And here we go. Hope y'all enjoy. Review if you wish, it is appreciated.
*POV: AedoTorchbearer*
After all that crap on the Asteroid I got to see the fallout that came afterwards. Let it be said I never expected to be intergalactically known like this. Every single news station was talking about me and what happened and I do mean every single one. Adding to that it wasn't just the news, everything that counted as information sharing was talking about it. Hell, I even had fanart from a few people.
On one hand it was surreal and on the other it was concerning. There goes having any type of low profile I could have ever had. I was now the number one most famous mercenary across the galaxy. Not to mention that the Batarians responded by placing a 4 Billion dollar bounty on my head. I'm going to need to keep my head on a swivel for the rest of my time here. Though, if the reputation that Frank has has any say in the matter then most mercs won't even bother trying.
It was causing me a headache to be honest and that was putting quite the damper on my meal. Didn't stop Wrex from chuckling at my pain and situation. As for everyone else, most weren't there, only Liara and Ashley were the other two with us. Ashley had a poker face on at my pain and Liara just looked amused.
"I must ask Wynne, why the violent reaction to slavery? From what I understand of human history your race used to practice it," Liara asked, getting into her academic tone of voice.
"Then you also know that we slaughtered each other to end it," she was taken aback at the vitriol in my voice. "Slavery is a perversion to all life no matter the context. People are meant to live free and create their own lives, to have that taken from them. To have free will taken from them is a horrendous crime."
"Were you ever one?" It was a reasonable question all things considered, still I chose to be vague. It did get the attention of everyone at the table though and a few of the people close to us.
"In every way except for having an actual collar around my neck, yes."
"And how did you escape?" I pulled out my rosary at that.
"Faith," I didn't leave it there and pulled out my knife with my other hand and put both hands on the table. "And blood."
"That sounds like quite the story," Wrex rumbled out.
"Oh, it is. Not today though. Too many memories, too many mistakes and far too many dead."
"Ah, one of those." It was a statement. And he wasn't wrong. I was being vague for a reason, I had been a slave in every way without the collar. The pay was good and the work was solid, plus I was good at it. That being said, once the Cartel has their claws in you, getting out is no longer a possibility other than death. Which I got.
"Yes. One of those," I said, agreeing with him before putting my knife and rosary away. I still had to finish the last pancake. I was about to dig in when Ashley butted in.
"Okay, now I'm a bit curious," I gave her a raised eyebrow in response. "What's your most hated race besides Batarians?"
"Where the hell did that come from?" I asked, looking miffed. She gave me a shrug of her shoulders before looking at me expectantly. I looked to Wrex and Liara for help and both shrugged being in the same confused camp as me.
"Is this for a bet?" I had to ask.
"No. You just seem to have strong opinions about things and if you dislike another race I'm curious about the reasoning," was this manipulation or information gathering? I honestly could not tell at all.
"Yeah, I'm not gonna answer that. None of y'all have reached that friendship level where I can be openly racist in front of you," Ashley looked startled at that and Liara gave me a small nod. Wrex just huffed and stared at me, I stared back and answered. "You don't count Wrex. That's literally how you talk."
"... Fair enough pijack."
"On that I'm going to leave and so some maintenance on my weapons. If you need me you know where to find me."
With that I left them to their own devices. Making my way down to the cargo hold I got my AR and both pistols and went to work. I took my time as we had still had a bit over two hours until we got to Noveria. So it was really just time to relax.
Thinking about Noveria I was curious about what we would be doing there. There are plenty of ways to get the job done and I don't particularly see Shepard jumping through all the hoops a lot of them ask you to do. He might just to stay on their good side but I don't see it. If I had to guess he would just take the blackmail material on the Salarian, present it to him and get him to give us the Garage pass. Who knows.
Wonder if I should make any contacts there. There probably isn't a single businessman or woman there who I wouldn't consider killing but at the very least they would pay well. Probably not all things considered but maybe I'll keep them in mind. Who knows what I'll need in the future.
As I spent the next hour and a half cleaning my weapons I let my thoughts wander in any direction. None of them were particularly helpful or deep but they occupied my time while I cleaned my guns. A process that was just on auto pilot at this point; I knew how to take them all apart and clean them blindfolded. Taking them apart, cleaning them once and then just taking them apart and putting them back together repeatedly.
There wasn't much else to do at that point as no one was training and no one was eating. Everyone was just at their usual spots doing their pre-mission rituals and this was mine.
Once it got to about the half an hour mark Shepard called for the ground team to get to the conference room for the debrief. Reassembling my Breaker pistol I put it away with the other two already assembled and put away. With them away I made my way to the conference room. I was the second to last to arrive with only Garrus arriving after me.
"We'll be arriving to Noveria within the next 30 minutes. Our mission is to find and if possible apprehend Matriarch Benezia," Benezia appeared on the screen. "Now, Noveria is a corporate world. Basically corruption personified if we're all being honest and we will get absolutely no help from them unless we garner favors. Something I don't want to do unless absolutely necessary. So let's play nice."
Shepard gave me a pointed look at that. As did everyone else besides Wrex. I shrugged in response and didn't say anything. It wasn't my place and there wasn't a point. My reputation here was pretty well cemented.
"As for possible troops we'll be facing, we have no intel," well that isn't good.
"None at all sir?" Kaiden asked, sounding a bit shocked.
"There will be a squad of Asari Commando's with the Matriarch, beyond that we have no idea. When we do find her however, assume the workers anywhere near her to be hostile. Don't engage them with lethal force unless absolutely necessary."
He got a series of nods from around the room at that. Wrex and I exchanged blank stares, mostly because we had no non-lethal methods, unless we engaged in CQC which might end in their death anyways.
"As for the Debrief that's all. We'll know more on the ground and make our game plan from there. Dismissed."
As everyone began to file out I grabbed Tali and motioned for her to follow me. She was startled by that and as we walked she got really nervous. It was all in the way she wrung her hands together and fidgeted in her hips as we walked. When she noticed that I was taking her to one of the usually secluded parts near the engine it increased. I wonder why?
"I got something from Ceelo from when we rescued him. I meant to talk to you earlier about it but with the Asteroid never really got time," as I started speaking her body visibly stood still and then she became attentive.
"What is it?" I could hear the hidden excitement in her voice. She may not like Ceelo but he is a legendary hacker and tech professional.
"Tali, before I show you promise me that you'll treat this as if it were a nuke," I could see her eyes widen behind her mask but she was immediately dead serious.
"I promise," her voice was resolute and that's all I needed.
I sent her the schematics via omni-tool and once they popped up on hers she looked through it. As she continued to look through the schematics her eyes widened and narrowed numerous times; surprised and then thoughtful as she went over it. When she was about halfway through the schematics her whole body started twitching in excitement and when she was maybe 3/4ths of the way through she started pacing around. When she was all done she whirled on me, stalked over and grabbed both my hands.
"Do you have any idea what this is?" she gestured to the schematics, her voice high pitched and excited.
"No idea. It didn't make any sense to me besides that a lot of wiring would be involved."
"Wynne. These are schematics to make your entire suit into an omni-tool. The implications of this I can't even begin to imagine. Wh-," I could tell from the way that she was getting ready to talk she was about to go deep into technical jargon. I could probably understand most of it from my time with Ceelo but it would take hours for her to explain it all. We didn't have that amount of time.
"Tali," I raised my hands, placating her. "We don't have time for the lecture I know you want to dive right into," she looked sheepish but nodded along agreeing with me.
"Right. Yes. This schematic was specific for Quarians so it would take a bit to adapt it to everyone else. Anyways, imagine a Quarian who doesn't need to wait for the omni-tool to cool for a recharge on their abilities, adaptive armor, untold hacking ability. Wynne, this isn't just revolutionary; this could make the Quarian race into a powerhouse."
"And what would you do with it?" I liked the Quarians, I really like Tali. This much power that she describes could lead, no, would lead to corruption. Do they deserve it was the real question. Still, the question seemed to stall her for a moment.
"I… I don't know. I believe that the admirals will do what they think is right but I'm not stupid. Many believe the council wronged us."
"They did," she gave me a blank look.
"Yes, they did. 300 years ago. All but the Asari have forgotten but we haven't either. Still, the admirals would want revenge, as would many Quarian. It would lead to war, either today or tomorrow but it would happen."
"Hold onto it then. Don't share it, study it. Make it better if you can. I feel like we'll need it regardless in a few years."
"The Reapers. You believe they'll come?"
"Yes. I absolutely do."
"I don't know. Just haven't seen enough to prove that they're coming."
"We will. I'm sure Saren will show us more than enough evidence."
"I believe you but I don't want to."
"It's not a happy truth huh," she shook her head and let out a mirthless chuckle.
"Genocide on a galatic scale. A horrible thought."
"The worst thoughts in history are usually the ones that end up being true," she gave my shoulder a light punch at that.
"Always so glum. You'll have to brighten up one of these days."
"That day isn't today though… C'mon, let's go get our gear."
We both left the area right then and there and made our way to the Cargo hold. Grabbing our gear we went to the airlock. Greeted Wrex, Garrus and Shepard already there and just waited. We were now on the approach to land but when the rest joined us Shepard had to go to the cockpit to sort out the landing issue. We were being asked to wait and he wasn't having it.
An incredibly short conversation later he rejoined us and 10 minutes later we were landing. As the airlock doors opened and we stepped out I was startled by how cold it was; like holy hell if the arctic was a planet this place would 100% be it. That being said, I wasn't the only one who was unhappy with that revelation. Tali, Garrus and Ashley, immediately started hugging themselves for warmth and I could hear Kaidens teeth start to chatter. Wrex and Shepard seemed to be the only ones not affected. Either way it became a general consensus to hurry to the checkpoint where weather shields were.
Once inside the weather shields Shepard was greeted with all the security personnel they could spare. There were only about 10 soldiers but they all had their weapons drawn and we responded in kind by drawing ours.
"No weapons beyond this point. Drop them off," the apparent lead guard said, trying to sound authoritative. It was cute.
"No," was Shepards response and unspoken order as Tali, Kaiden and I hit them all with slow action sabotage's. Essentially we didn't have to shoot them and they infected the guns through their omni-tools.
"You are required to give up your weapons before you enter. No exceptions."
"I'm a goddamn Spectre. And you're about a second away from interfering with an investigation. Stand aside," this time all our biotics flared theirs and got ready.
Still, the mall cop didn't back down. It looked like it was about to come to blows and would lead to a very long and bad day. I could see the bloodbath coming when a voice came over the intercom.
"Stand down. Their Credentials just came through," the tension dimmed on their side and they looked visibly relieved. We didn't and kept our weapons ready.
"Behave yourselves," the mall cop barked out at us.
I turned my head to respond only for it to be grabbed and turned around. Looking at the offending hand I saw Wrex there shaking his head. He mouthed 'not the time' and as much as I didn't agree he got me to agree for now. Besides, if I remember correctly we'll get to kill her so I was placated for now.
We walked past everyone and made our way to the man in charge. I made to go into the office with everyone but Shepard stopped me after he talked to the secretary, a secret investigative agent. I wasn't the only one; Wrex, Tali, Ashley and Garrus also got asked to stay out. So he went in with the definition of a boy scout in Kaiden and Liara; Benezia's daughter. A political play if I ever saw one.
So when we realized we weren't getting in we completely walked out and waited outside. I had a healthy dose of makeup on so I took my helmet off and popped a pouch in my mouth. Offering the can to the others Wrex took me up on it. He grabbed four pouches and threw them all in. On one hand that made me mad because now I only had 4 pouches left but on the other hand I couldn't fault him. It took a lot to get him buzzed. No one else took me up on the offer and I put my helmet back on.
Moving on it didn't take long for Shepard to finish up and when he did come out he looked at us with apprehension. I was confused as to why he did so until he started to talk.
"So… we're going to need some diplomacy," that almost immediately eliminated Wrex and I. We each exchanged looks at that too.
"Where do you want us Shepard?" I asked, looking at him but subtly gesturing to Wrex too.
"And it's a rather establishmentarianism establishment," okay I'm smart but I'm confused.
"Come again?"
"Tali goes with you," ahhh okay. Yeah that makes sense for this place.
"Question stands."
"Go to the Bar and relax."
"Well, we can do that," and with that I got up.
Motioning to both Wrex and Tali to follow they both did. Wrex was already standing but Tali was definitely not happy with the turn of events. She was someone who wanted everyone to be equal as far as I could tell so it did make sense. Still, I did my best to placate her but it didn't do much. She was not a happy camper.
It took a lot to get her not to get in some of the businessmen's faces as we walked to the bar. With the help of Wrex it did work but only barely. Even though she viewed him as almost an uncle at this point from how they interacted she was ready to fight everyone there. Not that I blamed her at all I wanted to too but it wasn't the time or the place. Wrex even agreed on this front. Besides, at least they weren't hurling slurs at her and just making snide comments.
After several close calls and a few times we almost let Tali have at it we made it to the bar. Sitting down at the bar, I sat in between the two and Wrex and I ordered our drinks, Ryncol for Wrex and a Brandy old Fashioned for me. Tali didn't know what to get so I asked the Bartender for something smooth yet low for Tali. Something to take the edge off but nothing past that.
The bartender returned a minute or two later with all our drinks plus a straw for Tali and we all started drinking. Surprisingly enough Tali did not mess around and downed her drink in mere seconds asking for another immediately. Wrex and I both exchanged glances at that but otherwise said nothing. When she downed the second drink in one go and motioned for a third we still didn't say anything.
As we sat and drank our drinks we watched Tali. She was agitated and pissed but that was obvious but she was also hurting and conflicted. It wasn't hard for me to figure out why, the schematics I showed her. She was now rethinking her stance and that just couldn't happen right now. I had forgotten that Tali was barely 21 during the first Mass Effect and still pretty young all things considered. Though, I was also only 25 at this point so not much older at all.
When her third drink came over I grabbed it before she could and pulled it over to me. She stared at me with the most pure murderous eyes I had ever seen but I just returned them. She backed down first after almost a minute and crawled back into herself. It did hurt to see her so depressed but at the same time she needed to grow up now, this was her reality and she already knew that. I guess spending time on the Normandy where no one gave a shit what race you were would make anyone forget.
"Slow it down girl. We still have a mission and I don't want you impared where you can't help," I said my peace and she didn't waste a second to snatch the drink out of my hand.
"I know when I'm good," I heard that too many times from drunks for instinct not to take over.
"Do you?" I snapped and she recoiled as if I hit her. "I know what you're thinking after you've heard everything and seen everything that you have but now is not the time. We need you to be your best Tali. Be the best for us… for me," It was a hail mary on my end but I had to. Still from the way she stilled at the comment and froze when I grabbed her hand it seemed to work. My confirmation came when she slowly nodded her head and began to slowly sip on her drink.
"Well played," Wrex whispered into my ear and I just pushed him away with my left hand.
It was well played though and I prided myself on that. De-escalation wasn't my forte for obvious reasons but I gave it a good shot and it worked out. With that taken care of I went back to sipping on my Old Fashion. All things considered it was rather nice to relax. Plus we got a front row seat to see all the business people drink themselves to oblivion. Some of them were going HARD and when I asked the bartender about it they usually ended up being ones that recently got fired.
Saw Shepard too at one point talking to the Turian guy you have to talk to in the mission. He just gave us a nod and we continued on with our drinking. When I finished my drink I switched to water; again I'm a lightweight but at least I know it. Still, as relaxing as it was getting, it had to end eventually.
When it did it came with a simple call over the radio giving us directions on our place to go. We nodded to each other, finished our drinks and were off.
Going to the coordinates we came across the door to the Turian's office; had his name on the door. Hacking it open we walked right into a standoff between the others and the same mall cop from before. All three of us drew our weapons and both Tali and I prepped Overloads on our omni-tools.
Our arrival seemed to be the catalyst too as we didn't even have to wait to use our Overloads. Each slammed into one of the mall cops and we opened fire while we ran to cover. Wrex gave us the best help to get there as he took most of the fire and returned it just as hard.
Once we got into cover I saw one of the cops floating in the air and I hit him with another overload. It exploded and sent the man flying. From there the biotics on our team poured into them and really fucked them up. Biotics were so unfair if you ask me.
As the fight wound down and we began to encircle the few remaining cops some got smart and threw down their weapons. Those that did throw down their weapons laid face down on the ground with their hands behind their head. When that happened dwindling their numbers further the few still fighting knew they were going to die.
One or two tried to flee but they were quickly shot down and the high strung mall cop was the last one standing after a few moments. Though she still tried to fight. Had to respect the resilience a little bit but there was no point for it, she was throwing her life away for nothing. A life that was extinguished by Tali's shotgun and Shepards rifle in tandem.
When it was all over we picked up the soldiers who were laying on the ground and told them to leave. We weren't going to do anything further to them, there was no point. Besides, they weren't going to have a job here any time soon.
"Everyone green?" Shepard asked us. He got a chorus of green's from everyone. "Good. Wynne, take your group to the Garage entrance. We'll be there in a few minutes."
I just nodded my head, motioned to Tali and Wrex and then we left the way we came. Had to take an elevator to the Garage and when we got there the guard was lazily standing watch. He made to say something when he saw me but stopped himself when he caught sight of Wrex.
Propping myself up against the wall I waited with Tali and Wrex for Shepard and the rest. True enough to his word too it was only a few minutes before Shepard showed up with the Garage pass. The guard took one look at it and then waved us through.
As soon as we were through the door as a group my paranoia was screaming at me and I listened. I took a half step back from where I was standing and one of those hopper Geth landed right in front of me. Lunging forward with my knife out I stabbed it right through its eye and it dropped like a sack of potatoes.
That was when all hell broke loose and Geth came out of the boxes and vents all around us. It quickly became a mad scramble for cover. My shields got pinged a couple times but they didn't go down that much before I got to cover. Getting into cover I sent a pulse out and got the locations of every enemy. One appearing right on top of me.
Looking up I saw one of the hoppers taking aim at where Shepard was and opened up on full auto. I only hit it 3 times before it jumped away, that was annoying. As it jumped away I followed its path and it jumped around like a damn crack addict for a few moments before it finally stopped again.
This time around I did it the right way and hit it with a Sabotage before I started firing. All my bullets hit this time and the Geth dropped from the ceiling dead. With the first one down I relayed to the others to use Sabotage on the hoppers so they couldn't jump away. After that the fight got a little easier but not so much.
A couple minutes later the fight had barely progressed in our favor and the Geth were continuing to get smarter and make adjustments to our every plan. It was annoying and now the Hoppers only shot from around cover with only their head and guns poking out. It made the fight really hard.
I could only do so much too and it was the same for everyone else. We bogged down and pinned at every angle. Could barely even poke my head out to shoot before they opened fire on you. The only times we were actually able to do something was by coordinating when we would peek out to shoot. Having groups of 2 or 3 go at a time.
Still, with shields the way they were we were really just in a stalemate and the geth seemed okay with that. I guess they were just wanting to delay us. Not a good sign really and we needed to get going. Looking to my right I got an idea.
"Cover me," I said into the radio and as soon as I got the confirmation from Shepard I took off out of cover to my right. Exactly where the Garage's Mako was.
There was a geth over behind a pillar and he popped out as I rushed him and fired at me. Still, I was able to cover the distance before he could bring down my shields and I jumped at the geth and latched onto its upper body. It did not like that at all.
It started slamming punches into my side as my body covered its eye and every single one hurt like a mother fucker. I could feel my ribs straining and screaming in pain as they took the onslaught. It didn't last long though as I was able to pull out my knife and slammed it into the back of the geths head.
It fell face forward and landed on me. Not a pleasant experience either but I was able to push it off before more geth could come my way. With that in the clear I jumped into the Mako and got on the gun.
Swiveling it around I spotted the first couple geth and fired the canon. They got eviscerated leaving only a smoking crater in their wake and then I moved on to the next couple. By that point they had definitely noticed me and were making adjustments to their plan of attack but didn't anticipate what the others would do. Wrex charged into the geth with Shepard and started going to town on them.
They made quick work of the second group and I opened up with the machine gun on the rest of the geth. From there with me in the gun it was quick work. Quick kills all around and the Geth were no more. When it was all said and done everyone jumped into the Mako
"Everyone good?" Shepard asked as he got into the Mako. I gave the gunner seat up to Garrus and sat down in my usual spot. He got a chorus of yes as usual. We made it out of the garage before I started talking.
"So I guess the Geth will be here too. I was hoping we wouldn't see them for once," I commented as I checked my gun.
"Fat chance kid," was Wrex's response and that was the end of that.
I didn't respond and just enjoyed the ride as Shepard took us down the path. Now, when I've said that Shepard is a mad driver before this was the moment that exemplified and solidified it for me. Never in my life have I ever been scared in a vehicle of the driver killing me but on that icy road on Noveria I truly did think Shepard was going to kill me. And I'm not ashamed to admit that I screamed like a little girl a few times.
All things considered it was frighteningly scary but the experience was short lived. Still, that being said I damn near pissed my pants. When it all ended, Shepard fish tailed into the front entrance of the door to the facility with the back of the Mako hitting the door. I put my head in my hands and took slow deep breaths as I found my center again.
Slapping my back Wrex chuckled at my suffering. "Get up kid. People need killing."
"Go fuck yourself."
And that's all she wrote for now folks. I hate doing this to y'all but that's how it is. I wish it was a better chapter but it is my Bday on Friday. I plan on getting super drunk and celebrating that way.
Review to lmk how to better myself and the chapters. Have a great week y'all.