Chapter 19
I don't own Mass Effect
Thankfully the journey passed without incident and soon the vehicle came to a stop, Ash's elbow had came and went but Gamora's tits stayed in place for the most part. I wasn't sure if she was trying something or simply didn't care or notice what was happening.
"This is as far as I can get you, any closer I run the risk of getting into combat and I still have another team to drop off." said the Salarian driver
"That's fine, how much further?" asked Ash
"Not that much further." answered the driver before passing as a case "Also, take this. It's an assortment of charges and explosive cable for taking out the AA guns. There's more than enough to take it out, so use more than needed if you want to make sure it's unfirable. But be sure to save at least some for the final tower. We split up our remaining explosions between the four groups to make sure everyone had enough and so that as long as at least two teams survived taking out their towers we had enough for the fourth. Much too risky to let a single team carry the bulk of our explosive."
"Thanks." said Ash taking the case
"Anytime, now good luck and I hope I see you on the other side." said driver
As the driver well drove off, Ash turned around.
"Okay, Callum and Garrus you're in front until we hit hostiles then you'll drop to the back. But before that happens we need to wait here until the other team's get into position." said Ash before activating her omni-tool "Aeghor in position."
15 minutes later
"Jaeto is in position." came Captain Jirrahe's voice over omni-tool
28 minutes later
"Mannovai is in position." said another voice over omni-tool.
"Affirmative, all teams are in position. Advance at will and good luck to everyone." said Kirrahe over omni-tool.
Advancing forward it wasn't long before we encountered geth. A couple of standard units here and there that Garrus and I took out. As we got closer the resistance increased but nothing we couldn't handle. Gamora and Ash took the front, with their pistol Dirty Harry and Zorax assault rifle.
When we made it to the AA tower that resistance increased drastically to the point where there was one of the smaller geth tanks with two Primes waiting outside the door.
Raising my gun I start to take aim
"Sniper get down!" shouted Ash
Ducking behind cover I hear a round hit the rock we're hiding behind.
"Garrus can you take that guy out?" asked Ash
"On it." responded Garrur before ducking out of cover, firing three shots he was able to take out the unseen sniper. "Reloading!"
As Garrus ducked into cover the geth Armature fired into the boulder, sending up dirt, water and rock fragments.
"Shit, Callum, Gamora two singularities on the Primes to slow them down." ordered Ash, an order we quickly follow
"Okay, we need to take out that Armature, let's bait him and get him away from his friends. We'll retreat, let him follow and while he doesn't have any back up take him out. Just be careful, their shots might be slow but a direct hit will take you out no questions asked."
"...actually I might have a better idea." I said as another round from the Armature hit the boulder
"Make it quick." said Ash
"Garrus how good of a shot are you?" I asked as four more standard geth units come through the door
"You seriously asking that now?" asked Garrus as he takes one of them out with a headshot before getting back into cover
"Gamora get ready to detonate everything." I said before performing a wide area lift around the geth units, a lift which Gamora detonated along with the singularities that we placed early causing a series of massive biotic detonations, taking out the geth units and knocking the Primes off their feet. Before the Primes could get back to their feet I replaced the singularity. An action that Gamora mimicked.
"Garrus if we can get its barriers down can you hit the knee of the Armarture?" I ask
"Should be able to, why?" asked Garrus "What are you thinking?"
"Take out its barriers, weaken the knee, and as and added measure throw in a few warps from Gamora and me. Then we pull off a push/pull combo like I did with Kaiden but focused on the knee." I said "Gamora pushes the upper, I pull the lower in order to snap it and render it helpless."
"Do it." said Ash "Worst-case scenario we still need to fall back. You and I will focus on getting its shields down while Garrus and Gamora occupy the Primes okay? Also, go for its left leg, our right. That way as long as we stay to its left it won't be able to aim at us properly. We'll then circle around to where it can't reach us, take out the Primes before finishing it off at our leisure?"
After getting a nod from each of us Ash engaged the Armature, using short, controlled bursts while I flicked the switch of my Settler rifle and fired overpowered round after overpowered round until all the heat banks were full.
"Reloading." I said as I swap the heat clip for a larger, fresh one.
"Covering." responded Ash laying down fire.
Switching from overpowered to regular rounds, abet on the largest grain size my gun could handle I keep firing.
"Venting." warned Ash
Firing a few more rounds we eventually managed to get rid of the Armarture's barriers.
"Garrus you're up." said Ash
Taking aim, Garrus takes aim and makes four quick shots before ducking back into cover. I take a couple shots of my own but with how narrow the leg is I was unsure if I even hit it let alone got close.
"Gamora warp time." I said before we throw consecutive warps at its leg
By the fourth warp and a few more shots from Garrus the Armature seems to realise that something was going on and starts to move in order to better protect it's weakened leg.
"Push now!" I shouted
As Gamora was pushing on the upper part of the leg I was pulling on it's lower as hard as I could. Soon the sound of twisting metal was heard, the left leg collapsed and the Armature fell sideways. The leg didn't snap like I'd hoped but it was bent out of shape and clearly unable to support its own weight. The Armature was slow enough to turn before, but now it would be like it was almost not moving at all.
"Circle around it!" ordered Ash
Keeping as much distance between us we circle around. The Armature tried to move and take aim at us but not only did it struggle to turn but it couldn't even raise it's head high enough to face us. Unless we slipped up, the Armature was basically out of the battle and a non-threat. The only threats left were the two Primes and even one of them was looking worse for wear.
In order to give everyone a bit more protection I formed a large biotic shield as I take slow and steady shots. Because I was holding my rifle the shield was slightly off-centre but it was good enough to give everyone some protection and give everyone enough time to recharge their shields. When it started to become a strain to keep the shield up and I was sure everyone's shield was fully charged I dropped it, ready to bring it up again if needed.
By this point most of the heat in my rifle had dissipated, enough to allow five overpowered rounds before I switched to my pistol and began firing. With our current weapons it wasn't long before the Primes were taken out. After that it was easy to take out the Armature, it continued to try and turn to face us but it's mangled leg proved worthless at not only supporting its own weight but even in turning its large body, as the leg slid through the ground everytime it tried to put weight on it.
With all the geth forces down we head inside the AA tower to disable the gun. While Garrus got to working on the console and explosively disabling the current.
"That was a good idea." said Ash as she keeps a look out from outside "What made you think of it?"
"Remember when I said my dad was a farmer? I remember one time there was a cow with a broken or fractured leg or something, the only way it recovered was dad using a tractor to raise it so could heal because large four-legged animals such as horses and cows are helpless if one of their legs go bust." I answered
"So you thought the Armature would be similarly help...shit drones incoming!" shouted Ash as the faint sound of drones filled the air.
As Garrus stayed to work on the console the rest of us took up positions to take out the incoming drones...however it turned out the drones weren't heading for us.
"Shit, Mannovai you've drones coming you're way. Looks to be at least twenty." warned Ash into comms
"Thanks for the heads up Aeghor, finding cover now." came the response from Commander Rentola
"Garrus, how much longer do you need?" asked Ash "I want to be ready to leave by the time our pickup gets here."
"Not much longer, the consoles already disabled. Now all I have to do is make sure the gun can't fire." said Garrus pulling off some pannels "Thankfully I know exactly how to destroy the gun. Instead of damaging it from the outside, I'll do it from the inside. All I need to do is find...ahaha! All I need to do is find the feed, replace the ammo with some explosives, cycle it a bit and then I'll be able to denote the explosion from inside the barrel. I don't care how good the geth are, there's no way they'll be able to fix that anytime soon. It will also use less than a third of the explosives we have." said Garrus
"Good idea." said Ash genuinely
"Well I'm not just a pretty face." smirked Garrus "Anyway we don't want to be in this room when it goes off, or near the tower really. When we're clear I'll detonate it."
"This is Aeghor, we're ready for pick up." said Ash into comms
"Already? I'm four minutes out, I was expecting to help you out with a geth Armature or at least help finish off some heavy units." said a new voice
"We already dealt with that." said Ash with a slight boast
"Good to hear, be ready to go when I get there. You may be the closest to the camp but you're the furthest from the gates." said the voice
Three minutes after Garrus was done sabotaging the AA gun the stealth vehicle that Shadow used arrived. Climbing aboard we were greeted by the salarian driver.
"Good to see you all made it. Name's Faelaer, I've heard from the other drivers that we've already lost a couple of people. Now settle in and get comfortable, we've got some distance to go and you should already know how little room you have."
Climbing aboard I found a seat and sat down, I was then surprised when Gamora bluntly and unashamedly sat on my lap as if it was the most normal thing in the world.
"...what are you doing?" I asked
"He said to make ourselves comfortable. This is far more comfortable and better utilises the space." answered Gamora straight faced
An answer that seemed to amuse Ash greatly
"If you don't want her do you mind sending her my way?" asked Garrus jokingly "It's been far too long since my last asari lap dance."
Giving Garrus a look up and down like she's seen something unappealing Gamora responds rather disinterestedly with "I'd rather not."
"What, why?" asked Garrus, sounding slightly insulted.
"Your sister told me you have 'daddy' issues. While she didn't explain what they are, I do not want any future offspring inheriting these 'daddy' issues."
"..."
"HAHAHHA! I-I...holy shit I can't believe she actually said that." laughed Ash
The rest of the journey we spent in relative silence as Garrus sulked sullenly in the corner while I tried to ignore every time Gamora shifted in my lap. Eventually though 8 minutes later.
"We're not that far from the gate, unfortunately, it seems the battle has already started. I'll let you out just before we get into sight." said our driver
"Thanks." responded Ash "Everyone ready? Callum are you able to move...or do we need to give you a few minutes after we get off?" asked Ash slyly
'That's just mean.' I thought to myself
"Why would.." started Gamora
"I'm fine." I said cutting her off and grabbing her shoulder
"If you say so." said Ash with a smirk. Her eyes going from me to Gamora
2 minutes later
"We're here." said the driver
"Okay every get out and be careful." said Ash
Disembarking the stealth vehicle continued on and it wasn't long before it and us arrived at a battle already in progress, and it wasn't going well. All three stealth vehicles, ours included were there which meant all three teams made it through and all three were engaging the the geth. However one of those vehicles were smoking heavily and our opposition was multiple geth heavy units such as Primes, a large number of standard geth units and snipers. But worst of all there were two geth Colossus, the bigger brother to the Armature. Just then a voice called out, a voice that I recognized as our driver sounding worried
"Wabip you're smoking get out of there! I repeat Stealth Vehicle 2 you're smoking!" shouted Faelaer
Instead of backing or slowing down the smoking stealth vehicle suddenly sped up and slammed into one of the Colossus, trying to push it back.
"Wabip get out of there." pleaded Faelaer yet again before a new voice came over the comms
"Tell Solow I died well and Faelaer...good luck with the fertilization ceremony, may your offspring be quick and..."
BOOOOM!
Whatever the driver was going to say next was cut off as the stealth vehicle exploded, taking the Colossus out with it.
"..."
"Keep up the push men, we can't fail here." came Captain Kirrahe's voice "Don't let his sacrifice be in vain."
"We need to take out those heavy units starting with that Colossus before it wipes us out. Callum any ideas?" asked Ash quickly
"...Garrus how much of that explosive cable do we have left?" I ask
"Pretty much all of it, I only used a little bit for the console why?" asked Garrus
"I'm going to go Rambo on these assholes." I said
Taking out one of my arrow box I pull out one of the arrows manually "What do you think about wrapping it around these?"
"I think you're either brilliant or insane." said Garrus "How many arrows do you have?"
Putting all three boxes on the ground, containing a total of eighteen arrows in total I ask "How many you need?"
"I think we have enough for ten to twelve arrows. I want to leave a bit for the last AA guns just in case." said Garrus
"Good, you and Callum get on that. Gamora and I will support Mannovai and Jaeto teams until your finished." said Ash as she and Gamora followed after Faelaer to engage the geth at closer range. Using their surrounding as cover when they needed to recharge their barriers, using the vehicle when there was no cover available close by.
It didn't take us long to attach the explosive cable to eleven arrows, it took about twenty seconds per arrow. When they were finished I took aim at the remaining Colossus which was focussing on one of the remaining vehicles and the driver of that vehicle was barely avoiding it's attacks but was instead being peppered by the Primes and Juggernauts. The way things were going it wouldn't last that much longer
The Colossus was a lot further away than most of my usual targets and if it wasn't for the almost zero drop rate there was no chance I would have been able to hit it. But hit it I did, six hits all over its body with a seventh arrow missing. The geth Colossus now had the equivalent of six high-powered charges embedded in its side, thanks to the Colossus's armour and barriers I doubt the arrows made it all the way in but I bet they made it deep enough to do real damage. Hoping that was enough I used the remaining arrows to hit a mix of five Primes and Juggernauts.
Next to me Garrus, who had been assisting the salarians with sniper set off the explosives and just like that large explosions went off throughout the battlefield. It turns out that I was right in that six explosively packed arrows were enough to take out the Colossus. As for my other targets I downed three Primes and one Juggernaught, while merely blowing the arm off of a second Juggernaught which was soon taken out by the salarian forces before it could recover...not that I thought it really could.
With such sudden and massive losses for the geth the battle quickly turned in our favour. Garrus and I both stayed back to take out the geth at range with our sniper rifle and Settler rifle respectively, whatever snipers that were on the battlefield must have been taken out already before we got there. As such Garrus and I were virtually unopposed at range which made taking them out that much easier and after the longest pitched battle I had so far (not that was really saying much) all the geth were either destroyed or rendered a non-threat.
"Everyone make their way to the front gate, we need to break through before reinforcements arrive." came Kirrahe's voice over omni-tool "Drivers of the S-14, be ready to take out the geth on the other side and drive the vehicles as far as you can before things get too tight."
When Garrus and I made our way to the gate we found Ash, Captain Kirrahe and Commander Rentola were waiting near the gate while a pair of salarians tried to hack it open. The rest of the salarians were a mix of resting and readiness while caring for their wounds.
"Private Callum, I hear it was you that took out the Colossus as well as a number of Primes and Juggernauts. If they weren't taken out when they were our losses would have been much greater." said Kirrahe thankfully
"I'm just glad it worked." I said
"It was a good idea, but I hope you still have enough explosives?" asked Kirrahe
"We still have the majority of our detonation charges with a small amount of explosive cable." answered Garrus
"Good, now how many arrows do you have left?" asked Kirrahe
"Seven." I answered "Normally I retrieve them when I can but that won't be the case here."
"Obviously, Commander Rentola go over our explosives, especially the cables. See how much we have to work with." said Kirrahe
After going through the explosives it turned out that we had more than enough charges to take down the last AA gun permanently but only enough cable for three more arrows. By time I wrapped the cable around them the gates were almost hacked open, since I only had three I needed to make them count.
"We've almost got the gate open, the S-14's will be going first. We'll use them as cover to get to the AA guns, hopefully the path will be wide enough for the vehicles. Eventually, we'll have to abandon them either way though.
When the gate opened the stealth vehicles led the way just as Kirrahe, thankfully the path was wide enough for the vehicles with a little space on both sides. Using them as cover we were able to make the push to the other side where we encountered further resistance. It wasn't as much as outside the gate but it was still significant and the vehicles had a lot less room to maneuver, combined with the fact that there were two stories buildings on both sides means that an ambush was incredibly likely. Especially since attacks from the side where their turrents couldn't reach were a big weakness for the vehicles.
Pressing forward I kept the first vehicle to my left as we made our way to our last AA tower, aside from me, Garrus, Ash and Gamora there were about thirteen salarians left. Using my Settler overpowered shots I took out multiple geth units for now it was mainly standard geth units with the occasional Juggernaugt or Prime thrown in. I was hoping that we'd already dealt with the majority of the big ones but I was afraid that wouldn't be the case.
Initially, we were making good progress and we made it to the final tower. After we cleared it a small team of salarians went in to disable the gun while the rest of us stayed outside the building.
'Just a bit further' I thought to myself 'Just a bit further and we can all get off this rock, I'll make sure Ash, Garrus and Gamora all make it. I just hope that Tali's program is enough to make sure that no one has to die to defend the nuke. I wasn't able to save Nihlus or protect Eden Prime as much as I want, I need to do better.'
"Arial support you are cleared to land, beware of the final AA gun facing the water." said Captain Kirrahe over comms "Proceed to the landing zone."
"Rockets second floor!" shouted one of the salarian troopers suddenly making everyone turn around.
At once multiple rocket-wielding geth, five in total suddenly appeared on the second floor and as one opened fire on the vehicles, mainly the first one. The first vehicle stood no chance at withstanding the onslaught and was quickly taken out Faelaer was barely able to make it out before his vehicle got taken out with a second volley. The force of each explosion was enough to send everyone near them flying, that added with the shrapnel was enough to take out their shields.
"Shit, bastards must have realised we were going after the AA guns and made a trap." snarled Ash "Everyone use the vehicles as cover! The geth can't blow them up twice."
Throwing out a singularity I was able to snag two rocket troopers before Gamora detonated it. The other three were taken out by fire from Garrus and the salarians, while that was happening more heavy troopers started to show up and if that wasn't bad enough the telltale sound of drones filled the air. Deciding that there was no better time to use arrows I let loose and hit two Juggernauts and one Prime.
"Garrus I've used the arrows." I said
"Got it." answered Garrus and just like that the geth lost three heavy troops but it still wasn't enough. The geth were back and they were back in force, it seemed like whatever the geth had left they were throwing it at us all at once. When the drones arrived we were beset on all sides and things weren't looking good."
"Commander can you read me? We're pinned down and I don't think we're going to make it to the rendezvous point it's just too hot here." said Ash into comms
"Got it, I'm coming your way. Kaiden and the others are placing the present as we speak just hold on until we get there." said Shepard
However a short time later.
"Commander we've got geth reinforcements on our location, they're literally dropping from the sky!" said Kaiden hurriedly over comms
"Can you hold them off?" asked Shepard
"For now Commander, I'll set a timer just in case but you need to hurry." answered Kaiden "We'll only be able to handle them for so long and if the Normandy's still groundside when a ship shows up it'll be a sitting duck."
"Just wait there, hold as long as possible before starting the timer and retreating back to the Normandy. When the timer is at five or six minutes abandon the position and pick us up. Tali, you said your program would keep them out for that long right?" asked Shepard
"Yes, also by the time geth try to manually disable it, it should have gone off already by that point." answered Tali, abet with some nervousness in her voice
"Good, Ash if you can't make it to us find a spot where the Normandy can pick you up, our extraction is going to be hot." ordered Ash
As we waited things became more and more dire. While the skeleton and body of the broken stealth vehicles gave us some protection from the bulk of the geth the drones were continually whittling down our shields and keeping us vulnerable. Anytime we tried to lessen their number they would zoom away or the other geth would make another push forcing us to focus back on them. Because of this we've only been able to take out five drones with another eight or more remaining, if things continued like this we'd all fall one by one as our shields were unable to recharge fully. My own were only at a quarter strength and already a few salarians had fallen, with no one free to tend to them it was unknown whether medi-gel would be enough to make sure they made it home. If it wasn't for barriers and shield boost a lot more people would have fallen.
"My shields are fully down! Cover me while they recharge." said Ash as she pressed herself against the hull of the vehicle to protect herself as much as possible.
But it only protected her from geth on the otherside, which is why when I saw a lone sniper appear from behind I reacted and rushed to cover her with a biotic shield stopping the bullet. However, this exposed me to fire from enough geth to drop my shields and go through my armour. Instinctively making me form a barrier around myself to prevent further damage.
"Fuck!" I swore as blood started to trickle down my arm
"Callum are you okay?" asked Ash with worry as she lobbed one of our last grenades at the geth in front of us while Garrus took out the sniper behind. Gamora on the other hand managed to take out two more geth drones while the salarians covered her.
"Yeah, I think the bullets just grazed me." I answered
"Drop the barrier quickly so I can apply some medi-gel just in case." instructed Ash "The rest of you cover us."
Doing so I could feel the weird, warm, goo-like substance seep into my wounds. Before I reactivated the barrier.
"If Shepard doesn't get here in the next five minutes I'm unsure how much longer we can last. It might be time to consider the option of falling back, if we're lucky some of us might be able to escape the blast radius." said Kirrahe as he fired of an overload and sabotage simultaneously
"She'll make it and with things how they are now falling back will just get most of us killed. If we could just get rid of the ground forces or the drones, even for a bit we could turn this whole thing around." argued Ash
As if it was in response to Ash's comment, fire suddenly opened up from behind the geth diverting their attention away from us as well as taking some of them out.
"Finally, Callum, Gamora focus on the drones I'll cover you. Garrus focus on the geth in front so they don't know how who to focus on." ordered Ash
With the geth no longer focused entirely on us Gamora and I were able to take out the drones a lot easier. As I cast a singularity midair I was able to snag three and Gamora was quick to detonate damaging a fourth. With that there were only five left, one of which was damaged which Ash quickly took out. From there we slowly but surely made our comeback, we had more time to let our shields recharge. More time to let our weapons cool and more time to treat the wounded. When we had dealt with the drones we focused on the rest of the geth...it might have been optimistic but I thought we were almost clear.
On the otherside of the geth several large biotic explosions caught my eye, aiming down range that's when I saw it, Saren holding Shepard by throat and hanging her over a massive drop. Instantly take aim and let loose an overpowered round which bounced right off his shields like it was a fly trying to swatt an elephant. Nether the less I fired another round, if Saren killed Shepard it was all over, even if he merely dropped her and she managed to survive the fall there was no chance the Normandy could pick both her and us up before the bomb went off, a bomb that I had no idea how much time it had left before it went off.
Thankfully it seemed my two rounds distracted Saren enough to allow Shepard to grab Saren by his chest armour and land two punches to the face. It seemed that no matter how much better Saren's armour was than ours, even if it was by miles it still had the inherent weakness of melee attacks. Whether Saren was surprised by my rounds or by Shepard's punches (which I felt was more likely) I didn't quite know. What I did know and what was made apparent was that Shepard doesn't fucking quit, Saren tried to throw her off him with no success. Having enough Saren tried to run her through with his omni-tool, grabbing his wrist she managed to push it to the side before she unleashed a headbutt worthy of a krogan that sent Saren stumbling back, an action that finally allowed him to dislodge her.
Luckily Shepard was able to catch herself and pull herself over the edge, instead of trying to press his advantage Saren decided to disengage. I wasn't sure why, it was almost as if he knew a bomb was about to go off. Performing a biotic leap onto a floating platform Saren, fleed the scene of the battle.
Seconds after Saren fleed the scene the Normandy roared overhead and came in close as possible, parts of the ship were mere inches from the surroundings.
As the cargo bay doors opened and the ramp descended those that could walk or humble made their way over to the ship were multiple figures could be see providing covering fire including a mako that looked like it needed repairs. Those that couldn't move on their own were carried/dragged by their fellows. As I made my way closer I used a botic shield to help provide cover and make myself a larger target. It was a good thing that the majority of the nearby geth forces were already taken out, I would have hated to see what would have happened if the geth had the same numbers they had present when the first attacked.
With how far away they were Shepard and those with her were amongst the last to climb aboard the Normandy, anyone who could still stand or hold again provided enough cover fire for Shepard, Wrex and Solana to make it. Any geth that tried to get between them and the Normandy was immediately trambled by Wrex while Shepard and Solana took out any that came from the sides.
The second everyone was aboard Shepard gave the go-ahead turning on her comms.
"Everyone hold on, Joker take us out and make it fast!"
"Roger that Commander." came Joker's response
The Normandy took off so fast that I nearly fell over, the motion dampening barely to do anything to limit the inertia. Behind us I swore I could feel the hull vibrate from the explosion.
"And we're clear." said Joker over comms
"Good, Chakwas we have multiple wounded in the cargo bay." said Shepard over omni-tool
"On my way Commander." came Chakwas repy
"Everyone!" said Shepard speaking up "Our doctor is coming down, anyone who's wounded please see her. Those who are more seriously wounded will be seen first."
When Chakwas exited the elevator it seemed to take her mere seconds to take it all in, from who was wounded, how badly and all but did a biotic blink to her first patient.
"Okay theirs a lot that needs doing, we'll meet up in the comms room in a couple of hours." said Shepard
"Hold on did everyone make it?" I asked worriedly
"Well the mako took a lot of damage, Kaiden took a couple rounds and Tali's up in the medical bay with some suit breaches. But with a few days rest, maybe more in Tali's case everyone should be up and running again." answered Shepard "What about you, it looked like you took a couple yourself?"
"Just a graise." I responded
"Go see Ash or Solana if you don't want to wait to see Chakwas. Aside from her and Kaiden they've got the most medical training." said Shepard
"I think I'll wait until their finished with the more seriously wounded." I said
"As long as you don't leave it. Medi-gel is a miracle worker so I doubt it would be anything serious but certain ammo shares still need to be removed and though the chance of infection is remote it's still there so I don't want you taking that risk."
"Don't worry I won't." I promised
As Shepard went off to do...whatever she needed to do, I went off and began to remove my armour, leaving me in my undersuit. Pulling my shoulder down I take a look at where I was hit. Aside from some dried blood and some discolouration from the medi-gel it looked okay.
"Are you okay?" asked Garmora coming over
"Just a few scratches that's all." I said dismissively
"Why did you do it?" asked Gamora suddenly sounding interested
"What?" I asked confused
"You took damage and put yourself in a dangerous situation. Why?" asked Gamora "Why would you put the safety of others above yourself?"
I could have said a lot of things, such as she...that was Ash was an important part of Shepard's team. That I wasn't going to put myself above others, instead I decided on
"Because we're a team. Everyone has something to contribute, something they can do better than the others. Garrus can take targets off at a distance before I can, Solana is better at close range close quarters combat. Tali and Kaiden can deal with problems that the rest of us can't, if we can't trust each other than we can't work. You could be the most perfect warrior but if you fail even a single time then it's over. No matter how quick the rabbit or how smart the fox is, they only need to be caught once by the hound."
At Gamora's confused look I elaborated
"No matter how good you are at something, even if it's nearly everything all it takes is a single mistake and it's over. Ash saw a sniper I missed, Garrus took him out, we're stronger together than we are individuals. As strong as he is at the end of the day Saren's alone, Shepard knows that which is why we're going after him as team." I said
"But Saren has an army of geth and asari?" asked Gamora "Is that not 'his' team?"
"It's different, Saren has an army of robots that follow in the hopes of him succeeding bring back the Reapers and a bunch of people who can't think independently for themselves anymore. One will abandon him the second they think he won't achieve the results they want and as for the asari...well they are a dangerous foe but they can't deal with complicated scenarios or think for themselves anymore. Saren has to do that for them and if he doesn't they don't know what to do. In the end the only one he can trust to do the job when his backs to the wall is himself and that's not a position you want to be in." I answered
"Am I not the same?" asked Gamora "I'm only here because I was ordered to by the Old Growth. Indeed if I was instructed to I would stand next to it once again."
"I don't think it's that simple, even in the beginning you were different. You might have only been mouthpiece of the Thorian but even then you needed a certain amount of knowledge, understanding and independent thinking that say the creepers didn't have in order to do your job. Also out of all of your...sisters you were the only one that used your boitics to avoid my attack." I said, touching on a delicate topic...or at least I thought it was.
"And since you've left the Thorian you've grown, the Thorian didn't tell you to learn swordwork. You decided to learn it on your own because you thought it would benefit you, the Thorian might have given you orders, and you might have obeyed them without question but you chose how to fulfil those orders. What course you took was all you and the fact you can choose to grow is all the difference needed. A person without will can't improve themselves, they can only be upgraded if you will by others. At this point I think even if you went back to being only the mouthpiece of the Thorian it would be less because you had no choice and more that you had chosen to rejoin it."
"What's the difference?" asked Gamora as I pull up my undersuit
"I may follow Shepard as do others but if she say ordered me to slaughter unarmed civilians I wouldn't do it." I said trying to explain
"Neither the commander nor the Old Growth would issue such an order." said Gamora
"But if they did?" I pressed
"Such an order doesn't make sense. The commander wouldn't feel threatened by them and the Old Growth would only be interested if they were threatening it." answered Gamora, wondering why I was asking such questions
"So in other words orders that don't make sense should be questioned?" I asked "The thing is, if Shepard gave you an order that doesn't make sense or is even illegal you would think twice. Those under Saren's command wouldn't do such a thing." I clarified
"I think I understand. If I am unable to question the suitabilites that I work for and with I am a unthinking drone. If I can then that means I can think for myself." said Gamora
For the next 45 minutes until Dr Chakwas was finished dealing with the more serious patients, some of which were taken upstairs. Gamora had a few more questions which I tried to answer while I put away my weapons and armour. Setting aside my damaged shoulder piece for repairs.
"Sorry to cut this short but I want to have a shower before I see Dr Chakwas." I said
"If you want I can join you. Not only will it save water but with your wounded shoulder it might be harder to clean yourself." offered Gamora "You have also already seen me unclothed and I find the idea of seeing you in a similar state interesting.
"No thank you I should be fine." I said quickly
"Another time then." responded Gamora "You are still a suitable mate and I choose to pursue the possibility of our joining."
Of all the things she could have applied from what I said she chose that. Gamora was an...interesting individual.
Heading upstairs I grab a fresh set of clothes, I'll need to send in my current undersuit for some minor repairs. After the shower I headed to the med bay, hopefully Dr Chakwas would done with most of her patients. If not I could always come back later.
Entering the bay I found it full, there were extra med beds. Four in total, three had badly wounded salaraians, one had what looked to be a broken leg and Tali was sitting up on the fourth bed drinking something through a straw and looking miserable with Chakwas standing nearby.
Spotting me immediately Chakwas heads over.
"Where are you wounded?" she asked looking me up and down
"Just a slight wound on the shoulder." I answered
"I'll be the judge of that." argued Chakwas "Shirt off."
Taking my shirt off Dr Chakwas had a light probe before starting to scan it with an omni-tool that looked higher tec than mine. Behind us the door opens and Shepard and Ash enters.
"Any problems?" asked Shepard
"None that I can't handle. Some of the salarians are still in critical condition so I'll keep them here until we can drop the off at the Citadel but I don't expect anything to go wrong. As for the Normandy's crew the only seriously wounded were Tali and Kaiden who should be back to being mission ready in a matter of days. Other than that its just minor wounds and scrapes. Though they should remember that if the angle was different the wound wound have been much more serous." sad Chakwas giving me a pointed look
"Thanks for that by the way." said Ash, nodding at my wound
"Any time." I responded getting an somewhat annoyed look from Chakwas
"I'm sure he'll remember that. Callum head up for the meeting, Tali you right to join him?" asked Shepard
"I fwhould be vine." answered Tali, sounding extremely naisly
"Just be sure to get plenty of rest young lady. Your immune system's take quit the hit and you need all the rest you can get." said Chakwas firmly
"Okay you two head up now, Ash and I will join you shortly." said Shepard
Leaving the med bay Tali and I headed to the comm room.
Back in the med bay
After going through some details about medical supplies and a detail list of all wounded with Chakwas Shepard turned to leave with Ash before her omni-tool went off. Taking a quick look at the message she froze.
"What's wrong?" asked Ash
Showing her Ash was confused "That doesn't make sense...why would he?"
"I don't know, let's go and grab Kaiden. We need to get this sorted out now." answered Shepard
In the communication room
When I made it to the comms room were almost every one was there and a couple of new chairs to fit everyone. After a few minutes Ash, Kaiden and Shepard entered the room completing our numbers.
Whatever I was about to think about was immediately cut off as Shepard locked the door behind her.
"I'll ask this once and only once." said Shepard looking dead at me "Who are you and how long have you been working for Cerberus."
I bet none of you saw that coming did you? A really big twist is coming up next chapter and I hope you all like it.
Red and Blue Effect
While Captain Kirrahe, his men and the small army of red and blue idiots being led by Washington and Carolina. As they distracted the bulk of Sarens forces, which due to their size would be hard, she, Liara, Wrex as well the idiots Griff, Tucker and Simmons would go in the back. She had no doubt that Saren knew there was a salarian camp still here, and probably knew she and the Normandy was here. What he couldn't possibly expect was such a large army coming out of nowhere and storming their front gates.
They barely encountered a token force as they came in the, the other teams must have really given them a big shock. Thought Shepard to herself.
Making their way inside it looked like there were in some sort of laboratory, for what she wasn't sure. Looking around a corner she saw...she wasn't sure. It looked to be an alien that she's never seen before but she wouldn't put it past Saren to create genetically designed soldiers. Even though genetic manipulation at that level was illegal Saren had no doubt come along a lot of it, that was saying nothing about how much the geth would know about the topic.
The alien was long-limbed and looked to be quite strong, it's arms and legs were currently restrained with a krogan doctor and asari assistant looking it over. Since she didn't know if it was hostile it would be it would be best to take out the krogan and asari quietly before working-
"HEY ASSHOLES! Get the fuck away from my son!" said Tucker, stepping out and completely blowing their cover
"What?" asked the krogan in surprise, turning to face them. Only to be cut down as Tucker having pulled out his sword and ran over and slashed. The quick and sudden death of the krogan scared the shit of the asari and made her run off screaming.
Instead of chasing after her Tucker quickly turns to the new alien/ possible genetic experiment .
"Don't worry son, I'll get you down." before a few quick slashes do just that.
'Wait son?' thought Shepard to herself
"Oh great now we've got your little abomination as well." said Griff annoyed
"Oh fuck you, he's a chip off the old block and he's a great son. Maybe when you have your a parent yourself you'll understand." shot back Tucker
"Oh your a parent alight, a great one." said Griff sarcastically "A father to over thirty kids and a mother to this one."
'Wtf?!' thought everyone aside from the idiots. Seriously what us going on?
"Fuck you." repeated Tucker
"well at least it can't get any worse." said Simmons only to get groans from Griff, Tucker and surprisingly also Wrex.
"Why would you say that?" asked Simmons angrily
"What?" asked Simmons confused
"Those words, the words of doom!" exclaimed Tucker
"What, they don't mean anything." defended Simmons
"Do you remember what happened last time you said it, come on we've talked about this." said Griff exasperated
"That was a once off, it doesn't mean anything." defended Simmons
"What are you talking about?" asked Liara confused
"These idiots seem to think that if someone says certain words such as 'it can't get any worse' or 'the worst is behind us' it effects the fabric of reality somhow and mak everything worse somehow and something will just pop out of nowhere." answered Simmons
"Dude shut up, you've done enough damage. We don't need younmakeing even worse than you already have." said Griff
"But that doesn't make sense. Mere words can't do that." said Liara
"Trust me kid they can. I'm over 700 hundred years old and I can't count the number of times that things have gone to shit seconds after someone said something like that. I remember one time me and a group of mercenaries were taking out a mansion of some wanna be pirate lord. One second it looked like we had finished clearing off most if not all the hostiles, then someone said that out loud and the next thing I know a particularly viscous varen nearly takes my quads off. Turns out the guy had a thing about exotic animals, predators in particular. It might not make sense but trust me kid you don't want to risk it."
With that nugget of wisdom everyone looked back to Tucker who seemed to be talking to the new alien.
"Blarg blarg, blarg honk...blarg?" asked Tucker
"Blarg." responded the alien "Honk honk, blarg."
"Honk?" asked Tucker
"Blarg." answered the alien
"Okay he says he's been here for week and they've been taking blood and that's all." said Tucker
"Wait...you can understand him?" asked Shepard surprised "I have to say I'm impressed."
"Of course I can, he's my son." said Tucker
"It is still impressive, all I heard was honk blarg and blarg." agreed said Liara
"BLARG!" said Tucker jr sounding alarmed and hiding behind is so called 'father'
"The fuck is wrong with you! He's still a kid, how can you say shit like that?!" asked Tucker angrily
"W-wait...what?" asked Liara surprised at the sudden aggression "What did I say?"
"You just asked my son if he wanted to go around the corner and hide the blue banana! Stay away from my son perv! "Come on Blarggity lets get away from the bad lady." said Tucker before walking off
"Blarg!" agreed junior
"B-but I didn't...I-I had no idea." fumbled Liara trying to explain herself and the misunderstanding
Later on
They continued to make their way through Saren's facility and though they encountered many things, even another protean beacon and an actual Reaper, which turned out to be Saren's ship all along...who also got pissed of when Griff started going on about tech support and 'have you tried turning it off and on again?'
Eventually though their luck ran out when they ran into Saren himself
"Ahh, Shepard. I thought I would find you here. The geth were so sure that your little 'army' were the real threat but I knew otherwise." said Saren
"Give up Saren, you're far out numbered. You've got no chance here." said Shepard trying to get it to surrender. Outnumbered or not Saren was on of, if not the number one Spectre out there before his fall.
"I don't think so, you see you're not the only one who's found some of your armoured individuals and unlike you mine aren't mere simulation troopers. They're the real deal."
"Simulation troopers?" asked Shepard
"Oh...they didn't tell you?" asked Saren "Don't worry you'll see the difference."
Before she could ask anything else something caught her ear.
"Do I hear music?" asked Shepard
playing Citizen Radio (seriously watch S8 fight scene with that playing, heard it today while at work and it goes great)
Booming drums and a guitar started playing. Occupaning them were the sounds of heavy footsteps that had an foreboding feeling to them.
Stepping out from the corner was another one of the armoured individuals that she keeps running into, but unlike them this one's armour was pitch black. It also had a feeling of serousness and a 'don't fuck with me vibe that the others didn't.
"Oh shit it's Tex, guys we've got Tex!" said Simmons panicking
Cracking their fingers, neck and shoulder Tex charged. Shepard expected Saren to join in or offer cover fire but he simply stood back and gave a Turian grin.
I've had California dreamin'
And I've had California turn on me
You can believe in that
You can believe in that
Reaching the first target Tex grabs Simmons arm, pushing it off course before decking Tucker. When she tried to take aim Tex ducked out of the way and slid between Griffs legs...punching him in the dick as they went. Before doing a three punch combo before roundhousing a Simmons coming from the side and twisting out of the way of Tuckers sword.
I found truth in the aftermath
And got everything that ever really mattered back
You can believe in that
You can believe in that
Dodging the blade Tex does a double kick to Tucker's wrist forcing him to drop it, then in a move that would have resulted in the loss of a foot for a less skilled combatant they kicked the sword by the hilt so that it went flying away and impeded itself in the wall
"You bitch I needed that." said Tucker before Tex turned back to "Oh shit."
Grabbing Tucker by the ankle Tex uses him as a bowling ball to knock over Griff and Simmons who only just got to their feet
I won't be compromised
I know how to survive the worst that you can give
And I will never, ever go away
I can pull myself out of the grave
You can believe in that
You can believe in that
Switching targets, Tex starts to run at them. Impossibly dodging most of the rounds, grabbing a crate they throw it at them and Liara is barely stopped with her biotics. Only for Tex to slide underneath it, knock her legs and gave her an elbow to the head taking her out of the fight. Twisting themselves to their feet in a single movement Tex charges Wrex of all people and unleashes devastating punch after punch with the occasional knee.
Grabbing Tex, Wrex pins their arms before unleashing a headbutt that seemed to stagger them.
Only for Tex to turn things around and do their own head but that had a much bigger effect.
Step back and watch the show
Hear the cry on the Citizen Radio
We will be heard before the curtains close
The voice of the unknown
Hear the cry on the Citizen Radio
We'll always be the ones who told you so
Breaking Wrex's hold Tex sent him flying back with a single punch before turning their attention to Shepard. She starts to bring her shotgun to bear only for Tex to grab the barrel and use their forearm to snap it in half in an instant.
Knowing the power Tex had in their punches Shepard was careful to deflect or dodge any blows. Shepard had seen many capable fighters, at the forefront was Carolina who had a brutal grace to her fighting style that was without peer, like a scalpal going through a hovering fly. Tex however seemed to be pure devastation, instead of a scalpal Tex was a ledge hammer. But she had the feeling it wasn't that Tex couldn't fight with grace but didn't need to and what she say them do to Wrex and the others she could believe it.
And I've seen another future through
The broken hearts down Union Avenue
You can believe in that
You can believe in that
Even deflecting the punches felt like she was being hit with a sledgehammer. She could already feel the bruises forming, she didn't want to think what would be happening if she didn't have armour on, armour that was already developing cracks in the upper arms. She was starting to gain a new appreciation of the red and blue guys, she deflected the blows and it still hurt. They took the blows full force and directly to the body and unlike Wrex they didn't have the durability and healing factor of a krogan. Speaking of which it looked like the others had picked themselves back up.
And I've had to wait long enough
I can't turn back now, there's no givin' up
You can believe in that
You can believe in that
Wrex was the first one to reach them, ducking under his arms Tex used his body as a springboard to push themselves off and towards Griff, Tucker and Simmons. Spinning in mid-air Tex dropped a flying axe right on Simmons shoulder before doing a spinning reverse kick...right into Griff's dick before sending Tucker flying with a kick with the flat of her foot.
"Why, why do you hate my dick?" squeaked Griff
"Because you set up camera's in my shower you assehole." came the unexpected female voice before she did a spinning heel kick to Griffs head before grabbing him by the cuff of his armour and reared her fist back.
"What? I never did that!" protested Griff
"Well Tucker said..." started Tex before seemingly realising something and started to loom ominously toward Tucker who looked like he was about to shit his pants. How she could tell that with that helmet always on she didn't know.
I won't be used again
I've learned how to defend myself against the world
Step back and watch the show
Hear the cry on the Citizen Radio
We will be heard before the curtains close
The voice of the unknown
Hear the cry on the Citizen Radio
We'll always be the ones who told you so
Before she could get close though, out of nowhere one of the salarian vehicles suddenly appeared and rammed Tex into the wall.
"Hello guys!" greeted Caboose cheerfully, popping his head out of the hatch.
"Caboose you saved me!" thanked Tucker "If it wasn't for you Tex would be ripping my dick off."
"Tex is here? Where?" asked Caboose sounding worried
"Dude, you just ran over her." said Tucker
"Ahhhh...I'm in trouble an't I?" asked Caboose
"No shit, no get out of there so we can get out of here before she gets out from under there and kills us all!" said Simmons
"Guys relax, Tex is down we can focus on Saren now." ordered Shepard trying to get them to focus on a Saren that still hadn't moved.
Before she could do anything she heard the sound of metal groaning
I won't be compromised
I know how to survive the worst that you can give
I won't be used again
I've learned how to defend myself against the world
Turning to face the noise Shepard saw something that she thought should have been impossible, slowly and surely the front of the vehicle was being lifted up causing Caboose to fall out. Grabbing the front of the vehicle Tex tosses it into the air and kicks it, sending it flying towards Tucker who was barely able to get his sword up in time and was able to cut it in half...she really needed to find out where he got that from.
And I found that perfect love
But she could never understand where I was coming from
You can believe in that
You can believe in that
"Hey Tex!" shouts a new voice
Looking in the direction of the voice everyone saw Sarge surrounded by red and blue armored men and women.
"How do you like these numbers?" continued Sarge "Get her guys!"
At once the two groups charged, it was like a wave hitting a sledgehammer. Tex's first punch carried through to take out five of them, her first kick sent another one flying back with enough force to take out three more. Each single movement took out at least three people.
And I've had friends walk away
I will never understand the choice they made
You can believe in that
You can believe in that
Eventually though the pure numbers seemed to overwhelm Tex as she was literally buried underneath a pile of kicking and punching bodies.
For a moment Shepard held out hope that this was it, that Tex was finally taken out. Then the pile exploded and it was literally raining bodies.
Step back and watch the show
Hear the cry on the Citizen Radio
We will be heard before the curtains close.
The voice of the unknown
Hear the cry on the Citizen Radio
We'll always be the ones who told you so
Before Sarge could react Tex was right in front of him. Grabbing him by the throat and lifting him up.
"You were saying something about numbers?" asked Tex
This was bad thought Shepard. A single person had completely obliterated their entire forces and if things weren't so serious she'd be be deleted that their was such a female badass out there. But this was serious and worst of all Tex had not once used a weapon, only her own fists and feet. Shepard would hate to think what would happen when Tex started using one.
I told you so
I'm holdin' on
I told you so
I'm holdin' on
"Do you see the futility of your actions yet Shepard? You can't win. With her as my servant there's..."
At once the music came to a screeching halt.
"What did you just say?" asked Tex, dropping Sarge and walking toward Saren
"You are my servant, you shall serve me and the Reapers for as...Huumpph!"
What ever Saren was about to say next was stopped as Tex drove a first into his sternum and drove out the air in his lungs. This was followed up by three hay makers to the face before she grabbed him by the back of the head with both hands before driving his head into her knee.
But even then she wasn't finished, grabbing his arm she proceeded to ripp it off, do a spinning roundhouse to the face to spin him around before
"HOLY SHIT!"
shoving it up his ass.
As Saren crawled away Shepard wanted to go after him, there was never going to be a better opportunity to take him out or where he would be weaker.
Unfortunately they had a much bigger threat to deal with and as Tex squared herself up to fight against them, Shepard wondered how they were going to deal with it.
Before anything could happen through a rock hit Tex's helmet and bounced of. Looking in the direction the rock came from Shepard saw Carolina and Washington and felt a flicker of hope.
"You done beating these guys up yet?" asked Carolina casually.
'What?'
"Yeah, for now at least. Got a decent workout from it." answered Tex
"You bitch." started Tucker only for Tex to kick up the rock that just hit her before sending flying right at with another kick with such force it knocked him over.
"We're planning on blowing this place up, feel like helping?" asked Carolina, ignoring what just happened
"Ehh, I've got nothing better to do." answered Tex "Also I was started getting bored."