Chapter 2: Saving Eden (Prime)
This day had been just pure hell for Gunnery Chief Ashley Williams. It had started off with her and her 212th platoon going on morning patrol after a quick breakfast, but then at 1030 hours, they suddenly found themselves engaging in a fight for their lives against a Geth squadron. The fighting was fierce, and those damn synthetics were laying down on them hard. Ashley had already lost 5 people from her platoon, and she fully intended to pay them back in kind.
"Jason, watch your right!" the chief cried out as she shot a Geth through the chest plating with her Avenger assault rifle. The soldier in question nodded and quickly aimed his shotgun to his right, blowing a Geth's leg off just in time. As the machine teetered over, Jason finished it off with a shotgun blast to its head, blowing it clean off. Just then, Ashley heard a scream and looked to her left. To her horror, a Geth Destroyer gunned down Sergeant Ezekiel Dobson. Ashley gritted her teeth and quickly shot the metal monster in the shoulder, drawing its attention to her. The Sergeant had been a good friend to her ever since she had arrived to Eden Prime, and his death was something she wouldn't take lightly. The Destroyer raised its Pulse Rifle and prepared to fire back when everyone suddenly heard someone shout something in the distance.
"UPGRADE!" the unknown voice shouted. Before anyone could ask what that was, a massive green energy beam fired out of nowhere and nailed the Destroyer right through the chest, melting through its circuits and dropping it instantly. Ashley looked over in the direction the beam came from… and couldn't believe her eyes. Rushing into the fray was an alien unlike any she had ever seen in her life. It was humanoid in shape, but the creature's head, shoulders and back was black with green stripes running down it, and its front side was green with black stripes picking up where the black ones left off. It had a single eye, like the Geth, but unlike them, its eye looked like a green ring with another green stripe running off its top and going down its back. Its most notable feature, however, was the weird symbol on its chest. After knocking another Geth to the ground with a single blow from its oversized hand, the alien looked over at the remaining soldiers.
"I'll hold these guys off. Get out of here, quick!" the alien said.
"Who and what the hell are you?" Ashley asked as she approached the alien.
"To answer your first question, the name's 'Upgrade,'" the alien replied as he shot down another Geth with another eye beam, "And I'm a Galvanic Mechamorph." With that, Upgrade leapt toward another Geth and, to everyone's surprise, changed into a liquid form before landing on the Geth. What happened next left everyone completely shocked. As the blob that was once "Upgrade" splashed on top of the Geth, its body seemed to drape over it like a veil. The Geth's body became black with green striping similar to Upgrade's running across it, but the changing didn't end there. The Geth suddenly began to get bigger and bulkier, reaching a height of 11 feet, and its Pulse Rifle became fused to its right hand. When the transformation was completed, the new Geth looked down at the humans, only to raise its free left hand to block incoming shots.
"Guys, stop! I'm on your side!" the alien called out before aiming its gun hand at the remaining Geth and mowing them down in a matter of seconds, "I'm trying to help you! Get out of here, hurry back to the town and start evacuating any survivors!"
Ashley was surprised at first, but then shook it off and turned back to the survivors from her platoon.
"You heard that thing!" She ordered, "Fall back to the main colony and search for survivors!" As the soldiers began to leave, Ashley looked back at the alien.
"Thanks," she said before following her troops and heading off toward the colony.
…
After taking out the last of the robots, Ben dissipated Upgrade's body from the robot he was currently possessing and quickly destroyed it before looking around him. After seeing the technology the robots were made of and were using, it was clear that he'd have a long way to go before he could fully understand it. Deciding to worry about that later, Ben looked down at two of the discarded rifles the robots dropped when he destroyed them. An idea popped into his mind, as Upgrade placed both his hands on the guns and let his hands ooze over them, enveloping them in his body. After lifting his hands up, they had taken on the form of the guns, with the barrels glowing green on the inside.
"Perfect," Ben said to himself before running off. As the Galvanic Mechamorph headed for the town and rounded a corner, he saw two more robots holding a human on top of something resembling a pedestal. Upgrade prepped his guns for combat and prepared to engage, but before he could move, he saw something that would haunt his dreams for a long time. Once the man was placed onto the pedestal, a long, sharp spike burst out from it and skewered him like a mushroom. Anger and disgust were now boiling over in Ben, and his adrenaline drove him into action. Leaping out from behind his cover, Upgrade quickly drew his gun-hands at the robots and opened fire, turning them into metallic Swiss cheese within a matter of seconds. The Galvanic Mechamorph continued moving forward when a shot suddenly rang past his head. Looking in the direction of the shot, Ben saw a drone machine with a gun on its underside floating a few meters away from him. The little drone reminded Ben too much of the ones that Vilgax used to send after him, but the shape-shifter knew too well how easily destructible they were. Aiming up with one of his gun-hands, Ben fired a single shot and hit the drone right in the eye, destroying it in an instant. But Ben knew from experience that drones never fought alone, and his suspicions were confirmed when four more drones flew overhead and opened fire at him.
Oh crap, Ben thought as he ducked behind a fallen tree and returned fire, destroying two of the drones but narrowly missing the other two. Just as Ben ducked back behind the tree to avoid another flurry of shots, he heard the sound of gunfire ringing alongside the plasma shots. Upgrade peeked out from behind his cover and saw the same woman he saved earlier opening fire on the drones with her own rifle, quickly destroying them in a few shots. The woman looked over at Ben, who was now walking out from behind the tree, and approached him.
"I thought I told you to evacuate any survivors and get out of here," Upgrade said as he dropped the rifles out of his hands.
"You only said to evacuate the survivors," the woman said, apparently not bothered that a creature she never saw before had given her an order, "The rest of my troops have them and are calling a ship to pick them up. Besides, you saved my life, so I returned the favor."
"Well, thanks," Upgrade said, "You know, I don't think I got your name."
"Gunnery Chief Ashley Williams of the 212th Alliance Platoon," the woman replied. Ben extended his right hand, but he noticed she hesitated when she shook it, though it was partially because Upgrade's hand was twice as big as hers, making the handshake a little bit awkward. Just then, Ashley saw something behind Upgrade and aimed her rifle behind him, Upgrade turning around with his fists clenched. The two saw a pair of soldiers emerge from behind a grove of trees, one wearing black armor and carrying a rifle similar to the one Ashley was using, while the other was wearing grey armor and was toting a pistol in his hand. Ben tensed and prepared for a fight, but Ashley held her hand in front of him.
"Easy, I'll handle this," She said in a rather stern tone before looking to the soldier in black armor, "Gunnery Chief Ashley Williams of the 212th. You the one in charge here, sir?"
"Are you wounded, Williams?" The man asked.
"A few scrapes and burns, nothing serious. The others are off rescuing civilians," Ashley replied. Then the man in grey armor stepped up and looked over at Upgrade.
"What the hell is that thing?" He asked as Upgrade lowered his arms.
"I don't know, but it calls itself 'Upgrade' or something like that," Ashley answered. Ben stepped forward.
"I can speak for myself," The shape-shifter snapped, "Yeah, my name is 'Upgrade,' and I'm a Galvanic Mechamorph. I can merge with machines and technology and enhance or transform them." The man in black armor nodded at him, quickly accepting this new life-form before him.
"I'm Commander Shepard of the Alliance Navy," He said before gesturing to the man on his right, "And this is Lieutenant Kaidan Alenko." Shepard then looked back at Ashley. "What happened here?"
"It was insane," Ashley replied, "We tried to double-back to the beacon, but we walked right into an ambush. I lost five men to the Geth before Upgrade here showed up and pulled our asses out of the fire."
"What beacon are you talking about?" Ben asked, hoping to tag along with these three soldiers and better find his bearing in this dimension.
"There's a Prothean beacon here on the planet that my team and I were sent to secure for the Council," Shepard replied.
"What's a Prothean?" Ben asked curiously. Judging from how Shepard mentioned them, they must be important.
"An ancient alien race that ruled the galaxy and then vanished 50,000 years ago," Kaidan answered, "How do you not know what they are?"
"Let's just say I'm not exactly from around here," Ben said simply.
"The Geth haven't been seen outside the veil in nearly 300 years," Kaidan noted, "So why are they here now?"
"They must have come for the beacon," Ashley answered, "The dig site is close, just over that rise. It might still be there." She then pointed in the direction of the dig site.
"We could use your help on this one, Williams," Shepard said.
"Aye, aye, sir," Ashley said as she pounded her fist into her palm, "It's time for payback." Shepard then turned to Upgrade.
"You should also come with us," the commander suggested, "A new species could really benefit the mission."
"Thanks, but I'm going to let you three in on a little secret," Upgrade said before reaching up and slapping his left hand over the symbol on his chest. The resulting flash of green light caused everyone to shield their eyes before it faded away a moment later… to reveal a young man wearing a black shirt, blue jeans and a green jacket standing before them. Ben tried not to laugh as he saw their dumbfounded expressions. "My real name is Ben Tennyson. Upgrade is one of the aliens I can turn into." Shepard blinked and shook his head to block out the shock.
"You can explain everything when we're back on the Normandy, Ben," Shepard said with surprise still clear in his voice, "Let's move out, everyone." As the four prepared to move out, Ashley noticed Ben fiddling with a device on his left wrist.
"What are you doing?" She asked.
"You'll see in a bit," Ben replied as he finished spinning the dial on the device and slammed his right hand down on top of it, creating another bright flash of light.
After the light faded, they saw another alien standing where a 19-year-old used to be, but this one looked very different from Upgrade. It was a humanoid creature that stood six feet tall, but it wasn't even made of organic tissue. It looked like a walking sculpture of lava, with a broad torso and thick arms. His feet looked almost like a Turian's, with two toes in the front and one smaller toe on the heel. Its most notable feature, however, was its head. The face was composed of crimson rocks, like most of its body, but it was also completely surrounded by an ever-burning flame. Shepard and the others could also literally feel intense heat radiating from this alien's body.
"HEATBLAST!" Ben shouted out before looking at his new teammates, "Come on, let's go." Once the others shook off the shock again, Shepard led the team down a canyon, where they saw a structure positioned there. Ben assumed this was the dig site. As the four got closer, however, they heard an ominously familiar noise: the sound of electronic whirring. From around a corner of the structure, five more robots, one of them larger than the other four, came out and opened fire at them.
"Get down!" Shepard called as the four dove behind various raised ridges for cover. The commander returned fire at the robots, which Ben assumed were called the "Geth," but then his Vindicator rifle ran out of ammo. Rather than reload it, however, Ben saw Shepard's body glow with an indigo aura before the commander leaned out of cover and shot his right hand forward. To Ben's surprise, a bolt of energy was fired from the commander's hand and slammed into one of the Geth, sending it flying into a wall. Ben took the opportunity to attack.
"I'll take the big one!" he shouted as he shot flames from his hands and feet and rocketed forward. The Geth Destroyer aimed its Pulse Rifle at the incoming Pyronite, but the shots were bouncing off the rocks on his body. In a flash, Heatblast crashed into the Geth like a missile, knocking the 8-foot robot on its back and Ben landing top of it. Quickly placing both his hands in front of him, Ben released a stream of scorching flames at the Geth's head, melting it into a puddle of slag in seconds. Heatblast looked behind him, and saw that Shepard and the others had taken care of the rest of the Geth and were now holstering their weapons. Ben also noticed how Shepard and Kaidan were dissipating that same aura he saw Shepard using a moment ago.
"What was that you did earlier?" The Pyronite asked as Shepard and the others approached him.
"That was called 'biotics,'" the commander replied, "By using special amps inside the body, a person can use element zero to create dark energy attacks." Ben then remembered something that Paradox mentioned earlier about those implants.
Guess he was right about that, Ben thought as Shepard led the four into the dig site. However, Ashley was the first to take notice that something was wrong.
"This is the dig site," Ashley said, "The beacon was here. Someone must have moved it."
"By who? Our side or the Geth?" Kaidan asked.
"Hard to say," the Gunnery Chief answered, "We'll know more once we get to the research camp."
"Do you think anyone made it out of this place alive?" Ben asked, hoping that the casualties wouldn't increase.
"If they were lucky," Ashley replied, "Maybe they're hiding in the camp." Just as they were about to move out, Shepard (and Ben, via the radio transceiver on the Omnitrix) picked up a communication.
"Change of plans, Shepard," the voice said, "There's a small space port up ahead. I'm going in to check it out. I'll meet you there."
"Copy that, Nihlus," Shepard replied, "Shepard out."
"Who was that?" Ben asked as the four started moving out if the dig site and up toward the research camp.
"That was Nihlus," Shepard answered, "He's a Turian Specter who's accompanying us on this mission." Ben then looked back and noticed that Ashley had a tense expression on her face.
First with Upgrade, and now with this Nihlus guy, Heatblast thought as they reached the top of the hill, what is her deal? Once the four reached the top of the hill, they saw that the camp was in smoldering ruins.
"Looks like they hit the camp hard," Ashley noted as the four entered the remains of the camp.
"It's definitely a good place for an ambush," Kaidan said, "Keep your guard up." Ben looked up and saw a disgustingly familiar image: three more spikes like the one he saw before, but these ones had bodies that looked withered and decayed. Shepard turned and saw Ben getting tense.
"You okay there, Ben?" Shepard asked.
"Let's just say at times like these, I'm really glad this alien doesn't have a stomach," Heatblast replied. Just then, the spikes lowered themselves, and to everyone's horror, the corpses on them came to life.
"Oh god, they're still alive!" Kaidan exclaimed as he drew his Carnifex pistol.
"What did the Geth do to them?!" Ashley shouted as she drew her Scimitar shotgun. Suddenly the three zombies, which seemed to be infused with cybernetic implants, rushed forward and tried to attack them. Two of them were instantly mowed down by combined fire from Shepard, Kaidan and Ashley, while Heatblast incinerated the third. Once the threat was taken care of, Shepard noticed one of the buildings was still intact and approached it.
"The door's closed," Ashley said, "security lock's been engaged. Maybe someone is still alive in there." Shepard then activated the security system next to the door and manually overrode it, causing it to open. Upon entering, Shepard and the others saw two humans, a man and a woman, sitting in a corner of the building.
"Humans! Thank the Maker!" the woman said as she stood up, the man following her lead.
"Hurry and close the door, before they come back," The man whispered before taking a look at Heatblast, "One of the monsters is right behind you!" Kaidan then turned over to the Pyronite standing behind him.
"Uh Ben, can you change back before you scare this guy to death?" the lieutenant asked.
"Yeah, sure," Ben sheepishly replied before pressing the symbol on his chest, reverting back to his human form. The woman stared at Ben with wide eyes.
"How did he just do that?" she asked in disbelief.
"We have no time to explain," Shepard replied, "But don't worry about the Geth, we'll protect you."
"Thank you," the woman replied, "I think we'll be okay now. It looks like everyone else is gone, though."
Ashley stepped forward. "You're Dr. Warren, the one in charge of the excavation," she said, "Do you know what happened to the beacon?"
"We had it moved to the spaceport this morning," Warren replied, "Manuel and I stayed to help pack up the camp. When the Geth showed up, the marines held them off as long as they could. They gave their lives to save us." This made Ben look to the side slightly. If it was Ben in the past, he would've felt extremely terrible about hearing that several good men sacrificed themselves and that he couldn't save them, but he was more mature than that now and knew that not everyone could be saved.
Doesn't mean I can't try, Ben thought with determination.
"No one is safe," Manuel said, "The age of humanity is over. Soon, only corpses and ruin will remain." Ben looked at the man with a raised eyebrow. The shape-shifter obviously knew that the poor man was suffering trauma, but he still couldn't help but think he was a bit off his rockers.
"What else can you tell me about the attack?" Shepard asked.
"It all happened so fast," Warren answered, "One minute we were gathering equipment, and then the next we were hiding in a shed while the Geth swarmed outside."
"Agents of the destroyers," Manuel muttered, "Bringers of darkness, heralds of our extinction."
"We could hear the battle outside," Warren continued, "Gunfire. Screams. I thought it would never end. Then everything went quiet. We just sat here, too afraid to move. Until you came along."
"Did you notice a Turian in the area" Shepard inquired.
"What's a Turian?" Ben whispered to Kaidan.
"An alien race that humans made first contact with almost 50 years ago," Kaidan whispered back, "They would've wiped us out in the First Contact War if the other races didn't intervene in time." Ben nodded in response.
"I saw him," Manuel answered, "The prophet, leader of the enemy. He was here before the attack."
"That's impossible, Nihlus was with us on the Normandy before the attack," Kaidan interjected, "He couldn't have been here during the attack."
"I'm sorry," Warren apologized, "Manuel's still a bit… on edge. We haven't seen your Turian. We were hiding here the whole time."
"Can you tell me anything about the beacon?" Shepard asked.
"It's some type of data module from a galaxy-wide communications network," Warren replied, "Remarkably self-preserved. It could be the greatest scientific discovery of our lifetime! Miraculous new technologies, groundbreaking medical advances. Who knows what's inside it?"
"We have unearthed the heart of evil, awakened the beast," Manuel muttered, "Unleashed the darkness." By this point, Manuel's ramblings were now starting to get on Ben's nerves.
"Manuel, please," Warren said, "Now isn't the time."
"What's wrong with your assistant?" Shepard asked, clearly also irritated with Manuel.
"Manuel has a brilliant mind, but he's always been a bit… unstable," Warren replied, "Genius and madness are two sides of the same coin."
"Is it madness to see the future?" Manuel snapped, "To see the destruction rushing toward us? To understand that there is no escape? No hope? No, I am the only sane one left!"
"I gave him an additional dose of his meds after the attack," Warren explained. By now, Ben had lost patience with Manuel, and proceeded to step forward, only to stop when Shepard got in front of him.
"Say goodnight, Manuel," Shepard said.
"You cannot silence the truth! My voice must be heard-" Manuel's rambling was cut short by Shepard slugging him clean across the face and knocking him out cold. Ben snickered while Warren threw her hands up.
"Oh my god!" she cried, "What did you just do?"
"That may have been a bit extreme, Commander," Kaidan whispered.
"Hey, to be honest, that guy was starting to get on my nerves," Ben said, prompting Ashley to punch him on the shoulder.
"You can't just go around whacking people on the head!" Warren shouted as she pointed at Shepard.
"It was only a matter of time until he did something that was either crazy or dangerous. Maybe both," Shepard countered. Warren sighed in defeat.
"I suppose you're right," she conceded, "By the time he wakes up, the meds will have already kicked in." Shepard nodded and looked back at Ashley.
"Williams, lead us to the spaceport," Shepard said.
"Good luck, Commander," Warren said as Shepard and his team walked out of the building. Once they were outside, Ben looked at Shepard.
"Did you really need to punch that guy?" the shape-shifter asked.
"Not really," Shepard replied as he drew his Scimitar shotgun from his belt, "But he was starting to get on my nerves, too." Just then, they heard the sound of a gunshot firing in the distance. "Double-time, people!" he barked as the four broke into a run up the hill. Ben quickly rose up his left arm, turned the Omnitrix dial to a random alien and slammed it down hard. One flash of green light later, the crew saw an alien that looked like a bright blue jellyfish with green eyes and six thick tentacles coming out from under its body.
"AMPFIBIAN!" Ben cried out.
"Why do you name every alien you turn into?" Ashley asked.
"I used to do it because I thought it would intimidate my enemies," AmpFibian replied in an electronic-sounding voice as he rubbed a tentacle behind his head, "Now I just do it every once in a while for remembrance." With that, the four ran (or in AmpFibian's case, floated) up the hill and saw something once they got to the top.
"Look, off in the distance!" Kaidan called out. Ben looked out and saw the same giant robot-squid he saw earlier, only now red energy was coming out of it at a faster rate… and it was also rising into the air.
"It's a ship!" Ashley added, "Look at the size of it!"
With that, the squid-like ship launched off at a very fast speed and vanished into the atmosphere of the planet. With that, the four began rushing down the hill, only to see that more Geth and cyborg-zombies were already down at the bottom waiting for them. Quickly diving behind a boulder for cover, Shepard aimed his shotgun and pulled the trigger, turning a nearby zombie into mincemeat with a single shot. Ben took the opportunity to move on forward and launch his own attack. Pointing his upper two tentacles before him like a pair of arms, the Amperi charged the tentacles with electricity and fired a massive jolt of lightning from them, overloading two Geth soldiers and causing the robots to explode. Looking over to his left, Ben saw Kaidan blow a hole through a Geth's shoulder with his Carnifex pistol and then finishing it off with the same launching attack he saw Shepard use earlier. Then he heard rapid gunfire and turned to his right, seeing Ashley mow down another zombie with her Avenger. Ben then looked over to the port at the base of the hill and saw two more robots.
"Eat jolts, you freaks!" AmpFibian cried as he fired two more electric blasts at the Geth, destroying them on the spot. Shepard looked around the battlefield and saw that no more enemies were in the vicinity.
"Area secured," he said, "Nice work, everybody." Once everyone put their weapons away (and AmpFibian dissipated the remaining electricity on his tentacles), the four made their way down the hill when Ben saw another building with the door conveniently closed.
"Hey guys, I think there might be some more survivors in there!" Ben called as he approached the door. Pointing his left arm-tentacle at the door, Ben sent a small jolt of electricity into the system and the door quickly flung open. Ben quickly floated backward as three people stepped out from inside the building.
"Is it safe?" one of the survivors, a woman, asked, "Are they gone?"
"You're okay now," Shepard reassured, "No one's going to hurt you."
"Those things were crawling all over the camp," One of the male survivors said, "They would've found us for sure. We owe you our lives."
"I still can't believe it," The woman said, the shock still present in her voice, "When we saw that ship I thought it was over!"
"It showed up right before the attack," The man, Cole, added, "Knew it was trouble the minute it landed. So we made a break for the sheds."
"Tell me everything you remember about the attack," Shepard ordered.
"The three of us were working crops when that ship showed up," Cole answered, "We just saw it and ran. I don't know what happened to the rest of the crew."
"They were by the garage, next to the spaceport when that ship came down," The other man said, "No way they survived."
"You don't know that!" The woman snapped, "We survived! If they made it to the garage, then they could've had a fighting chance!"
"What can you tell me about the beacon they dug up?" The commander asked.
We're just farmers," Cole answered, "We heard that they found something out there, but it never really mattered to us. Not until now, anyway."
"What else do you know about that ship?" Ben asked, drawing the survivors' attention and getting a few raised eyebrows.
"We were too busy running to get a good look at it," Cole replied, never taking his eyes off the Amperi before him for a second, "I think it landed over near the spaceport."
"Tell them about the noise, Cole," the woman said, "That awful noise."
"It was emitting some kind of signal as it descended," Cole said, "Sounded like the shriek of the damned. Only it was coming from inside your own head." AmpFibian looked over at Shepard.
"Maybe that thing was trying to block communications? Make sure that no one got on or off the planet?" Ben asked.
"Whatever it was, it sounded like it was tearing through my own skull," Cole answered, "Made it almost impossible to think."
"We have to go," Shepard said as he and the others prepared to move out. But before they could take one step forward, the other man spoke up.
"Hey Cole, we're just farmers and they're soldiers," He said, "Maybe we should give them the stuff." Cole quickly turned around and glared at the man.
"Jeez, Blake, you gotta learn to shut up!" Cole snapped. This got Shepard's undivided attention.
"If there's something that you're not telling me…" Shepard warned. Cole quickly put his hands up.
"Some of the guys at the spaceport were running a small smuggling ring," Cole admitted, "Nothing major. In exchange for a cut of the profits, we let store crates in our sheds." This made Shepard fume.
"You greedy bastard!" The commander hissed, "You weren't running for your life! You were running to check on your merchandise! Now I have half a mind to let my blue friend here fry your asses!" He then gestured to AmpFibian, who charged his tentacles as a show of intimidation. Cole put his hands up again.
"No, it's not like that!" Cole defended, "I just… I just knew that there were some crates lying around in the shed. You know, something we could use. I found a pistol. Figured it might come in handy if those things came back, but you'll probably get better use out of it than me." He then walked into the shed and came back out with a modified version of Shepard's own Predator pistol. Cole quickly exchanged the gun with Shepard's other one.
"We're risking our lives to save this colony," Shepard said, "Are you sure that there isn't anything else we can use?" Shepard asked as he stowed the pistol.
"Yeah, there's one more thing," Cole said as he rubbed the back of his head, "I was going to sell it after this, but you probably deserve it more than I do." With that, Cole brought out some kind of tech package, which Kaidan took and put inside his belt pouch. Ashley then stepped up.
"Who's your contact at the spaceport, Cole?" The chief asked, her face twisting into a sneer, "What's his name?"
"Look, he's not a bad guy," Cole said, "I don't want to get in trouble, and I'm not a snitch."
"Relax, we just want to know if your boss knows anything about the attack," AmpFibian said, "Just tell us his name. It's important."
"Yeah, I guess you're right," Cole answered, "His name's Powell. He works at the docks near the spaceport, if he's still alive."
"Thanks for the info," Shepard said before turning to his crew, "Let's go, everybody." With that, they proceeded to walk toward the spaceport, but when they got there, Kaidan saw something ominous.
"Commander, it's Nihlus," The lieutenant somberly said as they approached the dead body of the Turian in statement. AmpFibian floated over to the dead alien to get a better look at him. He had a humanoid body structure with three-fingered hands, a carapace around his neck, and three crest-like fringes coming off the back of his head, which was bleeding blue blood. Seeing that Shepard had some kind of connection with this alien, AmpFibian reached up to the Omnitrix symbol on his chest with his tentacle and pressed it, reverting back to human form. Ben walked over to the dead alien and placed his left index and middle fingers over his eyes before moving them downwards, shutting the alien's eyes in the process.
"Thought your friend could get at least some respect in death," Ben said as he looked at the others. Shepard was looking at Ben with a slight look of surprise on his face, Kaidan nodded in understanding, but Ashley was simply looking down at the dead alien with an icy glare apparent on her face. Before Ben could ask Ashley why she kept giving every alien she saw the stink-eye, however, the gunnery chief suddenly caught movement.
"Something's moving over there, behind the crates," She said as everyone prepared for combat. Just then, a man stepped out from behind the crates.
"Wait, don't shoot, don't shoot!" The man said as he put his hands up, "I'm one of you! I'm human!" Shepard narrowed his eyes as he lowered his pistol.
"Sneaking up on us like that nearly got you killed!" The commander snapped as he holstered his weapon.
"I know, I'm sorry," The man apologized, "I was hiding… from those creatures. My name is Powell. I saw what happened to that Turian. The other one shot him." This immediately caught both Ben and Shepard's attention.
"I need to know how Nihlus died," Shepard demanded.
"The other one got here first," Powell stammered, "He was waiting when your friend showed up. He called him 'Saren.' I think they knew each other. Your friend seemed to relax… lowered his guard a bit, then Saren killed him. Shot him right in the back. I'm just lucky he didn't see me behind the crates."
"Where did this 'Saren' guy go after he killed Nihlus?" Ben asked.
"He jumped on the cargo train and headed for the other platform," Powel answered, "Probably going after the beacon. I knew that damn thing was trouble when we found it. First that damn mother ship shows up, then the attack. They killed everyone. Everyone! If I hadn't been behind the crates, I'd be dead too!" This caught both Ben and Shepard's attention equally.
"You're Cole's contact from that smuggling ring," Shepard said. Powell's eyes widened in surprise and fear.
"W-what?" The dockworker stammered, "No! I mean… what does it matter? So I'm a smuggler. Who cares? My supervisor's dead, the whole crew is dead. It doesn't matter now, does it?"
"Anything useful hidden nearby that we could use against the Geth?" Shepard asked.
"A shipment of grenades came through last week," Powell answered, "Nobody notices if a few pieces go missing from the military orders." This irked Ashley to no end.
"You greedy bastard!" she hissed, "We're out here trying to save your sorry ass and all you can think about is how to rip us off?!"
"I didn't think you'd actually need the grenades," Powell said as he put his hands up, "Who would attack Eden Prime? We're just a bunch of farmers! How was I supposed to know?"
"Hand over those grenades, now," Shepard growled.
"Take 'em," Powell said in defeat, "My smuggling days are over, I swear." Ben walked over and put a hand on the man's shoulder.
"You know, a lot of marines died here today, Powell," The shape-shifter said, "Those grenades would've come in handy. If I were you, I'd find a way to make it up to them."
"Yeah, I guess you're right," Powell said, "There's something else I was saving. Experimental technology, top of the line stuff, might be worth a fortune. Here, it's yours. I don't want it anymore." Ben nodded and smiled as Powell handed the tech package to Ashley, who was still leering at him as she put it in her pouch.
"Let's go guys," Shepard said as the four made their way to the transit station. But as they rounded the corner, a Geth ambushed them with a hail of energy bullets. After diving behind the cover of the wall, Shepard took his shotgun back out, turned around the corner and pulled the trigger, blowing a hole right through the Geth's chest plate, disabling the robot in one shot. Ben took the opportunity to turn the Omnitrix back on and turn the dial to a selected alien. After a second of turning the dial, Ben slammed it down and transformed once again.
"I'm never going to get over how he does that," Ashley whispered to Kaidan. When the green light faded once again, the alien standing before them had a black body with yellow pincer-like hands, feet, chest and shoulders. But the most notable feature was a metallic head… that seemed to be independently floating from its body.
"LODESTAR!" the alien cried out.
"What can this one do?" Kaidan asked as he fired his pistol at another Geth.
"Watch and you'll see," Ben replied as he shot his left hand forward and released a wave of energy from it. From everyone's surprise, the Geth started floating in the air!
"Looks like this one has magnetic properties," Shepard said. Lodestar looked over at him.
"That's not all it can do," the Biosovortian replied before, much to everyone's surprise, he began floating in the air alongside the Geth he was holding! Once he was airborne, Ben placed his other hand forward and released a stream of magnetic pulses from it. In a matter of seconds, the Geth was compressed and crushed like a soda can. After dropping the former robot on the ground, Lodestar looked overhead and saw more enemies.
"See anything?" Ashley called from below.
"Some more robots and a few more of those zombies," Lodestar replied. With a nod, Shepard and his team proceeded forward and readied for combat.
Once they got to the loading dock for the tram, the four were immediately under fire from Geth troops. Making a dive toward the battle, Lodestar put his hands out in front of him and pushed a Geth Destroyer right onto its back, giving Kaidan the opportunity to overload and destroy it. Kaidan then shot at a zombie as it tried to rush Lodestar and got it right in the head. Ben looked over at the lieutenant and gave him an appreciative nod before turning to another Geth. After a few minutes, the tramway was littered with fallen Geth and zombies as the four got onto the train. Shepard went over to the console next to it and typed in the coordinates of the beacon's location, and in a few seconds the train was on its way. A short ride later, the tram pulled up at the drop-off ramp. But as soon as the four got off the train, Ben saw an ominously familiar object next to the stairs.
"Bomb!" Ben called out. Shepard cursed under his breath.
"Saren must've placed them here to blow the place to hell," Kaidan noted.
"Hurry, we need to find them all and shut them down!" Ashley shouted as Lodestar approached the bomb.
"I have a better idea," the Biosovortian said as he magnetically picked up the bomb, "If you can lead me to the bombs, I can pick them up and chuck them into orbit. If they're in space when they blow, then the planet itself won't be at risk of damage." With that, Ben aimed his hand, and the bomb, upward and intensified the magnetic field he was projecting. The result was the bomb launching into the sky until it disappeared from view.
"Sounds like a plan to me," Shepard said as he drew his Vindicator rifle, "Let's move people!" With that, Shepard and his team proceeded to carry out their plan, running up the stairs and taking out any Geth they saw. Once they were at the top of the stairs, Ben looked behind him and saw another bomb right next to a bulkhead on the other side of the bridge.
"I see another one," Ben said, "Keep those things off me while I get rid of it!" With that, Lodestar floated over to the bomb and quickly picked it up in a magnetic field; Shepard, Ashley and Kaidan drawing the Geth's fire the whole time. Using the same technique, Lodestar shot his hands forward and shot the bomb right into the sky, a blink of light marking its disappearance from view. Lodestar then looked back at Shepard and nodded, the commander nodding back as he and his team covered the magnetic alien. Deciding to go up into the air, Ben looked below and saw another bomb being guarded by two Geth Destroyers at the other end of the walkway. Diving straight down toward them, Lodestar landed right in front of the 8-foot robots, who saw him and opened fire. Thinking fast, Lodestar spread his arms wide and channeled his magnetic powers around himself. The result was a green force field that the energy bullets bounced off of harmlessly. Lodestar then extended his hands forward, and soon the force field began to expand like a balloon, enveloping the robots in its energy. Soon the two Destroyers collapsed to their knees with electricity crackling through their bodies.
"How did you do that?" Kaidan asked as Ashley and Shepard finished the robots off with a shotgun blast to each of their heads.
"I reversed the magnetic energy of my force field to turn it into an electromagnetic pulse," Lodestar replied, "It's a trick I've perfected over the years." With that, Lodestar picked up the bomb in a magnetic field and chucked it out of the atmosphere in the same manner as the other two.
"Come on, I can see the other bomb…" Shepard said as he looked out at the balcony behind the bulkhead, "…and it's right in front of the beacon."
"Then what are we waiting for?" Lodestar asked, "Let's get going."
"Agreed," Shepard said as he pumped his shotgun, "Let's move out, everybody!" The four warriors moved on toward the beacon and the bomb in front of it… only to be greeted with a Geth's energy bullets and the moaning of a cyborg-zombie. Seeing the creature coming out from the corner, Kaidan fired his pistol and shot it right in the head, killing it with one shot. Just then, the gunfire started to intensify. Lodestar looked around from the crate that he and Ashley were hiding behind and saw that the Geth that shot at them was huge, even bigger than the Destroyers. It stood 10 feet tall, had crimson coloring, and was wielding a sort of small minigun in its hands. Behind it were two more Destroyers and five more regular troopers.
"Looks like Saren didn't go limp-dick on security," Ashley said as she fired her Katana shotgun at the Geth Prime. The shot staggered the giant robot, but didn't fell it.
"Looks like it," Lodestar replied, "This is going to be fun."
"You've got a sick idea of 'fun,' kid," Kaidan called out as he fired a biotic blast at one of the regular Geth, sending it sailing over the guardrails and into the forest below.
Lodestar placed his right hand out in front of him and sent out a stream of magnetic energy, grabbing a Destroyer and one of the regular troopers and lifting them both into air. Once they were in place, Ben added another stream of magnetism from his left hand and merged it with the one in his right. Once the robots were trapped in the resulting field, Ben closed his hands together… and the field with it, crushing the Geth inside it. After discarding the scrapped bodies, Ben looked over at Shepard, who switched his shotgun for his assault rifle and mowed down the remaining regular Geth.
"Shepard, I need to get around these guys to get to the bomb," Lodestar called out, "Its timer just went into the red!"
"Understood, we'll cover you!" Shepard replied, "Go!"
"And this means that you get the big one for a change," Lodestar joked before taking flight around the battle to try and reach the bomb. The remaining Destroyer saw him and tried to take a shot at him, only to be struck by an overload attack from Kaidan and mowed down by Ashley. Lodestar landed by the bomb and quickly grabbed it in a magnetic field, but he failed to see the Geth Prime turning and aiming its minigun at him. Just as he was about to launch the bomb, he heard the sound of gunfire being aimed in his general direction. Looking over to his right, the Biosovortian saw that Shepard and his team were peppering the Prime with bullets.
"Ben, now's your chance!" Shepard called out. Ben nodded and threw the bomb into the air as high and hard as he could… but it didn't clear the atmosphere like the others. By the time it vanished from sight, it exploded. The sight of it from the ground might not have been impressive, but the sound was still as loud as a gunshot. With the last of the bombs out of the way, however, Lodestar now had the opportunity to take the Geth Prime by surprise. Thrusting his arms forward, Lodestar sent out a wave of magnetic forces at the robot, sending it slamming into the wall. With the enemy now unarmed, Ashley took the chance to blast a shotgun round right into the Prime's head, blowing it clean off and permanently disabling the robot. Seeing that the enemy was dealt with, Lodestar pressed the symbol on his chest and reverted back to his human form. After stretching his arms out, Ben looked over and saw that the others were walking over to the beacon. Shepard put his hand up to his helmet's communicator.
"Normandy, the beacon is secure," He said, "Request immediate evac."
"This is amazing," Kaidan said as he, Ben and Ashley approached the beacon, "Actual working Prothean technology. Unbelievable."
"It wasn't doing anything like that when they dug it up," Ashley noted as she saw the green energy coming from the beacon.
"Maybe the Geth accidentally turned it on when it was moved?" Ben suggested as Ashley took an inquisitive step toward the beacon.
Shepard took his hand off the communicator as Ben and Kaidan walked over to him and awaited further instruction. Just as Shepard was about to tell Ben and Kaidan what to do next, he saw the beacon activate and begin to pull Ashley towards it. Quickly pushing Kaidan aside, Shepard ran over to Ashley and caught her just as the beacon began to lift her upward. Just as Ben turned on the alien dial and was about to turn into another alien to save them both, Shepard threw Ashley away from the beacon and got caught up in it instead. And then, that's when it happened. The beacon seemed to hoist Shepard into the air and hold him in place. After a few seconds, the beacon overloaded and exploded, sending a now-unconscious Shepard crashing to the ground. As Ashley ran over to Shepard to see if he was okay, Kaidan radioed the Normandy and told them about what happened. Ben, meanwhile, was still trying to absorb all that just happened in the last hour-and-a-half. If this was just a taste of what he had to expect in this dimension, then he knew that he had to be prepared to face a lot worse.
…
Well, that's a wrap on Eden Prime. This chapter went on a little longer than I anticipated, but I guess that's only due to the fact that I combined my knowledge of how Ben's aliens worked and fought with gameplay footage from the actual Eden Prime level in Mass Effect 1. Regardless, I have good feelings about this chapter. Next chapter, our favorite shapeshifter receives proper introductions to the crew of the Normandy and our eventual SpecTRe learns a bit more about their interdimensional friend, followed by ourfavorite(Sarcasm) politicians and rogue SpecTRe.
Until next time, read, enjoy and review!
P.S., my Shepard is multi-class, meaning he has combined traits from the Soldier, Vanguard, Adept, and Engineer classes.