Mission 3 – Ontarom
It wasn't long before their next assignment.
With Eta and Zeta recovered, the team set out for what was probably their final mission.
"There are four hot points we need you to access and send data from. This will allow us greater vision on the area to plan tactical attacks, don't let me down a third time," said the voice.
They were on board the ship heading to Ontarom.
"Guys, I've been thinking," Delta was the first to break the silence.
"Always a bad thing," Kappa said, "Look kid, let's just finish it this time, ok?"
"No! I've been thinking, we need to change how we do things," he started.
Zeta's head, which had been perched on his sword, looked up.
"We're not going to do well if we can't work as a team," he continued, "we've had moments were we've survived by the skin of our teeth-"
"Aww, gotten scared have you?" Kappa mused.
"Listen to him, Kappa," Zeta interrupted.
"I'm sorry, who the hell put this guy in charge? I work for no one except the payer, that's how it's always been, and that's how it's gonna stay," Kappa finished.
Delta looked pleadingly at Zeta, but the blue vanguard merely shrugged.
It was an awkward silence that fell over the team. Alpha seemed impartial to it, however.
"W-Who're we expecting as r-resistance anyway?" Eta asked.
"Cerberus, again," Kappa replied.
They broke the atmosphere and landed in a strangely deserted landing bay.
The team jumped out together, taking in their surroundings.
"Lovely day," Zeta remarked.
"Nice day for an ambush. It's too quiet," Kappa said.
"Alpha, go over there and see if there's anyone around," Delta ordered the large soldier.
"Kappa, fancy taking an' elevated position on that small roof over there?" Zeta asked.
"No," was the only reply he got as Kappa walked in the opposite direction.
"First transmitter's this way," Mu smirked, indicating the position Zeta had pointed to.
"N-No gunshots f-from Alpha," Eta remarked, "m-m-must be deserted."
Alpha rejoined them whilst Mu started working on the transmitter.
"Anything?" Delta asked. But Alpha just looked ahead like none of them were there.
"Oh yeah, I sometimes forget he can't speak," Delta laughed.
"More like he can't comprehend communication," Zeta observed.
"Come look at this, people," came Kappa's voice.
Eta, Zeta and Delta left Mu and Alpha and ran over to Kappa.
"What's up," Delta asked.
He pointed to a large container crate.
"I don't get it," Delta said.
"Look closer."
Eta was the first to spot it, "Oh."
There was an armoured foot protruding out from behind it, barely visible.
"Mu, how close are you to finishing?" Zeta asked.
"First one's done, why?"
"Get over here," he waited till she arrived, "get cloaked and go look at that foot."
She looked at him.
"Please," he added.
"Guard up," Kappa said.
"Dead Cerberus Trooper, looks fresh, I think… wait, there's more. Another over there, get down here," Mu said.
They quickly jumped down and rallied to her position. Indeed, there were many Cerberus troopers, all dead.
"Anyone know what kind of weapon killed them?" Kappa asked.
"Movement!" Delta hissed.
They all ducked for cover.
"Where?" Zeta hissed back.
"Up on the ridge, where we landed," Delta replied.
Kappa took out his sniper and started looking around, "I can't see anything."
"Well something's here, these Cerberus troopers didn't just drop dead," Zeta said.
"Maybe they all got diseases," Delta suggested.
Kappa gave him a harsh tap to the helmet.
"Shh!" Mu said.
They listened, and heard gunshots.
"Alpha!" Delta suddenly remembered, and began running.
"Go save his ass, Kappa," Zeta asked, "We'll get to the second one."
For once, Kappa complied.
"I s-smell Biotics," Eta said.
"You bloody reek of them, I'm not surprised," Zeta joked.
"Oops," Eta said, when she noticed she was leaking black tendrils of biotics again.
"Second one's just up there," Zeta said, "we'll go together, just to be safe."
Him, Mu and Eta slowly moved out from their cover, but could still see no one.
"Kappa, what's going on?"
"Alpha finished them off, they're Geth."
"Eta, could you come over here?" Delta asked.
Confused, Eta ran back to them.
"Y-yes?" she asked when she reached Delta.
"I got hit by something, could you smell this?" he asked.
"W-what?"
"On my arm, just tell me what it smells like," he pestered.
Reluctantly, she took a sniff, and then another.
"Biotics," was all she said.
Delta looked at Kappa in alarm.
"Guys, be careful. These aren't normal Geth," he said.
"What do you mean?" Zeta replied.
"They're using biotics."
Zeta stopped and looked at Mu.
"How can Geth have biotics?" he asked, almost rhetorically.
"One explosion and we're down, be careful," Kappa said.
The two continued on, finally reaching the second transmitter. Zeta went to look around the area, whilst Mu turned invisible and began work.
"Mu, what happened to you?" he asked quietly when he returned.
"Don't," was all she said.
"Two months we spent in that place, we finally got out, and when we arrived home, you just disappeared?"
"I said don't!" she cried.
Shocked, Zeta didn't press further. They suddenly heard noises coming from outside.
"Are you guys near us?" Zeta asked.
"No, we've got more of these Geth things on us," it was Delta who replied.
"Good," Zeta took out his sword and got ready, just before shadows could be seen in the doorframe, he sent of a biotic slash that passed through the wall. They heard heavy thumps outside.
"I'll go look," he said.
He peeked around the corner, and sure enough, it was Geth. Three bodies lay on the floor, defeated.
"Grab one for me," Mu said.
He pulled the closest one into the room, and Mu began looking over it.
"Kappa, I'm sending you the scan," she said.
"What's this?" Zeta asked, pointing to a small symbol engraved into the Geth's left leg.
"Old Greek symbol for capital Sigma," Mu replied, looking closer.
"Anyone know anything on the Greek letter for Sigma?"
They were all negative replies, "I'll do some research when I'm back," Delta offered.
"We're closer to number three, we'll try working our way there, they've got Pyro's and Rocket troopers so far," Kappa said.
Mu broke off a bit of plating from the Geth unit, before turning invisible again as she finished the transmitter and began running to help the others. Zeta looked over to where they were and focussed on one Rocket Trooper at the back of the ambush. He took a breath and hurled himself over with a Biotic Charge.
The ambush was large; a group of over twenty had come to attack them.
Alpha stood at the back of the group, with his Typhoons out, a constant open fire.
Delta crouched behind a small crate, sending the odd Incinerate out.
Eta tried battling biotics with biotics, sending the odd Geth flying with a throw.
Kappa carefully selected more dense areas and threw grenades into them; his pylon was down around him.
Mu had her sword out and was slicing at a Geth Rocket Trooper, whilst Zeta sent another slash out before they knew he was behind them.
"Eta, be careful," Kappa warned. Her shield was taking a battering from biotic attacks, "One powerful attack and you'll explode-"
A Prime rounded the corner and instantly hit her with a large, powerful pulse of biotics, her shields exploded and she flew to the ground in a heap.
"Crap!" Kappa shouted, he tried to get up to help her, but was instantly buffeted by a flurry of biotics, techs and bullets.
"Can't get to her!" he shouted.
"On my way," Mu said. She activated her cloak and began running through the lines of Geth.
Zeta also had to teleport out of the Primes way, back to his teammates.
Mu reached Eta and began applying medi-gel, but quickly had to dodge away as a rocket sailed past her.
"You guys keep them distracted; I'll go and get the third transmitter!" Delta shouted.
"No!" Zeta roared, but it was too late. Delta stood up and took another rocket straight to the chest, sending him also crashing to the ground.
"Could have really done with his big-shield too," Kappa mused.
"This is no time for jokes Kappa; we need to come up with something quick, we're outnumbered!" Zeta shouted.
"And I thought you were the funny one," Kappa smirked.
"What the hell's your problem?" Zeta asked.
"My problem? You kids think it's all fun and games to go teleporting around with a goddamn sword whilst we're in a battle! I don't even know why I signed onto this goddamn mission! I get stuck with a bunch of idiots, one who can't even navigate a battlefield without getting himself killed, another who doesn't even understand orders, she's insane, and she's got some long standing grudge against you! Once we finish this, I'll take my credits and leave!"
"This isn't about credits! This isn't even about the job!" Zeta argued, "it's about the idea! You act like you're some sort of seasoned war veteran! You're not. Not here. With us, you're a teammate, you're in the same boat as us, you're nothing more, and you're nothing less! The idea is to form a team from the best. We're the best, but we're no team! We fail because we're just in it for ourselves!"
"What do you want me to do about that?" Kappa asked.
"Set an example. This is our last mission, you don't have to see any of us after this if you don't want to, but for this mission only, let me know you've got my back," Zeta said, "No leaders, no one's in charge, we live off each other; or we die."
Kappa hesitated, but he saw no other way around it, "Fine, you have my ears for this mission only vanguard. Let me down, and I'll kill you personally."
Finally smiling, Zeta said, "Fine with me."
"You have a plan?"
"Toss one of your stun grenades as soon as I finish charging," Zeta ordered, "Mu, what's Eta looking like?"
"I still can't get to her, their coming up behind us now," she replied.
"Toss it," Zeta said, and he charged into the pack of Geth, ending right above Delta's fallen body.
The grenade arched through the air, but Zeta focussed all his attention on Delta and applying the medi-gel.
"Quite a speech," Delta breathed.
"We're not out of this yet."
The grenade hit, and the lightning surged through the Geth horde, temporarily stunning most of them.
"Get your shield, stand over Eta but don't heal her, make sure she's protected from the front," Zeta said as he picked the Sentinel up.
"Alpha, cover the behind," Kappa said.
"Mu, you should be able to get to Eta now," Zeta finished.
Alpha moved into position behind Mu, and took out a Piranha, loading rounds into the oncoming swarm.
"Focus on the faster ones," Kappa said, meaning the more mobile infantry.
He took a rocket trooper out as he was hit in the arm with a warp-like biotic.
"Cover me Zeta, shields down," he said.
Zeta stabbed a Geth just as it was about to finish Kappa off.
The Engineer looked at him, "Remember, let me down and I kill you."
The vanguard nodded to him.
"We need to get out of here," Delta said.
"First useful suggestion I've heard you make all day," Kappa said.
"Eta's up," Mu suddenly said.
"We can move now, what's it looking like behind us?" Zeta asked.
Delta rejoined the front with Kappa and Zeta, engaging his shield again to absorb the damage, allowing Kappa to open fire.
They felt suddenly more focused, almost like there was a unity between them, until Eta shouted out.
She wasn't down; instead, she sprinted straight past Delta, into the crowd, burning with biotics.
"What the hell's she doing!?" Kappa shouted.
They watched as everything around her seemed to be affected somewhat by the biotics, but Eta wasn't concentrating on them, she was directed towards the Prime.
Within seconds, she was ploughing it with all manner of biotic attacks; explosions ricocheting off its armoured body. She circled it, pelting it like she had some personal vendetta. They could smell the dark, burned stench from behind their cover.
"Slash it Zeta, another explosion," Kappa suggested.
Zeta did so, sending another shockwave into the crowd and beyond. It touched the Prime and caused another explosion.
"I think she knows it, maybe you should let her finish it off?" Delta said. His shield collapsed as a another rocket hit it's surface. He fell over backwards, as a trooper came running up to try and finish him.
He threw his arms into the air, and looked away, as two streams of blue smoke jetted out from somewhere on his armour, freezing the Geth solid.
He turned back round to look at it, "I didn't know I could do that!" he said, with elation.
The Prime suddenly made a large roaring sound, and exploded, leaving Eta standing there; panting.
"Quite a display," Zeta remarked.
"We have to go, evac's gonna be here soon," Kappa said.
"There's an opening back here, Alpha can hold it but you've got to run," Mu shouted.
"Eta, get back here!" Zeta said.
She complied, "Are w-we all f-friends ag-g-gain now?"
They left the front and staggered back to where Alpha kept the final few Geth at the back at bay, and joined Mu.
"Delta, can you cover any rockets?" Zeta asked.
He nodded, "Kappa, you can stun any S-Geth along the way with your grenades, whilst Mu slips behind, invisible."
"I gotta take orders from him now?" Kappa started, but Zeta gave him a stern look under his helmet, one he was sure Kappa could feel.
"Fine; wasn't a bad idea anyway."
Delta almost stopped and looked at him, "Thanks."
"S-Geth?" Zeta asked.
"I Figured, since they had a Sigma on them, it'd make sense. They're not normal Geth," Delta replied.
"Rocket," Mu said calmly.
"What?" Delta replied.
The rocket sailed straight over them, and hit Alpha squarely in the chest. The large soldier didn't even falter.
"What is he anyway?" Kappa asked.
"I don't know, some object of high value that I had to secure this one time," Delta replied.
"Could you be a bit more observant with the rockets kid?" Kappa asked, "Please."
Zeta looked at him again.
"I asked nicely," was all he got.
"Sorry, I'll try harder," Delta replied.
The next room had more S-Geth waiting in it. Kappa stunned them again whilst Alpha open fired. Mu went straight to the transmitter, turned invisible and began work.
"What was all that about with the Prime?" Zeta asked Eta.
"What P-Prime?" Eta replied.
He couldn't figure out if she was joking or not, "the Prime you just mutilated? About two minutes ago?"
"Oh, th-that Prime. S-sorry, I forget e-e-easily," she said, and turned away to survey the battle.
Delta gave Zeta a look, and they both shrugged.
"So you can freeze things too?" Zeta asked him.
"Apparently so, I don't know where it came from though," Delta said, observing his arms.
The room was cleared of the S-Geth, and Mu finished the transmitter.
"Let's go!" Delta said.
It became more 'routine' after. Twice more they ran into 'S-Geth' resistance, but efficiently killed them. There was a new unity to the team.
By now the S-Geth had figured out what they were doing, and began moving to the final transmitter.
"There'll be heavy resistance in this one," Delta announced.
"F-fun," Eta replied.
Delta pushed Alpha to the front, "You're up buddy."
"Any grenades Kappa?" Zeta asked.
"Got a couple left. Hey kid, I've got an idea," Kappa said, "I want you in to freeze loads with that Cryo mechanism of yours, get behind your shield, because then I'll toss a shock grenade, should make a nice Cryo-blast."
"Ok," Delta replied.
Eta braced herself and ripped open the door, allowing Alpha to walk in and open fire on everything that moved.
"Mu, can you get to the transmitter cloaked?" Zeta asked.
"Yes."
She disappeared and jogged after Alpha, who was taking heavy fire.
"Go, Delta!" Kappa shouted.
The small soldier sprinted around, trying to find a large enough group to hit, Kappa followed him with his sniper scope.
"Fancy some explosions?" Zeta asked Eta.
She nodded and biotics bubbled into existence around her. They raced after Alpha, who had taken it upon himself to set up behind a large desk. He jabbed his arms into the air, and out flew a few grenades, devastating a small group in the corner.
"Kappa! All set!" Delta shouted.
"We're being flanked!" Kappa replied, "Can't get to you."
"They're breaking through," Delta said.
"Zeta, take this, I'll do it," Mu exclaimed.
Zeta charged over to her, killing an S-Geth in the process.
She jumped up and took out her sword, fused electronics into it and slashed much like Zeta did.
The Cryo-Blast killed every enemy affected by it, and caused others to stagger.
"What am I looking at?" Zeta asked.
"It's not hard," Kappa replied.
"I'm a vanguard! I don't do techy stuff."
Mu crouched next to him again, and he watched as she took the console and resumed work. She flicked through screens, successfully managing to breach a firewall, and hack into the computer.
"You seemed fine with computers when I first met you," Mu observed.
"Oh, you remember?" he mused and paused, "I've been out of it for a while, training my biotics."
"Of course I remember! You ruined my life!" Mu hissed.
"You're chatty all of a sudden," Zeta observed.
She said no more, focussing on the transmitter. Zeta was distracted by S-Geth Hunters, who had flashed into existence next to them.
Delta blocked off a rocket and smashed his shield into another Geth. The room was quickly clearing; he saw many of the S-Geth covered in some biotic residue.
"Z-z-zeta, biotic s-slash please," Eta said.
The Vanguard took out his sword and sent all those covered in Eta's biotics exploding.
"Didn't know you could do something like that too, Mu?" Kappa asked, "Would have been helpful to know earlier."
"She's very secretive," Delta said when Mu didn't reply, "I'll say you've still got a couple more tricks up your sleeve."
A large door, which they hadn't noticed upon entering, suddenly opened, revealing another S-Geth Prime. This one had biotics fuelled onto its armoured body, much like Eta did; it was also a metallic black, unlike other Geth Primes.
"Looks tough," Kappa said.
They started focussing their fire power on it; more or less everything else in the room had been destroyed.
"Any explosions would be great!" Kappa shouted.
Delta sent an incinerate sphere, which Kappa detonated with one of his grenades. Eta blasted it with biotics, followed by another explosion from Zeta, who launched a biotic slash.
The S-Geth Prime flinched, but turned his attention first to Zeta. Within one blast his shields were down, forcing him to move out of the battle to recharge.
"You don't last long," Kappa said, firing a sniper round into the S-Geth's shield.
"What I have in biotic strength, I suffer in shields, have to remain light," Zeta said.
"Charge it!" Delta said, "It'll restore you right?"
"I'm not going near that thing when it's got its full shields up."
The Prime took out Eta next, she delivered several explosions, but was forced to retreat behind cover, as more S-Geth troopers entered the room.
"Delta, cover Mu," Kappa said.
The Sentinel moved and opened his shield to guard her. The Prime took it down with one hit, but was quickly distracted when Alpha jumped out from cover and stood in front of it, loading shotgun rounds. It stood at least a metre taller than the Soldier, but Alpha wasn't fazed slightly. He unleashed more grenades into its front and carried on shooting, all while being battered by the Prime's own biotic explosions.
"Careful, Alpha," Delta said.
The shields went down, and Kappa altered his grenades, sending more flying into it.
Zeta and Eta finally made it back into the scene.
"Could use a biotic slash over here Zeta," Delta asked, he and Mu were surrounded.
Instead, Zeta charged into them, and started slicing them with his sword, flashing in and out of existence in the process.
The S-Geth Prime moved to attack Kappa, who was perched behind a small set of crates. The Engineer ducked as a siege pulse shot over him, and he realised he was cornered.
"It's got me cornered!" he shouted.
They all turned and saw Kappa get buffeted with a biotic attack, which lingered on him.
"It's going to explode him," Zeta said.
They heard a small noise behind them, and saw Mu suddenly appear behind the S-Geth Prime, sword ready for strike. She climbed up onto its back, up to the head as the Prime's arm began glowing lightly blue. Kappa unloaded his final grenade, but it didn't kill the Prime, It was about to release the biotic attack when Mu stabbed down, breaching the armour of its head, straight into its body.
The S-Geth Prime stopped, jerked a little, and then crashed to the ground, whilst Mu jumped off it.
Shaken, Kappa stood up, "Thanks."
"You're not the only one who learned to teleport," Mu said to Zeta.
He laughed, and the rest of the team joined them.
"The transmitter?" Delta asked.
"Finished," Mu replied.
"Ok, where to next?" Zeta asked.
They paused, realisation setting in.
"There are no more," Delta said quietly, "We've finished?"
"Well… I assume so," Zeta said, "What do we do now?"
"C-call for evacuation?" Eta asked.
They paused again, all deep in thought, until gun shots showered the room from far away S-Geth troopers, and they were brought back to reality.
"Good idea, let's get the hell out of here," Kappa said.
Delta signalled they were done and ready, and the team ran out to the evacuation zone, which was covered in a small army of the S-Geth, and two more of the black Primes.
"To hell with this!" Kappa shouted, and took out his missile launcher, sending it straight into them.
The S-Geth blew up like they were never there, and the team sat down, awaiting the arrival of their evacuation ship.
"That didn't go too bad," Kappa said.
"Maybe… maybe we have got what it takes?" Delta replied.
"Doesn't matter," Zeta started, "this was our last mission."
Kappa looked around, "I have something I think I should say; to all of you. I came into this really not expecting much. Today however, you lot really came through for me, you saved my life. I'm not big on speeches, but, thank you, it's been good."
Delta patted him on the shoulder, but Kappa could sense the Sentinel was grinning under his helmet.
Back at ASA, the commander struggled to keep a smile off his face.
"You've done yourselves proud, we watched the whole thing," he said, "One success doesn't discount the effect of two failures though. Two big failures."
"We know sir, but, I think I speak for everyone when I say, we've only just started to understand what it takes to be a team," Zeta replied.
"I saw, and you did work well together, just like we thought you would. With a success rate of only thirty-three percent though, we're at a financial loss," he hesitated, "Project Earth has been terminated."
"Sir?" Delta interjected.
"Yes?"
"There was something strange down there. You've probably seen it, but all those Geth had a Sigma symbol on it. It was supposed to be a Cerberus stronghold, but they had been killed. These Geth use biotics, and I think there's something going on with this Sigma, whatever it is," he said, "this doesn't spell well for the galaxy at all, and I think you'll soon need an experienced team to go into battle and find out what's going on, a team that have fought these 'S-Geth' before and survived. We are that team sir, give us another shot."
The commander looked at them, each helmet hiding a battle-worn identity that had just shown him a whole new side of themselves.
"Project Earth has been terminated," he said again, "but I'll see what I can do. This is by no means over."