A/N: Sooo yeah. The next chapter has arrived. It's from Shepard's PoV and we get to see DN7's Titan Inquisitor team in action! Longer A/N will be at the bottom.
Note from DN7: Hey guys, for those of you who follow my fics, I apologize for my absence. A new chapter for Evolution will be coming soon with a more detailed message about my lack of updates there. I had a blast co-writing this chapter with LEGION, and hope you enjoy our combined efforts!
Callsigns:
Shepard: Sable Actual
Sable One:
Shepard, Sable One-One
Garrus, Sable One-Two
Wrex, Sable One-Three
Sable Two:
Kaidan, Sable Two-One
Ashley, Sable Two-Two
Liara, Sable Two-Three
Tali, Sable Two-Four
Wraith: Wraith
Titan pics – tinyurl com /l97xqyc
Atlas – Ryan Mitchell (Fmr. ) Team Lead
Zeus – Neil Matthews (voiced by Matthew Wolf)
Loki – Ianna Blackburn (Voiced by Jewel Saite)
Athena – Brianna Graves (voiced by Karen Gillan)
Achilles – Alexander Corde (voiced by David Vincent)
Ares – Ernesto Reyes (voiced by Sam Worthington) Heavy Weapons
Lieutenant Commander Shepard
Commanding officer of the SSV Normandy SR1
Current Location: Noveria, Peak 15.
Current Time: January 29th 00:28
"MARTIN!"
Shepard screamed as the metal beast flew away, holding the Phantom in one of its long tentacles. She scrambled to her feet hurriedly picking up her fallen SCAR she glanced back to see that the rest of her squad were getting to their feet uninjured. Without any further thought, she turned and began running in the direction that the thing had gone. She quickly realized, that she had no chance of catching up with it, but she persevered, the synthetic muscle fiber of her armor working as fast as it could. It was only when a group of new robots appeared ahead of her that she was forced to slow to a stop.
These new robots were quite a bit smaller than the one that had taken Wraith, only having four tentacles that curved around from the back of its elongated dragon-head shaped body. Shepard raised her SCAR to her shoulder as the group of six robots turned to face her. A moment later, the six robots opened fire on her, strange silvery rounds burst from a point at the lower end of the robots, accompanied by a unique firing noise, unlike anything that she had ever heard before. Her shields immediately started dropping as the silvery rounds began impacting on her barriers.
She pulled the trigger on the SCAR as she began making her way towards a stalagmite next to her. The shards of metal began sparking off of the metal of the squid, seemingly with little impact. Her shields beeped in warning as they failed. She quickly made a dash for the stalagmite as the shots from the robots began impacting on the coltan-titanium. With a final leap she rolled into safety behind the stalagmite and took a quick breather, allowing her shields to recharge while she took in the situation around her.
Her squad had dispersed, each making their way to individual pieces of cover as they laid the heat down on the six robotic hostiles. Her HUD showed her that only one of the hostiles had gone down under the combined fire of the entire squad. She frowned, obviously these things were rather resistant to gunfire. A loud roar echoed throughout the cavern, accompanied by the sound of heavy gunfire and when Shepard looked for the source, she saw Wrex slowly marching towards the squid robots, HMG turret spitting out round after round at one of the robots, the high caliber incendiary bullets smashing their way through the robot's armored form causing it to be propelled backward by the impacts. A cascade of sparks covered another one sending it to the ground while one more was torn apart by the blue flare of biotics.
The remaining two robots quickly sped towards Wrex and latched onto the HMG wielding krogan with their tentacles and began ripping his armor plating off. The krogan in question roared in rage and dropping his turret, smashed one aside with a tremendous hit from his armored fist. With only one more remaining Shepard let herself flare up as well and sent a warp flying at the robotic enemy. The warp hit true, smashing into its main body, causing the heavy armor plating to begin to twist and churn as the warp tore its way through the metal. The robot fell limply to the ground, before the warp had finished tearing its way through its body.
"Are you alright?" Shepard asked jogging up to Wrex, looking over his armor which was missing two armor plates over his back.
"It will take more than a fucking robot squid to take me down." He answered.
"I didn't think so. Looks like your suit seals haven't been compromised, so we won't have to worry about that. See if we can reattach your armor plating. Don't want any weak spots in our armor given our situation."
"What were those things?" Shepard turned to look at Garrus who had walked up to her.
She shrugged. "I have no idea. They seemed completely robotic, AI maybe? A new form of Geth?" She asked looking at Tali.
The young quarian shook her head. "No, I don't think so. They don't have anything remotely similar to geth engineering and design. There is a remote possibility it could be a new platform though." She admitted. "Let me take a closer look, maybe I can get something from them."
"I'm guessing that Wraith knew what they were." Kaidan said joining Shepard.
She nodded, staring off in the direction that the other robot had taken the phantom. "It certainly seemed like he did. We need-" She broke off as a loud humming sound filled the air. Snapping her SCAR up to her shoulder she looked around for the source.
"Keelah-" Shepard glanced over at Tali who had spoken. A moment later the quarian dived away from the robot that she had been crouched over which promptly exploded, followed closely by the five others.
"Are you alright?" Shepard asked hurrying over to the fallen quarian.
Tali nodded climbing to her feet. "I'm fine. It looks like we won't be able to get anything from them. It had a built in self destruct."
As soon as the echoes from the explosions faded in the cavern Wrex perked up, tilting his head to his right. "Do you hear that?"
Giving the krogan a quizzical look Shepard motioned for silence from the rest of the squad. As silence fell over the cavern Shepard was able to barely make out the sounds of gunfire coming from further down the cave, the same direction that the robot had taken Wraith.
"It sounds like someone's still alive!" Tali exclaimed.
"Could it be Wraith?" Liara asked.
Shepard began heading towards the sound. "It's possible. But that sounds more like multiple people shooting. If anything, they are survivors and we need to learn what's going on here. Follow me."
She led the way through the cave toward the sound of the gunfight. As they got closer it became clear that there were about six weapons firing, accompanied by the sound of the weapons that the robots had used. Coming around a bend, the cave opened up into a large cavern and in the wall of the cavern was another smaller cave where more of the smaller robots were attacking something inside. The area around the mouth to the cave was littered with destroyed robot parts, some of which were self-destructing, as the ones inside the cave gave out just as good as they were getting.
"Let's move!" Shepard ordered leading the way towards the cave. "Garrus, Ashley, take up sniping positions! Kaidan, Liara, Tali hit them with everything you got. Wrex with me!" Finished giving orders Shepard flared blue and tossed a warp at one of the robots. Beside her Wrex opened fire with his HMG, obviously wary about getting too close to the robots. Two loud cracks sounded as Garrus
and Ashley took their shots resulting in two more robots falling. Kaidan hit two of the robots with showers of sparks which Tali followed up with firing a ball of plasma at another. Liara was able to catch four more in a singularity. The four trapped in the singularity quickly fell to focused fire from the defenders inside the cave.
The few remaining robots were quickly taken out with the combined might of the squad and the defenders inside the cave. As the last of the robots self-destructed Shepard approached the cave entrance cautiously and called out "Who's in there?"
"Inquisitor squad Titan." Came a synthesized voice from the cavern, followed by what looked like a set of GHOST armor on steroids, flanked by five others wearing modern versions of the armor. "I'm Atlas, team lead," the figure in the modified GHOST armor spoke. "Thanks for the assist Shepard."
"How do you know who I am?" Shepard asked cautiously.
Atlas laughed, the chest section on his armor heaving lightly, "You're talking to one of the primary designers of the armor your entire team is wearing Shepard. I have special access to all GHOST armors within network range of my own."
"Wait..." Shepard thought back to the talk Wraith and her had about the GHOST armors. "Sic vis pacem, para bellum!" She challenged.
After a moment, Atlas stepped forward, and his faceplate slid back. With it off, he replied. "De oppresso liber."
"So you're Ryan Mitchell..." Shepard began, accepting the answer to the N7 identification call, "Wouldn't have believed that you left the Alliance for CryNet if Wraith hadn't told me himself."
With a smirk, Atlas looked around, "It was the most beneficial move to make for everyone. Speaking of Wraith, where is the bastard? I thought he was attached to your ship to hunt down Saren?"
Shepard lowered her head a bit, "MIA. Some kind of enemy unit took him from us not too long ago then went this way."
"Fuck... Well that explains why the squids came down hard on us earlier, they were aiming for him." Mitchell said detachedly.
"What the fuck is going on here Mitchell? What the hell are the geth here for, why are the rachni back, and what are these things we've just fought?"
"Right... Well what do you know of the Ceph Shepard?"
Just as Shepard opened her mouth to reply, a roar from further down the cavern resounded, vibrating the entire mountain it felt like.
"On second thought... Let's get inside first. Everyone into the cavern quickly, we don't want to be caught out in the open when the squids come back." Mitchell urged.
"I agree, double time people!" Shepard ordered, the entire team moving quickly into the cave, at the back was a collapsed section of rock which the rest of Titan team guided them into. On the other side was a small security office of some sort. The doors leading out from the office were locked and buckled inwards.
Once everyone was inside the office, Mitchell directed two of his people to stand watch as he turned back to the Normandy crew.
"Alright so from the top. For those of you who didn't hear before, I am Ryan Mitchell callsign Atlas. Team leader for Inquisitor team Titan." Gesturing to the two standing watch just beyond the collapsed rock, he continued. "The one with the sniper rifle, which he better not scratch up, is my 2IC Neil Matthews call sign Zeus."
Zeus sighed and shook his head. "I told you boss, it wasn't my fault! Damn rachni and their acid spit. Do you know how long it took me to get the sights calibrated perfectly on that rifle? Yours are completely bungled up by the way."
"Don't touch my scope Matthews or you won't get that Gauss you requisitioned a few weeks ago." Mitchell retorted. "Continuing on, the big guy with the even bigger gun is Ernesto Reyes callsign Ares."
"Boss, you may want to let them know the most effective means to take the squid down."
"Don't worry Ern, I will. Do you have any spare inferno mods?"
"Of course I do."
"Excellent." Gesturing to the shorter woman to his immediate right, "This femme fatale is Ianna Blackburn callsign Loki."
Ianna just nodded in response then walked back out towards Zeus and Ares.
"Don't mind her, she's our infiltrator specialist and just takes awhile to warm up to anybody." Mitchell apologized, then gestured to the woman on his left. "This here is Brianna Graves callsign Athena."
"Hello everyone," the distinct Scottish accent coming through the GHOST's speakers clearly. "If you don't mind boss, I'd like to check on Wrex's armor to be sure it's not damaged."
"It's fine." Wrex harrumphed.
"Wrex." Shepard said sternly, to which Wrex grumbled and turned the damaged side of his hump towards Athena who immediately began scanning the places where the armor was removed and hastily replaced.
"Last but not least is Alexander Corde callsign Achilles." Mitchell gestured behind the Normandy crew, where the last member of Titan was modifying his Majestic heavy pistol and didn't bother looking up. "Achilles and Loki are our two quiet people on Titan, while Zeus, Athena and Ares were all part of my N squad in the Alliance."
"Thanks for the introductions Mitchell." Shepard began, "Do you and your team need introductions to my team?"
"No, my team is able to access the same information I can through the GHOST link. Which should be integrating with yours in a moment..."
As soon as he finished speaking, Shepard and the rest of her team saw their entire HUD change, displaying a more comprehensive suite of information on not only Titan members but themselves as well.
"Sorry for the delay, my VI had to upgrade your teams VI's to handle the data streams. The logs showed that Wraith never bothered to have SECOND do so . I'll forward you the man-pages on how to customize the look later."
After pulling out a small holo-projector, Mitchell squatted down and set it on the floor. On it's activation, it provided a view of what looked like helmet cam footage.
"What you're looking at now are the video logs in my suits systems. Titan squad and I spent a considerable amount of time trudging through the snowstorm to get here to Peak 15."
"You're goal being…" Shepard left the statement open ended.
"Find out what Saren sent Matriarch Benezia here for, confirm any active breeches of the Accords, and report back. However, a jamming field is in place that begins roughly a hundred meters out from the facility. Origin yet unknown."
The video feed that the Normandy crew was shown to them at high speed, as Titan didn't encounter any resistance by the Geth due to the route they took.
"The jamming field is using an unprecedented algorithm." Athena spoke up as she finished patching Wrex's armor up, "It bears some similarity to what has been encountered in the field on contact with the geth, but is vastly improved. Any attempts to squeeze a long range signal through on a subchannel is immediately adapted for, while short range communication is left unhindered."
"It does seem like a geth tactic." Tali supplied, "Leave your enemies unable to call in reinforcements while ensuring their own forces have complete communication freedom."
"The jamming is the least of our concerns right now." Atlas declared and turned back to the holoprojector. "Once we got inside via a ventilation shaft, that's when things started getting... Out of hand. As we began to access Binary Helix's logs, we found that their scientists kept referencing two things. The first being the oldest entry and why BH set up shop here." The video feed showed Atlas with the help of Athena hack into a local server. The images that displayed for them showed mostly status reports. Athena managed to recover a deleted message for a research team leader. That message held only five words.
Charybdis structure breached. Project commencing.
"I'm sorry, what exactly is a Charybdis?" Tali asked.
"It's a mythological creature of one of humanities ancient civilizations. If I remember correctly that is." Liara answered, unsure of herself.
"You're right Doctor T'Soni. Charybdis did refer to a creature that would swallow ships passing by it. However, in this case it refers to something much more insidious."
Mitchell paused the video playback, and the screen changed. At first it only showed Warning: Accessing CryNet/Citadel Top Secret file Xcph-1.93. The images after that showed a number of fossilized creatures, all looking eerily similar to the thing that took Wraith. It then showed several structures on inhospitable worlds. Worlds that had shown signs of civilization eons ago that were wiped out by some local cataclysmic event. Then it showed a view from a microscope that was viewing a group of human blood cells. Suddenly a multi-armed pathogen entered the frame, grasped a blood cell, brought it into itself, merging its dna with that of the blood cell, and released a copy of itself. The pattern continued until all the blood cells had changed completely.
Mitchell looked at everyone in the room directly in the eyes.
"I know that you all believe that Saren is the biggest threat in the galaxy and that hunting him down is your goal. What BH has uncovered here today though in comparison to Saren and the Geth is as big if not bigger than them.
Charybdis, or Ceph, ruins and salvaged tech samples are the origin point for the nanoweave synthetic muscle fiber that CryNet developed and has made into the nanosuits and the basis for the GHOST armor. That alone should tell you how much more advanced than us they are. Tie in the fact that we don't actually know where they come from, yet have left traces all across the galaxy and we have very little operational knowledge. They have the means to destroy worlds with one hive ship, or via biological warfare. If Wraith were here he could tell you about a previous incident that dealt with the biological area denial weapon you saw.
Then given what the rest of Titan squad and myself have witnessed here, this Ceph Hive that BH found is not only intact, but occupied by some very perturbed residents."
"Hold on." Garrus interrupted. "What about the Rachni and Benezia?"
Mitchell ran his hand through his shortly cropped hair, "Best as we can tell, Saren was not happy with the progress being made on the Ceph Hive and sent Benezia in to... Encourage them. How the Rachni fit in the picture we don't know, Athena managed to grab a file from BH's system that said they received an unknown test subject a year or so ago and began harvesting it's products. It's possible that BH managed to get a sample of Rachni DNA have begun cloning them.
All I know is that a few hours after we got inside the structure, there was a loud groan coming as if from the mountain itself. A while after that and all systems shut down, corridors collapsed, caverns opened up, the whole of the mountain seemingly shifted and the Ceph and Rachni were loose. Between the two of them, trying to find our way to Ceph Hive to get a threat assessment, and fighting the few geth scouts we come across, it's been a helluva week."
There was a period of silence as the Normandy crew let their predicament sink in.
Then Shepard spoke up. "Situation FUBAR then?"
"FUBAR." Mitchell replied.
"Alright, thoughts on what we know thus far?"
Mitchell stretched a bit and cracked his neck. "Well... Given what you've said previously it seems like Wraith was taken by a ceph scout towards the Hive."
"Is it possible to get to the Hive to get him?" Shepard asked, the hope evident in her voice.
Mitchell just shook his head. "No, the ceph presence is too strong. What ever technology they use for weapons is simply too effective against our shields and armor. Even with your team and mine put together, I would not risk it. I hate to say it but as long as the Ceph don't breech his nanosuit he'll be fine.
Shepard growled in response. "I hate leaving people behind Mitchell."
"I don't either, but we're no good to anyone wounded or dead."
"Agreed." Shepard relinquished. "So if we can't take care of the Ceph, what about Benezia, the geth and possibly the rachni?"
"We do know that Benezia went to the hot labs before hell broke loose. To find out the status of the systems and the rest of the facility it would be best to try and get to the VI core and reactivate it. From there we could hack it and get ourselves into every dirty secret that's buried here."
"Other options?"
"Besides try to find some warship grade demolition charges, a few tanks, Gauss rifles, and the entirety of the CELL combat division for a full sweep and clear? That's if the NDC doesn't just drop some antimatter bombs." Mitchell asked sarcastically.
"Point taken. Do you know the way to the VI core?"
As soon as she asked, Mitchell put his helmet back on, and a moment later everyone's HUD displayed their relative position on the original Peak 15 schematics and where the VI core was. Then it was overlaid with what looked like area's Titan had explored. One of the caverns many branching tunnels lead right by the access corridor to the VI server room.
"Well then, let's load and lock and roll and rock!"
As Titan and the Normandy crew made their way through the tunnels, Loki and Ares with Wrex and Kaidan took point, keeping an eye out for any hostiles. Amongst the cramped quarters, the two teams began to chat back and forth.
"So... *Mff!* Doctor T'Soni." Mitchell grunted as he gingerly moved around a rock outcropping to avoid damaging his suits external power cells. "I imagine this is quite different than your usual dig site or artifact lab."
"That it is..." Liara trailed off, unsure how to address him
"Atlas or Mitchell is fine, Doctor."
"Atlas. Though thanks to the training and equipment that Shepard and operative Wraith have provided, it hasn't been too terribly hard to adjust."
"Glad to hear it." Atlas jumped over a small chasm that had formed in the cavern, Liara following suit. "I was rather disappointed though when your last paper was ridiculed as much as it was. Your theory on the cycle of extinction is rather ingenious, and given what we've learned from both the geth data Tali'Zorah recovered and what CryNet has found on the Ceph... I'd say you deserve more recognition."
"Most aren't that inclined to follow theories such as mine... What made you do so Atlas?" Liara was genuinely curious now, having rarely ever heard much praise about her last published paper. What many didn't know was that it took an extraordinarily long time to get enough approval from her fellow archaeologists at the University of Serrice.
"I'm a history inclined individual. One of my favorite phrases is 'those who don't remember the past are doomed to repeat it'. Everything about the foundations of our intragalactic society is tied up on the mysterious disappearance of the Protheans and the relays they supposedly left behind. It's all too convenient. Your theory is the only thing that begins to tie everything together that up until now has been unexplained."
Liara didn't respond and merely thought on his words. A few minutes later and the squad was held up by Shepard who had pushed her way to the front. Through the GHOST armors VI link, the teams could see that Shepard was analyzing the rock wall that separated them from the access corridor.
"Shepard, you have standard breaching charges right?" Mitchell asked.
"Yeah. I'm just trying to figure out where to place them."
"How many do you have?"
"Three total."
"Perfect. Place one in that fissure that's at knee level. Angle it towards the access corridor as best you can. Then secure the other one with omnigel on that outcropping above your head tilted downwards."
"You sure about this Mitchell..."
"Trust Atlas ma'am." Ares piped up. "If you ever need something blown up precisely, he's your man."
Shepard laughed. "What if I just wanted to blow something up in general?"
"That's my job."
"Alright everyone get back behind me." Atlas ordered.
Titan followed without question and before any of the Normandy crew could ask why, Athena piped up.
"Atlas' suit is capable of sustaining a higher barrier output for longer than any of ours. Those external power cells are a weak point, but provide him with the ability to dump fifteen percent more power into his shields or muscle framework."
"So much for the finished product being better than the prototype." Ashley murmured as she filed past Titan.
"Part of the benefits of being the designer Gunny." Atlas replied. "Shepard, give me the detonation frequency and codes for the charges."
"Done."
"Alright everyone, brace yourselves. With the tight rocky quarters the overpressure from the blast will have to vent towards us. My shields will handle the immediate debris, but get inside the corridor as soon as possible."
With Titan and Normandy squads behind him, Atlas set his suits VI to detonate the charges then a nanosecond later to activate maximum output on his shields.
Atlas then set a five second timer for the VI and counted down. "Five... Four... Three... Two... One..."
The explosion did indeed produce an impressive overpressure wave, the GHOST armor of the squads more than compensating for it. The placement of the charges produced the results of neatly blowing a hole into the access corridor. Before the dust even settled, Titan was already moving past Atlas into the corridor, knowing that his suit would require a moment to recover from absorbing most of the blasts debris. Shepard looked at his armor, and noticed the new pock marks in it from the debris, a chunk of rock still sticking out of the armor not having penetrated fully.
"You know that wasn't necessary Mitchell." Shepard admonished as she waved the Normandy crew ahead.
"Had to be done. Only a biotic barrier could have stopped any debris more effectively than my suits shields. None of my team are biotics, and we need to keep your biotic team members as rested as possible. I have the distinct feeling we're going to be relying on them later."
"Be that as it may, nice work with the explosive placement." Shepard replied, her smile evident in her voice. "I completely forgot the natural obstacle explosive removal course from ICT."
Mitchell laughed in reply. "Besides infiltration and heavy combat training, that was my favorite part."
When Shepard and Atlas got through, they saw Liara, Ash, Athena, and Achilles waiting for them.
"The others went ahead to the VI core to sweep and clear." Achilles reported.
"Let's not keep them waiting then." Mitchell replied as he lead the way in, unable to see Liara eye the new damage in his chest plate.
In the VI core, they could see the rest of the team minus Tali all at the back of the room.
"Where's Tali guys?" Shepard asked.
"STUPID BOSH'TET!" Came the loud reply from somewhere below a central column.
"She went down to start working on getting the VI online." Garrus supplied. "Seems like whatever happened played havoc on the VI's systems."
Another angry and frustrated scream came from below, followed by a dull thud. Which the brought a quiet sigh of pain.
"Athena..." Mitchell called.
"On it sir." The Scottish woman hopped down to join Tali as Mitchell faced the rest of his team.
"Titan, double check our entrance, be sure we didn't attract any undue attention." Mitchell ordered.
After the collective Titan acknowledgment, Shepard ordered her team as well. "Split up into two teams and check the other entrances and exits. Watch your backs."
Watching their teams go their separate ways, Mitchell and Shepard leaned back against a wall, each cradling their weapons in their arms.
"So..." Mitchell began. "Any bets on how many more expletives we'll hear from our techies?"
"7."
"Hmm... I'm going to go 5."
"FUCK!""BOSH'TET!" The two techies cried out in unison, and the two leaders laughed. Shepard not as wholeheartedly which Mitchell picked up on.
"Still thinking about Wraith?"
"Yeah... You sure the suit will protect him?"
"It will. The nanosuit is capable of some pretty amazing things. I've been studying the effects of symbiosis when I can, and while we haven't allowed any long term exposure, I can't help but wonder what breakthroughs we could find."
"FINALLY!" Athena cried out, with a loud exasperated sigh coming from Tali.
"Sounds like the tech-heads got the VI working." Mitchell commented just as the two woman rose up on the core's elevator.
"Have fun down there?" Shepard asked.
"Do not. Get me. Started." Athene growled.
Tali shook her head, "Binary Helix's database backup and restoration protocols were so poorly written we ended up writing a patch program to make everything work like it should. The VI will work, but I have no idea if it will have access to the data we need as a fair portion of Peak 15's data was corrupted."
"Good work ladies." Shepard congratulated. "Tali, if you'd do the honors?"
With a wave of her omni-tool, Tali activated the VI's holographic interface.
"Hello." The projector showed a digitized representation of a human woman, the image flickering slightly. "It appears you have restored functionality to this system. There are a number of other systems that have been disabled that are needed to bring this facility back to operational status."
"What is your designation VI?" Atlas asked impatiently, as the Normandy crew and some of Titan started coming back from their perimeter checks.
"This unit's designation is Mira. I have you on record as Ryan Mitchell, former Alliance N7 Commander, current Inquisitor team leader. You are not authorized to access anything above Public knowledge."
Atlas nodded to Athena who then activated her omni-tool, but before she could do anything Shepard stepped up.
"I am Commander Shepard, Alliance Navy, Council Spectre. You will release all security clearance measures on your database now under Spectre authority."
Mira remained motionless for a moment before replying. "Unable to confirm Spectre status. External communications blocked by unknown problem. Commander Shepard, you are only able to access Public knowledge information."
"So much for that approach." Shepard sighed. "What can you do Athena?"
"I can get a CryNet custom hacking program into the systems, which will allow us complete access. The only problem is that it will take some time."
"Do it Athena. We need as much intel as we can get." Atlas ordered. "Mira, what was it you said about damage to the facilities systems?"
"The stations main fusion power plant is offline, diagnostics show the hydrogen fuel line has been cut. In addition, the landline junction connecting this VI to it's remote access terminals throughout the facility have been damaged. Repairing these facilities will reactivate environment control and database access throughout the facility."
"Perfect, we get rid of the cold and should gain access to any records not kept on the main server." Athena clarified.
"Zeus to Atlas." Zeus' voice came through the GHOST's VI link.
"Go ahead Zeus."
"Sir… Ares and I reconned back to the cavern entrance. There are a few squads of Geth and Ceph patrolling opposite ends of the main cavern. They haven't spotted us or the other yet."
"No doubt trying to find the source of our entrance." Atlas muttered. "Stay out of sight, do not fire unless you've been compromised. Understood?"
"Got it boss. Zeus out."
"Well… That complicates things." Garrus thought out loud.
"No. It doesn't." Shepard turned to face Atlas. "You and I both know we have the advantage, the entire path we took is the perfect bottle neck for Zeus and Ares."
"If it were just Geth yes, but continue on any way."
"My team will split up to take care of those two repairs, three and three, with one staying behind with you to defend the core if it comes to that."
"Keep using the bottlenecks to our advantage, then-"
"-Bring down the cavern we used to get in to close off an avenue of attack." Shepard finished.
"Great idea, we'll need your last breaching charge to close that path off if it comes to that." Atlas informed Shepard, upon which she handed the last charge over. "You got your team layout in mind?"
Nodding, Shepard turned back to her own squad. "Kaidan, Ash, and Tali. I want you three to take care of the landlines. Garrus and Wrex you're with me to repair that fusion plant. Liara, I want you here to provide biotic support."
"Are you sure about that Shepard?" Wrex asked. "Sounds like there's bound to be more action here than with you."
Atlas shook his head. "I appreciate it Wrex, but we have the firepower aspect covered bar none. Titan only lacks a biotic specialist, and who better than the good Doctor.." Atlas gave a nod to Liara, who looked at her feet for a moment.
"Uh… Boss?" Zeus' voice came over the comm link again. "The ceph and geth have engaged each other. Scouts and troopers with rocket support respectively. You might want to get those repairs underway and charges planted in case this goes south."
"Copy that Zeus. You heard the man people, get moving!" Atlas and Shepard ordered in unison. After glancing at each other for a moment, and shrugging, both teams got to work.
Shepard was silent during the elevator down to the reactor. She couldn't help but hear Wraiths shouts as he was taken by the ceph echo in her head, sounding eerily familiar to the screams of the poor souls under her command on Akuze as they died to thresher maw acid. She shifted uncomfortably. Despite Atlas' assurances that the suit would keep Wraith alive Shepard had her doubts. Would Wraith become yet another life lost under her command? After all he had done for her would she be responsible for his death?
Her inner distress did not go unnoticed by squad mates. "Shepard, are you alright?"
She gave Garrus a tight smile. "Don't worry about it. Its nothing really. Just this situation with the ceph and everything."
Garrus nodded. "It's been worrying me as well. After all Wraith had told us all those stories about them, it seems insane to think that Binary Helix would be messing with something that powerful."
Shepard shrugged glad for the ability to distract herself from the thoughts creeping into her mind. "Most big corporations don't really seem to care about these kinds of things."
"CryNet is different." Garrus said.
Shepard nodded. "True, CryNet does seem a bit more aware of the consequences of their actions. But I believe that they would still take risks to increase their own power, be it political or technological."
"All companies are the same huh?" Garrus stated.
Shepard shook her head. "Now I didn't say that. There is a definite difference between CryNet and Binary Helix, or Exo-Geni. Just don't expect CryNet to pass by an opportunity to gain more power."
Whatever response Garrus or even Wrex may have had was cut off by the elevator slowing to a stop and the doors opening with a soft hiss. Shepard motioned Wrex forward who immediately lumbered forward into the room that the elevator had opened into. Immediately turning left Wrex continued forward clearing the left side of the room while Shepard cleared the right side right behind him.
The room empty, save for an overturned desk Shepard took the time cast a quick glance at her HUD, examining the map that was portrayed on it. It looked like the two doors on both sides of the room they were in opened up into two hallways that led straight into the main reactor room. Making up her mind Shepard motioned towards the door on the left side of the room. "You two, go through the east door and follow the hallway north into the main reactor room. I'll take the west door and meet you there as well. Be careful, expect hostiles. Understood?"
Wrex nodded already moving to stand off beside the door. "You got it commander."
Giving the two a nod Shepard turned towards her door and stood up against the wall on the right side of the door. Gripping her SCAR, she triggered the access panel and when the door slid open spun around and moved through the door, first looking left to make sure that nothing was there before turning to face down the hallway. It was clear and she immediately started making her way down the hallway.
Keeping an eye on her mini-map she moved down the corridor at the same speed as Wrex and Garrus were moving down the corridor opposite her. She hadn't gone five meters when the dots, depicting her squad members stopped moving and a red warning flashed on her visor.
Warning: Jamming signature detected.
Vanyali frowned and raised her SCAR to her shoulder, keeping it trained at the end of the corridor, as she kept walking. Suddenly, a geth stepped out around the corner, its rifle lowered. Shepard immediately pulled the trigger sending shards of titanium down the corridor into the body of the geth. It released an electronic cry as its shields flared up for a moment, trying to stop the onslaught of rounds before finally failing and causing multiple holes to appear on the chassis of the AI resulting in it falling to the ground.
"CONTACT!" Shepard shouted loudly in an attempt to warn the others, even if they had probably heard the shots. Sprinting forward she ran out of the corridor and into the reactor room. Immediately she spotted multiple geth turning to face her, weapons being raised to their shoulders. Dropping into a slide, the N7 slid to a stop behind a wall just as the geth opened fire. Staying low, activated her biotics and wrapped herself in a glowing blue barrier to supplement her shielding.
Normally, against any other enemy Shepard would wait for a lull in the fire before returning fire, but she had learned that the geth could pause for a shorter amount of time before being able to open fire again. No doubt they had created some new kind of heat diffusion system that cooled their weapons quite a bit faster than normal. As it was, after she had strengthened her barriers she popped out from behind her wall and quickly acquired her first target. A trooper that was firing at her. Her finger tightened on the trigger as she let a fast burst loose from her SCAR.
The geth's shields flared before failing again and the trooper let out an electronic wail as it fell to the ground. Without hesitation Shepard shifted her aim at another trooper and downed it as well. The two geth down she stopped firing and leaped forward, rolling behind another wall further into the reactor room. In this time she noticed that Wrex and Garrus had come rushing in on the opposite side, guns blazing.
Taking advantage of the now distracted geth, Shepard found a new geth and lashed out with her biotics sending out an orb of dark energy. Keeping an eye on the geth that had the orb of energy speeding towards it Shepard raised her rifle at another geth and opened fire. The orb impacted with the first geth and yanked it up in the air as her rounds began impacting on the shields of the second geth. She maintained her fire on the second geth until its shields fell and it fell to the ground. Flaring up blue again, Shepard sent a second orb of dark energy at the pulled geth. This orb, sped at the geth at a much faster speed and when it impacted with the geth sent it flying backward where it smashed into a wall and bounced off, still floating, but not moving on its own accord.
Smirking Shepard placed her assault rifle back on her back and pulled out her shotgun. This time when she jumped out from her cover she gathered her biotics around her body and after a moment, propelled herself up straight towards another geth. The geth that she had targeted didn't stand a chance. It slammed into a railing with such force that it actually broke in half, its upper body remaining wedged in the railing while its lower half was sent spinning over it. Her shotgun barked as it blasted another geth away.
A flicker of movement caught Shepard's attention and as she focused on it, she saw one of the geth hoppers staring at her, its head glowing red. The N7 immediately dropped her shotgun as it would be useless at that range, yet even as she went to grab her assault rifle she knew that it would take too long. Yet before the geth could fire, a loud crack sounded from off to the side and a trail of vapor appeared leading straight up to the geth that was now conspicuously missing a head.
"Scoped and dropped!"
Rolling her eyes, Shepard finished drawing her assault rifle and brought it to bear against a geth destroyer that was making its way up some stairs towards her. Its shields flared but held, until with a loud roar one ton of krogan came smashing into it with the force of a small cannon. The geth staggered backward, trying to regain its stable foothold but Wrex took advantage of its weakness and unloaded a blast from his shotgun at point blank range which blew a gaping hole in the destroyer's chest, sending white fluid spilling out.
One last loud shot rang out before the room was filled with silence. "I think we got em commander." Wrex said, while holstering his shotgun while turning to face her.
Shepard nodded. "I think so. Good work, but Garrus 'Scoped and dropped?' Really?"
The turian shrugged from his position across the room. "It was the first thing that I could come up with. Besides it stopped the jamming field that the hopper was projecting."
Shepard shook her head exasperatedly. "Whatever, lets get this reactor online and get back to Titan."
Once the reactor had been reactivated Shepard lead Garrus and Wrex back to the elevator while calling Kaidan over the comm "Sable one-one, to Sable two, over."
"Sable two-one copies."
"Kaidan, the reactor is back online, what's the situation with the landlines?"
"Landlines are reconnected Commander. Ran into a couple Rachni up here."
"Understood Kaidan. Return to the VI core. Sable one out." After a short pause and channel switch Shepard spoke up again.
"Sable one-one to Titan over."
"Atlas here Sable."
"We've completed essential repairs. Tram lines should now be up and running over."
"Good. We just got confirmation from Zeus that the Geth have been wiped out by the Ceph and spotted Zeus and Ares. They are currently falling back to the bottleneck to try and hold them off. They are reporting a few new types of Ceph unit has emerged as well. Recommend you hurry back to the VI core, our original plan to blow our entrance is a no go. We're in for the long haul."
"Copy that Titan. We are returning to the VI core."
A/N: So sorry its taken longer than expected for this chapter, but it's probably gonna be that way for the foreseeable future. I'm probably only gonna be able to update once a month, unfortunate but Real Life has once again gotten in my way. Pretty annoying.
Anyway this is the next chapter of Noveria which, if you guys forgot since the last upload (which I don't blame you guys if you did it was a month ago) is going to be quite a bit different and longer than Canon.
Anyway, enough of me prattling on and on. I'm gonna stop wasting your time so if you guys have any feedback or questions, send em my way!
~LEGION