Alright people, I (almost) apologize for the looong delay, but quite frankly, I blame the school. I have had to work my ass of these last weeks, so I have had precious little time for my story... Anyway, sorry about that.
Alright, as you might have guessed from the last chapter, shit will hit the fan on Feros... the place Thomas knows next to nothing about...
Arrival at Feros
Feros is below us… and I can't even see the ground. The entire colony apparently consists of two gigantic towers… and well, there are more, if you count in the ones further off in the distance, but the ones we are going to are the two nearest each other. I must admit, I'm surprised as hell; I thought Feros would look kind of like another version of Therum, with the ground and being able to see the surface of the planet… instead of starring down into the clouds. This is really weird… the two towers rise what I'm guessing must be kilometers above the ground, completely dwarfing any buildings I know of back on Earth. There is smoke coming out of several of the towers, the two closest included. Even though Kaidan told me that multiple of these towers were refineries, I'm having a feeling that the smoke is not meant to be here… and by that I mean caused by an explosion... or some destruction. The entire world is… well, the only thing I can compare it to is looking from the Peak of Mt. Everest, looking upon the other mountains as they rise their white peaks above the blanket of clouds… hm… never took myself for a poet…
"That's because you're not."
"Hey, was I talking to you?"
Joker takes us closer towards one of the towers, the one with a small trail of smoke coming out from its midsection. I'm guessing there must still be some fighting going on or at least someone's still alive over there, because we suddenly get a radio transmission, originating from the main tower… not sure which one that is, but a kroner on the one we're flying towards;
"This is Fai Dan, of the colony of Zhu's Hope. We're under attack from geth forces, barely… on! We have tried sealing… tunnels, but they blasted thro-… it. The commandoes have a… time holding them back, we… reinforcements!" Okay, so we're going to help someone named Fai Dan. I wonder if he was in the original as well…
"Now you are doing it again…"
"Doing what?"
"Talking about the original… haven't you figured out yet that this is the real and therefore only version there is!"
"Sorry, sorry…"
John activates the comm.;
"This is the Normandy SR-1. We are here to provide assistance, can we be guided towards a docking bay?" okay, gotta hand it to John; he seems to know how to calm people down, because the response is very calm… almost tranquil…;
"Yes. I am sending a man down to guide you to me. Proceed to docking bay A-12. I am looking forward to receiving you, Commander Shepard." Okay… that was… how did he know it was John? I mean, it can't be that public yet, who he is… never mind, we'll figure that one out later… for now, Joker is bringing us into the docking bay, a large room in a dull gray and white color. As the Normandy stops, and the magnetic holders clasping onto the ship's hull, I look around in the front of the CIC; entire ground crew, minus Liara who came to only a few hours ago. She was deemed too weak to come on the mission, so she stays on board. John has everyone else on this, even Tali. Though, Tali being here really shouldn't surprise me. With them being a thing and all… I stand in the group, now in front of the airlock. Nic, Ash and Tequila are standing beside me. John, Tali, Garrus and Jane are in front of me. We all exit as a group, Wrex and Kaidan staying behind for some time, guarding the ship until further notice. It's not that we won't need them, Hell, we will probably have to call for them soon enough, but I don't think John and Nihlus can handle more people at once, and these teams are big, compared to a three-man team in the games… or, at least in the second… wonder if you could bring everybody in the first game, then they rectified it?
"That I do not know, but I sense something… strange…"
"OH FUCK! Not again! I don't want to meet anymore aliens or dimension travelers! I am fed up with shooting bugs and figuring out two Shepards on one ship! You hear me! This has better not be more space monsters, or people from Halo or something!"
"Relax! Relax, I don't know what it is, I can only say I am much calmer about these things than I was about going to the tunnel on Therum."
"So… it's not something bad?"
"I can't say… but keep your eyes open for something unusual…"
"I've never seen this place before, how should I know unusual from mean-to-be in this place?"
There is no response, and I realize that he isn't going to give me one. But dimension travelers did remind me of one thing;
Right before I joined the others, I did… well, it's not that it's against the rules; it's just that I'm not used to giving orders and issuing missions, but I gave Kasumi a job, while we are here. Hell, I did want to get those sooner or later… I sent her off with a little… job. More specifically, to get me the schematics for the UD-4L Cheyenne Gunship, the M56 Smartgun (always loved that gun) and the UA 571-C Sentry Gun. These should give us some extra firepower, just in case we run into the bugs again. And I'm sure there is some way in incorporate them with heat sinks, since finding actual bullet-ammo… is gonna be hard these days. Everything does run on heat sinks now… but I'm still betting that at least the gunship kicks more asses when equipped with shields and modern firepower, than any other aircraft its size. Can't wait to replace the Mako with it, if the gunship fits in the cargo bay... There is just no way I'm going into that tank again… not after Therum. Okay, I'm zoning out again…
John presses the opening pad on the door, and the cold air from two kilometers above the ground greets us. Great, this place is colder than Therum by at least twenty degrees… the whole place does look just as depressing as Therum though, on that they are alike; everything is grey, or black. There doesn't seem to be any of the clean white walls like on the Citadel, and there are multiple places in the walls where shots from plasma rifles has made impact… are we too late?
Suddenly, I spot a man standing about ten meters to our right. He looks a little nervous, but also happy to see us. Well, at least there are survivors here. John followed by Tali and Garrus walks on ahead, hailing the young man. I take a look around; the place seems even duller when properly inspected. Why anyone would set up a colony here… is beyond me;
"This place sure is a hole…" I say, not removing my gaze from the cracks and holes decorating the concrete walls.
"Yeah, makes you wonder why anyone would choose to live here…" Ash says, joining me in playing architect, almost like we're inspecting a house for sale.
"Hell, maybe its ju-"Nicolai starts talking when the sound of an explosion followed by surprised gasps and shouts echoes through the hall. We quickly look towards the sound, and see John, Jane and Tali open fire on a group of geth. Oddly enough, the man is gone, and Garrus doesn't move an inch. When we run up to them, the geth are already dead. I then take a look at Garrus, and I almost throw up at the sight of him; apparently, I have found the young man… he is sprayed all over Garrus, covering the Turian like a wet carpet. We all just freeze and look upon our turian friend, no one really seems to know what to say. Garrus finally seems to be the one to break the silence, running towards the railings and throwing up over it. He then just slides down the side of the railing and remains there… Holy mother of divine shit… Garrus got a man sprayed all over him… the young man was vaporized by the geth, and ended up covering Garrus… this is just SICK! I mean, I've seen things before, scenes in movies and in real life that made me sick, my own body being one of them when pulled from under the train… but this?
"Mother of… Shit!" Nicolai exclaims. I really don't know what to say right now, and I don't think the others do either.
Garrus looks like he's lost it, just sitting there and holding a hand in front of him, studying the red material now covering the back of it. Jane is finally the one to make a move, looking at the rest of us before speaking;
"I… I don't understand… this didn't happen when I was here the last time… we just talked to this man, then went to speak to Fai Dan and killed some geth… this guy didn't die… at least not as far as I know of…" She seems… shaken? No, surprised is more like it. For some reason, it doesn't look like the spraying of innards is a new thing to her… what exactly happened in her old life? John seems to resume command;
"Jane, take Garrus back to the ship and make Liara look after him. Then Bring Kaidan back here. We need a full team for this, and I need someone big and strong like Wrex to guard the ship. We will proceed to meet Fai Dan, meet up with us there." Jane nods and drags Garrus to his feet. She doesn't seem very disturbed by the fact that Garrus is covered in grime and blood. He, on the other hand, looks like he might fall over if let go. Jane keeps a strong grip on him, and starts walking back down the ramp… or the road, I don't know, to the ship. John then sets forth, and we follow him. We run up another short passage, stumbling upon a pair of geth troopers engaged in a firefight with someone on the other side of small rectangular passage in the concrete wall. It doesn't take us long to dispatch them, John holding us back before he flings the troopers over the railings, sending them to their platforms' deaths. I sometimes forget just how awesome a thing biotics actually are… I mean, they are practically god-like powers, being able to move stuff with your mind, block incoming bullets and I wouldn't be surprised he biotics could fly as well, given the necessary training. When we pass through the passage, which actually seems to be a door, just without the moving part… so it's just a rectangular passage… when we pass through it, we get to a big staircase. It's just as depressing as the rest of the place, all gray and with no movement or life… scratch that!
The same kind of jumping geth that scared Garrus shitless on Therum are playing Spiderman in here, jumping from wall to wall and looking at us with those creepy flashlight eyes.
"Geth!" Tali shouts and we all raise our weapons at the frog-bots and open fire. As we quickly find out, those things are pretty damned hard to hit, constantly jumping around, evading our barrages. That is, until John gets the bright idea of trapping them with what I guess is a singularity… at least they are now floating in the air, sitting ducks for us. Needless to say, they don't last longer than five seconds before we could have collected them for scrap metal. We continue up the stairs and head towards a passage from where sunlight is shining on the floor. As we round the corner, we come across the colonists:
Two people who looks like colonists hail us, aiming at us at first, but I guess that seeing that we're humans, they lower their guns pretty fast. One of them, a guy at about thirty, looks at us and speaks;
"Go see Fai Dan; he's up on the other side of the freighter." That Fai Dan seems like an important person…
"Got it." John says, before I can ask the guy. The commander then continues towards the large wreck of a civilian freighter that makes up the center of the colony on this level. Walking through it, I can hear the mixed voices of scared colonists, talking about the geth, how they are going to survive this, and in some cases, how they are all going to die. A few people do seem to be speaking about some kind of commandoes, battling the geth in some tower. As long as they're not blue suns, Eclipse or Blood Pack… they were real assholes during the game… but perhaps they are a little nicer two years before the events with the Collectors… I don't know… when we exit the shipwreck, I spot a man, possibly in his fifties, speaking to a younger woman in her mid-twenties. John keeps marching towards him, so I'll guess that's Fai Dan… strange, with the name I was sure he would be a Salarian… and how did John know who he is, just walking up to him like that?
"I am Fai Dan, executor of Zhu's Hope. We are so happy that someone has finally come to help us. The commandoes are good, but since their strange ship crashed here, they've been fighting for survival as much as we have."
"I'm Commander John'Shepard vas Normandy nar Rayya. What's the situation here?"
"The geth started landing a few days back, slowly taking the tower floor by floor. Their heavy drop ships make it almost impossible for us to send out ships, and we've only been able to get out pictures… like the surveillance cams we sent out. Did you receive them?"
"Yes, how many geth are there, and what kind of commandoes is aiding you?" John asks. Nihlus looks like he's assessing the situation, scouting around and speaking to the colonists. These people seem to trust Turians, because he continues wandering around, having conversations with the locals.
"Right, right, sorry… these last days haven't been easy. The geth arrived a few days ago, landing forces here and at the bottom. We dealt with the geth up here, but the defenses broke about ten levels down. Each day, the geth get closer and closer… and now they are at this level. Everyone you see around here, every man, woman and child… is all that's left of the colony. We are not even sure why the geth attacked us… we have no beacons or whatever it is that they found on Eden Prime, and we are far out from any military targets…" The guy is clearly nervous… guess with a colony of civilians, and an army of geth marching on your front door… I would be wetting myself as well… wait, forget I said anything…
"What about these commandoes?"
"Yes… they are a strange bunch… a group of four guys wearing a kind of armor I've never seen before, using weapons I've never seen before either… I'm not much of a know-it-all on this field, but they are not alliance, I can tell you that."
"What makes you think that, or say that I suppose?" I ask. I wonder if the commandoes can be the new canon-fuckup… Fai Dan does describe them as being something he hadn't seen before… then again, the guy could see a Salarian and probably say; "what is that?" I don't think he's ever been outside this colony.
"They wear a kind of symbol on their armor, not the alliance symbol… it's… I only got a short look at-"
"Geth! Up there! Get to cover!" the woman next to Fai Dan suddenly yells. Never even got to tell us her name, then we are under attack again… just typical for us…
"Get to cover!" John yells, as what I've learned to identify as a geth destroyer barges down from a door that was sealed off. It opens fire on the crowd of humans in the area. We manage to take it down, however two colonists are shot before we do so… one of them takes a few minutes to do die. Ash tries her best to stop the bleeding, but there is nothing she can do. The poor guy was shot through the stomach multiple times, and the only thing we can do is to step back and let Ash and the guy's wife and daughter get to him. It's… I've never been good at these kinds of scenes, it's really heartbreaking; the woman next to the guy is throwing herself at him, with her hands trying help Ash feed medi-gel to the wounds, but the man is just holding her hands, whispering something to her. The daughter, she can't be more than five, is just sitting on her knees in front of her dad, constantly tugging and pulling his other hand, begging him to get up;
"Daddy, get up! Daddy, why won't you get up?" Oh fuck man… poor kid…
I can feel the tears pressing behind my eyes, but… the look on the girls face as she tries to make her dad get up… I have to breathe in heavily to stop myself from crying…
"There is nothing you can do… if anyone, Ashley is the one who has a chance of saving the man. Although I doubt his chances are good… he has lost a lot of blood, and I can feel his life ebbing away…"
"I know… but look at the girl for fucks sake… isn't there anything you can do?"
"No… I am sorry, but my powers are not those of a healing spirit… I am powerless here…"
"Fuck…"
The woman has sat down next to her husband, tears streaming down her face. She is by now just holding his hands while Ash is fighting to help the man. The daughter is trying to get closer to her dad, but Ash can't work with her crawling all over her, and I can see she's having some trouble making the girl understand that she needs some space to work… I gently take the girl and lift her from her fathers lap. I then put her down next to her mother and make sure she stays there. I'm sure that what I did makes me a monster in her eyes, possibly in the mother's eyes as well, but I know that if Ash is to have any chance of saving the man, she needs to be left alone, or get some help. The mother and the girl then moves a few meters away, to give us more space. Ash can't work probably with the girl trying to hug her dying father. Fuck man… if there is a way I can help, I'll try! I leave the girl and her mother, and go to where Ash is sitting on her knees in front of the man, desperately fighting to stop the bleeding;
"Ash… is there anything I can do? Just… anything?"
"Help me apply pressure here! The medi-gel is helping, but not enough. I can't cover the wounds and use the gauze on the same time, so you hold the entry holes, and I'll begin wrapping him up!"
"Will that work?" I ask, making my voice a little lower.
"Really, I don't know… it's the best I can do… but I don't know if it will be enough to save him… scans show he's got some internal bleeding, along with some organs that may have been ruptured… even if what I do does work, he has to get to a hospital… and fast…"
"Okay… I'm ready… just tell me where to hold." I have to do this, to be able to do this… the little girls face… it almost broke me apart… Ash then points at a gaping wound in the man's belly, seeping with blood. A pool of the now cold sticky fluid has begun appearing under him, and he is looking very pale. Behind me, I can hear the sound of sobs coming from the girl and her mother. I fucking can't let them down here! As I place my palms over the wound and press down, Ash starts unfolding a roll of gauze from a medicinal kit. I had no idea she had one, let alone where she kept it. My hands start sliding as the blood mixes with the medi-gel, and I have to wipe a hand on my armor to make it dry enough to hold on again. Why the hell won't the gel stiffen?!
"Okay, move your hands… Now!" Ash says, and I comply by removing my hands and letting her spread the gauze across the man's body. It immediately darkens where the wound is, but she just keeps on wrapping his abdomen in the white tissue. The guy is very pale now, and he's barely breathing. As if that wasn't enough, blood is now seeping out of his mouth…. Fuck! Even I know what that means; the lungs are punctured! But… I don't see any bullet holes that high… why… how did that happen?" I grab Ash's shoulder, and point at his mouth. She sees it too. Immediately she starts moving up to the guys face, telling him not to speak or breathe too much;
"I-it doesn't… matter… let… let me see Joanne and Karin… please?
"Of course… I'll… get them now." I say, starting to rise. Fuck! No, for fucks sake! Why did they have to hit him in the lungs? We could have saved him you synthetic bastards! As I approach the mother and the daughter, I can see not only their destroyed faces, but also the faces of the rest of the team. They are just looking on, sadness and regret in their eyes. Why the hell didn't they help!?
"Because they couldn't. You are the only one, apparently besides Ashley, with any experience in treating these kinds of wounds…"
I kneel down next to the mother and the girl, trying to come up with something to say, something that may help soothe them… anything but letting them deal with the loss like this… but nothing comes to mind… huuuhhhh…. I hate this part of the job… seeing someone die in front of you is hart enough… but seeing the reaction of the family right after…
"Why is daddy still lying down? Does he need help getting up?" Oh…. Fuck…. I'm going to hate myself for this for years to come, I just know it… I look at Ash, hoping to see her face lit in a smile, and the father being up and running… but she just looks at me with sad eyes, shaking her head.
"What is happening with my husband? Is he going to be… alright?" the mother asks. Why didn't they prepare you for this stuff in Homeland Security? Fire a gun? Sure! Deal with the consequences… that was never taught… though I suppose, you cannot teach people to cope with these things…
"I… I am sorry… but… he seems to have punctured his lungs… there… was nothing we could do… he is conscious… if you want to speak to him…" My words seem to have had the most unwanted effect, causing tears to quietly stream down the cheeks of the woman, and the girl to go completely numb. I leave them to themselves as they start towards the man, his face turned towards them with a faint smile. I think it's best if we leave them to a last moment… for the love of God! Why couldn't we save him?
"As strange and unnatural as you may be or seem to this place, even you can't defy death…"
Ash seems to have had the same thought, because she as well has left the side of the man, leaving him and his family to say goodbye… God, that just sounded so… cynical… and it's not because I'm a cynical person; I'm fucking close to tears over this… I just have no experience with these things… I never got to say goodbye to my own family, and the guys on Eden Prime I never really got to know… so I just step out of this. My entire body is shaking; a man has just been sentenced to death because I couldn't save him… now his daughter has to deal with losing her dad at the age of five. I never had to deal with something like that, but… Ash had to say farewell to her father at a young age as well… I think… why didn't I pay more attention to what she said back then… did she even tell me? I mean, I know, because I read up on her in… my old world, but I can't remember if she has told me this herself… Ash comes over to me;
"It's… never easy… not being able to save someone…" She says, not giving me a chance to speak. I guess that's good. What I would have said would probably sound like an ass anyway.
"No… I don't know how many times you've done this Ash; seeing people die because you couldn't save them… but this… I can't… this…" behind Ash, the wife and daughter are sitting with the husband, using the handkerchiefs Ash gave them to wipe away the thin stream of blood running from his mouth with each breath. Waves of convulsions running through them at regular intervals… they are crying…Of course they are crying you idiot, the girl's about to lose her dad!
"Are you calling me an idiot?"
"No… myself…"
"I know… but you were a big help, even though we… lost him…"
"Would it have helped if Chakwas had been here?" Another "what if…"
"Possibly… but I doubt even she could have saved him… a ruptured or a punctured lung… that's not something you can just heal… I don't even know how to do that… I can bandage people, stop bleeding from the arteries, reset broken bones… but ruptured lunges… if that happens… you're dead…" She looks sad, and with reason. This apparently isn't the first she has lost… behind us, over by the group, Jane has returned with Kaidan. Looks like John is filling her in on the situation, even though she must know about it from her earlier life. For some reason, thinking about this brings a chuckle to my mouth as Ash and I walk over to the group. We have watched the two women, the adult and the young, say their farewells to the man, husband and father, and the other colonists carry him away;
"Why are you chuckling?" hmm… Ash could think I have some sick kind of humor, laughing when people die…
"It's… not what we have just done, losing someone… it's just, I had a thought…" Ash's interest looks peeked.
"What?"
"'Just, thinking about our current crew… it's strange…"
"How?"
"See, we've got people who should only be in games, people who should not even exist, people who should be dead, and people from other dimensions… not exactly what I would call a normal crew…"
"Ha… yeah, you could say that… but I'm still not sure about that Jane… something seems off about her… like she's done something she wants to hide away in a box and swallow the key…"
"Now that you mention it…" I say, stopping both of us about seven meters from the rest of the group, and continue speaking in a lower voice; "When Garrus was… well, showered before… I noticed her being the only one not fretting or being shocked about the blood and gore…"
"Think she's… I don't know… dangerous?"
"She's Jane Shepard… and you're asking if she is dangerous?"
"I mean, "Dangerous"…"
"I can't say… I'll try speaking to her later, alone… to find out what exactly she has been through…"
"You sure that's-"Ash starts to say, but is cut off by the woman in mention.
"What happened to him?" Jane says, gesturing towards the now dead man, and his family; the mother and daughter, wandering around in some kind of trance.
"The husband got shot by geth… we tried saving him, but the lung was ruptured… nothing we could do…" I say. Jane looks like she's swearing under her breath, then she marches towards Fai Dan. Oh yeah… she knows the guy…;
"Fai Dan, where are those commandoes? We may need their help and the other way around." At least she isn't introducing herself as Jane Shepard… that would have made some people scratch their heads…
"Still up in the tower, you can hear them shooting if you listen" And as we do, the sound of repeated rifle fire, and constant screams from dying geth can be heard. It… almost sounds like a massacre, the sound of the synthetic screams almost overpowers the sound of gunfire.
"Then let's get up there" I say; "I'm eager to meet these guys if they are the one trashing all those geth." As we move into the tower, I realize that most of the inside of the place is completely riddled with scorch marks, bullet holes and cracks. Seems more like an army than four men was in here… the sound of gunfire grows stronger, as does my anticipation. What if these guys simply are highly trained Blue Suns, and not actually another canon-fuckup? Well, can't say I would complaint; the amount of havoc we must already have caused on this story… I almost fear for what might happen if… what is that clinking, beeping sound? As I zoom back in, I notice a small round and red-blinking object bounce down the stairs. Even though I don't recognize the type, I immediately yell;
"Grenade!" and the rest look from me to the object of interest, before starting to run down the stairs. As I spin around, I realize that we won't get clear before the thing goes off…
"Got it!" John shouts, wrapping the ball in sphere of dark energy, catching the following blast inside the sphere, causing no harm to any of us.
"Pheew… Good job John! I was sure we had bought it there!"
"Yeah well, you can thank me when we've cleared this place of geth… and found those commandoes… I hope they were not the ones dropping that bomb… that would be a bad start to a friendship…"
"You could say that again…" I mumble, looking around. Even though the sphere caught the blast, the ground where the grenade used to be is now missing, revealing a hole the size of an European football, or a Soccer ball… never did bother learning the difference… both game are fine when played for fun, but it always sickened me how much those so-called professionals were paid… I'm zooming out again…
As we get to the top of the stairs, we find a small mountain of dead geth. Most have been shot, straight through the lamp, while some have had their cables slid. Damn… engaging geth in close quarters? Whoever these guys are… they've got some balls… up ahead, the stairs end, leading to a concrete hallway. Even more scorch marks line these walls. It's almost as if the commandoes managed to push back the geth. After we've walked through some corridors, all in the same bland color, we enter an open area. Up above us, a huge geth dropship is hovering, constantly sending down a rain of geth troopers. How they don't break on impact… is beyond me… the area is large, mainly consisting of a raised platform with some low walls, some rubble, more concrete walls… and a squad of four commandoes… dressed in oddly familiar armor… I know I've seen it before somewhe- no… no that… that would just be too crazy… I mean… I can deal with Tequila, being another human being like me… or John, being the nice guy he is… but… no… could they be?
"Do you want me to answer that in English, or try what I can in Mandalore? Or whatever the language is called…"
"Are you seriously saying that-"as I'm about to continue, the commandoes spot us, and seeing as we do not look like the colonists, they hail us;
"Hold! Who are you? You don't look like the other humans that asked us to help wipe out the clank-… the geth…" the guy I assume is the leader says.
He is wearing a piece of complete white and gray body armor with shoulder pads and a closed helmet his armor is painted with red marks and stripes, one going on his helmet, and more on the rest of his armor, going in a red triangle on his right shoulder and upper torso. We can't see through the helmet, and it does look a bit… intimidating… the visor, which I guess is the part he can see through, is T-shaped, and has a faint blue glow in them. It almost looks like he has a blue and glowing face behind a white mask. His armor looks like it's made out of some kind of plastic, perhaps an alloy of graphene and steel. His armor is dirty with scorch marks and a few holes in the shoulder pads. In his hands, he is wielding a rifle, the likes of which I haven't seen in… what, nine, ten years? Since I was eleven, and played that game called… could it really be… I look around him, and three other men are positioned behind him, weapons held at a ready, but not yet trained on us. One of them has what looks like a red blood smear on his helmet, and the rest of his armor is also decorated with this. He is wielding a large rifle which I assume is a sniper rifle. Man, Garrus would have wanted to see this guy… John, being the leader of our group, steps forward;
"We are friendly, don't shoot!" The leader of the men, who I have now identified as being a member of… Delta squad? How on… no, how IN the galaxy are they here!?
"You keep asking me as if I know the answer to that question… I do not… just, shout "we are Vode an" if they train their arms at us…"
"Vode an… what… is it that means again?" somehow, the name, or word sounds very familiar, but I can't remember the meaning… a shame, it was a cool song…
""Vode an", means brother in their language, and it could save your ass, should they deem you hostile…"
"Just what are you supposed to be? You; the guy with the face-visor and the suit." the leader speaks up. John looks taken aback, obviously taking this as a sign of racism, a man not expecting Quarians to speak;
"What do you mean by that?" John asks.
"What is he saying? Can any of you guys understand him?" he looks back at his team members… I remember the big burly guy to the left of him, the one with what looks like a rocket launcher in his hands, is called "Scorch". That's the only one I can remember the name on.
"No Boss, I heard a lot of strange noises, like mumbling or something, but I didn't catch a single word…" John is clenching his fists, looking really pissed that he has to endure a group of racists, simply because they are tough commandoes. I better do something…
"Wait… don't you people have translators?" Oh… Ash was way ahead of me there… the leader… "Boss" they called him… turns his gaze towards her as Ash steps in front of John, perhaps to avoid him taking shots at the commandoes…
"Soldier, identify yourself!" Boss demands, pointing at Ash. She looks a bit the same as John, not used to people being so… well, commando-like, but she answers him;
"Gunnery Chief Ashley Williams of the SSV Normandy. Who are you?" Good thinking Ash, an answer for an answer… saves me the trouble of having to spill the first beans… though I'm sure these guys will have a revelation before the day is over…
"We are Delta-Squad. I am delta-38. The team calls me "Boss"… just call me 38… I don't know if I trust any of you yet. So, Miss Williams… you ready to tell me just where we are, and if the Endeavour was destroyed, or is it on its way with reinforcements?" So, this is where I step in. Hey, what can I do, these are the Delta Squad. The toughest bad-asses in the Star Wars universe… speaking of which, Ash have no idea what he's talking about;
"Delta Squad… we are… vode an." At this, Boss almost immediately shifts his gaze to me… I think; "My name is Thomas Fisher, Private on the SSV Normandy. You are currently on the colony of Zhu's hope on the planet Feros… as for the Endeavour… I think it's better to tell you when we are out of here and not about to be shot at by geth…" When I look around me, to the rest of the team, Ash and Kaidan, along with Jane, Nic and Tequila… actually, it's just everyone's faces I can actually see… they are all starring at me. Well, Nic is more looking intrigued and amused, rather than the sheer surprise in the other guys eyes… and girl's eyes;
"You seem to know our language… so I'll risk trusting you… for now. First, we have to get back to the man in charge, this Fai Dan." And with that, he signals his group; "Let's move it Deltas." Man, that sentence just made my day…
"Ah, I see you have met the commandoes Commander Shepard. Did you remove the geth threat?" at this, John rubs his neck;
"Well… actually, Delta had already finished them off by the time we got there… how did they end up here by the way? I mean, you said they crashed here, but the leader talked about a ship called the Endeavour… what can you tell us about that?" Fai Dan massages his temples, looking like he's trying to remember;
"Yes… they dropped out of slip-space, as far as we know, from the relay and followed it up with steering towards the planet. At first, we thought it was Batarians, seeing as the gunship they crashed in didn't match Alliance, Turian or Salarian profiles… but some ship called the Endeavour? No… I don't know about that…" Great… 'Means I gotta spill even more about these guys… Have I ever told you how glad I am that they already know about me?
"You have…mentioned it a couple of times…"
"Alright, Fai Dan… how the hell can you understand what that… person is saying?" The clone with the red armor asks. This could be a fun conversation…
"I am not certain what you are asking… how I understand him?"
"Yeah, we have no idea what this… man… is saying, but you are having a normal conversation with him…"
"I take it you people do know that a thing such as translators exits…" Fai Dan looks like he is having quite a fun time educating these people… suddenly, Ash grabs a hold of my armor's neck, and I find myself, as well as Nic, dragged away from the others;
"Hey, hey Ash what was that for?" Nic asks. In truth, I was about to ask the same…
"Alright you two. I get the feeling these guys aren't from this place either. So would you mind telling me who the hell THEY are?"
"Hey, don't look at me; I've never seen them before." Nic holds up his hands in defense, leaving Ash to look at me. Oh dear…
"So… Thomas… more friends… like the corporal?" Ahh… she is still not completely over the fact that Tequila just emerged in… our universe… guess I can't really blame her for that one…
"Ehh… That's a bit hard to explain…"
"No, it isn't. Just tell me who these guys are Thomas." She does sound a little pissed…
"Okaayy… if I am correct, which I am 89 percent of the time-"
"No you are not…" Nicolai interrupts me. Thank you… Bosh'tet…
"As I said… if I am correct" here I give my friend a stare; "then these guys, Delta Squad… are clones… clone troopers, or commandoes, to be more precise." Ash just shakes her head.
"So… are they from here or not?" She asks, a frown apparent in her face, as well as a strain in her voice.
"I knew they looked like clones. But I just couldn't place them… what movie?"
"That, Ash, would be a "no"… they are from another galaxy, one Nic and I know as the Star Wars galaxy… and the "movie" he talks about, is one of six… but Nic… they are not from the movies either. It's an old game, called "Republic Commandoes"… old, even where we come from buddy… but, long story made short, they are badasses… their leader is called "Boss", and I remember the guy with the yellow armor-pattern, and the missile launcher is called "Scorch"… the other two, I can't remember…" Ash looks like she is about to say something, but another voice cut's her off;
"Well… that's interesting…" I turn on the spot, and Jane and Kaidan are standing right behind me, Kaidan's face in a deep frown. Well… this could complicate things…
"Oh… hey Kaidan… Jane… I… didn't see you there…" Jane's eyes are closed, and she has a palm on her forehead;
"Jesus… how many shit-storms are you gonna throw at me in forty-eight hours?" Well, then you shouldn't have snuck up on me…
"Well, it wasn't my intention to include other people than Nic and Ash…but I guess it really doesn't make that big a difference…"
"Well, that would explain why the leader clone, "Boss", didn't know what the hell John is… man, wait till he sees Garrus."
"When you say "till"… what do you mean?" I ask. I'm not really a big fan having more trans-dimensional people on the ship, no matter how badass they are… I mean, how should we explain the rest of the crew that we have got four guys that looks exactly the same, on the same ship?... might as well just yell over the speakers "Hey everybody, the Normandy is now a flying circus and freak show! Come see the similar men! Come see the dimension travelers! Come see the human version of our commander!" That would be something to remember… after the court-martial that is…
"Aren't you overreacting? Just a little bit?"
"Don't know, you tell me…"
"I… I actually don't know… I cannot predict the outcome of that situation…"
"Well" Jane says, smirking slightly; "We are taking them with us, I hope?" Oh no! That would be a… well, I think that would be a bad idea… Dammit, why can't I stick to an argument for two fucking seconds? I sigh, and look at Jane Shepard… another thing that's bound to mess me up a bit; two versions of the same person…
"We… we'll see… let's just save this colony first…"
"I can abide by that Thomas." Kaidan says. He didn't say a word during the conversation… how funny… well, not funny, but interesting… sort of…
As we turn back to the rest of the teams, the clones and our guys, they seem to be in a rather… heated discussion…;
"What do you mean; geth? Are they some sort of new battle droid?" the clone with the red marks says. His voice sounds like someone ready to kill you, simply by intimidating you…
"Battle droid..." Fai Dan looks a little bewildered… guess it's time to pull our clones aside and explain the situation… man, why is it always me?; "I don't know what a battle droid exactly is… but they are a race of synthetics created by the Quarians… the two people standing right there" at this, he gestures at John and Tali… Well this could- what the? In a blurry moment, the red-marked commando has raised his gun at John. The Quarian quickly raises his hands in a defensive gesture;
"So, it's the two of you people that sent these things? 'Should have know; you hide your faces like the sith!"
"What the hell are you talking about?! Tali and I didn't create the geth, our ancestors did!" John shouts, never taking his hands down an inch. Tali seems just as distraught as him.
"Boss, we can't trust these-"the second the clone has turned his head towards the team-leader, John knocks him unconscious by slamming him into the wall;
"SEV!" The three other clones shout, each aiming at John's head with their own rifles. Oh mother of shit! I don't even think, I just move: Both me, Nic, Kaidan, Tequila and Ash jump in front of John, shielding him from weapons fire with our own bodies. Kinda stupid, actually… Jane draws her own sidearm, training it at Scorch;
"Get out of the way! He just used the force to attack 07! He's a sith!" Boss shouts. Oh for the love of Mara!
"Get those fucking rifles down clones! John is no sith! He's a fucking biotic! And he just did that in self-defense, you paranoid dummies!" Ash shouts, all the while gesturing at John, then at Sev, currently still on the ground.
"What the hell is a "Biotic"?" Scorch says, now training his rifle at Jane, having found himself in her crosshairs.
"Someone capable of manipulating dark energy and such, making stuff fly! That's what this universe has, face it!" Good shouting A-… did she just spill the beans to them? Luckily, Fai Dan has run off, possibly because he isn't used to a group of well armed individuals suddenly drawing at each other.
"Wait! Hold it!" Boss steps in; "Miss…" he gestures for Ash to say her name;
"Williams…"
"Miss Williams… what do you mean by "this universe… where and when exactly are we?" he seems to have some brain in that helmet… of course, else he wouldn't lead Delta squad, would he?
"You'd better ask Thomas that question; he's more… experienced than me in this crap…" And of course, the monkey gets passed on to me… well, she is right… still…
"Okay… this wasn't really the kind of situation I would have chosen to reveal it to you guys in… namely because Sev is unconscious… but, here it is; in some way, by some means none of us have no idea of… you four were dragged from your own universe to this." Their silence must be a sign for me to continue; "Currently, you are in the Galaxy known as the Milky Way, home to humans, Quarians, Turians and a shitload of other races, all ruling together in the Citadel council… Well, the Salarians, the Turians and the Asari are… humanity still has to earn a seat, and our home planet is not Coruscant, but Earth … as for the date… we are in 2183, September, 2… I think that about covers it… oh, and these two, did not create the "clankers" you have been fighting, their ancestors did. The machines are called geth, and drove the Quarians from their own home world about three-hundred years ago… Alright, that covers it." I am actually sorry they are wearing helmets, because their faces must be stunned with surprise right now…
"What about the "biotics" that… Quarian, just pulled off? Are you sure they are not the force?" the last clone asks. He has some occasional green marks on his armor.
"Who are you vode?" I ask.
"Delta-40… though the team calls me "Fixer"… Hacking and entering, that's what I do best." He almost sounds proud.
"Alright… well, seeing as I'm not a biotic… Kaidan, could you try and explain to these guys? It's kinda your field here…"
"Ehh… sure kid." Why does he always call me that?; "Right… biotics are the ability of an individual, such as myself, to control and manipulate mass effect fields, due to certain circumstances that made us more agreeable towards Eezo, and some implants in our bodies… we can then use these implants to create mass effect fields that negate gravity and other universal forces… like ripping apart a man by the molecule… so what John here did, was quite harmless, considering what he can do…" Kaidan finishes. Okay, he certainly did that better than I could have done…
After Kaidan's little speech, we all lower whatever weapon we had raised on the opposite team. Well, all except for the corporal: Tequila is still aiming her new Lancer at the clones. The rest of us exchange views… there… are some concerned looks;
"Tequila… you can put down the rifle…" Nic says, trying to use his hand to push her rifle towards the ground, away from Boss's face. She doesn't budge or flinch an inch… what is the matter with her?
"Tequila?" Nicolai keeps at it, still pushing her rifle down. Finally, she speaks;
"I don't know about the rest of you dimension-people, but I actually watched those old movies. I saw what the clones did in Star Wars III. Give me one reason I should trust these guys. They may just have come back from the fucking temple!" I can see, even despite the helmet, that the commandoes are confused. They are looking at each other making resigning or disbelieving gestures with their arms. Guess they got here before that…
"What do you mean by "the temple"?" Ash asks her. Tequila turns to face her, never taking her gun's crosshairs from Scorch's visor.
"Oh… yeah, that never existed here, did it?" she chuckles; "Funny… how it is… my universe was a game to your universe, but you have never heard of these guys… and I know of these people, even though my universe was just a game to you… or, to some of you…" At this, she looks at me and Nic. I gesture for her to continue;
"Well, but these guys, they were created and trained to serve some people called Jedi, people who could do stuff a little similar to biotics… but then, the Sith sent one message, one message, saying to "execute order 66", and suddenly, all the clones just… murdered their respective Jedi generals… not even flinching…" she turns her attention back to the commandoes;
"So give me one good reason I should trust these people not to pull the same shit at us!"
"Corporal…" Boss is stepping forward now, his visor now pressing towards Tequila's rifle; "What the Hell are you talking about?" his voice is calm, but underlying with a sense of anger and confusion that could make me step backwards…
"Oh, don't you fucking give me that! The entire planet Earth watched as the 501'st marched on the Jedi temple and slaughtered everyone in there. We all saw as Cody shot down Obi-Wan Kenobi, and as Ayla Sekhura was mercilessly cut down by her own soldiers on Felucia. I don't even wanna know who you people killed when Palpatine called in "order 66". And to top it off, he even turned Skywalker against the other Jedi, made him the next sith-apprentice. So… don't play innocents with me, plastic boy. I know what you have done." From the looks of it, Fixer is close to collapsing, staggering back and grapping a wall for support. Boss and Scorch just stands there, not moving at all.
"When… when are you saying this… happened?" Boss asks. He starts yanking off his helmet, and while I am not really sure what to expect, I am… I don't know if I should call it… surprised? He looks exactly like Jango Fett, the bounty hunter they were all cloned from. It's… slightly disturbing…
"What do you mean, "When did this happen?"… Can't you even be bothered to remember?" Tequila asks. She is starting to lower her rifle, now unconsciously aiming at Boss's crotch. Poor guy if she gets a twitch…
"Corporal…" Boss says, letting his armored hand glide through his short black hair; "I have no recollection or memory of anything like that… the last thing I remember is… travelling to the battle for Kashyyk. We were dropping out of hyperspace, but when our group left the Endeavour, we were hit by… something. Some kind of energy weapon. Our gunship crashed. When we came to, these… geth, as you call them, were swarming our position, and shot at us. We returned fire, but these guys were tougher and more intelligent than the CIS's droids… they behaved like us, ducked, ran and fired… it was strange… but we still cut them down, and their ammunition barely penetrated our armor... but what is this order 66, the one you mentioned before?"
Tequila sighs, now having put her rifle back in its magnetic holder;
"Order 66… man, that was a nightmare… when it was discovered that Palpatine was the Sith lord, the Jedi, led by Mace Windu, tried arresting him… but they had underestimated him. Palpatine killed everyone but Mace, but then Skywalker chopped Windu's hand off, swore his allegiance to Palpatine, and led the 501'st into the Jedi-temple… and that was the fall of the Republic…"
"Spirits of Coruscant… that can't be true!" Scorch says, falling to his knees. Next to us, Sev is starting to move;
"Regardless of what have happened or what might have happened…" Suddenly, Nihlus' voice cuts in. I look in the direction of the sound, and find the Spectre leaning against a concrete column..;
"You four are not the first we've met to have been jumped from their own existence to ours. The question is why…" Nihlus waits for a bit before continuing. The rest of us just stare at him;
"Yeah, I think he gathered as much that I'm not from here either." Tequila says. Nihlus gives her a look, possibly analyzing the new wildcards, the clones;
"Yes. But she isn't the only one. The two young men here," at this, he gesture at me and Nic; "are not from this place either. Just as you were, it appears that they were jumped here in the moment of their deaths… and the young red haired woman next to me, the one currently still aiming her gun at you…" Jane seems to catch the hint, and puts the gun away. Nihlus nods at her; "is from another version of this universe… so far, I believe that is all. Now, would you please get your team-member on his feet? We've got a colony to save."
"So… is the… can someone at least translate what the hell that guy just said?" Scorch says… I slap myself in the forehead. Face palm! How could we forget that!? They have just been standing there, listening to "raw, rawraw!" all the time! Might as well have told a dog to speak to them…
"Divines… someone get them some translators… I don't know why the hell they didn't have them sooner…" I say. Did I just give an order? Never mind that… Tali steps up to Boss, obviously a bit nervous about these new people, but she still grabs inside one of her suit-pockets, retrieving four pairs of the earplug-thingies. Boss grabs his from her hand, nodding a thank you. He then grabs a pair for Sev, who's slowly getting on his feet again, while Scorch and Fixer grabs a pair as well. They have to take off their helmets, so I'm searching for the look and sounds of shock from the others when they see four completely similar people. I'm not disappointed.
"This is… unusual… to say the least." Nihlus says, shaking his head. The sudden ability to understand the Turian makes Boss look in his direction;
"That… is one way of putting it…" then, an awkward silence ensues. No one knows just how to react to this. Hell, even I don't know what to say. And I'm usually the guy with all the knowledge of canon and being able to speak and banter like shit otherwise… for once, I'm glad Sev is a guy with grudges;
"What the hell just happened? Who knocked me out cold?" He says, now standing in his full height, which is actually a bit more than Nihlus. Even with the head-spikes… I sigh;
"Sev… can you understand what the Turian just said?" I ask. That's kinda the first step towards avoiding another episode of raised guns…
"Sure… but what's this thing in my ear… and why is my helmet off?" Oh, he just needs to get used to having that thing there…
"Well, that thing in your ear is a translator, which is also why I had to take off your helmet Oh-seven. And with that translator, we should be able to avoid another case of you misunderstanding our friendly commander Shepard here." at this he points at John. Sev follows his finger, and gets a more sour expression.
"You! You knocked me out cold when I looked away… how did you do that?" Sev sneers, pointing an armored finger at John. John seems to have had enough: he cracks his knuckles and send Sev on a short levitating trip;
"Like this stupid. Now you better keep that gun out of my face, okay?" Sev is currently floating like a balloon, flailing his arms and reaching for his sidearm. A gun, he then proceeds to accidently drop;
"Whoaaa! Get me the FUCK down from-" Bump! "Here… ouch…" Well, Sev wanted down, and John, being the good guy he is, lets him down. Now, why would Sev be pissed by that?;
"Wha- wha-how can he do that? He can't be a Jedi! Can he?"
"What is a… never mind…" Tali says. Apparently, she is just as confused as the rest. This does make Boss turn his head at her, however;
"A Jedi, young… lady… is a person capable of using the force to manipulate his surroundings, bending them to his will. It looks a lot like what… Shepard just did, but it isn't the same. The Force, is much more… gentle, more precise… and from what I've seen from your brother, this "biotic" thing, is much more raw and direct…" at the word brother Tali starts rubbing her neck like a crazy;
"Oh… oh, we aren't… John isn't my brother…" She says, her babbling and fumbling shining through. I can't help a smile. This is pretty funny.
"Oh, pardon me then, I am terrible at judging other species… what are you by the way? Certainly, you and the other non-humans here are not familiar to me…" Well, that was strange. I look at the other humans in the group, most are smiling or shaking their heads. Divines…
"I… John and I, we are Quarians… we do look a lot like you humans actually, but you just can't see it because of… well, the masks, and the suit…"
"Oh. Well, how about that… man, over there?" he asks, pointing at Nihlus. The turian snorts, looking at boss;
"You do know that I can answer perfectly for myself, don't you soldier? And just out of curiosity, what is your rank?" oh yeah… I wonder who's the highest ranking person here; John, Nihlus or "Boss"…
"Squad commander of Delta-three, lieutenant Delta-38. This is Delta-40, my second in command. He carries the rank of Senior sergeant. Scorch, Delta-62, and Sev, Delta-07, both carry the rank of sergeant. What is your rank?"
"Spectre Nihlus Kryik." I can see that to Boss, the word "Spectre" doesn't mean anything. Nihlus seems to have realized this as well;
"Spectres are the right hand of the galactic council. Officially, I am here as the leader of the mission, but practically speaking, I hold the rank of… what is it you humans call it… Major. Turians don't have that rank, although I do know I outrank you. The Quarian next to me, Commander John'Shepard, does of course hold the rank of commander. This also makes him your direct superior while we are assisting you." Nihlus says. Okay, this is getting a bit boring, all these exchanges of pleasantries… Jesus!
"Eehhhrrr people… I don't know how to say this, but… can we please get the hell back to work?" I say. I just hope that didn't sound… what's the word? Insubordinate?
"Right, we have been standing around for too long. Normally I would just say that it isn't every day you meet people from other dimensions, but… well, this isn't exactly normal, is it?" Boss says. He couldn't be more right…
Okay, how was that for a fuck-up in canon? we've got the infamous Delta-squad in our midst, and I just hope we can get them on the team.
I have to admit, this was really difficult to write, making it as "realistic" as possible. Believe it or not, taking clones into Mass Effect took a lot of consideration on my part. I almost didn't know how to do it, but my muse saved my ass, yet again.
Alright, leave a review, tell me if I now fucked up and destroyed this story, or if it just got better.
See 'ya