Sorry this took so long for me to update. I'll try harder get things going quicker.
Yeah I own nothing of Mass Effect... too bad.
Chapter 9:
Not Your Average Paradise
After the crew was debriefed on Noveria, Joker received a priority message directly from the Council. That's strange; usually we have to beg just to get a message to them. And now they want to contact us? It must be important. "Commander?" began Joker as he keyed the conference room. "I have a message from the Council, I think you're going to want to hear this."
"Hit me flyboy."
The pilot chuckled and transmitted the priority alert. The Council received a message from a salarian STG unit on the planet Virmire. A Special Task Groups unit? Well I guess they attract less attention than a Spectre. The message was mostly static, but was sent on an emergency channel reserved for critical communications. So they're probably asking for backup and the Council is sending us? Shepard is probably just as effective as a fleet.
"To Virmire Commander?" Joker asked after the Council signed off.
"My wish is your command mister," teased Laura.
"Of course ma'am. Wake you in an hour…ma'am?"
"You catch on pretty quick."
"I try."
After accessing the appropriate mass relay, Joker began researching their next destination. Third planet in the Hoc system of the Sentry Omega cluster. Frontier world…hasn't been colonized because the Terminus Systems are so close. Tropical terrain, oceans, islands, seems like a paradise. But nothing is ever what it seems right?
"Are we there yet?" queried Laura from behind the pilot's seat.
"Now young lady, I woke you with an hour to go right?"
Laura mocked a childish sigh, "Yeah."
"And how long did it take you to get ready and get up here?"
"Ten minutes," groaned Shepard.
"So what's sixty minutes minus ten?" asked Joker, barely containing his laughter.
The Spectre feigned counting on her fingers, "Fifty minutes."
"So who's your crew? I'm picking up AA towers and I have no place to land. I'll have to drop you in the Mako so I can put the Normandy down someplace," explained Joker.
"Nuts, I was just getting used to you on the shore party," complained Laura.
"I know you just can't get enough of me. So who's going?"
"Give me Ash and Wrex pretty please," she said as she walked away.
"Well alright," called Joker over his shoulder. "But only because you said please."
With technology, flying under the radar of AA towers is much harder than it used to be. In the past, pilots used to fly planes from afar and lower to an altitude below the range of AA towers. Unfortunately, I have a space cruiser. However, now AA towers possess much larger areas and have smaller areas that are considered 'under the radar.' Still, it has to be done all the same. No use complaining if I call myself the best pilot in the Alliance Fleet.
In order to land on any planet, a ship has to come out of FTL speeds and dump even more heat than to float in space. The Normandy did so and engaged its stealth systems. While this helped avoid any alarms set off by scanners, Joker still had to immediately drop to the altitude required, which drew grunts from any unsuspecting crew members. Joker spotted a suitable LZ in a shallow river that eventually led to the source of the salarian's signal.
"Alright Commander, we have a successful drop. Radio in when the approach's AA towers have been disabled, and I'll take the Normandy down."
"Roger Joker. I'll see you soon."
The next thing for Joker to do was to leave the atmosphere of Virmire while still avoiding detection. The only good thing is that you can practically follow the way you came in. Too bad the Normandy doesn't leave a heat trail otherwise I could follow that. Joker performed an old fashioned automobile k-turnaway from the LZ and began retracing his flight path. Everybody onboard breathed a sigh of relief as they broke the minimal altitude and no alarms went off to indicate hostile fire.
Joker did not have to wait long for Laura to radio in that the approach was clear. When the Normandy landed however, the salarians did not seem too happy to see them. The Commander's arrival did little to ease their minds. Apparently they requested an entire fleet to wipe the facility from the face of Virmire, and having Shepard was little consolation. Nevertheless, a plan was put into place to plant a nuke in the facility. This notion did not sit well with Wrex however. With Saren's men finding a cure for the krogan genophage, Wrex's loyalties began to blur. Joker had a front row view as the incident unfolded.
"They can't do this Shepard, it isn't right," began Wrex.
"Calm down," Laura began.
"I will not calm down," he growled back. "We can't blow this place up."
"We don't have a choice Wrex."
"Do we Shepard?" queried the krogan. "You claim to be my friend, but Saren is helping my people," he said drawing his pistol.
Laura reciprocated his action, "Don't make me do it Wrex."
"Help me out here Shepard, now with your gun in my face, the line between friend and foe aren't so clear."
"What the hell Wrex? How can you say that?"
"It's pretty simple Shepard, I prefer my people alive rather than dead."
"Saren is evil. Remember those mercs you told me about? Besides, he's just using your people. Are you prepared for what he will do to your people when he's finished?" Laura reasoned.
Wrex sighed and lowered his pistol. "No. The Council used us for the rachni, and then neutered my people. I don't think Saren will be that kind."
Joker let out a low whistle in relief and sat back in his chair. The drama is going to kill me. With the krogan dealt with, Shepard returned to the STG leader to carry out their plan. Three separate salarian teams would assault the back of the base while Shepard and her team went the back way and planted the makeshift nuke.
"Joker, are you sure you're comfortable ferrying a nuke around?" queried Laura as she hiked to her destination.
Joker brought every team member's HUD online and snorted. "Do I have a choice Commander?"
"Not really."
"Didn't think so."
Joker sat back and watched the four different HUD screens. Ashley, Wrex, and Laura were part of team Shadow, while Alenko went with the salarians. Both groups had to disable at least one AA tower in order to allow the pilot to swoop in and deliver the bomb and its team. I hate waiting, but it's part of the job.
Joker watched as Laura disabled the geth communications array and satellite uplink. From here, Joker turned and watched Kaidan's team take advantage of the geth's general disarray. Joker was thoroughly enjoying watching the salarians kick some synthetic butt, when an explosion filled his ears from Laura's audio feed.
"That should take care of those flyers," stated Ashley nodding her head.
Before entering the base, Shepard purposefully set alarms throughout the base. This way, neither the salarians nor the shore party were overtaxed. "Don't you think we should have drawn everybody towards us instead of setting of random alarms?" asked Ashley.
"Our objective is stealth-based Ash, I spread the alarms enough to thin enemy positions so no one single area is especially guarded," Joker heard the commander say.
Wrex hummed his approval, and began kicking down doors throughout the base. Wrex's most recent metal victim led to a room that looked like a prison. No, thought Joker. More like a holding center for experiments. As Laura and her team carefully went through the lab, Joker watched as the first of the three salarian teams made it inside the walls. The first team headed towards their predetermined objective of the western most AA towers. Soon enough, the other two teams made it inside and headed towards their respected towers. Once all the AA towers are down, I'll rendezvous with the salarians at each AA tower after the nuke has been dropped off.
The pilot turned his attention back to Shepard as she let an asari flee the compound. Joker pushed the rewind button to get a grasp on what he missed. She makes it sound like Saren is scared of Sovereign's indoctrination. Laura proceeded to the next room as Joker's scanners indicated that three of the four AA towers were disabled. The pilot waited as Shepard checked the room for the bridge button.
"Over here Shepard," said Williams. "It's another beacon. Like the one on Eden Prime."
"Great," said both Laura and Joker sarcastically. Commander Shepard inched closer to the Prothean artifact, and braced herself. The woman was once again lifted into the air, and a vision was burned into her head. For the second time, Joker could only grip the arms of his chair as Laura's HUD camera shook violently. This time however, Shepard landed on her feet and did not fall unconscious. Laura rubbed her temples, "That hurt."
The team went back to searching for the bridge button without asking their commander any prying questions. Soon, a center console was found and the bridge button was pushed.
"You are not Saren," said a metallic voice. Joker squinted at Laura's HUD and saw that a holographic image of Saren's ship had appeared, and was the one talking.
"You're not a Reaper ship, you're an actual Reaper," said Shepard. While Joker was floored by this revelation, he had no time to listen to the remaining conversation. Several scanners beeped as a very large object appeared in orbit around Virmire from seemingly nowhere. Ah crap, if that's that Sovereign thing we could be screwed. As long as it doesn't do anything, we'll be fine, right?
Joker looked back at Laura's HUD and watched as the windows in the room shattered. Finally, the team found their much-needed button and looked for the exit. The scanners began sounding of shrilly throughout the Normandy. Why can't things go right for a change? "Commander? That thing, that Reaper ship? It just made a turn that would have torn the Normandy in two. You better hurry up, it's headed straight for he base."
"Any other good news?" asked Laura as she crossed the bridge.
"Well, the AA tower is on the way to the nuke site."
"Peachy."
Joker was not waiting long when the scanners indicated that the final AA tower was down. "I'm making my approach now Commander." As soon as the area was cleared, the Normandy was brought to a hover over the river. The ship technicians scrambled out with the nuke as Laura oversaw the production. About halfway through the process, Kaidan's voice sounded over the radio, "Ma'am, we've got major problems here. The geth just dropped an entire platoon on our position. We need assistance, and the other salarian teams are too far away."
Laura nodded her head and gave Joker the all-clear signal, "I'm on my way, and Joker is about to pick up the other salarian teams."
"I'll stay here with the bomb," said Ashley. "Take Liara."
Liara fell in step with Wrex as they followed Laura towards another elevator. Joker had just loaded the first salarian team onto the Normandy when Ashley called for assistance right as Shepard exited the elevator. Jesus, there's not enough time to save both. Shepard's got to decide. Ashley made the decision harder by activating the nuke.
"Go save Kaidan, he's the higher ranking officer."
"Don't worry about me, stay with the bomb and make sure it goes off."
As the last of the salarians came aboard, Joker heard Laura say her last words to the Sentinel. "Die well, give 'em hell."
Joker sped off back towards the nuke to pick up Laura and Williams. As he got their, the pilot came to see Saren choking the life out of Shepard with one formidable talon. Ashley was being tended to by her krogan companion, and both were in no condition to save their leader. Thinking quickly, Joker opened fire on a nearby fuel tank. The resultant explosion knocked the turian to his knees ad was forced to release his human adversary. As the turian regained his feet, the final warning alarm resonated from the explosive. Recognizing what it was, Saren fled to his hovercraft and took off. Laura slung Ashley over her shoulder and scrambled to the Normandy.
With everybody aboard that time allowed, Joker made for the vacuum of space as quickly as his ship could go. From orbit, everybody watched as the explosion ripped across the surface of the planet wiping away both the facility, and the crew's lieutenant.
For once, Joker was numb and could find no humor to lighten the mood. When Laura approached him after blowing ff the Council, the pilot could only lower his head. "With all that happened down there Commander, I don't know if I could have made a choice like that."
Shepard plopped down next to him, "Pray that you never have to Jeff."
Joker eyed Laura at the use of his name, but did not mention it. "Listen Commander, you'll get through this. You always do."
"This is different. I've gotten to know everybody aboard like family, even Wrex," Laura paused to wipe away a tear. "I think I would be crying if it was anybody onboard."
"How did everybody else feel?"
"Ashley is feeling guilty, and everybody is just wondering how I could have made any decision at all."
Joker nodded, "Where to now ma'am?"
"Citadel," she said and curled into a ball in the copilot seat for sleep.
Sleep now Commander, you deserve it.
Can't help but notice the lack of reviews for Chapter 8. How can I know what you guys want if you don't review and help out?