Geth Incursions:
After finishing the mission on Agebinium, Shepard and the crew returned to the Normandy and the first thing Shepard did was go down to the crew deck to speak with the Droid maintenance Officer Ci Chos. She still had the data they recovered from the Cerberus base earlier and she decided that she needed to make a copy of it.
Ci Chos was a female Rodian with yellow scales. She had grown up in the on one of the outer colonies in the Republic and had worked in a junk shop where she stripped out ship and droids for parts. Eventually she earned enough money to leave the planet and she soon joined the Republic military and thanks to her knowledge on repairing droids and ships, she became a maintenance officer for droids to keep them up and running.
"Ah, Commander Shepard." Chos greeted as Shepard entered "Is there's something I can help with?"
"Yes, Chos, there is." Shepard replied and held out the data disk they recovered from the Cerberus base, "I need this data to be copied. The files are encrypted but I don't want to take any chances with this data, it's important to RSB so I would like a copy to be made."
Chos nodded and took the data disk from Shepard "I'll have my droids make a copy of the data. It will take some time though."
"Take as much time as you need." Shepard stated "I'd rather not take risks and risk losing all of the data." Shepard then left the room while Chos prepared to make copies of the data.
...
Shepard made her way up to the bridge of the Normandy where Joker and Luke were chatting. "I can't believe we'll be working alongside Grand Admiral Thrawn." Luke stated "He's a legend within the Republic."
Joker smiled "He never lets anything go to waste. He never rushes in without thinking and he explores every possible action available."
Luke then noticed Shepard had entered "Ah, Commander, Shepard." He greeted "We'll soon be arriving at the coordinates that we were sent for the Seventh Fleet. Grand Admiral Thrawn has already been informed of our arrival."
"That's good." Shepard replied "We don't want any misunderstandings. How's the Normandy performing."
Joker smiled "She's the best ship the Republic has." He stated "As long as you have a pilot who knows how to fly her. The balance on this ship isn't what you expect. It takes a while to get use to this ship's oversized drive core, her power can sneak up on you if we're not careful."
"I thought I should get to know my crew better." Shepard said
Joker scoffed "I can see where this is going. You did a background check on me; well I'll tell you what I told Anderson. I'm not good, I'm not even great, I'm the best damn helmsman in the Republic. Top of my class in flight school, I earned that, I earned every single reward I got. Those weren't given to me as charity because of my disease."
"Joker!" Luke hissed "Remember she's our commanding Officer."
"Right, I'm sorry." Joker stated "It's just I had to work hard to get where I am and a lot of people something think it was because officials took pity on me."
"What is this disease?" Shepard questioned
"I suffer from Vrolik's syndrome better known as brittle bone disease." Joker stated "The bones in my legs never developed properly, they're basically hollow so if they come under too much force they'll shatter. Even with crutches and a leg embrace it's hard to get around, a simple fall could destroy my legs completely so it was hard for me as a kid. I've learned to manage my condition but it meant that it was harder for me to get a position in the military but I eventually got my position. Put the Normandy in my hands and I'll make her dance but don't ask me to dance as I'll destroy my legs. I never smiled as a child because of my condition so one of the teachers called me Joker as a kid and the name just stuck."
"I might need to know more about this Vrolik Syndrome if I'm putting the Normandy in your hands." Shepard stated
Joker sighed "Vrolik Syndrome is a very rare condition, no one knows what causes it. It's treatable but there is no cure, you're born with the condition, I was born with over a dozen fractures, hips thighs, ankles, basically my bones were already breaking in the womb. Before we met the Chiss, I wouldn't have survived past my first year but medicine had come a long way since then so I was able to live. I can fly this ship fine as I don't need to move around but I do have to be very careful when I need to get up and take a bathroom break which is why I have the medical droid help me so I don't trip."
"I can understand why you feel people take pity on you." Luke stated "I had a problem of my own because of my father."
"Your father was Anakin Skywalker wasn't he?" Joker questioned
"He was." Luke replied "One of the best generals in the Republic and the best starfighter pilot around but some said he was reckless at times. I used to be a starfighter pilot as well but after my father vanished, my mother forced me to move to a safer position. She worries for me but I miss the days of flying a starfighter." He then looked at Shepard "In fact, I want to come with you when we meet Thrawn, some of my old friends from the academy work with him, I hoped to see them."
"I'm sure no one will mind." Shepard stated "But what did happen to your father?"
"No one knows." Luke replied "He was in charge of the team sent to Akuze after the colony vanished. It's known that the team was attacked by Thresher Maws but my father's body was never recovered and he was listed as missing in action rather than killed in action. But thanks to rumours that my father abandoned his men, I was forced to take a back seat from combat missions which was why I was forced out of the starship program even though many people who knew my father defended him. My mother fought hard against the accusations and was able to get them cleared but the damage was done."
Shepard felt sorry for Skywalker, she had lost her father after he died after being exposed to the vaccum of space but to lose your father and have his name disgraced is another thing. If anyone disrespected her father then she would fight back but sometimes politics were complicated.
"Commander, we should be exiting lightspeed soon." Joker added
"Alright Joker, I'll get a team ready to meet with Grand Admiral Thrawn." Shepard stated and she left the bridge.
...
The Normandy soon exited lightspeed at the coordinates where the Republic Seventh Fleet was currently stationed. They were currently in the Gagarin System of the Armstrong Nebula. The Armstrong Nebula was a cluster of five systems all of which were named after landmarks in human space travel. The cluster itself was named after Neil Armstrong, the first man to walk on the moon who also had a city named after him on Earth's moon. The cluster had no interest for the Republic but the military maintained a presence here as pirates were known to come here to prepare raids and now the Geth had set up bases. The Gagarin System was named after Yuri Gagarin, the first ever man in space which was home to five planets.
The first planet, Junthor was a large terrestrial planet with a thick atmosphere of carbon dioxide and chlorine and a surface mostly composed of aluminium and nickel. This planet was once home to an ancient civilization as there were signs of an old colony in the equator and the Asari had been able to translate writings as they had found this system before but never claimed it and they had left some of their ships behind as a derelict freighter was left behind and one of Matriarch Dilinaga's writings was on board.
The second planet Pressha was a small hydrogen-helium gas giant where a Turian veteran of the Krogan rebellions ship had been found after going into unexplored territory. The fourth planet Sogelrus was a small terrestrial planet with a thin atmosphere of nitrogen and argon and a frigate surface mostly made up of water ice which can be seen in the bottoms of recently formed craters and the planet had a dark colour due to carbon being pushed from the dense core by cryovolcanic processes. The fifth planet was a small rock and ice planet called Antrumgon which had a trace atmosphere of methane and ethane and a frozen surface of carbon and calcium. The planet was also home to pirate crews as below the surface, methanol formed and pirates were know to drill for this alcohol.
The Republic Seventh Fleet was currently stationed above the second planet in the system known as Rayingri which was a hellish world and no one wanted to risk mining it despite the resources available. The planet was also not expected to last much longer as a rogue planetoid known as Vahtz had entered a decaying orbit around Rayingri which created earthquates and storms on the planets. It was expected that the planets would rip each other apart and soon were prepared to witness such a spectacle.
The Republic Seventh Fleet was one of the strongest fleets in the Republic which was known for combat. The Seventh fleet also included a large number of ships including fifteen Resurgence class Star destroyers and Ten Venator Class Star Destroyers as well as dozens of cruisers and frigates, the flagship of the Seventh Fleet was the Chimera, the ship commanded by Grand Admiral Thrawn, Commander of the Seventh Fleet.
The Normandy exited lightspeed close to the Republic fleet and Communication Officer switched the comns to the bridge "This is RSV Normandy requesting to dock with RSV Chimera." Joker said
The reply was "RSV Normandy, transmit clearance code."
"Copy Chimera, transmission commencing." Luke added and he transmitted the clearance code to the Chimera.
"RSV Normandy, request accepted, prepare to dock with Chimera and prepare for a party to meet with you."
The Normandy flew to the underside of the Chimera where the docking port was which allowed the Normandy to dock with the Chimera.
...
Shepard selected her team to go to on board the Chimera to meet with Grand Admiral Thrawn. She had selected Bau since he was a Spectre as well as Ashley and Kaidan since they served the Republic and because Tali was a Geth expert she would come as well along with Liara. Luke had also arrived in hopes to see some of his old friends.
Shepard and her team entered the Normandy's airlock and they waited for the decontamination process to finish and they were soon out of the Normandy and onto the Chimera where two men were waiting for them. One was dressed in a grey officer's uniform with a rank plaque that showed him to be an Admiral. He had white hair and a bushy white moustache. The other man had short brown hair and wore the uniform of a pilot with gold markings on.
"Commander Shepard." The Admiral greeted "Colonel Yularen informed us that you would be arriving. I am Admiral Gilad Pellaeon, second in Command of the Seventh Fleet. This is Commander Jon Vander, leader of Gold Squadron." The two of them shook hands with Shepard.
Shepard looked at Vander "I remember you, you led the Dutch Raid during the Verge War."
"A very important moment for us." Vander stated "We showed the Batarians that were weren't afraid to strike back against them.
"We should head for the war room." Pellaeon stated "Grand Admiral Thrawn wants to brief you on what has been going on here. He has the other commanders there as well, your companions are welcomed as well although we will have to strip them of weapons while they're on board the Chimera, regulations state that weapons are not prettied unless we are being boarded and that goes for the Spectre as well."
"Your rules in the Republic." Bau stated "At least I'm a Spectre who understands that, not all Spectres do."
"I'm glad we were unable to avoid a diplomatic situation here." Pellaeon stated. He then led them into a large room which had a hologram of the Armstrong Nebula and there were three more people in the room. Two of them wore similar uniforms to Vander only one had red markings while the other had black marking. "Commander Shepard, this is Commander Garven Dreis, Commander of Red Squadron." He introduced the man with the red markings "and this is Commander Poe Dameron, Commander of Black Squadron."
But it was the third man in the room who gathered everyone's attention. This man was not a human but it did look human except that he had blue skin, bluish black hair and red eyes which showed that he was a Chiss. He wore a white Officer's uniform with a Grand Admiral's Plaque on his chest. This was Grand Admiral Thrawn, one of the best commanders in the Republic navy and a well respected man throughout the Republic for his actions during the Verge Wars and respected for not wasting any resources and caring for the people who serve him. He and Pellaeon go back years.
"Thank you for the introduction Pellaeon." Thrawn said in a calm voice and then he looked at Shepard "So you must be Commander Shepard, I've heard quite a lot about you."
"And I've heard much about you as well Grand Admiral Thrawn." Shepard replied "My parents spoke highly of you."
"Yes, William Shepard, a great man and a great commander." Thrawn stated "I was said to hear of his death. He was a good man."
"He was." Shepard stated "Now Colonel Yularen said that the Geth were massing here for a staging ground."
"The Geth have been here in large numbers." Thrawn stated "My forces have been battling the Geth in the systems of the Armstrong Cluster but I have a feeling that these were just scouts and not the main Geth Fleet. The forces here have been smaller and they seem more like scouts than the main fleet. The main Geth fleet must be around here, I just need to find out where." He pressed a button on the hologram which lit up four systems in the Armstrong Nebula "These systems have been where we've encountered the Geth and in each system, the Geth have established a small base. I have a feeling that the information I seek to find the main Geth fleet will be in these bases. But I don't have the resources to send men down there."
"But I have." Shepard stated "I can lead a small team down onto each planet and Tali can download the data."
Pellaeon looked at Thrawn who nodded "We have located the bases on the planets. The bases aren't that big so there shouldn't be large Geth presence in the bases but I do worry about the larger Geth units in those bases."
"I've got a skilled team who can take out the Geth." Shepard stated
Thrawn nodded "Alright then, take your team and recover the data from the bases. I feel like taken separately the information won't be that useful but together, they may reveal the location of the Geth base. The first base is right here above Rayingri."
"I'll have the Normandy prepare the Mako for launch." Shepard stated "We'll retrieve the data here and then head to the other systems and recover the data from those bases."
"You do that Commander." Thrawn stated "And good luck."
Luke looked at Thrawn "Grand Admiral Thrawn." He greeted "My name is Luke Skywalker, I believe you knew my father."
"I did." Thrawn replied "Anakin Skywalker, a great general and a man worth following."
"Some of my old friends serve you here." Luke added "I hoped to meet them while I was here."
Red Leader, Garven Dreis looked at Luke "I see." He stated "Wedge and Biggs talked about you a lot, they'll be glad to see you. I don't mind you seeing them."
"Thank you Commander." Luke stated and looked back at Shepard "I'll see you back on the Normandy when you get back."
"Alright Luke." Shepard responded "I'll need you back on the Normandy when we've finished on Rayingri." She then left the room with the rest of her team.
...
The Chimera positioned itself close to Rayingri and allowed the Mako to launch from the Normandy with Shepard's crew on board. Pekue had a hard time seeing where she was going as the surface was very dark because of the planetoid in orbit. Shortly after landing, the Mako drove west and found the remains of s scavenger base as well as several bodies, these scavengers must have been here when the Geth arrived and there were signs of an ambush. The scavengers were hit suddenly and they stood no chance of survival but from the look of the camp, there were more scavengers than the number of bodies they found so either some had been away at the time of the attack or the Geth had captured them. Tali thought it was unlikely they were captured as the Geth don't usually take prisoners.
The Mako drove further south and soon found an old crashed probe which held a League of One Medallion which Shepard added to her collection and soon they arrived at the base. It was a good thing that the Seventh Fleet had already bombarded this base, the Geth were here in force but they were no match for a bombardment from the Star Destroyers which had destroyed the large cannons outside as well as a large number of Geth but the base itself had survived thanks to the base being built mostly underground in a natural cavern on the planet's surface.
The base was likely an old pirate den that was being used by the scavengers when the Geth arrived. Rayingri was not the best place for a base because of the volcanic activity but it made it the perfect place to hide out for a while. As soon as Shepard's team entered the base, they saw that most of the supplies from the base had been dumped. Most of them were simple food supplies which were useless to the Geth. But as they went further into the base, they came across something unusual, they found the husk like creatures that Shepard had seen on Eden Prime and there were a swarm of them.
Once they had taken out the husks, Bau looked at Shepard "Weren't these creatures the same type that you found on Eden Prime?" he asked
"They were." Shepard responded "But where did these ones come from."
"I guess these husks are the scavengers from this base." Kaidan stated "But I don't see how they were created. On Eden Prime the colonists were impaled on spikes and then transformed."
"The Geth may have transformed them here in the base." Tali suggested
"It doesn't matter how these husks were created." Ashley stated "Right now we need to find information from this base at the main terminal."
Shepard agreed and they carried on through the base and soon they found actual Geth units in the base. A large number of Geth troopers open fired forcing Shepard and her team to take cover. Then a Geth Juggernaut attacked as well as a Geth Prime which were both very hard to take out but Shepard and Ashley laid down some covering fire and allowed Bau to get into a position with his sniper and shoot the Geth Prime in the head. Liara then used her biotics to crush the Juggernaut's armour and allow Shepard to blow it apart. Once all of the Geth were defeated, Shepard and her team looked around to try and find some information. Eventually they found a terminal and Tali used her Geth knowledge to hack the terminal and find the information they wanted.
"Commander, according to this Terminal, it seems the Geth have been moving a large amount of resources from other territories they control here to construct some kind of Geth station."
"Does the terminal say where it's being constructed?" Shepard asked
"Unfortunatly not." Tali replied "It seems they moved the resources from different areas to prevent them from being discovered. They ship them to different places for construction in parts before being fully assembled."
"Even so, that information will be useful to Thrawn." Shepard stated "Download it and then we should head back to the Normandy."
"Understood Shepard." Tali replied as she began downloading the data.
...
Back with the Seventh Fleet, Luke Skywalker had been taken to the Hanger Bay on board the Star Destroyer Minotaur which was the Star Destroyer that held Red Squadron. It was here that Luke would be able to see his old friends and he was taken to the Hanger Bay where the fighters for Red Squadron were based. Red Squadron was mainly a squadron for fighters so the hanger was filled with X-Wing and A-Wing fighters which had red markings to show their squadron. As Luke was looking around, he heard someone call him.
"Luke, is that you?"
Luke turned around and saw a man with black hair and a thin moustache walking towards him "Biggs" he laughed and the two grabbed each other arms.
"How are you doing?" the man known as Biggs laughed "What are you doing here?"
"My ship has been stationed here and I wanted to see how you were doing." Luke stated "How are the others."
"They're fine." He stated "In fact they'll be glad to see you." He looked over his shoulder "Hey Wedge, Hobbie, Rake, guess who's here?"
Three more pilots came up and they all they all gasped as well "Well I'll never have guess." The one known as Wedge gasped.
"Hey Skyguy." Hobbie laughed
"It's great to see you again." Rake added.
"It's great to see you too." Luke stated "I still wish I could be fighting with you guys."
Wedge sighed "You were the best of all of us and then they transfer you when your father vanishes."
"That's so messed up." Rake added "You should be flying with us, not co-piloting a warship."
"Hey I have to make the best of it." Luke stated "And I am on an important mission for the Republic. I have stories to tell you all."
"Well I'm afraid those are going to have to wait." Red Leader, Garven said as he came over "I just got a call, Commander Shepard is heading back to the Normandy so you're needed there. And don't worry, I'm sure one of these days you'll be flying a starship again."
"Thanks sir." Luke responded and he looked at his friends "It was great seeing you all again."
"It was great seeing you as well Luke." Biggs said "We'll hear all your stories when we get back alright."
"I'll tell you all at some point." Luke said and then he left his friends to head back to the Normandy
...
After Shepard made her way back to the Normandy, she learnt that Luke had also returned and now she walked over to the bridge where Luke was waiting for her along with Joker."
"Where are we off to next Commander." Joker asked
"We have to head to the next system and destroy the Geth there." Shepard replied
"Aye Commander." Luke stated "The next system will be the Tereshkova System. I'm plotting a course there now." The Normandy disconnected itself from the Chimera and got into a position where it could jump to lightspeed.
...
The Tereshkova system was named after Valentina Tereshkova, the first woman to fly in space. This system was unique as it was a binary star system which meant it had two stars that orbited each other but their energy was very low. This system also had an Asteroid belt and six planets which included Hunsalra, a hydrogen-helium gas giant that had large amounts of nitrogen in the upper atmosphere. This planet was used as a dumping ground for drive charges and so there was a debris field in orbit. Overall the other planets in the system, Patamalrus, Mawinor, Solmarlon and Thegeuse weren't of any interest although there was a carbonaceous Asteroid in the belt where some debris were recovered and a League of One Medallion was recovered.
The first planet in the system, Antibaar was a cold terrestrial world with an atmosphere of methane and argon and a frozen surface composed of iron with deposits of magnesium. This planet was one that could be terreformed by the Republic but the surface temperature was very cold but could be raised by Terraforming but there was still the problem with strong winds and poor visibility.
The Mako landed during a strong snowstorm and Pekue quickly started driving to the base. Along the way, they came across some Prothean ruins and when Shepard checked them out, they found a small Prothean box which contained a Prothean Data disk. They then heard a roar nearby and saw a Thresher Maw emerged from the ground so Shepard quickly got back into the Tank and got into the Mako's cannon. After a few shots in the mouth, the Thresher Maw collapsed dead and nearby, they found a Geth patrol which had been torn apart by the Thresher Maw.
The Mako soon arrived at the base but it seemed that this outpost was just a small base above ground with no buildings. An orbital strike had pretty much wiped out all of the geth and a Dropship had crashed and it seemed this Dropship had been destroyed by a Y-Wing Bomber as the top of the ship had been destroyed by proton bombs. There were a few Geth that had survived the bombardment but they were quickly taken care of and then Shepard and Tali went to a nearby terminal to try and get information.
"You find anything Tali?" Shepard asked
Tali nodded "This terminal seems recently sent out a request for aid but it seems that aid arrived during the bombardment." She looked at the fallen Dropship "I've managed to find the direction of the transmission, that could provide a clue for the location of the main Geth base."
"Good." Shepard replied "That can help provide the exact location with the rest of the information. We should get back to the Normandy and then head to the next base." Tali nodded and they soon got back into the Mako and radioed to be picked up.
...
The next Geth base was located in what was known as the Hong System, named after China's first successful satellite, Fang Hong I or Red East I. This system had five planets, Pomal, Casbin, Matar, Theshaca and Treagir.
Pomal was a terrestrial world with a very dense atmosphere of carbon dioxide and sodium. The planet had a scorching hot surface mainly composed of sodium oxides and deposits of nickel. There is evidence that Pomal once had broad shallow seas and probes have been sent to find fossils which would be valuable for scientists. Matar was a terrestrial planet with a thick atmosphere made of nitrogen and krypton and a frigid surface composed of sodium oxide with deposits of copper. Explorers were warned to be careful because of noxious surface gasses. Matar lacked a magnetic field so life was impossible on the planet and was useless for discharging drive cores and the lack of a magnetic field gave Matar it's mint green colour thanks to the krypton being ionised. While scanning the planet, an old Asari fighter was recovered with a body. Dr Chakwas examined the body but couldn't identify it but she did recover some of Matriarch Dilinaga's writings.
Theshaca was standard hydrogen-helium gas giant that was famous for the Theshaca raids as the Republic set up sensing devices on one of the moons which allowed the Republic to track eight pirate anchorages in six months which really damaged pirate activity in the system and Treagir was a tiny ice dwarf with a trace atmosphere of xenon and krypton and had a surface made of frozen water and ammonia.
Casbin was the second planet in the Hong system and the planet where the Geth base was located. Casbin was actually a planet that might be suitable for habitation in the future because it had conditions similar to earth, the atmosphere was made up of nitrogen and carbon dioxide and plant life had begun to develop on the planet. The Republic senate had declared this planet to be off limits as landing might disrupt the local ecosystem and as a result, the Seventh Fleet had been forbidden to bombard this world which Thrawn had obeyed so the Geth were still here in force so Shepard had to be careful.
To minimize the damage, Shepard only decided to take Tali, Bau, Liara and Ashley on this mission. The Mako soon landed in a large canyon which was surrounded by large hills. Pekue quickly picked up a signal and they drove to it to find an old beacon. It was unknown why it was here but they did find the Salarian ID tag of Captain Thein, a Salarian responsible for hunting the League of One.
After finding the beacon, Pekue drove forward to a signal where they found a Geth setup but this was not the main base on Casbin, this was a simple lookout camp guarded by three turrets. The Mako's cannon quickly took the cannons out and The Mako moved into the camp in order to be used as cover. The remaining Geth were quickly taken out but then there were several loud bangs from a sniper rifle.
"Sniper, get down!" Ashley yelled and pulled Shepard to the ground thinking that a Geth Sniper was in the hills but then the sniper snots hit the remaining Geth instead destroying their heads. When the shots fell silent, Shepard looked at the bodies.
"That Sniper came from the hills?" she questioned "Who else is here?"
"I don't know." Bau stated "But we might find some answers at the main camp."
"We should head there now then." Liara stated and they went back into the Mako and drove to the main camp located east of the lookout camp. This camp also had cannons but this camp also had a Geth Colossus and some Geth Armatures. The Mako took out the cannons and the Armatures and was eventually able to take out the Colossus.
When the Geth were defeated, Shepard and her team got out of the Mako and went for the terminal but they heard a noise and saw a Geth Dropship dropping some Geth units but then the ship got hit by a rocket blast but not from the Mako, the shot came from the other side towards the hills and the remaining Geth were shot from the same side by a sniper. This time Shepard retrieved a set of electrobinoculars from the Mako. Electrobinoculars were new versions of binoculars which would make it easier to see things from a distance and created a clear image. The army regularly used them to see enemy troops approaching. But what Shepard saw shocked them, it was actually a small unit of Geth up of the hills which had fired the sniper shots and the rocket. But instead of coming down, the Geth simply got onto a small transport and left.
"Shepard, what did you see?" Bau asked
"That was odd." Shepard said confused "It was Geth that shot down that Dropship."
"Geth?" Liara questioned "Why would Geth aid us in destroying other Geth."
"I have no idea." Tali stated "I've never seen this. Maybe the terminal will give us information." She went over to the terminal and was able to hack it "There's not much information that can help us located the Geth but it seems that there is infighting amongst the Geth."
"Infighting?" Bau questioned
"Aye, it seems some Geth don't worship the Old Machines as these Geth call them." Tali stated "I guess that refers to the Reapers. It seems the Geth split into two groups so it seems we're not fighting all of the Geth at all."
"Does that change anything?" Shepard questioned
"It means the Geth we're fighting are not as strong as we thought but they're still pretty powerful." Tali replied "The last entry said that scouts from the rival Geth faction were here, I guess those Geth we saw were part of that faction."
"Why didn't they fire on us though?" Ashley questioned
"I have no idea!" Tali exclaimed "I never even knew about this. Two factions of Geth fighting each other, we barely know anything on the Geth's intentions."
"Regardless, we still have one base left." Shepard stated "We're going back to the Normandy now." Shepard and her team were soon picked up by the Normandy and the Normandy plotted a course for the location of the final base, Vamshi.
...
Just like Tereshkova, Vamshi was a binery star system with two stars, one of which was a red Giant and Vamshi was one of the smallest system with only 3 planets, Maji, Pregel and Almos. Pregel was an enormous terrestrial world with an atmosphere made of chlorine and ethane and a surface composed of sulphur with deposits of aluminium, no landing had been attempted on this planet. Scans picked up several marker buoys and Engineer Adams was able to secure some images which showed the buoys had the markings of the Turian Baetika insignia. Almos was a simple hydrogen-helium gas giant with traces of sodium darkening the atmosphere.
But it was the planet Maji where the Geth had a base, Maji orbited close to the binary stars and had a thin atmosphere of methane and carbon monoxide and the star created lethal levels of radiation. This planet was infamous as being used for sports by cruel Terminus gangs were they dumped slaves, hostages and vicious animals where they would fight each other. The lethal amount of radiation would often kill the dumped people so Shepard would have to take space suits on this mission.
Shepard took the Mako down onto the surface of Maji and was joined by Bau, Liara, Tali and Ashley. Shepard wanted to take as few down as possible because of the radiation. As soon as the Mako landed, Pekue saw some debris in the distance and quickly drove towards them. The debris were old and have once been part of a warship. There was some graffiti on the debris which appeared to have been marked with the Turian Edessan Colony insignia. Not far from the debris, they found a large skeleton and drove towards it. Shepard and her team got out to have a look, this creature was not a Thresher Maw as it had wings.
"What creature is this?" Bau questioned "I've never seen anything like it?"
"Could it be from an old species?" Liara questioned "But whatever it is, how did it get here?"
Shepard knew what it was "I know what this creature is." She stated "It's a Purrgil, a vacuum living species that travel through space in pacts. This is one that likely came here to die. I'll tell you more about them latter. We need to get out of this radiation, our suits won't last forever."
They quickly got back into the Mako and Pekue drove the Mako further north to where the Geth outpost was located. This outpost was located at the top of a large mountain, there was a path to drive up but there were turrets along the way so Shepard got into the turret and took out the turrets one by one as they drove up the hill. Eventually they made it to the outpost and this one was also above ground but it was guarded by a Geth Colossus so the Mako was needed. Shepard got into the Turret and fired at the Colossus while Pekue drove to avoid the blasts which did make hitting the Colossus harder. It took a while but the Colossus was eventually defeated along with the other Geth units.
With the Geth defeated, Tali and Shepard went to look at the terminal "It seems that a Geth fleet is set to arrive in the Armstrong Nebula to assist the main Geth fleet here. I have their projected path from where they jumped but I cannot see where they arrived."
"Thrawn can make use of this." Shepard responded "Combined with the information we received at the other bases, he can predict the location of the Geth fleet. Now it's time to head back to the Normandy and then back to the Seventh fleet."
...
As soon as the Mako was back on the Normandy, Shepard went to the bride "Joker, Luke, it's time we head back to the Seventh Fleet, we have the information Thrawn needs."
"Aye Commander." Joker stated and soon the Normandy was heading back towards the Gagarin System and the Seventh Fleet.
Chapter End:
Notes: Well another chapter finished. I had intended to do this longer and include a space battle but I decided to do that in a separate chapter but you will get to see a proper space battle in the next chapter. Also I have gone back to previous chapters to make some corrections, I have changed that thedarkwolf95 pointed out about Shepard joining the army, I have fixed this mistake and I have also changed the Fleet above Eden Prime to be a task force instead of a full fleet and show the Republic's strength. I will also address thedarkwolf95's comment about the star destroyers and the destiny ascension. According to the Mass Effect Wikia, the Destiny Ascension is four times bigger than the largest human warship with a crew of 10,000. That is much bigger than the crew of a star destroyer and I don't want the Republic to be too overpowered. I have also recently bought Star Wars KOTOR 2 and I'm thinking of bringing in some influence with the game into later stories in the series. I don't want to say too much as I may give away the surprise I have. The next chapter will probably be shorter but I plan to work on a chapter of Rise of the Divines and Dragon X first so the next chapter might not be ready until the end of August, we'll just see how things go.
