A/N: Ok Noveria here we come, last chapter took forever to write due to finals and crap, granted so did this one but thanks to my new laptop I now have more time for writing, now I just need to solve this procrastination and we'll be good.
And one of my watchers on DeviantArt, rex3cutor, made a beautiful 3D model of my M-12 Assault shotgun. I'll put a link on my profile if anyone is interested.
Chapter 9: It's fucking cold out there, that's why
Tali POV-
I walk over towards Jon's workbench, I think a little about what happened between us. We haven't really acted any different around each other since then, we've just admitted that there's possibly more than friendship between us, and for now that's good.
I see Jon sitting on a stool leaning on his bench scratching something in his hand with the point of a knife.
Jon POV-
"What are you doing?" Tali asks walking up to me.
I sit up and show her the dog tags in my hand. "Personalizing my dog tags."
"Dog tags?"
"Soldiers wear them so that if they get blown up or something people know who it was, they're kind of obsolete now but they get issued anyway." I let her take the tags from my hand.
"SR1, Therum, Feros, Eden Prime, your scratching in our major missions?"
"Yup, to remind me that I survived."
"In case you forgot right?" She taunts.
"I forget to breathe sometimes…"
She chuckles handing the dog tags back to me. "That's new though."
I bring the knife forward, 7" of a high tech alloy designed to be hard and hold an edge, straight blade that cuts back at the end like a katana. "After my close encounter with that Varren I wanted a knife, won't help me with Geth or a Krogan but still useful."
The PA comes to life. "Knight, Tali, Wrex, and Kaidan suit up we're almost to Noveria."
I stand up and start getting my stuff out and put on, Tali does the same. I strap the knife onto my side just under my ribs for easy access, I grab a few more clips shoving them into various pockets before heading over to the elevator. Wrex and Tali also get in and the elevator starts it crawl. It eventually stops at the crew quarters and opens. We walk up to the airlock where Kaidan and Shepard are waiting. We arrive just as Joker calls in our approach, the same icy reply from the game comes back and Joker makes his vote for shore leave. We move into the airlock and I put my helmet on, Kaidan gives me a weird look.
"What?" I ask.
"You're putting your helmet on?" He asks.
"Yeah."
"Why?"
The door opens and a blast of icy cold air rushes in. "It's fucking cold out there, that's why."
He doesn't reply to that, just marches out with Shepard. We walk down the hall to the guards. "Ugh, I hate this bitch."
"Stop, what's your business here."
"Spectre business." Shepard replies
"What a load of horsecrap." The blond bitch says.
"We'll have to confirm that, we have to confiscate your weapons."
"No" Shepard says, not moving.
The guards bring their weapons up, I pull out my Phalanx and put on that big smile. Everyone else pulls weapons as well. I see the turian guard look at my helmet so I switch my aim over to him and flip on the laser pointing it directly at his forehead.
"Charge and lock, I won't ask again, surrender your weapons." Matsuo says.
"You first." Replies Shepard.
Wrex lets out a deep chuckle.
The turian guard looks like he's had enough and slowly lays his avenger on the floor, and steps back, I switch my aim over to the blond bitch who growls at the Turian for being a coward. I smile under my helmet.
"Captain Matsuo stand down! Spectres are allowed to carry weapons."
The guard slowly lowers her weapon as do all of us with Shepard. We begin to walk past and I pick up the Turian's assault rifle and hand it back to him.
"Smart move mate." I say as I walk away.
We head past the counter, and Parasani tells Shepard that we should see Anoleis. As we come out into the main area Shepard stops and looks around.
"Ok, go ahead and look through the shops, this is technically not governed by council law so they might have some good stuff. I'm going to go see about a garage pass." Shepard says addressing the rest of the squad.
There are various replies ranging from full sentences to short grunts (Wrex). Tali and I wander off to some of the tech shops, and I look over some weapons too. There is a whole market area here that wasn't in the game, it looks similar to the markets on Illium. I've taken the helmet off because we're inside, it's not exactly warm in here but it's not real cold either. I'm only glancing at the weapons vendor, I really want a Mattock but haven't been able to find one, since it's an older weapon I'm not surprised when I don't find it amongst the other high tech weapons. Tali is also only halfheartedly browsing, she leans over towards me.
"All our stuff is better than this." She says in a hushed voice.
"Yeah, but with our ability to upgrade tech because of you, and Weapons because of me, I'm not really surprised." I reply.
"Hehe we are pretty great huh?"
I chuckle "The best."
Shepard's voice comes over the comm. "Setback getting the garage pass, I'm going to see about an alternative."
A few more minutes pass by as I continue scanning over the vendors, then the comm comes back to life.
"Alright everyone get over to the Synthetic Insights building I'll meet you there."
I and Tali head over to the elevator waiting outside Kaidan and Wrex wander over shortly. As Shepard walks up I put my helmet back on.
"Alright, there are some crooked cops inside ransacking the place for Anoleis, we're going in to get the data they want and give it back to Lorik qui'in. In return he'll lend us his garage pass."
"Simple enough." Kaidan replies.
Shepard opens the elevator stops and looks in and then back at us.
"Uh, Tali, Wrex, wait for us at the bar, ok?"
They both have equal 'awwwww…' faces but head off all the same.
"Someone to watch qui'in?" Kaidan asks.
"No, they wouldn't have fit in the elevator." Shepard replies as we pile in, it's a bit tight in full armor.
"Oh, uh right commander."
The ride up is silent and when we pile out a confused guard confronts us.
"Hey this place is off limits, we're conducting an investigation."
"Since when did people hire mercenaries to investigate?" Shepard asks turning to us.
I shrug and Kaidan shakes his head, Shepard turns back to the guard.
"We aren't mercenaries we're guar-"
"Cut the crap, Anoleis is paying you under the table, Leave or die." Shepard says with a bit of menace.
"Shit, uh yeah I'm out of here." One of the guards says, the rest of them follow soon after.
We walk up to the second floor and grab the info from qui'in's terminal, on our way out we're confronted by the blond bitch and some guards.
"You're not supposed to be in here, surrender yourselves."
Shepard looks back to us and nods, we pull out weapons as Shepard turns back to the guards. He looks as if he's about to say something then he just pulls his pistol and starts shooting. I chose the shotgun for this encounter and started unloading on the surprised guards, Kaidan flares some biotics and Shepard keeps up with his pistol, the fight is over in moments. The guards were poorly armed and armored, AND we surprised them. No Chance.
I reload as we walk back down to the elevator. Parasani confronts us in the hallway outside synthetic insights.
"We heard reports of noise like gunfire from the synthetic insights building, you wouldn't happen to have heard anything would you?"
"Us? No, we didn't hear a brief gunfight between some corrupt cops and a spectre or anything like that…" Shepard replies.
"Uh huh, well if you didn't happen to pick up some evidence you should see me up at the bar before you talk to Qui'in." Parasani walks off afterwards.
We head over to the bar, Tali and Wrex join back up with us, Shepard gives them the abbreviated story and then we walk over to Parasani. She tells Shepard that's she's and undercover blah story plot blah blah. Ugh I hate bureaucracy. But Shepard convinces Qui'in to testify and Parasani arrests Anoleis, quite satisfying.
Anyhow now that that part of the mission is done we head down to the garage. I nudge Tali and nod patting my pistol, she gets the message and nods back. The guard lets us through and Shepard observes the garage, I swear he can sense when something's up. All of a sudden Geth pop up from behind various objects and start shooting, everyone dives for cover and my sniper is in my hand in a matter of seconds. I position myself over by the grizzly near the back and set up my rifle. I line up on a piece of cover some Geth are hiding behind and wait for one to pop up, as soon as one does I blast him right in the chest. Then there is a deafening boom and it feels like a bomb just went off next to my head. I hit the deck holding the side of my head, no damage but my ears are ringing.
"Are you ok Jon?" Kaidan asks coming up next to me. I can barely hear him, it sounds like he's talking through water.
"What the fuck was that?" I almost shout.
"Some Geth sniper in the back, I've never seen a gun like that!"
"Holy shit that Geth must have an M98 Widow… It must be MINE!"
I shake my head a few more times to try and clear the rest of the ringing, there's another loud report and a round bounces off the top of our cover.
"Shit how are we supposed to get him?" Kaidan asks.
"I don't kn-" wait weren't there fuel cells in here in the game?
"Hey did you see a bunch of fuel tanks when you came in?" I ask.
"Yeah, I don't see how that-" a look of realization dawns and we both pull out grenades.
"3, 2, 1, NOW!" we both chuck our grenades in the general direction of the sniper and duck back down again.
"FIRE IN THE HOLE!" I yell.
BOOOOM!
Several explosions go off and flaming debris scatters across the garage, after everything settles a bit I stand up slowly and look around.
I hear a long low whistle as Shepard walks up next us. "It's always explosions with you isn't it?"
"I that a bad thing?" I reply.
"Naw just figured I'd point it out."
I start walking over to where the shots were coming from. "Now I just have to find that gun…"
After a few minutes of gingerly kicking around hot debris I find a partially blow up Geth sniper with a huge fucking gun next to him. I pick it up slowly inspecting it for damage. The 39 kilogram rifle only has superficial damage the previous owners body protected it from the blast. I hear shouting over by the entrance to the garage and turn to see Captain Matsuo yelling at Shepard and wildly gesturing to the flaming fuel tanks. My attention soon switches to Tali as she walks up to me.
"You found it?"
"Yes, an M-98 Widow anti-material rifle."
"So if that Geth had actually hit you?"
"I would be dead, end of story, period."
"Keelah, that was close."
"Yeah no kidding" I say slowly as the fact of that slowly starts to sink in.
"Jesus, that was close, I could have been dead right there, this isn't a game no respawns, no retries, no one-ups."
Shepard beckons us over to the Mako and we all pile in, to my chagrin Kaidan takes the gunners seat, darn. We head out into the blistering winds at full speed, and not long later Kaidan begins opening up on the Geth, but me and Tali don't even have a view of what's going on although Wrex seems to be enjoying the show from the passenger's seat. I begin idly examining my new weapon as there isn't much else to do.
"So can you use that thing?" Tali asks motioning to the rifle.
"No, if I tried to fire it, it would rip my arm off. But I can modify it so that I can use it, gotta figure out how this monster works first."
"Doesn't make allot of sense to make a weapon normal people can't use does it?"
"Well I wouldn't call us normal people, and it wasn't made to be fired by organics it's a Geth weapon."
(A/N: As far as I know that's true, if it's not Geth made in the game, it is Geth made in my universe. Partially for story bits later on.)
"So how do you know about it then?"
I glance around before replying. "I've seen them from before Eden Prime."
A look of realization comes to her eyes. "Oh, right I'm sure that fancy weapons school has some info on it." She says giving me a look that's says 'I know what you really mean'.
"Yeah, just a bit."
Shepard stops the Mako in front of Peak 15 and we pile out. The storm has briefly stopped and it is just lightly snowing now. Tali stops and looks up to the shy holding her arms out and watching the snow melt on her gloves.
"Beautiful isn't it?" I ask standing next to her, the others are fiddling with the door to the facility.
"Yes, I don't know if it ever snows on Rannoch, I assume at the poles but I've never seen snow like this." She seems mystified by the serene silence of the snowfall. "Did it snow where you came from, you know before Eden Prime?"
"Michigan, and hell yes, winters were cold and snowy, but I never get tired of its beauty… and I'll never get tired of yours either." I say briefly hugging her, she returns the hug and averts her eyes in adorable shyness.
"Jon… hehe." She wrings her hands together nervously.
An exclamation of joy from behind us brings us back to the mission, Shepard waves us over and I heft my assault rifle and jog over, Tali close behind me. As we enter the facility Geth immediately open fire on us, everyone ducks behind cover and begins returning fire. Tali overloads a Geth's shields then I incinerate it, I fire controlled bursts of assault rifle at any Geth that present themselves and a after a few moments the fight dies out. The last kill is Wrex blowing away a Krogan with his shotgun. We walk past the turrets into the facility proper.
"Why are the turrets facing the wrong way?" Kaidan asks.
"Maybe something went wrong with one of the experiments." I propose, not giving away too much.
"That's usually what happens with these far out research facilities." Wrex says.
"What are you basing that off of?" Kaidan asks skeptically.
"A thousand years of experience." Wrex replies evenly.
"And this sort of thing really happens allot?" Kaidan asks.
"More than you would imagine."
"That seems so clichéd."
Well we get into another room with Geth in it and a firefight ensues, but midway through the fight a ventilation grill opens and Rachni pour out. I let loose an incinerate on one and switch to my shotgun. We stick close together and manage to keep the Rachni at bay as well as finish the Geth.
"Is everyone alright?" Shepard calls out.
A chorus of affirmatives respond before the real question comes up.
"What the fuck were those things?" Kaidan asks.
"They looked like Rachni but that's not possible, my ancestors wiped them out!" Wrex growls angrily.
"Whatever they are they must be the reason this facility went dark, come on let's keep moving." Shepard orders.
We all fall in behind him as he moves to the next room. We pass through an absurd amount of doors before coming to Vira's control center. As we enter the vents burst open and Rachni flood out.
"Shit Open fire!" Shepard yells.
I unleash with my shotgun but the tube empties quickly, I step back to reload and get knocked on my back by a vent bursting open next to me. A Rachni leaps out on top of me and I whack it with the butt of my gun, but it grabs it with one of its weird arm… things. Shut up. With my right hand no longer on the gun I grab my knife and start repeatedly stabbing at it's face.
"Just fucking die!"
It lashes at me with it's other 'arm' and I narrowly pull my head away. I stab the arm with my knife and it starts wrestling with me. One hand on my gun and one on the knife it starts pushing onto me trying to bite me. I get an idea. I push with all my strength in my right arm pointing my fist at it's face.
"This is gunna be bad."
I trigger an incinerate point blank into it's face, it rears up screeching and I kick it away rolling off to the side and coming up on my hands and knees. Breathing heavy and heart racing I pull my pistol out and finish the danm thing.
"Fuck that was hot."
I lean back against the wall and pull my helmet off and just focus on deep breaths. Tali and Shepard run over having finished the rest of the Rachni. Kaidan looks over them a few feet away and Wrex gives me a glance.
"Are you ok? Jon? Jon?" Tali asks frantically checking over me.
"Tali, Tali!" I grab her wrists and hold them together. "I'm alright, ok? I'm ok."
"Keelah Jon, don't scare me like that."
"Believe me I would avoid it if I could."
Shepard gives me a hand up, and puts a hand on my shoulder.
"You're good? Yeah? Ok good man."
I go over and pick my gun and knife back up and make sure to reload the shotgun, it's got some new marks on it.
Shepard heads over to the main computer disappearing below.
"That's not bad human, you're tougher than you look. However little that may be." Wrex says.
I just nod. I pull my helmet back out and examine it. It's scorched in a few places as is the front of my chest piece. But still working, I slip it back on as Shepard reappears from the core.
…
"Knight, Tali see if you can fix the stupid machine." Shepard says looking a bit miffed.
We both get in the lift, it's a bit tight but I don't mind… dirty thoughts bad go away come again some other time. The lift stops at the bottom and Tali examines it.
"Can you fix it?" I ask.
"Yeah, shouldn't be too hard."
"Don't tell Shepard that."
She giggles, I lean back against the opposite wall letting out a long breath.
"I noticed you've been using your Omni tool more in combat."
"Yeah I was able to tweak the power output a bit and upgrade my overload and incinerate."
"I've almost got an AI hacking program working, only works for a few seconds but it helps."
"Yeah, I need to figure out an ammo modifier."
She bends over half way reaching for her boot and grabs the knife she keeps there. She uses it to pry out some fried electronics before putting the panel back and turning to me.
"Done."
I hit the lift button and it takes us back up. When we get out Vira activates and begins talking to Shepard about landlines and all the repair crap we have to do. After that we head back up to the roof. We kill all the Geth and Rachni and reconnect the landlines. Then we head over to the Fuel pumping station and kill some Geth in there too, reactivate the fuel and then head back to Vira who informs us the tram is working again. We get on the tram and Shepard starts it up. I sit down with a huff and pull out my canteen. Cheers.
A/N: Woo finally finished this chapter, first multi chapter mission and at just under three and a half thousand words it's not too bad. Anywho school is tough but this beautiful laptop will hopefully assist in my writing speed. I really do recommend checking out rex3utor's 3D model, it looks amazing and he has models of other Mass Effect guns as well.
Well I think that's it thanks for reading and ROCK ON!