Change of Squads

I looked to my left and right. Morinth had apparently decided to instead ask Silver where I hid her katana, and now had it strapped to her back. I don't really know why, but hopefully she doesn't try and meld again soon so she can't find out I find it oddly sexy. Wonder if that's the first love thing I've been told about…

If only she'd stop poking me with the hilt. I get it, you found the sword!

I blinked as we slid to a stop and the door opened. Shepard hopped out, Garrus following right behind her as Morinth and I jumped down together. I poked her side as Shepard walked forward to a campsite, manned by 5 Alliance soldiers. Their sergeant marched right up to us and saluted Shepard.

"Ma'am" He said, dropping the salute soon as he gave it. "We appreciate your assistance. We don't have many resources to spare on our patrol ship, but the Geth here are holed up well, and too numerous for us to take out."

Shepard nods at him, her arms folded across her chest "Of course Sergeant. Anything you can tell me about the Geth stationed here?"

He nods "We detected large heat signatures in the cave they've retreated to. The signatures spiked a bit when we triggered their sensors, so it's safe to assume they have a mobile fabricator for more machines, or an active colossus."

At the last note I perked up "A Colossus?"

Shepard looks back at me "You're not getting another one."

I frowned "Oh please Shep, I don't need another one. Would just be an interesting fight." I wouldn't mind stacking my deck a little more though.

"I prefer boring fights myself, honestly…" Shepard sighs, before turning back to the sergeant. They discuss things like troop supplies, patrol routes and uninteresting military stuff mostly unrelated to the matter at hand. Which was identifying what we had. If there was a colossus, Silver and I could easily scrap it for parts to make our Sentinel Prime platforms. Or they could have a fabricator set up here, in which case we scrap THAT for parts and data on how to assemble Geth stuff to format for my projects. Speaking of that, I should get started on my other stuff. My fun, flying stuff. Hehehe.

I blink as I see Shepard starting to move away. I follow her and Morinth keeps pace with me while Garrus walks by Shepard. I look at Morinth and the sword on her back. "How effective is that sword against hardsuits?"

She takes a second to answer "Not very effective on its own, admittedly. Katanas are great for cutting through bodies, but too fragile to deal with protective plating. I've had mine reinforced several times over, so it won't lose its edge in a drawn out battle. Plus, there's the added benefit of being a biotic so I can do this with it" As she finished speaking she reached behind her, grabbing the hilt and pulling the blade out. It made an impressive, intimidating sound as it slid free of its sheath, seeming to glow a light purple in her hand. It took me a second but-

"You can hold a Warp field around it." I said, amazed.

She smiles and nods, pride evident as she regards the blade and myself. "It won't let me slice straight through someone, but it gets pretty close." Sheathing the blade again, the field dissipates from her blade.

Well, now I know why she wanted her sword back. We continued mostly in silence, some chit chat popping up now and then and pauses happening once we find the initial battleground, both myself and Shepard scanning the dead Geth for useful things. She found some pieces for salvage, I found a couple broken guns and bodies with prototype systems. Could upgrade Silver's stuff with these. Pretty soon we found ourselves at the cave entrance. Alone.

"I don't like this" Shepard and I immediately echoed. No geth at the entrance, all sightings and recon pointed out this as their hub. Yeah, no reason to like this at all, obvious ambush. I also didn't like this because-

"Delta, scout it out." Because that. Maybe I should have Mordin help me find a way to improve Shepard's cloak. Without Kasumi, I'm the obvious choice for recon.

"Right, be back soon" I grunted out before initiating my active camo. I moved forward as I did, fully cloaked by the time I reached the entryway and then proceeded inside slowly.

Crouched and creeping along the cave wall my cloak was almost perfect. And in this darkness it was perfect. Speaking of, this place was pretty dark, not abysmally, I could see a fair distance ahead but everything was blotchy and undefined. And long. I crept along for what my marker noted was about 25 meters so far, yet I haven't seen one defense installation or Geth guard, which was worrying. Then I found out why.

I turned a corner slowly and found myself face to muzzle with a turret. Right next to that turret was another turret. And another. And another. And a swarm of rocket drones floated above them, slowly circling and scanning the entrance I was hidden in. I stood up slowly, ready to dash back if I saw any aggressive activity and looked over to waist-high turret wall before me. Several Geth troopers were stationed behind the wall, apparently responsible for repair and management of the defenses. Just fucking great. I withheld a heavy sigh, didn't want to risk blowing my cover. Looking deeper down I saw that this tunnel quickly widened out into a large cavern where more Geth milled about doing things I couldn't see from this point. Taking a deep, silent breath I slowly edged out from the wall I was partially hiding behind for cover for a better view. My legs hurt, tensed as they were to fling me back to safety if I heard even one targeting beep. My eyes widened at what I saw.

There were two Geth dropships stationed in the open cavern. They stood there inactive as easily 50 geth walked around, loading up tanks and crates into the receiving port of a large fabricator, which was churning out Geth platforms at a steady pace. These platforms were then set up a little ways away, plugged into a small fusion plant and charged as the necessary programs to run them were copied and prepared for download. Seems we stepped into processing for an army. I stepped even further out and saw that closer to wall on my side of the cavern there was a third dropship being assembled and programmed. Then I noticed two more things. The first was a nearby waterfall where a lot of coils were under, and the fusion plant was stationed by. Probably helped to mask some of the temperature readings, so this operation looked smaller than it was.

The second thing I noticed was a catwalk system near the ceiling, and several hatches there, likely leading outside. Hmm.

"There's WHAT?!" Shepard asked, surprised.

I understood her surprise. "Well, there's a cavern filled with over 50 Geth, two dropships and a Fabricator and Server hub churning out more every ten minutes or so. On top of that, there's only one entrance to their base, and that is guarded by a wall of turrets and rocket drones set up right in front of a bottleneck. Also, it seems like this 'cave' was excavated with light explosives and water to make it look natural, while I highly doubt it is. Finally, there seems to be a possible entrance from above, however if we lose the element of surprise anytime during insertion we're sitting ducks."

Shepard rubbed her face slowly, muttering and sighing as she did. I didn't like it. Shepard didn't either, judging by the way she growled and radioed Joker.

"Joker. Tell Jack, Kasumi and Grunt to load up and get ready to come down. We'll need more firepower if we're to take out these Geth."

Oh, she's calling for reinforcements. Sweet! We mill around for about 10 minutes until the shuttle touches down in front of us and opens, the VI controlling it waiting until the three Shepard requested step out before flying away, probably back to the Normandy to pick up anyone else if Shepard needs them.

Shepard wasted no time "Kasumi, I want you and Delta to get on top of this cliff face. Find the upper entryways and open them. Then I want you two to sneak over to the Front entrance and disable their defenses so we can get in."

I look up the cliffside and frown, not liking the idea of going back in there with just Kasumi. Neither of us are good meatshields, despite my armor's specs. I almost miss the disapproving look Morinth shoots Shepard and Kasumi. I shake my head, Silver flashing briefly on my Tac-Pad as he powers up my flight-pack. Kasumi steps over and I wrap my arms around her waist before we jump up, rising steadily and quickly up the side of the cliff. Our ascent slows near the top and I lean forward, directing us over it when we reach it. Almost immediately we see a turret and two Geth, set up by a wall with a slim metal door. My Tac-pad lit up again just as Silver's tinny voice announced "Jamming"

While the turret was definitely a concern I immediately shot us over it and into the two geth. Using my body as a projectile cut their shields by over half, which Kasumi then reduced further with two bursts from her SMG. On one of the geth she charged and unleashed a jolting punch while I quickly activated my plasma blade and stabbed the head of the other. Silver flashed on the Pad once more as he jumped out and hacked the turret, deactivating it long enough for Kasumi and I to find our feet and dismantle it. Violently.

"Well, good start." I say cheerfully.

Kasumi brushes off her shoulder and straightens her hood. "True, but not how I would've preferred it, Deruta." She immediately goes off, pocketing an intact and valuable piece of the slain geth while she examines the door. It opens a scant few seconds later.

"Let's hope we don't find anything that can see through cloaks." I said, stepping towards the unlocked door as it opens.

"If you're that nervous, stay behind and let me do the work." She responds, cloaking as she steps inside. Mine starts up slower as I follow her but soon we are in and moving down a dark shaft with a stairwell. We follow it, climbing down until we reach the catwalks I saw earlier, just a few Geth patrolling them though support beams and pipes manage to block sight in some areas from the other ones patrolling up high.

"Any ideas?" I whisper through our private comm channel.

"I see the turrets you talked about. Not sure how to disable that entire wall…"

I look around, searching for ideas. I smile and poke Kasumi, looking at the waterfall "Hey, look in that pool there by the waterfall. See what I see?"

Kasumi takes a second but responds with a smile and mischievous giggle "Oooh, I like this idea. How do we carry it out?"

I rub my chin for a second, watching everything and thinking. There were a large amount of plasma containers by the waterfall, no doubt storing the hot plasma generated by the fusion plant. Looking at the catwalks, it'd be easy to sneak over and get them up here, but getting them to the turrets and dumping enough to slag the drones and turrets there before we're caught, that wasn't so easy. Since they were placed behind the Dropships, I could just grab and carry them close enough to the catwalks for Kasumi to grab them.

"Well, I propose two things. Sabotage the dropships, or overload the reactor."

"Hm, both would cause sizable explosions. The reactor would probably decimate everything in here though. Meaning we would miss out on some good tech."

"But blowing up the dropships is likely to thin the ranks a good amount and leave some sensitive things intact. The downside is, those dropships go boom."

"Is everything you do with the intent of gathering as much Geth tech you can?"

"I have an evolving, expanding Geth companion who has enough programs and processing power to run a Colossus while also managing my flight pack, or fly an entire ship. It's simple to want more toys when you have the means to easily take and use them. Isn't that right, miss Master Thief?"

"Alright, alright. But less talking, more getting rid of them. I can only see two so far, and no alarms are raised."

"We have jammed any alarm signals from the outer perimeter, Kasumi." Silver pipes up into both of our ears. "And we are now assuming direct control of the patrolling units." And just like that, the two Geth near us flash orange on their lights before turning to look at us.

"Ah Silver, always making things easy. Let's get those plasma batteries containers, then we'll decide what to do."

"We have an alternative. One of the ships contains every part necessary for multiple Sentinel platforms. An exit route is present at the far wall, however the Reactor is powering turrets and a force field capable of destroying any ships that attempt to exit."

"So, we need to take out that reactor anyway. Well, better do it quick then and get on the ship and get the hell out."

"If not properly warned, Shepard will be caught in the blast as well." Silver points out, one of the geth troops raising a finger.

"That's not acceptable. Send one of your guys up and around, tell Shepard the plan. Kasumi and I will work on grabbing those Plasma containers. Come on Kasumi!" I say this as I walk along the catwalk towards the waterfall, cloak still going strong even as I reach the end and slide myself down through the safety bars and over the ship, engaging my anti-grav pack to be light enough to move quickly and quietly while I land between the containers. The field extends to each container I pick up, though it doesn't cover more than one. Like this it's slow going as Kasumi and I work to secure enough of the large volatile canisters to-

"You're going to blow up a Fusion Reactor in there?!" I suddenly hear Shepard's voice in my ear, surprising me enough that I nearly drop a container on a passing trooper. It barely holds in my grip as I slowly work my way to safety atop one of the dropships.

"Yes, and that should blow this place skyhigh. Or at least enough to get rid of the Geth."

'Do you realize that this cave sits directly atop a faultline? A blast like that will cause the ground to shift and destroy the Alliance camp too!"

"…Isn't it military protocol to not put a camp on top of dangerous things like gas pockets or faultlines?"

"Delta, don't do it."

"We can evacuate the guys can't we?" I grunt out as I slide onto the catwalk with my cargo. Looking around I do a quick count, pleased at the amount of containers and even moreso when I see several Geth with orange flickering faces move up and pick up the containers to move them into a position above the reactor.

"It's not about them, it's about destroying a part of this planet's geography."

"Shepard, that sounds too cool to not do. Are you really arguing with me over this, or is this just some token resistance because you don't like that I've pretty much made obsolete everyone brought down here?"

"…I am going to strangle you when we get back on the ship."

"Shepard, don't joke like that. You sound serious."

"I am."

"…"

"It's not like you knew the Geth would've had a fusion powered factory or containers of volatile plasma ready... We just called everyone down after I scouted the entrance."

"…"

"Shepard?"

"Delta!" Kasumi hisses from my side. "Hurry up and get over here. Silver's about to start the countdown on his controlled units. He figured it'd give us time to board a ship and get out." She immediately moves past, going to the edge and climbing down quickly. I follow her, slightly confused.

"He also said Shepard moved out of the cave and has gone to help the Alliance evacuate their guys with everyone else. Geth aren't expecting visitors, the security on their ship is weak." Kasumi mutters, toying with one of the dropships and its entrance hatch. It opens after a minute, letting her and myself slide in. We go to the cockpit immediately, muttering in relief as we see a manual addition to what appears to be a server held cockpit. I sit down and check over everything, one of Silver's subroutines translating the mix of Khelish and Binary to English for me. I stop as I make a sudden realization.

"Wait a second I can't fly."

"We will be handling the flight manouvers after the escape. You must simply activate the ship and send it forward. Without crashing into the walls 100 meters to either side." Silver says drily.

"Oh thanks bud, that makes it so much easier." I grumble out in return, putting my hands on the steering wheel. It shifts around in my grasp and I hope the controls aren't inverted because I hate when my game ships crash because I forgot that pushing up meant going down. The ship starts to power up and I yelp as it hums to life around me, suddenly responding to my movements on the steering wheel. Geth immediately turn and stare at us, their weapons raising as they unanimously agree we're unauthorized visitors starting an unauthorized flight. They're even more surprised by our unauthorized detonation of their reactor though, which immediately takes out the nearest portion of their factory and a good amount of troopers with the first explosion.

"Go now. The Force field is down." As soon as Silver says this I grit my teeth, carefully feeling around on the controls as I look ahead to see a camouflaged force field shimmer out of existence on the far wall, showing a long rocky cave that ends with a drop towards the sea. The ship lurches forward as I push it out, lifting up suddenly to clear the bottom and dipping down again with the same lurching spontaneity when the ceiling seems too close. Kasumi yelps and swears in Japanese as I lurch to the side to avoid a rocky outcropping or five in the cave. "Hey, this isn't so bad" I say with more cheer than I felt.

The explosions sound behind us as we both break out from the cave, Silver taking over the flight once we're in open air. Apparently he had also hacked the turrets at the entrance way, which had used their firepower to carve and drop boulders onto the cave's entrance to barricade everything in for the final blast, which sent fire and plasma exhaust shooting out from the cave we left and the tunnel entrance Shepard first had us enter by. Silver swoops us around, breaking atmo as we fly beside the Kodiak Shepard's in.

"Well lookit that. You blew up the geth factory and half the mountain." Shepard says over comm.

"Looks awesome right?" I respond cheerily. "And got a cool ship to scrap."

"You could give it to Cerberus for money. It'd be useful to have an intact geth ship for research." Miranda suddenly chimes in.

"You don't need to be able to meld with him like I can to know your answer, girl." Morinth says just as suddenly.

"Annnnd lookit that, it's the Normandy. Cargo Hold's kinda cluttered actually, you guys should get inside first, lock up the Kodiak."

"Welcome back aboard Commander. And Delta, if you keep on bringing new rides in here me and my girl are going to start taking offense."

"'My girl and I' is the grammatically correct form of that statement, Mr Moreau. And your "girl" is existentially absent, as far as the way you imply her to be."

"…Holy crap, EDI just burned Joker."

Zero: What is this? An update? For the first time in Forever? Hell must have frozen over.

Delta: I'm ALIVE!

Zero: And I'm a lazy bum. Dunno if this is as good a quality as usual (Honestly, I can barely get a day to think, let alone play, plan and write.)

Delta: MY STORY IS ALIVE!

Zero: Ah well. Hopefully I don't go on another hiatus before updating again eh? Doubt I'll finish before ME: Andromeda comes out though.

Delta: I'M NOT LIKE THOSE IDIOTS FROM COMENZA NUOVO! OR SUBJECT JUPITER!

Zero: … *Kicks Delta into the basement*

Delta: AAHHHHHH!

Zero: Here's hoping next time is sooner than last time, PEACE!