Chapter 5: Noveria and the Geth outposts
Noveria, nothing but snow and ice. Only thing there was a damned spaceport and a few research facilities. But for a reason to actually come here to this godforsaken rock was merely business trade set up on the damned place. But fortunately for me I wasn't going on the rock. Because of my wound, I was ordered to stay aboard until further notice. Mike was ordered to do the same as well. He and I were joined by Radar in a friendly game of poker. We merely played for pennies but we couldn't have any drinks at the game.
Primarily because of my wound, Doc said consuming alcohol would be rather bad for a type of wound like this on my neck. Now the whole mission turned to shit in an instant. But with Tali getting in on the game with us it got a whole lot better. Unfortunately she turned out to be a better poker player than she let on. Before she joined the game's outcome swung between Mike, Radar and I. but now she was taking us to the cleaners, so to speak.
Damned game drew just about everyone on the ship to watch even Joker came to watch. After several games of Texas Hold 'Em, Mike and Radar busted for stretching their limits on their pay. My on the other hand had enough money to lose and then some. Joker was actually dealing the cards out towards the end of our series of matches. "Alright people time to see who wins this one. Will it be our own Operations Chief Thompson or Tali'Zorah nar Rayya?" Joker asked.
If there was one thing about playing poker against a Quarian in which they reigned supreme was the fact that they had those suits to hide their face expressions, the perfect Poker Face some called it. I on other hand just watched in clear patience waiting for her slip up. If my dad had taught anything about waging any type of battle, whether in combat or a game, it was a massive advantage to keep a cool head and be patient to the max. Joker delivered the flop after Tali and I had bet, twenty credits each. A king, ten and an eight were on the table. I had an ace of hearts and a queen of spades. To my luck, the king of spades and ten of spades in the flop gave me a slight edge. I let a small and concealed smile tug at the corner of my mouth.
She didn't seem to be worried, maybe she had something of her own up her sleeve, but then again I couldn't see into her mask. So for all I knew she was really nervous and didn't show it physically. Tali bet thirty credits and I bet thirty five. Joker delivered the Turn and revealed a single two of hearts. Damn so close and yet so far, I thought. Tali bet twice the original amount of credits she had just bet. I easily matched it. But unfortunately that meant she had a better hand. I tried to push it out but it bit at the back of my mind. Then came the River, the final card to be drawn. The River was a Joker of spades. I thought I had victory in my hands.
Joker had me reveal my cards first, I had a flush. But Tali, she had a Royal Flush. An Ace, Queen, King, Ten and Joker of Spades wiped the floor with my flush. Tali took the pot, a total of about hundred or so credits and felt triumphant. She had beaten me at my own game. I could only smile back at her fortune. Once everyone had left, I decided to challenge Tali to one more game.
"Tali. How's about one more game? But we up the stakes," I said. She sat back down and was intrigued.
"Alright. What are they?" she asked.
"I win, I get to "assist" you whenever," I said. She giggled and thought that thought mighty funny.
"What if I win?" she asked.
"Whatever you want," I said. She agreed to the terms and shuffled the cards. She dealed the cards and we found ourselves in a game of patience out witting or something like that. I dealed the Flop and had drawn a ten of diamonds, an eight of hearts and two of clubs. I had a nine diamonds and a eight of diamonds.
Tali drew the Turn and produced another eight of spades. I thought that I might get away with a three of a kind. I drew the River and a seven of diamonds. I revealed my cards first and was dumbfounded when I saw Tali's were a nine and six of hearts. Once again I was beaten this time with a lousy three-of-a-kind against a Straight.
"You win again," I said. She pushed her cards and sighed contently. Beat a human multiple times in a row was a pretty sight for her. I could only imagine the smile on her face now. "So what do you want?" I asked.
"Well those outposts you mentioned?" she said. Bingo hotshot, I thought. I was at the same time relieved and disappointed by her choice. "I wouldn't mind joining you on that job. But I also expect to be able to gather some type of data from the bases," she said.
"Done. Once Shepard gets back I'll ask him and we'll head out there," I said. I stood and collected my hat. "but in the mean time, I'd better get back to work on my weapon enhancements. If you've got any weapons you want improved, I'd be happy to do so," I said with a smile.
"Not right now but I'd love to help you," she said. I smiled and we walked to my cabin slash lab. The damned thing was neatly ship shape only, the table remained dirty. I went over to where I had my trusty M-16 disassembled and began to tweak the rate of fire it had.
"Feel free to look around if you'd like. Most of what I do is pretty easy for me," I said. She walked around the room and noticed my half empty clip.
"Failed to refill a primitive clip huh?" she asked.
"Uh yes and no," I said.
"What?" she asked.
"I'm uh well saving that for when we face Saren. It's still got a few bullets in it and it want to use those to… 'avenge' the death of my Brothers in arms," I said. I went back to work to improving my rifle.
"Brothers in Arms?" Tali asked.
"Basically where we've got friendships so deep, it's like yer brothers or something. My guess the in arms part is because you're such good buddies you'll carry him out in your arms if he can't move. My dad did that with a friend of his. Lucky bastard still sends him letters saying thanks for the help," I said. She noticed the picture of my old squad, before Eden Prime.
"I guess this was when you were still in Basic?" she asked.
I looked up and said," Yeah. Just before we were told to ship out. Last time I ever really saw my brother and sister. They're both army though. Joined up long before I did. My dad was more concerned about me though," I said.
"why?" she asked.
"Cause, I was the only Thompson who didn't want to sign up," I said.
"What? And here you are now?" Tali asked.
"Yeah I know. Wanted to be a doctor more than anything at first. Wanted to save lives. Wasn't until an accident in my School when I finally wanted to join," I said.
"What happened?" she asked. She was obviously concerned.
"Damned terrorists, killed the security guards and took the whole place over. After some odd days of being held hostage, we were eventually saved. Marines from the Eighth Infantry came in and rescued us. The way they preformed with such efficiency was astounding. So I decided to enlist after High School, went through a shit load of training numerous jobs in the military, screwing up each one along the way," I said.
"And why did you become infantry, or how?" Tali asked.
"That botched mission I mentioned? When that Quarian ran for it, I fought the Batarians off as best as I could. at the time my team had all of its members still alive. We just got hit and the Quarian ran for it. Unfortunately by the time I had our bomb disabled, there were four of us dead, two wounded," I said.
"And then?" Tali asked.
"Batarians outflanked us and killed our wounded and also five other guys. I got them with a burst of fire from my M-76 Revenant," I said.
"Revenant? that uses thermal sensors though. I thought you used old rifles?" Tali asked.
"Wasn't until that day. thing was overheated to the max and was a bitch to cool down. while it cooled, the damned aliens flanked the rest of my team and killed them. I ditched the gun and drew my great grandfathers pistol," I said. I pulled out a revolver and said," this was the gun I had to rely on. unfortunately it only had six bullets and there was about eight of them. I still was able to kill all of them. But soon as the officers and everyone else heard, I get thrown into Infantry," I said.
"Wow. that's pretty amazing," Tali said.
"Yeah but not to my dad. He's been in that scenario numerous times and he was able to get his men out, all of them alive," I said.
"Oh guess you had a bad childhood huh?" she asked.
"Wasn't all bad. Had quite a few friends and a pretty good life," I said. I smiled as I looked back on my early life. "But with dad away on different missions all of the time, I couldn't quite ask his advice all of the time," I said.
"Huh sounds like my life. My father was always working in the Migrant Fleet," Tali said. I looked at her but before I could I say anything Joker was calling me up to the bridge.
"Damnit. Alright I'll be up there in a couple minutes," I said.
"Uh actually the call you might want to take from the comm room. Cause the guy sounds like he's pissed off," Joker said.
"Great that can only mean one person," I said.
"Your father?" Tali asked.
"Yep unfortunately," I said. I left and Tali quickly headed back for engineering. I walked into the comm room and activated the unit.
"Ah Operations Chief Thompson. I'm glad you've finally decided to take my call," said a voice.
"Ah stow it dad. What the hell do you want this time?" I asked.
"How about you drop this damned charade and head back to Alliance Space for your next assignment. You have to get back here now," he said.
"Sorry pop. Can't do that," I said.
"Why not?" he asked seething with anger.
"First cause I have a pretty bad neck wound, and doc says I have to stay onboard for right now. Got it slit in cause you're curious. Second of all this is my post. Captain Anderson got me transferred to Commander Shepard's crew," I said.
"Well I'm ordering you to get back here," he said.
"sir unless my Omni-tool informs me of a transfer of station, I don't go anywhere," I said. I smiled at this because I knew he hadn't gotten my a transfer.
"Or a superior officer orders you to leave," he said. He thought he had found a loop hole.
"But that order is quickly denied since I am part of a high priority mission on behalf of the council. Commander Shepard, as you may or may not know, is the first human spectre. And now has a mission to track and capture Ex-Spectre Saren Arterius. Until this mission is over as the fact its been labeled high priority by the council, I can not leave my current commanding officer. So unless you get a damned transfer order I ain't moving," I said.
"Fine but wary Tex, you may be my son but you are Alliance and I can get assigned to a shit storm in flash. Admiral Thompson out," he said.
"understood sir, Operations Chief Thompson out," I said. I turned to leave but Shepard was standing right behind me. I didn't even hear the door open. "Commander sir," I said saluting.
"At ease marine. How you holding up?" Shepard asked.
"Uh pretty good sir. Mike, Radar and I were beat by Tali in Texas hold 'em but otherwise I'm a okay," I said.
"Everything alright with you and your dad?" he asked.
"Uh no sir. Apparently he thrilled on the idea of his son working with aliens on Alliance property. Guess he feels that a high ranking man like himself should be on board and commanding the Alliance's first stealth ship. Doesn't like the fact that a low ranking member of the Thompson Family working on such a ship too much either. But that's all between me and him sir. Don't want you in it either. But after this missions over, don't expect to spend too much time on board. I have a feeling that he'll get me transferred one way or the other," I said.
"don't worry. We still got a ways before the jobs over. Plus I got a friend of mine to take you and Tali into the system with those Geth outposts. Don't worry, he's not a friend of your dad so this way he can't take our team apart," Shepard said.
"Thanks Shepard. Good to get off the Normandy, maybe this time I won't get my throat slit. Or blown up," I said jokingly.
"Ha-ha. Very funny Thompson. Get ready and tell Tali to get ready as well. Wrex is going too," Shepard said.
"Good to hear sir. May need some extra firepower as well," I said. The rest of the infantry group filed in for debriefing.
"Listen up. Tex and Tali have a mission to take care of in the Armstrong Nebula. Seems the Geth have been up to no good there. While they take care of that, we'll head back to the citadel for some R&R. however should Tali or Tex feel the need not to go on this mission, we'll have the alliance take care of the problem," said Shepard.
"Commander, this could be the information I need for my pilgrimage, I will not let some Alliance soldiers take what could help my people. I will go," said Tali.
"Same here Shepard. Being cooped up in this ship was bad enough. But too let some Nancy nobodies take my Intel and get the glory I wouldn't stand for it. Count me in this Op.," I said.
"Alright. Wrex you're going with them. I know how killing Geth might be your style. You three get ready. The SSV Warsaw will be by momentarily to pick you up and head for the Armstrong Nebula. Dismissed," Shepard said. Everyone filed out and Shepard contacted the council to debrief them. I got my assortment of weapons ready while Tali and Wrex got theirs ready as well. Mike was joshing around about having R&R while I went and fought a shit load of Geth.
I keenly reminded him on how I'd be getting shit ton's of medals while all he got was time to relax. While I got honor he got rusty. He rolled his eyes at the thought and didn't seem really worried.
"Man it ain't all about glory and whatnot. Sometimes you just got to relax. You know what I mean. but hell if you're going in with that Quarian chick all alone, who knows what'll happen," Mike said with a smug smile.
I looked at him and said," Mike, you got one smutty as hell mind."
"Ha-ha. Maybe Tex maybe. But guess we'll have to find out," he said. I walked to the airlock and heard Joker making the announcement that the Warsaw had docked and was waiting for the team to board and head into the Armstrong Nebula. Tali was just exiting the elevator with Wrex when the announcement filtered through the speakers. The airlock opened and we boarded the Warsaw. The ship departed and headed into the Mass Relay while the Normandy headed back for the Citadel. The wait was too much for Wrex and by the time we entered the Nebula, he was already headed for a Mako.
Now time to go to work. Four systems of Geth and lots of targets. The Warsaw entered the Hong system and entered an orbit around Casbin. They dropped us off in a Mako and stayed on standby for support. We accelerated the Mako to the Geth outpost and attacked. At first it seemed like an easy place to hit, had only snipers and rocket troops. Though the rocket troopers gave us a bit of hell, we were able to mop up a lot quicker than originally planned. But then as fate would have it, a Geth drop ship came out and began deploying numerous Geth soldiers. While they were easily defeated, they just kept pouring out.
Wrex was having one hell of a time using the gun to mow the Geth down. Tali kept the hull in shape as best she could while I drove the Mako to keep the Geth from having a sitting target. Lucky for us though the Warsaw deployed a small squad of fighters to intercept the drop ship. The thing went down in a ball of flames. Thank god for our flyboys.
We went through the other three systems and found one outpost per system. But none seemed to be their main base of Operations. Luckily Tali found another signal emitting from the Grissom system. We went there and found the base heavily guarded. Numerous Geth infantry and two Geth Colossi. The Colossus was a heavier version of the Armature.
"So how are we going to do this?" Tali asked. This was the first time we were thinking this part of the mission through, the assault part.
"Well we could charge in guns blazing but then it would be a bloodbath with us dead," Wrex said.
"Hmm. Can't call in air support, fighters will tear the building a new one and damage any Intel inside. But I got an idea. Wrex move over that way," I said pointing to our right. "Move about twenty or so feet that way and be ready to give us some support. Tali I'm expecting you to cover me. I'll head down to the building a give the Colossi something to watch," I said. I ran over to the base as Wrex got ready and Tali fumbled with the sniper rifle.
I readied my rocket launcher and waited for the first signal. Wrex Fired his rifle and got one the snipers. I aimed at the nearest Colossi and fired. The RPG flew and struck the thing, wiping out its shields. I quickly loaded another and fired. I was promptly awarded with a smoldering explosion.
"Yeah. Take that you bucket of bolts," I said. I loaded my RPG and aimed for the second Colossus. Unfortunately it was charging it's main weapon. "Ah not again," I said. I jumped behind the smoldering remains of the Colossus just as the weapon fired. "Damn fucking Geth. I'll kill the lot of them," I said. I popped back up and aimed down the sights and fired. I reached to pull out another rocket but unfortunately the last one fell out when I dived for cover. "Madre de dios," I said.
I leaned out and saw the last rocket lying there, right in the open. Montgomery quickly informed me of the small window of opportunity we had before the thing started to recharge its shields. I ran out, grabbed the rocket and loaded in the tube. I barely had time to load it but to fire it, I needed luck. Thankfully, I had better, I had my squad. Wrex and Tali put a lot of fire from the position as I loaded. The Colossus marked them the real threat while the real threat was loading up right in front of it. I aimed and fired. The rocket blew the head of the Colossus clean off. The Mako drove up and Tali and Wrex chewed me out for my assault. Or at least Tali did anyway.
Said it was reckless and stupid, while Wrex congratulated me on the effective use of my old guns. I told Tali I understood but also explained it was the only way to knock out those damned Colossi without constantly having to maneuver the Mako during the fight. We went to the door and hit the switch. We entered and found the first room clear. We stacked up on the second door and opened it. Inside were a multiple of Geth. They opened fire at us and began to take up defensive positions.
"Great those tin cans got us out gunned and out numbered," Wrex said.
"Yeah but we outsmart them. I've got an idea," I said.
"Please tell me this won't involve you charging out there like an idiotic Bosh'tet," Tali said.
"Uh no but, it does have a lot of Geth feeling like idiotic Bosh'tets," I said. I drew a couple fragmentation grenades and tossed them into the other room. "Wait for it, wait for it," I said.
"Wait for what?" Tali asked. Moments later, two audible explosions were heard from the next room.
"That. Lets go move out," I said. I went through and unleashed a torrent of bullets. Two Geth had been killed in the initial explosion while the others just had their shields drained. But with the torrent of bullets coming at them, they lost another three in an instant. I searched for a new target hoping we got all of them. Unfortunately the last one rammed into me, launching me to the other side of the room. Also made me lose my rifle. I quickly rolled over and drew my desert eagle pistols, but I then find a Geth looking at me square in the eye. Only he's not shooting, just looking at me. It then looks at my team as they deal with a Geth Prime.
It's "head" looks curious? It looked back at me and said," Good luck, Thompson-chief."
"What? What did you just say?" I asked. It quickly fled out a back door just as Tali was checking to see if I was alright. She extended her hand to help me up. I got up as she asked me what just happened. I starched my head and just said," Honestly I have no goddamn idea. Wonder if this means I'll be eligible for early retirement." she shakes her head at the joke, while she got the meaning, she was amazed at my joke. Wrex handed me my rifle and just gave me a "thumbs up" for my plan.
We entered a room and found an active Geth computer. I put my rifle down and said," Alright cover me. Shouldn't take too long. Hopefully I might get something interesting out of this." I quickly began typing and synced up my A.I. to the computer.
"Online, how may I be of assistance?" Monty asked.
"give me a hand in decrypting this damned thing. It's a major pain to hack," I said. Suddenly the computer began downloading the info I needed. "Um Monty? What type of software was put into you?" I asked.
"Well the software I have is state of the art, it isn't advanced enough to decrypt the firewalls that fast. Someone else had to have done it," Monty said.
I looked over at Tali and said," Tali did you hack this thing?"
"No why?" she asked.
I looked back at the thing and said," just wondering. One minute looks like it'll take a few minutes and the next, all the info is flowing in." little did I know that unseen was the Geth soldier who spared me, was closing his Omni-tool after successfully opening the computer for us. I downloaded all relevant data on the Geth and made a second copy.
"Operations Chief Thompson, are you thinking what I am thinking about that second copy you made?" Monty asked.
"Yes. I'm giving it to Tali," I said. Once the download was complete, I took the OSD and handed it Tali. "Here. All the data on the Geth in this facility. May give your people what you need to over come the Geth," I said. She took it and examined the still open console to see if I had truly downloaded all the data.
"Thank you. I don't what to say," she said.
"Hey save the love bird talk for later," Wrex said.
"Uh right lets get of here. The Warsaw isn't going to wait long before they send in a team of Marines to evac us," I said. We left the base were picked up by the Warsaw minutes later. Tali was reviewing the data while I chatted with a few of commandos who said they had family on Eden Prime. Apparently my team holding out like we did gave a lot of farmers the time they needed to get out or hide. The commandos families included. Wrex just hang out not saying anything as he always did, even when on the Normandy. The ship was taking us back to the Citadel to rendezvous with the Normandy.
But if there was one thing I couldn't understand back at the base it was this, the Geth soldier who spared me. First of all it could've shot at Wrex and Tali while the Prime was fighting them and could've dealt with me as well. Also what had me most unhinged was that it actually spoke, rather than the usual stuttering sound other Geth made. I pushes the thought to the back of my mind. Probably just a freak accident, I thought. We docked at the Citadel a few hours later. Now we apparently had another mission to do, big surprise there. But this time we'd be working with a Salarian Special Tasks Group. So if these were the Special Tasks Group, then we were in a old fashioned cluster fuck as my dad always said.