"Well then, if we have five minutes, we might as well get you two the good weapons," said Garrus' voice over the comms, as others paused in their cleanup, getting their own orders. Garrus, laying on his back in his unit's cockpit, pulled a few levers, causing the hum of an eezo core spinning up to power to come from beneath the tarp under which his unit was kept. Walking towards him, the two Shepards helped him by pulling the covering off as he stood up, revealing a rather unique looking mech.
"That's not a wanzer," commented Charn as he looked the thing over, scanning it with every sensor at his disposal, as Tali did likewise. The thing was different than almost anything else flying. For one thing, it was not equipped with a transparent cockpit that, while a structural weak point, allowed the pilot to see outside even if his sensors were blinded. More importantly, the unit was constructed from an unknown alloy, at least to their sensors, and as it stood, it was actually a head taller than either of the two Terrans.
"Indeed it's not," said Garrus over the speakers the unit carried, while adjusting how he was standing. The thing, in addition to the odd lack of a visible cockpit, had features like a biped. Two arms and legs and a head, the last being a feature most wanzers, having been partially inspired by destroids, lacked. It also had hands, rather than built in weapons, though one could see two small apertures on the head unit that were probably small scale arms, designed to be used against unarmored targets.
In detail, the thing had white colored limbs, with a torso that was primarily blue with two orange vents just below where a Terran's pectorals would have been. Said vents showed off their purpose as large streams of hot air, from the engines turning on, spewed forth from them, heating the space in front, and causing the red colored bits below to glow slightly. The head itself was also interesting, being designed like it was wearing an old warrior's helmet, with a v-shaped set of horns in front, and glowing orange eyes outlined with red around them completing the look of a samurai warrior.
"Lunar titanium, an odd choice for a construction material," commented Tali as she went over her scans.
"Odd, but not without reason. I would hazard a guess that this unit can withstand at least five times the pressure and force of the best armor a Terran could wear, though at the cost of overall weight and stability," commented Jon as he walked around the unit, finding its rear to consist of what looked like a small backpack with a folded up rifle sticking out of the top of it, as well as two large handles, and a set of thrust. If he were a betting sentient, he would wager that the thing could likely have achieved a higher base speed than any Terran as well, considering the stats he was getting from his sensors.
"Right in one. The original unit was smaller and lighter, but I decided to up the scale, taking it from sixty feet, to eighty, and adding in a few improvements in the control systems as well as a few to the weapons," so saying Garrus, in a display of control that dwarfed most of the inaccurate wanzers and even some veritechs, reached behind his unit and pulled out one of the handles from his pack, revealing the thing to be some type of energy saber as he drew it out and created a pink blade not all that dissimilar to the one Tali and Jon tended to use in their battles.
"Two beam sabers, one beam rifle, twin gatling guns in the head, all with an engine and core powerful enough to take me from ground to orbit in a little over seven minutes, given I'm not getting shot at," he bragged, while drawing the other saber and spinning the two around in a very intricate kata that only stopped just before the pink glowing blades would have sliced into Jane's neck. For her part, the Terran woman didn't even flinch just staring at the weapons as they formed a scissor around her head, and then watching as they were withdrawn and placed back into the pack.
"The RX-78-3. It's name: Gundam," declared Garrus, taking a pose that they figured must have been trying to look badass, though if one looked at the deck crew as they finished cleaning up the mess, they were rolling their eyes, obviously having heard that speech before.
"Impressive. What sort of beams are those? Obviously some kind of charged particles in a mass effect field," said Jon, looking at the pack and the weapons stored within.
"Right again. M-particles to be precise. The rifle, when properly calibrated, is accurate to a full light second in space combat, and has enough punch to match any weapon mounted on a frigate class ship. The beam sabers, at least in theory, should actually be better than your own protoculture blade, Commander, though obviously we've never been able to do a direct comparison yet," he said the last as if he were offering a challenge, but Jon either didn't hear it, or chose to ignore it as he kept looking the unit over, seemingly taking in every detail of its construction.
"M-particles were still theoretical last I'd heard. Who figured out the matrix to stabilize them," asked the Terran, and Garrus audibly sighed as his challenge was forced to be put on hold.
"I did. Most of the Normandy is, in fact, of Council design. In the last four years we've been able to use the Gearbox to test and refine designs that have languished for decades if not centuries," he said, a note of pride in his voice for his own genius.
"And we've been letting you do it so we can copy that tech into our ships," commented Jane, a bit of envy in her voice.
"You're just jealous because you want his swords," countered Charn quickly, and Jane seemed to huff at that notion.
"My sword is a cortosis-weave blade with a molecule thin edge. It is easily the match any energy blade these two can pull out. I do want that gun, however," she responded, eyeing the folded rifle on the units back, that Garrus drew to show it looked like a good weapon indeed. Black body, with a long barrel, and a clip like thing on one end that was probably an energy chamber for the m-particles that it shot.
"Well, I suppose we shouldn't keep the young lady waiting for her guns then, should we," came another voice, and suddenly a veritech, sized for a micronian, slid into their conversation, seemingly flowing over the deck on its jets in guardian mode, before quickly shifting into the battleoid version, while carrying a Terran sized case in the hand without the gunpod. Jon, for a moment, seemed to tense at the sight of the unit, but quickly made himself loosen up, as Kryik came to a stop.
The unit he drove wasn't the normal type of veritech, with its gray body and small stripes or other adornments to signify the pilot. No, this thing was all black, with small twinkling lights in that darkness like it was a piece of the starry sky that had come to life. Any veteran of Terran military history could instantly recognize it as a stealth model veritech, a late model addition to the RDF back at the end of the war. The twinkling lights were small projectors and recorders. A flick of a switch, and the thing would literally vanish from sight, and the black coating was able to maintain consistent heat within itself, making the thing invisible to visual or thermal scans.
"These, are the weapons you'll be using in this operation," he said, and clicked a latch behind the case to cause it to pop open. Inside, there were three oddly shaped weapons, with grips that created an enclosed space linking the bottom of the barrel back to the grip. They also had large glowing green canisters forming the top of the weapon, the shade indicating protoculture in its raw form. Beside the three pistol sized weapons were various stocks that appeared designed to interface with the things.
"Gallant pistols!" shouted Sergeant Shepard as she looked incredulously at the things, her scanners giving her stats on the things, while Garrus and Kryik turned their head units sharply towards her.
"Indeed they are. How did you know about them?" asked Kryik after the shock of her knowledge had worn off.
"They've been all the talk on any gun site on the net. They're supposed to be the next generation of personal arms, with a huge shot capacity, since they fire raw protoculture particles out, meaning they'll literally never run out of ammo. Interchangeable stocks to allow them to be used in a variety of situations, including Sniper, Assault Rifle, Shotgun, and...I don't recognize that one," she admitted, pointing to the largest of the four stocks, obviously designed to brace itself fully against the shoulder of the one who fired it.
"That's a launcher stock. In its base form, the gallant has a sixty shot capacity, with a one minute recharge time from an empty clip. The assault rifle stock takes the shot capacity to half, but increases penetration and power of the shots in trade of. The shotgun spreads the fire out giving you much shorter range, but powerful attacks, while also giving you twice as many shots. The sniper gives you only ten shots, but has a range comparable to my beam rifle, and the launcher is the big guns. A single blast, but powerful enough to blow through the barrier of a dreadnaught and really tear up the inside," explained Garrus.
"So, beautiful," said the Sergeant, and if you could see her eyes, one would have seen a sparkle of a tear coming out of Jane's.
"Three guns, and one of each stock type," commented Jon, going over the stats his scans of the weapons were giving him, deciding how best to make use of the things.
"Indeed, the only ones in the universe right now. The Gearbox should have another set of these ready by the end of the week, but we needed to get here immediately, as I'm sure you'll understand," admitted Kryik, and Shepard nodded, before grabbing two of the pistols, and tossing them a bit, getting a feel for the weapons' weight before holding them towards his back. Tali, understanding quickly, created a small mass effect field to cause the things to clip to his back like they were magnetized.
"I'll take two pistols. Jane, you take the last one, but all the stocks. You're better trained with these sorts of weapons, and Tali and I can make the best use of the doubled firepower," he told her, and Jane nodded, quickly gathering up the various stocks and gun.
"Assault," she said, holding the stock of it behind her. Charn quickly repeated Tali's trick, locking the thing onto her back with a mass effect field. She then repeated it with the other three stocks, and naming each one as she did. Sniper, Launcher, and Shotgun were soon on her back as well, with her firmly gripping the pistol in her hand, before snapping it onto her belt with her sword, keeping it at her hip so she could draw it herself.
"Planetary approach complete," came EDI's voice over their personal comms.
"Ground floor, geth invaders, weird ships that we can't identify, and prothean artifacts in need of saving. All ashore that's going ashore," added Jeff's voice, to the audible disgusted sigh of EDI. The forward bay of the ship dropped down, lowering a ramp towards the ground below. The Shepards, Garrus, Legion, and Kryik quickly made their way to the front without a word, landing on the fluffy green grass with a series of thuds, their feet creating deep depressions in the ground as they hit.
"We'll be away in a moment. Hopefully, the big ship is the source of the interference. If it is, get a call through to the Conclave right away. Otherwise, proceed under the assumption that no help is coming, and try and save as much of the colony as you can," ordered Skarrde over their comms.
"Affirmative, General," responded Captain Vakarian, before he and the others saluted as the ship flew off, flaring its engines as the five of them dropped down. Garrus, with his rifle, took a look towards the direction of the colony, though the zoom on his weapon wasn't necessary, as the huge ship with the squid shape rose from the ground, and then quickly pursued the Normandy's flight path, vanishing into the sky.
"That maneuver was way too fast. Whatever core that thing has must be massive," said Garrus, playing back the recording on his equipment and running sims for stress tests on the hull and the like. Everything he saw in the sims spoke of a material that was far more resilient or a core powerful enough to move a planet.
"Agreed. Beginning transmission test now," said Tali into the impressed silence of the group.
"No good, the jamming is still in effect," she said after a solid minute of trying to cut through it, and finding no gap or weakening in the field.
"Ancestors. Was hoping that we'd get lucky," swore Nihlus as he rose to his feet, transforming into guardian mode and rising into the sky slowly.
"We're doing this the hard way then. This unit is a stealth type. I should be able to get close to the local port without being seen, but it would be best if there were fewer eyes doing the looking. That's your job. The six of you are going to advance on foot to the colony. Hopefully they'll think you're soldiers left behind by the Normandy when it fled," explained the SPECTRE.
"Technically, we are," commented Charn.
"Indeed. Still, that means the more you can take down, the better this mission will go. I don't think I need to impress on you how important this cargo is in terms of galactic history," he said the last as a statement of fact, and the heads of everyone nodded in agreement.
"Excellent. Well, it's still not as important as your lives, so if it gets too hot, go to ground. Don't take unnecessary risks," ordered the turian, before his veritech seemed to fade from sight, leaving only a slight ripple in the air where he was hovering, before that rocketed away at sonic speeds in an arc just away from the colony.
"Well, that's a cheery send off," said Tali sarcastically, and the Terran she was riding on nodded, before turning to face the Gundam.
"Permission to launch probe? We're supposed to be the distraction anyway, so being spotted isn't a big issue, and it would help us get the lay of the land," asked Jon, and Garrus seemed to considering this for a moment, before his unit visibly shrugged its shoulders in a very organic way, belying its metallic nature.
"Permission granted," he said at last, and Jon quickly went about preparing the probe for flight, tapping a few basic commands into his omnitool, before raising his arm over his head and feeling the slight pressure as the the thing launched, a small blue orb rocketing high into the sky. When it hit a certain altitude, the thing stopped as if it had hit some kind of invisible barrier, and then seemed to explode in a wave of blue light, scanning the entire area with the most detailed sensors it had, which gave the user a lot of information, though anyone in the radius of the scan now had their location.
"Processing now, give me just a moment," said Tali's voice, and over the comms one could hear the clicks, beeps, and chirps as her fingers flew over her controls, typing out commands and filtering the data stream down to what was needed at the moment. After she was finished with that, she had Jon raise his arm up, his omnitool facing towards the ground, where she projected a typographical map of the area she'd downloaded back on the Normandy, and then began to add in the data she'd just gotten her hands on.
"The outlook isn't good, Captain. The colony's in ruins, looks like most of the civilian homes are trashed, and I can tell you right now, the fields are just gone. Looks like that ship tore them to shreds, especially this one here," as she spoke, she zoomed in on one in particular, and it didn't take a genius to figure out why that one had been targeted. The digging equipment and several large excavations spoke of the ruins that were the source of all this trouble, and whatever that ship was, it had made sure they would be getting nothing further from them.
"Worse, at least two shelters have been taken out, and I'm getting no lifeform readings at all. If anyone here is still among the living, they're deep underground, armored, or masked by all the mass effect energy going around," as she spoke, several blue blobs appeared on the map, showing the concentrations of eezo radiation in the area. Normally, at a Council colony, the stuff was thick as water everywhere, but this was a Terran colony, and while there were probably a few densely packed micronian settlers, there shouldn't have been nearly as much as they were seeing. That weird ship must have been throwing the stuff off like rainwater.
"Hmm, that's odd. Can you zoom in right there?" asked Garrus, his gundam pointing towards a small spot on the north plateau of the colony. Tali began to zoom in slowly, wondering what he had spotted, but after a moment, they all saw what he had, and the image swiftly zoomed in to a detailed image of the object. It was a micronian, a turian by the looks of it, and they were dead. Tragic as that was, the thing that had caught the eye wasn't the species or the life, it was what they were on, as a spike seemed to have come out of the ground, measuring at least eight feet in height, and blue in coloring, and it had impaled the turian at the chest.
"What in the name of the Ancestors is that?" asked Tali, as she got more data on the device from her scans. The thing was...odd, to say the least. The alloy of its makeup was a mishmash of various things, not all of them identifiable by the probe's scan. Still, whatever they were, the thing was hot, both in a temperature sense, and in an eezo radiation sense. They also appeared to be interacting with the turian's corpse in some weird way, with the field covering the thing, while some lines of heat pumped into it.
"I've got no data on it. It's doing something to that body, but nothing I can really give details on," she admitted after a few minutes, and this seemed to worry everyone. Garrus shook off the doldrum however, and motioned for her to zoom the map back out.
"Too many unknowns with that. Just give me a count of enemies, and where they are for now," asked the Captain, and Tali went to work, outlining in red all the currently detected warframes, and then zooming in on a pair at the edge of the group, the two being airborne, and approaching their group at speed.
"Well, looks like we've already got some attention at least. Battle positions, let's give them a welcome that will get them all looking our way," ordered the Captain, and the three with him nodded, before they started walking forward, Jon in the rear, while Tali continued to feed them tactical data, Garrus and Jane in the middle, the Terran woman asking for the sniper stock, which she snapped into place on her gallant, and finally Legion in front, spreading out what sensors he had to give them a heads up when the two approaching were in range.