*A cloaked figure is seen dashing along a hallway before diving into cover behind an over turned desk, panting as he slams his back against the cover* Damnit, I didn't know they'd be that relentless. Hope the others are okay and…oh. *glances up at the screen to see the readers* Hey there. Leaf Ranger here, your author. For those of you who didn't read the Shinobi's Cred chapter, let me fill you in. I came back to my old abandoned Ranger Lair, where I used to write and introduce chapters with various personalities and OCs appearing. And it turns out they weren't too happy with my return, since I kind of left them here.
Leaf Ranger: *Slowly peeks over the cover* I think I managed to lose them, thanks to Raphael and Kiseki, but still, there's a lot more of them and- *Is interrupted by a bullet impacting near my head, forcing me down*
Ragingstar19: Hello there, big brother. *Is holding a smoking gun*
LR: S-Sis? You too?!
R19: Yes, me to. I was having fun here, and you took that away. Now it's time for revenge. *aims and fires again*
LR: *cowering behind cover* C'mon, that's not fair! You know more than anyone what I've had to put up with!
R19: NO EXCUSES! YOU ABANDONED US ALL! *keeps shooting at LR*
DNHLR: This way! I heard gunfire! *Rushes in with some of the other personalities* Hah! You thought you'd get away? Those three can't stop us all.
LR: Damnit. *Is firing again with his crossbow* Guess I gotta try and hold out while I can. And still need to do the announcements as well? Okay…to anonymous Guest Z, thanks for your review! I'm really glad you're enjoying this so far, and I totally agree that Tali is a great character and romance option. She and Liara are my favorites. Hopefully I can continue to impress in your eyes. *ducks down as rounds and arrows impact around my head* Guess I have to hope I can survive this encounter to keep writing! On with the chapter!
As an additional note, to the anonymous reviewer who left two reviews on my Demon Dragon Rider fanfic. I'm guessing you probably will never see this, but I'm calling you out anyways. If you actually knew how weapons and armor worked, you'd know why Naruto's armor is making him mostly immune to the weapons of ninja. Ninja weapons largely were meant not to penetrate or defeat armor, but to be used against the unarmored points or the weakest points of a samurai and his armor. Kunai and shuriken have almost no armor penetration quality at all, unless enhanced by wind or lightning chakra. Meaning the users have to have those exact elemental affinities to pull it off. Naruto's chainmail and plate armor would stop them cold, especially since it's utilizing smithing techniques from the elves, inspired by JAPANESE style smithing. As for your second review, where you claim I'm a feminazi or white knight, I find that hilarious as me and my friends are usually quite vocal about our utter disdain for those groups, as they're doing a lot more harm than actual good. Thank you for your two review counts and the laughter that came from your idiocy.
Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto or Mass Effect. They are the property of Masashi Kishimoto and Bioware respectively. This is a nonprofit fan made work of fiction. Please support the official releases.
Chapter 16
Colony in Danger
Part 2
"This is the situation as we know it," Alicia stated, standing at a table as a small holographic display showed a wire-frame outline of Zhu's Hope, as well as the two connected skyscrapers that acted as a residential area for the colonists and the main headquarters and research area for Exo-Geni scientists and executives. There was also a series of tunnels located under Zhu's Hope as well that were highlighted on the map.
Surrounding the table, besides Alicia, were Naruto, Kaidan, Garrus, Fai Dan, and Arcelia. The rest of the Normandy's ground team, as well as her marine complement, were busy shoring up defenses or taking stock of the colony's situation, now that there was a lull in the fighting. Alicia was currently leading the briefing on the situation based on the information they gathered from the geth command post.
Alicia highlighted the headquarters for Exo-Geni on the planet. "According to the intel gathered by Tali, the main geth presence is here, at the skyscraper Exo-Geni claimed for their local headquarters. They've deployed a Bravo-class frigate that deployed troops internally to the facility and now occupy the skyscraper. They also deployed troops into the tunnels underneath Zhu's Hope, in order to flank this position from both sides," she added, highlighting the tunnels underneath Zhu's Hope. "They have a forward command post down there, which they're using to coordinate their attacks on Zhu's Hope. There are also unconfirmed reports of survivors from the Exo-Geni skyscraper taking refuge in the colony housing, that the geth have been trying to locate."
As she tapped the residential building, highlighting it a different color, Fai Dan looked up at her. "Then what is your plan to deal with the situation?" He asked her.
Alicia studied the map carefully, before speaking. "Our primary objective is to take out that frigate. It's the last enemy capital ship in the area. Unfortunately, we can't blast it with our ship without taking the whole skyscraper down with it, so we're going to have to be more subtle about taking it out. However, we can't overlook the geth in the tunnels. Suggestions?" She asked the three members of her team present.
Garrus studied the map intently. "How will we get to the Exo-Geni facility? The only way to reach it is from the air or this skyway here," he said, pointing to the skyway.
Arcelia spoke up at that time. "There are a couple of transport trucks we use to ferry supplies along the skyway. We also have a surplus Mako up there, for security purposes. We have a bit of a varren problem at the moment," she said.
"Then we should split the team," Naruto suggested, pointing to the map. "Half the ground team can make the strike on the Exo-Geni facility, while the rest of the team goes into those tunnels and takes out the geth command post. If we destroy that, they'll be forced to withdraw their forces from the tunnels. All while the marine detachment hold the port and keep it protected from surprise attacks."
Alicia nodded at that. "Sounds like a good strategy. Fai Dan, is there anything we've missed?" She asked him.
"Well, the ground team going into the tunnel could help us out with improving conditions here in the port," he said. "There are water valves controlling the flow of water from a reservoir several levels down, but the geth turned them off to deny us water. Otherwise, I'm not sure what else, unless you have spare power cells to help supplement our power supply?"
"I'll contact our engineer and see what he has," Alicia said, before deactivating the holographic display. "There's one more thing though. The geth are searching for something called the Thorian. We don't have a lot of info, just that they're searching for it. Do you know anything about this?"
No one could miss the slight stiffening of Fai Dan and Arcelia at the mention of the Thorian, before Fai Dan spoke. "We have no idea what that is. We thought they were just here to attack us," he said. "If they're looking for something, we don't know what it is."
"I see then. Well if you think of anything, let me know," Alicia said, turning to her squad mates. "Let's go. We'll need to finalize our course of action," she said.
Before they could leave, Fai Dan spoke up. "Commander, you know you and your soldiers don't need to keep your helmets on. The geth are not attacking."
Alicia frowned behind the breathing mask attached to her helmet. "Standard operating procedures I'm afraid. Unless absolutely necessary, all combatants will keep their suits sealed and combat ready while in an active combat zone," she stated, a little annoyed. Apparently, more than one of the colonists present had approached her, her squad mates, and the marines, and told them they didn't need to keep their helmets on. She wasn't sure why they seemed insistent on bugging them about it. At first, she thought it was just weird reactions to the stress of constant combat and near-death experiences, but now it seemed to be more than that.
Pushing it to the back of her mind, she activated her comlink. "All ground team members, rendezvous at the infirmary," she said, leading the three members with her towards the makeshift infirmary. The colonists had converted the cargo section of a freighter that had landed before the attacks into a makeshift barracks, where they slept, ate, and kept their stockpile of weapons and supplies. Judging from the exterior, the colonists also were using it as a fall back point if their outer defenses were overrun, given the numerous pockmarks and burn scoring along the hull from weapons fire.
Alicia entered the infirmary, located in the central part of the makeshift barracks, where Liara was currently working on comforting an older woman while her husband watched on. The asari finished speaking to her before joining the ground team members present. "Commander, I believe something strange is going on here," she said, looking back at the woman she had been treating. "Some of the colonists are not suffering from any injuries I can find, yet are showing signs of pain. And they are…speaking strangely. As if they're talking to someone who isn't present. I also noted some strange anomalies concerning their central nervous systems when I was scanning them, both the injured and uninjured."
The human Spectre looked over the colonists present, injured or otherwise, before nodding to a quiet empty corner, moving towards it. "What is it?"
"I'm not exactly sure. The frequencies of the bio-electrical impulses in their nervous systems seem to be altered, but I can't say how. I don't have much medical training beyond field care," Liara said, nervously glancing over her shoulder. "I wanted to try and analyze their blood, to make sure they weren't exposed to toxins, but they refused to let me take blood samples."
"Maybe it's just the stress of the battle?" Garrus suggested. "I mean, these people were never expecting to have to fight, and look at what's happened to them."
Naruto shook his head. "That would explain the erratic behavior, but not the other anomalies."
"I agree. And whenever I ask them questions, they seem to always refer me to Fai Dan for answers. Even when I'm questioning them about more personal things," Liara stated. "This does not seem like normal behavior, even from those suffering from the horror and stress of battle."
At that moment the rest of the ground team arrived, with Tali immediately making a beeline for Alicia. "Commander, I have something I need to share with you," she said quickly, causing Alicia to turn to her.
"Is it concerning strange behavior connected to the colonists?" The red-haired vanguard asked the quarian. Tali nodded in response while bringing up her omni-tool.
"Yes, but it is more than that. I noted a crane outside that seems to be connected to a cargo module. When I tried to inspect it, one of the colonists stopped me, telling me it wasn't important and that I shouldn't be snooping around. I managed to hack into the crane controls though and noted that the computer indicated the crane had been used to move and replace that exact cargo module in the past week. They are hiding something underneath it," she said, showing Alicia the data on her omni-tool.
Alicia frowned a bit at that, studying the data quietly. "We'll need to find out what, to make sure we don't run into anymore surprises on this mission," she said, nodding to the quarian.
Tali however wasn't finished. "There's something else. My helmet filters have registered a warning. There's an excessive amount of organic pollen in the air, far more than normal plant production."
Wrex just snorted, his own helmeted head turned to the quarian. "Yeah so?"
"So, we're at least ten stories above the planet surface, if not more," Naruto said, explaining what he realized Tali was getting at. "How in the hell are we dealing with a pollen problem at all, let alone a large amount of it." He began checking his own suit filters before nodding. "Same problem here. Excessive amount of pollen in the filters."
The others began running through their own suit filters, finding the same problem. "…this just keeps getting stranger and stranger," Alicia muttered, before getting back to business. "Either way, we need to deal with the problem at hand. The geth are still at the Exo-Geni facility, as well as the tunnels under the port here. We need to deal with both, so we're going to divide the team up."
She quickly pointed to Naruto. "Captain, you'll lead the team into the tunnels. Take Sergeant Williams, Wrex, and Dr. T'Soni with you. Everyone else, you're with me. We'll hit the Exo-Geni facility. Any questions?"
Wrex grumbled softly. "Why am I on the boring job?" He asked, arms crossed, his stance obviously one of tired annoyance.
"Because the Exo-Geni facility requires finesse. I want to hit them with a scalpel, not a hammer," Alicia said. "You can cut loose in the tunnels. Plus I want you on hand in case the geth attack the port again. Got it?" She stated, staring directly at him, her eyes set. She found that taking a firm stance worked best with him to get him to cooperate, or at least not rush off and do his own thing.
Wrex grunted softly at that, seemingly satisfied with her answer. With that out of the way, Alicia continued on, turning to Naruto. "I want you on high alert here though. There obviously is something going on, something more than we can see. The geth are here for something, and with the way these people are acting, they probably know about it. So stay alert."
"Understood Commander," Naruto stated with a nod.
Alicia looked to each member of the ground team, making sure they knew their orders. Seeing nods, confident or otherwise, from each of them she gave her own. "Good. Then check your ammo and supplies and get ready to move out people! We leave in ten," she ordered.
As the ground team dispersed to begin checking their weapons and equipment, Alicia headed to meet up with the marine detachment from the Normandy. She needed to give them commands as well, before she departed with her chosen squad. Checking the tracker on her suit, she soon pinpointed 2nd Lieutenant Allen, the current commanding officer of 1st squad, out near a secondary supply depot the colonists had set up. She quickly headed that way, soon seeing the lieutenant speaking with a salarian.
As she approached, the lieutenant looked up and quickly came to attention. "Ma'am," he said with a salute, which she returned.
"Lieutenant, I'm taking half my ground team to try and drive out the geth incursion at the Exo-Geni headquarters. Captain Shepard will be taking the other half of the team into the tunnels under Zhu's Hope to clear out the geth down there and see about helping getting this colony up and running again. You're going to be in charge here. I want you to keep the men sharp, and don't let your guard down. Understood?" Alicia ordered him.
"Understood Commander. We'll hold our position, don't you worry," the lieutenant, a man in his early thirties, stated, saluting again. Alicia returned the salute, before turning to leave, only to be stopped by the salarian.
"Excuse me, Commander? Do you require any supplies?" He asked her, indicating a data pad. "I have a number of supplies, most of it being used by the colonists, but I can sell you some of the excess goods if you need them."
Alicia blinked as she accepted the data pad, scrolling through the inventory. "Thank you for the offer, Mister…?"
"Gorot II Heranon Mal Dinest Got Inoste Ledra. Though your people would call me Ledra Inoste. I'm a merchant who came to sell goods to the colonists," he introduced himself, causing Alicia to blink.
"Well yes, thank you," she said, noting a few items. Some of it was armor pieces or weapons that were not as good as the equipment she and her ground team were equipped with, but she saw a few weapons mods that could be useful. She quickly highlighted them on the data pad, as well as some medical supplies. "Here we go," she said, putting in the details for the account of the Normandy's requisition account to pay for it all.
"Pleasure doing business with you. And thank you for coming to our aid. I must say, this business trip is not what I was expecting," Ledra said with a smile.
Alicia smiled behind her helmet. "Yeah, surprise geth attacks can do that," she said.
"There is that, but also…I was not expecting to find such a…interesting place. I thought to just come and trade but…I'm considering staying," he said, his voice taking a far away tone.
Alicia frowned slightly, hearing his tone as she studied him. "Well…I suppose it has its charm, to those who can see it," she said. "Please have those things delivered to the ship as soon as it's safe to do so."
As Ledra nodded and started gathering the items marked on the data pad, she signaled the lieutenant. As the soldier came closer, she said in a quieter tone. "Make sure all marines keep their suits sealed. There's some type of organic pollen in heavy concentrations around here. We don't want anyone infected as we have no idea what it'll do understood?"
"Yes ma'am. We'll continue battlefield protocols," Allen stated, as Alicia moved away.
Alicia moved away, activating her comm unit and patching it to the ship. "Lieutenant Pressly, are you reading me?"
"Confirmed Commander," came the response of her XO, back on the ship.
"I want you to start gathering whatever extra food we've got for onboard and drop it off on the dock, then contact Lieutenant Allen, tell him to send second squad to pick it up. Also…break out the Zappers as well, for second squad to pick up. Just in case," she ordered.
Pressly, in the CIC of the Normandy, frowned at that second part. "Expecting trouble ma'am?" He asked, confused a bit at her second order. Alongside the normal stock of small arms, the Normandy, like all Alliance warships, carried a complement of M/NL-7s, a variant of the Lancer assault rifle designed specifically to fire non-lethal stun rounds. They were nicknamed 'Zappers' because each round was coated in a low voltage electric based glaze that created an effect similar to the tasers previously utilized by law enforcement officers on Earth. They were mostly kept when non-lethal force and/or capture was the primary concern of the weapon operator, such as dealing with rowdy civilians or crew members.
"I'm hedging my bets Pressly. Something weird is going on out here, and I want to make damn sure we're ready for whatever it is. Shepard out." Pressly just grimaced as the communication shut off, before moving to issue the orders, hoping his commanding officer was just being paranoid.
Several minutes later the full ground team was assembled in front of the elevator that would take Alicia's team to the garage, while Naruto's team would need to go on a bit before reaching the stairs down to the tunnels. Alicia looked over the two teams, nodding to them as they made final checks on their weapons and armor. "Alright everyone, this is it. Just keep calm, take it slow, and keep your head on a swivel. And if we get out of this unscathed, drinks are on me," she said.
Naruto, Ashley, and Wrex all let out sounds of appreciation at that, while the others nodded. Alicia gave a grin before activating the elevator, looking to Naruto and his team. "Good luck team two," she said, as Naruto's team headed on to the stairs. Soon enough the elevator opened and she stepped in with her team.
The elevator took a few minutes to reach the garage. When it did though, they were immediately greeted with the sound of weapons fire. A few of the colonists were caught in a fire fight inside the garage, using the control room and a few barricades as cover against some geth that were attacking. Alicia quickly drew her Lancer, gesturing to one of the barricades.
The team quickly got into cover, with Tali doing what she did best as she quickly began working on the geth weapons, hacking into the onboard computers and uploading sabotage programs. One by one their weapons failed, one of them even backfiring and exploding, damaging the geth carrying it. Kaidan was not idle either, unleashing an overload program on the geth, causing the shields of one of them to fry out with a surge of electricity that then arced to several others, weakening their shields. Both Garrus and Alicia then tossed single grenades into their midst, the explosives sending several geth flying as fragments ripped into them, while others were thrown to the ground. As one the four Normandy squad members rose up, finishing the damaged or temporarily disoriented geth with weapons fire.
As the last geth fell, sputtering and sparking with the light fading from its optic, Alicia nodded. "Clear!" She shouted, standing up fully with the others. "Good work people. Garrus, Tali, secure the Mako. I'll talk to the colonists," she said, moving towards the control room where some of the colonists now were slowly getting up. One of them quickly moved to greet her.
"Thank you for the help. I don't know if we could have held out much longer," he told her. "Fai Dan told us you'd be coming for the Mako. Luckily the geth didn't damage her, but we couldn't get to her to drive them off."
"That's good news," Alicia said, looking towards the vehicle, where Garrus and Tali were going over it. "Is it ready to go?"
"Yes. Just let us know when and we'll open the door. Though you'll need to be careful, the geth tried swarming through the entrance. We barely closed it off before too many of them could get in," the colonist said, pointing to the garage door. Indeed, it looked like it had suffered some weapons fire, though its sturdy construction had apparently stymied the geth.
Alicia nodded at that as she moved over to the Mako. "Alright then. Lieutenant, you're shotgun. Vakarian, take the turret. Tali, you're in the back," she said, planning to take the driver's seat.
This of course caused everyone to shudder a bit, looking nervous and suddenly wishing they were on Naruto's team, if it meant being spared from a Mako ride.
Alicia quickly climbed into the Mako, starting it up as the others climbed into the vehicle and got into position. As she finished powering the vehicle up and started final checkups, Kaidan signaled the control. The garage door slowly opened, revealing the skyway beyond. The skyway was a wide suspension like bridge, with an upper and lower lane, the upper one slightly to the right.
In front of them were several geth who had been cut off by the closed door. They turned as the door opened, only for Garrus to quickly fire a six-inch round right into their ranks, sending them flying in bits and pieces. Alicia grinned at that, giving a thumb up over her shoulder before gunning the engine, roaring forward.
Kaidan and Garrus both immediately grimaced, as they soon realized that there was not much railing to stop them from going over the side. It might stop the normal supply trucks and personal ground vehicles, but the rugged Mako could easily go right over the barrier railing if Alicia was not careful. And considering the skyway was littered with wreckage from vehicles, large obstructions similar to old anti-tank hedgehogs used during humanities Second World War, and a few light geth armatures, there was plenty that could cause her to veer off the side. Garrus quickly rotated the turret to the first armature and opened up on it, using the co-ax machine gun to drain its shields before pumping another cannon round into it, ripping through the armor plating. The armatures were potent anti-infantry war-machines, but stood little chance of resisting the power of the Mako's cannon. Alicia swerved around the now burning wreckage, grinning to herself as she managed to prevent fishtailing and straightened the vehicle out, rolling up onto the upper lane. Her eyes narrowed though as she spotted movement ahead, in the form of some geth troopers backed up by one or two of the larger ones, the Primes as Tali had identified them. However, the main danger was one of the regular geth raising a rocket launcher onto its shoulder joint. "Garrus! Rocket trooper!" She shouted.
The turian was quick to respond, quickly firing a cannon shell that reduced the geth to so much debris, and threw a couple of the troopers to the ground. He sprayed the larger geth with the machine gun as Alicia suddenly turned, the vehicle turning sideways but still skidding in the same direction, smacking broadside into the two large Primes and throwing them. Garrus quickly fired another cannon shell into one of them, destroying it as he started spraying the second one with more machine gun fire, overwhelming its remaining shields and armor before it could stand back up.
In the passenger compartment, Tali was groaning. "Keelah, make it stop. Please ancestors, make it stop," she groaned before heaving a bit, as if fighting back the urge to vomit.
Garrus, in the turret, was grimacing. "Commander, is there any chance you can go slower?" He asked. "I know your people think turians are birds, but we really can't fly."
Alicia just chuckled, looking back at them. "Sorry Garrus, but we're in a hurry," she said, turning the vehicle and continuing on towards the residential skyscraper that stood between Zhu's Hope and their destination.
As they drew near though, the radio began to crackle. "…looks like…-haps they're frie-…can you hear-?"
Kaidan quickly began adjusting the radio, setting the frequency to match the transmission. Soon a woman was speaking loud and clear. "I repeat, to the Mako on the skyway, do you copy? Please respond!"
Alicia quickly patched into the radio. "This is Commander Shepard of the Alliance Navy. Who am I speaking to?" She stated.
Relief was evident in the woman's voice. "Thank heavens; I thought we were done for. My name is Julia Baynham, a researcher for Exo-Geni. I'm not too far away from your position, in the weigh station along the skyway. We've got survivors here, and need assistance!"
"Copy that. Sit tight and we'll be there in a minute," Alicia said, ending the radio. "Well, looks like we've got more survivors," she told the others, looking to Kaidan. "Can you transmit that back to the Normandy?"
Kaidan quickly began reporting back to the ship on their new finding as Alicia pushed the Mako faster, now having more survivors to try and learn more from. Entering the skyscraper she soon stopped as she found the weigh station right after the entrance, most likely there to ensure vehicles transporting supplies, equipment, and artifacts to and from the residential and Exo-Geni buildings were what they were expecting. She quickly parked outside of it as Garrus was slowly doing a visual scan with the turret. Alicia motioned for the others to remain seated for now, before slowly opening the driver hatch to climb out, drawing her Lancer to do her own scan for any potential threats.
That's when she saw a woman with short brown hair, wearing a dirtied Exo-Geni researcher outfit, slowly walk out from a ramp with her hands up. "Commander Shepard?! Is that you?" She called out.
Alicia nodded, raising her Lancer into a resting position. "Yeah, it is. Hang on a moment," she said, before ducking back into the Mako. "Garrus, Tali, stay here. We'll take care of this. Keep an eye out for geth," she ordered.
As the two alien squad members nodded in confirmation, she proceeded to climb out of the vehicle, dropping over the side as Kaidan followed her out. The duo moved quickly but cautiously to the woman, their weapons at the ready.
Julia gave them a relieved smile. "It's so good to see you both. We thought we were goners. The geth seemed to have overrun the whole colony. Some of us managed to escape the Exo-Geni headquarters and regroup here with other colonists who escaped the geth's initial push through the area. We've been hiding ever since," she said, turning to indicate an area down the ramp from the weigh station. They could see the shapes of other people there, including some in armor who were obviously some type of security. She started to head back down the way, with Alicia and Kaidan cautiously following, in case it was a trap.
Passing the guards, who were set up behind rubble for defensive positions, they found a man of Asian descent with very short cropped hair and a thin moustache frowning as he looked at Julia. "I told you to stay off the radio! We don't know if the geth can track us! We just need to lie low and-," he started to say, only for Julia to interrupt.
"Jeong, these are the reinforcements," Julia said, indicating Alicia and Kaidan.
"Yes ma'am. Commander Alicia Shepard, Alliance Navy. This is 1st Lieutenant Kaidan Alenko, Alliance Marines. My ship was dispatched to investigate why we lost contact with your colony here. We actually secured the port of Zhu's Hope and helped the colonists drive back a geth attack. Most of my marines and some other specialists are helping them hold that position," Alicia told them.
"There are more survivors?" Julia said excitedly, while Jeong looked a little less enthused. "We thought we were the only ones left."
"Well Fai Dan and a number of colonists are still alive at Zhu's Hope. We're still securing the port for now, but I'm sure they'll pull through if we can eliminate the geth at the Exo-geni headquarters. That's actually where my team and I were headed," Alicia said, indicating back over her shoulder.
"That's a bad idea. We should wait here till Exo-Geni sends reinforcements and orders," the man named Jeong said, eyes widening a bit.
Alicia frowned as he looked at the man, seeing his clothes were those more associated with a businessman then a researcher. "And you are?"
"Ethan Jeong. I'm the Exo-Geni representative here, ensuring the parent company's interests are met," he said. "We can't have you running around our headquarters, putting holes in valuable equipment and artifacts!" Ethan said.
Alicia turned her head to look at Kaidan, disbelief evident in her stance as the lieutenant haplessly shrugged. She turned back to Ethan. "Are you serious? You're caring about profits and such when right now those geth are trying to kill you? Do you think they're trying to steal corporate secrets or something? They want to kill you. They will try to kill you. What good will your profits be then?"
Jeong frowned at that, backing down a bit as Alicia turned to Julia. "Do you have any clue why the geth are here? The colonists at Zhu's Hope don't know either, though given how they seemed intent on taking out the port we think it has something to do down there."
"No, I have no idea," Julia said, looking to the others around her to see if any of them did. "The geth just showed up and started attacking us. We haven't even found anything that valuable here in the first place, as some people are keen to keep reminding us," she added, looking to Jeong who gave her a slight sneer back. "But if you're going to the headquarters, I need to talk to you first."
"Don't waste her time Julia. Your daughter is-," Jeong started to say, only to be interrupted by Julia.
"Lizbeth could still be alive!" Julia snapped, a hint of hysterics in her voice. "She's a smart girl, I'm sure she survived! There were plenty of places to hide!"
Alicai raised a hand. "Wait, stop. Your daughter? Is she in the headquarters?" She asked Julia, who turned back to her with a hopeful look in her eyes.
"Y-Yes. Ethan said she was staying behind to try and purge the data banks when the geth arrived, but…I haven't heard from her. And I can't contact the headquarters, because the geth are jamming transmissions, n-not to mention they could detect us. Please, if you're going up there, please search for my daughter," she said frantically.
Alicia nodded at that. "We'll do our best," she said, gently touching Julia's shoulder. "I promise that we'll look for her, and if she's alright, we'll bring her back."
Julia nodded quietly, accepting that was all Alicia could promise. Alicia pulled back, only for Ethan to step forward, activating his omni-tool. "Wait. Before you get going, you need to sign a release protecting Exo-Geni if you should suffer any injuries while on company grounds. As well as an NDA-," he started to say, only to look up and find Alicia was already walking away, Kaidan following her quickly. "WAIT A MINUTE!" He called, though was ignored by the N7 Vanguard.
"Can you believe that guy?" Alicia muttered angrily as she and Kaidan got back to the Mako. "Life and death situation and all he can think about is some stupid corporate bullshit. What the hell is wrong with people?"
"I don't know Commander. Some people just have different priorities," Kaidan said, slipping into the passenger seat as Alicia got into the Mako, closing the hatch behind her.
"Sounds like something interesting happened down there," Garrus said, as he and Tali had caught the end portion of the two human's conversation as they boarded the vehicle.
"Just some survivors. Nothing special," Alicia said, starting up the vehicle again and proceeding on her way. As she rounded a turn, she privately thought that Naruto was lucky for not having to deal with idiots like that Ethan Jeong.
Tunnels under Zhu's Hope
Naruto growled softly as weapons fire ripped into the large concrete like block he was using for cover. "I'm betting Alicia doesn't have to deal with this kind of shit right now," he snarled out, letting his Lancer cool down before rising up and opening up on one of the two krogan currently spraying his team's position with rapid fire from a pair of large chaingun like weapons. The weapons seemed to be geth in origin and so none of his team was too eager to get hit by them, since geth weapons packed a lot more punch.
Naruto's own team had little trouble initially. They had been moving through the underground tunnel, reactivating the valve controls that the geth had used to shut down the supply of water to Zhu's Hope. They had met some geth, but as it turned out the narrow tunnels were perfect for Wrex, who simply shrouded himself in biotics, hurled himself down the tunnel, and would proceed to smash apart the geth before they really had a chance to fire back at him. Naruto had initially felt like he and the others were superfluous, until they came across a wild pack of varren that had made their tunnels home. A large omnivorous creature with a preference for meat, the canine like reptiles had swarmed out of the nest they made for themselves to kill the four of them for food. It was only when Naruto gutted a particularly large one, the alpha, that the surviving varren had retreated.
Currently, Naruto was wishing they could go back to fighting geth and varren, since they had run into these two krogan. The area they were in was wider than the narrow tunnels they had been fighting in, though it still had the concrete like blocks they had seen at points in the tunnel, allowing both the krogan to cover them with their rapid fire heavy weapons. Wrex, unable to crouch or hide like the others could, had instead taken up position behind a corner, poking out to spray the krogan with his own Revenant LMG when the krogans had to cease fire to let their weapons cool. Thankfully they didn't seem to understand the concept of coordinating their fire so one of their weapons was still going while the other cooled down. Ashley and Liara were a bit behind Naruto, behind another block. Ashley was popping up to take pot shots with her Vindicator, while Liara was huddled as low as she could get, in slight shock when she had nearly been gunned down by the krogan when they first encountered them. They had been caught off guard when the krogan came out from around a corner, weapons spinning up and readying to fire. But thanks to their training, they had been able to get quickly into cover, though Liara had reacted slower due to have the least experience out of all of them.
Now though, the asari was slowly recovering enough to at least be able to help out, as she looked up at Ashley. "W-Where are they?" She asked, her armored gloves glowing blue with biotic energy.
Ashley, seeing this, grinned as she gave her best estimation. "Got one of them about eleven o'clock, other one is almost dead on twelve," she told Liara.
The asari nodded, having gotten used to the human slang and terminology during their training at Pinnacle Station. Using Ashley's directions, she let out a breath, before standing up and launching a throw towards one of the krogan, who was actually staggered back by the power of her throw. Krogan often proved themselves resilient against the push or pull of various biotic techniques, as their bulk and weight made it harder for them to be affected, but asari biotics were among the most powerful in the galaxy. Even Liara had a fair amount of power behind her biotics, not even to knock the krogan off his feet but enough to stagger him.
Ashley however capitalized on Liara's attack, popping up and firing not at the krogan, but his weapon. The three round burst slammed into the casing of the weapon, causing it to spark and sputter, the rotation barrels slowing and stopping. The krogan blinked, looking down at his weapon, shaking and hitting it since it was no longer spinning up.
"Good work!" Naruto shouted over the radio, rising up and quickly shooting the other krogan, who had started to shoot towards Ashley and Liara. The rapid stream of rounds from the Lancer quickly began draining and collapsing the krogan's shields, impacting against his armor and denting it. The krogan growled and turned towards Naruto, only to get thrown back as Wrex launched his own powerful throw. His own biotics were powerful enough to knock the krogan off his feet, leaving him vulnerable. Both Naruto and Wrex charged out at this, to prevent the krogan from starting up again. Wrex quickly slammed into the one with the damaged weapon, roaring as he slammed him into the wall, head butting the krogan who wasn't wearing a helmet.
"Hah! You pyjaks need to learn to keep your head protected!" Wrex shouted, grabbing the stunned krogan by the head and slamming him repeatedly headfirst into the wall.
Naruto meanwhile slid under his krogan, slashing with one gauntlet blade at the point in the armor between the leg and lower torso, which was weaker for mobility. The mono-edged blade cut through the tough under suit and into the scaly hide underneath. The krogan roared, trying to turn to smash his arm into Naruto, who leaned back away from the short arm before ducking in, grabbing the arm and quickly stabbing underneath the armpit, another weak point in the armor. The krogan roared in pain and anger at that, his eyes growing dangerously bestial with rage. Naruto stepped back as the krogan growled angrily, charging at him. He quickly side stepped, his hand glowing red with biotic energy as he launched a quick throw at the krogan's back, sending the large reptile smashing fast and hard head first into the wall. Naruto quickly pulled out a grenade, activating a timer and slamming it onto the back of the krogan's hump, using the 'sticky' program to activate small clamps that dug into the armor to hold the grenade in place.
As Naruto quickly stepped back, the krogan pulled himself out of the wall, dazed and staggering a bit. He turned towards Naruto, growling as his eyes were red with rage. But before he could step forward, the grenade exploded, ripping through the armor and hitting him with shockwaves at close range from the explosion. The combined power of the pointblank explosion and the concussive force from it overwhelmed even the krogan's legendary toughness, as multiple organs failed at once and the krogan gaped, blood pouring from his mouth and nose before he fell forward, hitting the ground hard.
Wrex and the other krogan had both been staggered by the explosion, saving the krogan from Wrex, at least momentarily. The krogan vanguard growled as he regained his footing, looking at his younger, bloodied opponent, who was growling angrily. The two started to charge at each other, obviously intending to tackle each other. But Wrex, at the last moment, turned to one side and tripped his opponent, letting him smash face first into the ground. Wrex kicked him over onto his back, pulling out a rather large combat knife from a sheathe on his waist. Speaking in the guttural language of his people he drove the blade right into the neck of the krogan, dragging it from one side to the other to prevent any chance of the regeneration from saving the krogan in time. The downed reptile like alien struggled, trying to grab at his neck, but it was too late.
Wrex stood up from the weakly struggling form, lifting the blade to look at it and examining the blood that stained the metal before slowly sheathing it, not bothering to clean it. He pulled out his shotgun, looking to the others. Ashley and Liara had joined them, the latter could be heard panting and heaving at the sight of the two dead krogan, her eyes wide and horrified behind her helmet's visor. Her whole frame was trembling as she finally dragged her gaze away from the dying krogan.
"Tch. If you expect to help us you shouldn't look away, princess," Wrex said to her. "It's not going to be just wrecking machines, there's going to be blood and guts, both theirs and ours. If you can't stand it, you should stay on the ship."
Liara just trembled at his words as Wrex turned away, only to find Naruto right there in front of him. "Enough," Naruto snapped at him, a slight red aura flaring around him. "That is enough Wrex. This is the first time she's seen death like this up close. It's bad enough seeing people gunned down, but seeing them blown up or killed with a blade is far worse."
"Tch, so what? If she can't handle it-," Wrex started, only to find himself stopping as the biotic energy around Naruto flared more, and Naruto's blue eyes becoming amethyst orbs.
"Enough," Naruto stated with a tone of finality, his voice hard and having almost an animalistic growl to it.
Wrex watched him carefully, before giving a shrug, not backing down but not pushing it further. Naruto allowed his biotics to fade, turning to Liara who was struggling to control her trembles. "Liara…Liara," he said, the second time being louder to get her attention. When she looked at him, he gave her a gentle nod. "It's hard, your first time. I'm sorry. But we need to keep going. Will you be okay?" He asked her.
She looked at him, before taking a deep breath. "I…I-I'll be able to k-keep going," she said quietly, her voice still shaken.
Naruto nodded quietly at that, turning while setting his comm channel to private with Ashley. "Keep close to her," he said quietly, getting an equally quiet 'affirmative' in return. He switched back to a squad channel and raised his Lancer. "Alright team, let's clear this command center, then make a final sweep of the tunnels," he said, advancing to the doorway the krogans had come through. The others followed him, stacking up on him as he stopped at the corner.
He checked his motion sensor, finding a few dots indicating enemies. He slowly held up one hand with four fingers, indicating the number of enemies he was detecting, with each of them nodding in understanding. He motioned to Ashley, using non-verbal commands to order her to throw a grenade into the room. Ashley nodded as she holstered her Vindicator, drawing out a pair of grenades and priming them. Naruto gave her the signal and she tossed both in, quickly avoiding the rather quick counter fire that came from the geth when they detected her movement.
The two grenades both exploded, and Naruto signaled Wrex who charged in, roaring out as he slammed into one geth and smashed it into a wall, destroying it instantly. Naruto followed behind, quickly firing on another of the geth as Ashley came in, moving to his right and firing on a third geth. Those two were quickly destroyed while the forth one, damaged by the grenades, was struggling to get up, only for a burst of gunfire to destroy it. Liara was panting as she held up her M-4 Shuriken, given to her alongside her Predator pistol to beef up her arsenal. The weapon was a three round burst machine pistol, a hybrid between a heavy pistol and an SMG, with moderate accuracy over mid-range.
Wrex grunted as he dropped the smashed parts that used to be a geth. "Good kill," he acknowledge, as Naruto moved over to one of the consoles. Bring up a translation program Tali had made for the team, he worked on translating the script on the console, before nodding.
"Here," he said, connecting his omni-tool to the console and beginning a search program for any relevant information. "Keep me covered."
The other three did so, watching for any further geth as Naruto worked on downloading the information. Unlike with Tali, who could easily sort the information herself and download only relevant files or information, Naruto was forced to rely on the translation program to translate each file and find the important ones to download. Meaning it took longer for him to work then Tali. Still, his training as an N7 operative had included information retrieval and he still was able to do so smoothly and efficiently.
After roughly fifteen minutes he separated from the console, nodding. "Information retrieved," he said, pulling out his Lancer and stepping back. With a spray of weapons fire the console was rendered destroyed, with Ashley and Wrex both quickly doing the same to the other consoles, rendering the geth command post useless. Naruto nodded in satisfaction as he turned to his teammates.
"Alright. Final sweep then we report back," he said, before activating his comm unit. "Normandy 2-1 to Normandy 3-1, do you copy?" He queried.
After a couple moments of silence, the radio crackled to life. "This is 3-1, reading you loud and clear 2-1," responded Lieutenant Allen.
"We've secured the geth CP down here, and are preparing a final sweep. Keep an eye out though. They might become desperate and launch a final attack on the port there," Naruto ordered the marine lieutenant.
Getting a confirmation, he ended the line and moved to the doorway. "Alright team, final sweep and back to the port," he ordered, taking point again.
It was largely a formality at that point. The geth had dispatched most of their forces in the tunnels to intercept Naruto and his team once they had brought down the first units, but the narrow tunnels and walkways underground had made it laughably easy to channel them into kill zones. When Wrex wasn't charging them down, Liara would throw up a singularity to yank them off balance, and they would either finish them off with either a biotic explosion or simply gun them down. The toughest fighting had been when they drew closer to the command post, as the geth had intensified their defense and the two krogan who had surprised them.
Now though, the rogue droids seemed to be gone, as they finished moving through the last stretches of tunnel. Ashley was activating the last valve to ensure a steady flow of water to the colony when their motion sensors lit up, causing all four of them to turn and aim in that direction. Naruto frowned when he noted only a single blip, raising a hand. "Hold fire. Might be a friendly," he cautioned.
Sure enough, they saw a figure stagger to them, grunting and panting in pain even though he seemed to have no visible injury. They all kept their weapons up, but the figure, a man in dirty clothes stained with filth and sweat, seemed to be no real threat. Instead he stopped as he saw them, eyes widening. "H-Heh…you're not those robots. I thought y-you were more of them. W-what are you doing down here?" He said, his voice sounding tense and in pain.
"I'm Captain Shepard, Alliance marines attached with the SSV Normandy," Naruto said. "We're here to wipe out these geth. Who are you?"
"Ian Newstead. And you must have come from the colony. T-They all still there?" He asked.
"They're alive. What are you doing here?" Naruto asked curiously, taking in the man's appearance, especially the sweat and pain evident on his face.
"Hiding. Disobeying. Making a nuisance of myself. Anything I can to-GAAAHHHH!" He shouted, suddenly spasming and dropping to one knee as his body seemed wracked with pain. Naruto immediately moved to help him but he pushed him away. "N-No, don't. I-I need this. T-To remind me I-I'm still alive," he panted.
"What are you talking about?" Ashley asked, confused and worried about this man's strange behavior. Wrex however seemed uninterested.
"He's probably just snapped. Couldn't handle what happened here," he muttered.
Ian slowly stood up, panting. "T-Trust me. I-I'm probably t-the sanest person you've come across f-from Zhu's Hope. T-The rest of them have UGGUURRHH!" He shouted as he jerked in pain again.
"We need to sedate him. Liara, I need-," Naruto said, only for Ian to react violently to that.
"No! You can't! I can't sleep, can't rest! It'll take-GAAHHHHHHH!" Ian said frantically, his body jerking again. "I-It'll take over! I-I can't GGAAHAHHHHH!"
"What the hell are you talking about? What's going on?" Naruto demanded, grabbing him. Ian just panted, shaking his head.
"I-I'm trying…t-the pain…it…d-don't let me sleep. D-Don't let me-," he started to say, only for Wrex to smack him in the back of his head, knocking him out.
Naruto grunted as he caught the sudden dead weight of the unconscious man, looking to Wrex who shrugged. "He's either insane, and needs rest, or he can't tell us anything. At which point he's better off unconscious," the krogan said.
Naruto shook his head quietly, pushing the unconscious Ian to him. "Then you can take him," he said, as Wrex grabbed Ian, grumbling in annoyance. He turned back, activating his comm unit to contact Alicia. "Commander, we've got a situation here," he said, only to wince as he got only static in return. "Commander, do you read me? Commander Shepard?"
There was no reply beyond static, causing Naruto to switch over to Kaidan to try. Again receiving only static, he tried Garrus and Tali, but received the same. Bringing up the team status indicator on his helmet's HUD, he let out a sigh of relief when he saw the other four were all in healthy condition.
"Alright. We've lost contact with Team One, but they're still alive. We're going to take Mister Newstead here back to the port and wait for news from the Commander," Naruto said. "Keep frosty though. There might still be a straggler or two, so let's not let our guard down. Wrex, you're center. Liara, behind me. Ashley, cover rear," he ordered, taking point again, with the squad members following him. As they headed into the tunnels, he couldn't help but think 'Be careful sis'.
Leaf Ranger: *Winces as a bullet hits near his head* C'mon guys, you're tearing this place apart!
RagingStar19: It'll be worth it if we kill you!
Diehard LeafTayu LeafRanger: What she said!
LR: Man, is this the end? *Is hiding in cover, only for three figures to appear between LR and the others*
Alicia Shepard: Hey now, no need for roughhousing. You guys want to play, let's do it outside. *grins as she cocks her shotgun*
Diehard FemaleShepLiara LeafRanger: Can't have you killing him before he gets to my favorite pairing.
Diehard MaleShepTali LeafRanger: My pairing is better. *grumbles as he readies a sniper rifle*
Alicia: We got this Leaf, get going!
LR: Man this is a lucky break. *runs for it as weapons fire and biotics erupt behind me*
So new chapter up, and sorry, both for the wait and the shorter chapter. I meant to cover the rest of Feros but honestly, it was taking too long with still too much to go, so I cut it short. I'll finish Feros next chapter. I'm sorry for the shorter chapter guys, and I hope you won't hold it against me.
And sorry for the wait. But between moving into a new place, getting settled, celebrating my birthday, and enjoying my new birthday gifts (Battlefront 2, Monster Hunter World, and two months of X-Box Live Gold), I've honestly been distracted a lot. I'm really sorry about that.
Hope you all enjoyed and see you next chapter! If I haven't disappointed you too much.