As we approached Feros, my fingers gripped each other in a death grip. This wasn't what I expected for shore leave. A space station, a colony, even the Citadel. Instead, we were on course to wander a colony was in the midst of a geth attack. The Normandy swerved to dodge incoming gunfire. This young colony had tried to settle upon the ruins of an ancient megalopolis once inhabited by a long dead species. Now the whole colony was at risk because of these machines and the only clue we had to this Saren character worked – or lead – the geth. Kaiden hovered beside me in the CIC, stoic eyes ahead and ignoring my fumbling in the sharp turns. Shepard watched the scene from the cockpit, assessing the situation. The gunfire died down and the swerving eased. Joker said something about a dock ahead. My heart only calmed when we reached a dock, drifting in the air to line up with the oval entrance. Kaiden glanced at me
"Still holding up?" he asked. I nodded, clearing my throat and rubbing an arm. Kaiden shifted his gaze ahead once more. "Are you sure you want to go with them? You are not combat material,"
"I need to get off the ship for a while. Although, I don't know why Shepard wants to drag me out on this mission… maybe he wants me to help the colonists while he fights geth? I-I asked for shore leave. He said this was it," I said.
"Well, it will be an interesting shore leave for you," he remarked.
My eyes stayed low as the heavy purple armour clicked around me. The dark purple armour was identical to Ashley's in all but colour, medium-class armour to give me reasonable levels of defence in case things went pear-shaped. It clung around the hips, but it felt clunky, if it restricted me if we had to flee, I was dead. Tali patted my shoulder as she approached. My muscles tensed, eyes darting to her.
"Does the armour fit?" she asked. A small smile lifted my lips, heart settling back down again.
"Y-Yeah, you get used to it," I said. Tali seemed to smile too, but then she turned to Garrus standing by the airlock. The pair glanced to each other. They both knew this whole colony could blow, as such, throwing someone as green as me in was a disaster. Val would burst an artery if he learned my shore leave involved a war zone. They told me most of the colony knew how to use guns. So staying in the colony would be one of the safest areas on the planet… with luck.
"Alright; Garrus, Tali, Dell. Let's move," Shepard rallied, walking out the cockpit. The trembling started, but with my lip between my teeth, my legs found the courage to carry me to the airlock. My mind wandered to my eternal question of the where my lack of courage had fled to. Tali and Garrus moved to my rear once in the airlock, Shepard in front. The team layout gave me the impression of a chicken sandwich, me as the filling. My fingers touched the Predator at my hip, I didn't want to touch it again.
We waited in the airlock it to equalise the pressure, to prepare us for entering this world of dust and guns. My breath rushed in small, short bursts. The consideration to say 'Fuck it, I'm staying' crossed my mind. But knowing Shepard, he would twist my arm, saying 'What, afraid?' and then egging me on until he won. He always frowned when I surrendered. That was another puzzle to wait for another day. Then the door opened, my skin sensitivity skyrocketing. We were on Feros, the gateway to Hell.
The ruined skyscrapers in the distance towered high, the bases masked by thick layers of cloud and dust. Some looked on the brink of collapse with massive holes in their sides, others were better preserved. Great pillars of smoke rose higher than the cranes trying to piece these buildings back together, or had they been there before the colonies arrived? Strange insect looking ships flew in the distance, disappearing behind buildings. Looking away from the sights, the dock looked new and refurbished, complete with smooth concrete and fresh metal. How much of the colony was this clean after all these attacks these geth had run. We strode down the dock, towards a man waiting at the end of the dock. He waved us over as we approached.
"We saw your ship, Fai Dan wants to speak to you," the dark skinned, dark haired man informed us. He shuffled his weight, casting his gaze over his shoulder and with a worn frown on his face.
"Who is Fai Dan?" Shepard asked, tilting his head to the side.
"He's... our leader. He you needs your help to prepare for the geth. They are making another push. Please, up the stairs past the freighter," he thrust his thumb towards them, around the corner. He tone was borderline panic. My frame quivered, hidden behind Shepard. At that moment, being the shortest member of the crew was a good thing. No, dammit Dell, this is an opportunity to speak to people, stop hiding! My teeth grit, knuckles white as my mind resisted against the urge to cower. I could do this, there was no turning back. The past month had been nothing but question after question, frustrating cowardice after nonsensical fear. Everything tensed. I would help people here. I would fight my fear!
That's when an explosion rippled through the area. The male cried 'Look out' just as a rocket snatched him off the ground and propelled him into a wall. My eyes glued to his corpse, the bile rising at the splattered remains. It gagged in my throat, stomach clenching. A new smell rose, one no one should never experience; charred human. We were two minutes in and we were already getting shot at! My eyes fixated, unable to drag my eyes away, but the blood was everywhere, dragging my attention back to the pieces of the human splattered around the dock. Raspberry jam, just imagine it like raspberry jam. That only made the stomach roll harder. And that dismembered hand-
Garrus snatched me and threw me behind a crate, crushing me as he took cover behind me. The gunfire drowned out my screams. His body blocked the sight of the human, but also of the geth trying to attack us. The ground crew already had weapons out, firing back at the geth. My eyes squeezed shut, shuddering. This was it, this was where I died… My lip bled as my teeth chomped on it, hand dropping to my hip. My fingers flinched as it touched the pistol, A hard lump slid away for me to breathe. My hands clenched around the pistol. It wasn't hard… It wasn't hard in training. I had practice, it wasn't hard! The geth stood out in the open, easy targets. Shepard had them pinned, Garrus would protect me from anything. The pistol yanked free, popping and extending. Beginner's luck, please be on my side for once. My head poked out from around the crate, searching through the bullets for a target. The pistol straightened, lining up, two handed as my hands tried to steady my hand. It collapsed, making me jump. The pistol never fired. My eyes turned up to Garrus, a hiss of steam escaping his rifle. He grinned down at me as he stood up. My knees trembling as they took my weight. Ok, good start. Aiming was a good step. That was a start, right? The pistol snapped against my hip as the guns holstered around the crew.
"Shepard, I don't know about this," Garrus sighed. He looked to the Normandy, his fingers twitched on my shoulders as we regrouped. "Dell has no experience of this, she doesn't have basic shooting skills" Shepard glanced down to me trembling before the turian. Tali kicked one of the geth, the audible clang sending shivers down my spine. It was too difficult to swallow, it felt like trying to swallow a grapefruit.
"She'll be fine," Shepard waved a hand. My expression slackened. "She's a bloody coward, name me one coward killed in action? None, because they can hide like little fuckers. She'll survive," he dismissed. "Besides, she wanted shore leave. What better place?" he grinned.
"Shepard, aren't you being too blasé about this?" Tali asked. Shepard shrugged.
"Look, I've tried my damnedest to get her to open up, but no, she wants to hide away in the lab. What she needs is a good kick up the arse," he said, marching towards the doorway the geth had spilled from. "And after all the hell I've been going through trying to get her a bloody position in the Alliance. You'll excuse the lack of fucks," My eyes found Garrus as the turian clicked his mandibles, my weight shuffling.
We approached the stairs leading us out of the dock, Shepard and Tali scouting ahead. My pistol pointing at the ground, the only safe angle to point it in all honesty. Garrus had his sniper rifle out, the size gun itself was to my chest. As we climbed the staircase, more geth attacked. The only problem was these ones looked like lizards, clinging to the walls and flinging themselves across the room. Garrus had me shoved to the ground to stop me from getting shot, the geth pouncing around any form of cover. He knelt over me as he tried to snipe a few, but his shields fluttered. My hands clung to the gun as if it would save me, but my body pinned itself to the floor when the sniper released a shot above my head. My brain rattled from the sound.
A geth crept down the stairs, my eyes spotting no crew members nearby as Shepard and Tali vanished around a corner, gunfire blaring in my ear. A geth clattered down the stairs, squeaking electronic sounds as it fired on us. The pistol rose, my arms shaking too hard to keep my arms straight. My finger squeezed the trigger. The gun recoiled, threatening smashing me in the face had it not been for my death grip. My bullet swung wide, crashing into a concrete pillar about 5 seconds after the geth had moved. A blush blinded me, my face burrowing in the dust. Garrus offered encouragement, although when he had to grab me and drag me back to keep distance between himself and the geth. A shotgun rang out though and the geth tumbled. Tali raised her nose a notch at Garrus. The turian scowled.
"You're getting slow," Tali joked. Garrus chuckled.
"Yeah well, I'd like to see you train Dell and keep her safe," he said. Tali hmmed at him, a discontent sound as Garrus grinned. The adrenaline in my system caused my muscles to twitch at every sound, every slight change in shadows. My pulse deafened me.
"All clear, let's move into the colony!" Shepard called. Garrus waited at my six until my knees freed up enough to walk. All the dragging and ground hurling that Garrus had done already ached my muscles. Tali brushed dust from my face as we passed, making me flush.
We entered the colony, Zhu's Hope, with no other confrontations. My walk had a sway to it as it staggered, the adrenaline fading. The colony was in disrepair, piles of rubble and people stranded in what appeared to be futuristic round static caravans. All the humans looked starved and weakened, bags under their eyes while others sat on the dusty ground. A sparse few people worked, clanging metal echoing through the camp.
"Alright people, we're at the colony. Garrus, Tali, you're with me. Shaik, try not to be a giant baby and try and help these people," Shepard said, marching onwards. Garrus and Tali paused long enough to glance at each other. But with Shepard powering onwards, they trotted to catch up.
The trio strode towards the distance, weaving through the mess and disorder. That left me standing in silence for a time, letting reality crash down on me. The cramped colony had a cold atmosphere, sending shivers down my spine. The wind was brisk, at least one planet phenomena my skin had not felt in weeks. Air pulled into my lungs, hands reaching back to comb my fingers through my hair. Dell, you have to do this. You have to do this. It's easy, Dell, just walk up to someone and ask if they need help. It's not that hard! My jaw set. There had to be way to override the fear... something. Anything! My mind turned to my parents, my imagination weaving a tale of my adventures, of the courage in my heart, of the people I helped. The pride on their faces… Fists clenched by my side as a woman nearby caught my attention, glaring at a console near a large metal pipe. There was no reason to what kept me afraid, what kept me back. But if I died and met my parents again and they heard what had happened… My mind kicked itself, shoving it forward, approaching the woman. My throat closed as the woman drew closer but my eyes closed, mind pretended it was elsewhere.
"E-Excuse me," I said. My eyes pried open. She turned to face me, eyebrows drown down and a frown pinned to her face. My confidence collapsed, but it was too late to stop. If I said nothing, she would- "I-I am Endellion Shaik, A-Alliance N-Navy. Is there anything I can do to help?" There. Not that hard, really, not that hard. My held breath released.
"Look, I get you're trying to be nice by I'm busy," she snapped, already turning to the console before her again. My frame shrank in, the shaking began anew. "I have to deal with the water shortage, I can't stop to talk," she returned to the console. Desperation does dreadful things to you, My shoulders tensed every muscle tight.
"Why is the water out?" I asked, my voice on the brink of squeaking. The blonde woman frowned at me, judging my mental stability.
"The utilities building was one of the first to fall under geth control. Looks like they turned the main controls off and until all four are working again, this colony is dry," she explained, rubbing her hands as she glowered at the controller. A bubble of hope rose to the surface.
"I-If you'd like, I can ask my Commander to look at it, h-he might head out that way," I said. The woman blinked, surprised.
"I would appreciate that, thank you," she replied, studied me.
"N-No problem. Is there anything else y-you need help with?" I asked. The woman blinked, straightening. She nodded. My confidence bunny hopped, climbing up.
"Well, not me but May O'Connell is trying to get the power back up so she can tell you how to help," she nodded to a tanned woman fighting her way through a metal pillar nearby to her. "Then our food supplies are down too but Davin Reynolds can fill you in for that. He's in the temporary housing straight ahead of you. We also have geth running in tunnels. If we can get those cleared out, then the attacks won't be as frequent. You'd need to speak to Fai Dan for more information though. I also saw a salarian around, strange fellow, but we don't know why he's here. We assume ExoGeni sent him. He looked annoyed about something, though he hasn't said two words to anyone here. I'm Macha Doyle," she added as if she had forgotten.
"T-Thank you. I'll go speak to everyone. If you need anything else, just ask. We'll do what we can," I said, finishing a piece of conversation without a quiver. Macha nodded.
"Thanks, Endellion. Now I need to see if I can't get to those mains from here. If not, then activating the mains the control panels will do the trick," She grumbled. My head nodded in agreement.
"I'll make sure the commander knows," I assured, scurrying away from the agitated woman.
The dark haired woman next on my list was May O'Connell, struggling with the power. She told me they needed power cells to get everything back up and running. She said there may be old machines lying around that could help us, but the commander had to deal with it. The wrinkles on her face eased when we parted, blowing large breaths out to stop my stomach from tying itself into a knot. Next was to track down the food man, Davin. It took a while to ease the anchors free to approach the metal box, shuffling. Was it alright for me to walk in? Was this living quarters? Well…I'd say Macha let me in if someone said something.
The interior felt like a boring static caravan, only in a static caravan you didn't feel like you were living inside a corrugated box. To top it off, a musky scent of sweat clouded the air. How did they get any privacy this shoebox? A man in a junction in the building caught my attention. He said something about an aggressive varren that could provide more than enough food, and make it easier to find food with it dead. The exit was on the other side of the corridor. Outside, Shepard, Garrus and Tali spoke with a man nearby, probably Fai Dan. From the sounds of things, they had just gotten the information about the tunnels. Tali glanced over her shoulder at the sound of the door closing. Her shoulders sagged. A smiled slipped free as I shuffled over to the group. Garrus glanced down, rubbing my back with his knuckle.
"Don't worry, we'll do what we can," Shepard assured.
"Until those geth are down, we're doomed," a dark haired woman grumbled. Well, she was positive...
"Alright, I'll talk to you later once I learn more," Shepard moved away from Fai Dan. The tanned man rubbing the back of his neck as he spoke to the woman. We all moved with Shepard as he found a quiet spot away from everyone.
"How is everything, Dell?" Garrus asked.
"A-Ah, well… Macha Doyle is trying to get the water back up, but the four mains pipes have been turned off in the utilities building. T-They need to manual activation from the looks of things. May O'Connell needs power cells to get the power back up, but the Normandy are too new. May said a few old vehicles may still have some in them they could use. A-And then Davin Reynolds needs an alpha varren killed. He can't get enough food and needs varren meat, but the alpha is too dangerous for them to deal with," I said, shuffling my weigh. Shepard blinked, eyebrows high before a wide grin appeared on his face.
"Finally! Hope! There's fucking hope!" he cheered. My expression flattened. "God, if this was all it took, I would've taken you out more often!" A floundering jaw later, my eyes turned to Garrus and Tali. The pair sighed.
"U-Uh… ok?" I asked. Shepard patted my shoulder. My sense of balance fought to stop myself flailing to the ground.
"Well in that case, just hang around here and see if you can't help anyone out. Just remember, Dell. This is a war zone. We'll be back in a few hours. Try not to get killed," he said with a thumb up. My lips pressed into a thin line, nodding, anything to make him go away. What could I do here that would get me killed?!
Tali gave me a hug, Garrus a firm squeeze on the shoulder. They followed Shepard through a doorway behind Fai Dan, disappearing into the ruins of the city. My expression could free once Shepard vanished from view. He was a spontaneous dick with some weird agenda no one could fathom. What the actual hell did he wanted anyway? Over the past 5 days, my time on the Normandy deteriorated. Pranks galore. So many pranks pulled against me and Shepard was the only one who was the probable culprit. My head shook, moaning. I'd deal with that later, there were still people who needed help. There was still that salarian but apart from the doctors at the hospital, I've never spoken to one.
The salarian Martha mentioned was at the back of the colony, scowling at its omni-tool. the horns on its head said he was male, so that was a good point. The dark grey alien, charcoal in colour had mottled silver markings around his head and hollow rings running down the back of his neck, leaving the horns black. His white markings on his face topped over his eyes and slipped down the bridge of his nose. He reminded me of a marbled salamander the way his cheeks were untouched by silver. His navy coloured eyes zipped over as I approached, sprinkles of silver sparkling the irises. They glanced back to the omni-tool, bored.
"Can I help you?" he asked, nonchalant. My confidence gathered, what little that managed to gather here today anyway.
"Hello, I-I'm Endellion Shaik, Alliance-" I said.
"I know," he looked to me again, tone aggravated. It took everything to hold the recoil. "Word has gotten around," My throat cleared. My confidence dripped away like a bad leak in a paper boat.
"M-Macha Doyle said you looked troubled. Do you need a-any help?" The salarian seemed to raise an eyebrow, looking me up and down. He folded his arms, dropping a hip as his eyes narrowed as his expression flattened.
"Human, I've noticed you wandering around. First, you've stuttered on every sentence you have spoken here. If you could be any more afraid, you would have fainted." He said. My body trembled. "Second, you are about as green as possible, so you couldn't even fight out of a sodden paper bag. Third, you look about as educated as a 5 year old. Is this your first space trip with daddy?" he asked. "So no, human, I don't think you can help," A faint fire igniting in my stomach.
"I wanted to see if you needed help. No need to be a dick about it," I grumbled.
"Wheel weave, a stutter free sentence. And a curse. You are improving," he chuckled. My eyes narrowed, breaths shortening with my bubbling blood. Not even a minute and he insulted me worse than Shepard! I couldn't… to deal with two of these…
"You know what, fuck you," I growled, the fire spreading. "I have to deal with enough shit without you adding to it. Do me a favour and get shot by a geth," I snapped as my body snapped on my heels.
"Oh dear, I appear to have upset the child," he laughed. My teeth gnashed, my march staggering. He smiled, a cold expression that crackled against the heat burning me from the inside. "Am I getting under your skin, little human?"
"I'm not little," I growled between my teeth. His eyes sparkled.
"Prove it," he dared. My expression heated, eyebrows snapped down. "A little challenge, I suppose. You wish to help these people," he waved a hand towards the camp. "Well, I know one of the connecting sky bridges just over to the east has a swarm of geth building. Now, I know there are members of the STG out there, but I do not think they know of the threat,"
"The point?" I grumbled.
"Well, someone should warn them, yes? Well, they are just up there," he pointed to a nearby tower, disappearing over a ridge of rubble. "They need to be alerted to the threat,"
"Why don't you do it?" I glared. He chuckled.
"Because I could not care less what happens to these colonists. They aren't my people and it isn't my duty," he replied, turning to the omni-tool. Every muscle tensed, gagging from the surprise flood of rage. I spun on my toes, matching back to the tall salarian. He straightened staring down at me as we met, a smile on his smug face.
"Who shall I say sent me? Aren't the STG a salarian task group?" I growled. "As if they would listen to me,"
"Just say Mat'al Delern sent you with a message," he smiled.