Me: *waves* Hello ello ello, I have returned esteemed members of the fanfiction community. Why so long? Well, my inspiration well ran dry. Only got it back running after my vacation. Of course, my laptop chose that time to take its own vacation. Wouldn't turn on no matter what for a good few weeks until one miraculous last ditch attempt in the parking lot, on a hot Sunday, inside the car at my brother's game.
Delta: z z Z
Me: (rolls eyes) Anyways, on with the show, hope I don't disappoint.
Changing Resolve
Ahhhh this is the life. No Reapers, no homicidal Geth, no private military companies to fight against, just me, a hammock, a soda, and the whole female crew in bikinis. Not like they're gonna let me anywhere near them anyways but eh, whatever. I bet Garrus and Gardner are off preparing the grill, I can't wait til we get something to eat. It feels kinda weird to be having this beach day with all that's going on, but hey if Tim says we've been working too hard and need at least one day to unwind then Im not gonna fight it. Well, until its time to eat I'm gonna take a little nap.
At that point I was flipped out of my hammock, and hit the ground hard enough to make my eyes shoot open. Instead of sandy beach I was met with rocky shores, rough waters crashing against said rocks and my legs, my armor dented and the mangled remains of the Kodiak over to our left. And right. And a few feet in the water. And some in that tree. I thing that's the door over there near the pyjak nest.
"YOU BLOOMIN IDIOT! YOU CRASHED OUR FUCKING SHIP!" Zaeed yells stomping over and kicking me in the side.
"AH! Sonuvabitch man that hurts!"
"That's the point you fucking retard! I oughta kill you right fucking now for stranding us here on this planet!"
"Hey! I didn't know the autopilot couldn't handle landings asswipe! Why didn't you wake me up when the trouble started in the first place!"
"Autopilot?! We thought you were flying this shit heap!"
"When did I ever say I could fly this thing?! We left 15 minutes later than we would've because Shepard had to call Joker over to set up the autopilot himself!"
"If you had told us you couldn't fly this we wouldn't be in this mess!"
"If you had bothered to check what was going on now instead of thinking about who made your face as ugly as it is today, we wouldn't be in this mess either!"
At that point Zaeed tackles me and starts to punch. And it hurts. So I punch back and this continues for a good few minutes with both of us just getting more snarls and faster swipes until Kasumi and Jacob pull us apart. I'm left with several bruises on my face and a split lip while Zaeed's nose is broken and he has a swollen ear. So he got an improvement and I'm going to have an even harder time attracting girls. Awesome…
I shrug out of Jacob's grasp, ignoring his words as I stalk over to the wreckage of the Kodiak. Thankfully Mordin and I made my plasma blades well because they are still attached to my wrists and functional. Sadly the only thing salvageable from my weapons is my Cobra sniper. My plasma repeater was there but as soon as I picked it up it broke apart, the hull melted by the plasma that was released inside it, frying everything. I threw it back down in anger, and picked up an m-5 phalanx, detaching the laser pointer from my mangled one and attaching it to this. I put my Cobra across my back and the pistol to my hip and looked at the others. Jacob had a mattock rifle and Katana shotgun while Kasumi had the Locust. I blink for a second then look around.
"Where's Silver?" I ask.
"We are 5 meters ahead Delta. Enemy forces spotted and approaching crash site location. Designation: Blue Suns. 3 Batarian-Mercenaries, 2 Human-Mercenaries."
"Whats your loadout?"
"We are currently equipped with a Plasma Shotgun and Vindicator Assault rifle. Our Phasic Rifle was not salvageable."
I nod though he can't see, jogging up towards his position and pulling on my helmet while unholstering the Cobra "Wait for my shot before engaging. Tell me when they're in range."
"Acknowledged."
I move up quickly, adjusting myself to the limp in my left leg with a grunt. Soon I see Silver's chassis nearly hidden by some deep foliage and a fallen tree on the path. Looking at the tree in front of him he seems to be using something to cover his glowing lenses, probably some leaves. They seem mostly angled so they cover his more reflective body parts from the front so no flashing alerts anyone. I crouch once he's in view and proceed slowly, Cobra up and scanning through the scope for the targets. I soon see them, coming from the right side near some more of the foliage near the treeline. I check their armor, seeing one guy with a star ornamentation and guessing he's the group leader. I breathe slowly, centering the sights on his head and waiting for Silver to say they're in range for him. I feel rather than see Kasumi sneak past me as her cloak activates and Jacob drops down behind me.
"In range." I let off my first shot of the fight. Instead of the flaring of shields and explosion of gore from the head only half of what I expected came to fruition. The shields flared as the round broke through but it hit him in the chest. I paused for a couple seconds as he reeled in pain and sent a second round into him., flooring the man. Kasumi came out of stealth and knocked one of the batarians to the ground, cancelling out his shields and opening fire with her smg on the other one. Zaeed gunned down the Batarian as he tried to stand while Jacob went forward with his Mattock and fired into the head of the second human. The third Batarian was put down by 2 bursts of Silver's Vindicator.
"Good job guys" I said while moving forward and scooping several heat sinks from the body of the an I killed, then walked to one side opposite of a tree and aiming at it. I lowered the gun and adjusted the sights slightly before aiming again and taking the shot. I repeated this process two more times until satisfied, nodding to myself and looking over to Zaeed as he finished fiddling with his omni tool while crouched over one of the bodies. A voice came on over our headsets, telling the Blue Suns to take positions and dig in.
"Guess they figured crash and lost soldiers mean invading force." I say, starting to walk forward. I replace the heat sink in my gun putting it away as we move on, Silver and Zaeed on my left with Jacob and Kasumi on my right. We get to a fuel line area with a bridge over a rive that has been retracted. I stand in direct sight of about 20 Blue suns mercs for a couple seconds while the others move to cover. I dive to the side as a rocket shoots for me. Rolling I end up behind cover with Zaeed. The two of us look at each other and grunt before pulling out our guns and popping up to crack heads. I drop back down and tuck my Cobra away, stealthing and drawing my pistol. I sneak up behind a group of five near the back behind some cover and foliage, lifting my gun to the back of one mans head and pulling the trigger. 2 shots on shield and a final to break the head I twist, stabbing down into the chest of the guy beside me. I drag him in front, using him as a shield and his comrades as the weapons as I reposition my gun, blasting another man down. I holster the pistol, using both hands to toss my meat shield into the two remaining mercs, throwing them off balance and lunging forward, making my blades extend and thin to stab straight through their helmets. When the last body drops I turn and see the area clear. I meet up with everyone and go to the bridge, opening it and starting to walk across to the refinery we can see over the crest of this small hill.
"Alright lets get this over with. Jacob you lead the group into the refinery gate, I'll scout ahead." He nods to me and my active camo turns on. I disappear from the group and move forward, stalking ahead at a faster pace than the others. As soon as I step past the gates I see Vido up on the balcony, anticipating the arrival of whoever he suspects is attacking him. I look around for a minute, deciding where and how to scale the wall up to his balcony. I move to the right, activating my booster pack and having the antigravity make me light enough to jump to the ledge halfway between the floor and the balcony. I perch on the ledge just as Jacob walks through the gate with the group. Vido steps forward along with Zaeed, a sneer on his face.
"Zaeed?" Vido says with a voice laden in surprise, contempt and pickle sandwiches "I thought you were dead. I shot you myself."
"Rage is a hell of an anasthetic." Zaeed growls, glaring at him. I take this opportunity to hop onto the railing and look around the balcony. Just the two merc guards and Vido himself here. Easy pickings. I lunge forward and grab one of the guards, throwing him against the wall behind us then pop the second guards head point blank with my Cobra. By this time I've come out of stealth completely and stab down, cutting through his left thigh and tearing it out to cripple his leg. I sheathe my Cobra and blade, grabbing Vido by the shoulders and shoving him off the balcony. While not a terribly high fall it is a painful drop, evidenced by Jacob and Kasumi's synchronized flinch and hiss. I look around a bit, ignoring Zaeed beginning his speech as I searched for some controls to the gate. Lo and behold I find them adjacent to a stairwell to the ground floor. I walk down them to the sound of grinding gears as the gate is lowered and step out to see Vido getting savagely beaten by Zaeed.
I watch this spectacle for a good few minutes, Vido yelling out in pain, Zaeed grunting with effort, fists smacking against various fleshy bits and armor. Jacob, Kasumi and Silver have all walked to my side by now and are watching as well. Just when I thought I should intervene Zaeed gives a heavy right hook to Vido and stands, spitting at his as he walks towards us, pulls out his pistol and points it behind him to fire two shots that put Vido down on hit. He grunts as he steps by us and holsters his pistol before taking out an assault rifle.
"Alright. Let's get the hell of this fuckin planet." He blinks then looks and glares at me "Wait, the fuckin team leader crashed our fuckin ship."
I just rolled my eyes and walked away "We're going to borrow the Blue Sun's ship asswipe. Now get moving, we have to clear the unwanted guests from our new ship." I say as I turn a corner and gun down a Blue suns merc, taking his vindicator rifle. I pop the heat sink and replace it, heading into the refinery with the intent to kill anything wearing blue armor that has Zaeed's face imaginatively superimposed over the helmet. It was already proving cathartic, though would've been bad if anyone had caught me the one time I had let a comment like "Die you dirty old bastard..." but my helmet speakers and mic were off so I was safe. I think. I frown as we step through a door to see a large area with piping curling along the floor, machinery chugging away at the center of the wall our door is on and at the opposite right corner of the room. Across the room was another door on a ledge with a gap between the two sections of the room and a bridge withdrawn into the ledge.
"I have a bad feeling…"
"Delta, sensors indicate a large amount of enemy troop movement directed here. Advise to seek cover."
"Good idea." We all duck and roadie run to a piece of piping or machinery just as a burst of automatic fire flies at our positions. 2 squads of 6 Blue Suns mercs have just entered from opposite doors halfway through the room, and are slowly moving to cover while laying down suppressive fire. I peek over the wall to see where they are, calculating my options for a second before chucking a grenade over and smirking as it slips through one of the slightly dented sections of the piping and between the group on the left. I bring my Cobra up just as the bang goes off, a large explosion of force and fire echoing out as two of the men are taken down immediately and burnt to ash while 3 others are pushed away and against the piping, shields downed with a crackle of electricity. One man was blasted so his upper torso was almost on top of the pipes and another was pushed against it but only his head was enough out of cover for danger. I shot the guy who was low, dropping him forward while Silver took his Vindicator and fired a quick burst into the other mans head. I hop over our piping and dash forward, sliding to a stop behind the piping the group previously inhabited. I reach over and grab the last man, pulling him and myself up and stabbing him in the chest before dropping the body.
With a quick check I can see Jacob hitting one of the other groups soldiers with his mattock before holstering it and pulling out his shotgun to blast another one handed. Kasumi had just reappeared and shot down 2 others with her Locust and pistol, taking them by surprise with her cloak and Zaeed had kicked a guy down the gap while snapping the 6th's neck. At the sound of grinding I look behind to see two doors open on the wall behind me, with 10 Blue Suns coming out accompanied by a large YMIR mech.
"Fuckin hell!" Zaeed swears and I look back as I dash to cover with Silver, seeing the same group come out of another door beside Jacob, Zaeed, and Kasumi. I drop in next to Silver, seeing the others get to cover as well while the YMIRs step out and unload rounds and a couple rockets at us. With a quick peek that lasts a second before I pull back to avoid a barrage of bullets hitting the corner I saw enough to guess that the mercs were now in cover and the Ymirs were before them providing suppressive fire. Too perfect.
"Silver. Make some friends." I say, turning to my Geth compatriot.
"Acknowledged." The fire stops suddenly, replaced with some sparking sounds and grinding metal as the YMIRs are hacked and reset to follow Silver's orders. I see a brief flash of coding over his eye then look back to see the YMIRs heads make angry faces and start firing bullets and rockets at the entrenched mercs. There's a about 5 seconds of yelling, gunfire, explosions and thumps of bodies hitting the floor before things grow silent. Then a high pitched noise keens out, signaling the mech cores going critical and exploding in a miniature mushroom cloud.
"Alright, lets get out of here before anyone else shows up. I say, hopping over and jogging to where the bridge connects, glad to see a control panel. I frown when upon closer inspection I see a few rounds had impacted the casing, making it spark and the buttons fade in and out. I give it a good kick and the bridge opens out. "Fixed it!"
I walk across the bridge to the door opening it and smiling as I see the Mantis ahead. I smirk and stealth creeping up to it and stepping inside to see about 5 more mercs sitting in their seats and one in the pilot seat of the gunship. Looking at the controls we both scan over them and while he remains nonchalant I smirk, my suspicions having been confirmed and my day getting a good notch. Now I am to enact phase 2 of the plan. I lift both my hands and bring out the blade in one, pushing his head forward with one while stabbing straight through to the brain with the other. He dies with barely a sound, allowing me to walk back out through the gunship while slitting the throats of each seated merc as I step past. I stand on the entry ramp and unstealth to see everyone come up.
"Ladies and Gentlemen, your chariot awaits." I say with a smirk. We get in, clear out the bodies by unceremoniously dumping them over the edge of the landing pad before everyone gets inside the gunship and straps in. I get in the pilots seat, bringing up a small interface to get the access clearance codes from the pilot I killed programmed into the Gunships automated clearance protocol program. Closing the hatch I start it up, pulling up slightly before heading forward and slowly ascending until I break atmosphere.
"So Delta, what's the plan? We're not going to get far in this gunship." Jacob says.
"Well of course not. The Blue Suns didn't. This is just our ride to our ride."
"Shepard was right… you are fucking insane." Zaeed mutters.
"You plan to have us hijack a Blue suns cruiser?" Kasumi says incredulously.
"Why yes. From what I saw over their channel, the cruiser is currently running on a skeleton crew, so if anything the force will only be as large as the one on the refinery, and less capable too. They had their longest veterans there alongside Vido for his protection." I say, smirking as the cruiser appears through the window of the Mantis. One of the hangar doors drudge open as we near it, allowing entry into a small space likely reserved for this Mantis entirely. I power down the gunship and lean back in my chair as Silver walks up. We look at each other and turn back to the window while chitters and crinkling noises sound in Silvers head until voila! A schematic of the cruiser we are in appears on the window. It seems to have 4 hangars, 2 on each side, 2 reserved for troop transport Mantis and 2 more reserved for a modified troop transport mantis outfitted with a larger, stronger engine for heavy lifting, likely ground vehicles or Ymir mechs. One of them is still in its hangar and both regular troop transport Mantises are here counting ours. The Cruiser itself isn't much longer than the Normandy SR2 but it certainly is quite a bit wider. There are 2 point defense turrets on both the starboard and port sides of the ship, 1 PDT at the nose just below the bridge, and a few dozen javelin missile pods along each wing. The armor is standard military issue so it's a good defense. The icing on the cake though is that in the past hour only about 15 different personal comm. signals have run through the ships system. I chuckled at this.
"We have a real bare skeleton crew here." I say, looking to Silver. "Good work. Now lets do some spring cleaning." My mood just continued to improve. One loyalty mission is down and we're about to seize a cruiser. If only Shepard could see me now. I'll have to give her a call after this. I smirk and turn to see the rest of the group looking at the information as well.
"See this? Piece of cake. This is why you guys put your trust in my work. I always get good results."
"Well, I had nearly no faith in you but Shepard said to trust you. Guess you really can come out of a crap situation on top." Says Kasumi, looking at the scattered dots of people using comms. I frown at her while Jacob merely chuckles.
"Gotta say I'm impressed. I was skeptical after the Kodiak crashed but now. Well, seems like we get a new ship."
"Fuckin lucky little kid I say. They always did seem to get more and more stupid after I left." Zaeed mutters.
I'm torn between frowning and smirking in smugness but instead decide to focus my attention on the map. I see the dots starting to move towards the bunks and the bridge. Seems they're consolidating for their night shift and rest times. Perfect.
"Alright, we have two main groups now. Silver, Jacob, Zaeed, go to the crew bunks, eliminate everyone there. Kasumi and I are going to take out everyone in the bridge." I order. Everyone nods and moves off, Kasumi and I hang back as I close up the Mantis and walk out. Silver sends me a note saying he'll remotely loop any ship cameras on the way to the bunks so they retain the element of surprise, and most importantly we do. I look at Kasumi and stealth, silently signaling her to do the same, which she does. The two of us then quickly and silently make our way to the bridge. Switching to thermals I look inside, taking note of 7 heat sources each at a computer but all a good distance from each other.
"You get the 3 on the right. I'll get the 3 on the left and the one at the center console." She nods and the door slides open a bit so we both slip in. We move quickly and I watch Kasumi come out of stealth while snapping one guy's neck before placing her pistol at a second mans head and pulling the trigger. When he goes limp her foot shoots up, snapping the third guys neck back and dropping him quickly. As soon as she attacked I stabbed two of the men on the left in the back of the head before whipping a blade out, spinning and jamming it into the 3rd guys chest. At the center console the man who seems to be the captain jumps up, fumbling slightly for a pistol to point at Kasumi. Just when he pulls it out I use my pack to boost a jump, knocking into his back and twisting him around to stab him in the heart then drop him to the side. I look around with a smirk, glad to see that everyone was neutralized quickly and none of the consoles were damaged, my whole reason for having Kasumi join me instead of Jacob or Zaeed. Kasumi drops around into the head of the man she kicked, making sure he's dead.
"Delta, we have the crew bunks neutralized. We're all clear." I chuckle.
"Great! Gentlemen, Lady, Robot, this cruiser is now ours! Silver, how many programs must you divert for controlling the ship?"
"…We conclude that all programs would be needed, and a hardwire connection is necessary for secure transfer." He responds, metal clanking sounding in the background as I suspect hes making his way up. Lo and behold, our metallic savior comes from on high upon a chrome steed of coding and sparks! Huzzah! Hm, I wonder if I could dress up the colossus like a horse. I could have it moved into here actually. Not like I'm going to get rid of this cruiser, oh hell no. Silver can contact the Geth for me, see if they can hold onto it for a while. Having my own ship at my command… hehe, its like I'm living out my Star Conflict game.
"We are fully assimilated. Course set for planet Aeia. Opening contact with Shepard-Commander." What? NO!
"SILVER, NO!"
The line rings a few times before opening "This is Specialist Kelly of the Normandy SR2 . Who is speaking?" Oh that's right, Kelly IS the secretary. Along with the mind-scanner girl.
"Hey Kells, its Johnny from the psychology seminar, calling to see if you're coming by the Citadel anytime soon, we can catch up, have lunch, relive that last Friday night with the whipped cream-"
I hear some thumps and grumbles from the other line along with a sigh "Delta, what do you want and where are you calling from? This isn't the contact line for the Kodiak."
Oh, Shepards there too. "Uh, hehe, hey Shepard…Um, yeah, about the Kodiak…"
"What did you do."
"It crashed. Not my fault, there was a malfunction in the landing system!"
"You crashed the Kodiak!? What the hell Delta!"
"Hey I said it wasn't my fault! If anything it was Jokers! He programmed the autopilot!"
"Don't try to blame this on me! I programmed that thing just fine, with all the parameters it needed! If anything it was that stupid Cerberus tech that messed it up probably!" I forgot Joker likes to listen in on these calls sometimes. Probably chose to when I was talking to Kelly. I look behind to see Zaeed and Jacob walk, small smirks on their faces. I look back to the console and am pleased to see squares set up across the view screen, still photos of Kelly, Shepard and Joker in them with voice wave indicators underneath each shot that vibrate when someone speaks.
"Might I remind you Mr. Moreau, that that "stupid Cerberus tech" is the very ship you are piloting right now?" Miranda interjects, and her face pops up in another square. I chuckle.
"Yeah well the SR2 has two things countering the Cerberus tech, my old girl's spirit and me!" Joker responds defiantly.
Shepard's wave indicator tremors as s low sigh comes out of her, nearly unheard.
"In that aspect I must correct you Joker. Your "old girl" is not onboard the ship, as I am the only AI currently on board." And suddenly, EDI. Silver seems to have left her with a moving head, likely getting the image from her directly.
"No, you're just here to handle a few things but my old girls spirit is in every part of the ship, making her run better!" Joker says.
"No, every part of the ship is made to run better by the software and hardware upgrades that we implement, courtesy of our crew, Mr. Moreau!"
"They help, but the Normandy gives a good kick in the pants"
"ENOUGH!" Shepard yells. " Joker, shut up, Miranda, stop spying on my calls, and Delta, WHERE ARE YOU CALLING FROM!"
I flinch a bit at the volume and can practically see Shepards tired and angered face. They're probably working their way over to the Shadow Broker now, might even be in the system where he is. "I'm calling from a Blue Suns cruiser we've seized."
"…You took over a cruiser?"
"Uh…yeah?" I respond tentatively. I wait for a few seconds before Shepard's face disappears from the grid of squares, then Silver speaks up.
"EDI has informed us that Shepard-commander left the room, muttering something about "stupid, lucky-ass children not being worth her time."
"Ouch…."
Kelly picks the conversation back up "She doesn't mean it. She wouldn't really say it often but she was worried about you guys. Especially Delta since he's so headstrong and still in that "invincible-teenager" stage of mindset. Then finding out you actually completed the mission and captured a ship on top of that is a mess on her nerves."
"Yeah, Kelly's right in that area." Joker adds. "I'm kind of insulted though, guess you got so tired of me flying you around the whole universe you decided to get your own cruiser huh? "
I chuckle with Joker. "Nah, you still get to chauffer me around clown-boy. We can't use this thing all the time, gotta keep something like this in reserve. Ok guys, tell Shepard we'll be alright, we're on our way to Aeia now. We'll be done and back soon. Delta out." They say their goodbyes before I close the link and sit back in the captain's chair. I look around with a slight smirk. I own a ship now. A decent sized cruiser that's about a head longer and a wing wider then the Normandy with almost twice its weaponry loadout. This seems like one of their less war, more travel ships, since there's more consoles for managing things than there are things to manage. Zaeed, Jacob and Kasumi say goodnight, which I barely register and wave back in time as they head out to go to bed. I merely lean further back in the chair and watch as stars fly to us, by us and then more appear in front while Silver guides the ship through the sea of black waters and white dots towards the nearest Mass relay. I open my omni tool and bring up the writing function.
Shepard,
Sorry to worry you. I know you can't help it and I can't change it. I appreciate that you care though. I really do. Because of that, I will do everything I can to make sure I always come back alive. Might be with a few scrapes and bumps, a laceration or two but I will. So please do the same, and not just for me but for everyone. The Shadow Broker is dangerous, you know this, Liara knows this, everyone knows it. He has a huge reputation and it isn't built on handing out flowers and chocolates. So be careful, and come back alive please. You're closer to being invincible than I am, I'm still getting the experience I need.
With that I sign off on the end and send it through the usual lines, heading straight for Shepard's Omni tool. Miranda's likely to screen it first and get the bug I had Silver add that would change her desktop wallpaper to a picture of Jacob shirtless and have other pictures of the like pop up on her screen randomly for the next five days. I'm not sure if she'll like it or hate it, probably both. Well, I won't be in any real trouble unless Kasumi finds out I took them from her personal collection. I chuckle, seeing a Mass relay coming up and wishing I had my xbox for a second.
Oh well, guess I'll see how much the Fakku community's grown til I pass out.
Me: WOOOO new chappie done! Working on another one immediately after so expect it soon!
Delta: That is unless we get swamped with work later this week.
Me: Oh shut it! Besides it might be a while before anyone finds us again.
Delta: Good, gives me time to plan out improvements to the cruiser. Hehe, yeah!
Me: This will be a fun addition to our future arsenal, kekekeke.