Chapter 22
Captain's Quarters - SSV Normandy SR1
The spectre sighed as she sat in her chair and watched the door. Liara sat on the bed with her hands on her knees and a very uncomfortable expression on her face. They were both waiting for one more to join them. The asari had been instructed on what was going to happen, and it wasn't something she relished in. But it was something she needed to train in if she wanted to continue to work with Shepard. So here she sat as they sped through another relay corridor, waiting.
Finally, the captain's quarters door opened, and Ashley stepped inside wearing her PT clothing. "You called Skipper?"
"Ash, have a seat," said Shepard sternly as she motioned towards the bed.
Williams eyed her commander in confusion but did as she was told and sat next to the asari. "Everything alright, Shepard?"
Staying silent as she stared into the gunny's eyes, Shepard leaned forward and sighed. "I need to know if you are serious, Williams."
"About what, sir?" asked the armory chief as she grew suspicious of the tense air in the room.
"About N7 training. You are one hundred percent certain that you want to go through with this?" she asked, her face a mask of stone.
As the realization that hit her about what was happening, Ash hardened her own expression. "One hundred percent, Skipper."
Nodding, Shepard stood to her feet. "You and Liara will not be on the ground team where we are going. Instead, you two are getting training here, and you will be recovering from that training while the rest of us investigate Theseus," she said, getting a wide-eyed stare from the chief. "Now, at any point, if you want to stop the training, say the word 'Normandy,' and I will end it. Do you understand?"
"Understood, sir," said the soldier as she stood too.
"Good," said Shepard with a grim look on her face. Reaching back, she pulled a pair of magnetic cuffs off of her belt, then lashed out and kicked directly into the back of the gunnery chief's knee. The woman dropped to one knee in shock before Shepard locked both of her hands behind her back. "This is Odr, the training you heard about in the Göndul Compound," she said as she grabbed the bun on the back of Ash's head and yanked her head back, causing the chief to hiss in anger. Finally, Shepard leaned down and whispered into the woman's ear so that Liara could not hear it. "I'm going to give you a code word, and Liara is going to use her biotics to retrieve it. You are to do everything you can to fight against her invasion of your mind."
Ash's eyes widened at the realization of what was about to happen. "W-What!?"
"Prepare your mind, Ash. Think of your most precious memories and bury yourself in them. That's the only way you can stop an invasion of the mind," said the spectre calmly as she held Ash on her knees by the cuffs and hair. Whispering again, she said simply, "Pineapple…"
Williams donned an exasperated look at the odd word, but then Shepard nodded to Liara. The asari approached and took her gloves off, her own face a look of discomfort. "I-I'm sorry Ashley," she said simply before reaching down and gripping the gunnery chief's head with her bare hand. Her body lit up with biotic energy and Ash immediately went stiff. Her eyes went wide and rolled up into her head as the infiltration began.
Shepard watched as Ash struggled against the cuffs, against the intrusion, against anything she could. But it was useless. She was held in place while Liara's face twisted in an expression of pain. "N-No! Damn you!" shouted the chief, her voice much quieter than she probably intended.
Liara now had a very focused look on her face as she continued to grip the woman's head. "Pen... apple…" she said before her brows creased. "Pine...apple? Pineapple?" she asked as she looked at Shepard. The spectre nodded, and she released Williams. Ash nearly collapsed to the floor; her skin now doused in perspiration as she breathed heavily.
"Fuck…" groaned the gunnery chief as she sat back on her haunches again, a worn-out expression on her face as she looked up at the ceiling.
"Making up information won't work on biotics. They can see your memories, and if they are invasive enough, can even relive them through your mind. So false information won't work unless you believe the false information to be true," said the spectre as she helped Ash to sit upright on her knees.
Williams simply nodded. "Understood…" she said with a groan as she looked up at the asari.
Leaning forward, Shepard whispered another word into her ear. "Everest." Then she looked up at the asari and nodded once more. "Again," ordered the spectre as Ash gritted her teeth and closed her eyes.
Combat Information Center - SSV Normandy SR1
"Another human colony. At this point, I'd say Saren is just taking out his frustrations on you," said Garrus as he stared at the holographic map of the settlement.
It was a small colony built directly on top of a prothean ruin. According to her reports, the protheans had tunnels as widespread as the roots of a tree. In the five years that the colony had existed, they had yet to explore even a fraction of what was below the surface. "I certainly hope whatever we're looking for isn't in those ruins. It could take us years to figure it out," said Kaidan as he stared at the small housing trailers that were parked on the surface. Next to the colony was a large tower that had a skyway, leading to a large skyscraper that belonged to ExoGeni Corporation.
Shepard stared at the tower curiously. "What the hell is ExoGeni doing on Feros?"
Tali, Kaidan, and Wrex all eyed her curiously. "They are a corporation from Earth. It's not that far-fetched that they'd support a human colony," responded Wrex as he looked at the holographic building.
"ExoGeni is a corporation that specializes in xenobiology and genetics. They care about everything alien to Earth. So, a human colony is the last place I'd expect them," she responded as she looked up at them.
"They were pretty heavy into prothean study, so maybe it's the ruins?" offered Kaidan as Shepard scratched her chin.
"Maybe," she said as she looked up at them all. "In any case, we've got geth swarming the building. It's unlikely that anyone inside is alive, and I wouldn't be surprised to see more of those dragon's teeth when we get to the colony either. Their ship is attached to the east side of the building," she said as she pointed at the small protrusion on the skyscraper.
"Why don't we have the Normandy blast it off the tower?" asked Wrex, causing the others to look at him in shock.
"The Normandy's cannons are too powerful. They'd rip half the building off if we tried that," responded Kaidan firmly.
"Hey, she's the one who said everyone inside was likely dead anyway. Why not surprise them with fireworks?" asked the krogan as he bounced on his feet, almost too eager to get off the ship.
"Okay, so we're not going to do that," she said, smirking at the krogan.
"Ah, you're no fun anymore Shepard. Remember the days when I shot a thresher maw in the face while it was trying to eat you?" he asked with an exasperated sigh.
"I do, and then the Normandy almost killed you," she said, never losing her smile as she looked back at the hologram where the galaxy map used to be.
"Heh, yeah. Those were the days," he said fondly.
"Now, if you're done being sentimental over grotesque violence…" started the commander.
But Wrex interrupted her by shouting, "Never!"
She chuckled and moved on. "We need a scalpel in this situation, not a hammer. We need to find out what the geth are doing here."
"Maybe ExoGeni found something on the protheans that Saren needs?" chimed in Tali, who immediately shrunk as everyone looked at her.
"That's our most likely lead yet," said Shepard with a smile. Tali then stood straight again shyly. "Now, everyone but Alenko, armor up. We're hitting the ground soon. We'll start at the colony first since the biggest chance of anyone surviving this mess will be there. Once we have that secure, we'll move into ExoGeni and find out what they have," she ordered as she stepped down from the map.
"If the geth haven't already wiped the data," said Wrex as he walked off towards the elevator, getting a sour look from the commander.
As she turned to head for the same elevator, she was stopped by Tali. The shy quarian approached her, her demeanor much more reserved than usual. "Shepard…"
Shepard could tell by her voice that she was anxious, but she wasn't sure about what. "What is it Tali?" asked the spectre curiously.
"I…" started the quarian as she looked down at her fidgeting hands. "I would like to talk to you again after this mission is over. About... our last talk."
Shepard's eyes widened slightly. "Alright. Once we get back and settled down, I'll send you a message and you can meet me in my cabin again," said the commander with a smile. "Sound like a plan?"
Tali looked up at the woman, and Shepard could see the anxiety melting from her form. "It does. Thank you, Shepard. And... I apologize for…" she started, but Shepard held up a finger, stopping her mid-sentence.
"You have nothing to apologize for Tali. You had every right to be nervous about my request," she said as she placed her hands on her hips. "But I am glad you gave it some thought. For now, let's go kick some geth ass," she said as she held up her hand in the quarian greeting.
But Tali didn't return the greeting. Instead, she excitedly thrust her palm into Shepard's forcefully, causing a clapping sound that echoed around the CIC. "High five!" All Shepard could do was laugh and wrap her arm around the girl's shoulders as they walked towards the elevator. "Why are you laughing? That is a human gesture of agreeance, is it not?" she asked, her arms to her chest in embarrassment.
"It is Tali. It is," said the spectre with a happy grin.
Zhu's Hope Landing Pad - Feros
As the four stepped off the ramp from the Normandy's cargo bay, all armored and armed to the teeth, they immediately made their way towards the stairs leading down to the colony itself. Wrex and Shepard took the lead while Garrus and Tali brought up the rear. Kaidan, meanwhile, stayed with Joker on the ship and watched the colony through the ExoGeni cameras that she had hijacked upon landing.
"Shepard, you've got movement ahead. It looks like a colonist is heading towards you," came his voice through the comm.
"Hey, I can see things too!" snapped Joker, causing the commander to smirk.
"You two settle down. Whoever sees something, report it. It doesn't matter who it is," she responded as she saw the man that was urgently approaching them. Wrex went to raise his weapon, but Shepard reached out and stopped him. "Stop right there!" she shouted through her helmet.
The message got through clear as day as the man stopped in his tracks and raised his hands. "P-Please, don't shoot!" he shouted as he looked at the massive krogan next to her.
"We're not going to shoot as long as you don't do anything stupid! Now, what's your name?" asked the commander as she approached him slowly.
"I'm David al Talaqani! I'm a colonist here at Zhu's Hope! I saw your ship as you were landing! Our leader Fai Dan will want to speak with you immediately," he stated nervously as he looked between them all.
"I'm glad there are survivors here. Take me to him and I'll…" started Shepard, but she was interrupted by Joker over her comms.
"Shepard! Geth just sprung up over the walkway! They're right around the corner!" he shouted urgently, causing Shepard to draw her weapon.
Still several meters away from the man, she raised an arm in warning and shouted, "Get behind cover!" Unfortunately, he didn't react fast enough. A rocket shot from behind him made a direct hit and blew his annihilated body off the walkway and down into the depths of the ruin. Growling angrily, Shepard rolled into cover and began returning fire.
Garrus did the same, but Wrex and Tali didn't. "Shepard, I can take them out if you keep the rocket trooper from hitting me!" shouted the krogan as he donned his biotic barrier.
"Got it! Garrus, help me take him out!" shouted Shepard as plasma fire rained down on her position.
Nodding, the turian pulled his sniper off his back and they both popped over cover as Wrex began barreling down the walkway, a battle cry rending the air as he charged at the troops. Surprisingly, Tali was following him with her omni-tool open. As soon as the rocket trooper popped its head up again, Garrus fired, and its shields winked out in an instant. Shepard squeezed her trigger and its head exploded into fragments as it fell to the floor. "Let's move up and help them out!" she shouted over to the turian as she broke cover.
The two sped up to catch up to the krogan, only to find him standing and staring stupidly at the quarian. "Everything alright?" asked Garrus as he looked Tali over curiously. She was standing and typing on her omni-tool, every geth in the area currently spasming erratically or already dead. Finally, Tali took her shotgun and finished off the ones that were still moving.
"Of course, why do you ask?" she asked as she held her shotgun up.
Garrus groaned as if her words hurt him. "Ugh, tell me you didn't get that from one of those cheesy action movies."
"Garrus, as long as it makes you groan, I intend to keep doing it," she said as she lowered her weapon.
"Never knew you had it in you, kid," said Wrex as he shook his head. "I'll have to take quarians more seriously now."
"Thanks?" replied Tali as she prepared her weapon again. "If you want the geth dead, you always send a quarian. We know more than the rest of the galaxy combined when it comes to them," she said as she stepped up to Shepard.
"Alright, enough with the idle chatter. We've got a dead colonist, and if this is any indicator, the rest may be in danger as well," said Shepard as she raised her pistol and began moving forward. Despite her words, she was proud of Tali. It wasn't every day someone stunned a krogan with their battle prowess.
The squad moved again with weapons primed as they entered what looked like a spiral staircase that circled around the outside of a tall room. It wasn't long before geth fire forced them against the safety barrier. "Damn! How did they get past the colonists?" asked Tali as she opened her omni-tool again. A drone materialized and began making its way up the stairs. "Shepard! You and Garrus prepare to take them out! Wrex... distract their fire!"
Chuckling to herself, Shepard began following the quarian's orders. Taking out her long-ranged rifle, she waited until Wrex stood straight and started blasting away at the shield generators that the geth put up, knocking them down easily. Soon, one of the geth went rigid and its shields popped. The spectre immediately took her shot and blasted its chest open. Then another froze, and Garrus put a shot directly through its headlamp.
In a manner of minutes, the ambushing geth were destroyed. Tali summoned her drone and reached down to pick up the projector again for later use. Shepard approached her and patted her shoulder gently. "You weren't kidding. I'd like you on the ground with me from now one when geth are involved."
"O-Of course! Thank you, Shepard!" she said both nervous and excitedly.
"Now, the colony should be just up these stairs! Let's go find out if anyone's alive!" she ordered as she replaced her sniper with her pistol and moved up the stairs. Her team followed her, with Wrex stumbling slightly on the much smaller human stairs. When they finally made it to the top, she was surprised to see human guards pointing weapons at her. "Hold your fire! I'm Spectre Jane Shepard with the Citadel Council!" she yelled as she approached with her free hand up as a sign of compliance.
"Spectre? They sent a Spectre?" asked one of the humans as he looked at the other. Finally, they both lowered their weapons and Shepard approached calmly, though still bearing her pistol.
"I hope that means they can help. If we don't die of dehydration, the geth will surely break through and swarm us," groaned the other as he looked Shepard up and down. "So, you're that human Spectre we heard about. Got any experience in removing infestations?" he asked, nodding towards the ExoGeni building.
"That's what we're here to do," she said, her face growing grim under her faceplate. "One of you, a colonist named David Al Talaqani met us at the ship. But the geth got to him before we could save him," she responded gently to try and ease the blow.
But the looks on their faces weren't one of surprise or even grief. They just looked tired. "I told him not to go out there. But it doesn't really surprise me that they got him," said one of the men.
The other spoke up as well. "The geth crawled through an opening in the ruins below, I guess to try and pincer us. It's a good thing your ship showed up or else they might have got us from behind when we weren't looking."
"David said that I needed to speak to Fai Dan. Is he your leader?" asked the spectre as her crew approached behind her with their own weapons. Luckily, the guards seemed to accept that they were with her and didn't react.
"Yeah," said one of the men as he pointed to one of the mobile prefab shelters that acted as their homes. "You'll find him through there. Just go through to the other side. He's probably talking to Captain Martinez."
Nodding, she walked past the guards and her crew followed. Looking around, all she saw were exhausted and malnourished faces. They all looked like they would willingly accept death over their current circumstances, but they continued to fight on regardless. Their looks of desperation steeled her as she made her way through the facility. When she exited the auto door on the other side, she saw another man with a worn-down expression talking to an armored woman holding an assault rifle.
As she approached, they both looked at her tiredly. "Are you Fai Dan?"
He simply nodded. "I am. I'm glad to see you Spectre. They finally sent someone to help us," he said as a small amount of relief crept into his voice.
But relief was all but lost on the captain. "You're a bit late, aren't you?" she asked bitterly as she glared at Shepard through dark brown eyes.
"Arcelia, please!" snapped Fai Dan as he looked over to the woman, before then looking at Shepard again. "Sorry Spectre, everyone's on edge since-" he started to say before Martinez shoved him out of the way.
"Watch out! We've got incoming!" she shouted as she took cover. Shepard looked over at the tower that led up to the skyway and raised her pistol as geth began pouring through the door.
"Looks like they noticed that their pincer attack failed!" shouted Shepard as she dove sideways to get behind cover. Wrex roared and began shot gunning rapidly as he too stepped towards cover, while Tali stunned the first couple with her omni-tool. Popping up, Shepard put two of them down while Wrex's shotgun ripped two more to shreds before he finally got behind cover.
"They're dropping reinforcements on the tower!" said the leader as he pointed upwards. Shepard followed his gesture and saw a geth ship hovering there.
"We have to take that thing out if we're going to stop them!" shouted Shepard as she popped up again to down the shields of another geth before a blast from Tali's shotgun shattered its frame.
"How? We have to fight through them to get to the tower!" shouted Garrus as he traded shots with his assault rifle.
"If that's the only way, then that's how we do it!" yelled the Spectre as she stood up and fired a grenade from her omni-tool. With impeccable timing, she detonated it and scattered the remaining geth near the doorway. Tali and Wrex sprung out of cover and finished them off as Garrus moved forward to secure the doorway and make sure no more came through. Turning back to Fai Dan, Shepard nodded to him. "Get inside and prepare any weapons you have. We're going in, and if something happens to us then keep fighting no matter what!" she ordered, getting a nod from the man as he pulled a pistol off his side.
Both the leader and the captain retreated to their shelter as the spectre turned towards her group. "How are we going to take the ship down?" asked Tali as she posted herself on the opposite side of the door from Garrus.
"We have to think of something," she said as she approached the tower.
"A hammer," responded Wrex, getting a look from the spectre. "We need more heavy weapons on the squad."
"I'll consider that later," she said as she stepped inside the doorway. "Right now, we need to improvise." Moving forward, they were again set upon by geth. Unfortunately, a few of these ones had rockets. The squad took cover behind the barriers that lined the walkway up to the towers. But they wouldn't hold for long with the constant rocket fire.
Once again, Tali activated a drone and sent it up the stairs. One of the geth with the high ground saw the small, hard-light, figure and went to shoot it, but Shepard and Garrus popped up from their cover long enough to end the machine's attempts. They both ducked down again as rocket's blasted against their concrete shields, slowly crumbling them to pieces.
"Hey quarian," said Wrex as he looked over at the engineer.
"My name is Tali," she snapped back at him.
"Whatever. Will the geth shoot at each other? Or will they stop if you use one as a shield?" he asked as another rocket shook the ground beneath them.
"They are all linked as one. So, one dying is simply a loss of data to them, nothing more. If you use one as a shield, they will have no qualms about killing it to get to you," she said as she eyed the krogan curiously. "Why?"
"Just an idea," he said as his body lit up again. But unlike before, he didn't cover himself with a shield. Standing tall, he roared, then vanished from her sight in a blast of biotic energy. "Hey, you! I'm going to use the scrap from your body to repair my weapons!" came the krogan's call from up the stairs.
Shepard stared at him wide-eyed as he stood among the seemingly confused geth. But they weren't disoriented for long. All of them turned to fire, but he vanished again. His disappearance was accented by a rocket from even higher above that hit the geth squad and blasted them against the wall. "Everyone move up! But keep cover," she ordered as she got on the comm. "Wrex! What the hell are you doing!?"
"Using their stupidity to my advantage," he replied over the comm as he once again stood among a squad of geth on the stairs. He aimed his shotgun directly into one's back, the roar of it echoing off the walls as the bot's arm flew off and it was blown in half by the power of the weapon. Reaching down, the krogan grabbed the rocket launcher that was no longer attached to the geth and smiled. "I also think I have a way of taking out that ship. Tali, geth weapons don't self-destruct if they're detached from the body, right?" he said as he tossed one of the remaining geth down the stairs.
"Makes sense. If you blow off a geth's arm, it can't destruct with the rest of its body," the quarian stated as she caught on. "If we blast off their artillery, we may be able to use them against the ship!"
Wrex's geth crashed directly in front of them, then tried to get up. But Shepard ended it with a shot from her pistol. "Understood. But be careful! Regeneration or not, these are plasma weapons. You'll have some serious scars if they hit you."
"Scars are trophies to krogan. Just try to keep up Shepard," he said before warping again. The spectre, Tali, and Garrus all moved up the stairs at a quick pace and helped the krogan by picking off some of the geth from afar. Tali's drone zapped them, rendering the bots senseless long enough for Wrex to blast it to pieces. Soon enough, his trick had paid off. The geth's reckless fire destroyed most of their own, leaving the team standing at the top of the stairs, each one loaded with rockets.
"Tali, you think you can get these things to fire?" asked Shepard curiously.
"It shouldn't be hard. All you need is a decently advanced omni-tool. Give me just a moment," responded the quarian as she took one of the detached rocket launchers and began working on it.
"Well, that makes three out of-" started Shepard as she turned to Wrex. But she stopped dead as she noticed a rather high-end omni-tool on his arm as opposed to the basic Timex version he had previously.
"What?" asked the krogan.
"When did you get that?" asked Shepard curiously.
"What? A krogan can't have nice things?" he asked, his voice sounding somewhat insulted.
"That's not what I… just never mind," she said waving the thought away. In minutes, Tali had the weapons functioning again and ready to go.
"Alright, as soon as we step out there, we're probably going to be under fire from both ground units and the ship itself. Tali, do you know where their outer cannons are?" asked Shepard as she turned to the quarian.
Nodding, Tali opened her omni-tool and brought up a holographic version of the ship. "This model is called the Bektos. They started making them after the war, and they haven't made many changes since then. So, if that's the case, their main guns should be right here," she said, highlighting the area under the nose. "They can maneuver them easily though. And they also have weapons on the top, but we shouldn't have to worry about those considering we're underneath it."
"Alright. Wrex, you're a distraction," ordered Shepard as she turned to the krogan.
"Why am I always the distraction," he groaned as he rolled his shoulders.
"Because you're a big target, and easily one of the loudest people I know," she said with a smirk.
"Well, you're not wrong…" he said as he donned his biotic shield again. "Fine fine. Let them shoot at me while you take out the main guns. Then what?"
Once the ship's weapons are down, Garrus and I will hold back the ground troops. You and Tali will hit it with every rocket we have," she said as she turned to the quarian. "Aim for weak spots. All we have to do is knock it out of the air. Gravity will do the rest," she said as she finally prepared her geth rocket launcher.
"Understood," said Garrus as he too prepared to fire the heavy weapon. Unfortunately, they only managed to salvage two of them after they began firing on their own. But it would have to be enough.
"Bektos are troop loading ships. They're compact, as geth can fold themselves up without any discomfort. This means that the engine should be at the back," replied Tali as she prepared to take the weapon from Garrus.
"Gotcha. Aim inside the cargo bay towards the back," said the krogan as he donned his shield and burst from cover.
The turret fire was immediate, and Shepard knew that if the krogan weren't a biotic, he'd be dead within seconds. Not wasting any time, she and Garrus both rose from cover and aimed for the turrets. They pulled the triggers and sent two rockets streaking across the landing zone, scoring a direct hit and blasting the automatic weapons from the nose. "Switch off now!" shouted Shepard as she handed her gun to Tali. Garrus tossed his launcher over to Wrex, who had found cover behind another concrete outcropping.
With both of their snipers ready, they began to pick off the ground troops. Shepard aimed at one directly through the shield generator that it dropped, then fired. The shield vanished, and she fired again, dropping its kinetic barriers. Squeezing the trigger one last time, she hit a headshot that knocked the robot backward.
Garrus ended one as well, resulting in both of them having to swap clips. Shepard ducked behind the barrier just as her shields succumbed to their fire. But as soon as they were charged again, she sprung up and did the same, aiming at one of the ground troops holding a rocket launcher and taking it out before it got another shot off.
Suddenly, the doors on the bottom of the ship opened and began dropping more geth into the arena. Wrex and Tali both aimed directly inside and fired, sending two more rockets screaming into the battle. Wrex's impacted one of the geth on the way down, a large one like she had seen on the tram at Eden Prime. The blast destroyed it immediately and sent the ones surrounding it skidding across the ground.
But Tali's hit home and exploded when it hit the back of the loading bay. As Shepard continued to take out the now disoriented troops that recovered from Wrex's shot, she noticed its engine start to sputter. "Almost there! One more shot should do it!" she shouted as she ended another of the recovering units.
But apparently, the ship had learned its lesson. Instead of opening the bay doors again, it began turning and flew off to escape the situation, leaving them to clean up the remainder of the geth forces.
After the last one was destroyed, Shepard got on her comm back to the Normandy. "Normandy, can you hear me?"
"Loud and clear, Shepard," responded Joker.
"A geth troopship just departed the ExoGeni tower. Keep an eye on it and make sure it doesn't try going after you while you're grounded," she ordered as she turned to the others.
"10-4 Commander," said the pilot as the comms went silent again.
"Alright. We've cleared them out, but this isn't the end. Let's get down to the colony again and see if there's anything we can do to help support them," she said as she turned to the stairs. "Oh, and good work."
Zhu's Hope - Feros
As they strode back into the colony, Fai Dan met them at the door to the shelter. Once again, the captain was behind him with her assault rifle primed.
"Thank you, Spectre. That very well could have been the push that broke our ranks," he said with a relieved sigh.
"The tower is clear, and the dropship shouldn't be coming back any time soon," said Shepard as she nodded to the leader. "I'm happy to see that you all are still alive after the invasion."
Finally, Captain Martinez spoke again. "That may have slowed them down, but they'll be back. They always come back."
"That should keep them busy for a while. Now…" she said as she looked back at Fai Dan. "Do you know why they're here? What they're after?"
The man shook his head with an exhausted sigh. "We don't know what they're after. They came, they landed, and they attacked us. That's all we know, Spectre. Perhaps they were looking for something in ExoGeni headquarters, but why they attacked us I'm not sure."
"Speaking of ExoGeni, can you tell me why they're here?" asked the spectre as she looked between them.
Martinez spoke up with the same bitter look on her face. "We worked for them before the attack. The colony here are mostly miners and archeologists. They excavated stuff from the prothean ruins, while I was stationed here to guard against any kind of attempted raider attacks. But when the geth arrived, my job as security got a whole lot harder."
"ExoGeni is your best hope for finding out why they're here. But you'll have to fight through an army on the skyway, and probably even more inside the headquarters," he said morosely as he lowered his head.
"Well, I wasn't expecting this to be easy. But we'll manage somehow," she responded as she nodded to the man. "So, what about you guys here? Do you have everything you need to last for a while?"
"Unfortunately, no. The geth have cut off our water supply, our rations are running short, and the strain from the geth attacks has all but wiped us of power," he said with an exasperated sigh. "We're at our limit, Spectre."
"Chances are there's probably a beacon somewhere nearby that's used to coordinate the geth," said Tali from behind Shepard.
The woman nodded and turned to Fai Dan again. "Well, we can help you get set up before heading to the HQ. Despite the urgency of our mission, I don't want you guys being stranded here with nothing once we leave," she said, getting a thankful smile from the man that didn't come close to reaching his eyes.
"It'd be a great help if you could. Please talk to May about our power situation. Davin will be able to explain our food crisis, and Macha is the one to contact about the water. They should be able to inform you on how best to help us," he said as he bowed his head.
"If you truly are here to help us, then please hurry. We won't last long if they decide to call in reinforcements," said Martinez, now with a look of desperation on her face.
"I'll do my best. Just stay here and protect your colony as best you can until I get back," she ordered as she turned towards her squad. "Wrex, you track down Davin and ask him what needs to be done about food. Tali, you get May and find out what's needed to restore power. And Garrus, you've got Macha…" she said as she looked at all three of them. "Try to be respectful. They've been through a lot recently and may have a bit of a temper."
"Understood, Shepard," said Garrus as he spun around and entered the facility.
Tali left and did the same, while Wrex ambled off towards the nearest shelter.
Zhu's Hope Maintenance Tunnels - Feros
"Shepard, I don't like this," said Garrus as they climbed down the stairs of the tower and entered the tunnels below.
"Speak freely Vakarian," she said with her pistol low as they crept along.
"No offense, I understand that they've been through a lot. But the woman I talked to started to sound like a cult member. I started asking her about the colony itself and she immediately shut down and told me to talk to Fai Dan," he said as he walked along with his assault rifle.
"You too?" asked Tali curiously as she eyed the turian. "I simply asked about their work and any discoveries that they may have found, and I got firewalled immediately. Like if she said anything, she'd be punished."
Shepard looked back at them sternly. "There may be more to this place than we first thought. Let's watch our step around them from now on. When I get a chance to question Fai Dan, I will. Until then, keep your eyes open for any stalkers," she said as she focused ahead of them. Turning, she stepped down into the area that Garrus had mentioned. It was a tunnel that ran along a series of chambers used for maintenance supplies, vehicles for the skyway, and communications equipment. For convenience, the water pipe ran alongside the tunnel with gates that allowed the stopping of the flow of water for testing and repair purposes.
But as she stepped inside the barely lit tunnel, she felt her shields vanish immediately as a sniper round hit her. She dove forward and rolled behind cover as more automatic fire ripped at the ground behind her. "That didn't take long," said Wrex as he activated his barrier.
The spectre groaned as she felt a throbbing pain in her ankle. Apparently one of the rounds had nicked her, smashing against her bare armor. She'd probably be bruising later because of it, but at least her armor had done its job. "Tali, there's plenty of cover here to have your drone sneak around. See if you can take a few of them out!"
Without a word, the quarian activated her drone again and sent it sneaking around the jutting concrete barriers, out of sight of the geth as Garrus worked his way down and returned fire to the machines. "This would be a lot harder if their torch heads weren't on," he said as he blind fired from his own cover.
"Don't give them ideas!" shouted Shepard as she finally rose again and fired with her pistol. She managed to take down one's shields before she had to duck again, her shields being assaulted by their return fire. Luckily, Tali's drone was just in range and hit it with a bolt of electricity that sent it spasming wildly. Wrex, who had already moved forward thanks to his heavy armor, blasted it to scrap with his shotgun.
The rest of the battle was slow as they continuously moved forward and cleared the tunnel, but finally, they managed to get rid of the menace that had shut off access to the water. After the battle, the spectre made sure that all of the shutoff protocols were opened, allowing the water to flow back to the colony. "Alright. One down, two to go," she said as she turned to Wrex and Tali. "What did they say about the food and power?"
"Pretty much the same thing. A vehicle was coming from ExoGeni to deliver both power cells and the food. The cargo was supposed to be delivered to the colony, but then the geth flooded the tunnels from the tower and took everyone out. So, we're probably looking for the same truck," responded Tali as she withdrew her drone again.
"Good, so all we have to do is clear out the cargo hall, then they can come to pick up the food," said Shepard with a nod.
"The power cells for their generator should be small enough that I can carry them with me back to the colony," said Tali who had her omni-tool open. "Shepard, I'm getting readings here of geth communication signals!"
"This low? How?" she asked curiously. They were in the tunnels beneath the tower, there shouldn't have been any signals down that low.
"I think it's the beacon I mentioned! It's nearby!" she said as she held up her omni-tool. "It's coming from the room across the walkway here!"
"Let's go ahead and get that out of the way then. Afterward, we'll clear out the cargo area. That should get the colony back on its feet," said the commander as she raised her pistol again. "Let's just hope they left the beacon unguarded."
"I like your optimism, Shepard," said Garrus sarcastically.
"Naivety is often mislabeled as optimism. Believe me when I say I'm prepared," she responded as she headed across the walkway and opened the door. "Now, stay here until I call you," she ordered as she opened her own omni-tool. Seconds later, she vanished into thin air and began sneaking down the hall. Activating her dampeners, she turned on her comm to the others. "I see two turrets. Marking them to your HUDs for later," she said silently as she reached the end of the hallway.
Looking in, she groaned over the comm. "What's the situation?" asked Garrus from the entrance.
"Two krogan and three geth. Marking their heat signatures as well," she said as she dotted them all with signifiers. The communications beacon that Tali had mentioned was on the other side of the two krogan who were both sitting and doing very little. Meanwhile, the geth were all rigid and watching the entrance to the room where she stood as if they could see her. But they couldn't, and she knew that. So, she moved smoothly between the two before sliding out two of the explosives attached to her omni-tool.
Reaching over, she planted them on the thick hump armor of the two krogan. The second one turned and looked in her direction, staring directly at her. She froze for a long minute before he finally turned away and pulled out a container of ryncol, no doubt to numb the boredom. When he turned away again, she slid back through the gap and snuck past them all again.
"When I give the signal, take out the turrets above your position," she ordered as she slid back down the hall. She made it halfway before turning back around. "Go," she said into the comm, and immediately she heard gunfire behind her. Both her squad and the turrets fired, but the explosions told her that her team had drawn first blood.
Suddenly, battle cries from the krogan could be heard as they sprinted into the narrow hallway with the geth behind them. She smirked to herself before activating the explosives just as they were in close quarters. Turning away, the grenades detonated, sending both krogan smashing into the wall and blasting the geth behind them backward. Without waiting for the smoke to clear, she drew her pistol and stepped up to the first of the krogan soldiers. He was gasping in air as blood pooled around him with half his face missing. Raising her pistol, she put four rounds into his skull before he could even move to defend himself.
Unfortunately, the other krogan had been launched back into the room by the first explosion, so she would have to get through the geth to get to him. "Move up and take out as many as you can while they're bottle-necked!" she ordered as she took cover behind a small column as she reappeared, aiming her pistol at the recovering geth. The others caught up to her and their combined fire turned the geth to scrap metal.
Moving forward again, the squad encountered a krogan that was still standing and roaring in their face. "Shit…" growled Garrus as he aimed for the monstrous creature that was bleeding from every orifice.
"Stand back, turian. I've got this," said Wrex as he stepped forward with his weapon lowered. "We have redundant nervous systems, so we rarely feel pain. We also have multiple organs for backups, so a small explosion like that isn't like to put a true krogan down for good." As he finished, the bloodied mercenary charged at Wrex, his weapon forgotten. But Wrex, being the larger of the two, whipped his head forward and smashed his own cranial plate into the opponents. The impact cracked like lightning and the wounded krogan stumbled backward while Wrex slowly approached. "You're five centuries too young to put an old dog like me down kid. Should have stayed on Tuchanka," he said as he pulled his shotgun up again and aimed it directly between the hump armor and the head.
Pulling the trigger resulted in a roar from the weapon and silence from the opposition. "Well, at least he didn't try and crush his skull," said Garrus as he lowered his weapon.
"Krogan skulls are much too thick for that," said Wrex as he turned towards the turian. "That's why I love humans. So squishy," he said with some semblance of a smile on his face.
"Charming," said Shepard as she moved forward and examined the beacon now that the guards were dead. "Tali, you want to try and deactivate this?"
The quarian nodded and walked over to the beacon before priming her shotgun and blasting the entire thing in half. The lights died out immediately as the machine crumpled to the floor. Looking down at her omni-tool, she said, "That did it. No more comms down here, so the rest of the geth here should be less strategic."
"I meant shutting it down electronically, but I suppose that works too," said Shepard as she shook her head. "Let's get the power cells and food back to the colony. Then we're heading for…" she started before seeing a man peeking at them from around the corner. Her pistol shot up and aimed directly at him. "Show yourself!"
The man walked into the room with his arms up. Wrex stepped up to him menacingly. "Who the hells are you?"
"The name's Ian, Ian Newstead. I'm a colonist from Zhu's Hope," he said as he stared past Wrex and directly at Shepard. "Whoever you are, if you're planning on staying for an extended period of time, I'd recommend using filtered air. At least until you get up to the ExoGeni building. Most of their air is already filtered," he said as he placed his hands behind his head.
"Why?" asked the spectre as she kept her pistol trained on him.
"Because that's how it gets you. The-" he started, then he gasped in pain and let out an ear-splitting cry of agony before reaching up and slapping his face. "Whoa, that was a good one!"
"What the hell is wrong with you?" asked Garrus, who also had his weapon zeroed on the man.
"What's wrong with me? You mean what's wrong with all of us? We're-aaaaaaaaaagh!" he shouted again, this time clenching his fists and stomping his feet as if he had been touched by a hot iron.
"Are you in pain?" asked Shepard as she reached up and activated her environmental seals. The others followed her example, Wrex more begrudging, but doing it anyway.
"Pain? Yeah, the pain keeps me on my toes. It lets me know I'm still alive," he said as he wiped the accumulated sweat that resulted from the pain off his face. "So, you're here for the geth, huh?"
"Yeah, we are. You say you're a colonist at Zhu's Hope. Why aren't you there with them?" asked the spectre as she approached him slowly.
"Had to get away. Too near to the source, it makes the pain more powerful," he said as he shrugged. "I'd tell you what I'm talking about, but it's not going to let me. But I can say that it wants the geth dead as much as you do," he said as he shook his hands, probably preparing for another jolt of pain.
"What is it? What's causing you pain," asked Shepard specifically. If he was correct, and something was keeping him from talking, then she had to find out what it was. ExoGeni may have implanted the colonists, which would explain their cult-like behavior of avoiding answering questions. "If you can't tell me specifically, then answer my questions. Is it an implant?"
"No," said the man, slightly relieved that she wasn't going to force him to answer her outright.
"Domination?" she asked, referring to the biotic method of mind control.
"No," he responded, bracing himself for another jolt.
Stopping for a moment, she eyed him curiously. "Are you in full control of your body and mind?"
"N-aAAAAAAAAAAAAGGH!" he shouted as he reached up and gripped his head before falling to his knees. Sighing to herself, Shepard waiting until the man stopped shouting and instead inhaled deeply as he began to sweat again.
Reaching down, she lifted him up by his arm. "Come on, let's get you back to the colony so you can get medical attention. Whatever's going on here, I'm going to get to the bottom of it, and hopefully help you out," she said as she began walking him back the way they came.
CODEX ENTRIES
Bektos | Zoology | Rannoch
The colloquial name given to geth ships that look similar to a large, armored insect from Rannoch. This insect burrows itself into the ground to rest and lay its eggs, leaving only its hard armored shell exposed to the world, making it extremely difficult for predators to attack. With their size being as large as modern vehicles, the tank-like insect's hardened shell can even deflect shots from some mass accelerator weapons.