Hello, everyone, and welcome back to my Gears of War/Mass Effect crossover.
Thank you all for the wonderful support I received for the pilot chapter. To be honest, I wasn't sure that the way I started the crossover would work out. I'm glad to see, though, that it worked nicely. For those of you wondering, there are going to be some interesting things going on. Some of the plot will diverge from the original storyline for Mass Effect. As for what will change, all I have to say is stay tuned!
As always, leave a review and enjoy!
Disclaimer: I do not own the Gears of War or Mass Effect franchises. They are the respective properties and trademarks of Microsoft Studios, The Coalition, Epic Games, BioWare, Electronic Arts, etc. Any material original to the franchises belongs to their respective developers and publishers. Any material not original to the franchises is of my own invention. I do not own any music listed in each chapter. Any music listed belongs to it's original composers and/or artists.
Unknown Location
Unknown Date
The first thing that Marcus was aware of, when he woke up, was the fact that he had the most painful headache he ever had in a long time, worse than when he had a hangover from the drinks that Dom would buy him. The second was that he was lying on his back, with his armor on, on some kind of surface. Finally, he could feel something tickling the back of his head, as though a thousand tiny ants were crawling through his hair and on his scalp.
Groaning as he got up, he also noted the light that was streaming through his eyelids. Blinking, he waited until they fully adjusted before looking around. In the immediate vicinity, he could see Cole, Carmine and Baird, all of whom were unconscious still. There was no hint of the spatial anomaly that he'd seen in the COG facility. In addition, he found that he was sitting down in what appeared to be a field of grass.
Rubbing his eyes, he looked around to see where exactly they were at. Looking around, he found that they were in a field that was just on the edge of a small forest, though the trees were not any species that he recognized, which was something that had him worried. The sky above was blue, though it was now becoming dim, with the sky near the horizon and sun glowing a bright red-orange. It was evening, though it was still bright enough that stars couldn't be seen. The sky had not a wisp of cloud present.
Getting up, he frowned as he got up, grasping at the Mark 2 Lancer, which appeared to have survived it's transit easily enough. Where the hell are we, he thought to himself as he looked around. Doesn't look like a location on Sera that I've seen before. Making a slight half-huff, half-growl to himself, he went about the task of waking his friends up.
Just as he touched Baird, the man shot straight up, eyes wide as he shouted, "I'm up! I'm up! I'm fully up!" Looking around, he smiled, relieved to see that Marcus was up and about, though that smile became a frown when he looked around. "Where the hell did we end up at?"
"Beats me," Marcus shrugged. "It's not any place on Sera that I recognize. I'm not a fucking botanist, but I know what the trees back home look like, and these look completely different." Sighing, he said, "Can you help me get Cole and Carmine up? We need to see if they're alright."
Just as he said this, a low groan came from Cole as he came to, having heard Marcus talking. "Uh, I'll get back to you on that," he groaned, with Baird and Marcus helping him up. They were about to get to Carmine, when he too got up.
"Ugh, my... my head," he moaned. "Feels like a Brumak stomped on it." Looking around once after he shook his head slightly, he frowned, though the gesture was hidden behind his helmet."Where the hell are we?" Carmine asked. "I don't recall seeing a place like this before."
"Me neither," Cole remarked. "I have to admit, though, it's pretty. I think we ca– OH SHIT!"
Hearing Cole's startled cry, Marcus whirled around, Lancer at the ready as he pointed in the direction that Cole was looking in. To his surprise, it was an organism, but not one that he'd seen before. It looked like someone had taken the creature responsible for allowing Locust Barges to fly, shrunk it down, gave it long feeler tendrils, and made it have more than one flight sack. It floated around, drifting away from them.
"What the hell?" Marcus asked.
"Now that thing's ugly," Baird remarked. "Still, it's floating away from us, not towards us. My guess: it's part of the local fauna, and it doesn't appear to be a meat eater either. I could have that completely backwards, though."
"Well, we won't find out if we stay here. From the looks of it, we can't go back, and probably wouldn't want to with the security defenses the way they were back here. Carmine and I'll take point. Cole, Baird, you two provide fire support if we need help. Understood?"
"You got it," Cole beamed. With that, they began to proceed through the area, weapons raised and nerves tensed for the slightest hint of a threat.
As they walked along, Marcus wrinkled his nose as he caught wind of a stench in the air. Immediately, his mind returned back to when he was at the New Hope Research Facility at Mount Kadar. That's the smell of burnt flesh, he noted, remembering the stench the Locust's hide gave off when he used a Scorcher on them. A moment later, he saw the source of the stench.
On a massive rock near his position were a pile of bodies, each one hominid in terms of stance. All of them, however, had been burnt into a crisp, with all identifying features having been wiped away. It was also recent, as small wisps of smoke and ash were blown into the air by a light breeze. The way they were lying around indicated that they had been running, only for something to incinerate them one by one, since the pile was spread out over a wide area.
It was one of the few sights that made Marcus gag, though he'd unfortunately seen this more than once. Carmine, who saw the pile next, gagged immediately. "Fuck," he whispered, while making sure he wouldn't vomit his breakfast into his helmet and onto the ground. "What did this?"
"I don't know," Marcus frowned. "Whatever it was, though, it was a fucking monster." Making sure his Lancer was fully loaded and ready, he said, "Carmine, if we run into whatever did this, we're going to kill it. Understood?"
"Definitely," Carmine nodded. Nothing made him angrier than seeing the bodies of innocent people burnt and then tossed aside like rag dolls. "We'll kill 'em. If it's grubs, then we'll make them suffer." With that, they proceeded deeper into the woodlands.
It was when they got into the actual trees that trouble sprang up. While moving through the forest, Marcus thought he heard something coming towards them. "Get down," he said quietly to Carmine, with the two ducking into cover seconds later. Peering over cover, he looked to see what the source of the noise was, which came out into the open seconds later.
To his surprise, it was a robotic drone of some kind. It hovered around three meters in the air, with the robot looking like a flying beetle with a silver carapace on the back. A single glowing optic was present and where the legs were supposed to be, was what appeared to be a long rod that was attached to a mechanical arm. Having fought in three wars, Marcus recognized it for what it was: a weapon.
Ducking down, he said, "I don't know about you, but I don't like the look of that thing very much. If it sees us, and fires whatever weapon it has, I'll take it our. You do the same if a second one flies in."
"Got it," Carmine nodded. As such, Marcus leaned, out, drawing a bead on the robot before quietly moving forwards when it's optic was pointed the other way. Reaching cover, he waited until it was not paying attention before moving forwards. Just as he did, though, he stepped on a stick, which broke with a loud SNAP!
Before he had time to duck back into cover, the robotic drone whirled around and, seeing him opened fire. There was a muted warble as the weapon fired, while a bright cyan-white flash erupted from the muzzle. Marcus could feel objects impacting his chest, along with twinges of pain, prompting him to duck into cover. Once he did so, he raised his weapon and, drawing a bead on the drone, fired a single shot.
It was an excellent shot, with the bullet penetrating the optic on the robot. The robot flew to pieces, with the machine falling down to the ground, while it's silver carapace, and whatever electronic components were inside, shattered into dozens of tiny pieces. There was a dull thunk as the drone landed on the ground.
Just as it fell to the ground, a second drone came into full view. Carmine, in a bit of foresight, had precharged his Torque Bow, releasing the trigger as soon as the other drone came into view. The explosive bolt, modified to use conventional explosives rather than Imulsion, smacked into the drone, the pointed tip deploying barbs that allowed the bolt to firmly 'stick' to the drone. A split second later, the bolt detonated, blasting the drone apart into hundreds of tiny pieces.
Just like that, the fight ended, with the area falling silent. Baird and Cole, having heard the gunfire, immediately sprang forwards, with Baird catching up to Marcus. "What happened?" he asked.
"That happened," Marcus replied, motioning to the drone. "Some kind of drone, like JACK. It fired on me, but it didn't penetrate the armor. I destroyed the first one, and Carmine got the second one."
"What do we have here?" Baird wondered, looking the drone over. "I don't see any bullets or a magazine, and it's obvious that it hovers. Still, that armor it has is quite crappy. My guess is that it's either designed to stop a different kind of attack, or it's not meant for actual combat. A for effort, F for execution."
Marcus nodded. While the rounds that the drone fired were powerful, they weren't as powerful as the rounds that his Lancer fired. Thanks to the development of advanced armor technology, the COG had to advance it's own munitions for infantry. This had led to the creation of hardened AP rounds that had an incendiary tip on them. The incendiary tip generated enough heat to weaken the armor, allowing the hard penetrator to punch through. This had become standard issue for COG weaponry very quickly, since it proved to be an effective means of penetrating hard body armor.
"Kinda looks like a toy more than anythin'," Cole observed. "Weird."
"Well, it fired on us, and we dealt with it," Marcus decided. "Keep moving up. We need to find out more about what's going on around here."
"I hear ya on that," Cole agreed, with the others quickly moving out.
It wasn't long before they ran into more trouble. Moving forwards, Marcus and Carmine began to move through what appeared to be a ravine. It was a narrow one, with there only being enough room to allow two men to walk shoulder to shoulder, and still have a tiny amount of room for maneuvering. For the sake of being able to move, Carmine trailed behind Marcus by a couple footsteps, allowing the latter to have as much room as possible.
They were about to round a corner when Marcus heard something up ahead. Stopping to listen a moment, he noted that it sounded like a digital stuttering sound, as though a record that had a scratch was being played. Leaning around the corner, he saw the source of the stuttering.
It was unlike any being that he'd seen before. It was a robot, like the drone, but it stood on two, digititgrade legs to a height of seven feet. It's human-like torso supported a chest that jutted outwards, along with a pair of arms that ended in three fingered hands. It's head was elongated, but the face was flat, with only a single glowing light, likely it's ocular sensor, being present. It's body was covered in a series of hard plates, through which various tubes were present. Marcus couldn't determine if the plates were decorative, or a form of armor. If it was the latter, then he hoped that the bullets his Lancer fired could penetrate it.
That wasn't the only thing that was there as well. Two more of the robots were present, though each one was a different color scheme. The one Marcus saw was a dark gray, almost black, color, while the other two were white in appearance. It was the fourth person there, that had his attention.
Lying on the ground, arms raised as if to ward off a blow, was a human being. The woman, as her cries were plainly audible were in, much to his shock, Tyran, with the woman shouting, "Please, let me go! I beg of you! I don't want to die! My kids need me!" In cold dismissal of her pleas for mercy, the dark gray robot raised what looked like a weapon to it's shoulder in preparation to fire.
It was at this moment that Marcus Fenix knew, that he had to make a decision, and fast. If he let the robots kill the woman, he and Carmine would avoid attention, but in doing so, they would compromise the values that made them the soldiers they were. If they attacked, they might be able to save the woman, but he didn't know if the armor the robots had was impermeable to his rifle rounds, or if they were quite weak.
At the same time, his conscience, despite being rendered insensitive by the horrors of war, spoke up. Are you going to just stand there and let her die, it screamed at him. That is a fellow human being that is about to die! Do something! In the end, it was his conscience that caused him to make his decision. Raising the rifle, he took aim at the head of the robot, and fired.
Just before the robot could fire it's weapon, the Mark 2 Lancer discharged it's deadly payload. Three bullets that were modified with an armor-piercing tip shot out of the muzzle and tore through the air towards the robot. Impacting the robot's head and neck, the bullets tore through the armor plating with ease, before tumbling end over end, causing massive damage to the machine's head and neck.
The head of the robot promptly exploded, showering the area with shattered electronic components and pieces of armor plating. A white fluid, similar in color to that of milk, showered the area as well, splattering the woman, as well as the two robots. The two robots began looking for the source of their comrade's death, though it wasn't long before they were under attack too.
Carmine, having readied his Torque Bow as soon as Marcus fired his weapon, released the trigger, allowing the primitive railgun inside of the chamber to launch the explosive dart out at high velocity. It impacted the first of the two white robots in the upper chest, the bolt deploying the barbs that allowed it to remain embedded inside of any target it it. An instant later, the bolt detonated, tearing an ugly hole into the robot's chassis, while the shrapnel from the detonation scrambled any electronics inside.
The second robot, now alerted to the presence of a second attacker, raised it's rifle to fire, only for it's chest to be perforated by three more bullets from the first attackers rifle. It too fell down, with the robot watching as it's attacker, a human being in armor of strange design, walked over to it. Just as it's ocular sensor's shutter clicked once, the human raised his booted foot and, with the force of a heavyweight boxer, stomped on it's head. Despite being quite strong, the force of the blow, combined with the heavy, but sturdy, construction of the boot, meant that the robot's head was crushed by the blow.
"Eat boot," Marcus grunted as he curb-stomped the robot's head, smashing the delicate components inside. With the immediate threat dealt with, he turned towards the woman, who was looking at him with widened eyes. Carmine, who followed behind him, was helping the woman to her feet.
"Up you come," the younger Gear said to the woman. "There you go. You're safe now."
"W-who are you?" The woman stammered, though it was undoubtedly clear that she was deeply relieved to be alive. "A-are you A-Alliance?"
"No," Marcus replied. "We just got here, but we're not whoever this Alliance is. You wounded?"
"N-no," the woman sighed, thankful for that at least. A moment later, her eyes widened before she began saying, "M-Morgan! Alexandria! They were near the colony when the Geth attacked!"
That caught Marcus' attention. "Are those robots the 'Geth?'"
"You don't know what those were?"
"No. I flunked history class." While that was a lie, it conveyed to the woman that Marcus was ignorant of what the Geth were.
"Some sort of robotic workforce the Quarians used before they rebelled." Looking at Marcus with pleading eyes, she asked, "You have to find my husband, Morgan! He was near the construction site when the Geth attacked! If you can find them, make sure they know I'm safe! Please!"
Hearing this, Marcus took a moment to consider her words. If they did as she asked, they could gain some rep, but more importantly guarantee that the woman's family could survive. After a momentary shake of his head, he said, "Alright. We'll find your family."
"Oh, thank you!" The woman half-sobbed, half-gasped with joy. "Morgan's got black colored hair and skin, and green eyes. If you can find him, I'd be deeply grateful!"
With that, Marcus keyed his earpiece. To his relief, it worked perfectly. "Cole, Baird, we've got a civilian here. Those robots we found are called 'Geth.' Apparently, they were a workforce for some faction called the 'Quarians', but they eventually rebelled and went their own way."
"Did the woman ask for anything?" Baird asked.
"Yeah. She said her husband and kids were near a construction site. Keep an eye out for a black man with green eyes. Understood?"
"Copy that," Cole replied. "We'll keep an eye out."
Cutting the TACCOM call, he turned to Carmine and said, "Carmine, let's move."
"Will she be fine?" Carmine asked. "She isn't a soldier."
"She'll be fine," Marcus nodded. "She'll know better now. Let's go."
. . .
Nihlus had to admit, this was, probably, the shittiest day that he'd ever had in his life. And it's getting worse, he thought. Geth are everywhere, civilians have been killed, and then there's that strange ship that was in the distress transmission we got from the planet we're at now. By the Spirits of Darkness and War, what is going on here?
Moving forwards, his train of thought was interrupted when he saw a silhouette of someone up ahead, though the momentary gust of smoke from a nearby fire obscured his vision. Taking cover, he looked down to make sure his rifle was ready, which it was. Starting a mental countdown, he waited for a few seconds, before standing up, the hardened Turian Spectre raising the rifle to his shoulder, while aiming down the sights of the weapon.
At that moment, a gust of wind brushed away the smoke, revealing that the silhouette was another Turian. While Nihlus could only see the back of that Turian, he saw the armor plating, as well as what appeared to be a prosthetic arm. There was only one Turian that he knew of, that had a prosthetic like that. Eyes widened, he said, "Saren?"
At that word, the new identified Saren turned around. In addition to the armor, which had a number of hoses going to various places, his face was visible. The hardened carapace was a silver color, while three horned crests, one on top and three to the sides, were fully visible. Both of Saren's eyes were a light blue color, which contrasted quite neatly with the dark blue color of his eyes' conjunctiva. His mandibles twitched, as though he'd been waiting for Nihlus to reveal himself. "Nihlus," he greeted as he came over to the younger Turian.
"This isn't your mission, Saren," Nihlus continued, confused. "What are you doing here?"
"The Council thought you could use your help on this one," Saren explained. He placed a reassuring hand on Nihlus' shoulder as he walked past him.
Relaxed, Nihlus lowered his weapon and gazed ahead. "I didn't expect to find the Geth here," he admitted. "The situation's bad."
"Don't worry," Saren replied, his voice quite cool and calm. "I've got it under control." That last part confused Nihlus.
He was about to turn when he heard a strange sound, like something was flying over. He was about to ask what that sound was when something slammed into him. The force of the blow was like another Turian had tackled him, causing him to awkwardly fall to the ground, with his right arm and talon barely moving in time to steady his fall. At the same time, a gunshot rang out, followed instantly by a metallic PING that echoed in the air.
Saren, for his part, was surprised, the pistol in his hand still aiming straight ahead. Just as he'd been about to fire, something had slammed into Nihlus, battering him aside, and protecting him from the bullet that he fired an instant later. That same bullet had hit something, before ricocheting harmlessly away into the sky. A moment later, the air shimmered, revealing what it was that had saved Nihlus.
It was a robot, but one that he had never seen before. Four sets of ocular sensors, which glowed a blue color, gazed directly at him. It's central chassis was shaped like an ovoid, and it had numerous metallic plates covering that central portion. Two armored motors and pauldrons contained what appeared to be a pair of arms, with one appearing to be a cutter, and the other looking like it was some kind of stun baton.
Saren decided that he'd rather not find out. Lashing out with a biotic throw, he sent the robot flying through the air, causing it to slam into a metallic crate, where it remained. Just as he aimed to fire at the robot, a loud percussive banging sound filled the air, which was preceded near instantly by yellow-white tracer rounds that zipped past his head. Taking cover, he peered out from behind the crate to see what was going on.
Up on the hill, he spotted a Human, but that wasn't what made the Human so odd. For one, the armor that the human wore looked bulky, but the way it gleamed indicated that it was made out of metal. For another, the weapon it fired, much to his surprise, was ejecting shells out of an ejection port in the rear of the rifle's stock, just above the pistol grip. The human had a goatee, and a piece of cloth covered his, as the Human was unmistakably male, head, while he fired at Saren with the precision that came from years of warfare.
Firing his own pistol, Saren watched as the bullets ricocheted off of the armor plating on the human's chest. Just then, he spotted a second Human, which wore similar armor plating, but wore an elaborately designed helmet that looked like a human face, save for the lack of a mouth, and a pair of blue eyepieces that gazed at him. Just as he pulled back into cover, Saren felt something slice open part of one of his horned crests. Moments later, he heard something impact, before an explosion rang out.
Disgruntled by this display of firepower, he lashed out with a biotic shockwave, which the first Human dodged by rolling sharply to the left. The other human, however, didn't have time to react, and was sent flying by the biotic attack. It was then that the first Human, having closed in, reached up and pulled on something on his rifle.
As soon as he did, Saren heard a loud, mechanical roar, while what he assumed had been decoration on the human's rifle, turned out to be teeth. Swinging a piece of metal he picked up, he blocked the human's downward blow, with whatever contraption was on the front end of the human's rifle catching. A moment later, a storm of sparks flew through the air, as the motorized blade, which Saren could see, began eating through the metal at a surprising rate of speed.
Reacting on instinct, and with more than a little panic, he lashed out with a biotic throw, which staggered the human long enough for Saren to begin his retreat. Just as he vaulted the railing, however, pain exploded in his right leg. Blood spurted out of an exit wound, while the bones in his leg shattered like glass. Landing on the leg, he howled in agony as he fell onto his side, before getting up and limping away, while the armor he wore kept the broken bones from breaking the skin.
. . .
Marcus had to admit, if someone told him that he'd be facing aliens that looked like what a bird and reptile would be if mixed together, he would've thought that person was hallucinating. As it was now, he found that the alien was something unlike any grub that he'd ever faced. For one thing, they never used some kind of strange energy to send Carmine flying, while staggering him back long enough to escape.
He'd only fired at the alien when he saw it attack Jack with that same strange energy. Since the robot was as much a member of Delta Squad as he and his friends were, it had indicated that the alien was less than friendly. Running up to Jack, he took a piece of metal that had fallen onto the bot and tossed it away. "JACK, you OK?" he asked.
The answer came when JACK floated into the air. A series of beeps, as well as ocular sensors rotating up, the JACK unit equivalent of a thumbs up, sent a wave of relief through him. A moment later, Carmine came down the slope, huffing slightly as he came to a stop.
"Sorry I couldn't come any sooner," he said apologetically. "That damn bird-lizard sent me flying. Was it some kind of new grub?"
"I don't know yet," Marucs replied. "Whatever it was, it was ugly as fuck. Where's Cole and Baird?"
"We're right here," came Baird's reply, with the man bounding down the hill. "I just saw the tail-end of that fight, Marcus."
"Me too," Cole beamed. "Whatever the hell that thing was, that was a new world record in ugly. Also, Marcus, we found the civie's family. They're safe and sound."
"And JACK's here," Baird beamed. "You OK, little guy? Where'd this dent come from?"
At that, they heard a series of growls, clicks, trills and growls coming from behind them. Turning around, weapons raised, the team found themselves looking at another 'bird-lizard', though this one was different from the first. Unlike the first, it's carapace was a dark color, and it's armor was black and red. Bright green eyes gazed at them with an intelligence that indicated sapience. It held it's hands up in an effort to show that it wanted no trouble, though the team didn't lower their weapons.
The lack of response that Marcus and the others gave indicated to it that they didn't know what it was saying. Marcus tensed slightly as the alien activated something on it's wrist, with an orange hologram appearing moments later. "Is that some kind of computer?" Baird asked.
"Looks like it," Carmine shrugged.
"Whatever it is, I just hope it ain't preparing to cook us on a spit," Cole frowned. "The Cole Train ain't edible."
A moment later, the alien made a few motions with it's talons, before it looked at them and began to talk. The sounds they heard earlier began to change, before moments later, the alien said, in a flanging, baritone voice, "Can you understand me?"
That had everyone's attention, with Marcus cocking an eyebrow. Cole, however, had his eyebrows go up, before he said, "Damn… I wish I had one o' those now! It's some useful fancy shit!"
"Who would've guessed that it's some kind of translator," Baird remarked. "Wish I had one of those. I'd have installed it into JACK by now."
Marcus, however, raised a hand, prompting everyone to fall silent. Turning to the alien, he said, "Yeah, I understand you. What are you? Some kind of new grub, or some new alien species?"
"I don't know what you mean by 'grub,'" the alien replied. "However, I can tell you what my species is. I'm a Turian, though my species hails from Palaven. The question is, who are you?"
Marcus was about to reply when he, spotting something behind the alien, snapped his rifle up, while roughly shoving the alien to the side. The Mark 2 Lancer roared, with bullets penetrating the chassis of a few Geth that were coming towards them. Turning to the others, he said, "We've got company! Baird, Cole, Carmine, take cover and take them out!" Turning to the alien, he said, "Baird would love to answer your questions, but right now, we've got some fuckers to take out. What's your name?"
"Nihlus," the alien replied. "Nihlus Kryik."
"Well, Nihlus, we're in for it now. Take cover and help us take these Geth out!" Normally, Nihlus would've argued, but the tone of the human's voice showed that he wasn't going to take no for an answer. In addition, his voice carried an authority that likely came from having led troops in war. As such, Nihlus nodded, before taking cover.
Just as he did, several more Geth came up a stairwell that was around a blind corner. As soon as they came into view, Marcus and the others opened fire, pelting the machines with bullets. "WOOOO!" Cole shouted as he blasted the head of a Geth that came towards them. "Come on, robot assholes! The Cole Train's here to turn all of ya into scrap metal! Pest control, bitches! We exterminatin'!"
Nihlus shook his head before firing on the Geth Troopers that were coming towards them. He'd heard of some humans that were quite exuberant in battle, but none were like this 'Cole' individual. Just then a Geth Trooper's head exploded, followed by Cole shouting, "That one's for the highlight reel!"
Marcus, on the other hand, was a silent dealer of death. Firing on a Geth Trooper, he scrambled the thing's internal components, before ducking down and pulling something out. To Nihlus, it resembled a large mace that was attached to a chain. He watched as the human in question threw the device towards the Geth. As soon as it landed, it detonated.
There was a large explosion, and an equally large puff of smoke, as the grenade detonated. Nihlus heard something whizz by his head as he took cover. When he peered over the lip of the crate, he could see numerous Geth lying on the ground, their chassis' ripped apart by the powerful explosion. Only a few Geth were left now, and it wasn't long before those were terminated. Nihlus, seeing that, realized that the object was a grenade, albeit an unusual looking one.
Rifle firing, Marcus dispatched the last Geth in the area before smoothly reloading his rifle. Turning around, he said, "All clear. Now it's time to talk to the Turian."
"Yeah," Baird sighed, his voice dripping with sarcasm. "Can't wait."
"Hey, it ain't no different from us," Cole said to Baird in an attempt to settle the younger man's nerves. "It's probably trying to get on by as best it can, same as us." Turning to Nihus, he said, "Baird's kinda like that, you know."
"I do," Nihlus nodded. "Also, I think your robot, JACK, saved my life. Saren was going to shoot me in the back of the head, but it shoved me out of the way."
"Don't know why JACK did that, but I'm just glad he's OK," Baird beamed. He patted JACK's chassis lovingly, to which the robot replied with a few beeps.
"Speaking of which, is it an AI?"
Baird, upon hearing that, realized he didn't have an answer ready. He was saved by the bell when they heard a voice call out, "Nihlus!" Turning around, the others found a trio of human beings walking towards them. While most of their identifying features were hidden by helmets, their faces were fully visible.
Well, here we go, Marcus thought as the first of the trio, a male with a red stripe down his otherwise black armor, approached them. Hopefully, they'll be reasonable, though I'm not holding my breath there.