Dear Lord has it been quite a long time since I updated anything! I'm so sorry I've been gone for so long, but recent real-life changes have taken my focus and attention. But I promise all of my active stories will be finished! And I have new ones! Shiny, pretty new ones! Thank you to everyone who's stuck around, and welcome to the new people I may have roped into reading!
This chapter was actually why this story hasn't been completed yet. Everything up until the pick-up with my normal narrative style was written in the past week, whereas almost EVERYTHING after it (including the rest of the story!) was written before ME3 came out. As always, I'll note what was written after, just to keep everything fair.
Also, like always, I don't own the characters. I need to talk to Mastercard about extending my limit so I can change that...
To: Admiral Hackett, 2nd Fleet
Admiral,
I wanted to send you a report on the events of the past few weeks before I forget to. I apologize, I didn't mean to take this long before updating you, but I hope you can understand the hectic scheduled we've been leading lately.
After we picked up Liara and Feron, we made our way to the Citadel, as you're aware. After meeting with Ambassador Anderson, we made our way down to the Presidium Commons, and the entrance of the newly found facility there. We met with Sargent Bailey, from Citadel Security, as well as the head of the repair crew that found it, a Salarian named Cordit. After being lead through several corridors, we found ourselves in what appeared to be a secondary Operations center. Screens and control panels were all over the place, but most noticeable was the beacon standing in the center of the room. Cordit told us that they had found residual organic material in the room, so it looks like the Prometheans that had escaped Ilos found their final resting place here.
The beacon itself looked… odd. It looks as if the Prometheans had constructed it out of spare parts. When I got in range of it, the experience… was different than the beacons before. It was more jarring, much more unsettling. Even worse, I couldn't understand it. I'm hopeful that I'll eventually be able to make sense of it, but even Liara couldn't help me sort it out. Worst case scenario is that when it was built, the Prometheans weren't able to program it properly, leading to the deterioration of the data. Best case, it'll just take time. Of course, we're hoping for the latter.
In the meantime, we just picked Miranda and Jack up from Eden Prime, it seems that they had a run in with Miranda's father, Henry Lawson. Without getting into details, we can count on Lawson Industries, and it's new CEO, Miranda Lawson, for their total support and resources in fighting the Reapers.
We're on our way to Rannoch now. Tali received a message that a Quarian by the name of Kavaras is trying to incite a war between the Quarians and the Geth. It seems the ceasefire that was setup by Tali and Legion was leading towards the Quarians resettling Rannoch, but some extremists, like Kavaras, won't accept coexisting with the Geth. He's promised a "final solution to the Geth problem." Chilling words, especially for anyone who's studied 20th Century Earth history.
As soon as I can make sense of the beacon's images, I'll send an update. In the meantime, wish us luck in settling the Geth/Quarian conflict once and for all.
- Shepard.
Streaming data feed: Alliance priority channel
Live Mission Report: Rannoch
To: Admiral Hackett (2nd fleet), Ambassador Anderson (Citadel)
Admiral, Commanders Shepard and Williams asked that I keep a live mission report going while they're on the planet's surface. With the massive implications of this operation, they wanted to make sure that both of you and the Council were kept informed about the events, as they certainly can have ramifications for everyone concerned.
To update, the Commanders took their strike teams to the planet's surface. Commander Shepard took Garrus, Jack, Thane, Grunt, and Tali while Commander Williams had Jacob, Liara, Zaeed, Kasumi, Legion, and Jacob. Once the teams arrived on the surface, they met with the Quarian Admiralty and representatives of the Geth. They had intel that Kavaras had setup camp in a box canyon three kilometers to the west. It was decided for Shepard's team and Ashley's team to split up and attack from each side of the canyon.
At the moment, teams are en route. Local time is 2110 hrs, updates will follow every 5 local minutes.
-Miranda Lawson.
Update: local time 2115 hrs
Teams are reporting ETA to staging areas is 30 seconds.
Update: local time 2120 hrs.
Both teams reporting light resistance, though they are making steady progress.
Update: 2125
Cmdr Shepard's team has reported heavy resistance, including modified Atlas mechs. Williams's team also reporting heavier resistance, though no heavier units. Note: will have to investigate mech's presence, Quarian commanders state they do not have that technology.
Update: 2130
Cmdr Williams's team reports breaking through enemy line, sweeping around canyon to support Shepard's team, who reports still stalled due to additional heavy units.
Update: 2135
Both teams engaging heavy units.
Update: 2140
Geth intercepted transmission from insurgent base in canyon. Kavaras transmitting to his other followers. Teams re-evaluating attack strategy.
Update: 2145
Kavaras's message was in code, Geth are working on decrypting. Geth around cauldron of canyon reporting mass desertion of local Quarian forces. Shepard has asked Legion to coordinate Geth troops and for Tali to look into missing Quarians, both on their way back to original rendezvous point.
Update: 2150
After further recon of canyon, Cmdrs Shepard and Williams have decided to proceed together, as both ways lead to one single path to canyon end. Normandy has mapped area, large structure at end of canyon. Due to magnetic interference, high-res imaging unavailable, but massive energy reading detected.
Update: 2155
Ground team reporting contact with enemy at structure. Initial reports suggest small camp, but structure's nature not obvious. Cmdr Williams reports Kavaras already dead, rest of his followers mounting fierce opposition.
Update: 2200
Ground team reports 2 modified Atlas mechs engaging. Legion and Tali reporting contact made with Geth/Quarian local leadership at initial rendezvous, total of 20 missing Quarian staff. Tali reports three missing land cruisers, probable missing Quarians
Update: 2205
Mechs reported as neutralized, three contacts remaining. Cmdr Shepard suspects Kavaras martyred himself, as he did not take any cover when initiating firefight with ground team. Will provide further updates once nature of device investigated, or per further request.
As the last Quarian fell, the team was finally able to approach the device. Liara walked over to the terminal next to it, and after a moment, Shepard saw her tense. "It's an EMP bomb!"
Shepard and Ash shot each other a quick look. "That's what Kavaras meant when he said he had a solution to the geth problem. He intended to use this to send out a shockwave to permanently deactivate the geth."
"How big of a blast are we looking at, Liara?" Shepard eyed the bomb warily.
"It looks like this is setup so that there would be no physical blast, it would send a pulse that would render any active electronic devices useless, no matter how shielded they are."
"Over how large of an area would this bomb cover?"
Liara spent a moment pulling up the data on the terminal. "Dear goddess . From what I can tell… … a quarter of the hemisphere. There have to be more of these hidden away." Shepard saw Liara's face turn to stone, and she paled. "It's on a timer. Thirty seconds."
Immediately Shepard sprang into action. "Everyone, turn everything off! Your shields, armor, comm units, weapons, all of it!" Keying his own comm, he began shutting down his own equipment. "Legion, there's an EMP bomb down here! Power down all of your units!" Not waiting for an answer,
Shepard keyed his comm again. "Shepard to Normandy, we got an EMP bomb down here about to go off! Clear the sky, we'll try to get a signal out to you when we can!"
Shepard was already powering his comm off, cutting off Miranda's frantic reply. "Shepard, wait! Your cybernetics…"
Across the platform, Ash felt herself go ice cold. She flashed to what Miranda had told her about when Cerberus had rebuilt Shepard, how whatever they couldn't repair or clone, they had to manufacture.
"Wait, what did she say?"
Suddenly, the device let out a low tone, then emitted a sound not unlike a jet engine warming up, until a loud, low thud escaped. The computer screens around the device all started shutting down, and Ash could only look on in horror as Shepard fell lifeless to the floor.
"JOHN!"
Seriously, no one thought to bring down Shepard with an EMP pulse before?
Stay tuned for old friends, new problems... and nightmares...
*All reviews, negative and/or positivce, are insanely welcome! Thank you!