Chapter 16
ExoGeni
Author's Note: well I've got good news and bad news the bad news is that school starts soon :(. But the good news is that I got a job bagging groceries. Not too mention Halo Reach is right around the corner, I'm excited to be fighting Elites (I only played Halo 3) Well enjoy.
"So what's the plan Shepard?" Ashley asked as the two Warthogs sped up the Skyway, Ashley manning the turret in the Warthog that Shepard was driving, and that Iasa was ridding shotgun.
"Head up to the ExoGeni building, find whatever we can about Saren, and if we can find a way to destroy that frigate, do it," Shepard replied
"Sounds like a plan," Ashley said as she retightened her grip on the turret. "Wait," she said, as she took one hand off of the turret and pressed it to the side of her helmet. "Is anyone else picking up this transmission?"
"No," Shepard said, pressing a hand to his own helmet. "I hear it too." The radio transmission that they were listening in on was rather faint, all that they could pick up was static, and a panicked voice whose words could not be made out.
"Hey Shepard," Taylor said over the COM lines "Are Tali and I the only ones picking up the chatter that's going on around here?"
"No you're not," Shepard said, as the Warthogs drove through an old checkpoint. "Wait a minute, Taylor stop your Warthog," he said, as he slammed on the breaks for his Warthog, causing to come to a stop, Taylor mimicking his moves. To the left of the Warthogs was a staircase that descended downwards.
"You don't think that there are other survivors do you?" Ashley asked hesitantly.
"It as a possibility," Iasa said, as all five of them exited their Warthogs and began to cautiously walk down the stairs.
"Anyone down there?" Shepard called out. A man in a security uniform looked around a makeshift barricade that was standing a few feet away from the base of the stairs.
"Oh thank god," he said, stepping away from the barricade "You're not Geth, and if you're not Geth I don't care who you are."
"Are more survivors? Whose in charge here?" Shepard asked.
"You'll want to talk to Ethan Jeong, he's the main ExoGeni representative for this planet. He's been a little on edge recently, but then again who isn't," he said as the ground team walked down the stairs and into a makeshift outpost. There were around a dozen people inside half of them security guards, the other half worn refuges.
"Who are you, what are you doing here?" a man said, starting forward and reaching for a pistol, almost instinctively.
"Jeong you idiot, they're UNSC, RSN too by the looks of it," a woman said sternly, glaring at Jeong. "Just be glad that we aren't the only non-synthetic beings on the planet anymore."
"You do know that there are still survivors at Zhu's Hope right?" Tali asked, sounding slightly confused.
"You told me that they didn't make it," the woman said angrily, glaring at Jeong once again.
"How was I supposed to know that they were still alive Juliana, call them?" Jeong said, folding his arms defensively. "So what are you doing here?" Jeong asked, looking at Shepard and the rest of the ground team.
"We are here to neutralize the Geth," Iasa said simply.
"Well, that's the only good news that I've heard all week," Juliana said "They're using the ExoGeni building as a base, its not that much further up the Skyway, you'll be able to get there in no time with your Warthogs."
"Bear in mind that that building is ExoGeni property," Jeong said sternly "If you find any data you are to leave it where you found it for proper executives to collect."
"Well be heading out now," Shepard said "You might want to get to Zhu's Hope, it's much safer there."
"Out of the question," Jeong said, shaking his head "The Skyway is too exposed, we'll be sitting ducks out there. All twelve of us will stick out like a sore thumb and Pelicans won't work while the main Geth force is around, we're too close to their headquarters, they'll be shot down before they even get close and reveal our position in the process. We're stuck here as long as the Geth are still here."
"I hate to admit it, but he has a point Shepard," Ashley said, glancing at the Commander "They're stuck between a rock and a hard place here. They would have to go one at a time to make being detected unlikely, and they don't have enough guns just in case."
"If you're going up to the ExoGeni building," Juliana said, rubbing her arm uncomfortably "Could you please look for my daughter Lizbeth? I didn't see her on the way out." Shepard nodded and Juliana let out a sigh of relief.
"Alright," Shepard said, turning to face the refuges. "Hang tight, we'll take care of this." The ground team exited the outpost, reentered their Warthogs, and continued up the Skyway to the ExoGeni building.
"You know," Tali said, as Taylor steered the Warthog upwards "I've been thinking."
"About what?" Taylor asked, craning his neck to look at the Quarian.
"I can't help but think that this is all because of what my people did," Tali said, looking downwards sadly.
"Aw come on Tali," Taylor said comfortingly "You've been around the RSN for half of your life, you of all people should now that all A.I.s want to wipe out all organic life isn't true."
"I know that," Tali said "I'm not talking about us creating the Geth, I'm talking about what we did to them."
"Pardon?" Taylor asked, clearly confused.
"Smart A.I.s have no desire to kill organics, mainly because they have no reason to desire our deaths," Tali said. "They are treated with the same respect we give one another, and return it. When the Geth began to develop sentience the did nothing but ask questions, but we panicked. We tried to wipe out the Geth, shut down every last one, but it didn't work. They retaliated, wiping out the majority of the Quarians and forcing us to live on the Migrant Fleet. Before we were exposed to Smart A.I.s, I was bitter towards the Geth, hating them for what they had done. Now when I think about it, we could have avoided all of this if we had just extended the hand of kindness to the Geth instead of the fist of war. The Geth are not capable of feeling hate, they don't kill organics because they hate them or see them as useless, most likely they kill organics because they see us as a threat. It's all our fault."
"Oh come on," Taylor said, looking at Tali and speaking sternly. "It's not all your fault, ok? A couple of assholes fucked up big time and started as war, that doesn't mean that your entire race is to blame. Not all Germans were Nazis in World War II, not all Russians were Communists in the Cold War and not all middle easterners were terrorists in the War on Terror. The Quarians, as a whole, are not guilty of this, and even if they were, that was over 800 years ago, everyone who had a hand in it is long dead. Your race has a chance for a fresh start, you have a new planet, guardians who will protect you with life and limb, and a new respect for A.I.s. As for the Geth, we can't dwell on what could have been, right now, they're a threat to us, and we need to eliminate them before they eliminate us. Tali do me a favor, and don't kick yourself over this, I can't stand to see people do that to themselves when they don't deserve it."
"I...," Tali said, shocked at the speech that Taylor had just given her. "Thanks Taylor," she said, her smile hid behind her visor.
As the Warthogs continued to push forward, the Skyway came to an end, at the entrance to the ExoGeni building, five Geth troopers and a Geth Armature in front of it. Two of the Geth opened fire with rocket launchers, forcing the Warthogs to swerve to avoid the projectiles. As they did, the Warthog's turrets burst to life, gunning down the two Geth with rocket launchers quickly. The Armature fired it's pulse cannon, narrowly missing Taylor's Warthog while the other Geth fired at Shepard's Warthog with their sniper rifles.
Ashley brought her turret around, spraying one of the Geth with bullets, causing it to collapse. Iasa brought her carbine up to eye level and fired a burst at the Geth, blasting it's optic clean off. The remaining Geth fired it's sniper rifle, narrowly missing Ashley's head. Shepard drew a magnum, with one hand still on the wheel, and emptied the clip into the Geth, effectively destroying it.
While Shepard and the other's were taking care of the troopers, Taylor was desperately dodging the Armature's pulse cannon, while Tali desperately fired the turret at the Armature. "Taylor this isn't working!" Tali shouted "This thing will fry us before we do enough damage to take it down!" As if to emphasize her point, the Armature's pulse cannon missed the Warthog by inches.
"I've got an idea!" Taylor shouted, wheeling the Warthog around to face the Armature. As Taylor floored the acceleration, the Warthog sped forward, hitting the Armature head on. The Armature's forward legs gave out as the Warthog slammed into them, causing the forward part of the Geth to collapse directed on top of the front of the Warthog, crushing the windshield. Not letting the opportunity pass by, Tali leveled the turret with the Geth's optic, shooting it at point blank range. The Geth's shields collapsed as bullets slammed into it, then into it's optic, causing it to shatter.
"Keelah I'm glad that's over," Tali said as she released her grip on the turret.
"All right everybody," Shepard said, as everyone exited their Warthogs, drawing their weapons. "Let's do this," he said as they walked into the ExoGeni building.
They walked into what looked like it had once been an atrium. It had been throughly destroyed, tables were overturned chairs had been smashed, bodies of Humans covered the floor, lying along side a handful of Geth. "God damn it," Ashley swore silently as they walked through the atrium. They came to what looked like the top of a staircase, except nearly all of the stairs had been destroyed in the fighting.
"One way trip," Shepard said, looking down. "All right everyone, down we go," he said as he jumped off of the top of the staircase, landing on the ground several dozen feet below him. The others glanced at each other before following him, heading even deeper into the Geth's base of operations.
Author's Note: Look I know this isn't fighting for a purpose but I really need to get something off of my chest, to those of you who read fighting for a purpose I have a confession to make, I have not watched one full episode of Star Wars the Clone Wars, or the movie, I just don't have the heart. I just can't bring myself to do it, because every single character in it is just being raised like a lamb for the slaughter(order 66 and the fall of the Republic, I doubt any of them will survive, several already have confirmed deaths). I like the idea of the Ahsoka character, but I have a very bad feeling that she isn't going to make it out of season 3 alive, after all she isn't in revenge of the Sith for a reason, and she probably won't even live to be 17 like she's in my story. Man, if I watch the cartoon, I'll grow to love the character even more, only to be crushed when she died (I don't like the idea, but it's happening). This has really been bothering me so I could never bring myself to watch the show. In a way this whole issue was the reason I started writing Fighting for a Purpose in the first place, to create already where an epic character like her is doomed, 'sigh' now I feel depressed. I'm sorry if this bugged you but I really needed to get this off of my chest. Please PM on what you think.