So just under a year since I updated this story. Nearly caught up with the scene shown at the beginning of Chapter 4 and onto the last little Prologue section before Shepard is actually picked for the mission that changes the course of his life.
note: I edited a little bit of the info over in the CODEX relating to part of the timeline... Added stuff that alludes to things which will come into play at some point.
Halo belongs to Microsoft Studios
Mass Effect belongs to belongs to Bioware
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XX UNMC Shanghai; Orbit Over Tyran - 2776 CE XX
All muttering and joking died down when Captain Rodgers Stood up and addressed the two ODST squads.
The first squad was his own and included Corporal Collins -call sign Boomer-, Corporal Wilkins – call sign Nova – and Private First Class Jones – Shepard's replacement and the 'greenhorn'.
Second Lieutenant Shepard was in charge of the second squad; which included his old 'War Games' buddie Sergeant Matsaki – Sweeps-, Lance Corporal Agu – the medic oh so poetically nicknamed 'Patches'- and Private Smith AKA the Rookie… Shepard and Rodgers had faced a bit of a dilemma when they'd realised both teams had a newbie, you couldn't have two troopers called 'Rookie'. Shepard had won the game of Rock, Paper, Scissors so poor old Jones got stuck with Greenhorn.
"Our target is this man." Rodgers announced as a hologram of uncaring man in an expensive grey suit appeared. "His name is Donovan Hock, he's an industrialist whose company specialises in Aircar components. A little over two years ago Hock's company bought up an old Misriah Armory production facility… Got it real cheap by offering to pick up the bill for removing Misriah's old equipment and covering their disposal."
"Who signed off on that?" Collins asked, Misriah designs and production moulds being heavily guarded due to their use supplying the UNMC with weapons.
"Bunch of 'well paid' individuals, all of whom are currently being 'interviewed' by HIGHCOMM." Rodgers replied before Hock's image was replaced by a hologram of some kind of rifle. "Just under eighteen months ago these assault rifles, which the turians have taken to designating the 'Vindicator' – origin of the name is unknown – started showing up in the hands of both the Blue Suns and raider groups suspected of links to the Blue Suns. Mostly focused along the '314 Corridor'."
"That's not good."
"Damn right its not, turians think we're supplying these things to the Terminus raiders like the batarians are in the Verge." Rodgers sighed. "As it stands major talks are beginning next week about improving relations between the UEG and Hierarchy. If we don't have Hock in custody to show the UNMC is innocent, it'll be bad."
"Hold on Sir, are we sure this Hock guy is responsible?" Jones asked.
"Those people I mentioned, the ones being 'interviewed', they confirmed that Hock shipped slag to the disposal site and then less than a week later shipped a massive order of custom fuel-injection exhausts to a specialist client out in the Terminus Systems." Rodgers went on. "Now, I don't know about the rest of you but I've never heard of a 'fuel-injection exhaust' – nor is there any such thing listed in Hock's catalogues – so it's a safe bet that the Misriah equipment was in that shipment."
"We sure he's still involved?" Shepard yawned. "maybe it was a one off case of treason?"
"We're sure, Navy picked up nearly two hundred of these on-board a transport ship licenced by Hock last week." Rodgers clarified as the hologram shifted to display an after-action report. "Raiders hit the transport close enough to a patrol that the Navy was able to show up in time and drive them off. Patrol got suspicious when the transport declined offers for further assistance and tried to leave despite the damages they'd taken."
"So Hock knows we know about the guns, why is he about?" Masaki snorted.
"He doesn't." Shepard noted as he moved forward to better read the report. "Says here the transport's comms systems were damaged, they never got off a message about the patrol… Seems the patrol took the crew into custody, confiscated the guns then detonated the ship. Reporting in its wreckage several hours later."
"That's right, as far as Hock or his associates knew the shipment was lost to thieves." Rodgers said before changing the hologram again, this time displaying a rather fancy looking penthouse suite. "Hock is hosting a gala at his mansion, located in Skitarii – Tryan's second largest city. Reason we can't just have the local cops pick him up is the Chief of Skitarii's police, the city's mayor AND the provincial governor are all on the guest list… We so much as fart in his direction and he'll know, might even run."
"So what, we gate crashing this gala of his, black-bagging him and handing him over to scary men with no names?" Agu laughed. "Aren't there civil rights or some crap like that people are gonna complain about?"
"Normally but when you sell technology and/or state secrets you kinda forfeit those civil liberties. Now, since we're running two squads as a single unit I'm wanna double check does everyone know each other's call-signs?" When Smith gave sounded uncertain Rodgers just sighed. "right Rookie listen up; You are the resident Rookie – Lieutenant over there won the naming rights-. Jones on my squad is the 'Greenhorn' since she's fresh just like you. Collins is 'Boomer' since he's my explosives expert and Wilkins is 'Nova' because he isn't too bright."
This got a series of snorts and chuckles out of Collins and Shepard while Wilkins gave the Captain a distinctly non-regulation salute.
"On the other side of the room you have Sergeant Matsaki, aka 'Sweeps', and the charming Corporal Agu otherwise known as 'Patches'." Rodgers continued, ignoring the laughter.
"And I'm your local Chaplain." Shepard managed between chuckles. "Here to administer spiritual advise, and headshots, as needed."
"Are you actually a priest?" Smith asked, causing Shepard and Collins to absolutely lose it.
"You know Nova, I think he's about as bright as we joke about you being." Rodgers noted with a shake of his head. Wilkins, who had two degrees and a doctorate, decided not to dignify the comment with a reply.
"Chaplain, your team is to secure the lobby and parking lot." Rodgers told them. "My squad will be dropping onto the roof and moving down to secure the target."
"You just want me to hack the building's security and lock everything down, that's why my squad is here right?" Shepard sighed.
"yep."
XX Skitarii; Tyran XX
Skitarii was generally regarded as being Tyran's second city not because of its political or strategic importance but because of the sheer amount of money present. Built on a large, naturally occurring island located just off the mainland the city was a mass of high end hotels, stores, theatres, casinos and brothels Skitarii existed to provide distractions and delights to the right and degenerate. An asari, Slipspaced out by Hahne-Kedar to be wined and dined before licencing talks, favourably compared the city to those on Illium – the asari's more grounded bodyguards called it 'Omega with a coat of paint'.
Shepard was reminded of New Vegas, back on Earth, in that the whole damn city was foul with corruption, cash and neon lights.
"Isn't that gonna be a bit, I dunno, unwieldy in the party Sir?" Smith asked as Shepard finished triple checking his DMR.
"Its bigger and meaner looking then the SSG, I rock up packing this and any rent-a-cop Hock has on his payroll might think twice about causing trouble." Shepard explained as he made sure the safety was on before reactivating the firing mechanism. "Same reason Sweeps has her shoty."
"Well, that and she's a Cadian." Agu joked.
"So should I be carrying my ICW when we arrive?" Smith asked.
"That'd a good call." Agu yawned as he finished double-checking his own ICW.
"Right Chaplain, show time." Rodgers announced over comms.
"Okay Rookie, let's hope you didn't screw up integrating your jumppack with your armour." Shepard chuckled as he opened the side door on the D132H-TC and leaned out. "Patches with me, we're gonna secure the lobby and lock the building down. Sweeps, you take the Rookie and make sure the underground lot is secure… Wouldn't surprise me if these fat-cats had overrides on the elevators letting them run for their cars."
"Alpha Squad, we are being dropped on the roof and will await Beta Squad's securing of security before entering." Rodgers ordered. "I want this done quick, clean and with as little fuss as possible."
"Sir, yes Sir!"
"… hmmn… Our Father, who art in heaven…" Shepard began before stepping forward, plummeting from their transport towards the ground over three hundred floors below.
"Helljumper, helljumper where have you been?" Agu and Matsaki quoted, with much less spiritual meaning but equal reverence, before following Shepard out.
"… Feet first to hell and back again!" Smith finished as he took a deep breath and followed his squad, not knowing just how prophetic those words would be!
Shepard, being backed up by an ICW packing Agu, was already forcing his way past the doorman by the time Smith touched down. Detaching his ICW Smith rushed to catch up with Matsaki who was heading towards the underground parking lot.
As the pair of heavily armoured and armed ODSTs barged into the front lobby of one of the most expensive hotels in all of Tyran reactions varied. The doorman, who Shepard had seemingly effortlessly caught a grip of and dragged into the lobby as he'd passed gave a strangled cry when he was toss to the ground, several guests huddled behind spouses or furniture. A trio of security officers made moves to draw their guns but froze when Agu shouldered his ICW and made a disapproving 'tut'.
One older gentleman decked out in a fancy navy suit covered in medals, facial recognition ID'ed him as the Skitariian Chief of Police, tried to demand to know what was happening but learned why trying to shop a motivated space marine – who was wearing more than a hundred pounds of armour and had undergone several combat tailored gene therapy sessions – was a stupid thing to do at his age and was knocked flying by a simple shoulder nudge.
One of the receptionists, who looked young enough to still be in school, tried to drop the security barriers around the receptionists' desk. Shepard simply increased his pace, holstered his DMR and caught the shutters before they touched down. Straining against the shutter's motors Shepard kicked at the small hinged section of the desk – taking the damned thing off its hinges – and ducked under the shutters.
"Let's keep calm and back away from the desk." Shepard growled, his helmet slightly distorting his voice, as he rose and drew his SDP and levelled it at the receptionists. When the two women and one man behind the counter backed away, Shepard nodded in approval and approached one of the consoles. "Martial Law override; Access code 1-Delta-Lima-4-Tango-0-5-7-3-8-Uniform-Sierra-1-1-7!"
"Code accepted. Security control granted!"
"Lockdown elevators – ignore all emergency release protocols – and initiate stairwell and exit mag-locks!" Shepard ordered before switching over to his comms. "Shield, stairs and elevators are under control. Opening route to target. Over!"
"Understood! On route. Out!"
"Sweeps, report. Over!" Shepard ordered, switching to his own squad.
"Underground secure, valet argued for a bit but things are under control now. Over!"
"Rodger, accessing security feed. Let's evaluate your work. Over!" Shepard laughed as he raised the shutters around the receptionists' desk.
"Chaplain, little help here." Agu called out.
Glancing up Shepard spotted the Chief of Police frantically yelling and waving his arms in Agu's face. Rolling his eyes Shepard sent a message to Agu before looking at the security feed.
It's the Chief of Police.
Give some BS about War Games and move on.
Reviewing the footage from the cameras Shepard noticed something wrong with the supply from two of the feeds. Running several programs Shepard discovered the cameras in the Maintenance Area had been hacked and set to play on a loop. Overriding and gaining access to the correct feed Shepard paused, not one hundred percent sure what he was seeing.
"Hey Chaplain, has my ability to keep the Rookie in line while convincing an underpaid valet to shut up really shocked you that much? Over!"
"Sweeps, hold position and await further orders. Out!" Shepard snapped as he raised the shutters and transferred all surveillance footage to his HUD. "Shield, come in. Over!"
"Go ahead Chaplain. Over!"
"We have unidentified in Maintenance. Armed and Armoured, doesn't match any BDU style I'm familiar with." Shepard began before one of the unknown individuals noticed something, looked at the camera and drew a pistol. "Look hostile, just became aware of surveillance and took out a camera on them. Please advise. Over!"
"You've locked down the entire hotel – no way for the target to escape? Over!"
"Unleash he shatters a window and drops a few stories, no. Over!" Shepard snorted as he signalled for Agu to join him.
"Understood. Still no positive ID up here… Take your squad, investigate these unknowns. Over!"
"Understood. Out!" Shepard said. "Sweeps, make your way to Maintenance – Patches and I will meet you there. Unknowns, possibly hostile. Out!"
Motioning for Agu to follow Shepard made his way towards the stairwell, glaring at the still irate Chief of Police as he passed. Undoing and redoing the mag-locks as the pair passed Shepard and Agu regrouped with Matsaki and Smith.
"What's going on Sir?" Smith asked as the squad set off towards where the unknowns where.
"Unknowns who'd hidden themselves from camera feeds – took out the camera when they realised I'd found them." Shepard informed them as he drew and shouldered his SSG. "Shield says no one else is meant to be operating here, we're to investigate while Alpha searches for the target at the party."
"We expecting trouble?" Matsaki jokingly asked as she readied her MA-TS8g – Agu and Smith both shouldered their ICWs.
"Well I'm feeling cautious, so let's treat them as potential hostiles until shown otherwise." Shepard replied as a portion of his HUD lit up and alerted him that the more detailed hotel schematics had been downloaded. A quick glance at where the unknowns had been seen had Shepard break into a near sprint. "Shit, they're at the fans for the AC!"
Beta Squad were making good time when Matsaki, who was on point, rounded a corner and dove back as a hail of weapon's fire tore into the wall.
"Auto-turret!" Matsaki spat.
Taking cover Shepard activated a small camera on his SSG's barrel and peaked the gun out. Two quick bursts before the turret zeroed in and opened fire.
"Forward facing kinetic barrier." Shepard sighed. Switching to his DMR Shepard stood up and turned back to Matsaki. "Drop the shield, I'll drop the turret."
"Oh, this is gonna be fun." Matsaki groaned as she switched her ammo shaver's settings from 'shot' to 'slug'. Hunkering down and taking a steadying breath Matsaki nodded and leaned out. The MA-TS8g came with a wonderful feature that allowed it to switch between several sand grain sized slivers of ammo, much like the 'shot' of the gunpowder days, or a single 'slug' that weighed in at more than the sum total of a 'shot' round. Marines tended to affectionately refer to slugs as 'Carnage Rounds' due to the sheer damage they can do to the inadequately protected.
The shields on the auto-turret were impressive, definitely above and beyond anything available on the civilian market, but a Carnage Round proved just too taxing. The turret remained active, with sparks and smoke billowed from the shield generator, but was at the tender mercy of Shepard's DMR rounds. Two well placed rounds saw the automated sentry broken beyond repair and Beta Squad pushing up.
"Shit, shit. Are the canisters ready?" Someone up ahead was yelling, Shepard's implant translating it from the speaker's original Portuguese.
"The X0-8 culture is, but the counter-agent isn't ready for dispersal yet!" Another, originally speaking Uzbek, yelled back.
"Then realise the culture and –Shit, they're here!" A third began in English as Beta Squad came into view. With a snarl the woman, who given the fact she issued orders may have been in charge, opened fire with an unknown assault rifle.
The Portuguese and Uzbek speakers wore matching armour – off-white plating worn over a dark bodysuit. Their helmets were white and black in colour and mostly featureless, save a pair of what looked like dark red eyes. The English speaking woman wore armour of a different configuration – thicker with several cylindrical containers attached to the chest plate. The Helmet was different as well, with thick armoured plating framing the jaw and sides of the head while the centre of the face and top of head were protected via polarized visor – much like some specialised EVA helms.
Mr. Portuguese speaker snatched up what turned out to be a shotgun of unknown design and joined the woman in opening fire.
Agu and Smith dove behind one of the large fans and took cover while Matsaki moved forward, the boom of her shotgun sending the hostiles scampering. Shepard stepped back, using the corner they'd just turned as cover while he picked his target.
"Shit, they've got energy shields!" Matsaki yelled as a Carnage Round knocked Ms. English speaker off-balance and set the woman's armour alight with piercing blue electrical energy.
"What?! Who are these guys?" Agu yelled back as he and Smith focused fire on Mr. Portuguese.
"Down now, ask questions later." Shepard ordered as his shot caught the hostile female just below the chin and, with a spectacularly bright but brief serge, dropped her shielding.
BOOM!
A Carnage Round lifted the woman and knocked her back into a wall. Matsaki, armour constantly wreathed in golden energy as she ran an integrated Shield Fortification Mod, marched forward like a woman possessed. Pumping her MA-TS8g to manually vent a portion of the heat build-up Matsaki levelled her shotgun and fired again, the hostile jerked violently and then slumped down. A steady stream of crimson leaking from the almost fist sized hole in her chest plate.
"Commander!" Mr. Portuguese yelled before a burst of ICW fire from Smith downed his shields. "Dammit release the Floo – GAGK!
The gagk less a code word or phrase and more the sound a dying man made when a DMR round impacted through one of the little red camera lenses set into his helmet's faceplate and killed him.
"Dammit! Damn it!" Mr. Uzbek hissed as Matsaki, Agu and Smith advanced on him – Shepard having decided to take a second to deliver a headshot to Mr. Portuguese and Ms. English as a precaution.
"Away from the vents! Away from the vents!" Agu ordered.
"…Gah… Ahh… Fuck it! For Earth and the Hound!" Mr. Uzbek roared as he twisted a canister and released something into the air.
"Internal air supply, now!" Matsaki roared as she, Agu and Smith opened fire and the hostile.
"Crap! Secure weapons and find this 'counter-agent'!" Shepard ordered as his suit sealed itself off and began pumping in air from an internal canister. Opening a channel to Alpha Squad Shepard tried to contact Rodgers. "Alpha Squad switch to internal air now! I repeat switch to internal air now! Unknown biological or chemical weapon dispersed into air conditioning. Please respond over!... Please respond. Over!... Dammit Shield talk to me!"
"… She… sheepp… ShepARRRGHH!"
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So I misjudged just a little… Not quite finished with the prologue bits yet. I promise the next chapter will be it for the events on Tyran and then it'll be a quick jump to 2783 and Shepard getting the orders that send him to Eden Prime.
About halfway through writing this I realise I fucked up a little earlier on and forgot to give reference to the gene therapy Shepard and the other UNMC personnel undergo. My bad… I'll be doing another little CODEX piece on mods shortly so I'll include descriptions of the biological upgrades along with the weapon and armour mods there.
THANK YOU TO EVERYONE WHO READ THE EARLIER CHAPTERS AGES AGO AND STILL GIVES ENOUGH OF A DAMN TO READ THIS. Sorry about how long it took me, won't be that long again.
I'm dyslexic, so please point out any mistakes in spelling or grammar [I spell things the way they do in England and Ireland, so some things may look off to Americans]. Please leave your opinion via review or send them via PM, I'd like to know what you think. Well, I think that's everything I've gotta say so, hope you enjoyed the chapter.
This is Highvalour saying bye and thanks for reading.