Lombax Effect—Chapter 2
Light engulfed Aphelion as Ratchet piloting the ship past the Mass Relay, followed by Qwark and Talwyn. No one was certain of where the relay would take them, but they all had hints that it would lead them back to where Dr. Nefarious took off.
As the light dissipated around him, Ratchet took control of the steering sticks, trying to quickly take in what was around him. He soon had Aphelion flying at a slow speed so that he and Clank could look around to see where they were. More importantly, he was trying to find Nefarious' ship they were chasing after. Where was that crazy robot?
"Aphelion, where are we?" Ratchet asked.
"My navigation systems are unable to decipher our current location. It is possible the Mass Relay took us to an unknown galaxy. I detect no hostile ships nearby. Nefarious has gone"
"What about Talwyn and Qwark? Did they make it through?"
"I cannot locate their starship signatures for Captain Qwark or Miss Apogee. They could be elsewhere."
"This is unsettling," Clank commented, shaking his titanium-plated head. "Ratchet, if Talwyn and Qwark are not here with us, we could be alone out here—wherever we are."
The Lombax was beginning to worry a little. "OK, don't panic." He looked on Aphelion's radar to find something, a ship, a planet or another Mass Relay that could lead them back to Polaris. The third option would be stupid out of the other two. "Let's see... This isn't the first time we got stranded on a new galaxy. Remember back on Cobalia, where we got stranded?"
"Ratchet," Clank said to get his friend's attention. "That was when we were being chased by Tachyon three years ago. It would probably be best to send a distress beacon and hope for someone to pick it up and assist us."
"Do we even have any distress beacons with us?"
"Just one," Aphelion said with apparent hope. "Launching beacon now."
A beep was heard on the radar. Ratchet was not done with his worrying. They were stranded in an unknown galaxy with no signs of Talwyn or Qwark. They were supposed to be on Nefarious' trail when they left Qwark's freighter in Polaris' Cerulean Sector, and now he's gone to do what could pose a threat—if he planned on revenge, for the third time and counting.
"Well, I guess we've got nothing better to do," Ratchet declared. "I just hope we're not stuck for too long, though."
Eden Prime, Milky Way
A loud scream was heard from the reddened sky before a loud thud with clinks of metal came. On the grass, Nefarious was as flat as a metallic pancake before he popped back up and stood evenly, looking up to where his ship was last seen.
"Now, how am I supposed to get off this useless piece of rock?" he mumbled to himself in rage. Just when he went through the Mass Relay, he was almost holding for dear life (or in this case, in hope that his fusion circuits did not cross) with Lawrence beside him in his ship. Now, he was out and alone, and soon his enemies Ratchet, Clank and Captain Qwark would be wondering where he is and planning to hold him up until galactic authorities arrived to imprison him.
Over at a distance, a man came out from his white-plated shelter and stopped suddenly when seeing the strange synthetic in his sight. "What is that?" he asked himself.
Nefarious spun around to see the man and was met with a look of fear. The mad scientist's glare only intensified a slight bit with every set of ten seconds passing. "Who are you? What is this place and where can I find a transport hub?" were the only words he yelled out.
The man was startled and replied with hesitation, "My... name is Manuel. This... This is Eden Prime, a human colony. What are you?"
"You still haven't answered my last question, squishy!"
"Please, calm down! I'll tell you what you want to know! Just don't kill me. Please, I have a wife." Manuel was soon shaking as he spoke.
"Then where can I find a transport hub on this colony?"
"W-We don't have one, sir..."
Nefarious was soon filled with shock along with rage. "RAAAATTTTTCC—" His metallic body soon froze with a slight spark coming from his circuits inside. His angry look could still be seen even when he wasn't moving at all. That was until audio came from God-knows-where sounded through the area.
"Lance, I have a confession to make," a soft, high-toned female voice said.
"Janice, what has happened?" another voice said with a hint of concern, this one being male. "Your dress! How did you get it so muddy?"
"I wish it didn't appear like this, but I believe you do deserve an explanation," Janice answered.
Manuel's fear diminished as he was now swamped with confusion. He could see that the only thing moving from Nefarious was the little gear quickly going back and forth in its green, glass, egg-shaped head.
Before Manuel could go through new theories in his head, a huge shadow floated on the grass until he looked up to see a huge ship of an indescribable shape touch down on the colony's surface. The black shape emitted red electricity on its exterior, hinting to Manuel that it could be a threat. He ran back into his shelter, not wanting to be abducted or killed by whoever was going to come out of the ominous-looking ship.
"Dr. W-W-Warren! They're coming for us all!" While fleeing, Manuel bumps into a stack of crates that towered above him, causing a small toolbox from the very top to fall down on his head. "No! The dark ones have found me!"
Manuel staggers to recover his balance and slips into the shelter.
Meanwhile, Nefarious had finally returned to his senses to find the scientist missing in action. "Where did that squishy scurry off to?"
Suddenly, an electronic stuttering sound was heard at a distance.
Nefarious turned over to see a robot with an obscure-looking head with one flashlight as its eye. It's white coloured alloys and arms holding a sort of military-grade weapon has the scientist's anger replaced with wonder and intrigue.
Nefarious stared at the mysterious robot, as if trying to strip away its shell with his eyes. Out of nowhere, the egomaniacal robot flails his arms in the air while yelling, "Booga, booga, booga" in the hopes of provoking a reaction. The robot, however, tilted its head a little to the side and more electronic noises fill the air.
"What sort of a robot is that?" he asked himself calmly. He was soon walking idly to the robot he saw, trying to see what its purpose could be, and why it was here. He could turn this strange but unique machine into his minion.
"I'd step away from the armed Geth if I were you," a male voice said, two different tones set in one to create this voice.
Nefarious quickly turned around and looked frantically around to see where the voice was coming from. "Who's there? Show yourself! And what is a Geth?"
"Now, that's no way to talk to a Spectre." The voice was less quiet, but he did reveal himself from the shadows. There stood a turian, with armour plated in various silver-coloured metals. He had piercing blue eyes with a black fringe standing out to the rest of his silver face. "These Geth are very dangerous, and they would not hesitate to shoot you—that is, if you steer clear of them."
"Who are you, thinking you could outsmart Dr. Nefarious?" the scientist threatened menacingly.
The Spectre simply chuckled lightly to himself. "You're not from Eden Prime, now, are you? My name is Saren, and I lead these Geth synthetics.
Nefarious turns his back to Saren, and strolls back and forth in a straight line while mumbling to himself. "What? A squishy is commanding these 'Geth'? Interesting. If I can obtain this one's power, hmm... Then I can rule the galaxy as my own!"
Nefarious' insane outburst of evil laughter leaves both the Geth and Saren surprised.
"What's wrong with you?" Saren asked, uncomfortable by the colourful robot's comment.
"Don't you see, Saren?" Nefarious looked back at the turian Spectre, determination in his red-lit eyes. "These Geth, they are under your command. If we work together, we can rule the galaxy and kill anyone and anything that gets in our way!"
"True and true, but I have a mission. If you are willing to come and help, I would be obliged. There is a piece of Prothean technology uncovered from this dreaded colony, a beacon to be more precise. If I can upload the message engraved from it, I can leave and continue my journey for domination. You will have much to learn along the way, Dr. Nefarious."
Gunfire was heard around the entire area, bullet whizzing by at air-breaking speeds.
Talwyn was running as fast as she could with synthetic soldiers shooting her from behind, the bullets missing her by inches, thankfully. As she reached a boulder that would cover her, she drew out her pistol and aimed for the soldiers shooting at her whilst in cover. After several shots, one of them was thrown to the ground by the bullet's impact, its headlight quickly dimming to mark its death.
"What are these things?" Talwyn asked herself after shooting a second death-bot of unknown origin. Another few shots from her pistol and she now made a total of three kills.
The sound of gunfire increased, almost loud enough to deafen the Markazian's pointed ears. However, the bullets whizzed by in two opposing directions. Looking forward with her back still leaning on the boulder for cover, she saw three armoured soldiers—not the same as the ones who attacked her—firing rifles past her and at the synthetic hostiles. Throughout that period of twenty seconds, Talwyn had her eyes shut and her hands covered her ears.
Soon, the sounds of battle died out. Talwyn slowly lowered her hands and opened her eyes to see whether or not she was still in danger—she was not, for the moment.
"Hey, are you OK over there?" a husky male voice asked her. The pink-skinned female looked to see the three soldiers that took down her pursuers.
"Wait, she's not human," the woman in red and white armour commented. "What is she doing here?"
Talwyn was constantly looking towards the three soldiers, one of them was male, two female, all three of them human. "Uhh..." was all she said before quickly fixing her comment with "Would you three possibly know where we are right now?"
"This is Eden Prime, a human colony orbiting at the edge of the Terminus Systems," answered the woman in red and black armour, her voice at a slightly lower but smoother tone than from the other female soldier in red and white. "What's your name?"
"Talwyn Apogee. I-I'm really lost here and I was just running for my life by those strange death-bots. Is there a spaceport nearby?"
"Spaceport?" the male soldier said in confusion. "What are you talking about? There aren't any spaceports on human colonies."
The woman in red and black ignored her lieutenant's remark and looked back to the alien. "Do you remember where were you before the Geth attacked you?"
"Geth?"
"The synthetics we just gunned down."
"Oh! Well, I'm not sure. I was unconscious most of the time, but I woke up under some trees, and this sound of roaring engines from a distance—like it belonged to a starship of some kind."
"What did it look like, Miss Apogee?"
"It was black, looked like an enormous, metallic bug of some kind. I think I even saw some red sparks when it touched down to the ground. If you want, I could take you to the spot where I saw it."
The three human soldiers exchanged looks for a few seconds before turning back towards Talwyn.
"This ship you described might really help us, Miss Apogee. Thank you. Before my lieutenant and I landed here on the colony, it fell under attack by the Geth. Whoever's leading the assault may be a criminal, so the answers we're looking for may come from him. We were originally coming down to search and extract an ancient beacon the colonists found."
"I don't know anything about this beacon, but like I said, I was unconscious before I saw the ship. By the way, who are you guys?"
"I'm Commander Shepard. On my left is Gunnery Chief Ashley Williams, and the man on my other side is Staff Lieutenant Kaidan Alenko. You're welcome to join us, Miss Apogee."
"Thanks, Commander. And please, call me Talwyn, or Tal for short."
Kaidan turned to his commanding officer. "I think we better keep going through the colony, Commander."
"Roger, Lieutenant. We'll meet up with Nihlus along the way. Move out!"