"Speech"
'Thoughts'
'EDI'
Flashback
The Citadel was weird, at least in Kasumi's opinion. People were walking everywhere, with no semblance of cohesion or rhythm. No path of escape in sight. Well. No obvious ones anyway. Some structural weaknesses and hidden nooks and crannies could be seen from her place walking behind Kat, but not nearly enough to be considered safe escape routes or adequate cover in case of an ambush, firefight, or whatever else could happen.
The fact that their funky little group was attracting quite the amount of attention was also somewhat unnerving. Apparently, the leader of the crew they had rescued was some kind of big shot, having saved this place from total annihilation from a Reaper of all things some time ago. Whispers followed in their wake as the group consisting of Kat, the blue one, Dr. T'Soni she remembered, and the helmeted one whose name was Tali (maybe? Vakarian had called her that some time ago and she responded so that was probably correct) were walking through the Presidium. Heh. What a name. Kasumi could only hope this Council wouldn't turn out like the USSR.
Her commander was also making some heads turn, though that was more from innocent curiosity than anything else. She had opted to keep her helmet on to keep anonymity, her frame apparently fitting some of the species already familiar with the overarching Galactic community, as was explained by Dr T'Soni right in front of the airlock. What the bystanders saw walking was probably some kind of mercenary whose identity was a big hush hush secret or something.
Kasumi wasn't aware if Vakarian had told the Council they were on their way to meet that they had happened to stumble on a new, or rather ancient species. The reactions could be quite something to witness in case of a negative, though that wasn't why Kat had requested her presence here. Not entirely anyway.
The thief almost swore as she swerved to avoid a gigantic quadruped walking towards her. Being Kat's tail was necessary, she understood that, but the combination of overcrowded open spaces with her being invisible to the naked eye - and most other things really- made it quite difficult to be an effective tracker, and the task itself was akin to a chore at this point.
Still, she would not be discovered, nor would she give up because of momentary annoyance. Her partner had made a show of agreeing to go alone in unknown and potentially hostile territory in order to garner some brownie points, but had told Kasumi to tail her once in private. The Japanese woman had readily agreed, knowing that, while the chances that someone existed inside the massive station that could even wound Kat were absurdly low considering the combat prowess she had witnessed from their new friends, some things were better off when not left to chance.
Kasumi hurried to catch up to the group as she saw they were about to enter an elevator, cursing the humongous thing which blocked her path under her breath. Luckily, the elevator was spacious enough to accommodate the entirety of the quartet plus her royal self thrown in the mix quite easily. No need to climb on her partner's shoulders this time. The Japanese woman smiled ruefully. Wasn't that a mess and a half.
Mentally signaling to EDI that everything was going according to plan, Kasumi managed to catch her Commander's almost imperceptible nod as the AI relayed the message. 'What a handy thing to have.' Not for the first time, Kasumi marveled over the fact that EDI allowed the Normandy's crew to essentially communicate telepathically. She had been half asleep when Miranda had explained what the implant stuffed in their cranium would do, but she had caught the gist of it, which was that EDI had a direct path to every crewman's brain, and could then be used to relay messages between people, even over large distances.
Those distances were apparently greatly reduced now that EDI didn't have access to a stable satellite network, and would be limited to what the Normandy could reach, but it was still incredibly useful, and had contributed greatly towards the crew's effectiveness and reactiveness in combat.
An ugly expression appeared on her face as Kasumi thought back to every person missing from the crew. The feeling of walking around the Normandy while it was nearly empty was a gut punch she hadn't expected to affect her so badly. She had never been especially close to anyone in the crew apart from Kat herself and maybe Miranda, but to see the ship so desolate brought up surprisingly deep feelings within her.
The sound of the doors opening brought Kasumi out of her musings. The floor they had arrived on was even more open and lavishly rich in its design. Sleek and impeccably clean walls lined with vegetation surrounded them, leading to a fountain made up of 4 streams of highly pressurized water. Some quadruped reptilian things were walking around, waving their four arms languidly.
Walking past the fountain, and the aliens who did not have a reaction to their passage oddly enough, the entrance corridor opened up to a plaza of sorts with balconies giving great vantage points on the flights of stairs that ultimately led to a walkway overlooking a garden below a glass floor. Three figures could be seen standing on a slightly raised platform right in front of it. How presumptuous.
"Spectre Vakarian. How fortunate you could join us." A silky smooth voice spoke up as the group stood on the walkway. The Asari Councilor. Tevos, EDI supplied, along with a slew of publicly available info on the blue skinned alien. Woman? Whatever.
"Indeed. It's been quite the surprise to hear your report." The Turian Councilor, Sparatus, picked up afterwards. "To hear of the Eurus destruction was unexpected to say the least. You've been quite… vague in our last conversation, so I hope you'll have more details for us this time, Spectre."
While Kasumi was far from an expert in reading Turian body language, for now anyways, she could have felt the fury and indignation coming from Vakarian from a mile away.
"The situation prevented me from making a full report at the time, Councilor. Now that I am here, there is nothing to impede it now."
The Turian Spectre then launched into an uninterrupted tirade describing the events that led to the destruction of his vessel, though Kasumi was only half listening. She noted that nobody seemed to bring up Kat's presence in the group, which was admittedly quite surprising, considering she really was the odd one out, but Kasumi wasn't about to bring it up. She had instead snuck off to the Councilors' Platform, to accomplish her secondary objective. A trivial one really, considering she just walked up to each of the Councilors' stations, stuck the thing EDI had told her to stick and walked off with no one being the wiser.
"Once we had landed and I had fully accounted for both crew and resources, Tali informed me of a weak signal that could potentially be used to power our equipment and send a distress signal. So, I decided to investigate by taking with me a small ground team made up of myself, Tali, Dr T'Soni and Urdnot Wrex."
Oh. It seemed that they were finally arriving at the meat and potatoes of the story.
"Once we arrived, we breached into a nondescript facility buried in the ground, where we were met with uh… resistance."
The Turian Councilor perked up. "What kind of resistance?"
Vakarian's tone was noticeably more clipped in his response. "Perhaps it would be best if I let our guest explain in my place."
And there we go. As if they had just noticed her, the Council turned their head towards her Commander in unison. Kat stepped up and removed her helmet, letting her hair fall back down her back in a manner that never failed to amaze Kasumi. "Commander Katherine Shepard, Alliance N7, and last of four humans alive in this galaxy."
The silence was deafening. Turning back to the Councilors, Kasumi saw them in what appeared to be various amounts of shock, though the Turian and Asari looked more curious than anything. The Salarian was instead immediately wary, having even taken half a step back.
The Asari was the first one to find her voice. "Well… That is a surprise indeed. It does explain your reluctance to give more details on the situation, Spectre Vakarian, though a warning would have been appreciated. Still, I command the fact that you let us handle the finer details of our first contact with this new species."
Kasumi shook her head and stifled a laugh. Sidelining Commander Shepard in the first sentence you speak about her is not a good plan. Indeed, Kat's eyes had noticeably narrowed, a sign of her growing annoyance.
"What your Spectre didn't want to explain is that I dispatched him and his group rather easily in our first meeting, though that was more due to a misunderstanding on their part. I did manage to defuse the situation, but not before having to restrain the… Krogan?"
Cue more gobsmacked silence. After an embarrassingly long period of time, Vakarian spoke up again, a frosty edge creeping in his flanging tone. "What Commander Shepard has just described is accurate, though that isn't the focus of what I wanted to speak about. She brings with her more proof about the matter I spoke about last we talked."
"Yes. Mr Vakarian here has been telling me that you've been attacked by a Reaper a few months prior, though you've not exactly been taking action."
The Turian Councilor - Kasumi really needed to learn their names - bounced back from his shock. "Preposterous! What would you know about that attack!"
Kat's eyes narrowed even more, her left fist clenched in an attempt to calm her increasing ire. "I know because it was Reapers that wiped out my entire species, what would be a hundred thousand years ago to you, and it was them that destroyed the Protheans - from which you seem to have gotten most if not all of your technology, might I add - fifty thousand years ago. Now, the more mathematically enthused among you might notice a trend in what I just said. The Reapers are coming back, and they will kill you all."
I'm only here to warn you. To be quite frank I don't much care if you believe me or not, my species is already dead and buried. I'm here giving you information in order for you and yours to evade this fate, if you decide to take it or not I don't care."
The Asari Councilor spoke up, raising her hands in a placating gesture. Probably. Seemed like it anyway. "I think it would be best if we started this conversation again. Commander Shepard, you say that all of our species will soon face a threat so great that it wiped out yours. Please, do forgive us if it seems hard to believe. You stand here as a member of a seemingly nearly extinct species that dates back thousands of years, and with power that was apparently enough to subdue one of the best teams in the galaxy. The situation is simply too much to take in at once."
Now it was the Salarian's turn. "Spectre Vakarian has already warned us about the Reaper threat, and your words seem to corroborate his, but we couldn't find enough conclusive evidence to warrant a full Galactic emergency. What do you bring to the table to support your argument?"
"Alright, EDI, show them Mindoir's invasion."
"Acknowledged, Commander Shepard." EDI's synthetic voice rang from seemingly nowhere.
Figurative mountains of holographic data flowed to the Councilors' terminals, ranging from pictures and videos to graphs and casualty reports, all transmitted by the AI who Kasumi had figuratively opened the door for. Blaring across the room was the deafening sound of the Reapers crying out for blood as the nightmare inducing siren ran across the devastated city. Kasumi closed her eyes and looked away. The Reapers weren't especially merciful on the best of circumstances, but Mindoir had been one of the worst bloodbaths in the war.
"What - what is this?"
"You asked for evidence, no? I'm giving you evidence. This is my species' downfall. Our futile war against an undefeatable enemy. These are tactics, numbers, pretty much each and every piece of information we have on the Reapers. You saw how much it took you to destroy even a single one of theirs. I am telling you that countless more will arrive, and that the only thing you can do is to prepare."
The Turian spoke up, his voice shaky as he read a report on a particularly destructive raid that happened near the beginning of the colony's invasion. "What can we even do against such a force, then?"
"You have an advantage that we didn't, knowledge. The Reapers took us by surprise because, much like you, our leaders didn't give the threat any credence. As such, Humanity was wholly unprepared when they finally arrived, and the Reapers already had a strong foundation through indoctrination."
"This… indoctrination, it is mentioned a lot in your reports. What is it?"
Dr T'Soni answered the question, her tone somber. "It is what happened to Saren, and my mother. There are Protheans reports from near their fall speaking of friends succumbing to madness and striking down their allies in the name of heresy. Garrus and I, along with Wrex had already uncovered some research on the phenomenon on Virmire, but Commander Shepard's data has confirmed our fears. Saren's ship, Sovereign, was able to influence the minds of others. Now, we know that it was a Reaper indoctrinating puppets to act in its stead."
The Asari Councilor looked up, a deeply troubled expression on her face. "It is now obvious that there is far more to this threat than what we originally thought. There is much to do. Since you've already fought against this enemy, Commander, do you have any suggestions on what the course of action should be?"
"As cliche as it sounds, unity is probably your best bet. Reapers fight on two fronts at all times, both physically and psychologically. In this fight, there can be no place for dissidence between troops, because these would simply be a weakness for the Reapers to exploit. Humanity as a whole was scattered and prone to infighting when they arrived, which led to defeat. I think that a united front would have much better chances."
"Yes… It would seem that we will need to inform the leaders of the various species in Galactic space, as well as start to forget old wounds. It would make sense for you to join us, Commander, considering your… experience with these enemies."
Kasumi had to bite her lip to keep from snickering. Public speaking had never been one of Kat's greatest traits, and neither were politics. EDI would have her work cut out for her.
Sweat droplets fell on the ground as Joker ended his motion, marking his fiftieth push up. Training his muscles and keeping a rather enviable body shape had been something entirely novel, courtesy of the various enhancements the crew of the Normandy had been required to undergo, and his regular stays at the gym had become something of a routine.
While there was no way to refuse, Jeff Moreau had been the first one to volunteer for the position of guinea pig when the brass told the crew that they would be 'cybernetically enhanced', and by far the most vocal about his enthusiasm. Miranda knew what she was doing, and she had significantly more resources given to her by the admiralty than what she had when she stitched him up, back when he had helped her go underground when she fled Jack Harper's organization.
In the end, the operations had been a complete success as was expected, and the more extreme symptoms of what had shaped his existence, the Vrolik syndrome, had completely vanished. Joker probably wouldn't ever be able to run around and fling Reaper forces around like his Commander, but simple physical reinforcement wouldn't be a problem.
As such, Vega had dragged him to the gym as soon as his reeducation had been deemed satisfactory enough. And while he wouldn't turn his life around and become a bodybuilder, there was something deeply satisfying about being able to do something he had never been able to do before and enjoy it. Enter the routine, then.
Well, James' absence did put a damper on things. The Hispanic man had been Joker's most common partner in the Normandy's gym - if the small part of the cargo bay fitted with a few machines and dumbells could be called a gym - and while their centers of interest weren't exactly the same, Vega had been a dear friend, one who will never see the light of day again.
Jeff sighed, wiping his forehead with a nearby towel, having somewhat expected the result when he went under, a few thousand years ago now. The stasis plan was doomed to fail anyway, with the chance that they go unnoticed on the lost rock flying aimlessly through space being abysmally low. Even then, in the vain hopes that they would go unnoticed, the Normandy's crew had decided to create a list of their importance. Something was bound to happen in the 50000 years or so they were supposed to be under ice, and while a harsh truth, some people were more important than others.
Thoughts like these had to be kept from their commander and her right hand however. While Katherine Shepard was considered to be somewhat easy going towards most things, she took the lives of her subordinates very seriously and if she ever heard that they had tied a numerical value to their existence, well, pissing off the super powered biotic was quite the bad idea.
Kasumi's place on the list as the next one below Shepard had been a given, considering they were basically glued at the hip. Afterwards came Chakwas, who's experience with the commander's rather special anatomy was unmatched.
And then him. Little old Jeff Moreau. The excuse being that his experience piloting the Normandy was invaluable to the mission. What a joke. Miranda had done more in a single week than what he had achieved in all of his existence. The Normandy's crew had all more or less readily agreed that the most important thing was to keep Shepard alive, and the list had reflected the idea, with individuals being sorted by their magnitude of importance relative to the Commander herself. For Joker to be placed this high made no sense.
Despite the bullshit he spouted on the daily, EDI could fly the ship just as well if not better than him at times, someone like Miranda or, dare he even say it, Jack, would be much more useful to have aboard. Joker had argued about this pretty passionately a number of times, yet Miranda refused to change her mind.
Still. Nothing that could be done about it now, other than wallow in his thoughts and ask the what-ifs.
When Wrex stepped foot in that facility back on the lost rock they had managed to crash land on, he wasn't expecting much. There wasn't much that could surprise the centuries old Battlemaster anymore. Being on the trail of one of the worst legends of the known galaxy and having faced what could fairly be described as an eldritch abomination months prior did wonders to scale Wrex's view of things. Going from threatening petty gangsters in seedy bars to blasting a mechanized former Spectre controlled by his ship did wonders for open mindedness. Well. Apparently not.
From the moment he had crossed that damned corner and shot his Claymore, Wrex was lost. Being blasted by his own shot didn't help, but the absolute agony that ran through his flesh as he felt it splinter and be torn apart was by far the worst experience he had ever known. Now, being ragdolled by something that looked to be as puny as T'Soni was something of a bother to his personal pride, but it was fine. Survivable.
What wasn't was the feeling of utter helplessness he felt, even though his blood rage as he was suddenly unable to move his limbs, forced into unconsciousness mere minutes later as he witnessed his squadmates parley with the attacker.
Urdnot Wrex grunted as his fist hit the bag, willing his thoughts away from the forefront of his mind. His visit at Huerta had managed to get rid of the phantom pain coursing through his body, and the salarian assured him that there would be no lasting consequences. None too early, considering Vakarian had told him mere minutes later that they would embark on the very ship he had just left to continue their mission of tracking down the Collectors.
The Krogan scoffed. While his pride stung at being bested so easily, Wrex had at least tried to resist. The same couldn't be said about the Turian, and this particular fact bothered the Spectre more than he would like to admit. He had been completely and utterly bested without the chance to do anything, while having the loss of most of his crew on his conscience.
Not an enviable position to be in, but it didn't end there. No, while they would embark on the Normandy, it wouldn't be under Garrus' command. He had explained in a hilariously deadpan tone that, to 'show trust and begin to build lasting bonds', the Council had ordered the crew of the Eurus to be reassigned under one Commander Shepard's command, and that she would take the reins of the mission. And, while they hadn't gone as far as to give her Spectre status, it was nothing more than a formality considering she basically had carte blanche to do anything she wanted as long as it was to further the goal given to her.
So there he was, punching away at an admittedly very high quality bag in the cargo bay of a ship belonging to someone who had basically humiliated him a few days prior. And he was still better off than Garrus.
There was someone else in the bay with him when he had arrived a few dozen minutes prior, a human named Joker. The pilot of the ship, his mind supplied. The first, and apparently last, male human left in the crew.
They hadn't interacted much, other than a nod in greeting and some basic requests to hand equipment over and such. Wrex didn't press the issue, more than happy to stay in his own mind, and he had a feeling that Joker was too.
After the Council had sprung up their trap and given her command of the very crew she had just interacted with, they told Kat that she would probably 'need more apt combatants given the rather limited number of crewmates she had at her disposal'. Heeding EDI's advice and calmly swallowing the colorful retort she had prepared, they presented her with a few candidates that they had been 'tracking'.
Considering pretty much all of them were on what could be considered the murky side of the law, tracking was somewhat of an amusing euphemism, but she decided not to mention it. The Councilors then assured her that their 'candidates' were all very competent in their own rights, and that she would not be disappointed by them. Once again, Kat stayed her mouth.
She was supposed to lead diplomatic relations after all, antagonizing people by telling them that their soldiers are about as threatening as a wild puppy isn't the right way to do that.
Even if she wishes very much it was the case.
Still, she played nice and decided to show good faith by at least taking a look at the first one. Okeer, a Krogan geneticist who's under the employ of a mercenary group named the Blue Suns, who is supposedly working on creating an army of Krogan. EDI then supplied her with the info that something very similar had taken place on a quaint little planet called Virmire where one Garrus Vakarian ended up meeting with the Sovereign class Reaper.
Well, if a Reaper of all things considered the Krogan to be adequate food soldiers, Kat had no problems putting one or two more on her ship. She frowned as she tilted her head to avoid gunfire. Interrupting reminiscence like that really wasn't very polite.
It turned out that Okeer and the Blue Suns were in the middle of a bit of a scuffle when the Normandy arrived on the scene, and that both camps seemed not to have appreciated the intrusion. Kat had then quickly told Kasumi and the Turian Spectre, Vakarian, to suit up and prepare for a fight.
Which all led to this moment, as Kasumi had skulked behind the Turian fool who tried to shoot her Commander and slit his throat, causing dark blue blood to splatter on the floor as the mercenary fell, clutching his injured neck. Shepard then turned away from the sight, quickly using her biotics to grab hold of another foot soldier's armor, pulling him into the cover he was hiding behind. The loud crack that resonated told her that he wouldn't get back up.
A quick glance in Vakarian's direction showed that the Turian was far better off in open spaces than what he showed back in the cramped corridor of the facility. The Spectre's accuracy was pretty much perfect as he eliminated hostile after hostile with his sniper from the safety of his cover.
Kat shook her head. It wouldn't do to let her underlings do all the work for her. Raising an Annihilation Field around her, she warped herself out of cover and into the fray. Naturally, this caused most of the enemy gunfire to shift towards her, though a steadfast Backlash turned the attack into a rain of bullets speeding towards their original shooters. The mercenaries eventually stopped shooting the glowing disc of energy, but not before several of them had fallen to their own ammo.
Drawing her monomolecular blade, she launched herself into a Charge towards an unprepared Turian, who turned into a fine mist from the ridiculous amount of force applied to his body by the resulting biotic explosion. Without a second taken to witness the result of her actions however, she had already warped behind another enemy's cover and fallen face to face with them plunging her blade into his throat while grabbing hold of another and throwing them in the air.
Her eyes lingered long enough to see Garrus' round pierce their helmet at the peak of their trajectory, but her ears told her to move. And move she did as she flung herself into cover just as the whir of a turret filled the battlefield and the ground she was standing on moments before was scorched with rounds.
'I've got it.'
Kat smirked at the message from Kasumi and warped out of cover just as the cacophony of the turret died down, its controller having died from seemingly nowhere. Quickly glancing around, she located the last two enemies trying to flee the area, though a Charge followed by a Nova dashed their hopes.
"Clear!"
"Clear!"
Kat wiped her blade before sheathing it as Kasumi and Garrus joined her. "Good work everyone."
Kasumi scoffed. "Did you expect anything else?"
"With you, one can never be too sure. Still, nice work, Vakarian, hell of an aim you've got there."
The Turian nodded in response, looking distinctly uncomfortable. "You were quite the sight yourself."
"I'll take it as a compliment. Anyway, Okeer should be just up ahead inside the research base. Keep your eyes peeled for any hostile."
The walk through the base was tranquil enough, and the trio soon found their quarry, working on a terminal inside his laboratory. Next to him was a tank containing a young, unconscious Krogan. "Garrus Vakarian. And, his… associates, I presume? You've taken quite a bit less time than I was expecting."
The Spectre looked at Shepard and spoke up after she nodded. "Yes. We're here because we think you have some data that could prove useful in fighting the Collectors."
"Hm. A Turian concern, no doubt. It stands to reason that your primary concern would be your own demands after your actions on Virmire. Still, you have done a great deed in getting rid of these poor excuses for Krogan. What I am creating, is something far better than what these outsiders could ever hope to achieve." The slouching Krogan walked up to the tank, admiring the youngling inside. "My legacy will be a true strike to the Genophage. What could be a worse insult, after all, than to be ignored?"
His spiel was interrupted however, as gas leaks erupted around the room.
"Hmph. To fall so low, Jedore. A coward's way to fight. Go then, Vakarian. Kill the blasted fool, and I will entrust you with my legacy, and all that I know on your Collector problem."
The Krogan returned to his terminal with a dismissive wave. An armored alien with four eyes, a Batarian, supplied EDI, could be seen barking orders in his comms at his subordinates in the room below, which was filled with tanks not dissimilar to the one in the lab with them. A mech could be seen patrolling the room as well.
Kat motioned to the door and started heading down towards the mercenary commander, her squadmates on her trail. The walk was short, merely down a flight of stairs which led to a door.
"Ready up, I'm opening."
As soon as she opened the door though, the unmistakable sound of a rocket launcher being fired echoed through the room, causing Shepard to widen her eyes in alarm. She managed to deflect the rocket away from her and her squadmates with a timely application of biotics, but gunfire was unleashed upon the trio, who were forced to take cover.
Kat sighed as she drew her blade. "Alright, Kasumi, wait till I've got their attention and take care of the captain. Vakarian, pick off any stragglers, I'll try and line you up with some easy shots."
Dressing up her familiar Annihilation Field, she Charged at the mech stomping around in the middle of the room, causing it to stagger back and fall to one knee. She then ripped two tanks from their support on the floor and slammed them against the mech's sides.
Hearing another missile coming her way, she quickly grabbed hold of it and directed it towards the mech, before warping away behind a tank to take cover. The sound of glass shattering then echoed through the room as Krogan escaped from their pods.
Cursing under her breath, Kat drew a Backlash and stepped out, reflecting a couple of shotgun blasts towards an unsuspecting Krogan, whose arm got mangled as a result. Warping in front of him, she quickly sliced his throat with her blade before stabbing his chest, using his body as cover from the gunfire coming her way.
Seeing yet another rocket coming her way, she warped back into cover, leaving the body of the Krogan she had just killed to take the attack. Making quick observations, there were another three Krogan still alive and kicking, and the mech was slowly but surely getting back on its feet.
'Rocket bitch is down.'
Kat perked up. It seemed Kasumi had finally gotten to the commander. 'Roger that. Finish the big guy, beautiful.'
She warped away to hide behind another tank before stepping out, flanking the three Krogan who had advanced on her earlier position. Grabbing one of them and throwing him into the air for Garrus to take care of, she drew her N7 Hurricane and unloaded a fair share of her magazine into the two that were left before dressing up another Backlash to protect herself from the mech's gun fire. In doing so, she managed to finish off the rest of the Krogan while Kasumi uncloaked on top of the mech and unloaded both of her M-11 Suppressor right into the pilot's cockpit.
"Clear!"
"Clear!"
'Okeer's vital signs are failing rapidly, Commander. I recommend you proceed with haste, though the chances for his survival are quite limited.'
The trio quickly rejoined following the message from EDI, and made their way back up to the laboratory. What they found though was Okeer's body sprawled across the floor, and a message waiting for them on the terminal.
"Vakarian. If I knew why the Collectors are kidnapping Turians, I would tell you. I, however, do not. What I can tell you is that I entrust my legacy to you. Everything that I built is in this single Krogan. I hope you will do well by him."
Kasumi smirked as she came up beside Shepard. "Well, here's your new crew member, eh?"
Hi.
Been somewhat of a while huh? Been busy with school mainly - who knew that engineering school would be bad for free time - and the few hours I had focused on writing were focused on writing my Cyberpunk RED campaign, so there's that.
Plus, I mean. Phantom Liberty. Starfield as well, even though there's a certain drop in quality. I've finished Fate/Samurai Remnant as well, and began playing Pillars of Eternity 2.
Onto the chapter then. I must be completely honest, I've wasted quite a bit of time on this one. And, by God I hate it. I hate pretty much everything about this. I don't know if it's just me or not, but I've noticed quite the decrease in my writing's quality, especially that last scene from Kat's perspective ugh. What a fucking slugfest.
It didn't help that what I was writing didn't exactly wow me either, considering that I absolutely abhor writing dialogue and most of what I wrote before were monologues and worldbuilding exposition scenes.
I don't exactly know how that first chapter turned out to be something that I don't absolutely detest, but fucking hell, the second half of this is just painful. Catching up on 'real time' after quite a bit of introspection was hella jarring and the end result is something of a rushed mess that comes with little to no warning. Bleh.
The fight scenes are difficult. I have all the choreography in my head but translating it to words is a bit more complicated than that. I've got quite a bit of difficulties describing and playing around gunfire and help I've made my protagonist too fucking OP.
It's challenging to write engaging fight scenes when pretty much all the opposition can be considered as dangerous as a half blind toddler. Things are going to ramp up soon, and I just may adjust some things in regards to the strength of the enemies and the likes.
Anyway.
We check in with the Council who are going to get their thumbs out of their ass for once. I've spent quite a bit of time just staring blankly at my screen for this one, ngl. An exposition scene, mainly dialogue centric? Miss me with that. Still, I don't think it's that bad? The reactions are pretty nonsensical all around, but the Councilors are dumbasses, Garrus is literally too tired to care and Kat enjoys the show - and gets angy.
We check in on Joker for the first time. I've got some plans for him which are rather obvious really, and I made him into a gym enthusiast because I can.
Wrex is getting better, I guess, so that's good for him. Kinda. We're proud of you, Wrex.
And then the first real 'mission' if we can call it that. It's something that I wanted to incorporate because I want my Grunt and it's been a while since there was a true fight scene. So here it is.
Next chapter is me going back to my roots, with character interactions and oh so very nice worldbuilding. We'll probably have another flashback to Kat's youth as well, so there's that.
On that note, I tell you goodbye, Happy New Year and all that jazz.
:D