Chapter 4
I don't own Mass Effect...anyone who thinks so should use google to check.
"We should be approaching the second drop-off soon." remarked Anderson after Nihlius had departed.
"Any last-minute advice?" asked Shepard
"Be careful." answered Anderson "It's not useful advice, but we have no idea what you will face down there. The geth are almost a complete unknown to us, and these ones might have their hands on Reaper tech and weapons, which can do who knows what. Nihilus will try to give you a heads up on anything he sees, but for the most part, you'll be on your own."
"And if they get their hands on the Prothean Beacon, they could gain their technology too. With both kinds of tech in their control , there'd be no telling what they could do next." added Shepard as the ship started to slow
"Just get to the Beacon and get it and yourselves back safe. Political nightmare aside, I don't want to lose the Beacon or you. Mission's yours now Shepard, and good luck!" ordered Anderson as the ship came to a stop a short distance over the ground.
Jumping the one-meter fall, Shepard instantly raised her weapon and scanned the surroundings the second her feet touched the ground. It wasn't likely there would be any hostiles near the landing zone, but as Anderson said, they had little to no idea what they were up against. An ambush at the LZ was certainly possible as was nearby hostiles coming in to inspect the hovering ship.
Soon afterwards she heard the sounds of Jenkins and Kaiden landing behind her.
"Jenkins, you know where we are?" asked Shepard, still looking around.
"Yeah, this is a picnic spot for couples and those that just like to enjoy the sunset, though you get a good view of the sunrise as well. We're probably only a few clicks from the dig sight. I remember there being a lot of complaints when coming up here started to become restricted." answered Jenkins, looking around. Though not as warily as she would have liked. He was probably remembering coming up here himself, possibly with someone else.
"Which way to the dig sight?" asked Shepard
"Left, the main colony is on the right." answered Jenkins "Though it's a bit of a hike, uphill and through some trees and past a few boulders from memory."
"So, line of sight could be an issue." mused Shepard "Thanks for the warning, this mission will have enough surprises as is without adding to them."
"Hold on what's that?" asked Kaiden suddenly, getting her attention.
Aiming her rifle downrange at where Kaiden was looking she saw...something? Drift into view. It looked like a balloon made of flesh...that sounded more creepy than she meant it to.
"Don't worry, those are Gassbags, harmless but they do explode if hit." answered Jenkins
"Explode?" asked Shepard interested. That bit of information could be useful.
"Well less explode and more pop...like a balloon." amended Jenkins much to her hopefully hidden disappointment. Forget diamonds and pearls, explosions, guns and blades were her best friends.
'There goes that idea... though maybe they could make a nice distraction?' thought Shepard
"Okay everyone, follow my lead but keep a safe distance between everyone. Jenkins, let me know if we start heading in the wrong direction or if there is a better route." ordered Shepard
"I will, but after this, it's pretty much straight a straight line to the dig site." advised Jenkins
Making sure the immediate area was clear, they started to advance. Though Shepard made sure to keep an eye on the ridgeline as they went, looking at the map, she tried to work out if there was any way to make it to the dig site quicker.
Climbing up the slope and cutting through the trees could save them some time, but the only one familiar with the terrain was Jenkins. For now, it was probably best to stick with the open area where they had a better line of sight and were less likely to come across an enemy without seeing them. For some time, they encountered no hostiles. She was willing to bet however, that it wouldn't stay that way for much longer.
If it wasn't for the distress call, the only sign that something was wrong was the mounting tension in the air, like the calm before the storm. An itch that was building over the back of her skull.
It was that tension that had her raising her fist when everything to their right was blocked from view by a sheer rock wall while the ground in front of them ended shortly after the natural wall did. For them to proceed any further, they'd need to stick their heads out before making a right turn.
It could be nothing, or it could be an excellent spot for an ambush. It all depended on how far out the geth were spread. While they were still quite some distance from the dig sight, running into a group of patrolling geth wasn't out of the question. Nor was entering the scope of a watching sniper.
Not for the first time Shepard wished she had a scout or an infiltrator on board the Normandy. In situations like this, any knowledge on lay ahead was a big advantage, and Nihlius had yet to make a single report, much to her annoyance.
She could try reaching him over comms, but if he was trying to avoid being noticed, she might blow his cover and alert the geth to his presence. So after sending a short, typed message for him to contact her when he could, she got back on task.
Fortunately, as a Priestess, she had ways around such problems.
Closing her eyes and opening her mind, Shepard entered battle stance and pushed her mental abilities to their safe ahead, she could barely make out something at the edge of her perception. As it was at the outer edge it was hard to be sure what it was. But whatever it was, it was small, fast, and nimble. Before she could try and get a better look though, it left her field.
More worryingly though, something felt off much closer to home. It took a moment to realise what it was. With battle stance, you could pick up most things that were around you. Not everything, though. The smaller something was, less energy it gave off, the less likely it was to be spotted. For example, it's hard to miss a big red sign, but it's much easier to miss a penny on the ground.
An active kinetic barrier was one of the things that was almost easy for a Priestess to pick up. They tended to give off a 'buzzing' field around the individual in question.
If they were close or you were exceptionally skilled, you could even tell how strong that barrier was, which she couldn't...not yet at least. Though, she could tell if she was biting off more than she could chew. At the moment she should have been picking up three kinetic barriers...instead she was only picking up two.
"Jenkins...when was the last time you went over your armour systems?"
"Last night, I even made some modifications to improve shield strength." answered Jenkins proudly
"You did what?" asked Shepard seriously, next to Jenkins, Kaiden gave a wince. There was a reason why only engineers were supposed to make changes and repairs to shields and other complicated systems, other than the basic fixes and maintenance that every soldier was expected to do.
"I..." started Jenkins, obviously realising he did something wrong, but not yet knowing what it was.
"Stop talking, Kaiden?" asked Shepard, raising a hand to stop Jenkins from saying anything else.
As Kaiden started scanning Jenkin's armour with his omni-tool it wasn't long before he started frowning.
"I can see what he tried to do, however I can already see several mistakes, and I doubt it would have made that much of a difference even if he had pulled it off. Worst, he seems to have burnt out a few circuits as he did it."
"Can you fix it?"
"The circuits won't be a problem. There's several fail-safes built in. The kinetic barrier won't be as strong or recharge as quickly though. A bigger problem is all the adjustments and changes he's made. It will take too long to go through it and fix them manually. The best bet is to do a reset."
"And how long will that take?" asked Shepard, they were already losing time just standing here. They couldn't keep standing around, they needed to get going if they were going to get anything done.
"Five to ten minutes depending on if anything goes wrong. The bigger problem is it won't be calibrated."
This time it was Jenkin's turn to flinch.
An uncalibrated kinetic barrier was less than half as effective as one that was calibrated easily. They also depleted a lot faster, like someone tried using a sledgehammer to play cricket or golf. Theoretically possible, but not only did it become much harder to hit the balls but swinging it quickly tired you out. Just like how a professional player wouldn't even think of using a sledgehammer to play a game, no one with two brain cells to put together went into a battle with an uncalibrated shield. It was good to see that Jenkins understood that much at the very least. "And how long will it take for the shields to be calibrated?" asked Shepard already, knowing she wouldn't like the answer.
And she didn't.
"Including the reset, I expect it to take close to half-an-hour in total." answered Kaiden
"Shit." swore Shepard, given that bit of information there was only one choice.
"Jenkins, head back to the landing site. You're sitting this one out."
"But..." protested Jenkins
"But nothing! You made a stupid decision to mess around with your kinetic barriers! And this is the cost! Because of your mistake, I'm down a man. The only positive is that you're leaving here alive instead of in a body bag. In any other situation that muck-up would have ended up with you dead and the Alliance paying for your funeral. We can't afford to sit around and wait half an hour for shields that sounds to be at best 70% effective."
"Yes ma'am, sorry ma'am." said Jenkins suitably cowed and shoulders slumped.
Feeling slightly bad. Slightly being the operative word, Shepard took on a gentler tone. It wasn't completely his fault. He was a rookie, and this was his first actual mission that wasn't a training exercise. It wasn't an excuse, but it was a reason. Heaven knows she made mistakes when she started out and knowing that she should have had someone double-check his gear or kept a closer eye on him.
"The Normandy won't be able to pick you up as long as that dreadnought is here. If you can fortify or secure the landing zone or an area nearby, then do it. If we come across any survivors, we'll send them your way. That said, stay down and quiet if you can.
Also, someone once told me 'a rookie becomes a veteran by not making mistakes and surviving the ones they do'. You just made your first mistake. Where you go from now is up to you."
Turning to Kaiden, Shepard continued.
"Start that reset. Also, if you could do something about the calibration, it would be good too. I don't think many geth would be this far out from both the dig site and the colony itself but Jenkins will be on his own and I don't want a couple of patrolling geth taking him out."
"I've started the reset and put in a program for a basic calibration. It's not as good a manual one, but it's better than nothing." said Kaiden as he finished working on Jenkins armour.
"Alright, head out Jenkins and stay safe. Hopefully, we'll see each other after this."
As Jenkins turned to go, Shepard stopped him.
"Hold on, it's probably a good idea if I get a basic layout of the area from you. That okay with you?"
"Go ahead ma'am." replied Jenkins
"Okay focus on where the dig sight and spaceport are from here and imagine yourself walking there. That and that only that."
When she had what she needed, she ended the joining and sent him on his way. Then, when he was gone, Kaiden turned to Shepard.
"Are you sure that was the best option?"
"His shields didn't work, even if I had him trailing behind, a single shot could have and probably would have taken him out. Too much risk of sniper fire or someone coming in from behind. And if he was too far behind we won't make it back to help him in the second scenario. Best he stays where we know it should be safe until his kinetic barriers are up and running, and having a secure landing spot is always a good thing in my book. As long as he finds a good spot that machine gun should be enough to deal with any stray geth he comes across. Hopefully, the geth will be too busy dealing with us to send too many geth that far out."
"So what now?" asked Kaiden
"We continue the mission, it's the only thing we can do. Now I need you to be ready to cover me, I felt something out at around 30 meters out and we should assume it's hostile." ordered Shepard
Taking a breath, Shepard created a barrier and rushed towards a nearby boulder, that she knew was around the corner thanks to battle stance. Meanwhile, Kaiden stayed behind, ready to jump out and provide cover fire if needed before ducking back.
When she was nearly in cover she heard a high pitch nose and a single drone appeared followed by two more a metre behind.
She didn't recognise the design. Which meant they were geth in origin... or new models from one company or another. As she peered over the boulder, the drone opened fire, peppering the boulder and blasting chunks off of it.
'Well if it's not geth at least I've got a good reason for the paperwork.' thought Shepard to herself
Raising her rifle she put three quick rounds into the first drone taking it out. As she aimed at the second two a singularity appeared, sucking them both in. Taking advantage Shepard detonated it with her own biotics, turning the drones into scrap metal.
"Clear!" called out Shepard, checking to make sure that no other drones appeared.
Walking over to the one that Shepard took out, Kaiden started scanning.
"What do you think will happen to Jenkins after this?" asked Kaiden as he worked. "He's a good kid, don't get me wrong he made a stupid mistake but he's a good kid."
"He's certainly not going back to being stationed on the Normandy. My best bet is he'll go through retraining but with more criticism for any mistakes he makes. Reteaching him anything that didn't sink in the first time. Now, are you getting anything good?" answered Shepard
"The drones got a higher energy output than anything the alliance has. Probably better than even what the Salarian Union has to offer as well, at least anything other than their state-of-the-art stuff. If we can reverse engineer their tech, it could advance the Alliance's by a decade.
Shields don't seem to be that impressive, but with their mobility and size, it doesn't have to be. Hard to hit a target that small and moves unless you're trained. Same with weapons, better than Citadel standard but lower than medium Alliance ams.
That said, a small group of them would be devastating to anyone they run into, like a swarm of bees armed with assault rifles. Though, they are probably more for surveillance than actual combat. They barely make any noise, and there could easily be more out there watching us from a distance without us knowing about them. "
'That's not a pleasant thought.'
"So the geth are looking for anyone that might have gotten away or any reinforcements that might be coming...we better keep going. The geth definitely know we're here, and I'd rather have them focusing on us than trying to find anyone else out here." ordered Shepard
"One more thing, while it's not as powerful as an Alliance rifle, a few shots would have definitely taken Jenkins out. It would have looked like the fire tore through his shields and armour in seconds, and even with an autopsy, it would have looked like his shields either fried or malfunctioned. Unless they gave a good look at the coding, they would have never known something was wrong with it."
"Thankfully, that didn't happen. Is there any chance you can scan those drones as well?" asked Shepard, nodding at the drones that got taken out by the detonating singularity.
"Well...there's not much left of them, so no." answered Kaiden.
"Too bad, lets get moving before any more geth get here." ordered Shepard
Ten minutes after they encountered the drones they had to take out a small group of bipedal geth accompanied by a couple of drones. The bipedal geth put up more of a fight, their shields and weapons were better but they went down all the same.
"This far from the dig site and we're already running into geth troops... that's not a good sign." said Shepard out loud
"Think many made it out?" asked Kaiden
"Hard to say, if there was enough warning, they could have started evacuating and sought shelter. But if that's the case, we would have gotten an automated distress call when the invasion started, not when we were a few hours out. The only good thing is if they are truly only after the beacon, they might ignore the colony itself."
Going over the map, plus what she got from Jenkins, Shepard was able to work out a shorter route to the dig site than they were already on, cutting a few minutes off their journey.
The next time they encountered geth there were a lot more of them. Two groups, one with five bipedal geth while the other one had only two. The larger group was further away while the smaller group was much closer and was carrying/dragging someone. A civilian by the looks of it.
The second she spotted them, both groups started to turn to face her.
"Kaiden civilian!" shouted Shepard, hoping he understood her order
He did.
As Shepard biotically charged forward, holstering her rifle and pulling out her axes as she went. A biotic throw hit the man, tearing him out of the geths arms and sending him flying backwards. Geth blue rounds hitting the air he had just vacated. Passing her by mere feet as she came in.
Focusing her biotics into her arms and her axes, she swung as hard as she could down onto the shoulder blades of the first geth that was holding the man.
The blades of the axes went in so deep that if it was an organic, they would have been crippled for life. But this wasn't an organic. Pushing her biotics into a barrier, she ripped out the axes. Spinning the axe in her left hand around, she drove the spike on the back of the axe into the 'skull' of the first geth. It might not be an organic, but a head was a head and that head sure looked like a camera to her. The other axe she threw into the chest of the second geth.
Using the axe imbeded in the geth's head as a lever, Shepard wisted the geth unit around. Using its body as a makeshift shield to take the rounds of its fellows. Pulling out her own pistol, she fired three rounds into the chest of the second geth. This, combined with the axe and the rounds that Kaiden had already fired, was enough to take it out. Focusing on the remaining five geth, Shepard continued firing her pistol while Kaiden created a singularity in the middle of them before detonating it.
While the detonation itself only took out a single geth, the closest one. It damaged a second another and partially depleted the barriers of two more, leaving only one geth platform left still at full strength.
Going for the most damaged geth first, it wasn't long before it fell and joined the others already on the ground. As it did, Kaiden shot a sabotage at one of the geth that had a depleted shield, disabling its weapon and making it an easy target to take out.
Focusing her biotics around herself, Shepard created a powerful barrier to take any of the shits her geth shield didn't. By the time the rest of the geth were taken out, there wasn't much left of her makeshift geth shield.
After making sure it really was dead by shooting a couple more rounds into its neck, she dropped it; a girl couldn't be too careful after all, especially since the geth seemed to have been focusing mainly on her rather than Kaiden.
Not that she was complaining, she had a geth shield and a biotic barrier. They probably saw as more of a threat. But it could prove annoying, not to mention dangerous if they kept doing that. Holstering her pistol, she used her biotics to summon her other axe before sheathing both of them.
"Kaiden, scan the geth, I'll check on the civilian. Be careful they might not all be down for the count." ordered Shepard
While it looked like they were all taken out, they still didn't have a good grasp on their capabilities. While it was doubtful the geth she used as a shield could do anything, it was possible one of them could still drive a knife into Kaiden should he get close enough.
As Kaiden started scanning, one eye on the readings, the other on the geth, Shepard approached the wounded civilian who was attempting to sit up. That said she too was careful to keep an eye out for any geth movement.
"Are you okay?" asked Shepard, getting down to one knee. It looked like he had taken a shot to the leg, using her omni-blade she carefully cut away at the pantleg before applying some medi-gel. It looked bad, but while he'd probably have an ugly burn/scar for the rest of his life, he'd get to keep the leg.
"Thank God you came, when they grabbed me I thought it was over." gasped the man. He looked to be in his mid 40's, balding, average health.
"Did they say anything?" asked Shepard as she made sure the medi-gel bonded properly. While she had no reason to believe the geth could speak, she had no reason to think they couldn't and if the geth were taking prisoners then that meant there could be more civilians making it out alive. However, it also made things more complicated, and for some reason, she doubted the geth were just after information. Surely, they could get information off their omni-tools quicker than they could get it out of the person carrying it.
"Nothing, I was trying to make it to the outskirts when I got hit in the leg. I thought I was dead but then they started dragging me off. I-I tried fighting them off but-"
"You did what you could." cut off Shepard. While she didn't know the physical strength of the average geth unit or platform she doubted it would be easy for a marine let alone a civilian to fight one off, let alone more. Gears vs elbow joints sort of thing. "Now sit still and relax."
She wasn't a healer class Priestess, but she still knew the Priestess's version of basic first aid. Putting one hand near the leg wound and the other on his head, Shepard joined minds. Searching for wounds, she found a few, the leg wound, obviously. Then there were some bruised, possibly fractured ribs, likely from Kaiden's throw. A few muscle tears in his arms and legs from running further than he would normally be able to and trying to fight the geth off. Adrenaline can make you able to do a lot of things. Running when you'd normally be doubling over was just one of them. It didn't mean you wouldn't pay for it later, though. There were also bruises around his arms where the geth had forcibly held him. When she was sure she knew about the most serious injuries, she got to work.
"Can you stand?" asked Shepard when she finished
"I-I think so." said the man shakily getting to his feet.
"Good." heading to a nearby tree, she pulled out one of her axes again. With one stroke she cut off one of its branches, another and she trimmed its length roughly to what the man would need. A few more cuts and she had a basic walking aid. "Head to this location." said Shepard showing him their LZ "It's not that far but take it slow, I've dulled your pain receptors to help you move, but that doesn't mean you're healed. Keep that in mind and keep as much weight off your foot as you can. Also, I'd advise seeing another Priestess, preferably one, who's a qualified healer after this is over to fix you up properly."
"I will."
"Good, can you use a pistol, and do you have any medi-gel on you?"
"My wife made sure that I always carry a few cc's just in case...s-shes probably at the colony right now, and I did some shooting when I was younger." answered the man worriedly, probably thinking of his wife
"If she's at the colony she should be fine." lied Shepard, while it was likely the geth focused most of their attention on the dig site it was possible they sent some forces to occupy the colony and stop the Alliance from sending anyone to help. Telling him that would just make things worse though "Now take this pistol and be careful. But before you go, can you tell me anything about the dig site or the Prothean beacon?" asked Shepard, handing over the Avenger pistol.
"I don't know anything about that. I'm just in charge of removing the excess dirt from the dig site, keeping the site clear basically. My men were filling up the truck when the geth hit. I barely got out of there. W-when I heard the shots I just ran a-and just kept running! When I couldn't run any more I hid and then tried making it to the colony and that's when they grabbed me. I remember hearing them saying they found something important a few days ago but I just figured it was pottery or something."
"Okay, the pistol is of Citadel design so you don't have to worry about reloads. Fire a few rounds then wait for a few seconds for it to cool, one second for one round. Do that and you don't have to worry about it overheating. Now get going and be careful."
As the man hobbled off, leaning on the crunch and gripping the pistol Shepard wondered if she was making the right choice. Handing a civilian a pistol before sending them off didn't seem like a good idea, and if he did run into geth she doubted he could take out one let alone more. That said she couldn't let him go off on his own without at least the means to defend himself.
"...come on." said Shepard, forcing herself to turn around. Hopefully, he'd make it, if he didn't...sadly there was nothing she could do. Even if she hadn't been ordered to focus on the beacon she still would have pushed forward trying to find survivors.
A few minutes later they came across something...odd. It was an oversized tripod, like one that could hold a turrent or machine gun but there was nothing on top.
"Any idea on what that is?" asked Shepard as Kaiden started scanning while she kept a look out.
"No idea. Tech looks different, but the same materials though. Like something asari designed but made by turians." explaided Kaiden after giving it as detailed a scan as they could afford.
"Leave it then. We don't have time for whatever it is, flag it. Hopefully, it's still here and the Alliance can pick it up before working out what it is and what it does." ordered Shepard
A few more minutes later and they came across the dig site itself. A group of large holes and artifacts that she sure were important and belonged in one museum or another but to her they just looked like bits and pieces that someone would find in a shop of pre-loved items. More noticeable to her were the signs of battle. Pools of blood, bullet holes, scorch marks from explosives and more than one broken artifact or piece of machinery. Evidently, the place was hit hard and fast but there was one problem.
"...Where are all the bodies?" asked Shepard out loud. A battle that left this much damage would have resulted in at least one casualty. Yet she couldn't see a single body. Organic or otherwise.
"Maybe they all made it out?" suggested Kaiden, though his tone said otherwise.
"Too much blood...at least one person wasn't making it out of here. A marine would drag off any wounded they could, but they'd leave the fallen until it was safe to retrieve them."
Entering battle stance briefly, Shepard checked the surroundings for any bodies, living or otherwise as well as the beacon...nothing.
Releasing the battle-stance she headed to the nearest large blood stain where she stopped and knelt down, examining the ground before her.
"Well I think we know what happened." said Shepard "It looks like there were dragged out of here, just not by us."
Following after her, Kaiden looks at the blood-stained ground. Near the stain were two drag marks and next to those...were geth footprints. A quick look at the other blood stains revealed similar drag marks and footprints.
"You think they wanted to interrogate them too?" asked Kaied
"Doubtful." answered Shepard "Anyone who lost that much blood isn't likely to make it unless they get immediate help and even then, they won't be in any condition to talk anytime soon. For some reason, they want people but don't seem to care if they are dead or alive."
"But why would they-" started Kaiden only to be interrupted by Shepard raising her fist. Something that had Kaiden readying his smg and rechecking their surroundings.
Shepard swore she heard something..but what? Straining, she tried to hear something... Anything at all, then she heard it..gunfire.
"Follow me! It looks like the geth haven't finished dealing with everyone yet."
Moving with a greater sense of urgency it wasn't long before the gunfire became louder and clearer.
The weapons seemed to be a mix of geth, Alliance and Citadel. Cresting a hill they got a good look at the firefight in question.
Defending what seemed to be a combination of a small research station/temp housing were a squad of marines that seemed to be worse for wear as well as a number of armed civilians.
Attacking them was not only the usual standard geth but what she could only describe as zombies straight out of a 21st-century video game. As she watched, one of the 'zombies' climbed on top of one of the temporary housing units. Intending on leaping down onto the marines and civilians below.
A shot to the head from Shepard's rifle quickly put a stop to that. Hearing the shot and the 'zombies' body hit the roof, a marine wearing what Shepard had to admit was probably the ugliest set of pink armour spotted her.
"We've got friendlies on left!" shouted out the woman
Shepard was already aiming at the next 'zombie'
While they weren't armed, with the numbers they were charging the defenders in they didn't need to be. A single one of them getting through and grappling with someone would be devastating. It seemed Kaiden realized that too. Whenever he wasn't launching or detonating a singularity he had the trigger fully down. His shots weren't as accurate as they usually were but they almost didn't need to be, such were the numbers of the 'zombies' charging in. The geth meanwhile sat back and opened fire from a safer distance, at this rate it was a good thing they arrived when they did. While the bulk of 'zombies' seemed to be grey there seemed to be a red or blue one thrown in every so often.
Seeing a red one in the middle of the normal grey ones Shepard opened fire on. It seemed the first shot, which would have been a hit to the lung didn't affect it that much so she quickly followed it by a few more. Instead of slumping like she expected, it exploded in a massive detention.
While this came with the benefit of taking out its fellows it was far from the only one uniquely coloured. And some of them were getting awfully close.
"Shit!"
Switching tactics, Shepard focused on the coloured ones as soon as they could appear. Especially if they were near a group, leaving the rest for everyone else to take care of.
While the red ones released a massive explosion, the blue ones seemed to release a combination of static energy with some biotic energy added in. The purpose of the standard grey seemed to be to overwhelm the defenders with pure numbers, the red were to take them out while the blue was to deplete shields and barriers.
Kaiden kept up his smg fire and while he still threw out singularities he no longer detonated them. However, there must have been a biotic down below as someone else was, just before they dissipated...they detonated. The detonation might not have been as strong as they would have been usually but a detonation was still a detonation.
For a while, their numbers seemed unending. Each one that fell was replaced by another. But eventually, their numbers started to fall. More importantly, the ones with the unique colours no longer appeared. With the unending stream of enemies gone, everyone could finally focus on the geth. First one fell and then another, eventually the only ones left were Alliance.
When all the enemies Shepard and Kaiden started to approach the defenders where they were treated by the woman wearing pink armour. Behind her were about a dozen and a half armed individuals, one of them was a heavily wounded Priestess being tended to by a female quarian.
"Thank you. You really saved our asses there, no way we would have made it out of that one."
"Glad to be of help, and you are?" asked Shepard
"Ashley Williams, Gunnery Chief of the 2 12. Are you in charge here?" asked the woman
"I am, what can you tell me about what's happening?" asked Shepard
"There's a lot to go over, first me and the rest of my squad were on patrol when we suddenly attacked. According to Tali over there." said Ash, nodding to the quarian "It's the geth, we attempted to regroup. We're what's left of three different units and whoever made it out of the initial attacks. We sort of all ran into each other afterwards, we attempted to get a warning out but comms were down, we put together a makeshift distress signal but I don't know if it worked."
"It worked. We picked it up on the ship we came here on, thanks to that we pushed the engines to get here a few hours sooner than we were originally going to be."
"I'm glad to hear that. I don't think there would've been many of us left in a few hours. The moment we sent out the warning, they started hitting us even harder. We tried making it to the outskirts, but they kept us pinned. Ma'am, is it just you two, or do you have a squad nearby? We need all the help we can get right now. The geth on their own were bad enough and now those things are charging at us as, well...its more than some of us can handle."
"I'm afraid it's just us two. We had to send our third member back to our LZ. If you want to make another attempt on getting out of here I suggest you go now. We cleared out all the geth behind us and they will only come back in greater numbers after we're gone."
"Probably." said Ash before activating her comms. "Listen, everyone! We're going to make another attempt to get out of here. Everyone who can move get ready and take only what's needed. Food, water, ammo, medi-gel, etc, and blankets too if you can. No, telling how long we could be out here for. Tali, can you and Darwin make sure everyone's stable enough to move?"
"Sure thing." said the quarian before scurrying off after she was finished helping the wounded Priestess.
"Life saver that one. Not only is she the only reason we got the warning out but she's helped make repairs and more than one of my men would have been down fighting an infection by now if not for her. I knew quarians were great engineers, but I guess with their immune systems, they have to be good at first aid too." remarked Ash
"Hey, what were those things?" interrupted Kaiden "I don't want to be that guy, but they look like they could be the generic undead for any horror vid and game I can think of."
"You're not the first person to think 'zombie'" signed Ash tiredly "One of my men got bit, you can imagine how that went down. Thankfully, aside from being still a serious wound, he's fine, Darwins still keeping an eye on him just in case, though. I have no idea what they are, though, or where they came from, but I bet the geth do. Some of us thought it was some kind of manufactured virus at first, blame trashy horror vids for that. From what little we were able to gather while we were fighting for our lives, though, it looks like someone has dug up dead bodies and crammed a bunch of implants into them before sending them our way."
"We have seen evidence the geth are interested in taking in people, dead or alive. This could be why." commented Kaiden
"Listen we're here after the beacon and to make sure the geth don't get away with it but we'll help if we can. We have some spare ammo and an Averager rifle if you want them." said Shepard, offering the ammo bag and spare rifle over.
"We'll take them. We only had a standard pack of ammo each before the attack. More than enough for a standard patrol but not enough for what we've been up against. We spread the ammo out as much as we could, but if it wasn't for a couple of Citadel weapons, we'd be down to only a few functioning weapons by now. I never thought I'd be so glad to have one of their pea shooters." replied Ash, taking the weapon and ammo before passing them on.
"As for the beacon, I think it might have been moved towards the spaceport. Some of the survivors were from the dig site, and they said there was supposed to be a pick-up later today. I'm guessing that's you and your still going after it."
"That's right." replied Shepard
"In that case I'd like permission to join you." asked Ash
"What about your men?" replied Shepard, giving a look towards the men in question as well as the civilians they were protecting.
"If it wasn't for you I wouldn't have any men left and I'd like to return the favour and if that means I can kick some more tin can ass then all the better. Besides" said Ash cracking her knuckles, a flicker of biotic energy going over them. "you're going to need all the help you can get if you want to get any closer to the spaceport, especially since you're a Priestess."
"You a biotic?" asked Shepard looking at her hands while filing away the Priestess comment for the moment.
"Wha-?" asked Ash before realising where Shepard was looking "Oh no, not really. Don't have the..." said Ash tapping the side of her head. "No biotic talent either, so it wouldn't matter if I did. All I can do is add a bit of extra power to my punches, even if I got an amp all I'll be able to do is a weak throw that wouldn't even put a volus on their ass much less throw someone across the room."
"What did you mean...especially since you're a Priestess?" asked Kaiden
"For some reason, the geth have been focusing on Priestesses whenever they present. I mean really focusing, like drop everything as soon as they see them."
"They could just taking out the biggest threats first." argued Kaiden
"The lieutenants got a point. While not all Priestesses are dangerous in a fight, most have decent skills when it comes to biotics. If you were invading, targeting all the Priestesses first would be a good strategy." added Shepard
"No, it's not that. One of the Priestesses was an unarmed civilian. She didn't even have a pistol and yet they targeted her like she was a krogan warlord with a hammer, completely ignoring everyone else. The only Priestess still alive from the dig site and our squads is Peggy and that's only because Tali was there." said Ash "There's also something else out there. We don't know what, but it ripped apart a whole squad on it's own. Not only physically but biotically as well. When we found the bodies it looked like Baba Yaga herself had been there, not a single one of them died from gunfire. If I did't know better I'd say it was a biotic tiger running around."
Baba Yaga was an old superstition about a creature that was neither human nor Priestess. Scholars and historians had both theoriesed that it was possibly the first clinically insane Priestess or biotically gifted serial killer. The fact that a soldier was bringing it up meant those bodies probably looked like they went through a literal meat grinder.
"We could use the extra help...alright you're with us but you follow my lead okay?"
"Eye eye Captain." saluted Ash "DONKEY!"
"Yes chief?" called out a voice, coming over was a well-built man in heavy armour and a strand of blond hair going across his eyes underneath his helmet visor.
"You're in charge, I'm going with the Commander." said Ash
"You sure chief?"
"I'm sure, get everyone out of here. When everyone's safe I want you to see if you can get one of the defensive guns working, go for the one ten kilometres from the colony. It's also the closest to where we are now. Even if Penny's wrong about that ship I don't want something that can take out three of ours like they were made out of paper around when the Alliance sends in reinforcements without any help we can give them. If the geth are focusing on the colony then they should be clear enough to take one."
"We'll do what we can Ash, don't worry about us." assured the man "We'll be okay."
"If you can, head to this location." added Shepard, sending over the LZ details "I've already sent one other survivor to there and my other teammate should be there."
"Thanks, we'll head there. Hopefully, we won't run into any problems on the way there."
"Don't worry, I'll make sure that the geth are too busy worrying about us to send anyone after your pansy ass." teased Ash
"If you ever seen my ass chief, you'd know its anything but pansy." shot back Donkey
As the banter continued, Shepard recognised it for what it was. Talk between two soldiers who knew quite well that this might be the last time they ever spoke but wouldn't admit it out loud. That they or the person next to them might be the next one to die. As Tali returned, however, that banter came to an end.
"Darwin says everyone is as stable as we can get them. It'll be slow, but they'll make it."
"Looks like you better get going...get everyone out safe okay?"
"Will do chief, make sure you give them hell."
As Ash and Donkey said their farewells, Shepard turned to the quarian.
"Tali right?"
"That's right." answered the quarian nervously
"You think you can fix up a kinetic barrier?" asked Shepard
"Of course, I can...is something wrong with yours?" asked Tali looking at her armour for any sign of damage.
Shepard got the feeling, that if the situation was different. That if things weren't so serious...Tali would have sounded very insulted just then.
"No. Our other squadmate did something he shouldn't have done and damaged his. That's the reason we had to send him back. If you see him I'd like you to fix it and make sure it's running properly."
"I can do that."
"Come on Tali we need to start moving" said Donkey
Soon the defenders started leaving, some on their own power and some were half-carried. Only time would tell how many would make it. As the quarian was passing however she gave a long look back. As if wondering if she was going with the right group.
"I really hope they make it." said Ash, also looking over her shoulder as the two groups parted. As they climbed the slope ahead of them a massive shriek was heard from somewhere in front of them. Though how far away was impossible to say.
"What the fuck was that?!" asked Shepard, something about the sound was so familiar but sounnatural at the same time.
"I don't know but I'm pretty sure it's whatever tore apart that squad I mentioned before. I've heard it a few times and I'm thankful whatever it is never headed for us. Now that we're going towards it though I guess it's only a matter of time before we see what it is.
Somewhere ahead
Ever since landing, Nihlus had kept silent and tried to avoid detection. It wasn't easy, but for the most part, he had managed it. While the geths gear was better than most, he'd faced worse odds. Ones where the other guy had stronger shields and carried more dangerous weapons, it was more than enough for the colonists who called Eden Prime home. Just before he had passed dozens of humans speared on spikes. What was unusual was that while some of them looked like they had been dead for hours others looked like they had been dead for weeks. He would have liked to have a closer look, but there were more important things to do.
As he started getting closer to the spaceport and the large dreadnaught looming over it, he started having second thoughts about Shepard being wrong about it. He didn't know where that dreadnought came from, but as he got closer he started to get an itch on the back of his frills, like there was a predator behind him looking at his neck and working at the best way to snap it. It almost seemed that every step he took forward increased the pressure at the back of his skull, like something wanted in. Shaking his head to clear it, he continued. It wouldn't be much longer before he got to the spaceport, he had attempted to get in contact with Shepard a few times but each time it failed.
Evidently, something was jamming comms. As he checked ahead for geth, an unnatural shriek came from behind him some distance away. It wasn't the first time he heard it, but each time, the shriek wasn't any closer or further away. This meant only one thing...whatever it was...was stalking him and he doubted very much it was friendly.
As he got closer he ducked behind cover, someone was up ahead and he didn't want to take the chance it was anything but hostile. Raising his shotgun he got ready too-
"Saren?" asked Nihlius completely shocked. There, standing in front of him was the last person he expected to see. "What are you doing here?"
"The Council thought you might need a hand with this one." answered Saren, giving him a reassuring pat on the shoulder before walking away.
"It's bad, I wasn't expecting to see-" started Nihlus before being cut off by another shriek. Unlike the others this one sounded close...really close. Looking in the direction of the shriek he got a good look at what had been following him and it wasn't pretty.
Whatever it was it was, it was clear it was once asari, or a Priestess. Was being the key word, she was completely naked and it looked like all her limbs were stretched out, each one looked twice as long as it should be and her fingers ended in long claws. Her skin was grey-blue like the impaled humans with cables wesving in and out of it. The worst part however, was the swollen, gorged stomach, breasts and the odd bone jutting out her skin. It was like like she had been pregnant before what happened to her. He'd seen horror films less horrific, especially when he noticed the way it was staring at him.
Instantly going into battle mode, Nihlus raised his shotgun and fired. Unfortunately, the rounds were stopped by a biotic barrier, a powerful one at that. Completely ignoring his shots the thing threw out a biotic warp. Rolling to the side, he managed to avoid it. Bringing up his gun again, he fired another two rounds. More alarmingly, it did a short biotic charge forward. Closing the distance between them by half.
"Saren flank it while I keep it occupied! It might have strong barriers, but it doesn't look like it can take much punishment with them gone." Shouted out Nihlus, but there was no reply, and then Nihlus realised something...the only gunfire had been his, and that's when another biotic attack sent him flying. However, the attack didn't come from the front, it came from behind him.
Climbing to his feet and then turning around Nihlus saw another one of those creatures and right next to it, completely unconcerned by its presence was Saren.
"Sorry, old friend, but this is one fight you're on your own." said Saren before turning to the monstrosity "Kill him quickly; painless too if you can. Though I doubt he will make it easy for you."
"Saren...what do you think you are doing?" demanded Nihlus. Part of him wanted to point his shotgun at Saren and tell him to stand down but he knew it wouldn't be that simple and he needed it to keep those things at bay.
"You wouldn't understand and I'm afraid I don't have time to try explaining it to you. Just know that what I'm doing is for the greater good of the Turian Heirachry.
"I doubt the Hierarchy would agree." argued Nihlius, trying to think of a way out.
"They don't have to agree." remarked Saren, a touch of mournfulness in his voice as he stared at him. "But that doesn't mean I don't have to what I'm about to do...goodbye Nihlius."
Stepping backward, he climbed onto a platform behind him. A few moments later, that platform took off and was flying out of sight, leaving Nihlus alone with two dangerous threats. On the plus side, it was no longer three. Saren alone was a big enough threat on his own. There was a reason he got to where he did. The bad news was that he wouldn't know where he was or, more importantly, what he was doing. What was even worse was that the creatures were soon joined by a third of their kind, putting the odds back to three on one.
As the creatures moved closer, Nihlius got ready for what was undoubtedly was going to be one of the hardest fights of his life...one he might not make it out of.