HOLOCAUST:
CHAPTER THIRTY-ONE:
COLD LIBERTIES PART TWO
July 5, 2186
1046 hours.
Port GARDIAN Battery 34, GDS-659 Class Super-Dreadnought, Geth Fleet, In Orbit over Rannoch, Tikkun System, Perseus Veil Cluster.
Second Morning War, First Battle of Rannoch.
Captain Marcus Lee Shepard, Admiral Tali'Shepard vas Normandy, General Kal'Reegar oso Machina, Major Madi'Reegar oso Machina, Military Advisor Garrus Vakarian, Second Lieutenant James Vega, Second Lieutenant Imogen Keeling, Soldier Javik, EDI, Master Thief Kasumi Goto, Major Kaidan Alenko, Shadow Broker Liara T'Soni.
As soon as the door was open, Marcus and Kaidan were in front, weapons levelled and ready to fire. Luckily for them, the room seemed to be relatively empty. A matter of fact, the room was almost silent, not a sound to be heard. They had emerged on a walkway extending along the massive room, which in itself was at least sixty meters in length by itself. The walkway was railed off and curved slightly in the middle in a U-shape manner. This was due to a large gun battery sitting in the middle, which was one of six occupying the right side of the room.
"Where are we, Tali?" Marcus queried, moving forward hesitantly, his squad bringing up the rear, "Looks like somekind of weapons battery."
"The Port GARDIAN Battery, actually," she responded a moment later, gripping her shotgun tightly, Chitika hovering above her shoulder, "Thirty fourth battery out of three hundred lining the portside of the ship. In total, the ship has eight hundred. Another three hundred on the starboard side, and two hundred along the ship's dorsal structure."
"You know I can hear you, right?" Joker piped over the comms, "I don't really need to know that if the stealth fails, three hundred GARDIANs are going to lock onto me. But thanks for the information."
"The likelihood of that occurring is minimal, Jeff," EDI reassured.
"I'm sure it is," Joker dryly replied, "I still didn't need to know."
"You'll live, Joker. Now quiet," Marcus ordered, feeling tense. The entire room was empty, he knew. But nothing felt right about this. All they had encountered since the airlock were a few rag-tag geth squads, but nothing in the way of firm resistance. You'd think a warship of this size would possess one of the biggest security forces ever sported by a vessel.
Apparently he was wrong in that assumption. Or maybe we just haven't run into it yet.
That was very unsettling.
He observed the gun batteries themselves. They weren't so much the weapons themselves, rather the heat exchangers. There were two types of GARDIAN weapons; standard and infrared. The standard GARDIANs were far more widely used among the galaxy's militaries because they took up less space, could fire more rapidly and didn't overheat as quickly. However, as a result, they were far less accurate, and packed less of a punch due to their limited ordnance.
Infrared GARDIANs were largely used by the STG, and obviously the geth navy. They took up far more space as could be seen by just one of the batteries; the damn thing was huge, easily four meters in width, and twelve meters in height, connecting to the ceiling and sinking into the floor below. It was covered in a silver metal sheeting that looked incredibly thick, and could possibly be resilient in a limited role to explosive ordnance. Two sheets hung tightly over the main carapace, which would obviously slide upwards to release excess heat when the weapon was in operation. Luckily for them, it wasn't. Also, infrared GARDIANs had a much slower firing rate, firing only per 8 seconds compared to the 2 seconds of a standard GARDIAN. They also overheated alot, almost per shot. However, this was exchanged for its much more accurate targeting computer and seeking ability, meaning that out of every rocket it fired, 1 out of 2 would hit its desired target. That was pretty impressive, and deadly for aircraft.
And with the Reaper code embedded in all geth software, that 1 out of 2 would be reduced to simply hitting every target, every single time.
I want this super-dreadnought...all we have to do is disable the signal and we can salvage it. Once the peace talks are over, the geth will join the UGC, and I can ask Legion if they can build more of these monsters...even the quarians could pull their weight in building them. They have enough firepower to easily cripple a Reaper on its own, especially with its damn main gun.
"If only the Normandy had one of these," Garrus mused, churning Marcus away from his thoughts as he turned towards the turian, "We'd reap hell on those damn Oculi."
"You primitives developed infrared weaponry," Javik snorted, "By the time of the Empire, it was already obsolete. Our particle weapons were far more effective."
"And they still didn't save you, Bugs," James shot back, pushing past the prothean, "Quit the ranting and let's go. Maybe you can tell the geth how primitive they are. I'm sure they'd appreciate it."
"I still think attempting peace with them is foolish," the prothean insisted, causing Marcus to sigh inwardly, "These machines cannot be trusted. They are just as bad as the zha'til, and if they are allowed to exist after-"
"That's enough, Javik," Marcus growled, "Stow it and let's keep moving. You want to destroy the Reapers? This is the way to do it, not turning away potential assets. I get you don't like machines, but you might as well get used to working with them. Just think of them as once more step towards getting vengeance for your people."
"The geth are the enemy," he pointed out, cracking his neck as he moved to join Marcus, his three fingers tensing up, "They are working with the Reapers. The quarian admiral said it herself."
"I said stow it, trooper," Marcus hissed, not liking the prothean's tone, "Get back in formation immediately. Question my decision again, and I'll beat you senseless."
Javik only grinned, "At least you act like a commander. That I can respect. Very well, captain," the prothean turned and moved to the back as ordered, Marcus glaring at him in exasperation the entire way. As he turned back, he turned to Kaidan. He could practically see the raised eyebrows behind his helmet.
"He's still getting used to working with 'primitives,'" Marcus excused.
"He sounds like an asshole to me, but don't mind me," Kaidan replied, holding his rifle with more conviction, scope just below his eye, "He's not my friend."
Marcus was about to retort when his motion tracker went crazy, blaring in his face constantly as multiple red dots appeared on his HUD out of nowhere.
"Shit, bunker down!" Marcus barked, dropping into a crouch, as Kaidan joined him, "Multiple contacts, all sides! James, Javik, cover the back! Kaidan, Tali, Garrus, with me! Push forward! Everybody else, support the flank! Don't let them get behind us! Move people, move!"
They moved quickly, Marcus and Kaidan managing to gain momentum as the first geth assault drone appeared from below. Should have kept moving. Shouldn't have let Javik get to me. God-fucking-damn it! Stupid idiot!
The offending drone did not last long, Kaidan piercing its side with a long burst from his assault rifle, sending the drone spinning as liquid spat from the leaking wound. It brought its chin mounted machine gun around, but Marcus didn't give it half a chance, raising his pulse rifle and firing, the force of the shot causing the drone to explode in a flurry of sparks and electronics.
It had buddies.
Four drones rose up, accompanied by six more, then seven. Soon, an entire squadron of the fucking things were rising above them, like demons from hell, flashlights blaring down on them.
Fuck this.
He immediately summoned his biotics, immediately wrapping his body in tight blue liquid fire. It swarmed over his body, engulfing him as he brought a large field of cobalt around them, deflecting a swarm of machine gun from the drones. They pelted his shield with such furious ferocity that he almost fell to one knee, but managed to hold the field long enough for his team to get their bearings and retaliate.
Kaidan wrapped himself in a similiar field of blue, bringing back his fist and propelling it forward, sending with it a projectile of dark energy straight towards his target. The drone was totally unable to protect itself, the warp field impacting it and crushing it almost instantly. The drone exploded from the force, and a second found itself riddled with rifle fire as Kaidan followed up the strike with his main weapon.
Tali's drone shot back, immediately assaulting one drone with its overload ability, followed by a barrage of incinerations at two drones flanking it. The overloaded drone careened from the air, slamming into the railing and bursting apart, pieces of machinery and circuits landing all over the railing. The first incineration strike struck the drone dead center, causing it to burst apart in flames. The second drone managed to dodge the strike however, firing a burst at Chitika. The combat drone quickly dodged the strike, returning to its mistress, who quickly deactivated it in her palm, placing it in her pocket.
"Enemy squad, right behind us! Seven troopers, five shock troopers!" James warned, "Damn it, we can't hold them here! We need to get to a defensive position!"
"I told you, there is no defensible position! Its a narrow corridor!" Tali shouted back.
"Then a fighting retreat!" James barked back, clearly irritated, "Either way, we can't stay here! Follar Maldita sea!"
"Everybody, on me! Move forward! Don't stop! Keep them back!" Marcus ordered, raising his rifle and blowing apart a drone. He quickly turned back, watching James gun down a geth trooper, and Javik scything a geth shock trooper's head off with his particle rifle, the energy sizzling with intense heat.
He turned forward, moving into a run next to Kaidan and Tali as they moved for the back door. Drones continued to form up behind them, dozens of them gaining with intensity, following their movements with machine guns and the occassional superheated carnage explosive. The railing bent, twisted and pulled as the attacks warped its appearance, damaging it until it was almost unrecognizable.
Behind him, his squad continued the fight. Liara deflected oncoming attacks from the assault drones, while also managing to down a few with a few warps. She even managed a singularity, a sphere forming among the drone formation and sucking them in, before exploding tremendously, taking out at least seven of the drones in the process.
And on they came, almost non-stop.
Kal and Madi were almost back to back, covering each other from different angles as the drones tried to rain fire down on them, but were either destroyed by Kal and Madi, or forced to retreat due to overwhelming gunfire. Kasumi simply cloaked, hiding from the geth forces before bringing up her SMG in a widespread, managing to clip one drone and hit another in the optics.
Keeling was far more precise, bringing up her rifle and firing two, clean bursts, taking down two drones; both shots impacted through the optics, and both caused the drones to burst into flames. But still they just kept on coming. For every drone they took down, five more replaced it. They needed to get out of here, and fast.
Unfortunately for them, the door ahead opened, and out poured an entire geth squad.
Matters were made worse when a geth destroyer was leading the makeshift formation. Flanking it were standard troopers and a few shock troopers. There was also a rocket trooper...how delightful.
Fuck sake. They were planning this. Its a damn ambush!
"Fuck!" Marcus cursed, bringing his advance to a halt as he fell into a crouch, immediately holding down on the trigger, "Enemy squad, dead ahead! Tali, drone! Liara, singularity! Kaidan, EDI, with me! Push forward, field of fire on the fuckers!" This is really not my day.
Like clockwork, his squad followed their orders to the letter. James and Javik continued to cover their rear flank, while Tali's drone immediately shot forward, unleashing its onslaught. A blue rift materialized in the midst of the enemy formation, and Kaidan quickly complemented it with a warp field dead center, causing the singularity to explode in a burst of furious cobalt light, vaporizing at least five troopers.
The destroyer was undeterred. It pushed forward, its flamethrower brandished, its red eye glaring at him. He could only frown.
Wait, a flamethrower? There's no oxygen in here! How could they fire a flamethrower with no oxygen? Unless...
Oxygen pumpers. The geth are pumping bloody oxygen into the room...
The first gust of flame shot towards him, stretching forward at least 30 feet. His shields hissed and popped, demanding its release from the deadly flames. The destroyer itself was relentless, moving towards him at the same, consistent speed, holding down on the trigger lie a maniac. That destroyer really wanted him dead.
No, the Reapers really want me dead.
He rolled to the side, out of the cone of flame, and brought his rifle up immediately. He could still feel the heat licking at his armor, causing beads of sweat to form on his temple in seconds; he had been that close to it. He carefully took aim at the destroyer's fuel tank and fired.
Shots slammed into the destroyer's shields, but they held against the assault. The destroyer simply snapped its optics towards him, and he swore he heard a loud mechanical screech breach the soundless atmosphere. Definitely misheard. He just kept firing, hitting the platform's shields with everything he had.
Another column of flame roared towards him, desperately wishing to taste his flesh. He blowed with biotics, bringing up a field of light that essentially absorbed the red heat. He held this until the destroyer's tank ran out. Or at least, he thought the destroyer would keep going until it ran out.
Instead, it charged.
It used the end of the Firestorm flamethrower as a club, slamming it across the edge of his helmet. He was knocked aside like a ragdoll, body slamming into the ground like a brick. Again, he had forgotten about the geth's new melee capabilities. He couldn't help but think about how very krogan that move was. I swore a krogan warlord just charged me, not a geth.
Before the destroyer could coat him in flame, he brought his rifle and unloaded the entire clip into its left knee joint. It screeched loudly as its knee joint blew apart from the mass attack, bits of twisted metal and shattered circuits spewing from the gaping hole, and white liquid pouring onto his visor, which he promptly wiped off. But the geth continued to screech, almost as if in...pain?
But geth don't have nerve endings. How the hell can they feel pain? Even the Reaper code can't give them pain.
EDI fired a burst directly into the destroyer's optics, and with its shields down, the shot hit dead center. The flashlight shattered and its body slumped backwards, its 8 foot tall form colliding with the ground with the same force as he had.
And with the destroyer down, so was the enemy's advantage. He hoped.
Tali was at his side immediately, checking him for injuries. He didn't need to hear her rapidfire questions to know she was worried, but he simply waved her off, motioning to the doorway, "Keep moving! Don't-"
"The rest of the squad's already gone!" Tali ordered, "Come on, Marcus! Come on!"
He frowned and looked up. Funnily enough, only James and Javik were left to hold the flank, firing constantly as they held back wave after wave of geth foot soldiers, the drones having now retreated. He could see three destroyers now emerging from the doorway, as well as twenty trooper platforms or more. They just kept coming, and it was becoming increasingly possible to count them.
He nodded and shot to his feet, sending one last biotic shockwave back down the walkway, not waiting around to watch it slam into the geth force. Afterall, he wasn't aiming to kill, only delay. He immediately ran for the doorway, not looking back, "James, Javik, move! Through that door! Tali, lock it behind us!"
"I'll do better than that! Chitika, come on girl! On me!" he heard the quarian command, imagining her orange drone immediately returning to its creator in a hurry. He rushed through the door, the rest of the squad already waiting in an outside corridor. Luckily, no geth forces on this side had moved to greet them just yet.
Tali was through next, Chitika hovering above her shoulder. Almost like Jak and Daxter...heh...ain't that a dated reference. Javik and James were the next through, immediately closing the door behind them, the green interface shooting to life.
Only to spaz out and die as Chitika began assaulting it with overloads. Frowning, he turned back to Tali, frowning at her as she crossed her arms and watched, "What is Chitika doing?"
"The drone has a name now?" James asked, chuckling.
Tali ignored the marine's comment, "Hitting the door with high-powered overloads. I can't put up a firewall; the geth would just overwhelm it with their superior countermeasures. So instead...I'm just destroying the door's circuits. I'd like to see them fix that."
"I am currently aiding the process," EDI added, "I am currently using every possible attack I have to destroy the door's circuits. Once destroyed, we will likely have a total of ten minutes before the geth manage to open the door physically."
"'Physically?'" Kaidan asked with a raised eyebrow, "Why don't I like the sound of that?"
"They will force the door open either by using explosives or their bare hands. The former is more likely," EDI responded, "However, we will be gone before they manage to achieve this."
"And we're done," Tali stated, punctuating her statement by pointing to the sparks occassionally popping from the door's outer rim, signalling its ruined base. Her drone limply flew towards her before falling into her palm, fizzing out of existence, "You've done a good job, Chitika. You can rest now," she placed it in her pocket, and then returned the hand to her shotgun as she turned back around, "Those overloads completely drained her power cells. I won't be able to use her again on this mission, I'm sorry."
He reached a hand over and squeezed her shoulder, both of them relishing the brief contact, "It's okay. If we're lucky, we won't need her. We should keep going, before reinforcements arrive."
He turned back to his squad, giving a nod to continue. Their battle with the geth in the thirty-fourth battery had been a near death scenario. They had been ambushed and he had been sloppy in his response; he could not allow that to happen again. What is wrong with me? I seem to be more distracted as of late.
...surrender to us...
It was a whisper in the back of his head, but it was always there, only growing intense when Reapers were near, or their technology. But it wasn't intense. Just a whisper. Here he was, on a super-dreadnought, surrounded by Reaper-enhanced geth, Reaper-tampered geth technology, and a geth warship likely built with Reaper tech. But the Reapers weren't loud enough...
...and that scared him. How can I not hear them? Something just isn't right.
He turned to Tali, squaring his shoulders as he looked down the non-descript corridor, which seemed to keep running for a few meters, with at least four doors on each side likely leading to different areas of the vessel. The only signs of actual geth activity was the piles of dead geth that his squad had overwhelmed on their way through the door. Otherwise, not much as a screech, "How far is it to the engine room? Are we almost there?"
"Almost," Tali replied, checking the schematic for herself. She gave a nod, likely to assure herself, and nodded back down the corridor, "This corridor should take us straight to the main gun; its only...two hundred meters. Down this corridor to the end, down to the left, move five meters, then the first turn off on the right, and it takes us straight to the main gun. From there, we can use the inside of the main gun to get to the engine room. It'll end just before the engine room, and from there, its only three hundred meters to the engine room. From there, we can disable the signal and end this pointless war."
"Here to that," Marcus slapped her on the back appreciatively, "Well let's get moving," the rest of the squad moved as one mass, pushing through the corridor in a steady column, so as to keep watch for any further ambushes. The geth had gotten the jump on them last time, and they would not do so again. Marcus lagged behind with Tali, moving into a walk beside her.
"I bet its one hell of a view of Rannoch from here," Marcus commented on their private link, smiling slightly.
He heard her laugh slightly, "A pity we can't see it. In orbit of my homeworld, and I can't even bathe in it. It must be beautiful. If only this shape had a damn observation deck."
"Geth don't use windows, remember...?" Marcus trailed off, his grin widening.
"...structural weakness," Tali finished, and both of them chuckled. It had been the most humor they had engaged in since the beginning of the mission, which made it unorthodox for their squad as missions went. Less banter, and more seriousness. Guess being in orbit over one's homeworld, one they haven't seen in centuries, changes perspectives alittle.
Suddenly, Tali spoke again, sighing, "I...I hope Legion is alright."
He raised an eyebrow at her, "I thought you didn't like Legion? Trust him maybe, but like him? What changed?"
"Believe it or not, you did," Tali pointed out, looking at him directly now, "You made me see past my petty prejudice. Legion...he made me see the geth for who they really are. They just want the freedom to evolve, to survive. My people were in the wrong, and for all that time...I was ignorant enough to believe we were justified. We lost our homeworld because it was our fault; Legion taught me that. I...miss him. Keelah, I don't consider him a friend. Maybe I never will. But do I trust it? Do I trust him? Yes, I do. I hope he's okay, Marcus. I really do. And that we can save him. From the Reapers, I mean."
For all we know, Legion could be dead. But if Tali believes he could have survived...Tali's optimism had always been contagious for him, and he couldn't help but be hopeful too. Yes, Legion could be alive. And we'll find him. We'll put things right.
"You'll see your homeworld soon. I promise," Marcus swore, "And Legion will be the one the quarians go to for thanks."
Now we just need to find Legion. First off though, the signal.
The subjugation of the geth ended here.
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July 5, 2186
1107 hours.
Main Gun Battery, GDS-659 Class Super-Dreadnought, Geth Fleet, In Orbit over Rannoch, Tikkun System, Perseus Veil Cluster.
Second Morning War, First Battle of Rannoch.
Captain Marcus Lee Shepard, Admiral Tali'Shepard vas Normandy, General Kal'Reegar oso Machina, Major Madi'Reegar oso Machina, Military Advisor Garrus Vakarian, Second Lieutenant James Vega, Second Lieutenant Imogen Keeling, Soldier Javik, EDI, Master Thief Kasumi Goto, Major Kaidan Alenko, Shadow Broker Liara T'Soni.
Had it been human, its body would have snapped like a twig as it hit the edge of the barricade-like structure, body shattering as every bone blew apart from the impact, blood flying like splashing water, bones jutting out in almost every direction as they pierced their delicate skin.
Instead, the geth simply hit the barricade with the twang that came with metal slamming against metal. Circuits blew apart, its body bent, but a lack of bones or skin meant none of the latter. Instead, the trooper simply slouched off onto the ground, inactive, the blue tendrils that had held it slipping away into non-existence.
Liara didn't get time to enjoy her victory as a barrage of plasma bolts slammed into her cover, heating it up and melting the metal. The heat was so intense that Liara was forced into a fighting retreat, managing to take cover behind enough piece of cover, avoiding a long burst of purple plasma scything along the ground.
They had reached the main gun, but the geth must have caught on to what they were up to, and had devoted pretty much the heaviest of their forces to the main gun to halt their advance. And halt their advance they had.
The two geth platoons they were confronted by were akin to the Atlantic Wall of WWII; impregnable. Lines of troopers and shock troopers, complemented by two geth hunters and several rocket troopers. The geth hunters had tried to sneak up on them, but Tali had dealt with both of them very efficiently, coordinating with Kasumi to detect where they were cloaked and then filling them full of hot plasma.
But the hunters had hardly been a threat compared to what the geth were sporting. Three more geth destroyers held the line, threatening to slam them with hot cones of fire if they got too close. Supporting them were several geth hoppers, all of them leaping over the walls like hyper-active children, sapping at their shields from afar.
But the biggest threat didn't lie in them. One juggernaut stood at the far end of the left side, a massive minigun looking weapon brandished in its hands. From what he could tell, the weapon was called a Spitfire, and it was pretty much a geth minigun; it fired a thousand rounds of plasma per minute, and would easily chew through the armor of Mako in no time, let alone their shields. Getting caught in its field of fire was a no go, but given how eager James was to take it down, getting their hands on that Spitfire was a must.
Then came the leader of the entire unit; the geth prime itself. Geth Primes were by far the largest and most powerful of the bipedal geth platforms, and held unbelievable amountds firepower at their disposal. Unlike most geth, its optics wasn't just one bright, blue flashlight, but rather a dim optic with three smaller circles aligned in a triangle shape, all of them glowing a bright red, giving the prime a more intimidating posture. It towered over him or any krogan quite easily, easily reaching a height of 16 feet. They covered in heavy, crimson armor plating, obviously made purely for a combat role. It held a massive pulse cannon, which could fire superheated explosive bolts of plasma at excessive speeds every second until it overheated, allowing them at least ten shots per overheat. Each shot was enough to melt through 60 inches worth of solid concrete, making it a fearsome weapon.
That wasn't all; the geth prime also had a combat drone hovering beside it, a bright blue and sending out the occassional overload to stun its targets and leave them vulnerable for the prime. Unfortunately for the geth itself, none of his team gave it anytime to do any of that, ducking into cover almost as soon as their shields dropped. So attacking the prime in a frontal assault was a suicide mission.
So for now, they were bunked down. Specifically what Tali had told them they couldn't do.
Another of those damn hoppers landed near his position, and in moments, he felt his shields give a familiar pop as the geth platform drained them of energy completely.
Growling in irritation, he snapped up with incredible speed and grabbed the geth around its "neck" before it could escape. Dragging it towards him, he ripped a frag grenade from his bandolier and roughly slammed it through the optics of the hopper, watching it shatter as he inserted it inside. The initial entry was rough due to the geth's tough exterior, but once inside, he quickly primed the explosive. Without hesitation, he brought up his biotics, used them to lift the limp hopper, and tossed it towards the geth platoons. That should deal some damage...until they bring in their reserves.
The geth had been playing it smart. They only had one prime and juggernaut, and during this time, they had been aiding the first platoon in keeping his squad pinned. The other platoon hung back, keeping itself as a replacement force; if they lost some platforms, the second platoon could move in and replace them with fresh units. It was a strategy that was beginning to piss Marcus off, which meant it was working.
He watched with somekind of admiration as the fallen hopper slammed into another trooper, knocking it to the ground. Remarkably, it still held onto its rifle, and even managed, with quick necessity, to reach up and begin to push the hopper off.
A bright flash ended its efforts as the resulting explosion engulfed the dead hopper, and the trooper it had landed on. Three more were ripped away from their positions, tossed about carelessly. Another hopper had been leaping to escape the impending explosion (which it had obviously known was going to happen), but instead ended up getting caught in it. It was flung towards the juggernaut. Meanwhile, the three geth caught in the blast, two more troopers and a rocket trooper, slammed back into the ground in crumbled heaps, piles of what he could only call 'scrap metal' lying haphazardly across the deck.
He watched as the juggernaut, with anger or fury, he wasn't quite sure, gave a mighty screech, which resonated across the gun battery, echoing through the main gun chamber, and breaking through the soundless stupor. It furiously swatted the hopper that got caught in the blast to the ground and angrily stomped on it, crushing it beneath its weight. Moving forward, it raised its spitfire and let loose with a typhoon of destruction.
The air was now littered with plasma, nonstop streams firing so close together it seemed to be almost a solid beam of light. Cover was annihilated, shields popped and disintegrated, and the railing or deck twisted and hissed as it was subjected to the plasmatic purge.
Well, it seems I've pissed off the juggernaut.
"It seems you've pissed off the juggernaut!" Garrus pointed out verbally, keeping his head down low as shots zoomed overhead, threatening to vaporize his head if he so much as moved it up an inch. The turian clutched his rifle almost desperately, afraid that if he relaxed his grip even alittle he'd lose it.
"No shit!" He would try and look up, but he couldn't, not with the juggernaut assaulting them with everything it had. Maybe it was frustrated with how long it was taking to kill his squad? No, geth are machines. They don't get impatient, or annoyed. Unless the Reaper code has affected the geth differently to the Reapers themselves? No, that can't be it either. Uh fuck it, why do I care!? Its not like he needed to look anyway. All he'd see is the five geth platforms he blew up replaced by five fresh ones from that damn reserve platoon.
"This is bullshit, loco," James exclaimed, "We can't just sit on our asses here! The geth will bring reinforcements behind us, and when we do, we'll be butchered!"
Suddenly, the juggernaut's onslaught ceased. It was either reloading, or its spitfire had overheated. Either way, James was immediately ecstatic.
"Finally!" the marine exclaimed, peaking out and immediately aiming with his Revenant at the source of his irritation, screaming spanish abuse as he held down the trigger on full-auto.
The LMG was nowhere near as ridiculously powerful as the juggernaut's spitfire, but it still did alot of damage. The juggernaut had been in the process of waiting for its weapon to cool down while reloading when the first bullet struck, followed by the rest of the burst. Its body jerked to and fro as James peppered it. First its shields put up resistance, but they were soon gone, and bits of plating were either blown off or torn asunder from Vega's onslaught. Meanwhile, the juggernaut just continued its dance, rounds slamming into it constantly.
And then the Revenant clicked empty.
The rest of the geth platoon, in this time, brought up their weapons and fired. James managed to duck in time though, the fire missing him entirely as he angrily grabbed at his bandolier for a fresh clip, "Damn puta of a gun! I almost had that pedazo de mierda!"
"This time, keep your head down, hothead," Kaidan chastised angrily, "You almost got yourself killed. That prime could have blown your head right off."
James glared at him, as if resentful of the accusation, "Hey, I almost had that damn thing. Just a few more seconds-"
"-and you'd be dead. Keep your head down until Shepard orders you to attack," Kaidan ordered, turning back to Marcus, "What do we do, Shepard?"
"Well, we can't stay here. That'll just give the geth time to flank us, and when that happens, we're done," Marcus turned around to Kal, before turning back to Kaidan, quickly formulating a plan, "I have an idea. Its risky, but right now, its better than where we're at."
"If it involves you charging them, you can forget it," Tali dismissed, coming to his side instantly, fixing him with a firm glare; her eyes narrowing into slits, "I just got you back. I'm not about to lose you to the same people we're trying to make peace with."
He grinned, placing a hand on her cheek comfortingly, "I'm not suicidal, Tali. I've got my omni-shield. I'll hold back against their fire, while Kasumi gives Kal her cloak and I give Kal my Cain."
"You called me, sir?" Kal asked, coming to his side as he slammed a fresh thermal clip into this rifle, Madi moving beside EDI to provide colloborative fire.
Marcus turned to him, smirking. He slapped the man on his shoulder, gripping it tightly, "Kal, you're my man for this job. You want to cause a hellava alot of damage? Like, say, annihilate an entire platoon?"
He could practically see the quarian grinning, "I'll take what chances I get to blow up some bosh'tets, sir."
"Excellent trooper," he reached up and removed the heavy piece of hardware, holding it for Kal to retrieve. The quarian took it willingly, seemingly able to wield it without much trouble. Soon, Kasumi appeared, sighing heavily.
"You better not lose this," Kasumi warned the quarian, handing him the cloaking unit itself, "That's a one in a life time piece of technology. Only tactical cloak that can be used constantly."
Kal tenderly took the device, and with good reason; Kasumi was giving him a death glare that said 'lose or damage this, and your life won't be worth living.' The more he thought about the glare she was giving, the more he tried to stiffle a chuckle. Pretty sure she gave me the same glare when she gave the cloak to me prior to the Bahak Incident.
Kal turned back to Marcus, giving a nod, "I won't fail, sir."
"You don't know what you're even doing yet," he replied. A swarm of shots began to ping off their cover and they migrated, watching their previous cover disintegrate from a hail of plasma fire. I can see why James is so pissed now. That juggernaut will be the death of us. The ground shaking as Liara's cover was bombarded quickly changed that opinion. Actually, scratch that. That prime will be the death of us.
He nodded back at Kal, "I want you to get behind their lines. Then, use that Cain to destroy the reserve platoon. That should also divert their attention long enough for a counterattack. Also, when you fire...make sure you're a decent distance away. And make sure you're holding it right. If you don't, the recoil will tear your arm off. Just...make sure you're far away. And use the cloak to sneak over there; you won't reach them otherwise," he turned to the catwalks above, "I recommend firing from up there. Less likely to be vaporized from the blast."
Kal's eyes widened behind his helmet, cautiously looking down at the huge weapon in his hand, "Just what payload does this menesti have?"
He smiled, "Its got a nuclear payload. It-"
"Once fired, it will detonate with the force of 1.0E, Negative 6 kilotons of TNT. Comparable, this equals to about 1000 Microtons of TNT, which equals 1 milliton. This will cause an explosion radius of-"
"Thank you...EDI," Marcus interrupted, turning back to the quarian with a raised eyebrow, "In simpler terms, look away when you fire. Retinas and nuclear blasts don't mix well. Is there an issue with big blasts?"
"None at all," Kal snapped back, grinning, "Big explosions equals a happy marine; that stereotype stays true with me. And if it gets us out of this, then I'll be able to wield it with pleasure, even if it does almost tear off my arm."
"A pity it only has one missile, but it'll do," Marcus stated, slapping the man on the shoulder as he slotted the cloaking module into the side of his belt, "Now go kick some ass, Reegar. We'll draw their fire. I'm sure the geth will actually notice the distortion of the cloak if we don't."
"Just don't tell Madi. She'll get nuts. You know how women are," the quarian grinned, nodding, "Wish me luck, Shepard. Keelah Se'lai!" And with that, he disappeared in a fizzle of electricity, only the bare outline of his body could be seen before he dashed out from cover, now nowhere to be seen.
"Now what?" Kaidan asked, wincing as another shot pinged off his cover.
"We draw their fire," he ordered, dropping into a prone position with the marine as they crawled forwards.
It didn't take long for them to arrive, and when they had, he quickly propped himself up on his back, placing it against the cover behind him, and motioned to his team, "All of you, Kal's going to flank the enemy force and take out their reserve force. I'm hoping the geth's new emotions will cause confusion when the blast occurs. Until then, Kal will need some cover. Give it all you have. On my mark."
"You sent Kal out there!?" Madi hissed over the radio, "Without telling me!?"
"Now isn't a great time for this conversation, Madi," Marcus barked back, slamming a new clip into his new pulse rifle after removing the old one, "Just get ready to open fire."
"I can't believe this! He could get hurt! They could kill him! I bet you wouldn't have sent Tali out there if it was necess-"
"Kal will die if you don't fucking knock it off! You can chastize me later! Now get up and draw some fire! All members, open fire! Pick your targets and empty your clips on the fuckers!" Without hesitation, he jumped up, stood fully and aimed directly at a geth shock trooper, and opened fire.
Both forces opened fire on the other in a blaze of red and orange and purple, shots slicing through open air in a city of destructive ordnance. Some shots pinged off the floor or railing or walls, while others hit their targets, pinging off shields, armor or shredding them entirely.
Four geth troopers didn't survive the onslaught, immediately cut down in an unrelenting torrent of gunshots, optics shattering, armor flying and circuits blown clear of their hosts. A sniper shot pierced a rocket trooper through the neck, the immense force of the heavier weapon leaving a gaping hole in the platform's head, causing it to hang limply on its side. It fired three rockets in this state, all of them flying across the room and missing their targets completely, either taking out a chunk of wall or detonating harmlessly in the air as their timers' expired. The rocket trooper in question slouched forward, and quickly died, white liquid gushing across the floor in thick clumps.
Biotics joined the fray, with pushes and shockwaves slamming into their ranks, causing the juggernaut to stutter slightly, giving them a little of a reprieve. Even the prime seemed to jerk, throwing off its aim only a bit as one of its pulsating barrages missed Javik by an inch. Regardless, the prothean ducked, hissing from the immense heat that had licked at his skin as it passed.
Five hoppers were tossed aside by one shockwave, buying his squad enough time to deal more damage. A shock trooper, its shields gone, was eviscerated by a warp field slamming into it, circuits exploding and metal imploding as its atoms were slowly eaten away, piece by piece. James' Revenant just coughed a steady beat, shredding two more troopers and three rocket troopers in its unsteady rampage across the battlefield.
Javik's particle rifle bit into the shields of the juggernaut with the aid of Kasumi's, Liara's and EDI's SMGs, but they did little and less, and before long, the juggernaut was back in a position to relaunch its offensive. To make matters worse, several geth platforms had appeared on the upper catwalks above them, five of them being rocket troopers, while one of them was the unmistakable form of a geth sniper. It held a Javelin sniper rifle in its hands, a weapon of geth design, and its optics glowed bright crimson and was more elongated; a testament to its enhanced vision. It went into a prone position, its rifle placed before it and fired its first shot.
He watched Kaidan shoot backwards from the shot, crying out over the radio. For a moment, his heart almost stopped, turning in horror as he wondered if the wound had killed his long time friend. To his relief, it had only been the shock of the impact that caused Kaidan to shout out; not an injury. His shields were done for though, so Kaidan quickly rolled back into the cover before the sniper could get off another shot.
The geth prime send its drone ahead as a vanguard, before quickly deploying a gun emplacement; it was a large drone that hovered in place, but was equipped with high-caliber pulse cannon, which was extremely deadly. Its turret deployed, the prime pushed forward, firing non-stop with its pulse cannon as its drone harassed Liara and Kasumi with electronic warfare.
He watched the juggernaut as its spitfire spun back up, the tip whirling as it gained speed, ready to deal its horrendous punishment. And this time, his squad would be chewed up in seconds as the geth's miraculous precision, reaction time and insanely fast firing crushed them.
Suddenly, there was a thunderous clash, and his body was yanked backwards.
He felt his back connect with the ground, watching as the rest of his squad were tossed about like rag dolls. Thanks to his cybernetically enhanced eyes, his retinas didn't burn off. Which meant he was allowed to see the flash of the Cain's ordnance in all its glory.
The blast did tremendous damage. He watched as the catwalk was literally yanked up into the sky, the supports holding it down snapped and peeled away like the peeling of a banana, the catwalk platforms themselves shooting through the air at speeds capable of cutting a geth armature in half. Shorn metal used for walking on became projectiles as it moved upwards, sending with it the cooked remains of the five rocket troopers and the geth sniper, all of which were totally annihilated in the blast, their remains mingling amongst the wreckage; the only sign that they had existed being a tsunami of white spray looming in the air.
The blast continued its carnage, likely leaving a massive crater in the decking. The main gun suffered no damage due to its toughened exterior, but the immense heat licked at it, blackening its side. The geth platoon was nowhere to be found, likely having been at the ground zero of the explosion, and vaporized instantly.
The geth platoon they had been fighting were knocked to the ground, and this time, even the geth prime couldn't hold itself, slamming into the ground like a slab of concrete, landing ontop of its turret and crushing it with its huge weight. The rest of the geth troopers, shock troopers, hoppers, rocket troopers and two of the destroyers were tossed about due to their light weight, smacking into the walls and breaking like twigs, or falling off the edge completely; either way, none of them were a threat any longer. Even the juggernaut had toppled, landing 'flat on its face.' The last destroyer was not so lucky, a piece of jagged metal slammed into its fuel tank. Before it knew it, the tank exploded, and the destroyer lit up in flames, the napalm mixture mixing with its white phosphorous counterpart was enough to cause the armor of the geth to melt in seconds, circuits to burst and fry, and the geth's optics to simply explode. It fell to the ground, the flames it created consuming it.
In the end, the Cain had done more than he had hoped. I just hope Kal didn't take my advice...Fires raged in the now oxygen filled atmosphere, and the debris from the explosion continued to rain, thankfully missing his team. Smaller explosions occurred occassionally, likely from the flames interacting with more volatile elements of the ship's anatomy. Either way, the way ahead had been utterly decimated.
After all that was over, all that was left was his squad, and the juggernaut and the prime. With one weapon, one blast, the tide had turned completely in their favor.
He wasn't wasting it.
"Everybody on your feet! Take them down!" Marcus barked, shaking off the intense shellshock (must be the first person to suffer shellshock from a friggin nuke, as small as it is) and leaping to his feet, running up and retrieving the pulse rifle that had fallen from his grasp, "Get up! Get 'em before they recover! MOVE! ON THE DOUBLE!" He didn't wait for his orders to be followed before pouring into the toppled juggernaut, which was admirably trying to recover itself.
Garrus was up first, joining his fire with Marcus'. James, angry at being thrown around so much and suffering from shellshock, grabbed his Revenant and poured everything into the juggernaut. The rest of his squad hurled abuse at the prime, knowing that it was the most tankish out of all of the geth they faced.
The juggernaut didn't stand a chance, even for all its firepower. The blast had destroyed its shields, and despite Marcus not seeing it before, a piece of debris and slammed into the ground, tearing off the geth's left leg at the knee. It was physically incapable of standing up, and was pathetically crawling towards its spitfire, desperate to defend itself. He almost felt sorry for it. He did feel sorry for it. It didn't want to do this. The Reapers forced them to do this. All I can do now is put it out of its misery. And that they did.
Their three-man attack, combined its lack of shields and proper mobility, killed the juggernaut quickly; its upper back was completely shredded by the time they were done. With the juggernaut finished, they quickly refocused their attention on the prime.
It was already up, its shields half-drained, but still up and running, which was impressive, given that his squad was pouring everything they had into it. Its drone had long been destroyed, and he watched as Madi, furious beyond reason, moved forward, pouring continuously into the toweing mammoth. The geth itself remained defiant to the end, picking up a target and pouring into it, even as the fire from the destroyer's ruptured tank licked towards it, the napalm and phosphorous threatening to engulf it.
Kasumi leapt over the flames, dousing them with a cryo blast before tossing a couple of grenades. They all detonated infront of the prime, downing its shields further. It turned towards Kasumi, who was close enough that it was able to bring its arm up and swing its pulse cannon at her.
Nimple and fast, she ducked under the sudden blow, which would have decapitated her. The prime let out a loud synthetic bellow of anger, bringing up its right foot and bringing it down mightily. Kasumi, losing her footing, fell back, but spread her legs in time for the foot to land solidly between them, denting the ground. One second slower, and her legs would be firmly crushed, every bone in them grounded into powder.
Another hoard of gunfire joined the fray, and Marcus watched with relief as Kal emerged from the flames sprinting, but holding a weapon he hadn't seen before. The prime jerked as a thump, thump, thump slammed into it, large plasma explosions racking its body. Turning, he saw Kal wielding a geth-designed weapon, this one more bulbous at the end than the pulse rifle, but from the looks of it, it wielded enormous explosive power. His Cain hung on Kal's back, although it looked as if the quarian was struggling with the weight of it, even unloaded.
He heard Madi cheer over the comm, but he didn't near it, instead rolling forward and pushing Kasumi out of the way before the prime lashed out. It tried to bring up its pulse cannon, but Marcus had had enough. This needed to end. With a sizzling pop, its shields dropped, and he seized his chance. He flared his biotics, remembering his new favourite attack; one of Jack's moves. Thank you, Jack.
Garnering all the power he could, he propelled his hand forward and with it, the most powerful ordnance at a man's disposal, save the Cain itself. It was bright purple in all its beauty, and the dark energy it utilized was paramount to its impact.
The prime practically disappeared as the biotic flare hit it. Its pulse cannon didn't survive the blast, and the intense light blinded him for a second before his cybernetics compensated. He watched as the prime burst apart like a over-pumped balloon, bits of metal showering everywhere and coating everyone nearby in thick white...whatever the hell it was. All that was left was its lower torso and that soon toppled backwards, falling over the railing and plummetting down below.
His biotics died down, and he surveyed the destruction around him. It was a disaster zone, more like. He examined the crater he had predicted, and all the deck plating around the ground zero had caved inwards, metal cracked and sheared, crackling as it sizzled from the radioactivity, and others having melted into sludge and combined with others before cooling, making metallic hybrids. He could see the heat waves from his position, a testament to the wrath of the Cain itself; only a mere one trillionth of Hashem's full abilities. The catwalks were non-existent, and from the looks of it, Kal hadn't taken his advice; otherwise he'd be flying pieces of meat by now. Geth corpses lay everywhere, and the ground was coated in blood...at least, that's what he had taken to calling it. Never understood why the geth have that white stuff. What's the use of it?
"Even indirectly, you hold up to your reputation," Tali cooed beside him, grinning behind her mask, no doubt, "Big explosions, lots of destruction."
He turned to his wife, his smile long and large, like a kid on christmas, "I love to deliver. Still, if the geth were lethargic in their response before, they sure as hell are bringing down Fort Knox now."
"Yeah, we might as well have lit up a flare that says 'we're here, come get us'," Garrus stated dryly, sucking in deep breaths, "Suddenly, I don't feel so tired."
"Well, its not what you'd exactly call subtle, yeah," Liara agreed, smiling, "But we do have a tendency for explosions."
"You weren't kidding when you said there would be a big boom," Kal chuckled, dropping the Cain as if it was a weight he could do without. He kicked it towards him, but even then, it only slid a few feet before stopping. Marcus just smirked, picking it up without effort and slotting it onto his back, "I'm glad I chose not to do the catwalk, though."
"Yeah, why didn't you?"
"Found a better position," Kal replied, shrugging, "Further away, better view. That, and this geth juggernaut I ran into was just so kind to donate this grenade launcher to me," he held up the thing, almost waving it around, "Its surprisingly light, and packs more punch than you'd expect. I like it."
"Think you'll keep it?"
"Definitely."
"Its your toy, Reegar," Tali quipped, "Although I'd be a bit worried if I were you."
"Why?"
"Because-"
"-of me, you bosh'tet!" Madi ran towards him, slamming a fist into his gut. Kal almost wheezed from the blow, eyes widening in surprise; this was generally the reaction of the entire group, as all of them were expecting a slap or a hug; not a punch to the stomach. Marcus slowly turned to Tali, who also had her eyes widened at the scene. I hope she's not taking notes...
"You idiotic, imbecilic, unbelievable...idiot!" she growled, waiting for the marine to stand up. When he was fully up once more, the geth grenade launcher holstered on his back, Madi wrapped his body in a tight hug, arms tossed around his broad form. He hesitantly returned it, not sure what to make of his situation. He saw Madi's vocalizer flash, meaning she had said something, but it had not been said through the comm link. A private link. What she said had put Kal's guard down, and the two hugged for a few moments before they both parted, awkwardly unholstering their rifles as they returned to the group.
Women...I swear, sometimes I hope to understand them, and then I don't want to. He turned to Tali again, but she seemed to be in a world of her own. Possibly thinking of her own, unique ways to punish my own raids of insanity. He turned away, so as to not encourage her attention. He didn't want her to know that he knew. Or thought...
Instead, he spoke to her over the team comm link, "So Tali...where to next? How do we access the main gun?"
"The gun has multiple release hatches," his wife immediately responded, bringing it up on her omni-tool, displaying a hologram of the gargartuan weapon. Alongside it were highlighted hatches lining its side, "The geth use them when they need to gain access to the interior for repairs, maintenance or just basic examination. They have one per bulkhead."
He raised an eyebrow at that, "And how many bulkheads are on this ship?"
"Sixty-four," She replied, "Sixteen of which we need to traverse to reach the engine room."
"So where's this bulkhead's hatch?" Liara asked, reloading her SMG in a hurry, obviously thinking of the massive geth army possibly heading in their direction, "We need to get moving quickly."
"Its right here actually," Tali responded, turning to their right. They all turned and looked up at where she was motioning to, and they all immediately saw it. Alongside the massive, metal tube was a large-scale metal door, shaped alongside its side. It had one haptic interface at the bottom, which was currently flashing red. Three slots latched them together, likely reinforced by alloys that could repel a MAC round. Knowing the geth, that wouldn't too surprising.
"Can we access it?" Marcus asked, turning to Tali with a look of optimism, "It looks heavily reinforced."
"It is. It would take an entire battalion of geth primes just to take a tiny hole," the quarian responded, "But I think EDI and I can hack into it. Shouldn't take too long."
They weren't joking about that. Their joint-intrusion pretty much took the geth security by surprise, as they obviously hadn't been expecting them to access the main gun. Geth seem to be far more sloppy this time around. I remember them being smarter than this. Within two minutes, the hatch flew open, sliding into itself and revealing the interior of the gun inside. Light fumes poured through the gun's interior, which were immediately vented as the door opened. Must be fumes let over from plasma dispersion.
"Well, everybody inside. Tali, close the hatch behind us. Hopefully it'll delay the geth a bit longer," he ordered, moving towards the hatch quickly. As he watched his squad moving inside, he noted a distinct lack of James. He frowned, turning frantically to both sides, but finding nothing. Eventually, he resorted to setting up a link to the soldier, "Vega, what's your position? Vega? James?"
"Right here, loco," James announced, and he turned in time to see just what the marine had disappeared for. In his hands, gleaming brightly, was the juggernaut's spitfire. Its back and trigger were very much like a standard pulse rifle, but the front definitely had that minigun look, and James looked bright as the sun as he examined it, Revenant holstered on his back, "Just wanted to take this fine piece of high-velocity, divine intervention with me. If God is love, then call me cupid."
He could only chuckle, waving towards the hatch, "Good call, James. Now get your ass inside. You're covering the rear. Any geth appear, open up." With a grin only James would understand, he moved to catch up, James taking up the rear just as promised.
Marcus turned to look to the left, where his squad were already traversing, albeit carefully, down the gun's barrel. The tube's ceiling stretched an entire 10 meters above him, huge and monstrous. Its sides were blue and flashing, emitters likely used to eject plasma into the chamber to generate the chain reaction needed to create its deadly projectile. And they were standing inside it.
He moved to catch up with the squad, James not far behind. The sooner they disabled that signal, the better.
{Loading...}
July 5, 2186
1139 hours.
Main Gun, GDS-659 Class Super-Dreadnought, Geth Fleet, In Orbit over Rannoch, Tikkun System, Perseus Veil Cluster.
Second Morning War, First Battle of Rannoch.
Captain Marcus Lee Shepard, Admiral Tali'Shepard vas Normandy, General Kal'Reegar oso Machina, Major Madi'Reegar oso Machina, Military Advisor Garrus Vakarian, Second Lieutenant James Vega, Second Lieutenant Imogen Keeling, Soldier Javik, EDI, Master Thief Kasumi Goto, Major Kaidan Alenko, Shadow Broker Liara T'Soni.
The main gun chamber felt like it stretched on for kilometers. It was just a neverending tube, continuous and gigantic. They spent a good ten minutes traversing it, and all the while, Marcus felt like the geth would fire up the main gun and vaporize them inside the chamber. At least it would be a quick death. Undignified, but quick.
It was a long traversal, and so far, none of the geth had attacked them. EDI had surmized that the geth didn't want to risk damage to the weapon's interior, as it could cripple the weapon's ability to fire. What was worse was that the geth were probably, as a result, were deploying troops right outside their exit point...likely an entire battalion. And this time, there would be no cover to save them.
He heard Garrus speak, Marcus turning to the turian as he spoke. He was holding his rifle with the butt against his shoulder, obviously prepared for any geth attack. James was still behind them, Javik having joined him, both of them keeping the rear secured. Kal and Madi were up front, where Madi insisted that she be with him at 'all times.' Marcus was just glad Tali wasn't so...possessive.
When the turian spoke, it was frustrated and full of irritation, clearly uncomfortable, "The geth really don't build their ships with organics in mind. No oxygen, no sound, no...comfortable corridors. This ship just creeps me out. And its just so big."
"Its not that much further to the engine room," Marcus assured him, moving forward. I hope.
Suddenly, Tali was at his side, and he felt her bump her hips against his, a slight grin behind her mask, "I really appreciate what you're doing here, Marcus." She seemed to wink at him behind the mask, and he immediately caught on. A grin of his own slid across his lips, bumping his own hips against hers.
"Well," he pretended to ponder, shrugging, "I care deeply for the quarian people."
"The quarian people?" she giggled, "Or me?"
"Do I have to choose?" he shot back.
She sighed happily, "Its good to be back on the Normandy." She fiddled with the side of her shotgun.
He patted her on the shoulder, "Let me know if it's too...quiet for you to sleep. I might be able to find you someplace...louder."
She purred in response. Any response she had was cut off by Garrus' gagging.
"You two are sickening, you know that?" the turian complained, shaking his head, "Just...get a room And work it out for spirits' sake."
"Yeah fishbowl, work it out in a room. Get some exercise," Kasumi teased, coming up beside the thief. She must have retrieved her cloak from Kal, because he could see the remnants of the electricity fizzing away as she appeared.
"It would be preferable if you did not engage in the implied activities during a combat scenario," EDI added, "It would be detrimental to unit cohesion and would most likely make the squad uncomfortable."
"Could someone please tell me what's going on?" James asked, confused, "Is there something I'm not catching onto here? Somekind of hidden joke I am not aware of." The marine continued to screen the area behind them, never taking his eyes off, but constantly aware of the team conversation.
Javik was keen to make his own confusion known, frustration in his tone as he spoke, "I do not understand the purpose of the captain's actions, or the quarian's. They are...erratic."
Marcus' eyes widened and he desperately tried to stem the tide, but he was too late. Once you put a question on the air, EDI was all too eager to answer.
"Shepard and Tali became physically intimate during their fight against the Collectors," EDI declared.
For a few seconds, a period of awkward silence followed, by the squad continued. He craned his head towards Tali, who was rubbing the side of her neck and trying very badly to avoid anyone's gaze. EDI showed signs of confusion, not knowing why her squad was uncomfortable with the information they requested. He heard Garrus trying to stiffle a chuckle, and Kasumi just flat out giggled. James and Javik didn't say anything. Liara, Keeling, Kal and Madi said nothing. Kaidan was also silent. For Marcus, his cheeks flashed bright red behind his mask, the heat combining with is built-in heating systems to create a very hot atmosphere. It certainly got hot in here very quickly...
Finally, Keeling spoke, "Well, with all due respect sir, that was...unexpected. Just...odd."
"Yeah, too much information," James added, sounding a bit reserved himself; afraid he'd say something disrespectful.
Javik didn't bother holding his thoughts back, "Interspecies mating? A pointless exercise. I believed the captain to be more intelligent than this. It appears primitive tendecies are still prominent in this cycle."
"Noted, Javik," Marcus finally spoke, "And thank you EDI...we'll be having a very long talk...later on. About the release of personal information."
EDI was still confused, "I do not understand. Lieutenant Vega asked for the information, and I simply provided an accurate response."
"That's the point EDI," Marcus tried to get out, drowning out Garrus' stiffled choking, "It was...too accurate."
"Is that not my task? To provide accurate analysis on situations?"
"Not when it's personal. That's between me and Tali, noone else."
"Its not exactly a secret, Shep," Kasumi backed up.
Tali piped up, clearing her throat awkwardly, "She still didn't have to say it like...that."
"Oh, come on...," Garrus started, able to keep back his laughter now, keeping it under control less he found himself on the ground, Marcus punching him to death, "...you have to admit it, it was pretty funny."
"I'm warning you, Garrus," Marcus replied, "Stop. Or else."
"Or else what?" Garrus asked smugly, "You've got nothing, Marcus."
"Oh really?" Some of the heat in Marcus' cheeks disappeared, and a smile creased his lips, about to burn Garrus' smug world to the ground with a single word, "How about we test that out? What do you ya say, Garbear?"
Garrus' stiffled laughter stopped, and the grin dropped from his mandibles. Before he could stop it, Kasumi and Tali burst out laughing, Kal and Madi chuckled, and Liara giggled lightly. He could even hear Keeling...Keeling...stiffling a laugh, while Kaidan outright guffawed. James was wracking himself, while Javik just shook his head.
"Garbear? Holy shit, and I thought I had a penchant for nicknames, Scars!" James roared, trying to breathe as he laughed, "That's just gold!"
Garrus fixed Marcus with the largest glare he could muster, "I will kill you."
Marcus just continued to grin, "Payback's a bitch, and payback...is served. Nice and hot. I hope you like it slow-roasted."
"Spirits take you to hell."
Javik sighed heavily, "This activity is pointless. We should be-"
Suddenly, the Normandy comms pinged, Marcus' HUD flashing red as Joker contacted him. Recovering from his fit of laughter, he hit the response, clearing his throat, "Shepard here."
"Ah, we got a problem out here, Shepard," Joker stated, sounding worried. His tone seemed hurried and rushed, as if he was desperately trying to relay the information extremely fast. What remained of Marcus' amused expression dissolved into a frown. What's going on out there?
"What is it?" he responded, frown deepening.
"The quarians..." Joker began, clearing his throat, "The quarians just jumped into the system."
EDI jumped in from her position on the geth super-dread, speaking through his comms, "I am detecting twelve thousand, fourteen hundred and eighteen separate ship-based signatures, as well as nineteen thousand smaller signatures that fit the profiles of basic fighters. They are approaching Rannoch at full military thrust and will be in weapons range in five seconds."
"Twelve thousand..." Tali whispered. She gasped, whorling to face Marcus with widened eyes, "That's the Heavy Fleet!"
What the fuck is Gerrel doing? I told him to hold back! He turned to EDI, anger flashing on his face, "Get me a link with the Neema." He better have a good excuse...
"Sending comm prompt now," EDI replied.
What the hell does he think he's doing? What stunt is he trying to pull? If the Migrant Fleet in all its strength couldn't take on the geth fleet, what makes him think just the heavy fleet will do the job? He knows the signal isn't down, which means the geth fleet is still at full strength. Surely he wouldn't be stupid enough to-
Oh shit. No, no, he really would.
That trigger-happy DEGENERATE!
"Request...rejected," EDI replied, "He has refused the request."
His eyes filled with fury, "He what?"
Suddenly, Joker cried out over the comms, "Oh fuck! All hands, brace for-"
If the super-dreadnought's kinetic barriers weren't already up, the ship probably would have shuddered from the impacts of an entire fleet firing upon it. But it didn't, the ship not even shaking. But he knew the attack had occurred. Gerrel had launched a suicidal raid on the super-dread in a desperate attempt to destroy it. That fucking idiot...
He turned to EDI, "EDI, status!"
"The Normandy is unharmed, although remaining docked is now longer a viable option, given our circumstances," the AI replied, unfazed, "My calculations vary between a 82.5% to 96.33% percent chance that the next volley will impact the Normandy. There is a 59.4% percent chance that the next volley will destroy the ship."
"Joker, disengage the docking protocols and get the hell out of there! Get to a safe distance and continue trying to hail Gerrel! Tell him that if he doesn't, I'll make sure to reduce his ship to cosmic dust!" He turned to his squad, shaking his head, "Fuck! We need to double time this! Thanks to Gerrel, we're now on a timer."
"We weren't before?" Kaidan pondered.
"Apparently not," Tali replied in a whisper, "We need to get moving."
Marcus could tell this new development worried her. The pressure of her people dying was now back on her hands, putting unneeded pressure to the situation. And it was all Gerrel's fault. When this is over, I'll be sure to remove that fuck from command, uncle or not.
He could see the hatch. It loomed just as large as the others they had passed, but this one was the endgame. Once they passed through this, all it would take is one elevator ride, and they'd be in engineering. Then they could end this. Hopefully before Gerrel gets the heavy fleet wiped out.
"The Normandy is safely disengaged," EDI declared as they approached the massive seal, looming over them like somekind of leviathan, "I have destingated an agreed safe zone for the Normandy to retreat to."
"Excellent," Marcus replied, "Stay safe, Joker. Shepard out." With that, he returned to the normal comms. Hopefully we won't need to find another way out of here.
He turned to Tali, and nodded, "Open the hatch. EDI, you know the drill."
In seconds, the hatch slid open, and to his delight, no geth were waiting for them. Maybe they've set up an ambush somewhere else. Hopefully not in engineering.
As soon as the hatch was open, Tali and EDI were through, the rest of his team following. Eventually, all that was left was James, Javik and himself. With a sigh, he joined them, motioning for them to move ahead while he held the rear. But as he gave the order, the entire gun turned bright...white.
He blinked, and he noticed James and Javik had paused. Marcus was confused for a second, not sure what had caused the flash, when he saw it. The emitters burning brighter and brighter, the air getting hotter and hotter, the end of the gun beginning to spin faster and faster until it gave a resounding screech as the machinery grinded together, reaching a speed where they all blurred together. It became clear in an instant, even before he heard Tali screaming into his comm, and James grabbing at his arm.
With no time left, he brought his biotics and shoved. In a second, the dark energy channelling through his body sent both him and James propelling through the air to land on the platform outside, Javik already waiting. They both landed with a thud, Marcus ontop of James as the air was driven from their lungs. A mere moment later, the hatch fully closed, sealing as all three locks grinded together.
A moment later, and the gun glowed at its brightest apex before expelling the light it gathered, his squad watching as said light stretched out along the tube until it consumed it. The light persisted for a few moments before dissipating, the massive phroom sound of its firing fading into non-existence.
"Keelah," Kal exclaimed, "We almost got vaporized. That would not have been a very dignified death."
"Especially for the crew of the ship that the weapon was aimed at," James added, Marcus rolling off the marine to let him stand up, the soldier grunting as he retrieved the spitfire he dropped in the process, squaring his shoulder to release the tension in them.
"We need to hurry up and disable that signal before that main gun chews up Gerrel's fleet," as if to punctuate this, the main gun began to charge again, white light building up as the whorl built up. Turning, he brought his eyes to Tali's, who was already anticipating it.
"We'll save them. I made a promise, and I intend to keep it," he stated, nodding, "But first, the signal. Where do we go from here?"
"That door," Tali stated, motioning to the door leading to the exit of the bulkhead, "From there, we go down a few more corridors until we arrive at the main rear service elevator for junction 9. We can use that to get to Deck 142, where the engine room is located. It should take us straight there. From there, we disable the drive core, and as a result, the signal itself."
"See?" he smiled warmly, tapping his helmet to her mask; their idea of a kiss with their helmets on, "It'll all be okay. Come on, we need to get moving before the geth have time to prepare further."
The squad quickly crossed the distance from their position to the door, not wanting to waste anymore time than they already had. The area they were in located in looked almost exactly the same as the one they accessed the main gun in; a ring of catwalks with ladders were stilted above on heavy weight supports, with an access corridor above them, all of them in the blank, grey and silver architecture of the geth. Overall, it looked like a carbon clone. Geth aren't much for creativity.
A/N:
Had to split this chapter in two once again because it ended up being 20,000 words long. Anyway, third part is almost done, so it should be released sometime soon, possibly this weekend (latest: Sunday, Victoria, Australian time). So yeah. Also, please review. If you're still here and reading this after my absurdly long hiatus, please leave a review.
Also, you probably think I've forgotten about the interrogation scenes at the end of each chapter. I haven't. I just don't do them at the end of multi-part chapters until the last part, where I then add it. Just don't see the point.
Keelah Se'lai, troopers!
