Mother Base
"I still think having this is a little redundant." Pyrrha complained as she held a small, square device in her hands. "I don't even understand how it works."
"And I don't understand how aura's works, but we still rely on it anyway." Shepard countered. "It's a kinetic barrier Pyrrha, a shield that forms to protect you from extremely fast projectiles, which are pretty much all of the weapons we face. This way, the barrier will soak up most low level damage you take, without having to drain your aura, keeping you in the fight longer."
After Shepard and the other returned from Ilos, Sarah and T3 immediately got to work repurposing the tech retrieved. With the amount of eezo and parts scraped together from the Geth bodies, they were able to create several, belt mounted kinetic barriers. While individually each barrier wasn't as strong as the barriers found in fully dedicated hard suits like Shepard's armor, they would provide a fast recharging first line of defense at the same strength of Thane's barrier for anyone who wears them.
And if Shepard had her way, which she would, everyone who didn't already have shielding tech was going to be wearing this, aura or not. Snake, Wynne, and Galen had neither aura nor shields protecting themselves, only their own armor or skills, so Shepard thought this was a much needed upgrade. Even Sarah's t-45d power armor had several redundant kinetic barrier modules installed, giving her a tertiary line of defense, but Sarah was someone who would jump at the opportunity to reverse engineer and integrate new tech into her arsenal.
"I suppose that makes sense." Pyrrha said, clipping the modulator to her belt. "Besides, it's not as if this thing will weigh me down or affect my mobility."
"Glad you see things my way Pyr." Shepard said with a grin. "Now let's go check in with Six, he should have the rest of the haul inventoried."
With a nod, Pyrrha followed Shepard's steps to the armory, where the acting quartermaster Six had a series of armored suits laid out in front of him.
Six's head snapped to the duo as they entered his tent. "Ah, the redhead sisters. What can I do for you?"
Pyrrha for her part blushed a bit and admonished the Spartan. Being compared to someone like Shepard made her feel some pride and embarrassment. "Six, you shouldn't say that. Besides, Shepard is probably old enough to be my mother."
That caused Shepard to turn to the smaller redhead with a raised brow. "Pyrrha, do you see me as a mother figure?"
That immediately caused Pyrrha to go beet red and attempt to stammer out a response.
But Six was quicker, and threw his quip in first "She has to, the way she's been glued to your hip recently."
"What no!" Pyrrha cried out. "While you're a good role model, and someone I admire and want to emulate, I wouldn't call you a mother figure!"
"Oh so you're just calling her old then?" Six added on, thinking that this was too easy.
That only served to cause Pyrrha to freak out more "I- no I didn't mean it like that. Sure Shepard you are old, I mean older than me, but you're not, old old, not Snake or Wynne, and, and…" Pyrrha let out a defeated sigh before mumbling to herself. "And this must be how Ruby and Jaune felt when talking to people."
Satisfied with their teasing, Shepard gave Pyrrha a comforting pat on the back before refocusing. "Just stopping by to see what we picked up on our last mission."
"Besides the weapons you guys found, the biggest thing was the cache of armor you picked up. All of it from your world." Six said, gesturing to the piles of armor in front of him.
Shepard walked up to the table and examined the pieces in front of her. There were several ballistic mesh undersuits, essentially skin tight catsuits that were resistant to low level ballistics, typically worn underneath hard suit plates. Beyond that there were various pieces of equipment that Shepard recognized. Pauldrons, gauntlets, chest armor, and more from manufacturers like N7, Armax Arsenal, Hahne-Kedar, and Kassa Fabrication. In addition, there were full suits of N7 Defender Armor, Terminus Assault Armor, and Blood Dragon Armor.
Shepard whistled as she held up the suit of Blood Dragon Armor as if it were a baby. "This. Now this is a suit of armor."
"You recognize this armor?" Pyrrha asked, surprised by the amount of care Shepard was giving the suit.
"You bet I do. It's a set of Blood Dragon Armor, had one back when I ran with Cerberus for a while. Not only does it look badass, but it has a unique, proprietary powercell and microframe computer that adapts to any top tier kinetic barrier or biotic amp." Shepard was practically drooling as she finished her sales pitch.
"Meaning?" Pyrrha hesitated to ask.
"Meaning it has better shielding than my current suit and also gives my biotics a power boost." Shepard explained to the layman.
Pyrrha gave an awkward smile. "You're… really into armor, aren't you Shepard." She was getting Ruby weapon love flashbacks.
"Of course! A good set of armor will mean the difference between life and death. Besides, who wouldn't want as cool looking as this?" Shepard gave a wide grin that Pyrrha couldn't help but laugh at. "Hm, but you know we could probably cannibalize some of these pieces to give you and some of the others an armor upgrade."
In the same way the lack of kinetic barriers bothered Shepard on many of her allies, the lack of proper armor on those like Wynne, Galen, and Pyrrha stuck out to her as a major weakness.
"What's wrong with my current outfit?" Pyrrha genuinely asked, looking down at her outfit which consisted of both a corset and miniskirt that didn't leave much up to the imagination.
Shepard raised both eyebrows in disbelief. "You… can't be serious."
Before Shepard could talk with Pyrrha about her choice of attire, a gruff voice cut in over the comms.
"Shepard, this is Snake. I need you to report to the brig." Big Boss ordered.
"Roger that." Shepard quickly replied. "We'll save the lesson for another date. Meanwhile, Six, help Pyrrha pick out any solid upgrades to her battle dress."
Six gave a curt acknowledgement and Pyrrha gave a small wave goodbye as Shepard left the armory and made her way to the brig.
Shepard hardly ever entered the subterranean levels of Mother Base. Simply for the fact that if she did not need to come here, she would avoid the place. Repurposing the dungeons and tunnels of the medieval castle, this part of Mother Base was claustrophobic to say the least. With low-ceiling hallways carved directly out of the stone where exposed light bulbs and wires hung, it wasn't hard to be at least slightly unnerved by the place.
Stopping in front of a solid, cast iron door, Shepard gave it a hard knock that echoed through the tunnel. Slowly, the door creaked open, revealing the Legion's leader Snake, and their resident hunter Sev. They were standing in an observation room, in front of them was a large glass window, a one-way mirror looking into a cell. The cell's only occupant, the captured Stormtrooper commander.
The stormtrooper was currently tied to a metal chair, stripped stripped of all weapons, but allowed to keep his armor.
"Commander." Snake said as they turned to face her.
"Boss, Sev." She acknowledged them both with nod. "What's the situation? We finally interrogating the prisoner?"
Snake lit up his cigar. "Hmm. We let him stew for long enough. Sleep deprivation and reduced meals weaken him. He should be on the edge. I want the two you in there, find out what he knows. Shepard, you be good cop, Sev, you just just be you."
"Roger boss." Shepard replied, while Sev only grunted. "Any advice on breaking these guys Sev?"
"Not entirely sure. Galen tells me the Stormtroopers of his time aren't as well trained or disciplined as us clones were." Sev stated while double checking his duraplast gauntlets. After all, he didn't want to hurt his knuckles when he broke the stormtroopers face. "Troopers mostly kept in line by fear of their superiors. If we're lucky, he'll break after a beating or two."
Shepard nodded, but remained silent. She wasn't a fan of torture, or any type of "enhanced interrorgation". Intimidation she could work with however, as that's how she and Thane were able to locate his missing son Kolyat.
So the duo stepped inside of the cell, the stormtrooper commander groggily looking up as they entered. Closing the door, Shepard leaned on the wall, trying to appear aloof while Sev skulked around the officer. The room remained tense and silent for a few seconds as Sev sized up the stormtrooper.
"He looks a little uncomfortable in that. Sev, take it off for him." Shepard casually said.
Aggressively striding forward, Sev all but ripped the helmet off the stormtrooper commander. For the briefest of moments, Shepard's eyes went wide before her staggering amounts of self control killed the emotion.
His helmet was removed, revealing what looked like an older Sev, his skin far more pale and wrinkled, his hair stark white, with eyes glazed over grey. This stormtrooper was a veteran clone. Sev froze for a second as well, before removing his own helmet and stared his "older brother" down.
Shepard wasn't going to let the interrogation fall apart so quickly so she spoke first. "So, there's two ways this is going to go. You talk to me, tell us what we need to know and we treat you right. You make things difficult for us and…" she gestured to Sev. "you have a chat with Sev. Why don't we start off easy, what's your name?"
The stormtrooper stirred from his daze. "My name is Colonel Bacara of the Imperial Galactic Marines, serial number IC-1138." Bacara's eyes then flashed up at Sev. "That's all you get from me, traitor." he spat out.
Sev looked down at the saliva on his boot, then back to Bacara. Sev merely sighed, before stepping forward and punching the Imperial Commander right in the face. Bacara's head snapped back, the momentum threatening to topple his chair over, but Sev deftly caught it and placed it back down. Bacara could only groan as blood poured down his nose.
"Word of advice, Bacara. I would not piss Sev." Shepard said as she bent down in front of the clone. "Look at me Bacara, think about the situation that not only you're in, but that all of us are in. You're dead, we're dead, we're all dead and still fighting this insane war. We're all stuck in this giant mess together and instead of trying to kill each other, we should be helping each other out. All you need to do is tell us who your leader is and we can start negotiations, bring some semblance of peace to this fucked up world."
Bacara shook his head, either not believing or not caring about Shepard's words. "That doesn't matter. I'm loyal, I'll never betray my superiors, not in life or in death."
Shepard's carrot didn't work so it was time for Sev to bring out the stick. "You know I've heard of you Bacara? Commander of the Galactic Marines under General Mundi. You must've had a few commando squads under your command, so you'd know that we're trained in many, many ways of enhanced interrogation. You will talk, the only question is how much of you will be left before you do?" Sev hissed out, leaning into Bacara's face.
Shepard then stepped in between them, forcing Sev to back off. "Except it doesn't need to be that way. Bacara, from one commander to another, think of the lives of those underneath you. How many stormtroopers have you lost already? Hundreds? How many of your brothers have already died fighting pointless battles in this world, instead of trying to find a way out?"
Bacara looked at Shepard for a brief moment, as if to consider her words, before sneering at her with a puff of air. Turning away, he then faced Sev, who maintained a permanent scowl. "So you know me. Took me a little while to remember, but I know you too. Your armor, your name, you were part of Delta Squad, weren't you?" Sev's eyes narrowed as Bacara continued. "I heard about your mission to Kashyyyk. Tell me, would you like to know what your brothers did after they left you behind? See they knew what loyalty meant! Even after you died, they continued to fight and DIE for the glory of the Empire!" Bacara roared his loyalty and fanaticism undeterred by his current situation.
That was exactly the wrong button to push on Sev as the commando drew his pistol and immediately pressed the barrel to Bacara's head. "Talk about my brothers again. Say one more damn thing about them! I dare you, I double dare you motherfucker!"
At this point Bacara couldn't help but chuckle at his circumstances. "You know what I think? I think that the whole commando and ARC program was a mistake. All of that creativity and agency you were instilled with? All it did was make you traitors in the end. Traitor's that were put down by the Empire!"
At that point Sev had enough. He wasn't going to let this senile shell of a sentient insult his brothers any longer. Sev's finger inched towards the trigger, about to blow the stormtroopers brains out. Bacara closed his eyes and smiled, knowing he was able to goad Sev into killing him, preventing him from leaking any information.
But as Sev pulled the trigger, Shepard's vice like grip flew to his wrist, pushing it and sending the blaster bolt flying into a wall. Sev turned and snarled at Shepard, but the spectre didn't even notice as she then twisted Sev's wrist backwards, flipping him over with a CQC wrist lock. As Sev hit the ground, she immediately disarmed him, removing the pistol from his grip as it slackened from the impact.
"He is no use to us dead." Shepard growled out, staring Sev down.
Sev returned the glare for a few tense seconds, before breaking first. Shepard stepped back as the commando grumbled and picked himself off the ground. "Guess it's your lucky day." He hissed at Bacara under his breath.
It was then that the door to the cell was slammed open. Venom Snake entered the room, looking no less pleased than Shepard. "Commander, get Sev out of here. I don't need him mucking up this interrogation."
"Boss I'm fine." Sev replied.
Snake gave Sev a hard, piercing stare that brooked no argument. "I won't repeat myself."
A reply formed in Sev's mind but died in his throat. The clone just nodded as Shepard took him by the shoulder and led him out of the cell. A minute passed after the two left as Snake and Bacara were left in silence, save for the puff of the Boss's cigar.
"So, what do you think you're going to do?" Bacara sardonically asked.
Snake was silent, taking one last puff of his cigar before putting it out. He then left the cell, and after a few moments returned with a cart. The cart had a pair of jumper cables, a car battery, and several gas tanks of water placed upon it, everything Snake needed to form his own miniature Guantanamo Bay.
"You know, I've never really been a fan of tourture. I know what it's like. To be put through so much pain that you'd do anything for it to stop, say anything. It's unbearable, inhumane." Snake bent down and clipped the cables onto the car battery. He touched the prongs together, and a crackling bzzzt filled the room. "But a friend of mine showed me how effective it is to get the answers I want. Now, Bacara, let's see if you can last as long as I did in Tselinoyarsk."
A/N: And back to a more manageable release schedule, rotating between my two stories every week rather than releasing essentially 2 chapters in a single week. Remember, work-life balance is always important to prevent burn out.
Anyway, this was another shorter chapter. We've bonded with Sarah and now it's time to bond with Sev. For the surprise appearance of Commander Bacara, there was no canon or legends explanation for what happened to him post-Clone Wars, so I made it that he continued to serve as an officer in the Imperial Stormtroopers, in the same way Commander Cody still served on Kamino in the Legends.
Review Responses:
Slim A lou Prime: That would be a twist lol.
TheDoctor1998: Hmm never thought about adding in a character like that. I'll think on it.
Bov: You haven't been that overbearing. I 100% understand that in a story like this everyone wants to see their favorite characters, and will ask for them to be in it (kinda like Smash 5). And I do take the reviews into consideration, as sometimes they give me ideas or critiques that I didn't think. But if I really don't like an idea in a review, or I think I can't pull it off for whatever reason, I'll just ignore it. W40k was just one of those worlds that a lot of people asked for and I happen to know well, so I was more comfortable adding it into the story.
SilverExcel115: Interesting idea!
I hope you all enjoyed this chapter and I'll see you in the next one!