*FEROS, ZHU'S HOPE*
White hot projectiles peppered the ruined wall Shepard crouched behind in a never-ending torrent. He couldn't even pop his head up long enough to get a peek at how many flashlights, a common colloquialism for Geth, were left since they seemed to be perfectly staggering their fire. What else should he expect from a network-intelligence AI? The rest of his team likewise sheltered behind whatever rubble or twisted steel they could find to escape the barrage. He was beginning to regret coming to Feros before heading to Noveria.
He hated fighting Geth. They lacked any meaningful emotions that could override reason, and since they were networked together they could practically see everything from every angle. Granted their abilities depleted with each platform destroyed, but damned if picking off the first few wasn't like pulling rotten teeth. Especially with the gangly little creepies that sprang from surface to surface trying for a better vantage point. He wouldn't admit it to anyone, but those wiry constructs, which the rest of his team had taken to calling "Leapers", scared the ever loving daylights out of him. Just something about how they skittered through the shadows with their single glowing eye constantly fixated on him gave him the heebie-jeebies.
"I knew things had gone sideways here before we landed, but I wasn't really expecting such a frosty welcome." Garrus griped after nearly getting the tip of his crest shot off.
His complaints brought Shepard back from contemplating the nightmare-fuel shuffling on the walls around him. "Guess the tin cans aren't big on hospitality. Thoughts on kicking down their door?"
"It's the Leapers. They're feeding spotting data to the rest. We need to bring them down, otherwise they'll keep us pinned." Tali shouted to be heard over the steady chatter of rifle fire.
Shepard mutely mouthed the words 'thank god' before audibly replying. "Then they need to go first. On my signal, blanket the walls with tech mines to bring down their shields. Then use whatever ya got to get them to the ground so we can finish them off."
"And how are we supposed to avoid becoming swiss cheese while we do that, Skipper?" Ashley asked pointedly.
He had an idea about that, but he wasn't entirely happy about it. "Wrex and I will charge the line to give you all the time you need."
"Wait… what?" Wrex questioned. He was all for a stand up fight, but he wasn't dumb enough to think charging headlong into perfectly aimed pulse rifles was a good plan.
Kraven hoped to forestall any objections by implementing his plan as quickly as possible. "We go in 3… 2… 1… MOVE!" He let loose a maniacal howl before vaulting over his cover to barrel forward into the Geth's barricade. To his relief, he also heard Wrex bellowing behind him.
Just as planned, several streams of pulse rifle bullets hammered into his barriers to slow his advance. He gritted his teeth, and raised both arms to cover his face. He didn't want to risk reducing his protection even in the slightest to return fire. His amps started to painfully burn beneath his skin as the Geth's barrage relentlessly battered against his weakening barriers. He couldn't see what was happening to either side, but prayed the explosions and bullet ricochets he heard meant his team were making headway. As the searing pressure at the base of his skull finally became unbearable he lurched into a sideways roll and let his shields dissipate. He felt something sting his left lower leg, but ignored it as he righted himself to dive behind a crumbling heap of concrete and rebar.
He quickly scanned the walls and ceiling to ensure that no sticky-fingered weirdos were sneaking up on him from above, and confirmed that none were. He sat for several moments to catch his breath and allow his amps some time to cool. While he waited he realized the steady rate of fire coming from the Geth's lines had noticeably slackened. After another few seconds he hazarded a quick look up over his cover.
Wrex was a little further ahead hunkered down inside an alcove built into the wall. Only three AI constructs appeared to be left functioning while the rest littered the barricade in various stages of disassembly. Most were little more than tech bits swimming in whitish puddles of synthetic goo.
"If I never see another one of those slippery little bastards again, it'll be too soon." Kraven grunted under his breath before steeling himself for the last push to mop up.
It was all over in less than two minutes after that. Wrex had moved out shortly after Shepard giving the rest of the team enough time to sweep in on the diminished Geth and demolish them. Once all immediate threats were confirmed to be eliminated, the group converged to scavenge through the carnage to find useful tech that might have survived the exchange. As they did, Wrex trundled over to the Commander.
"You do that sort of thing often?"
Shepard shook his head while unconsciously grinding his heel into what was left of a Leaper's eye housing. "Not usually. Just didn't feel like playing peek-a-boo with these ugly things all day."
"Playing what?"
Ugh. He needed to download some material on equivalent cultural references. "Nevermind."
Wrex chuckled. "You're about the craziest Human I've met. Got a quad bigger than a set of Tomkah treads. But crazy. Hell, you almost kept up with ME!"
Shepard sniffed indignantly. "What do you mean almost? I was out there taking the brunt of it like a champ so you wouldn't get more than you could handle."
Wrex barked a guttural laugh and clapped Kraven on the shoulder. "Ha! One of these days I'll show you how a real biotic juggernaut takes care of business."
Shepard grinned. "That so? I…" He was cut off mid sentence by Tali.
"Shepard, you're bleeding!" She exclaimed running over to inspect the three neat holes seeping scarlet from his left calf muscle. With practiced ease, she pulled up a list of suit rupture protocols on her omni-tool. "Quick, we need to disinfect, and inject you with antibiotics. Does your suit have automatic seals?"
He was momentarily taken aback by her frenzied first aid. "I uh, don't think so." He wasn't entirely sure what all the fuss was about. He got shot all the time. Much more frequently than he cared to acknowledge in fact.
"That was incredibly reckless. What were you thinking?" She scolded squirting antiseptic bio foam into the wounds.
The rest of the team stopped what they were doing to surreptitiously snicker up their sleeves at the scene. All except Ashley who seemed irritated by the whole thing and went back to rifling through junked Geth.
Wrex seemed to find the whole thing particularly humorous. "Perks of taking the brunt like a champ, huh?" He guffawed.
The Commander bent all his will to keep the creeping heat from rising up past his neck and into his cheeks. "Thank you but really it's no big deal, Tali. I can just slap a little medi-gel on there and I'm good to go."
She finished applying a suit sealing patch to his armor before angrily glaring up at him. All at once something must have dawned on her because the angry slant to her glowing eyes reversed direction and she hastily stood. "Oh… of course Commander… I." Just like that, timid, shy Tali was back.
They stood in the most awkward silence either of them had likely ever endured as neither knew what to say to the other. Eventually Garrus came to the rescue. Eventually. "So, Shepard. Pretty inspired tactics. I could get used to having, oh what did you call it, a flesh shield? Using Wrex was a particularly nice touch."
"A meat shield." Shepard corrected, grateful that someone had changed the subject.
Wrex snorted. "Just because I'm a Krogan."
"No, you just happen to make the biggest target." Shepard laughed. "And if you like it that much, Garrus, we'll put you in the rotation. You make a pretty big target yourself."
The Turian's eyes widened. "That's ok. Forget I said anything."
"Cat's out of the bag, Vakarian. Hope you've figured out how to duck."
Garrus cocked his head. "I don't know what a cat is."
Damn it happened again. Was he the only one who used idioms on this sorry crew? "Never mind. We better get moving. I'm sure those Zhu's Hope folks are running on fumes at this point."
With a chorus of yes sirs and aye-ayes, the group headed off toward the heart of the colony. As they did, Shepard hung back with Garrus. "So, back there with Tali… was it something I said?"
Garrus chuckled. "Nothing you did, Shepard. She's a Quarian."
"Yeah, I've gotten that far, but you're going to have to connect a few more dots for me here."
"They have almost no immune system from being out in space for so long. Infections can be lethal to them in some cases so it's likely she was just acting on instinct." Garrus explained.
"Oh, I see." Shepard nodded his understanding. "Anyway, let's go see how these colonists are holding up."
*FEROS, ZHU'S HOPE*
Yet again, Shepard had found himself regretting coming to Feros first. If he thought the Geth's reception had been cold then the colonist's could have frozen hell. The colonists, and their leader Fidan, had essentially ignored the Commander and his team upon their arrival. Even after basically eliminating their "pest" problem and setting the colony up with food, water, and power the people seemed completely indifferent. After nearly slugging Fidan's assistant Arcelia, Shepard had ordered his team across the skyway to investigate the Geth controlled Exo-Geni Tower. Presumably whatever secrets resided there were the whole reason the Geth attacked in the first place.
They had battled sentient robots all the way there, and throughout the entire structure, which had served to shorten the Commander's fraying temper. This was all exacerbated further by encountering even more damnable Leapers. Then he had discovered that the scientists of Exo-Geni had actually been experimenting with the colonists of Zhu's Hope by exposing them to some kind of mind-controlling plant creature called the Thorian. Hence why the colonists had been acting like lobotomized zombies. One of those scientists was currently crammed into the Mako rover with Shepard's team as they made their way back down the skyway toward Zhu's Hope and the Exo-Geni holdout.
Kraven pinched the bridge of his nose trying to contain his intensifying headache and annoyance. "So, let me see if I understand this completely. You knew there was an unknown life form living under the colony and that it was somehow affecting people?"
Lizbeth Baynham nodded sullenly. "That's right."
He had to mentally stop himself from grinding his teeth. "And it never occurred to you to try to evacuate them and quarantine the area?"
Her brows furrowed. "Of course it did."
He was starting to get angry. "But you didn't. You just sat back and watched it happen."
She unconsciously shrank away. "I tried to stop the experiments, but they revoked my access and suspended me."
Shepard leaned forward. "Who's they?"
She sighed. "Jeong."
"How did I know?" Shepard growled, sitting back against the jostling hull of the Mako. "Anyone else know about this thing, what did you call it, the Thorian?"
She shook her head and met his gaze again. "Only Jacobs and Kurim, but both of them were killed when the Geth attacked."
The Mako's passenger bay lapsed into silence for a few minutes until Baynham worked up the nerve to speak again. "What are you going to do Commander?"
Kraven stared off into the rubble winding by his slit-shaped viewport for a while before answering. "If he's really polite? Maybe just give his cosmetic surgeon a shiny new pair of shoes. If not…" He trailed off without finishing.
Lizbeth's mouth gaped in horror. "I meant about the colonists!"
"Oh… I haven't really thought about that yet. I assume none of you came up with a way to counteract the Thorian's spores?"
"No, we…" She halted as the radio blared with her mother's voice before abruptly being cut off.
"Weapons ready." Shepard called to his team. They'd survived the better part of a day battling Geth. No sense letting their guard down now just to get capped by some morally bankrupt eggheads.
In less than a minute, the Mako pulled up to the parking garage that had been converted into an Exo-Geni safety bunker. Lizbeth darted out the egress hatch first, followed closely by the rest of Shepard's squad.
"Keep the engine running. This won't take long." He called back to Tali who remained at the rover's helm.
"Yes sir." She called back, not particularly disappointed that she would miss whatever came next.
As one, the ground team shuffled down the gangway to the parking garage just in time to see Jeong's security officers roughly detaining Lizbeth's mother, Juliana. 'Not looking good for him so far.' Shepard thought darkly.
"Let her go, you son of a bitch!" Lizbeth screamed running from behind the makeshift barricade at the ramp's entrance to help her mother.
Jeong's expression pulled into an ugly grimace as beads of anxious sweat formed on his sallow brow. "Dammit. Come out where I can see you!"
"Say pretty please." Shepard called back.
Jeong looked around confused. "I… what? Just get out here!"
"Pretty please with a cherry on top."
The befuddled scientist pulled a pistol from his belt. "Get out here now or else!" He screeched as his voice cracked.
"Till the count of five. Pretty please with a cherry on top… one."
Jeong looked to his security detail but neither had any idea what game the Commander was playing at.
"Two."
Kaidan broke in. "I'd do what he says if I were you."
Jeong shakily pointed his weapon at the barricade. "It was too much to hope that the Geth would kill you."
"Three."
"Don't make him say five or you'll regret it." Ashley chimed in as the diminutive man shook like a big, sweaty leaf.
"Four."
Jeong's resolve finally snapped. "That's enough! Kill them!"
The scientist got off a single shot before a brilliant blue streak bolted from the barricade to barrel into him. All at once, the bone crushing kinetic energy of Shepard's mass moving at nearly ninety miles per hour slammed into the hapless scientist. A high pitched squeak escaped his lungs as his body was flung backward like a limp noodle to plow unceremoniously into the wall behind. Pain didn't even register in his brain as every bone in his body shattered from the impact.
"Five."
The rest of Shepard's crew moved out from the barricade keeping their weapons trained on Jeong's stunned security guards.
"A little harsh, wasn't it?" Garrus asked, eyeing the Human puddle.
"He wasn't being polite. I even gave him 'till count of five." Shepard responded casually before turning on the horrified scientists huddled nearby. "Now, so help me if I find out any more of you bastards were part of this goddamn colonist experiment I'll… well I don't know what I'll do, but you can be damn sure it's going to be worse than that!" He shouted pointing at the liquified mound of Jeong jello.
"Wh… what experiment?" Juliana tentatively asked once the echoes of the Commander's bark faded.
"There's a creature living underneath Zhu's Hope with some kind of mind control capabilities. Exo-Geni knew it had taken over the colonists but they ordered us to keep our distance and study its effects." Lizbeth answered quickly.
Kraven carefully watched everyone's expressions to gauge whether a second helping of ass whooping would be needed. Fortunately, the general shock displayed on the scientist's faces appeared to be genuine enough. "That's right. Not to mention my team has been working in and around that colony for almost thirteen hours. So if you'll excuse us, we've got a date with a psychopathic shrub." He turned to leave but a hand grabbing his elbow stopped him short.
"What about the people in Zhu's Hope? What are you going to do to them?" Lizbeth asked anxiously.
Shepard's rock hard expression softened. "Depends on how far gone they are. I'll do my best to avoid unnecessary deaths, but I can't let them stop me or injure my crew."
"I… I just… this was all my fault. If more of them end up dead because of…" She trailed off as tears started to gather in the corners of her eyes.
He put a comforting hand on her shoulder but his tone remained frosty. "Like I said. I'll save the ones I can, but I can't promise more than that.." He looked to his squad. "Time to go to work."