, pummeling it, another clone tried to charge Wrex from behind. But the old veteran could see it coming a mile away and dodged, making it smash into its fellow clone. Wrex took his shotgun and killed them both at the same time.
"Fucking geth, we don't have time for this!" Shepherd used his singularity field, catching the two hoppers. Shepherd then threw a grenade up to the field. "Rookie!" Tali raised her pistol and fired on the grenade, destroying the hoppers. The team made it to the elevator, and continued to the AA guns. The team then heard something large overhead.
"Oh Keelah…" Tali gasped. A Geth Dropship flies overhead.
"Damn, the geth are sending reinforcements" Wrex said. "And they're heading for the bomb site!" Shepherd opens his comm.
"Kaiden, dropship heading your way, be ready!" Shepherd said.
"Got it, Wayne, taking up defensive positions," Kaiden replied. The team could hear a loud roar from the comm. "Shit, it's here. It's starting to drop geth all over the place, Liara lock them down, Garrus sniper support, protect our crew!" The sound of gun fire then could be heard.
"Can you hold them?" Shepherd asked.
"No, the ship is still dropping enemy reinforcements. There's just too many of them." He sounded eerily calm, Shepherd swallowed hard, he had always known his best friend to be a cool customer, but the way he talked chilled him the bone. "I'm setting the nuke."
Shepherd frowned. "Dammit, Kaiden, that's not your call to make!" Shepherd said.
"I know I'm sorry, but mission comes first you know that" he said sadly. "It's done, go get Ash, and get the hell out of here" The com then opened up.
"Fuck that! We can handle ourselves. Go back and get the Lieutenant!" Ash said.
"Damn it!" Shepherd cursed. This was not what he wanted. Both were insistent for him to go and save the other one. He wished he could save both, but there was no time to save both, he now had to make a choice, a choice between friends, the hardest choice in his life. Kaiden or Ashley, one would live and the other would die when the bomb goes off. Shepherd took a deep breath "Kaiden, stand by, we're coming to your position"
"But, Wayne…" Kaiden started.
"Damn it Kaiden, don't make this decision any harder, please…" Shepherd said weakly.
"I…I understand" Kaiden said.
"Ash, I…I'm so…" Shepherd sadly.
"Don't, I don't regret any thing" she said. "I know you'll catch Saren" Ash went silent as the battle on her front continued to rage. "Be good to her, Skipper, big sister's watching"
"Got ya" he choked.
"Ash…" Tali said in tears.
"Take care of him; someone needs to make sure he doesn't get himself killed." Ash said half-jokingly.
"I will, Keelah Sa'lai" Tali said. The com closed.
Shepherd slammed his fists on the rail. "GODDAMMIT!" He was angry at Ash's self-sacrifice, angry at the geth for having forced it, angry at Saren who led the geth. But now most of all he was angry at himself for having to make that choice. He felt his eyes hot and stinging, as his tears started drip to the ground.
"Get a hold of yourself, Shepherd!" Wrex said. Shepherd and Tali looked at him. "You think Williams want to see you like this, you're our leader, and you have to make sure her sacrifice is worth it and that means making Saren pay" Shepherd nodded and wiped his eyes, Wrex was right, they had a mission to do, he could shed his tears later.
Shepherd took a deep breath to compose himself. "Back to the bomb site" Shepherd ordered. Meanwhile, Kaiden, Liara, and Garrus were trying to hold off the geth from destroying the bomb, but were losing ground quickly. The geth approached the team, only to be blown back by a strong biotic force. Kaiden looked his right, and saw Shepherd, Tali, and Wrex.
"You're a sight for sore eyes, Wayne" Kaiden said.
Shepherd nodded and glowed blue. "Garrus, sniper support, Liara and Kaiden you're on biotics with me, Tali hack those geth, Wrex, up front you're the spear tip, Got it?" Shepherd barked. A chorus of 'aye-ayes' answered him. The team went into action as Wrex charged the Prime closest to him, with Garrus giving sniper support and Tali hacking the troopers to aid the krogan. Shepherd and Liara created a large singularity to lift the hoppers, the shock troopers, and the destroyer of the ground, Kaiden then shut them all down with warp field. More geth started to land, to reinforce their fallen, but Shepherd would not have that. Shepherd for a fuel tank near them and let it explode, destroying all near-by platforms, as smoke rose in the battlefield. The team gathers together, only for suddenly a rapid succession of biotic bursts came through the smoke, out of the sky, scattering the team into cover.
Shepherd looked out of cover, and sees a figure descending from the smoke, it was Saren. The spectre was now facing his prey, and the greatest threat to the galaxy in history. The turian jumps down, and Shepherd get out of cover and points his pistol at the traitor. Shepherd let loose a couple of shots, but Saren just walked over, like nothing happened, his shields were strong, probably a gift from his masters. "I applaud you, Shepherd. My geth were utterly convinced the salarians were the real threat." Saren said. "Impressive tactic, for an ape"
"However, it doesn't matter: I can't let you disrupt what I have accomplished here. You can't possibly understand what's at stake here."
"Spare me your bullshit!" Shepherd growled. "I don't need a speech to know you sold us out!"
"Little fool, you've seen the visions, the reaper are beyond anything we have ever seen, they cannot be stopped" Saren said. "The Protheans tried to fight, and look what happened, all that is left of them are ruins"
Saren shook his head. "A waste of a good species, but if they had bowed to them they would still exist" he said.
"Fuck that! I'm no one's slave!" Shepherd said.
"You see, this is why we organics will lose, we are ruled by emotions, we would rather fight even when we can't win" Saren said. "But if we joined, think how many people would be spared, so I joined Sovereign to secure out future."
"There is no future in servitude" Shepherd said. "I know that from my experience on Mindoir, once they're done, they'll discard you like a broken tool…You say saving us, but you're just a coward who refuses to fight, you gave up, but I won't" Shepherd charges the turian and fires off a throw field, but Saren just waves it away like it was nothing. Soon the rest of the team fired on Saren, surprised by the aggressiveness of the team he got on his hoverboard and took to the skies. Saren glowed blue sending out barrages of biotic fields making the team scatter. Tali and Kaiden used their sabotage to make the ex-spectre's board go out of control. Liara, Wrex, and Shepherd fired warp field after warp field to weaken Saren, while Garrus waited for the right moment to take him down. When the board was slowing down, Garrus made his move and fired on the turian making him fall to the ground.
The turian recovered from his fall and growled. "Damn you human!" The ground team fired on Saren, but his still active hoverboard fired at the team, causing them to get pinned down in cover. Shepherd rushed forward and landed a huge biotic punch to the turian's face, and kept punching, but nothing seemed to faze the turian. He gave another punch, but it was grabbed and Shepherd was tossed like a rag doll against the wall hard. Shepherd shook his head and got up, but felt a huge blow to his stomach, then his face , and then to his chest each blow felt like being hit by a car. He then his throat close up as he felt himself being lifted off the ground as he felt a sharp pain from his back. He was being slammed against the wall again and again, so hard it was cracking the concrete, the turian's strength was ungodly. Shepherd's vision was blurring and growing dark, but then all of a sudden he was released as a blurry figure came up and fired at him, it was Tali, a very angry Tali.
"Get away from him, Bosh'tet!" Tali growled as she kept firing.
"Rookie stay back!" Shepherd said. With each attack, Saren's biotic barrier flashed, absorbing the damage. Despite the unrelenting barrage from Tali, Saren just cracked his neck and extended his arm forward, launching a biotic throw towards her. It was strong, enough to push her down to the watery ground hard. "NO!" Saren approached the quarian and lifted her by the neck, Shepherd stood up, with pistol in hand. "Let her go, you bastard, LET HER GO!"
Saren's mandibles twitched in amusement. "So this suit rat is important to you…" he said. "Maybe I should kill her to make you realize your folly" His hand was tightening around the quaian's neck as Tali gasped for air, Shepherd's gun shook in his hand , he wanted to fire but he could accidentally hit Tali, but Saren was going to kill her. "You see, you see how powerless you are human, I have someone you care about, you want to fight but she will die if you do" he said. Shepherd growled. "You think this is bad, human? Reapers are doing this to our galaxy on the larger scale…" His words was interrupted by a huge biotic field hitting him in the back, making him let go of Tali. Shepherd took the distraction to charge Saren.
"SAREN!" Shepherd unleashed a right hook with all the power of his body behind it. Saren attempted to dodge it, but it came too fast and too hard; it struck the side of his head. The force of the impact caused Saren to stumbled backwards and collapse unto the shallow water flowing beneath their feet. The turian shook his head, almost losing it in a daze; this battle was lost no doubts about it, he called his board and escaped. Shepherd went to Tali, to check if she was okay, she blacked out from Saren choking her, but she was alive much to his relief.
"Wayne! The bomb!" Kaiden said. Shepherd called the Normandy to their location and the team got on with Shepherd carrying the unconscious Tali last on board. The Normandy then took off escaping the atmosphere. The only thing they could see as they flew away was the mushroom cloud produced by the bomb.
Kongkeku-Keelish for fucking.
Rest in Peace, Ash….Keelah Sa'lai REVIEW AND COMMENT.
