A/N:
All right, so this will be the Therum mission, and my first real attempt at a firefight. The one in the clinic really did not count, as it was more of 'try not to get shot' kind of fight.
We will be meeting some interesting people here, and yes, Liara will be there. I mean, it would not be Therum without her, would it?
Anyway, enjoy the chapter. Therum got far too long, so I had to split it up.
Bugs, guns and a bottle of Tequila
August 7th
SSV Normandy
Deck 2. Mess, Captain's quarters and med-bay.
17:51 (ship time)
I'm sitting in the mess hall with Ash and Garrus. For once, he actually didn't go straight for the Mako… that is, I'm assuming we have a Mako. Haven't been down to check yet. Nicolai followed Tali down in engineering. I guess he still hopes he and I were wrong when we guessed that Tali and John are a thing. From what he told me after Ash had beaten the crap out of me, and I found him going through the supplies, he would be okay with it if that were to be the case. So, I suppose that means I have to be proud of him now. Figures.
I actually found a fridge in the kitchen, or whatever you want to call it. It is funny though, I don't recall any kitchen in the game… then again, there wasn't more than three floors in the game, I think. There wasn't any training room, that's for sure. The whole place, by closer inspection, is actually a lot bigger than in the game. As far as I remember, there were about fifteen meters from wall to wall in the game, but here… it's a lot bigger, let me tell you that. I could race someone from one side to the other, and it would take more than five seconds for one of us to reach the other side… that is of course, if it isn't Wrex… man, I would never challenge that guy to anything. If I did, then best case scenario is me loosing. If I won… I think he would be pissed. And if there's one thing I don't want, other than a Reaper on my ass, it's a pissed of Wrex in the same room as me. Seriously, I don't for a second doubt that he would hesitate to rip me in half or eat me if I insulted him… Heh, because his name is like a T-Rex, and he kinda looks like a Dinosaur.
Anyway, Garrus is nursing what looks like a cup of coffee, but I haven't seen any coffee machines around here. Ash is just leaning back in her chair, taking in the environment. Not like there is a lot to take in, but I guess I was a little awed at first too. I mean, come on! It's the goddamn Normandy here!
"Garrus… can I have some of that?" I point at the big canister beside him, guessing that it contains coffee.
"Sure, if you don't mind throwing it all up and spending the next two days in the med bay." Ehh… say what?
"Eehhhrrr Garrus… are you threatening me?" I mean, come on. What did I do to him? He even said thank you for smacking that racist Turian in the face. And I thought it was clear that I wasn't a racist, I mean, why else would he even sit at the same table as me… other than the fact that it's the only table in here I mean.
"What? Oh crap no… this is Dextro-coffee… best case scenario; It passes right through you. Worst case… you die. Simple as that." Right… because the universe has the sick sense of humor that we all need to be different. Again, Figures.
"Oh…"
"Yeah, would be great if everyone were Dextro, but noooo… Universe loves diversity…" So… Garrus just rose a point in my opinion there, just saying. Especially because now I would like to meet the Presidium Groundskeeper and see if he says the exact same thing. Could be funny, if he did.
"So, you're saying that the reason for Nick to make both Dextro and Amino food… is because it would kill each part to eat the others?" Apparently, I'm not the Mass Effect nerd I thought I was… I mean, this is something I ought to have remembered… right? Thát, or my memory is starting to get blotchy.
"Man… I could kill for some tea though… Ash, you know if they've got any aboard?"
"Don't know, never drink the stuff. Or, I just never got hooked up on it." Great. I can already tell I'm in for a great night… whenever that is. There is no tea onboard… Also, what the heck time is it? With all the shit happening these last few days, my body feels like a hangover coupled with lack of sleep for days on end. Figures, I am nowhere near used to this amount of stress.
"Super…" I sigh, leaning back in my own chair.
"Something wrong?" Garrus turns towards me, sipping on a cute white mug with a smiley on. Heh, that should almost belong to Nick, since he chose that for armor… wonder if they have one with a Christmas-theme on it. Thát, would be pretty cool.
"Naah, or well yeah, but it's no big deal. Or… well, I'm kinda what you would call 'addicted' to tea. Can't sleep properly without it. Never could." This earns me a slight chuckle from Garrus.
"What?"
"So the knight in shining armor, savior of Chiefs and Quarians… can't sleep without tea?" oh f. you Garrus.
"Hey, just to straighten things out; Yes, I might have saved Ash, but I was blasted to hell and back again doing so. And for the record, I only helped operate on Tali when she had been shot. As for the fight in the clinic, I was just trying to survive. You know, because I was unarmed and not a bundle of muscle like a certain Greenlander." I say, glancing at where our new chef is jigging around, headphones on, with a cauldron in his hands. Well, never said he could dance, but he has the spirit, that's for sure.
"Operation? What operation?" He suddenly stares at me… didn't Tali tell them she had been shot? Also, what did Garrus think we were doing in the clinic, aside from getting a human out of there?
"The one where I helped Dr. Michelle pull a fucking bullet out of Tali…" Garrus looks at me for a moment, his mandibles shaking a bit.
"I thought she just overstated the whole thing… was she actually on an operating table… and you played doctor… saving her?"
"What's so hard to believe with that?" I ask, glaring at the Turian. Is he taking me for a moron or something? Always loved Garrus in the game, but if he turns out to be a racist or something real-life… that would suck.
"Nothing... it's just that… well, in my time in C-Sec, I've seen a lot of cases of Human-Quarian racism… guess it just takes some getting used to the thought that not all humans are like that...that some of you are descent people…" He looked like he was actually… surprised, I guess?
"Hell Garrus, you think we would serve under Shepard if we were racists?… besides, I've heard there are a lot more cases of Turian/Quarian racism. I don't know about the rest of Earth, but where I come from… Quarians are a highly respected race. Hell, I think every other young man down there dreams of marrying one of Tali's caliber." And that isn't entirely far from the truth... Hell, look at Nick. He had romanced her nearly every damned time he played the game, which, admitting, was only once or twice. Still, he never gave a glance to Miranda. And, I admit without being ashamed of it… I romanced her a few times myself. I mean, how could you not absolutely fall in love with her on the spot. Those nervous fingers, that shyness? Damn, I think everyone back home had a bit of a Talimancer in him… or sometimes her, I guess. Still, it's odd thinking like that. I've been here, what? A week in a conscious state? don't think a coma counts as being here… but, I can't keep thinking about something I'll never see again.
It won't do any F'in good. I look up, and notice that Ash has begun staring at me. I'm about to ask her what the problem is, when I look down and realize that my fists are pressed together so hard that my knuckles are turning white. I quickly release them, along with the air I hadn't realized I was keeping in. Man, keep going like this, and I'll be a wreck. Even before we find Liara. A thought then hits me; Why haven't John told us that were going after Liara yet? I mean, she would seem the obvious choice, since we still need her for the team. Just glad I'm not the one with the visions.
"And why is that?" Oh, the voice is back. He has been surprisingly quiet for the entire time we've been on the Normandy.
"Could you imagine her melding with me? The consequences that would come of that?"
"Are you talking about a possibly jealous Ash… or the fact that she would most likely discover my presence?"
"Take a guess…" I mutter in my mind, idly pondering as to the fact that my thought have no voice. Has it always been like this?
"I'd say that the whole "discover your secret" thing would be the main cause of worry here."
And we have a winner." I think sarcastically. If I could, I would probably glare at him. Only problem there is that I can't, since I can't see the bastard.
"Thomas, are you quite alright?" I get some worried looks from the two at my side. Well, mostly Ashley as she has known me for the longest of the people here. Okay, so Nicolai is here too, but he isn't mixing up in the conversation, so I don't know if that counts here.
"Yeah. Yeah I'm fine. 'Just need some tea. My nerves are still pretty torn up, I guess."
"After that small firefight in the wards? That wasn't a big deal." Garrus says, a quite smug look on his face.. Not really what I meant.
Why was it Joker said he had a stick up his ass again? Because I honestly can't find much difference between this Garrus and the one in 2184.
"Vakarian, I think he meant he misses his family…" Ashley starts cutting in. The line, sentence I suppose, hits me hard. Harder than I thought it would, like a sledgehammer to the chest. Struggling to get my breathing to stay normal, I send her a look, not certain what for exactly. Thanking her, maybe. Or, it could be, but I can't… I don't know.
"Ahh… feeling a little homesick, are we?" He says, the smirk vanishing a bit in favor of some sort of nostalgic expression, if Turians can even have those; "Reminds me of my first tour of duty. My dad was on a mission in C-Sec, and my mother had been injured by some thugs… caught the fuckers soon after and mum got better."
"Not really what I meant soldier-boy. Thomas lost his entire family not two weeks ago." That kind of seems to change his mood.
"Spirits… sorry kid, it… wasn't my intention to cause any bad memories…. What happened?" I guess he didn't mean anything by it, he couldn't have known. Might as well give the same story… even though I don't love lying to my new… family, I guess.
"Train accident. Some fucker didn't stop when he was supposed to. No choice but to continue straight forward, then the train just came in… ended it all, no chance to get away." I said, a bit of the sadness apparently hearable, because he seems to be affected by it. Fuck it. I'm not out to make him feel sad for me. Especially when I am actually lying to him. In a way. He asked what happened, and I told him. He just thinks I was talking about my family, when I was referring to what happened to me.
"I… I'm sorry, if it means anything." Garrus is actually somewhat sad. Damn, never saw him like this before…
"Don't think about it. Just… don't bring it up again, okay?"
"Sure kid, I mean… Thomas." Then there is an awkward pause. After a few minutes of silence, during which Nick has left, presumably for the call of nature, Garrus looks around him, and the back to me;
"Now. I do actually believe I saw a some Amino-coffee somewhere around here. Let's go have a look.
"Find some for me as well Rookie." Ash says, then leans back again. Garrus gives a small chuckle as he gets up. I follow him, and when he stops at the kitchen, he looks at me;
"Rookie"? Is that what she calls you?" I swear, it looks like he's smiling. But Turians are damned hard to read. I mean, they have no lips. They have those mandibles, but that's it. I don't even know if those eye-brow thingies can actually move… scratch that, he just made the turian version of narrowing his eyes, then raising his brows again. Okay, so they can move.
"Yeah, it's… well, I met her when she was my Drill Sergeant on Eden Prime, and well, the name just stuck." I can't help but give him a faint smile. He suddenly changes his posture, and his mandibles come far apart;
"Oh… so it's that kind of "soldier-likeness" you two follow?" what is he… does he know?
"What exactly are you saying Vakarian?"
"Come on kid, I'm not that stupid… or blind for that matter…"
"I still don't follow…"
"Spirits… you like her for your Gods' sake." At this, I almost trip over myself, standing still. How the… but, if he knows, if it's that obvious… can she see it too?
"This conversation is over…" I say, glaring at the Turian.
"What? Oh come now, love is a-"
"I'm pretty sure I have a shotgun somewhere around here." I say, lowering my voice to a near-inaudible sneer.
"Ahh, there we go. 'Told ya I found some coffee somewhere down here" He says, having finally gotten the hint to drop the subject. He fishes a small box of what I can guess is pulverized coffee beans. Okay, guess he's forgiven.
"Thanks Garrus. I might need this." He then hands me the box, and five minutes later, Ash and me are nursing our own cups of coffee. I try a sip… and regret it; while this might taste better than the coffee at my old High school… it still tastes like horsepiss. Better add some sugar… another thing we need to get our hands on, is some fragging' sugar! I can't believe they buy coffee, but not a gram of sugar. Who gets our supplies? Oh… yeah, Nick does that, I think. I've got to have a little chat with him later. Though, Ash doesn't seem to mind the coffee;
"Ash, how can you drink this stuff?"
"Ha… Thomas, when you've been in the Alliance as long as I have, you drink the coffee even if it tastes like mud. The caffeine in this shot may save your life when you need to act fast."
"Guess that's right…" I take another sip. "Doesn't mean I like it now…" I have to get my hands on some tea… Rooibos preferably.
"Well, next time we dock, I'll-" I start. The sound of the intercom turning on stops me though, and we all look to the speakers, Nicolai included, who just exited the elevators.
"Ground team to conference room. Ground team to conference room." Jokers voice sounds over the speakers… oh well, guess we're going to get Liara now… or at least I hope so. We get up, and I signal Garrus and Ash to go ahead, I have to get some water and wash out the taste of this crap. I wave the others off, heading for the sink while they jog up the stairs. I just need a quick drink, then I'll be up too.
"Ahh, that's better…" I remove my head from the sink, and I'm about to head for the elevator, when someone grabs a hold of my uniform. I turn around, but no one's there… what the?
I turn around again, but the same: nothing. Okay, who or what the fuck is messing with me?
"Well, don't look at me, I didn't do anything…" Well thanks voice, that's really a great help.
"Eehhhrrr…. Ash… is that you?" Okay, this is borderline creepy. I'm all alone down here, not even the usual crew talking or walking around.
"Ash? This isn't fu-"then, a hand comes over my mouth, but when I grasp for it, it disappears again.
"Whoever this is… this is not funny!" No response. Just the subtle sound of someone or something moving around.
"I can hear you! I know you're in here!" I try to sound angry, but I'm actually pretty spooked right now. Then, the sound of feet moving again, and I've had enough. The sound is coming from the area around the table, so I lunge for it, arms widespread and flailing. When I reach the table, I hear the sound of something landing on it. It's faint, but I can hear someone breathe. I then climb on the table and wave my hands around. All I catch is air. Dammit, who or what the hell is playing with me?
Then someone pokes my back, and I fall off the table in shock. Awww… fuck! I'm gonna kick his ass when I find the bastard!I get up, and look around. Suddenly, the coffee cups in the sink starts to levitate, and dance around… Ahh… now I know who's messing with me.
"Alright Kaidan, come out and say sorry! I know it's you, biotics to make tuff fly. Veeery mature! I thought you were supposed to be the calm and collected Canadian, not some juvenile asshole." No response, but I know he must be within sight. He has to see what he's manipulating. I start scouring the room, but I can't find the bastard anywhere. So… if it isn't Kaidan… then what the fuck is going on?
"Hello? Come on out… please?" I am actually borderline scared now. This is not what I was looking forward to: A haunted Normandy. I can deal with Geth or Turians, but ghosts? Hell no! Then I hear a… don't know if I should call it creepy or childish laughter, but laughter it is. I've heard this before… but where? It's… I know it's someone in… is it the second game?
"Hello? Come on… I have had eno-"before I can even finish my sentence, a form flickers to life in front of me. At first, I don't really believe what I see. Nine Divines dining in Oblivion! I didn't know my eyesight was that bad… then, I have a damn near heart-attack: in front of me, leaning against the table, is the little Japanese thief from Mass Effect 2.
"What the Hell?!Mara's ass! Kasumi! What the flying fuck was that for?!" Screw the fact that I shouldn't even know of her existence yet, I want answers. She actually looks slightly… surprised. I've never seen that on her before. Still, screw it. I hate being messed around with.
"How did you know who I am?!" She crosses her arms, and stares at me. Must be pissed that she's more know than she wants if a simple marine can recognize her. Well, then she shouldn't have startled me like that.
"Call it a qualified guess… now; what the heck was that for?" I growl, glaring daggers at her. Biting her lip, she glares back from under the hood, specks of light showing the lamps reflecting in her eyes.
"Well, I gave you the chance to be honest with me, but I guess I can't really expect that from someone I scared shitless" Then she starts smiling; "Should have seen your own face when you thought it was someone named Kaidan. Actually, you can. I recorded it and sent it to your tool right now."
"What the… How di- what do you mean by "honest" I haven't lied to you, have I?" I almost shout. Gods, I am starting to dislike the second-most adorable character Hudson ever came up with, and I've only just met her.
"No, but I asked you how you knew who I was, and you said "a guess". I don't think so, so why don't you tell me, how you knew who I was? Or should I ask Mr. Inner conscience?" What… the…shit? How does she know?
"With the danger of repeating myself; don't look at me." Well, that is really helpful, as in sarcastically speaking when I say 'helpful' because it isn't helpful at all.
"Well, someone must have told her, and you're the only bloody one who knows about… well, you."
Kasumi cocks her head, and frowns;
"Really Thomas, one doesn't have to be a genius to figure out why you're not talking. Shouldn't you tell me the whole story now, Mr. "I've got a spirit in my hea-"she doesn't get to say anymore, as my hand flies to her mouth?
"Keep it quiet for the love of whatever Gods you worship! Someone could bloody hear you!"
"Okay, but get those hands of my mouth!" I realize I've been squeezing her mouth together in a pout. Though not my intention, I have no intentions of apologizing for it, seeing as surveillance could have picked up the words;
"Sorry… but just how in the darkness of Oblivion did you know?" This is bad. She might be the best thief in the galaxy, but if she found out, others might do so as well. And then… we'll have the chaos brought by science being overruled by gods and spirits being real.
"Well, about a month ago, I was going on about my business, when suddenly this young man in a suite approached me. Mind you, I was in a vault, with high-tech security, and I only got past the cameras because of my cloaking. So I was surprised, to say the least. Then, he hands me this data pad, and just disappears back the hallway. When I go after him, he's just gone. Then, I look at the data pad, and it says all this strange stuff about the multi-verse-theory and someone important who's soon to end up at the Normandy. Then there's a picture of that guy…"
"Me?"
"Yeah, just you know shorter hair and a smooth face." She says, referring to the fact that I haven't had a chance to actually shave since that first day on Eden Prime.
"So… what then?" I ask, weary of the possible consequences of her knowing so much. I mean, it's not like I could kill her and… No! Gods, no! She doesn't seem to have noticed my inner turmoil, seeing as she just goes on;
"Well, then I get this big sum of money, and when I say big, I mean really big. Like enormous sum of money, and this strange program in my Omnitool. It's a code like I've never seen before; even I couldn't crack it. And apparently, I'm supposed to help you out when you need new equipment. Simple as that."
"But… we can buy it ourselves. I doubt there's any reason to go steal from shopkeepers on the Citadel."
"I'm not talking about stuff from the Citadel. This code I'm supposed to use can cross the borders between the dimensions… if you believe that stuff. At least, that's what mister 'I-can-break-and-enter-in-a-smoking' said"
Holy shit! Wait this guy… I wonder… I turn on my own Omnitool, and start searching the net. Ash taught me after she kicked my ass. She was very surprised to find that I had no idea of how to do anything but check the time, send a message, and calling people. I just said that my family had always been very old-fashioned, and stuck with cell phones and laptops. She apparently bought it, because she gave me the whole tour, meaning I had to sit on my sore ass for fifteen minutes while she used my tool to browse the extra-net. Speaking of which, I open up Google (yes, it still exists) and type in "Casey Hudson". I then go to pictures, and show Kasumi the guy. She almost jumps.
"Yeah, that's the guy. But how could you just find him like that? I've been looking for him using his description for a month, and you just dig him up?" she looks interested now. Oh fuck… how am I supposed to tell her that he's the guy who made her? I might as well give a "Kasumi… He is your father" kind of joke… hell, this is not funny… ehh… how the hell do I explain this?
"Tell her he's a universal guardian…"
"Well, then I wouldn't have been able to find him on bloody Google, would I?" Also… if this is reality, how come Hudson exists? Or well, existed, seeing as BioWare is pretty old by now. It doesn't make sense. Then again, that's coming from the supposedly dead guy who was flung through space and time. Gods, the headache is returning, I just know it.
"Sorry, sorry…"
"Ehh…. Kasumi… this may be a bit of a shock… sit down…" She does as I say, but she doesn't look very happy about it.
"Alright, what is it?"
"…. Crap! I don't really know how to say this… this is… not my universe…" Kasumi looks like I slapped her with a hammer.
"What… are you saying that… I don't even know what to ask. Though, it would lend credence to the whole 'multi-verse' thing, I suppose. Still, What? How?"
"I am not from this dimension, or this universe. I come from planet Earth, and the guy you met, Hudson… he created this universe…I suppose you could call him 'God' or something" I think I would laugh at her expression, were it not a deep-shit moment. Kasumi's knees starts to give away under her, and she ends up sitting on the floor. Okay… not planned.
"What the hell do you mean, "Created this universe"? Am I just the figment of some crazy bastard's fantasy?!" Christ, she… her lips are bopping in the same way that bureaucrat's lips did. This just isn't funny in the least.
"No! Or, I don't know. That he can be here… it must mean that… I don't know, okay?! I'm just as messed up in this as you are!"
"But… but if he created this… he can't have created this… this galaxy is billions of years old… he didn't look like he was past forty!"
"Perhaps there is another explanation?" by hearing the voice, Kasumi's head jolt up again. Okay, I admit, hearing him like this, outside my head, is creepier than anything else;
"And what should that be? That he's a time-traveler as well?" Actually… as crazy as that sounds… that may be the answer… I mean, when you think about it… what sounds most impossible; sent into a game, or sent into another dimension? But… wait a sec…;
"Kasumi… you… heard that?" This is… unexpected. And is probably gonna bite me in the ass later.
"You mean the creepy voice that came out of your head?" guess that's an answer.
"So… I have an idea… it may sound crazy, but I think there actually IS another explanation; look, if I traveled through the dimensions, and he did as well… and gave you a code that allows you to do the same… could he have made the game based on his experiences here?"
"What game?" Oh shit! I told her that it's a game…
"Well…. In my old dimension… this whole place, the place that Hudson visited… is a videogame Or, at least he made a videogame like this. Could be… I don't know..."
"Oh…" she is very quiet now. She just looks down between her crossed legs.
"Shit, Kasumi… listen, it's a game in my old dimension, because he made it on experience, okay? This place IS real. He just made a game from it, like someone writes a diary." I step over to the small Japanese girl, and extend a hand. She looks at it, and then hesitantly takes it. I pull her up, and support her. She has just been told that some random guy knows everything there is to know about her and everyone else in this universe. Hell, I would be smashed up, were it me who just had that bomb dropped in my face.
"Okay… just… call me, if you need anything… okay?"
"Okay. And Kasumi?"
"Yeah?"
"Keep an eye on Keji. And keep away from a guy named Donovan Hock. Rich guy, lives on Beckenstein, bad dude with no morals." She just stops dead in her tracks towards the elevator.
"What… are… you talking about?" Can I do this and not totally fuck up canon in a way that would make the Quarian Shepard look like a normal thing? To hell with it, I saw her. How devastated she was in the game… might as well…
"Listen… I don't even know if I can say this without creating some kind of space-time paradox, but…"
"Out with it! If you know something's going to happen to Keji, say it!" Okay, she really sounds worked up now… guess I can't blame her.
"Well, the Intel you and Keji got, or gets, I don't know, on something the Alliance did, something bad… Donovan Hock will kill Keji to get it from his graybox…" She looks at me, much like Bhatia looked at us when we said his wife was free. Completely dumbstruck. Then she gets what I think is a faint smile;
"Thank you." And she's gone. By the Nine, that was weird… I just pray I didn't fuck something up. Wait, "call me"… did I even get her number? I quickly check my contacts on the tool. Yup, there she is… I think. "Ramengirl" does sound like her. Wasn't there something I should…?
Oh crap! I am supposed to be in the conference room right now. Oh, I bet they are all pissed at me by now, pacing around and saying mean things behind my back.
I jump into the elevator… why doesn't this thing have 1. Floor as a option? I could have smacked myself there. The SR-1 doesn't use an elevator to the first floor: They've got the stairs. I turn and race up the staircase, almost stumbling into another marine on his way down. When I get to the conference room, I practically barge in… not the smartest thing, but I wasn't really thinking.
"Ah, I was wondering when you would show up, Private Fisher" Nihlus says. He is standing over by the screen with John. The rest of the team is seated on chairs along the walls.
"Sorry, sorry… I got sick… after the coffee. I just need to get used to it, is all."
"Uh huh… Do sit down, will you?" Nihlus points at a chair next to Nicolai. It's also the outermost chair, towards the door.
"Sure, yes sir." I think the last time I was this embarrassed from being late… was back in elementary school. It was…
"Just listen to the Turian, will you?"
"Okay, sorry…"
"As I said, we have confirmed the location of the daughter of Matriarch Benezia. She is on this planet, Therum. As far as we know, she doesn't have any connection with her mother's alliance with Saren, but that is exactly why we are here. To find out. She is supposed to be here on an excavation, but she hasn't been heard from in days, so we suspect that something is wrong. Reports show that geth scouting forces has been landing there for the past 24 hours, so we assume that either they are here to retrieve Liara T'soni, or they are here to kill her."
"That's crazy! Benezia wouldn't stand for the geth threatening her daughter." Tali says. And yes, I can quite defend that argument. It just seems wrong that Benezia would be aware of this and do nothing… though, if she were indoctrinated, she would not care.
"Maybe she doesn't know?" Nick says. Yeah, gotta remember that you are also allowed to voice your own thoughts.
"Perhaps… if Benezia is under the impression that the geth are there to help her daughter, she wouldn't worry, or she would believe it when Saren tells her he was too late, and the Alliance killed her daughter."
"Yes… that could be it… however; we need to check this out ourselves. Garrus, Ashley: Prep the Mako. We're going in with a small strike-team. I want Tali, Thomas, Ashley and Garrus. The rest of you will stand by in case we need extraction in a hot-zone." John says, and turns towards the big screen showing of what I'm guessing is Therum. Rest and rest, that only leaves out Wrex, Kaidan and Nicolai… if you don't count in Nihlus that is… Nicolai leans towards me after John is finished, and the rest have filed out;
"What took you so long?"
"Dude, you wouldn't believe what happened down there…" I whisper.
"What?"
"Can't tell you here. Wait till we get back, and I'll give you a story that will fuck up your brain." He doesn't look particularly happy after hearing that, but I can't tell him that Kasumi just showed up and that the guy who made Mass Effect, did it on experience, not fantasy. Not here.
"Okay… just be careful down there, okay?"
"Hell, just an army of geth, what could go wrong?"
Why the hell did I say that?
The Mako is one tight tin can. It looked so much bigger from the outside, but from the inside… sharing a cap with Wrex would leave you more space. There is a gunner's nest, for whoever controls the main cannon and the coaxial machinegun. Then there is seating for about five people, gunners nest and drivers seats included. There are two seats up from, one for the driver, and one for a spotter. I guess the spotter is for the gun, as much as for the road. John climbs in and takes the wheel, with Tali seated right next to him. I can't help but smile when I see him giver her shoulder a tight squeeze. Ahh, young love.
Garrus takes the gunner's seat, not that big of a surprise, which leaves me and Ash to sit in the back. Oh well, guess there are worse places to be seated. When everyone's inside, Joker gives the all-clear from the bridge, and an alarm starts blaring its music all over the place. The tank is lit in a red light and we hear Jokers voice;
"Alright ladies and gentlemen, prepare for drop." Wait… did he say drop? I can feel all the hair on my neck stand. Oh crap, and I'm afraid of heights!
John puts a foot to the pedal, and the Mako whines forward. Suddenly, I feel like I don't weigh anything anymore.
"We thank you for flying with Alliance airlines, first ones in, last ones out" Joker just won't shut up. I look around at the others, and see Ash's having about the same facial expression as I do. My arms starts going up on their own accord, and my coffee is about to follow it.
"Holy Shiiiit!" I can't help it. One of my phobias have always been to die in a plane crash… and now I'm being dropped out a Frigging plane, with Gods' know how much distance between us and the ground. I know the Mako has that jump-thing, but this is not what I expected. And then, the landing:
"Brace!" I hear John shout from the driver's seat.
"Talos help me!" I yelp, not caring if someone takes religious offence.
"Oh Fuck!" Garrus yells. Well, he's in an even worse position than me. While I'm strapped in, he's floating on his chair, no seatbelts to keep him down. I'm glad I'm not his ass in-
Bump!
And, were down. Christ, I don't wanna do that ever again. Well, at least the rumors about the Mako can't be true…. Can they?
"What rumors?"
"The fact that it droves like someone with a percentage over 100%?"
"Oh… those rumors… well, as he said; Brace!"
"Oh shit!"
"Hold on back there, I just need to learn how to maneuver this thing. It's really sensitive!" Not really what I want to hear right now.
"Shepard, please! Stop the Mako!" Garrus yells from his place.
"Why? What's wrong?"
"Stop the B'eske tank!" And with those words, Garrus is thrown towards the floor as John hits the brakes. When he gets back up, Garrus kicks out the doors, and rushes outside.
"Garrus, what are-"my question is cut off by the sound of Turian breakfast coming out to say hello. And I thought I had it bad… when Garrus has wiped his mouth, he climbs back inside. Man, if Turians can look pale, he is now. But, it's nothing, I fear, against what we're gonna experience now. I look at Ash, and she just shrugs. Well, glad someone's not scared by the prospect of being thrown around. Speaking of which, John just started the engines again, and Ash and I have already strapped ourselves in. This is gonna be a wild ride.
"Geth Drop ship! Coming in hot!" Tali suddenly yells.
"Garrus, get on the gun!" Garrus just nods and weakly climbs back in his nest.
"Ten o'clock! Ten o'clock!"
"Armatures! Two of them!"
"Take them out!"
"Incoming! John, evade, evade!" Tali shouts. Fuuuuuck….. This is bad!
"Shields on 78%!"
"The main gun's overheated!"
"Use the machinegun, that's what you've got it for!"
"Against one of those? Are you insane?!"
"Just do it for Keelah's sake or I'll shove it up your ass!"
All the while the three of them are shouting, I'm praying. Talos preserve me. Mara Forgive me. Arkay prolong me, Akatosh guide me,
"One down!"
Talos preserve me,
"Shields at 50%!"
Mara forgive me
"Keep it steady for heaven's sake John! I can't aim when you're driving like that!"
Arkay prolong me
Now Ash is praying too. Damn if we get killed on the first mission. A projectile must have hit home, because the whole tank just takes a horizontal spin. Thank the Divines for the safety harnesses.
"Garrus! Are you even hitting anything back there?!" John's voice is slightly frantic. Hell, if I was the driver of this piece of crap, I would be frantic too.
"Shut up and keep the B'eske tank steady! I've almost got it!" where after he fires the main gun again.
"Scratched one!" he yells triumphantly. Finally!
"Alright, good work Vakarian, Tali! Now let's keep this thing moving."
We continue along the lakes of molten lava, twice driving through a proper tunnel, and then back out into the arms of waiting geth troops. Now, this is where I've got to commend John on his handling of the situation; Instead of evading the geth, he runs them over.
"For Rannoch you synthetic bastards!" He screams at the top of his lungs. Well, everyone needs a hobby. If John's hobby is to play Motor storm on the geth, then why the heck not?
After having run over several geth too stupid to get the hell out of dodge, we end up at a wall of boulders. Rather than having us get out and on foot, John does something that makes me want to follow in Garrus' shoes… talon… feet… you know what I mean.
"Okay, looks like we have to get out and proceed on foot" Garrus says, eyeing the large wall, and the small hole, just big enough for two people a time to proceed through. John then turns in his seat, and gives a small chuckle;
"What's the matter Vakarian?"
"Well, I don't think we have the firepower to take down that wall. And you better not think we can ram it!" He looks a little nervous, mandibles moving quickly from wide to close to his mouth.
"Who said anything about destroying that wall? I've got a better idea!"
"Spirits… you're not-"and that's all Garrus get's to say before the inside of the tank is pressed down with four times the normal gravity. John made us airborne… again.
"Oh come on! I've already thrown up once the last twenty-four hours John! And I HATE this flying-and-falling shit!"
"Well then it's a good thing we get food when we get back! Wouldn't want ya to keep on going on an empty belly, now would we?" Gods I hate that guy's humor.
"John! If I throw up again, I'm gonna aim at you!" Garrus yells over the noise of the Mako's thrusters coming to life.
"Good to know Garrus! I'll remember to-"
Bump! Crash!
"Fuck! That was worse than last time, and we were dropped from the fucking Normandy!" Ashley halfway shouts at John.
"Yeah well none of you guys volunteered to drive this thing!" John replies. Man, let's just get this over with! There can't be anything worse than geth armatures out here… right?
"Geth! Fourteen o'clock! Keelah, they are big!" What does she mean "big"? Geth Primes?
"What kind? What do they look like?" I yell.
"Looks like Destroyers to me." Garrus remarks from the gun nest. Great… fucking great… I think… Destroyers, were they in ME2? I have no idea just what they look like, but Tali said big, and Garrus said Destroyers, so I'm guessing they are just big geth. Then, the entire tank rock as something strikes the left side;
"Jesus! What was that?" Ashley shouts.
"Plasma cannons! The Destroyers are packing a punch!" John replies, before making a 90* turn and ram into one of them. The mechanical screams of the machine as it's being crushed under the tank, echoes through the vehicle;
"John… you do know that we've got a S'kak gun on this thing… right?" Garrus says from the nest.
"What's wrong Garrus? Can't keep up with me?" Is it just me… or IS John really enjoying this mess of chaos and destruction?
"Shepard, he's got a point! You end up smashing the Mako against something too solid for the tank to handle… then we're screwed!" Ashley plays the role of educator in the fine arts of smashing things with a tank.
After we've cleared a small valley of geth, we drive on uphill. While passing the start of a more civilized area, hereby meaning a lot of scrap and halfway completed buildings, I get the feeling that we might actually get to Liara without too much trouble…
Clank!
"What in the name of the Ancestors was that?!" Tali shouts. Something just landed on the roof of the tank, and it wasn't a shell. Garrus looks through the optics in the tower.
"Spirits… some kind of weird geth, jumping like a lizard just flew off the tank… it almost moved… organic." Oh crap… regular geth are bad enough… flying or jumping geth… well fuck you too, universe!
"Did it start cutting open the hull?" Tali asks.
"No… just… stared… right at me. Man, those flashlights can be scary." Does Garrus actually sound scared?
"You don't say" I remark. I have to remain cool, or I might end up a wreck. Suddenly, the whine of a plasma ball the size of a yoga-ball passes right over the tank.
"Kazuat! Armature right ahead!" John shouts.
Another sphere impacts right next to the Mako, sending the vehicle on a barrel roll through the air;
"Do a barrel-roll!" The voice shouts. Apparently, he is enjoying this.
"Fuuuuuu-!" I don't even get to finish the monosyllable-word, before we crash into the side of the hill. I look around me, finding Garrus unconscious on the floor. Oh crap! John turns from the driver's seat;
"Cough… Thomas! Get on Garrus' position! We need that, Cough, turret laying down fire, or we're screwed!"
"Copy that!" Okay, no time to think here. I open the safety harness, and stumble towards the gunners' seat. Man… maybe it is a good thing that I haven't eaten anything yet! I climb into the seat, and take in my surroundings: The turret doesn't have any windows. Instead, it relies on vid-feed from exterior cameras. Two of those are currently messed up, so my vision is decreased by forty percent. I have a joystick in front of me; two handles and a small button on each. It doesn't say which the main gun is and which the machinegun is. Guess I'll find out. I have two bars on my screens; both are currently empty, so I'm guessing those are to show how close the guns are to overheating… at least that's one good thing. Okay… I jolt the joysticks, and find that the turret is very sensitive towards the movement. I can see the Armature closing in; its four weird legs waddling towards us. I bring the main gun's crosshairs towards the center of the hulking construct. Chew on this you mechanical piece of crap. I press down the left button, and the tank rocks from the recoil of a 20mm piece of tungsten coated in titanium, being accelerated to the speed of sound. Man! That was one Hell of a bang!
The construct stumbles, and for a second, I thought it would go down with a bang. But instead, it just shakes it off, and started charging the main gun again. Dammit! Okay, try this one! And I let loose a full barrage of the machinegun, allowing the rounds to spray all over the damned machine, whittling away it's shields.
"Kill it with bug-bites, eh?"
"Yeah, remind me to thank Kal'Regar if we ever meet him."
"Will do."
Then, after having poured an amount of fire at the geth, sufficient to overheat the machinegun, I let loose with the main gun. After another two bangs with the cannon, the blasted things shields finally give up, and I direct every damn round I've got towards it. All the while I'm letting Hell rain down on the geth, John is driving around, squashing anything to slow or dumb to move out of the way.
"Yeah! Mow 'em down!" I shout. Hell, with this technique, we should be able to clear up any geth in the area. Kind of funny, actually: A race of synthetic beings, capable of driving the Quarians from Rannoch, cannot even comprehend moving out of the way when a tank comes crashing towards it… just strange. After about five minutes of going to town on the geth, the area is finally silent. We drive up to what looks like a tunnel, going underground.
"It's… strange…" Man, I hate it when he says that. Every time he says that, something freaky is about to happen.
"What is?"
"I felt… something before, when we jumped from the ship, I felt something equal to when you discovered your friend…"
"Wait… are you saying that someone else might have "jumped" from universe to universe?" You know, because the universe is just too fond of fucking with us?
"Possibly. Didn't Miss Goto say that she could do that?"
"So… you think she actually used… whatever she received from… what was his name again?"
"Casey Hudson, creator of this universe. At least, as far as we know."
"So… you think she did?"
"I can't tell… only that this time; it is not simply one person, but much more."
"What like an army?"
"As I said, I can't tell… but there is something terrible in that tunnel… something that chills me to the very core of my being." Wait, "chills him"? He can be scared?
"Don't tell me you are afraid of geth… on further thought, please tell me you are afraid of geth."
"Afraid not… something terrible is awaiting you in that tunnel."
"I really hate it when you makes me nervous like that…"
"Sorry…"
The large entrance to the tunnel bores down in front of us. It almost looks like a tube with a door. Some kind of black material covers the side of the door. I have seen this before… just can't remember where…
"Alright, we go in, kill anything in our way, get Liara T'soni and get the hell out. Sounds acceptable to you guys?"
"Yeah. Lead the way Shepard." I say, hefting my Lancer closer to a firing-position. The feeling of having the weapon clutched in my hands, serves to banish some of the intense anxiety. Tali then moves to a console at the round door, and presses some digits. The sound of steam being released, and multiple gears springing to life at least tells me that this place still has power. Good. Whatever is down there, I don't want it to sneak up on me in the dark…
"Just stay on your toes down here." I say, stepping a foot into the steep tunnel. This place was no wider than I could almost reach across one side to the other. It's lit only by the occasional lamp, with intervals on ten-or-so meters. As far as I can see, it stretches down about a hundred meters.
"There is something wrong with this place…" Garrus says next to me. Apparently, Turians have some kind of sixth sense.
"Yeah, I know what you mean. Shouldn't there at least be geth attacking us by now?" Ash says, as we exit the tunnel, and find ourselves walking on massive blocks of stone, lifted hundreds of meters above the ground. Garrus stops, and grabs John's shoulder;
"Hey Shepard… that fluid in geth, is that acidic?"
"No, just a mix of cooling fluid and some vital oils for keeping their gears working… why?"
"Because, then I think there might be something else than geth down here…" Why is Garrus saying that? Oh, he's pointing at…..OH CRAP NO! I follow Garrus' talon, and it leads me to a spot on the stone where some kind of green substance has eroded through the solid rock. I then notice more of the black substance covering the walls, like some kind of web or covering...
"Spawn of Hellish Oblivion! Namira's rot! Rotten souls of- Divines no, not-"
"Quiet, I hear something." John places his hand in front of my mouth. Gods no, we can't be here! We have to leave! Fuck Liara, we're not, I am not going down there if what I think is here, is here.
"Guys… we need to-"I wanna get the Hell out of here, but my speech is cut off by the sound of automatic gunfire. It doesn't sound like geth-rifles…
"Someone's still alive down there!" Garrus shouts.
"Well then, what the fuck are we waiting for?" Ashley asks, her own weapon up and at the ready; "You coming Vakarian?" I could almost swear it sounds like they have some kind of competition going on here.
"A firefight? Are you kidding, I'm right behind you!" We proceed down the slopes of massive rock, finding ourselves on a metal catwalk. Then, the first screams start to sound from the bottom of the shaft… hole, the place. It isn't human screaming, but it mixes with humans shouting, guns firing and the sound of rounds pinging off of the rock. Those screams… the black stuff on the walls… the acid on the floor… Please Gods! Let me be wrong for once! This isn't going to-
"Keelah! What is thát?!" Tali almost screams, as a thing, a creature out of a nightmare suddenly lands on the catwalk only ten meters away. The long eyeless head shifts on its shoulders, making it seem like the creature is taking in its surroundings. Its long tail, fastened on a black, strong and agile body, swings through the air, almost like it's trying to catch something with it. Then, it lifts its head towards us, hissing and barring its teeth. Then, it slowly opens its mouth, allowing a secondary mouth to emerge from the inner of its head.
This… this shouldn't be possible!
"This must be what I felt before… by the Master, this is bad!
"Are you fucking kidding me!? Are you telling me that the thing in front of me is an actual…"
"Yes… it's…"
A Xenomorph… So, this is where someone either wakes me up from a nightmare, I piss myself, or I finally realize that whomever runs this universe, is a sick bastard.
Probably the last one…
"I have never seen such a thing before in my life… Spirits, it's ugly!" Garrus says, his mandible slowly twitching. The hairs on my neck stand straight in the air, my fingers going numb with fear as I can feel the eye-less gaze of the creature bore into my soul, eying me with the interest and view of a predator. The most perfect predator ever to have existed.
"Shoot it! Kill the fucker!" I manage to scream, despite the fact that my breath has clocked up in my throat.
Now, I'm close to pissing my pants, and not in the figural sense. The others are just looking at me. They must be wondering why I'm so hostile towards a creature we've only just met, and… fuck! Why am I even hesitating?!
Garrus and Ash start leveling their weapons towards the creature, which I still can't bring myself to call by its true name. Not out loud. It's starting to run towards us, actually moving on two legs, like a human. No one's firing yet.
"Fuck it!" I shout, and yank out my own rifle. Why the hell didn't I do this at the very start?
"Thomas… are you sure we should kill a completely new spe-"Tali starts asking. Her voice is cut off by my assault rifle overheating towards the animal in front of us, now only three meters away. The rounds hit home, half of them penetrating the creatures hide, unleashing sprinkles of green acid from every hole made. It stops dead in its tracks, only two meters away, and squirms and cringes in agony. The acid from the wounds starts seeping through the metal in the catwalk. Oh shit! From one problem to another!
"Get back!" Garrus shouts, and frankly, he doesn't have to tell me. I think we can all see what's about to happen. When that acid eats through the catwalk, there's a good chance the entire thing comes crashing down. We quickly retreat back to the start of the catwalk, Ash and Tali obviously shocked with my display of violence towards, to their knowledge, what might just have been a new species wanting to greet us.
"Thomas… what the fuck was that?" Ash finally gets out. Then, the rest of them turns towards me as well.
"Namira's rot… Talos… Oh Gods, no no no no no no no!" I can feel my legs buckling beneath me, all support simply vanishing as the cruel reality sets in. I just killed a xenomorph. A Xenomorph. An Alien from Ridley Scots nightmarish hell-scape of a movie. Gods, Gods why is this happening?
"Keelah… I have never seen that sort of creature before." Tali mutters, slowly skidding over to where the puddle is still dripping into the darkness below us. Garrus holds out a hand, stopping her before she touches the stuff, or gets too close to the weakened section.
"Me neither… what was it?" John asks. I look away, trying to will everything that just happened to never have happened. Gods above, this is simply not just. There is no adventure, no hope, in a nightmare such as these creatures create.
"Thomas!" Ashley barks, forcing me to look from the catwalk and to her, her ire and frustration evident in her voice, even though the filters of the helmet. I feel the tremors washing through my body, my hands going cold as ice, yet… she remains clear; "Do you know… what that thing was?" At her ire, her demanding voice, I can't do anything but nod.
"A… they call it a xenomorph." I gulp, forcing down the solid lump of fear obstructing my breathing. High-pitched screams and gunfire still sounds from below, accompanied by the occasional explosion. Flashes of blue, like biotics, can be seen reflected on the rocky surfaces of the walls.
"A xenomorph?" She says, disbelief clear in her voice. I don't blame her, not with something like this. How, how can these things even exist here?
"Yes… I don't even know… I just don't…" I stammer, unsure of how to even begin explaining what these things are.
"You mean… like in Scott's movie?" She asks. Her words catch me so off guard that for a moment, my fear is forgotten over the surprise at what she just said. But, if Scott made the movies here too, how can things of fiction be here?
"I… yes, yes those. You know of… you've seen them." I ask. Ashley nods, looking back at the decayed corpse, or what's left of it at any rate now, with the acid having left a large hole in the catwalk. Garrus coughing brings back to attention the fact that there are others here. Talos, how do I even start explaining this to them?
"For those of us not in the know of this Scott-person, or just these creatures… would one of you mind explaining?" The Turian asks, looking between Ashley and me. She looks at me, as if she expects me to be a better explainer than her. In this, maybe, but likely not in the end.
"I am not… understand, this is… unreal, really. This creature, what we… what I, just shot, stems from a movie made before the Systems Alliance was even formed, let alone contact with any intelligent, or just life at all, had been made." The look of disbelief from John and Tali, as seen from their widened eyes behind their visors, betrays the fact that neither fully believe me. I wouldn't believe me either, so… I suppose it stands to reason they would not believe it.
"So… say this Scott just predicted these things, because honestly I don't care about when those films were made. Say he predicted these things… what are they?" John asks, more like demands actually. My shoulders slump at the question. "What are they?"
"Only the deadliest predators in the universe. The perfect organism, from what I recall of the movies. I don't think they have any fear at all, not to anything we know of anyway. Their skin is practically like Kevlar, with an exoskeleton like a beetle. Fangs, claws and a harpoon-like tail that can shred through a hardsuit in one go… hive mind intelligence and acid for blood. Hell… I don't even know if they age…" I mutter, looking between the aliens… our aliens, and the xenomorph's hole.
"Plus, they are parasitic, meaning they impregnate you with one of their eggs while you are still alive, then the things just… burst from your body while you are fully conscious even. It's… there's a reason that the movies were labelled 'horror'." Ashley says, her eyes the only part visible behind the visor. They show fright, worry and uncertainty. Disbelief, is there as well. She sends me a look, her eyes pretty much saying that she understands now, just why I was so scared, am so scared of this place.
"So let me get this straight. We are facing a creature with no fear, no remorse, and blood so deadly that you almost don't dare kill it, fangs and a lot of other nasty stuff…" He just stops himself. "This could make Wrex piss himself." He then says.
"In short… yes. The worst is though. Where there is one, there's always ten more…"
"Spirits…"
"Well, we still have to get to T'soni, even if we have to blast our way through these animals…" John says.
"John… these are not just dumb animals like the warren… they are smart! They are as smart as you and me. If we underestimate them… we're dead."
"They still die if we shoot them."
"That's… true I suppose, but I don't like this; engaging the deadliest race in the universe, not knowing what the hell happened that brought them here."
"Your objection has been noted, Thomas. Now let's get down there. There are still people shooting down there, meaning someone's alive to tell us just what happened here."
"Alright Shepard… lead…lead the way." I gaze at the sight in front of us, beyond the catwalk that's still standing, minus the hole in the middle. We walk over the now creaking bridge of metal, single file, with ten meters between each. 'Not having someone fall to their deaths because of overweight on the catwalk, no thank you'. There has been just about enough death in my eyes for the rest of my life.
"Talos… why does this always happen to me?" I mutter, trying to keep talking to avoid hearing the ghastly screams from below.
"I've noticed something, Thomas. How come you constantly use words like 'Talos' and 'Mara' when you're scared?" Ashley asks, apparently sharing the need to speak to chase out fear and sound, or noise and screaming, in this case. I glance at her as she walks behind me, eyes scanning the surroundings with her rifle ready to belch fire and death.
"It's… difficult to explain, also you'd just laugh…" I mutter, looking around; "Even if the timing would be really bad for it…"
"It's a secret, I take it then?"
"Not… really. But people always look down at me when I tell them. It's been something of a pestilence on my life that… well, I become less in their eyes for doing what I do." I say as I look ahead, at Garrus having found an old elevator. Upon touching it, the chains snap and the lift tumbles to the ground below in an ear-splitting clatter of metal breaking. John makes a comment about us not taking that one, and we move on, searching for a way down.
"You can tell me. I promise I won't ridicule you." She says, a hint of… wanting trust, in her voice. Wanting acceptance, I suppose. Odd, that I am the one who always seem to be striving for it, and now I am giving trust to others.
"It's… They are gods in the pantheon I revere. Nine Divines, representing different aspects of the world and the universe as a whole. I lost faith, in Christianity I mean, when I lost my family. I simply could not believe in a God that was so cruel." Not to mention seems to take pleasure in toying with the lives and existences of mortals. Ashley's breathing stops briefly, just long enough to betray her shock at my words. Of course, now I just went and ruined all hope for her to ever actually like me.
"Alright Thomas, you are starting to come off a little weird here, you know that?" I shrug, finding that I can't speak out of the embarrassment that always comes with it. To be honest, I never had much faith in Christianity. Not that I had anything against it, and I was even a member of the Church, but… One Creator God never made sense to me.
"Yeah… I have been getting that a lot lately." I say, finally getting words to speak with.
"From me…right…sorry…" She steps around me, and stands at the edge of the catwalk, looking down at a large number of rooms, all sealed by some kind of blue force field. There is still shouting and shooting downstairs, but the number of voices has decreased… Either they are winning this… or they are dying right below us! I wonder if we can contact whoever is down there…
"And you didn't think about that until now?"
"Well you weren't the biggest help back there! You're supposed to be my memory, why didn't it trigger when I saw the black stuff on the wall?"
"It was not enough to prove the existence of these creatures! Just as you would have been able to remember hundreds of things from seeing a ball fall down an empty staircase, I could remember lots of scenarios that matched this…"
"So…. You know, you constantly come off as more and more flawed…?"
"Don't push it… I'm still beyond your definition of divine being!"
Sheeesh…
"Yeah, but it's okay…" I give Ash the best smile I can, but considering the fact that I'm scared shitless at the fact that Xenomorphs are in the house… cavern… I think it's a pretty bad smile. I then turn to John;
"Shepard… can't we contact those people down there, tell them help is coming?" He stops dead in his tracks, and I swear, it looks like he could face palm right here and now.
"Det Kazuat!… Why didn't I think of that before?" he then turns the Omnitool on, and presses some… things, on it;
"This is Commander John'Shepard vas Normandy nar Rayya. Anyone down there, respond!"
At first, all we get is static and radio silence, then some interfering is heard, and the sound of a woman breathing heavily is heard through the coms;
"This is Corporal Tequila of the USCM! The bugs have us surrounded, and we are only two left! My other soldier is unconscious, and she isn't responding to any attempts the blue woman… Asari, makes to get her on her feet. We need help!" Her voice is accompanied by alien screaming and gunfire from up close, cursing and yelling.
"Copy that, E.T.A two minutes, hang tight!" John then turns towards us. "Come on! We have to get down there, now!" wait… why does that name strike me as fami- Oh Stendarr… how much of the Aliens Universe got in here?!
"Corporal Tequila, the last surviving colonial marine? What happened to "Rookie" you think?" The voice asks me.
"Don't know" we keep running and reach another elevator. John hammers the console and the ancient machine creaks and springs to life. "But she said "her" about the other marine, so something's wrong."
"We are in Mass Effect, fighting alongside a Quarian Shepard, killing Aliens from a second game… what is wrong about that?" I hate his sense of sarcasm, as well as his sense of timing.
"Shit! More of them!" Ash suddenly shouts, and Talos preserve me, more of those ugly bugs start crawling out of the walls.
"Contacts! Kill them!" Garrus yells, raising his own assault rifle and letting loose a burst that rips through the closest monster. It falls from the wall, passing us by with a high-pitched scream. I raise my own rifle, and through the iron sight, I zero in on one of the Xenomorphs. Five rounds later, the creature follows its friend towards the bottom of the cave. When I look up again, five more have taken its place.
"Jesus, they keep coming!" I shout, then overheating my rifle towards the two closest. The spray of acid that follows takes an extra bug with them. A salvo from Garrus' rifle and Tali's shotgun then rips apart the three last ones. A loud hiss then makes me turn on the spot. One of the ugly bugs has climbed aboard, and is wrestling with Garrus. And the Turian is losing…
"Vakarian! Get back!" John shouts, and as Garrus breaks free and jumps back to the far side of the elevator, John fires up his biotics and sends the fucker smashing into the wall. He then lifts it out again, and seeing as the alien is still alive, he repeatedly smashes it towards the wall before finally tossing it to Hell and back.
"That was a little too close for my tastes!" Garrus remarks. How can he not be in a state of absolute panic right now? He was damn near kissed!
Suddenly, the elevator stops, and we get out. We can still hear Tequila cutting down the bugs somewhere in the cave, but I can't see her.
"Alright, we're groundside! Go for the gunfire!" Well, that's always a plan…
If there were a lot of aliens up there, there is twice the amount down here. I end up overheating my rifle multiple times, each time having to switch to my sidearm. And in this case, that wimpy little pistol doesn't make me feel a lot safer. Still, it beats fist-fighting with the Xenos…
"John, how the hell are we supposed to get out of here again?!"
"Don't ask me! You humans know these creatures! Don't they have some kind of weakness?"
"Yeah, but I don't think any of us are carrying flamethrowers!"
"Fire! They are afraid of fire!?" He shouts, all the while smashing the Xenomorphs with his biotics.
"YES! But I don't have my fucking matches on me right now!"
"Leave that part to me!" he shouts back, and then he activates his Omnitool and points an arm towards the bugs;
"Burn you Bosh'tets!" he yells while unleashing what I can only recognize as a ball of fire shooting out from his palm. What the? He can do that?
Upon receiving the fiery ball of death, the bugs withdraw, seemingly scared. But if I learned one thing about the Xenomorphs when I watched the movies, and played the game… it is that these things… they don't know fear. The sound of hissing from hundreds of mouths, along with the screams from those hit by lead and fire, mixes and almost overpower my helmets audio receivers. Godammit! I swear, if I ever get the chance, I'll sue Ridley Scott for this! I'll sue him for house and everything, then I'll burn every single Alien-movie ever made!
"Concentrate on not getting your ass killed, okay?!"
"I bloody well know that! No need to swear!"
"Sorry, I get… agitated… and I'll be out of business if you die of anything but illness or age. So watch YOUR ASS!"
"Talo- Fuck!" Another one is heading for me. "Well then you ugly fucker, have some slugs!" I pump out the heat sink in my pistol, nailing the bug to the floor in a pool of its own acid. I look around to see how the others are doing;
Ash is holding her own, constantly firing off burst from her rifle. The ground in front of her is literally strewn with dead aliens. She constantly takes one step back, to keep her distance to the, to her probably, most scary and monstrous things she has ever encountered. Her eyes narrow and without fear. Her aim always true, the bugs actually seem to be avoiding her as she cuts them down in a solid stream.
Tali is more scared than me, or at least I think so, given what I know about her character. She is, like Ash, constantly taking a step back with every blast she unleashes from her shotgun. The ground in front of her is, like with Ash and me, also littered with corpses. The difference is that the area around her is being lit up by her drone. Chittikka, I think it is called, is really helping her out, electrocuting and disorientating the screaming and hissing streams of blackness and horror. Every time she sends out a blast, at least two of the monsters are flung back, their innards showering over their screaming fellow species.
Garrus is having a bit more trouble, being used to engage with long distance weaponry as he is. He is giving them a taste on Turian Hell though, as he is constantly shifting fire left and right, cutting down anything coming too close for comfort. I swear, even through the chaos of screaming, I can hear him yell things like "Scratched one!" or "One less to worry about!" Even though, in the last sentence, I am unsure how one more or less makes a difference here.
"Come on you Bosh'tets! I'll squash you through the floor!" John is not even touching his gun. Instead, he's flaring blue like some ancient human-lore demon or god, flinging force fields left and right. He sends a wave of biotic energy into the mass of black and hissing bodies, making it look like a wave of black water just appeared. He then sends another wave of energy towards them, smashing more than ten bugs towards the floor, acid splashing over their fellow ugly friends. That's one good thing about their exoskeletons; they pop like water balloons when you smash them right.
I turn on my comm., contacting John;
"John, give me the corporal's frequency, I need to know where the hell she is!"
"I'm a little busy at the moment! Don't know if you noticed the ocean of monsters laid out before us like a frekkin' black Realk!"
"Just give me the frequency! With all the bugs we face, she must have been relieved and can help us!"
"Alright, give me.." He then creates a large wave of energy, sending at least fifty bugs flying through the air. "A second... Alright, you're patched in! Just do something fast, I'm not sure how many of those I've got left in me!" With the wave of energy released, there is a short break in the onslaught, and I get my rifle back up. I then tap my ear-piece, connected through the side of the helmet;
"Corporal! Are you still there!?" I shout, using my left hand to spray an inaccurate wave of death-by-slugs at the amassing bugs.
Nothing… nothing at all.
"Come on Tequila for fuck's sake, we can't keep this up! Where are you!?" Shit, don't be dead! We will most definitely be more than fucked if you are dead, as you have Liara with you!
More static…
"Corporal! For the love of Mara, get the fuck on -"
"This is Tequila, you can stop your shouting, I read you perfectly -urhhg!" the sound of repeated pistol fire comes out of the earplug, followed by the scream of one of the bugs dying. "…Fine. The horde has really thinned out here, and about time. I'm down to my pistol, and the blue… woman, has fainted… I swear, she did something creepy with her hands before, lifted a group of the bugs into the air like a fucking Jedi or something! I've never seen something like that before, and I've seen my fair share of crazy shit! My drop ship gets shot down in the Jungle, and I end up in this hellhole!"
"Corporal, we are practically swimming in bugs here! Can you do any-fucking-thing to give us a hand here!?" I yell, not giving much fucks as to when or how she ended up here. If reality wants to screw us over, I don't bother with complaining when good things follow.
"Nope, sorry! But if you can get to me, there is a staircase leading out of here! I tried the elevator at first, but it wouldn't come down, and then the bugs started swarming in!"
"Okay! Can you -Shit!" One of the bugs just made a jump for it, and was few inches from my face before John catches it and lifts it back. I overheat the heat sink on it, where after he throws it back towards the crowd.
"What? Didn't catch that last one!" she shouts into my comm.
"I said, can you give us some way to know just where in the name of the Devil you are?!"
"I can fire a flare, but that will make the rest of them swarm towards me again, and I've only got one pistol, and two downed girls that I won't leave behind!"
"Alright, fire the flare! We'll get to you!" I end the conversation, and move towards John, all the time firing everything I've got into the masses of black and twitching bodies. This is something out of a nightmare! I activate my comm. again, and speak to John;
"John, the corporal is down to her pistol, her other member, whom I guess is T'soni, has fainted after pulling off some biotic shit, and the other human is still down! She is going to activate a flare to guide us to her position, and then we can get up a ladder at her place, and get the FUCK out of here!"
"Sounds good, when will she-"He's cut short by the hissing of a flare rising above us. It's red light illuminates the entire place, and the bugs seems to slow down upon seeing it. Then, they continue. I can actually see that a lot of the bodies aren't moving, but I can't tell just how much of the black mass is actually still trying to kill us. John turns towards me again, and then opens the channel with the rest of the squad;
"Alright, listen: We are going to get the hell out of here, but these things aren't just gonna let us go. So when I say "Now" we all fling a grenade at the fuckers. That should at least confuse them for as long as it takes us to get the Hell out of here! Now, we've got two unconscious possible HVI's at the site, so one of you will have to carry T'soni while I grab the other one. Got it?"
"Got it!" we all shout as one. To think, maybe we will yet all survive this nightmare…
"Roger that Commander, I'll take the Asari!" Garrus states through the comm.
"NOW!" and with that, we all draw one of our three grenades, and fling them towards the front and center of the masses. As soon as the balls of death are thrown, we turn tail and run towards the point where the flare was launched from. Suddenly, one of the fucking bugs jumps Tali, but before it can get a grip, John lifts it into the air and raises his gun towards it. He just never gets to fire the thing.
A series of bullets sounds from a place close by, and the blasted bug is torn to shreds by seven shells penetrating it's outer skeleton. Having made sure no one was hit by the acidic shower, we turn to face a woman in heavy metal armor, her face dirty with what looks like a mix of blood, sweat and dirt. Her brown hair is falling down around her face, partially hiding it. Her armor is old-fashioned, but still high-tech. it looks like it's a hell of a lot heavier than what even Garrus is carrying. Her boots are practically corroded around the edges, and the metal shows sign of scratches everywhere on the armor. She blows some hair away from the face, before giving us, and more specifically the E.T's among us an extra look;
"So, you the rescue team? Figured there were more of you, you know, because of how many bugs you drained away from me. But hell, I can't complain… even if some of you look really weird. Here she looks specifically at Garrus. He looks like he's gonna say something, a remark or something, but he keeps quiet. Good…last thing we need is those two arguing…
Tequila then turns towards me;
"So, you the Commander Shepard who's here to save our asses?" She says, looking at me in full expectation of me being… wait, me? I cough, and look, I guess, at her in a funny way… I think.
"John's the commander, I'm just a Rookie." The word "Rookie" seems to hit her hard. I wonder what happened to that bald black-skinned badass; "The commander is that guy." I say, gesturing towards John with my right hand.
"The fuck? Oh fuck me sideways, this day is getting weirder by the second… but I don't give a shit if President Eisenhower strolled over and announced himself Commander Shepard, we need to get out of here, and get those two with us!" She then points towards two figures on the ground; one of them an Asari wearing formal clothes that you would expect of a scientist. The other is not another colonial marine. It's, from what I can see, a woman in an N7-armorsuit. What would the odds be that?... no no no, that would be way too fucked up, even for this place.
"Alright! Corporal, lead the way!" John sighs as he hefts the unconscious N7-soldier on his shoulders. Garrus then grabs Liara, and we head after Tequila who's already moved towards a ladder on the wall. It appears to go all the way up. When Garrus is two meters up on the ladder, I'm last man down here. I grab the ladder, but suddenly I hear a hissing right behind me. I don't even think, I just kick out behind me, my feet impacting on a solid but still destroyable surface. It instantly gives away, and I sprint up the ladder, not even looking behind me until I'm ten meters up. When I look down again, the area we were just in has been filled with bugs, a lot of them starting to climb up the ladder after us. See how you like this…step one
I stick me left arm through the ladder, keeping a firm grip. Then I empty the heat sink in the heads of the two closest fuckers, effectively forcing the rest of them down with a rain of acid.
Step two… putting back the gun, I reach for both my remaining grenades. I put one in the left hand, using my elbow to keep me on the ladder, then priming the first one and dropping it down the ladder. I instantly repeat with the other grenade, and hurry upwards again. I am not looking forward to being in the blast radius of a combination of acid and explosives.
The blast practically lifts me a few steps, almost making me bump into Garrus' behind. I can hear the screaming and hissing retract, as the blast must have smashed away the lower ten meters or so of the ladder. Will probably only take them some seconds to move up anyway.
"Garrus, get a fucking move on, I don't enjoy this spot of "the ass of the 4'th dimension"! Okay?"
"Have you got any idea, how hard it is to climb while making sure that an Asari is not slipping down your back?" he heaves and breathes heavily. Guess not, but still…
Am I the only one still freaked out by the xenomorphs or is it already a thing of the past?
"Alright, but I would like this mission over as soon as possible!" I yell, pushing upwards as quickly as possible, wanting to put as much distance between me and those snake-like horrors.
"S'kak! Thomaaaas! She's slipping! Do something!"
"Like what, hold up her ass?"
"If it works!" Oh you've gotta be kidding me!
So… I complete the first mission on the Normandy, nearly pissing myself in fear, pale as death, holding up Liara's blue butt. Super, just how I wanted the first mission to go.
Finally, we're all up again. And… wait, from what I've heard, there should be some kind of seismic activity here, and then a-
"Stop! Hand over the Asari and surrender! Or not, that would be more fun." Okay, so no earthquake, but the Krogan is still here. Great.
"How about you fuck off space-toad!" Tequila shouts before emptying her pistol in the Krogan's face, the bullets bouncing off of his biotic barrier. His geth bodyguards move up towards us, weapons leveled.
"Ha, ha! The humans still use gunpowder weapons! This isn't even a fair fight!" He then pulls out a shotgun that makes Tali's xeno-blaster look like my wimpy pistol.
"Perhaps, but this Quarian can take you without weapons at all!" John shouts. He has put down the N7, and then lifts the entire group of hostiles into the air, slamming them towards the ceiling before throwing them down the hole. The krogan's screaming is briefly heard before disappearing again. Guess the bugs found something new to chew on…
If that means they stop coming for us, I won't complain, or even offer a moment of though to those guys… well, guy, seeing as the geth would just upload their programs before being destroyed.
"Come on, we have to get the fuck out, and then seal off whatever entrance we can find! We can't allow these things to get outside; or we face a fucking infestation, if there isn't one already!" Tequila yells. We then run up the tube, which I guess is hard in Garrus and John's case; they are running for two. When we finally reach the exit and get out, Ash and I go back to seal the entrance. I give the tunnel a final look, and I'm not really as surprised as I'm horrified to find that the bugs are already at the base of the tunnel, crawling upwards.
"Shit! Ashley, they are coming this way!" she then looks at me with an evil grin, and moves to my side of the entrance, the side we haven't sealed yet;
"Well then, let's give them something to chew on!" Oh shit, she's not gonna push me down the tunnel, is she?
In a fraction of a second, I actually expect her to do so, but then I realize just how stupid that sounds. Besides, she is currently holding one of her grenades in hand, armed and deadly;
"Dinner's on me guys!" She says, letting the small object roll down the tube. Then, we seal it completely. The explosion causes the seal to shake a bit, just a tiny bit as the shockwaves hits it. The thing is sturdy as hell though, so they shouldn't be able to claw their way out of that one. Ash turns at me, panting heavily;
"Next time Rookie… … tell us before going guns-and-roses… … all over the place, okay?" I'm practically bent over, holding my knees to prevent myself from collapsing.
"Sure thing… …Chief… I'm just… glad, no one died."
And I bet you are too. Now, how many of you guys guessed it would be her from the title alone? Be honest here :) And how many guessed it after the first encounter with the black stuff?
Anyway, how did you think this turned out? Brilliant, good or Horse-ass? Leave a review where you tell me if and how I screwed this up.
Until next time guys (and girls)