Alright, here is the next installment for Feros. Sorry it took a little while. Work... R&R please. Enjoy!
The tunnels beneath the colony were filled with steam and feeling of being watched. Luke moved slowly watching both ahead of them and above them. Wrex stayed close behind with his shotgun out and ready.
As they moved forward, Luke listened at every corner trying to see if there were any geth down the next hall. The pair approached one of the halls, while Luke listened he suddenly heard a geth noise. Luke looked back at Wrex and flipped of his safety. The krogan nodded and they both squatted down so they would not be spotted. They moved slowly and silently into position. Luke looked over at Wrex as the krogan rose.
The shotgun round ripped through one of the synthetics before any of them could even move. Luke's assault rifle ripped through a second and the two weapons converged on the last geth ripping it to pieces.
"Yeah, that was good." Wrex said standing and nudging one of the bodies.
"These metallic bastards had it coming. Come on. Let's go find some more." Luke said starting to move forward but a console caught his eye. "Hold on, what's this?" Luke knelt in front of the console.
"Can we shoot it?" Wrex asked.
"No, this is a pumping system for water that goes up to the colony. There are three terminals that activate the system." Luke ran through the program and activated the console. "Alright, if we can reactivate this system, the colonists could put out some of those fires and have a supply of water to drink."
"We're already killing geth for them. How much more help do they need?" Wrex said keeping an eye out for any approaching enemies.
"Those colonists need all the help they can get. It's not enough to just defend them. Not for me." Luke said standing and retrieving his rifle. "Let's keep moving and see what else we can find."
The two men moved along the tunnel until they reached a door and a walkway to the left and right. Luke glanced over at Wrex then back to the door to their left.
"Let's see if there are some more geth in here." Wrex nodded as they moved toward the door. As soon as the door opened, a varen looked up at them and growled.
"Now it gets fun!" Wrex roared. He fired a blast that knocked the varen backward killing it. Luke charged in after him and turned.
"Oh crap." Luke said softly. Wrex turned and the two of them looked up at an entire pack of varen staring hungrily down at them. A large male stepped to the front and growled at them. "Well, I think you just killed a friend of his." Luke said softly.
"About to kill a few more." Wrex snarled. Luke switched to his pistol quickly and switched his ammunition to shredder rounds. As the varen started to move down toward them. Wrex started firing. Luke was carful with his shot placement. He aimed carefully at each varen and fired putting round after round between the eyes of each beast.
The alpha did not move until most of his pack was dead. He charged at full speed at Luke. Wrex blasted it in the side but it only made the beast mad. Luke fired over and over into the creature, but it would not drop until Wrex hit it with a biotic throw that sent it into the wall impaling it on a large piece of metal.
"Well that works." Luke said holstering his pistol. Wrex chuckled and opened a crate near the top of the ramp behind the door. Luke started looking though some the damaged and wrecked equipment that was cluttering the walls. He found a few power converters that looked like they would still be in working shape. He pulled them from the wreckage and clipped them onto his belt.
"You ready?" Wrex asked.
"Yeah, let's get out of here."
"Shepard, let's try a cross that bridge over there. I want to shoot more stuff." Luke laughed and nodded.
The two continued through the tunnels. By the time they were hit a dead end, they had activated the water system and destroyed a jamming tower the geth were using to disrupt communications and scanners.
"Wrex, cover our six. I think there is a person down there." Luke said leveling his pistol. Wrex nodded and turned to watch.
Luke approached the man slowly with his pistol out and aimed. "What are you doing down here?"
"Nothing I should and everything I shouldn't." Luke glanced back at Wrex. He did not have the patience to listen to a crazy man babble, but there was something gnawing at him to that told him that he needed to listen.
Claire looked down the hall toward the tunnels. Her fingers drummed on her forearm as she paced slowly.
"They should be back by now." Claire said looking over at Ashley and Garrus. Ashley was obviously thinking the same thing because she was on her feet the second Claire spoke.
"Ready to move skipper."
"Just give them a couple more minutes, Shepard. I'm sure they're fine." Garrus added. Claire looked over at the turian with a worried expression.
"Garrus, look at who I sent in there. Wrex and Luke, two of the most stubborn members of my crew that would never back down from a fight no matter what the odds." Claire wrung her hands scraping the plates of her armor together.
"I don't see any of us backing down from any kind of fight commander." Garrus replied. He quickly realized that that was probably not the best thing to say to a worried sister. "I mean they are not ones to be taken so easily."
"Damn straight!" Luke said rounding the corner with Wrex in tow.
Claire gave a relieved sigh before nodding. "Find any trouble down there?" She asked. Luke glanced over at Wrex.
"A few geth, a couple krogan mercs, some defense drones, a crazy colonist who kept trying to tell us something, and a partridge in a pear tree." Luke said counting the statements on his fingers.
"What's a partridge?" Wrex asked. Luke simply smiled at Claire and Ashley and started back toward the colony. "What is it?" Garrus shrugged and followed the humans.
Claire smiled at the colony leader as she approached with her team. "Fai Dan, the tower is clear of geth. You should have some time between now and the next attack." The leader seemed to relax some.
"Thank you commander. We are in your debt."
"We also destroyed a geth jamming tower in the tunnels. You should be able to send a strong signal to the Alliance. Oh and inform your colonist that the water should be flowing again." Luke reported. Claire glanced back at her brother with an approving smile.
"That is great news." Fai Dan replied.
Luke tapped his sister on the shoulder and whispered as she turned to look at him. "I'm going to take a look around the colony for a minute. See if there is anything else that I could help fix."
"Alright, take someone with you." Luke nodded and signaled for Ashley to come with him.
As they made their way through the colony, Luke started listening to the way the people were talking. They spoke of headaches and protecting the heart of the colony to the death. Luke found a woman who was tinkering with a generator and gave her the converters he had found and told a man raving about food that there were fresh killed varen in the tunnels.
"Luke, are you alright?" Ashley asked as they made their way back toward Claire and the others.
"Now that the colony is back on its feet, yeah. I'm better, but I am going to kill Saren when we catch up, then I'm gonna resuscitate him and kill him again just for good measure." Luke said clenching his fists.
Ashley nodded. She felt the same about her unit on Eden Prime. Saren was going to die for what he did to all of the innocent civilians that got in his way.
As they rounded the corner leading back to the tower, Luke spotted Claire with Wrex and Garrus waiting for them. Claire was apparently explaining something because Garrus was nodding and Wrex just seemed bored.
"Are we going after the Geth problem?" Luke asked.
"Yeah, but the only way to get to the ExoGeni Headquarters is across the skyway. It is sure to be crawling with geth and I don't know how we are going to get there if they call in air support." Claire said examining a map of the area.
"We do what we always do Shepard. Shoot our way through." Wrex said. Luke smiled and laughed.
"I'm with the big guy. Let's go blow up some geth." Luke said in agreement.
"I like the sound of that. Besides, the colonists can't hold on much longer if the geth aren't driven off." Garrus said.
"Hell, I'm always up for violently shutting down some flashlight heads." Ashley added.
"Glad to see it is unanimous. Alright, into the elevator." Claire said as the team moved.
When the elevator reached the skyway garage, the doors opened revealing a schirmish between a few of the colonist defenders and a half dozen geth attack drones. The Normandy team shot them down quickly and checked on the colonists.
"We're alright, just kill these bastards." One of them shouted. The other cheered and raised their weapons as Claire and the others moved down to a Mako. Luke checked the engine and armor while Garrus checked the weapons systems.
"Good to go Claire." Luke shouted from the engine compartment as he climbed out. "It won't take as much punishment at the one on the Normandy but then again we won't be tumbling off cliff sides, will we?"
"Well, if we do, you won't be around to gripe about it." Claire retorted.
"Weapons are functional and online. I made a few calibrations that should make them more accurate, but same goes for them as the engine; can't hold a candle to our Mako." Garrus quickly shook his head. "Um…your Mako." He corrected himself quickly. This made everyone laugh as they piled in. Luke leaned into the front seat and looked over at Claire.
"Just remember, a Mako can't fly and is not meant to fall over a mile. Please try and keep it on the road for once in your life." Luke pleaded.
"Do you want to drive?" Claire said somewhat in a scolding way.
"Yes, I'd love to." Luke replied.
"To bad. Hold on to something." Claire slammed in the gas sending Luke toppling into the back of the Mako. The team was fairly certain that the laughter could be heard by the geth that were waiting for them along the narrow skyway.