Chapter 3: Therum
Things were starting to turn out great now. Aside from the fact that we were now on a mission to save the galaxy or some crap like that. Williams is a bit on edge with the aliens we got here but she's also a bit relaxed since she's got some fellow marines to back her up in case things got ugly between us and them. Helped out in engineering due to the lack of anything to do around here. Adam's was a bit surprised at I how I knew about engines. That's one of the perks when you're growing up on Starships, I told him. We were now en-route to a planet called Therum, heard about it and not too thrilled. Damn thing was a lava world, how there were refineries down there I had no clue.
The damn thing also had Prothean ruins and housed our next team member, the daughter of Matriarch Benezia. We were to see if she knew anything about Saren or his plan. Even if she didn't we could still have a potential recruit. Unfortunately Saren more or less knows of her and given this Asari's knowledge on Protheans, she'd be a prime target for him. So we had to this fast and clean.
Shepard was going over on who take with him. He was thinking between the idea of me and Mike and a third member to go as a second team, draw off any Geth or just sticking with a small three man team. Didn't worry me none though. But as for Mike, I couldn't tell what he was thinking. I was cleaning my "stone-age" rifle, as everyone calls it, when Tali came up to me.
"Operations Chief Thompson?" she asked.
"Yeah Tali? I asked," by the way just call me Tex. I'm still not used to the new rank."
"Oh of course I wanted to thank you for the save back on the Citadel. I didn't think Humans would ever help Quarians. Especially you after what happened," said Tali.
"After what happened?" I asked.
"I think she means the failed Training mission you were on as a Demolitions expert when that Quarian left you and your fellow men to die," said Monty.
"What was that?" Tali asked.
"Right I forgot to tell you that I have an A.I. in my helmet. Not to fond of it either," I said.
"I thought humans enjoyed having A.I.'s. Makes your job a lot easier," she said. She obviously began to stop trusting me, thinking that my A.I. would turn on us like the Geth did to the Quarians.
"Normally yeah. When they're on starships and not listening to your every thought and word. Just so damn annoying. Rather use a bird to deliver my messages than this fucker," I said.
"Operations Chief are you forgetting that I can messages at the speed of light ? And unlike a bird I can manifest myself into enemy transmissions and hack just about any lock there is?" said the A.I.
"Yes but sometimes I prefer the old school method. One that didn't have damn A.I.'s talking my ears off," I said.
"That is anatomically impossible. In order to talk one's ear off would have to a very centered and powerful way of communication. However nothing like this exists," said Monty.
"Monty offline or shut up, which ever makes you quieter," I said.
"Compiling," said the A.I.
"Seems that you and I have a common interest. We both loathe A.I.'s," said Tali.
"Yeah guess we do huh?" I said. Then followed a rather awkward silence. I tried to keep cleaning my rifle only to bring my head up to try and catch her eye, or so to speak.
"Thompson, get Tali and Wrex, we're going in to find and rescue the doctor," said Shepard over the comm. Channels.
"Well best get going huh?" I said nervously.
"Yeah I better get Wrex," said Tali. After she left, Monty spoke again.
"You do realize that she may like you back right?" said Monty.
"Monty I thought I told you to shut down," I said obviously annoyed.
"Yes but you also told me to shut up or which ever made me quieter. I chose to just shut up. Seemed easier to do," said the A.I. I quickly reassembled my rifle and grabbed the ammo for it. We all assembled with Shepard at the Mako and piled in. I manned the turret and held on as we made a high altitude drop.
"Damn!" I shouted as we hit the ground.
"First drop?" Shepard asked.
"Yeah. My dad did almost a million of these and I thought I could do it. Remind me not to sign up for the Para jumpers," I said.
"Will do," he said with a chuckle. He hit the gas and we went zooming towards the dig site. But then we saw that we weren't the only ones after T'Soni. A Geth drop ship came around a mountain and dropped some Geth Amatures. These things were similar to tanks but had four legs and a main cannon that could rip several men in half. I aimed as best as I could at the things and unleashed a fury of bullets.
"Come on! Get Some you Bastards!" I shouted.
"Next time I take the turret Shepard," said Wrex.
"Noted. Right now we need to get to the dig site," said Shepard. After a few minutes seemed like the Geth gave up. Then we just nearly ran into a roadblock, complete with four heavy turrets.
"Shit. Roadblock," said Shepard," hang on we're taking a different route." he turned the Mako onto a different "road" and we still ran into Geth this time only a single turret. "Thompson take that fucker out!" shouted Shepard.
"On it like a bonnet," I said. I fired the Mako's heavy gun first and followed up with sustained fire from the machine gun. The top part exploded from the sustained fire. "Turret down," I said.
We drove into the compound and met Geth soldiers. Unfortunately the other side had the roadblock up to and while I provided covering fire, Tali got out and opened the gates. She hopped on just as the gates were sinking into the ground. While we still had some ground to cover we knew we were getting close. But then our progress was impeded by another roadblock, this one different than the last. Made of wreckage but had a opening that allowed us to enter but we had to leave the Mako behind.
"Stay sharp. We don't have any advantage against infantry now," said Shepard.
"Affirmative skipper," I said.
"Just tell me where they are and they'll fall," said Wrex. Tali stayed quiet and hung back covering our rear. As we advanced we ran into several Geth.
"Shit! Damn Geth!" I shouted. I raised my rifle and unleashed the full power of the clip. "Get some!" I shouted, I was quoting the movie "Full Metal Jacket". I reloaded and Tali just shook her head at me.
"Why do you insist on using these relics? They'll get you killed," she said.
"Well least I'll die with honor," I said jokingly.
I popped up and Montgomery said," Warning enemy targets to the left. Warning one is a sniper." I tried to get the sniper but he tagged me first. Thank god for shields though. "I warned you the enemy to the left," said Montgomery.
"Yeah but next time tell me before I get shot," I said. I aimed down the scope and shot the sniper several times. I turned and saw a Geth Destroyer charging me. I raised my rifle and pulled the trigger. Instead came a click rather than bullets. "Ah shit," I said. I threw my rifle off to the side and drew my side arms.
I tried shooting every round but nothing slowed this behemoth down. Tali saved me though, shot it with a sniper rifle. "Told you these things would get you killed," said Tali.
"Yeah but you saved my ass. Besides, its only a minor jam," I said. I ejected the mag and saw I might have to go with a different weapon for the rest of the mission. "Well shit," I said.
"What?" Shepard asked.
"Damn rifle's jammed!" I shouted.
"Well un-jam it then!" he said.
"It'll take to long plus, I've been itching to test something out," I said. I shouldered my rifle and drew an M-14 rifle. This puppy was used by the U.S. Army in the late 20th century to the late 21 first century. Didn't jam as often as the M16 and was accurate up to a thousand yards. With this new weapon I quickly rejoined the fight. We quickly advanced through a major clearing and came to the entrance of the dig site.
"Alright people we don't time. The Geth could be in the process of capturing the Doctor as we speak," said Shepard. We all gave our agreements and were advancing when… a Geth drop ship appeared and deployed three enemy reinforcements. Two snipers and an Armature. We considered ourselves lucky to have cover in the form of two durable crates.
"Damn! We need to take that amature out!" I said. We were trading fire with the snipers while some type of newly arrived wall crawler harassed us as well.
"With what? We don't have any heavy stuff," said Shepard.
"When are you going that I always bring the heavy the stuff?" I asked.
"Uh I don't know cause I just met you a few days ago?" he shouted back.
"Ha-ha-ha. No excuse as my dad always says," I said.
"Whatever it is you got, use it!" shouted Shepard," We can't move with that Amature in the way. No movement no saving doctor, which means I out a damn bullet in your ass if you don't get that thing out of our way and they get the doctor."
"On it chief," I said. I took off my pack and grabbed a couple antique grenades and a clip filled with special bullets. I ejected the mag and slapped in the special one. I put the grenade on the tip of my rifle and ran to the open spot in the middle of the area. I quickly pulled the trigger and sent the grenade flying to the Armature. It hit and exploded, shredding one the enemy snipers nearby. I quickly slapped on another and saw the Armature's "head" glow and fire. "Shit," I said.
The damn thing exploded on the ground in front of me and sent me flying back.
"Shit!" shouted Shepard. He looked and his onboard computer showed that the things shields were down but not for long. "Damn it. Thompson get up man!! Get up!!" shouted Shepard. I raised my head and crawled to my rifle and grabbed it weakly. I rolled over and cycled a new round into the chamber.
"Let's do it for Johnny man," I silently said as I quoted the movie "Outsiders". I pulled the trigger and the grenade went flying. It destroyed the Armature and its last piece of support. I dropped my head as my team ran to me.
"Shit that thing tore him up bad," said Shepard. He keyed his radio and said," Joker we need an extract. High priority. Thompson's hit pretty bad. Have doctor Chakwas ready for him."
"Aye aye commander. Need a replacement team member? Mike's chewing at the bit to go on the mission. Plus you might need more than just two other people with Thompson out," said Joker.
"Alright get Mike ready. Tell him close quarters and medium range weapons for this one," said Shepard.
"Affirmative. Normandy touching down for quick drop off and pick up. Just make sure the L.Z.'s clear," said Joker.
"Will do," said Shepard. Joker brought the Normandy down and Mike offloaded while Williams and Garrus carried me aboard. Chakwas quickly went to work on my wounds and had me operational in a couple hours. Unfortunately I missed the whole of the mission. I still had to go to debriefing though. Apparently the Prothean ruins were destroyed, and the explosion wasn't caused by me this time.
"Uh commander next time let's not try to land in a volcanic crater of burning hot lava. They tend to fry our sensors and melt our hull, just for future reference," said Joker.
"Duly noted Joker. We'll try to land in an actual volcano so Thompson can drop you into it," said Mike. Wrex laughed at the idea of a human throwing another into lava.
"We almost died in there and your men are making jokes?" the doctor asked. I had forgotten we'd been able to rescue the doctor.
"Take it easy Liara, just helps ease the tension," said Shepard.
"Oh must be a human thing I guess," Liara said.
"Yeah so then Mike's constant saying that my rifle is going to wind up disintegrating in the heat of combat, just means he's trying to be a comedian? Huh, could've fooled me," I said.
"I still say you should trade that thing in for something more modern, modern day rifles tend to jam less and allow us to have more ammo," said Tali. She was still berating me on the fact she had to save my butt today because my weapon jammed.
"Alright stop the complaining, Thompson how you holding up after the blast you took you from the Armature?" Shepard asked.
"Pretty good. Only took some of the shock wave from the blast. I should be able to stay alive for now. Besides Geth don't use shrapnel any more, no does except me apparently. So unless I took it to the chest or something like that I live," I said.
"Are you sure Tex? I'd take a few missions off if I were you," said Tali.
"Nah, Saren aint going to take a day off just cause I got jarred, I'll answer the call of duty whenever Shepard calls me. But thanks for your concern Tali," I said.
"Oooh. Be careful chief, looks like the Quarian has a little crush on you. Better by on the look out for her stalking you," Mike said jokingly.
"Mike either shut up or I'll hire Wrex to kick yer ass or just do it myself," I said.
"Thompson, ease up on the guy I'm sure he's just kidding with you," said Shepard.
"Roger that sir. Just hate having to sit out on a mission where my team needed me and then sent to the doc for soaking up a shockwave from an explosion. Thought I'd get laid out by a bullet or laser not a shock wave," I said.
"I know marine but I didn't think I'd make it out of Akuze but look what happened to me. I ended up a spectre," said Shepard.
"Good point sir. Lets hope something like that turns out for me," I said.
"Great but what about the doctor?" Wrex asked.
"Well I'm a bit shaken up but I'm alright otherwise," said Liara.
"Good to hear, as for everyone else dismissed," said Shepard.
"Mission report's away commander. Want me to connect you to the council?" said Joker. We all filed out and Shepard was debriefed by the council. Tali checked up on me and I revealed something Monty had only just know discovered while he was transferred to Shepard's helmet. Apparently the Geth had gotten lazy with their comms. There were several new Intel items we had gathered but the most interesting was regarding a terminal on Feros.
Feros, as we had already been told, was under Geth attack but we knew nothing about their operations there. But according to the transmissions they were keeping a piece of info there. Guess she had another reason to go on the op. and keep Monty online. We had one hell of a fight at Feros though, according to the info, close to three companies worth of Geth were already there, maybe more too. But hopefully we'd get through it, alive though not through a body bag. All in a days work for Shepard though.