Chapter 17
I don't own Mass Effect
Wow, I would have thought that more people would be into Garrus's sister. I mean Garrus is almost the default for fem Shepard, and that voice and those hips...don't know why more people aren't interested.
I mean that voice and those hips...hmmmm! And I've seen a few pictures of what people think they may look like and some of them aren't half bad though Gamora isn't bad looking either. I'm not sure if I wrote Solana bad or Gamora well. But since the majority seem to be against Solana and for Gamora I'm going to back off on the relationship a bit more and give Gamora more of a chance.
It's too late to change a lot and I'm not rewriting anything but a Gamora instead of Solana will only need a couple of changes in the long run. Though that's only if I go that way, as said I'll back off on Solana and give Gamora more of a chance but if Solana comes back she comes back. I may be the one writing this story but some of it is written and inspired by itself. Like what they would want to do and not what I have planned though it is also somewhat inspired by the readers.
Also, damn I got a lot of new followers last chapter. Thanks for joining us guys and hope you're enjoying the story.
Cyan93 I'll try to review a bit better, sometimes I'm in a rush to put out a new chapter, it comes with its positives and drawbacks
M1stymix good idea on the shotgun, it looks a lot like the pirana functionally but more practical I'll look into it and yes, maybe the asari didn't know anything about the reapers because of the cypher or lack of it but there is an amazing fanfic called Enduring the Flames of war by Masterdude21 that gave me the idea of making it unsure. If anyone loves mass effect or halo it is a fantastic read.
Story start
"So how did you guys do?" asked Shepard when everyone had sat down with their meals
"Not bad." answered Solana "We did the standard capture without any problems, even did the heavy with some difficulty but then we got wiped out in the extreme almost immediately starting with me."
"What happened?" asked Shepard interested
"Got nailed by a geth tank or whatever they're called, one of the smaller ones. After that it wasn't long before Callum and Gamora were taken out, too many hostiles to deal with on their own."
"We had a similar problem with Garrus." said Kaiden "Dozens of drones started coming out of nowhere and overwhelmed Garrus, Shepard needed to run up to him to order to give him 'medigel'."
"Really?" asked Solana interested
"Yeah, apparently the VI calculates if a wound or blow is survivable. If it isn't your Omni-tool goes off and glows red. If it is, the Omni-tool glows a yellow-orange and you are given a limited time to 'revive' any fallen allies." answered Kaiden "Shepard used a few biotic charges to get to him quickly while I covered."
"So my brother needed rescuing?" asked Solana with barely hidden delight and massive turian grin "Needed the Commander to come to his rescue."
Okay the delight wasn't that well hidden
"You try dealing with all those drones." grumbled Garrus annoyed
"So you guys had to deal with multiple drones over a single target? Not sure which of us had it worst." I said and it was true
While the tank was heavily armoured and could deal out enormous damage it could only focus on one person at a time, and it could also only occupy a single location. A small army of drones though could deal almost the same amount of damage but divided over a lot more targets, the number could also be used to pin multiple people down and prevent them from assisting each other. The only real bonus of dealing with the drones over the tank was that you could whittle down the number of drones while the tank could recharge its barriers if you didn't keep on it.
"So what scenarios did you guys focus on?" asked Garrus
"Mainly capture, we thought it would be good for team building which it has been. we also did a few rounds of hunt which went better, Callum even managed to do a new biotic technique and has been practising it." answered Solana
"Another one? What's this one called?" asked Shepard, interested in the fact that I had taught myself yet another technique
"Just a biotic evade, I basically create a 'pull' field around myself. It's like a baby version of charge." I said
"Yeah I've seen a few people do that, and no it's nothing like a biotic charge. Though remind me to send you some training manuals about charge later. The Normandy's much too small for you to practice without risking one of the walls breaking your face, but if you can learn it later it would go very well with your sword." said Shepard something I agreed with
After that, we kept talking for nearly an hour before being joined by the other team and then deciding to go back in. We decided to swap rooms. Wrex wanted to go at the tropical, and Solana wanted us to try the volcanic to get experience in combats zone that were uncomfortable while Shepard went underground.
Tali though had decided to finish for the day and instead was going to talk to some of the technicians about some inconsistencies with the geth and other ways the simulations can be made more realistic. After a toilet break we headed back in, as I had already used a number of biotic attacks already I started backing off on their usage. No point in burning myself out before the day was over. Instead, I mainly depended on my weapons, the use of a biotic evade when needed and the occasional biotic attack.
We made good times, maybe not the best but far from the worst and our teamwork improved as did our combat skills. While it wasn't real, we still gained valuable experience such as learning what was effective in combat and what wasn't. What was stupid and what was brilliant? What was likely work and what was likely to get us killed.
Our accuracy improved significantly, Gamora and I became more efficient at using our biotics. Decreasing the time it takes to form my shield and getting the most bang for our buck if you will. We mainly did hunt and capture scenarios with the occasional survival and one time trial thrown into the mix.
Eventually, we were done for the day and after a shower, we or at least I collapsed onto the onboard bunks. Too tired to head back to the Normandy.
The next day I woke up late and headed to breakfast, the cafeteria was somewhat full. Most were either turian or human, but there were some salarians and asari as well. I wasn't sure where everyone else was but from what I remembered Shepard saying today was our own time to use.
"I keep telling you! I didn't cheat!" shouted out a voice
Turning to look I see a human and turian arguing, the turian was becoming quite aggressive and was up in the human's face.
"And I say, there's no way you beat my score! No way at all!" said the turian poking his fore talon into the human's chest quite hard "You must have messed with the simulation's settings somehow."
"I didn't!" protested the human
"Whatever Bryan, if I find out that you tampered with government property I'll have you thrown into brig before you're shipped back from whatever sorry colony you came from." threatened the Turian
"You're just angry that a human beat your time Vidinos." shot back Bryan angrily "I bet there are other humans here that can beat your score."
"Please, every other human here has had over a week to beat my scores. None have even come close, then you somehow beat my scores when you're previous scores were significantly lower."
"What about the Normandy's crew? They arrived yesterday and their scores have been good." protested Bryan
"You want to get the first human Spectre to prove that a human can beat my scores?" asked Vidinos incredulously "Fine, if you can convince her to waste her time or find someone on her team that can beat my scores then I won't put you in the brig. However last I heard the Commander she was busy doing team scenarios so good luck."
Looking around Bryan spotted me, running over he asked
"Hey, you're from the Normandy right?"
I really wasn't liking how this was going
"Yeah..."
"Can you beat one of his scores to prove I didn't cheat?" asked Bryan
"You're really running off to one of the new guys to save yourself?" asked Vidinos disparagingly "Fine, I heard your group got three rooms booked. It just so happens I've got good scores in all three of them in all three scenarios. You beat them all I'll forget about throwing him in the bring. Spirits I'll even give you one of my guns."
"...are you trying to be a dick or are you trying to make me look like one?" I asked
"I'm sorry?" asked Vidinos
"First off, I never said he didn't cheat. How about you request that someone review his score, maybe he did cheat, or there was a glitch in the simulation. Or just maybe he did beat your score. Also, aren't you a guard? Just how much time did you spend making those scores? And you want me to spend my last day trying to beat all your scores? Then take one of your weapons on top of that? So not only will piss you off by beating all your hard-won high scores, but I'll also piss you off by taking a weapon which...I'm betting you spent a shit ton of money on?" I asked "As well as how many hours calibrating the damn things?"
I remembered this guy and it was hard enough beating his scores when I was playing as Shepard, there was no way I could do it now. Nor was I willing to spend the majority of today trying to chase after something I'd probably not get. I wanted some downtime watching movies dammit!
"Fine then, what do you propose?" asked Vidinos
"I pick one scenario, one map. In return you wait to see if Bryan actually did anything before you start doing something...also do you have a grandmother?" I asked suddenly thinking of something
"Of course I have a grandmother." said Vidinos like I was stupid
"And has she sent you any food wise, or has anyone in your family sent you anything?" I asked "Particularly anything homemade?"
"Yeah, she sent me a couple bags of Trista jerky that she makes herself from an old family recipe, why?" asked Vidinos
"We have couple of Levo-based teammates on the Normandy and pretty sure they would enjoy some food that actually tastes good on movie night. Throw in a bag and you've got a deal."
"A bag of jerky?" laughed Vidinos "That's all you want? Spirits you're an idiot, fine you got a deal."
"Hey mate, it may only be a bag of jerky but they'll be a day when you'd trade in every gun you had for just one more bag." I said thinking of my grandmother's cooking, in particular their biscuits.
One made the best ginger biscuits and the other made wonderful anzac biscuits. Both were forever out of my reach and my grandparents in this reality died long ago. One of which was due to an eezo exposure that would eventually result in my biotics.
"Whatever." dismissed Vidinos, slightly less harsh than before "Now what map and scenario do you pick."
"...tropical on survival." I answered after some careful thinking.
There was no way I could compete with him in hunt. His assault rifle was just so much better than mine, even with the universal heat clips I doubt if I could get close. Time trials and capture were similarly out, but with survival I might have a shot. With my rifle I could take out enemies at range before they got close making me switch to pistols and my biotics. I wouldn't be taking them out as quickly as I would have been if I was up in their faces but that wasn't the point.
While the tropical map was one of the most familiar to me and with those narrow walkways would bottleneck the simulated geth quite a bit. If I got overwhelmed I could just jump over the side (using biotics to make sure I didn't break my ankle). Or use a could of a number of singularities and book it, circle around them and attach from behind.
The only thing is I would have to watch out for the geth hoppers, drones if they sent any and geth tanks. The latter of which I couldn't see myself taking out without being overwhelmed by it or other geth units.
"Well if you do manage to beat my score, which I doubt, come find me. If you don't I'll know you haven't." said Vidinos before walking away
"Thanks for that. Sorry for dragging you into this but I wasn't sure how I was going to handle it otherwise. Are you sure you'll be able to beat his score?" asked Bryan somewhat nervously
"No idea, he's been practising for so much longer than I have but I'll try. Now not to be rude but I'd like to finish my breakfast." I said
"Ahh, right sorry I'll let you be." said Bryan apologetically. Seemingly only now realising that I might have had other plans.
Finishing up my breakfast I put on my gear before going to see what score I had to beat.
"Shit. 40 minutes, that's the time I have to beat? Hhrrr, well most as well get started now." I thought to myself as I headed to the elevator.
Finding that the room was thankfully not in use I started the scenario.
Survival was quite different to the other scenarios, unlike them you didn't get to pick the difficulty. Instead, it started on easy and then started to become more and more difficult the longer you were in there.
Minutes 1-3 was the warm-up. 3 to 8 was roughly what we encountered around the standard difficulty for capture or hunt. After that they started adding heavy units, it got to the heavy difficulty about 12 to 20 minutes in. By thirty minutes you'd be on full-out extreme, in some ways it reminded me of the beep test I did in high school. Running from one side to the other before the beep sounded, the first few beeps were easy, you could basically walk it. The later ones you had much less time and were much more tired at that point.
Vidinos might be an ass and fucking arrogant but lasting 10 minutes after geth tanks started showing? He certainly had the skill to back his attitude up.
Starting the simulation I mainly used my rifle, saving my biotics for later when I'd need them the most. The first few minutes were easy, with every shot I made I had ample time to let it cool as I patrolled the map. Then things started to get difficult when the first heavy units started to arrive, at first it was one geth Prime for every 8 standard geth units, that was around minute 8 or 10. That ratio would only get worse over time.
Firing into the chest of the nearest Prime I cast a singularity to tangle up the other units before detonating it. The biotic explosion stripped away what shields the Prime had left and five more rounds managed to take it out. I quickly pull the bolt of my rifle back and locked it, setting the grain size to it's maximum size.
I decided to set up shop near where the first flag would have been but behind one of the barricades for now. It would give a good view of any geth coming from that side and the walkway would act as a funnel. Any geth coming from the other direction I could either take out from a distance or from a point-blank attack when they climbed up the ramp.
The problem with that was if I stayed here too long when the tank spawned then it would be much harder taking any geth out coming from that side. But the only spots outside of the tank's reach was the area near the second flag and that would be an even harder place to hold by myself which means that for now I'd have to stay here for as long as possible.
Pressing myself against the wall to shield me from any fire from the geth on the walkway I had a good look at the water section of the map. Thankfully there were no geth tanks at the moment but it wouldn't stay that way for long. There were however five normal geth units that I could see including one that looked like it could be a geth sniper.
I take that one out with an overpowered round immediately before using regular rounds to deal with the rest before turning back to the walkway.
Throwing a singularity onto the ramp to prevent any geth I'd missed from flanking me I focus entirely on the geth on the walkway heading towards me. This time there were two heavy geth units, a big red Prime and a big white Juggernaut as well as three normal geth units.
Using a pull I was able to snag two of the geth units before sending them flying into the geth Prime. Four overpowered shots managed to bring down the Primes shield and deal some damage, I then hit it with a warp to wear down its armour and prevent its shields from recharging.
Turning to the Juggernaut I fired four more rounds into it, just enough to get rid of its shields before my gun gave off an overheating warning. Pressing the venting switch I place it against the balcony to give it time to cool. I got hit a few times but I should have enough barriers for now. Switching to my assault rifle I fill up three universal heat clips taking the shieldless geth heavy units. The Prime scored a few more hits but I still had at least a third of my kinetic barriers.
Holstering my assault rifle I reach for my now-cooled Settler rifle to take out the single-geth troop left...before being immediately taken out by a laser courtesy of one geth hopping bastard that I didn't see hiding on the mountain.
"Fuck!"
Walking over to the console I check my time, I didn't do as bad as I thought, I got up to 23 minutes before being taken out. The bad news was that Id need to double my time in order to beat Vidinos's score as well as dealing with more geth heavy units as well as a tank when I barely handled two at the same time.
Restarting the scenario I take a different approach, instead of staying in a single location I kept on the move like I was doing originally before setting up shop. It worked for a bit, I had to hastily throw up the occasional barrier when my shields were about to fail, but I could stay ahead of the much slower geth heavy units. But in the end that just resulted in a backlog of Primes and Juggernauts that I couldn't deal with. As eventually, I had no choice but to start taking them down. By the time I took them down two more had arrived, by the time I had taken those ones down another two had arrived and the ones behind me had caught up.
When I checked my time I had done a bit worse, only 18 minutes instead of 23. So staying place wasn't working but neither was being constantly on the move. Staying in place I could last a bit longer and with practice I could add even more time. But an extra 20 minutes? No, I needed another approach. Instead of restarting the match, I went through the map with a fine-toothed comb, looking for anything I could us to my advantage. I originally intended on jumping over the handrail if I got close to being overwhelmed but something occurred to me. What if there was no path under there? What if it was just there for looks and it was a dead end? I sure didn't want to be that guy who needed winching out of a tight spot. But in this case, the space under the walkway turned out not to be just for looks and there was enough space under there to walk around.
Starting another scenario I eventually found myself in the same position as the first time, this time whoever I was better prepared. This time there were three heavy geth units approaching from the walkway, two geth Primes and one Juggernaurt. I managed to take one of the geth Primes before I decided it was time to start to retreat, giving a good look at the mountain to make sure I wasn't about to be snipped again.
Using a singularity to block their path I detonated another singularity that I had placed on the ramp much like I had before. Running down the ramp I encountered another Prime, firing three more overpowered rounds I switch to my pistol. Firing round after round I backtrack to the underside of the ramp, hitting it with a warp before I got out of sight by climbing under the ramp. I didn't think the warp would take the Prime down but at least it would weaken if for next time. Throwing a singularity down to make sure I wasn't followed I jogged to the other side and switch back to Settler.
Getting to the otherside I climbed back up the ramp and headed back to the first flag where the two geth heavy units were waiting with a few regular geth units behind them. Lashing out with a shockwave I send the smaller geth units flying, with two of them falling over the edge. Taking the last one out with a throw into one of the heavy units.
Creating a barrier around myself I fire 7 overpowered rounds into the last Prime taking it out before firing one more into the Juggernaut. Using a biotic evade to dodge a rocket I switch to my pistol and start firing. When that overheated I threw a couple of biotic shots, small balls of biotic energy at the Juggernaught to occupy and weaken it. When it started to get it's bearings back and open fire again I created a biotic shield before it could wear down my biotic barriers and my kinetic. Using my forearm I cocked the hammer and fired.
Unfortunately, while that brought its health down significantly it still wasn't quite enough to take it out. Keeping my distance and focus on maintaining my shield while the gun cooled down. When it did I fired another one shot to take it out.
Holstering my pistol I switch to my Settler and seeing no new enemies I vent the remaining heat. After that, I encountered the Prime that I'd almost destroyed earlier, after I dropped it's shields it only took a couple of rounds to down him. Continuing on I took up a position near the ramp and proceeded to take out any geth that approached from that direction, when my kinetic barriers were nearly down I retreated underneath the walkway yet again. Taking out the geth that I had fallen over the side of the walkway when I encountered them.
I repeated this a number of times, when the tank came around I ignored it, while the tank could deal a large amount of damage it took time to turn and aim. Unlike a human tank, the head couldn't turn independently to the body. So in order to aim the tank had to move its entire body as the neck of the neck had very little independent movement. So as long as I was quick and not predictable I could avoid its attacks.
In the end, I didn't quite make it, I was too slow dealing with a couple of Primes and a rocket trooper and was taken out by the geth tank when I should have tried backtracking. But even then my time was better...31 minutes in fact, with each attempt my time increased bit by bit. I learned that eventually the geth learn and start to come underneath the walkway. But even that had its advantages, the space was far too small for the Primes and Juggernauts to get into and the space was even tighter than the walkway which made it so that every attack I made, biotic or kinetic always hit one or more enemies. Shockwave and push were especially effective.
Eventually, after 5 more attempts, I had done it, I had beaten Vidinos time by a full 8 minutes.
Exiting the room I went to check on the scores to confirm that I had indeed beaten his score, now I had to find him. He was guarding the airlock just as he was when we first arrived.
"Come to give up? Or say you want to change the deal?" asked Vidinos smuggly
"No, I came to say I did it." I answered
"Trakshit." said Vidinos "There's no way you've already beaten my score."
"Don't believe me, go check." I answered making Vidinos open his omni-tool.
"Ochren, this is Vidinos. What's my ranking on the Tropical map on the survival mode?"
"Your currently coming in third on that scenario, behind Hira Y'sa and Callum Maclean." answered the salarian technician
"And you expect me to believe that? An asari commando with a few centuries of experience I get, humans who don't even have five years of combat experience beating my score in a single day I don't. I want to see the logs and vid to prove it." demanded Vidinos
"Again with this? You'll need either the permission of the admiral, the persons in question or put in a request."
"Go ahead. I don't have anything to hide, hell I don't even have the tech knowledge to even begin messing with anything." I said
"You got that?" asked Vidinos over the omni-tool
"I did." sighed Ochren "When you're ready you can come and view the footage."
Ending the call Vidinos addressed me "My shift ends in half an hour, I'll see the video and if you really did beat my score I give you the jerky later."
45 minutes later
Since I had no intent on going back into any of the rooms and was heading back to the Normandy as soon as this thing with Vidinos was resolved I went to have a shower before having a late lunch. Near the end of it Vidinos came over and dropped a bag in front of me.
"I saw the video, while I can't say I agree with how you did it, the fact is you did it and it's not like you totally avoided contact by hiding completely for the 48 to so here." said Vidinos pushing the bag towards me before walking away.
Finding Solana was easy, while I was in the tropical map her name and a few others such as Ash, Gamora and Liara. If I had to guess the latter two wanted to get more experience. The other room was occupied by Shepard, Kaiden and Garrus. Wrex I think was with another krogan seeing who could outdo each other.
Entering the room I waited until the scenario was either over or Solana was taken out, as I was not present during the start of the scenario the holograms would ignore me unless I did something. If I shot at one of them the scenario would immediately end. I had to wait a couple of minutes but eventually, Solana and the others came over to the console.
"Callum, what brings you here?" asked Ash
"Just a little something." I answered "Hey Solana, got a moment?"
For some reason, this got a smug grin from Ash while Solana's mandibles twitched in embarrassment.
"Sure, we'll give you space. Solana, let us know when you're done." said Ash
"Hey." greeted Solana, somewhat hesitantly
"Hey." I answered "Listen one thing led to another and well...I thought you might like this." I said offering the bag over "It's jerky and with the fact the rest of the crew is mostly human and amino based I thought you might like it."
Taking the bag and giving a quick look inside Solana seemed to sigh.
"Listen Callum, you're a good guy. There are plenty of females out there that would like your attention but unfortunately..." trailed of Solana
"You're not one of them." I felt like kicking myself, of cause Solana wouldn't be interested, why should she? Also, the end of the entire universe was at stake and I was busy chasing turian ass. Seriously what the hell was I thinking!
"Listen I know you...fancy me. During 'our girl's outing' it was made apparent, something that one of the other girls said. But listen, your're a great guy." repeated Solana "But I'm sorry with everything happening don't think it's a good time."
"Yeah, it isn't really a good time." I agreed
"Also...I'm a turian and you're a human. Even if we decide to go for it, which is a big if by the way. There are a lot of things that will cause problems in the future. That's not to say they couldn't be worked out" added Solana hurriedly "and feelings do change, maybe after this whole Saren thing is dealt with I'll feel different so for now..."
"Let's just focus on getting that done." I finished for her
"No hard feelings?" asked Solana
"No hard feelings." I promised "Keep the bag by the way. You, Garrus and Tali if possible could do with some good snacks for one of the movie nights."
"Thanks, Callum." said Solana sincerely if a bit hesitantly
"No problem, an upside to this it at least I no longer have to worry about your brother shooting me." I said with a forced laugh which got a sigh out of her
"I'll have a word with him, he should know by now not to involve himself in my personal life but he and my father have more in common with each other than either are willing to say. My first boyfriend was this close to having to walk around in heavy armour the whole time we were together." said Solana holding the first two talons of her right hand close together before adding "Then again he was a bit of a prick and probably had it coming...you sure we're okay?"
"I'm sure." I said
Leaving the room I headed back to the Normandy and stowed my combat gear before heading down to the cargo bay. I wasn't sure if the movie marathon or whatever was still going on but I wasn't exactly in the mood for anything really.
When I got down there was a mere handful of people were still watching, it seemed to be some tv show about an asari travelling from world to world helping unfortunate but to be honest I wasn't exactly paying attention.
When the day was over we left Pinnacle station and for the next few weeks, we cleared geth and pirate outposts, one after the other. Part of me wondered why we didn't head towards either Saren's base on Virmire or head to the icy cold of Noveria. The only answer I could think of was that they didn't know, and I was afraid to say something. What if we arrived too soon? Or... too late?
Eventually though...
"This is Commander Shepard, I've just received word from the Council. Saren is on a planet called Virmire, we're five hours out. I want the entire ground crew ready in three hours or less." came Shepard's voice over the ship's speakers.
Vidonis's Call
After he handed the bag of jerky off to the human that beat his score, if in an unorthodox way Vidinos made a call.
"Hello?" asked an old female voice
"Hey nan its me." replied Vindos
"Darling, how are you?" the amount of pure joy the voice contained was just unbelieable
So much joy from such a simple gesture...it almost hurt.
"Okay I guess, some new guy completely beat one of my scores." said Vidinos "One of the good ones too."
"Oh now I'm sorry to hear that, I know how much work you put into getting those scores."
"It's fine, I kind of bet him into doing it and you wouldn't believe what he wanted if he did it?"
"What dear?"
"A bag of the jerky you sent me. Get this he had a few dextro teammates and was worried that the food they had on board wasn't good enough." said Vidinos
"Ohhh, well wasn't that nice of him then. Do you want me to send you another bag?"
"Yes please, hey I have some holiday coming up. How about I stay for a few days just like the old days? You know what let's make it a week." said Vidinos
"Oh I would love that, but are you sure there isn't anything else you want do? You don't get much time after all."
"I'm sure nan."
"Oh, that would be wonderful! I'm so looking forward to seeing you and catching up! The extranet just doesn't cut it."
For the nearly the next hour Vidinos talked to his grandmother and ended the call with promises to call her again soon.
Red and Blue effect
The next mission Shepard had to take the idiots on was clearing out a bunch of pirate out posts on a atmosphere less moon. Since there were a number of them and she wanted a break they split up. Mako team which had her, Kaiden and Garrus. Team warthog which had Tucker, Griff and Caboose.
In all honesty she wishes she could either leave them on the ship and complete the mission on her own or stay on the ship herself and let them do the mission. Unfortunately that would either result in the ship getting blown up which had almost happened a couple of times or the mission going to shit it the worst and probably weirdest way.
So to avoid the ship blowing up she cycled through them, a few for each mission. Tali though was a Godsend, she was the only one who could handle Caboose being well...Caboose. Strangely enough she was also the only female aside from Liara that Tucker didn't constantly hit on. She also had a strange mentorship thing going on with Sarge, he would give her all sorts of advice on how she should use her shotgun.
The advice was complete rubbish though and she made sure Tali knew that, although if you flipped it, twisted it before doing the complete opposite then it was actually good advice. In fact Tali was the only one who could really deal with all of them and actually like them and be liked by them. Maybe it had something to to with the helmets? She hadn't once seen them take those off and she heard that they even shower with them on.
All in all Tali made there presence much more tolerable for the rest of the crew and because of that she was now the most well-liked person on the entire ship, something Tali wasn't used to at all.
They did have their upsides however, they were surprising effective against the geth and not just because if their advanced armour. Geth operated by logic and since what ever logic they'd ever had handling since jumped out of the window with a rope made of bedsheets that we're made out of tentacles the geth couldn't predict what they would do next. They were as equally likely to kill you with a gun or with an oversized rubber chicken.
Wait...was she starting to think like them? Was their craziness and stupidity infectious?
Before Shepard could think too much about that horror they arrived at the last base, the warthog out front with Tucker, Griff and...were was Caboose?
"Griff, Tucker...were's Caboose?" asked Shepard nervously
"No idea." shrugged Tucker "Said he needed to do something and we should wait here."
"And you listened to him? Why would you think that was a good idea?" asked Shepard only to get another shrugg.
Before anything could happen though Caboose appeared...coming right through the door they were supposed to be storming the building from.
Taking a breath to calm herself
"Caboose...what we're you doing?"
"I needed to go to the bathroom." came Caboose's reply
"You went to the bathroom?" parroted Shepard
"Don't worry I washed my hands!"
"Wait, how did you even get in?" asked Kaiden "All of the other buildings needed to be hacked open and last I checked your omni-tool was taken after you jettisoned yourself from the airlock not once but twice?"
"Joker nearly shit his pants the first time when Caboose tapped on the glass." murmured Shepard
"My point is unless he had an omni-tool how did he open the door?" asked Kaiden making everyone look at Caboose
"Well the door was jammed really bad, but really needed to use the bathroom so I pushed and pushed and got it to open and then did the same with the other door." answered Caboose
"Thats impossible, you need either blasting charges or specialised equipment to force those doors open." argued Garrus
"Caboose is like, really strong. We think it's to make up for...other things." said Tucker
"Anyway what happens." said Shepard, annoyed that yet again a 30 second conversation was turning into a 30 minute one.
"Well I went inside...and they were having a party." said Caboose seriously
"A party?" asked Shepard in disbelief
"A party." repeated Caboose "But the music was weird and no one was that good at dancing. There was also flashing lights the places were Griff sister starts taking off her clothes when someone drops their wallet."
"OY!" shouted Griff "Dont bring stuff like that up, even if it's true...especially its true."
"Anyway I finished using the bathroom, then I washed my hands." said Caboose putting a lot of emphasis on the last part "But when I came out they must have all parted themselves out and gotten too tired as everyone was asleep."
Shepherd didn't know which was worse, Caboose killing a roomful of people in arguably one if the worst ways to do so. Or the fact that they last thought those people likely had was about a ruthless badass slaughtering them mercilessly before calmly walking past their slowly suffocating bodies when actually it just an idiot on his way to the bathroom.
"Griff, Tucker you're on point. We need to make sure the areas clear before we leave." Ordered Shepard
"Be quiet, we don't want to take anyone up." said Caboose not so quietly
"Yeah I'm not going in, I know what you are last night and there is no way in hell I'm going in there." said Tucker
"Fine, you can stand watch. Griff, Garrus your up." ordered Shepard
Walking forward they barely made it a few feet from the doorway before they stumbled and put their hands against where their mouths would be.
"We're in space...how the fuck can I still smell it?" asked Griff using Garrus to steady himself as Garrus did the same
"...Shepard it's bad...it's real bad." said Garrus with the same treble in his voice that you'd get from a gutshot soldier
"It's like something crawled up his ass and died, then he let it ferment for a year before he sprayed all over the wall...oh God I think I can taste it...and it tastes like death." said Griff
Griff she saw as exaggerating, Garrus though...
"Fine well head back and say we detected some sort of biological weapon and we weren't going to risk it." said Shepard, chances were that everyone was already dead.
"Nuke it from orbit." gasped Griff "It's the only way."
A week later
A week after dealing with the moon bases they received word from Hackett that someone had attacked a mining operation and had hijacked the operation and was planning on raming it on Terra, a planet that was only second in population to earth. If successful the casualties would be in the billions.
Since she'd likely need someone to hack controls that no one would have previously used she went with Tali, to cover them she added Garrus. For the warthog team she picked Griff, Donut and Caboose.
"Okay everyone this one's serious and I need your A game. A meteorite is heading to one of the most populated planets in human territory, within half an hour it will be too late to change it's course." said Shepard "Currently we are the only ones close enough to do anything."
The red and blue troopers took this surprisingly well, for once no one was making any jokes. Apparently, she also wasn't the only one who thought so.
"You guys are being awfully serious, I would have thought Tucker would have made a joke about big rocks by now." commented Ash
"We can be serious." defended Simmons
"And this isn't the first time we saved the world." added Griff
"Rrrright." said Ash in disbelief
"It's isn't also, bow chicka bow wow." said Tucker
And there it was.
"Focus people, listen there are five fusion torchs pushing the meteorite forward. We need to knock them out first or failing that alter their output so it completely misses the planet." ordered Shepard
"Wait how are going to know where they are?" asked Simmons
"They're giant metal cones that spits fire." answered Shepard dryly "Finding them will be the easy part, I'll have the Normandy fly overhead to scan for them and have them relay their positions to us. After that's done we'll head to main control centre to find out what's happened, how it happened and if their are any survivors. No get ready we'll be there in a couple of..."
"Ahh Commander I've got an update you're going to want to know." interrupted Joker over the comms
"What's wrong? Is the asteroid even closer than we thought it would be?" asked Shepard with worry, they already had so little time.
"We can't detect any active fusion torchs. We can see leftover heat signs from where they were but no signs of them being currently active." answered Joker "Also the asteroid seems to be off course. I don't want to promise anything but it looks like it will be a clean miss on the planet's left side."
"So someone has already shut them down, but how and why?" asked Garrus quietly
"Joker send me the locations of where you think the torches are...okay change of plans guys. Team mako and team warthog will head directly to the main control centre. If someone has turned them off their going to need support immediately. The rest of you will be divided into two teams." said Shepard before opening her omni tool and displaying an image of the asteroid on the screen
"Ash you'll take the first team and head for the centre fusion torch which should be around here." said Shepard circling the location before circling another spot "Sarge you take the other team and head for this one. If the terrorists want to get the asteroid back on target they'll need both of them, the first to push it forward and the second one to get it back into position." said Shepard
"And how do you want us to take it out?" asked Sarge
"Anything and everything, I don't care if you have to blow the damn things up, just make sure that it's the right one. One we don't need, the ones on the other side we will if we need to further adjust the trajectory to make sure the asteroid misses."
A few minutes later the mako and the warthog were dropped off before the Normandy got closer to drop of the other team's a couple of kilometres from their destination. It was a bit risky to bring in the Normandy so close but they didn't have much of a choice, hopefully the pirates didn't have anything that could do and damage and if they did Joker could get in and out quick enough so it didn't matter.
Before they had travelled far however.
"Commander I'm getting something on the radio." said Tali, "I think you'd want to hear it."
"Patch it through."
"Hello...can anyone hear me?" asked a female voice
"This is Commander Shepard who are you?"
"My name is Kate Bowman, I'm here with my brother are you the one that disabled the engines? I can hear them looking for you." said the woman
"You can hear them? Turn off your omni-tool and stop broadcasting! If I can hear you so then so can they, find a safe space to hide and stay there. Only contact me if it's desperate, otherwise keep silent and stay safe." said Shepard before ending the call "We need to get their now!"
They made it to the main control centre without any problems and once they got out of their vehicles they made it through the minefield left behind by the terrorists. Getting inside they were immediately confronted with 5 batarians.
"Hold it a second." said one of the batarians, probably the leader of that group
Strangely, while they had guns up none of them were firing.
"And why should I?" asked Shepard
"Every second you spend dealing with us you could be using it elsewhere." said the first batarian "Such as making sure this rock doesn't crash and the bomb in a room off hostages doesn't go off."
"Charn!" said one of the others in a harsh whisper
"This was supposed to be simple slave grab, I didn't sign up for this and none of you did either. Balak must have gone insane if he thought this was a good idea as is everyone who thinks it is. We leave and there's 8 less batarians you have to deal with and you won't alert the next room before you can take them by surprise." said Charn
"...Fine, get out of my sight and I better not see you again." ordered Shepard
"Oh, you can be sure about that." said Charn turning to leave, the rest of the batarians following him. When he was almost at the door he stopped and turned around "By the way there's a bunch of varren on the other side and Yaick's trained them to be especially vicious, I'd take them out first if I was you. Thought you'd want to know."
Entering the next room they immediately came face to face with a number of batarian and varrens on the other side. With the size of their forces it was no wonder they were able to take over the asteroid, unfortunately for them they had no idea they were coming and the first half dozen fell in seconds and the next half barely had time to realise what was happening before they were on the ground as well.
That's what you get when you combine stealth with a decent sized force. As much as Shepard didn't like letting those earlier batarians go was a good call. Dealing with these guys would have been a lot harder if they had known we were coming.
As they continue to advance, the batarian terrorists only just now getting over the surprise of the sudden assault Shepard spots a human woman banging on a glass widow before someone who looked like there been beaten dragged her out of sight.
It also stopped them from grabbing hostages to use as body shields. Thought Shepard to herself
Continuing on it was looking like they had nearly finished clearing everyone out. There looked like their was only 5-8 left with 3 varren but she wouldn't be surprised if there was more waiting in the shadows.
"Stop there now!" shouted out a new voice.
Stepping from behind some crates was another batarian and from his tone and posture he was the leader, probably this Balak that the others were talking about and in his right hand he had...fuck
"That is unless you want your precious fellow humans to be splattered all over the walls." spat the batarian angrily showing off the detonation trigger
"What do you want?" asked Shepard
"What I want is for you filthy humans to stop stealing worlds that rightfully belong to the Batarian Hegemony. What I want is for the other species to view us with the respect we so rightfully deserve. But as I don't you can give me that I'll ask for something you can give me. You and the others will let me and my men leave, you'lll..."
Whatever Balak was going to saw was cut off by the loudest gunshot she ever heard and Balak's hand literally exploded, taking the trigger out at the same time.
As Balak stares at the stump that was once his hand and begins to scream before a figure drops down from the ceiling and started to take them out with the best CQB that she's ever seen.
It was like it was the most over-the-top action scene out the most action packed vid. The best hand-to-hand fighter, a certain Jake Chan who was an instructor to N7s looked like he was going half speed compared to this person.
Landing on one the figure immediately did a two combo on one batarian, used their elbow to take a second out before doing a spinning back kick to take out a third.
They grabbed Balak just in time for him to receive bullets from his own people. The assult rifle fire easily going through his shields. Using an oversized pistol she took out the batarian and varren in front of them. The Balak's still body being used to block any returning fire, it was amazing they took out 8 batarians in less than 5 seconds or at least close to it. The problem was that the armour looked really familiar.
The batarians behind them were taken out by the hidden sniper. Every bullet going through the batarians shields like a krogan going wet tissue paper. Soon all the batarians were gone.
"Hey Carolina how are you?" asked Caboose
Fucking knew it!
"I'm good thanks, so who's this?" asked the now-identified Carolina
"This is Shepard, she's like Church but she's a lot less angry." introduced Caboose "And this is Garrus and Tali, Tali's really nice you'd like her."
"Yeah, the groups been helping her hunt down this guy. It's not like we don't have any else to do but they really need the help. So we thought we'd help the rookies out." said Griff
"Oh fuck you! The amount of shit I have to put up with because of you guy! Fucking shit!" said Shepard
"Yeah...I can definitely see what you mean." said Carolina looking at Shepard
"Yeah, usually she's a lot nicer." said Donut
"Maybe it's her time of the month?" asked Griff out loud. Something that made Tali and Garrus freak out, Garrus in particular had a 'deer in headlights look'
Again, something she didn't think was possible.
"What the fuck is wrong with you? You don't ask shit like that! Also, who the fuck is Church? Is he another one of you assholes?" asked Shepard
The atmosphere instantly changed from relaxed to...tense.
"Church was my friend. He was mean but he was my friend. I never even got to say goodbye." said Caboose sadly, making Shepard instantly feel bad.
Sure Caboose was probably the stupidest person alive, but he still seemed to be a nice person...even if he was called a team killing fucktard more often then she liked to think about