Chapter 4: ExoGeni
Attican Beta, Theseus System, Feros.
Shepard
She still wasn't completely sure if she should be taking this, Yang, with them to attack the geth base. But Liara vouched for her and Liara was already worried Shepard didn't trust her after their first conversation on the Normandy. This was a prime opportunity to show Liara that she did trust her and in her decisions. Just don't screw this up Yang.
They loaded up into the mako with Yang looking it over briefly and thankfully without asking questions. If this girl really was from another world and not one that was connected with the galactic community then Shepard knew she would have more than just a few questions.
Buckling herself into the driver's seat with Garrus manning the gun, Shepard fired the vehicle up and drove towards the door which rolled up when they got close.
"And now to the geth base. Not something an intelligent being would typically say." Liara commented, the nerves in her voice reaching Shepard.
They hadn't even gone ten meters when a geth ship came overhead. "Hey, that's the same one that dropped the geth before." Yang called.
"Back in your seat and buckle up. Garrus, get ready to light these bastards up." Shepard ordered.
"Didn't need to tell me that." Garrus responded.
She drove right at the geth forces that were holding the skybridge to the other massive building, Garrus started to fire the turret as the geth started to appear in his sights too. The ride was bumpy with ancient debris littering the skyway, forcing Shepad to drive in fewer directions. It made them an easier target, but the shields on the mako held. She could hear Yang's voice again through the comm channel.
"What's that noise?"
"Yang! Keep the radio silent unless you have something to report." Shepard needed to focus too, having irrelevant questions coming through her comms wasn't wanted or needed.
The mako rocked a little as Garrus started to fire the main gun, explosions appeared ahead of their position as well as orbs of whitish-blue raced towards the mako. Shepard managed to dodge the first as she activated the mako's thrusters, jumping the first but landing in time for the second one to hit.
"Shields took a hit Shepard." Ingersoll said as she sat monitoring the systems. "Garrus, focus fire on the big ones."
"Cannon reloads too slowly, this is human technology isn't it?" Garrus' tone was a mocking one.
"Eat it turian. Just fire when you can." Ingersoll shot back.
The battle was quick and bumpy, with their shields taking more damage from the geth forces before Garrus gave them the all clear as the second armature fell.
"Comms are live, can't get a fix." Ingersoll said as they started up the ramp which appeared to be a fallen skyway.
I don't trust these structures, they could give at any moment. She slowed the mako for a while, not wanting to risk giving this part of the bridge much impact.
"Any sign of movement? Lizbeth could still be out there. It's only been a few days."
Not a recording, then this is a live feed from somewhere. It was still filled with static meaning it was within the geth's jamming, but close enough for short range contact. "She's my daughter. I'll wait as long as I have to." A missing child wasn't something Shepard liked to hear, but she already knew the odds weren't in Lizbeth's favour.
"Shepard! More geth ahead, high and low lanes." Garrus warned as the mounted machine gun started rattling away again.
It was all going well, until a rocket started coming their way. Shepard turned the thrusters on and dodged but nearly sent them off the side of the skyway.
"Fuck Shepard! Let me drive." Ingersoll was angry, but also grinning ear to ear at her cousin.
"Next time, Garrus…"
"Keep them off you. Always knew humans were terrible at driving." He too mocked.
Right, both of you are in trouble. Making a mental note as she struggled to free the mako, more geth fire and armature pulse cannons hit the mako.
"Shields down!" Ingersoll informed them.
The mako rocked as a rocket struck the side with small arms fire pinging off the armoured plating. The constant ringing of the machine gun and a couple of explosions later, and Garrus sent out the all clear as Shepard had the mako limp onwards.
After passing through two large doors and getting cover over their heads, the radio crackled to life once more. "We've got movement… some kind of vehicle. Not one of the geth."
"They've got us on visual. We must be close." Liara pointed out.
"Forget them, we need to deal with the geth." Garrus' argued with Shepard slowing down.
"Shepard, we're stopping to see if they need help right?" Yang yelled from the back.
Shouldn't have given her an earpiece. But while she knew the geth were their priority and that they could lead her closer to Saren, she also knew the value of saving lives unlike one of her cousins. She pulled up and stopped, ordering the ground team out.
"Ingersoll, stay with the mako."
"Roger that cousin, I'll find myself a good spot in the rubble." Shepard didn't scold her speaking that way, instead led the other members down a ramp.
One guard at the barricades, whoever they are they're stupid for leaving themselves so open. As she got to look at the individuals and realised they were all human, she gave a whistle to get their attention. The few talking stopped and two stepped towards them.
"That's close enough." A man called, but Shepard still took a couple of steps closer. They didn't look like they were very well armed and they wore little armour.
"Relax Jeong. They're obviously not geth." The woman sounded tired, frustrated even.
"Get back, Juliana. Who are you? What do you want?" Jeong yelled, demanding answers.
"Commander Shepard. I'm here to remove your geth problem." Though you could be a little more appreciative.
"You see? You worry too much." Juliana's comment was directed at Jeong who looked more than a little jittery.
"And you trust too easily, Juliana." He answered with a grump.
"I'm just glad to see a friendly face. I thought we were the only humans left on this planet." Juliana said.
"Fai Dan and some of the members of Zhu's Hope are still alive." Shepard informed the woman, not expecting the look of disbelief that came and was swiftly replaced by anger as she addressed Jeong.
"I thought you said they were all dead."
"I said they were "probably" all dead." His voice this time was more timid and defensive.
Likely said that so he wouldn't be risking his life by trying to move to them. Smart, given that they've survived this long.
"They're surviving, but the geth really hit them hard." Garrus informed the two.
"We know what that's like. Those damn synthetics are relentless." Juliana turned her head to where Shepard finally saw a few body bags.
"I'll do whatever I can to keep them away from you. But I need some information." Information would allow them to move more quickly and potentially know what lay before them in terms of room layout.
"What kind of information?" Jeong asked which made Shepard zone in on this man's expressions.
"Ignore him. The geth are up in the ExoGeni headquarters. Just a bit further along the skyway." She didn't give them any information on what to expect, but at least they were close.
"Those headquarters are private property, soldier. Remove the geth and nothing else."
Companies and their policies. She wanted to say something to make him annoyed or worried, but the situation called for calm, they had been through a lot. "Not interested in your company secrets."
"Commander, before you go… My daughter, Lizbeth. She's missing." The group could finally put a name to the one they'd heard on the radio, but Jeong now had the audacity to speak about not searching for a missing person.
"They shouldn't waste time poking around. We can do a proper accounting of our casualties after the geth are gone." Shepard heard Garrus sigh beside her.
"That's my daughter youre talking about! She's still alive. I know it." Juliana growled.
"Tell me where she is, we'll keep our eyes out for her." It was Yang who spoke up, drawing attention from Garrus and Liara, as well as the mother in distress.
"She was in the ExoGeni building when the Geth attacked." Juliana said, sounding thankful just because someone was going to look for her daughter.
"Oh, yeah!" Jeong's voice rose in a mocking manner as Yang stepped forwards.
"We'll find her, just don't make me add you to the list of casualties as another number in the Geth attack." Her fist rose as a warning with Jeong looking rather concerned for his own life.
Shepard took charge of the situation now that Jeong was on the back foot and looking afraid of Yang. She asked questions about the colony and what to expect, but it wasn't much better than the information that Fai Dan had provided them with earlier. They found out the colony wasn't making any money of which ExoGeni was annoyed about and trying to find shortcuts where possible, hence the re-purposing of the buildings and what technology they found on Feros.
"Stay bunkered down until I find what the geth are after." It was an order Shepard hoped the civilians would listen to as she spoke with a few people before heading back to the mako with another side mission to find a terminal and download some data.
She called Ingersoll back into the mako and they started to drive. "The hell was that back there Yang?" Shepard asked.
"Assholes like him need to get their priorities right, or at least be kind to those who might have lost a family member. Writing her off like that was unnecessary, more so with the mother right there. You can never rule out someone who is trying to survive." The blonde crossed her arms and leaned back, her head turned away from the mirror so Shepard couldn't look her in the eyes.
Shepard couldn't help but wonder what Kaleb would say to this young woman who just went against what Shepard knew of her rather ruthless cousin. She wanted to help those that might already be dead, something she had done earlier in the day herself in relation to the missing girl, Yang.
Shepard allowed Ingersoll to drive the remainder of the way and soon enough conflict found them once more as Geth defended the skyway. Garrus now with Ingersoll's more aggressive and skillful driving was able to take down the Geth without too much extra damage to the mako. They were passing through a couple of garage doors when they spotted the Geth ship attached to the massive skyscraper.
"Blast it!" Yang called.
"That would just draw attention. Even with the mako's main gun we'd only piss it off and attract unwanted attention." Shepard told the blonde.
There was a little more shooting and Geth being destroyed before Ingersoll called back. "Can't take the mako any further, the rest of this is on foot Commander."
"Geth were already waiting for us. They must really want something from the ExoGeni systems." Garrus said as he joined the squad outside the mako.
They proceeded where the mako couldn't with most of the area covered in shadow with the sun providing them with enough light that it wasn't dark. All it took was a quick search to find an energy shield that blocked one way, a door that needed to be bypassed or a drop down into a corridor. With those three options Shepard chose the door and managed to bypass it.
"Eyes up, Ingersoll watch our back and follow through in thirty seconds." Shepard led the way in, but before she came to the end of the narrow corridor a large metallic shape caught her eye as it began to move. "Contact!"
She pulled her pistol up and started shooting while Garrus unleashed rounds from his assault rifle until it almost overheated with Yang doing so until the weapon did overhead. Rookie. The sound of biotics and the loud ringing of a sniper rifle let Shepard know that everyone was firing.
The Geth Armature was too tall and couldn't correctly fire its pulse cannon down the corridor, for which Shepard was thankful. It's machine guns tore at their shields though, Shepard noting that her own was dropping rather quickly. Again though they stopped as the main gun fired, striking the area just above the entrance on the armature's end.
A grenade from herself and Garrus knocked the thing down and a screech came from the defeated Geth creation. The group walked in with Ingersoll returning to watch their backs. The hell! "Is everyone alright? Shields still up?" She was pissed that they were taken so unaware by such a large machine.
"Recharging Shepard, we're lucky that thing was too tall to fire accurately." Garrus answered.
"No kidding. Looks like this way is a dead end too." Looking out over the side it was clear the only way to proceed was to go back and jump down into that corridor. She was about to order them to do so when Yang's voice cried out.
"Move!"
Sounds of sparks filled Shepard's ears and her gut fell. Although she was quick to turn and raise her weapon, the Geth's main cannon was already charging. Getting a single round off just as Garrus' rifle burst into life beside her, it was clear they weren't going to deactivate the Armature in time. Liara was at close range and had started to fall as she backed away, the armature reared, releasing its pulse of energy at the Asari.
At range this attack was easy to outmaneuver as it was slow, but at this range it was impossible, Shepard knew such a blast would kill someone on foot with a single strike. But she saw the young girl, Yang, moving. She had called the attention of everyone and was already moving towards Liara with inhuman speed.
It was slow motion for Shepard who went to bark out for Yang to stop, a sniper shot ringing from somewhere close by echoed in her mind too as she witnessed Yang push Liara off to the side, leaving herself as the recipient of the pulse blast.
The blast hit and expanded around Yang with a bright light blocking the majority of her body as Liara hit the ground and rolled away unharmed. Shepard saw Yang's shield struggle against and break to the overwhelming power that struck it, a weapon meant to destroy shields and end infantry in one shot. Shields were designed for fast moving objects such as bullets, so the slower pulse from the Geth was much slower than normal and very effective at ridding Geth enemies of their shields.
"Finish it properly!" Shepard yelled angrily, both angered that she had failed to ensure this machine's destruction which had now cost her the life of a lost civilian.
She fired several more shots into the armature's head and even used overload on it to make sure the damn thing wouldn't reactivate a second time. "Collect the body," she snapped, "we'll…" she stood there stunned, her mouth agape as she doubted what her eyes saw.
Before her, still standing and looking more than a little surprised, was Yang. Her armour seemed to be intact, save for the little sparks of electrical energy that arced off it every few seconds. How? What? Shepard wanted to ask but was too stunned in the moment. As she started to move it was Garrus that stepped forward.
"Easy there, that was a direct hit." There was a tone to him that let the others know of his own astonishment at the feat he'd witnessed.
"Yeah… finish it off next time alright." Yang mocked with a smile on her face. Shepard stowed her pistol as Yang moved and helped Liara to her feet, the Asari didn't even say a word, her eyes told them everything she was thinking.
"Let's get you back to the mako. You've done enough." Shepard said, offering for Yang to go first.
"No way, we've got a daughter to find and whatever mission you guys are here for. Plus, now I owe those Geth for nearly killing me." She slammed a fist into her other hand, grinning as she did so.
Shepard didn't know if it was shock or adrenaline, but she nodded. "If you start to feel strange or you start to trail behind I will have someone escort you back to the mako." Shepard was surprised to hear that Yang understood. She took a moment to speak with Liara, telling her to keep an eye on and support Yang if she looked to be struggling.
Pressing on and dropping down into the only accessible way forwards, they weren't even twenty meters before they found some dead varren. I wonder if it attacked the Geth? Then a gunshot forced her to draw and aim alongside her team. A human? Check your goddamn target! She wanted to scream, friendly fire was something she never wanted to be on either side of.
"I'm so sorry. I thought you were Geth, or one of those varren." The woman said while lowering the pistol.
"You're safe now. But why were you here in the first place?" Shepard couldn't believe her excuse, but civilians weren't used to those kinds of situations.
"It's my own fault. Everyone else was running and I stayed to back up data. Next thing I knew the Geth ship attached itself to the tower and the power went out. I was trapped, I tried to get out but the way was blocked."
Seriously, backing up data was more important than your life? She pinched the bridge of her nose, unsure as to what this crazy woman was thinking. "We'll get you out, as soon as we find out what the Geth are after."
"Hey, we could leave the blonde with her. Let her rest while protecting a civilian?" Ingersoll suggested. Yang looked at Shepard and shrugged.
"What's your name? Why are you here?" Shepard asked.
""I'm just a research assistant for ExoGeni. I came here with my mother. I don't even know if she made it out alive." The waver in her voice told of her worry.
"Juliana?" Yang asked with the girl's eyes lighting up. "She's safe for now, she'll be super happy that you are too."
Lizbeth put her free hand on her chest with a sigh. "Please Commander. Just get that energy field down so I can see my mother again." Shepard nodded, but this was a chance for some real information so she proceeded to question the woman before them.
There was a brief interruption by half a dozen varren, further cause for Yang to stay behind with Lizbeth. The main thing she was after was the Geth's goal, which turned out to potentially be an alien species that even Liara hadn't heard of before. What would Saren and the Geth want with an unknown species? They had been after the beacon at Eden Prime and Liara at Therum, and now something else that Shepard couldn't piece together.
Thousands of years old and an intelligent plant was something that Liara was also interested in, more so for research reasons. There was no knowing what old knowledge that this, Thorian might be able to share. Knowledge that Saren clearly wanted and didn't want them to find.
"Thank you for sharing that with us. Yang, you stay here and protect the professor. Once that barrier goes down, take her to the mako and wait for us there." Yang nodded and held the rifle up. "Let's make this quick team. The Geth are a threat and we need to eliminate them before more harm can befall the colonists."
With Lizbeth's ExoGeni card in her possession, Shepard was confident that nothing technical could stand in their way. The only threats were the Geth, and surprisingly Krogan as that was the first enemy they ran into and had to deal with after leaving Lizbeth under Yang's protection.
Yang's dig at them for not making sure the armature stuck with her though. "Make sure to finish them next time since I won't be there to intercept the bullets." It was a fair insult at a one off incident of her not being quite so thorough. Though each time they felled an enemy, Shepard now put an extra bullet in their brain, or where the brain should be for the Geth.