BioWare; Straight Outta Canada!
10 Kilometers From Dig Site Alpha, Therum, Knossus System, Artemus Tau Cluster, June 15, 2183
Author's Note: Happy Easter! Happy April Fool's Day (not partaking in it)! And... a brand new chapter for you to enjoy!
About the same time James Cameron was making Terminator 2, the Quarians were living it. Evidently Jon'Konor vas Rannoch didn't exist for them.
"Successful landing!" Called out Staff Sergeant Ashley Madeline Williams over the General Dynamics' M35 MAKO Armored Personnel Vehicles' intercom system as the Soldier operated the vehicles' operation suite, handling the driving. "Boy, they sure didn't skimp out on the brochures. We're looking at a lava lake and a volcanic glass plain in front of the MAKO. Can I retire here, Skipper?"
"Funny, Army." Commander Jane Catherine Shepard spouted out over the SquadCom, looking out at the holographic band that displayed a three hundred and sixty degree plane of the area surrounding the MAKO. She was currently in the gunners' suite of the MAKO, looking at the surroundings and formulating a route through the hazardous conditions of Therum. Jesus, Sara hadn't been kidding about the place. "Williams, I'm sending navpoints based upon the hazards that will lead us to the Dig Site. Be advised, I have no idea how stable the ground it, so take it with a grain of salt."
"Copy. Moving forward." The APV lumbered forward slowly as the six-wheeled vehicle began to push forward upon the basalt surface of Therum, and Shepard saw on the gunner display band that the temperature was soaring towards sixty degrees Celsius, or about a hundred and forty degrees Fahrenheit. Jannie clicked her tongue off the roof of her mouth at the sight of that. Sara had mentioned how hot it was on Therum, but at that temperature? An hour or two of external environment time, tops. Thankfully, Jannie knew of the conditions and had everyone stock up on extra Power Cells for their separate life support systems so their armors wouldn't be drained of their power supplies. They had about six hours worth of environmental time just in case, with the MAKO able to recharge their Power Cells as necessary.
Both Staff Sergeant Williams and Detective Garrus Vakarian had gone through the supplies on-board the MAKO while back on the SSV Normandy, to include rations for both levo- and dextro-chilarities, potable water, extra grenades, extra ammo blocks, extra containers of Gels, and a few spare weapons in case of different scenarios. Jannie had done an inspection of the vehicle loadout prior to deployment, and had been quite satisfied with what she saw. Most Marines and Naval Security Forces thought to bring everything but the kitchen sink for deployments, but usually just clogged and littered supply spots with unnecessary equipment. There was a certain elegance to the loadout, where grenades were stashed in hardcase packs attached to the interior of the MAKO instead of in the 'bread boxes' meant for miscellaneous equipment, while ammo blocks were kept under the deployment seats; everything within hands' reach without searching. Jannie wasn't sure if it was the Soldier or the RRU Sniper who had done that, but the interior of the MAKO was set up in a pattern that made sense.
"Scanning environment and topography for best possible route." Jannie called out as she operated the gunners' suite of the MAKO, using the display to mark waypoints for Williams to orient towards while keeping an eye out for any hostile obstacles or enemies. Therum wasn't the worst terrain she had ever had to navigate, but it was a close second. There were active calderas, lava pools, and cracks upon the surface that could be sinkholes or lavatubes near the surface. Why the fuck did the Protheans settle this shithole was beyond her. "Williams? Got a magma flow, starboard side, along the 30 degree azimuth. Try not to take us skinny-dipping."
"Port, starboard… Skipper, you do realize we're on land, right? We can lose the astronautical terms." The humor in the Soldiers' voice was thick, and Jannie couldn't help but smile. Ash had a sense of humor, and considering what had happened on Eden Prime, it was good to hear it.
"Oh, I'm sorry, I'll speak Army then." The redhead replied as her eyes continued to scan the display, her right hand manipulating the Haptic controls for the various views and magnifications that would let her manipulate the display to either enhance, broaden, or narrow the view as needed, marking waypoints and projecting possible hazards to Williams' driver display. Her left hand controlled the main cannon and coaxial machine gun, ready to engage at a moment's notice. "Duuuh, lookie over there! Puuurrrty!"
"I'm Army, not a Marine. Give me some credit, Skipper. I can count past ten." That had the Commander chuckle as she plugged in another waypoint as Williams continued to drive over the path Jannie was highlighting, the effort of it rather involving. Most of the path was barely wider than the MAKO itself, and she hadn't found a safer route yet. "Think we're going to have the jump the next little part. Ground looks dicey."
"Proceed." Yeah, she could see why the Staff Sergeant thought so; the edges looked weak. The MAKO's contragravity thrusters activated as its Mass Core went negative, lightening the APV's mass to give it more thrust as Williams jumped the traversable path she didn't like, landing some twelve meters ahead in a much safer patch. "Nicely done. Nine for the landing."
"Oh, you're a better driver? I'll have you know that driving is an Army skill, space trucker." Jannie just chuckled at that as she continued scanning the holographic display, her hands manipulating through the different fields of view, looking for potential ambush sites and defensive locations for the Geth or whomever else might want to make their lives difficult. Despite the quips and camaraderie, her attention was on their surroundings, and Jannie wasn't about to let the Geth catch her unaware. That happened already on Eden Prime, and Jannie was sure as shit not going to give them the satisfaction again. She had already lost one Marine, and Ash her entire Battalion.
She only prayed that the Marines of Red Platoon were seeing better success, and that Sara was still alive.
Please God, let it be so.
The M35 MAKO had been driving over the tortured landscape of Therum, jagged basalt rock and razor-sharp obsidian jutting from the hellish landscape as open lavapits and melting rocks shifted the landscape for the past twenty minutes when Commander Jane Shepard noticed the defensive fortifications of what she assumed to be Dig Site Alpha. They were running on radio silent with the SSV Normandy, as was normal for most military operations, as well as to prevent either from the Geth detecting their signal or possibly hacking their way into any of the sub-systems of either the MAKO or their armor. It was a good thing that Humanity, paranoid about alien snooping and hacking, had secondary manual monitoring devices and hardline communications inside the Armored Personnel Vehicle. When they deployed on the ground, communications would be by armor vocalizer for much of the same reasons. Jannie had marked the tentative location of Dig Site Alpha on the topographical map of Therum, not wishing to alert the Geth of their presence by getting any kind of updates. She knew of the general vicinity of the Prothean Site from Sara, and Jannie had taken a few SpecOps training courses oriented towards finding remote locations with as little hard information as possible.
"Williams? See the towers up ahead?"
"Looks like a pretty typical Alliance Military defensive position to me." Staff Sergeant Ashley Williams said from the drivers' seat, her voice coming through over the vehicles' intercom. "Haven't seen any toasters. Either they're destroyed, or all in the dig site."
"Terrain makes it impossible to tell." The Dig Site itself sat in a bowl surrounded by jagged walls made of basalt, making the defensive position that much better. Jannie could easily see what was a standard Colonial Anti-Ship Defensive Battery, a GARDIAN Artillery Cannon meant to repel invaders and airdrops. The cannon in question wasn't aiming at the Therum sky, though. "Cannon's oriented towards the deck. I doubt that's the standard. All hands? Brace for combat maneuvering and impacts." The N7 called out over the entirety of the vehicle to alert everyone of the possibility of attack. Getting jostled around in an APV wasn't the most wonderful thing in the world, but it was better than being shot at physically. "Williams? Spider senses are tingling."
"Me too, Skipper." The Soldier relayed, her tone indicating it all; Williams was obviously reliving the emotional roller coaster that was Eden Prime. As much as that could be a liability, the Staff Sergeant was one of a handful of veterans against the Geth, and the woman herself had no compunctions against a round two against the synthetic race. Jannie would make sure that the Soldier kept her head in the game, like she should have done for Corporal Richard Jenkins. She wasn't about to write a letter to Kimberly Williams and her three remaining daughters about the death of her oldest child. "Staying frosty, and prepare for me to run it and gun it at the first sight of something wrong."
"Acknowledged." Jane's tone was pure professionalism, humor dropped to put every gram of her training and experience into use, her mind focused completely on the task at hand. Geth could be the perfect ambushers, needing no food, water, rest, or environmental protection like an organic. With their Collective Network, just one hardware platform spotting them might mean the entirety of their forces would know they were there automatically. Shepard had certainly found out how adaptable the Geth could be on Eden Prime, finding units becoming increasingly more difficult to face as the mission progressed due to that fact. The N7 had found herself having to exhaust a good many tactics and improvising on the wing against increasingly more difficult defensive positions, better firing tactics, and units reacting better and better to them as she, Sergeant Williams, and Lieutenant Kaidan Alenko encountered them. The Geth literally represented fluidity in combat and progressive combat tactics. No wonder the 2nd Battalion (Eden Prime) had been completely eradicated. "The Marine Barracks should be half-a-klick ahead of us, Sergeant. Take your time getting there as I scan and identify. Hopefully, the boys got a barbecue going and we can joke about this."
"Aye aye." Ash didn't sound like she believed Jannie. Jannie didn't believe herself either as she continued to scan with near anal-retentiveness, knowing that a mistake against the Geth would likely be a fatal one multiplied by eight. The MAKO crept slowly up an embankment that lead towards the waypoint that the Lion had populated for the potential sight of the Marine Corps barracks stationed on Therum, knowing that if any of the Marines were manning the GARDIAN Towers, they would have alerted the Marine TOC of potential visitors while keeping an eye of them in case they weren't what they appeared to be. The Comms Unit connected to the SAEncryptNet was reporting silence, and no challenge was given by the any member of Red Platoon, Betelgeuse Company, 3/7 MAR. That did not bode well at all. Jannie didn't key up the radio to try and contact the Marines for the same reason she wasn't trying to contact the Normandy; to keep the element of surprise as long as possible. It wasn't like the MAKO was invisible, after all, and anyone in the Tower would see them approach and try to contact them, at the very least ordering them to stop and identify themselves.
So far, nothing.
"Captain? I'm getting signal intercept!" That came from Specialist Tali'Zorah nar Reyya, who was running a passive signal scanner from inside the MAKO, trying to provide as much coverage as possible, attempting to get as much of an early warning detection system as they could afford. "Frequency scramble, high-gain static in the gigaHertz range, and multiple band signal strength. Not organic in nature; too complex, and not a radio signal."
"Ideas?"
"Either we are close enough to pick up data transfer, or we've been spotted, Captain." The Quarian dataware engineer replied from the belly of the APV. "Migrant Fleet Forces only pick up spikes of data transfer during mass download conjunction and connectivity, usually systems updates and adaptability swaps. This is likely a general alert, broadcasting our presence. The signal is too simple for a transmission of combat information systems."
"Understood." Jannie concluded that it was likely what the Quarians Pilgrim was telling her; the Geth had spotted the MAKO, but likely didn't know what to make of it, be it civilian or military. That meant that the Marines were likely in the Dig Site, entrenched and resisting, or they were dead. "Williams? Continue as is. Play the cards close to the chest for as long as possible, and let's get close enough to see the white in their flashlights."
"Now we're talking." The Non-Com replied, continuing at the same slow speed, navigating as if they weren't in a rush, and also not trying to suggest that they knew that they were being watched. Jannie was scanning hard for any possible hardware platforms that might have noticed their approached, and ruled out the first GARDIAN Tower; the signal would have been intercepted a minute or so earlier when it came into view. No, there was ridge that was in view now that was more suspect, and the N7 worked the field-of-view control with her right hand to zoom in, and it took her a moment to find their spotter; a singular Geth platform, armed with what appeared to be either a Designated Marksman Rifle or a Sniper Rifle. She didn't recognize the model of weapon, which wasn't surprising. Jannie didn't think the Geth were going to munitions stores in public areas and ordering weapons from kiosks.
"Detective Vakarian? Prepare for target acquisition and elimination." The Commander ordered. The RRU Sniper unlatched himself from his deployment seat as he hoisted his Armax Arsenals' M-98 Widow Sniper Rifle, standing low in the APV as a taloned finger touched the Kuwashii Visor that he wore, activating the microlens that undoubtedly ran in conjunction with the scope of his beast of a Sniper Rifle likely both a targeting reticle and environment adaptation module for elevation drop, windage, air pressure, and other factors that could cause a long-distance shot to miss. The Turian had mentioned that he was one of the best shots on the Citadel, and the tone wasn't boastful or full of pride, merely stating a fact. "Can you hit a stationary target from seven hundred meters from a moving platform on rugged terrain?"
"We'll need to stop at the last moment before I pull the trigger to ensure a killshot." The Special Crimes Detective replied calmly, moving over to the gunners' suite and looking at the enemy highlighted, seeing the direction, distance, and coverage. "It's standing up, that will make it easier. Will a head shot suffice or is a chest shot more effective?"
"We haven't noticed a difference yet." Jannie admitted, cursing the fact that they knew so little of the Geth hardware platforms. Undoubtedly there were hundred if not thousands of 'bodies' available for Alliance Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (ADARPA) for researchers to tinker and toy with, but if the software drivers were 'killed', then likely they would only be learning half of the available capabilities of a Geth platform. "Stick with a chest shot at this time, Detective. I assume the chassis has more vital components, and there's nothing saying that the main processing unit is actually in the… head portion." With two Quarians aboard, perhaps bringing a platform aboard would help fill in some gaps in intelligence.
"The cranial segment contains the main sensor suite, not the logical processors or the connectivity suite." Niki'Raan nar Tombay spoke up, offering a tidbit of information. "The power core is centered in the chassis, and will essentially serve as its heart. Damaging it will shut down a unit permanently."
"Understood." Garrus replied, heading towards the 'skywatch' hatch located at the rear of the APV, pulling it open but not sticking himself out of it yet. Jannie could feel the oppressive heat of Therum immediately blasting in, and her Armax Arsenal Predator H-Series Battle Armor indicated that her environmental systems and life support kicked in to regulate the internal temperature in her armor. At sixty degrees Celsius, a Human would only last minutes before their body temperature reached a dangerous levels. "Commander? Spot me."
"On it." Jannie magnified the Geth unit with the long-range rifle, the unit's 'flashlight' looking right at them, monitoring. "We have the damn thing's attention for sure, Detective. As soon as you pop out, you'll be in a sniper duel for sure. The shield envelop on the MAKO should protect you, but I'm not about to second-guess Geth capabilities on hacking and other trickery. Better make it quick to be on the safe side, Vakarian."
"It will be my pleasure, Commander." The Turian's flanged voice replied with a hint of amusement, as if to say what me, worry? Come to think of it, Jannie never did ask what Garrus did in Active Duty. Was he a sniper then, too? Likely, considering he was in one of the most elite law enforcement units in the galaxy as a marksman. Special Crimes was a prestigious posting in C-SEC, Sara mentioned on a few occasions throughout the years, those assigned being good at observation, cunning, clever, or able to piece parts of a puzzle quite well. Add to the fact that he was also the Citadel's version of SWAT? Garrus probably thought he had earned that chip on his plated shoulder. "Up in six. Keep eyes on for additional units, Commander."
"Scanning." The Lion replied, reducing the magnification on the lone Geth unit to a more panoramic view, looking for any spotters, additional snipers, or anything else the Geth might have come up with. "One unit detected, Vakarian. Eliminate with extreme prejudice."
"The last thing it will ever feel." The Turian promised as he oriented his sniper rifle towards the access hatch, prepping himself for a quick acquisition and elimination. Detective Vakarian bolted upward, standing at his full two meter height, having already positioned himself to face the appropriate direction, having studied the holographic image of the Geth platform to get an idea where it was located beforehand. The MAKO stopped for the barest of moments before Jannie heard the deep-throated 'thrum' of the high-end caliber sniper rifle firing, the Turian having exposed himself for but two seconds or so. Jannie noted that in a PiP display that she had selected to keep an eye on the Geth unit in question while scanning for others, the hardware platform practically buckled in half from the force of the impact of the heavy caliber round, piercing right through its chassis and punching a hole big enough for her to fit her gauntleted fist inside. It was a hell of a shot from a hell of a rifle.
"Damn, Detective. Score." The speed of the acquisition and elimination was damn impressive. The Geth had barely been able to get its rifle halfway up before it had been holed, and it had been looking at them.
"I aim to please."
"Signal spike, Captain!" Tali'Zorah announced, still monitoring her Omnitool. "The Geth are likely quite aware of a decrease in numbers. I'm detecting complex information data downloads, Captain. They are adapting to our presence and the fact that we made a long-distance kill. Next time will not be so easy."
"Good thing we have a broad repertoire, then." The N7 commented, but admitted that the Quarian Pilgrim had a point. There wouldn't be a singular unit in an overwatch position next time; it would be five or ten, and likely with assaulters or flankers to break up any defensive positions. Or the Geth could move onto the offensive, depending on the requirements of their mission. The ground team would just have to adapt and improvise as the situation dictated. Jannie had spotted the entrance to the Dig Site, noting that there was a reinforced physical barrier to stop vehicular traffic from making its way inside uncontested. Standard defense posture. She didn't doubt that it was either controlled by the Geth electronically, or the components to lower it destroyed."Williams? Stomp it and take us to the Marines' wig-wag. No use disguising ourself now, so speed is of the essence."
"Pedal is metal'ed." The M35 lurched forward as it accelerated, covering the last hundred or so meters over the treacherous terrain at a high rate of speed, the Soldier literally driving the MAKO right next to the pre-fab barracks building, utilizing the 'back' end away from the GARDIAN Towers and the bowl of the dig site itself. "Parked in the shade, Skipper. Should provide us initial cover and concealment upon deployment. No need giving out our numbers, weapons, and composition."
"Good call, Army." Jannie was impressed with Sergeant Williams; not every ten-year vet had brains or the necessary experience. The Lion didn't even need to suggest such a thing as moving the vehicle into an unlikely position for the enemy to observe them, and every reason Ash gave was dead on. "Disconnect the power line from the main power battery and physically take it with you, Sergeant." Jannie ordered. "Last thing we need is the Geth hacking our ride or commandeering it and using it against us."
"Yeah, heard that." The Geth had hacked and activated the Colonial Anti-Ship Defense Batteries on Eden Prime, the GARDIAN Towers firing on aircars and shuttles trying to evacuate the warzone as well as firing on any potential reinforcements spaceside. The Normandy had gone in unscathed due to its Internal Emissions System, hiding it from the Systems Alliance-manufactured artillery being controlled by the synthetic race. Shepard didn't doubt that the same was true here on Therum, too. The MAKO powered down as Sergeant Williams disengaged the power supply.
"Alright, folks! Time to walk." The Commander looked down from her elevated seat in the gunners' suite, the holographic display dark after Williams had powered down the APV. "Knuckle up and let's move out."
Commander Jane Shepard took point as she lead the ground team forward towards the entrance of the barracks of the 1B3/7 MAR, her Alliance Offensive Firearms Initiative's M-99 Saber Battle Rifle in the low-ready as she stalked forward, using the wall of the pre-fab building as partial cover as her eyes scanned for any signs of life, friendly or hostile. She had her drone Ghost hovering just above her left shoulder, providing passive electronic scan sweeps and reconnaissance duties. She hadn't deployed Bastila yet, the hoverturret still attached to her back and in a low-powered state. Normally she would have had Bastila push forward for sweeping and initial engagements, but she had learned on Eden Prime that the Geth liked to hack anything and everything electronic, especially military-oriented technology. Despite the dense firewalls on Bastila, Ghost, and Cortana, Jannie still had to run a purge scripts and systems reboot on her armor, her drone, and her turret during the mission when a particularly involved firefight had given the Geth time to hack her turret, shutting down its main weapons systems. She had upgraded her cyberwarfare suite security and even encoded a few extra layers of encryption into her systems' VIOS for added protection. What it really meant was that she had given herself extra time against the Geth during a firefight. On Eden Prime, an engagement lasting more than fifteen seconds meant the Geth were infiltrating sub-systems, scripts, protocols, and code. Jannie still hadn't been able to fix her auxiliary shield battery recharger when it had shit itself out of her armor thanks to the Geth. That had cost her a few hours to replace it with a new one, as well as trying to figure out how to fix the old one.
"Team, stack for breach." Jannie called out softly, utilizing only her Armax Arsenals' Predator H-Series's vocalizer for communications, not wishing to risk her Kassa Fabrications' Polaris Omnitool by opening up the communications protocol and inviting a chance of discovery and hacking. Her Polaris was heavily modified by herself for optimal performance, speed, and datalogging, and half of the software management suites in Cortana and Ghost were regulated through her OmniTool's upgraded high-level protein chip processors. "Myself, Wrex, Niki, and Ash." The Commander called out the team, mixing up what she would have normally gone with for tactical advantage and spontaneity. If she kept changing out the combat structure, perhaps she could keep an edge over the Geth and their combat adaptability. "Detective, as soon as we clear the first room of the barracks, you and Zevin work your way to the roof and provide overwatch. Observe for units, mark for targeting, but no action unless compromised or fired upon. Alenko, you and Tali will provide local security, but keep it discrete."
Understood and aye, aye came from the respective persons Jannie had mentioned as the N7 stacked next to the main access door of the Marine barracks, sorely noting that not one call or challenge had been given, nor had she seen hide or hair of a Human Being yet. It was approximately mid-day on Therum, and the temperature was certainly encouraging enough to keep everyone inside where air conditioning was available, but no challenge from the Towers? The sight of the lone Geth hardware platform armed with a sniper rifle? The Lion had a pretty damn good idea what she would likely find in the next ten minutes or so.
"Set." Jannie spoke just loud enough for her four-man team to hear as she took the assault position with Urdnot Wrex right behind her with a Turian-crafted Cipritine Armory's Phaeston Heavy Automatic Rifle in his three-fingered hands. Niki'Raan nar Tombay stood behind the large Krogan with an oddly-shaped weapon that didn't seem to actually fire rounds, though the Migrant Fleet Marine-prospect had insisted it was developed specifically for the Geth, calling it an Adas ESD Weapon. The last man in the stack was Staff Sergeant Ashley Williams, cradling her Kassa Fabrications' Armageddon Objective Shotgun in her hands. "Breach-man." Williams move forward in the line, bypassing the three of them as she went to the other side of the entrance to the barracks, where an access panel was set beside the door for physical bypass of the door in case of emergencies. Ashley moved into position as she stuck the barrel of her shotgun flush with the access panel, looking over to Jannie and giving her a quick nod of readiness. The N7 returned the nod as she stood isometrically at the ready; knees slightly bent, torso tilted forward at the hips, her M-99 Saber in the pocket of her right shoulder as her left hand slipped into a hardcase pouch and pulled out a M84 Magnesium/Ammonium Nitrate Flashbang Grenade, holding the priming button with her thumb as she nodded once more to the Soldier.
Williams pulled the trigger of her shotgun, blasting the physical locking mechanism of the door to pieces as she pivoted and kicked the door by its handle laterally, forcing it aside as Shepard tossed the flashbang into the barracks with a sideways pitch as far as she could.
It detonated two seconds later.
"Breach! Breach! Breach!" The Lion called out as she rushed forward, activating her Predator H-Series Armors' servos and actuators with a program that she called 'Speedware'; boosting movement and strength by a factor of fifteen percent to allow her to rush faster and overpower something with the element of surprise. She dashed into the first room using the path of least resistance, her Saber leading the way as she entered through the fatal funnel of the door and cleared the immediate vicinity in one smooth motion while pivoting to the right and sweeping towards the near corner of what appeared to be the main common area as Shepard cleared the near corner of any possible hostiles or other signs of life while moving forward, sweeping her Battle Rifle to port to clear the leading wall to the far right corner for possible engagements, and then to the far left corner, covering half the space with her attention and weapon in a period of a few seconds. Williams had done the same thing as she had, entering second and clearing the left side in the same manner as the N7 in a Systems Alliance tactic known as Battle Drill 6A; Room Clearing. Urdnot Wrex was next as he lumbered in, his Phaeston Heavy Assault Rifle in his hand as he sidestepped from the doors' entrance, sweeping the middle of the room from left to right high and low while Niki'Raan came in last with her Adas Rifle sweeping in the same manner as the Krogan, mirroring his movements by sweeping right to left, low and high.
The entire procedure took less than five seconds.
"One man, up and clear." The N7 announced, hearing Williams, Wrex, and Raan returning the same salutation; the main common area of the Marine barracks was bereft of life. That wouldn't be possible if anyone were actually living inside. Jannie bit her lower lip slightly and puckered her bottom lip just enough to force air through and deliver an ear-piercing shrill whistle inside the barracks to get anyone's attention and to alert them that she was Human. After a few seconds of nothing, Jannie knew that there wasn't anyone inside. "Williams, Raan? Check the TOC and see if anyone's on duty and what condition Operations are in. Wrex? Armory is over there. Get eyes on and give me a status on how much munitions are left over, and see if there's anything we can plunder to use against the Geth." Human, Krogan, and Quarian all acknowledged her orders and moved out to comply. "Ghost? Search barracks for anything that might suggest what's happened here in the past twenty hours. No active scans, no li-fi connections, and no carrier intrusions." The drone beeped its acknowledgment as it floated towards where the bunks were.
Jannie moved to the only bunk that had cloth walls around it. She knew without being told who it belonged to; the only female in the Platoon.
The Lion hesitated for a moment before ripping the cloth aside to look into Petty Officer (Third Class) Sara Ryder's' bunk area to find it meticulous and empty. Bed was made to a standard that would have pleased a Marine Corp Drill Instructor, area was tidy and organized, and Jannie felt her heart ache at the sight of an electronic rolodex holoframe displaying images, pictures over the years of Sara's friends and family. It was currently showing one of her and Scott arm-and-arm, Silver Medal wearing his team jersey and holding a trophy while his twin gave him a congratulatory hug, wearing a team jersey with his number on it in support of her twin brother. Jannie knew the picture; it was when the Presidium Toshe's won the Citadel Armature Biotiball Championship, and Scott had been named MVP. Jannie watched as the picture changed from one of Sara and Scott to one of Sara and herself during one of her longer stays with the Ryders back when she was a teenager. Te sight of seeing a youthful Sara with her arm around Jannie and a jubilant smile upon her face as she stood next to the redhead had Jannie's heart ache at the sight. Please, please be okay! She didn't know why she did it, but Shepard swiped the rolodex and found herself stashing it in her softcase dropbag behind her hips.
"Skipper?" Staff Sergeant Williams was exiting the TOC as Shepard left Sara's bunk area, Ash having doffed her helmet as they met in the middle of the main common area. "TOC is a bust, Commander. Unoccupied, which is weird as hell, and all the equipment has been hacked and loaded with so much malware that Niki thinks even trying to pull the data drives and trying to reconstruct how the Geth did it would be an exercise in futility." Jannie grunted at that, thinking it likely. That the TOC was unmanned was weird as hell; it was supposed to be manned 24/7 with at least a Sergeant of the Guard, and likely a secondary person to man the radios and datafeeds or as a last defense if the barracks were infiltrated. The only reason it would be left unoccupied would be that the entire area had been overran, and the Marines couldn't hold the position.
They had yet to find one piece of evidence of where the Marines were. No broken equipment, no blood, no bodies, and no defensive positions.
"Alright. Round up and let's investigate further towards the Dig Site." As much as Jane wanted to find the Marines, they weren't the primary objective. "Wrex, find anything in the Armory we can use?"
"Just extra ammo blocks and Universal Power Cells, and not many of them." The large Krogan said as he stepped out of the armory, hoisting a small deployment bag that was obviously full of aforementioned items. "All the weapons and grenades are gone, and no heavy munitions." Not that the big game hunter needed more heavier weaponry. He was already carrying a Korogish Hunting Shotgun known as a Graal Spike Thrower, a Turian Heavy Automatic Rifle, and a M-490 Firestorm Flamethrower on his back. Wrex obviously didn't do subtle. "Don't know if your Marines took everything and dug in, or if it was cleared out later."
"Perhaps both." The Commander replied, re-shouldering her M-99 Saber. It didn't really matter in the long run, only if the Marines survived or not. "Let's link up with the rest of the ground team and see what Detective Vakarian and Agent Raeka have for us. Let's move out." Jannie watched the Army NCO, the Pilgrim Marine, and the large Krogan file out of the wig-wag as she turned to look at the empty barracks, trying to imagine it populated with thirty-seven Marines.
And one Corpsman.
"Talk to me, folks." Commander Jane Shepard spoke quietly through her Armax Arsenals' Predator H-Series Armor's vocalizer as she scooted up next to Agent Zevin Raeka, the Salarian female armed with her Ariake Technologies' M-90 Automatic Sniper Rifle in conjunction with Detective Garrus Vakarians' M-98 Widow Sniper Rifle, spotting for the RRU Officer. Shepard had gone up to the roof of the Marine's wig-wag and crawled over the surface to avoid skylining herself or alerting any platform to the presence of two snipers or a team of specialists. "What are we seeing?"
"A fine view of hell, accompanied by the damned." Detective Vakarian spoke quietly, his own Armax Arsenal Predator H-Series Armor (Turian-variant) vox'ing his words quietly, likely a force of habit from being Rapid Response. "There are several hardware platforms in the bowl that are still active, moving to and fro for reasons I cannot pinpoint at this time. There are approximately two hundred platforms that are 'dead' due to damage, but no active fighting or defensive positions being set up. No eyes on any Systems Alliance forces or personnel."
Jannie grunted at that as she reached into a sustainment bag set at the small of her back and pulled out her KVH Industries' Datascope; a monocular image-enhancement device that could zoom and magnify, plot a bearing and calculate the distance between heading and user, a digital laserless rangefinder, an image scanner, a variable-magnification low-light telescope, and multiple passive views to include infrared, thermal, and ultraviolet. While created for Airstrike/Kinetic Strike Packages, it was a versatile tool that Jannie had come to rely upon in a wide variety of situations. Using the Datascope, she saw what Garrus was identifying, about a dozen or so Geth platforms were moving about in the center of the bowl, but in a fashion that didn't seem like guarding, patrolling, or even assembly purposes. It was almost… pacing? That was odd. Jannie snapped a few images with her Datascope, saving them in the units' solid state drive as she scanned as well, noting the amount of 'dead' Geth in the bowl. Someone had fought hard and taken down an impressive amount, but there were Geth survivors, and no one was attacking them. That didn't bode well.
Wait.
Jannie almost missed it at first due to the oppressive energetic light of Knossus, making a sharp contract between light and shadow amongst the terrain features. Near what she assumed to be the entrance of the Dig Site itself, a circular airlock access door. Several things supposedly suspended, though a nearby crag disguised what was suspending them after first until Jannie magnified the area in question, telescopically zooming in.
"Fffffuck." Jannie cursed. "Dragon's Teeth." It hadn't occurred to her that the devices might be used here on Therum. A great many had been deployed on Eden Prime, and sadly, that was where a great many of the Army KIA ended up, falling in battle to the Geth and then 'exchanged' by the Dragons' Teeth to become what Staff Sergeant Ashley Williams coined 'husks' due to their wilted, grayish appearance. The N7 counted the suspended bodies quickly, only seeing a full dozen, but noting that there were obstructions due to the terrain, masking some more to where she could only see a limb or two. "I think I found the Marines." Jannie bit her lower lip as she zoomed in at full power, magnifying at twenty-five strength, centering upon the front-most body she could see. The body was wilted and shriveled, the flesh an almost grey-black with strange neon-like blue pathways irradiating from underneath its desiccated flesh, eyes burst out and leaving pits that glowed a soft electric blue. Definitely a husk. What had her heart sinking was the sight of what it was still wearing, impaled by a three meter spike driven through the center of the torso.
Jannie didn't miss the sight of a set of Aldrin Labs' Onyx Interceptor Armor; Marine standard issuing equipment.
"Goddamn it." The Lion swore again as she looked over to the Agent and Detective beside her, the two of them still scanning through their scopes. "See the impaled bodies? Husks. Mindless drones, converted bodies of the dead turned into weapons by the enemy."
"Charming." The Turian replied, his tone disgusted. "Any weapons?"
"No, they charge at you and try to tear at you with their bare hands, save…" Jannie bit her lower lip, "they do exhibit some sort of personal EMP burst when they get close. Can knock out your shields and throws your electronics into a fritz for ten or so seconds. They don't adapt, they just flood you and overpower you. Guard dogs, basically, definitely with bite."
"We can engage them from a distance, but then it will alert the Geth." Zevin Raeka offered, her tone matter-of-factly. "Or we can approach with the element of surprise and hit with a devastating first strike, and clear out the survivors quite easily. Whatever we choose, the Geth will take note and adapt." The Special Reconnaissance Agent had listened to Jannie's briefing of what little Geth tactics they had discovered on Eden Prime back on the Normandy.
"They're already aware we have a sniper." The N7 mulled it over for all of a second. She already knew what she was going to do. "You two and Williams are going to eliminate the Geth opposition from long-distance. If any reinforcements come and try to bunker down or flush you out, they'll be in for a treat." Her helmet hid the nasty smile that Jannie had plastered on her face. "Just… if the husks are alerted? Headshots. The Marines have IFF tags in their armor and dogtags upon them. We can spare their families the horror of what they've become by taking off the heads." That's what Jannie had done on Eden Prime with her Saber. Once the head had been blasted off, the armored husks had looked more like just fallen Soldiers instead of some nightmarish monstrosity. That had helped Ash considerably when they had discovered just who the husks use to be back on Eden Prime; the bodies of her own Platoon members.
"Understood, Commander." Vakarian replied as his taloned hand adjusted something on his Kuwashii visor while Raeka lowered her head to her Indra's high-powered scope. "We will commence once Centurion Williams arrives and sets up." Jannie nodded as she worked her way back towards the access ladder that would take her back to the ground, looking over the edge of the barrack and getting the Staff Sergeant's attention, motioning for the Soldier to come to the roof and miming a sniper rifle. Shepard slid down the ladder Navy-style before Williams made the ascent. The N7 got together with the remainder of the ground crew and gave them a quick synopsis of what to expect and what to do as she led herself Urdnot Wrex, Tali'Zorah, Niki'Raan, and Lieutenant Kaidan Alenko around the barracks in a file, entering through the humanoid-sized door that would allow them to enter into the Dig Site proper past the reinforced barrier that denied vehicular visitors access. The external duty station wasn't much more than a partition room that had access for exterior and interior of the Dig Site, along with a station for opening the retractable barrier, which Jannie left alone. Either it was hacked or monitored, and likely the MAKO wouldn't be effective in the bowl, considering that were many jagged outcroppings and the fact that the bowl itself wasn't all that large. Between the entrance of the guarded area and three snipers in a superior position, Jannie didn't think that the MAKO would be needed for normal ground forces just to make it to the entrance of Dig Site Alpha.
"Wait for the signal. Guns, no tech or candy." Shepard announced quietly as her team of four waited inside the guard station, ready to exfiltrate out the interior door when the snipers began firing upon the Geth Troopers. She trusted Detective Garrus Vakarian to run things top-side for her, the Turian a part of the famed Citadel Security Services Rapid Response Unit. She knew some of the rumors about them, mostly thanks to Sara, and Jannie saw how lethal the Turian was back on the Cit in that shit club Clora's Den, calmly and coolly going through troublemakers with his ERCS M-15 Vindicator Battle Rifle like he was on a range. Jannie reminded herself to ask a few polite question about the Turian when they got back on the Normandy. She wasn't a fan of Turians in general, but she learned long ago to gauge on an individual basis as well. It wasn't like Detective Vakarian was the one that killed her father back in the FCW.
There was a cacophony report of three sniper rifles firing at the same time overhead.
"Go! Go! Go!" Jannie shouted as she rushed out the interior-facing door, her M-99 Saber at the ready as the N7 burst forward with the aid of her Speedware program, moving to the first piece of real estate that had cover attached to it; a short pre-fab cargo container that was taller than she. Shepard shouldered into the fabricated metal wall for a second before executing a pie to round the corner, covering a wide arc field of fire when she heard the three snipers going to town on the Geth, precision fire raining down upon the platforms as Shepard spotted several Troopers moving to cover to gain a better position against the marksmanship. Jannie put her close-quarters holographic sights upon the closest Trooper to her, still a hundred meters away as she fired twice in a controlled pair, the first round making the Trooper stumble as its kinetic shielding defused a portion of her M-99's force before striking the hardware platform before the second pieced right through it and took the Trooper right in the chest, boring into its chassis and making it tumble onto the craggy ground. Lieutenant Kaidan Alenko was on the opposite side of the same container, armed with an Milkor SuperSix Multi-Range Munitions Launcher, the EOD Specialist firing explosive rounds into pockets of Geth for maximum effectiveness, creating heavy splash damage with shrapnel and explosions.
Wrex was similarly positioned at another container, engaging with his Phaeston Heavy Assault Rifle, firing heavily into a mix of Troopers to suppress and wear down their shields while the Quarian Pilgrims used a physical retaining wall centered between herself and Wrex and began employing their anti-Geth weaponry. Shepard was surprised to see that Niki'Raan nar Tombay's Adas ESD Rifle fired some sort of metal tag at a Trooper, connecting with it before firing what appeared to be a magnetically-aligned arc of fucking lighting at the Trooper, causing it to spasm with the current and then violently explode amongst its synthetic kin, knocking several around while shrapnel from its hardware platform sprayed in all directions, damaging a few units. Tali'Zorah nar Reyya had her Reegar Carbine EME Shotgun in her own three-fingered hands as she raised it and fired a sweeping cone of ionizing discharge between her weapon and four Geth, creating a spark gap between the weapon and each individual Geth at the same time, as well as between the Geth unit themselves. It was a Jacob's Ladder weapon! The four Geth units caught in the electrical storm seized and shuddered for several seconds before falling over to the ground, obviously fried.
Fuck, she wanted one!
"Damn, I need me one of those." Wrex offered as he switched out from his Phaeston to his Korogish Graal Hunting Shotgun and put a large caliber sabot round through a Geth platform with one shot, practically blasting it in half despite its shields and whatever armor it happened to have. Jannie snorted in agreement as she continued to engage with her Saber, taking out two more platforms as the units fired in staccato unison, alternating suppressive fire from one to another before one was holed by what was obviously a Widow round. The Lion slipped back behind cover as she cocked back the heat port on her rifle to expose the copper heat sink and convectionally cool the weapon down for four seconds before locking it back into place and returning into the fray, finding that of the two dozen Geth platform that had been in the bowl, only three were still standing within ten seconds of the initial engagement. The last units didn't fare better than the rest of its kin.
"Skipper? Husks." Dammit. Ash had chanced a Comms to inform them of the threat, which she kept it short and sweet while keeping the ground team abreast.
"Eliminate." Jannie ordered with a heavy heart, knowing that the husks weren't just former Human Beings, but former Marines. In her years of service in the Navy, she had had cause to kill Humans in the name of defense of Mankind. Elysium had been the learning lesson there, Human bandits, pirates, and slavers working alongside Batarians and Turians to assault Illyeria. It had been the same with the Skyllian Blitz, especially with Elanos Haliat, the Turian mastermind behind much of the attack on Elysium, his forces populated with Human mercenaries for cannon-fodder. Jannie had even killed a service member before, a Sailor who had a gun on his girlfriend during a lovers' spat, having to shoot him when he wouldn't be talked down. But that was different; those people had made their choices, no matter how recklessly or ignorant. The Marines on Therum had fought with duty, honor, and courage. And the Geth had shit on their brave sacrifice by warping them into something monstrous. Williams had almost died pleading to the former members of her unit as the Husks attacked them on Eden Prime, tearfully pleading for them to stop as seven of them rushed her in a mindless frenzy. Lieutenant Alenko had saved her from being torn to piece by Biokinetically lifting her from danger while Jannie and Bastila gunned down the Husks. Ash had a little bit of a mental breakdown from that. The Lion didn't blame her at all.
The sniper rifles began firing as Jannie stepped from around her cover to see dozens of husks sprinting towards the ground teams position, moaning and screaming as they charge ahead without tactic or finesse. She added her own fire to the din, picking off Husks, firing twice on each of the abominations to strain their shields and then piece their armor to kill the exchanged creature inside. She took down four this way as Wrex and Alenko fired into the oncoming wave, the Krogan using his Phaeston while the Engineer loaded Claymore rounds into his Milkor and fired wide-cone sprays of metal to overtax the shields on several at once, the third shot bringing several down with pulverized limbs from the spray of pellets. The Quarian Pilgrims were armed with more standard firearms, each of them using sub-machine guns to either finish off the wounded from Alenko's devastating fire, or any that were injured greatly but still appeared to be moving. It was over in less than a minute.
"Ghost? Tally the Husks. How many?" Jannie asked her cyberwarfare drone.
"Thirty-one." The personal drone replied. "Altered Personnel Signals are at zero, Commander." That meant it wasn't detecting anymore Husks in the vicinity.
"Did… did anyone see a Husk in white armor with pink undersides?" Jannie asked, looking over to Wrex and the Pilgrims. Her heart shuddered at the question, but she hadn't noticed any Husks in Sirta Foundations' Phoenix Armor. PleasePleasePlease…
"No, just the standard matte black Onyx you Humans are fond off." The big game hunter replied, Niki'Raan nodding in agreement. The thought… the thought of Sara being impaled… Jannie quashed that fear quickly, though it left a sickening feeling in her gut. Please let her be okay!
"Skipper! We've got incoming! Fast-mover on approach!" Williams called out over the SquadCom, risking detection as Shepard looked up for the sight of aerial vehicles, seeing what appeared to be a Vehicular Deployment Craft flying over the bowl of the Dig Site. It swept into the air space and hovered over the center of the Dig Site for a moment as something large disengaged from the bottom of the craft and fell to the ground with a loud thud, some sort of… large vehicle of some kind? A Geth tank? The N7 didn't see wheels or treads, and it didn't look like a hovertank or a contragravity-device. It looked like… well, a lump of metal, curved and elegant, but unlike anything she had ever seen.
"Oh, Keelah…" Tali'Zorah whimpered out loud, her tone… frightened.
"It's an Armature!" Niki'Raan called out, alarmed. "Walking tank platform!"
Jannie looked at the thing as it… transformed, for lack of a better term. The metal plates moved and shifted quickly as four mantis-like legs unfolded themselves from the main body as a crane-like neck apparatus disgorged itself from the top of its back, folding forward as the metal plates shifted back to protect the interior parts and components as the legs lifted the body up into a fifteen meter-tall armored artillery weapons platform, the 'flashlight' head glowing with neon-light intensity. Jesus, it was like a fucking Decepticon Transformer!
"What does it do? What's its capabilities?" Jannie asked as the head oriented towards their position, the legs walking spider-like as it pivoted the body to engage them.
"Plasma artillery! That main cannon melts through metal!" Niki replied, her voice filled with fear. "Cover is useless! Just run and pray to the Ancestors it misses!"
To punctuate her point, the Lion heard the telltale sign of a massive power draw as the Armature looked at them with it's glowing face, the light dimming to almost non-existence before it belched out blue-white plasmic fire.
Author's Notes: Oh fuck, it's that fight. I can't count how many times I lost to that goddamn thing.
Much of the things about the MAKO comes from my time in Iraq and Afghanistan, including loadout concepts and various systems. The MAKO's turret is a remote weapon systems (which I based the system off of the real world CROWS Remote Weapons Platform), effectively sealing everyone inside from environmental hazards. There will be other current era weaponry and ideas, such as physical drones (both flight and ground), tactics (such as the 5x25), and various electronic warfare devices. I also called it a 'MAKO' instead of a 'Mako' because many military vehicle names are actually acronyms (like the HMMWV Humvee, or High-Mobility Multipurpose Wheeled Vehicle, or the MRAP, or Mine-Resistant, Ambush Protected Vehicle.) I also have the MAKO manufacturer as General Dynamics, a company that is responsible for the manufacture and maintenance for many military vehicles, like the STRYKER or the LAV-25. Surprisingly, it was once a division of Chrysler. Bet you didn't know that GM and Ford both have Defense branches for the manufacture of military-oriented vehicles? The Ford Crown Victoria was a Law Enforcement-oriented design created for cops (and a civilian model was considered and approved), and Bavarian Motor Wagon (yes, BMW) has a military division for German military vehicles, as they were the ones who supplied National Socialist Germany with its tanks, the Panzer and Panzer-II (the engines, at the very least).
Like in Where The Law Stands Tall and A Fox Amongst The Wolves, there will be ammo considerations, unlike the first Mass Effect with its seemingly endless ammo. A few people had a problem with me making 'calibers' for weapons, but considering us Americans' love for big bullets, not to mention Turian mentality, it does make sense. So this will be something in between Mass Effect 1 and 2; a weapon can fire dozens to hundreds of rounds per ammo block, but extra ammo blocks are carried.
I mentioned in the Hale/Meer Chronicles in one of the Eden Prime chapters that the Geth hacked the Planetary Defense Systems on Eden Prime and destroyed the Colonial Air Force Fleet protecting the colony instantly, destroying thirteen Destroyer-Class vessels simultaneously. This is true for this story as well. The Geth have the same capabilities as the Cylons in the re-imaged Battlestar Galactica for being able to intrude into networks and play havoc.
Garrus Upgraded! - Citadel Security Services Rapid Response Unit (C-SEC RRU) is an idea I've play with since Mass Effect vs. Aliens. All major metropolitan police agencies have a SWAT-styled unit, and the Cit is no different. Thus, RRU. Garrus Vakarian is a Detective for the Special Crimes Unit (an FBI-like division for C-SEC) as well as a member of the RRU (which is more in the style of the FBI's elite shooting team, the Hostage Rescue Team (HRT), likely some of the best shooters and urban combat specialists in America, and possibly the planet). While the game doesn't say why Garrus was selected to investigate a SPECTRE (and Saren was considered their top agent), normally such politically-charged scenarios such as these are handled by certain individuals who've the abilities and finesse to handle them. Detective Garrus Vakarian is a rather celebrated cop on the Cit, as you will see later (and why).
Urdnot Wrex - Wrex gets a polish too; he's a big game hunter. Not just some merc, Wrex is the one hired for the tough targets, be it animal, vegetable, or mineral. Colony is getting extorted by a pirate band? Call Wrex. Thresher Maw needs smacking? Call Wrex. Corporation board with its spit-shine bodyguards holding you over a barrel? Call your favorite Krogan. And he doesn't do subtle. He's 800 years old; he doesn't bother with riff-raff, considering he'll just outlive them anyways. He's been fighting longer than some levels of evolution, and he's seen and survived it all; including this, including you.
Alenko Reimaged - Never really liked Kaidan in the first game. Actually, not much in the second or third, either. He is now Navy EOD, a combat engineer who specializes in hacking computer software (for disabling door locks or bombs) and has Biotics for personal protection. Instead of a wimpy pistol, he carries a fucking grenade launcher to battle, armed with an OmniGel-minifacturing suite to create rounds and load them with mods for emergencies (or fun). BTW, Navy and Army EOD is almost semi-SF, the requirements rather verbose and stringent. Have you seen those fucking bomb suits? They weigh in at 90 lbs! Kaidan also gets a little buddy, Johnny-5, a tEODor Bomb Disposal and remote access ground drone. Unlike Bastila, it is not a combat-oriented drone, more of a remote-piloted device. Strangely enough, EOD Officers go through the exact same training as its enlisted members, the 42-week long EOD school. They can dispose of bombs like anyone else in their unit.
I've included two DLC Characters. If you've played Andromeda, you'll recognize Zevin Raeka as the original Salarian Pathfinder, the not-Dalatrass. The only thing known about her was that she was the savior of some planet, rescuing a portion of its biome before it was destroyed by an asteroid. Yet on the Paarchero, she has no compunctions making Kett applesauce. Niki'Raan is a completely OC, and you'll learn more about the Marine recruit throughout the story. And yes, she's carrying an Adas Anti-Synthetic Rifle.
'Speedware' is actually something I stole from the RPG PnP Cyberpunk 2077 Game, where it was actually a body modification, not an armor modification. There is also another program called 'Rush' in which Jannie's armor delivers a measured dose of epinephrine into her system to enhance reaction times, stimulate reflex response, and to dilate time attention. This will be the adrenaline rush talent. There will be a few things from the Cyberpunk pen-and-paper game, such as the KVH Industries' DataScope.
Universal Power Cells - A Salarian invention, UPC's are portable power cells to run small equipment and devices for extended length of time, meant to be modular and adaptable. The Turian Military crafted many militant items with the thought of using these devices for power, and the UPC has become the galactic standard for portable power usage. They can be used from powering monitoring equipment to recharging shield batteries in ones' armor. (Yes, these are the Power Cells from Andromeda)
Husks - The first game didn't really make Husks that bad. Honestly, the video 'Take Earth Back' shows a two second flash of an impaled man being huskified, and an absolute shit-ton of them assaulting people. That's the husks I'm going for. They can also convert corpses for use as well, as I can't see the real difference as to why the victim must still be alive to convert/exchange. I almost did away with the Dragon's Teeth and implemented the Borg Nanite Injector from Star Trek. Honestly, that one scene from 'First Contact' where that one Red Shirt gets shot up and begins to change was pretty freaky back in the day. I almost went with that. I might even still.
Geth Adaptation - This actually is stolen from the Borg. In Star Trek, the Borg continue to adapt, and energy-based weaponry becomes ineffective as Borg shielding evolves to render it obsolete (based upon frequency or perhaps negative current charge, I guess). For the Geth, I went with tactics adaptation. Imagine an evolving-sophistication chessmaster; that's what I see the Geth doing, considering they are a logic-based machine race with a hive intelligence mentality. They study your moves, your tactics, your weapons, your positioning… and they adapt. You might win the first battle, but the second one? They will be tactically superior, having the best defense against your tactics and moving to flank and assault in the best way according to your military paradigm. Jannie mentions having to 'change' tactics on Eden Prime. This is why.
The Milkor 'SuperSix' MRML - This is the Real-World Milkor M32 Multiple Grenade Launcher, the revolver-like multipurpose grenade launcher you commonly see in movies and video games. The SuperSix is a variant that can fire multi-purpose grenades, to include low velocity, non-lethals, medium velocity, and able to hit up to 1200 meters and dispersal in a 20m by 60m area, firing all six shots in about three seconds. This is a mean mother of a gun. To think I hip-carried and pistol-fired an M320 Grenade Launcher when I could have had this beast?
The Adas Electro-Static Discharge Rifle - Based off of Resistance: Fall of Man's Seeker Rifle, the Adas fires a high-conductivity tag that connects weapon with the unit, and creates an ionizing threshold based upon Maxwell's Laws of Electrodynamics as it supercharges the electromagnetic connection between the two, creating a spark gap. This fries any and all electronic components, overcharges batteries into depletion, and cooks weaker components. Once physically 'tagged', the Adas can engage a target regardless of cover or line-of-sight, though a new tag must be installed and fired for each new target with accuracy. Against organic enemies, it instantly fries shields, disrupts Biotics, and causes electrical damage. Against mechanical enemies, it is a quick death sentence.
The Reegar Carbine Electromagnetic Emission Shotgun - Same principle as the Adas, except that it 'fires' supercharged protons, ionizing the air and any conductive materials in front of it within a fifty meter area, creating a 'Jacob's Ladder' effect in which several objects become conductive and electrical discharges flood the area. While not as 'quick' as the Adas, it is an area-effect weapon in which cover is negligible, a target not even needing to be in line-of-sight or a clear target in order to hit. In a space vessel, surrounded by metal hull and decks, it is a very devastating weapon that can clear a massive area due to arcing traveling down corridors and around corners. Its draw backs are that it can cause friendly-fire, has a limited front range, and eats Power Cells like a mother.
Claymore Round - The 40mm shotgun round that works much like a Claymore mine; a wide-angle spray of shrapnel (or pellets) meant to injure over a wide arc. The Carnage Round from the game looked to be more of an explosive (armor-piercing) shell, so I'm using an anti-personnel round as well. Because grape shot is awesome.