Played the Mass Effect trilogy and got inspired to try something like this. Will try to stay close in character but some characters might act ooc.


"Stabilize then pop your chutes! We're going in hard!"

Those were the words that Rookie heard as the Covenant Assault Carrier, Solemn Penance, had gone into Slipspace causing a massive shockwave from the Slipspace rupture and EMP. Gunnery sergeant Edward Buck had ordered and members of Alpha 9 deployed their drop pods chutes but one ODST drop pod that had deployed their chute had hit Rookies drop pod causing it to go off course from its intended course. Rookie grabbed onto anything that he could so he could stay upright in his crash seat and not be hurled out the door and become a bloody stain on the streets of New Mombasa and while his other hand grabbed onto the flight control stick to try and stabilize the drop pod before blacking out.

-6 hours after the drop-

Rookie blinked as he had finally awoken and grunted as he felt some bruises from after landing. He looked out the glass of the drop pod to see the dark and cloudy city and watched as a Phantom flew by in the distance. The glass was cracked and the communication devices showed not his team but just static. He looked down and could see that he was a bit high up, no doubt lodged into a boulding, he braced himself as he armed four explosive bolts and the hatch exploded and went forward and onto the empty street. He jumped out of the pod and landed on his feet as he grunted in pain and panted as he leaned against one of the light poles and stayed there for only a couple of moments before sighing and moved forward and found a medical kiosk and using the medikit on himself to clean up his bruises.

He activated his VISR knowing well that Covenant forces were still about and he was alone without his squad balls deep in enemy territory. He didn't complain though, he knew what he signed up for when becoming an ODST, being dropped into enemy territory to do deep ground surveillance or long range reconnaissance. He needed a map of the city to know where to go and to also find where his other squadmates were. Rookie rolled his shoulders and held his M7 SMG close to him as he ran. He ran past multiple abandoned cars and trucks on the street and walked before running into five Grunts and a Brute. He ran and fired his M7 SMG onto the Jiralhanae, its shields glowing before it and its armor breaking.

"IMP!"

Rookie heard one of the Grunts yell out but he continued firing before finally killing the Brute and quickly switching to the M6C pistol and headshotting the Unggoy in quick succession. He quickly looked around making sure that there were no other Covies hiding before kneeling down and grabbing the Spiker (Type-25 Carbine) and attaching it to his hip and moving forward. Rookie continued on through the alleyways and streets clearing out any Brutes and Grunts that were either in his way or had spotted him before finally shooting the last Grunt he heard a faint ringing catching his attention and he walked around before finally finding a payphone and interacting with it and it shutting down and his HUD telling him that the Superintendent was back online and also downloading the city map to his VISR NAV DATA. The city mapped a location marked at Tayari plaza and nodded his head, now finally having a map to traverse this city and locations to find his missing squamates Rookie jogged on to find them.

—-Break—-

It wasn't a great day for Tali.

First was when she thought she would be at least able to go back to the Flotilla and convince the Admiralty board and fleet of the coming threat of the Reapers but the ship's drive core malfunctioned. At first she thought that EDI had gone rogue just like the Geth had done with their creators but it wasn't that but due to a massive spike of radiation and EMP suddenly appearing right next to them. Second was when the drive cores light had swallowed her making her think that this was how she would die but when she opened her eyes she saw that she was no longer on the engineering deck of the Normandy but on some abandoned city with big locked metal doors and cars abandoned or on their sides. She looked at her Omni–Tool and tried to contact her teammates.

"This is Tali, is anyone there?"

Silence. She got worried and tried again.

"Hello, is anyone getting this? Shepard? Garrus? …Anyone?"

Nothing. No responses from the others, heck she would even rather get a call from the Illusive Man than nothing. Sighing, she turned off her Omni-Tool and pulled out her Katana shotgun and began to slowly walk to at least find out where she was in this dark cloudy abandoned city. Tali was creeped out as the only things she saw were cars, cars, more cars, and some destroyed vehicles. Though she wasn't familiar with what kind of vehicles they used to be, they were well, alien, to her in design. She didn't know of anyone or faction that used these types of vehicles. In a way of atmosphere the situation Tali had found herself in reminded her of those movies and shows Shepard had shown her where the main character had found themselves in a abandoned city where no one was around and the only thing to show people were there were the blood and bodies and the messages left behind by those who were there previously before the main character was attacked by the horrors no one thought possible like the undea- Tali shook her head to get those thoughts out of her head.

Tali knew she shouldn't be thinking like that right now especially all alone separated from the rest of her crewma- No bad Tali! She shook her head again. She had to remind herself that she had faced worse things before than this, like the Geth, Saren and the Husk.

"Calm yourself down Tali this isn't worse than the things you faced previously. There's nothing worse out there than something like the Husk. Or even the Reapers for that matter so calm down and get to finding everyone else!"

After nodding to herself from her little pep talk she continued to walk through the abandoned city streets. After thirty minutes she found herself in a plaza-like area and saw non-human bodies laying on the ground. Tali quickened her pace and knelt right next to one of the bodies and inspected it, it was an arthropod vertebrate creature wearing a breathing mask covering their mouth and nose. Its armor was orange and had a weird backpack connected to the armor. Another type of deceased body was a nig hairless looking ape with a beard and black bodysuit. She had never seen these types of species before or their weapons before but one thing she did notice was that all of them had bullet holes in all of them, though she didn't know what type of gun could have done this since the guns she used used small metal shavings as the ammunition but the holes were bigger. She did remember watching a documentary about earth's guns and the evolution of use alongside Garrus and Shepard- Tali shook her head, ridding her head of those thoughts. No way she was possibly in the past where humanity used bullets instead of using mass effect fields. Shaking her head again she grabbed one of the orange beings' weird pistol-like gun and inspected it with her Omni-Tool before she discovered something major about this pistol.

"Keelah! This pistol uses plasma energy instead of mass accelerator technology! The only other race that uses plasma is the Geth. Oh I know maybe I can bring this back to the Flotilla to-"

However Tali was interrupted when a flying purple ship which she had never seen before flew by over her and dropped off similar beings to the ones that laid dead on the ground and flew away. Realizing what this might look like she quickly stood up and cleared her throat and held her hands up as the new arrivals pointed their weapons at her.

"Before you shoot please understand this isn't what you may think it is! I found them dead on the ground!"

The new aliens didn't shoot her immediately which to her was a good sign especially when being a crew mate on Shepard's crew. The blue armored ape which she assumed was the leader of the group looked at the orange bipedal xeno-arthropoda vertebrate which were only just two inches shorter than she was before they all looked at her again.

"Not human but clearly looks close enough to one."

Tali was surprised when the blue armored ape spoke fluent English to her. She was expecting them to speak a different language than her but by the way they all looked at her she could understand them but they couldn't understand her which would be a problem. She was about to speak again before the blue armored ape pointed his gun at her with a big savage grin on his face.

"We shall feast on this new species and know what they taste like!"

"Ooh ooh I call dibs on the legs!"

"Dibs on the arms!"

"Nuh uh I want the arms!"

"What do you mean nuh uh!?"

"Silence you runts!"

The blue armored ape yelled at the smaller ones as Tali quickly aimed her shotgun at the closest one and fired it blasting it back but surprising her when it got back up and fired its plasma pistol at her forcing her to get behind cover and switch to her predator pistol. She peeked out and fired a few shots at the small one's head pulling off a few headshots on three grunts before having to hide again when the big one shot it's gun at her.

"Kill her! I want her meat raw and delicious!"

Shuddering at the fact she was basically dealing with cannibal aliens she reloaded her pistol before firing more headshots at the small ones killing them each only leaving the big one left. She tried to headshot him just like the rest but saw that he wore shielding similar to hers. She got an idea and activated her Omni-Tool and sent out her combat drone against the big guy.

"Go get 'em Chiktika!"

Her combat drone named Chiktika floated near the ape as it fired electricity at the ape not doing much damage but succeeding in grabbing its attention as she quickly ran from her cover as she grabbed one of the plasma pistols and got a good grip on it before firing the plasma at the ape. However unlike her shielding the apes armor seemed to be more stronger than the average armor mercs or soldiers had, however she did notice that the plasma was doing more damage to the apes shields before it finally broke leaving the ape only in his body suit. This action however angered the ape as it roared in anger and charged at the Quarian. Eyes widening at the charging ape she fired the pistol multiple times at the charging behemoth hoping that the shots would kill it, but it kept charging even when she saw that each shots burned the ape heavily unfortunately for Tali the plasma pistol had overheated causing her to drop the gun and for the ape to smack her into the wall, she slumped the floor in pain. But that wasn't the end as the ape grabbed her leg and started to smash her like a ragdoll against multiple cars even against the ground before finally throwing her to the ground again as she groaned in pain. The ape huffed before grabbing his gun once more and pierced her environment suit with the blades of his gun.

She could feel him twist the bladed gun around before pulling the trigger, shooting piercing shots causing her to yell out in even more pain as the ape finally pulled the bladed gun out and smiled maliciously seeing his sharp pointed teeth as he licked the red blood off the blades.

'So this is how I die? By fighting a species I have never seen before and about to possibly be eaten alive… and none of my squadmates may even know what happened to me.'

Tali thought to herself as tears streamed down her face which the ape creature couldn't see and even if he did he wouldn't have cared for he would have thought she tasted salty. However before the ape could do anything an armored man jumped onto the back of the ape wrapping one arm around the beast's neck while in the other holding a knife. Tali was shocked as she watched the ape try to shake off the armored man off of him but failed as the man repeatedly stabbed his knife into the apes neck staining the street and the knife in purplish red blood. Finally the man stabbed the knife into the apes head killing it instantly. The armored man jumped off the dead ape as it fell to its knees and fell on its face. The man sighed in relief as he wiped away the purplish red blood off of his knife.

Tali looked at the armored man, His black helmet painted with a white stripe and blue visor. His armor looked like a snug from what she could tell and what looked like a shell, but had to assume it must have been a backpack. His shoulder plates were painted in an urban camouflage scheme and fingerless gloves. She could see pouches on his person, some on his belt, his right leg and on his thighs. Weapons that she could see looked like an SMG and a pistol and also a handgun from what she had to assume.

Tali yelped in pain as she tried to move, catching the man's attention as he aimed his pistol at her and stared at her. She raised her hands hoping to show that she meant no harm. The man kept aiming his pistol at her for a few more moments before lowering his gun and putting it away before kneeling close to her to look at her wounds.

"Yeah that bosh'tet shot me when he stabbed me with his gun. I had never seen the design before but the way it fired was similar to some of my guns."

Tali grunted in pain as she tried to sit up more but had to lay back down as she held her hand over her wound. The man looked at her confused tilting his head, which reminded Tali of videos of earth's dog which helped Tali forget her pain for the moment.

"Hold on, can you understand me?"

The man tilted his head in confusion again, confirming to her that he couldn't understand a single word that she was saying.

'His Omni-Tool translator must be broken if he can't understand me.'

She cleared her throat and tried remembering some of the basic English that Shepard had taught her before.

"You… translator… broken…?"

The man's head perked up a bit, most likely shocked that she spoke english to him, broken english, but english nonetheless. She raised her arm close to her as she activated her Omni-Tool surprising the man and causing him to reach for his knife but she raised her other hand letting him know that she wasn't trying to attack.

"Your… tool… broken?"

She pointed to her Omni-Tool and the man finally understood what the Quarian was trying to say, shook his head no and he then pointed at his arm and shook his head but then pointed at his helmet which surprised the Quarian.

"Helmet is translator?"

The man nodded as he then opened the chest compartment of his armor and pulled out a cylindrical canister and pointed it at her wounds. He then pointed at the canister and held up five fingers and slowly counted down before closing the fist.

"Will last only for couple of hours?"

The man nodded and Tali just nodded. Her suit antibiotics while helpful she needed medical attention quickly especially if she was going to try and find her fellow squadmates. She nodded her head as the man grabbed her hand confusing the Quarian before pointing the nozzle of the canister and applied some kind of foam to her wound and her eyes widened in pain as she squeezed the man's hand tightly and her other hand gripped the man's arm tightly as well.

"OH THAT HURTS LIKE A BOSH'TET!"

If she had to describe the feeling she would describe it as feeling like a thousand tiny knives were stabbing her all at once. However the pain soon went away and saw foam being applied to where her wound was and she could feel the foam set in and became rigid. She touched the now rigid foam and saw that she was no longer bleeding. Now nodding the man threw away the canister and stood up and held out his hand to the Quarian which she graciously accepted and got to her feet. She was a bit surprised at the man's height being only a couple inches shorter than him.

"Thank… you… Mr?"

The man looked at her for a few moments, making her wonder if she had asked her question in her native tongue; however that thought was dispelled when the man finally responded.

"...ODST Lance Corporal John Doe serial number 11282-31220."

Tali nodded her head.

"Tali'Zorah vas Neema"

Tali held out her hand for a handshake but noticed John tensing up from this simple action and stared at her hand for a few moments before taking her hand and shaking it. After shaking the Johns hand she looked the man in his polarized visor seeing nothing so she couldn't see his features but since having to live inside of a suit for the whole of her life she could easily ready body language, and she could tell John was somewhat antsy, as if he wanted to end the conversation as quickly as possible to do something.

"Where you… go now?"

She asked the man curious hoping to maybe help the man in return for saving her. The man said nothing, only staring at her, probably contemplating whether to say where he was going or needed to do. She could understand in a way from the way John acted. She could tell he was uncomfortable talking to her, seeing him as the type of person whose actions spoke louder than words and most definitely probably never seeing a Quarian like herself before. She never saw the ape and weird mask species anywhere in the galaxy before, especially during her travels or in any text or records that she read or Liara had shown her before. John has though from the way he had handled himself when killing the ape though so maybe he would be able to help her. Tali was brought out of her thoughts when John had replied though.

"What?"

"My squad. I was separated from them and I'm trying to reunite with them."

Tali's eyes widened as the man in front of her was in the exact same situation as she was.

"Similar thing as you… Separated from squad, need to find Commander Shepard."

John's head perked up when she had said Commander Shepard.

"Separated from your squad?"

Tali nodded her head. John looked up at the sky and she followed his gaze to see the moon high above giving its moonlight down to the city below. John looked back at Tali and nodded his head.

"I'll help you find Commander Shepard and your squad, they must have at least made contact with mine and combined forces temporarily until the mission is complete."

Tali sighed in relief and nodded her head.

"Thank you."

John nodded his head and walked over to one of the small dead ones and picked up one of the plasma pistols and handed it to her.

"Plasma pistol. Point and shoot at Brutes until their shields break then switch weapons immediately then shoot until it's dead. Hold trigger for one overcharged shot takes down shields instantly but overheats the pistol as soon as you fire it. If you run out of ammo, drop the pistol and grab a new one."

Tali nodded her head as John explained the information to her. At least now she won't pull the mistake again when firing at, what she now knows as a Brute, again. Tali then thought of something and asked John something.

"Can I see helmet? Inspect translator… to make operation easier."

John shrugged and nodded his head towards an alleyway so they wouldn't be seen by enemies and walked into the alley, he removed his helmet handing it to Tali and walked to the entrance of the alleyway to watch incase of enemies and Tali activated her Omni-Tool and began to work on the translator. After several minutes of silence Tali finished working on John's helmet she walked to the trooper and handed him his helmet and he nodded to her and put his helmet back on.

"Can you understand me clearly now?"

John nodded his head.

"Whew thank Keelah, no offense but trying to speak English is the hardest thing I ever had to do. I don't know how you humans are able to do it, I mean I'm an engineer not a scientist like Mordin."

The trooper tilted his head in confusion.

"Someone also in Commander Shepard's team."

John nodded his head.

"I think maybe we should do our introduction again since we can understand each other better now."

Tali cleared her throat and held her hand out.

"My name is Tali'Zorah vas Neema, I am a Quarian engineer and a part of Commander Shepard's crew."

John nodded his head and shook her hand.

"ODST Lance Corporal John Doe. I'm from Alpha-Nine squad of the 65th Shock Trooper Division. Though call me Rookie, everyone does."

Tali's eyes widened as she then giggled causing Rookie to tilt his head in confusion.

"I'm just realizing your name now. Is your name actually John Doe?"

Rookie nodded his head causing the Quarian to giggle some more before asking another question.

"I see. But why Rookie? The way you dealt with that Brute suggests otherwise."

"Alpha-Nine squad called me it when I first joined, after time it just stuckk. Don't mind it really."

Tali nodded her head and both exited the alley.

"Is there anything else I should know about what you did to my helmet before we go?"

"Nothing much really besides adding a few more languages to your translator I connected it with my Omni-Tool mostly to help me keep count of ammo on these new weapons."

Rookie nodded his head as the two of them set forth to begin their search for their squads.


Reviews are appreciated so I can improve things and also wanted to test how I write fire fight scenes and see if I can improve it.