Okay first things first. Thank you for making me have a new personal record on views and visitors in a single day! Also for the guest(s) who asked those 2 questions, 3 things.
1) Thank you for making a review
2) About the case with the Thorian, you'll find out soon enough.
3) Miranda and Shepard would only be genetically modified humans. That is their only connection, besides I did say it was earlier data and results. What I meant by that was that the data wasn't completed until Hannah Shepard deleted it before leaving the base. Plus I like to think of Henry Lawson as a very arrogant man, so he decided to take a once over on the data and then trashed it, taking only basic parts from it. Unlike Shepard, Miranda is still created by one brand of genetics, not two like my Shepard in this story.
I hope that answers your questions clear enough. If not, then please post another question in the reviews, I always check. That said... ENJOY!
Recap: "Ohhhh yeeeeaaaaahhh." Isaac said happy he could finally shoot something for a change. Shepard smiled as Isaac took control of the mako's cannon and turrent. The garage door opened up and he gased the accelerator out.
Now
As he exited, a geth ship moved out of cover and began deploying ground units on the skyway. Shepard drove forward with Isaac aiming the cannon at any and all geth. Shepard drove over all the geth troopers while Isaac fired at the armatures. As he continued to make his way on the skyway his radio came to life with someone's voice.
"The last batch went south. What are they looking for?" The radio cackled out.
"Who could that be?" Shepard asked.
"No clue. The signal's too weak to pinpoint." Isaac said as kept firing on the armatures. After taking them out, Isaac caught more chatter.
"Hey Shepard. There's more going on now. Still can't find their location. I'll try to boost the signal." Isaac said. A few seconds later the radio cackled again.
"Any sign of movement? Lizbeth could still be in there. It's only been a few days." the feminine voice said. Shepard kept trying to figure out what was going on until it continued.
"She's my daughter. I'll wait as long as I have to." Okay now Shepard knew there had to be some survivors up ahead further down. He and Isaac came across mor geth armatures and attacked. The armatures merely slowed the duo down as they continued to ride up the skyway. After getting past the armatures, they came up to a garage. Shepard waited for the door to open. And waited... and waited.
"Shepard I think the door's out." Isaac stated. Shepard nodded.
"Yea and I doubt the mako's cannon can do anything to it either." Shepard said as he exited the vehicle.
"Shepard! There could be geth hiding around!" Isaac said a little more emotionally.
"Then keep a lookout with the mako while I hack the door." Shepard responded with is omni-tool out. As soon as he reached the door, he began to hack the controls. The firewalls were nothing really. Unfortunately, Shepard had to figure out a way to link different circuits together. That was when several geth troopers had started coming up. Isaac noticed and firing the turrent only for more geth to come up, this time it was Destroyers. Isaac noticed that the destroyers were keeping a close proximity to each other.
'Probably for higher intelligence.' he surmised. The mako's turrent wouldn't be able to take them out fast enough, but maybe... Isaac fired the cannon right in the middle of the group. The mass accelerator round caused a splash effect, damaging most of the geth. Isaac then used the turrent on the remaining ones, finishing them off.
"Nice one Isaac!" Shepard congratulated as he finally got the door operational again.
"Thanks Shepard, now get in." Isaac said. Shepard quickly got in and began driving as the door opened up.
"We've got movement. Some kind of vehicle. Not one of the geth." The radio crackled again. Shepard knew if they could track him now, that meant they were close by. He stopped and looked around, noticing the ramp leading out. Right beside it seemed like some sort of smaller ramp leading downwards. He exited the mako, took out his sniper and looked down the ramp to see people, survivors of some sort behind barricades.
'Well time to meet these people. Let's hope they're friendly.' Shepard mentally thought as he walked down the ramp, switching to his assault rifle. If these people were hostile and had numbers, he was going to need some rapid fire weapon. As he almost reached the people's line of sight he started thinking about his team and what they were doing.
Back with the team at the same time
As Shepard had gone up to the garage, his team went down to the tunnels. When Shepard split off from the group, Tali and Liara felt a little out of place, as did Ashley.
"So who's doing what?" Ashley asked Wrex realizing Shepard only made teams, but didn't assign anything specific. Wrex hmmed a little before answering.
"My team will deal with the geth, while your's deal with the other 3 things." Wrex said.
"Why can't we do both together?" Ashley asked, not liking being left out of the action.
"Because Shepard was right. Those colonists are barely standing as it is. This plan allows us to multitask. Even though both are teams are balanced out, your is more composed of thinkers while mine is more composed of fighters. We will continue down until you find something that can help the colonists. That's when we split from each other." Wrex said.
"So when my team finds something.." Ash said.
"My team will be a distraction basically. We keep the geth occupied while your team finds what's needed." Wrex said.
"And when we finish, we join up with you." Ash finished nodding at the plan.
"Or the other way around." Wrex added. Ashley nodded in approval. She then turned to Tali.
"Tali I need you to keep a constant scanning signal to find those power cells. Can you do that?" Ashley asked.
"Yes don't worry we'll have them soon." Tali said as she took out her omni-tool and began scanning for any power signatures. Ashley then turned toward Liara.
"Liara, did the colonists give you any schematics of these tunnels to find those water valves?" Ashley asked. Liara nodded taking out her omni-tool and pulling the schematics.
"Yes, but it looks the valves are further down. Likely guarded by geth." Liara said. Then Wrex chimed in.
"Don't forget, if you see the alpha varren, kill it. That will allow the colonists to hunt after we kick the geth out." Wrex said.
"Any idea of what it looks like?" Ashley asked not having seen an alpha varren before.
"An alpha varren is a bit bigger than normal varren and more red tinted." Wrex said. Ashley nodded. With that everyone traveled down the tunnels together. When they turned into one of the side tunnels they were assaulted by geth. Thinking quickly Wrex used warp on the one that took cover and started firing with his shotgun. Kaidan followed up with a singularity holding 3 geth. Ashley took advantage and used her assault rifle on the captured group. Garrus took note of 2 snipers and used his marksmanship to the best of it's ability and knocked their lights out. Tali used overload on a trooper and then pelted it with her shotgun rounds. When the geth were destroyed Liara took her schematics out and noticed something.
"There should be a valve right around here." She said aloud looking for one. Tali also looked around while everyone else was making sure there were no geth coming there way from the other side. Tali then noticed something that looked like a terminal.
"Is this it?" Tali asked pointing at it. Liara looked at and noticed it was exactly where it was on the map.
"Yes." Liara said as she moved and began to activate it. After pressing a few keys on it, another screen slide out from under it and then a loud thud sounded out.
"Okay it's activated, but we need to find 2 more." Tali said. Liara looked at her schematics again.
"According to this, if we just follow the pipeline down we should find the next 2 valves." Liara then looked down to see where everyone else had taken cover and were peaking out for any geth. She and Tali walked to them and looked at what Ashley was crouching next to.
"Ashley, I think you're right beside the next water valve." Tali said. Ashley looked at them confused until she looked to her left. Right in front of her was another screen, just like the one earlier.
"I'm guessing that's what a water valve looks like?" Ashley said rhetorically. Liara nodded.
"Yes, we need to switch it on." Tali moved in front of it and began typing until the second screen popped up and another loud thud was heard.
"There, that only leaves one more." Tali said. Everyone nodded and began to make their way up before Kaidan spoke up.
"Wait." he whispered out.
"What you hear something Alenko?" Garrus asked.
"No remember what Shepard said? We should probably wear our helmets now." Kaidan said taking his out and putting it on.
"Right." Garrus said remembering now and following Kaidan's example. Everyone else followed suit except Tali cause she... you know. Everyone then continued up until Tali spoke up.
"Hey wait a minute. I'm detecting 2 power signatures. One's to our left, it's small but closer. The other's to our right and larger, further down there." She said. Everyone looked at the ways she pointed and noticed 2 functioning doors.
"I'd wager the geth are with the bigger one." Kaidan said.
"And the power cells needed could be the smaller one." Garrus added.
"Okay, we'll take the bigger one and you take the smaller one." Wrex said as he made his way towards the right.
"Okay. When we finish up here we'll get back to you as fast as we can." Ashley said.
"Right." Wrex responded. Kaidan and Garrus quickly followed. Ashley, Tali and Liara then turned towards the left and walked through. What they found was a large room.
'Probably a storage facility before the geth caved it in.' Ashley thought with her weapon drawn. Tali had her shotgun out and Liara had the pistol out. As soon as they walked a couple feet in, something growled at them.
'Okay that was no geth.' The group thought. Then Liara saw a shadow move and lunge in Ashley's direction. Quickly moving she pulled Ashley to her and what landed where Ashley was previously stood a varren. Tali quickly shot it and killed it. Ashley saw what could have taken her head and nearly killed her.
"Thanks Liara."
"It's no trouble. You might have done the same." Liara responded. Ashley got up and quickly ran out with rifle out and saw 3 varren charging at her. She quickly used a spray-in-pray on them, killing one and seriously wounding the other 2. Tali and Liara joined in by using carnage and warp, killing the other 2 varren that almost got Ashley. They then joined up to see another 2 come running at them and quickly overwhelmed them with bullets. After they were dead, they thought they were safe.
"So that was fun." Ashley said sarcastically.
"Really? I thought it was terrifying." Liara retorted, panting a little.
"She wasn't serious Liara." Tali said a little energetic. Before Liara could say anything back, a loud growl echoed throughout the room. Instantly they all huddled back to back, guns up and looking all around. Then Ashley spotted it.
"It's the alpha!" She shouted and started shooting. Liara and Tali both saw it and used Lift combined with Carnage on it. Ashley completely unloaded on it and finally when the lift ended, the varren fell down, riddled with bullet holes.
"Okay, that's one thing down." Ashley said. Liara only nodded. Tali nodded when her omni-tool beeped. She looked at it and noticed that the power cells were close. She then noticed that the signature was coming from the overturned mako near the exit. She quickly walked up to it and began searching for the compartment where the power cells are usually stored.
"Tali what are you doing with that mako?" Ashley asked watching her. Liara looked on with peaked interest.
"The power cells we're looking for are in here." Tali said as she found the panel and began to take out the power cells. Ashley watched for a minute before she spoke.
"So um... What do you think about Shepard?" Ash asked blushing a little. The whole area got real quiet. Tali looked at Ashley in shock and Liara looked very embarrassed. Ash herself now had a full blush.
"Um I-I think he's kind and uh smart." Tali said wringing her fingers nervously.
"He's v-very i-interesting. And a-a l-little h-h-handsome." Liara stuttered out.
"Yea and he's a pretty good leader, given his past." Ashley said rubbing her the back of her head nervously. Damn this is awkward.
"More could be said about him, I think." Liara said poking her fingers together.
"He's brave, modest, and fun to be around." Tali said with a little more confidence.
"He always listens and he has..." Ashley was about to say until she stopped herself. Her head looked like a cherry now.
"Has a great what, Ashley?" Tali asked. Liara was now staring at Ashley. She was having a hard time seeing how red humans could turn.
"I umm I said h-he... has a great ass." Ashley whispered out, but they still heard it.
"Yeah." Both Liara and Tali said dreamily until they realized what happened. They were all speechless for a few minutes until Ash tried to move the conversation over. (Okay that whole scene was painful. If any of you got anything better. Please send it over.)
"Tali, did you get the power cells?" Ash asked after clearing her throat.
"Umm y-yea." Tali said in embarrassment. They all then exited and made their way over to where the guys were.
With the guy team at the same time
Wrex and company made their way over to where the larger signature was. As soon as they entered, 2 geth troopers were right in front of them. Wrex used his shotgun on the left one and Kaidan took out the right one with a warp and his pistol. After the relatively quick skirmish they continued on silently until Garrus heard something.
"You hear that?" he asked. Wrex and Kaidan both stopped and listened.
"It sounds like." Kaidan said.
"Drones." Wrex finished. Garrus looked behind and saw 2 geth drones drop from above. He quickly used overload on them, disabling their shields and ducked out of the way while Kaidan and Wrex both shot the drones, finishing them.
"Good ears, Vakarian." Wrex said.
"Thanks." Garrus responded. Kaidan nodded at the byplay. Soon enough they began to walk forward and found the geth transmitter. They also found 3 krogan warriors and 2 geth hunters. Moving quickly, Garrus sniped one of the geth hunters. Kaidan shot the other geth hunter down with a shot from his pistol while he used warp on one of the warriors. Wrex ran at one of the warriors and quickly headbutted the guy in the face knocking him down. Wrex then took his shotgun and fired it in the krogan's face 5 times, killing him quickly. Kaidan took his krogan on with a throw causing the krogan to slow down. Kaidan then followed it up by shooting the krogan in both knee caps. He then took an upgraded grenade and threw it right next to the downed krogan. Garrus was having a little trouble with the krogan he was facing. He managed to score a point blank sniper shot to the face, but with krogan regeneration and the fact this one was keeping close, it was proving to be a little challenging. The other 2 saw this and decided to help out. Kaidan used Neural Shock to paralyze the warrior while Wrex used warp to damage his armor. Garrus quickly shot the krogan dead upon seeing this.
"Okay, what's next?" Garrus asked. Wrex merely pointed his shotgun at the geth transmitter. He was about to fire when Kaidan grabbed his hand.
"What do you think you're doing?" Kaidan asked.
"Destroying the transmitter." Wrex replied.
"You destroy it like that, for all the geth in these tunnels will swarm us for sure." Kaidan said.
"He could be right." Garrus added in as he watched the entrance from where they came from.
"Okay then what do you think we should do?" Wrex asked annoyed. Kaidan looked to where Garrus was.
"Garrus I'm going to need some help. Wrex take Garrus' place for now." Kaidan said. They both did as they were told. Wrex watched the entrance while Kaidan and Garrus worked on the transmitter. After successfully shutting down, they rigged it with grenades. All linked to a switch. Both walked back over to Wrex and handed him the switch.
"Wanna do the honors?" Kaidan said.
"Hell yea." Wrex said as he pressed the button. The transmitter exploded, completely destroyed.
"Okay now let's go help the others out." Wrex said as they exited.
Both groups walked out at the same time.
"You finished?" Ash asked.
"Yep, you get the power cells?" Wrex asked nodding.
"We got them, plus we killed the alpha varren." Ash said smirking a bit.
"Good that means we're almost done." Garrus said.
"Yes all we need is to unlock the last valve and we can go back." Liara said. Kaidan nodded.
"Yea hopefully Shepard will be back by then." he said.
"What's wrong Kaidan? You miss him?" Tali said teasingly. Kaidan looked at her with a raised eyebrow.
"No Tali I'm just worried. Unlike all of you, I've met Shepard twice before he was on Eden Prime. I know he's strong, but I also know that he's had to face a lot of things alone." Kaidan said making everyone look down at the ground. Even Wrex was a little worried. He Confidence in Shepard, but if Shepard is forced to take that form again, the results could be bad. This time though, he might not have anyone to help him. Wrex looked and noticed everyone was worrying a little now.
"While you are right Alenko, it's out of our hands now. All we can do now is hope Shepard comes back in one piece." Wrex said. Everyone else looked at him and nodded. Whether they knew it or not, Shepard had become someone important to them.
"AAAHHH OHH YAH!" a scream sounded out. Everyone looked in the direction it came from and ran to it. They entered another side tunnel and came face to face with more geth. Luckily, in taking out the transmitter, these geth were a little more reckless. They didn't last long as they attacked them in perfect synchronization. They then exited the tunnel and found someone.
"Why are you here?" The guy growled out.
"We're here to help." Ashley said.
"Who? Us or the- OWWWW!" The guy tried to say until he jolted in pain holding his head.
"Ughh That was a good one very intense." The guy said as it looked like he was talking to someone.
"What's the matter with you?" Kaidan asked.
"Just invoking the master's whip. Help's remind me I'm still alive. You're here for the geth aren't you? You're not the only one interested in those things." The man said.
"Who else is looking for the geth?" Tali asked. The guy shook his head.
"Not looking for, looking to get rid of. They're a thorn in the side of the- YAHHHH! Trying to get to the- yehh! yhgghhahaha." The guy said until something caused him great pain.
"Maybe we should kill him?" Wrex said unsure.
"I've thought about that several times. I'd rather die fighting." The man said.
"We can help you told us what your're fighting." Liara said out of concern.
"Not that kind of fighting. It's like running through a thorn bush. The more you struggle- times up, company's coming. Ask Fai Dan, ask him about the-AAAAAHHHHHHWWWW!" The then feel to his knees in pain, holding his head. Everyone turned around and saw some more geth. The quickly fire and destroyed the 2 in front of them.
"We can't help him now. We need to get back to the colony." Wrex said as he began to enter the side tunnel out, only to find more geth. Everyone fought until the made enough to all get inside it. They then continued to use whatever skills they had that helped. Eventually the geth lost and were dead. Everyone filed out as fast as they could until Liara saw something.
"Tali look it's the last valve! Help me turn it on!" Liara shouted. They both quickly turned it on as fast as they could.
"There that did it! The system is active." Tali said.
"That's great, now let's go!" Ashley shouted back. They all ran to the exit, thinking more geth could pop up any minute. After a minute they made it outside and into the the colony. Everyone was panting hard. Even Wrex was doing a great impression of Darth Vader for a minute. (haha)
"Okay, *huff* we should all *huff* go tell *huff* everyone what we did *huff*." Kaidan said.
"You're *huff* right." Ash said as she started moving to where Reynolds was.
"Okay *huff*." Liara said as she made her way to Macha Doyle.
"They should be in raised spirits now *huff*" Tali said as she went to where O'Connell was. Wrex and Garrus both sat down for a bit while Kaidan went to talk to Fai Dan.
"Excuse me. We finished off the geth in those tunnels." Kaidan said.
"Oh thank you. It should prove invaluable." Fai Dan said.
"No problem." Kaidan said smiling. Wrex then walked to where Tali and Liara were while Garrus walked towards Kaidan. Then Kaidan noticed something about Fai Dan. The guy suddenly began to look as if he was in pain.
"Hey are you o-" Kaidan asked as he was cut off.
"I'm sorry!" Fai Dan shouted out as he fell down to the ground. The next thing Kaidan knew someone hit him in the back of the head with a blunt object and he was out. Garrus looked to who hit Kaidan. It was Arcelia!
"What the hell are you-!" Garrus said before he dodged the attack. He was then tackled by something that came out of nowhere.
'What the fuck!' Garrus thought before the thing knocked him out. Back with Ashley, Reynolds jumped at her and she quickly knocked him out.
'What's going on?!' She thought as she saw something knock Garrus out. Then the thing came at her. She quickly gunned it down.
'What the hell is that thing?!' She thought. Then something hit her in the back of the head and she knew no more.
Wrex saw what happened and was attacked from behind one of the creatures that just attacked Ashley. 2 more jumped on him and eventually began to overwhelm him.
"What are these things?!" Wrex shouted as he fell down. Tali was quickly knocked out by a colonist. Liara used her biotics on the colonists that attacked and then she felt something with claws hit her right in the back of the head.
'Shepard... help us.' Was Liara's last conscious thought.
Back with Shepard, Where and when we left him (I know, bit of a bad move.)
Shepard had just got into their view when of them shouted.
"That's close enough!" A man wearing a scientist uniform said. Shepard noticed that there were more people wearing either work clothes or armor. Some had weapons too... pointed at him.
"Relax Jeong. They're obviously not geth." The woman beside the man said.
"Get back Juliana." the now named Jeong snapped at Juliana. Jeong then set his sights back on Shepard.
"Who are you? What do you want?" Jeong demanded. There was something in the man's tone that grated on Shepard's nerves.
"My name's Shepard and I'm the Ghost of the Terminus. I suggest you put that weapon down unless you're prepared to use it." Shepard stated in an annoyed tone. Before Jeong could make a comeback, Juliana spoke.
"Don't worry about him. He only cares about the 'company'." Juliana said smirking a little.
"Who says I was worried?" Shepard responded smirking right back, showing everyone that he didn't consider Jeong a threat.
"And you trust to easily, Juliana." Jeong growled out.
"I'm just glad to see another friendly face. I thought we were the only humans left on this planet." Juliana retorted. Shepard raised an eyebrow at her answer. They didn't know.
"Fai Dan along with some of the colonists at Zhu's Hope are still alive." Shepard said. Juliana turned to Jeong in anger.
"I thought you said they were all dead." she accused. Jeong looked back at her not flinching a bit.
"I said they were 'probably' all dead." Jeong defended himself. Something about the guy reminded Shepard about the people who ran numbers for the gangs back on Omega. Not as dangerous, but just as slimy and dirty.
"Despite being under assault by the geth, they have survived. That colony is well defended. Especially now that my team is there helping get it back on it's feet and fighting alongside them." Shepard said watching their reactions.
"We know what that's like. Those damn synthetics are relentless." Juliana replied. Shepard nodded while looking around. He had to admit, the area was an easily defensible position, if a little small.
"I'll do what I can, but I need more information to help." Shepard said.
"What kind of information?" Jeong asked, eyes squinting at Shepard with suspicion.
"Ignore him. The geth are at the ExoGeni Headquarters. Take them out over there." Juliana said.
"Those headquarters are private property, mercenary. Remove the geth and nothing else." Jeong said. Shepard looked coldly at him.
"If they don't have a connection to slavers or anything that is putting people in danger, I couldn't care less about your company's secrets." Shepard replied. He noticed Jeong looked frightened for moment.
"Shepard before you go... my daughter, Lizbeth. She's missing-" Juliana said before Jeong cut in.
"He shouldn't waste time poking around. We can do a proper accounting of our casualties after the geth are gone." Jeong said. Juliana looked as if she was going to explode at Jeong until Shepard beat her to it. He biotically lifted Jeong into the air and brought Jeong over to him. He then had his omni-blade out and at Jeong's neck.
"Listen well because I will only say this once: No one wants to listen to you. You may try to write people off as numbers and other things, but I can't. She can't. Perhaps everyone here can't either. And the only reason that you still have your tongue attached and not on the ground, is because I am allowing it. So Shut Your Mouth!" Shepard snarled at the guy. He then dropped him and Jeong scurried off. Shepard then turned to Juliana.
"Where is she?" Shepard said.
"She was hiding in the ExoGeni building." Juliana informed getting out of her shock.
"Oh yeah! There are several places she could hide... for a short time." Jeong said sarcastically. Shepard then shot an omni-bolt out of his omni-bow right by Jeong's head.
"What did I say?" Shepard asked coldly. Jeong just stayed quiet. Shepard nodded and said, "Good boy."
"If she's in there, I'll get her out." Shepard said.
"Thank you Ghost. Thank you." Juliana said gratefully. Shepard nodded and began to walk out when another scientist approached him.
"Excuse me?" the scientist asked.
"Yes?" Shepard said.
"I was hoping to speak with you. I have a bit of a problem." the man said.
"Who's asking?" Shepard asked wondering who this person was.
"Dr. Gavin Hossle." the scientist said.
"What do you need?" Shepard asked.
"I need to retrieve some data. It's not a big job, but it pays well." Hossle said
"I'm listening." Shepard said.
"Good, good. Poking around the ruins has become a little too dangerous for me." Hossle said. Shepard nodded.
"All you need to do is find my console at ExoGeni headquarters and drop the data onto this OSD. It's that simple." Hossle explained, handing over the OSD.
"You're real quick to trust me on this." Shepard stated.
"Have you seen anyone else heading to ExoGeni lately?" Hossle asked in a smug tone.
"Fair enough." Shepard said as he left. He then walked back to the mako and entered it. As soon as the door closed Isaac spoke again.
"That guy was a dick."
"Completely." Shepard agreed as he started driving again. Shepard then drove up the rode until he came to another garage door.
"Well here we go again." Shepard said.
"Yep, I got the cannon ready to go." Isaac said.
"Awesome." Shepard replied back as he gased it again. Right out of the gate, he saw a geth fortification. Isaac quickly fired a cannon, the splash affect destroying any geth near the impact zone. There was also an armature firing at them. While the round hadn't hit it dead on, it was still damaged. Shepard used the mako's thrusters to jump up and as soon as they landed, Isaac fired again, destroying the armature. Shepard then continued to drive until he picked up radio chatter.
"You owe us for this. The skyway is dangerous right now."
"Package is secure and ready for transport."
'What the hell?' Shepard thought. He quickly tracked the signal and found it's location. If he found it so easily, the geth definitely did too. He then drove further to find them. As he approached the radio cackled again.
"Wait! Shut down the comm, we've got incoming geth! Damn it shut down the comm!"
He drove as fast as he could and could see that the geth were entering some kind of tunnel built into the skyway. Shepard hurried and exited the mako after parking right beside the entrance. As soon as he approached, he saw a corpse laying right in the passage. Shepard noticed multiple exit wounds on the guy.
'Poor bastard didn't even have half a chance.' Shepard thought silently. Shepard closed his eyes and sensed 2 geth inside. He quietly took out his shotgun and walked in. He felt one geth was to his left the other was in a side tunnel running under the passage entrance. He quickly turned to his right, aimed below and fired right at the hidden geth, instantly killing it. The next geth having noticed the shot, jumped out of cover only to be hit by an overload and then shot by a shotgun round. Shepard then walked to where the next corpse was and found a locked container of some kind. He hacked through it easily and found what looked to be a data drive. Shepard then looked over it and found it to be blueprints for a cryogenic technology. After looking over it Shepard noticed somethings that could help negate the side effects of his cryotube. He pocketed it and got back to the mako. Shepard then continued on to the ExoGeni Headquarters. As he finally parked at the entrance he noticed some geth moving around the room inside. Isaac saw them too and fired right inside, destroying them. Shepard then exited the mako and entered the building, where 2 more geth tried to ambush him. They only got a warp and 2 pistol shots for their trouble. Shepard then noticed a energy field of some sort.
"If that's like the barrier curtain I faced on Therum, than we won't get passed that." Shepard said.
"Yes, you're right. Hey there's a locked door over there." Isaac said seeing the door. Shepard hacked through and walked in. As soon as he entered another area which was blocked off, he noticed a dormant armature. Moving quickly he threw a High Explosive grenade on it. Within seconds the armature was destroyed before it could even get up. Shepard went back and noticed a passage way the went down.
"Looks like a one way trip, Shepard." Isaac observed.
"Yeah. Oh well." Shepard said as he jumped down. He took out his sniper and looked down the hall, only to see and area covered in water, and loose wires hanging from the ceiling.
'Great, as if I had enough to worry about.' Shepard thought as he rolled his eyes. He then switched to his rifle as he crept down the hall and stopped the end and looked over the side. The only thing that had him worried was the varren corpse.
'Someone, or something killed that varren. Chances are it could still be here.' Shepard thought as he looked around for any sign of life. None yet. He then walked down to inspect the corpse when he saw movement and a shot rang out. Some girl had sot at him.
"Dammit, I'm sorry I thought you were the geth, or one of those varren." the girl said. Shepard noticed she was wearing an employee's uniform.
"Who are you and what are you doing here?" Shepard asked, ignoring the shot and her apologies.
"It's not my fault, I stayed back here to backup data while everyone ran. Then the geth ship latched on and the power went out. I was trapped. I tried to get out, but the way was blocked." the girl explained.
"Don't worry, I'll find us a way out when I find what the geth are after and I kick them out." Shepard said.
"It's not the geth, it's the energy field they put up. They don't want anyone else getting access to the-" The girl said until she stopped herself.
"The what?" Shepard asked a little more firmly.
"I don't know for certain, but I think they're here for the Thorian." the girl relented. Shepard rose an eyebrow at her.
"I've never heard of that. What is it?" Shepard asked.
"It's an indigenous life-form. ExoGeni was studying it." she replied.
"What else can you tell me about it?" Shepard asked.
"I can't do that, not with those geth lurking around. Look, we need to get out of here, past that field." she said a little more antsy now.
"Okay, but later you're telling me everything. Any ideas?" Shepard said.
"The geth have been laying power cables connected to their ship all over the place. You could follow those, but there's geth all over the place." She said.
"What do you know about the Thorian?" Shepard asked.
"I really don't know much, I think it's some kind of plant being. I know it's very hold. Thousands of years even." She said. Shepard could tell she was lying.
"Why would the geth be interested in the Thorian?" Shepard asked.
"It's just a plant, I don't know why the geth would care. ExoGeni was studying it, but I don't think they found anything special." the girl said.
"Tell me about yourself." Shepard said. The girl looked bewildered for a moment.
"Me? I'm just a research assistant for ExoGeni. I came her with my mother. I don't even know if she made it out alive." The girl said looking saddened at the last part. Shepard realized that this girl might be Lizbeth.
"She's with some others from the colony. She's safe for now." Shepard said. Lizbeth looked at him hopeful.
"She's safe? Thank god. Please, just get that field down so I can go see my mother again." Lizbeth pleaded.
"Fine I'll go see if I can open some doors." Shepard said.
"Wait, take my ID, it should get you passed any locked doors." Shepard knew she had been lying earlier. Anyone with an ID that clearance on any door in a company had to be extremely high up, part of a team possibly. Shepard took it and walked towards the other end where the door was. Unfortunately, varren came rushing at him from some unknown spot. Fortunately he had his rifle out so they were finished quickly. He then unlocked the door and came to a flight of stairs. He silently walked up them listening and looking for any movement. He then heard someone.
"Stupid machine! Access encrypted files." the person, sounding like a krogan, said. He walked up until he found the he did he could hear the krogan arguing with something.
"No I don't want to review protocol!"
Shepard could see the krogan was mad. "Arrgh! Tell me what I want to know before I blow your virtual ass into actual dust!" The krogan threatened.
"If you want access you are going to want to either make an appointment or get security access level 4-" The VI said.
"Stupid Machine!" The krogan yelled at it.
"They're just the worse aren't they?" Shepard asked, right beside the krogan now, with his shotgun out.
"Yea they are- wait a minute!" The krogan turned to see who was talking to him only to meet a shotgun barrel right in the face.
*bang* The krogan fell down with a thud. Shepard looked at the VI.
"ExoGeni employees are reminded that the discharge of weapons while on company property is strictly forbidden." The VI before it continued, "Welcome back, Research Assistant Elizabeth Baynham." The VI said. Shepard wasn't in the least bit shocked.
"What was the last user attempting to access?" Shepard asked.
"Fetching data. The previous user was attempting to access details on the study of Subject Species 37, the Thorian." Shepard grew more serious.
"What information is on it?" Shepard asked.
"Aside from lacking proper access, there is no new data on Species 37. All sensors monitoring the observation post at Zhu's Hope have been inactive for several cycles." The VI replied, startling Shepard.
'That can't be good.' Shepard thought, then spoke, "What does Zhu's Hope have to do with the Thorian?" He asked hoping he was wrong.
"Species 37 is located within the substructure of the Zhu's Hope outpost." The VI replied. Shepard was now getting nervous for his team now.
"Tell me everything you know about the Thorian." Shepard demanded.
"The Thorian is a simple plant life-form that exhibits a sentient behavior uncommon among other flora. Through dispersion and the eventual inhalation of spores, it can infect and control other organisms, including humans. The Zhu's Hope control group has yielded interesting results. Before sensors went offline, almost 85% of all test subjects were infected." The Vi informed.
'That's what I felt back at the outpost! Oh dear god, I left my team there!' Shepard was now very concerned about things.
"Are you saying ExoGeni knew about this?" Shepard asked through gritted teeth.
"It was deemed necessary to assess the true potential of Species 37."
"Don't feed me that garbage!" Shepard shouted.
"Shepard it might be best to contact Joker now." Isaac suggested.
"Your right." Shepard said as he turned on his comm link.
"Joker you there? Damn I'm being blocked. We need to get rid of the field then head straight back to Zhu's Hope." Shepard.
"I agree." Isaac said. Shepard then turned his attention back to the VI.
"What can you tell me about the field?" Shepard asked.
"All sensors are offline. Power fluctuations detected, but am unable to determine the source." The VI replied.
"Then I guess I have to bust my way out." Shepard said as he left. Shepard turned and walked left and down the resulting hallway. He then continued down and up the stairs as he saw the geth ship's attachments. He fired at the 2 geth that seemed to be praying near some type of orb.
"Great, the power is coming from the ship." Isaac said.
"Any ideas?" Shepard asked.
"We should probably try to find any weaknesses in the hooks themselves." Isaac said.
"Yea maybe find something that can detach it from our side." Shepard commented nodded at it. Shepard then jumped down and walked through the next hallway, passed charred corpses. He then came onto a group of geth troopers where he threw his assault rifle into the air while going into an adrenaline rush mixed with biotics to quicken himself, used overload on the one to his left, a warp on the one to his right, performed a singularity on the other 3 in the middle. He then grabbed his shotgun with his right hand, grabbed his pistol with his left and used each weapon to kill the geth on each side. Dropping both weapons, he caught his rifle and barraged the trapped geth. For a minute Shepard was speechless at what he just did as his world sped up again.
"Shepard that was incredible! You never did anything like that before." Isaac said surprised.
"I know." Shepard said a little in shock. It was almost instinctual when he did it. He then noticed that he was on the other side of the energy field. Quickly picking up his weapons and attaching them back on their holsters, he took the left way and came across 3 krogan. He instantly took out 3 grenades and threw at each krogan. When the krogan saw Shepard they executed a battle roar. Unfortunately for them, the grenades Shepard threw went down their throats and into their stomachs. Shepard saw this and hit the explosive button. The end result: the room was covered in gore. Luckily Shepard got to cover fast enough. He then went over to the console and downloaded what Hossle wanted. Shepard backtracked quickly coming up to a another flight of stairs. He moved up it in no time and eventually came to a big room full of geth. He quickly dual wielded his rifle and pistol, taking them all out fast. After the massacre, he noticed the room had several hooks, many cables, and a lot of geth terminals.
'This has to be it.' Shepard thought as he moved to the other side of the room.
"Shepard let me hack that terminal." Isaac suddenly said. Shepard looked at the terminal.
"Why?" Shepard asked.
"If ExoGeni was experimenting on the people here..." Isaac said.
"They could be doing it elsewhere too." Shepard finished. He quickly let Isaac hack it.
"Shepard they did it to another colony with different samples of something else. It's been out of contact for a while. I've got the coordinates." Isaac said. Shepard nodded as he walked up the stairs near them. Shepard went to other side and saw even more geth. He quickly took out several grenades and threw them in different directions toward the geth he could sense. He then set them off, killing whatever geth were near. Shepard moved down with his shotgun and a geth destroyer attacked him. Thinking quickly, he used a combo of overload and warp, then quickly blasted it in flashlight part of it's head, ending it.
"Shepard that geth terminal looks hackable." Isaac said. Shepard quickly let Isaac into the terminal.
"Shepard, the geth are amassing a force somewhere in the Armstrong Nebula. You'll need to warn the Alliance. Also check that other terminal beside us." Isaac said. Shepard quickly did as Isaac instructed. One minute later Isaac talked again.
"Hmmm a group called Cerberus? They had more samples delivered to the Matano System. You might want to check things out there." Great one thing after another. Shepard then looked at the claws that were holding on when he saw something.
'That panel could dislodge it but what could force it...' Shepard thought as he looked around. He then saw a console that seemed to control pressure of some kind. He then walked over to it and fiddled with it until...
*screech, crash.*
Shepard looked behind to see one of the claws dislodge and with it the whole geth ship. The whole room shook as the thing down along with a crash.
"The energy should be down now." Isaac said. Then the radio crackled to life.
"I repeat, Normandy to shore party. Are you reading? Anyone there? Normandy to shore party. Come on, anyone, talk to me!" Joker's voice spoke out.
"Joker what's wrong?" Shepard asked.
"We're in lockdown here, Shepard. Something happened to the colonists. They're banging on the hull, trying to claw their way inside the ship. They're freaking out!" Joker reported.
"They can't do any real damage. Just sit tight." Shepard said calmly.
"Uh... yea. Okay. Well, we'll just wait right here for you Shepard." Joker said.
"Did anyone else from the ground team enter the Normandy Joker?" Shepard asked as he made his way out.
"Uhh no. No one did." Joker responded. Shepard almost stopped walking, but kept going. His fears had come true, his team was taken.
"Okay, I'll get things sorted out." Shepard said as he turned off the comm. He quickly began to run towards the exit. He then met up with Lizbeth.
"There you are! We should leave now. I don't think this place is safe." Lizbeth said.
"You lied about the Thorian." Shepard.
"I was afraid. They threatened me when I came forward about it. Told me I'd become one of the subjects. When the geth attacked, I tried to get a message out but the power went out before I could send it. I-I never meant for this to happen." Lizbeth said.
"Get in the mako." Shepard said as they ran to it. When they got in Shepard quickly started driving back to where Juliana and Jeong were, thinking that maybe they could help.
"I really am sorry." Lizbeth said softly. Shepard saw the sad expression on her face.
"Fine, you did what you could, but you need to tell me where it is." Shepard said.
"It's under the outpost. When the geth attacked, the colonists covered it with the freighter just before it happened." Lizbeth said
"By would the geth be after the Thorian?" Shepard asked.
"It does have mind control capabilities. That was what ExoGeni was looking into." Lizbeth said. Then Joker's voice came on the mako's radio.
"Normandy to shore party. Come in."
"I'm listening." Shepard responded.
"The geth seemed to have deactivated completely Shepard, but the colonists are still going insane."
"I deal with it, trust me. Thanks for the update." Shepard said.
"Right, Joker out." Shepard then kept on driving until he got wind of Juliana's signal.
"-anybody. Is there anybody picking this up?"
"Get away from that radio!" The line cut.
"What was that all about?" Lizbeth asked.
"I'm not sure, but it can't be good Shepard said as they kept nearing the scientists. Then radio signaled again.
"This Juliana Baynham of Feros Colony, can anyone help us?"
"That's my mom! Stop the rover!" Lizbeth said. Shepard stopped and she got out. He quickly jumped out after her and both went down to see what was going on. As soon as they Jeong and Juliana, Shepard both made them kneel down, out of sight and he quieted Lizbeth down and told her to watch and wait.
"You can't do this Jeong!" Juliana said
"Everybody shut up! Let me think." Jeong shouted out.
"You won't get away with this Jeong." Juliana said back.
"Get her out of her!" Jeong shouted and security grabbed her. Lizbeth then ran right in saying "Get away from her you son of a bitch!"
"Lizbeth!" Juliana shouted as she got out of the guard's grasp and hugged her daughter.
"Damn it! Come out where I can see you!" Jeong shouted towards Shepard. Shepard calmly walked out.
"Hah, Shepard. Damn it! I knew it was too much to hope the geth would kill you. I found some interesting facts in the ExoGeni database about you. I knew a war hero would be terrible here. I know what happened on Akuze and I know what you did on Torfan. This doesn't have to end like eother of them." Jeong said.
"What do you think your doing?" Shepard asked.
"Communications opened back up and now ExoGeni wants this place cleansed." Jeong said.
"You can't just repurpose us Jeong!" Lizbeth said.
"It's not just you. There's something here far more valuable than a few colonists." Jeong said.
"Are going to tell them, or should I? You know about the Thorian?" Shepard said.
"Thorian?" Juliana asked.
"It's a telepathic life-form living under the outpost. It's taking control of the colonists there. ExoGeni knew all along!" Lizbeth said.
"You're not getting away with this!" Juliana said.
"So you keep saying, but nobody's going to miss a few colonists." Jeong coldly said. That was the last straw. Shepard pointed his pistol at Jeong.
"This ends now with you!" Shepard said.
"That's the way it's gotta be come on!" Jeong said as he pointed his pistol at Shepard. Shepard then pulled the trigger and Jeong was dead. The security were about to attack Shepard when he looked coldly back at them with his omni-tools out and a biotic aura manifesting around him. They deflated pretty quick. Shepard then turned to the mother and daughter.
"I'll kill the Thorian, then get you to safety." Shepard said.
"The colonists won't let you near the Thorian. They'd die first. They're under its control." Juliana said.
"I'll find a way to break it's control then." Shepard said.
"A nerve agent could help paralyze them! Like a gas grenade!" Lizbeth said.
"That'll help." Shepard said. Lizbeth nodded and asked to have his grenades. Shepard handed them over. A few minutes later and his grenades were now outfitted with anti-thorian gas upgrades. Shepard clipped his grenade belt back on, along with a breather helmet so he doesn't get infected.
'Hold on guys. I'm coming for you.' Shepard thought ready to stop the Thorian and save his friends.
Well what do you?
Good?
Bad?
In the middle?
Read and Review! Hope you enjoyed it!