Me: Must make it better… must make it better! (frantically types and plans and…crap)
Delta: (eats French fries) You got a pretty good potato…
Me: (Glares at Delta for a second)
Delta: (scoots away) Right… well, here we go again. Enjoy. Thank god for scriptural immunity…
Disclaimer: Zero612 owns nothing. Not even his toothbrush. Mass effect and Halo belong to Bungie/Microsoft and Bioware respectively.
Changing Paths
"Jack, I know how badly you want to go to Teltin but we can't just yet. I need to mine a few planets for resources and get some important upgrades for Mordin to work on before we go and pickup Tali. I can already tell things have gone to hell for her and her team…" Shepard walks out of the elevator on the engineering deck with Jack beside her. "I promised you we'd do it and we will. But it's not my highest priority since there are other things endangering lives right now."
Jack frowns. "Fine, I can wait until after we pick up your damn friend but only until then"
"That works just fine Jack. Now I have to get back up to the cockpit, the sooner we get these resources and g-"
"LEAVE ME ALONE YOU CRAZY FUCKIN REPTIL-AAAAHH!" yelled Delta as he runs past the two women who jump apart to avoid Grunt who barrels by as well. Delta ducks through the door into the engineering bay and is followed closely by Grunt who dive-tackles him down the stairs to where Jack normally is.
"Stand your ground Delta I want to spar!" Grunt demands, fully armored and moving off Delta and standing up now that they are in Jack's quarters.
"Fuck that, I want to live!" I retort, only in a freakin black t-shirt and white Cerberus cargo shorts. I look around and dive to the side as Grunt rushes then dash forward to a maintenance hatch. I open it and crawl through quickly before Grunt can catch me. I crawled through the shaft and kept going, moving even faster when I heard the echoes of Shepard's angry shouts. Oh crap she's calling for me, haul ass man, haul ass!
"zzzzzzzzzzzz-snrt-mmm WTF!" Jacob's yell wakes up Kasumi who also shouts in surprise. Why? Because I was standing by their bed, replacing the cover of the maintenance tunnel I just crawled out of. Yeah, probably not the best exit to choose but in my defence-
"I could've sworn this was Samara's side… oops." And with that I bid adieu, ducking as Kasumi pitches a book at me.
"Well that could've ended better… Kinda cool crawling around in the maintenances tunnels though. Eh, why not, I got time to kill" I chuckle evilly while moving to the Crew deck, looking for a maintenance tunnel to get into, finding one just behind a sleep pod. I slide in and begin my Normandy adventure.
"Glial tissues will build up too much. Can't use hyprozitamine, carboethymite compounds will become unstable in the solution. No no no, proxymite better for limbs and bones general reconstruction, not improvement."
Well Mordin's boring…
"Audio Log begin recording- Floral subject 2315 has shown results of containing aphrodysiac properties and muscle relaxants in its spores. Pollen likely also has smaller concentration of similar attributes. End recording."
….Interesting. but not very useful right now. Pranking mind, go on standby. Let's go check up on Zaeed. With that I move through the tunnels, dropping, sliding and occasionally headbutting the bulkhead. Not the smartest thing to do considering I don't have my helmet. And am not a krogan. But hell, it's dark in there! Oh wait omni-tool. Well that's a bit better, now I can see the large drop under m- crap.
"FUCKIN HELL!"
Shepard raises an eyebrow while riding the elevator up to the CIC then looks at Garrus who stands beside her. His only response is a shrug as he doesn't have a clue as to what it might be. Both have a nagging feeling it's Delta-related. The kids always doing something but this would be the first time he's been out of his room on the ship for a while. EDI's already said he hasn't been in the Armory for a while now.
Well that hurt like a bitch…Why do I feel like singing "I've Got a Little List" from The Mikado? Oh well moving on, who was I going to spy on? …Oh yeah, Zaeed! So where's that old codger… ooh, vent duct! Let's just crawl over to here and look through to our resident cranky old guy who's gazing at a model ship while cleaning his crappy old rifle. He's not doing much besides that…
"Boy do I miss this shitty old rifle. I remember that one mission on Erudon and right where shit hit the fan she came through for me beautifully. Had those two asari, that krogan and the one batarian, that traitor bastard, on my team to take down a comm. Station. Place was guarded well and we had the element of surprise but that damn traitor got those bastards assassins into camp. The krogan's the only one that put up a fight before 'e died and I was the only one left. Fuckin prick sat up in the vents of my room for a full minute before I got pissed and blew his bleedin head off!"
Whoa! Out! Abort mission, Abort mission! Full retreat! Don't look back! Get the fuck out of here!
"Nice try kid, give it a few more years of practice before you think of sneakin up on me again. Especially if I got a workin gun at the time."
Well that sucks…guess I actually have to try to stay quiet. Let's see what Samara's doing.
"DAMMIT DELTA!" Crap, Kasumi's room again. And Jacob's pissed, TACTICAL RETREAT!
"Are you trying to catch a show or something?"
"Hijo di puttana, mi cabeza…" Concussion number 127, welcome to the tally.
Ok, it was a bit of an incline but I think I'm at Samara's observation room. Now, where's the cover or vent duct, I don't see any at the mome-AH!
"Ooof!" Ok, who put that hole there?
"Hello again, Delta. Having fun with your explorations?" Samara asks, still in her meditative position though with a slight smile and inclining of the head towards where I fell and now lay on my back.
"Yeah, just a bit… Seems I'm having more fun just crawling through the tunnels than going to where they end."
Samara lets out a small chuckle and her biotic ball fades as her smile grows slightly at the same time her eyes stop glowing. "You remind me of my daughters when they were young. They too greatly enjoyed exploring anywhere they hadn't been. Especially Morinth, she was always the more adventurous of her sisters…" Samara's face starts to develop a sad look before suddenly becoming emotionless.
I blink and then get up, brushing myself off as I see Samara stiffen again. "Morinth huh? Touchy subject"
"It is a sensitive case. I apologize but I feel I am in need of more meditation."
"Sure, I'll just leave you to it." I walk out of the room and stand there as the door closes. Seems Morinths a subject she'll only speak with the commander about, if she has at all by now. Either way it'd be rude to pry, and if my antics remind her of her children so much then I'll probably be told during a future relapse. Who should I spy on now?
Wow, Miranda's room is so clean and organized. Makes me want to mess it up. Speaking of Miranda, she isn't here either. Guess she went off to talk to Tim or something… Ooh I got an idea. Let's just drop down, nnngh, like so. And now to find our materials. Oh wait, better set up a quick escape into my tunnel… there we go, now back to my project.
Well this might've taken me almost an hour, 17 revisions, 4 credit chits as balancers (contained money emptied into my other spare chits) and 39 head scratching sessions but I finally did it. I have now balanced all of Miranda's furniture on her bedroom couch. It looks pretty nice, kind of like one of the pieces of artwork I'd see at the Getty. Maybe I should splash a few cans of paint on it.
"DELTA!"
Or maybe I should run. Oh too late, she got me.
"What is the meaning of this?"
"Well I'm assuming it's to hold me in place because you're angry for what seems like something I've done, but you're the one using biotics so my guess could be off."
Miranda sighs with a mix of anger and exasperation before closing her eyes and pointing at the stacked furniture. "Explain."
"I'm looking for different avenues of livelihood. I can't just be a soldier all my life, that's dangerous. I seem to have some hope in art though, don't suppress my artistic talent! Please Miranda, do it for the children! And stop turning upside down, its confusing me."
"Delta, I'm going to give you five minutes while I work to put everything back where it was. If you haven't done so by then I will alert Shepard as to what you've done."
"Do you take me for a fool? You'd tell Shepard anyway!"
"Yes but would you rather I tell her you're available for punishment or that I've already handled that?"
"…"
"That's what I thought. Now get to work." Miranda sits and lets the biotics fade away which result in me dropping on my head and shoulders. She starts typing while I put the furniture back, grumbling under my breath about working quickly and more efficiently, other ideas and something about croissants. Guess a visit to Gardner is in order, it's probably close to dinnertime and all I've had today was eggs, bacon, an apple or two and smoke. Coughed that last thing out quickly though, last time I visit the cargo bay vents while they're testing the Kodiaks engines. With a short goodbye to Miranda I set the last chair down and head for the door.
"We have a team meeting in 10 minutes in the briefing room."
"Got it." That gives me 10 minutes to do stuff. Wonder if I can get in a quick game.
"Hey Gardner, what's up?"
"Well hey there Delta. Nothing much really, just made some Cheeseburgers and-"
"Cheeseburgers? Gimme!"
Gardner laughs. "Alright, alright, hold your horses kid. They're not going to run away from ya. Here you go"
"Thanks Gard!" I start to walk off, biting into the surprisingly delicious cheeseburger. Guess Shepard got him some food supplies. I'll just go ahead and chill to my music in my roo-
"After earlier today the last thing I want to hear about you doing is going into a crewmates room and rearranging their furniture."
"Oh uh…. Hey Shepard."
"Delta"
"I put them back…"
"I got her message. What I really want to talk about is earlier with Grunt."
"Oh right… Well that wasn't even really me. He just wanted to spar very badly. He seems to be getting a bit more antsy than usual. Not sure why."
"He seemed that way to me as well. Said he was fine though."
"Huh… maybe Jack bragged to him about what she killed on the last mission and that got him pumped up."
"That's an annoying possibility. If it's causing this I need to make her stop that. I can't have a Krogan eager to fight with nothing safe to fight."
"Yeah that'd be a good idea."
"Come one Delta, We're going to the briefing room"
"But-…fine." I follow Shepard into the elevator up to the CIC deck. Once there we go through Mordin's lab to head to the briefing room. In there I already see Jacob, Mordin, and Kasumi already there, standing around the hologram of the Normandy. Jacob and Kasumi both look at me with a hint of annoyance but I'm too distracted by the odd orange glow of the hologram. Shiny... Shepard stands at the head of the table and I stay close by the door, alternating between leaning on the table or against the wall. After about 7 minutes the others start filing in, Jack takes a position at the wall opposite mine, Grunt goes over to the largest available space and watches Shepard and his temporary claimed space. Zaeed comes in with a slight swagger and smirks at me while Garrus and Than come in, talking about various sniper rifles and taking posts near the center of the table. Samara comes in and glances at everyone before stopping at an available space near Grunt but a comfortable distance from him Now all that's left is Miranda I think, wonder why she's the last to-
"I assume you want this back" Miranda says while slapping a deflated whoopie cushion in my face.
"…I honestly didn't think you'd find it so soon."
She just deadpans.
"I was surprised to find it too. Didn't even know it was in my pocket but when I found it I couldn't just leave it there."
Shepard and Miranda both sigh but the XO is the one who massages her forehead again.
"Alright enough of that. Delta, you're on weapons detail for the next two days. Now, can we begin the meeting? The meeting was called because I need everyone to pool what they know. We're all aware this is a mission with Suicidal odds into a territory yet uncharted or even able to be reported as survivable. So, I want everyone to share any upgrades you think we can use."
Jacob starts off with details on the Silaris armor and Garrus follows up with the Thanix. After that upgrade ideas start rolling in and Shepard takes note of them, filing some away for Mordin to begin working on with our current resources and setting notes on which resources to gather for the larger-scale projects. All this goes by at a steady pace, and I watch, listening to Mordin and the others as they get into more technical talk. I suddenly start to understand more of the words they use but a headache begins forming, feeling like a small burning in the middle of my skull.
"Alright, thanks everyone. Mordin will get to work immediately. Meanwhile we'll stop by a few planets to gather resources for the other projects on our way to Haestrom. Everyone okay with that?"
Everyone nods.
"I'll be making individual rounds later so if anybody has anything else important to tell me, that would be the time to do so." Everyone nods again but I notice Jacob's and Garrus' are a bit more accented. Everyone files out and I head to the Armory with a farewell wave to Jacob. I plop down on my cot and check my terminal to find nothing there. I turn it off and pull up my blanket and pillow before going to sleep.
Oh man, these cleaning fluids stink… How does Jacob go through cleaning the armory weapons every day? There's a gun for every person on this damn ship and special ones for each of the ground crew. Crap, I'm only half done too. Well I'd better start reassembling this rifle and get on to the shotguns… Actually I think I'll take a break now for some fun. I get up from the weapon bench and go to my terminal, turning on my game and joining Infiltrait0rN7 in the pre-game lobby.
"Delta-Specialist. Good to see you again." The buzz of the encryption program sounds as he speaks.
"Hello hello again G. How's it going?"
"It goes well. We have identified a few security risks and are currently working on their removal. We also bear news of your armor project. It is 75% complete and will be able to be retrieved in a short amount of time. The hardware specified was unusual and slowed down production time for research and testing necessary to familiarize our programs with it until consensus was reached on its use."
"Awesome! How good does it look?"
"We have reached consensus that the technology used in the armor is much more advanced than any race in this species is currently capable of. The plating is nearly equivalent to that of the Alliance's Mako tanks, the shielding is twice as strong and appears made to resist complete rounds rather than the chips and shavings fired from the ammo blocks. Even the artificial musculature is extremely powerful and enough to mutilate an average human's body upon use."
"Yep that's why I got the augments, they'll keep me alive inside that armor and I'll just have to take a short time to get used to using it as well. With that equipment, I doubt anything short of a reaper attack is going to kill me."
"We surmise that under the right conditions only a Colossus would be needed."
"Oh be quiet. And watch your flank, we got a small team moving in on our position."
"Acknowledged"
We kept playing for another half hour before I had to leave to get back to working on the weapons. I noticed that in that time Shepard had the ship moved a few planets away to do some more mining. When I'm done working I should check to see how far we are from Haestrom. Oh man Heastrom would be the perfect planet to do an ODST drop on! Dammit, why didn't I think of this sooner I could've made a decent drop pod for myself. I even have an idea of how the Covies made their stasis drop pods for the Elite troopers too! Dammit, such bad timing…
"Something wrong Specialist?"
"What the-! Oh, hey Shepard. No just, lamenting a good idea that'll go to waste."
"Really? And what was this idea?"
"Making a sub-orbital drop pod for myself to land on Haestrom in."
"NO! Are you crazy?"
"Oh come on, you do it in the Mako!"
"The Mako's mobile, large enough for decent armor plating, an eezo core and mass effect field generator to decrease weight for a short time, thrusters and we usually drop from just above mountain height, not just below the border of space! You want a pod to drop down in alone and that's way too inefficient for our budget, especially if it can't serve as a mobile weapon platform."
"Aw man…"
"Please tell me you have other, actually useful ideas"
"Well I fixed the bugs in my Mantis/Viper hybrid rifle. I have a couple weapons from the upload but they don't seem available for development at the moment."
"Well let me know when they can be used."
"Will do Commander. How soon until we get to Haestrom?"
"About another 9 hours or so after this next jump. We're going to be cutting off all outgoing comms in 5 though, so enjoy your game while it lasts. After you finish maintenance of course."
Sigh "Yes ma'am."
"See you Delta" Shepard leaves with a slight smirk, approached by Kelly right as she leaves the Armory. I sigh again and turn around to get back to work, donning my helmet to get into a conversation with Legion while signing offline.
"Hey Legion I have a question."
"We will answer to the best of our ability."
"Could you help me set up a method for hijacking a platform and taking it from the Heretic geth permanently?"
Legion makes a few clicks and whirrs "Elaborate"
I frown, finding a particularly stubborn piece of shrapnel from the ammo block that got lodged in the Shotgun's barrel. "I was thinking, what if you forced the programs currently occupying a mobile platform to cease operating in the platform and replace it with your own while cutting off its connection to the source. Then your allied programs would be controlling the platform instead of your enemy ones."
Legion doesn't respond for about a minute and I continue cleaning the shotguns. "We have reached consensus that it would be possible to do so if we were to provide you with a group of our program copies for the mobile platforms."
"Awesome! We'd just have to load and attach them to my omni-tools hack program, then I can just activate the hack and let them do the rest"
"We will begin writing the software immediately and download the programs into it. We will begin the upload to your omni-tool within 3 minutes."
"Much obliged G. This'll be very useful on our next mission."
"You're welcome."
Legion and I chatted for a short while longer and once the download was finished he left, saying something about fighting the Heretics before having to do a research mission. I kept working on the weapons, sighing about a thousand times in boredom throughout it. I was finally close to being finished and I noticed we were probably a half-hour away from Haestrom now. I can't wait to get Tali on the team, and it'll be even better when Legion's here too. Ok, well now we're finished with weapon's maintenance so I might as well get started on my new project. I can see why the Geth are feared for their plasma tech, the more commonly used kinetic barriers are adapted for stopping solid chips, not projectile bolts of superheated liquid. Another plus for the Spartan armor I'll soon have, its shields are useful for both types of ammunition, though it's more durable against solid ammo.
I'll use an Avenger rifle for the frame of my PR, I think I can replace the inner mechanisms with the necessary systems for making and firing the plasma bolts along with the cooling system and still get it to fold properly. Good thing I've just gotten a shitload of practice with disassembly of these rifles.
"Delta, Shepard has requested your assistance on the mission and says to get ready now. We've encountered heavy Geth activity around where Tali's team was last recorded."
I nod and get up, shelving the gutted rifle in a secure part of my bunk. Not like Jacob's going to take an in-depth look at my project but I know Tim's got eyes and ears around here and I'd at least like to obstruct any twitchy hands he might have. Once its secure I go and get my armor, realizing the thing's not going to be adorning my body for much longer. I'm a bit fond of it to be honest, its shields and armor plating has saved my ass on a couple occasions. Hurt like a bitch when that Krogan dented the chestpiece after our fall but I stuck it to the bastard anyway.
I pack up with my Phalanx, Vindicator, Scimitar and modified Viper then put on my armor. I check both my omni-tools, running them through their combat functions and glad to find the Geth hack program in my infiltrator one, my portable Geth ally ready to borrow a body at any time. As a matter of fact…
"…Can you speak to me?" I ask the programs. My omni-tool blinks as if in affirmative but does nothing else. I guess these aren't the programs capable of human speech. I look through the program a bit and see a subroutine to assimilate extra programs from captured Heretic bodies. I think about this for a second then realize it'll allow my Geth to be more efficient with each hack the more it does it. Cool, it'll be like gaining experience points and leveling up while I rack up the hacks. I chuckle at this while taking the elevator down to the cargo deck and watch the Kodiak get lowered to the floor for us to board, seeing Jacob and Kasumi there as well.
"Hey guys, you're going planetside too eh?"
"Yeah, seems so. I don't know who else Shepard's bringing along though."
"Neither do I. But it'll be good to get out and do something for a change. I've been getting a bit bored over time."
"I can't imagine either of you getting any more then just a bit bored. Especially since I'm taking over your next few shifts and freeing you up a lot Jacob…"
The two chuckle and roll their eyes as Shepard walks up, fully armored up and with Garrus walking beside her. He looks pretty angry but seems to be calming down after Shepard nods her head and finishes coming up to us.
"Good to see everyone's here. Are you all ready to go?"
"Yes ma'am" "You know it" "Of course commander" "Ready to go Shep!"
"Briefings on the way down, everyone get on and buckle up" With that we all jump into the Kodiak as the bay door opens and we shoot out into the atmosphere of Haestrom, speeding away to save the endangered life of a close friend and valuable ally who is in the middle of the territory of a cold, calculating and ruthless enemy.
…
…
…
…
"Is it hot in here or is it just me?"
Me: AND ANOTHER CHAPTER IS OUT! Hopefully better than the last one. I know the next one's going to be fun.
Delta: Awesome (coughs loudly)
Me: You okay man?
Delta: You had me crawling through those dusty maintenance tunnels all over the damn ship! Half of my lungs are coated in the stuff! (coughs again)
Me: Sorry man but it was necessary.
Delta: How?
Me: They were dark, fun to navigate tunnels that stealthily led you into the various rooms of the ship! They had to be explored!
Delta: You sound like a child…
Me: One of the head voices is my 8-year old self I believe. Besides, the drops and ladders must be easier and faster than that slow ass elevator.
Delta: ….
Me: Hah, I win. So we're off to write again, Peace out everyone!