Author's Note: Y'all please let me know how I'm doing with this story. I recently got into my dream college, so I'll have a lot more time to write. Enjoy the holidays!
Shepard felt exposed without the Mako, but the cliffs were simply too rocky and steep to bother bringing it. Joker would have to come and pick it up later, and the pilot would probably make a few jests at him; but then again, he wasn't the cripple in the chair, so he really didn't care for what that big mouth had to say. The only issue with leaving the Mako behind was that they would be without heavy firepower, and if they ran across another geth armiger, they would be screwed. He'd have to remember to make Wrex carry a rocket launcher on his back next time. If they had to face one now, their only recourse would be sniper rifles, grenades, and the quarian's tech attacks. He'd yet to see her in action; he knew her combat skills would be pitiful, but he brought her along for her tech skills. He hated that he would have to keep an eye on her.
They marched along the path, with Shepard leading the way. His shotgun was raised and ready to fire at anything that reared its head. Eventually, the path opened out into a large gorge, with valley walls towering on either side of them. It felt almost like a trap. "Keep an eye on the cliffs; I feel like they're here."
"Copy," Garrus replied. Wrex simply grunted. Tali nodded her head. Shepard started walking forward in a low crouch, hugging one of the walls of the valley.
"Commander, I'm picking up several energy signatures. I think you were right about the geth," informed Tali. She found it difficult to speak. Sure, she'd been trained, but never for this! She was sweating profusely, and they hadn't even been through strenuous combat yet; for most of the mission, she'd just been sitting in the Mako, managing the shields. She shook her head: these were geth! A quarian should relish the chance to kill as many as possible. She strengthened both her resolve and the grip on her pistol.
Shepard stopped behind a massive rock. Ahead of them, the gorge condensed back into a narrow alley. It was a trap that he did not want to walk into; let them come to his team. "Wait here," he told the rest of his team. Shepard ignited a biotic barrier around him and walked further into the valley. His anticipation grew with each step that he took forward, waiting for the enemy. Eventually, he stopped and started to scan the cliffs again. A shot rang out from behind him, and the next thing he saw was a geth body tumbling down the slope. Shepard rolled behind a rock and prepared himself. "Garrus, you have to cover our sides, we're going to be vulnerable."
In response, the turian's rifle fired again, sending another geth tumbling down. Geth troopers exited out of the opening in front of him, including two juggernauts. Great, he thought. He tossed a grenade over the rocks, into the mouth of the cliff. Five seconds later, an Earth-shattering explosion sounded, and the rumble of tumbling rocks could be heard. He hopped over his rock and charged forward. The geth, still reeling from the blast and the dust that clouded their optics, didn't see Shepard or his shotgun until it was too late. Wrex wasn't far behind either and helped Shepard mop up the mess. "Garrus, any other enemy snipers?"
"None that aren't already taken care of," replied Garrus with a hint of pride. He'd been a little afraid that his years in c-sec would have eroded his combat skills, but they seemed just fine.
"Then let's keep moving," Shepard commanded.
He walked forward towards the entrance of the cliff. One of the juggernauts had been buried under the rocks, and only its head stuck out from the pile of debris. The light in its head was still active, and it made clicking and whirring sounds as Shepard approached. One final blast echoed throughout the valley as Shepard blew its head off. He stowed his shotgun and prepared to climb the rocks in front of him.
Once he and the rest of his team were over, he continued through the crevasse and exited on the other side. He didn't see any more geth, but he wasn't willing to place any bets on it. He saw the mining facility, where the doctor was supposed to be located, at the top of a hill. He equipped his sniper rifle and looked through the scope: nothing. "Let's go! I don't want to be down here if they have the high ground."
When they reached the top, Shepard sighed with relief: still nothing. The mining facility was half a click from their position on their left. If they moved quickly, they could get there before reinforcements arrived. And he had to jinx it too. A geth dropship came from the northeast, its engines humming loudly. It hovered near the road in front of the mine's entrance, doing nothing for a couple of seconds. But Shepard wasn't waiting. "Get behind cover. Now!"
Shepard and Tali leapt behind one boulder on the left, while Garrus and Wrex took cover behind a large piece of mining equipment. Shepard peered around the side of the rock in time to see the ship drop a geth armiger out of the sky alongside several geth platforms. "Fuck," Shepard sighed as he banged his head against the boulder. "Listen, we have one geth armiger and multiple geth units. Save your grenades for that tank. Garrus, me and you are on snipers."
"I really can't do anything until they get into medium range," screamed Wrex, trying to be heard over the roar of the ship's engines as it sped away.
"Then watch our back," Shepard replied. He then turned to Tali; "Can you hack that things shields? It's our only chance at taking it down."
"I can try, but I need time."
"Do try, our lives depend on it," he responded as he pulled the trigger on his rifle.
Tali opened her omnitool, an old, refurbished BlueWire and began her attempts. The sounds of battle all around her clouded her focus, but she had an incredible incentive to concentrate and redouble her efforts: the fear of death. Wrex sat next to Garrus, frustrated at his inability to do anything. It would be pointless to expose himself and spray shots, the risk was to great, especially with that tank.
Garrus and Shepard were engrossed in their scopes, trying to prevent the geth from reaching them. Unbeknownst to the team, geth attached to the scaffolding had been crawling towards them. One leapt down and tackled Tali. She screamed as she tried to reach for her sidearm, but her arms were pinned. Shepard, having heard the screams, pointed his weapon at the odd geth, took a second to make sure his line of fire wouldn't hit her, and fired. But he had no time to check on her as he was tackled by another one. Shepard and the geth rolled on the ground and it ended up on top. Shepard punched its optic with his gauntleted hand, and it winked out, but the geth was still active and still very much knew were its target was. Shepard tried to get out from under it, but it was simply no use, the machine was too strong, even for him. Suddenly, five pops went off, and the machine collapsed on top of him. He rolled it off of him and got back up. Another one lunged at him, but he was prepared this time; he sent it flying backward with a biotic push, quickly unholstered the pistol at his hip, and fired several times at it.
"Shepard, I think that's the last of the geth," Garrus spoke over the comm.
"We still have that armiger though," Shepard complained. As they spoke, it marched forward step by step, pelting their position with machine gunfire.
"Tali, tell me you have something."
Tali continued to work, not even bothering to acknowledge Shepard's request. The tank fired a charge at the boulder they were hiding behind, sending debris into the air. Shepard created a biotic shield around them, protecting them from the rubble. When the dust cleared, he picked up his sniper rifle. "Garrus, if Tali can drop the shields, go for its optics."
Another charge hit Garrus and Wrex's position. "Tali!?" Shepard asked with increasing urgency.
"Got it, I got it. Ready on your order?" Tali replied.
"Garrus, ready?"
"Copy."
"Now, Tali!" Tali clicked the button on her omnitool, and Shepard could hear the sound of shield emitters shorting out.
Shepard peaked around the corner of the rock and started firing at the armiger's head. It started to focus its machine guns on Shepard's position, forcing him to retreat back around the rock. Garrus, however, continued to aim for its head. On the last shot before his rifle overheated, the cannon and optics in its head shattered.
"You won't have much time left, and it still has a sensor package in its lower neck," Tali informed him.
"Of course it does," Shepard replied sarcastically. "Can you overheat its machine guns?"
"Only for a brief time."
"It'll have to do."
"Garrus concentrate fire at the base of its neck if you can" Shepard ordered. Yep, he would definitely have Wrex carry heavy weapons next time.
Shepard equipped his shotgun. He would only have a couple of seconds to do this. "Tali, ready when you are."
Tali pressed a button on her omnitool, the hack having been waiting to be executed, and waved her omnitool in the direction of the armiger. "Go," she told Shepard.
He charged the armiger, quickly closing the distance between it and him. He jumped onto one of its legs and began to climb up the geth, using its curved and pointy armor as climbing footholds. He hopped onto its neck, staring at two of the machine guns on either side of him before refocusing on his task. He grabbed onto the neck to swing himself around to the front, placed the muzzle of his shotgun into its lightly armored base, and fired several times. The front of the armiger started to smoke and spark from burning circuitry. Shepard swung back onto its back, but now it was trying to shake him off, and he lost his balance collapsing to his knees. He took two grenades and shoved one into each base of the armor that supported the guns. He rolled off its back, falling to the ground beneath the armiger. It raised a leg, trying to smash him to bits, but it was on the wrong side; the thing couldn't see him: perfect. Shepard got up and sprinted away from the armiger as fast as possible. The grenades detonated, and the armiger exploded into a ball of fire. Shepard collapsed to his knees in the ash, taking a second to catch his breath.
"Any clue where this scientist is?" Wrex grumbled.
"I wish, but sadly no. These ruins are massive, so I think we are going to be searching for a while," Garrus replied.
Shepard looked over the railing. Damn, that's a long way down! Each step who took caused the platform to groan, which wasn't very reassuring either. The platform eventually opened up into a vast underground cavern. At one end of the wall, a massive structure was built into the rock. It appeared to have several floors, each with shields protecting their entrances. "Well, that looks promising," Tali offered.
They descended down the ramp, and as they got closer, Shepard thought he saw a woman on the other side of the shield projector. "Guys, I think I have eyes on the target."
"Everything looks clear, but I don't like this. Something feels off" Wrex added.
"Comes with the territory," Shepard replied.
As the group approached the structure, Liara called out for help. "Please, you need to turn this thing off!" she pleaded.
"Who are you?" Shepard demanded.
"Please, does it matter?" she replied.
"Actually, yes. So, you better give me the answer I'm looking for. What is your name?" he asked again, resting his shotgun over his shoulder for added emphasis.
"Liara, Liara T'Soni. Now please, get me down before they return!" she cried with dread in her eyes. The last thing she wanted to see was any more of those metal machines.
"How do we turn this thing off so we can get to you?" Garrus asked her.
"I was clumsy when exploring this place. I hit a control panel by accident and was trapped in this stasis field. I'm not sure how you're going to get through."
Shepard turned around, scanning the excavation sight. He saw plenty of scaffolding, research equipment, and tools. But his attention focused on a rather large piece of equipment that looked like a cannon. "How about that thing?" Shepard offered as he pointed at it.
"The mining laser? Are you crazy? That will bring down the entire site on top of us!" Liara warned.
"You think I care," Shepard replied, chuckling as he spoke. "Garrus, take the quarian and get that thing operational. I'll stay here with Wrex in case anything comes up," order Shepard.
"I have a name, you know," Tali spat, crossing her arms over her chest in defiance.
"Can we talk about this later? I have a mission to complete."
Tali turned around without a word. She shouldn't have expected to be treated any better by anyone accept another quarian; well, if she even found a pilgrimage gift that is.
"Ready when you are, Shepard" Garrus spoke into the comms.
"Ya, we're out of the way. You're a go on the laser drill," Shepard replied with a sigh. The geth were still onto them, and he knew he didn't have much time. The recon drones which lay in shattered and sparking wrecks on the floor of the cavern proved as much.
"Firing, in three, two, one" counted Tali as she hit the button on the drill. It had been a pain in the ass to get the thing working, excluding the trio of geth troopers that had tried to ambush them. The laser began to hum as it charged; when it fired, a lance of yellow energy impacted the rock wall, obliterating it. When the smoke cleared, a large opening in the rock face, which led to the trapped asari, was visible.
"Wrex and I are going to secure the target. Meet us up here," spoke Shepard into the comms. He scrabbled up the rubble and into the room. The target was just ahead of him, thankfully still trapped in the stasis field. Lord knows she would have tried to kill him if she got out; she was the daughter of Lady Benezia after all. She could not be trusted. Shepard turned around and offered his hand to help Wrex up; the krogan, it would seem, did not like having to vertically climb, and that fact did not come as a surprise. After putting all his weight into it, the krogan finally reached the platform.
"Thanks," he grumbled.
Shepard didn't even bother to respond to the pleasantries. He equipped his shotgun, pointing it at the asari. "Wrex, prepare to secure the target." The grunt behind him was all the confirmation he needed that Wrex understood him.
The asari became frightened at Shepard's words. "What do you mean? What are you doing?" she demanded.
"Don't play dumb with us," Shepard replied as he approached the control panel. "Once we are out of here, you WILL tell us everything about your mother."
"Why, what's happened to…" she tried to say, but was interrupted by her drop to the floor. A strong, meaty hand grabbed one of her arms and twisted it behind her back, causing her to yelp in pain.
"Get up," the krogan told her, and feeling that she wasn't in a position to argue, she complied quickly.
"Your mother is responsible for an attack on the colony of Eden Prime and is working with a rogue spectre. You will tell me everything you know, and you will tell me how I can find her."
"I haven't spoken to her in years! I've been studying archeological sites for a long time know. I wouldn't even know where to begin. And I refuse to believe that my mother would commit the supposed crimes you have mentioned," Liara argued.
Garrus and Tali finally reached the platform. It was time to go. "I can't believe you started the interrogation without me, Shepard. I am qualified, after all," the turian stated before laughing quietly at his own joke.
"We can do this later. For now, we need to get out of here," Tali said as the room began to shake, and dust fell from the ceiling. She looked at the far end of the room; an elevator, she realized. She jogged to the platform's controls, scanning the alien markings. She couldn't read them, but their meaning was clear: elevator go up or elevator go down. "I think this is an elevator. It'll bring us closer to the surface, and hopefully away from this wreck," she offered.
Shepard nodded his head and waved for the rest of the group to follow. Wrex shoved the asari forward as he maintained his vice-like grip on her arm. The room began to shake again, stronger this time. "Normandy, this is commander Shepard requesting immediate evac at our location. Copy?"
"Loud and clear. Although, I don't know how you expect me to land in a pool of lava," Joker responded.
The elevator began its upward ascent, slowly climbing the many floors of the vast structure.
"CAN YOU MAKE IT, Flight Lieutenant MOREAU?" Shepard roared into the comms.
"Yes, yes, I'll be there." The comms in the Normandy clicked out, much to Joker's relief. Man, does he have a temper. When is he going to learn to lighten up?
"Asshole," Shepard whispered under his breath as the elevator neared the top floor. Unfortunately, when they did reach the top floor, Shepard saw a krogan with several geth in tow marching towards them.
"Hand over the girl," the krogan demanded.
"Out of my way, or you're going to die alongside the rest of your machine friends," Wrex replied.
"I didn't come to fight. I only need the girl," the mercenary tried again.
Shepard looked back at his team, a simple nod telling them that they should get ready. "So be it," Shepard replied. He ignited a biotic barrier around him, surrounding himself in bright blue light. He started to charge the krogan, each step propelled with biotic energy. In the blink of an eye, he had rammed the krogan, tossing him into the air with the strength of his charge. The geth closest to him raised its rifle to fire at him, but Shepard knocked it aside with his arm before firing twice into its abdomen with his shotgun. Noticing two more troopers that began to fire at his shields, he threw them into the wall with his biotics; Garrus made short work of them with his assault rifle. Tali, hiding behind the elevator's controls, hacked one of the remaining two geth, and in a sad but comedic instance of friendly fire, they shot themselves to pieces.
The krogan that Shepard had tossed barely got to his feet in time to see that his geth troopers were dead. "Useless machines! I'll kill you all," he roared as he began to charge. Shepard tried to throw the krogan again with his biotics, but he was spent (both from the fatigue of hours of battle and his recent excursions) and the krogan was simply too heavy. What Shepard was hoping would knock the krogan off his feet again seemed only to slow him for a brief moment. Behind him, Wrex was also charging. Shepard suddenly realized that he was about to be in between a fight between two krogan in a blood rage. He rolled to the side just as the two krogan collided: two tons of flesh, bone, and armor. They brawled and ended up on the floor, and Wrex pried a plate of armor off of his opponent. Shepard wanted to intervene, but if he shot one, he shot both.
Wrex gained the upper hand again and plunged his fingers into one of his opponent's eyes, gouging it out. The other krogan roared in pain, throwing Wrex off in a fit of anger. Seeing an opening, Shepard fired his shotgun as the krogan mercenary tried to get up. Blood dripped off of his armor, and massive gashes and holes detailed the damage he had taken, but he had yet to fall. It turned its attention on him, and Shepard could see the complete lack of control in the erratic movement of his last eye. However, before it could charge him, Wrex got back up and shoved his shotgun into the gap he had made in its armor. He fired, again and again. The mercenary collapsed to the ground, having been gutted completely, but he still moved. Wrex lowered his shotgun to the krogan's head and fired again. The gurgling and screaming agony of the body ceased. Shepard was, at this moment, glad he brought along this absolute monster.
The room shook violently, and large chunks of the ceiling began to collapse. "Let's get out of here, now!" Shepard screamed. They started sprinting for the exit shaft, running as fast as they could while carrying armor and weapons. Shepard reached the exit and stood to the side, waiving his team to hurry up. Rocks continued to pelt them, and dust filled the air, clouding their vision. There was little time left. Once everyone climbed the ramp out, Shepard followed suit, racing after them as the mine began to implode. But he could only run so fast, and the section of scaffolding he was on began to fall underneath him. He knew the drop below him was at least four stories; it was not an impact he would likely survive in heavy armor. He tried to cover the distance to the stable platform, but it was too late: the floor underneath him gave way, and he was in freefall. His arms flailed in the air, almost as if he was trying to fly, but to no avail. Halfway down, he began to slow and eventually stopped falling altogether. Under "calmer" circumstances, he would wonder what saved him; but his fight-or-flight instincts had already taken over, and he continued to claw the air in a feeble attempt to ascend. He thought it was working too as he began to rise through the air. As the seconds went by, the platform up above got closer and closer, and he could see his team looking over the side, watching him. He continued to levitate through the air until he was at the height of the platform. He looked unto the shocked faces of his teammates as he began to move forward through the air. But something else caught his attention: the asari, deep in concentration with her hands outstretched, using her biotics. She had been the one to lift him to safety. A second later, his feet touched the platform, and he heard the roar of the Normandy's engines. He had escaped death again, it would seem.