A Woman and her Wolf
The cargo bay's door slowly opens, revealing a picturesque beach, with palm trees, a perfect beach and crystal clear water. It would be beautiful if not for the STG camp parked right in the middle of it. Talking about the STG camp, we have a little welcome party right in front of us. Who are pointing guns. I feel like this is not a traditional salarian greeting. Kaidan puts his hands into the air, to show he is not a threat. Garrus looks at them quizzically, but doesn't put down any of his weaponry, but he doesn't raise them either. Wrex aims his shotgun their way, challenging them to try anything. The salarians get a good look at us, before lowering their weapons. I cannot blame them, considering they have been fighting geth for god's knows how long.
"Who is your commanding officer?" Straight to the point with these guys.
"Already on the ground" says Kaidan, the only Alliance soldier here. A humming of an engine starts to become audible "That should be her coming in now. She should be able to explain everything." She will, but they won't be happy with the answer.
We move onto the beach proper. While Garrus, Kaidan and I get small glances from the operatives, Wrex gets long stares from almost everybody here, making it clear that they don't trust him at all, as if they expect him to suddenly turn and start murdering people left and right. This doesn't last long however, as the mako drives into view, coming over the camp, getting everyone's attention. The mako drives over and parks right outside the camp, and the rest of the ground crew pile out of it, looking no worse for wear, so they must have done pretty well with clearing out the gatehouses.
Shepard moves over to the salarian who talked to us, with the crew in tow. "Are you in charge here? What's the situation?" Shepard gets straight into it.
"I'm Captain Kirrahe, Third Infiltration Regiment. STG." So this is Kirrahe, guy is pretty cool, but if I remember correctly he acts like a bit of a dick here due to stress. "You and your crew have just landed in the middle of a hotzone. Every AA gun within ten miles has been alerted to your presence" You could of just said 'You Fucked up', but that works too.
"What are we supposed to do in the meantime?" Shepard won't like the answer here.
"We stay put until the council sends the reinforcements we requested" Shepard visibly flinches from those words, as do Kaidan and Ashley. An awkward silence stays over us for a few seconds, before Kaidan decides to bite the bullet.
"We are the reinforcements" Somebody had to say it Kaidan. You're the true hero.
"What?" Kirrahe looks kind of pissed. I feel bad for Kaidan. "You're all they sent? I told the council to send a fleet." We have Shepard, that's like five times better than a fleet.
"We couldn't understand your transmission. They sent me to investigate." Shepard looks legitimately apologetic here, even though it's really not her fault.
"That is a repetition of our task" Kirrahe has obviously never heard of the phrase 'don't shoot the messenger' "I lost half my men investigating this place" Yeah, he is pretty angry right about now. I'm quite happy I don't have to speak or really gain any attention right about now.
"So what have you found?" Kaidan just keeps taking it for the team doesn't he? If I was in this situation I would just let my CO deal with the angry man.
"Saren's base of operations. He's set up a research facility here, but it's crawling with geth and very well fortified" There goes the bombshell. Although it does tell us that Saren has some serious shit here, so it's a mixed bag really.
"Is he here? Have you seen him?" Shepard hones in on the word Saren like a shark. She looks pretty determined.
"No, but his geth are everywhere, and we've intercepted some comms referring to Saren" It must have been difficult to intercept geth comms. "This is his facility, there is no doubt about that" though I guess it could have been the krogan's comms, that I assume are easier to crack.
"What's Saren researching?" Ah. This.
"He's using the facility to breed an army of krogan" Wrex in three, two, one…
"How is that possible?" Wrex says this slowly and carefully, as if he heard wrong.
"Apparently, Saren has discovered a cure for the genophage" Kirrahe explains.
"The geth are bad enough. But a krogan army… he'd be almost unstoppable" Shepard quickly works that one out.
"Exactly my thoughts. We must ensure this facility and its secrets are destroyed" Wrex looks angry at that comment. I think. He always looks angry to me.
"Destroyed? I don't think so. Our people are dying. This cure can save them." Wrex is showing some restraint until…
"If that cure leaves this planet, the krogan will become unstoppable. We can't make the same mistake again. You fucked up Kirrahe. You fucked up. Wrex gets right up in his face and points at him.
"We are not a mistake!" I'm surprised Wrex isn't tearing him in half. You can tell he is one comment away from doing it though. Kirrahe waits for him to leave before he continues to speak.
"Is he going to be a problem? We already have enough angry krogan to deal with." That's really cold man. You just don't say shit like that.
"He'll be fine, I'll talk to him" I hope you do Shepard. Don't mess it up.
"I'd appreciate that, Commander." I guess he has his men's safety to look out for. "My men and I need to rethink our plan of attack. Can you give us some time?"
"Go ahead, Captain. I'll come back soon." Let's hope you do Shepard.
"We won't be long Commander" and with that, Kirrahe leaves and enters one of the buildings set up.
Shepard turns to Kaidan and Ashley.
"Looks like things are a bit of a mess" Nice work Kaidan, you pointed out the obvious. Please receive a gold star.
"Yeah, I wouldn't be so worried if it wasn't for Wrex. He looks like he is going to blow a gasket" Ashley replies. Is this going to become a space racist thing? Please tell me it's not.
"You think I should go talk to him?" Shepard asks.
"It wouldn't hurt. Well, it might, actually. Just do it carefully" Well, Ashley is not wrong.
"I'll be careful" You better be Shepard, things can go bad here.
And with that, the crew splits up and does their own thing. Unfortunately for me, Tali decides that her thing is bothering me. Shepard has gone off to speak to Wrex, with Ashley following a few paces behind encase something goes wrong. I want to go see what will happen, but Tali won't let me leave, and I'm unwilling to push the point.
Tali goes straight to the omnitool stuff, and I can see Kaidan watching nearby. The now familiar pressure enters my mind and demands info. This time it feels more focussed, trying to look at my programming. I cannot let that happen and mentally push back. It's significantly harder to do than with Kaidan, but I just about manage it nonetheless. Tali attempts it again with no more success than the last time, and she throws her arms into the air and makes a huffing noise. Kaidan walks over and asks a question.
"Any luck this time?" I think he already knows the answer, but hey.
"No. The thing is harder to access than a geth! Every time I try something I'm instantly locked out. I would really like to meet the person who made this mech's security systems, and find out how they did it." Well, if we are going with who actually made Bladewolf, I don't think that would be a good idea, since pretty much everyone in Metal Gear is an asshole.
"Yeah. I had a go myself and I'm surprised you got anything at all the first time round." Not to sell you short or anything Kaidan, but she is a lot better at that kind of thing than you are.
I notice that Shepard is walking away from Wrex now, and nobody is dead. So that must be a good thing. She moves straight over to where Kirrahe is discussing tactics. I don't think I really need to hear this, I know what happens. So instead I have a nice walk along the beach and have a little look around. Walking on sand is weird, because due to my weight and sharp claws, I sort of dig into the sand with every step, so I'm always kind of in the ground. One of the STG guys is right next to me, and getting a closer look, he seems to be tired. Hard to tell, due to the alien anatomy, but he looks like he would be ever so happy to sleep on the beach. Kirrahe calls all his men over however, probably for his speech about holding the line.
Yeah he is. He has his men in a line while he walks around talking about heroes and holding the line. It's cheesy as all hell, but I guess it's also quite inspiring. He keeps going for quite a while, until he eventually stops, and his men brake away to go get ready, Ashley going with them.
Shepard calls me over, as well as everyone else, and we all follow her to start this mission.
Unlike the game, she takes everyone but the person left with Kirrahe's squads. I guess it makes sense; it would be a waste to leave people to do nothing in a situation like this. Kirrahe quickly calls Shepard to check comms and to tell her to assist however she can. I'm sure she will; at least, I think she will.
Everybody has their guns out, and the normal banter has stopped. This is a combat situation now. Shepard leads the pack while we all follow behind, and only a few paces down this path we come into contact with the geth.
"Contact!" Shepard shouts and dives behind some rocks for cover, and everyone else does the same about a second later. Then starts the game of popping up to shoot and hiding when you get shot at. At least that's what they are doing; I don't have that kind of range, so I need to get closer. When Shepard starts throwing a large amount of fire using her assault rifle, it forces the geth into cover, giving me the opportunity I need to rush into enemy lines and start doing what I'm good at. I got to be careful however, as while these geth are currently suppressed, I can see a building just a bit further down swarming with them. I get lucky though, as I am too small and fast of a target to hit at this distance, so they instead focus on harassing the rest of the team. I have just made it behind the other grouping of rocks that these three geth are hiding behind. They make that weird clicking and beeping noise when they see that they have been flanked. Well, the other two do anyway; the first one doesn't make any noise whatsoever, courtesy of my chainsaw cutting its silly flashlight head clean off it shoulders.
Not wanting to waste any time, I leap onto the second geth, throwing him down prone. Instead of using the chainsaw, I just maul at the geth's 'face' using my claws, which while not as powerful as the chainsaw, are easier to utilize in a pinch. I push myself off the geth's lifeless body to find that the third geth has got its gun right in my face and is about to pull the trigger. Its large flashlight head shows no mercy in what it's about to do, and I think I'm about to die.
*BANG*
The geth's head is reduced to scrap, saving me from an untimely and quite stupid death. Tracing back the shot, I can see Garrus with his sniper rifle, already aiming at a new target. Completely oblivious on what he exactly just did. However I'm still stuck hiding behind this rock for the time being, I can't really charge that building without covering fire, so I need to wait for everyone else to move up.
Seeing that the three in front have been 'dealt with', the six man squad moves up, and closer to the building. Now I'm second to the back of the team, somewhere I can't do much to the enemy. There is quite a few convenient chest high piles of black rocks between me and the building however. Perhaps the geth set them up to fortify their position? Makes more sense than anything else, so let's go with that. Anyway, less thinky, more runny-choppy-stabby. I'm dashing from one pile to the next; slowly making my way closer to the ramp that gets you on top the building. In a short amount of time I have made myself to the front with Shepard and Wrex, though it doesn't look like I will be needed anymore, I think they are all dead.
Oh shit. I just jinxed it didn't I? Yeah I did, the absolutely massive geth rushing down the ramp confirms it. To gain a sense of just how huge he is, especially to me, I only come up to Shepard's waist, and she is about average height, while Shepard only comes up to this things abdomen. Talking about this geth, it's black with yellow stripes with a huge fuck off shotgun. I think these ones were called Destroyers, which is a bit threatening. This geth is charging straight towards Shepard, and only Wrex and I can do anything to stop it in this situation. Wrex uses a Biotic Throw on the charging AI, which stops it in its tracks, but the damn thing is still standing. I think that is a problem I can fix. I charge the colossal mech, and cut both its legs off by the kneecaps. Its upper body falls to the ground, its eye still glowing, betraying its continued existence. I stab my HF chainsaw right into its flashlight, and push it down as far as my tail will allow. A loud grinding noise of metal on metal fills the area, with the grumbling of my chainsaw accompanying it.
That was the last geth here, for real this time. Shepard moves to the top of the building, and a few seconds' later calls Tali over. Tali starts messing with some sort of computer, pressing buttons and doing weird scanning stuff with her omnitool. I try to remember what exactly that was, before I remember that this is some kind of Geth Communications thing, and we just scrambled their targeting. Wish we could do that all the time.
Moving forward, we don't see that much resistance for a while, just the occasional geth trooper, who gets completely full of bullets before they can do anything at all. Right before we reach the building with the satellite we get attacked by three Geth Assault Drones. There is no cover around to hide behind, which is not too much of an issue, as these will likely be killed before they can take down anybody's shields. However I now realize a massive flaw I currently have. Bladewolf does not have kinetic barriers or shields of any kind. His armour is not even that thick, he is not meant to be in direct combat. Luckily I'm kind of a small target, taking lower priority over the others, but a few stray shots hit my face and back, which reveals something to me. For whatever goddamn reason, I can feel pain. It's not exactly the same, though I think that may be to do with my armour, but it's there and it fucking smarts.
I don't even get the opportunity to vent my anger on them; the damn things are so fragile they have already exploded from the sustained fire. Everyone wants a few seconds to recharge shields, so we stop for a few seconds to let that happen. Tali gives me a weird look for some reason, and I don't know why.
Author's Notes
Hello again! I'm happy to see people are enjoying this story so far, and I hope you like where I go with it. About this chapter in specific, all of Virmire was originally meant to be one big chapter, but I realized I couldn't do that without skipping more than I would want too, and I would run out of steam before I finished it. I plan on making Virmire 2-3 chapters long, depending on how I feel writing the next one up, and then a aftermath chapter, linking into the start of the final mission.
To answer a question I saw in a review, I was considering a bipedal form from the start actually, because if I wrote this right, you can see he is very limited in what he can do. The only problem is I want to make sure he is not too OP, and I don't want to deviate to far from the source. Still don't know if I'm going to go with it, but you won't see it for a while either way. As always, please leave a review. I also wrote this while ill, so I fear it might be worse than usual, so if you catch any errors let me know.