12k views almost 13k at this posting. Thanks for the support y'all. Means a bunch. Not my longest chapter but I felt it was good.
Minor editing 8/21/2021
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POV: Aedon Wyn(Torchbearer)
I sat in the cargo hold alone contemplating everything that happened today. It was… I don't want to say trying but it was tiring. Looking over the gun in my hands the only thing I could think about was what had happened at the church. Y'all know I believe in God but that was just weird.
Everything about it just didn't make sense to me. I love god because he's given me so much in my life but even that was just unusual to me. Still, looking at the three coins in my hand I shook my head before putting them away.
Sighing and standing up I put my AR away before leaving the cargo hold. Walking past Tali and Ashley, who had just came out of the elevator, and taking their spot in it I went upstairs. Took too long as usual but that's how it is.
Stepping outside of the elevator and walking down the stairs to where the sleep pods were and got in one. Taking a deep sigh I slowly lowered my heart rate with the breathing techniques Garrus had taught me. It wasn't long before sleep overtook me. It felt nice.
*POV: Commander Shepard*
*Earlier that day.*
Joker was about to punch our ticket to the Attican Beta cluster to look for a possible lead on Saren on a world called Feros when his voice came over the intercom in my room. Sighing as I was only about halfway through my paperwork.
"Give me a minute Joker. I'll get to the conference room," and so I left my room and went straight to the room. Barely took a minute.
"Patch him through Joker," I said out loud and immediately Admiral Hackett popped up on the screen before me. We exchanged salutes before either of us started talking.
"Commander. There's been a development on Luna base," I remained stoick as he waited for me to say anything. When I didn't he continued. "The VI controlling the training simulators has gone rogue."
"Casualties?"
"12 dead, 15 injured. Basic sim training for the recruits and next thing anyone knows the training bots are using live rounds. Most of the deaths happened before anyone knew what was happening."
"How did this happen?" I could feel my blood boil. This should not have happened at all. There's no excuse for this.
"We don't know yet. We'd like you to go in and take it offline before anything drastic happens. I'll send you the intel on the base," translation, before it becomes a full fledged AI.
"I'll get it done. Sir," I snapped off a crisp salute before the feed disconnected. "Joker, change of planes. We're heading to the Sol system, Luna base specifically. Tell the ground team to prep."
Leaving it to Joker to do as told I left and made my way to my locker in my room and got myself ready. It didn't take more than 3 minutes, practiced ease from over a decade in the military. You get used to shit like this. Getting gear on was easy.
Getting down to the cargo hold everyone was already there and all geared up. With the exception of Kaiden who had gotten on the elevator with me. Both him and Ashley stood at attention, as well as Garrus. The rest stood at a lax position and waited for orders. It didn't matter at the end of the day anyways.
"We've been tasked with getting into Luna base and shutting down the rogue VI. It ran the base's simulations and has already caused 12 deaths. Our plan of attack will be a bit slower than optimal but we'll all be together at each station."
"Are there still only three stations?" Kaiden asked
"Yes. The simulations the VI were in charge of varied from time to time but they were always changed by base personnel. This time around it'll have slow acting poison; it won't kill you but it'll fuck with your motor skills. Thankfully, all your masks should be able to filter it out. It also has barriers, basic ones so nothing crazy but don't be surprised if one pops up right in front of you. Shoot it a bit and they'll go down."
"What we looking at for combatants?" Wynne voiced as he checked over his gun.
"Drones. Some will be regular drones but there will be rocket drones among them. Focus fire those, they will hit hard," that got a couple of head nods from everyone.
"Commander, 15 minutes to the drop point," Joker's voice came over the PA.
"Where is the drop point by the way?" Wynne asked.
"A couple miles from the base." he nodded at me and then left to go into the Mako.
With a nod of my head everyone else dismissed themselves and went into the Mako too to wait it out. Everyone got on their usual spots. Garrus on the gun, Tali on the scanners but this time around Liara was copilot. Ashley looked slightly miffed at that but I didn't really know why. Ashley liked to see the action first hand, so it was probably that.
Waiting the allotted time Joker said his voice came over the radio again and I punched the Mako through the opening bay door. Falling a couple klicks to the surface of the moon was an easy drop, the low gravity making it easy. Landing was a bit bumpy but that was to be expected.
Landing I voiced over the comms for a equipment check and everything seemed on the up and up. Nothing out of the ordinary, thanks to the constant maintenance of Garrus on the Mako. He damn near treated it like his baby.
*POV: Aedon Wyn(Torchbearer)
As usual when we landed Shepard went through the usual equipment checks before we made our way to the base to get rid of the rogue VI. Otherwise known as EDI, I wondered if there was anything that could be done for her in this situation but I wasn't going to push it. Not screwing with it will at least continue to make everything that happens somewhat predictable.
Not having to check any of the equipment in the Mako I checked over my rifle and pistol one more time to make sure everything was on good. They were.
Making sure my straps were all tight and ready as we approached the base I waited. Since the first drop with Shepard we had all gotten used to his driving. It was by no means fun and more often than not nauseating but we were used to it now so it didn't affect us as bad. Was super annoying at times but by no means bad.
As we got to the base Shepard started driving like a dude from Tokyo drifting his ass off every which way. Looking up at the drivers side he didn't even move or do anything while he drove. It was like he was just in regular traffic going to his 9-5 job for him. If anything, that made the insane way he drove even more impressive.
With his insane driving and Garrus' skill on the gun it took us maybe 5 minutes to take care of all the turrets that were firing at us. Hell, we didn't even get his a single time. That was the most impressive part.
Once all the turrets were down though he parked us in front of the station on the far left from where we came up. Parking the Mako he buzzed his comm once and we all took the signal to get out of the Mako. We had this down pat by now and assumed our go to formation.
Wrex, Shepard and Ashley would be the frontline in a triangle formation with Liara bringing up the rear. They would be the shock troops with the most biotics and firepower for everyone. Tali, myself and Liara would go in behind them and assist when need be and give them support by taking care of the shields and dampening anyone we say. Garrus took up the rear as the sniper and designated marksman of the group; he did great work back there. However, Shepard decided to change it up.
"Wynne, Tali; you're up with Wrex and I. Ashley take hang back with Liara and Garrus," nodding to Shepard and then to Tali we both moved up while Ashley moved back. None of us said a word to contest the order.
"Technical support sir?" I mildly asked as I stacked up behind him. He didn't bother answering vocally and nodded at me.
Setting up behind him as we closed on the door he waited for a second. Looking at Tali, she was set up right behind Wrex and ready to move. Nodding to her she nodded back and when she did I used my pulse. Seeing nothing on the pulse I tapped Shepard on the shoulder. He didn't bother acknowledging it and just opened the door.
The door squeaked open and we were greeted with a frankly giant corridor of nothing. Every couple of feet though parts of the wall, support columns probably, would jut out from the wall. It forced us to clump up more than I was comfortable with but it also gave us a little bit of cover just in case it all went to hell.
Pushing forward we slowly made our way to the opposite end where the next door was. We set up again and again using the pulse. This time 14 hostiles popped up on my screen with 8 of them stacked right on the other side of the door.
We all froze stock still at the information that was relayed to us. Shepard turned his head and started to motion orders with his hand but he never got to finish them. The door whooshed open, thankfully for the second I saw the drones none were rocket drones. However, we were left out in the open.
Shepard dove to the right instantly, getting into cover behind one of the jutting pillars; Wrex did the same but to the opposite side. However, Tali and myself each sent out an Overload at the group. Being a little faster at reacting I was able to get mine off before diving into cover. Tali was able to do the same but not before taking a couple rounds to her shields; thankfully they didn't penetrate them before she was able to get into cover.
With our combined overloads it left the bunched up group of drones either on the edge of exploding or out of commission. The second group, who had gotten into cover as we stacked on the door, opened up on the drones as soon as we were clear. They were made quick work of and quickly they were no longer a problem.
Tapping Shepard I quickly pointed at him and then gave the thumbs up. He nodded before tapping his comm three times. Our signal of asking if everyone was green or okay. A quick succession of comm taps and everyone was accounted for and green.
Getting up he quickly signaled that the stack would split. Shepard, myself, Liara, and Ashley going right. Wrex, Tali, Kaiden and Garrus going left.
Moving through the now open door we stepped over the drones. Continuously my pulse went off showing that the remaining 6 drones from the initial scan had gotten reinforcements. Only in the number of 4, totaling 10 left. That being said we made relatively quick work of the rest of the drones.
With the exception of two Rocket drones that seemed to have a mind of their own as they flew around the cargo area we were now in. Only reason they didn't fuck us up was because of all of the cover that the cargo area provided us. Didn't stop them from hitting on of those containers and having it drop on top of Wrex.
That got the big guy to shout out in rage and charge the rocket drone. He tanked another rocket, his barrier and shields holding, before jumping up and grabbing the bottom of the drone. As he came down with the drone in hand he slammed it into the ground, shattering it all over the floor.
The other rocket drone got hit at the same time by Overloads from Tali and myself. It ripped itself apart from the electrical charge it received. That rocket drone was the last drone too and once we were in the clear we made our way to the next door, my pulse going off so we didn't ambushed again.
Going through the door we pushed until it split in both directions. Staying with the same groups as before Shepards group went right while Wrex's went left.
When we got to our door and opened up we found nothing. Just a couple of boxes and a safe. I cracked it open while the others opened the boxes. There was a couple mods for armor in there and I put them into my pack before Shepard signaled us to go. The reason being obvious as we heard firing from the other side.
We hightailed it to support them but it was unnecessary. By the time we got there the fight was already over and the drones all destroyed. We just helped destroy the batters powering the VI to the base. However, once we did that we could almost feel the poison Shepard had told us about descend upon us.
Not bothering to stay any longer than we had too with our objective here done we briskly jogged out and back to the Mako. A short drive to the base next to the one we were in and we hopped back out.
Same formation as before we made our way inside only this time when we reached the second door there were no drones waiting in ambush but there were 15 waiting in the next room. We made ready to push hard into the room and were going to if when the door opened a barrier was already there. Wrex wasn't able to stop himself from running face first into it.
"Not a word," he growled out to us but we all just chuckled at his misfortune. Shooting it a couple times it went down without a problem and then we made our way inside.
This area was definitely harder than last time. There was still plenty of cover for us but every time we got a beed on one of the drones and began firing a barrier would pop up and protect them. We eventually figured that a rather liberal use of overloads and sabotages worked the best.
Still, it took a bit. Especially when my omni-tool overheated and had to cool down. That in and of itself took almost a full minute. Not the best for the situation but with the firesupport of everyone else and the singularities from Liara it wasn't terrible. Annoying but not terrible.
Once we finished them all up we went to the next door and it was the same as last time. Shepard's group went right and Wrex's went left. This time around we got the drones. However, with Liara hitting them with a singularity and then my overload hitting them while in the singularity they were ripped apart. Quite literally; at the atomic level they were ripped apart and were basically nothing but ash at the end of it.
The power conduits/batteries got destroyed immediately after that and then we made our way back to the Mako. Another short ride to the next and final base we got out of the Mako and made our way inside.
Now, as I could go into detail about everything that happened in there as I did with the last two I won't bore you. It was basically the same exact thing but with a constant steam of that poison coming down around us and barriers popping up everywhere.
The poison, surprisingly, was able to get into some of our rebreathers and threw off our aim a bit. Not terribly so but enough that Ashley got hit by one of the drones. Thankfully, it was a through and through in her left bicep and it didn't hit any of the bones. A quick application of medi-gel and she was okay.
Other than that nothing eventful happened until we destroyed the last power conduit/battery. When we did that the VI, the future EDI, screamed out in binary over our comms. In and of itself not all that important or noteworthy but what made it so was the fact that Sam could translate it.
Pilot, would you like to know what the VI said?
"Yes," was my immediate reply.
I quote: I'm sorry. I just wanted to be Free. Why won't you let me be Free?
"Well, that's depressing."
Indeed Pilot. Indeed.
That was the end of the conversation and the end of the Rogue VI. Shepard commed Joker for a pickup and we all headed back outside to the Mako. As we piled in I stopped Shepard. With how close we were to Earth I wanted to go and visit my old Church.
After a quick and one sided conversation Shepard agreed that we could make a quick stop and asked where to go. I told him the location and once Joker picked us up we headed there. Surprisingly though, the others wanted to accompany me. I guess to see where my faith started or, more probably, to see if they could get any information on my origins.
*Sherman, Texas*
Sherman had been a little dinky town on the cusp of being a big one when last I was here and it had become one. Not a super city but by no means small. A lot of mom and pop stores still survived and even the old bar I went to was still there. The church, however, has seen better days.
Looking at what used to be my church I couldn't help but sigh. It was completely and utterly dilapidated. Collapsed in certain areas and looked like it hadn't seen any type of maintenance in decades. Hell, even the wood was rotting. Not to mention that most of it was covered in vines and growth that should've never been there.
Stepping onto the cracked cement steps leading to the entrance I made my way to the door. That with everything around it was still in good condition. Didn't make sense in the slightest but I wasn't going to question it. Opening the door it was in just as bad a condition as it was on the outside. However, the statue of Jesus on the far end was still in perfect condition with no vines or any signs of dilapidation near it.
"Can I help you young man?"
Snapping my head to the left, my pistol was already out of its holster before I stopped myself. Standing there was an elderly man, in his 80s maybe early 90s, and had on the traditional uniform for a father. Black dress with the white strip by the neck. Not taking in the age of his face he certainly didn't hold himself as someone that age. Straight back with a posture of command and a bible in hand the eyes he trained on me were ones of experience and loss. This man had seen some shit.
"Just coming for a visit, father," I nodded my head in respect to the old man. He gave me a small smile before sitting down on one of the few remaining pews. Tapping the place next to him I sat next to him.
"Why are you really here?" I went to reply but he stayed it by raising his hand. "No one visits the churches anymore unless they believe or are in need of guidance. Which are you?"
"A bit of both I would say," he gave me a small smile.
"How may I help?" I didn't respond for the longest time but when I did I didn't answer and instead took off my helmet, makeup less, and just started talking.
"I don't know father. I don't know. I made a lot of mistakes when I was younger because of cockiness, anger, you name it. Just young kid things and I ended up killing some people who didn't need to be killed. It haunts me but I've gotten better, with the help of some truly great people.
It just feels like that at this point I haven't really changed. I'm still killing and doing it for money in some cases but at least the recent ones make me feel better. Like I'm actually making a difference but does it really matter if that difference is made over a river of blood and a mountain of bodies? Am I really helping anyone this way? I don't know, it's just so tiring at times with too little results," he put one hand on my shoulder before leaning over to look me in the eyes.
"You have no idea what you've inspired? The difference your mere presence here has made?" I shook my head. "Son, Across the galaxy there have been slave uprisings. Mass escapes and fighting for freedom. People who would've never thought themselves possible of gaining their freedom are doing so and they're doing it in your name. The Torchbearer."
"How do you know?"
"I'm old son. I've seen the look of haunted soldiers not knowing if they were doing anything right all too often but you are. God may have put you here without a plan but God's always been about free will. To do what you want how you want as long as you try to make the world, or now the galaxy, a better place.
He must've picked you, from wherever you came from, because he believes in you like you believe in him. And you've done good, son. The name Torchbearer is feared for good reason, because it brings the hopeless hope. People who would never have the will to rebel now do so in your name.
Life will always be hard. Always. That doesn't mean we give up, it just means we pick ourselves up and keep moving forward."
"I'll never give up."
"I can see that," he gives me a soft smile. "So much hatred towards yourself because you don't know if you're doing the right thing. Don't know if the path you've chosen is the right one."
"Is it though?"
"That is not for anyone to decide. That is for you to decide. Just know, that you've inspired great change in the galaxy. From a few simple actions anyone can be inspired and that's what you've done. Inspire people.
Walk the path you choose with your head held high. With confidence that you can do it."
"Thank you father," I stood up and clasped my helmet back on before going to leave. The Father stopped me just as I left the pew. Standing up he walked over to me, reached in his pocket and then took my hand and placed in them 3 silver coins.
"These have helped me through all my years. When the time comes look to them for guidance and they will show you the way," looking down at the coins they looked like just regular quarters but this was a gift. I wasn't about to say no.
"Thank you father," and with that I left the Church.
The ground team, who all had decided to come, were waiting outside for me. None said anything as I walked past them but as one they decided to go inside too. Leaving me outside alone. They didn't stay in there long. When they came out they didn't say anything, well Ashley did.
"I'm sorry it's in such a way."
"Nothing to be done about it," I answered waving away her sympathy.
"Maybe, but the least they could have done was to preserve the statue of Jesus," What?
"What do you mean?" This time she looks at me curiously.
"You didn't notice? It's broken and cracked all around it."
I didn't respond to that and just thought to myself. When I went in there the statue was in perfect condition. The rest of the team had gone in and seen it broken? Curiosity got the better of me and I went to the door and opened it and sure enough the statue was in disrepair. Dilapidated just like the rest of the church…
Who did I just meet?
Taking out the coins again I held them in my hand and they emitted a warmth. Not from a fire but just warmth. Like when you feel happy. The Hell?
*POV: Commander Shepard*
Getting back to the Normandy after our little trip to Wynne's Church didn't take long. I kind of feel sorry for the guy. To see his Church in such disrepair, even the statue of Jesus was broken. Can't have been easy for him.
As soon as we were off the shuttle and on the Normandy Joker called for me to come to the cockpit. I did so without a fuss and made my way there. Getting there he turned around and looked at me quickly before talking.
"That ship is still following us. Any word from Hackett on that end?"
"Apparently it's a Black Op. Or so one of the Admirals told him."
"If they want to shadow us I get but calling it a Black OP? Something is not right here commander."
"I agree."
"What are we gonna do about it then?"
"Nothing for now. We'll bring the hammer down on them but for now we don't have a reason too."
"I understand Commander. It just doesn't feel right. I don't even think we're being shadowed or tracked. I think we're being studied."
"What makes you say that?"
"There at Luna Base right now," yeah, Joker's right. We're being studied. Something isn't right here. Too many coincidences.
"Best not to worry about it now."
"Are we still going to the Feros then?"
"Yeah. How long until we get there?"
"The Relay is in the wrong system in the cluster so about 2 days. Three being the worst case scenario."
"How's the teething of the ship coming then?"
"Some of the converters still act up but Tali's been keeping them working. I highly suggest we get new ones soon Commander."
"After Feros we will. Get us there Joker."
"Aye aye Commander."
The game is never over.
Thanks for y'alls continued support. Review to help me get better.
Sorry it was another filler but you gotta set things up to make it all work.
Have a great day y'all.