Chapter 8: Hostile Takeover, part 1
Ben had finished telling his story to Liara and exited the medical bay when he heard someone call out to him.
"Hey Tennyson, you got a minute?" Ben looked over and saw Ashley standing behind him, wearing a black t-shirt, black gym shorts and white running shoes. She was also carrying a water bottle and a towel.
Definitely a changeup from her usual look, Ben thought, taking note of Ashley's surprisingly muscular arms.
"Sure, what's up?" the teen replied.
"I was heading to the ship's training gym and thought about asking you to be my sparring partner," Ashley said. Ben raised an eyebrow at this.
"Really? I'm surprised you didn't ask Shepard or Kaidan for that," he replied. Ashley snickered as she shook her head.
"I did consider asking them, but then I remembered that they're also biotics," the chief said, "I wouldn't last a minute against either of them. You, on the other hand, are a normal human being, aside from the Omnitrix. That's why I decided to ask you instead."
"That's true, I guess," Ben said, "Alright, let's do it." With that, the two walked to the elevator. However, Ashley remembered something, before she pressed the button.
"Also, you can't use that watch for this," Ashley explained as the doors slid closed and the elevator began its descent, "I already know what your aliens are capable of, but I want to see what Ben Tennyson himself is capable of."
"Then I guess it's a good thing I learned how to fight without the Omnitrix," Ben said, "I learned basic marksmanship and hand-to-hand from the Plumbers, and karate from my cousin Gwen, who happens to be a black belt." This made Ashley raise an eyebrow.
"This should be interesting, then," she replied.
…
"I'm deeply regretting saying yes," Ben said as he finished changing into a set of gym clothes and joined Ashley in a padded ring in the ship's gym. Once he got through the ropes, Ashley held out her right fist.
"Lunch is on the loser," the chief said.
"Challenge accepted," Ben replied as he bumped his own fist with Ashley's. With that, the two combatants got into their stances and squared off. Then Ben made the first move, lunging forward with his left fist held back. Ashley assumed that he was trying to throw a left hook at her, so she got ready to block the attack, only for Ben to slip to the right and strike her abdomen with a right jab. Quickly stepping back before Ashley could recover and grab hold of him, Ben tried to throw a roundhouse kick at her, but then the chief reached up and caught his foot before it hit. Using Ben's own momentum to her advantage, Ashley spun around on the balls of her feet and swung him behind her, causing him to fall to the ground.
"You're definitely faster than you look," Ashley commented, "Though your blows themselves could use a little more force behind them. I barely felt that punch." Ben shakily got to his feet and looked Ashley in the eye.
"I'll keep that in mind," he replied. The teen got back into a combat stance as he tried to run tactics through his mind.
She's definitely stronger than me, so I can't try to attack her directly, Ben thought, I'll have to try and keep on the defensive until I can at least find a weak point. Sure enough, Ashley made the next move by stepping forward and throwing a right jab at him, but Ben raised his left hand and redirected the attack. Ashley then tried to drive her knee into his gut, only for the teen to block it with his own knee. Ben tried to counterattack with a right cross to the face, but Ashley leaned back and avoided the shot. The two continued the back-and-forth pattern until Ashley managed to break through Ben's defense and pin his left arm behind his back. Ben desperately jabbed his elbow at the chief, but Ashley simply caught it and then wrapped her arms around his torso.
Before Ben could figure out what Ashley was doing, he suddenly felt himself being lifted off the ground, falling backwards, and then his head, shoulders and arms hitting the ground hard. As he lay on the ground slightly disoriented, Ben realized that Ashley had just caught him in a suplex. The teen slowly climbed back to his feet, but was still stumbling in a daze. After regaining his bearings, Ben shook the dizziness from his head and got back into his combat stance. Ashley moved in again, but Ben knew she'd try to grab hold of him again. He also figured out that her fighting style relied mostly on counterattacking and redirection, so he decided to use that to his advantage. The gunnery chief swung a roundhouse kick at him, but Ben sidestepped and slunk behind her before striking her back with a kick of his own. The blow staggered Ashley, which gave Ben the opening he needed to trip her with a sweeping kick. Once Ashley hit the ground, Ben took a step back and let his opponent get back on her feet.
"I have to admit, you actually surprised me a little back there," Ashley said as the two fighters took a moment to catch their breath.
"Thanks, I'm actually enjoying this myself," Ben replied as he wiped sweat from his forehead, "What do you say to one more round?" Ashley smirked as she raised an eyebrow.
"You're really that determined to lose?" she taunted as the two got ready to fight, "Fine by me." With that, Ashley stepped forward and tried to punch Ben in the gut, only for the teen to redirect it and try to retaliate with a punch of his own. Ashley quickly caught Ben's fist, but was caught by surprise when Ben kicked her in the gut and sent her stumbling back. Taking the opportunity to end the fight then and there, Ben dashed forward with the intent of shoulder-charging Ashley, but he wasn't prepared for what happened next. Just as he was about to hit her, Ashley caught him by his shoulder and used his own momentum to fling him to the ground. Ben tried to get up, only for Ashley to throw herself onto his back. The teen desperately tried to throw her off, but Ashley rolled over, trapped his arm to his side with her left arm, and pinned his lower body to the ground with her legs. Ashley smirked victoriously as she watched Ben desperately flail his right arm as a futile attempt to get free.
"Say it," the chief whispered into Ben's ear. Ben knew at this point that he had all but lost the fight, so he submitted.
"Uncle," the teen muttered. However, Ashley didn't let go just yet. Ben only heard a mischievous chuckle from her.
"Sorry, but I don't think we heard that," the chief said. Ben raised an eyebrow in confusion.
What did she mean by "we?" the teen thought before he looked up and saw what Ashley meant. Standing in front of them were Shepard, Kaidan, and Garrus. His face flushing with embarrassment, Ben decided to swallow his pride and get it over with.
"Uncle," he repeated, this time loud enough for everyone else to hear. With that, Ashley let go of Ben and helped him get back on his feet. As Ben wiped sweat off his forehead with a towel, Shepard placed a hand on his shoulder.
"That was a good match, Ben," the commander said, "It's nice to see that you know how to fight without needing to transform, especially against a marine with formal training." Ben looked at Shepard and nodded.
"Thanks," the teen said before wrapping the towel around his neck, "Now I'm just going to take a shower and get a bite to eat." Ashley looked over to him.
"Don't forget, you still owe me lunch," the chief reminded. Ben nodded and walked to the changing room, got back into his normal clothes and threw his used gym clothes in the hamper nearby. One hot shower later, Ben put his jacket back on and left for the mess hall, where he decided to make himself a submarine sandwich. As he got the ingredients out to put his sandwich together, he heard a voice.
"I'll take mine with turkey," Ashley said as Ben looked up and saw her enter the mess hall in her regular uniform.
"Got it, anything else?" Ben teased as he brought out the aforementioned lunchmeat. After putting the two sandwiches together, Ben sat down at the table and passed over the turkey sub to Ashley before taking a bite of his own ham sub.
"You did pretty good down there," Ashley commented after taking a bite of her sandwich, "Your cousin did a pretty decent job at teaching you the basics of hand-to-hand, but you can still improve."
"Are you giving me pointers?" Ben inquired.
"In a way," the chief replied, "One thing I noticed was that you seem to hold back a lot when you go on the offensive. When you first hit me, I honestly tried not to laugh. You can't be afraid of hitting your opponent in a fight, especially when we're on a mission. In those situations, holding back equals death." Suddenly a third voice came out.
"And she's not wrong, kid," the booming voice of Wrex echoed as the two looked over and saw the Krogan enter the room, "Krogan are taught from a young age to fight with everything they have and to show no mercy, since their opponent will do the same." With that, Wrex stomped over to the fridge and took out a pair of chickens, which he placed on a tray and put inside the oven. Deciding to socialize for once while waiting for his lunch, Wrex took a seat next to Ben.
"So Wrex, you got any good stories from your past missions?" Ben inquired.
"Nothing exciting comes to mind, but I do remember when I was hired for a job by Saren himself once," the Krogan replied. Ben and Ashley raised their eyebrows at this.
"You were hired by Saren?" Ashley asked, "Why didn't you tell us when you first came aboard?" Wrex shrugged his large shoulders in response.
"Like I told the commander, I would've if I thought it was important," Wrex replied, "Probably still wouldn't have remembered who he was if you guys hadn't come along." Just then, the timer on the oven went off, and Wrex got up to get his food. After taking the tray out of the oven, Wrex brought it over and sat back down before continuing.
"This was a while ago," he began, "I met some mercs who were bragging about a job out near the edge of Terminus space. They told me that it paid well and the boss was never around to ride them. They said that he was looking for more men, too. So I decided to check it out." Wrex then picked up one of the chickens on his tray and brought it to his mouth, removing nearly half the meat in one bite. As he removed one of the legs and nibbled at it, Ben spoke up.
"So what happened next?" he asked.
"Yeah, Saren doesn't seem like the type for open recruitment," Ashley said. Wrex put the bone down and continued his story.
"It wasn't that open, and he only showed his face once," the Krogan said, "We'd been raiding ships in the area for months when we hit this massive cargo freighter. Our biggest haul yet. I was on board with the other mercs checking the bodies for valuables, maybe pick up a few extra credits. And that's when I saw him." As he took another bite out of the chicken, Ashley spoke up.
"What did Saren want with the ship?" Ashley asked before taking a bite of her own food.
"Hell if I knew," Wrex answered after swallowing, "He was just moving through the ship, watching us. A couple of the mercs called to him by name, but he never spoke to them. Never spoke to anyone. I had a really bad feeling about him, so I got the hell out of there. Didn't even wait to get paid."
"What kind of cargo was on that ship?" Ben asked, "Saren obviously wanted it for something."
"I don't know," Wrex answered, "All I ever saw on that ship were food and medical supplies. There were some basic weapons, but nothing of real value. If there was anything valuable on that ship, I didn't see it. That's why I never mentioned it sooner."
"Whose ship was it?" Ashley asked, fearing it was an Alliance supply ship they had raided.
"It was a Volus trading vessel," Wrex answered to Ashley's relief, "A big one with lots of guards, but they were no match for us."
"And that was the only time you saw him?" Ben asked.
"Yeah, and I didn't even know who he was back then," Wrex said, "And like I said earlier, I still wouldn't have if Shepard hadn't brought me on board. But my instincts were right. Every other merc on that mission turned up dead within a week. Every damn one." Ben looked down at his food as he thought back on Wrex's story. Saren hired a bunch of mercenaries to do his dirty work and gave them their promised pay, only to have them all killed after their purpose was served. He thought he hated the Turian enough from Anderson's description of him and when he saw him in the meeting with the Council, but the fact that he betrayed the very people he hired and had them hunted down and murdered made his blood boil. Sure, the people he hired were likely criminals, but not even they deserved that.
"Just one more thing he's going to pay for when we get him," Ben muttered. Ashley finished her sandwich and decided to change the subject.
"So Ben, did you get that data pad you were asking about?" she asked.
"Yeah, and I bet Liara's still going over it as we speak," Ben replied.
"What did you put on the data pad?" Wrex asked before moving on to the remaining chicken on his tray.
"Back when we were taking out that VI on Luna, I saw Liara scanning one of my alien forms and realized that she wanted to learn more about them," Ben explained, "When we got back, I purchased a data pad from the requisitions officer and wrote down a list of my alien forms, including their names, physical traits and abilities." Just then, Liara herself stepped out of the medical bay and saw the group sitting down at the table.
"Mind if I join you?" she asked as she walked over.
"No, go ahead," Ashley replied as she gestured to the open chair next to her. Liara nodded in appreciation and took a seat.
"So, what were you talking about?" she asked.
"Not much. Wrex was just telling us about one of his past missions," Ben replied as the mentioned Krogan finished eating his chicken and placed the remains back on the tray.
"Since Krogan live for centuries, I'm certain he's had a few interesting adventures," the Asari stated. Just then, Wrex got out of his chair and picked up his tray.
"Well kids, story time was fun and all, but I'm gonna head back down to the cargo bay," he said as he dumped the remains of his lunch into the trash bin and placed his tray in the dishwasher before heading back to the elevator. Ashley looked back over to Ben as the latter finished eating his own sub.
"So Ben, you got any new stories of your own?" the gunnery chief asked. She always enjoyed listening to Ben's stories, mainly because while some of them were awesome, others sounded outright funny, which was handy if she needed a laugh.
"Nothing really comes to mind at the moment," Ben said as he stood up, "I'm going to go to my room and get some rest."
"Alright, see you," Ashley replied as she and Liara watched Ben head to the elevator. After stepping inside, Ben pressed the down button and rode down to the barracks. A minute later, the elevator came to a stop and Ben stepped off, walking down the hall before entering his room and crashing on his bed before promptly falling asleep.
…
A faint beeping on his Omni-tool woke Ben up from his rest. Groaning in annoyance, the half-awake teen activated it and saw a message from Kaidan.
"Shepard's calling us for the next mission," the message read, "We have half an hour to get our gear ready and wait in the CIC." Quickly getting out of bed and deactivating the Omni-tool, Ben strode out the door and got into the elevator, pressing the down button and riding down to the shuttle bay. After stepping off the elevator, the shapeshifting teen saw that Garrus, Kaidan, Ashley and Liara were changing into their gear. After opening up his locker and taking out his armor, Ben looked over at Kaidan as he began putting his gear on.
"Any idea what our mission is?" Ben asked. Kaidan was a bit vague in his message about their current mission, so he hoped that the lieutenant would be able to tell him in person.
"Shepard got two sets of coordinates from someone on the Citadel leading to a couple of gang bases," Kaidan answered, "We're supposed to go in and neutralize them, and then meet up with the person who gave them to us." Ben nodded and finished putting his armor on. Once the team finished putting on their weapons and armor, Kaidan led the way to the elevator and the group rode up to the crew deck before walking upstairs to the CIC. Upon entry, they saw Wrex and Tali already waiting for them. As soon as everyone took their seats, Shepard, in full combat gear, entered the war room.
"Alright team, here's the plan," Shepard said as he turned on the vid screen behind them and activated his Omni-tool, projecting the coordinates he received on the Citadel onto it, "Based on what we received from Helena Blake, these coordinates lead to two different systems in the Gemini Sigma cluster. The first is on the planet Mavigon, while the other is set up on Klensal. Our mission is to go in, neutralize the targets and shut their operations down. Anyone have any questions?"
"How many hostiles can we expect inside each base?" Garrus asked.
"Likely several dozen at least, not including the boss," Shepard replied, "I've done a few missions like this before and know from experience that these gangs will put everyone up front to defend their merchandise. Not to mention that the boss will likely take his best troops as bodyguards and hole himself up somewhere in the back." Ben raised his hand next.
"What kind of crimes do these gangs commit?" the teen asked.
"Helena told us that they partake in the Red Sand trade," Shepard answered, "Since you're new here, I'll give you a brief rundown. Red Sand is a very dangerous, very illegal drug that increases biotic power, but also has horrible side effects on the body, like reddening the user's vision. The drug was banned all over Alliance space."
"And yet people try to smuggle it regardless," Kaidan finished. Shepard nodded in response.
"Does anyone else have any questions?" he asked. When no one said anything, the commander assumed that they were ready to go.
"Alright, everyone report to the bay and await further instruction. Joker, how close is the first destination?"
"ETA 10 minutes and counting, Commander," Joker replied over the intercom. With that, the team exited the room and walked down to the elevator. After everyone got inside, Shepard pushed the down button and led the team to the shuttle bay. As everyone got out of the elevator and took their seats in the Mako, the ship lurched forward slightly, indicating that its jump was completed and the ship arrived at its first destination.
"We've arrived at Mavigon, Commander," Joker announced, "Good luck, guys." With that, the ship entered the atmosphere and opened the hatch, allowing Shepard to drive the Mako out of the ship and make a solid landing on the frigid surface of the planet. Tali, who was riding shotgun, refrained from groaning when she saw the terrain.
"Great, more hills," the Quarian muttered as Shepard began to drive.
"Don't worry; we're not going over them," Shepard said, "Did you honestly think I'd do something that crazy?"
"Considering some of the stuff we've done before, yes," Wrex replied. Shepard rolled his eyes as he looked for the easiest path around the mountains. Eventually he found it and drove the Mako over the icy terrain, avoiding pits as often as he could, though there were still a few bumps along the way. After clearing the hills they were in, the group drove into a flat area with a plateau facing them.
"Looks like their base is set up at the top of that thing," Shepard stated as he stopped the vehicle.
"How exactly are we going to get up there?" Liara inquired. Tali leaned forward and placed her head in her hands.
"I hope he doesn't try to drive up the side," the Quarian groaned. Just then, Ben got an idea.
"I just thought of a way to get us up there faster," Ben said as he unbuckled his harness. Shepard turned to face him.
"Let's hear it," the commander replied. Ben stood up and held up the Omnitrix.
"If we can't drive the Mako to the top of that plateau, I can fly us up there instead," Ben explained, "You saw what I did with that Geth on Eden Prime, right?" Shepard nodded. "Upgrade could easily give the Mako the right kind of boost it needs." With that, Ben turned on the alien dial and scrolled to the aforementioned alien before pressing it down, transforming into the Galvanic Mechamorph that helped save Eden Prime. Without a moment's hesitation, Upgrade began to melt his body as the inside of the Mako began turning black and green. A moment later, the team heard Ben speak.
"Alright guys, prepare for takeoff," Upgrade said. Before anyone could ask what he meant, they all suddenly felt the Mako jerk forward and jump up into the air. Tali clutched to her harnesses, expecting the Mako to crash back onto the ground, however, she felt the vehicle begin to move forward instead.
"How are you doing this?" Ashley asked.
"When I merged with the Mako, I turned its thrusters and exhaust vents into rocket boosters," Upgrade replied, "This should allow us to reach the top in a matter of seconds." However, things wouldn't be so simple. As they neared the top, Shepard looked out the windshield and saw several defense towers set up around the base.
"Ben, watch out for those towers," Shepard instructed.
"I see them," Upgrade replied, "Time to show 'em what else I 'Upgraded.'" Ashley had to resist the urge to smack her forehead upon hearing Upgrade's pun. Upgrade then took control of the cannon up top, aimed at one of the towers while dodging an incoming rocket, and fired. The team expected to see a mini-rocket to fly at the tower, but instead they saw a ball of green plasma launch straight at the base of the tower. The attack scored a direct hit and destroyed the tower on impact. Shepard raised his eyebrows in surprise.
"Good shot, Ben," the commander complimented as Upgrade swerved to avoid another missile.
"Thanks, boss," Upgrade replied, "Just give me a second and I'll touch down." With that, Upgrade aimed the tank's cannon and fired two more shots at the remaining towers, easily destroying them both. With the threat now out of the way, Upgrade landed the Mako next to the base and separated his body from the vehicle, returning it to its original form and allowing everyone else to step out.
"Hey Tennyson, could you try and give us the flight details next time?" Garrus joked, "I think Liara nearly got airsick on the way up." Upgrade looked over at Liara and saw that she was leaning forward slightly with one hand on her stomach.
"Sorry about that," the Galvanic Mechamorph sheepishly apologized. Liara looked up at him.
"No need to apologize," the Asari replied as she straightened up, "Though Garrus is right about warnings in the future." With that, Shepard led the team inside the building. Once the door closed, Shepard turned to his team.
"Alright people, get ready for fierce firefighting," the commander instructed, "These aren't like the Geth or turret drones we've been fighting. Everyone in that room is a killer, and they won't care about showing mercy or quarter. Now let's go in there and kick some ass!" With that, Tali hacked the lock on the door and forced it open, allowing everyone to step inside.
Upon entry, the team quickly scattered to avoid incoming gunfire. Upgrade leaned out from behind his crate and pointed his left hand at a mercenary with a sniper rifle and fired a beam of energy from it, sending him flying into a wall. Upgrade then leapt out from behind cover and grabbed a rifle from another mercenary's hands, using the rifle as a club and striking him with it. While the mercenary fell down in a daze, Upgrade then struck down with his fist and knocked him out cold. He then looked over and saw that Liara ensnared a small number of mercenaries with a singularity, but what happened made him feel extremely uneasy. Liara then drew her pistol and fired several shots at each of the mercenaries, killing them and letting them fall to the ground. Suddenly, a loud boom rang out. Upgrade turned to look, and saw Wrex standing before a fallen mercenary, a gaping hole and blue Turian blood in his chest. Wrex lowered his shotgun and turned to another mercenary before proceeding to blow his head off. In the chaos, Ben heard Shepard calling out to him.
"Ben!" Upgrade turned and saw Shepard running over to him, his assault rifle smoking from a recent shot. "We need to find the boss and take him down!"
"What about the rest of the team?" Upgrade asked, concerned for his friends and teammates.
"Kaidan's taken temporary command," Shepard replied, "He'll lead them through the rest of the fight. Now let's get going." With that, Ben and Shepard ran to the door at the back of the room, the sounds of the gunfire echoing throughout the building. The pair ran through the hallway behind the door and came to a stop in front of the door at the end. Upgrade placed his head next to the door and began hearing noises from the other side, including someone shouting orders.
"Sounds like you were right," Upgrade said after taking his head off the door, "The boss is trying to set up defenses in there, along with a few bodyguards." Shepard detected a hint of unease in the teen's voice.
"You doing okay, Ben?" Shepard inquired.
"Yeah, I'm fine," Upgrade said, though Shepard could tell he was lying. Deciding to set that aside, Shepard opened the door and the two went inside the room. Upon entry, a hail of bullets greeted them. Shepard thought fast and fired a burst from his assault rifle at the nearest assailant. The bullets pierced the armor of a Salarian bodyguard and he fell to the ground in a heap, green blood trickling out of his armor. Upgrade took advantage of the break in enemy fire and fired an eye beam at the nearest crate, destroying it and forcing the human and Krogan guards out of cover.
Acting before his opponents had time to react; the Galvanic Mechamorph leapt over and punched the Krogan clean across the face, sending him spinning to the floor. One guard down, Upgrade then turned his attention to the human, who was backing up and switching to his assault rifle. The human guard tried to fire a burst at Upgrade, but the alien moved first and grabbed the weapon out of his hand. He then merged the gun into his hand and pointed the upgraded weapon at the guard, firing off a plasma shot at his leg that forced the guard to his knees. Upgrade believed that he had subdued his opponent, but he was not prepared for what, or rather who, was behind him.
"Stay down, buddy," Upgrade ordered as the guard clutched his leg in pain. Suddenly Upgrade felt a horrible splitting pain in his gun-arm. He let out a scream as he watched his arm fly off and fall to the ground. As he clutched the stump of his limb, Upgrade looked up and saw another human holding a shotgun, the barrel of the weapon still smoking from blowing Upgrade's arm off. Shepard heard Ben's screams and looked over in horror.
"Ben!" the commander cried out as he shot down another human guard and put a few rounds into the Krogan guard. While Shepard was busy, the shotgun-toting human pointed the weapon at Upgrade again.
"Did you and your buddies really think that you could just break in here and just kill all my men?" the human, now revealed to be the boss himself, taunted, "Do you seriously think that you'll be able to stop our plans, just like that?" Upgrade looked up at the crime boss.
"I might not, but he can," he replied as he pointed behind the boss with his remaining arm. The boss and his remaining guard looked in the direction of his point, and saw Shepard standing behind them. The two men didn't even have time to react as the commander pumped the bodyguard full of bullets and slammed the boss into the wall with a biotic blast. As the boss and his guard fell dead, Shepard stowed his weapon and knelt down next to Upgrade.
"Ben, can you get up?" Shepard asked, his voice radiating concern for his wounded teammate. Upgrade shakily rose to his feet.
"Yeah, I'm good," Upgrade replied, the pain of losing his arm evident in his voice, "Can you do me a favor and get my arm?" Shepard nodded and picked up Upgrade's arm, albeit reluctantly, and gave it to him. Holding the limb in his remaining hand, the Galvanic Mechamorph held it next to the stump, and what happened next amazed Shepard. The damaged limb seemed to come to life and reattached the severed forearm to it, and the commander could've sworn that he even saw the arm light up before returning to full functionality. After testing his newly reattached arm, Upgrade dropped the gun and turned back into Ben. Even in his human form, his arm still felt very sore. Shepard then raised his hand to his helmet communicator.
"Kaidan, status update," Shepard ordered.
"All clear, Commander," Kaidan replied, "All hostiles terminated."
"Good. Ben and I are heading back to your position," Shepard said, "Shepard out." With that, Shepard turned back to Ben, who was stretching his arm to work out the soreness. "After we get back to the ship, I want you to report to the medical bay and have Dr. Chakwas look you over, just in case you sustained any other injuries during the mission." Ben looked up at Shepard.
"Got it," was his reply. Shepard noticed that his voice didn't have that chipper tone it usually did.
"You okay?" the commander inquired. When he saw Ben begin walking off without answering, Shepard decided to put it on hold and followed him out of the room. When they got back to the main room, Shepard led the team back out to the Mako and ordered a pickup from the Normandy. After ten minutes of waiting, the ship pulled up next to the plateau with the shuttle bay door open. Shepard drove forward and made the Mako jump into the ship's cargo bay. Once the vehicle was parked, the Normandy pulled up and flew off into space. After everyone exited the vehicle, Shepard looked up to the intercom.
"Joker, what's our ETA to Klensal?" the commander asked.
"Possibly 40 minutes to an hour via FTL jump, Commander," Joker replied. Shepard nodded in approval.
"Good work, Joker," Shepard said before he turned to the team, "Alright people; use this time to prepare for the next phase of the mission. Do whatever you need to do, just be ready to go within the hour." With that, the team went their separate ways. Ashley, Kaidan and Garrus went to the workbench to maintain their weapons and armor, Tali went back to the engine room, and Wrex went to his usual hangout by some storage crates. Ben, Shepard and Liara, meanwhile, went to the elevator and rode up to the crew deck. As soon as they stepped out, Shepard placed a hand on Ben's shoulder.
"Ben, when you're done with your checkup, meet me at the crew lounge," Shepard instructed, "I want to ask you a couple questions." Ben nodded and walked over to the medical bay with Liara. After the door closed, Liara looked over at Ben.
"If it helps, I can go with you," she suggested. Ben looked over and nodded.
"Thanks, I need that right now," he replied. With that, Ben walked over to Dr. Chakwas and explained the condition of his arm to her. After a quick scan, Ben saw that there was no major damage on his arm, and was given a cooling sleeve to help with his sore muscles. With a nod of thanks to the doctor, he and Liara left the medical station and walked back to the crew area, where they saw Shepard sitting down at the lounge Ben was at the other day. After Ben and Liara took a seat, Shepard looked at Ben and spoke.
"What happened back there?" Shepard asked, "When we were in that base, it looked like you had entered a war zone for the first time. In all our previous missions, you acted so calmly in the line of fire, especially against that Thresher Maw. Yet when we were fighting those mercenaries, you looked like you were a hair's breadth away from freaking out." Ben took a deep breath before he answered.
"I think it was because I heard the mercenaries scream after they were shot," he said, "Back in my universe, I never killed anyone in most of my battles. I was forced to kill someone once, and I swore that I would never do it again. When I looked down and saw the blood, I guess I sort of zoned out for a second. I knew that we'd end up doing missions like this sooner or later, but I forgot to prepare myself for it." This caught both Shepard and Liara by surprise. Their teammate had quite possibly the most powerful weapon in the universe, and yet he never killed anyone with it in his fights? Shepard cleared his throat before speaking.
"Okay, thank you for explaining," Shepard said, "I can see that you're uncomfortable with killing, and I can respect that, but you need to understand that for me and the others – even Liara – we don't have a choice in the matter. Either we kill them, or they kill us. I won't ask you to take a life, but I also hope that you remember that." Ben looked his commanding officer in the eye and nodded.
"That won't be a problem," the teen said.
"Good, now let's get prepared for the next phase of the mission," Shepard instructed, "I want everyone ready by the time we get there." With that, the three went back to the elevator to begin preparations for the next part of the mission.
…
I'm back, and part one of Hostile Takeover is done! Once again, I apologize for taking so long to update, but things tend to get in the way (damn you, Dragon Ball Xenoverse!). Anyway, next part will be consisted of Hostile Takeover, part 2 and the lead-up to Feros, which is also my personal favorite mission of ME1. I also based the part where Upgrade takes his arm and reattaches it to himself off the scene in Metal Gear Rising where Jetstream Sam cuts off Senator Armstrong's arm, only for him to pick it up and put it back on afterwards. Also, if any of Ben's aliens get hurt and he changes back, he still feels some sort of pain. The best example is when Clockwork got his arm blasted off before he turned back, and Ben's arm was broken.
As always, read, enjoy and review!