Chapter 15
I don't own mass effect
Hello everyone new chapter :)
It was near the end of writing this chapter that I realised something, I was over halfway through the story. I hope everyone's been enjoying the ride so far and that you enjoy the sequels that come later.
The idea of the pest killing mec came from Blaze1992
This chapter has been minorly updated also seriously guys review
Story start
"Seriously what did she think I would say?" asked the pirate to himself "Also if you touch any weapons the same thing will happen."
"Why not make them hand their weapons over now?" asked another pirate
"Do you or do you not see the krogan?" asked the first pirate in disbelief before he started to explain it like he was speaking to an idiot
"If they don't hand over their weapons and we force the issue then we have to kill the hostages. Because we can't deal with these guys and keep an eye on them. Killing hostages means less money for us later. So instead we let them keep weapons, tell them they can't touch, let alone use them without a hostage dying. As they were sent to rescue they want to avoid that. Both sides get something they want, they feel like they can protect themselves if we try something, while we hold their lives and the lives of the hostages in our hand. Besides the boss wants to make some kind of deal."
"Fine I get it." responded the pirate before adding quietly "...geez I was just asking a question you don't have to be an ass about."
'If their boss wants to make a deal, then things can turn out alright. Then again I doubt it would be any deal I'd be happy to agree with. There's also the fact that Callum, Solona and Tali are probably already on board and if seen I'm pretty sure any deal made would immediately go out the window.' thought Sheperd to herself
As they were escorted to the boss they eventually made their way to the main hall where all the hostages were being kept. The room was one big circle with glass on all sides intersected with support beams with a number of benches, consoles and raised flower beds scattered around them. Above them was the cockpit and starring down at them was an asari which she assumed was the boss named Dahlia
"Well well, look who we have here. The first human spectre isn't this a treat." she asked
"So you know who I am?" asked Shepard
"Not really no, but one of my men recognised the ship and told me all about the latest addition to the spectres. I have to say props to your species, I thought there wouldn't be a human spectre till I was in my 600's, late 400's at the very least." said Dahlia
"But that does make a problem, what to do with you? I could hold you for ransom, not sure about the Citadel but the alliance would pay a mountain of credits to get you back, then again having a spectre that can be captured by a mere pirate like me kind of defeats the purpose of having one. There is also the problem that there is a reason it's not a good idea not to piss a spectre off. You tend to live longer that way."
"Then maybe you shouldn't piss me off." said Shepard calmly which got a laugh from the leader
"Oh, and how would I do that? Let me guess, let you all go?" asked Dahlia sarcastically "Not only you but all the hostages as well? The problem is I'm the boss here, I got to be the boss by providing everyone with a steady flow of credits."
"Now can you guess what would happen if we pack up and leave? All that effort and resources that we used to get this far wasted? Just thrown away just like that? No that's not happening, so if you want to live and avoid a blood bath drop your guns while I work out whether I should just let you go and hope you're willing to let bygones be bygones, ransom or sell you for a shit ton of credits and hope we never meet again. Or be safe and take you out now, but that last one will piss off the alliance and the council more than I'm comfortable with and there is no way they won't send someone after me so I don't want to take that one. So instead how about you and your friends go into a room and stay quiet."
"And how do I know you just won't up and kill me?" asked Shepard, partly because she was curious and partly to buy time
"Because that will draw attention, attention I don't want or need. Most people in my position as a p can. Gain the most influence or power they can get their hands on, I however got wise. The problem with becoming a big fish is that everyone wants to either be the bigger fish or catch the big fish, just look at Aria T'lok."
"You have any idea how many people want her gone? Either rivals or someone in citadel space? All that effort to stay on top? So instead I chose to stay small time, that way someone is always a bigger and better target than me, no exception. Sure I may not have the power that other pirate captains have but a dim candle lasts a lot longer than a firework."
"So you stay small fry to avoid unwanted attention?" asked Shepard, it made sense in a weird sort of way. She's heard of officers who choose to stay lower ranks to avoid the pressure and responsibilities that come with command positions.
"That's true, now are you going to cooperate or not?" asked Dahlia as her men tighten there grip on their weapona
"I don't see how I could." said Shepard calmly as she prepared herself
This was bad, really bad. A fight here would have them at a severe disadvantage, the worst one she had in recent memory. But they didn't have much of a choice, they were here for a reason and giving the pirates more hostages wasn't it.
"Fine." said Dahlia signing before smirking "Have it your way then, I'm not going to waste anymore time with you, I'll just have to hide in the Terminus for the next century. I have the money for it, especially when I find someone to offer money for to kill you, you do have enemies after all. You'd be long dead by then of course but they don't need to know that. Kill them all, try avoid hitting hostages though."
Before the pirates could take proper aim, one of the pirates next to Dahlia turned around in shock before the sound of gunfire erupted.
"SHIT!" shouted Dahlia "How did they get in here?! Fuck it kill them all. We'll take the ship and sell it for scrap as well as anyone who survives."
"Kaiden shield now!" ordered Shepard
Thanks to Kaiden creating a shield and whatever was going on above they managed to get to cover before their shields failed. Thankfully the pirates were too surprised by the sudden fire to react quickly.
Once in cover behind a raised flower bed, they started to return fire. While the pirates weren't as disciplined as a military force would have been their gear was above standard. It wasn't top shelf or even close but clearly Dahlia saw the importance of good gear.
"Have to say these pijaks are better than I thought they'd be, still not good enough though." said Wrex as he swapped to his assault rifle
"Just keep their attention on us, Wrex you good for a charge?"
"You keep them from focussing to much on me and it won't be a problem." growled Wrex pulling out his shotgun again
"Done, Kaiden when he starts lob a singularity over in the corner."
Waiting for a pause in the gunfire Wrex charged, there was just something about a charging krogan that got everyone's attention.
Before Wrex got halfway to the nearest pirate, another one, a turian suddenly died from an arrow to the forehead
"The fuck?" shouted out the asari to next to him before joining him on the floor thanks to an arrow to the neck
"You know I never thought of it before but there's something messed up with the idea of being taken out with a bow and arrow." said Shepard as she ducked into cover to let her shields recharge
"Well bows are used for hunting so it might have something to do with it." said Garrus, laying out some accurate fire with an assault rifle "Also facing someone with a gun is something you'd expect and even plan for, a guy with a bow would throw most people for a loop."
"It still surprises me just how accurate he is with the damn thing though." said Shepard swapping spots with Garrus
Between a charging krogan, a human with a bow and facing multiple people with guns the pirates were beginning to break and lose whatever composer they had. If they focused on a particular target, like either Wrex or Callum perhaps they could have made some headway. As it was the rest of her team stopped that from happening, if the pirates had maintained control of the cockpit then the roles would be completely reversed.
"It kind of reminds how my father shoots." said Garrus idly
"How so?" asked Shepard
"Well, I'm a perfectionist. Dead centre every time, all the time. Dad was more 'if you have a shot take the shot' kind of person."
"You took the shot at Dr Michael's quite quickly." argued Shepard
"That's different, I can take a quick shot when needed but I always prefer taking those few extra seconds to line up the shot perfectly. Callum on the other hand takes as many shots as possible without missing. Again more similar to my fathers shooting than mine."
It didn't take much longer to clean up the pirates, it was a nice change from the geth they usually had to deal with. When the fighting was over Shepard retrieved her comm from the body of one of the pirates.
"Shepard to Normandy, what is the status of pirate vessel?"
"Disengaging as we speak commander, it seems that whatever pirates that are still alive have decided that we're no longer worth the trouble. We're keeping an eye on them though just in case they decide to turn around to do a straffing run." said one of the support officers
"Good, log the heading just in case they took any captives aboard. Tell Dr Chakwas to come over to deal with injuries and Ash to help make sure the rest of the ship is secure." ordered Shepard "Last thing I want is one of skipping under the radar."
"Affirmative commander."
"Solana a how is it looking up there?" asked Shepard
"Good commander, we have the main hostages up here and aside from some bad bruises on the father they're okay." answered Solana
"Dr Chakwas should be on her way here to help with that so bring them down here. Talk go through the systems and make sure there are no nasty surprises, Callum watch her back. The rest of us will do a search to make sure we didn't miss any pirates." Informed Shepard
A few hours later
After assuring the ship was clean Shepard had the Normandy stand by until the ship that was originally supposed to pay the ransom arrived before it was once again to the Citadel. Thankfully there had been no casualties and aside from some valuable statues and paintings nothing has taken aboard the departed pirate vessel.
"Commander we have an incoming transition from Admiral Hatchet." informed support staff
"Patch it through." ordered Shepard
"Good work with the hostage situation commander. You and your crew turned a bad situation around and got us some good press at the same time. Something which we really needed." said Hackett
"Thank you, but we still messed up. We never should have been detected in the first place Admiral."
"That's not your fault commander." argued Hackett "We had no idea that a purely civilian vessel could have the capabilities needed to detect the Normandy. On the plus side, it revealed a weakness that we weren't aware of as well as a way we can detect other stealth vessels." said Hackett
"Any idea how this even happened?" asked Shepard
"It's early days yet, but it looks like the pirates were tipped off to the frigate's flight plan by either someone on the crew or off-site we're not sure." said Hackett "Speaking of which the father wants to give you a reward."
"That's not needed Admiral." said Shepard
"I know, but the extra credits would go a long way to help your mission. It's also less than a tenth of the credits the pirates were asking for, I believe one of your crew mates has a custom-made gun that's something else. We've recently purchased a number of weapons from the same place he got it from, you might want to check them out. I also think it's time you and the crew had some downtime. When you're ready head to pinnacle station for a few days. You've had the most experience fighting geth and we need that knowledge and you need a break, even if it isn't much of one. That and we have no new leads, Hackett out."
Cargo bay, Callum pov
After the mission was over I packed away my gear. I then tried to write more on my adaption of Star Wars, unfortunately writing was slow and at 45 minutes in and only a few new sentences I realised that I had a writer's block. I could keep going but I wouldn't get much done, history had told me that much.
So instead I decided it would be best to do something else, but then I realized...do what? It didn't really occur to me but besides from movie night and some songs I haven't had any downtime. Even the time I took to write my stories or emails couldn't be counted as down time as they all had to do with ensuring the defeat of the Reapers.
That left me with what to do? I could train, I could teach Kaiden, Gamora or Liara more skills but I really wanted some R and R. I mentally went over who to try first. Solana, well after last night I was still embarrassed, Gamora was out too, at least as a first choice. Her offer to breed with me...well teaching her the sword was one thing, hanging out was another. Wrex was well Wrex, while I had no doubt he was someone worth talking to I also doubted I had enough of his respect at this point to ensure a good conversation.
There was really only one person, a person who was arguably the favourite person in mass effect other than Shepard...Tali. So I started looking around for her. I didn't have far to look, she was at console near Ash's weapons bench going over the geth arm that I grabbed from the hopper.
"Hey Tali." I greeted
"Oh hey Callum." replied Tali
"What you doing?" I asked
"I'm just going over all the geth gear and parts that we have on board. When we get to the Citadel they'll be picked up my the Alliance for a more deep analysis." answered Tali
"I remember Shepard had you doing that, how's it been going?" I asked
Instead of Tali answering a voice came from the console.
"It's been going great. Thanks to Tali we've made a ton of progress that could lead to better armour and weapons in the not-so-distant future."
"Who's that?" I asked
"That's McGee, he's the main person I've been working with. And your making out that I did more than I actually did." said Tali humbly
"Nonsense, the Normandy is lucky to have you and I'm lucky to be working with someone like you." argued McGee
"T-thank you." said Tali with a blush
"So what have you been able to find or do?" I asked
"Well we haven't made much progress with the guns, of which we only have one that functions and two that don't. We've analysed the armour of the armatures and colossus, that's what we've been calling the geth tanks." answered Tali
"While the material is too heavy to use for personal armour as solid pieces we're thinking of doing a thin layer of instead. We've had the best results from the artificial muscle fibre from the geth hopper, the geth frog/gecko that is. We're going to implement it in under suits for armour." said McGee
"Can you use the fibre to increase the wearer's strength or speed?" I asked
"No, we thought about that as a better and more effective version of mechanical joints, with a VI reading and reacting to the wearer's moveents to enhance them." started Mcgee
"But it goes far beyond what our current VI's would be able to do. It approaches something that only an AI could do." finished Tali
We continued to talk about what else they found. Turns out that I was right about the geth holding a number of heat clips internally as well as the geth hooper having an omni-blade as they found a sickle-shaped one near the wrists. They also said its ability to stick to and climb walls was due to microscopic fibres on their hands and limbs. They also likely had mass effect fields to decrease their weight but a whole and intact hooper was needed to confirm that. This allowed them to climb walls like geckos or spiderman and be extremely agile.
Eventually, we were interrupted by an approaching Solana, something that had me a bit nervous. She was wearing a lovely blue and grey casual turian outfit that had a square bit of cloth going over her front and back like a loin cloth.
"Hey Tali, me, Ash and the other girls are interested in having some 'girl time' when we get to the Citadel. You interested?" asked Solana
"Sure, what are we doing?" asked Tali
"No idea, oh hey are the guy's doing anything?" asked Solana turning to me
"I ah, I don't think so." I answered with a touch of nervousness
Looking over Solana I saw Garrus eyeing me threateningly
"Yeah, I don't think that's going to happen." I repeated
"What why?" asked Solana turning around to look at her brother
Of course when she did Garrus was suddenly Mr Innocent
"Nevermind, listen we're heading to the shop where Callum got his handgun to pick out some weapons of our own. After that we're splitting up to do whatever we want for a few hours. Then we're heading to Pinnacle station for a few days, apparently it's the best and latest in virtual combat training." said Solana
After that Tali and Solana mainly talked about places they could go and soon we were arriving at the Citadel, I sent an email off to Yarrick and Sheita ahead of time so they'd know we were going to suck into their store.
Citadel
As soon as arrived we were approached by a team of five marines.
"Commander!" said first one while they saluted
"At ease." said Shepard
"Thank you Commander, we're ordered to retrieve all geth technology you have on board." said the leader
"Understood, the geth parts are being kept in crates in the cargo bay. You might need a second trip to get them all however." advised Shepard
As the marines entire the Normandy we entered the lift and began the painful ride down made worse by just how many people were crowded in it, the whole ground crew in fact. Most of us were dressed casual clothes, either something they brought on board such as Solana or just what they got from the Normandy clothes, such as Gamora that was asside from Wrex, Garrus and Tali, the later of which had no choice. Soon music and ads began to play
"Having problems with pests, Pjaks stealing your shit or a varren prowling around your borders? Get the new Mortein mech 9trx and all your worries will be blown away. Featuring two twin lower calibre pistols it will be a match for anything that you come across." the ad stated proudly, before stating quietly "Mortein is not responsible for any animals or organisms killed, maimed or disfigured by the 9trx. 9trx is not advised around pets."
"...shit I wonder how bad it went in testing for them to have to include that." said Ash
After exiting the elevator we took a couple of transports to Qorach custom guns and armour, once there were greeted by Yarrick
"There you are. Come in back, who'da thought the first human Spectre would be buying a gun from me? Remind me to get a recommendation or something that I can use to bring in customers...like 'I'm Commander Shepard and this is my...' no that's too obvious and dry. Ehh, I'll think of something better later." said Yarrick waving them in
Entering the back we saw Shieta at a workbench working on something.
"Hey Callum, you want to hand your pistol off to Sheita so she can upgrade it?" asked Yarrick
"Sure thing." I said handing over my pistol to Sheita
"Now for the weapons, first of all comes something I'm quite proud of." said Yarrick pulling out a rifle that looked like an updated replica of a 303 rifle "I give you The Settler, modelled after the 303 used in your Second World war While it looks to be made out of wood it's actually something a lot stronger and it contains many similarities to your pistol. It has the equivalent of 8 heat banks, 4 in the stock and 4 in the forestock, significantly more than in your pistol and giving you significantly more shots. Now step back for a second."
After we all stepped back Yarrick squeezed the front of the rifle and a sturdy and lethal-looking bayonet popped out.
"Not only does this provide you with a means to defend yourself at close range but it also acts as passive way to drain heat as the bayonet is full tang, travelling the full length of the rifle. This not only makes it sturdy but allows the heat banks to drain into it. Like your pistol you can change and customize the grain sizes, to change the grain size midbattle you use this bolt action, which was originally used to unload and reload to select one of three preprogrammed settings. Sliding the bolt forward and locking selects a smaller grain size, using less material and generating less heat. To select a larger grain size you slide it back and lock." said Yarrick
"How do you deal with the vi problem you talked about before?" I asked
"Our VI's still aren't good enough to deal with the shift in grain sizes, so instead we used multiple. One for each setting, there will still be some wastage, especially when you change the programmed grain sizes until the VI gets used to the new size. To activate the one shot you flick this small switch near the trigger, we made it so you'll be able to do it with your thumb without moving either of your hands. Each shot will use up one heat bank and you can either resume firing normally or flick the switch for another shot." said Yarrick "Aside from the passive venting from the bayonet it also has active venting, you can get between 8 to 20 per bank depending on grain size."
Squeezing a point halfway down the to restock, two sections on either side at the front of the forestock come away while another section on the top comes away.
"But all this leaves a problem, while it can hold a lot more heat than your pistol it can't dissipate it nearly as fast due to the much smaller area is dissipating from. Your pistol can could cool down completely in 8 to 12 seconds, the rifle needs roughly that for each heat bank. While splitting in half might work your pistol it wouldn't work for this rifle, at least not without the risk of being burnt or becoming unwieldy thus resulting in a smaller venting area for a larger weapon. For short battles there's no problem, or if you have time to vent every now and then. However, if you aren't given an opportunity to vent there becomes a problem, to solve it we've made these."
After Yarrick says this, he pulls out what looks like an old-fashioned magazine without the bullets.
"As you suggested we made heat clips that can be switched out as needed, each model so far has a heat clip designed for it specifically, though we also have a universal one as well so if you carry more than one of our weapons you don't have to worry about which clip fits which weapon." said Yarrick
"Why have specific heat clips at all? Why not just have universal?" asked Shepard
"In part it's due to the profile of the gun, a sniper is quite different to an assault rifle, after all, one is too bulky for the other while the other would be too small. The ones designed for the gun will get the best results, while the universal will work for all models it doesn't get the most out of the weapon. The universal heat clip is bigger than the ones made for pistols but smaller than the ones made for the assault rifle." explained Yarrick before adding "Plus the look is so much better."
"I see anything else?" asked Shepard
"Yes, we've got some custom armour pieces that are designed to go on top of your current gear made to hold the clips and vent the heat. I've also made some devices to convert your current weapons to allow them to use the universal heat clips. They're too big to use on any pistols but they should fit on your other weapons with little difficulty even if it doesn't look nice. Now for our next custom, I give you Bruce."
With some difficulty, Yarrick pulls out a heavy-looking shotgun. It was plain and looked like a plus with the top cut off with a lethal-looking curved blade coming out underneath the barrel with a grip that looked like it belonged on a pump action shotgun below it. It also had a heat clip on it that was quite larger than the one on the Settler.
"The Bruce has many similarities to the Settler, such as the one shot which you activate by pulling the foregrip backwards. You have 5 one-shots before overheating, when this happens or if you hold this switch down near the trigger this happens."
When Yarrick said this dozen of small rods popped out of the top of the shotgun. They stayed there for a moment before retracting.
"It will also massively vent through the blade too. Compared to the Settler it overheats sooner but dissipates the heat much quicker, we would have used the same method of heat dissperance on the Settler but it had already been built at that point. Plus the gun's profile didn't really make it suitable." said Yarrick handing the gun over to Wrex
"Not bad." said Wrex appriativley "Good weight and size."
"Thanks, now the way we set things up is that the heat goes to the heat clips first. No point in changing out a clip that isn't full after all but it will still cool down with either active or passive venting, all our guns have both but how good they are at doing varies from weapon to weapon." finished Yarrick
"Thats the custom stuff, what do have for the rest of us?" asked Solana
"Well first we have the pistols." said Yarrock taking two out. The one he picked up I recognized as an n7 Eagle with it's wide front and pronounced hand guard/grip.
"We have two models, the first is a fully automatic called the Eagle after the desert eagle of Earths history. It has a large trigger guard that functions as a secondary grip in order to better control the recoil and climb. It comes with a custom heat clip that inserts into the bottom of the handle, as well as two internal heat banks. They vent by..."
Pressing a button two things happened, from above the gun nozzle long rod the size of a silencer popped out and the top of the gun, the rail detached much like my new rifle and pistol.
"It has at total clip size of 45 rounds, 15 for each heat bank or clip. More if you give the passive heat sinks to work."
Putting the pistol down Yarrick picked up the other, one rememcent of a large revolver. One that looked similar to my own if lighter.
"I give you the Dirty Harry, while the Eagle is designed to act and provide the same services as an assault rifle the Dirty Harry is the complete opposite. We modelled it in part after your own Fat Bastard but on a smaller scale and without the one shot." Said Yarrick
"Just asking, but how power does this one shot have behind it?" asked Garrus
"Well have you heard of the M-98 Widow?" asked Yarrick
"Yes." answered Garrus
"Well while we haven't been able to confirm it, we believe that they are comparable." said Yarrick
"You can't be serious." said Ash in disbelief "That rifle was made to take out Krogans and Elcors with a single shot, as well as heavily shielded targets. It's said that an unarmoured human would break their arm if tried to fire it and even with armour it will leave a heavy bruise if your not careful. You're saying Callum's new gun can do the same?"
"Well maybe a bit less power, without the rifle it's impossible to tell. We did try to make the one shot as powerful as possible without going too far or having too much recoil. It does however definitely have a much higher rate of fire, at least till it overheats." answered Yarrick
"Now back to the Dirty Harry, unlike the Eagle it has semi-automatic fire with a much larger grain than the Eagle. Like the Eagle it has 2 heat banks that take 6 shots each but the heat clip is of a greater size that can hold 8. The other difference is that the heat clip goes into the back of the barrel instead of the bottom of the handle."
"Now for the other weapons. While we do not have a sniper rifle model yet, though we do intend to sell a version of the Settler later on. For now we have a shotgun and assault rifle model."
After Yarrick said this he pulled out 2 guns. One looked like it was covered in plates stacked over each other like scales. The other one looked a lot more simple and from it's profile it looked like it was a pump action shotgun.
"As you can see we're trying multiple ways to deal with heat and I have to say the Zorax. We've melded the passive and active heat venting. All heat generated is channelled into the plates covering the weapon starting from the front to the back."
Pressing a button all the plates suddenly shifted and stood in an upright formation giving it a 'frilled' look. Much like the Frilled Neck Lizard, that dinosaur in Jurassic Park that spat acid or the large cat-like alien in Avatar.
"It's named and inspired by a large feline-like predator on Palaven, our version of your tiger if you will. It has three firing modes each with their own grain sizes, first in semi-auto where it fires a large grain size. Second is a three-round burst with a smaller grain, finally we have the full auto. In total, you have 30 rounds in total before you have to vent or change magazines, not that you need to. Of all the guns we've designed this is the one that has the best cooling rate, though an extended battle comes with the risk of burns if you're not careful, or go don't switch heat clips. Even with the VI pushing the heat away from the hands if you're not careful you can get burned if you grab the wrong part or press it against yourself."
"How many rounds do we get on the other modes?" asked Ash interested
"About the same, while the single and burst rounds do generate more heat, the time between each shot is longer than the auto thus giving it more time to cool." answered Yarrick
"As for the shotgun which we called the Pra'za we kept it simple, the top half will come away to vent the heat. It has 12 shots before you have to think about venting or changing magazines, the magazine holds the equivalent of 8 more rounds. The pump activates a high damaging round, not as much as the one-shots but will deal significantly higher damage than the regular shots." said Yarrick
Just then Shepard noticed something behind Yarrick
"And what's that?" asked Shepard, pointing at a schematic displayed on a screen
"Oh that, it was a requisition by a Colonel Jak Blaize." started Yarrick
"I've heard of him, he's supposed to be some kind of Alliance hardass that spends most his time stopping pirates from getting too close to Alliance territory. And making sure they regret it when they do." said Garrus
"That's him. Anway, it's still in the design phase but it will feature a light machine gun connected to a large backpack full of heat banks and sinks via a cable. When they are full or if the wearer activates it, the backpack will open up and vent the heat. It can hold and vent a ridiculous amount of heat quite quickly, we're also thinking of adding an attachment to hold and vent the heat clip of other weapons to allow it to act as mobile armour. Would you be interested in one when we get it working?" asked Yarrick
"...no." said Shepard, carefully after thinking about it "For the most part we've used a fast and hard method of attacking. Get in, take them out as quick as possible and move on, not giving the enemy time to reorganise or regroup. Something like that would be too heavy and cumbersome to do that, either we'd have to slow down or risk them trailing behind making them vulnerable or they'd wear themselves out trying to keep up."
"There's also the fact that aside from Wrex no one on the ground team is really suited to use it." added Ash "Maybe if we had a larger complement of marines or had to suppress a large number of hostiles at once...or had to take a fortified area. But we have the mako for that."
"And I ain't carrying your shit." growled Wrex
"Okay people think long and hard and pick one weapon out for yourself, also remember we're each getting a conversation device, so keep that in mind." ordered Shepard "Callum, Wrex you too most as well pay for your weapons now and get those armour pieces he was talking about."
"Wrex has already paid for his shotgun. As for Callum, well we recently sold a selection of weapons to the alliance military and the Settler is part of his share...if that's okay with you?" asked Yarrick
"That's fine, though I'd like a copy of the current schematics?" I ask hoping to pass them on the Andromeda Initiative, weapons like these could easily mean a greater chance of success. Although it would also mean a greater chance of someone finding me out, but since I was already warning them about an enemy they wouldn't see for over 600 years holding back weapons to avoid suspicion was a mute point. I could always hope they, or at least Alec Ryder thought I was a rich looney, but I doubt that would happen. That or he'd be too busy or would agree to my request not to remain anonymous in return for everything I sent...which was also a long shot but considering what could happen if I held anything back it was an easy decision to make.
While the others went over the weapons in detail Wrex and I looked over the armour pieces and heat clips. I decided on two pieces that would go over the armour on my upper legs, to go with that I selected 6 heat clips. Four were of regular size and would go on my left leg while the last two were extended mags and would go my right leg. Wrex to something similar except with an extra armour piece for his right shoulder. As the heat clips for his shotgun were much bigger than mine he could only fit two one each piece of armour.
In the end everyone selected their weapons and armour pieces. The most popular selection was either the upper arms or legs, though Ash, Garrus and Solana went for pieces that would go over their chest. To go with that everyone grabbed a few clips for their picked weapon and a few universal to go on top of that.
As for weapons Liara and Kaiden selected the Eagle, Ash and Garrus went for the Zorax. Solana and Tali took the Pra'za, while Shepard and Gamora both selected Dirty Harry. I wasn't sure if they spoke to each other while I was distracted but we ended up with a well-rounded selection not only as a group but also as individuals so we weren't vulnerable at close or long-range combat or replace the groups two best current weapons (aside from mine and Wrex's that is) which was Shepard's shotgun that she got of Nilus and Garrus's sniper rifle. Though I did think Tali nearly went for one of the pistols but that girl sure loves her shotguns.
"I hope everyone will be happy with their purchases, if you have any problems let us know and we'll see what we can do from here. Now is there anything else?" asked Yarrick
"Yeah, I was wondering if you could design a few omni-swords for us? A claymore for me and two rapiers for Liara and Gamora." I asked
"...you're joking right?" asked Yarrick with disbelief "Fine I'll look into it but I can't make any promises."
After a few checks and tests in the small gun range we left
Outside the shop
"Now we all have new weapons I've got a surprise for everyone. As you heard from Yarrick the Alliance bought a number of weapons off of them, weapons that their quite impressed with, also as we currently have no new leads on Saren and we need a break. On another hand the Alliance and the Turian Hierarchy need our experience on dealing with the geth which means we're headed to Pinnacle station." said Shepard
"I've heard of that place, it's a high-level training simulator with holograms or something!" said Ash excitedly "Only the best get invited."
"Hold it, you want me to play a damn video games?" growled Wrex with disapproval
"It's not a game, it's a training simulator it gets close to real life combat without the risk of death." defended Ash
"Sounds like a waste of time to me, and isn't that what training rounds are for?" asked Wrex "Ehh, I'll to embarrass some uppity weaklings too full of themselves so I'm in."
"Good, alright so we have a few hours so make good use of them. We'll all meet up at near the embassies." said Shepard
With that we all split up, Wrex went to do...well something. Garrus said he wanted to catch up with some old friends, Kaiden wanted to visit Jenkins to see how he was doing. The girls on the other hand went off together.
That just left me by myself, not that I had a problem with that. I had a ton of emails to send off while I had the chance while I was off the Normandy and there weren't routed through their channels. It took some time but I was able to find something that resembled an internet cafe and once their I started sending everything, from emails to Ryder about the Andromeda mission to a warning about terrorists to the guys mining the asteroid as well as a few emails to some other people such as Dr Bryson
After that was done I decided I'd use the rest of my time looking at the Presidium, not really doing much of anything just relaxing, enjoying the view and listening to some music.
Eventually, the three hours came to an end and I headed to the embassies where I saw that the girls had already arrived, minus Shepard and were around a man of indian decent who looked familiar. Either he was the husband of one marines that died on Eden Prime or I had no idea who he was. While I was still a few metres away I was spotted. On approach, Solana became...nervous and Ash gained a big shit-eating grin. Also it might have just been me but Tali looked a bit...tipsy.
"Wweeeellll hello there Callum. We were just talking about you." drawled Ash only to get an elbow from Solana
"We were not!"
"Well maybe not then." defended Ash "Anyway did you enjoy your time off?"
"Yeah." I answered "So ah, what's going on?"
At that Ash instantly lost her grin and gained a pissed of expression
"This is Samesh, he recently lost his wife on Eden Prime and instead of handing over their holding her body and won't tell him why! Shepards in the bar talking to the guy responsible as we speak."
Ah, so he was who I thought he was.
Before I could think much more on the topic I was distracted by the sight of Shepard coming down the stair and pulling a guy in a white suit by the ear. Like Ash, she also had a pissed of expression
"OWOWOWO!"
Coming to a stop in front of us she gives one last painful tug to the man's ear before letting go.
"Was that really necessary commander?" asked the young man rubbing his ear, embarrassed at all the attention that had been drawn towards him.
"Tell him what you told me." ordered Shepard
"Commander..." started the man only to be interrupted
"Why won't you return my wife to me! She gave her life to protect others, she deserves a proper burial!" said Samesh heatedly
The man tried looking to Shepard only to get a pointed look, sighing the man began to speak.
"Mr Bhatia, the situation with your wife is more complicated than it looks. Your wife did give her life to protect others and I'm not diminishing her sacrifice. But in death she could save even more." said the man
"What do you mean?!" asked/demanded Samesh
"Your wife's body is one of the most...intact of those recovered from Eden Prime. It also bears a number plasma burns that aren't seen on many of the bodies, studying your wife could lead to breakthroughs. Breakthroughs that if we had had before could have prevented the death of your wife."
"You want to-to study my wife! Hasn't she already given enough?" asked Samesh in tears
"I'm sorry but I can't exaggerate just how important this is. Your wife could be the key to saving thousands of lives in the future, even more if the geth decide to mount more large scale attacks. Something which you'd have to agree that everyone is worried about."
"And just how long would you keep her from me? Just how long will she go unburied for these 'tests' of yours?" asked Samesh
"...I...I don't know." said the man reluctantly "It could be as little as a few months but is more likely to take a year if not more."
"A year! You wish to keep my wife from me for a year!" exclaimed Samesh, his sadness overcome by his anger
"I know it's a lot but..." started the man only to be interrupted by Shepard
"I think it's time I said something, as you no doubt know I was on Eden Prime during the geth attack. Since then my team had numerous further contact with them, during those encounters we've collected numerous geth technology. One of these pieces is a fully working geth assault rifle as well as a few non-working ones, when we arrived they were picked up by the Alliance."
"Really, thats fantastic Commander. As far as I know no working geth guns were recovered on Eden Prime."
"It also means that you no longer need to keep Samesh's wife from him. Just have command send you some dead pigs or something." suggested Shepard
"But it could take weeks for them to get around to me. I'm hardly going to be first person making a request that has to do with the gun when it's known we have a working one. By the time they get around to me we could have lost valuable time." pleaded the man
"Fine then, keep my wife if it means that much to you." said Samesh sounding crushed
"Thank you, I'll make sure she is returned to you as soon as possible." said the man sincerely
"I do not want your thanks, I want my wife! But this...this is what she would have wanted, she joined the Alliance to save lives. Knowing that how can I, how can I...it is what she would have wanted." repeated Samesh
"Samesh, I don't know if this means much. But your wife Nirali loved you very much, she would always talk about you off and on duty and how lucky she was to have found you." said Ash
"It means a lot, more than I could ever say." said Samesh tearfully "Thank you commander, I may not have gotten what I wanted but at least now I know my wife is not finished saving lives."
When he left Shepard rounded on the man and grabbed him by the front of his suit "I'll be checking in with him later, if her body hasn't been returned to him by then I will come looking for you."
"You have my promise I will return her body as soon as possible. Two months at most regardless if the Alliance has gotten around to me yet."
"Good." said Shepard before pushing him away "And the next time you hold a body from their loved one's, you bloody tell them why!"
After that we waited a bit longer for the rest of the group to arrive and headed back to the Normandy.