Mass Effect Extras - Renegade

R.A. Crandall

Fearless. Relentless. Undaunted. Unreserved.

Chapter 1 – Mass Effect

The Mako

"I should arrest you for ignoring road signs, Commander."

"Is that so, Officer? They must be poorly placed. I'm not seeing them."

"Really? You missed one just back there. It marked where I abandoned my lunch." Shepard and Alenko laughed. Flying up over the shorthill in front of them with the wheels off the ground for a few seconds Shepard slowed almost instantly when they hit the ground.

"Okay, my stomach felt that. Why do I feel like you're enjoying this, Commander?" Lieutenant Alenko reported.

"I have no idea." Shepard said mischeviously. Shepard sat forward looking up the steep embankment to the right of the Mako.

"What do you think the incline is on that?" she asked Lieutenant Alenko. Leaning in his seat to look out the side window, he answered.

"65 degrees or so." Shepard smiled and took a hard look at the makeup of the ground up face of the hill. Hill being an understatement – more like cliff.

"Who's up for some all-terrain adventures?"

"What? Shepard…no." Garrus said. Shepard grinned and laughed.

"Yeah, rhetorical question. Buckle down, gents." Garrus and Kaidan took the advice. Shepard opened the throttle on full and climbed the hill, finding purchase on every outcropping she could hook the wheels into, pulling them up the hill at an exhilarating speed.

"That was fun," said Kaidan, actually laughing. Reaching the top she hardly slowed and took them along the top of ridge, dancing back and forth between upshoots with surprising ease. Keeping an eye the gradation readouts on the radar she steered them toward a descent that looked challenging.

"Commander, I think that's a cliff."

"Is that so?"

"Ma'am?" said Kaidan, sounding apprehensive. Shepard loved this.

"Ever wonder what it would be like to drop down a cliff with no one driving?" Shepard said, taking her hands off the controls and spreading her arms like wings as the Mako carried them over the edge and the nose dropped down.

"Shepard! Holy…!" Kaidan shouted, bracing himself against the seat. For about 10 seconds they were in a freefall.

"Wuh whoo!" Shepard hooted simultaneously, grinning like a fool. The rear was carrying just a bit too far forward.

"Whoa! Shit!" Shepard said, seizing the controls again and finding purchase on the nearest rocky crag, pulling the nose up and swinging the Mako's rear end down behind them. Going with the slide the Mako was in Shepard pulled hard to port, gunned the engine, and took them down to slightly more level terrain before coming to a stop beside their next radar blip.

"Next time, I'm driving," said Kaidan. Shepard laughed.

"Only if you beat me to the seat, Lieutenant."

v

"That really banged up the undercarriage, Commander." Garrus observed as they exited the vehicle. Each of them stumbled a bit, being back on solid ground.

"As long as the integrity of the armour isn't compromised, Garrus, I don't care how pretty she is." Shepard replied, sorting out her rebellious legs. "Besides, I'll help you square 'er away when we're back on board."

"Next time you can leave me on steady ground aboard the Normandy." Garrus stated.

"Come on, that was nothing compared to zero-g training." Shepard replied, cajoling.

"In case you hadn't noticed, Commander, gravity has it's own disadvantages." Kaidan said, sounding a little unsteady. Shepard laughed.

"You and I define 'disadvantage' a little differently."

"Differences are the spice of life." Shepard smiled. They were going to get along just fine.

v

The Co-pilot's Seat

"Slight seismic activity, Commander. Less than a kilometre." Shepard nodded.

"Well, we're out in open terrain so if the ground does start shaking we should be alright. Shaken, but alright." She ramped up the shock dampeners throughout the drive train.

"Staying in the open, it'll take twice as long to reach the probe." Garrus said. Shepard nodded.

"I might enjoy taking this thing off-road a bit too much, but I'm not keen on winding up under a landslide." Suddenly, Kaidan thought he felt something. It was noticeable this time. Shepard looked at him.

"Felt that."

"Shepard, there's…this is weird."

"What, Lieutenant?"

"The way the activity shows up…I don't think it's tectonic."

"English, Alenko." Kaidan shook his head, laughing slightly.

"I don't think it's the ground moving. I think it's in the ground." Shepard turned away from him and looked out the cockpit window, her expression grave. Something moving registering as seismic activity? Great.

"Garrus, get up top. Keep your eyes peeled."

"Aye, Commander." Garrus said, pulling himself up into the turret, making the gun ready. Shepard turned to point them toward the nearest hills.

"Heading for the foothills. Hopefully bedrock is closer to the surface."

Shepard watched as a red diamond shaped blip appeared on their radar. Crap. Shepard accelerated.

"Talk to me, Garrus!" More of the thing had to clear the explosion of rock and dust before he could say anything useful.

"Thresher!" he shouted, opening fire. Shepard put the throttle on full. The Mako bounced and Shepard's heart skipped a beat. Garrus spoke up.

"That was close."

"How close?"

"It's going under," he answered. Shepard exhaled and got her breathing going evenly again. Close. A few more seconds and they'd be in the hills. Suddenly the ground a few hundred metres ahead erupted. Shepard hit the brakes and slammed the wheels hart to port while skidding forward. Gunning the engine they made a sharp get-away out of the path of the oncoming thresher maw. Unfortunately, the turn had them heading for open terrain again. Shepard opened the throttle full and turned for the hills.

"Don't. It's moving that way." Kaidan stated. She straightened them out again, weaving some but keeping the same target.

"Double back?" Shepard asked, keeping her eyes on the radar for contacts.

"Don't slow down. On full throttle we move too fast to get caught directly when it decides to come above ground." Garrus said. Shepard had an uneasy feeling in the pit of her stomach. It should have come above ground by now. She swerved starboard. From the corner of her eye she could see the ground heave as the thresher emerged no more than two metres from the side of the vehicle.

"Fetrus!" Garrus shouted, pulling and holding the trigger. There was no question about where to shoot. A wall of earthworm was all he could see. Kaidan pulled himself forward, bruising ribs against his restraints and laid eyes on its trajectory before dust blinded them.

"Port! Hard!" Shepard turned them out from underneath the worm's massive bulk before it smashed into the ground. Pulling out of the dust, Shepard tried to straighten them out of the last of the leftward skid the Mako kept. The Mako bounced violently.

"Garrus!"

"It fell! Shots straight through the eyes," he reported.

"Is it down?" Shepard demanded.

"No. Burrowing."

"Going for the foothills."

"Did that scare it off?" Garrus wondered. Alenko shook his head.

"Do you get scared or do you get pissed off when a bee stings you?"

"Pissed." Shepard answered.

"No. We didn't scare it off."

"Then where the hell is it?"

"It's probably gone too deep to be picked up." Kaidan laid eyes on the terrain ahead.

"Garrus? You got HE mortars left?" he asked. There was intermittent noise on the seismometer but nothing useful.

"Affirmative."

"What're you thinking?"

"I think we can't pick it up because it's mostly moving in tunnels it carved already, and that crater is right near our path. It can get close and we wouldn't know until it was too late." Shepard didn't hesitate.
"Pot shot on my go, Garrus."

"Ready, Commander."

300 metres…

230 metres…

190 metres…

"NOW!" Garrus took the shot. Another few moments and Shepard swerved starboard wide around the nearest edge of the crater. The thresher shot up out of the crater, making short work of a fair bit of ground between the edge of the crater and the Mako. Bringing it's maw to bear, it descended on the vehicle. The next instant the mortar went off. The thresher's head snapped violently away from the Mako as it fell, nearly cut in two just under ground.

"Scratch one Thresher! Yeah-hah!" Garrus crowed. Shepard and Alenko cheered and laughed. Coming to a bumpy stop near a rocky land formation in the hills, Shepard said,

"Don't know about you, but I want out of this tin can for a minute."

"Right behind you. Lucky the air is breathable." Kaidan said.

v

Shepard pulled herself up out of the top hatch and walked toward the front end of the turret. The top of the vehicle was slick with thresher mush. She took hold of an outcropping on the side of the turret and cleared a handful of gunk off of two of the targeting lenses.

"Let's not do that again anytime soon." Garrus said.

"I second that motion." Shepard replied.

"Have to say, I'm glad it was you driving. A little bit of crazy came in handy." Kaidan said. Shepard laughed.

"And the next time I have to evade from 7-story dirtworm, I don't want anyone else in my co-pilot's seat…"

"Thanks, Commander."

Garrus cleared his throat.

"Is a 'hawk-eye' compliment too lazy?"

"Yes."

"Damn. Nice shootin', Tex. If there's a better shot in the galaxy I haven't 'em yet."

"Damn straight. What's a 'Tex'?" Three took up perches on top of the Mako, laughing.

"Someone from Texas. A place on Earth. They spend a lot of time shooting bottles on fences from a long way off."

"We'll have to try that one of these days…see who's the better shot."

"Anytime, Vakarian. Anytime."

"Garrus, what was that you said when the Thresher Maw came up beside us?" Kaidan inquired.

"Arguably the worst insult the Turian language has to offer."

"You're seriously going to hold out on us with the translation?" Shepard said, prodding. Garrus shook his head.

"Remember – you asked."

"C'mon, Garrus. Give." Kaidan goaded. Garrus cleared his throat.

"The closest thing I can think of is 'a rotting placenta with a fetus inside'."

"Yuck," said Shepard, one side of her lip curled up in disgust, but laughing some. She also wasn't sure she should believe her ears.

"Jeez. That's…really foul." Kaidan mused, expression twisted by both amusement and disgust. Shepard nodded.

"Therefore appropriate. Well said, Garrus." Shepard said, effecting the last of the automated repairs remotely via omni-tool. "If I ever need to piss off a turian that'll be handy."

"I wouldn't suggest it." Garrus warned.

"Why not?" asked Kaidan.

"Because they won't blink, they'll just shoot." Garrus answered. Kaidan let out a whistle.

"That bad, eh?" he observed, chuckling. Shepard laughed.

"Well, I'll keep that in mind." You never know when being able to blindingly piss someone off will come in handy.

v

Noveria

Shepard headed for the elevator followed closely by Garrus and Lieutenant Alenko. The doors snapped shut behind them. Wearing a restrained smile, Shepard raised an eyebrow in Alenko's direction.

"'Extranet fetish sites', Lieutenent?" She and Garrus began to laugh, restraining themselves as well as they could.

"Stow it, Ma'am." Alenko replied sarcastically with half a smile on his face. Shepard let out a short but genuine laugh.

"Relax, Lieutenant. I'm in no position to judge." Garrus choked on the air he was laughing with. Shepard and Kaidan glanced at each other and began laughing whole-heartedly. Evidently Garrus wasn't expecting the answer, though he soon managed to go on laughing with them. As the elevator slowed down their mirth cooled off. Shepard took in a deep breath and let it out.

"Shore missions would be no fun without you two." Kaidan shook his head and smiled.

"Your definition of 'fun' has me worried, Shepard." Garrus stated blithely. Shepard looked to Garrus, cocked an eyebrow and donned a dangerous smile as they readied their weapons and exited the lift.