A/N: Yo, who's the lying piece of shit? If you said anything that was not myself, you're wrong. It's me. I am the filthy liar. Yeah, I promised quick updates after the last chapter, and then boom. I was gone for almost a year. Way to go. But no, I haven't abandoned this story, it was still in my head all this time. And to not make it look like I'll be uploading every week now, this chapter goes live after I got the next one halfway done. Also, I'll uploading this story to AO3 as well once my account is verified, so if you prefer to read it there, you'll probably be able to by the time next chapter is released. Both my username and the story title are the same. That being said,
Enjoy!
Interstellar space, Normandy
Deck 2, Main Battery room
2110 Local time, May 24th, 2185 Gregorian Calendar
If Garrus Vakarian had to use one word to describe the atmosphere on the ship since the arrival of the carvin liaison, it would almost certainly be unease. Virox Ri'Kaan, as he was called, already managed to almost beat Miranda into a pulp (which Garrus surprisingly believed he was capable of doing with little difficulty if he wanted to) after she tried to place a bug on him and get an in-depth scan of his weapons and equipment. The brawl was only stopped by the efforts of Shepard, who as always attempted to reconcile the members of her crew. To say that she succeeded this time would be a bit of a stretch. After all, Virox promised to "rip off her head and eat it" if Miranda tried anything similar again.
Ever since, the crew had approached Virox with a significant distance, which he did little to shorten. He always kept to himself, stood by himself, and ate by himself. His only real interaction with the crew was that he quite often changed where he resided on the ship, much to the discomfort of the inhabitants. During his first day of stay and despite his initial protests, he had a check-up in the medbay where he spent the rest of the day, even after Doctor Chakwas had finished up with him. The next day he migrated from the medbay to the shuttle bay, then to the engine room, and finally to the cargo hold where Jack stayed (which he was... coerced to vacate after even Jack couldn't help but feel uncomfortable by his silent presence). At this moment he occupied the far end of the Main Battery room, something that made Garrus' calibrations quite difficult.
It was not just his physical appearance that was so disturbing. Sure, his largely augmented body did look unnerving, but Garrus had seen his fair share of peculiarities during his work at C-Sec and especially during the hunt for Saren with Shepard. It was the behaviour and the manner of conduct that made Virox so... freaky. Aside from his regular migrations across the ship, he rarely reciprocated a stare. He could stand or sit in the same position, looking at the same thing for hours, as if in stasis, yet always listening for the smallest little things. But if he did look at someone, he would stare directly in the eyes, and never bother to look aside. And the worst part was that he almost never talked.
"So... not a talkative type, are you?" Garrus tried to break the uncomfortable silence that existed between them since he entered the room.
"No." Was the immediate response from the carvin, as he continued to stare at the opposite wall from the one he was leaning on. His tail kept lightly swaying to the sides, adding to his threatening appearance.
"That's what I thought. Er... if you feel out of place, most of the people on this ship could probably emphasize with you. Hell, Grunt is barely a year old and he's already a grown up, so he's a stranger in his own body too." Garrus remarked, trying to stir up a conversation for the second time.
Silence once again filled the room, as Virox did not bother to answer. The turian was slightly disappointed by this, though not angry. Ever since the original team kind of... fell apart, everyone was a stranger. The new Cerberus-built Normandy felt so similar yet so drastically different from the original, and its Cerberus crew did little to help this confusion. Hell, if there was one single familiar thing that did not seem to change since the destruction of the old SR-1, it was Commander Shepard, and even that was somewhat debatable.
"You know back in the day, when instead of the Collectors we chased around a rogue Spectre, Saren Arterius, we sometimes used to chat with each other about the cultures and differences in the societies of everyone involved... usually in elevators." Garrus tried again, hoping that his trusty method that had never truly failed him back in 2183. "But I think that Normandy's main battery can be a decent substitute. What do you say that as a team-building exercise we share some of each other's-"
"No." Virox said before he could even finish his sentence.
Garrus sighed in frustration. There was no way to get to this guy from the outside. He simply refused to communicate. "You realize that it's impossible to have a normal conversation with someone if the other person doesn't seem to give a damn, right?"
Virox turned towards him now visibly annoyed. This action, while seemingly very little, indicated that he was at least somewhat engaged in this exchange, even if it was primarily stemming from his irritation caused by this very exchange.
"Yes." He finally replied, and turned back to stare at the wall.
"Okay, I give up." Garrus finally conceded failure. There was simply nothing that he could do to lure the carvin out of his little anti-social shell.
Luckily the quiet hiss of the door behind him brought an end to this depressing line of thought, as a new arrival would hopefully lighten up the atmosphere. Garrus took a short glance at what was behind him and saw Shepard entering the room in her casual clothes provided by Cerberus. He would not admit it in front of anyone, but back in the days of Saren and Sovereign, he rarely actually saw her without her uniform. Now however he began to notice how sleek and shapely her posture was. He shoved these thoughts aside, trying to focus on his favourite past-time (calibrations), but hearing that Commander's steps went silent, he realized that a talk of some sort was up. Closing the console, he turned around to face her.
"Shepard? What's up?" He asked, then noticed that Virox also stood up, focusing his eyes on the Commander.
Her gaze kept jumping from him to Virox and back, indicating that the carvin was the reason for her visit. "How's our newest arrival?"
"We were just talking about how he doesn't want to socialize with others." Garrus replied truthfully, but then realized his mistake. "Uh, I mean 'I' was trying to get him to talk about it, but... let's just say that he won't be reciting poetry anytime soon."
This last remark earned the turian a hostile glare from Virox who once again turned towards him, this time mercilessly maintaining eye contact. His stare was so intensive that Garrus had to look away. Shepard however noticed that and walked up to the carvin, causing him to refocus his sight on her.
"Something wrong? I'd rather not have any more bad blood in my crew. Maybe we can figure something out." She said, seemingly not threatened by Virox's large posture and piercing gaze.
"I'm here to fight and gather information on the Collectors. No more. No less." He replied, and Garrus realized that this was the longest statement that he ever heard the carvin say.
"And yet you seem to be talking to me. Or at least talking more than to others." Shepard pointed out, something that Garrus also echoed privately in his thoughts.
Virox shrugged as if accused of a crime that he did not commit. "I obey the orders of a superior officer. If they tell me to talk, I will talk. Within reason."
"Wow, really? Shepard could you make me your second-in-command? Maybe that way we'll make Virox more vocal." Garrus joked, receiving another ice-cold stare from the carvin, but having the Commander there emboldened him a bit. Virox would not attack him in her presence after all... right?
"Now let's settle down boys. I know that all of you like to show off your muscles against one another, but please keep it civil." Shepard stood between them as if to stop two predators from jumping at each other's throats.
"If I had any..." Virox mumbled, which Garrus' translator strangely managed to catch. Shepard's however was strangely not so good.
"Pardon?" She asked him, visibly confused.
"Nevermind. Wasn't important anyway." The carvin replied, this time speaking clearly.
Still, Shepard was not convinced. She faced the floor and took a few steps away from him, visibly in deep thought. Her thumb and index finger scratched her chin, which Garrus found weirdly appealing. Turians couldn't do that, since they only had three fingers in each hand.
"Virox Ri'Kaan." Commander finally spoke, though her saying the full name and surname of the carvin must have surprised both him and Garrus equally, as both of them raised their brows (or at least Garrus raised his equivalent of brows. Virox who didn't have any simply opened his eyes slightly wider). "Everyone on this ship has a story. It might be unpleasant, might be exciting, but still all of us have come from somewhere. As your commanding officer I'd like to know where you came from."
"The Carvin Empire... But I assume that's not what you meant." Virox answered, though this time somewhat timidly. It was clear that Shepard's appeal to her superior rank dislodged his defenses. "You received my profile, right?"
"I did, and I had rarely seen more black ink on a document before." Commander said, clearly pressing on the carvin to start opening up. Garrus had often seen her in such situations and this never ceased to amaze him how she could convince people to trust her enough to share so much with her.
"Well... if my superiors deemed it necessary to restricts some parts of my profile from your eyes, then I have no means of overruling their decision." Came the carvin's reply.
"You really don't have anything noteworthy to say about yourself?" Shepard pressed on, and Garrus noticed that Virox's jaws twitched slightly at the words. Perhaps it provoked him enough. "At least tell us some basics. When did you join the military?"
"That's classified." He simply answered, betraying no emotion, as if he said these words a thousand times.
"Okay then, let's change it up. WHY then did you join the military?" Commander didn't seem to be fazed by this new obstacle.
"...Service is not a choice in the Empire. Everyone has to and will serve at some point. I just decided to... stick around." This time Virox's response was late. It took him a good couple of seconds to reply, and Garrus saw something that he did not expect. Virox turned away from the Commander, only for a split second, but nonetheless. This was indeed a touchy subject. Garrus' mind immediately conjured up several possible explanations to this reaction, but it was too early to pass definite judgement.
He then suddenly felt a feint feeling of compassion towards the carvin. His demeanor now started to make slightly more sense. He knew little about Virox himself, but from what he heard, he was a veteran soldier. And soldiers especially had all the time in the world to experience both physical and psychological pain. Garrus knew this all too well, and for a moment his mind was filled with only one name: Sidonis. That name burned him like if a white-hot iron pole just stabbed him in the heart. If Virox was a soldier for as long as Garrus suspected, he had plenty of opportunities to collect some painful memories such as this.
"Maybe that's enough, Shepard. I guess everyone has secrets they don't want to share." Garrus interjected before Shepard could press on further. "And besides, we wouldn't want Virox to go feral on the ship because we started asking too many questions at once. It would make the clean-up... messy. Think of Joker's complaints."
Shepard looked at him with a slight hint of displeasure, suggesting that she wasn't amused by his jokes, but he didn't care at the moment. It was his own way of emphasizing with the carvin soldier. At least that's what he wanted to think. Still, the Commander seemed to have relented, since she took a few steps away.
"Alright. We'll pick this up later." She slowly headed towards the exit, but once the door had opened, she turned back towards them. "By the way, be ready to gear up you two. Tomorrow we're gonna have some action, and I want both of you with me."
She received a simultaneous "You got it" and "Yes ma'am" from Garrus and Virox respectively, and then she was gone, leaving the two alone in the Main Battery room. Garrus turned the gun maintenance console back on, and was about to return to his calibrations, but was stopped by Virox who approached him at a distance way closer than he was comfortable with. His blue eyes seemed to look through his very soul, to the point that Garrus had to consciously stop himself from shivering caused by the chill that now ran down his spine.
"Why did you side with me? I never asked you to." He demanded, though this time his voice was not as hostile as before. For the first time it seemed like a genuine inquiry, just spiced up by the rows of sharp teeth coming out of his jaws that were only a dozen or so centimeters from Garrus' face.
"Uh... intuition? I reckoned that all who fight have some unpleasant memories. Thought this was one of them." Garrus answered with honesty. "And if that is the case, then for all it's worth I can understand that. I had my fair share of experiences that I'd rather forget."
Carvin looked at him intensely, seemingly trying to check for any sort of indication that would betray a lie. Not having found anything, he looked away, still visibly dissatisfied. "I see."
He then walked away slowly back to his previous resting spot, the servos in his mechanical legs hissing lightly every time he took a step. Garrus kept taking sneaky glances at the carvin and wondered if that was also the way others saw him when he first arrived at the Normandy. He had heard from some of the crew that Joker had made several humorous remarks about him. Something along the lines of 'beating everyone to death with that stick he finally pulled out of his ass'. Of course he had already retained some semblance of social skills and sense of humor by the time he re-joined the team, something that could not be said about Virox.
Who knows, maybe he's actually nice underneath that shell of his. Garrus thought before finally returning to his calibrations. At least now he could somewhat focus on them.
Dholen System, Haestrom orbit
Normandy Sr-2, Deck 5
1457 Local time, May 25th, 2185 Gregorian Calendar
This was to be Virox's first real combat mission since 1023 After Unification. Over 1300 years. The observer missions that he was part of during his work at the General Inspectorate did not count, since he was not a frontline combatant at the time. Was he nervous? No. Rather it was a weird feeling of excitement that filled him. Ever since he was woken up after his thousand year long cryogenic slumber, he felt lost and out of place, longing for real combat and the sense of danger that came with it. It gave him a purpose. So when he inspected his equipment after the shuttle took off, the most honest part of his mind (and the one that he kept largely chained and leashed ever since he arrived on the ship) was almost screaming in joy.
"You both ready?" Commander Shepard asked as their transport shook slightly upon its entry into the atmosphere.
"As always." Garrus, the turian who talked to him yesterday replied.
He was armed with an assault rifle, but it was holstered in favour of the sniper rifle. A sharpshooter for sure. Shepard carried with her a shotgun and two pistols, indicating a focus on short range combat. Such a loadout would be completely unacceptable for any mission that was not exclusively focused on close-quarters fighting, but Virox had heard that Commander was a biotic and possessed multiple abilities that allowed her to move around the battlefield quickly to capitalize on the strengths of her armaments. Virox himself stuck with his old CAR-16 (a standard issue assault rifle for carvin soldiers), and the "Ravager" shotgun (a relatively modern weapon that unlike most other small arms was based on mass effect technology reverse-engineered from Council races and equipment salvaged from the Terminus Systems). Both were provided by the Empire, along with some spare parts in case any of them needed maintenance. Overall their team was fairly balanced in its composition and focus, which reassured him.
Shepard turned towards him with an inquiring glance that he managed to pick up from underneath her helmet. "And you, Virox? Is your chest okay?"
"I can't feel the pain anymore. It won't be a problem." He said after taking a short look at where he was stabbed several days ago. The only feeling that remained from the now treated wound was a small itch, not strong enough to seriously distract him. "What resistance are we expecting once on the ground?"
"Haestrom is within geth territory. If Tali is here, we can expect them too." Shepard replied.
"This... Tali. What do we know about her?" Virox asked. He knew a little bit about the geth from what he heard from the carvin news, but very little of the quarian in question, other than the fact that she was... well a quarian, and that her extraction was the main objective of their current mission.
"She's an old friend. We could definitely use someone with her skills on the Normandy." This time it was Garrus who answered, which made it clear that Tali was a mutual acquaintance.
Virox nodded and looked at one of the sliding doors of the shuttle, the only thing that truly separated him from the upcoming action. He was the only one who did not have to hold on to anything, since his magnetic legs kept him attached to the floor. As such he was ready to leave the vessel at any moment while being fully combat ready.
"Shepard, our data indicates that Tali is somewhere in these ruins. There is considerable geth activity, and an environmental hazard." A female voice with a clear artificial modulation echoed from the shuttle speakers. It was EDI, Normandy's AI from what Virox remembered. "Solar output has overwhelmed Haestrom's protective magnetosphere. Exposure to direct sunlight will interfere with barrier projection, and may cause permanent or semi-permanent damage to the emitters as well as other equipment."
(A/N: The shield-damaging mechanic, while fun, is inconsistent with the ME lore established in the codex. Barriers or shields can only stop physical objects, not toxins, temperature, or radiation as in this case. As such I changed it up to be slightly more lore accurate, and moved the mechanic to Virox's shields, since it would be more appropriate with the properties of his shields).
"Guess we're not going sunbathing this time." Shepard said as all three of them jumped out of the shuttle.
Virox didn't know what sunbathing meant, but that was not his primary concern. What he was worried about the most was his equipment and how it could be damaged. He was far away from carvin supply lines, and all that could not be repaired on the Normandy (which he tried to avoid to prevent technology leaks) would be put out of action until a delivery was arranged. Still, the sun was something that they had to face.
The pathway which they followed sloped downwards, with several shaded spots covering it. However it would be impossible to follow it without getting exposed to the radiation. Faced with little other choice, all three of them started to quickly run through the radiated area, hoping to quickly reach the shadow.
"Warning, shields damaged." A pop-up appeared on Virox's HUD. This was confirmed by how the bar that indicated his shield strength started to very slowly shrink.
Well there's one mystery solved. Glory to the Imperial engineering I guess. Virox thought, as he along with Shepard and Garrus jumped into the shadow again.
It appeared as though the intense solar radiation was being at least partially deflected by his shields, unlike those of his squadmates. This was good news since as long as they were up, there was little threat of his gear being damaged by the environmental hazards. However it ultimately reduced his staying power in the fight, which meant that he could not be as aggressive as he wanted to be. Every engagement in the sunlight had to be followed by a moment of respite in the shadows to allow his shields to regenerate. Not good, but not terrible either.
As all three pressed forward, they came across a closed gate. There was no control panel outside, but the building next to the gate that looked like a security office was visibly damaged by the fighting. Bullet holes littered the rocky structure, with several blackened spots around the entrance indicating explosions. Shepard gestured at the door with her hand and both Virox and Garrus took positions on the sides, ready to initiate combat should there be enemies on the other side. Once they took position, she pressed the green control button and the door slid right open.
Inside there were no enemies. Only one destroyed geth unit and a quarian soldier lying next to what had to be some sort of a portable terminal or computer. Virox approached the quarian's lifeless body. Poor guy's lightly armoured suit only had few reinforced parts, and it was filled with holes accordingly. The soft material making up the belly part of the suit never stood a chance against military grade munitions. Despite having sealed off his body in armor, Virox could still smell the blood of the dead quarian, and felt exhilarated by the odour.
"Emergency log entry: The geth are here. I've stayed to buy the others time." The voice of a recording almost caused him to jump. He turned towards the source to find Shepard at the quarian's computer. "Anyone who gets this, find Tali'Zorah. She and that data are all that matters. Keelah se'lai."
Now it's is starting to get interesting. Virox reckoned and left the corpse alone. By that time Shepard found the control panel for the gate and activated it. A low mechanical growl followed the slow opening of the gate, indicating that the infrastructure of this place was far from ideal.
Once they made their way through the gate, Virox almost immediately heard a humming noise coming from the sky. The hum quickly turned into a roar though as a massive ship suddenly appeared on the battlefield, ready to make a bombing run.
"Hostile craft! Take cover!" He shouted and both Shepard and Garrus dashed towards the nearby crates for protection.
To his surprise however, the ship fired only a couple of shots towards them. Instead it looked as if it dropped bombs from the lower part of the hull. However once these supposed 'bombs' began moving and actually stood up to face them, it was clear that the ship dropped not munitions but soldiers.
It was at this moment that Virox looked his enemy in the eyes (or... eye) in a real combat for the first time since the Grox War. The geth trooper carried with him a rifle and looked like it was coated in some sort of glowing particles, most likely shields. It marched slowly towards them, though continuously firing his weapon at Shepard who returned fire at the incoming hostiles with one of her pistols. Virox rose his rifle and aimed, just like he had done thousands of times in the past. The moment that the geth's glowing eye was in his crosshair, he pulled the trigger, causing his weapon to spew a bolt of energy.
The air turned white where the laser passed, and the geth's head was propelled backwards along the rest of its body. It fell down lifeless. The exhilarating feeling of satisfaction that he haven't felt for so long, even during his brawl with the goons on Omega, now filled Virox's entire body. It was as if he found his purpose again.
He did not have time to revel in the sensation for long though, as several more geth emerged from the ruined structures ahead of them. They too opened fire in an attempt to pin them down. Virox's mind suddenly went into overdrive. Reflexes that once laid dormant in his body ever since his first war has ended were now all reawakened in unison. He leapt out of cover, and aimed at the nearest enemy. Two high-power shots struck the geth in the chest area, bypassing its shields. Not even checking for the condition of his first target, he fired again, this time at the three enemies trying to circle around on the far right in an attempt to outflank his team. His precise shots mastered over collective hundreds carvin years of service easily dispatched the geth.
Then a massive purple ball of energy dashed just a few meters away from him and hit one of the geth in the front. As Virox's eyes refocused to this new phenomenon, the carvin noticed Commander Shepard emerging from the violet explosion that now launched her target backwards with extreme force. Now wielding her shotgun, she aimed at the two nearby geth who attempted to point weapons at her, and fired at the nearest one, blowing off half of its torso in the process. The other trooper, unfazed about its comrade's demise, was about to unleash a barrage at the Commander, but after a sharp sound pierced the air its head exploded, spewing white liquid and goo on the ground.
"Scoped and dropped!" Virox heard Garrus shout from the rear and quickly realized that it was the turian's sniper rifle that dispatched the last geth.
After securing the area, Virox wanted to press on forward, but Shepard stopped him and gestured at a ramp that led to a walkway. Said walkway, while initially exposed to sunlight, had the benefit of higher elevation. Virox nodded silently in understanding and both he and Garrus followed Commander's lead. He ignored the warning pop-ups on his HUD and focused on scanning the area in front of him for hostiles.
As if to test his reflexes, several more geth emerged on the far side of the walkway, immediately opening fire. Virox peaked from cover and aimed at the nearest enemy, but before he could pull the trigger, Garrus had already dispatched it. Carvin soldier thus began to fire at the other approaching geth, only to find himself once again flashed by Shepard's biotic abilities. She once again charged into the middle of the geth formation, but this time instead of shooting, she rose her glowing fist and suddenly smashed it into the ground. A shockwave erupted from the impact spot, launching the nearby geth away from the epicentre.
Shit, I've heard rumors about biotics, but this is something else. Why doesn't the Empire have them too? Virox wondered, not even bothering to suppress his admiration for the feat he just witnessed.
Still, there more hostiles to deal with ahead, so he shoved the thought aside and focused on the combat.
Dholen System, Haestrom
Abandoned quarian settlement
1520 Local time, May 25th, 2185 Gregorian Calendar
Where the hell did he learn to fight like that? Garrus wondered as he, Shepard and Virox kept advancing through the ruins of the quarian colony.
While he was still impressed by Shepard's skills, they weren't so surprising to him given the time he served under her command. The same could not be said about the carvin. He moved like he knew the next 50 steps the enemy would take and countered them accordingly. His aggressive advance reminded Garrus of krogan, but the calmness and discipline with which he conducted himself in combat could put a few turians to shame. He was a machine of destruction.
But Garrus had little time to observe his squadmate's behaviour. Even though they were not challenging to take on individually, the geth excelled in group combat, a fact that he had to unpleasantly learn back in 2183 while hunting Saren. Having to fight them in these tight spaces was also not exactly perfect for his sniper rifle.
After Shepard dispatched the last geth in the initial area, the path led them into a narrow street of the abandoned quarian settlement. Slightly annoyed by this unfavourable terrain, Garrus reluctantly switched to his assault rifle. But before he could even properly draw it, Virox suddenly stopped.
"Wait!" He exclaimed, then looked ahead, as if trying to spot something. "Gunfire. Multiple combatants, 4 or 5, possibly more ahead. Someone else is here."
"Then let's pick up the pace." Shepard ordered, and they rushed into the tight alleys ahead.
Shortly afterwards, even Garrus heard the gunfire that Virox mentioned. From the sounds he could recognize a few Avenger rifles, and at least one M-9 Tempest submachine gun, aside the characteristic pulsing sound of geth rifles. The sounds drew ever closer, indicating that there was someone fighting amongst the tight alleys which they were currently traversing. He tightened his grip on his weapon.
Shepard raised her hand up, prompting him and Virox to stop. She slowly peaked around the corner ahead, then turned back towards them. "Three hostiles. Garrus take the right side, Virox left side. I'll take the middle one. On my mark."
Both of them nodded, and Shepard showed her hand with three fingers extended, as if counting down. Three. Two. One.
Garrus peaked the corner, and immediately hit his designated target with an Overload. The geth stumbled backwards, now without shields, and Garrus put it out of its misery with a short yet accurate spray into its head. Almost simultaneously other geth too stumbled to the ground lifelessly. No resistance remained.
All three finally left their cover and immediately noticed quarian bodies lying on the ground, slightly ahead of the geth they just took out. The bodies were quite fresh, which immediately filled Garrus with regret and frustration. They were too late to save them.
"Break-break-break. OP-1, this is Squad Leader Kal'Reegar, do you copy?" A voice came from one of the quarian corpses. Shepard approached the source, only to notice that it came from a short-range radio transmitter. "The geth sent a dropship towards OP-2. Tali'Zorah's secure, but we need backup. We're bunkered down here, can you send support?"
Shepard picked up the radio and answered. "This is Commander Shepard of the Normandy. Can we provide assistance?"
"Patch your radio into Channel 617 Theta." Came the reply, and Garrus now saw the firefight that was happening ahead. Several quarians were taking cover from the geth near one of the buildings. "We were on a stealth mission. High risk. We found what we were after, but the geth found us. They got us pinned down. Can't get to our ship, can't transmit the data through the solar radiation."
"What's the status of your team? How many of you are left?" Commander asked, which was a pretty good question. They already saw bodies of quarians before, and the Migrant Fleet couldn't possibly afford to send a large task force this deep into geth territory.
"We were a small squad. Dozen marines, plus the science team." Kal'Reegar replied, confirming Garrus' worries. "Down to half strength now. Made the synthetic bastards pay for it though."
"How are you holding up? We can be there in a few minutes." Shepard offered.
"Take it slow, the radiation will fry your shields and equipment all to hell." Reegar warned, but considering that they had already experienced the issues with the sun, the advice was rather redundant. "We're bunkered down at base camp across the valley. I left Tali'Zorah at a secure shelter, then doubled back to hold the chokepoint. Getting Tali out safely is our top priority. If you can extract her, we'll keep them off you."
I doubt that they'll be able to do much, considering the geth presence on the planet. Garrus thought. The fact that they encountered this many geth as a rearguard for the forces attacking the quarian marines made it clear that they sent a substantial force to dispatch the intruders. And while he respected the quarians for their tenacity and resilience, their weak immune system and light armament would not hold well against this many attackers.
"Hold position. We'll hit their back ranks." Shepard said, then gestured at Garrus and Virox to follow.
"Wait! Watch your ass! We've got a dropship coming in!" Reegar shouted.
As if summoned by the warning, the geth dropship that they saw previously dove onto the battlefield. However this time instead of dropping soldiers, it fired several missiles from its broadside at the quarians taking cover at the base camp. Lightly armoured and shielded marines could do little against the destruction brought upon them by the vessel, and the explosion shook the ground, covering the area in smoke for a short while. As it cleared, the mangled bodies of the quarian marines laid around the entrance to their base camp.
Garrus winced at the sight, but then one of the pillars that once used to support a much taller structure, destabilized by the explosion began to tilt towards the entrance. Shepard signaled them to rush towards the entrance, but it was too late. The giant pillar crashed down just a few meters away from them, blocking the path inside.
"Crap. Doorway's blocked! Grab the demo charges from the buildings nearby. The scientists used them for digging. You can use them to clear a path inside." Reegar advised over the radio, but then Virox stepped forward.
"Commander, I propose alternative solution." He said in such an emotionless way that Garrus almost started to question if the carvin wasn't actually a VI inhabiting a carvin body.
"Like what?" Shepard partially turned around towards him, still inspecting the obstacle.
Virox did not reply. Instead he approached the far right side of the column and grabbed onto the edge. Then his cybernetic limbs hissed and squeaked lightly as he began to pull on the mass of concrete with all his power.
Is he crazy? He's not gonna... oh Spirits, he's really doing it. Garrus thought as the collapsed column began to very slowly move over the ground. Its weight and friction with the ground clearly made Virox's task difficult, given that he kept growling and grunting with every pull. Thankfully Shepard once again came to the rescue.
"Hold on a moment." She said, and after Virox let go of the column, she closed her eyes and extended her hand forwards. Then she contracted the arm backwards, as if pulling something invisible towards her. Her body immediately began glowing with the characteristic biotic purple, and a small biotic projectile of some sorts hit the concrete obstacle ahead of her, turning it purple too. "Now try it."
Virox did not protest and resumed his struggle. Only now did Garrus notice that as the carvin pulled, parts of his arms and hands began to shift. A curious sight, if not somewhat disturbing. Still there was little time to think about it, as with Shepard's biotic assistance, Virox managed to pull the column far enough to allow a comfortable pass for all three of them.
"Damn, how many obstacles in the past could've been invalidated by Virox's strength, eh Shepard?" Garrus asked jokingly, then turned back towards Virox. Both he and Shepard approached the newly created entrance. "Must be nice having these cybernetic arms."
Virox shrugged and looked at his hands briefly. As if on his mental command, some of the plates on his forearms opened slightly before closing again, seemingly doing a little dance. "They're useful. And it's not like I need to feel the softness of flowers on the battlefield. If I did, they would-"
He abruptly stopped talking, then stared intensely at Garrus. For a moment, Garrus thought about dropping a funny remark about Virox's staring habits, until he realized that the carvin wasn't actually staring at him, but at something BEHIND him.
"Uh Virox? Is there something beh-uh!" He couldn't even finish, as the carvin grabbed him by the arm and threw him to the side and onto the ground, then slammed into something semi-transparent. Something that at first glance looked eerily familiar.
"Shit! Geth Hunters!" Shepard exclaimed and raised her pistol at the newly arrived enemy, only to suddenly find herself being shot at from much farther away. A small group of around a dozen it so geth were making their way towards their positions.
Meanwhile Virox was embroiled in a melee struggle with the Geth Hunter. The synthetic soldier tried to make a grab for the carvin, only to receive a brutal hook in the stomach. Its shields flickered, visibly struggling to maintain their strength, before Virox made another swipe at the geth's head. This time its shields simply shattered, and his fist slammed into the glowing lightbulb of the Hunter. Virox then quickly grabbed several smaller tubes in the geths neck and ripped them out.
Garrus was so focused on watching the duel that he only just realized that the geth started to concentrate their fire on his exposed position. He reached for his sniper rifle and fired a couple of shots, downing two incoming geth. He then scanned the area in front of him, and noticed a small light distortion moving in the shadows. Not letting himself get jumped on again, he fired at the center of the distortion, revealing a cloaked Hunter sneaking towards them. The massive synthetic stumbled back slightly for a moment, which Garrus used to reload his rifle and put another shot into the weakened geth.
Still, with the initial element of surprise gone, the geth were unable to advance much further, even with vastly superior numbers. As Shepard started to unleash stronger biotic attacks, combined with their concentrated firepower of both Garrus and Virox, the pressure was too much for the lightly armored synthetics to withstand. None withdrew from the battle, which didn't surprise Garrus. Geth were not exactly known for their self-preservation instincts.
As he slowly got up, Virox approached him and helped him stand back on his feet.
"You owe me, Vakarian." He said and quickly followed Shepard who walked into the now badly mauled quarian FOB.
When they opened the inner door, it revealed a grim sight. Both geth and quarian corpses littered the place, though the geth notably outnumbered the quarians. Burn marks and bullet holes scarred the interior walls, while most of the equipment which the quarians brought with them was either destroyed or damaged beyond repain. A singular damaged geth suddenly moved on the floor. It started slowly crawling towards them. Virox already raised his rifle to kill it, but was beaten to it by Shepard, who quickly pulled out her pistol and put a bullet right into the geth's lightbulb.
Garrus then took a moment to look around, and realized that this was not simply a quickly set-up quarian FOB. They placed it in what was strangely reminiscent of a small office. Modern quarian military and scientific equipment was juxtaposed with old whithering tables and chairs that somehow did not disintegrate after almost 300 years of disuse. Even though it made perfect sense for them to build normally like other species before they were driven out by the geth, it was still weird for him to see this.
"Quarian architecture... there's two words you don't expect to hear together." he chuckled lightly.
"For all their physical weakness, they sure can build sturdy buildings. These things lasted 300 years without active maintenance and suffering from this heat." Virox said, also visibly studying his surroundings. "Didn't seem to help them much against the geth though."
There was no cynicism in his voice, at least from what Garrus could piece out. More like a grimm acknowledgement of reality. His behaviour was also surprising. Garrus expected him to simply look for enemies, then stand by until they moved on. From the short time they spent together, this sort of robotic and hyper-rational approach seemed in his style. Instead the carvin inspected some of the damaged quarian computers and scientific equipment, then kneeled beside one of the bodies.
"The bodies are warm and the blood is fresh. The geth must have breached through just a few moments after that dropship arrived." He said, then put one of his fingers into the dead quarian's wound, only to lick it afterwards.
"Eww... you don't have to do that, you know?" Garrus said, consciously stopping himself from retching.
"You'd be surprised just how many things one can learn from the taste of blood." Virox replied as if it was obvious.
Garrus was about to reply, but he then heard something that he had not heard for a long time.
"Tali'Zorah to base camp. Come in, base camp." His old friend's voice echoed in the silent room.
Garrus stepped away from the body then walked up to the comm terminal that had already approached. Tali's hologram was hovering over the console, and he noticed that her suit looked different. More mature and dignified.
Well, guess I was not the only one to grow up. He thought to himself with a light smile.
Dholen System, Haestrom
Quarian Marines' Base Camp
1543 Local time, May 25th, 2185 Gregorian Calendar
Virox did not pay much attention to the conversation behind him. He was more focused on what he just went through and his surroundings. The short moment of respite from combat provided him with time to think. His body was still high on adrenaline, and his senses were not yet dulled due to this short absence of combat. But that was not what he was thinking about.
This was the first time since he was awakened in this new reality that he truly felt at peace. Bullets zipping past him and explosions ripping the air, it was what he was made for. Even when he completed the Assault Training, one of the most brutal and demanding courses in the Imperial Army, he was not as satisfied as after he slammed into that cloaked geth Hunter and ripped out its neck. Losing himself in the fight, even if for a brief moment, was the most ecstatic he felt for a long time.
As pleasant as these feelings were, they also caused a great deal of concern in him. If he was to serve on the Normandy for an extended period of time, he had to be extra careful not to put himself in a position of hostility with the crew, otherwise he could do something he would regret, and what could potentially jeopardize his mission and the agenda of the High Generals. And they were not keen on being disappointed.
Trying to push these concerns away, Virox instead focused his thoughts on something else, and walked up to one of the quarian portable computers. There was a log entry, registered both in text and audio form. In order not to disturb the conversation that was going on between Shepard and Tali, Virox decided to read it instead.
As he read though, he felt a weird painful emptiness. Tali recorded her experiences and her wish to share them with her friends. The line "I wish Shepard were here" was as blunt as things could get. Virox had none of these things. All of his experiences worth sharing were too painful to bring up, and were all probably classified anyway. Meanwhile all of his friends from cryostasis either found another purpose in life or died. The only person with any sort of resemblance to a friend was High General Seviros, and Virox already had a strong opinion on the futility of this relationship. After so many years, could he ever hope to truly return to a normal life that he never had?
You're lucky to have friends like these, Tali. He thought somewhat bitterly, but then scolded himself mentally. He was above victimizing himself in such a pathetic way. There was a job to do.
"Let's go, Virox. Tali is in the observatory just ahead." Shepard pulled him out of his thoughts, as Tali seemed to have unlocked the door that blocked their way from her side. Virox nodded, then grabbed his rifle and joined up with them.
All three of them left the quarian base camp and entered into an area dominated by large columns and a thick concrete structure above them. The ground below it was littered with stone debris and industrial equipment on the right, as well as a long drop on the left. It looked like the underbelly of a ruined overpass.
Virox did not have time to ponder on it for too long, because suddenly a small swarm of little over half a dozen flying drones emerged from the ruins, quickly opening fire against them. His shields took a few hits, but were otherwise left intact. Without any orders, all three of them dashed into cover and began dispatching the drones. Given that they were lightly armored and relied primarily on their barriers for protection, they were a perfect target for his laser rifle.
He managed to take out four of the drones, before a loud synthetic gargling noise echoed from the far side of the overpass ruins, followed by heavy thumps. He looked towards the source and a chill ran down his spine. Two geth, each standing over 12 feet tall, were now slowly marching through direct sunlight, seemingly unbothered by its destructive effects. Without much thinking, Virox aimed at the nearest one and fired four shots.
But to his surprise, his laser rifle didn't even manage to penetrate the geth's armor, only leaving steaming black marks on its white shell. He switched his rifle to the highest power setting and fired again. Nothing. His weapons were simply too weak to do much against this monster.
"My weapon's ineffective against these big ones!" Virox reported over the comms, then reached for his Ravager shotgun. An early production variant of a proposed eezo based series of infantry weapons. It was the only weapon with enough penetration power to even hope to penetrate the armor of these larger geth. It was still a short ranged weapon though and it did not have the benefit of shield penetration like his rifle.
"Stay clear of these Geth Primes! They'll blow your shields to hell with one well placed shot!" He heard Garrus shout from the rear, and Virox was not keen on fact-checking his claim.
Using his cybernetically augmented speed, he made a mad dash to one of the covers deeper in the ruins, trying to get closer to the geth Primes. The sun burned his shields, and his large silhouette made it difficult to hide behind cover without getting exposed to sunlight from his left. For the first time he cursed his bulky body that helped him win countless fights in the past.
Shepard suddenly flew past him in a giant purple ball of energy and slammed into the first geth Prime. Its shields were damaged but not destroyed, and as it recovered, it tried to crush the Commander with its giant metal fists. But before he could do so, a loud bang pierced the air and the Prime stumbled back, its head light flickering. Virox quickly looked back and noticed that Garrus set himself up in the shade and was now taking shots at both of the primes with his sniper rifle.
Meanwhile Shepard used the window of opportunity created by the turian to fire two shots at point blank into the Prime, destroying it instantly. Its companion was clearly distraught by the death of its friend, as it furiously gargled and aimed its large gun at Shepard. But as it fired, Shepard seemed to have disappeared, and then reappeared a few meters behind, barely dodging a blue ball of destruction that now exploded where she used to be. She ran up to the same cover that he was using and pressed her back to the concrete column, panting heavily. Her shotgun was next to useless at this range, so she switched it in favour of the heavy pistol.
"That thing can't fire at both of us at once. We'll flank it simultaneously. You take the right, I'll take the left." Shepard said, gesturing at the well shaded area to the right where he was supposed to move.
Virox wasn't sure why she wanted to put herself in harms way to such an extent, especially since in his eyes he had greater chances of survival in case either of them got hit by the Prime. But he did not complain. The centuries of harsh discipline, dilligently drilled into his psyche, made him acknowledge the orders from his superior without much question, and he nodded in agreement.
Both of them darted out of cover at almost the same time, and Virox heard several biotic explosions on his left, followed by the mechanic screeching of the prime. Two more flying drones emerged from the ruins, and he quickly aimed his shotgun into the sky. Setting the choke to the tightest possible setting, he fired upon both of them, and after a few seconds both crashed loudly onto the ground.
Ignoring his victims, Virox double-timed it to the geth Prime's flank. He peaked out of cover and saw that it was firmly focused on trying to land a shot on Shepard. The commander meanwhile was dodging and weaving, acting almost like a blurr that could not be properly targeted. However it was clear that she could not do it forever, and so Virox readied his shotgun and darted towards the geth's back. Once close enough, he fired, causing its shield to flicker.
Realizing that another threat was behind him, the Prime quickly turned around, only to be met with another blast from Virox's shotgun. This one brought down the Prime's shields, yet it was still in the fight. Virox was reminded of this when the Prime suddenly swiped at him with its left hand. He dodged the swipe, but then managed to raise his guard just in time, as the Prime's fist struck him from above. The geth's metal fist was met by his own cybernetic arms and Virox winced in pain. That thing was strong. Before the deadly melee could escalate though, Garrus put another bullet into the Prime's increasingly damaged torso, relieving some of the pressure on Virox's increasingly strained arms.
Then suddenly Virox felt the Prime's strength seemingly disappear. He glanced at the geth more carefully, only to see that it was being pulled up into the air. After just a second it was levitating above him, screeching and flailing about wildly. Virox then noticed Shepard glowing purple, and holding her hands up. She was the one to biotically lift the synthetic. She then swiped both of her arms to the left, and the Prime went flying off the long drop, still making noises as it fell. Only a loud crash put an end to its agony.
"You alright there? That looked nasty." Shepard asked as she and Garrus now joined him in the shade at the far end of the overpass.
"Had worse. And I like the challenge." Virox replied, but then a creaking noise from his right forearm notified him that perhaps the Prime was stronger than he anticipated. "Damn it. Looks like some internal machinery got bruised."
"Will it be a problem?" Commander asked, but Virox shook his head.
"Our military-grade cybernetics are meant to withstand much greater damage. Nothing some post-mission maintenance can't fix." He shrugged. Shepard nodded and all three of them moved towards the observatory.
The door that blocked their way to the observatory was locked, and so Shepard walked up to the door console to override the security. Right as she did though, the windows in front of them also opened, revealing an unsettling sight. More than a platoon of geth were gathered around the building, with several engineering units trying to breach through the door that undoubtedly led to Tali. But with them was also something else.
If the geth Primes were massive, what Virox was looking at was gigantic. An enormous geth, standing on four legs directly at the base of the observatory. It seemed to have heard them coming in, because it started to turn around, then looked straight at them.
That's not good. Virox thought, and as if to dispel any doubt, a massive blue sphere came out of the geth's head and flew right at them.
"Get down!" Shepard yelled, compelling all of them to throw themselves to the ground.
The sphere exploded on the walls in front of them, causing dust and rock splinters to fly everywhere. Virox quickly got back on his feet, though the feeling of damaged machinery in his right arm started to worry him.
"Ugh, definitely like old times." Garrus chuckled as he also got up fairly quickly.
Although the thought that Shepard and her team fought these kinds of things before intrigued him, Virox banished the thought and all three of them moved down the stairs that led to the observatory and the geth force, only to be met by a curious sight.
Taking cover behind a concrete wall was a quarian marine in red armor, holding a rocket launcher. At first glance there was nothing wrong with him, but then Virox's nostrils were hit by a powerful smell. He smelled something similar just a few minutes ago: blood.
"Squad leader Kal'Reegar, Migrant Fleet Marines." He introduced himself quickly and professionally as the three of them took cover next to him. "We talked on the radio before that dropship arrived. I still don't know why you're here, but this ain't the time to be picky."
Respectable. Virox thought, as the geth forces began aggressively supressing them behind the cover. Damn, we won't make it half way to that giant thing with all this fire.
While Shepard was talking with the quarian, he took a few quick glances over the metal cover that protected four of them from the incoming bullets. There was no way Virox could maintain any sustained fire from this position, so he switched his laser rifle to high-power mode. It was back to the good old "peak-shoot-cover".
He took a quick peak and aimed at the nearest exposed geth. His shields were hit mutliple times, but thanks to his reflexes he took the synthetic soldier down before taking cover again. Glancing at his HUD, he noticed his shields were just at 47% from that single peak. There had to be an alternative.
Virox growled in frustration and his tail shook lightly in approval, as if self-aware. He was about to swear at the geth's superior firepower when an idea hit him. It was so stupid that it actually had a chance of working. Slowly and carefully he placed himself in parallel to the cover that protected him, then rose his tail up, trying to extend it as far back as possible while doing so. Its smaller profile made it more difficult to hit, so when the bullets inevitably came to hit it, he wiggled it around, dodging most of the shots.
Seeing that the enemies were distracted enough, he abruptly hid the tail, then peaked out of cover, taking the geth troops by surprise. Two closest synthetics fell with two well-placed shots before he hid behind cover again. His shields did not take a single hit.
"Damn, I want a tail to do that too!" Garrus shouted over the drowning noise of gunfire. "Can you do it again? I'll take the shot this time!"
"I'm the one literally sticking my tail out for this!" Virox yelled back, but seeing no other alternative to curb the geth numbers, he nodded. "Fine, but make it quick!"
He stuck out his tail again and wiggled it, predictably receiving most of the focus, of the geth. After the fire was intense enough, Garrus stuck out his sniper rifle and fired two times before retreating back to cover.
"Nice, now do it again!" He said after putting another thermal clip in his rifle.
"Don't get ahead of yourself, Vakarian! I'm not letting you use me as a bait while you get all the kills!" Virox shouted back, when suddenly their cover was shaken by an explosion that sent a cloud of dust and debris into the air.
"*Cough* *Cough*... Damn it, a couple of shots like these, and that colossus will blow us to pieces!" Garrus grunted, trying his best to catch his breath.
So it's called a 'colossus'... I guess it's fitting. Virox thought. He actually heard the word in the background, as Shepard talked with the quarian marine, but did not pay much attention to it.
As if to bring him back to the reality of their objective, Shepard forcefully dragged Kal'Reegar deeper behind cover for a reason that he did not understand.
"We don't have enough people on our side for you to take one for the team! Stand down!" She yelled with a voice so authoritive that it actually made Virox flinch.
Reegar also seemed to have thought this way, since he did not peak again, though from his body language it was clear that he wasn't pleased by that.
"I'm not gonna stand there while you run into enemy fire! They killed my whole squad!" He tried to argue.
"You're so eager to join them!? Is that what it is!?" Virox shouted back, finally getting a grasp of what was going on, and this willingness to heroically and foolishly sacrifice oneself out of principle angered him. He saw enough good soldiers die this way during the Grox war.
"I... uh..." Reegar was clearly taken aback by Virox's outburst, but the carvin did not care.
"You have enough blood OUTSIDE of your suit to make me salivate! One more shot and you're dead, infection or not! Pointless waste of a good soldier!" He kept going, trying to replicate the tone with which Shepard spoke, although it was unclear if he succeeded.
"And if you want to honour your squad, watch our backs! I'll need you here in case they bring reinforcements!" Shepard added, putting the final nail in the coffin.
"Grr... fine, Shepard. We'll do it your way! Hit them for me! Keelah se'lai!" Quarian finally relented, and Shepard gave Virox a quick nod of appreciation.
She crawled up closer to them, still trying to avoid the hail of gunfire overhead. "Garrus, set yourself up on that walkway on the right and provide cover as we advance! Virox, you're on me! We're punching straight through the middle!"
Virox gave a quick 'yes ma'am' before the three of them stormed the ground below the observatory.
Not even the colossus would stop them.
A/N: Okay, I think this is enough. Writting for the sake of long chapters is probably not the best idea, as the first chapter of this story has taught me. I don't think this was the best I could do, but I'm still relatively happy with how it turned out. I'm also not much of a fan of straight-up copy-pasting the dialogues from the games into this fic, since it's both unoriginal and tedious. So if you're wondering why some dialogue sequences are happening in the background as opposed to being directly mentioned, this is why.
Also, the NEXT next chapter is going to be a CODEX style chapter detailing the military structure of the Carvin Empire, so as to give them a bit more depth and LORE. A couple of such chapters will be posted over the course of this story, or at least the ME2 part of this story (Yes, I'm so ambitious I'm planning ME3 bits already, despite just finishing my almost-year long hiatus. Fight me). Carry on!
Bonker out!