Hello again, everyone, and welcome back to my MechWarrior - BattleTech/Mass Effect crossover. My apologies for the delay in posting this chapter. Things were a little busy over here. As such, thank you for your patience and support.
Also, if you've got any questions, such as why I didn't do a BattleTech SI, I'm more than willing to provide you with answers.
Either way, thank you all for your support, and I hope to see you in future chapters.
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Disclaimer: I do not own the MechWarrior/BattleTech or Mass Effect franchises. They are the respective properties and trademarks of Electronic Arts, BioWare, FASA Corporation, FASA Interactive, Catalyst Game Labs, Piranha Games Inc., etc. Any material original to the franchises belongs to their respective developers and producers. Any material not original to the franchises is of my own invention. I do not own any music listed in each chapter. Any music listed belongs to it's original composers and/or artists.
MDS Cavalier II
Avigait, Federated Suns
August 5th, 3026
Sortek had been pleased to know that Commander Mason and the others had accepted the contract. Once the paperwork had been filled out, they had been given the deadline for the war games, which were set to take place in early August. With that in mind, they had left for the planet in question.
It wasn't exactly smooth, Shepard thought as he looked at the green and blue planet that was Avigait. Had to take care of a contract, which added a month to our arrival time. Good to see, though, that we've arrived four days before the deadline. It would've been embarrassing to be late.
He found himself looking at the planet again. From what he could tell, Avigait was your typical, Earth-like planet, with a nearly even amount of both land and water on it's surface. Beyond that, it was quite typical… and boring. He wouldn't have remembered the planet if it wasn't for the fact that it was where Operation: GALAHAD would take place at.
He was about to turn and leave when he heard someone pulling themselves into the compartment. Turning around, he watched as Garrus floated inside, followed quickly by Nyreen. In the months since they agreed to the contract, Nyreen's pregnancy had progressed. Now, the bulge in her belly that had only been barely visible was now plainly there for all to see. Garrus had also changed, but only slightly in terms of appearance. His body and facial plates were getting rougher as he aged, which was to be expected for older Turians.
Speaking of age, I've grown a little facial hair myself, Shepard thought, running a hand across the short, well trimmed mane of hair that now occupied his face. The same went for his hair which, while normally closely trimmed to his head, had grown out to a respectable length for a man. Who would've thought this N7 could grow such a handsome bit of facial hair.
Dispelling the thought, he looked at Garrus and said, "Good morning. How are you doing?"
"Doing fine," Garrus replied, a smile on his face as he wrapped an arm around Nyreen's back. "You seem to be doing fine yourself, what with that fur on your face."
Shepard chuckled at that. "It's called a beard, though you're probably just teasing me about that. Still, I can fancy myself looking somewhat like a Viking or a Saxon."
"True. That's one thing I'll never understand, though. You humans and the fur on your head and faces."
"Then again, it's hard for us Humans to understand the facial paint thing."
"True."
Garrus was about to continue when Vega floated into the same room. Vega also appeared different, and was, arguably, starting to go native. His hair was still done the same way, but now he had gotten a few tattoos, one of which was the symbol of Mason's Cavaliers. In addition, he had also gotten the symbol of the Federated Suns tattooed onto his shoulder.
"Morning," he said to the others. "How are we doing?"
"Doing fine," Garrus nodded.
"Same here," Nyreen smiled. Just as she said this, though, Shepard spotted a flicker of movement near where her belly was.
"Did I just?"
"My baby just kicked," Nyreen gasped.
"That's good news," Shepard beamed.
He was about to ask where Wrex was when the intercom chimed. "Attention: Prepare for landing operations. Planetary landing will commence in five minutes." Moments later, the intercom clicked off.
"Well, back to work," Garrus remarked. "Talk a little later, Shepard?"
"Sure," Shepard nodded. With that, everyone filed out of the compartment.
Moving towards the bridge, Shepard found Mason and Ryana in the TOR, with both individuals standing around the holo-table. "Shepard," Mason greeted. "We're going to be landing on the planet soon. Before we did, though, we got a message from Colonel Sortek." Moments later, he played the message.
"Welcome to Avigait, Commander," came Sortek's voice. "The formation of the Federated Commonwealth, if it truly does happen, will unite House Steiner and House Davion's militaries into a single, centralized army. Operation GALAHAD will serve as a wide reaching series of war games, across multiple systems, which will act as a joint training exercise between forces of the AFFS and LCAF. While many of these war games will be pitting the AFFS and LCAF against one another, we also want to train in a series of joint exercises combining the AFFS and LCAF forces into a unified FedCom coalition.
"This is where you come in, Commander. For GALAHAD's Avigait games, FedCom coalition forces will be executing a joint-operation attempting to destroy a decommissioned orbital defense system. You and the Crater Cobras have been assigned to act as the defenders of the installation. Your tasks will be to destroy the invading coalition forces and prevent the destruction of the orbital defense system.
"I'll see you in the field, Commander. Give us a good fight. Colonel Sortek out."
"Sounds like we've got our work cut out for us," Ryana remarked.
"That we do," Mason agreed. Looking at Shepard, he said, "Shepard, once we land, you and I will be meeting the CO of the Crater Cobras. Once we've met him or her, we'll be discussing our strategy for keeping the orbital defense installation safe."
"Agreed," Shepard nodded. "I'll bet that Sortek might pull a nasty trick on us, if only for the spirit of the war games."
"Agreed. All is fair in war, after all."
"Including love."
"That too, but we're not talking marital relationships here."
"I know."
"Good. We're about to begin landing procedure, so go ahead and strap yourself in. Things are going to be quite interesting."
. . .
The landing on Avigait was, in Shepard's opinion, the smoothest landing that the crew had conducted thus far. Normally, we'd have a few times where we'd need to hover in order to find a good landing spot, he noted as he unbuckled out of his crash harness. Looks like they're getting good at this kind of thing now.
Standing up, he was relieved to feel the full pull of the planet's gravity, especially after weeks of travel through the Inner Sphere to reach Avigait. I really hope they reverse engineer Mass Effect Field technology soon, he thought as he stretched his tendons and warmed his muscles up. It's a hassle to pull yourself through weightlessness, even if it is quite fun.
Moving out of the TOR, he walked into the medical bay for the Cavalier II. The medical bay looked quite similar, in layout that is, to the medical bay of the Normandy, with the only major difference there being the curvature of the room. The equipment, though, was quite different, though there was some automation to be had.
Right now, the room was occupied by Chakwas and Nyreen, the latter of which was having her stomach region examined by Chakwas. "I hope I'm not interrupting anything, am I?" Shepard asked.
"Not at all," Chakwas replied, standing up. Not much in her appearance had changed, aside from a few new wrinkles on her face. "Just a routine checkup on Nyreen's babies. Nothing out of the ordinary at all."
"She's having twins again?"
"Yes. Turians generally give birth to single children, or twins. They very rarely have triplets and quadruplets, mostly because complications arise. It's the same thing with human children as well."
"Tell me about it. So, are her babies healthy?"
"As healthy as can be, Shepard. Both of her fetus' are developing normally, and it looks like she will have a successful pregnancy. They're also quite active, as you know from earlier."
"That they are. Any complications that might arise?"
"The only complication I can see happening is their bones, mostly due to the zero-g environment that forms whenever we travel through space on the way to the Jump Point. Fortunately, the Turians use gene therapy to counteract that, even if the Council sees it as unnecessary. As far as I can tell, her children have also inherited those genes, including the ones that allow them to eat foods consisting of levo-amino acids."
"That's good to hear." Walking over to Nyreen, he asked, "How are you feeling?"
"The same thing I told Garrus," Nyreen replied, though her tone of voice held no irritation or hostility. "I'm perfectly fine, aside from the usual complications that come with having children. That, and I get cravings all the time." As if to emphasize this, her stomach let loose with an audible growling noise.
Apparently, her children didn't like that sound, as seconds later, Shepard spotted a very visible kicking motion on the surface of Nyreen's belly. Nyreen, seeing that, cooed before saying, "I'm sorry, Iavala. I didn't mean for that to happen."
"Iavala?" Shepard asked.
"My second daughter," Nyreen replied. "I'm having male and female twins again, Shepard. Garrus and I settled on Vorellus as the name for our fourth child."
Shepard smiled. "Either way, I'm very happy for you and Garrus. The Inner Sphere needs more good news like this. Everyone knows we deserve this kind of a break, especially with what's been going on."
"I agree," Nyreen nodded, caressing her unborn children with the love and tenderness only a mother could have. "I want the Inner Sphere to be a better place. Perhaps, once ComStar's dealt with, they can come out into the open. Speaking of which, I wonder if Hanse has a plan to deal with ComStar."
"He might," Shepard nodded. "When Vega told him about what ComStar would do in the future, he had a conniption fit, especially when it came to the Word of Blake fanatics. I never knew how much he hated ComStar until then. He'll have a way of dealing with them, especially if he gets his hands on the manufacturing readouts and specs for the HyperPulse Generators." Walking towards the exit, he said, "Take care, Nyreen."
"You too, Shepard," Nyreen replied.
Just as Shepard left the medical bay, he bumped into Wrex. The old Krogan looked quite similar to when they arrived, aside from another long vertical scar that barely missed his right eye. "Hey, Wrex. You doing OK?"
"Fine," Wrex replied. "If you were wondering about earlier, it'll take a lot more than some pesky FWLM recruit to kill me. I did get this scar from that encounter, though. The females, if we get back home, will certainly like it."
"That much I can agree on," Shepard nodded. "What about Grunt? Last I heard, he was doing well back at New Avalon."
"He is," Wrex nodded. "Shame we had to leave him there, though. He'd be chomping at the bit for a fight."
"I know. Maybe if our secret gets out, heaven forbid, he came come along. Fahad, though, won't like his penchant for breaking things."
"That we can agree on. I won't be keeping you, Shepard. Good luck."
"You too, you old turtle."
"Haha."
. . .
Once Shepard and Mason had left the Cavalier II, they began looking for the DropPad that had the DropShip for the Cobra Craters, which wasn't easy. From what Shepard could tell, as they walked along, Hanse and Sortek had invited a number of mercenary teams to participate in the war games. He even thought he spotted a DropShip from the Wolf Dragoons, though that might've been a trick of his imagination.
As they walked along, he heard someone whistling at them. Turning in that direction, Shepard spotted an older man that was walking towards them. The man's hair was graying, and he had laugh lines on his face, but his eyes held a vigor and youth that belied his aged exterior. "Commander Mason, good to see you," he beamed as he extended a hand.
Shaking said hand, Mason said, "Westrick! It's good to see you as well. How's the hip doing, by the way?"
"Doing just fine," Westrick replied. "It'll take more than a bum hip to slow me down. I also wished to extend my condolences to you about what happened to your father. He was a good MechWarrior, but most of all, he was a good man. He'll be sorely missed by all of us."
"Thank you," Mason nodded, though Shepard thought he saw the younger man's eyes misting somewhat. "I appreciate your sympathies." After a moment, he said, "Richard, this is Commander John Shepard. He's one of the best MechWarriors that I've ever had the honor of having in my merc company."
As he shook Shepard's hand, Westrick asked, "Commander?"
"I was military," Shepard replied, "though I was put into the reserves. I didn't like what happened, so I resigned from the military, and got picked up by Mason. Since then, I've been working as a mercenary."
"I've heard about you," Westrick nodded. "Took down Takushima if I recall correctly, and a good thing too. That DCMS MechWarrior was an asshole. I really didn't like him at all."
"Me neither," Shepard agreed. Looking around, he asked, "So, where would you like this discussion to happen? I heard we were going to talk shop."
"My DropShip will do," Westrick nodded. "Follow me."
Following the older MechWarrior, the two found themselves approaching one of the Leopard-class DropShips in the area. Just as they did, Mason heard someone say, "Hey Mason! You remember me?"
Looking to his left, Mason spotted a familiar man with blond hair and bright green eyes walking over. "Daniels," Mason beamed. "I was worried about your merc company. You manage to stay afloat?"
"That I did," Daniels nodded. "Thanks to your trade-in, and some of the cash you provided, we were able to pull ourselves out of the red and make a buck. I still am, to this day, grateful for what you did for me and my fellow MechWarriors. The Inner Sphere needs more merc commanders like you."
"I'm just glad we could make a difference," Mason beamed. "You coming to the same briefing as we are?"
"No," Daniels replied. "We're going to do an atmospheric jump to the other side of the planet, where we will be conducting our part in the war games." With that, he said, "See you around, Mason, and thank you once again."
"You're welcome," Mason nodded. Turning to Shepard, he said, "Let's not keep Westrick waiting too long."
"Agreed," Shepard nodded.
. . .
Four Days Later
The air inside of Shepard's Marauder was thick with tension as he and the others at the orbital defense batteries waited for the incoming attack. Taking his hand off the control stick, he took a small handkerchief he had and, briefly taking off his neurohelmet, wiped his face of any sweat before putting said helmet back on. While there was no such sweat on his face, the gesture relieved some of the stress he was feeling.
Looking around, he gazed at the area that he, Mason, and the others, were at. They were at the orbital defense facility that had been decommissioned a few decades or so ago, with a number of lances spread around the facility. Much of the area was rain forest, though they were also located in rocky terrain. As such, there were areas of the landscape that were much higher than the others, forming tall and abrupt mesas, plateaus and valleys.
In terms of forces, there were around four lances of 'Mechs, and a few Combat Vehicles, with most of the forces being from Westrick's Crater Cobras, and the lances that Mason commanded. The bulk of the forces were from the Crater Cobras which, Shepard had learned, were scattered around the planet in other war game arenas, a wise decision, given that the Crater Cobras had seventy nine regiments. Looking around, Shepard spotted a Combat Vehicle he hadn't seen before. "What's that?" he asked.
"That," Westrick, who was on the same frequency, explained, "is a new MBT that Defiance Industries is currently field testing for later deployment and full production. They call it the Patton, named after General George S. Patton Jr. from ancient Terra's Second World War. They lent a few to us to see how it would perform against other Combat Vehicles and Light 'Mechs."
"Ah, I see," Shepard nodded. Switching frequencies, he said, "Garrett, you ready?"
"Affirmative," came Garrus' reply. In order to keep his identity hidden during the war games exercise, Garrus had his cockpit windows polarized into one way windows, while he had an identity scrambler built into his Neurohelmet. In addition, he took the moniker of 'Garrett' to prevent anyone from knowing his real name.
"Good," Shepard nodded. "Wernke, you good to go."
"Yes," Wrex, who'd done the same as Garrus to hide his own identity, nodded.
"Vega?"
"Ready for action, Shepard."
"Good."
Just as he said this, Sortek came onto the line, using a frequency that everyone was tuned in on. "Welcome everyone," he greeted warmly, "to the GALAHAD war games. For this exercise, our Federated Commonwealth coalition forces are tasked with assaulting and destroying the facility guarded by the mercenary defenders.
"This war game will end in a Commonwealth victory with the fall of the targeted facility, and a mercenary victory with the elimination or capture of the coalition's commanding officers. Good luck, everyone! This operation will commence… NOW!"
"Here we go," Westrick told everyone once they were off of that frequency. "Time to show these House army officers how mercenaries wage war!" With that, everyone began to get into position.
"OK," Westrick told the others once they were on an encrypted frequency they had agreed on, "here's the plan. We'll split into groups of two and guard the east and west sides of the facility. That way, we can cover all of our bases. Does anyone here have AA 'Mechs?"
"I do," Garrus replied. "My RFL-3N's optimized for that."
"Same here," another MechWarrior replied. "Got myself a JagerMech that's ready to rock!"
"Excellent," Westrick beamed. "You two will be on AeroSpace Defense duty. The rest of you, get into position, but don't stay static. Remember: the FedCom forces can come in any where from the west, or the east, so don't be surprised if they end up closer to the facility than we think. Move out!"
With that, everyone quickly moved into position. Due to his position on a large mesa, Shepard moved towards the west end of the cliff, which would allow him to engage targets from the east without being blocked by the rock formations in the area. PPC's and AC/5 primed and ready, he thought. Good thing training ammo is loaded, and the PPC's and Lasers set to training mode as well. I wouldn't want to kill anyone by accident.
Moments later, he heard another voice speaking over the comm, and what he heard stupefied him due to the sheer stupidity that he heard. "Donegal Guards forces are in position," a German accented voice announced. "Unsurprisingly, the Davions are nowhere to be found… Well, we have no need of these Federated Suns dogs to crush a handful of mercenaries. Anyways, see no reason to delay the attack on their account. Donegal Guards, advance!"
"Did I just hear that?" Garrus asked.
"I did too," Shepard nodded. "Westrick, looks like they're straight out attacking without their allies assisting. Plus, their idiot of a leader just broadcasted his intentions on our comm frequency."
"Typical Social Officer bullshit," Westrick agreed. "We can use that to good effect. Plus, I've worked for that guy before, Colonel Steven Zaks if I recall correctly. Fatass has a choleric disposition, so we can make good use of that too. Keep me informed."
"Roger that."
"Eyes up!" the Garrison Commander at the facility reported just fifty seconds later. "Enemy forces closing in!"
"Roger that," Westrick replied. "Everyone, get ready! This is it!"
"WHOOOO!" Vega shouted.
"Vega, clear the line," Shepard ordered. Just as he said that, he spotted his first target of the day: a Manticore that was making a beeline for the facility. "Not so fast," he remarked as he fired the AC/5. Moments later, the computer painted the enemy vehicle in flames and smoke, simulating a critical hit and explosion. in reality, low density training shells shattered against the armor, with the driver of the vehicle pulling back to leave as a result.
Just like that, all hell broke loose. "INCOMING!" Wrex shouted. "They're sending Assault and Heavy 'Mechs at us!"
"Take them out!" Mason thundered. Just like that, low powered laser beams, frangible autocannon shells and training missiles began flying through the air like confetti. It wasn't long before Shepard found himself tussling with a Thunderbolt that was moving in very close.
Firing both PPC's, Shepard smirked as the computer simulated ablating armor, with the 'Mech's right arm glowing. I'm not as defenseless as you think I am, he smiled as he fired both Medium Lasers. Another blast from his PPC's as he slid behind a dense bough of trees sealed the deal, with the computer simulating the enemy 'Mech's right arm being ripped off
"Heat Critical," the DIC informed him as he continued to fight. "Shutdown Sequence Initiated." Hearing that, Shepard hammered his fist into a switch over his head. Moments later, the DIC said, "Shutdown Sequence Overridden. Warning: Core Meltdown Imminent." Letting the 'Mech cool for a second, he fired the AC/5, which generated very little heat.
This time, he got the results he wanted. The frangible shells smashed into the right center torso, with the computer simulating the component being destroyed.. The right center torso of the Thunderbolt appeared to be wreathed in flames, though this was not the case in reality, as the 'Mech was merely covered in metallic powder in that area. The enemy MechWarrior, startled, unintentionally ejected from the damaged 'Mech.
Switching off the override, Shepard heard the Fusion Engine's hum die down as the 'Mech shut down in order to cool. Looking at the heat meter, he watched as it descended down from the red zone down to yellow, and then to green. Once it got there, he watched as the 'Mech's systems fully reactivated.
Gotta be careful, he told himself. The last thing I need is for my 'Mech to go critical from overheating. I don't want to wreck the 'Mech Quintus gave me, after all. Looking around, he asked, "How's everything going?"
"We're wrecking these Steiner idiots like nobody's business," Wrex shouted, clearly having the time of his life. "Come here, you little bastards! Uncle Wernke has got some more for you!"
"Doing one liners now, Wernke?" Shepard asked, using Wrex's false name.
"Might as well practice at that," Wrex replied. "Besides, you get all the fun there."
"Really?" Garrus asked. "Me and our resident JagerMech are having a blast. You should see what we're doing, Shepard. We're blasting enemy VTOL's out of the air like crazy."
"And having a jolly good time too," the MechWarrior in question remarked. "Oi! Where you think ya going?!" Moments later, Shepard heard a VTOL being hit, before it flew away, a large portion of it's cockpit coated in metal powder "You ain't getting away from me, ya sneaky bastard!"
"He like that?" Shepard asked.
"Yep," Garrus replied. "I'm not offended. He's having fun, plus the pilots all bailed out before impact, so nobody's dead… at least not yet."
"Good."
It continued on like this for a few minutes, with both sides exchanging blows, while stray training shells or missiles would occasionally smash into the facility, much to the Garrison Commander's annoyance. Eventually, as they fought, Shepard realized that they'd passed a critical point, as the enemy assault was quickly becoming sluggish and uncoordinated.
"Damn it all!" a voice shouted. "Leave it to those fucking incompetent Social Generals to screw up even the simplest task! The typical arrogance of the damn Lyrans will be our undoing! All coalition forces, fall back!"
"Nice work, everyone," Westrick beamed. "Things got a little hairy, but we managed to stay on our toes and come out of it. Garrison Commander, how bad is the damage?"
"Minor to moderate damage," came the reply. "We didn't get our asses destroyed, if that's what you're wondering."
"Good to hear. Good work everyone, especially you, Garrett. You did good nailing those VTOL's before they could get close enough to cause major damage."
"Agreed," Garrus nodded. "It was easy. They flew so predictably a child could knock them out of the sky with no trouble."
"Agreed," Westrick nodded. "All forces, begin salvage operations and get to work repairing and rearming. I've got a plan to make the FedCom forces regret being too jumpy."