Here is the next installment of the Noveria section. I hope y'all enjoy this one. I think I found an interesting way of leaving out some of the tedious parts of the mission that I always found a bit boring. Let me know what y'all think. Comments, suggestions, and reviews are appreciated. Enjoy!
Parsini handed Claire a garage pass as she led the whining salarian away. He was making empty threats as she dragged him away.
"Thanks for the assist Shepard. I owe you a beer!"
Claire smiled and patted the pass against her palm. "Well, what are we waiting for?"
The guard at the garage let them in with little fuss, but as soon as the doors closed, Luke heard movement. He immediately pulled his gun feeling a tingle go up his spine.
"What is it?" Claire asked pulling her assault rifle. Garrus already had his sniper rifle out and ready. He had apparently heard it too.
"Garrus, I think I see something. 100 meters front near the exit, but I can't tell." Liara said fumbling with her pistol and turning off the safety.
Garrus lifted his rifle and peered through the scope. "Spirits…juggernauts."
"And those are usually supported by those springy little bastards." Luke stated looking up at the ceiling. Claire looked up just in time to watch one of the agile synthetics leap from the ceiling and land behind a stack of cargo.
"Garrus, bring down those Juggernauts before they get to close if you can. Liara, singularity against the ceiling right in the center. Luke, you and I drive the small units toward the singularity. Any of them get caught up in the field, Liara will finish them off." Claire said.
"Got it…I guess we know what Benezia brought in the crates huh?" Garrus said pulling back the bolt on his rifle.
"Seems like." Luke responded taking aim up at the ceiling.
"Move!" Claire ordered. The shots started to ring out. The juggernauts charged but were dropped in less than two seconds as Garrus fired four shots. He cursed and dropped his rifle the moment the second juggernaut went down as the chamber vented steam and smoke onto his face. Liara's singularity caught only one of the geth springing from wall to wall, but Claire was able to take down two, while Luke finished off the last. As the firing stopped, Captain Matsuo came running into the garage with ten of her men.
"What the hell is going on here?" She asked.
"You know, shoot geth. Saving the galaxy. All the wonders that come along with being a spectre." Luke joked. Garrus chuckled. The response only got a smile from Liara, but Claire remained serious.
"Matriarch Benezia brought these things through in those crates. How many did she have?" The captain seemed to distracted to answer.
"Geth? You expect me to…believe…" She turned to her men. "Secure the facility."
"Captain, we need to know how many are out there. A dozen? A hundred? A thousand?" The captain looked back to Claire before starting to shake her head.
"Matriarch Benezia had a couple dozen crates. There could be fifty to a hundred geth between here and Peak 15." Claire turned to Luke and Garrus pointing toward a Mako that was close to the exit.
"We'll take that one just in case we have to fight our way through." Garrus and Luke nodded and took off running to get the vehicle started.
"You know, just once I would like to go on a mission where we get there and problem is an easy fix." Garrus said leaping up onto one of the wheels and climbing on top to inspect the weapons.
"What are you talking about? Bust a bad guy, blow up some geth, find a powerful matriarch and her commandos, kick their butts, and go home. We're half way there. This stuff is easy." Luke joked opening the engine hatch. Garrus let out short laugh before slipping into the gunners chair. Liara and Claire arrived soon after and the Mako roared forward into the blizzard that ravaged the mountains.
The ride quiet only for a short time before they were fired on by both infantry and defensive towers. The crew made short work of them and pushed on to the tram facility since Peak 15 was not accessible with the Mako.
They abandon the vehicle outside the main garage and entered, desperate to get out of the snow and cold wind. Luke drew his pistol and moved forward with the other three behind him. As the door to the main hanger opened, Luke saw a prime and several krogan on the far side open fire. The next thing he knew, he was flying through the air. He slammed into the wall so hard that he was pretty sure that he had made an indentation of himself. He tried to get up but his vision went dark and his arms failed to move. His ears were ringing and his heart pounded in his chest and head. He tried to move again but nothing responded. He cursed his carelessness but nothing came out of his mouth as he slowly slipped out of consciousness.
It seemed like only a second had passed when Luke came to. He opened his eyes to see a salarian standing over him cleaning what he assumed was a wound on the side of his head.
"What happened?" Luke mumbled.
"I am not sure. You'll have to ask the spectre that brought you in here." Luke looked up at the Salarian.
"Where am I?"
"I would say Peak 15 usually, but considering the circumstances I think I'm going to say hell."
"Peak 15. Last I remember is the tram station." Luke said reaching up to feel his head. There was a lump under his buzz cut hair that was large enough to be visible to the naked eye and he ached all over.
"Well, here comes the spectre now." Luke looked to see Claire approaching with Garrus and Liara in tow.
"Luke, I'm glad you're awake." Luke turned his legs of the cot he was on and groaned.
"What happened? Last think I remember is a Prime and some krogan on the other side of the hanger." Garrus chuckled.
"The was another krogan to the right and he charged you. Hit so hard you flew into the wall. Garrus helped me carry you through the facility. Oh, and guess what. We are fighting freaking monsters." Claire explained.
"Monsters? Come on Claire. Are they some kind of new geth we haven't seen before?" Luke asked stretching his neck and standing slowly. He was able to move but his right shoulder and arm were still very sore. That must have been where he had been hit.
"No, they're organic. They look like giant bug-like things." Claire said trying to mold an image with her hand out of invisible clay. Luke shrugged and rubbed his injured arm and shoulder.
"Well, let's get back to work. We have monsters to kill." Luke said pulling his pistol and checking the chamber. Claire nodded and waved him on to follow her.
"While you were out, we've found out that Benezia went to the hot labs. There is a doctor that will give us his access card to go in through the maintenance areas because the main passage in guarded by security and they won't let anyone past." Claire said as they turned down a hallway and headed for an elevator.
"Sounds like they are trying to keep something secret down there and Saren wants that something." Luke said as they stepped into the elevator.
"My thoughts exactly, but the doc won't hand over his card until his colleagues get a cure that is in a quarantined lab. I've gotten permission to go in and that's where we are headed." Luke sighed.
"I always wake up for the boring missions, don't I?" Luke said looking back at Garrus. The turian smiled and nodded.
The elevator stopped and Claire led the team past the guard and into the labs searching through the notes and chemicals that the scientists had been using. Luke searched the private rooms looking through the lockers and drawers. His arm was still bothering him as he continued to move it but he figured it was just from get blindsided by a krogan.
"I found it." Liara said standing over a desk in the common room. Claire came up and started mixing the chemicals together the way the notes said to and filled a small tube with it.
"Alright, let's get back to that doctor." Claire said looking over at Garrus.
"Um… Claire… We've got company…" Luke said slowly. Claire turned to see an asari with four geth troopers behind her blocking the way out.
"Benezia told me to take you out if I got the chance. I suppose this is as good a time as any." The asari said with a sinister grin.
"She's surrounded by geth and armed. Shoot her!" Claire yelled. Immediately, weapons opened up. Luke got one of the geth right off the bat nearly blowing its head completely off. Claire shoot the asari through the head jumped behind a crate to avoid the fire coming from the other troopers. Garrus used his assault rifle firing wildly at the enemy destroying one more on accident than anything. Liara took a hit to her shields that knocked her over the guard rail but she scrambled to her feet and managed to get off a few shots that took down another trooper. Luke took a hit that ripped through his shields and dented his armor but delivered the final damage to the last trooper that sent it to the floor silent and still.
"You know what I said about boring missions?" Luke asked inspecting the dent in his chest plate. Claire nodded looking over at him. "I take it back." The group laughed and quickly left the lab.
"All right, I'll go up and get the access card and tell the security captain what happened to his man." Claire said looking over at the dead turian on the floor. "You three check the bodies for intelligence and keep an eye on the maintenance doorway."
"Got it, Commander." Garrus answered. Luke made a goofy face and exaggerated a salute before smiling and heading back into the lab to search the bodies.
"He seems like he is getting better after fight." Claire said softly so only Liara could hear.
"I do not know much about human behavior Shepard, but he does seem a little less distracted." Liara responded as Luke flipped the dead asari over and checked her pockets and omni-tool.
Claire sighed and left heading up to collect the card from the doctor. Liara sat down on a cot and kept an eye on the door while Luke downloaded all the data from the asari's omni-tool. It wasn't much but it might give them another lead on finding Saren.
"Hey Luke. I've got something you need to see." Garrus said punching in something on his omni-tool. Luke closed his own tool and crouched down next to Garrus. On the screen was Garrus' video mission recording. As the turian pressed play, Luke say that back of his own armor as they were walking into the tram facility. "This is the best part right here." Garrus said as a Krogan came out from behind a crate and plowed straight into Luke's side. The armored hump of the alien connected with Luke's arm right under his shoulder guard and hurled him through the air. The moment Luke hit the wall, Garrus paused the recording.
"You really have to show me that right now. Come on." Luke said giving his friend a jesting shove.
"This would sell great on that extranet show…what's it called?" Garrus asked looking over at Luke.
"Oh no you don't!" Luke said reaching for the delete key, but Garrus pulled his arm out of reach.
"That is not even the funniest part. We had to leave you in the VI core so we could reconnect the landlines and repair the main reactor. You flopped around like a hanar being electrocuted." Garrus said fast forwarding. Luke sighed and looked over at Liara. She was looking over at them with a smile, apparently entertained by the exchange.
"Wait, you guys carried me from the transit station, through the facilty, onto the train, and through this facility fighting the whole way?" Luke asked looking back at his former partner. Garrus shrugged. "You guys must really like having me around." Luke smiled and checked over his pistol.
"Maybe we just didn't want to suffer the wrath of Ashley for leaving you behind."
"Self preservation huh?" Luke stopped and looked over at his friend. "You know nothing is ever going to happen between Ashley and me, right? Ashley is a family girl and I abandoned mine. She is a loyal Marine in the alliance and I'm an undercover cop loyal to justice… Wow I sounded like a comic book character just then didn't I?"
"Sounds more like a smutty romance novel actually." Garrus tease making kissing sounds. Out of the corner of his eye, Luke saw Liara turn bright red and turn away from them.
"What do you think Liara, I mean about me and Ashley?" Luke asked.
"I am not a very good judge of human behavior. I have not had much time around the two of you, but you do spend quite a bit of time together. You must enjoy each other's company. In the end, is not that what matters most?" Luke smiled and looked back to his turian friend.
"It's true, but that does not mean you get to show her that footage." Luke said jumping on the turian trying to get to the omni-tool. This caused the two to fall to the floor and wrestle for control of Garrus' left arm which immediately caused fits of laughter to eminate from Liara.
By the time Claire returned, Luke had Garrus on a leg lock while still trying to reach for the omni-tool while Garrus and Liara both were laughing hysterically.
"I'm guessing you showed him the footage of the tram ride over?" Claire asked. Luke looked up at her in horror.
"There's more! Give me that!" Luke shouted immediately releasing his hold on Garrus and diving for his arm. Claire turned red she was laughing so hard as her brother and Garrus struggled for control. Though after only ten seconds of watching the struggle, she noticed that Luke was favoring his left arm even though he was right handed; there was something wrong.
"Luke, we have a mission to finish, come on. You can beat on each other later…once your arm is feeling better." Luke looked over at his sister. He shook his head and stood up. Garrus looked at her puzzled then back to Luke.
"What's wrong with your arm?" Garrus asked. Luke shrugged.
"It still hurts from when the krogan plowed me over, but I'm okay." Luke said. Truth was his arm simply would not stop hurting. Wrestling with Garrus certainly had not helped but the adrenaline from the tussle helped dull the pain. He would have to make sure to visit Chawkwas when they got back to the ship.
"If it starts getting to be too much, I've got medigel and pain reliever." Claire stated as she made her way toward the door.
"I'm good. Let's go." Luke said cocking his pistol and releasing the safety. The door opened and the squad started moving forward.