There it goes another one, please, call my mistakes in grammar and tell me what you like, what you dislike, I'm up for suggestions as well. That said, to the chapter.
September 26, 2818 – Sol system, Relief Fleet
Jonathan was in the bridge of the Normandy, with Rayla and the holograms of the 6 admirals of the Relief fleet and the Rachni queen that will go with them. The Rachni, as a species best known by their genetic abilities, constructed a body for the queen so she could interact more easily with others, and since the Human/Quarian/Asari appearance was more common, the body was constructed to look like them. Is worth noting that the body isn't her, she's still in the main Rachni dreadnought, she only assumes command of the body. She was nickname by the humans as Kerrigan, for the striking resemblance with the Queen of Blades, a character from a very old Human game. The admirals of the fleets where: Admiral Caelana Tanimius of the Turians; Admiral Mirlyme V'laius, of the Asari; Admiral Hodon Jess of the Salarians; Admiral Samantha Anderson of the Humans; Admiral Jator'Reegar of the Quarian/Geth; and Admiral Urdnot Gruand of the Krogan.
Shepard knew the responsibility left in his shoulders, the lives of thousands of people were in his hands, and he would make damn sure to value each one of them.
"God, I hate giving speeches."
"It's time. The time when we leave for a whole new galaxy, leaving our old homes behind. I would be lying if I say I'm not nervous. But I have this remarkable people here with me, willing to go headfirst into the unknown, for people they never met. Whatever is on the other side, I know that we can surpass it together. All of us, the brave, the inquisitive, the warrior, the trailblazers of the milky way, we stand on the shoulders of those that came before, challenging ourselves to go further. I don't know what we will find there, or even if the initiative is still alive, but we have no choice but to try. We will say goodbye to this galaxy, to our loved ones that will stay here and wherever we go, we know that they will be with us. Stand strong, stand fast, stand together. Shepard out."
The communication was cut, and he let go the breath he didn't know he was holding. Rayla on his side took his hand and squeezed it. He turned to the Admirals' holograms.
"Good luck and prepare yourselves, you are dismissed." They all saluted and cut the transmission.
"So, this is it?" Rayla spoke.
"Yes, it is." He answered. "Let's go to the pods, we have a long voyage ahead of us."
Same time, Citadel
The three modified Relays sat there, one on each side of the fleet and one in the back. The Relays started spinning, the hyperdrive core linking with the eezo core, the ships began to glow brightly. In a blink of an eye, the ships are gone. The damaged Relays now drifting silently in the empty space. The whole galaxy watched as 1500 ships began their voyage to the unknown. To Andromeda.
Andromeda, Heleus Cluster, Angaran planet of Voeld, Tempest Medbay
Scott Ryder was both pissed and happy. They manage to get some of the Efvra's trust, but at the cost of a bullet in the gut. Lexi already examined him and made the appropriate dressings, he would be good on the end of the day, but it sucks anyway.
The whole thing was a dud, the Golden worlds where not so Golden, some even inhabitable, like habitat seven, where he and his father almost got killed. Alec is now in coma, but thinking he would die, passed the Pathfinder duty to Scott, a job that should be Cora's. Now Scott was in the Tempest medbay, waiting for his leg to heal, so they could save Moshae Sjefa, a cultural and religious leader of the Angara. She knows about the vaults and may be their only hope to survive in this accursed Galaxy. The door of the medbay opened, and Cora entered.
"So, how are you feeling?" she asked.
"Better." He told her. "It's not the first time I get shoot, just some more time and we can go save the Moshae."
"You were reckless there, that could be avoided."
"Ah, don't worry." He said dismissively. "It's just a scar, besides, woman like scars. Don't you?"
She looked at him with a sly smile.
"You know, someday, being a smartass will get you in trouble."
"Nah, I have a good woman watching my back."
They both smiled at each other. When he was named Pathfinder, Scott thought that Cora would be angry, but she appears to be taking it fine, making jokes with him and all. They were interrupted when Jaal entered.
"Ryder, I wanted to ask you…" he then notice the two. "Am I … hemn … interrupting… something?"
"No, no off course not, I was just leaving." Cora said. "And get yourself of this bed already." She said to Ryder, while leaving the medbay. Scott turned to Jaal.
"Hey Jaal, what you need."
"I wanted to ask you to be part of the team that will recue the Moshae."
"You didn't even need to ask, I know how important she is to you. You are already on the team."
"Thank you, Ryder, I won't forget this."
Lexi entered the medbay soon after, she made one last test and, seeing that was all in place, liberated Scott.
Scott and Jaal walked together to the cargo bay, Ryder looked up, to a point in the selling, saying:
"SAM, call Drack, Cora and Vetra to the cargo bay, they are going in the next mission."
"Of course, Scott."
It took less than five minutes for then to arrive, already equipped. Ryder chose to go with the Mattock and the Sidewinder, he preferred the damage of the semi-autos. The five of then exited the Tempest, following the lights until they reached a cave, in the side of a mountain. The Angaran Resistance uses this place as a base of operation on the planet. The group walked to three Angara that were next to a shuttle. Scoot talked with the front one.
"You will be our pilot?"
"Yes, the others are already inside, are you ready to go?"
"Yes, let's go."
They all entered the shuttle. The flight control gave then the all clear and they set off to the other side of the planet.
Inside the shuttle, the Angara were anxious.
"No one ever entered one of those bases and came back alive." A woman said.
"I Like to think they are still alive, that the Kett shipped them somewhere." a man said.
"For what? Slavery?" Jaal asked, disgusted.
"Yes, I suppose." The man responded hesitantly.
"Death is better." Jaal spoke.
Scott has his own thoughts about this but decided to stay quiet. Cora decided to ask about the mission. The female technician dispose herself to answered.
"We will deploy next to one of the shield nodes, then use my program, with the help of your SAM, to make a hole in the barrier and infiltrate the facility."
"Remember people, rescuing the Moshae is the main objective, we will try to save others if we can, but they are not our mission." The Angara leader said.
No one spoke anything more for the rest of the travel. They reached the drop zone and got of the shuttle. The pilot said he could not stay there and took off to the other side of the mountain.
The program worked, the group infiltrated the base, killing some Kett in the entrance. They then separated, the Angaran team responsible for making a distraction, while the Pathfinder team searched for the Moshae.
They walked the corridor until they found the door indicated on the map, they opened it, entering some sort of control room.
"Contact." Ryder said opening fire on a Chosen, firing two shoots, killing it, before taking cover in a round table of sorts. Drack tackled the Destined, blasting its face with a shotgun. Cora used a charge in two Chosen, sending them flying right in Ryder sights, he fired four shots, ending the Kett.
"Clear." Cora called
"Clear"
"Clear"
"Clear"
In the front of them was a window with sight to a courtyard, where The Cardinal seemed to be doing some sort of ritual.
"What is this?" Jaal was shocked.
"Look at the Angara." Vetra called. "They look the be in some sort of trance."
They looked at the Angara, while they entered the pods, without fighting or resisting.
"Ryder, we have to help them!"
"Jaal, I know what you are feeling, but the Moshae is the priority."
Jaal didn't seem to like it but didn't say anything. They watched as the distraction team entered the courtyard, firing on the Kett. Deciding that staying here was useless, the team took the door on the right, walking through a corridor as the base alarms started blaring. They kept walking until SAM called them.
"Pathfinder, I tapped into the kett communications, there appears to be several firefights in this base."
"What do you mean by this, SAM?"
"There is someone else fighting the Kett."
"Are they hostile?"
"Unknown."
"Alright. Drack, take point. Cora with me. Jaal and Vetra, you cover the rear. If we come in contact with the unknowns, you only fire if fired upon. Understood?"
"Understood." All minus Drack confirmed.
"Drack."
"Understood." He mumbled.
The continued through a door, turning the corner they met Kett in a two-level corridor. Drack blasted the first Chosen, as Vetra and Jaal opened fire in the Kett. Scott spotted an Anointed spooling up his weapon, ready to shoot the Turian, he jumped, conjuring a mass of biotics in his hand, slamming it on top of the heavy gunner, killing him instantly. He used his advantage point, shooting the Kett below. After not a long time, the corridor was clear.
"Here." Vetra called, "There is a vent here."
They gave space o that Drack could break the vent with his hammer. They walked through the dark until they found a way back to the other side of the vent. Walking past a door they entered a chamber, that locked the moment they set foot in it.
"I don't like this. SAM!?" Ryder called.
"This appear to be only a decontamination chamber, nothing that can hurt you."
"Germophobes!?" Drack said.
It was then that a window, right in front of then, became see-through, and they watched as some sort of ritual began. A Kett took two syringes an began to float up until he was face to face with an Angara who got levitated out of a stasis pod. The Kett then injected some sort of serum on the chest of the Angara. The man began mutating, bones taking place of skin, the head changing its format, the man became a Kett Chosen.
The team watched in shock, unable to do anything. When the door opened, they took cover in the room and began to fire at the Kett.
"No, wait!" Jaal shouted. "Keep the angaran alive."
"I'm sorry, Jaal." Cora spoke. "But he is shooting at us!"
"Argh, monsters, VILLAINS! Time to die!" Jaal shouted in a voice of hatred.
The five of then made quick work of the Kett, cleaning the room within minutes. Jaal kneeled beside the turned Angara, sobbing.
"I've seen some serious crap, but this is straight-up evil." Scott said.
"Let's recue the Moshae and get the hell out of this place." Cora argued.
Scott saw Jaal, he didn't know what to say or what to do, but he knew he needed to do something. He put his hand in Jaal's shoulder.
"Jaal…"
"They are us." He looked lost, almost broken, even.
"We Have to go." Drack said quietly to Ryder. "That could be happening with the Moshae as we speak."
"We have to get to her, fast." Scott agreed.
"If you plug me, I can invade the Kett systems, searching her will be faster." SAM spoke
"Do it."
Scott turned his attention to Jaal, kneeling beside him.
"They are us." Ryder didn't know what to say. "How many have I Killed, not knowing." He turned to Scott, and the Pathfinder could see the pain in his eyes. "Ryder, I didn't know."
"I'm sorry, Jaal. How can I help? What do you need?"
"I… don't know." Jaal took a deep breath. "But that is kind, thank you."
"Scott, I've found her." SAM spoke in the team comms. That got their attention.
"Where?"
"Right after that decontamination chamber." SAM set a nav-point in said chamber.
They quickly moved inside, when they saw The Cardinal moving the Moshae away.
"SAM, open this chamber now!"
"Stand by. Opening."
They didn't even stop to take cover, shooting past the Kett, into the elevator next to the one The Cardinal took.
"Pathfinder, I've identified who is fighting the Kett."
"Who is it?" All of the team started paying attention.
"There appears to be a human, leading a team with a Quarian, a Krogan, a Human and two others. The others are odd, they appear to be mechs of some sort. They are converging on the same position this elevator is going."
"Maybe the Quarian is from the Keelah Si'yah."
"There is only one way to find out."
They exited the elevator, a battle already taking place, they saw a 2 meter tall human in black armor using what appeared to be an automatic DMR, while the dual-wielding Quarian female and a Geth look alike focused fire in the Cardinal, with SGMs and Assault Rifle, respectively. The Quarian crouched back to cover, reloading the SGMs, spotting then.
"You guys took long enough. Some help would be much appreciated!" The Quarian woman said, popping out of cover, laying fire on the Cardinal.
"Shoot the orb." Drack said. "It will drop her shield."
"Only if we knew that sooner." She said, now focusing on the orb.
Scott took cover beside the big man. He needed to ask.
"Who are you people?"
"My name is Jonathan Shepard, I'm the squad leader, as for who we are, let's leave that for when this fight is done." Scott didn't say anything, only nodding to the now named Shepard.
"Jäger, Raven, where are you?" He asked trough the comms, he nodded when got a response. He then remembered that the Pathfinder team was not hearing it, he raised his arm, activating the omni-tool. "Tune your coms to this frequency." He said, sending the frequency to Ryder.
"We are here boss." Scott heard a German accent through the comms. He looked up, as two figures dropped from the floor above then. One was a black armored robot, 'dressed' in armored boots and pants, with armor over its chest, looking more like storage spaces, armed with a DMR. The other was a 30-year-odd blonde woman. She was wearing a Medium Armor, with a Green, Brown, Black camouflage pattern, in one of her shoulder pads was a emblem, a sword on top of the German flag, surrounded by oak leaves, the other shoulder pad was white, with a red cross painted in it, she was using an Assault Rifle.
"Good. On my signal, I need you to throw a Singularity right in the middle of them. Raven, you lay waste on them."
"Roger." They said in unison.
Shepard waited a few more seconds, then he yelled.
"NOW."
The German flung a Singularity in the Kett ranks, pulling even the ones that were far from the center into the event. The black robot raised, dropping his weapon, morphing his right hand and arm into to a minigun, spiting 3000 rounds per minute in the floating mob of enemies, he kept firing for almost 40 seconds, when he ended, there it was only the Cardinal left. The smoking gun morphed again into his arm, picking up the dropped rifle. Scott, like the rest of the team, was shocked with the sheer fire power of that gun.
Ryder would've said something, but the voice of the commander came first.
"Everyone, focus fire on the Cardinal, bring it down."
It didn't take long to defeat the Cardinal with ten guns firing at it. When the all clear was called, they moved to the fallen Moshae. Scott Kneeled beside her.
"Moshae Sjefa, we came to rescue you."
"Nobody ever returned from behind Kett walls." She said, still weak.
"We are new here, don't know the rules yet."
"Quickly, let's get here out of here, then come back and rescue everybody." Jaal said.
"No." The Moshae said alarmed. "We can't let this place standing, we must destroy it."
"Moshae, please, it is our people here, our fighters, our scientists. We can come to destroy this place later."
The Cardinal got up, disoriented, she looked at them.
"NO!" she charged in their direction. "You will not take it. It is meant for the Archon himself."
She stopped when both the weapons of Cora and Raven where pointed to her head.
"She is coming with us." Ryder said, walking away with Jaal helping him support the Moshae.
"Wait. I want to know why the archon…" Her weakness took the better of her, she was not able to finish the sentence.
"Arrogant simpletons. This is a gift! Who are you to deny it!?"
"You turn them into monsters to fight their own people." Jonathan said disgusted, that hit too close to home.
"These Chosen join with us to become great beyond your ability to understand." The cardinal began with zealot intensity. "Like them, I was once wretched, and the exalted DNA of our great Archon entwines with mine. I stand on the shoulders of his great…..gahgh."
The Cardinal was not able finish, when a sword pierced her abdomen. The sword was pulled upwards, exiting in her right shoulder. She fell to the ground, dead.
"She talked to much." Varn said, sheeting the sword on his back. Again, the Pathfinder team was shocked, mainly because they did no saw the big Krogan arrive. Shepard's team were not fazed by it. He turned to the Quarian girl.
"Rayla, could you please…" He said mentioning the body. But she was already tapping her omni-tool
"Already on it, aaand done, the people are freed."
"How much time do you think your people need to evacuate everybody." Jonathan asked, turning to Jaal.
The Angara reached for his communicator, talking with the angaran team leader. He nodded after a few seconds and turned his attention to Shepard.
"Seven minutes in the faster, twelve if slower." Shepard nodded and reached for the carrier indomitable.
"This is Grand Admiral Shepard to ARS indomitable. Do you read?"
"Loud and clear, sir. What do you need us?"
"Do you have my positions?"
"Yes, sir. Big place with church vibes."
"Exactly. The locals here are evacuating personal. They estimate a max of twelve minutes to it, I want this place leveled at fifteen, and do not use the ground shakers, the planet is important to the locals. Do you copy?"
"Yes, sir. 3 B-224 are being deployed, ETA 14 minutes."
"Let's get out of here!" Shepard said, tuning to the group.
"There is an adequate land pad in the end of this bridge."
"You heard it, lets go." Ryder ordered.
They ran to the end of the platform, taking cover where they could as Kett began to pour after them. Shepard called over the radio.
"Julio, where the hell is that shuttle!?"
"We don't need a shuttle." He said over the radio. Seconds passed, when the Normandy soared on top of then, opening her cargo ramp.
"Everybody in, now."
They retreated to the inside of the ship, where on the inside, marines were laying cover fire. When all of them where safely inside, the cargo bay closed, and the Normandy soared to space.
"Agatha, take her to the medbay, you." Shepard said pointing to Jaal. "Go with them, we don't have much knowledge about your physiology."
The German soldier and Angaran sniper carried the Moshae to the elevator
"If I may, I could send a report made by Doctor D'Perro about the Angara." SAM said through the comms.
"Do it, will help lots. Eva, you know what to do."
"Of course." Came a synthesized voice from the cargo bay speakers. "Program SAM, I'm Systems alliance artificial intelligence designation E-V-A 12263, Eva. I'm beginning handshake protocols."
"Whoa whoa whoa. What do you mean artificial intelligence?" Scott said, wanting an explanation.
"Do you think this really important now, kid?" The Geth, Prophet, asked. "Right now, we have a person in dire need of help, and you want to discuss why we have an AI? While having an AI in your own head, no less?" Ryder and the team were stunned by the sudden outburst, Ryder could only nod.
"Down, Prophet." Rayla said, touching her collar bone area, making her helmet retreat.
"Sorry." Prophet said insincerely.
"Sorry about it." Rayla said talking with Scott. "He reacts like that sometimes." Scott didn't answer, just looking at the people there.
"You are a Quarian." He said, matter of factly.
"The last I checked, yes." She responded playfully.
"And are not wearing a helmet."
"Yep." She said, popping the "P" on purpose.
Cora was having none of this.
"You are working with a Geth, and other AI's, it was not long that they attacked one of our colonies."
"That's where you are mistaken, Lieutenant Harper, that happened 600 year ago." Prophet responded. Cora became enraged.
"Don't try to make fun of me, bot, that joke is old and I not up for it."
"Let us all calm down, all will be explained." Shepard tried to defuse the situation. "Pathfinder Ryder, where is Alec Ryder?" He asked Scott.
"In a coma, he inhaled poisonous gases in Habitat-7, he passed the duty to me before it."
"I'm sorry to hear it." He then addressed to the rest of the pathfinder team. "You all deserve an explanation. Pathfinder, do you want to call the rest of your crew to the Normandy, so they can all hear it?"
"I think this will be for the best."
And that's it. This was a big one. Hope you liked it. I'm always open to criticism. Until the next one.
PS: If you want to get a better image of the ships, check this guy's DeviantArt gallery: /euderion/gallery/40849119/MASS-EFFECT those 3d models are awesome. Just ignore the sizes, in this story, they are bigger.
Now I'm going to wait the Borderlands 3 Gameplay stream.