"People never change; they just become more of who they really are." - Doctor Gregory House
Alexandria Station, Herschel System, Kepler Verge, May ?, 2179
Author's Note: Yes, I took a two month break. That's what a broken hand will do to you when you can't move your fingers very well. Ever tried typing one-handed all the time?
I pulled out a rare elite canon bad guy for you, someone most of you probably have never seen or heard of, but merits his own day in the sun. Just because I care. With a chainsaw.
Say hello to the X1 of Mass Effect: Infiltrator.
Four years ago…
Detective Garrus Vakarian slipped both himself and Sara Elaine Ryder into a side room of the Alexandria Station, avoiding what appeared to be a patrol of HRSKA Mechanical Security Force Protocol Droids, multi-legged shock trooper mechanical drones that Salarians used for offenses and to keep organic casualties down (on their side of things, of course). There were ten of the four-legged mechs, and Garrus queued up a PiP screen on his Elanus Risk Control Services' Rapid Response Unit-issued Kuwashii Visor that constantly took a stream of photos for catalog, evidence, and investigative purposes. The line of photos that could be played like a video or scrolled for identification purposes, and Garrus swiped at the line by looking to the right to let his eye movement move the line of photos that were semi-transparent in his vision thanks the the visors' Augmented Reality Overlay. He had caught only a brief glance of the HRSKA mechs, and found a good shot that displayed one in its entirety. He clicked his mandibles at the sight of what appeared to be two Salarian-oriented pulse-fire Aegohr Munitions' Venom Shotguns attached to the HRSKA's arm analogs, likely able to bring down a sapient in good armor in short order. One-on-one, Garrus could probably take one down with his ERCS RRU-issued M-15 Vindicator Battle Rifle if he got in the first shots and kept mobile. Three paws worth? No.
Especially with him escorting a very sick Sara Ryder.
Vakarian looked to the young Human female hatchling to his side, pressed against the same wall as he for hiding and defense, but the way she leaned against it, the paleness of her soft face plates, the way she cupped her multi-fingered hand to the horizontal mandibles that were her lips? That was a clear sign of someone trying not to be sick all over the place. She had already vomited several times since he had pulled her out of that laboratory, and it hadn't lessened in number or quantity. Something inside of her was wrong, and her body was trying to either force something out, or it was reacting to something unnatural. After what he had seen of this station, he was guessing the later, but likely both. Garrus cursed himself for having to wait so long; he hadn't known Sara was in actual danger. He had overheard the conversation between the hatchling and this 'Doctor Ingree Saelon', and the reason why Sara was breaking one of the more dangerous ethics of Council Law. He had made a decision based on his own personal feelings; the young Human was doing it to save her dying mother. Garrus knew his mother had Corpalis Syndrome, a neurological degeneration disorder that, while not Human Advanced Entropic Neurological Disorder, had similar traits. He doubted that what little Sara Ryder was doing to save her mother could be used to save his own, but if that chance had existed…?
So he had made a personal decision, stayed on the station unobserved to collect evidence, and let Sara have the procedure done to save her mother, vowing to get Saelon afterwards.
Two days worth of cataloging and evidence taking had the Turian really regretting he hadn't put a bullet right in Saelon's fringe.
He had found horrors beyond description in the station, horrors that shriveled the Spirit and defiled everything that was ethical and moral in the galaxy. He had found rooms filled with sleeping patients used as biological incubators for cloned organs for black market sales. He had found test subjects that were being used to graft genetic materials of species not their own as some sort of… experiment to see what worked and what didn't. Spirits be praised those ones were asleep as well, because Garrus was pretty damn certain each and every one of them would throw themselves in an airlock if they saw what had become of them. He had found sapients with limbs and organs introduced to bodies that weren't proper; Turian plates on Salarians, Asari Eezo nodes in a Human, what appeared to be Vorcha genetic material in others for the possibility for regeneration, adaptation, and the hope to carry several other forms of genetic material and limbs for support without having a body destroy itself in terror. He had seen things beyond the worst of nightmares, and he remembered a story that Sara had told him when he was recovering from his gunshot wounds, visiting him to give him company and make sure he was recovering properly and taking it easy. She had delved a little into Human Classical Literature, things she thought defined Human imagination as to what they thought the future would be like, benchmarks of her species. She had read a comedy called War of the Worlds, on about a man who rebelled against his own government by writing a book called 1984… and a seriously creepy one about a Doctor who reassembled a corpse and brought it back to life; Frankenstein.
He had clear evidence that scenario was happening right here in Alexandria Station.
"D-Detective?" Sara whispered in her single-toned voice, keeping it low as she looked at something that wasn't the door to the lab they had slid into to hide. Her strangely-rounded blue eyes were wide as a slightly-shaking hand pointed forward. The Turian looked over to see what appeared to be five vertical vats filled with some sort of clearish emulsion fluids within their glass-like containers, each filled with a sapient being. Garrus felt his mandibles drop at the sight of them.
"Spirits… I think they're Krogan." He murmured, the danger forgotten for a moment at the horror he was looking at. "At least, I think they were Krogan or started off as that." His Kuwashii Visor was still taking photos at everything he saw as evidence, but for now he didn't need it; he had a full-fledge view of one of the most heinous crimes in Citadel Space… Galactic Space, really. His brain wasn't likely to forget what he was seeing right now.
Organic Technology Research and Development was severely restricted and heavily monitored by the few organizations that were allowed to delve into it, mostly medical and genetics companies that offered benefits in curing diseases and genetic maladies throughout the species of the galaxy. He knew that Humanity had gotten a few reprieves due to their own genetic research as they had fully invested in it before their discovery, not to mention that they had crafted such beneficial items such as MediGel and Stem Cell Research, saving millions of their own kind before First Contact. Genetic Modification amongst Human Beings was still a very hot (and very contested) subject as the common Human generally received mild genetic corrections for such things as poor eyesight, heart murmurs, and something called 'muscular dystrophy'. Those would have been concerning but generally accepted, but the Systems Alliance generally doused its service members with some sort of Genetic Modification Package that helped them endure the rigors of space and military duty; a performance-enhancing package that increased their physical capabilities to a fair percentage. That was illegal, but Humanity had been doing something of that caliber for nearly a generation, having invoked laws that limited what the research and capabilities of 'genemods' and what they were allowed to do. And though the Hierarchy saw it as wrong, there were certainly Generals and Admirals who wishfully thought what they could do with such capabilities for their troops and sailors. But what he was seeing?
Well beyond that.
There were five Krogan-like beings in the tank, and by 'Krogan-like', Garrus had to admit that they were by far the largest specimens of Krogan he had ever seen in his entire life. He had seen ancient Krogan Battlemasters approaching a millennium of age that were smaller and narrower than these… creatures, and fairly smaller, at that. And these things were obviously not exactly fully Krogan, either; there was some sort of technological adaptation visible on their limbs and torsos, embedded into their organic frames. Perhaps… grown instead of surgically implanted. Spirits… this is the very worse fear sapients think of when they think of Organic Technology, Vakarian thought to himself as he looked upon the vats and their unconscious occupants. Each had a label upon the clear ceramic tubs that held emulsion fluid and Krogan inside, labeled 'X1' through 'X5'.
This wasn't genetic research; these things were likely organic battle tanks meant to dominate a battle… perhaps more.
"I… don't feel so good." The Human hatchling murmured, slowly sinking to her knees, clutching at her gizzard as she heroically tried not to regurgitate all over the deck but failed as she vomited all over the ground in a rather projectile fashion. The scent of it was vile and maddening, but Garrus politely ignored the sight; Humans could be touchy about this sort of thing when sober. "Oh God… what's happening to me? What did he do to me?" Sara looked up to him with leaking blue eyes as she wiped at her horizontal mandibles with the back of her non-taloned paw, her fleshy mandibles pale and her soft plates almost white. She was as scared as anyone Garrus had ever seen, but she wasn't panicking or breaking down into hysterics. He had to give her credit; she certainly had a stiffness to her plates.
"I'm going to get you back home to the Cit, Sara. I promise."
Cargo Bay, SSV Normandy, Herschel System, Kepler Verge, July 25, 2183
Present Day…
Petty Officer (Second Class) Sara Elaine Ryder stood right at the deployment point of the Bell Aerospaces' UT-47 Kodiak Utility Transportation Vessel "Rey Kenobi" as the gullwing door lifted open to reveal the interior of the SSV Normandy and no less than six people waiting on the deck to receive. Sara had a bit of a flashback to her time as a CitEMS Emergency Medical Technician, riding into the Presidium General Hospital upon a Asari-designed Shu'pari-'57 Medical Transportation Vessel Skybulance with someone in need of surgery or emergency medical care, ready to deliver a contragravity spineboard to the Sapient Emergency Care Ward where attending Doctors, nurses, and Surgeons would save a life. The "Rey" landed upon its cradle as Sara immediately pointed out to two attending Sailors, pointing out where both men were to grab as she herself took the 'head' of the table.
"Lift… move forward… you two, grab the back corners and lower the table to the deck… carefully…" Sara ordered as the table that contained Council Agent Sur'kesh M'kael Bea'ttie Wi'lam Salyer Mordin Solus, DMS, the Salarian male having fallen unconscious as Sara had pushed him out of Alexandria Station and to the access door in which TEAM WHITE had used to breach into the facility. Several medical apparatuses had been MetalGel'ed to the medical table, the various implements that were to keep the Doomslayer alive only to prolong his agony, to extend his life in a horrific state. In order to remove them, Agent Solus was going to need emergency surgery to correct his injuries so they could take them off. The entire thing weighed in at possibly two hundred kilograms, and Ryder was glad she worked out so extensively towards the thought of having to carry a Sailor or Marine personally, carrying heavy bags and running with them, or performing dead lifts and squat thrusts to get herself ready for the possibility that she would need to throw a Marine over her shoulder and rush them from a hot spot in order to perform her duties to save their life. Pushing the entire mess of medical devices and the Salarian strapped to the table hadn't been an easy effort, but she had been able to do so by herself while Marshal Samantha Collins, Sha'me Niki'Raan nar Tombay, and Private First Class Holland 'Lapdance' Hoss covered her medical retreat out of Alexandria Station. She hated that she had to leave them behind, but it wasn't uncommon for a Navy Corpsman to evacuate with a casualty to keep them alive until they reached a Casualty Collection Point or a Mobile Navy Surgical Hospital if one were available, or a vessels' Med Bay if one weren't. The table plus its additions went to the deck of the Normandy gently enough as Sara jumped out of the "Rey". "You two? Grab that medical cart right there and gently roll it to the Med Bay." The Petty Officer pointed at two Boatswains, and then at the cart that wasn't attached. "And be very careful. It's worth several megaCredits and will save this man's life."
There was no need for her to tell them that it was a genetic material crafting station; a cloning machine.
Sara pushed the table into the cargo elevator that would take herself and her patient to the Gun Deck, where the Med Bay was located as she kept an eye on the vital signs and conditions of the various devices practically glued onto Solus' medical table, all of it running on Universal Power Cells. She easily had an hour or so of power to continue running, but she knew that the first step before beginning any kind of live-saving technique would be to hook the mess of instruments into the ships' power. She had already confirmed the need of an Electricians' Mate ready at the Med Bay to do just that on the "Rey", as well as being informed that both Commander Karin Chakwas and Able Seaman Helen Lowe had quickly prepped the Med Bay for emergency surgery. It had been approximately fifteen minutes since Sara began carting Agent Mordin Solus out of the lab room from where she found him to the time she entered the cargo bay of the SSV Normandy, keeping an eye on Solus' vitals while having SAM monitor the multiple machines that were connected. Sara pushed the table and patient towards the Med Bay as soon as the elevator reached the Gun Deck, Doctor Chakwas already prepped and ready to go as Helen looked at Agent Solus with alarmed eyes; a Corpsman who knew she was well in over her head, but not backing down either.
Sara knew what she was going to do, she was going to make this right; she was going to pull this Council Agent right out of the very jaws of Death Itself.
TEAM BROWN, "North Spire", Alexandria Station, Herschel System, Kepler Verge, July 25, 2183
Sha'me Tali'Zorah nar Reyya found her jaw hitting the bottom of her helmet as something came out of a door. Something big… Really Queeping Big.
"Ancestors! What is that!" The Quarian asked in a panicked tone as she hoisted her Rannoch Industries' Reegar Carbine Electromagnetic Emission Shotgun to a firing solution as her SMARTglass viewer began displaying telemetry via her VIOS software suite SHODAN on the inside of her helmets' viewer as microsensors received and fed data to her targeting software that connected her VIOS management software, her Quarian-manufactured Rannoch Industries' QuArmor EnviroSuit, and her Reegar Shotgun. She had taken a few unconscious steps back, almost stepping into Private Nathanial 'Ballsack' Balsach as the Marine Rifleman aimed his own Valerion Kinetics' R36 Karseus Assault Rifle at the same target, the Marine's stance shifting slightly. The normally-talkative Marine was silent; struck speechless was the Human phrase. It was an accurate one. Even SHODAN was coming back with more question marks than answers as to what she was seeing.
"Abomination…" Came the answering growl of the big game hunter Urdnot Wrex, the eight-hundred year old Krogans' tone saying all that need to be said in a form of description as well as orders. Tali couldn't find a reason to disagree with the half-ton Tuchankan as she looked at…
Ancestors, that thing was easily twice as heavy as their own Krogan!
Wrex wasted no time coming up with a plan of attack; the Tuchankan lowered his head and bolted forward at an incredible sprinting speed that Tali could only marvel at, and she was a digitigrade! The big game hunter was going to bowl the monstrosity over with mass and force and finish the job for them in one fell swoop…
The big… thing… whatever it was, swatted Wrex with a rather epic-looking backhand, sending the eight-century old Krogan flying into a bulkhead in which the Tuchankan hit hard enough to leave a dent. Tali felt her heart skip a beat at the sight of the Krogan just… lying there, not moving at all. Wrex…? No… not Wrex. Wrex was practically indestructible, always up front with deadly protection and menacing professionalism, the consummate warrior who'd probably outlive them all save Doctor Liara T'soni. The Quarian looked at the tall bulky creature that had just merely slapped Wrex away as if a tsitsi, roaring a challenge as it raised its huge meaty fists and slammed them to the deck of the Station, buckling the Alumnisteel planking with its strength.
"RED-1, BROWN-Sagittarius, Taurus is down. Facing something… extreme." STG Agent Zevin Raeka called out over the SquadComm calmly.
"For the Homeworld, bosh'tet!" Zorah cried out as she activated the Reegar Carbine's trigger, sending an invisible ionizing ultraviolet targeting laser as she aimed at the thing that had just taken down the big game hunter, creating an electrostatic conductive path between the weapon and the target, before the weapons' Universal Power Cell powered up its ultramax charge capacitors and sent a high amperage/low voltage wave that connected the barrel of the weapon to the monstrosity in an effect known as a spark gap. A peal of electric thunder coursed down the corridor, splashing over the metallic surfaces of the station in between Carbine and creature, electric/plasma fire vomiting forth in a storm of deadly electrical energy intending to overpower electrical systems, computer components, and superheat anything in between. Tongues of lightning vomited through the Quarian-made weapon crafted to kill Geth without mercy or hesitation, while working really well on armor systems, OmniTools, software, and anything that possessed organic tissues as well. While the range of the weapon left a lot to be desired, anything within its cone of severity would die a very nasty death that Lance Corporal Holland 'Lapdance' Hoss liked to call 'electrically barbecued'. Tali screamed defiance as she sent ten percent of her UPC's total power to consume the creature standing before her that would dare hurt one of her crew.
Electrical fire wreathed over the four meter tall monstrosity's flesh and mechanical components as the spark gap of electrical fury danced through the corridor, electrifying the corridor down a ten meter path, arcs of electricity striking the gigantic Krogan-like being as secondary peals danced between the bulkheads as a tempest of electricity coated everything in between shotgun and its target; the ultimate ship-clearing weapon. The creature roared as arcs danced upon its flesh as rounds struck it from the Kassa Fabrications' M-55 Argus Battle Rifle and Valerion Kinetics' R36 Karseus Assault Rifle, Agent Raeka and Private Nathaniel 'Ballsack' Balsach firing as well as the Reegar powered down from its storm as the final volts of static electricity dissipated from the corridor in miniaturized sparks and arcs as Tali felt her silvery eyes go wide at the view and displays that SHODAN was giving her on the inner-curve of her visor.
The… thing… whatever it was…
…it was still standing. And it looked pissed. Really pissed.
"Oh dear." The Salarian Not-Dalatrass hummed as she queued up one of two Kassa Fabrications' Polaris OmniTools, tying something rapidly with her hand as she selected some option. "RED-1, Taurus down, declare assistance, North Spire, prefer the tank."
The gigantic Krogan splayed out its arms, displaying the hardware added to its forearms, the armor added to its chest, the holographic visor that banded around its periphery-set eyes, the added mass and bulk to its torso and legs, leaning forward as it let off a challenging roar, its cavernous mouth opening wide to display its many teeth and gaping maw as its massive three-fingered hands tightened into fists as the creature lowered its thick bony headcrest.
"Oh queep." The Quarian Pilgrim moaned as she saw the stance it lowered to; one of a charge. For a normal-sized Krogan, it was a certain-death sentence with its mass and speed; an organic wrecking ball of fury. With the size of this thing?
"Preferably now." Raeka finished transmitting as she let loose a salvo of chip-loaded tech mines from her Polaris OmniTool, three dart-like objects firing forward from the Not-Dalatrass' left arm as they struck the monstrosity, the Aerogel-encapsulated shells bursting against the creature and coating it with what appeared to be activated magnesium phosphate as incendiary fires bloomed over its chest, making it scream in pain, but certainly didn't make it stop from sprinting forward with body-crushing force. "Scatter!" The Salarian female shouted as the three of them dove away as the brutish Krogan roared through the corridor, almost thick enough to cover the entirety of the hallway itself as Tali dove for the nearest door, the ingress opening up as she tucked-and-rolled inside (thank you Ash for teaching me that!, she thought), practically feeling the atmo shift with the sprinting force of the Krogan-like monstrosity as she rolled back up on her two-toed feet, pivoting and rounding the corner of the door she had dove through to see where the creature was.
It had changed some fifteen meters down the hall, stopping when it hadn't connected with its targets. Tali raised her Reegar and gave it another burst of electroplasmic fire from her EME Shotgun, electrifying the thing once more as it gave off a bellow of pain and anger as Tali continued to expend her Universal Power Supply connected to the Reegar Carbine to vomit as much damage as possible to the obvious science experiment gone terribly wrong as it began to lunge forward towards her. The Quarian squeaked in fear as she ducked back in the room as the Krogan's massive frame loomed over her, taking a swipe at her with one of its meaty three-finger paws, denting the alumisteel wall of the room as the Pilgrim back-pedaled as she ejected her discharged UPC, her left hand grabbing another to insert into her Carbine, her hands trembling slightly enough to make the task a little more difficult as she finally slammed the Power Cell home, recharging the weapon as the Krogan monstrosity tried to enter the room that she was in, filled with comatose patients. Its bulk was too massive for the door; too tall, too wide, too thick, so it grabbed either side of the frame as began to pull apart, the bulkhead walls of the room squealing as the metal was slowly sheered in half as Zorah opened up once more, firing a full five seconds to expend the full use of her Universal Power Cell into the monstrosity coming for her as it screamed in pain as electricity arc'ed between the frame, the ceiling, and the deck as plasmitic electrical fire coated its massive frame, spark gaps and fingers of lighting wreathing its dense flesh as two red eyes zeroed in on her, its massive maw pulled back in a fearsome sneer.
Queep, the genetic horror was in a bloodrage.
The dataware hacktivist ejected the discharged UPC from her weapon as she tried loading in the next one as quickly as she could as the monstrosity shouldered its way into the room, sticking its arm and head through the portal, most of its chest through the widened opening as it forced its other arm through with sheering and screeching of metal as it scraped its way inside the laboratory as Tali finally loaded the Power Cell into her Reegar, whimpering as she hoisted up her Shotgun and leveled it at the monster in the room with her, her bowels turning into jelly as her shaking hands gripped her Reegar in a death grip, knowing she was about to die.
The Krogan roared as two meaty fists raised to slam into her frail frame… and it back erupted into a massive detonation.
"As the Humans say; come get you some… bitch."
"Raeka!" Tali gaped as she saw the Salarian Not-Dalatrass lower her OmniTool-wreathed arm and hoist up her Kassa Fabrications' M-55 Argus Battle Rifle as thermite seared into the massive hump of the Krogan, making it shriek in agony as the Quarian scampered passed the gigantic Krogan, joining at the STG Agents' side as Agent Zevin began laying down heavy fire from her powerful rifle into the Krogan as it thrashed and tried to stamp out the exothermic reduction/oxidation reaction that was searing into its hump and rear portion of its torso with its hands, magnesium smoke smoldering from the chemical reaction of magnesium/aluminum ferro-oxide, burning into its flesh at an excess of twenty-five hundred degrees Celsius. Molten metal and burning flesh dripped off its back from the reaction that neither water nor space would stop as the oxidation process of the reaction created its own fuel, stopping only if one could dissipate the extreme heat or when its host elements had finally ran out. Tali added her fire along with Raeka's, sending peals of lightning to dance upon the Krogan's frame, electricity discharging over its flesh as the monstrosity turned to face them, its eyes wide and angry. The Quarian Pilgrim wasted no time discharging her Reegar's power supply, electrocuting the monster as Raeka palmed the heat dispensing bolt of her Argus to cool down her heat sink as the genetic horror lumbered towards them, growling as it moved towards them at a fast pace, both Salarian and Quarian rushing out of the lab and into the corridor. To get trapped with that thing would likely get them the same result as it would with any Krogan; a quick and messy death. But out in the open was hardly preferable; the thing was faster than they were, denser, and could bull right through them with ease.
Tali was already working on her Armali Councils' Nexus OmniTool as they entered the corridor, queuing up her minifacturing suite as she fabricated an assault drone, MetalGel, CeramiGel, PlastiGel, and OmniGel creating a minifabricated drone powered by a Universal Power Cell and ran with both a multi-core processing chip and a small contragravity core chip to craft a hovering turret that would engage an enemy with OmniGel rounds delivered electromagnetically through a linear motor rail; what Humans called a 'coil gun'. It took ten seconds for the drone to be manufactured and printed, in which Zorah and Zevin ran down the corridor that they had already cleared to buy themselves space and time as Raeka input something into her own OmniTool as a loud bang behind them indicated that the thing had entered into the corridor, likely by smashing its way through the ruined door and into the nearby wall with force and destruction.
"Keelah, Keelah, Keelah…" Tali panted as she prayed to the Ancestors for her minifacturing suite to hurry up! as Agent Zevin pivoted in mid-step and flung out her right hand, holding the stock of her Argus in her left as a condensed ball of AeroGel flew out like a grenade, launched from her OmniTool to strike the mutated Krogan's face. The dataware hacktivist chanced a look as she saw an icy mist envelope the monstrosity, agitating it even further as it slammed a fist into a wall in rage as it began moving forward, and ended up running slightly into a bulkhead, forcing it to change its vector. SHODAN chimed that her turret was ready, loaded with her VI software suites' drone program as Tali reached down to her left thigh and tossed the turret behind her.
"Go for the eyes, Chitika!"
The assault turret spun up as its crafted linear motor sub-machine gun began firing flecks of OmniGel at hundreds of meters per second at the Krogan, aiming for the only two organs that Tali knew Tuchankans didn't have a redundant set for; the optical set. The sound of four-round bursts occurred from behind her as the Pilgrim and STG Agent reached the perpendicular corridor they had passed earlier and cleared, using the corners as cover as they both pivoted and aimed their weapons down where the monstrosity was. Zorah switched out her Reegar for her only 'physical' weapon; the Rannoch Industries' Queth Pulse Submachine Gun. It was a lightweight weapon that was meant to strip shields from Geth, their hardware bodies not as durable as the Geth relied more upon their more advanced shielding technology and mobility of their platforms. With Wrex down and Ballsack's location unknown, the Carbine could accidentally hit them. Tali took the short weapon in both hands, its telescoping stock placed firmly into her shoulder as she gripped the butt and forward handle of the weapon when it configured itself to combat operations, a holographic sight winking into existence and displaying on the inner curve of her visor's SMARTglass. Chitika was engaging the Krogan that was blundering down the corridor, one meaty hand covering its face as if… as if trying to wipe it off. It was practically ignoring the incoming fire from the assault turret, the OmniGel rounds practically bouncing off its hide. Well, it had been made as a distraction.
[Zorah, Zevin, private chat], came the voice of the Not-Dalatrass, calm and collected. Tali marveled at that. [I believe it is blind]
"Wish we had some more powerful grenades." Tali lamented as she studied the readouts of her SMARTglass, looking for anything that could be used to help out. The Krogan had lumber to the assault drone and smashed it into pieces with a quick swipe, shattering it completely as the Quarian quickly looked at her read-out. There were hackable sources all around, but most of them were data modules for minor pieces of medical equipment that would only give her access to health rhythms, a pair of sensors that would turn on local lights sources based upon movement, a light-laser link module meant for data transfers, the airlock access system…
…THAT'S IT!
"Raeka? Know how the Captain likes having movie nights on the Normandy and shows off Human vids for the crew?
"Did you see this really old movie called Aliens?"
Special Tasks Group Special Reconnaissance Agent Mannovai Janoir Ye'ili Tavac Zevin Raeka almost wanted to facepalm herself at the suggestion of Sha'me Tali'Zorah nar Reyya. Almost, because it was a good (if extremely dangerous) plan that would work if executed correctly.
The Quarian Pilgrim wanted to blast a large monstrosity out of an airlock and into the void of space.
The Krogan monstrosity thing walked around on all fours, and doing so in a semi-drunken manner. It couldn't seem to get its bearings right, trying to walk forward and colliding with the walls on either side of the corridor it was in at either sharp or gentle angles, unable to get the sense of what 'straight' was and orient itself in a path that would have it travel down the corridor in parallel to the walls. This was a clear indication that the creature was ocularally blind; its eyes had been damaged. Raeka had fought a few Krogan before in more-or-less straight-up fights, preferring more to making a few traps and victim-activated devices to do the work for her instead of being smashed into by a bloodraging sapient with more guns than brains. Killing a Krogan wasn't too difficult if one knew where to shoot; soft spots in their carapace that were less dense, allowing rounds to actually penetrate their thick hide to cause them injury, or locations that would hamper their mobility. She had never fired a FlashFrost program tech mine into the face into a Krogan for blinding; one of the few organs they didn't have secondaries for. Obvious, really; go for the eyes.
Still, an overlarge blind Krogan was still a huge threat (pun intended, of course), but now they had some time to lay those traps.
But still… an airlock?
"Tali, what do you have in the way of explosives?" Raeka asked as she watched the Krogan walk snout-first into a wall again, roaring in frustration at smacking itself in the face with an immovable object. It would have been humorous except for the fact that the wall was practically half caved-in by the act, the metal staved in and crumpled from the force of the monstrosity walking into it. The Void only knew if it could actually plow through a wall given enough momentum. That was not a laughing matter. The only hull-breaching charge they had had been used to breach the airlock entrance in the North Spire. An anti-personnel grenade would not be enough to make a hole large enough to suck out a being that size. No, the entirety of the airlock needed to be opened.
[I can bypass the safety protocols and hack open the airlock, Raeka], the sound of the female Quarian's voice coming over the two-way private chat so as to not alert the monster in the hall. [But I think we're going to need to goad it to the airlock. Give it a good running start straight into it, I open the doors and flush it out, and then shut the doors behind it. But we're going to be unsecured and stuck in a hall with a Krogan… whatever that is]
"Leave the baiting to me." The STG Agent replied, having an idea what to do. The both of them had maglocks on their boots for when gravity was a concern, but those wouldn't be nearly enough for a depressurization event occurred. They would need to physically hold onto something and pray that they actually succeeded keeping themselves out of the Void. Yes, their armored hardsuits did have personnel location beacons within them for such occasions, but it was rare that someone was rescued being lost in space, usually running out of breathable atmo or power for thermals to keep someone warm from the near-Absolute Zero of space. Still, fighting depressurization and getting sucked out into the black of space was more manageable than fighting some genetic horror of a Krogan with what looked to be armor implanted in its limbs and possibly its chest, too. Already the Salarian was queuing up her Kassa Fabrications' Polaris OmniTool on her left wrist to load up her FlashFire program, loading a protein chip with a malicious script that would cause a reaction of the OmniGel fluids inside a CeramiGel shell to turn into a protoplasmic goop that would burn through most modern-day armors quite easily. For this to work, she would need the strange Krogan thing mad.
Well, nothing brought out pain and anger like being set on fire.
[Give me fifteen seconds to hack through the stations' security protocols], Tali said as she worked both of her Armali Councils' Nexus OmniTools at the same time, her arms crossed to type in the sequences and scripts she needed at the same time, one hand typing normally while the other was technically typing upside down. That's a nifty trick, Raeka thought to herself, knowing that the Quarian Pilgrim was a better hacker now that the not-Dalatrass would ever be. She certainly couldn't use both of her OmniTools at the same time. [Bosh'tet queep mutating algorithm sub-daemon firewall jor'tet… this isn't a common subscription or even one of those supposedly fancy ones a child in her bubble could crack through in three minutes. It's hand-written and unique… it uses trimary code and they aren't ones and zeros]
"I'll buy us some time." Agent Zevin replied over the private chat as she looked to see the Krogan monstrosity having finally oriented itself somewhat aligned with the hallway, no longer running into the bulkheads or the walls. It was sniffing the air, likely trying to scent them now that its eyes were damaged to the point of uselessness. The STG Agent didn't know if they would regenerate or not, nor did she know if the Krogan would be able to catch their scent through their armor and EnviroSuits. Krogan did have the best olfactory sense of the galactic species, so it wasn't a risk she was willing to take. The FlashFire program ready to deploy, the Salarian female went to her other OmniTool and loaded up another chip with a different program, this one merely marked 'Distraction Protocol'. It didn't even use any of her reserves of MetalGel, PlastiGel, CeramiGel, or OmniGel. Actually, it was a personally-crafted program she had made to troll her mother when she had been just a taddi; her first code. Raeka loaded it with a smile as she held her M-55 Argus in her left hand as she raised up her right arm and fired the protein chip high and above the Krogan to strike somewhere down the hall.
"Hey, trollbutt!"
[Did… you just use a Thu'um?], the Quarian female asked, her tone amused as she continued to type akimbo.
The Krogan, on the other hand, stopped sniffing as it quickly turned about to the direction of the chip and its microspeaker behind it, hearing the insult and turning to address it.
"Does your breeder know you're off your leash?"Raeka put her Argus back into her firing shoulder as the Krogan roared in the direction of the insulting chip that had attached itself to a wall a dozen meters away, the Quarian snickering over the private chat line as she continued to hack into the station's security system. "You'd be much prettier if you smiled… oops, I was wrong!" The monstrosity roared as it charged forward, blitzing at an incredible speed at the direction of the noise, smashing into a wall and crumpling a part of it as it took a meaty fist and struck out in raging anger, burying its arm halfway into a metal wall. The sight of that had the not-Dalatrass pretty amazed; she had seen Krogan dent a wall minimally with their paws and headplates, and even put a good size impression of themselves when they dipped their head and charged into an obstruction. But she had never seen a Krogan punch through a wall. Wrex had been slapped aside by the creature and hadn't reappeared yet. Likely, the big game hunter might be down for a good period of time, possibly to regenerate from his injuries. They hadn't seen Private Nathanial 'Ballsack' Balsach since they had to dodge the Krogan's charge a few minutes prior. Raeka hoped that they were alright, but there was little they could do about it as long as there was a threat present. Kill the Krogan, and then see to their comrades. It was what Zevin would want if she were the injured one. "Quit looking at that mirror! We can't afford to fix it!" Another fist went through a wall and the Salarian winced at the sight. Come on, Tali, work your coding magic, the not-Dalatrass thought to herself as the monstrosity ripped one of its arms out from the wall with a shriek of twisting metal. Void, it didn't even look injured. "You're the reason why pyjaks and varrens shouldn't mate!"There was a scoffing tone that came over the private chat, Tali's silvery eyes darting to the Salarian before she went back to the screens displayed on her faceplates' SMARTglass.
[Really?]
"I was four." Raeka offered as a defense, the mild insults something she made when she was just a young female hitting puberty. "Have you hacked in yet?"
[Ugh! Just about!] The Pilgrim replied, her tone disgusted. [It's coded in Salarian Alphanumerics… but used symbols instead of numbers or letters. Who the queep does that?]
"An evil genius." The sniper replied as she readied her M-55 Argus, ready to take on an unbeatable foe. "Ready when you are, Zorah."
[Well, protocol's been bypassed, so get ready to hang onto something], the Quarian said as her OmniTools disappeared from her wrists momentarily. [Now we get the big male's attention, and I have an idea]
"Uh oh."
"HEY! BOSH'TET!" Tali shouted from around the corner, making the Krogan pause to turn to the direction of her vox'ed voice, heading right for them, picking up speed. "WE QUARIANS INVENTED THE GETH ON ACCIDENT!
"WATCH WHAT WE CAN DO ON PURPOSE!"
And her three-finger hand smashed down on her left wrist.
TEAM RED, "North Spire", Alexandria Station, Herschel System, Kepler Verge, July 25, 2183
"WARNING! AIRLOCK MALFUNCTION! DEPRESSURIZATION COMMENCING IN DECK TEN!"
Captain Jane Catherine Shepard (SAN, N7, OST) felt her heart drop with the sound of the station-wide announcement and warning.
"Skipper!" Sergeant First Class Ashley Madeline Williams called out with alarm as the Colonial Army Soldier ran right next to the N7's side while Doctor Liara T'soni ran right behind them, the Asari Protheantologist a little out of breath as she tried to keep up with the two seasoned Human Warriors. They had gotten the call from Agent Zevin Raeka about facing something extreme, and Jannie had gotten a quick downloaded JIF file from Ensign Tali'Zorah nar Reyya of an image of what they were combating; some sort of super-Krogan. They had abandoned assaulting tactics for rescue, leaving Private First Class Louis 'Brassiere' Broussard in the General Dynamics' M-35 MAKO Armored Personnel Vehicle, engaging more incoming Colicoid Creations' Droidekas with the tanks' coaxial machinegun while the Level Three Council Agent, the Colonial Soldier, and the Protheantologist rushed forward to give aid to TEAM BROWN. The fact that whatever they were facing had somehow beat Urdnot Wrex and then was sufficient enough threat that two extremely smart and very well-armed individuals weren't able to thwart it (considering one was practically a tech mage and the other carried an electrical flamethrower) said much. Realistically, she wasn't sure if she or Ash could add much more to the equation except more bullets or perhaps some anti-personnel explosives. No, instead they were going to escort the one person that could realistically add something to the fight.
They were going to bring a Biotic to a Krogan fight.
Shepard ran down the corridors of Alexandria Station as fast as she tactically could, using her Alliance Offensive Firearm Initiative M249 Squad Automatic Weapon to clear corners and hallways along with Williams and her Kassa Fabrications M76 Reverent Light Machine Gun, both N7 and Soldier quickly clearing areas as they rushed to their objective. There were four members of her team that were in danger by a singular foe, something somehow completely unexpected. A singular Krogan was a threat, but she didn't doubt that TEAM BROWN could handle but a single Krogan with the weapons and tricks that they possessed. Even if Wrex were somehow taken out of the equation, Raeka, Tali'Zorah, and Ballsack ranged from quite capable to extremely deadly in terms of personal combat. Hell, she had seen Tali zap a Krogan dead with that awesome Reegar Carbine Shotgun of hers in the ExoGeni Headquarters solo back on Feros, cooking a Krogan merc alive with one full-powered blast. And Raeka possessed two damn good weapons in her Kassa Fabrications' M-55 Argus Battle Rifle and Ariake Technologies' M-90 Indra Automatic Sniper Rifle, not to mention all the offensive tech hardware programs she possessed in both of her OmniTools. A singular Krogan wouldn't be much of a threat to the Salarian Not-Dalatrass or the Quarian hacktivist. Even Private Balsach had the armor and weapons to give a Krogan pause.
No, they were facing something that had not only threatened the entire team, but sounded as if it were winning.
Jannie wouldn't have a repeat of Feros. Over her Goddamn dead body on a cold day in Hell.
"Goddess, an airlock malfunction!" T'soni huffed as she kept up with the two warriors, the Asari Maiden out of breath but never complaining as she kept a token rear-guard while trailing behind the two Humans, her Hydra Armaments' M-113 Drake Assault Rifle in her hands as oppose to her lighter Kassa Fabrications' M-12 Locust Submachine Gun or her Elkoss Combines' E-2 Edge Sapient Defense Pistol. The Asari Doctor of Protheantology had grown as a combatant since her rescue from Therum, getting classes and training from a variety of members on the SSV Normandy and TEAM LION. Before, she was mediocre at best, knowing safe practices and firing discipline at the very least when combating a thousand Geth hardware platforms in the depths of Dig Site Alpha. Two months of war and combat operations had forged her into a much better combatant, having learned how to acquire targets faster, to be more accurate, and how to engage the enemy while under fire. Yes, her best skills laid in her native Biotics in which she used to protect her team members with extreme prejudice. But she wasn't solely reliant upon her Biotics, not having been trained in the combative Biotic arts like her kin who went to the various Commando or Huntress Lodges scattered throughout Thessia and Asari Republic Space. Still, she had improved considerably and was committed to the mission. That said much.
Jannie tried not to think of the deadly words airlock malfunction; a spacers' worst fear being a hull breach of any kind.
Her heart nearly stopped in her chest when she rounded a corner to go to the tenth deck… and found a containment door closed to prevent station-wide depressurization.
"Ghost! I need you to hack through the firewall protocol and open this door!" The redhead told her custom-made electronic intrusion combat drone, the contragravity polyhedron beeping as it went to interface with an access panel via its laser-link. Her AppleCorps VIOS X Edition Management Software Operating System, Cortana, was already linking her HMWA MasterGear SPECTRE Mk. IV Armors' multi-core processors as well as the build package that had extra processing speed, extra power sources for high-gain computing, and a sub-thermal cooling system to promote faster cycles (and thus faster hack times). The readout displayed at the side of her vision on her armors' Augmented Reality Overlay providing her a detailed analysis of her Intrusion Hackware Program that she had programmed herself. While she wasn't a great hacker herself, she had hand-crafted a multifaceted cryptokey that could change with a systems' perimeters to allow physical and electronic access into a secured system through a series of mutating brute force attacks. She had learned how to program through a variety of N's and Office of Naval Intelligence Agents to add to her repertoire after having a mission where she couldn't access intel from a secured computer system at a pirate base that she and a team of Systems Alliance Navy Military Police raided in the Antaeus System of the Hades Gamma Cluster. She had learned her lesson and begun crafting Ghost as an electronic intrusion device as a means to supplement her effectiveness. Plus she was tickled at the thought of having a Destiny-like device that worked in the same fashion as the MMORPG.
The readout from Ghost was showing that the cryptokey was trying to match the language of the system and working through multiple passwords, access means, and SALT-cutting tools through pre-arranged scripts and hacks, trying to find the so-called 'puzzle piece' that would fit the access. No doubt whoever was sitting at security was getting notices of a brute attack on their electronics, but considering they had brought a tank to a VBSS raid, she doubted that someone unlocking a door was their biggest concern. Jannie winced at the sight that the hacking protocol wasn't finding any kind of matchable language in its massive database, meaning that someone had coded a unique language to protect their electronics instead of getting a purchased security script. Smart… and ultimately able to defeat Ghosts' repertoire. Jannie could hack a terminal, but she was nowhere near the software programmer as, say, 1st Lieutenant Kaidan Alenko, Detective Garrus Vakarian, Agent Zevin Raeka, or Tali'Zorah. The other side of the door was likely a zero-atmo environment, but that wasn't going to stop her from going in and putting whatever was threatening her team into the hurt locker.
"Skipper? Let me try my hacking tool." Williams offered up as she maglocked her Reverent to her chestplate and pulled out her Heckler and Koch M320 Variable Munitions Launcher, slipping a kill grenade into the side-loading tube.
"Li! Fire in the hole!" Jannie called out as she took six quick paces away from the lockdown door, Ghost floating over to her as the Asari erected a quick barrier with a sweep of her hands to protect them from collateral damage as the Colonial Soldier jogged several meters away from the door before raising her Munitions Launcher and firing the H+K. The grenade impacted against the door and blasted a hole about three times the size of Jannie's fist into the containment door, air being sucked through the breech as a new set of alarms rang out throughout the station.
"WARNING! HULL BREECH IN DECK TEN!"
The redhead gritted her teeth as the maglocks in her boots kept her from being pulled forward, the breech a small one as the atmo in the station was sucked out. Failsafe protocols activated as more lockdown doors closed to prevent all the atmo from being evacuated from the station as it took about a minute for the compartmented sections' atmo to be sucked out, Jannie's life-support systems in her SPECTRE Armor activating and running off of her suit air, leaving her about three hours worth if air for the time being until she entered an atmo'ed area or found an oxygen recharging station if available. It wasn't nearly a pressing concern as it was as what she was about to enter into.
"Nice shot, Army. Bastila? Make us a bigger hole." The contragravity armored assault drone chirped as it floated over to where Ash stood, priming two OmniGel-crafted rockets from its reserves and launching two of them at the breech, creating a larger gap in the containment door. It was almost large enough for someone in armor to get through, so Jannie had the assault drone fire again, Bastila flash-forging two more rockets from its minifacturing suite from its reserves of OmniGel, MetalGel, PlastiGel, and Hi-Ex Mod program-loaded protein chips to create a chemical reaction in the various 'gels to turn slurry into something explosive. It took six seconds for the rockets to be made and fired as the hole grew larger, metal fragments splintering away from the door as the alumnisteel containment door was breeched once more, the hole now more than large enough for herself and her team to duck and pass through. The atmo had fully been evacuated, so now their big concerns would be any suit breeches that would expose them to the vacuum. "Team? Stack and breech." Jannie stood just short of the hole as Williams got right behind her with Liara pulling the last man in the stack, switching out her M-113 Drake Assault Rifle for her M-12 Locust Submachine Gun for both tactical and Biotic engagement, holding out her left hand to maintain a Biotic Barrier for protection. "Ghost, Bastila, push through and give me a beachhead." Both drones pushed their way through the hole, the assault drone hovering through first before the polyhedron dipped below the breech to scan and ascertain any threats. Cortana displayed the views and readouts on her helmets' ARO to show an empty corridor for the moment.
"Team? Push through."
Alexandria Station, Herschel System, Kepler Verge, May ?, 2179
Four years ago…
Sara Elaine Ryder walked down the empty corridors of Alexandria Station, being helped along by a member of the famed Citadel Security Services' Special Crimes Unit, one Detective Garrus Kaaldor Vakarian. The Turian Detective and Sniper of the most premiere tactical law enforcement agency in the galaxy, the C-SEC Rapid Response Unit, was practically holding her vertical as he helped her along her way towards whatever means of escape that the Detective had in mind. She had lost the measure of time and the many turns they had taken in the station to avoid detection and running into anything that would have them discovered, neither one of them really able to afford to get into a confrontation considering Sara wasn't armed or armored and Garrus was practically carrying her along. She felt utterly sick to her stomach, so dizzy that it was hard to focus on where she was, her legs feeling like rubber and her bowels ready to defecate on the spot. She had a hard time remembering if she had ever felt so ill in her life.
She stumbled along with the help of Detective Vakarian, struggling to put one foot in front of another.
"We're almost there, little one." The Turian's flanged duel-toned voice said quietly, one taloned arm supporting her body weight easily as he held her by the waist, the other taloned hand holding her left one for extra support. It was all Sara could do to not evacuate her stomach on the spot and eliminate whatever was in her bowels, whimpering as she continued to move with the Detectives' help. "Just a little bit further until we reach shuttle bay where we will escape." Sara could only mumble and nod, unable to much of anything else as the Turian helped her along, trying to get to their destination as quickly as she could go. Neither one of them wanted to stay in the station one second longer than they had to.
Her stomach roiled, her bowels churned and bubbled, her rubbery legs threatened to give out from under her as she sweat and panted from the effort of walking, but Sara concentrated on moving. She was not going to get captured again.
Vakarian led her through a door where the Firstborn saw a small cargo bay that had half a dozen small-distance vessels occupying their berthing cradles, looking like the same one she had entered in through when she first arrived. Her mind tried to work, but she felt too hot and too sick to connect any of her thoughts coherently, struggling not to fall down or blow chunks all over the docks' deck as Garrus led her inside, closing the door behind him as quickly as they had entered to minimize their presence. The Turian continued to escort her towards a Trebin Astronaticals' V-23 Apaltus Personnel Delivery Vessel, the Turian shuttle craft a common one. Sara hoped Garrus knew how to fly the small spacecraft; she had learned under the tutelage of Flight Lieutenant Kaius Contenus of Skybulance-37, after all. But this wasn't a Shu'pari-'57 Medical Vessel. Still, the basics were the same at the least. Detective Vakarian took the latch of the gullwing door of the V-23 and lifted it open, helping Sara crawl into the conveyance as she whimpered, everything in her body hurting. God, something was wrong and she was nowhere near any kind of medical aid. She didn't even want to imagine what Doctor Ingree Saelon had done to her. The young Human woman crawled onto the deck of the small vessel as the Turian closed the door behind him, getting into the pilots' seat to activate and begin the flight sequence for the Apaltus PDV Shuttle as Sara felt consciousness slipping from her, her vision going dark as she struggled against the growing queasy feeling that threatened to explode from within her.
"D-Detective…" Sara mumbled through too-hot lips and a tongue that felt oh so swollen. "Detective… if… if I don't make it…"
"You will." His flanged voice insisted, brooking no doubt in the matter.
"…please tell my family I love them and I'm sorry." Sara finished, her grip on reality crumbling. "I just wanted to save my Mom." Tears burned her eyes as the realization struck her; she had failed. She wasn't going to be able to get her Lymph Nodes cloned so she could buy her mother time, to help her in her current state. Sara wept as the shuttlecraft grew dark around her, feeling it shift slightly as the Turian piloted the vessel out of the station to escape.
"I'm sorry, Mom…"
TEAM WHITE, "South Spire", Alexandria Station, Herschel System, Kepler Verge, July 25, 2183
Federal Marshal Samantha Lynn Collins (SAMS, OST) gritted her teeth as she took aim at yet another Colicoid Creations' Droideka roller mech with her Smith and Wesson Model 696 MA Revolver, the Mammothkiller barking out twice in quick succession as her right hand fanned the hammer on the buntline revolver to put another of the security mechs out of commission. She had already put seven down with a mixture of her Mammothkiller and her SMWSG MasterGear SPECTRE Mk. I Shotgun while Niki'Raan nar Tombay electrocuted another with her Rannoch Industries' Adas Electrostatic Discharge Rifle, burying a connectivity tag into her target and barbecuing the son of a bitch quickly and efficiently. Private First Class Holland 'Lapdance' Hoss was engaging another with his Valerion Kinetics' R36 Karseus Assault Rifle, opting for a three-round burst to drain the capacitors of the mechanical robots' shields and leave it open for physical engagement as his target fired back with a pair of automatic weapons fire that appeared to be the stripped-down versions of Elkoss Combines' M8 Avengers attached to the arm analogues. Sam took a proverbial knee behind the corner she and Lapdance were using for cover to cool down her Smith and Wesson while Niki did the same at the opposite corner to insert a new connectivity tag into her Adas. Lapdance grunted as he pulled himself back behind the corner as well, his left hand going to his right shoulder.
Shit, the kid had got shot.
"BLUE-1, this is WHITE-Columbia." Collins called out as she stuck her Model 696 around the corner and gave the Droideka that the Marine had been firing at and put it out of their misery. "We've got half-a-dozen Droidekas trying to pressure us back and a couple of wounded." Sam could see that another four Droidekas were rolling down the corridor and heading for their position. That wasn't so good. She could feel the bite of a bullet in her lower left thigh when two of the roller droids had barreled through to flank and assault them, snapping her shields as she engaged both of them with her Mammothkiller. She had come out on top, but had gotten shot in the process. "We're going to need backup, and soon." She looked down to Lapdance, who was in the lower position of the corner to use for cover, his armored hand moving away from his shoulder to show the gauntlet of his Kassa Fabrications' Colossus Medium Engagement Armor stained red with blood. Shit, that might have clipped something important, Collins thought to herself as the Marine took a MediGel auto-injector from his MedPouch on his armor and proceeded to shoot himself with the anti-coagulant/anti-bacterial/volumizer/sealant gel at the site of the gunshot wound to minimize the bleeding, damage, and possible contamination. It was a battlefield dressing, not a cure, and he had gotten shot in his firing shoulder.
"More are coming!" Raan spoke up as she rounded the corner to fire a tag at another Droideka, the shields hardly stopping the too-slow connectivity tag as the Quarian Rifleman went back into cover before pulling the trigger, the electrostatic discharge bolt of electricity rounding the corner and electrocuting the mechanoid until its power cell detonated and turned the multi-limbed machine into a bloom of scrap metal, shrapnel cascading up and down the corridor. Collins took the advantage of the detonation by firing at two of the roller droids in quick succession, their shields down from the explosion and her round penetrating their chassis. Three more down… and now they had seven to deal with.
"I can still fight!" Lapdance insisted with a strained voice through his armors' vox, slipping his Karseus into his left hand for off-hand firing. Most people weren't very ambidextrous, and accuracy and motion usually took a hit whenever someone went southpaw. Still, he could put rounds down range and the Droidekas were only a dozen or so meters away in a hallway. Not exactly long-distance firing requirements. "This is going to hurt like a bitch." The Marine coined as he tactically rounded the corner in a crouched position to fire upon the Droidekas, exposing more of his body to do so than he normally would have if he had been firing with his right hand. Lapdance sent a sustained burst of fire down at one of the droids only to fall back into cover as he was engaged heavily by the security drones. With seven of them present and ready to fire, trying to eliminate them even one at a time was going to be near impossible with no less than fourteen assault rifle-like armature weapons aiming at them. "Marse? I've got a few grenades in my pack, but I can't throw for shit right now."
"Got it." Sam understood quickly the plan the Rifleman was suggesting as she reached down and grabbed an M68 All-Purpose Explosive Disc Device, the puck-like grenade fitting easily into her right hand. She lobbed it right into the middle of the Droidekas and pulled back around the corner to draw bother her Smith and Wesson Model 696 and her Springfield Arms XD Seven-Five Pistol, her hands filled with guns as she heard the grenade explode. Both herself and Private First Class Hoss rounded the corner and began firing at the same time Niki did the same at the opposite corner. Collins fired both of her pistols at two of the staggered Droidekas, using all twelve shots of her Seven-Five on one and all six from her Mammothkiller on another at the same time. Both went down hard, their shields weakened and their bodies damaged by the grenade. Unfortunately, the robotic creations didn't feel fear at the sight or knowledge of a grenade and had kept engaging when TEAM WHITE took the offensive. Sam cried out in pain as she felt three separate explosions of hot pain bloom in her right forearm, her right shoulder, and deep into her lower right torso, radiating somewhere in between her ribs and her hip. Her Springfield was knocked from her hand as the Marshal fell back gasping in pain, her left hand immediately going to the agony that seemed to be somewhere around her right kidney, her knees going weak as she leaned against the wall she was using for cover, unable to support her own weight. She felt weak and lightheaded as her armor scraped against the wall as she slid down, her limbs trembling as she looked over to Lapdance.
He was lying on the ground, half out of cover, a growing pool of blood under him.
Sam gritted her teeth as she reached over with her left hand and grabbed at the so-called 'carrying handle' at the back of Hoss's gorget on his armor and cried out in pain as she wrenched him back into cover, fiery agony coursing her body as she yanked the Marine back into safety. Despite the environmentals of her SPECTRE Armor, Sam was feeling too damn hot as sweat poured down her face, her gunshot wounds feeling as if someone had stuck a welding torch in each and every one of them. The corridor swam in her vision as she sat on the deck with her back against a bulkhead, breathing heavily as darkness stalked the edges of her vision. No… no, no, no… Collins thought as she looked over to the other side of her cover, seeing the blue-suited figure of Niki'Raan looking over at her, her silvery eyes behind her blue-tinted visor wide as they looked at her. The darkness was coming over her like a blanket, impossible to fight back against something so encompassing, like a door slamming shut on her mind. Not… now, motherfucker… Sam thought as she clenched her teeth.
"B-BLUE-1, need… medical assistance…" The Marshal called out on her SquadComm, unable to fight back the pain and panic in her voice, her body trembling too hard. "T-two d-down… f-five en… enem…" God, she felt so hot and cold at the same time, and oh so very tired. Just… a moment to catch her breath. "Ge… get… Niki…" The ground came to her with its comforting embrace, so inviting as Sam felt herself slipping away as she closed her eyes and let her heavy body rest, slumping to the metal deck of the station. Lying down… the pain dulled away as she heard something quiet in her ears, voices she couldn't understand, a panic she couldn't connect to as she opened her eyes and saw someone standing over her. Someone tall, in ultrablack armor with bloodred underpanelling configured for a Turian. Sam rolled on her back, looking up as the figure knelt beside her, the helmet coming off as she saw warm chocolate plates and bone-white colonial markings decorating the features she had ached to see again, and the sight made her smile as hot tears came from her eyes.
"N… N-Nihlus…", Sam said through numb lips, "…you're here…" She watched as her husband lower himself to her side, his talons sliding under her as he scooped her up in his arms. The weight of her heavy body seemed to disappear as he hoisted her up, her body feeling so light, some comforting in his arms. "I… I missed you, fradu. I missed you… every damn day." Being his arms, the ache in her heart eased as Sam looked upon the face of Nihlus Kryik, his Tridend Colony-marked plates and green ovaloid eyes looking at her as he held her. "I've been so damn alone…"
"No longer, fradu." His said, his warm duel-tone voice comforting her as Sam rested her weary head against his armored shoulder, after so much heartache and pain in her heart, she finally found peace.
And Marshal Samantha Lynn Collins slowly slipped into the waves of darkness.
TEAM BLUE, "South Spire", Alexandria Station, Herschel System, Kepler Verge, July 25, 2183
Corporal Jeanette Maria Sanchez Vasquez grunted as she felt rounds impacting against her Aegohr Munitions' Kestrel Heavy Combat Armor, the heavy duty shield batteries having been drained by the many impacts as she roared her Devlon Industries' M-56 Marshal Medium Machine Gun at several Colicoid Creations' Droideka roller mechs, the piss-ass Salarian security robots firing at her as she amped up her Marshal, increasing the voltage to deliver more force while overclocking her rounds per minute through the machine gun, doubling the amount of heat generated for only half-again as much force. Yet the four roller droids that stood in front of her were a real threat, and they had engaged the Marine Corporal as she threw herself out in the open in the corridor, putting as many rounds into each of the four-legged bots as she could to bring them down. She was merely the distraction, her shields and armor hopefully tough enough to take the punishment and dish it back out. There hadn't been enough time to make a plan or any kind of decent tactical assault, so Jean had stepped out and introduced herself as only a Marine could; with violence. There was no time to think, but to act, and that the Latina had in spades. The Droideka's practically melted under her withering fire as she obliterated each and every one of them in about ten seconds, keeping the attention on her while destroying the opposition. When the last one finally staggered and fell to the ground, the deck of the station littered with pieces of droid, Vasquez sniffed dismissively as she clicked the heat-dispensing action of her heat drums on her Marshal to ready it for another battle.
"Adios? We found them."
Vas looked up to see Detective Garrus Vakarian stalking the corridor with Sha'me Niki'Raan bar Tombay right next to him, the Quarian Pilgrim clutching at her Adas ESD Rifle in her hands as if it were a lifeline, her silvery eyes a little wide and wild. The Quarian had come out of her cover from around the corner looking so much like a frightened child, someone that had been well over their head and pulled out of the brink. Jean could relate.
"I… I… I did everything I-I could, but…" The Quarian female began, the guilt thick in her vox'ed voice as Jeanette saw 1st Lieutenant Kaidan Alenko and Seaman Monica Negulesco disappear to the starboard side of the corridor. "We were overwhelmed, and… it was all I could do to… to hold them off…" It was obvious that the Pilgrim was near tears.
"El-tee? You take Lapdance, he's got a punctured abdominal wound." Doc Nugee instructed from one side. "Vas? I need your help with Collins." Jean moved down to where Doc had disappeared to see two casualties on the floor, both Lapdance and Collins down and bleeding all over the floor. Jesus Cristo, they both looked shot to shit.
"What do you need me to do, Doc?"
There was a small break as Doc's helmeted head looked up from Sam and to her.
"You're O-Positive."
Blood. Marse was bleeding out bad.
Adios wasted no time pulling off the carrying harness of her M-56 Marshal Medium Machine Gun and placing both weapon and harness on the deck as she extended her left arm straight towards the Hospital Corpsman, exposing a portion of her combat undersuit that her high-impact ceramic ballistic armor didn't cover; the crook of her arm. The Latina practically thrusted her arm towards the Corpsman as Nugee pulled out of her Aid Bag a sterile abdominal compression bandage, tossing the package to Lieutenant Alenko before pulling out a stick catheter and connecting it to a plastic tube. Jean had her arm taken and stuck in a quick but professional manner as Doc Nugee slide the catheter into the crook of her arm before inserting the other side into Marshal Collins' neck… oh, her carotid artery. With a fresh supply of oxygenated blood, it would buy the Hospital Corpsman time to seal the gunshot wounds before attempting to revive the former Marshal of Therum, minutes that her brain would starve without oxygen and blood. Vas knew that one could tourniquet a limb for several hours without risk, but the brain was the most important part of the body. Vas was pretty certain the limit was eight minutes without oxygen and blood, but with her donating blood right into Sam, she had essentially become a living life-support system. Monica was already applying MediGel to the Marshals' gunshot wounds to seal them and stop the bleeding, prepping her for the time when surgical intervention could be accomplished, but for the moment giving her a chance to make it to the surgery table.
Doc sealed the wounds, and two minutes later was performing cardiopulmonary resuscitation on the Level Two Council Agent after removing her helmet and chestpiece.
"C'mon, Marse, you can do it. Pull through." Vas whispered as she moved above Sam's head, keeping it tilted back for Nugee for when she breathed for the Marshal as well as keeping a pair of fingers just below Collins' jawline to feel for a pulse. The Marine knew that Nugee was really just a young Corpsman who had chosen her profession based upon the woman who had saved her fathers' life; the Angel of Illyeria, Sara Elaine Ryder. But being a Navy Corpsman was nothing like being an EMT or Emergency Room nurse; they did the same job, but in a combat zone. It was their job to save those who served Mankind, and on TEAM LION, there was no greater example than those aboard the SSV Normandy. Sara and Monica were both Sailors who had elected that noble profession in a way that was far greater than even their normal contemporaries, providing medical aid and care to those who weren't even Human yet providing all the same. Heroes amongst heroes they were, and watching Monica working on Samantha like a professional should? Her movements swift and sure, neither rushed nor panic, but rote and precise? Chief Ryder might not have been here, but TEAM LION wasn't lacking in the medical department.
"Don't make her cry again, Marse." Vas whispered to the Marshal, holding her head and looking at her too-still face. "No Corpsman can stand losing a brother or sister. She's pushing herself hard to earn her spot, to be what we need her to be. Don't have her lose someone else." The Latina Marine remembered well back on Feros when TEAM LION had assaulted the ExoGeni Headquarters, fighting through Geth and Husks. Jeanette had learned that Doc Nugee was an eighteen-year old Hospital Corpsman who was on her first ground deployment, having earned herself a slot working alongside the Lion of Elysium due to her dedication and efforts in the aftermath of the Battle of LaGrange Point Two (Feros). Monica had spent hour after grueling hour caring and aiding Sailors medically without rest or complaint, seeing something like eight to nine dozen injured Sailors in the hours after the cataclysmic battle, and continuing well into the night. Sailors repaired ships after battles, and Corpsmen repaired people. This spunky little kid from Elysium had given her all in a time of need and had been recognized by the Angel of Illyeria, granting the colony kid what she wanted to be; the chance to be a Navy Corpsman. Vas knew how it worked, that there was always some HM8401 who pushed themselves at the head of the pack to earn their Fleet Marine Force Insignia, proving themselves as both Corpsmen and Marines. To do so, they had to earn their chops; work with a Marine unit and impress them with their dedication. And Marines weren't easy to impress. Nugee was a kid looking to earn her chops… and doing it in what was likely the toughest, deadliest, most versatile unit to have ever existed under a Terran banner. Doc Nugee had a hell of a uphill battle and learning curve considering the places TEAM LION went and the several non-Humans that served in it.
And within the very first day of her first ground deployment, Seaman Monica Negulesco proved herself, quite literally, five times over. The first was literally during boots hitting ground.
That… said a lot, that a first-time Navy puke touched dirt didn't break down and cry at the first sound of a sniffle or a gunshot? That a member of her team had taken a hit coming off the UT-47 Kodiak and that teams' assigned Hospital Corpsman immediately secured the casualty and brought them to cover what providing covering fire? Most first-timers in combat did about three things; froze, lost their shit (literally), or started shooting everywhere. Oh, every once in a while there was someone who kept it together, aimed in a generally correct direction and were actually useful. Most of the time people like that were former gangbangers like herself, or had been through a few hard knocks where a few gunshots or a two-way range wasn't exactly topping the 'worst thing ever' list. Nugee was, surprisingly, a semi-survivor of the Assault of Elysium, having been sequestered in her primary gymnasium during the attack, a ten or eleven year old kid huddled with other kids during a slave run. While she hadn't been ducking Slugs out on the streets, she had certainly had to sit and wait for several hours with the potential thought of being captured and enslaved; something Vas certainly never worried about.
But when a grenade in the ExoGeni HQ had hit both Private Oblong 'the Kenyan' Ubantu and Ensign Tali'Zorah nar Reyya, Doc Nugee had to make the choice no medic ever wanted to make but likely would; who would live and who would die. The same grenade that had peppered Tali's body with shrapnel, piercing her EnviroSuit and exposing her fragile body to the toxic-to-Quarians environment had shattered the Kenyan's Kassa Fabrications' Colossus Medium Engagement Armor chestpiece into his torso, sending pieces of ceramics and plastics into his chest, piercing it over a dozen times. Adios had known at the first glance that the Marine Rifleman was a dead man with both of his lungs pierced, internal bleeding, and massive trauma. Yet Nugee had to work on Tali with the knowledge that Ubantu was going to die without any real medical intervention. The Marine had expired mere moments after the blast, his hand held by none other than Captain Jane Shepard as he passed away of his grievous wounds, Monica in tears as she worked on saving Tali's life at the act of triage.
Vasquez had held the young Corpsman when she broke down and cried after stabilizing the young Quarian Pilgrim, apologizing amongst bitter tears to Oblong.
The Marine watched a Nugee worked, having already sealed Collins' gunshot wounds and performing CPR, striving to save the Marshal's life. Vas didn't want to say that it looked like a lost cause, that the Butcher had been shot too many times and had died before TEAM BLUE had arrive a few minutes later. A Human could be brought back up to ten to fifteen minutes after expiring, but cranial decay began to occur about eight minutes after someone died depending on a bunch of different factors; sometimes more, sometimes less. Niki'Raan had done her best to hold off the Droidekas from overrunning TEAM WHITE's position, the Quarian Rifleman never giving in or retreating, staying with her squadmates despite being outnumbered and outgunned. But Monica wasn't going let something like that get in the way of the performance of her duties, showing the same dedication the Pilgrim had given to her teammates. If Marse had a chance in hell in coming out of this, it would be at the hands of Seaman Monica Negulesco.
Something caught the corner of Vas's eye, and she looked to see that, somehow, Captain Jane Catherine Shepard was standing there just a few short paces away, seeing what was going on. TEAM RED (minus Private Louis Broussard) had arrived with TEAM BROWN, amazing all in one piece of looking a little for the worse for wear. Ensign Tali'Zorah and Agent Zevin Raeka looked to be well, but Urdnot Wrex was walking as if injured and Private Nathaniel Balsach was holding his side. Doctor Liara T'soni and Sergeant First Class Ashley Williams were there as well, TEAM RED having come to TEAM BROWN's aid against whatever monstrosity they had faced while TEAM BLUE had gone for TEAM WHITE in their time of need. Between a mess of Salarian roller-droids and evidently some super mutant Krogan abomination, Alexandria Station hadn't been their best of days. The Lion looked at the scene of the Hospital Corpsman working on the the Level Two Council Agent while a female Marine donated blood, while a Navy Lieutenant tended to a Marine Rifleman. While Jeanette couldn't see the N's face due to her banded helmet with its glowing visor, her posture (and just as a good guess) indicated that she wasn't pleased with the recent turn of events. That wasn't any real surprise.
A coughing noise returned Vasquez's attention below her as she saw the Marshal cough and stir, blue eyes fluttering open amongst pale skin.
"W-wha… where…?"
"You're okay, Marse." Jeanette said softly as Monica reached into her MedBag to pullout a CPNAP breathing apparatus, the Latina touching a button at the side of her gorget to collapse her helmet so that the Marshal could see her, if upside down from her point of view. Collins' eyes took a moment to focus as they blinked several times, going from Jeanette, to Monica, and then to Jane before returning to the Marine. Nugee had already slipped the breathing cup around Sam's face to aid in her breathing as the Corpsman readied a bag of fluids to help replace what she lost. "Doc's got you."
"N-Nihlus… was here…" The Marshal said weakly, coughing a little as her eyes went around again, searching as tears began to travel out of the corners of her eyes. "He… he was… holding me…" Vas didn't know what to say as she looked up to Negulesco, the Corpsman looking up to the Marine as well as she administered a bag of HexStend Plasma Volumizer to the Butcher of Torfan. She had seen some of her homies and cholos think they saw something at such times, a few having been brought back by emergency rooms believing they had seen a loved one in a time of need. Vas knew who Nihlus Kryik was though she didn't know much more than that he was a Turian SPECTRE and Sam's husband, killed on the fields of Eden Prime. For a grieving widow, even a short time of reunion such as that must have been a powerful thing.
"He was here when you needed him to be, Marscal." Vasquez replied softly, looking at the Butcher with her own dark eyes. "He made sure you wouldn't be alone, and you know he's waiting for you." Blue eyes studied her for a long moment as the color slowly returned to Sam's face, the breathing apparatus doing the breathing for her, slowly returning her to a normal if damaged state. "But we ain't giving up on you so easily, Marse. Otherwise I'll have to ask you to give my blood back."
"Perish the thought." Sam mumbled, blinking away the tears as a shaking hand went onto Jeans', grasping it weakly. "Thank you. Both of you. I'm…" The woman looked at Vas for a long moment.
"…not ready to go. Not yet."
TEAM RED, "South Spire", Alexandria Station, Herschel System, Kepler Verge, July 25, 2183
"Okay, listen up folks," Captain Jane Shepard called out as she looked at the near entirety of TEAM LION in her presence, short only two members; Petty Officer (Second Class) Sara Ryder on the SSV Normandy performing surgery to save a Council Agent's live, and Private Louis Broussard in the M-35 MAKO who was currently engaging Droideka roller-droids. "As of now, we're down five personnel, with both of our Corpsmen tasked out and we still haven't seen hide or hair of Saelon or Harte or whoever the fuck this guy is. I've had enough of this house of horrors, and the kids' gloves are coming off. Ash, Kaiden?" The two looked at her. "You will provide evacuation to the casualty collection point, which will be the MAKO. Secure our casualties inside the APV and provide fire support on any and all threats that head your way. We've been hunting a guy who has had years to prep for an action such as this, and we've been playing his Goddamn game. So I'm going to change the rules." The Level Three Council Agent looked at the remaining standing members of TEAM LION. She was about to go off the reservation, and she was going to need the best. "Vakarian, T'soni, and Zorah, we're going on a hunting party, but we're going to have some assistance. Vas?
"Please pull the SAM Node from Collins and give it to me."
Jannie queued up Cortana to have Bastila set for follow mode as she slipped the multi-box Artificial Intelligence node to her back, the Quantum Entanglement Device connecting with her HMWA MasterGear SPECTRE Mk. IV Armor's OS, getting a confirmation for a secured and successful handshake.
"SAM?"
[Yes, Captain?], the AI asked, his tone indicating that he was ready. Shepard took a deep breath as she violated a Council Law.
"Enact protocol 'Tali's Worst Nightmare'. Link all dataflows and surveillance options to myself and Ensign Zorah." The redhead said outloud, her vox speaking her works to the team as well.
[Authorization password], the AI asked, Jannie seeing helmeted heads glancing to one another, everyone quickly figuring out what was about to happen. It didn't take much of a stretch of an imagination what a Quarian's worst fear would be; a hostile takeover by a machine intelligence, especially while in a space-borne vessel or station.
"Deus Ex Machina." The SPECTRE replied with finality.
[Confirmed]
And throughout the Alexandria Station, the lighting went out as SAM began to assimilate the electronics of the station itself.
Author's Notes: Sorry for the delay, but I broke three metacarpals (that would be fancy words for hand bones) in my right (ie, dominant) hand. Really hard to type with a cast. As a side note, keep all limbs inside the vehicle at all times, and not in between the frame and the closing door.
The X1 was a Krogan Monstrosity created by Cerberus in a location called 'the Barn' in which Randall Ezno introduced himself to with tech, Bitoics, and gunfire. It had hellacious armor, shields, and life, and liked playing typewriter with the Cerberus protagonist. It was the 'Directors' oldest test subject, genetically and cybernetically modified, several times larger than a normal Krogan, with energy-weaponized gauntlets and integrated shield generator, with significant increase of muscle mass as well as the size of its arms. It was realistically one of the toughest fights of the whole series, somewhere akin to Tela Vasir, Kai Leng, and the Shadow Broker since you were facing this thing solo.
Strangely enough, I couldn't actually find a scientific term for 'side-set eyes' or 'forward-set eyes' that marks the distinction for land/avian animals that define predator and prey. Since 'periphery' means 'side-vision', Krogan have 'periphery-set' or 'laterally-set' eyes to make the eyes set on the side of their heads. For forward-set eyes, we have binocular/stereoscopic, so thus we would have 'stereoscopic-set' (meaning wide view) or 'anterior-set' (meaning upper/forward).
I gave Tali a Spiderman moment from the Avengers: Infinity War movie. Considering she's a teenaged badass, it fits.
Yes, I used the Whisper Shout/Thu'um from The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim.
"We invented the Geth by accident. Watch what we can do on purpose!" - I think I got this line from "Glorious Shotgun Princess" when Tali nukes the Shadow Broker with his own shield-charging device and turns him into a Yahg-shaped puddle.
Yep, Ash stole a scene from Terminator 2: Judgment Day when Der Ahr-nold 'hacked' through a door with a M-79 Grenade Launcher when Morton failed to do so. Is there anything a 40mm can't do besides make popcorn?
Added the 'Oxygen Recharging Stations' from Dead Space (another EA game) as something like this in a space facility would likely be a much-needed investment and necessity.
Things aren't looking so good for our intrepid heroes, are they?
Someone (which I could remember who) asked about SAM's level of involvement. While he isn't exactly like the SAM of Andromeda, he does have the capabilities of the SAM Kernal from Andromeda: Initiation in which Cora Harper was tasked with the retrieval of a hostile SAM unit.