Notes/Summary:
*Now* it gets interesting! And fun. And you know that warning that's been up since the first chapter? Heed it now. There won't be gratuitous violence but there will be violence. Biotic attacks can make things messy.
In this chapter, Shepard and her squad take part in taking back Omega from a section of Cerberus. Lots of close quarters fighting, some strong language, and some good ol' fashioned mid-fight humor.
"Stealth system engaged, Commander. As if we really need it," Joker said over his shoulder. "We will be dropping out of FTL in five minutes."
"Right," Shepard said with a nod. She wore her menacing N7 armor with her complement of weapons attached- the Valkyrie and Black Widow were strapped side by side to her back, her Crusader shotgun rested on her lower back then she had her Scorpion pistol which had been a gift from Major Kirrahe. It was an unconventional little pistol but she always found a use for it.
The short stop at Lorek had been uneventful as far as running into trouble was concerned.
She turned then headed out of the cockpit towards the CIC. Liara smiled a little bit before handing over Shepard's black helmet with N7 emblazoned on the side. Shepard nodded then took the helmet. She secured it on her head and made sure it connected to her chest piece properly.
"Okay everyone, get to your stations. After we draw off a few of the Cerberus cruisers Joker will hit the FTL again so we can jump back to Omega and board before they know what the hell just happened. However, I imagine they'll try to shoot us in the ass as we rush off with them in pursuit so be prepared for that. Any last questions before we drop out of FTL?" Shepard said as she looked at everyone. Miranda was wearing an odd set of white armor that almost seemed patterned off of the uniform she wore. Liara had found the Commando armor her father had sent and was wearing it. It was odd seeing Liara in the silver armor that many an asari commando could be seen wearing. Ashley of course was wearing the blue armor Shepard had seen and spoken with her about.
"Yeah, can we make it so that the person who kills the fewest Cerberus bastards has to buy the drinks later?" Ashley called out. Shepard chuckled as she leaned up against the railing surrounding the galaxy map. Miranda, like usual, didn't seem amused. Liara regarded the Lieutenant-Commander mildly.
"And how would we figure out who killed who?" Shepard asked.
"Ammo type. Disruptor, incendiary, warp, cryo," Ashley said, ticking them off on one hand.
"Nah, disruptor and warp wouldn't work. They wouldn't leave a good enough impression," Shepard said.
"Three minutes until we drop out of FTL," Joker called out.
"All right, fine. You gotta better idea?" Ashley said, pulling on her own helmet at Joker's ETA warning.
"Replace disruptor and warp with tungsten and polonium," Shepard replied, smugly.
"Uh... polonium rounds? I thought we stopped using those for a very good reason," Liara cut in.
"Dr. T'soni is right. They're a little too dangerous. Especially in close quarters," Miranda said, her accent sounding odd coming through her helmet.
"Fine, then someone can have non-modified," Shepard said, folding her arms.
"One minute!" Joker warned.
"I don't even want this to be a competition," Liara said, distressed.
"Then you get the non-modified rounds. Miranda can take tungsten," Shepard said. She checked her assault rifle then tapped a couple of keys on her omnitool. A little image of a bullet on fire appeared on her arm for a second then disappeared.
"Figures you'd take the incendiary. Guess that means I get to freeze our enemies," Ashley remarked, tapping a couple of keys on her own omnitool.
Miranda rolled her eyes, though nobody saw since her face was mostly obscured by her helmet, then activated the tungsten ammo power for her Hornet.
"Wait, what if someone kills a Cerberus guy with biotics?" Ashley asked.
"Just make sure you shoot them first somewhere?" Shepard said.
"You two are impossible. You both know you're the only ones who are going to take the competition seriously," Liara said.
"We still gotta separate the kills from the rest, Liara," Shepard pointed out. "I won't use my biotics to kill, then. And if someone does die from biotics we'll assume it was Liara."
"I'm a biotic too," Miranda interrupted. She was a little bit interested in how the competition would play out so of course she'd try to participate.
"Oh for fuck's sake. We'll figure it out when we get on the ground!" Shepard said.
The ship barely even rocked as it came out of FTL. Once it did they were faced with the sight of a half dozen Cerberus cruisers.
"Firing Javelin torpedoes!" Joker called out.
"Initiating cyberwarfare suite. Blocking communications. They are now aware of our presence," EDI said, her voice originating from the body sitting in the co-pilot seat.
"Direct hit on one of the cruisers!" Joker said. It was the most excitement he had had in weeks. Shepard smiled to herself as she watched him pilot the ship.
"Looks like we made them mad. We've got three of the cruisers coming after us. But, it seems like they have a plan for this kind of thing, two are staying behind to guard the station," Joker said. His fingers flew along the terminal. The Normandy banked hard to the right, causing the crew to grasp for anything sturdy to keep them upright.
Shepard brought her hand up then touched the side of her helmet, keying in to the frequency they had agreed upon with Aria.
"The Eclipse, Blood Pack, and Blue Suns are moving in, Shepard. I hope you're going to tell me you drew all of those cruisers away from my station," Aria said.
"Not all of them. You're going to have a couple to skirt around. We're taking the rest with us then we'll double back. Don't get too far along without us," Shepard said.
"When you come back around, board on the top level then make your way down. We're going to board on the bottom and go up. We'll meet somewhere in the middle. I want the Illusive Man's attack dogs off of my station within the week," Aria said.
"Within the week? Why not within the day?"
"You forget how big Omega is and how dug in Cerberus is. Even with Commander Shepard it'll take a while."
"...Fuck. You're right. Last I read the max population was almost eight million with a length of almost fifty kilometers."
"Exactly. Did you really think this was going to be a quick get in, get out kind of deal?"
"No, I expected that I'd be able to flush out a good portion of them then you'd do the rest."
"There are a lot of places to hide on Omega. I will need your help to root out the bastards. Don't worry, you'll get paid for it and get plenty of ammo to finish them off."
"Not concerned about either one but thanks."
"We've left the Sahrabarik system. Should we double-back now?" Joker called out.
"Turn us about and fire torpedoes, first. See if we can disable a couple of the cruisers before we head back to the station," Shepard ordered. "We'll see you when we see you, Aria. Try not to get killed."
"Nobody fucks with Aria and lives for long, Shepard."
"Of course, silly me. Bye now."
Shepard made her way up to the cockpit, grunting when she was slammed into the door frame as Joker turned them about sharply.
"Firing torpedoes," Joker said. Shepard reached out and grasped the headrest to Joker's chair. She watched as one of the torpedoes slammed through one of the cruisers as if they were made from tissue paper. She winced a little bit as the memories of the Collector attack hit her. The other torpedo went wide and 'skipped' along the hull of a second cruiser.
"Alright, Joker, FTL now," Shepard ordered.
"Aye aye," the pilot replied before keying in a command. The cruisers disappeared from view as the ship jumped. They were at the station almost instantly after FTL was engaged.
"Steve, we're on our way down. The Kodiak all warmed up?" Shepard asked, touching her helmet to tap into the frequency shared by all Normandy crew.
"Warmed up and ready to go," Cortez answered.
"Good," Shepard said, collecting her crew as she made her way to the elevator. The ride was short as usual. Liara, Miranda, Ash, and Shepard all piled into the Kodiak with room to spare.
The ramp lowered and Steve expertly piloted the Kodiak out of the Normandy. Shepard checked over her weapons one more time. She looked out the window and saw a few ships bearing the Omega logo heading towards the station.
Aria T'Loak, that's someone I never thought we'd be in bed with, Shepard remembered Hackett remarking when she told him she'd secured the help of the Blood Pack, Blue Suns, and Eclipse mercs thanks to Aria.
"I want you to drop us off, Steve. Don't stick around. This thing's hardly capable of standing up to much abuse," Shepard said, her voice taking on a vaguely robotic tone thanks to speaking through her helmet.
"I'm not leaving you here, Comm-" Cortez began to argue.
"Steve! Just do it. For me. We'll be fine," Shepard cut him off, placing a hand on his shoulder.
"Fine. But I'm coming back at the first sign of trouble," Cortez relented. Shepard sighed. That was the best she was going to get. She patted his shoulder then turned and headed to the door. As she did Cortez brought the shuttle into a loading hangar. She watched as the door slid open. She brought her assault rifle up then dropped down from the Kodiak. Hazel eyes swept around to make sure the LZ was safe then she signaled to her squad. Ashley hopped down and took a defensive position with her Revenant. Liara was next followed by Miranda.
"Okay so how are we going to separate our kills if we use biotics?" Ashley asked just as Cortez floated up higher then turned around to leave the hangar.
"If their shields were overloaded that was me," Miranda said.
"I'm not playing," Liara said, checking the thermal clip in her Hurricane that was courtesy of Shepard's N7 supply lines.
"Yeah but we still need to know how to separate-" Shepard began.
"Fine. I'll stick with Singularity," Liara said.
As Liara brought her gun down Shepard looked over the asari's shoulder. She quickly pushed Liara out of the way as she brought her assault rifle up, pinging a Cerberus Centurion right through one of the glowing eye slits. He gurgled before dropping down, dead. They could hear a fwoom and a hiss as the skin on his face melted within the helmet thanks to the incendiary ammo.
Shepard touched a key on her omnitool to scan the surrounding area.
"Looks like he was just doing patrol," Shepard mused to herself. She kept the scanner running, having the results show up on her visor.
Slowly the Commander made her way over to the dropped trooper. She crouched down, tilting her head a little bit. Ashley and the others came up behind her, watching for anyone to sneak up on them.
"Alrighty, let's see what these guys look like," she said. She grasped the helmet. She then unhinged it. With a jerk she removed it entirely. She dropped the helmet when she got a good look at him.
"Human. Completely and utterly human..." she murmured.
"I thought all of Cerberus were implanted with Reaper tech," Ashley said.
"Perhaps this detachment didn't get implanted. They were too far away from the processing facilities," Liara suggested.
"From what I know, the taking of Omega happened before you even met the Cerberus soldiers on Mars. Hell, it happened while you were incarcerated. They weren't changing civilians too much longer before the Reapers attacked Earth," Miranda said.
"Alright, so we're going up against wholly human Cerberus. That'll make things easy as pie," Shepard said, rising to her feet.
"Indeed. We need to take Petrovsky alive, though," Miranda remarked.
"Of course. I want to see him squirm and realize that Commander Shepard is going to destroy him and Cerberus once and for all."
She glanced at the map on her omnitool then sighed a little.
"All right. We've got a long way to go. Let's get to it," she said. She picked up her rifle then headed off.
"Not every civilian has to have left Omega. We have to be careful. I highly doubt many people on Omega would be willing to work with Cerberus and will see you as a chance to get to safety," Liara said.
"Yeah, got it," Shepard said.
Their boots barely made a sound as they swept the floor they had landed on. They knew that a good portion of the levels had to be empty. But there was also no way they'd be able to search every nook and cranny. It would take months even with scanners. They just had one thing to do: thin out the numbers as much as possible then meet up with Aria's crew.
"I'm getting some radio chatter," Ashley called out as she toyed with her omnitool. Shepard paused then glanced over at the Lieutenant-Commander.
"What's going on?" she asked.
"They're setting up... shit. They're setting up turrets and they have a few mechs two levels below this one," Ashley said.
"This'll be fun. Anyone remember to bring a missile launcher?" Shepard said. They didn't stop, there was no time. Shepard stepped over a corpse that looked to be a few weeks dead.
"Sorry, left it in my other armor," Ashley quipped.
"Perhaps we should pause the competition so that we can use biotics to our heart's content?" Miranda suggested.
Shepard's eyes glinted with determination. "No. We can do this the old fashioned way," she said.
The next level gave them a squad of Cerberus soldiers to get through. It was the same type of tactic that had been used on the Cerberus base: delay not stop.
Shepard quickly took cover around a corner and Ash jumped behind a crate. Liara used her Singularity to block the left hand side from a possible flanking maneuver. Miranda quickly surveyed the area before using overload on an electronic panel. Said panel controlled the lights that dotted the street. As the lights died, the VI in everyone's suits activated the night vision protocols for their helmets. Shepard leaned around a corner and popped off a couple of shots. One bullet sliced through the thin armor covering one soldier's neck. A hissing sound was heard and then a foom as the incendiary ammo lit his body, offering some light to shoot by.
A bullet slammed into her shields but it did not originate from the ground. She quickly looked up and around, squinting inside of her helmet to catch any sight of a sniper. A second shot hit her shield which caused her VI to give a warning that she was now at a quarter full shield strength.
"Shepard, the catwalk!" Liara called out. At the direction, Shepard's gaze rose. She holstered her assault rifle then quickly unfolded her Black Widow. The VI in her suit connected to the scope.
"Target locked," the VI said. Shepard pulled the trigger. There was a crack! sound as the bullet erupted from her rifle. She watched through the scope as the opposing sniper's head exploded in a cloud of blood, brain matter, and helmet ceramic. A burst of fire was seen moments later as it sparked along the bodysuit the soldier wore under his armor.
"Hah! Tango down," Shepard celebrated, clenching her hand into a fist and pumping it in the air somewhat. "Oh, shit!" she yelped milliseconds later, ducking back into cover just as a missile zoomed by where her head had been moments before.
"Perhaps you shouldn't count your varren before they hatch," Liara remarked, moving closer to make sure that Shepard was unharmed.
"...Chickens. Don't count your chickens before they hatch," Shepard said, resting against the wall of what she could only assume was an apartment building. "Do varren even come from eggs?"
"Yes," Liara replied before peeking out of cover. She threw a second Singularity which caught three of the soldiers. They gave very human yelps while they bashed into each other and floated around. Miranda took her chance to get a couple kills of her own and fired off two shots from her pistol. The tungsten ammunition ripped through the soldiers' armor, through their soft bodies, and out the other side. Ashley used her Wraith to finish off the third. Ice formed along the armor but it didn't matter as he was dead before his armor could even shatter. Seconds later the Singularity died down and dropped the soldiers that had been caught in it.
"Where's our missile guy?" Shepard asked.
"Right here, bitch!" the voice was female. Shepard spun around then grunted as a missile slammed into her stomach, knocking her off of her feet. Her shields did their job, having regenerated just before she had asked the question.
"Ouch... was that because I called you a guy?" Shepard mumbled when she got her breath back. The VI in her suit kept yammering on about complete lack of shields. She groaned a bit as she sat up. Miranda and Liara both had mass effect fields glowing around them while Ash had her shotgun trained on the female Cerberus soldier with the missile launcher trained on them. Thank God I got upgraded armor and shielding...
"You just killed my squad. That missile was for them and it should've killed you. Who the fuck are you?" the female Cerberus soldier demanded, swapping her missile launcher for a submachine gun. Shepard squinted a little within her helmet then cocked her head to the side. She was so used to people knowing who she was-at least Cerberus always seemed to know- that it was strange for someone to ask such a thing now.
"You really don't know who I am?" Shepard asked.
"Of course I know who you are. I just asked that question for my health," the soldier said. Shepard could almost hear her roll her eyes as she spoke.
"No need to get snippy," Shepard said mildly. She calmly rose to her feet then patted her armor to try to assess any damage that her VI didn't tell her. The shields had prevented any damage to the armor itself.
"Why do you want to know who it is? You honestly think we'll let you leave here alive?" Ashley demanded, shotgun cocked and ready to fire at a moment's notice.
"I'd at least like to know who killed my squad before she kills me," the unnamed female said.
"I'm Commander Shepard of the Alliance Navy. First human Spectre. N7. I command the SSV Normandy SR-2. The Illusive Man died at my hand and I'm going to finish off his little organization once and for all," Shepard said.
"You're... but you died. I mean... really died when the Reapers were destroyed. It was all over the vids..." the soldier stammered.
"I really died when the Collectors destroyed the first Normandy, too. I don't like to stay dead, in case that isn't obvious. Now who the hell are you?" Shepard said, folding her arms.
"Why do you care? You're just going to kill me," the soldier said.
"Normally I don't have a chat with Cerberus soldiers before I kill them so I never get a chance to ask for their name. I'd like to know yours, so I can remember those I've killed to attain peace. Humor me. Not to mention, I'm not sure I've ever killed a female Cerberus soldier who wasn't hyped up on speed and shooting at me with a targeting laser equipped sniper rifle."
"Typical Spectre. Doesn't give a damn how many people are killed so long as they get the job done."
"With all due respect, the Cerberus soldiers I killed were Indoctrinated and fitted with Reaper tech. They weren't human anymore. The Illusive Man sold his soul and the souls of those that worked for him. I did them a favor. And before that, the geth that I killed were slaves to Saren and the Reaper Sovereign. And before that I killed batarians. And I killed even more in the Bahak system because that was the only way to save everyone in the galaxy. But mark my words, we're better off without some batarian scum. So give me your God damn name because even though you chose the wrong organization to join, you're still human and worth remembering just like my unit back on Akuze and just like those I lost to the geth and the Reapers!"
The night vision her helmet gave her allowed her to see quite clearly as the soldier holstered her weapon then reached up. Shepard signaled to her squad to lower their own weapons. She watched with narrowed eyes as the still unnamed female removed her helmet. As the helmet was removed, shoulder length hair was released. She couldn't tell the color thanks to using the night vision. She did however pick up a wicked gash long since healed trailing from the woman's ear to her jaw.
"My name is Erica Buckner. I was on Mindoir when the batarians hit it. I was a mere child. I joined Cerberus because they took care of humans. Nobody wanted to even talk about Mindoir much less help us rebuild. Destroying the Bahak system was the best thing you could have done. But then you had to fuck everything up by killing my friends," the woman said. Shepard wondered if the scar on Erica's face was from the Mindoir raid.
"Cerberus took care of its people by destroying the core essence of being human! Whatever Cerberus was when you joined, they were no longer the same Cerberus when I killed hundreds of troopers and then the Illusive Man himself. The Cerberus you're a part of now is a fringe part of the organization now. I'm sorry I killed your friends and I'm sorry the batarians killed the people you knew and loved on Mindoir. You can be sure if I hadn't been on Earth nor only 16 at the time I would have been there, killing them instead."
"But you're still going to kill me."
"Maybe we don't have to kill her..." Liara murmured via the private channel. "She may be useful to get to Petrovsky. And she may turn out to be like Miranda and wanting no more part of Cerberus."
"You want me to go back on my promise to kill every Cerberus bastard I find?"
"She'd be ex-Cerberus. You wouldn't be going back on your promise then," Miranda interjected. Shepard knew Miranda had a point.
Shepard sighed a little bit before rubbing at her bicep. A part of her was screaming at her not to do it. That this could all be some trap. It was a great story that almost seemed tailor made to cause empathy. She brought up her omnitool and keyed in a few commands. After the string of commands was put in a pop was heard coming from the girl's submachine gun. A second pop was heard from her missile launcher.
"The hell did you just do?" Erica demanded.
"Safety precuation so you can't literally shoot us in the back. I'm going to let you live. And because you'll be unarmed that'll give you more incentive to follow my orders along with the whole not betraying us thing. After we get you to Afterlife you will be interrogated fully and then we will decide what to do with you," Shepard explained calmly.
"Hang on, Afterlife? That's about a dozen levels down. And there are multiple squads between here and there. I'll be accidentally killed before we reach it!"
"No you won't. Shepard knows what she's doing. You must trust her," Liara said calmly.
"Not to mention, your shields are fine and if need be Liara will put up a barrier to protect you. You'll be fine. I promise. You have a chance to redeem yourself. Don't waste it," Shepard said.
"Fine," Erica muttered. She pulled her helmet back on. She trailed silently behind Shepard. Ashley brought up the rear, watching their six constantly. They made it so that Erica was boxed in for protection purposes.
Behind the Scenes:
Yes, the squad gets all the same ammo powers as Shep. But that's courtesy of Shepard who shares the 'software' for such things. In-game, squadmates can gain ammo powers Shepard has if you upgrade it to a certain level.
I did my best to describe the tactics and the attacks without making things seem like they were taking a while to actually happen. I also had to keep track of four different people as they attacked dozens. This chapter was the first where I've actually had to account for both biotic attacks and weapons. I've done gunfights before, but not like this. Any and all feedback is appreciated.
The first set of batarians mentioned are not the Torfan batarians. Who they are will be explained later.