Orian had returned with Shepard carrying an injured Hanar to find the tower in an uproar. Only moments after leaving did the four mechanical protectors that accompanied Dyeppa go out of control. Three servants and a Ragnal noble were killed while several of the delegates suffered minor to wounds. Thankfully, house guard rifle fire and an angry Krogan brought a swift end to the disaster. What remained was now being scanned to find the cause of the tragedy. The Quarian and Salarian leaders were both looking through headache inducing lines of code on their omnitools as Moirah watched in fascination.
"There was a Geth in the shuttle! I don't know what type, but it's the one that hacked everything including the Ymir." She paused to set down Armelsta on a table. "Which killed the pilot and shot the jelly. The Ursa Major's interface got hit with an overload and launched about five klicks into the woods behind the arena. It has Erane." Everyone else looked at her in confusion.
"That's not possible." Zun'Zoll stated. "There's no way a Geth ship could have made it through the relay without being detected by our buoy."
"Well it's here anyway!"
Thebe spoke up. "What is a Geth and why would it have masterminded such an attack?"
Nardar stepped up to speak this time as he instructed his team to aid the Hanar. "Synthetic work force created by the Quarians for manual labor. Achieved sentience before driving creators from homeworld. Attacked the Citadel some fifteen months ago." The Salarian paused to administer a final dollop of their healing poultice. "It most likely hacked mechs to distract us from its attempt to steal our shuttle."
"If it came here on its own why would it need our dropship." This question came from the ebon haired human woman.
"It doesn't matter." Shepard answered before marching off to the guest rooms.
"On our run back the Commander mentioned the Geth said that it was here to steal our resources" Orian received an odd look from the group at this statement.
"The Geth talked to her? Can they even do that?" Nura asked aloud.
"That's how we gave them instructions before the uprising. Never heard about them talking back though." Zun'Zoll replied with no small amount of unease. "If it's an original that would explain why Shepard could not identify model." The throne room grew quiet as all contemplated the means and motives behind this attack.
Officer Kalius voiced what all other galactic citizens knew. "The Geth might be on their way here through interstellar space right now. It's a major tactical advantage to being non-biological."
Moirah finished his explanation for the other less technologically inclined Raloi. "No need for food, water, air or sleep. An entire fleet could stand perfectly still for years and arrive at some unsuspecting planet ready for battle." Looks of fear spread across the dozen or so gathered nobles.
"That's why we need to get it's memory core." Shepard returned in her skintight under-armor pulling a large metal crate on wheels plastered in military symbols. "Everyone gear up and get ready to move in five! That one-eyed fucker is no doubt working overtime on fixing it's getaway and we can not let that happen."
"Has anyone tried to contact the Normandy?" Orian asked. "If there is another ship they should be warned."
"We've tried, but the comms were full of static past about a mile. Now we know why." Nura answered as she double checked her shotgun.
Alhena stepped forward. "I'll send a platoon ahead to lockdown the forest. Commander Shepard, you are the expert on this type of enemy. What are the prefered tactics my men need for combating this Geth?" Orian rarely saw his sibling defer to anyone, so she was taking this very seriously.
"Rapid fire weaponry. It will deplete their shields faster than high caliber rounds." Shepard finished attaching her last piece of armor. "Let's move out!"
The group made excellent time to the woodland outskirts with aid of royal motorized carriages. Under other circumstances Orian would be regaling the Starlings with tidbits of information and interesting facts about their rides, but today was one of combat and he needed to be ready to fight. Sword at his side, the Prince exited his carriage along with his sister and the Asari commandos.
A soldier marches over from a heavy machine gun emplacement to Alhena. "General, we've covered this side and sent four squads to search the area. Colonal Jovia has called in a scout dirigible as well."
"Good. Make sure that airship stays high. We don't know what kind of weapons this mechinoid is using." The man nodded and went back to his team.
"If that blimp has radio equipment we could get it high enough to cut through the jamming signal. One shot from the Normandy will be all we need." Shepard informs her in the solid tone of a war veteran.
Gunshots echoed in the distance and drew everyone's attention. Over the din came a series of trumpets from a warhorn.
Alhena's frown deepened "Damn it. Multiple contacts." The warrior Princess ran to a makeshift billbox and hoisted its gun ammo box and all from the tripod then headed into the woods. "I will not let some walking hunks of metal slaughter my men!"
"This is going to be fun!" Vrax shouted as he chased after.
The large group followed close behind with guns at the ready. A dense canopy obscured most of the sunlight triggering a number of the Starling's armors to activate. Shepard told them to deactivate them as it may draw friendly fire. This seemed like a wise choice before the amount of gunfire began to rapidly drop. Now rushing through the underbrush they reached a thinned portion of the forest. Here one could notice the sudden quiet and the choking scent of gunpowder mixed with a sour metal that Orian recognized as Raloi blood, and lots of it. Disturbingly the amount of brown, green and yellow is this spot was almost equal.
"What happened here?" The prince had to fight the rising bile.
Kalius inspected the ground carefully. "They were ambushed. The Geth dragged their bodies away to reset the trap. We need to move before they get back." All were in favor of this and carried onward more wary than before.
Farther ahead was a distinct break in the treeline. Broken branches led to toppled trees then a trail in the dirt stretched towards a natural clearing. The Geth had come up short on its prefered crash site. Sparks erupted from gouges in it's armor and one of the thrusters stuck out of the ground not far from where everyone was gathered. Shepard gave a few hand signals and one after another each group of aliens spread out along the crearing's edge. Krogan, Quarians and Asari to the left. Turians, Vorcha and humans on the right. The Commander stayed with Orian and Alhena.
Light flickered from the shuttle's open side door. A shadow moved around the cabin; tall and thin. Shepard waved ahead and one step at a time everyone moved in to surround the craft. Before anyone could jump inside a burst of heavy gunfire ripped into a Krogan tearing through shields and into flesh.
Now standing in the doorway was a tall pitch black machine holding an oversized assault rifle in one hand and what looked like a mortar tube in the other. Orian's guess was sadly proven correct by a loud thump and a small explosion that knocked the Turians off their feet.
Alhena was first to unleash her fury. Miniature explosions hurled conical metal slugs fast enough to leave a trail of condensed water vapor. Each shot flattened or fragmented on a teal aura. Others opened fire; adding to the pile of scrap munitions growing at the mechinoid's feet.
More automatic fire swept over to Shepard's group. Orian ducked hearing another mortar impacted an Asari's hastily made biotic dome. Miranda flared in blue raising her hand. The Geth's stumbled out onto the ground as the ship lurched. The Prince heard Erane scream from inside causing his heart to ache. Now visible were a handful of cables attached to the machine's back.
One of the Quarians shouted over the gunfire. "It's boosting it's shields with the Ursa's power core! We don't have anything that can punch through that!"
"Fall back!" The Commander's order while disappointing was obeyed. All backed to the woods still firing at the Geth's head to try and blind its sensors. It returned to the shuttle and forced the door closed.
No longer being shot at let Shepard determine a plan B. "Think you guys can shut it down or at least deactivate its shield?" She asked the Quarians.
"We've been trying, but this thing has a seriously tough firewall."
Now she turned to Alhena. "Do you have any heavy artillery that can hit here?"
"Four long range cannons atop the castle. The dirigible will be able to give them a firing solution, but they will need to get lower." This would have been a good plan were an innocent child not being held hostage.
"Good. You head back to camp with the Krogans as escort and tell your to get ready."
"Yes Com-
A long loud metallic scraping sound echoed through the forest cutting off any speech. Shepard's eyes went wide in fearful recognition. A few others looked agitated as well. From all around one could hear the rustling of feet in vegetation. Moans and groans had people raising their weapons.
less than a dozen yards off shambling emaciated figures emerged from behind trees, rocks and fallen logs. Some were small and fast, tall and muscular or thin and four armed. All were pale gray with blue lights glowing from places where the flesh had fallen away.
"It's the scout party." Alhena whispered in shock. "What in the Five happened to them."
"Open fire!" Was the only answer she received.