Interloper Rewrite: Chapter 14

The Chase

The bright flash of Geth particle weapons lit the dull teal dusk of the planet Antibaar, drawing searing lines of blue flame through the volatile mix of hydrocarbons that made up its low lying and frosty clouds. The trails clawed at our heels and tall columns of billowing steam leapt up as impacts marched ever closer to our retreating forms. The pursuing drones were getting their networked eye in. Once again the deep thrum of one of the sniper rifles sounded off to the left, this time rewarded by the crash and explosion of one of our attackers. I didn't dare turn to look; every ounce of my flagging concentration was centered on putting one foot in front of the other as quickly as possible. The ridge we were making for didn't seem to be getting any closer.

"Get down!" Kaidan called over the squad network. Ahead of me, one of the black clad marines through themselves to the ground and rolled behind one of the narrow-necked pinnacles of rock that we had been threading through. I matched their motion and huffed as the frost rimed stone of the ground came up to meet me. The Geth were right at my heels, sparking rounds off the kinetic barriers protecting my booted feet. I clawed myself to the side and rolled behind my own little rock shelter. Around me, the sounds of the rest of the squad returning fire joined the cacophony of our pursuer's weapons. That and the teeth rattling high pitched whine of the Geth drones' engines. The drones overflew us at breakneck speed, passing mere feet over our heads. They dropped down as they flew, hugging the frozen ground and immediately making sharp turns to once again put us under their guns. They would not get the chance.

My rifle came up and tracked the nearest one, a bright blue burst and the chainsaw snarl of outbound tungsten stitched the drone with fire and sent it rolling over sideways. It dropped to the ground and went pin wheeling away into the stony plain beyond. More deadly streamers reached out from positions to my left and right and punched our enemies from the sky, one after another. The last drone took a single shot through the underside and lazily sank to the ground before exploding.

"Nice shot, Garrus," Kaidan said with a sigh. "Sound off, anyone hit."

"Forrest here, I took a hit from that last one. Just a crease though, it'll buff out." The scout sniper shuffled at my right. The telltale hiss of medigel application underlined the status update. I moved to send my own message when another sound locked me frozen in place. A low thumping that shook the loose pebbles that nestled in the frosty crust. The slow, grinding whirr of massive mechanical legs that preceded them. The deep throated warble. A Colossus.

"Move!" the command came from somewhere, I did not know where, but it reached in and captured my subconscious and I was up and running before I even realized that I'd heard the shouted word. The first siege pulse arced overhead, and I spared a single breath to utter a beleaguered 'How did I end up here?'


I looked up at the swish of the medbay doors. Jenkins peeked in, casting his eyes around as if looking for someone.

"Doctor Chakwas is up on the bridge," I guessed at his purpose, "something about triple checking the requisition forms for those triage supplies." I dropped the datapad with the loaded map of the Armstrong Cluster on the side table. "You here to break me out of here?"

"Something like that," Jenkins said, slipping into the room and letting the doors close behind him. His nervous demeanor immediately grew more relaxed as they drew closed. He let out a long drawn out breath. "Wow, you can barely hear them rearranging the cargo hold from here."

"You say that now, but once the new marines we picked up get off their break it's going to sound like a stampede, even up here. Speaking of, aren't you supposed to be laying in munitions or stowing rations or something? You're not in here hiding from the work detail, are you?"

Jenkins shot me a sly grin. "If you tell anyone, I'll get the Chief to run you through another readiness assessment; don't think I won't just because you're my buddy." The corporal crossed the room and dropped himself down into a nearby chair. "Besides, most of the heavy lifting is done. Those new guys are really pulling their weight, unlike someone I know."

I raised my hands in mock surrender. "Anything but another readiness assessment, please. I won't tell anyone about your nefarious malingering. And don't you think I'd prefer to be pitching in? Our tyrant of a doctor has me trapped in here no matter how many of those tests I pass." I looked up to find Jenkins looking a little uncomfortable.

"Well, you know, to be fair she did just get done taking your brain apart and putting it back together. That's not something they just let you walk off and go back to shifting crates." He clapped me on the shoulder. "Don't worry though; I have it on good authority that you won't have to sit out the upcoming campaign."

"As long as it gets me out of this medbay," I replied, "speaking of which, didn't you say something about breaking me out of here?"

"Oh, yeah, I guess it's about time by now. Follow me." The man jumped up out of the chair with more energy than I'd seen from him since dust off on Feros. "Come on, we need to get you to the cargo bay."

"We do?" I asked as I slipped off the medical bed that had been my home for far too many days. Jenkins went ahead, peeking out into the mess hall as if searching for sentries. He led me out and across to the elevator without responding. I followed, pausing only to scoop up the dark sunglasses I still had to wear out of the dimmed lights of the medbay. "Rick, what's going on?"

"You'll see, now shush, you don't want Chakwas to catch you, do you?" The elevator rose slowly to our level. Jenkins jabbed the down button as soon as we climbed aboard. A nervous feeling coiled in my stomach at my usually talkative friend's silence, at the mystery waiting for us in the belly of the Normandy. A strange warbling noise rose up the shaft towards us, distorted by the elevator floor. Beside, me, Jenkins was giddy, almost vibrating as if the effort of keeping the secret was tearing him apart.

The elevator shuddered to a stop and the doors ground open to reveal a scene that left my jaw on the floor. The cargo bay had been piled to the rafters on both sides with high mountains of stacked crates, save for a narrow parking spot for the Mako. That was expected, the marines had been loading supplies for the offensive for days. In the narrow avenue between the packed ordinance, rations, and other war-making paraphernalia, colored lights lit an honest to goodness dancefloor. Pockets of crew, red cups in hand, moved in rhythm to the music that had been disguised by the elevator doors. Beyond the dancing spacers and soldiers, rows of chairs faced a projection screen that had been slung up to cover the Normandy's ramp.

A few marines looked up to the sound of the opening doors and raised their cups to us. Jenkins clapped me on the back and suddenly I was amongst them. A drink was pressed into my hand that carried an oily smell and burned on the way down. The marines laughed uproariously as I hacked and spluttered.

"Jenkins, you snuck me out of the medbay to go to a party?" I asked incredulously.

"Well of course," Jenkins replied, as if it was perfectly normal for a frat party to break out in the bowls of the frigate. A drink had appeared in his hand too. "Captain Anderson always used to throw a big steel beach picnic before he took his ship on a big campaign. Guess the Commander is continuing the tradition. Come on, a couple of the guys are saving seats for the movie. I hear they got The Moons of Palavan!"

I was led past dancing crewmen, marines hunched over card tables, and an actual fuel fired barbeque grill and over to a small cluster of familiar faces towards the front of the rows of seats. Steiner, Dubyansky, and Tali waved us over with smiles and more drinks. It was a while before the music echoing through the bay drifted away and the rest of the crew drifted towards the seating. Shepard herself wrestled with the projector to get the thing running. The movie itself was fun, mindless shoot 'em up, picked for the ground pounders. It was apparently a common favorite for the marines, who sang along with the soundtrack and sporadically quoted half-remembered lines. For my part, I simply relished the lack of headaches, despite the best efforts of my very strong drink.

The night wore on, the movie wrapped up, and the music started again, more quietly this time. The lights remained low as food was passed around. I found myself drifting to one of the small card tables. My friends and I huddled over our hands, betting over a steadily diminishing hoard of meat skewers and ration dessert packs.

"It's going to be a long fight," Dubyansky commented in his trademark taciturn fashion, "we begin damage control drills tomorrow morning and we will until the last Geth falls. The Commander is expecting ship to ship combat, I think, despite what our orders say about us being exclusively a recon element."

"I give the Geth a week," I said, tossing a card into the middle. My spirits were buoyed by the contents of my cup and my limbs felt wrapped in a comfortable numbness.

"Bullshit, they've got at least a month." Steiner threw down a card and swept up the pile and a fair portion of the remaining treats. "Command says they've already fortified these outposts. They'll be tough nuts to crack, and make no mistake."

"I give them two days now that the Commander's on the case," Jenkins broke in boisterously. He was the only one at the table who'd been hit harder by his drink than I had. He drew a card from the deck, accidentally flashing us the face value. Steiner grinned wolfishly.

"Oh look, Jenkins thinks he's an admiral now! Tell us, Rick, how your mastery of strategy will turn the Commander into a fleet of dreadnaughts that will sweep aside the Geth?"

Jenkins blushed furiously and made spluttering noises towards passing his turn.

"I'll just be happy to take a few of them down," Tali said wistfully. She folded her own hand and dropped it to the table. "I should get some rest. I'll see you all in the morning? Breakfast again, Alexei?" She shifted to rise at his terse nod. "Michael, do you have a second. There's just something I want to square away before turning in."

"Yeah, sure," I said, slowly working my way to my feet. The floor wasn't particularly stable around the card table and I had to steady myself before moving to follow the younger Quarian. That earned me some gentle ribbing. I stumbled a short distance away to where Tali was waiting. "What's up?"

"I don't know, are you ready to tell me about that program you had me rig up?" The trap was sprung and suddenly I was stone cold sober. This was something I'd been trying to put off for as long as possible. Not that I blamed Tali for wanting to know more, I had asked her to keep a pretty big secrets, and secrets, as it turned out, were a real headache to keep.

"I suppose you deserve to know the truth. You know that Admiral, Kahoku? He was the one I warned." I admitted.

"I suspected you had something to do with that. You ask to send a message to an Alliance admiral, and only a short time later one vanishes. What did you tell him?"

"I only wanted to warn him that the connection might put him in danger if he tried to investigate. He must have assumed it was a threat. I didn't expect him to just up and vanish with his flotilla." The flotilla that still hadn't been found if the news reports were to be believed. The closest lead anyone had was a sighting of a small group of Alliance ships that had ignored hails and fled in the Voyager Cluster.

"That's it? You sent a warning and he ran off with his fleet?" Tali's eye lights narrowed and she placed her hands on her hips.

"I don't know, Tali. If I did I would tell you, honest."

"Alright, fine," she said, apparently relenting, "Have you told Shepard about this yet?"

"No," I admitted, "I was a little busy being comatose. I'll tell her after this campaign, I promise."

"You better. Now, I'm going to bed." She turned with a flourish, pausing only to look over her shoulder before bouncing onto the elevator. "And Michael, I'm glad you're okay."


"Transitioning in 5…4…3…2…1." The flash of light that accompanied a mass relay transition gave way to inky blackness. "Heat sinks engaged, switching to passive sensors only, we are dark Commander. I'm catching a little fuzz on the comms. Antenna, might want to have someone from engineering take a look at that."

"Alright Joker, plot a course to Antibaar. Liddle, head to the meeting room." Commander Shepard walked beside me as we headed back through the ship. The rest of the team was already assembled. "Kaidan, bring up the map." The biotic moved to the screen in the back of the room. The Armstrong Nebula was brought up and magnified. "This is the extent of the Geth incursion, we've spotted four outposts; here, in the Tereshkova system, and in the Hong, Gagarin, and Vamshi systems. We have been tasked to scout out the Geth positions for the 109th based off of the troopship SSV Valley Forge and its escorts, SSV Canary Wharf and SSV Tannhauser Gate."

"We're working with the Roughnecks?" Ashley asked.

"You're thinking of the 118th, the 109th is Lt. Gorman's unit," Kaidan corrected. Ashley made a dismissive noise.

"As I was saying," Commander Shepard interjected, "our mission is primarily recon. We'll move in with stealth systems engaged, do some aerial reconnaissance, and then land a small ground team to infiltrate and mark targets of opportunity for the marines. Kaidan, I want your two best snipers for the ground team. You'll lead them, Liddle's going to be your second in command and take Garrus along for support."

"Commander, shouldn't I be on the ground team? And Liddle?" Ashley asked, a little angrily. "No offense, ma'am, but what leadership experience does Liddle have?"

"I, um, made Eagle Scout…"

"Eagle Scout? I've heard of them. Earth's elite paramilitary unit. You're more impressive than you look." Garrus chuckled.

"The Chief is right though, she should be on point for this mission, not me," I said.

"I need Williams to lead the rescue squad if things turn south, and you'll only need to take over if Kaidan takes a hit. Think of it as on the ground training and observation."

"I feel honored, Commander." Was all I could say.

"Earn it then. Everyone, grab your gear and start final preparations. Dismissed."

I left the meeting in a blur. Second in command on a ground mission. Me, who hadn't lead anyone in anything more complicated than a camping trip or construction project. Apparently I had Commander Shepard's 'eye for talent' to thank for that, though I wasn't quite ready to believe that. Either way, I had no option but to prepare. I almost ran over to one of the Normandy's extranet terminals. The ship should still be in range of the relay and its link to the galactic information network. I needed to prepare, and that meant adding to the growing folder of Omni-tool programs. I tried desperately to remember this mission from the game. I remembered just dropping in with a Mako and blasting everything. That certainly would have been easier than trying to sneak in. And wasn't there a colossus waiting for us down there? I wracked my brain for ways to beat the largest of the Geth constructs. Eventually I downloaded a flashbang program for my Omni-tool. It was no tactical cloak, but perhaps a bright enough light would blind the walking tank for long enough to do some damage.

"Doing alright, Deputy?"

I near jumped out of my skin at Kaidan's quietly asked question. The shorter man leaned against the bulkhead across from my terminal. I resisted the reflexive urge to salute. The biotic smiled warmly.

"Kaidan. I mean, Lieutenant. Yes, I'm feeling much better, sir. Thank you again for the glasses tip, I don't know if I would have been able to crawl out of bed without them." The console trilled behind me, the alert that the file download was complete.

"You're more than welcome," Kaidan replied, "I know what it's like to feel like your head's about to pop. Took me a whole month to start walking around after I had my implants put in. You look ready to go, though. It's good to know they've fine-tuned the surgery since then."

"I got lucky, I guess. If it weren't for Doctor Chakwas and Doctor Michel..."

"I hear you." Alenko nodded gravely, the smile slipping somewhat. "So, we're going to be working together down on Antibaar. You nervous?"

"Is it that obvious?" I laughed, not quite confidently. "I guess I'm just not sure that I'm the guy you want to put in charge of anything, especially not a recon mission." I shrugged. Ashley's reaction to my appointment still rang in my ears. Kaidan nodded his understanding and motioned for me to join him at the nearest mess table.

"I get that. Hell, I was so nervous for my first detached command I almost forgot to seal my helmet. You don't want to do that on Antibaar, methane atmosphere." He chuckled. "But seriously, I wouldn't stress it. No offense, but I'm personally hoping you don't have to take charge at all, you being my second in command and all. But even if you do, Commander Shepard picked you for a reason. She has an eye for talent, you know."

"So I'm told," I replied, trying not to think back to my conversation with Captain Anderson. "So, I guess we have a while to come up with a plan for this recon?"

"My thoughts exactly." Kaidan pulled up his omni-tool, spilling light over the surface of the table in a 2D projection. "Here's the info that I have..."


The thick layer of frost that covered the planet Antibaar crunched under black booted feet as I joined the four men who'd descended the Normandy's ramp ahead of me. Kaidan and the two marines he'd picked for the mission spread out with the mechanical precision of clockwork soldiers, their long-barreled rifles swept the dim turquoise light of the alien dawn, short bursts of coded clicking past back and forth to signal their quadrants clear. I sent my own double click and hefted my Lancer to cover the rear. Garrus came down the ramp last, slotting in beside me. The Normandy loomed large and shark-like in the cloudy air that billowed around it like turbid water as the ion jetwash stirred the still morning. With Kaidan's final transmission of "Go for recon," the deadly finned shape lifted on a bubble of lowered gravity and disappeared into the soupy hydrocarbon fog, leaving yellow-blue flares as a particularly dense pocket caught alight. At Kaidan's signal, the squad moved forward, black against the dark stone of the frost pocked shallow valley we'd been dropped in.

The freezing plain rolled out before us; the gentle hills strewn with boulders rose to either side. My eyes flicked to the small HUD at the lower corner of my helmet; the Geth outpost should be just above the rise to the north, some few miles away. The brow of the ridge glowered down at us; the stony protrusions black in the blue light. It would be a relatively rough hike over the icy ground, especially laden as we were with radio gear and high-powered spotting scopes. At my back, the heavy weight of the shotgun I'd rescued from the quartermaster's clutches as "legitimate salvage" rested on magnetic anchors. The slightly higher than g gravity tugged at my footsteps as we picked our way forward. Not for the last time, I sorely missed the seat of the Mako.

The sun rose low in the sky as we marched our way up the high ridge of stone. If the Geth were here, they weren't making themselves known in the valleys outside of their base. The stony rills of the rise were bare of enemy patrols as we made our ascent. It wasn't until we peeked our heads over the very top of the hill that we got our first view of the outpost. It was a squat structure, three bulbous lobes around a central ring-like middle, a mechanical carnivorous plant hunched within a crown of watchtowers. The compound looked empty from our distant perch, nothing moved within the ring.

"Try not to break the silhouette of the ridge," Kaidan prodded me gently, "Forrest, Gorski, set up in that hollow there, Liddle, help me set up the scopes. Garrus, keep an eye on the way we came, I don't want anyone coming up behind us." With relish, I shrugged off the heavy pack filled with spy gear and between us we heaved it up onto short legged tripods. With the last piece, a whip-like uplink antenna, installed, our watch began. The day passed, the outpost remained dormant, and the light grew dim again.

"Looks like nobody's home," I said over the vile tube rations we'd been shipped in with. "Which leaves the question of what this thing is doing here."

"Well, given the amount of various ores in the region, I'd guess that it's some kind of forward positioned automated mines. Dig stuff up, refine it, use it to repair combat platfroms." The larger scout sniper, Forrest, opined. He tossed a small scrap of the blackish rock up and down as he dragged on his own rations. "That roof looks like it opens up, it's probably capping a deep shaft mine. My dad used to run an operation like that out in the Sol belt."

"We'll send up an update, then move in for a closer look," Kaidan said, "Liddle, fire up the narrow beam."

"Aye aye." I jettisoned the ration and scrabbled over to the uplink. The blocky box and its antenna took seconds to align with where the Normandy was supposed to be. "Establishing connection now, do we have…" My question was cut off by a sharp shriek and burst of static that ripped through our suit radios. "What the hell was that?"

"LT, we've got movement," Gorski reported. He kept his rifle pointed at the far off installation. "Looks like it's, opening…"

"What?" Kaidan shouted. We all ran to join the sniper. Across the stony plain, the Geth Outpost was indeed in the process of opening up, the roof of the central structure lifting upwards in segments like petals of a flower. A purple-grey haze seemed to float out of the yawning hole and bob up on an invisible breeze.

"Is that smoke?" I asked, nervously reaching for my rifle.

"Worse, drones. We need to get out of here, now!" Kaidan barked. He slapped the recall button on the radio uplink. "Leave the gear, start moving!" Already, the smoke-like cloud of Geth drones was becoming more granular as it hurried towards us through the teal tinted murk. Flashes of light lit the malevolent cloud. Bright, firefly trails of incoming rounds reached out towards us, striking at the ridge around us and sending up thin, silvery metallic clouds that settled over the rock. We fled without a second look as the sound of the drones filled the thin atmosphere with an angry hum. The ridge was behind us now, and we ran helter-skelter down scree and ice heaved gravel while glancing fire whickered and whirled overhead. It would not be long before the drones cleared the rise and we were under their guns again.

My breath was fire in my lungs as I focused all my might on keeping my legs pumping. The hills flattened out just as the Geth cleared the top and the hail of mass accelerator rounds was at our heels again. The weight of fire was lower than the storm that assailed us, but more accurate by far, the near misses becoming closer. The bright flash of Geth particle weapons lit the dull teal dusk of the planet Antibaar, drawing searing lines of blue flame through the volatile mix of hydrocarbons that made up its low lying and frosty clouds…

…we ran, the smoking husks of the pursuing Geth drones behind us and the Colossus rapidly gaining. The bright blue siege pulse slammed into our cover, obliterating the narrow rocky pinnacles. The ground shook as it raced forward to chase us. A spray leapt out from its head mounted machine guns to drive a deep furrow between me and Forrest. The stomping of the Geth construct shook the earth; my boots skated on a patch of ice and I was falling. My shoulder jarred roughly against the ground, knocking the air from my lungs. I lay stunned, my eyes fixed on the fuzzy sky. The Colossus was almost upon me, its clawed feet punching into the crust inches from my head. The bright firefly stream of its secondary weapon flickered out again and there was a pained yell over the radio. Slowly, I rolled myself over. The Colossus continued its march onwards, seeking another of my companions. I reached for the shotgun at my back. The weapon was frosted in place, stubbornly stuck in place. I looked up to see the fiery streamers reach out for Garrus, narrowly missing the jinking Turian. Past Garrus, the clouds shifted suddenly, cut aside. A sword pierced the dusk frost, thrown from the heavens. Its tip lit brilliantly with red fire. The colossus was briefly illuminated in a wash of blinding light, its silhouette wavering and bending. The Colossus exploded as the Normandy overflew it with a shrieking howl. Salvation had arrived.


The ship was quiet as we crawled back to the relay. The crew talked in hushed voices, as if speaking above a whisper would alert the Geth to our presence. While the ship had been designed to work behind enemy lines, the crew knew that the system worked better when the enemy wasn't actively looking for it.

I paced back and forth across the CIC. To be rendered almost useless so soon after being offered a leadership role was almost maddening.

"You're going to wear a hole in that deck if you're not careful," Shepard said.

"I know, I just…"

"You wish you could do more to help the situation? Believe me, we're all there. Get some rest; it's a long haul back to the relay."

I walked back through the ship, trying not to look at the strained faces of the crew. I managed a few bites in the mess hall before being enlisted to haul omni-gel up to the repair stations.

"Michael, I wondered if you had time to talk." Liara came up next to me as I rolled the last barrel into place.

"Sure, mind if I sit?" The two of us perched on top of a pile of crates. "Was there something you wanted to talk about?"

"I don't know, I, before your surgery… I want to apologize, it was selfish of me to demand so much from you."

"Hey, Shepard needed that data, especially if I didn't pull through. You only did what you had too." The words felt a little hollow, even to me. Liara had avoided speaking to me since we'd put in at the Citadel, and I was almost happy for it. It was hard to look her in the eye even as we sat together.

I'm glad that you're so understanding, but you must understand that my reasons were not entirely unselfish. Almost my entire life has been dedicated to researching the Protheans, and you just walk up to a beacon and download their entire culture."

"There was a little more than walking involved, and it still hurts to think about the images, even through the shroud they put in." I turned away from the archaeologist.

"I know it must seem petty, but I have spent two of your lifetimes to gain a fraction of a knowledge you possess. I thought about it a lot while you were on the Citadel, I shouldn't have put you in further danger. And then you came back, and I thought you wouldn't want to speak with me…"

"Liara, the state I was in back there, I can't fault you for wanting to preserve the knowledge. Don't beat yourself up about it."

"I will try. And if we escape the Geth, maybe we could talk again, I've missed our chats." The blue skinned woman looked at me hopefully.

"Yeah, I'd like that. Perhaps over lunch?" The ship shook again.

"Are we under attack?" Liara jumped off the crates and looked around.

"That one felt different, let's get to the bridge." We ran back to the front of the ship. Another tremor ran through the ship. The temperature was definitely higher than before.

"Commander, what's going on?" I asked. Joker was the one who answered.

"The IES is reaching capacity. If we don't vent our sinks soon, we'll fry the ship."

"And venting would make us a target?" Liara asked.

"It'd paint a damn spotlight on us." Shepard said, "And that's not our only problem. There's a Geth Cruiser parked on the relay."

"We can't fight our way past it?" I asked.

"The Normandy's a recon frigate, not a dreadnaught. In the amount of time it would take to dial up the relay, that cruiser would atomize us."

"Heat sinks at 98% capacity, Commander, how d'you want to play this." A hint of urgency tinged Joker's voice.

"Can we call for reinforcements?" the Commander asked.

"We'd need to fire up the comm. array, which would light us up anyway." The temperature was steadily climbing inside the ship's cockpit. "It's not going to matter in a minute, the fail-safes will vent automatically."

"We're going to have to fight them either way," Shepard said, "that cruiser's FTL will bring it into firing range almost instantly." The heat alarm chimed again, this time more urgently.

"Commander, I have an idea, but you're not going to like it," Joker said. He spoke quickly, eyes not leaving the instrumentation. "What if we use our FTL? Jump right on top of them. Now hear me out.."

Shepard cut him off. "Joker, you just told me that we couldn't take that thing on in a fight. How would jumping into them make it any better? We'd still be in brawling range, taking those hits."

"The Picard Maneuver," I murmured, recognizing the tactic. Commander Shepard rounded on me, eyes sharp but analytic. Her raised eyebrow was a question. "I mean, I think I see what he's going for. The Geth's sensors wouldn't be able to see us while we're at FTL, they'd essentially be blind as we made our approach."

"Exactly," Joker added, "It'll at least give us a chance to hit something vital on the way in, maybe tip the scales enough to let us knock them out before they get the big guns in line. Of course, we'll technically be blind too as we make our jump, but that cruiser's a stationary target. I line us up before we jump, we won't even need a firing solution."

"Can you do it?" Shepard asked, but she was nodding along.

"Commander, sometimes I think you forget who you're talking to." Joker jabbed at his console. "Setting up the approach." The ship gave a final shake. "Vent in process, Commander, what's the plan?"

"Do it. All hands, we are engaging the Geth, prepare for combat." She spoke the last sentence into the intercom.

"Course plotted, Commander, the Geth have spotted us and are moving to intercept."

"Hit them hard, Joker. We might just come out the other side of this." Joker punched a big red button on his console.

The star field outside the windows shifted into an aurora as the ship jumped to FTL. The shutters closed in preparation for the fight.

"You two should take a seat and strap in, if kinetics go down it's going to get rough in here." I strapped in at the empty console next to Liara.

"Here goes nothing." I said.

"Wait, I can tap into the ships sensor feed, at least we'll be able to see what's going on." Liara leaned in to get a better view of the keyboard. After a few taps the screen displayed a rippling line. "Our view is obscured by our wake; it should clear up after we drop out of FTL." The screen snapped into focus. The insectoid shape of the cruiser loomed in front of us. Sharp pinpricks of light spat out at it as Joker fired the missiles and the forward guns. The pilot danced the frigate around the cruiser's return fire, but at the extreme close range we began to take hits. The ship shook repeatedly as the barriers absorbed hit after hit.

"Joker!"

"I know!" Another hit. "Commander, its barriers are too strong!"

"Fire our disrupters, focus on the crease right there!" the ship loosed its warp effect torpedoes. On the screen each warhead bloomed as it impacted on the Geth ship. The ripples in space tore through a section of the cruiser's shields. "Hit them now, maybe we can get them to back off." Joker took the Normandy through a complex loop, hammering the weakened portion again and again.

"It's no good!" more fire spread itself across our barriers. In the CIC, a serviceman was thrown from his station as a conduit behind his station overloaded. A small fire broke out in the hallway leading to the bridge. I undid my straps and grabbed the extinguisher besides the chair. I hosed down the fire quickly. "Commander, the relay just activated!"

I turned in time to see the relay light up like a Christmas tree. Three ships came charging through the relay. Alliance ships. The split-wedge shaped frigates poured shots into the wounded cruiser. Bright flashes began to walk up its superstructure as barriers fell. The ship welted inwards and then exploded in a flash of white light. The Normandy gave a final shudder as something pinged off the hull. Something hard and sharp caught me in the chest and pitched me over.


Author's Note:

Here begins the Geth Incursion arc. It was the first major diversion from how the plot of Mass Effect 1 played out. It's one of my favorite parts of my original writing, which made it hard when it came to rewriting parts of it. Hopefully for the better, but I'll let you be the judge of that.

-Liddle Out