Chapter 5

Chirico watched his Altimeter read out as the ground quickly approached while in free fall. The super soldier briefly activated his trooper's parachute to briefly slow his descent. The force of the maneuver briefly rocked him, however he occupied the brief moment with scanning for hostiles. The geiger counter on his suit clicking.

"Radiation still within Trooper specifications. Too hazardous to leave the unit until I am back aboard The Normandy." Chirico commented before streaks of blue flashed past his vision. His HUD flashing impacts on his trooper's shoulder joints. "Taking small arms fire. Nanolaminate armor dispersing plasma. Damage minimal, cutting Chute." Gravity took over as he rapidly descended down onto his insertion point. "Commander Shepard, I detected signs of active fire fights further into the research camp. Approaching drop point."

"Can I just say for the record that was about as crazy as when I picked up your team from an ACTIVE VOLCANO!" Joker vented to Shepard.

"Come on Joker, it can't be that bad." Chirico's AT briefly flashed warnings of unidentified machines turning to face him as he landed on top of a white armored machine that let out a brief spout of Binary as the weight of his unit crushed it. He instinctively hunched his AT's left shoulder to narrow his profile as a second, identical machine took aim with a shotgun. Streams of plasma streaking out before dispersing and leaving scorch marks on the SCOPEDOG's left shoulder plating.

"Well that's a Geth prime we don't have to worry about…" Garrus's natural quip came

"Chirico. Save as many of those Quarians as you can."

"Engaging hostile." Chirico stated before lowering his still cooling HMG and using his AT to punch at the machine. His mech's fist impacted the Geth prime's head before the claw closed in, trapping the robot as the Pilebunker fired. A titanium spike punched through the platform's head unit before he reversed behind a building. Streaks of Mass Effect rounds impacted the wall where he had been.

"Commander Shepard, mind if I commandeer your CIC real quick." Came lelouch's voice over the comms channel. "Thank you."

"What? What for Le-"

"Please. Not while on a mission, right now I am…Zero."

"I don't think so. The Normandy is our ship, not yours." Miranda countered. Chirico for his part detached his claw arm from the Geth prime. The brass blank ejecting out to his left and bouncing off the wall before plinking on the ground near his suit's foot.

"And Our ship could easily carpet this whole base with missiles. Your point? I need access to information if I'm going to be of any use for this battle. That is if you value the lives of those fighting down there."

"So long as it's asked for ahead of schedule next time. And we're going to have a long conversation about this afterwards." Shepard chided before speaking once more. "Garrus, Miranda, we're reaching the drop point. Focus."

The Geth troopers that remained seemed puzzled, still keeping their weapons trained on where he had been. A binary noise soon erupting out from the lead most trooper as it lowered its weapon to a readied position. Chirico swapped over to his thermal imaging camera. The outlines of the Geth appeared on his HUD.

"The Quarians are still fighting. Commander, I would appreciate getting a feed of their comms." Zero requested rather than ordered. "Chirico you're call sign R 1, Commander Shepard will be P 1, Garrus will N 1, And Miss Lawson will be B 1."

Chirico didn't wait any longer once they had no vision on the flank, he propelled himself back and around the long flank of the building. His heavy machine gun tucked into his AT's firing position. Once the pair of platforms came into scope he opened fire. The sound of the 30mm HMG barking, echoing through the air as the projectiles impacted the Geth shields before popping violently followed by chunks being blown out of each platform before they collapsed, power units destroyed.

"R1, advance further in. I don't like the look of that dropship. It may be coming in for a strafing run in approximately five minutes. Dissuade it. P1, N1, B1, advance up and secure any survivors you can." Chirico sped off before a figure leapt out and sprayed in his general direction. Slivers of metal pinging off the AT's armor as he was forced to adjust his movement, drifting around the Quarian.

"Friendly fire." Was all Chirico said before zooming past the now bewildered Quarian.

"Not that I'm complaining. But N one? Chess?" Garrus quipped over the comms as Chirico caught sight of more quarians fighting from positions of hard cover. The geth that were firing at them, doing so from a garage to his left.

"Then I guess that makes me a Bishop. Astute choice." Miranda hummed as she advanced ahead of Shepard and Garrus.

"And that makes Shepard a Pawn? Really? The front line grunt?" Garrus briefly paused to look at the now dead primes. "He really doesn't waste any time…Two primes down in less than a minute. I mean I guess that's nothing special, we can do that. But that takes serious guts to airdrop in a mech."

"P1, be advised, A quarian had a friendly fire incident with R1. Explain the situation." A brief pause over the intercom. "EDI…was it? Can you try and monitor Geth signals and overlay it onto the CIC so I can monitor as the engagement unfolds in real time?"

"Wha? While we are actively near the drop zone? Are you insane? Oh wait. You died. Of course you're insane." Joker could be heard grumbling.

"I will extrapolate based on known vectors and initiate Electronic warfare." EDI chimbed back.

"Thank you EDI, R1, lay down suppressive fire to aid those pinned quarians."

Chircio zipped out into the open, taking aim with his HMG and his suit's 12.7mm vulcan before opening fire. The Geth units that had been trading fire with the Quarians immediately took cover as best they could. A couple of rocket platforms being ripped to pieces under the hail of gunfire. The loud Brrrat of the .50 caliber ringing out combining with the boom of the AT's Heavy Machine Gun. Short bursts riddling the vehicle in the open of the garage.

Keeping in mind how much time until the drop ship arrived, Chirico leapt up to a firing position. The soldier kept an eye out while periodically firing to keep the Geth suppressed. Over the comm he could hear Commander Shepard addressing the Quarian earlier that shot at him.

"Humans? Then that machine earlier was…?"

"Human, yes. I'm glad we got here in time. What's the situation?"

"Hang on. I'll patch you to our squad leader, he can fill you in."

"This is Sergeant Kal'Reegar. I saw your ship fly by overhead. A pleasant sight for sore eyes. So. Who do we have to thank for this timely visit?"

"This is Commander Shepard, I'm a SPECTRE with the council, I'm here to pick up Tali. Is she with you?"

"Negative. I left some of my best marines with her. My thanks for saving Reela. Maybe most of us will live to see Rannoch, who knows."

"What are you all doing out here?"

"I'm the wrong person to ask, Tali could tell you more. Something is wrong with the sun. Dark energy readings aren't what they should be or something like that. I'm just a Marine. All I do is point and shoot."

"Sorry to butt in Sergeant Reegar, but could you tell your men at the bunker to take cover? A drop ship is inbound for a strafing run." Zero chimed in politely.

"And who are you?" Reegar asked brusquely as if he were gritting his teeth. "Get to cover, on the double men." he ordered without a second thought though.

"R1, open fire on that dropship. Deter it or annihilate it." A few moments later as Shepard and her team came into sight, Chirico took aim with his shoulder mounted bazookas. Chirico first fired two missiles, followed up by his folding Bazooka's. The solid shells followed after their explosive companions. A stream of tracers lit up the sky as he also opened fire with his vulcan and 30mm. The Geth Dropship that had been coming in for a strafing run started veering early in order to avoid the incoming projectiles. The barriers catching the first Missile but popping on the second. The two cannon shots blew off its keel mounted weaponry. The armor plating held up against the barrage of 12.7 but buckled under the 30mm fire. The craft made an emergency maneuver, jettisoning its complement of Geth early.

The machines hitting the ground in a haphazard state and unfolding while under fire from Shepards team, the Quarians and Chirico's vulcan.

"Keelah. What was that? I could feel that through my suit." Reegar exclaimed before Shepard responded.

"A miracle I'd bet. Stay put as best you can, we're on our way."

"Copy that Shepard. If we live through this, remind me that I owe you a human drink once we're back at the fleet."

"Let's move." Shepard ordered while running forward. However at that moment more geth came pouring out from a fighting position to their north, in the direction they were heading. "Incoming Geth!" She had to blink though as one of the rocket troopers took aim at Chirico's mech. "Gar-"

"N1, target their rocket troopers. Aim for the rocket." Zero ordered. Garrus blinked before taking aim with his Mantis, firing once. The mass effect round zipped out angrily before it impacted the rocket just as it was fired, causing a malfunction in the weapon system. The resulting blast also decimated the unit that was attempting to take down the AT.

Chirico turned around in his mech to unleash a brief barrage from his chest vulcan before rolling off and down among the surviving Geth. The first hunter tried to blast him with its plasma shotgun, scorching his mech and ablating some of the Nanolaminate coating. Using his momentum, Chirico turned back around to rush the hunter and impaled it with his claw arm weapon. The gas powered pile bunker firing once again before withdrawing.

"R one, advance ahead and scout the area. Leave it to P one to gather more intel and mop up the remainder.."

"Affirmative. Moving out." Chirico nodded while pressing on past the remaining Geth that were

Once the Geth in the immediate area were dealt with, they opened the door for Shepard's team.

"We owe you and that mech one, Human. Had you been just a little bit slower, we'd likely have died." One of the quarian marines spoke up as he slung his rifle over his shoulder. "Well…my son wouldn't have a father. Come on we need to go reinforce Reegar's team." The Marine nodded as his squad started making their way back into the improvised bunker.

"How many of you remain?" Shepard asked while walking alongside the marines.

"Tali'zorah and the marines guarding her. Sergeant Reegar's team came under sniper fire just before we had to fight against waves of Geth. We were running on our last thermal clips." The lead marine nodded as the door opened. A barely functioning geth trooper tried to crawl towards them as Shepard took out her pistol and shot it.

"My team needs to get to Tali. We need her for a mission of galactic importance."

"Aren't things normally so for you Commander?" The same marine joked lightly before shaking his head. "Vot. Door's friend…and we suffered too many losses already, I hope all of this was worth it.

"Tali'Zorah to base camp, come in, base camp." Came a familiar voice, Tali's likeness showing up on a monitor as Shepard worked her way over, briefly stopping to pick up a Geth pulse rifle. The Commander briefly nodded to herself before moving to hit the comms button.

Tali, it's Shepard, Three marines are still alive."

"I'm happy at least the marines are alive. We all knew the mission was high risk…dammit, but what are you doing here Shepard?" Tali asked.

"I was in the neighborhood, thought you might need a hand." Shepard joked lightly with a shrug. While it was the truth, there was more to it.

"Thanks for coming here Shepard, it means a lot to hear your voice. Kal'Reegar and some of his marines got me into what's left of the observatory." Tali gestured towards Shepard before continuing. "From where you are, it's through the door and across the field. I got the data I needed and I'm safe for now, but I've got a lot of geth outside." That bit about data caught Shepard's attention.

"What's this research you're after?" Shepard asked, placing her hands onto the aged console which groaned in response.

"It's about this world's sun. It's aging faster than it should. I can tell you more about it once we've got fewer Geth shooting at us."

"Would it help if I brought in The Normandy?" Shepard asked while looking over her shoulder towards Garrus who was fiddling with his sniper rifle.

"Doubtful. If you bring down heavy fire, this whole place could collapse on us."

"Is anyone else still with ya? Or are you alone out there? Current marines withstanding of course." Shepard asked.

"Reegar had a team of marines covering me when I made the run to the observatory. At least some of them are still alive…" Tali looked down sadly. "I can hear them firing at the Geth outside." Shepard looked toward the locked door barring her path.

"It looks like someone barred the door against the Geth, and the console is damaged. I can't get it open from this side, can you do it from your end?"

"Uhhh…let me see…" Tali hummed before tapping on an interface in front of her. "Yes. I can do it. There." The sounds of the door's actuators hissing and clicking into the open position sounded. "Should be unlocked now. Be careful Shepard, please do what you can to keep Reegar alive." Tali requested before cutting the comm link.

"You didn't tell her about the mech?" Garrus noted with a joking tone in his voice. "I can't blame you. But it would have been nice to prevent the inevitable friendly fire that's going to happen."

"I think she'd be able to tell the difference. Come on." Shepard said before heading out of the door. Her two teammates followed close behind. The door sealing itself shut as the marines locked the door for the time being.

Soon enough a squad of Geth broke cover to start taking aim. Garrus thought quickly and took aim with his Mantis, putting a projectile clean through a trooper's head.

"One less to worry about!" He reported before slapping in a fresh thermal clip. The Turian moved to cover the left flank as Shepard and Miranda pressed forward.

"Geth coming up the right flank." Miranda called out as she laid down suppressive fire with her Locust. The XO of the normandy briefly discharging her omnitool, overloading a Geth sniper's shields, forcing it back into cover.

"Got it, I'll press up the middle." Jane replied as she unslung her Geth pulse rifle, advancing up the center lane as geth drones flew towards her. The soldier opened fire with her weapon, Upon receiving return fire Shepard rushed into cover. "Garrus, drones. A prime has to be near, load armor piercing."

"Wilco." The turian vigilante replied and tapped on his omnitool, transmitting the modifications to his squads omnitools. "Modifications sent. Let's open up some hellfire."

"We really need to work on your idioms." Shepard sighed while shaking her head before dumping a burst into a Geth drone about to fly above her. The Commander nodded to Garrus as she advanced to the next available piece of cover. "Zero, How's R-1 doing?"

"Meeting resistance further ahead. It seems The Geth have figured out he's not one of them, so Shock and Awe isn't working."

"It worked long enough to establish a beachhead and take down a dropship. That's long enough." Came a curt response. "Commander, those prime units are converging on my position. A walker tank is also engaging my position. Ammo is low with the exception of my bazookas. I can not risk firing them at a ground target with unstable terrain."

"Just sit tight and hold them off with what you can. We're almost there. Just a geth prime in our way right now." Shepard stated.

"Roger that, requesting a hot drop of spare Heavy machine gun ammo." Chirico stated.

"Uhhhh…that was to me wasn't it? Why the hell do you expect me to fly into an active combat zone? Who am I? Houdini?" Joker's voice sounded incredulous.

"Heavy machine gun drop pod set up and ready to go Chirico. Just say the word and we'll drop it." Atra's voice chimed in.

"Hey, who let the child into the cargo bay?" Joker asked.

"Mister Moreau. This type of activity should be easy enough to do with the Normandy." Zero retorted calmly.

"Just because IT can. Doesn't mean I like getting shot at! That's still a Geth colossus down there." Joker reminded 'Zero' incredulously.

"Chirico. Can you hold out without it?" Shepard asked seriously.

"I can always use the machine gun as a baseball bat. Nnngh-" The sound of an alarm came over the comms. Followed by the sounds of metal hitting metal multiple times. "Four fist blanks remaining."

"Joker, Do it." Shepard ordered before cutting herself off and diving to the right as the geth prime opened up with a minigun. "Of course it's got a little friend. Garrus!"

"I'm on it Shepard." The turian said calmly while taking aim and firing. The sniper round ripped right through the prime's shield as it diverted its attention to him. "Oh shit." He cursed before hustling behind a nearby pillar. The soldier and Miranda both taking the time to advance on the Geth's flank. "Don't mind me. Just…you know. Making use of micro cover." He joked as bits of his cover were starting to get blown away.

"...Aye aye. Hey girl, you're going to have to be precise with that drop. I don't want to loiter over an active fire fight." Jeff said, a bit stressed. The Normandy zoomed by overhead as a pod was soon dropped.

"Open fire!" Shepard ordered as she depressed the trigger of her pulse rifle. Miranda having taken out her Carnifax, added the hand cannons fire power to Shepard's. The geth prime stopping its suppressive fire to turn back towards them. "Firing a high impact shot!" The Commander said over the sound of her pulse rifle briefly loading up a concussive shell and firing it. The force of the hit made the machine stagger backwards. A Mantis barked out once more and the prime fell to the ground lifeless.

"So is it Joker's time to be bait next Shepard?" Garrus joked lightly as he hustled up to the two women.

"Look. you took the pressure off us, so we were able to in turn help you. It's a win win." Shepard sighed before shaking her head. "Come on, I see the door ahead."

"And for dealing with the colossus?" Miranda asked.

"That's what the Kain is for. Field testing." The Spectre said with a broad grin on her face.

"This is a competition thing with Captain Mitsuba isn't it?" Garrus asked with a sweatdrop.

"Oh? Is Shepard jealous?" Miranda hummed curiously.

"H-Hey. It's not the size that counts, it's how it's used." Shepard said defensively, causing a shocked expression from Miranda and a strangled cough from Garrus. The trio walking up to the door as Shepard began opening it.

"Yea but that's just an infantry weapon. And not a BFG acting as the ship's cannon and launch bay." Garrus chuckled as the door opened.

"Bite me Garrus." Shepard countered.

"I would. Except that's Liara's job." Garrus teased.

"Oh for fucks sake. Let's see what we're dealing with…" Shepard sighed before punching the button to raise the shutters. The team noticed a quarian ducked behind cover, holding a rocket launcher. And in the distance chirico's position could be identified by the mulched Geth littering the low ground. And in front of the observatory reared their nemesis. A Geth Colossus. "TAKE COVER!" Shepard shouted as all three of them hit the deck.

Post AN: Hiro: And that's the scene for now. A lot started happening with real life. Got my real ID, started streaming again, playing 7 days to die, octopath traveler two and gbo 2 network testing. Hope you all enjoyed the chapter.

CyberDragon: yeah for me it's mostly been irl issues and being a watcher for a friend… but things are calming down on my end and i'm able to start helping Hiro a lot more as well.

Hiro: Az and Edge will come up soon ™. So far not having them used has been a tactical choice on account of the Huckbein 30th's black hole cannon and Black hole engine. Those present more than a few concerns for the Mass effect crew. Next chapter will wrap up for Dossier Tali and be switching over to Sabrak as he looks to his damaged vessel. And quite possibly introduce Jondum bau.

Cyberdragon: looks at the panicking council and takes a sip of nondescript drink. "Yup that's a lot of screaming chickens down there… oh hey there is the doomsayers! Yeah i think that vessel is DIA and also i wonder if the hegemony will already have representatives present to "speak" with Him

Hiro: No Shinkalion. At least for the time being. As it is DLC for the game..they are around…I just…that type of character is hard for me to do. Instead I can offer up The code fairy girls and/or Chitose Kisaragi and the Granvang/Vangnex.

Edit: Apologies for it not being clear who was deploying the MG pod. I thought I put in who said it. But I didn't, that has now been fixed. There's no excuse for missing it.