Alright everyone, I have news. There is a reason a uploaded this chapter today. IT'S MY B DAY PEOPLE!
Anyway now that that's out of the way. The last question was who was the quarian survived when you get Tali on Haestrom?
Answer is Kal'Reeger
winner is Umbra8191
The Wildcard
Chapter 16
"I'm telling you. You're turning into a pussy." Jack warned as she sat on Plague's cot.
When she came in and saw Plague looking at a holographic display of a female form on his Omni tool, she thought she could tease him for laughs. But, once she looked over his shoulder at the workbench she could only roll her eyes as a look of disgust appeared on her face.
Would have been funnier if he was looking at porn. Instead he was using a welding torch on, what she guessed was, a palladium lined breastplate, while wearing the helmet that had inspired his nickname. The "Female Form" turned out to be a 3d model with measurements.
"There is nothing wrong with me being creative, and making sure I am not getting rusty." Plague retorted. Not looking at her.
"You're not going to be wearing that though." she shot back, and then developed a coy smile when she noticed the breastplates shape. Especially in the front. "That is unless you are into that kind of thing."
With that, he turned off the torch as he turned to her. All the while Jack still wore that shit eating grin.
"I could be making you're new attire."
At those words, Jack's eyes widened for a second before they narrowed. "Really?"
"Fuck no." Plague answered as he went back to his work.
"Humph. Whatever, Fishbowl." she said as she started walking to the door. "Enjoy your homemade lingerie. Don't forget to sway those hips."
The only response he gave her was the robotic middle finger rising into the air over his shoulder. To add to the effect, the finger actually spun completely around doing a 360. "Sit and spin, Bitch." were the last words she heard before the door closed on her face as her jaw was hanging open slightly.
Taylor Shepard POV
"Nearing Haestrom now Commander. ETA twenty minutes." Joker announced over the COM while Shepard left the armory.
"Good. Tell Garrus and Zaeed to meet me in the cargo bay." she ordered as she altered her path to now go to her cabin to change into her armor.
"Will do, Commander."
Garrus Vakarian POV
"It's Tali?" Garrus asked in surprise as he stepped into the Kodiak.
His old friend had a slightly cheerful look as she sat in the seat across from him. "That's right." she answered. Her expression then went to one of worry as she looked at him. "By the way. How's your arm?"
"A little stiff." He answered as he subconsciously moved his arm to fix the problem. Harbinger had thrown him pretty hard into that container. If he had human skin, he would most likely be sporting a collection of dark bruises. "Thank the spirits for a metallic exoskeleton." he said to himself.
His Commander let out a short chuckle as she checked her M-4 Shuriken before a look of seriousness showed itself. "Plague and Kasumi took most of the hits though." she said as Garrus's mood changed.
"Yeah." Garrus agreed as he started to think. "Harbinger almost killed, Plague."
Now that he thought about it. After he was thrown away from the group, Harbinger singled Plague out as a primary target.
He looked up to see his Commander with an equally thoughtful look. "He saw something." Shepard voiced his thoughts. "He saw something we can't."
Sure Plague was a good guy to have at your side in a gunfight. But he had to voice his concerns. "Something's not right with him Shepard." Shepard looked at him as he spoke. "I have seen people with his eyes. He's a killer. I have tried to get along with him. But something is seriously wrong with that man."
"What have you seen, Garrus?" she asked as she looked to see if anyone was around the shuttle.
"Back on Horizon, he took a lot of hits." he reminded. "And let's not forget when he met Miranda. What really worries me is his attitude at the moment."
Garrus couldn't help but notice how Shepard's eyes widened a little. "I talked to him the other day." she started. "He actually asked me for advice on how to act towards an argument between him and another member of the crew. At least I think it was an argument."
"That's not what the problem is." the turian complained as he absorbed what she said. "First of all, I smell things." he looked at the face she was making and corrected his wording. "I smell it. Grunt smells it. I am not imagining this. He smells like he crawled through a sea of burning corpses, Shepard!"
He was not making this up. He knew the smell was faint. But he knew what he smelled.
"I heard about this from Grunt back on Purgatory." she said. "Said he smelled like decay and battery acid."
"He acts like a nice guy. I'm not saying he isn't…"
"But." Shepard guessed his next word.
"But… every nerve in my body is telling me to do one of two things. Get everyone on this ship as far away from him as possible, or shoot before he turns on us."
Shepard looked at him as she put her weapon away. "He could leave at any time, Garrus." she started to say. "He won't take anymore resources then what he needs. And he refuses to give anything to Cerberus. I see how the crew looks at him."
She had a point. When ever Plague was in a room, some of the Cerberus crew would give him this look. It was like a predator looking at a wounded dangerous animal. They want to start eating, but the big guy could still take them out. "So we know for sure he is not Cerberus. But what if it was just an act?"
She looked as if she was about to answer until the topic of they're conversation stepped out of the elevator and started walking to the shuttle. "Plague? I didn't call you to the cargo hold."
The man tilted a nonexistent hat as he looked at them. As far as reading human facial expressions go, Garrus thought he looked a little tired with something on his mind.
"I'm not going with you, Boss." he answered as he stepped closer to hand Sheppard a data pad. "Was hoping you would let me requisition more palladium and iridium. AI says I need to ask you."
"What do you need it for?" Garrus asked as he examined the man, but showed a friendly attitude.
"Just a project." he answered as he gave the data pad to, Shepard.
"EDI." Shepard called as Garrus saw Zaeed walking out of the elevator. "Give Plague what he needs, please."
"Logged Commander Shepard." the AI announced.
"Anything else?" she asked as she handed the data pad back.
"That would be all, Boss." he said as he started to turn to walk away. "Careful groundside. It would be a shame to see such a pretty face with a round in the head."
Garrus watched Plague as he passed Zaeed and entered the lift. "Sure that was a good idea?"
Shepard gave him a look as she sat back in her seat. "If he wanted to kill us, he would have done it already."
Taylor Shepard POV
'It's hot!' was the first thing to enter Shepard's mind as she stepped out of the shuttle.
They had landed in the shade on the scorching planet and she still felt like she was trapped in an oven. Thankfully she had on the nerve suit under her hard suit. The scenery was interesting though. She had learned a lot about the quarian people from Tali in the time it took for them to take down Saren. Sadly her friend did not go over anything involving quarian architecture. Tall stone white towers reached for the sky as if waiting for those who built them to return, while she made out orange walkways connecting the towers together. The gleam from the sun hitting the building's walls caused her to wince her eyes a little as she took in the details.
Sure the buildings were an empty shell of what they used to be. But that didn't mean the structures were any less beautiful. She wished she could have seen them in they're prime. To think of how far the race of brilliant engineers had fallen made Shepard feel a strong sense of pity towards her friend and her people.
She turned back to see the other two members of the ground team step out of the shuttle and watched as their moods changed as they exited the cool air-conditioned vehicle and into the baking heat.
"Alright. Stay close and keep an eye out for any Geth or Quarians." she ordered as she took out her pistol and lead them forward.
As the other two pulled out their rifles, Garrus spoke. "I feel like I am wrapped in tinfoil." he complained as he followed his Commander on her left with the second human taking her right.
"Felt worse." the merc replied as a gloved hand wiped away some sweat off of his brow. "Still a pain in the ass."
"If we stay in the shade, we should be fine." the turian advised.
Shepard ran out of the shade to get to the next shadow as her team did the same. All of they'er shields complained from the abuse from the solar assault until they reached the next sanctuary.
"Agreed." the only woman in the group said as she fanned herself with a hand.
And she thought being in the shade was bad.
"Barricade up ahead." Zaeed anounced as they run through the sunshine again once their shields recharged.
Shepard looked ahead to see the man was right. There was an orange door blocking them. She looked to her right to see what she didn't expect to see. An orange door with a green holographic display.
"Over there." she ordered as she ran ever.
She couldn't believe the place still had at least some power. Again she thought about how brilliant the engineers were. The planet hadn't been attended to for quite a long time. To have the generators still working was, if anything, proof that the quarians were not to be looked down upon. But admired.
Garrus and Zaeed took both sides of the door while she took point.
As she opened the door she heard what had to have been a recording starting up as the doors revealed a blue holographic terminal and what she really didn't want to see.
"Emergency log entry. The geth are here."
Right across from her was the still form of a quarian with a black and yellow suit with a yellow mask on the ground next to a lamp to the right of the terminal. "I've stayed to bye the others time."
"Brave man." she silently complimented the late quarian soldier. Instinctively, Shepard's right hand started to build biotic energy as she looked around the room to see that right next to her was another body. This one was bright red. She let out a sigh when she realized it was not another quatian, but a deactivated geth. 'Not Tali.'
The quarian must have taken a hit right before he took down the geth. He must have died from an infection. There was a med kit next to the terminal which leads her to believe he was trying to seal the breach in his suit.
"Anyone who gets this, find Tali'Zhorah. She and that data are all that matters." hearing those words she looked at the terminal. "Keelah se'lai."
'We will.' she promised in her thoughts as she bowed her head slightly to give the man a moment of silence.
"We need to get moving Shepard." Garrus reminded as he passed her to get to a second terminal that looked at the blockade door.
As the turian worked at terminal, Shepard search both bodies for thermal clips. She was careful to not disturb the quarin as much as possible as she searched his belt.
He had been dead a while, but she could still make out the familiar smell of the suit that had been melted with a plasma weapon. Her emotions were a little mixed up.
Ever since she had been brought back, she had to concentrate on a new enemy. An enemy she was unfamiliar with. Now she was back in her element. She had taken down hundreds of geth. With that in mind, she felt a familiar growing hatred.
Eden Prime. Her friend, Kaiden. The attack on the Citadel. With all of those thoughts in her mind, she was tempted to fire into the geth's body until it cost her a thermal clip.
But she had to remain collected. She had to remain quiet in case there were geth nearby. She had to get her friend off of this planet.
Plague POV
"So instead of strength enhancement, you are trying to create a cybernetic weave that can both predict, and hasten the movements of the wearer? Would recommend bypassing the connection fibers here." the salarian suggested as he pointed to a part of the hologram while standing over Plague's shoulder.
101 had asked the Doctor to come down to engineering to help him combine what little technologies he had brought with him, and what he now found himself working with. Mordin said he had nothing to do for exactly seven minutes. So he had to work fast to bring the alien up to speed on what he was working on. Thankfully he grasped the concepts quickly.
Letting out an irritated sigh, Plague voiced what he was thinking. "Sure it looks good. But that kind of arrangement would hinder the power flow. The power wouldn't flow evenly throughout the suit."
The salarian "hmmmed" as he cupped his chin that Plague had thought was too small to be cupped in a hand in the first place. "Then start from scratch." Plague was about to argue until Mordin explained. "This whole time you have been trying to get one small power source to power two fairly complicated pieces of technology." he then looked at the measurements and then looked back at the second hologram. "She has her own cloaking system built within her Omni-tool. Building one within the suit would be both unnecessary, and a waist."
Plague turned on him quickly in his seat as his eyes opened wide in shock. "What makes you think I'm building this for anyone?" he almost yelled.
"Those measurements are Kasumi Goto's. Correct?" he asked as Plague mentally slapped himself.
The alien was a walking calculator combined with a thesaurus, and the mutated offspring from a romantic joining from someone in the Think Tank, and a biologist with a brain mutation caused by walking too close to a radioactive can of lead paint… Now that he thought about it that made absolutely no sense.
Taylor Shepard POV
"Concussive shot!" Shepard yelled from her cover behind a fallen column.
As soon as they got the barricade door out of the way, a geth drop ship came out of newair and stayed just long enough to drop off some troops.
Thankfully the area had a good amount of shade, unless you walked to the right from the barricade door to the raised walkway. It looked like a good sniping position. But she didn't want to risk it. If she sent Garrus up there his shields would be fried every time he got up to take a shot. At some point the geth would all focus on him at once. His shields would be too damaged to protect him properly.
She saw Garrus to her left inserting another thermal clip, while Zaeed was behind a container that had to have been left by the quarians here. He leaned out of cover and launched a concussive shot that blow a trooper to bits.
She went back into her cover to switch her pistol for her M-4 Shuriken. She was about to shoot from over her cover when Zaeed yelled.
"Shepard! Year right!"
Her back was to her cover. She looked just in time to see a geth trooper crocheting around the corner in an attempt to flank her and Garrus. Right as she saw it, her biotics came to life as the geth was wrapped in a blue aura.
When she moved her hand in a downward motion, the machine was forced to the ground as it was then dragged across the surface to stop right in front of her and Garrus's feet.
Before it could react, it was shot almost point blank in the head by two separate weapons. One a sniper rifle round. The other an M-4 Shuriken burst.
"Got a little creative with those biotics, Shepard." Garrus complimented as he sniped another trooper.
"I aim to please." she said back as she readied a shockwave.
The wave went across the battlefield and collided into two geth, making them slam into the walls in the surrounding environment.
"Zaeed. Move up!" she then looked to Garrus as her breathing became a little quicker from the two biotic acts she had just preformed. "Cover us from back her. Once I signal you, move up to a next position." she then narrowed his eyes at him as she grabbed the front of his armor to pull him a little closer so he could hear what she was going to say over the gunfire. "Stay away from the raised walkway! It's too exposed."
Receiving a nod, she let go as she climbed over the cover. She ran towards a trooper who was about to aim at her. Before it could fire, it was lifted into the air as gravity stopped holding it to the ground.
Since it was not high off the ground yet, she hit it in the head with her weapon, making it lazily begin to go back. Before it went far, a sniper shot took its head apart as Shepard had already passed it.
She ran down the ramp into the lowered platform and slid into cover next to Zaeed he was giving her covering fire.
"Shepard." Garrus's voice came over the com. "I see three geth above your position."
Almost as soon as they were informed, gunfire raned down on them from above, causing the two to intictivly cover their heads with there arms as they got as close to the box shaped square they were using as cover.
Thankfully, the geth were at an awkward position to fire at them directly. Sadly, the same could be said for the organic party.
"Shit!" Zaeed yelled as his shields failed and a shot clipped his arm.
"You alright?" she yelled as the large looked like he was trying to become one with his cover. Good thing she had a fit slim figure. She didn't have to worry as much about a lucky shot.
"Yeah!" he answered in a frustrated voice. "Not all of us can become a walking stick!" he let out another curse as a shot came close to hitting his foot.
Shepard would have thought the scene was comical if she wasn't getting shot at as well.
"Incoming Concussive shot." Garrus announced, followed by a small projectile sailing across the war zone.
Shepard watched the white streak as it flew over them and exploded somewhere on the upper walkway.
All motion on the walkway stopped as Shepard gave herself a biotic barrier when she got out of cover to take the next position. "Garrus. Move up!"
"On it… Rocket incoming!" he yelled as Shepard was thrown to the side by a rocket that hit a wall next to her.
She felt the strain on her biotic shields as it took most of the damage. Her kinetic barrier went out instantly. The barrier she made with her biotics went out of existence when her head slammed into a wall as her form hit the ground.
"Shepard! Shepard, get up!" shouted Garrus over the sounds of another rocket hitting a wall and the ringing she heard as she felt pain in the back of her head.
Her vision was slightly blured as she touched a tender spot on her head as the rest of her body pulled itself to sit against the wall she had been thrown into by the explosion.
As she moved her neck a certan way she felt a flash of pain from the base of her skull. "Damnit…" she groaned as she realized what it was.
Her biotic amp was damaged. Usiuly a biotic amp was located in the lower neck area. It was strange for her to have it located at the base of her skull.
'Miranda's gunna be maaaaad.' she thought to herself as she looked at her hand to see a wetnes on the black fabric covering her fingers. Shepard grabbed the weapon next to her as she placed a hand on the wall to help her pull herself up. 'Tali. You damn well better be thankfull.'
"Shepard." Garrus called as he ran up to her position when the lost geth was dealt with. He slowed down when he saw her red handprint on the wall next to her as he took out some Omni-gel.
"I'm fine Garrus." she voiced out as the turian walked behind her and took out her hair braid so that he could get to the injury. "Hey!" she almost shouted when he dropped it on the ground.
"Sit still Shepard." Zaeed said in an annoyed sounding voice.
"Her amp is fried." Garrus announced as she felt his talons touching the back of her head.
She heard a tired sigh come from the old merc who put his rifle on his back.
"No more biotics until you get this looked at, Shepard." he said as she felt the cool sensation of Omni-gel being applied.
"I know better." she voiced as she closed her eyes as she felt the cool gel go to work.
She had seen a lot of things. She knew what would happen if someone tried to use biotics with a damaged amp. She had seen the energy build up on the inside of an individual and watched as a biotic bubble slowly grow inside the pit of his stomach, making him explode. Others she had seen had started building up energy they couldn't release and had the energy force its way out of their body any why it can. And she meant "Any" way, including making its own exit.
Both incidences looked extremely painful. She knew better then to risk it.
She bent down to retrieve her braid as her hair started to cover her eyes. "We wasted enough time. We need to…" she trailed off as more gunfire was heard nearby.
Everyone got tense and started running in the direction of the shooting. As she ran, Shepard stowed away her braid in an empty compartment of her suit. She then pulled out her pistol.
When they turned, they saw three geth shooting at someone out of view around the next corner. They all started shooting when one geth fell to the ground. Everything went quiet as the last geth was put down.
The ground team ran around the corner expecting to find the quarian survivors, but when they got there they only found half of what they wanted to find. Quarians? Yes. Survivors? No.
Three corpses lay before them. Two men. One woman. Shepard crouched down to look at the quarian woman closely as she felt a tug on something inside of her.
"Damnit!" Shepard yelled as she saw the plasma burns. "We should have got here faster." she said angrily as she rolled the woman on her back and placed the quarians hands on her chest.
"Shepard…" Garrus started but was silenced when Shepard spun around to look at him with a glare as she rose.
"What Garrus?" she sneered. "What were you going to say Vakarian?" she walked up to him as she put her weapon away. "It's not my fault? I shouldn't have wasted our time with my injury? What?" she yelled as her eyes narrowed even more.
She knew it was her fault. If she hadn't have ran for the next piece of cover, if she had seen the rocket coming, if she had been more careful, those quarians would still be alive right now. 'If I had been faster…'
She didn't know why she was yelling at her friend. She looked at the turian and saw the hurt look on his face as she let out a long breath. "Garrus… I…" she was cut off by one of the quarian's come links.
"Break-break-break. OP-1, this is squad leader Kel'Reager, do you copy?" a gravely male voice spoke. She searched the quarian the com was on, and picked up the device. "The geth sent a dropship to OP-2. Tali'Zorah's secure, but we need backup."
A wave of hope hit Shepard as she listened. 'She's alive!'
"We're bunkered up here. Can you send supp…?"
"This is Commander Shepard of the Normandy." she interrupted. "I couldn't get to this squad in time. You guys are the first survivors I've heard from." the last part was said in a more grim tone as she looked in the distence and could see some quarians holding a position.
"Damn… Wait. Shepard? The Spectre Tali worked with? …I don't know why your hear, but right now any organic is a welcome sight." the tone in his voice started to sound more hopeful in Shepard's ears.
"Tali talks about us?" Garrus voiced out, sounding surprised.
"Patch your radio into channel 617 Theta." the quarian instructed. Almost instantly everyone followed his instructions. As soon as the com was set she heard him in her earpiece. "We were on a stealth mission. High risk. We found what we were after, but the geth found us. They've got us pinned down. Cant get to our ship, can't transmit data through the solar radiation."
"What's your situation? How many of you are there?" Shepard asked as she picked up a thermal clip next to the quarian she found the com link.
"We were a small squad. Dozen marines, plus the science team." he explained. "We're down to half-strength now. Made the synthetic bastards pay for it though."
'We need to get there fast.' she thought before speaking. "How are you holding up? We can be there in a few minutes."
"Take it slow and careful. Direct sunlight fries your shields all to hell." the quarian warned. "We're bunkered down at base camp across the valley. I left Tali'Zorah at a secure shelter, then doubled back to hold the checkpoint. Getting Tali out safely is our top priority. If you could extract her, we'll keep them off you."
"Are you absolutely sure the geth have not got to Tali yet?" Shepard asked as she took out her pistol.
"Affirmative. Left my best men with her. When you get here, you can talk to her on the comm."
"Alright. We are going in." Shepard informed.
Before she could start moving, Kel'Reager started talking over the com. "Wait! Watch your ass! We've got a dropship coming in!"
Just as the man said. A geth dropship flew over the structures to get to the quarian position where two marines were trying to hold they're own against the ranks of geth hiding behind cover.
At first she thought they were just going to drop off more troops. But that ship was getting to close to just dropping reinforcements. "Kel'Reager. Get your men inside!"
Her warning was to late. The ship fired a barrage of plasma charged projectiles headed towards the quarians. Before they could get behind some cover, they were consumed by the resulting purple explosion.
Her team had started moving forward as soon as the dropship left, as if it was satisfied by the two lives it had just taken out of existence. Shepard wanted to use her biotics to either pull the possible survivors out of the way of the falling pillar, or use them to slow down, or alter the path of the structure. She felt the energy building within her, but before she could have put it to use, her head suddenly felt like it was on fire.
"Damnit, Shepard." shouted Garrus as he grabbed her arm while the other was holding her head.
She was pulled to cover as she heard the piller fall, and couldn't help but wince when she heard the sound of bones and everything on the quarians bodies being crushed under the weight.
The geth troopers had spotted them. Well she guessed they spotted them. Who else could be hitting their cover.
She fought with the pain in her skull as she gave the two commands. "Garrus. Give Zaeed cover fire. Zaeed. Move up."
The sounds of the surrounding gunfire felt like drums in her head. She picked up her weapon and aimed out of cover as the two men followed the orders given to them. Her eyes zeroed in on a ripple in the air coming up the ramp to their location. "Cloaked geth!" she shouted as she started firing.
Once the geth was hit, Zaeed and Garrus mowed it down after they bright down its shields.
Once the third geth fell, she heard a familiar voice in her ear. "Crap. Doorway's blocked!" hearing that, they all looked to see that the pillar Shepard had tried to stop was blocking them. If she didn't know any better she would have thought the pillar was mocking her. "Grab the demo charges in the buildings nearby! Use them to clear a path!"
Plague POV
"I get a new friend?" a computerized voice asked in a loud childish manner.
Out of all of the AI's he could have picked, why did he pick this one?
The voice sounded a lot like a young teen with a cheerful feminen voice. He thought it would match Kasumi nicely since the thief was always seemed to be high in spirits. That was until he had his little outburst a few days ago. He hated the state he put her in. Maybe if she had something to make her smile. Even a little…
He sat on his bunk as he voiced his answer to the program still in his pipboy. "Yes. But you need to be a little quieter. She…" he didn't get to finish before he was interrupted by a loud voice.
"My friend is going to be a girl? Yay! I'm going to have a sister!" before his ears could bleed, he muted the AI as he rubbed his temples.
When he picked the AI he thought Kasumi would like a happy cute sounding voice to talk to. But if it continued like that it would drive the woman insane. "You are going to have to quiet down! She is a thief, which means you have to be silent when you should be. Now. I am going to un mute you."
Once he did so, he was a little surprised by the following silence until he heard the AI spoke quietly in a whisper. "No one's as unnoticed and quiet as me."
Taylor Shepard POV
"Our ancestors walked these halls with uncovered heads. The sun must have been normal back then." I familiar quarian voice said in the log. It felt good to hear her voice again. After spending the last twenty minutes fighting through geth to get those charges Shepard needed something to put a smile on her face. "So much space. Walls of stone… it's amazing. I wish my friends could see it. I wish Shepard were here."
Shepard looked to her side to see Garrus with a small smile like she had. 'We are here.'
Backing away from the log, Shepard started looking through the next terminal trying to find the com. It wasn't until a voice started talking accros the room, that she found it.
"Hello?" Tali spoke as her image appeared above the terminal. "Is anyone there?"
"Hello, little sister." Shepard greeted as she walked up to the device with a large grin on her face. "And yes, Tali. This world is beautiful."
"Shepard?" the quarian asked in serprise as she did a doubletake. "I'm not complaining, but you show up at the strangest times! What are you doing in the middle of geth space?"
"You saying I can't just stop by to visit a friend?" Shepard asked with a mock depressing tone. "We can talk about it after we geth you out of here."
"Agreed. Kel'Reeger and whats left of the marines got me into the observatory. From where you are, it's through the door and across the field. I got the data I needed, and I'm safe for now, but I've got a lot of geth outside."
After a quick glance, Shepard looked back at the quarian with an iritated look. "Somebody sealed off the door. Think you can do anything from your side?"
"Let me see…" her hands looked like she was working on a keybord as she answered. "Yes, I can do it. Here." the door's display turned green as she manipulated her controls. "Should be unlocked now." she then looked up at her with her soulders lowered slightly. "Be careful, Shepard. And please, do what ever you can to keep Reeger alive."
With those last words, the link was turned off.
"Right." she said as she walked to the door.
After a few turns in the small tunnle they finally made it back outside. The whole time Shepard was holding her pistol, so she was ready for the two drones that appeared before them. Without a word, she and Garrus shot down the two machines. The whole ground team went behind cover when they saw more drones flying in their direction.
Small and fast. that's how a drone worked. They practicly have nothing to defend themselves against the accelerated rounds other then their maneuverability.
With both Garrus and Zaeed's rifles they were better equipped to deal with the swarm of drones moving towards the group. Shepard stayed low as she took pot shots at the few drones that made it past their defenses.
It wasn't until a geth prime came around the corner in an attempt to flank them that they had a problem.
"The drones were a distraction!" shouted Zaeed as they moved to a piece of cover that would defend from both they drones and prime.
Shepard fired a few rounds at the geth only to curse as the assault was simply absorbed by the geth's shields like a sponge.
"Launching an overload!" the turian next to her shouted as a spray of sparks fired out from parts of the geth's form.
For a few seconds the three organics peppered the geth at the same time until it finally fell to the ground before it could take down Zaeed's shields.
Once the main threat was gone, everyone switched their focus back on the approaching mass of drones.
"How many are there?" Zaeed shouted as the seconds ticked by.
The ground around them was littered with debris from the decimated drones they had shot down.
The question was answered until the flow of drones started to decrease.
"Move up." Shepard shouted once the last drone was shot down.
"Finally. Thought that would never end." she heard Garrus mumble as he followed behind her.
She would have voiced her agreement if it hadn't been for another geth prime walking around the corner just to her right.
Time seemed to slow down as she heard the sound of a knife being drawn. Zaeed's form appeared as he jammed the long combat knife into the geths flashlight like eye. Instinctively Shepard and Garrus charged forward and rammed their shoulders into the geth's torso as it was trying to adapt with the loss of its eyesight.
The sudden impact caused the machine to tilt and fall to the ground on its back once gravity started to make itself known. As it fell, it fired its plasma shots into the air were it couldn't cause any damage. Once the synthetic was on the ground everyone aimed and fired at point blank, far too close for the shields to register the threat.
Her heartbeat started to slow down as she fired the last round into the geth's head. Getting off of the large machine, she extracted Zaeed's knife and handed it to the merc.
"Fast thinking." she complimented as Garrus grabbed her hand to help her up.
The merc sheathed his blade before making a reply. "Faster we get off this rock the better." he said, sounding irritated.
Rolling her eyes, Shepard switched her thermal clip as she signaled them to fallow her to the door ahead. Like before. Zaeed and Garrus stood at the sides as she took point. The door opened and they all went in. what they found was an empty room.
After a quick sweep of the room, Shepard figured she had to activate the terminal in front of some shutters to open the blast door to her left.
After a few seconds, both the door and the shutters started opening. And she instantly wished she could close them back.
Across a large area was toppled pillars and construction equipment. She also saw the area was teeming with geth and a large mass in the distance.
"Colossus!" Garrus shouted as the large metal form turned to them.
Seeing the bluish glow start to form around the large geth's head she shouted to the others who already started to move. "Get down!"
As everyone hit the deck, the plasma charge hit the console causing sparks and shrapnel to fly all over the room. Everyone recovered quickly and started running out the door that had opened to find themselves on a lower walkway under the shutters they had opened.
"Over here! Get to cover!" a quarian shouted on the walkway.
As plasma fire ripped into the surrounding surfaces the ground team crouched down for cover around the quarian with a red and gold suit and gold visor holding a rocket launcher.
"Squad Leader Kal'Reeger." the quarian introduced as his head dipped down a little when a stray shot went by. "Migrant Fleet Marines. We talked on the radio before that dropship arrived. Still got no idea why you're here, but this is not the time to be picky." they both were sent a little off balance as the Colossus fired another charge at them and hit a nearby wall. "Tali's inside over there. The geth killed the rest of my squad, and they're trying to get to her. Best I've been able to do is draw their attention."
"Are you sure she's still alive?" Shepard shouted over the gunfire.
"The observatory is reinforced. Even the geth will need time to get through it. And it's hard to hack a door when someone's firing rockets at you. The geth are near platoon strength, but the colossus is the worst part. It's got a repair protocol. Huddles up and fixes itself. I can't get a clear shot while it's down like that. I tried to move in closer. And one of the bastards punched a shot clean through my suit."
"How bad is your suit damage?" Shepard asked as she tried to look over cover only to pull her head back down quickly when it was almost blown off.
"Combat seals clamped down to isolate contamination, and I'm swimming in antibiotics." he answered. "The geth might get me, but I'm not going to die from an infection in the middle of battle. That's just insulting."
"Any idea of how to deal with the colossus?" she asked as the problem took that as it's cue to try to hit them again.
"Standard protocol with armature-class units is to sabotage the shields and whittle it down, you know. Kill it with bug bites."
"Have a feeling that won't work here." Garrus remarked.
"He's right. The repair protocol blows that plan to hell. You try to whittle it down, it just huddles up and fixes itself." he explained. "Whatever we do has to scrap that bastard fast. Probably means getting up close, past that cover."
"What's the plan here?" Shepard yelled as another explosion was heard. "Any ideas?"
"Just one. I'm not moving so well, but I can still pull a trigger, and I've got a rocket launcher that the sun hasn't fried yet. You move in close. I'll…" he started to say before Shepard jumped in.
"You've done enough Reeger. Stay put."
"Wasn't asking your permission. My job is to keep Tali safe. This is our best…" he was about to stand out of cover to fire a rocket, but Shepard grabbed him and brought him behind the wall next to the catwalk.
"We don't have enough people on our side for you to take one for the team!" she shouted over the rounds firing.
"I'm not going to stand there while you run into enemy fire!" he yelled back. "They killed my whole squad!"
"And if you want to honer your squad, you will stay down and watch my back!" she yelled even louder as they both crouched back down. "This is no time for you to defend your pride while dying at the same time! Too many people have died here already for you to just throw your life away!"
Shepard couldn't see the quarian's face, but she had a feeling he was giving her a glare before he finaly let out a grunt in annoyance. "All right. We'll do it your way. Hit them for me. Kela se'lai."
"Garrus. Give us covering fire back here. Zaeed. You're with me. We're going up the left side." she ordered as the turian switched to his sniper rifle while the merc gave her a nod.
Shepard and Zaeed ran down the ramp from the catwalk to the first cover the could see. It was a row of different sized pillars. Tall to short from right to left. The geth started shooting at them and that gave Garrus the opening he needed to aim and score a headshot on a trooper coming down the walkway from the right. The sun had already fried its shields so it went down in one shot. Same reason why she had denied her friend from using the similar walkways on the way here.
Shepard looked out of cover after switching to her shuriken to spray a geth as Zaeed fired at another geth near the one she was shooting. Once they both fell, the two organics moved to the next cover to the left of the pillars they had been using.
Shepard slid behind a medium sized crate while Zaeed ran past her to get to the next sanctuary as she covered him. If any of the geth tried to get them by going the way they came, then they would be funneling in. making them easy targets for Garrus.
The direction they took provided cover from the colossus so they only had to worry about the smaller synthetics.
The way the fight was going, they would deal with the gath quickly. The only problem showed itself was the geth destroyer that decided to rush them while its flamethrower was burning the air before it. It was focusing on Shepard, making it unprepared for Zaeed who shot it from the side.
The colossus was heard trying to move to a better vantage point only to find out it had limited mobility.
Shepard was behind another crate while Zaeed was behind another to her left. The containers were taking a lot of damage, so she couldn't tell how long they would last under the machine's abuse.
She had switched to her Collector particle beam and fired at it every time its attention was away from her, while Zaeed did the same with concussive shots. Garrus fired at it from a distance and would occasionally fire a concussive shot of his own whenever he got a chance.
At first she thought they were not doing any damage until she noticed a few sparks here and there to reward her for her trouble. It was with a final concussive shot from Zaeed that the thing finally went down as sparks and flame erupted from some openings.
"The colossus is down." she reported to Garrus who would be having a little trouble seeing from has vantage point.
"Right, Shepard. I'm on my way. Reeger says he will join us in a minute."
Garrus made it to the group a few seconds after Shepard had opened the door.
She took a moment to take in the sight before her. Geth bodies littered the floor aeound a room with computers on the right side. And at the end of the room she could see the purple form of Tali working at a terminal.
"Thank you, Shepard. If not for you, I would have never made it out of this room." letting out a sigh, she turned to them. "This whole mission has been a disaster. I wish I joind you back on Freedom's Progres, but I couldn't let anyone take my place on something so risky."
Shepard couldn't help but smirk. 'Tali. Ready to protect those close to her.'
She felt what could only be described as pride in the woman she saw as a younger sibling. "What were you researching here?"
Activating her Omni-tool, she started to explain. "Haestrom's sun is destabilizing. Back when this was a quarian colony, it was a normal star." as she spoke, her Omni-tool showed the star in question. "It shouldn't change that quickly."
"What would make it do that?" Shepard asked as the smirk went away. 'Peaple died just for that?' she thought angrily.
After a shrug she answered. "If I had to guess, I'd say it was dark energy affecting the interior of the star. The effect is similar to when stars blow off mass to enter a red giant phase, but Haestom's is far too young for this to be natural."
With her thoughts from earlier she voiced her next question. "A lot of Quarian's died here to get that data. Was it worth all the deaths?"
"I don't know Shepard. It wasn't my call." she said sadly as she shook her head slowly while hanging it a little. "The Admiralty Board believed the information here was worth sacrificing all our lives for. I have to believe that they know what's best."
"I didn't ask what some admiral thought." she retorted a little too suddenly. "I asked if you thought it was worth it?"
"A lot of people died here." Tali answered with an aggressive tone showing Shepard that the little quarian on her pilgrimage she had met had grown a little. It saddened her a little to see how she had changed. Became less innocent. "Some of them were my friends. All of them were good at their jobs. That damn data better be worth it. The price was too high."
"I'm glad you are alright, Tali." Shepard said as she took a step forward as a gentle smile showed itself. "After you send that data, I could use another familiar face on the Normandy."
"I promised I would see this mission through. I did. I can leave with you and send the data to the Fleet. And if the admirals have a problem with it, they could go to hell." she lowered her Omni-tool and sad the next few words that got rid of Shepard's smile. "I just watched the rest of my team die."
"Maybe not the whole rest of your team ma'am." Reeger corrected as he finally showed himself, limping into the room.
"Reeger! You made it!" Tali announced happily. And if Shepard didn't know any better, she would have sworn she heard a little eagerness in her words.
'Grown up indeed.' she thought with a raised eyebrow.
"You're old captain's as good as you said. Damn colossus never stood a chance."
"I could give you a ride back to the Fleet if you need it." Shepard offered as the smile came back thanks to what she had been thinking.
"The geth didn't damage our ship." he declined. "Long as we get out of here before reinforcements show up, we'll be fine."
"Actually I won't be going with you." Tali stated, sounding a little saddened by what she was saying. "I'm joining Commander Shepard."
"All pass the data to the Admiralty Board and let them know what happened." Reeger said before looking at Shepard. "She's all yours now, Shepard. Keep her safe."
"I will." she promised as she shook his hand. "Have a safe trip. Kela se'lai."
The trip back to the shuttle was quiet, but Shepard had on a smile the whole trip. It wasn't until the shuttle was taking off that Tali noticed.
"What?" she asked, sounding a little confused.
Her words made Shepard's smile turn into a large grin as she said her next words. "So… Reeger huh?"
The three words made the quarian sitting across from her attempt to rub her temples through her mask, and then looked as if she was silently punishing herself for trying. "Oh Keelah…"
Hope you liked the chapter. Sorry Plague was not in a lot of scenes this time. But you have to admit he took a beating a few chapters back. Anyway. How about a scavenger hunt? Thought I would mix things up a little bit. You don't have to do this if you don't want to.
I am still looking for Self Insert stories. I will give you two categories. First to find such in either category wins.
OK the categories will be...
First category. Cartoons. And the show will be Teen Titans. (Why I do not know really. I used to watch the show when I was younger.)
Next category. Games. And the game will be Fallout.
Good luck and see you all next time.