2-3-2184 0944 hours (Citadel standard time)
Undisclosed Location
"Is this what the best human soldier can accomplish? Pathetic if the answer is yes." Morak told Shepard, as the team struggled to lift Grunt.
The day started as any other day get breakfast then train until lunchtime and continue training again until dinner and the cycle was repeated every day. However, Morak had a tough exercise which was to carry Grunt, as if he had been wounded and needed medical attention, all the way to the top of a mountain ten miles high and they had only gone half a mile. It was hell plain and simple.
Ramirez, Kasumi, Nyreen, and Shepard got the front half of Grunt, while Zaeed, Kaidan, Garrus, and Ashley got his legs. Javik, Liara, Samara, Garrus got the center and Miranda, Jack, Mordin, Thane, and Legion got the sides. Even with the whole team picking him up it was brutal.
Morak singled out Ramirez and Shepard because they showed qualities of being leaders as shown through their hunt with Balak.
Titans were simply put the best Alliance had to offer. They training were meant to break most men so the ones that were left were above and beyond humankind. While Titans aren't augmented, their bodies were engineered to push the human body to the pinnacle of physical perfection.
The Titans operated in almost every Alliance conflict since their creation. While their numbers have been declassified, their training, equipment, and missions have not been and possibly never will be. Titans were the tip of the spear in the 'pirate wars' during the early time of human colonization. They played a pivotal role in the Terminus-Council war as the conflict had been named by Citadel media. Titans were heralded as unbeatable, indestructible, and deadly warriors of human kind. However, for all their bravery and skill Titans were still human and as such had the same internal and external issues as any other being.
It was these qualities that made Morak push Ramirez and Shepard harder than anyone else and it was easily noticeable. "Come on is this how much effort you two are going to put into rescuing a fellow member?" Morak questioned the Titans.
'Not like a Krogan will ever need assistance.' Ramirez thought as he struggled to keep Grunt over his shoulder.
They continued for about five hours nonstop carrying Grunt, who had fallen asleep a couple of times. When they reached the top of the mountain, everyone on the team let go of him.
Hitting the rocky surface, Grunt awoke to see they had reached the top of the mountain. "I was starting to doubt we would ever reach the top." Grunt said.
Breathing heavily and having his hands on his knees as he was bent slightly over, Ramirez said "Its…n-no…t….easy…run..ning….with….Krogan….as…weight." Ramirez then fell back on the ground letting the refreshing air hit his sweaty face.
A moment later Morak handed the team food and water, each member drinking at least a gallon of water. The outdoor lunch continued for about 45 minutes as they took their hard earned rest.
"Atten-shun!" Morak shouted, and everyone immediately snapped to attention. "You have performed at stellar standards and as such I believe you have earned the right to now start training as a team."
Looking at each of them, Morak said "From now on you are no longer an individual, but a team and will held accountable as such. Any successes or failures will be shared by everyone regardless of whose fault it is and that goes the same for punishments. Am I clear?" he shouted at them.
"Sir, yes sir!" They said in unison, though some were not as emotional as others.
"Hik bring the carriage out." Morak ordered his Colonel.
The team turned to see Hink, along with other Cerberus soldiers pushing a carriage.
Morak then said "Now we will be heading down to the mess hall only this time its going to be different. Everyone will seat in the carriage, while Grunt pulls it."
"WHAT?!" Grunt yelled. Sure he was a Krogan, probably the strongest there was, but eve he could pull a carriage filled with passengers. His mouth was left agape.
The others, having carried him up the mountain, did not shared his concern and piled in the carriage taking their seats.
As Ramirez was about to set foot inside the carriage, he felt a hand grab his shoulder from behind. He turned to see Shepard giving him a stare. "What?" he asked him.
Shepard answered "You know what. Grunt can't pull the entire carriage by himself."
"So how is it my problem?"
"We are a team Ramirez. Now c'mon and lets help him."
"But-" Ramirez tried protesting, but Shepard interrupted him.
"Now, we are a team and right now one of our team members needs help. Just because someone hurt you doesn't mean you have to let that be taken out on someone else. " He told Ramirez, who along with Garrus, walked to the front where Grunt was struggling to make the carriage move.
The carriage had ropes in which to pull the carriage, however one lone Krogan, no matter how strong, would ever be able to move it with the current weight it had. That's why Ramirez, Garrus, and Shepard each got a separate rope and together with Grunt pulled as hard as they could.
Seeing Ramirez attempt to help him, Grunt grunted "Didn't think you of all people would want to help me."
With a light smirk Ramirez said "Just because I dislike you, doesn't mean I'm going to let you suffer alone. We are part of a team and as a team we each have to look for each other's backs. I forgot that, but thankfully someone made me remember." Ramirez said giving a nod and a smile to Shepard.
Together the four toughest males pushed the cart and slowly managed to move it. Slowly the wheels on the carriage turned and began moving at a decent pace. After about 15 minutes it started raining, which would make swampy terrain near the bottom of the mountain.
"Perfect, just what we needed." Ramirez complained, as what felt like a monsoon poured down his body.
"C'mon we just need to work together." Shepard encouraged them.
"Right now might be a good time to remind you Shepard that Turians can't swim, so if we have to cross a river no amount of brotherhood will get me to set foot in it." Garrus told Shepard.
"You can't fly or swim. What good are you turians anyway?" Grunt asked as he pulled the carriage.
"Apparently for helping Krogan pull carriages." Garrus retorted.
"HA! You got a spine Turian. I respect that."
As a consequence of their 'exercise' many of the females were immensely enjoying watching the men pull as it showed their muscles and well tone bodies out in the open.
"Come on!" Morak advised. "You don't want to disappoint your team!" Seeing the slow progress they have made.
For another hour of the run down hill, everything was normal as their constant training could count as, but soon their luck began running out as their own stamina began running low.
"Why are we slowing down?" Came the deep voice of Colonel Hik.
"Come on, we have to speed up." Shepard hurriedly said to his team.
Amazingly they were able to hear him over the sound of their own rasping, wheezing lungs. With a nod of each of their own heads, they began pulling harder than last time. However, they couldn't keep it up much longer.
Finally after about a half hour, Ramirez and Garrus fell on all fours. Exhausted, their lungs screamed for air and their bodies burned like the fires of hell. Shepard was getting dizzy and didn't feel much other than numbness. Even Grunt was on his knees, sweating and breathing heavily for air.
"Why have we stopped? Did I order you to stop?" Morak questioned them. When they gave no answer either from not being able to waste oxygen speaking or because they hadn't heard him, Morak ordered Hik to bring out the weights.
Now Shepard, Ramirez, Garrus, and Grunt had an extra fifty pounds of their back. Seeing their exhausted teammates have to carry an additional load, everyone on the carriage got out and walked over to the four upfront. After fifteen minutes, everyone pulled with all their might and soon their fast walk became a fast jog as there was less weight in the carriage and more people pulling it.
After three hours had passed all of the Normandy's team had made down the mountain. Each of them were sweaty, tired, and in possession of sore backs. When the Normandy crew had reached the mess hall, and ended their run, Morak ordered everyone into attention. The heavy breathing from the Normandy crew was thankfully ignored by him.
Shepard, sweat pouring down his face, and his lungs burning both through the need for more oxygen, and the simple exertion of expanding and compressing them as much and as fast as he did, awaited what Morak had to say.
"Tomorrow you will be tested on your abilities to adapt to a situation. A series of tests will show you your weaknesses and strengths. I encourage you to be prepared for the next day. You have until 0900 hours to rest make good use of it." Morak then walked out of the mess hall.
There was a immense sigh of relief from the crew as they heard his words. "Finally it seems…. four-eyes ha…..s given us… a break." Jack said as she sat on a table stool hunched over in exhaustion.
"Let's just hope insulting him will result in having to do more work." Jacob said with a serious tone.
"I believe the general has our best interest at heart despite his seemingly cruel exterior." Samara wisely responded.
'I agree. A knife is only as strong as the one who wields it." Thane added.
"General Morak is responsible for our kind still being alive today. If anyone has the right to ask more of us it'd be him." Javik said.
"His ability to command is very similar in nature to Shepard's, but not in practice. By forcing us to carry the carriage, Morak made sure we each worked as team in order to gain experience to work with each other. All of these different personalities brought together normally results in a feud, yet Morak has been able to not only to keep that from happening, but also make this unorthodox team work together. Would enjoy studying Prothean culture." Mordin said extremely quickly. Everyone, except for Thane and Samara, looked at him quizzically.
Seeing their curiosity, he asked "What's wrong? Is there something on my face? Possibly sweat. No unlikely. Sweat would-" Before he could continue, Shepard stopped him.
"What they mean is how are you able to speak quickly without making any mistakes." He asked Mordin.
"Ah. Well Salarian metabolism allows us to speak and think faster than other races." he said with pride.
"So like an organic super computer?" Kasumi asked.
"In its simplest terms I suppose." Mordin answered.
"Well any way tomorrow we have a long day ahead of us. Make sure you each get some rest." Shepard ordered the team. Eventually they each made their ways towards their rooms.
Ramirez, however decided to go towards the showers to get rid of the strong odor from his body.
As he stepped into the males shower and felt in the cool water run down his back, healing his sore muscles he failed to notice a shimmer in the air behind him.
Kasumi stared as Ramirez showered. His lower body was covered, but his upper body was completely exposed. She swallowed as she watched his well toned body, water dripping down. Though she wouldn't admit it to anyone else, she had a huge crush on Ramirez. Well, maybe a little more than that since she had been spying on him for a while now. Each time Ramirez would enter a room, Kasumi could feel his presence.
Despite her strong feelings for him, she didn't approach him for fear of him not sharing the same feelings. It was common knowledge that Ramirez used to be in a relationship with a former female ship-mate and from what she heard hadn't ended well. She wondered what it would feel like to have a man like him wrap her arms around her. She shivered at the thought and turning to see Ramirez finishing his shower, decided to give him some privacy and silently walked towards her room. On her way there, Kasumi decided she would continue to monitor Ramirez.
'I wonder if maybe he would be interested in doing things with me…as ship-mates of course.' Kasumi thought.
Next Day
"Here we are," the Colonel intoned, turning to face the team as the group followed him and Morak into the room. Immediately Garrus's attention slipped to the sets of armor, gleaming metal suits looking like nothing he had ever seen before. Certainly nothing like what the regular C-Sec had access to. It seemed to of spectre quality. He noticed the majority of the group was also staring at them in varying degrees of awe.
After a moment, the Colonel cleared his throat, pulling back the attention. "As I'm sure you can see, we have the top of the line in technology reserved just for you," he said, clearly finding some level of pride in his financial work. "Beside each armor is a data pad that will tell you the strengths and weaknesses of each type of armor."
With that said, the Colonel stepped aside. After a short tentative pause to be sure they were really allowing it, the group went towards the armor with Ramirez and Garrus eagerly hurrying at the head, Shepard and Nyreen tailing. Each member reviewed their armor and after much debate selected their own. Ramirez chose the one on the far right, which was apparently an upgraded version of Titan armor that he wore. Garrus stood before a set of blue turian armor that provided improved protection without sacrificing mobility. Kasumi and Miranda each chose skin tight, yet flexible, cat suits that brought out their curves. Kaidan, Zaeed, Jacob, and Ashley each chose the newer Alliance trooper armor currently in service. Jack headed for a set of black armor, Thane chose A.C.S armor that would allow him to be an even deadlier assassin. Samara decided to keep her justicar outfit as a sign of respect towards her code. Javik did something similar, choosing to keep his Prothean armor. Nyreen chose medium-weight turian armor, while Liara and Mordin each chose lab-coats that provided a sense of disguise and increased protection.
"Now, the next area we are headed to is the weapons' armory. Naturally, as a combat team, weapons are going to be a common part of the missions and you must be familiar with the tools you use." Morak said.
As he said this, he stood by a doorway leading into the adjacent room, awaiting the team. Shepard typically led the way, motioning the rest to follow him. As they entered, Garrus realized that this was a smaller room with four long tables in the middle. Each had a wide assortment of guns from pistols to missile launchers. All in all it was a candy shop for Garrus, guns gleaming, polished and ready for action.
"As I'm aware that most of you have a history in the military, I doubt I need to explain to every individual here how to use firearms. Instead, all of you take a few moments to familiarize yourself with them, deciding which you prefer for missions." The Colonel explained, gesturign towards the weapons.
This time, the hesitation was much shorter as most of the group bustled over, eager to sort through the weapons. Many of them gave the pistols and submachine guns appraising glances, trying to decide which weapon would be their favorite or which might save their lives in a tough situation. Ramirez grabbed a MX rail gun carbine approvingly same as Shepard, while Garrus grabbed the new black widow sniper rifle. Grunt grinned at the wickedly-gleaming barracuda shot gun, picking it up he laughed almost creepily earning him a few concerned looks.
Mordin, Kasumi, Liara, and Miranda each chose a pistol and submachine gun of varying models. They preferred speed and agility over raw power. Jack and Jacob each gripped a shot gun. Jacob's was the Alliance issued , while Jack's was the Citadel-violated designed Ervicator
Legion, Ashley, Thane, and Zaeed each equipped sniper rifles. Their secondary weapons differed, Ashley and Zaeed took assault rifles, while Legion and Thane took SMGs.
Nyreen, Kaidan, Javik each took an assault rifle. Offering excellent accuracy and minimal recoil, Nyreen equipped the Turian designed Phaoestan assault rifle. Kaidan grabbed an ACR4 rail gun assault rifle and the M283 S.A.W he was used to. Javik, ironically, grabbed the Tesla rifle, standard issue to Alliance O. .
After several minutes of this, the Colonel stepped forward. "I trust all of you have made your choice of weapon preference? Regardless, we're running out of time so you all must relinquish them."
Anticipating the few groans of protest, he continued. "I must insist. The weapons cannot leave this room for your safety and everyone else's," As he said this, the Colonel eyed Grunt. He probably meant to say, I don't trust a large Krogan with a large shot gun in a close quarters environment.
Before they could leave however, Morak stopped. "No, Colonel I believe they are ready for the test."
Colonel Hik was about to protest, however Morak gave him a look and Hik stepped aside letting Morak take control.
Morak then explained the training exercise he had in mind. "As I mentioned yesterday, this will the first of a series of many tests. In this training room, there are thirty Cerberus soldiers patrolling. Your objective is to eliminate the threat of the soldiers. Pillars, barricades, and various other obstacles will be used in order to provide cover. Your are to eliminate them as quickly and as efficiently as possible. Are there any questions?"
Nyreen saw Shepard ask "What are the guards equipped with?"
This time, it was the Colonel's turn to speak. "They are equipped with standard issued firearms, grenades, and armor. Do not worry all ammunition is rubber, with the exception of the grenade which instead uses paint."
Ashley spoke next "Are we able to take any weapons and equipment with us?"
Before the Colonel could answer, the General spoke. "You will use the weapons you have selected earlier. I hope I don't have to warn any of you avoid being hit?"
He looked around the room, into the impassive eyes of the assembled team. Silence filled the room for a moment, until the General appeared to grudgingly accept that his point had been made. "Excellent! Ingenuity, originality, and resourcefulness will be heavily praised in this test. Is there anything else?"
When no one spoke up, he continued. "Very well. Let's begin. Garrus Vakarian you are up first."
Everything seemed to happen fast, Nyreen reflected. Right now, Garrus had been designated with starting the exercise.
Thirty white-armored men were scoping out the training floor, complete with various obstacles providing cover. Garrus had situated himself a bit to the left of all of them, preventing himself from getting caught in the center.
'Time matters here.' Garrus thought as he viewed a target from his scope.
Nryeen shifted slightly, all of a sudden feeling a bit uncomfortable. She was leaning against a window of the observation deck, to get a better look at the fight. Shen knew Garrus could handle himself, but that did little to reassure her.
A shot rang throughout the room grabbing her attention. She moved so she could get a better position and saw Garrus had made his move.
One pair of troopers had been left pinned to each other through Garrus's firing as he managed to take a squad. The shots fired from his sniper rifle almost hit the troopers simultaneously. While she may not have been paying much attention, the sight of Garrus expertly navigating a war zone gave her a reason to.
Ten soldiers rushed to their fallen comrades, bad move. Garrus was already moving far behind them, dashing between the blocks quickly and making sure he only moved when they weren't looking in his direction.
Now the ten were lined up in a neat little row, perfect arrangement as even a competent sniper could take out a platoon of men if they were arranged in such a fashion.
Ten shots were fired before any of them could take more than a step. Ten shots, and three soldiers went down in near-sync.
"Damn he is good," Jacob said cheerfully next to Nyreen. Others in the team agreed at his analysis.
One squad of Cerberus soldiers desperately tried to run to the nearest cover, tripping over a fallen soldier on the way and was shot in the torso before he could hit the ground.
The last two Garrus toyed with. Purposely allowing himself to be seen in one area, only to sneak halfway across the room to be seen again, before playing the same trick. He was showing off his speed and awareness on the battle field. The two sole remaining soldiers were panicking and yelling until he finally put them out of their misery and ended the match with two quick shots.
The match had lasted seven minutes, but Nyreen got the impression that he could've halved that time had he felt the need.
"Round over," The base's AI, Gate keeper announced. Nyreen found Gate Keeper, possibly a reference to the shadow organization's name, fascinating only because 'he' was the second AI she had seen in her entire life. While Citadel space had gotten used to the idea of friendly AIs, they seemed to still retain their cultural bias. Many claim the Alliance's AIs are vastly different than the Geth, simply because the Alliance were able to fully understand their nature before creating devices. While that was partly true, it did not provide sufficient evidence to support that claim.
Seeing the humans being treated like the other council races, better in some cases, caused resentment among the quarians, who view humanity's ascent in galactic power as hubris. They were forced from their homes, abandoned by the Council races, and had been forced to live on ships with the risk of extinction, while the humans were offered a Council seat for the creation of the same mistake. This caused quarians to openly display hatred and propaganda against the humans. Ironically enough there were reports of Quarian 'warships' raiding human vessels and would board the ships in order to obtain advanced human technology.
Due to their weak ships and the small, but powerful human warships, the Quarian's were forced to attack shipping freighters and using their display of large number of ships to force the crew to abandon the ship, allowing them to obtain human technology. Unfortunately for the Quarians, following the Terminus-Council war, all freighters moved in convoys and had Alliance frigates and destroyers stealthily escort them from behind. The result was several Quarian warships were destroyed, with minimal damage to the human fleet. Such aggressive actions caused any galactic support for the Quarians to dimished and only caused further discrimination from every race, with the exception of the Hanar, the Asari, and the Raloi.
"Jacob Taylor, report for round two," Gate Keeper continued.
"Wish me luck," Jacob said, exiting the observation deck.
"Good luck," Shepard and Ramirez called after him.
"How do you think he'll do?" Kasumi asked, to no one in particular.
"I think he'll do alright. He may be a little too….nice for a soldier, but he must be extremely skilled." Shepard replied.
Garrus entered the room, distinctly pleased with himself. "Well what did you think?" he asked them all.
"I'd say that was great, but don't get cocky or you'll get a rocket to the face." Jack told them.
"I'll be sure to remember that Jack."
Gate keeper declared the start of the round. Everyone was now watching Jacob and wondering how he would complete the task.
His style was largely like Garrus's in the sense that he preferred stealth and taking them out one by one instead of going for entire squads. Unlike Garrus, however he wasn't as showy and used a shotgun instead. Once again the thirty soldiers spread out in squads and Jacob elected to track them one squad at a time. He was patient and positioned himself so that none of the other soldiers would have a clear shot when he popped out of cover and attacked the team closest to him.
When he saw a squad approaching, he fired his shotgun, taking all four of them down. The noise of his shotgun alerted the rest of the enemy combatants and they descended on his last known position. When the enemy arrived at Jacob's position, they found smoke, flash bang, and paint grenades. Before any of them could give a warning, the grenades were detonated. Off the bat Jacob eliminated six with the paint grenade. With smoke providing cover on top of the enemies momentarily stunned by the flash bang, it was a walk in the park for Jacob.
One by one he eliminated them, managing to rack up twelve 'kills' before the smoke was cleared. He took cover and as the remaining troopers started to panick, Jacob attacked them with grenades, biotics, and his shot gun. They were simply unable to respond to the versatile attacks of Jacob.
"Round over," Gate Keeper announced.
It had taken five minutes. "Looks like he beat your record." Ramirez teased Garrus.
"He also didn't show off as much," Liara added jokingly. "Not sure if the latter is a good thing or a bad thing, though."
"Well let's be honest. No one can match the style and flair of Garrus Vakarian!" Garrus told the team earning him some playful retorts.
"Grunt, please report for round three."
The large white-armored Krogan headed out of the door. "He He He, this is going to be fun!" Grunt said as he hit his fists together.
"You know I kind of almost fell bad for those guys." Ramirez said seeing Grunt laugh that somewhat evil laugh and being overly excited with having to fight.
"I have to agree with you." Kaidan added, his remark was shared by most of the team.
Jacob arrived and nodded once to Grunt and then walked past him up the stairs. He seemed undeterred as he joined the rest of the team in the observation deck. "You know seeing Grunt smile like that makes me worry about the Cerberus guys." he said.
"Join the club." Ramirez told him.
The floor was set up again and more troops were herded in, just for Grunt. Grunt strode into the room. He picked up his primary and secondary weapons - a shotgun and an assault rifle. His combat style did little to reassure the team, and probably the Cerberus soldiers, that no would end in the base's infirmary or worse.
"How long do you think he'll take?" Ashley asked to no one in particular. Mordin would have answered, but Zaeed beat him to it.
"Probably not the long considering he's basically the perfect krogan, but then again his species enjoys dragging out fights as long as possible."
Grunt stared at the terrified fifty troops as they tried to put as much distance between them and Grunt as possible. With a loud roar he charged them. "AAAAHHHHHH!"
In unison all the Cerberus soldiers seemed to forget that they had weapons and that this was a simulation not active combat. Immediately most the soldiers turned tail and ran as fast as they could. The few that were too paralyzed in fear, were immediately shot and tackled by Grunt, sending them flying.
Seeing their bodies impact the wall hard, Ramirez said "Yeah, I definitely feel bad for them." Many share his sentiment as they saw Grunt, who was supposed to be hunted, hunting the Cerberus soldiers.
One soldier managed to get himself cornered and Grunt stalked him like a lion would his prey.
The Cerberus soldier seeing there was no hope, did the unthinkable. He threw down his gun and got on his knees with his hands in the air and pleaded, "Please let me live, I have a family to take of. Have mercy on me I beg you." The Cerberus soldier was on the verge of tears, something Grunt disliked greatly.
Shooting him with the assault rifle, Grunt said, with malice in his voice "There, now get of here!"
"Thank you. God bless you." the soldier said as he ran off, presumably towards anywhere else, but where he was currently.
In the observation deck, General Morak was face-palming himself. "That was possibly the most pathetic thing I have ever seen in my entire existence."
Miranda stared as Grunt just intimidated a highly-trained Cerberus operative in a simulation. "Well….that's something I thought impossible." she said.
"Krogan are feared for their brutal nature. Stereotype is always untrue as they have shown signs of compassions, however this is only with their own kind." Mordin informed her.
Seeing their comrade had been spared, all the remaining Cerberus soldiers threw down their arms and surrendered to Grunt.
"Call the round." Morak ordered flabbergasted at what he had just witness.
"Round over." Gate Keeper announced.
The cycle continued all afternoon. One by one each member was called down individually to perform their test. Kasumi and Thane used stealth to their advantage and eliminate the soldiers systematically. Thane even managed to obtain the enemy armor and equip it, allowing him to eliminate the enemy while also confusing them. Miranda, Samara, Liara, and Jack used their biotics to their advantage. Lifting them into the air immobilized, allowing them to concentrate on the numerically weaken soldiers. Miranda and Jack, however also used slam and warp causing some Cerberus personal to immediately go to the infirmary due to the injuries they sustained. Nyreen, Kaidan, Zaeed, and Ashley each used their weapons more than anyone else. No showing off or unnecessary delays, they just simply gunned the Cerberus soldiers down. Mordin, simply neural shocked all the troopers causing them to collapse on the ground. Then he just walked aroudn shooting each of the soldiers while they were down. Legion was perhaps the smartest as he hacked the Cerberus personals' weapons, preventing them from firing. Either because they were demoralized or because they wanted to get it over it, the Cerberus soldiers lined up and allowed Legion to shoot them.
Finally it was just down to Ramirez and Shepard. "Shepard please report for the next round." Gate Keeper said over the comm.
"Well I guess it's my turn." Shepard said as he grabbed his MX carbine. Heading down the stairs, everyone wished him luck.
He had been observing the others, carefully. Garrus, Kasumi, and Thane had been stealthy and precise, however Garrus had been sly, but reckless. Kasumi and Thane would make excellent choices when operating in urban environments as they can blend in with the crowd. Garrus could provide sniper support from afar.
Miranda and Jack had been sly, but aggressive. They would be excellent for hazardous operations. Samara and Liara were more focused making them efficient in long firefights. Each had their own strengths and weaknesses.
Going over the list of rounds, he determined Jacob and Thane had the best runs as they didn't take any unnecessary risk. He tucked the information to the back of his head. It could come in handy one day.
"This is going to be good!" Ramirez chirped happily, breaking the silence.
"He is going to kick some ass." Jacob added.
"Let's just see how the boy scout does." Jack told them.
As Shepard entered the training room, he had already decided what he was going do, quick elimination. Nothing too flashy like Garrus or stylish as he had put it, not as completely unforgiving like Zaeed, who gave a guy a concussion. Just lightning fast and deadly.
"Round start." Gate Keeper announced.
Shepard ducked behind a barrier. His motion sensor picked the enemy right away. There were two hiding a few rows down from her, with a squad in almost in the same position in the next two rows of obstacles.
It seemed as if they were still trying to organize themselves and trying to see what would Shepard's plan of attack would be.
'They probably think I'm still trying to make my mind. They won't be expecting this soon.' Shepard thought. He spun from behind the barrier and charged down the centre row. Firing a concussive shot, he eliminated an entire fire team.
The second pair jumped in surprise as she approached them. They both collapsed to the ground, faces or more exact helmets being littered with the remains of the rubber bullets. He didn't break a sweat, and kept firing at anything that moved. He dropped into a slide as the next squad shot the air where his upper body used to be a fraction of a second before. He fired his weapon at their pelvises. They clattered to the floor comically, making high pitched squeaking noises.
Shepard jumped out of his slide, and picked up his sprint. He was about twenty meters from the next group of enemies. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw the next four had moved to flank him from behind after he ran forward. Jumping into the air, Shepard equipped his pistol and fired at the four enemies. Four shots impacted with four helmets as they dropped to the floor.
Sliding into a nearby barricade, Shepard noticed that the last group of enemies had group themselves in groups of eight in a V-like formation. This meant as he engaged one group, the other two would move in and flank him.
'Well this calls for some improvisation.' Shepard thought.
Throwing grenades, he managed to separate one group from the other two groups and focused on that one. Shooting each soldier until they were down, Shepard fired a concussive shot at the other group eliminating half and fired his pistol eliminating the remainder. He was down to the last group and as they fired their weapons, Shepard felt the rubber bullets whizz by him. He planted his foot and pushed herself into the air. Arching his back and flinging his other foot forward, he fired at the enemy soldiers beneath him as his body was upside down. As he was about to reach the floor, Shepard fired another concussive shot eliminating the remainder. His foot hit the ground again first and he landed in a kneeling position. His landing ankle burned with pain, but he ignored it.
He heard Ramirez's muffled yell from the observation deck. "What the fuck?!"
"Round over. James Ramirez, report for round eight." Gate Keeper stated in his usual cool demeanor.
Shepard stood and headed back to the observation deck, panting heavily. He dropped his weapon on the weapons table as he passed it.
"Damn," Ramirez said, striding down the last couple of stairs. "That was the most badass thing I ever saw. Well aside from mine of course."
"You haven't even gone yet." Shepard protest.
"But I'm about to. Watch and learn from the pros." Ramirez strode past him, snatching an MX carbine and a pistol.
Shepard, shaking his head, rolled his eyes and went up to the observation deck.
He was greeted by some clapping, cheering, and approval.
"Show off." Garrus coughed into his hand.
"Jealous that I out -shone you Garrus?"
"Of course not Captain, though it seems you didn't hold back."
"What is he doing?" Kasumi asked, with immense curiosity.
Her question peaked the interest of the others and they walked up to the window to see how Ramirez was doing in his round.
Ramirez was calmly striding down a row of blocks, his gun over his shoulder. Whenever a white soldier peeked out from behind a block, Ramirez would flip his carbine off his shoulder in one quick movement, and fire causing the soldier to clatter to the ground. It seemed a little too easy to be possible; there were some split seconds where a soldier could have shot and easily taken down Ramirez, but instead they waited for him to shoot them.
Shepard looked around; no one else seemed to notice. "How is he just walking through the place and winning?"
When he came to the last two soldier, he hardly did a thing. They stood facing each other, guns aimed. It seemed like Ramirez was talking to them, but Shepard couldn't even fathom what it was. Eventually the two lowered their guns and Ramirez shot them both in the chest. They clattered to the ground, and walked over to them, said something else and patted each of them on the head.
"Round over. Session one complete."
"Just what in the name of spirits happened?" Garrus shouted with frustration. Clearly he was infuriated by Ramirez's display. Everyone had the same level of interest.
General Morak just watched eye-wide at what had just occurred. "Never have I seen something as ridiculous as this." He said to his Colonel.
"Well it seems, he has shown great levels of adaptation and ingenuity." Hik responded.
"Perhaps. Hopefully the Illusive man sees things in the same light." They both left, just as Ramirez arrived.
Bowing to the team, he said "Thank you, thank you."
"How did you do that?" Kasumi asked.
Ramirez shrugged. "Those guys have been fighting us all day. They're tired and terrified. I just told them if they wanted to spend a while fighting or just be done with it. The last two weren't as sure as the rest, so I told them that I would buy them drinks and they did as I told them to do." He paused for a second. "Does this place have a bar?"
Kaidan yawned. "Well, I'm tired. Might as well go get some shut eye."
"Just remember we are living in the Normandy now." Shepard told him.
Kaidan groaned. "Great we have to walk all the way back there. Perfect."
"Getting some rest seems like a good idea." Thane added.
The other members of the team filed out of the room, Grunt glaring at Ramirez on the way out, until it was just Ramirez and Kasumi.
"You bribed them, didn't you?" Kasumi asked, although she already knew the answer.
Ramirez shrugged and took off his helmet, revealing an easy smile. Kasumi swallowed a lump in her throat as she gazed on his features. She noticed he had a long scar on his left cheek.
"Hey I got to know a few of them. Yes I bribed them, but no one told me I couldn't . It's all strategy," he added, with tapping of his head with his finger.
Kasumi rolled her eyes. "Well I'm going to sleep. See you around."
"Definitely." Watching Kasumi leave, Ramirez found himself smiling for the first time since Daro left him.