Chapter Three
I was standing on the captain's rise overlooking the galaxy map in the cic of the Normandy. The cic of the Normandy was located on the first deck at the front of the ship. The actual galaxy map was a half oval shape, workstations outlined the galaxy map. In the center was an open space, a large holographic display of the Milky Way galaxy shown before me. On my rise was a command navigation panel, I could input a destination and it would automatically go to the cockpit and to Charles Presley, our chief Navigator. In a trench like area lining the edges of the cic were numerous workstations that were occupied by various crew members, I assume for the ships combat control.
Up at the main front of the ship was the cockpit, I think I'll go check that out. I stepped down from the rise and made my way up to the cockpit. Entering I saw the commander standing to the right of the pilot's chair, to left was someone I didn't know. I could hear someone talking, it was coming from the pilot's chair.
"I just hope the guy is as good as you say commander, I mean I've read about him. He seems like an absolute beast on the battlefield, but I just wonder if his leadership skills are up to par." said the pilot.
Shepeard looked down at the pilot, "Don't worry Joker, Colonel Warren knows what he's doing. If anyone can track down Saren, it's him." So, Joker, odd name for a pilot.
"I just hope you're right; he screws up we're all going down for it." said Joker. Thanks for the vote of confidence. The lady off to the left chimed in on the discussion. "Give the man a chance Joker, the guy has been doing this for longer than most of us on this ship has been alive." She said in a British accent. Well, that's a nice way to call someone old.
"Ya know, it's not the most polite thing in the world to talk about someone behind there back." I said. The commander and the woman quickly turned around, startled. Joker turning his chair around. The lady was the first to speak.
"Colonel, we didn't notice you were here. We just saying all good things about you." she said, she straightened herself and gave a quick salute. "Communcations Specialist Corporal Samantha Traynor, sir." I held up my hand at her, "At ease, Specialist." I said. She relaxed herself. I got a look at her; she had dark skin. Her facial features hinted at a mix between African and Samoan decent. She also had short black hair that was parted.
"It's a pleasure to meet you, Specialist Traynor. And yes, I have been doing this a long time, but it doesn't mean I'm old." I said. She tensed up at what I said. I couldn't hold it anymore and I relaxed myself and chuckled, "It's ok Traynor, I'm just fucking with ya." I said. She relaxed and released a breath she'd been holding. I looked over at Joker, "So, this must be the one that makes this Shelia fly." I said.
"Yes sir, names Flight Lieutenant Jeff Moreau, but call me 'Joker'. I can make this girl dance across the stars better than any ship in the Alliance Fleet, just don't ask me to dance. Unless you like the sound of breaking bones." I looked at Joker with a confused look. Before I could ask, he explained, "I was born with an extremely rare genetic disorder. It's called Vrolik syndrome, better known as brittle bone disease. When I was born, I had seventeen broken bones. If I was born five hundred years ago, I wouldn't have survived past birth. But thanks to medical advancements, I can live a normal life. I just can't make any sudden movements or stand for long periods of time." He finished.
"Well Joker, that was interesting to know. I'm glad you're able to live a normal life, and don't worry. As long as you can fly the Normandy as good as you say you can, I won't be asking you to hit the dance floor." Joker laughed at me saying that.
"Good one Colonel. Well, since the Normandy is now yours where are we headed?" asked Joker.
"For now, set a course for the Traverse, stretch her legs a little. If we need to make a course correction, I'll let you know." I said to him. He just nodded his head and turned back around in his chair.
"Well, I going to go grab a quick shower. I'll meet you all for dinner." said Shepard before she walked off.
"Colonel, if you would like, we could walk over to my station, and I can tell you about my mission functions and about the Normandy." she asked gesturing towards the cic. I just nodded my head and stepped aside. Traynor walked forward and I followed her to a station beside the captain's rise on the galaxy map. She hit a few buttons on her terminal bringing up a display.
"Ok Colonel, so my primary duty on the ship is to handle ingoing and outgoing communications for the crew. Also, I'll notify you and the commander of any incoming transmissions. As well as forwarding any outgoing messages or vid-call requests you or the commander might have through the Q. E. C." she explained. She then hit a few more buttons and brought up a display of the Normandy outline. "This area of the ship is the combat information center, it contains the ship critical operation centers, combat suites, and navigation center. Directly behind us is the conference room. You can use that area for mission debriefs or any important meetings. The main QEC is also located here, you can transmit real time communications anywhere in the galaxy. Down the stairs behind us is the main crew deck. It holds the berthing for the enlisted crew as well as the officer's cabins and your own personal quarters. The galley and mess hall are located there as well as the medical bay. Also, the entrance to the escape pods is just as the bottom of the stairs."
"Let's hope we never have to use those." I spoke. Traynor gave a nervous chuckle before continuing. "Definitely. Ok, now taking the lift in the crew deck takes you to C deck. There is the hangar bay, cargo hold, the armory, and armor lockers. I also heard that before we departed Alenko and Williams set up a small gym and bar on the left side of the hangar bay. Also, I heard Garrus has set up the center of the hangar bay as a makeshift shooting range. Finally, engineering is located through a side door along the back of the hangar. I believe Tali has put herself to work there." Traynor stepped away from her Terminal finally finished. "Ok Colonel, I believe that is all. Is there anything else?" she asked me.
"Yes, are the transmissions being sent out secure?" I asked her.
"Yes, of course. All messages are heavily encrypted." she answered.
"Good, there's a message and data package I need you to send out to Colonial Fleet Command, it's on priority one level." I said.
"Of course, Colonel. Send it to me and I'll send it right away." she said.
"Also, one more thing Traynor. You don't have to address me as Colonel all the time, feel free to use my first name." I said. Traynor blushed a little bit with embarrassment. "I'll try my best, Colonel. I mean Rick." she corrected herself with a nervous chuckle at the end. I gave a small grin; she was green as hell but was trying to do her best at this job. I liked that.
"Don't beat yourself up Traynor. I know I can be a bit intimidating, but I'm pretty chill. Take care, and hopefully I'll see you at dinner." I said. Traynor smiled and nodded, and I did the same before turning to leave. I think I'll check out the rest of the ship. I decided to take the stairs down to the crew deck. Reaching the bottom of the stairs, there was a door on either side that had large red letters that read, "ESCAPE PODS." In the center of the wall was a large door, thar read "CREW BERTHING." I decided to peek inside just to check it out. It was a large open room with about a dozen bunk beds. Storage lockers sat between each of the bunks. There were round tables with chairs in the middle for the crew to sit at. In the main back was two doors for the male and female bathrooms and showers.
I left and went around the lift into the mess hall. The mess hall was simple, just a half dozen rectangular tables. The galley was off to the left, a cafeteria style serving bar with the actual kitchen against the wall behind it. Off to the right was the medical bay, I decided to enter.
Entering the medical bay, it was standard. Against the right wall were five exam beds jutting out of holes in the wall. At the back was a surgical station. On the left side was two desks, in the front desk sat an older woman with black hair and silver streaks in it. I immediately recognized her as an old friend. "Karin Chakwas, it's been way too long." I said folding my arms and smiling. Karin looked up at me and her eyes lit up and she smiled. "Well, I'll be, Rick Warren." she said standing up from her desk and walking over to me. She wrapped her arms around me for a hug which I returned.
"It is so good to see you, how have you been?" I asked her after we let each other go.
"I've been well." She said smiling.
"How did you end up on the Normandy? A person with your career record should be the chief medical officer of a military hospital."
"You've known me long enough Rick, I always go where I think I'm needed, and something just told me that I needed to be on the Normandy. I was right.' she said with a grin.
I couldn't help but chuckle. "That intuition of yours is never wrong." I said. Karin returned with a chuckle. Another woman from the back of the room walked up to us, "I take it, you too have known each other for a long time." she said. The woman was tall and slender, she had short auburn hair and a slim face. Karin turned to her, "Yes we have Ms. Chambers." Karin turned back to me and gestured to the woman. "Rick this is Kelly Chambers."
I reached out my hand and Kelly took it and we shaked, "It is a pleasure to meet you Ms. Chambers." I said with a smile.
"Please, call me Kelly. It's a pleasure to meet you too, Colonel. I'm the head medical assistant, I assist Dr. Chakwas with all aspects of the medical bay on the Normandy. A I am a licensed psychiatrist and chiropractor." she said.
"That's good, we have someone to keep the ship from going batshit crazy. And I could use a bone popping session." I said. Kelly giggled at that. I smiled at both ladies. "It was nice to see you Karin, and you too Kelly. Hopefully I'll see you all at dinner." They both smiled and nodded. I left the medical bay.
Heading towards the front, I went up two steps into the officers' berthing. It was a short hallway with five narrow doors on each side. There was another door at the end that said, "COMMANDING OFFICER QUATERS." I decided I would wait and check that out later. I turned and left for the elevator and took it down to C deck. Exiting the elevator, I could see where everyone was. Off to the right, Wrex and Drack were at the armory working on guns. Garrus was over working on the Mako, and Shepard was helping him and talking. Off to the left Vetra was standing some crates fiddling with her omni-tool. Sid was sitting on some crates; she was currently talking to Tali. It was something interesting because they were laughing. Ashley was over by the armor locker, checking her armor. Kaiden was currently hitting the bag. Scott and Sarah were sitting on top of the Kodiak shuttle talking.
I looked over and saw the makeshift bar and decided why the hell not. I walked over to the bar, there was a selection of whiskeys, brandy's, liquor and spirits from different species. Didn't they have any beer at this thing, I don't want to be hitting the hard stuff before dinner. I looked over and there was a small fridge, maybe there was something in there. I opened it.
The first thing I saw was Rhyncol. Don't want to tear my liver and kidneys to shit. I looked deeper in the fridge, there were popular asari and turian ales, a few popular human beers. Heineken, no. Modelo, no. Bud Light, fuck no. Come one dammit. Then I saw it, in the back were a six pack of 700 ml "Tallies" of Great Northern Brewing Co. Original Lagar. That'll do. I grabbed one of the beers and popped the cap off on the counter. Take a big swig of it.
"Damn, that is smooth." I said to myself. I went to take another drink but stopped when I heard a clang of metal and a playful giggle. "What the hell." I looked around and couldn't see anything until I heard it again. I looked up and saw Peebee walking across the steel beams above the hanger bay. "Oh, for fuck sakes." I cursed under my breath. I walked out into the middle of the hangar bay and looked up. "Peebee! Get the fuck down from there!" I yelled at her.
She looked at me and showed a playful smile, "Dad, it's ok." she said back. "I don't give two shits, get down now!" I yelled again. Her face dropped and she started climbing down. It wasn't until I looked down that I saw everyone was looking at me with surprised and confused faces.
"You have a daughter!" yelled Sid, bouncing excitedly. I lowered my head into my head, "Fuck me." Peebee hit the floor in front of me. She looked at me, "Dad I was being careful, just a little bit of fun." she said. I pointed at her, "I don't care. You just can't go climbing around on everything in the Hangar Bay. If you were to fall and break something your mother would kill me." I said.
From across the room, I could hear Drack yell out, "Teach her a lesson Papa Rick!" I looked over at him, "Shut up!" I yelled out. Both him and Wrex let out a bellow of laughter. Everyone else was joining in on the laughter, even Peebee was snickering. I gave a scowl of a look. She shrugged her shoulders, "Sorry Dad, It's funny." She pointed at the beer in my hand. "I see you found the beer I got you."
I looked down at the beer then back up at her, "You got this?" I asked her.
"Yeah, Mom said your family was from a country called Australia back on Earth. I looked up some Australian Brewing companies that were still in business and I saw that one and bought you two sixpacks. The other is up in your room." she said.
I couldn't help but smile a bit, "That was really nice of you Peebee, thank you. But that doesn't excuse what you did. Now I'm going to shower, I'll see you at dinner." I said before walking off taking another drink of my beer.
POV Tali 'Zorah nar Rayya.
Several of us were sitting at one of the round tables, we were currently having dinner. The meal for tonight was a choice of chicken parm or beef curry. All of us were having the chicken parm except for Wrex who was feasting on a massive plate of beef curry with rice and bread. I was still in my suit, but I had removed my mask and helmet, but still had my hood up.
"Hey Tali, you might be able to answer this better than I can." I looked up from my plate and looked at Vetra who sat across from me. "Yeah, what's the question?" I asked. Vetra gestured to Scott beside her, "Scott wants to know how us turians and quarians can eat regular human food."
"Yeah, I thought it was like almost fatal for you all to eat our food?" he asked with a curious look in his eyes.
"Oh no, it was never fatal to us. That was just an urban myth. We could eat it, but we couldn't properly digest it and absorb sufficient nutrients from it." I explained.
"What she means is it gave us a horrible case of the screaming shits." said Garrus from down the table. All of us, including myself, couldn't help but laugh at what Garrus said.
"But that all changed about a hundred and fifty years ago. A team of dietitians and bioengineers were able to make an enzyme that helped us properly digest and absorb nutrients from your food." I finished explaining. Scott looked at me intrigued by what he just learned.
"I'm curious as what was the big deal of making something like that?" asked Sarah. Vetra decided to answer this question, "Well Sarah, it was mostly helpful for the militaries of the galaxy. They no longer had to worry about having to supply specific food for turian and quarian crew members." she finished saying.
"I don't mean to change the subject." said Sid. "You always mean to change the subject, Sid." said Vetra rolling her eyes.
"I want to talk about how Rick has a daughter." said Sid. All of us looked over at Peebee who was enjoyably eating her chicken parm. Realizing she was being stared at she looked up from her plate and looked at us, putting her fork down. "Well, I didn't know till a few months ago that he was my dad. Mom never really talked about him, until a few months ago I just finally upped and asked her." she responded.
"But how did your mom and him meet?" asked Sid. Peebee looked dumbfounded, not being able to answer the question. "It was a long time ago." We all turned around to look. Rick was standing there in a grey T-shirt and gym shorts with black tennis shoes. He took the seat between me and Peebee, he had a plate loaded with chicken parm and noodles with garlic bread, in his other hand was a beer. I couldn't help but notice as he sat down the numerous scars on his arms and legs from cuts, burns and bullets.
He started to explain how he and Peebee's mom met. "I had enlisted in the military just a few weeks after my eighteenth birthday, much to the disapproval of my parents. But anyway, a few weeks after finishing basic training I was stationed at this base that was used for research and development. It was located on this really small colony out in the boonies of colonial space, I mean the base personnel and their families made up half the colony. But I was stationed there as part of the guard duty, it was an easy job, just patrolling the base ten hours a day. The beach was just five miles from the base, on this beach was this little cantina that some of the locals went to. I went there one evening after patrol, just to check it out, get a few drinks and sit on the beach, the place was dead on this night. When I walked in there, I was stunned. Behind the bar was this matriarch asari, she was in this yellow sun dress. She was absolutely beautiful. I couldn't help it, I walked up to her, I asked to order a beer, she must have heard my voice because she immediately grabbed me a great northern. I sparked a conversation with her, and for the next six hours we sat and talked about anything and everything. At the end of the night, we went to her villa just up the beach. There we made love all night; it was one of the best nights of my life."
"Ewe dad, I don't want to hear about you and mom fucking." said Peebee. We all couldn't help ourselves but laugh. "Your old enough, and like you ain't heard worse." said Rick.
"What happened after that?" I asked. Vetra gave me a look, "Somebody is curious." she said then winked, everyone at the table except Rick started snickering. I turned my head and blushed. "Leave her alone Vetra." said Rick. I turned back to look at Rick.
"Well Tali. After that, for the next nine months, she and I spent every free moment we had together. It was like one of those romance novels, just two people madly in love. We spent nights just walking up and down the beach, some nights when I was on weekend leave, we walked all the way to this remote cove. There we just sat and talked for hours, make love and fall asleep on the beach. We'd spend nights just dancing to old songs in the middle of her villa. We even had a favorite song, it was called "give it all we got tonight" by an old twentieth century artist named George Strait. It wasn't romantic but our favorite movie was an old western movie called "Unforgiven." I introduced her to it, we both hated romance movies."
He paused for a second, the smile on his face faded away. "But it eventually had to end. I got reassigned to a marine outfit. I didn't want to go but she understood. I didn't know at the time, but she was a few weeks pregnant with Peebee when I left. After I joined the Black Rangers, I tried to find her, but I never could." He fell silent after that. The whole table fell quiet.
I guess sensing the tension, Shepard decided to speak. "Well, how did you, Vetra and Drack meet?" she asked. Drack decided to jump in and answer that. "Well, me and Rick met about thirty years ago. My granddaughter Kesh got kidnapped by this crazy salarian scientist. He was claiming to be curing the genophage, but really, he was trying to make a breeding facilitate to breed an army of krogan. Rick was apparently on mission to stop him; we ran into each other when I was trying to rescue Kesh. We agreed to help each other. We tore that place to hell and killed every last thing that crawled, after that he not only rescued Kesh, but every Krogan female and returned them to Tuchanka." Drack finished.
"I remember that, from that day forth Rick became a friend of the Krogan people." said Wrex.
"Yes! And from that day forward, if Rick ever needed help on a mission, I always answered." said Drack.
"And what about you, Vetra?" asked Peebee.
"Well, I guess I'll start from the beginning. I was born on Paleven, my dad worked in some shady business. He ended up getting into some trouble and moved us to a backwater turian colony. There, when I was seventeen mom had Sid. By that point she had grown distant from dad, so when Sid was just six months old, she left. After that it got worse. Dad would stay gone for days, sometimes weeks at a time. Then one day just a few weeks after my ninthteenth birthday, he never came home. After that it was just me and Sid. I took what odd work I could, just enough to get us by. When Sid was five, we ended up on Omega. There I got into smuggling; I didn't like it, but it was work. Over the next two years I became known as a person who could get stuff for you. I could smuggle almost anything on or off the station, I even got really good at getting information for people. That's where Rick came in."
Rick picked up the story from there, "It was during my lone wolf days. I was on Omega looking for a batarian merc leader. He had been dealing in drug smuggling, child slavery, raiding civilian ships. You name it, he and his crew did it. I had tracked him to Omega, but from there it was a dead-end, I couldn't get any leads. Then one day this young turian girl stumbles onto my hideout and leaves a package. Turns out it was the location of this guy and his men. I got the drop on them and killed all of them. After that, anytime I was on Omega I went to her for information, until that day." he paused.
"What happened?" I asked. I notice Vetra and Sid lower their heads.
"This was about two years later; I made the mistake one day of using one of my old informants. When I found the target, he had located for me, turns out he had snitched on me. It was bloody mess, I got the target, as well as all his buddies. But I got shot nearly thirty times in the process." All of us widened our eyes at that.
"See, all Black Rangers have emergency signal, kind of like a panic button. If we press it, it notifies the nearest colonial ship that we're in trouble and need help and gives them our location. I hit mine, but I knew no one would get there in time. I wandered to an empty alleyway and slumped against the wall. I had used up all my medi-gel, but I had more holes in me than Swiss cheese. So, I just sat there, bleeding out, waiting to die. Until Vetra found me. She dragged my half dead body to a clinic in the slum wards run by this yappy salarian named Mordin Solus. He patched me up enough to keep me alive till the extraction team got there." he finished.
Vetra continued the story, "After he healed up enough, he came back to Omega for me and Sid. He got us out of there and gave us a life. Me and him became partners, eventually Drack joined us and we became a team. It's been that way for the past ten years. Anytime we were on missions, he made sure Sid was safe and taken care of. He became the closest thing Sid has ever had to a father and he became a brother to me." she finished. Vetra and Rick smiled at each other.
"Don't forget about Uncle Drack." said Drack with a toothy grin.
"Nobody could forget about you old man." said Sid. Rick put his arm around Peebee and looked at her, then Sid, Vetra and Drack. "And now I guess we're all just one big happy family."
I wish I could be a part of that family, I thought to myself. I didn't notice that a tear had streamed down my face until Sid looked at me. "Tali are you crying?" she asked me. My eyes grew wide in shock as everyone looked at me, I quickly wiped the tear away. I think Rick read my mind because he put his arm around me. I was surprised at first but then a calm came over me as I turned my head and looked at him. He was looking at me with a warm smile and that weird feeling brewed in my chest.
"Don't worry Tali, you're more than welcomed into this family." He spoke, then he looked up at everyone else. "All of you are welcomed into this family. Everyone smiled brightly at that. I had bowed my head and blushed, but thankfully I don't think anyone saw me.
We all quickly turned our heads when we heard a loud grumble, Wrex was holding his stomach.
"Wrex are you sure it was a wise idea to eat that huge ass plate of curry?" asked Rick. Wrex didn't answer, instead just got up and hurried to the bathroom.
"I feel sorry for that poor crapper." said Rick. We all slightly laughed at that. A few seconds later we heard a scream echo and we all started dying laughing. We all broke into small conversation as we continued eating our dinner. Rick turned out to be quite the comedian, having everyone cracking up with his jokes. Eventually Wrex rejoined us after his venture in the bathroom.
"So, Wrex, is your asshole still in one piece after shooting liquid fire out of it?" asked Rick. Wrex just grumbled at him.
"That toilet probably needs to be labeled a biohazard area." said Rick, we all started bursting out laughing again. Wrex gave the finger to Rick.
"So, Rick, I gotta ask what's with the revolver?" asked Garrus.
"Well, I've always had a soft spot for classic firearms, especially those from the 19th century American west. My dad gave me my first Colt single action when I was nine and I fell in love with it. When I became a black ranger, I was told that each ranger has their individual trademark for assassination missions. So, I decided to have a Colt single action designed to be used on missions." explained Rick.
"That brings up a question I have. What's the deal with your family, aren't they like really rich?" asked Sarah. Rick sighed, "I usually hate answering this, but yes. My family is quite wealthy. My grandfather moved from Australia on Earth to the colonies when he was young. He had enough money to buy a mining ship. He got lucky one day and hit a huge element zero deposit. From there he founded the Warren Mining Company, and over the years he turned it into a multi-billion credit company." said Rick.
"Just how much is your family worth dad?" asked Peebee.
"Last time I checked the company in whole was worth just shy of a trillion credits, and the family was worth about six hundred billion credits." said Rick. About half of us at the table spat out their food, I dropped my fork and just stared wide-eyed at him.
"So, wait, how much of that money is yours?" asked Peebee.
"Well, my dad at first didn't want me to have access to the family money when I joined the military. But after some convincing mom talked him out of it. So, I have a secure private account that is funded by my percentage of the family assets. Which is forty-five billion credits. Which reminds me, since I have decided to solely fund this mission. I ordered everyone the top-of-the-line Armor and weapons." said Rick. We were all surprised by that, a few of us, mainly Wrex and Garrus, were excited.
We went on talking for a while longer until we finished dinner. After dinner, we all departed to our areas of the ships. I went back down to engineering to finish some diagnostics before heading to bed.
"Whatcha doing?" I jumped when I heard someone behind me. I turned to see Sid standing there. "Oh, Sid, I'm just doing some diagnostic checks on the Normandy drive core." I said. Sid looked at me like what I just said went right over her head.
"Cool, so dinner was pretty fun." she said. I nodded my head, "Yeah it was, I didn't know the Colonel had such a unique personality, and he's surprisingly very caring. I've always heard him of being a ruthless and merciless soldier."
"Yeah, all everyone ever sees of him is what he does out on missions. He can be a force to reckon with when you piss him off, but deep-down he's a big softy. I remember one time he bought over a hundred thousand credits worth of food and clothing for kids in the slums on Omega." said Sid. That surprised me, a man that can be so brutal show so much care.
"He really does have a good heart, and he's funny. I can see why Peebee's mom fell for him." I said.
"Yeah, his story was so sweet. It made my heart warm. So, when are you going to tell him you like him?" she asked. My body stiffed up as my eyes widened and my face started feeling hot.
"Wh... What?! I don't know what you're talking about, Sid." I stuttered out, my voice getting a little higher pitched. Sid just showed a playful grin.
"Oh, come on Tali, I saw the way you looked at him while he talked, and how you blushed when he spoke to you." she said. My face just got hotter as I bowed my head. "Don't worry Tali, your secret is safe with me." said Sid before she turned to walk away.
I don't like him like that... do I? I asked myself. I shook the thought out of my head and got back to finishing my work.
After finishing my work, I went to my cabin. It was one of the rooms next to the captain's cabin. I entered the room. It was a small rectangular room, as soon as you walked in there was a walled-off area of the cabin with a door. It held the bathroom, just big enough for a toilet, sink and shower. The area between the bathroom and the bed was taken up by a locker, mini fridge with a convection oven on top, and a small desk. The bed was a queen with dark blue bedding, a nightstand sat beside it. The room overall was barebone. I still felt this was too much for me, I had offered to just put a cot down in the cargo hold. But Rick waved it off and insisted I take one of the rooms.
I had no other clothes besides my suit, but there had been some spare clothing on the ship that Rick insisted I take. I opened the small standing wardrobe, inside were some blue T-shirts with the alliance logo on them. There were some grey and dark blue hoodies, and some grey jogging pants that had a blue strip down the leg.
I took out a shirt, hoodie and jogging pants and laid them on the bed. I then went about the process of taking my suit off and storing it in the wardrobe. I took a hot shower using some lavender scented antibacterial sensitive skin shampoo I acquired on the citadel. After the shower I dried and changed into my sleeping clothes. I had to cut the legs on the jogging pants to get them to fit, but it worked. I laid down on the bed and first noticed the bed was comfortable, soft but firm. The other thing I noticed was just how quiet it was.
POV Rick Warren
I was just finishing my rounds around the ship checking everyone. The graveyard shift had taken over, just enough crew to keep the ship running. Ashley, Alenko, Scott and Sarah took up quarters with the rest of the enlisted crew. Wrex, Drack and Garrus had made their residents in the hangar bay. I had come back up to the crew deck, so I could check on Sid and Peebee before bed.
I walked up to the door and hit the enter request button on the panel. A few seconds later, the door opened, and I entered the room. The room was a little bit of a mess, Sid had her stuff scattered all over the room. Mostly pictures, little fake cactus, and some books and clothes. The only neat place was the desk which Vetra had claimed. Sid was laying on the bed, surfing the net on her omni-tool. An extra padded twin cot was set up against the wall next to the bed for Vetra.
Vetra was currently sitting at the desk on the computer. She turned around in the chair to greet me, "Hey, Rick what are up too?"
"I'm just making my rounds before going to bed." I answered.
"He has to check for monsters under the bed and make sure we're tucked in.," said Sid with a little laugh. I grinned and shook my head. I walked over to her, "Well, with the looks of this room the only monster is you, messy creature." I said rubbing the top of her head. Sid giggled and pushed my hand away.
"It's not messy, it all brings what you humans call a feng shui to the room." she said gesturing around the room.
"Well, I think most people would call it a disaster." I said folding my arms. Vetra laughed at that one while Sid gave me the turian equivalent of the middle finger.
"Hey Rick, since you're here, there's something me and Sid want to give to you." said Vetra. "Oh yeah, we got you a present." said Sid, getting up from the bed and running to the wardrobe. She opened it and pulled out a large box wrapped in brown paper and twine. She put it at the foot of the bed. "Open it!" she said excitedly.
"Guys, I really don't need anything." I said.
"Come on, please." Sid said with a pout. I sighed and reached down to undo the twine and unwrap the box. The paper revealed a gun case for a pistol. I raised my eyebrows in curiosity, opening the case, it revealed a revolver. It was in a black polish in the metal and had an ebony wood grip. I picked the revolver up.
"This is an 1875 Smith and Wesson model three Scholfield." I said examining the pistol.
Vetra began to explain the pistol, "Yes, it is, but I had a few changes added to it. The barre is seven and a half inches long with slightly larger bore. The metal has been reinforced with tungsten alloy. The cylinder has been enlarged and extended slightly to hold .357 magnum cartridges. Also, look at the cylinder." she said. I broke open the revolver and saw the difference immediately.
"This is a seven shot." I said, a little excitement in my voice.
"Yes, it is, figured more rounds were always helpful. I also had them change it so the cylinder can come out for quick reload. I also had the firing mechanism updated so you can fire it in single and double action. There's a little switch on the side the control that. I also got you five extra cylinders. Also, there is a box of five hundred shells in your cabin. They're reinforced casings for higher power loads, they shoot tungsten slugs with incendiary tips. Good for armor and shields." Vetra finished.
I'd be lying if I wasn't teared up a little bit. "Damn Vetra, I don't know what to say. Just, thank you. You too, Sid, thank you. This is really special. Damn, I might have to start using this as my regular carry." I said.
"There's more." said Sid. "We kind of stopped by your parents' house, and they let us have your '86." she said. I turned my head wide eye at them. "You got my '86?" Vetra smiled and nodded her head, "Yep, shells too." I put the revolver back in the case and closed it. I walked over and gave Vetra a hug, "Thank you." I told her. I then gave Sid a hug too. "Thank you, squirt." I said. I gave her a kiss on the top of her head.
"Thank you, both of you. I'll see you in the morning." I said before leaving. I walked over to Peebee's room, which was right next to mine on the right. I hit the enter request and it opened. Peebee's room was surprisingly neat. Peebee was laying on her bed in joggers and a blue T-shirt. She was on her omni-tool listening to a song that I immediately recognized. I started singing along quietly.
"Baby, fall into my kiss. It should just happen like this. Trust it so much that there's no one else but us. This moment says it's so right. Cause that's all we have in this life. Drink up this love, baby, give all we got tonight." I stopped when Peebee paused the song, I opened my eyes, and she was staring at me.
"That song brings back a lot of memories." I said, a small smile forming on my face.
"That was your and mom's song." said Peebee said. I nodded my head. I placed the case on the table and walked over to sit on the side of the bed. "Yes, it was. Me and your mother shared many dances under the moonlight to that song." I spoke.
"I listened to a few of his other songs. He's good, wish I could've been there to see him perform when he was alive. Mom said you would sometimes play that instrument called a guitar and sing songs like that. Could you do that again?" she asked me.
"Maybe, it's been a while since I played. And I only ever played for your mother. But I think I possibly could with a little bit of practice." I spoke.
"Dad, can I ask you something?" I looked her in the eyes, "Yeah, what's up?"
"Has there been anyone else besides mom? I don't care if there was, I'm just curious." she asked me. I sat there quiet for a few seconds thinking about all the women I've been with over the past many years. "Well, I've had a few flings here and there. But honestly no, your mother is the only woman I've ever really loved. I still love her, but just not that way anymore." I answered.
"Do you think you could ever love someone again?" she asked. I tilted my head as I thought about it, "Honestly sweetheart, I don't know. What I've done in my life, it leaves a lot of scars and baggage. I don't know if there's room for love."
"Well, you and Vetra are like brother and sister. You and Shepard are hardcore soldiers, and I think Garrus is crawling up that tree. Ashley weirds me out a little bit." she said. I scoffed and shook my head.
"Now hold on, what are you doing. Playing match maker for your dad." I said with a laugh at the end.
"Dad, I just want you to be happy in your life." she said. Taking her thumb and rubbing the top of my hand. I gave a lop-sided smile and placed my hand on her shoulder. "I am happy, all I need to worry about is finishing this mission and taking care of my daughter." I said.
"I'm fine dad." she said. "You know, I've gotten a chance to talk to Tali a lot today. She's really nice and sweet, but she's got a little bit of sass. She can definitely take care of herself, and smart as can be. You should get to know her."
"She is nice, but that's enough of that. Goodnight." I said, leaning over and giving her a kiss above her eye. I got up and went to leave the room, grabbing my case as I went. "Dad." I turned to look at Peebee before leaving. "You're a much better man than what you give yourself credit for, reason why mom fell for you." she said. "But seriously, talk to Tali. Get to know her."
"Okay, now goodnight. I love you." I said.
"I love you too, dad." she said before I left.
I walked into my room. It was sort of half circle shape. To the right was the bathroom in a separate room. Next to the bathroom was a curved sofa against the wall with a coffee table. To the left corner was my desk, next to it was a single door fridge with bottom freezer. On a counter next to it was a convection oven, coffee maker and small single basin sink. Next to it was the wardrobe. In the center of the room was the king bed. Moses was currently curled up on one side of it. I kicked my shoes off, laid my case on the nightstand. My Winchester model 1886 propped up next to it. I laid down I the bed and covered up, Moses curled up next to me as we both drifted to sleep.
…...
I stood there and watched as the night club was engulfed in flames. Why is this happening? I thought to myself. I then suddenly remembered Cyhrus was still inside. I took off running in the club, my other squad mates yelling at me to wait. I didn't care, I ran in. The inside of the club was ablaze, dozens were dead, even more injured trying to get out.
"Cyhrus!" I yelled out his name looking for him. Over at the base of the stairs, I saw a turain hand reach out from some rubble. I ran over and cleared the rubble, it was Cyhrus. But he was hurt badly, over half of his body was burned. Blood was seeping out of his abdomen. I quickly threw his arm around me and picked him up, I carried him out of the club. We got out just before the club collapsed.
I placed Cyhrus on the ground and instantly started applying as much medi-gel as I could. Cyhrus swatted my hand away, "You and I both know that can't save me now." he said with a weak voice.
"Hush that Cyhrus, we're going to get you out of here and healed up." I said. Cyhrus motioned for me to get closer. I leaned close into his face.
"Rick, do me a favor. Look after my son for me please?" he asked. I shook my head and took his hand, "Of course man, you know I will." He gave a weak smile, "I know, you've always been a good friend." His smile faded as his eyes closed and his body went limp. I looked at him frantically, no please. I put my fingers to his throat and felt no pulse.
I sat back, I turned my head to the sky and screamed, slamming my fists into the ground. Tears started rolling down my face as I sat there. I looked up confused as Cyhrus's body faded away in ash, next everything around me was consumed by fire and crumbled into ash. Next rotten arms of corpses started bursting from the ground. I quickly stood up and grabbed my rifle.
From the ground decaying bodies started to rise and march towards me. I started to shoot them down as fast as I could, until I realized there were thousands of them. I then saw their faces, each of them was someone I had killed. They all stopped walking and the sky grew cloudy and a crimson red. The next thing terrified me. A grim reaper looking thing with a scythe that stood over a hundred feet rose from the ground.
I stood there unable to speak as I stared into the black abyss of his eyes. He then raised his scythe and swung it down at the ground, as it flew down at me, I covered my face with my arm and screamed, "No!"
…...
I shot up in a panic, I was trying to scream but nothing came out. I thrashed around until I felt myself hit something. I fought to untangle myself from whatever was bounding me, I couldn't get my breath. I thought to myself I was dying, until I felt fur and a wet nose against my face. I froze and looked into Moses's eyes, "Moses, pill." I said in a strained voice. Moses went over to my nightstand and came back with a pill bottle. I opened the bottle and took the panic depressants. Moses laid in my lap, and I wrapped my arms around him as I calmed down and caught my breath.
After several minutes the pill started to take effect as I started calming down. I got to my knees and leaned against the bed, I put my face in my hands, my whole body still shaking. I then realized I was drenched in sweat. I grabbed my shirt with my hands and ripped it off, I slowly stood up and made my way into the bathroom and the shower. I turned the shower on cold and sat down on the shower floor.
After sitting there for a few minutes, I felt I had enough energy to get up. I took off the rest of my clothes and threw them in the bin. I then properly washed myself. After my shower, I dried myself and put on a fresh set of gym shorts and T-shirt. I went back out into my room and changed the bed. I looked at my omni-tool and the time read, 0300, I knew there was no way I was going back to sleep. I need a snack, to the mess hall.
I exited my room and made my way to the galley to the fridge. "Couldn't sleep either?" I whirled around towards the sound of the voice; I saw it was just Tali. I put my hand on my chest. "Fucking hell, you about gave me a fucking heart attack."
She held her hands up a shocked look on her face, "I'm sorry, I did not mean to scare you." she said. I took a breath and leaned against the serving fridge. I gave a small laugh, "No, you're good. I'm just still tired as shit and jumpy as a fucking strung-out Wallaby." I said, looking at her with a small smile. She looked at me confused.
"It's an animal from my home country on earth." I pointed at the fridge, "You want something to eat too?" I asked.
She nodded her head, "I could go for something." she said. I gave a thumbs up and opened the fridge. Most of everything was stuff that had to be cooked and didn't want to make a mess just two hours before breakfast. Thankfully I found some packages with sliced turkey and ham, I grabbed that plus some lettuce and honey mustard. I found some bread in the pantry. I grabbed two plates and everything else and walked out from behind the serving line.
"Come on." I said to Tali, pointing towards my room with the bread in my hand. She looked at me strange for a second but then got up and followed me to the room. Entering the room, I went over to the counter and made up some sandwiches. I grabbed the plates, a bag of crisps and some beers before walking over to the bed. I sat down on the bed and propped myself up against the headboard. I held out Tali's plate to her and she took it taking the same position on the other side of the bed.
"You want a beer?" I asked her, holding one out to her. She took it and opened it. I opened the bag of crisps and took my plate, which had two loaded down sandwiches on it. Tali looked at me with a raised eyebrow. "Hungry much?" she asked with a snicker.
"What, I'm a bigger guy, I eat more." I said. Freya's voice came over, "Miss Zorah, for someone of Rick's size and activity level, he requires a substantial number of calories every day." I tilted my head at Freya's voice while Tali giggled a little bit.
"Why don't you just call me fat." I said sarcastically. "Ok, you're fat." responded Freya. Tali laughed out at that one. "You can kiss my ass, Freya." I said taking a bite of my sandwich.
"Wouldn't be hard to miss it." I almost choked on my sandwich when Freya said that Tali was beside me dying laughing. "You can fuck right off then." I said.
"She's not wrong though." I whirled my head at Tali, wide-eyed. "You been staring much." I said.
"Hey, don't blame a girl for noticing." she said. She then then hit me on the shoulder, "I'm just joking with you." After that we went to eating. While eating I caught a few glimpses of Tali's face and head, she had thick and wavy black hair that was tucked behind her ears, it fell to a few inches past her shoulders. Her ears were slightly pointed, almost like an elf. She had defined cheek bones, a small nose with a narrow bridge. Her eyes shined almost like crystals. Every time she took a bite her ears would twitch slightly and shed wiggle her two toes. Her face wasn't much different from a human, but the way she acted was cute and she was damn beautiful.
She turned her head towards me, and I quickly broke my gaze off her. "So, care to tell me a bit about your family?" she asked. I guess we're talking now, damn you Peebee.
"Well, as you already know my dad's side of the family is from a country on earth called Australia. But my mom is from somewhere different, a place called the Carolinas, she grew up on a farm at the foot of the blue ridge mountains. When she was just nine, her and her family moved to the colonies. She met dad in high school, this was when my granddad's mining company was just taking off. A few years after high school, they got married. They had four kids over the next ten years, then twenty-three years later, I came along."
"That must have been a surprise." said Tali.
"That's what mom said, all my other siblings were grown. My dad had just become Vice president and COO of the family company. He was in the process of building a huge farmhouse on his six-thousand-acre ranch." I said. Tali's eyes widened slightly at that.
"I sounds like it would be beautiful, wish I could see it." she said.
"Maybe I'll take the team to see it one day, if we can ever catch Saren." I said.
"Is the search not going well?" asked Tali, a slight concerned look on her face.
"The council hasn't sent anything. I've looked at a few things, all I've found is some companies that Saren had major stocks in, but no real leads. As for Benzeia, it's even harder finding anything on her." I said.
"I wonder if she has any family that might be willing to explain why she joined up with Saren." said Tali. I looked at her, "Tali, you just might be a genius, or I'm just clueless."
"Maybe a bit of both." She said with a small grin. I look at her with a straight face and cocked head, "Piss on ya." I say, she just laughs at it. I pull up my omni-tool and get Freya. "Hey Freya, does it say if Matriarch Benzeia has any living relatives." I ask her. A few seconds pass.
"Yes, it shows that she has one daughter. Dr. Liara T'Soni, she works as a Prothean archeologist for the Thessia museum of galactic history." said Freya.
"Well, I'll be damned." I said. "Does it say where she is at the moment?"
"Currently she is on an artifact excavation contract in the Artemis Tau cluster in the Traverse." said Freya.
"Is there a way to track which planet she is on, maybe her ship id?" I asked.
"I'm sorry, the ship was rented through a private company. Even with your spectre clearance we'd have to subpoena the company to have access to the flight logs."
"Shit, that would send red flags across the damn galaxy."
"Rick, let me see your omni-tool." said Tali. I reached my arm across to her and she started typing on it. "What are you doing?" I asked her.
"I'm hacking into the companies database; I'd do it on mine but it's older and doesn't have spectre clearance." she responded.
"I like how you roll, and we'll have to change that." I said.
"There, it says in the flight log that her ship last landed on the uncharted world of Therum in the omega system seven days ago, been there since." she said. Damn this girl is good.
"Well, I guess I know where we're headed." I said as I opened the communicator in my omni-tool. "This is the commanding officer to flight deck, set course to the Artemis tau cluster, omega system, uncharted world of Therum. Send me the eta asap. Send a reminder to all ground personnel to meet in the debriefing room one hour before arrival." I ordered. Within thirty seconds my omni-tool chimed, we were apparently close as our eta was only nine hours. I looked over at Tali, "Well what do we do for the next seven or eight hours?" I asked.
"I don't know, why don't you tell me more about growing up on your parents ranch?" requested Tali.
"Ok, but then you're telling me about growing up on the fleet. So, this is the story of the time my dad made me help birth a calf. So, my arm is shoulder deep in the ass end of this cow."
…...
I slowly stirred awake to the sound of Freya yelling my name. "Rick! Rick! You need to wake up. The briefing is in thirty minutes." I slowly opened my eyes; I was lying in my bed. A few beer bottles and crisps littered the bed. Moses was curled up at the foot of the bed, I slowly turned my head to the right and my eyes shot open. Tali was leaning against me sleeping soundly. Oh damn, the crew is going to have a field day with this. I reached over and nudged Tali on the shoulder. "Tali, we overslept. We need to get up."
She moaned in annoyance, "No, let me sleep."
"Tali, I know you are tired, and look cute as hell sleeping." Did I just say that. "But you need to wake the fuck up." Her eyes slowly opened, and she looked me in the eyes. "Rick is this a dream, why am I in your bed?" she asked.
"Yes, it's a dream. We fought flying thresher maw and slayed the evil emperor. Now get up." I said. She moaned and slowly rose into a sitting position; her hair was in a tangled mess and there was a little bit of drool on her chin. I threw my legs off the bed onto the floor. I slowly rose and took a step, but my foot landed on a beer bottle. I slipped and fell back on the bed, bouncing off it and hitting the floor face first. I lay there and take a deep breath, "Fuck this day."
We stumbled out of my cabin, and all the crew in the mess turned to look at us. "Well, fuck." I say.
"I knew it!" yells Sid. Shepard, Wrex and Drack burst out laughing. Vetra and Garrus have shit eating grins on their faces. "Way to go dad!" yells Peebee giving two thumbs up.
"Fuck off!" I yell rubbing my face. "Everyone report to the debriefing rom in twenty minutes." I turn to Tali, "You better go get ready, I'm going to get a shower." I say as I turn to go back into my room. "I gotta piss." I mumble.
"Me too." I hear Tali say before she enters her room.
…...
Entering the debriefing room was awkward as fuck. Tali was trying her best not to make eye contact with me, as was I, but we were failing miserably. Everyone else in the room was looking at us with small, stupid smiles on their faces. I did my best to ignore them as I sat in the chair at the back of the room in the center of the circle. I hit a few buttons on my omni-tool and the holographic display of the world, Therum came up.
"This is where we're headed. It's called Therum, it's an uncharted world but is believed to have been a Prothean colony at one point. This is an extraction mission, we're here for Dr. Liara T'Soni. She is the only known daughter and living relative of Matriarch Benezia. We're hoping she might have some intel on why Benezia is working with Saren." I explained.
"How do know Liara isn't working with Saren too?" asked Ashley.
"That's why we need to be to be extra cautious on this mission, Williams." answered Shepard.
"Yes, we'll need to be careful when we find Dr. T'Soni. But I do not think she is with Saren, according to the limited information me and Tali were able to find, Liara hasn't had any contact with Benezia in at least a year. But we do have another situation on our hands." I looked and Tali and motioned for her to present. She typed on her omni-tool and aerial photos of the area surrounding the dig sight popped up.
Tali began, "According to photos taken by the Normandy's tight focus and inferred cameras, there appears to be a geth presence. At the entrance to the dig site there is a heavy geth drop ship. Around the entrance to the dig site, I've located two Geth Armature. This is a medium anti-personnel unit, they fire plasma shells, a direct hit can significantly damage a vehicle's shields. To an organic body, it's almost always instant death. Each armature is supported by a squad of heavy infantry." she finished.
"They're probably here to secure or capture Dr. T'Soni, so we can assume there's more geth inside. So, the game plan will be this. Me, Tali, Shepard, Vetra, Drack and Wrex will be infiltrating the front of the dig sit with the Mako. Garrus and Ashley, you two are our best marksmen. So, you will take the shuttle and land one klick back from the dig site, from there you will make your way to this ridgeline that overlooks the dig site. Kaiden, Scott and Sarah will be with you. While we're dealing with the geth armatures, you two will take out the heavy infantry with snipers. Once the area is clear and we move into the dig site, you are to move in and take position, be ready in case we need assistance." I cut off the holographic display and looked at everyone in the room. "Everyone clear on the plan?" I asked. Everyone gave nods of confirmation.
"Alright, report to the shuttle bay in thirty minutes. Let's go kill some shit." I said, standing up. Wrex and Drack pounded their fists together.
Making my way back to my room, I went to the wardrobe and opened the armor locker. I stripped myself down to my underwear, first thing to go on was the under suit. Similar to a wet suit in appearance, it had tubes inside of it that were filled with gel. This gel could be heated or cooled to control body temperature; the outer layer of the suit was a dense bullet resistant gel. Next was the leviathan armor, a soldi black armor, similar to a slimmed-down version of the colossus armor. A top-secret prototype armor, designed to be easily concealed under civilian clothes but provided the same shields and protection as heavy colossus armor. Next was a pair of black pants and a black long sleeve shirt. I then dawned my hooded trench coat, buttoning all the buttons on it. Next my assault vest, I loaded it up with thermal clips and loaded cylinders for the Scholfield. I grabbed kukri and machete, sheathing them. I holstered my new revolver and my M-11 suppressor and grabbed my harrier rifle. Lastly, I grabbed my helmet before leaving. Moses started following behind me, I turned and gave him the heel signal, "Not this one boy, keep Sid company." I said, he whined at that but obeyed. I left my room.
…...
I exited the lift, I had my helmet on but mask up and hood down. Everyone was already loaded in the Mako, I opened the side door and climbed in. Tali was in the co-pilot seat, Vetra was on the gun and Shepard, Wrex and Drack were in the back. Tali looked at me and shook her head at me, probably because I had a burger in my mouth and a beer in my hand. I looked at her and raised my eyebrow, "What?" I asked, well mumbled through the food in my mouth.
She laughed and shook her head, turning her face back to the console. "You're ridiculous." she said. I just rolled my eyes and closed the door.
I heard Joker's voice over the radio, "Approaching drop point alpha, Garrus your team is clear to go." Through the window of the mako we could see the shuttle departing the hangar bay. "Fifteen seconds to drop point bravo." Jokers voice said. I opened my omni-tool and accessed the speakers to the Mako and pulled up at song. I hit play and the sound of a hard rock guitar rift of "Shoot to Thrill" began. I finished the last bite of my burger and closed my helmet and put up my hood.
"Hold onto your asses!" I said as I started the Mako and put it in gear. Tali looked at me wide-eyed, "Rick, don't do what I think you're going to do." she pleaded. The go light in the Mako flashed green and I looked at her, "Too late." I slammed the accelerator and the Mako shot forward. We rolled out of the ramp of the hangar bay and plunged towards the ground. Tali grabbed hold of the dash and started screaming, "You son of a boshtit! I'm going to fucking kill you!" Vetra, Shepard, Wrex and Drack were laughing and hollering in enjoyment. I looked at Tali, "I didn't know you cussed, Tali." She looked at me and her eyes grew really wide, "Keep your eyes on the road!" she yelled.
I pointed out the front of the Mako, "We're in the sky, there is no road." I said through a laugh. She just rolled her eyes and went back to holding on for dear life.
"Impact in ten seconds, activate thrusters." said the Mako computer.
"Oh shit." I said, as I activated the thrusters and slowed our descent. We landed on a slope just outside the dig site. I applied the brakes and the Mako came to a stop at the bottom of the hill. Tali pried her hands from the dash console and looked at me with an angry scowl and fury in her eyes. "You ever do that again and I will kill you." she said.
"Hey I got us to the ground safely." I said in my own defense.
"Yes, but after I had to put my soul back in my body." she spat back.
"Well, excuse me." I said annoyed, I started driving towards the dig site.
"I swear, you two are arguing like an old married couple. Things must have not gone too good in your cabin last night." I heard Vetra say from the gun turret. I pointed at a lava vent about a hundred meters from us. "Vetra, you see that lava vent over there. If you don't hush, I'll drive into it. I'll kill all of us right now, I don't care."
"Please do." I heard Tali mumble.
"Tali, for being so meek and timid when we first met you in the wards, you're quite the feisty firecracker." said Shepard. "Yeah, she's got quite the quad on her." agreed Wrex.
"I told you all, Rick likes the spicy ones." said Vetra.
"Vetra! I swear to fuck all!" I snapped. Drack just bellowed out in laughter. We drove for a few minutes in silence till we reached a point where the shallow gorge we were traveling in made a sharp turn. I stopped the Mako, right around that turn was the dig site and the geth. I radioed into Garrus, "You all in position, Garrus?" I asked.
"Roger that, me and Ash got two Armature and a dozen troopers in our sights, just waiting for your signal." he responded.
"Right oh, when you hear the first-round pop off from the Mako's 105, you start popping those flashlight fuckers." I said, as I put the Mako in all wheel traction. "Ok, Vetra, aim for the weak points in the legs, get them down then finish them off. Tali, keep the shields up in case Vetra misses." I said.
I heard a "Fuck you." from the turret section, I ignored it and restarted the song on the radio. I floored the accelerator sending the Mako lurching forward, as I went into the turn, I locked the front wheels and turned. The maneuver sent us into a slide around the turn, there waiting for us was an Armature. Vetra wasted no time in firing a round off, hitting the geth walker in one of its legs. I unlocked the wheels and floored it forward. Some of the geth troopers started firing at us but their heads started exploding from sniper shots.
The Armature got a plasma shot off at us, but I took us behind and around a boulder that blocked the fire. Vetra got another shot off that blew the front right leg off the walker. The walker fell forward as it fired; the round missed us but hit right next to us jolting the Mako.
"Finish that thing, Vetra!" I yelled. She did just that, firing a shot at it, blowing its head off. The Mako jerked violently as something hit us. "Second Armature, it got a direct hit. Shields down to sixty percent, might want to get us out of here, Rick." said Tali with a nervous tone. I floored it, maneuvering us out of the way of the second blast. I drove forward, weaving in and out of boulders trying to use them as cover. Up ahead was a boulder that kind of resembled a ramp about two hundred meters from the armature. I think I got an idea.
"Vetra, keep the gun level as possible. When I say fire, you fire!" I ordered. I floored it directly at the boulder, hitting the ramp it sent us flying. Me and I assume everyone else in the Mako held our breath as we flew. The second we landed right in front of the armature I yelled, "Fire!" The round hit the armature directly in the head, destroying it. I kept driving forward and hit the armature in the legs, sending the dead hunk of metal over us and landing behind us. I brought the Mako to a stop right in front of the entrance to the dig site.
I turned to look at the back, "We're here, everyone good?" Shepard looked at me with an annoyed expression. "Give me your fucking license." she said.
"What license?" I said sarcastically, everyone else in the Mako groaned. I chuckled and opened the driver hatch of the Mako, climbing out. Hitting the ground, I radioed Garrus. "We're all clear, Garrus. Moving into the dig site."
"Roger that, moving to secondary position." he responded. Everyone had crawled out of the Mako, "Alright, let's move in. Keep your guard up, there's probably more geth in there." I said. We took a line formation and proceeded into the dig site through an entrance tunneled in the side of the gorge.
Our path for the first few hundred meters was narrow and dimly lit passages. We came to the end of the passage to a lift; we climbed in the lift, and it took us up.
"I don't like this, it's way to quite." said Wrex, tightening the grip on his shotgun.
"Geth are known to be ambush attackers, so they could be hiding anywhere." Tali informed. The lift ride up was unnerving, the dead silence of the caverns was getting to me. Anything could be hiding in these shadows. We reached the top and exited into a metal grate scaffolding overlooking the excavation. Our boots making a light clanging on the metal grate as we moved forward.
"Is anyone there, please help me!" a hoarse and desperate voice called out. I motioned forward with my hand, and we all moved a little quicker towards the voice. Making a turn around a corner, we came to the source of the voice. An asari sat suspended in the air by some kind of energy field. This asari was in pretty rough shape, her clothes were badly stained. Her skin was oily and grimy, her lips were badly chapped and dark circles under her eyes. She slowly raised her head and halfway opened her eyes. Poor girl must have been here for days.
"Hello, are you hear to save me?" she asked, her voice raspy. "Or are you death finally coming to claim me." I realized she must have said that from my mask. I pulled back my hood and raised my mask.
"Dr. T'Soni I assume. My name is Colonel Warren, I'm here to extract you." I said calmly. Her eyes seemed to widen a little bit more and she raised her head more. "Thank the goddess, I did not think anyone was coming for me. Please get me out of here, but you'll have to get through this first."
"What exactly is this I'm looking at here?" I asked.
"It's a prothean barrier curtain, I activated when the geth came. I think I must have hit something wrong when I did. You'll have to find a way around it. But be careful, there is a group of Krogan with the geth." Liara finished saying.
"Rick, I think I might have found something." said Freya over my private channel.
"Whadda got?" I asked her.
"There's a mining laser two levels down, it might get us behind the barrier. But there's geth troopers down there." she explained. That should be a piece of cake.
"Alright, to the lift, we might have a way in. We'll have to shoot our way in though." I said. We all headed back into the lift and down two more levels. "Shoot anything that moves."
We exit the lift with our guns raised and at first there's nothing. Then I hear a snap, and on sudden instinct I pull Tali towards me. My gut was right as a bullet hit the wall right where her head had been. That was too damn close, I pull her into cover with me behind some rocks. I peer over the rock and a geth trooper is perched on some scaffolding high up. I take aim and fire off three shots with my harrier rifle. All three rounds hit and the geth jerks before falling over the side of the railing.
I look to Tali, "Stay close to me, seems like these geth might have an interest in you." We break out of cover and start moving forward. Two geth come out of cover, Vetra gets one with her Phaeston rifle, I get the other one. We move forward and make a turn; the mining laser is ahead as well as four geth troopers. Before they can raise their rifles the six of us unload into them, the bastards are burnt toasters before they hit the ground.
We move up to the laser, I examine the panel, it's too heavily encrypted for me. "Tali, you think you can crack this girl?" I ask her. She crouches next to the panel and opens her omni-tool, within just several seconds the laser roars to life.
"Atta girl. That was fast as fuck, I'm impressed." I said. Tali rubbed her hands together, "Thank you." I nodded in response and motioned everyone forward. We went through the hole made by the laser to a secondary lift; we took it back up to where Liara had been. Walking on the platform behind her, she noticed us and turned her head. We tried not to show it, but there was a putrid smell coming off her, poor thing. I don't know why but I thought of Peebee in this position and it both angered me and broke my heart.
"Oh, you made it through. I didn't think it possible, how?" she asked.
"That doesn't matter now, we need to get you out of here. How do I deactivate this thing?" I asked.
"There's a control panel to your left, it'll deactivate the field." I walked up to the panel, "Shepard, be ready to catch her, she's probably too weak to stand." I said. Shepard walked up to her, I pressed the button and the field deactivated. Liara fell into Shepards arms, as I guessed she was too weak to stand. "Thank you, now we should be going. This lift behind us goes up to the main entrance." said Liara.
I radioed Joker, "Joker pick up Garrus and his squad. Then meet us at the main entrance to the dig site, I'll send you the coordinates."
"Roger that, Colonel." he replied. We walked onto the lift and activated it. The ride up was pretty quick, reaching the top we started walking towards the dig site entrance, but we were stopped. Three blood pack Krogan with four geth confronted us.
"Give us the asari, and we'll consider letting you live." demanded the lead Krogan.
"You ain't getting jack shit." I spat at him. Readying my gun as did everyone else.
"Fine then, more fun for us. Saren doesn't really care if she lives." the Krogan said. The Krogan pulled their shotguns. I was quick to dive into cover, getting a few shots off, taking out a geth. I popped back out of cover, Wrex and Drack were taking care of two of the Krogan. So, Me, Shepard and Vetra were able to take care of the three remaining geth.
After they all were dead, I looked around. Where's the third Krogan? "Rick!" I heard Tali's voice yelp. Oh, please God no. I turned around and the third Krogan had his arm around Tali, his shotgun against her head.
"Give me the asari and let me leave alive." it demanded. Tali squirmed against him, and he tightened his grip on her. She looked at me with pleading eyes, I could feel rage boiling inside. I instinctively took a step forward; he pressed the gun against her head. "Anyone move, and I blow the quarians head off." Tali's eyes widened and locked with eyes of my mask. I opened my mask and looked her in the eyes. I ain't letting her die.
I turned towards Liara, "Dr. T'Soni please step forward." I said. Everyone looked at me in shock. "Rick what are you doing?" asked Vetra.
"It'll be ok, just step forward." Liara started to stumble forward. I turned back and looked Tali in the eyes again. "Tali it's going to be ok." I said with every ounce of confidence I had. She looked me in the eyes for a second then nodded. When Liara had walked up beside me, the Krogan started to lower his shotgun. I hope this works.
I quickly pulled my Scholfield and shot a round off into the eye of the Krogan. The bullet blew a large cavity in his face. He dropped his shotgun and brought his hands to his face, screaming in pain. This gave Tali enough time to dive out of the way, with her safe, I fired two more rounds into his face. This caused him to stagger back till he fell. I charged forward and put my boot on his chest and put the last four bullets in his face, reducing it to mined meat.
I turned to look at Tali, but before I knew it, she had her arms around me sniffling. I returned the hug, internally thanking whatever deity was up there for making me fast on the draw. She took a step back and looked up at me. "Thank you so much, I thought I was dead. That makes three times you save my life." she said.
I smiled and looked her in the eyes, "I know, I think it's becoming a habit. Though I don't think I want to kick this one." I said. She laughed at that, and we both just stared at each other for a few seconds. Before anything else could be said the ground started to shake violently.
"Oh no, that Laser must have shifted the ruins. This whole place is coming down." said Liara in a panic.
"Let's move people!" I yelled. Shepard scooped Liara up and took off with the others, I instinctively grabbed Tali's wrist and pulled her along with me. The ruins shook the entire time we ran, the smell of sulfur and heat of magma chasing behind us. When we exited the tunnel, the Normandy was there waiting. We all ran to the end of the catwalk and made the jump onto the cargo ramp of the Normandy.
Safely inside the hangar bay, I pulled my helmet off and sighed, "Seriously, Fuck this day."
End of Chapter three. Let me know what you all think. I'll try to get the next chapter up soon, I just started back in college, so life is a little hectic. But I'll try to set up a regular update schedule if I can. Thank you all.