I don't own Godzilla or Mass Effect; if I did we wouldn't have such a horrible ending to the Mass Effect series.
Chapter 3: And That's Why Everyone Hates Politicians
As the doors to the Normandy's airlock opens, Joker turns his seat so that he'd make sure that the commander was alright, only to give a big grin when he saw who she's bringing along.
"Hey Commander, glad to see you're alright. Let me guess, you want me to head straight to Earth so your new friend can go visit Tokyo?"
Jessica shakes her head; although the joke was amusing, she wasn't in the mood for it.
"Joker…"
"Sorry commander, couldn't resist. So what's our next destination? We still have one more person to pick up."
"Just set a course for the Citadel; we need to introduce Godzilla here to the rest of the galaxy."
No sooner than Jessica had finished her sentence, a light at the control panel turns from red to green. "Mr. Moreau, docking clamps have been released."
"Yeah, thanks EDI. Aye commander, heading to the Citadel now; we should get there in a few hours."
The Spectre nods and motions for the Normandy's newest passenger to follow her as the pilot faces the control panel and flies the stealth frigate towards the mass relay they came from.
…
Since the Normandy was due to arrive at the Citadel in such a short amount of time, Jessica decided that the newest member, who formally introduced himself as Arashi while on the elevator, didn't have enough time for a visit to Dr. Chakwas or have a psychological evaluation with Kelly. So instead, the Spectre was going to give him a tour around the ship; it was a small ship, yes, but much to her and Arashi's mutual annoyance, most of the time spent was on the extremely slow elevator.
"Damn elevators, those Cerberus bastards improved everything else on the Normandy yet they couldn't bother with installing a faster elevator?"
"You have a problem with this Cerberus, don't you human?"
"You have no idea…"
During the tour, Jessica had introduced Arashi to the rest of the crew, reactions varied with the ground team; Mordin was rather interested in studying a new species, Grunt was only interested in fighting Arashi, saying that he looked like a good challenge, Zaeed didn't give a shit, stating that he's not paid to care about who he works with, Jacob's reaction was mostly neutral, although with some surprise at the sight of a 7 foot tall Godzilla, Miranda also expressed some surprise and probably went off to tell the Illusive Man about Arashi. Now that the tour was over, there was still some time to lead the Gojiran to his room and get to know about his race's history.
The door to a rather empty room, with only a bed and a table with two chairs, in the crew's quarters opened to allow Jessica and Arashi to enter, "I take it this room would be to your liking?"
The reptilian looks over the room for a few seconds and nods. "It's good enough. Now are there any other questions you wish to ask?"
"Yes, I was actually interested in knowing more about the history of your planet." Knowing that it's probably going to be a rather lengthy conversation, Jessica sits down in one of the chairs.
There was only silence for the next few minutes as Arashi stares out the window. "I'll tell you what I know, Shepard."
The Gojiran turns to approach the table, and after staring down at the remaining chair, he grabs it and effortlessly snaps off the back before sitting down. "We don't know where we came from actually, as our oldest fossils go back only 45,000 years ago; lack of any fossils tells us that the Gojiran and the many other races of Ogasawara are either artificial or we were brought there from someplace else. Whatever the answer is, it died with the Ancients."
"The Ancients, huh? What can you tell me about them?"
"Very little, the only thing they left behind was their technology and given that some of that technology is radically different from each other, the Ancients may not have been a single race but a group of them. One other thing we know about them is that they were probably at war with the Titans."
Before the blonde woman could ask about the Titans, Joker contacts the two through the Normandy's comm. system. "Hey Commander, we're approaching the relay in a few minutes, thought that your new friend would like to see his first relay transit and the Citadel."
"Guess we'll talk later, Arashi. Come on." At that, Jessica leaves the room followed closely behind by the miniature dinosaur.
It was surprisingly rather easy to get Arashi past C-Sec, all that the Spectre had to say that he was a new race that wanted to see the Council and they just let them right through. Though Jessica had to admit being a Spectre also helped. As she pilots the skycar towards the Presidium, she glances at the Gojiran, who is currently looking at his omni-tool's codex that they got before getting on.
"Just a bit of a fair warning, Arashi. The Council prefers to keep their heads buried in the sand and ignore everything bad going on in the galaxy; trying to get them to get off of their asses and actually do something productive is like trying to beat a krogan in a knife fight...with a spoon."
The third passenger in the skycar, Garrus, nods in agreement, "So true, Shepard. Couldn't have said it better myself."
"That bad? Never had that problem on my planet. Having 41 races living on the same planet means that we can't afford any of that bureaucratic shit."
Jessica sighs, she actually forgot that Arashi is really a politician, or an "elected king" as he described. Actually easy to forget as everything about the Gojiran just screamed warrior. "Well since you're a new race, they may actually do something to help you out."
…
"So you're saying that the Collectors went through a previously dormant mass relay and took several dozen inhabitants of several new races?"
Jessica nods at Councilor Anderson, "Yes, there were three Collector ships that attacked the world; the one that escaped was the one that had the captives."
The original three members of the Council, Tevos, Sparatus, and Valern, exchanged glances. The Spectre silently cursed herself, in her dealings with the Council two years ago; she knew that was never a good sign. Her fears were confirmed when Valern spoke. "Shepard, we told you before, the Collectors are just a myth."
Sparatus took a turn to speak, "Yes, and how are we to know that you're not using them as an excuse for you activating a dormant relay to find these 'Reapers'?"
Before Jessica could make a response to defend herself, she was interrupted by a very angry growl followed by the sound of something smashing against the metal floor; turning to the source, she saw that Arashi slammed his tail into the floor so hard that it actually dented. Stomping up right next to the Spectre, he grabbed onto the handrail and she could've sworn that she just saw the spines running along his back flicker neon blue. "Unless Shepard here had access to three giant ships resembling an insect hive, she is not making this up!"
Such anger of the king's words was more than enough to nearly make the entire Council cringe in fear. Things were starting to get bad fast and Tevos knew it; the last thing they needed was another Rachni war. "There's no need to worry, we may not believe the Collectors exist, but if your people were taken we will give Shepard any supplies that she may need to bring them back."
Sparatus turns to the asari councilor, most likely to protest giving somebody that's not only mentally fragile but also working for a terrorist group like Cerberus, but before he could say anything Tevos gave him a glare that told him to stay quiet to not anger the new race's representative anymore than he already is. After being content that Sparatus won't say anything else to complicate things, she turns back to Jessica and Arashi. "In the mean time, since you are the representative to a new race, we would like to offer your people a chance to join the Citadel."
The Gojiran crosses his arms in annoyance, although getting supplies may be helpful in rescuing his son and his people, he did not have time to deal with politics, especially when the government in question is not only extremely unhelpful and inefficient, but also repeatedly made bad decisions like uplifting the krogan and banishing the quarians. Although he would flat out refuse, Arashi wasn't the one that had a say in this decision.
"Very well, send me the conditions needed for us to join, I wish for my people to look at this."
The asari nods as she brings up her omni-tool and sends over the treaty, appearing on Arashi's omni-tool within seconds. As the Gojiran reads through what he just received, Jessica just caught the slightest hint of a scowl across his face.
As Arashi reads through the treaty, he can immediately tell that the Ogasawaran senate is going to immediately reject this and the Gojiran knew exactly why; but again, it wasn't his choice to make. After sending the treaty to his people along with a recommendation for the decision, Arashi proceeds to walk out not even bothering to look at the Council as he speaks to them, "This won't take long".
It took relatively little time for the Ogasawaran senate to come together to discuss the conditions required to become a Citadel race; of course they were rather unhappy with it.
One of the members, a creature with a black hide, a long forked tail, and covered in what looks like white bony armor and having what resembles half a skull on each of its shoulders, pounds his fist onto the table in anger, "This is an outrage! How can this 'Citadel Council' expect us to follow these laws? No genetic engineering, reducing our combined fleets, no AI for our mechanized warriors, and worst off, shutting down our weapons of mass destruction until they can be approved by Citadel inspectors? Every person in entire population is practically a living weapon of mass destruction!"
Another member of the senate, a hulking, gray creature that's hunched over to knuckle walk with its long arms and massive hands, raises one of his hands in order to get the Ghidran to calm down. "I agree that the conditions are against our very existence and that we should refuse it, but what of this Council? They may not like it when a galactic nation refuses to join them and may come up with a reason to bring us under their control by other means; as powerful as our militaries are, we only have several worlds and moons that we control while they control the rest of the galaxy. We cannot win if it comes to that."
A third member of the senate, this one with a jet-black hide, a single crimson red visor-like eye, metal forearms that end in razor sharp claws for its hands, and a single line of small metal blades running down his chest, clicks his metal mandibles with his beak before speaking, "Well if it does come to war, then we will respond in force, even using the Gyaos if needed."
A fourth member, this one resembling a turtle with the exception of a large pair of tusks jutting out of his bottom jaw where his molars should be, takes his turn. "Are you mad? We all know that the Gyaos cannot be controlled, in fact the only reason that plague still exists is because more nests keep popping up all over the place."
The cyborg clicks his mandibles in annoyance as he looks at the human sized terrapin with his single red eye. "We don't have to control them, all that we need to do is bombard the worlds of the Council with a few dozen eggs; they'll be devoid of life within the year."
"Then let us hope it doesn't come down to war with the Citadel then. If it does, the Gyaos are to be used only as a last resort; no one should have to suffer through them like we have to do." The other representatives turn to the speaker, a humanoid white moth with sapphire blue eyes and colorful wings that are folded back. "Back on topic, all in favor of rejecting the Council's invitation to join the Citadel?"
Everyone races their hand in response.
"Then it's decided; we will not join the Citadel. Meeting adjourned." As the leaders of the other races leave the room, the Mosuran activates her portable computer and sends Arashi, the chairman of the Ogasawaran Senate, their decision and reasons why.
It took less than an hour for Jessica and Arashi to schedule another meeting with the Council; as the Gojiran, human, and turian enter the Council Chambers, Arashi steps forward while Jessica and Garrus stand behind him.
Tevos was the first Councilor to speak to Arashi, "I take it that your people have made their decision?"
"They have Councilors, and we refuse."
This statement was a shock to all four members of the Council; however, Anderson decided to keep his opinions to himself, not wanting to get involved with a race that resembles an invincible being from a 200 year old movie series. The other three, being completely unfamiliar with human culture, were a lot more vocal; the prime example being Sparatus, "Do you have any idea on what this decision is going to cost you? Your world will be left unprotected against-"
The turian Councilor was quickly cut off from a threatening growl from Arashi, "Do you think you're ones to talk about protecting your worlds? From what I've read the three of you have done a horrible job at that: human colonies gone missing for the past two years, colonies left to fend for themselves because they're 'outside your jurisdiction', and a prime example of your failures at protecting your people: banishing the quarians when they requested help."
Tevos was quick to defend the Council's actions, "The colonies know what's at stake when they started in the Terminus Systems; sending fleets to protect them could ignite a war with the Terminus."
The salarian councilor nods in agreement, "Yes and as for the missing colonies, those are strictly a human matter."
Sparatus was the one who defended the final point, "The quarians are in exile, and shall remain so as punishment for unleashing the geth upon the galaxy!"
Arashi snarls in disgust, "The quarians pleaded with you for aid to deal with the geth, and you claim that it's the job of the Citadel to defend its people; it's been 300 years and they're still stuck on a fleet with ships that are literally falling apart, that's enough of a punishment in my opinion. And what about the geth? They've done nothing in the past few centuries, if they were going to attack the rest of the galaxy, they would've done that the instant the quarians fled."
The turian councilor glares at the Gojiran in anger, "And what right do you have to judge us for our decisions?"
"Because it's a duty of the peoples' leader to protect them, that's the first reason the people of Ogasawara are not joining you. The second main reason is shutting down all of our weapons of mass destruction, every citizen of Ogasawaran space can be considered a living weapon of mass destruction, myself included. Our third and final reason is your laws against AI, we need those for our mechanized units and it forbids our need for the Kiryu program."
Valern was quick to express concern about this, "Do you realize how much danger you're in? Your AI will turn on you and destroy everything."
"Well, I don't know how you make your AI, but ours are programmed to think like an organic. Now, take your conventions and shove it up your asses, because nothing you can do can make us join." Before the Councilors can say anything, Arashi turns and leaves the Council Chambers.
As the Normandy SR-2 heads towards the Osun system, the elevator doors in the crew quarters to allow Jessica to step out and towards the medical bay. The ship's next destination was a prison ship run by the Blue Suns known as the Purgatory, and she wanted Arashi to be ready for his first combat mission in case things went wrong, plus Chakwas didn't get a chance to examine him when the Gojiran first arrived on the ship. Of course, since he was a completely new species, Mordin also wanted a chance to examine him.
Glancing at the Cerberus insignia with disgust as she walked past, Jessica approached the medical bay; Chakwas and Mordin were standing in front of the door, conversing with each other before they notice the Commander's approach and turn to face her.
"Doctor Chakwas, Mordin, what can you tell me about Arashi?"
Mordin was the first to speak, "Not much, as emitted radiation's interfering with medical scans."
Jessica finds herself surprised at that revelation. "Radiation? How dangerous is it?"
The salarian shook his head, "Radiation at non-lethal levels. Still recommend taking radiation pills after prolonged close proximity with him."
Dr. Chakwas spoke this time, "Since we weren't able to scan Arashi, we decided to inject him with nanobots to provide detailed information about him and the rest of the species. Easier said than done of course, as most of the needles we tried to use broke against his skin; I swear that his skin's strong enough to withstand several pistol rounds."
"How were you able to get the nanobots in him then?"
"We were able to find a relatively soft spot in the underarm; of course it still took our thickest needle to actually pierce it."
Jessica sighs, the woman already guessing what the medical officer was going to, "I'll get some new medical supplies next time we dock. What were the nanobots able to find out?"
"You mean before the radiation overwhelmed them? Quite a bit actually, from nearly unbreakable bones to a regenerative ability that could rival that of a vorcha. And what's probably the surprising of all is the fact that Arashi's a living nuclear reactor."
Mordin shakes his head in disagreement with that last sentence. "No, subject stated that he's able to control nuclear energy for offensive purposes. Described himself as living weapon of mass destruction. He was right; his very existence is a violation to Citadel laws."
Jessica, although very surprised about this information, was able to keep it to herself.
"I'd like to speak with Arashi now, if that's alright with you."
The medical officer and the scientist both nod and allow Jessica to enter the medical bay. The Commander was able to immediately spot the person she was seeking, who is currently putting his helmet on. "You ready to go, Arashi?
The Gojiran nods as he grabs his assault rifle, the same dark gray weapon that Jessica saw the guards using back when she was a captive, and a shotgun, which to the Spectre's surprise has no resemblance to the assault rifle, being a brilliant gold color with three barrels side-by-side. Jessica couldn't help but be curious as to what the two weapons do.
...
As Jessica and her squad, Arashi and Garrus, the three are greeted by several prison guards, with a turian in front of them to welcome them. "Welcome to the Purgatory, Shepard. Your package is being prepped and you can claim it shortly. As this is a high-security vessel, you'll need to relinquish your weapons before we proceed."
'Well this is certainly going well,' "I can't do that."
Before the turian guard could respond, a second turian approaches behind the three guards, "Everyone stand down. Commander, I'm Warden Kuril, and this is my ship." Jessica could swear that the Gojiran to her side let out a growl, obviously not trusting this man, "Your weapons will be returned on the way out. You must realize that this is just a standard procedure."
"It's my standard procedure to keep my guns."
The warden looks at the three with a rather piercing gaze, as if to size them up; legendary Spectre or not, Jessica was still just a human with a turian buddy, but Arashi was a complete unknown to Kuril. "Let them proceed. Our faculty is more than secure enough to handle three armed guests. We're bringing Jack out of cryo. As soon as the funds clear you can be on your way. If you'll follow me to Outprocessing for the pickup, Commander."
Jessica nods as she gives Warden Kuril a rather skeptical look, "Let's go."
Following the warden through the door, the Normandy squad finds themselves in a glass hall. "Cellblock Two. As you can see, we keep tight control over the population." Jessica and her squadmates pause as they witness a pair of giant mechanical arms grab what appears to be a large box each and attach them farther along the hall they're in.
"Each prisoner's cell is a self-contained, modular unit. I've blown a few out of the airlocks as an example. This ship is made up of 30 cell blocks identical to this one; we house thousands of criminals. We can put the whole place in lockdown in a moment's notice. Nothing goes wrong here."
Although Jessica wanted to ask some questions about this ship and Jack, every instinct the Spectre has is screaming for her to get out as quickly as possible. "Let's get on with this."
The Blue Suns mercenary nods and proceeds to continue through the corridor; Arashi decided to speak up, curiousity momentarily suppressing his suspicious nature towards the warden. "I suppose nobody has bothered with trying to escape this place?"
"We're in space; they have nowhere to go and they know it. But still, we exercise extreme caution. These are dangerous individuals." As Kuril explains this, the three members of the Normandy squad look down below as a pair of prisoners are arguing over something before it moves on to shoving; before it could get any worse the Blue Suns guard activates his omni-tool and a glowing blue tower rises out of a nearby pedestal and sends two streams of energy to encase them both in a separate bubble.
Kuril seems to notice where the three are looking, "We have many ways to control the population."
The door at the end of the corridor opens up to allow the four through, "I'm going to confirm that the funds from Cerberus cleared. Outprocessing is straight down this hallway. Just keep going past the interrogation rooms and the supermax wing." With that, Kuril walks off into the corridor they were just in, "I'll catch up with you later… Shepard." As the door closes, Jessica could not help but feel that something bad is going to happen.
With no choice but to continue moving forward, they stumble across a separate cell where the prisoner inside is being beaten by a turian guard. Arashi growls at the sight, "This isn't an interrogation, this is a power trip. You better do something Shepard before it gets worse."
Jessica didn't even have to agree to that as she approaches a second turian guard who's watching the beating take place. The guard having noticed her approach, gives her a glance, "Is there something I can do for you?"
"There's no excuse for beating a prisoner who can't fight back."
"This is a massage compared to what his victims went through."
"This degrades you as much as him."
"We have orders."
'It's that excuse huh?' "You're not important enough to make your own decisions?"
The turian guard shrugs, "I admit… I sometimes get tired of this. Does this really get anything useful?"
"Stop this. For your own sake."
Turing back to the beating, the guard can't help but agree. "Yeah. You're right. Call it off. At least for now."
'Guess that's better than nothing…' As the guard inside the cell stops the beating, Jessica proceeds to walk away where she's interrupted once more.
"Hey! Hey guys, over here. Let me ask you something."
Turning to the speaker, a lone human in the cell right next to the beating, the commander guess it couldn't hurt to talk to the poor man. "If you're buying prisoners, can you buy me? Man, I don't care where you take me or what you do with me, it's got to be better than this."
'Oh, so that's what this is about… He has a point though, not much can be worse than being stuck here for the rest of your life…'
Garrus, who has apparently sensed the man's desperation, decided to tell the man the truth. "We're here for Jack."
The prisoner seemed to panic at the mention of the name, causing Jessica to wonder if this Jack guy was really that bad. "Jack? Forget what I just said. I don't want to go anywhere with you." 'Guess he really is that bad.'
"Tell me more about Jack."
"The worst trouble you ever saw, mixed with some crazy and way too much biotic power. That's all I'm saying."
"So what are you in for?"
"I killed a few people. Only about 20 or so. And I blew up that one habitat. Small-time compared to most of the guys here."
'Okay…' "I should go." The man hangs his head in disappointment at that statement, "Wish I could go."
As the three proceeded to walk away, they neared the third cell, "I hear the screaming in my head. It's nice. Yeah." And decided to walk faster past it.
…
As the Normandy squad enters a large room, a nearby technician gives them directions on where to go, "Outprocessing is though the doors on the far side of the room." At this point, Jessica's instincts are screaming even louder that something bad's going to happen, and continues to tell her to get out with more and more panic and worry as she approaches the lone door. As Jessica opens the one door, they find it to be an empty cell. At that point Warden Kuril speaks to them through the Purgatory's intercoms.
"My apologies, Shepard. You're more valuable as a prisoner than a customer. Drop your weapons and proceed into this open cell. You will not be harmed."
Jessica silently curses herself for not forseeing this, she really didn't want this to end in a bloodbath… "Maybe I can change your mind."
"Activate systems!"
Bloodbath not avoided, and as the three get into cover behind the multiple desks in the room, about a half dozen Blue Suns troopers rush in lead by a Centurion. "Garrus, I need you to hit the Centurion with an Over-" Jessica didn't get to finish her sentence as she's interrupted by the dying screams of the Centurion, looking up they see Arashi firing neon blue beams at the mercenaries, each pull of the assault rifle's trigger guarantees a pained scream as they're torn apart by the high temperature and radiation. Retalitory fire from the remaining Blue Suns troopers only bounce off the Gojiran's shielding.
Not the kind of people to waste an advantage, Jessica and Garrus pull out some new weapons that they got from the Councilors to help rescue Arashi's people. Aiming down the scopes of her turian sniper rifle, she targets a duo of troopers hiding behind the desk to avoid being blasted by the Gojiran's weapon. As the commander pulls the trigger, what appears to be a rocket streaks out of the barrel and manages to hit one of the troopers who got up to shit at Arashi; it proved to be the death of him and his buddy as the round impacted his chest and produced an explosion large enough to turn them both into a bunch of bloody chunks.
As Garrus manages to gun down the final mercenary with his new Phaeston, Warden Kuril once again shouted orders on the intercom, "Reinforce Outprocessing! Shepard is loose!"
Garrus looks out the door they came in, only to see it clear at the moment before turning to Jessica. "We need to get Jack out of cryo."
The commander nods and proceeds to head out, only for a Blue Suns Legionaire flanked by several FENRIS mechs to appear to block their path. Jessica Shepard can only curse her bad luck as she launches a shockwave, it may not have been much against the batarian other than stagger him, but it caused the FENRIS mechs to go flying into the ceiling. Meanwhile, Garrus manages to drain the Legionaire's shielding, allowing Arashi to smash the mercenary into the wall with his long tail. Arashi snarls as he looks down upon the Blue Suns member, "I should've known that they would've betrayed us."
"Well look on the bright side Arashi, now we get to kill all the ones that get in our way."
…
After dealing with the lone technician in the supermax wing, Jessica approaches the only thing of interest in the room, a lone computer. Garrus manages to notice what she was doing, "Shepard, if you hack that control, every door in the cellblock opens."
Arashi looks at the console, "Looks like it's the only way to get Jack out of the freezer."
"I'm doing it. Be ready."
After bracing herself for anything that might happen, Jessica presses a few buttons on the control panel, causing a giant mechanical arm to rise up and grab onto the cryo pod in the floor, gaining the attention to three YMIR mechs. As the pod is pulled up, Jessica and the other two see who Jack really is, a young woman almost completely covered in tattoos. Garrus voiced the surprise that everyone is thinking, "That's Jack?"
The blonde commander leans in closer to watch in interest as Jack awakens and manages to break free from the restraints around her wrists and neck. After freeing herself from her cell, the woman stumbles as she clutches her head before noticing the three heavy mechs aiming their weapons at her. Although this would be enough to make anybody stand down, Jack actually launches herself at the three machines, biotic energy swirling around her fist as she punches the one in the middle to effortlessly destroy it. The resulting explosion was large enough to make Jessica and Garrus stagger in an attempt to stay on their feet. Arashi was rather unaffected by the explosion; instead, he was rather impressed.
"Impressive, couldn't have done that better myself. Now, we should go after her."
…
Walking past the smoldering wreckage of the three YMIR, the Normandy squad finds a large hole that was blasted out of the wall and into a maintenance corridor. Arashi practically twitches his tail in anticipation, "Very impressive…"
The intercom activates as Warden Kuril shouts his orders to all the Blue Suns mercenaries in the area, "All guards: restore order! Lethal force authorized! But don't kill Jack! Techs: lockdown! Lockdown!" As they continue down the corridor, the ship's computer comes to life, "Sectors Seven, Nine, and Eleven have lost life support. No survivors."
Taking that as their cue to get off the Purgatory as quickly as possible, the squad runs ahead until they come across another hole leading into a large room showing extensive damage and it all shows as if someone extremely angry and extremely powerful went on a rampage, "She became as mad as hell and has enough biotics that could possibly rival that of an asari matriarch. Jack could be a big problem on the Normandy, Shepard."
Before Jessica could respond to Garrus, she hears the nearby sounds of gunfire; sneaking forward after activating her tactical cloak and stopping on top of a small bridge, the Spectre finds the prisoners and their guards firing at each other. "All prisoners return to your cells immediately or I'll open every airlock on this ship!"
All the prisoners ignored Warden Kuril's threat on the intercom, they were only interested in revenge for how they were treated by the guards. However, due to the Blue Suns having better equipment and higher ground, the prisoners were swiftly cut down by the troopers. Just as Jessica was beginning to think about heading back to the Normandy, EDI contacts her with her personal radio, "Shepard, the warden has locked down the area behind you. You must find another exit route."
'Great…' "Looks like we're left with no other choice but to keep going forward. Get ready to fire when I start firing." Taking out her Mattock, Jessica aims at one of the few remaining prison guards and fires a single shot to drop the human. Her cloak drops and the other troopers, having spotted Shepard, immediately begin to fire at her position; as she ducked back into cover, the mercenaries were too busy peppering the bridge with a few rounds to try and scare the woman out to notice as Garrus snipes a few of them with his Mantis from underneath while Arashi charges forward firing a trio of golden lightning bolts from his shotgun to eliminate a few others.
Just as Jessica peaked out of cover to finish off the last one, she notices one thing she failed to see the first time, a YMIR mech by the back wall. The heavy mech lowers its left arm and fires a rocket at the only target out in the open, "Arashi, look out!"
It was too late, just as the Gojiran looks at the walking tank, the rocket slams into his face and the resulting explosion slams the dinosaur into the wall, where he lay unmoving. Just before Jessica was about to order Garrus to cover her while she checks on Arashi, a loud roar pierces the air as Arashi manages to stand up. The Gojiran rips off his shattered helmet, allowing his human and turian squadmates to see that the side of his face the missile impacted has blown it off, revealing muscle and bone imbedded with shrapnel from his helmet and bits of the missile.
Arashi roars again in rage as his spines flicker a bright neon blue before a blue beam of radioactive flame shoots out of his mouth and slams into the YMIR's chest, shoving the machine into the wall behind it. The beam lasts for a good five seconds before the dinosaur stops it to see the damage; the YMIR was still standing but its chest had a deep crater melted into the metal, it was clear that it was on its last legs. The heavy mech aims both of its arms and fires a continuous volley of machine gun rounds and a trio of rockets; but the tiny rounds only pinged off of its armor and recharging shields and Arashi fires a second stream of neon blue energy, destroying the rockets before they can hit and incinerating its head. With its head gone, the YMIR simply blows up; and with nothing else in the room, Jessica and Garrus rush towards their wounded teammate only to see that most of the damage has been healed.
"Arashi, are you alright?"
Although the Gojiran growls in annoyance and anger as he picks up his shattered helmet, the commander could tell that it wasn't at either of them. "I'm fine, Shepard. I've taken worse before. Let's just get Jack and off this infernal prison."
…
It was a massacre; although Warden Kuril had his back to the wall and had several dozen prisoners coming after him, he had all the advantages: an M-76 Revenant light machine gun, higher ground, and shields. The prisoners aren't even able to get close enough to swarm the turian with their improvised or captured weapons without them all getting gunned down; the last remaining prisoner peeks out from behind cover only to get shot in the face by the mercenary, who has just noticed the source of his problems. "You're valuable, Shepard. I could've sold you and lived like a king. But you're too much trouble. At least I can recapture Jack."
The warden fires a burst from his Revenant in order to keep the Normandy squad from peeking out of cover, Jessica shouts back at Kuril, "Not happening! You're a two-bit slave trader and I don't have time for it!"
Kuril, enraged at the accusations, was quick to defend his actions, "I do the things civil governments are unwilling to! This is for the good of the galaxy!"
The Gojiran snarls in disgust at the turian, "And I've had enough of you, turian!" As Ararashi stands out of cover, Kuril fires upon him only to watch in horror as the rounds not only have any effect on this unknown, but only serve to anger him further. This time Arashi's spines glow a bright red before he fires a stream of red radioactive flames with stray energy spiraling around it; serving as Kuril's last sight before it shoots through the shields like they were nothing and incinerates the turian instantly. All the Blue Suns in the room, having witnessed the instant death of their boss, immediately turned and ran out of the room. Jessica and Garrus are completely stunned at the sight of Arashi's power, who is currently panting as the adrenaline starts to wear off. "I'm finished with this place, let's just get this Jack and get off."
…
A single pistol shot was enough to bring down the batarian guard, and the tattooed woman turns to face the Normandy squad. The biotic glares at them, as if trying to figure out what they're up to, "What the hell do you want?"
Figuring that the truth is just the best option in this situation, Jessica decided to go with that, "You're in a bad situation, and I'm going to get you out of here."
"Shit, you sound like a pussy. I'm not going anywhere with you. You're Cerberus."
Things were starting to get bad again, and Jessica did not want things to get worse with the woman who single-handedly brought down an entire ship. "I'm here to ask for your help."
"You show up in a Cerberus frigate to take me away somewhere. You think I'm stupid?"
"This ship is going down in flames. We can get you to safety, and we're asking for your help."
Garrus glances at Jessica, "We could just knock her out and take her."
"I'd like to see you try."
The blonde woman shakes her head, "We're not going to attack her."
"Good move. Look, you want me to come with you, make it worth my while."
"Join my team and I'll do what I can for you."
Jack just glares at Jessica, "Don't make promises you can't keep. I bet your ship's got lots of Cerberus databases. I want to look at those files. See what Cerberus has got on me. You want me on your team, let me go through those databases."
The commander shrugs, figuring that no harm can come from giving this woman access to those databases; besides, if it helps to bring down Cerberus, Jessica's all for it. "I'll give you full access."
Jack jabs Jessica in her chest with her fingers, as if daring the Spectre to betray her. "You better be straight-up with me." Jessica nods, "So why the hell are we standing here?"
Realizing that there's probably not much time left before the Purgatory completely fails, Jessica turns back to look at her squad, "Move out."
Arashi and Garrus nod as they follow Jessica, Jack lingering behind to give a quick glance at the Normandy before following.
Longest chapter ever.
I did say that I'd be doing a visit to the Council and getting Jack off the Purgatory, but I didn't think that it'd be that long.
But I do have a request; I had over 600 viewers over the month of May yet I have only 3 reviews by two people for those two chapters. I don't want to be the guy that complains, but I'm serious, I'd like to get more reviews. Without any reviews, I have absolutely no idea what I'm doing wrong in the world of ME and I'll just lose any motivation to keep going because I'm starting to think that you people don't enjoy it. Seriously, it's not even that difficult to leave a review.
Anyway, now that the first group of characters have been recruited, we're going to go onto Horizon next. The wait for Horizon shouldn't take too long, even shorter if more reviews come in.