Hello again, everyone, and welcome back to my Gears of War/Mass Effect crossover.
My deepest apologies for taking so long to update. I had an interesting last week, and I wasn't up to speed. Fortunately, I'm back on top now, so this here's the next chapter.
As always, leave a review and enjoy!
Disclaimer: I do not own the Gears of War or Mass Effect franchises. They are the respective properties and trademarks of BioWare, Electronic Arts, The Coalition, Epic Games and Microsoft Studios. Any material original to the franchises belongs to their respective developers and publishers. any material not original to the franchises is of my own invention. I do not own any music listed in each chapter. Any music listed belongs to it's original composers and/or artists.
SSV Normandy
Approaching Asgard System
March 9th, 2186
It was another quiet day on the Normandy as it exited FTL flight and began to travel to Terra Nova. While he at the Citadel getting a few things done, an Alliance official had asked Shepard if he could be transported to Terra Nova, as he was investigating rumors of a possible Imulsion infestation near one of their cities there. Shepard, having seen how terrible Imulsion could become, had agreed to do so, as he also wanted to investigate the rumor himself.
Hopefully, it's just that: a rumor, Shepard thought to himself as he began to travel down to the cargo hold. Lately, the Council's been really busy dealing with the threat of Imulsion. According to Udina and Anderson, half of the Turian Hierarchy has been busy securing possible areas, while the STG comes in to destroy the stuff. After seeing what it's capable of, I know they're right to do so.
He then recalled the two Turians they had escorted to Digeris, as they had sent a message to him a few days ago. They're doing well, and their families have been nothing but supportive of them, he smiled. If all goes well, this incident will become nothing more than a bad memory, though it has marked their bodies in more ways than one.
His train of thought came to an end as he walked out of the cargo elevator. Much to his surprise, he found that everyone was huddled around a crate in the cargo hold. It was clear what was going on, as he heard Baird growl, "Will you numbnuts stop hovering over me like a pack of Razor Vultures? Go find something useful to do!"
"Well, what you're doing's more interesting than what we're doing," Garrus countered. "Besides, I just got done finishing the calibrations on the Mako, and I would like to see how the guy I taught electronics is doing."
"The guy you taught?" Tali, who was also present, asked. "I swear I taught Baird around 90% of everything that he now knows."
"Really? I thought it was 50%."
"Enough," Marcus growled. "Baird's got a point. Stop hovering over him."
That resulted in half of the huddled people leaving, allowing Shepard to see what was going on. So that's where my armor went off to, he noted as he watched Baird fiddling with his helmet. I wonder what he's doing. Walking over, he asked, "What's up?"
Baird jumped at that, kicking at a nearby crate in the process. "Fuck!" he snarled. "Stop doing that to me, all of you! Can't you let a man have a little peace every now and -" Spotting Shepard, he immediately stopped and said, "Sorry, Shepard."
"That's alright," Shepard reassured him. "I did kinda deserve a chewing out there, though a part of me is wondering what you're doing to my armor. Care to explain?"
Baird sighed. He knew that this was going to happen, though he figured that it wouldn't hurt for Shepard to know what he was doing. "All right," he decided. "I was working on making your helmet a little tougher. Never know when you might need a little extra armor to protect that stuff between your years."
"A fair point. Just make sure you warn me, though."
"I will," Baird beamed. "Also, while we were at the Citadel, I got a new toy to play with."
"Oh?" Shepard asked. Just as he said, this, JACK came into view, only… it wasn't the JACK that he'd seen before. This one, while looking similar in general shape, looked much more angular than before, with hardened armor plating on the chassis. The two arms were still there, though they now looked heavily reinforced, and one looked like it had a weapon on it. "Is that JACK?" he asked.
"Yep," Baird nodded. "I found some people that make robots for a living, primarily customized LOKI's. I asked them to make a really good version of JACK when they could, plus that AI I recovered really shaped up the software on the little guy. Now he can come along and be useful for a change."
"I see. Is that a gun on it's right arm?"
"Stun gun. It can deliver a low-grade concussive blast that tears away kinetic barriers, and staggers a hostile. In addition, JACK's a lot tougher now. Those armor plates'll keep him nice and safe. As for the anti-gravity repulsors, I just bought some of the parts I needed, then I worked with Garrus and Tali to make the rest. Took us a while, but now JACK's back."
"I see. Anything else that's special?"
"Sure. I created a custom piece of tech that allows him to scan for hostiles in a general area, which I call 'Pulse.' One pulse, and any enemies within a 80 meter radius will be detected. He'll feel that info into our helmets HUD systems so that we can see them visually. Allow me to demonstrate." Handing Shepard a small visor, he had Garrus walk behind a pair of crates. "JACK, Pulse," he ordered.
JACK gave a two toned chime, before moments later, Shepard watched as a white pulse crossed the visor's HUD. A moment later, Garrus was detected, with the Turian coming up on the HUD as a blue silhouette where the crates were at. A moment later, he walked out from behind the crates, with his body being highlighted in blue on the HUD.
Shepard whistled. "Damn, that's impressive. Where'd you get the idea?"
"It was mostly because I was irritated by how the Geth were jamming our motion trackers all the damn time," Baird replied. "I found out, from studying a death Geth we recovered, that while it can jam motion trackers, it can't jam a multi-spectral pulse that combines motion tracking with traditional RADAR and LIDAR technologies. It took me a while, but I created a device that'll allow us to bypass the Geth's jamming and see exactly where they are."
"Nice work," Shepard nodded. "That'll strip the element of surprise from them."
"About time too," Tali beamed. "Plus, the Gears have been training us in the proper usage of their weapons."
"Really?"
"Yep," Garrus added. "Marcus was showing me how to use the Lancer right a few days ago. Gotta admit, it has a bit more kick to it than I'm used to, but I'll get the hang of it eventually. Reloading is what I'm really having to get used to."
Just as he said this, the 'com crackled. "Commander Shepard to the CIC. Commander Shepard to the CIC."
"Well," Shepard shrugged. "Duty calls." With that, he went back up the elevator, while Baird and the others began doing their own thing. Once he was back up in the cockpit, Shepard asked, "Is everything alright?"
"We're at Terra Nova, but there's something weird going on," Joker replied. "I'm getting a reading from an asteroid that's directly ahead of us. Colonel Richards can say more."
"That I can," Richards agreed. An older individual than the rest of the crew, aside from Wrex, Richards was a fairly short man, though he was well built with a stocky frame. His hair was dark brown, and he had a mustache that looked like it came from the early 1900's, giving him a refined air. Clearing his throat, he said in a voice that was just as refined as his appearance, "I was informed about that asteroid, which is known as X75. The colonists were going to be mining it for precious metals and the like."
"What's odd about that?" Shepard asked.
"The fact that it is moving far faster than it ought to," Richards replied. "According to your ship's VI, it is moving at nearly four times the speed it ought to, and it's accelerating. In addition, I checked with the plans that were sent to me. It is past it's scheduled deceleration burn."
That had Shepard worried. He knew enough about orbital mechanics and astronomy to know that when an asteroid as large as the one that had driven the dinosaurs to extinction hit a planet, it was bad news for anything living on it's surface. "Is it too late to slow it down?"
"No," the Colonel replied. "We have roughly four hours before we go past the point of no-return. As such, while you are a Spectre, I have a considerable request of you. I want you to get onto the asteroid and find out what is happening. If it is a technical problem, do what you can to assist. If any ne'er-do-wells have hijacked the asteroid, clear them out and find the engineering team."
"We'll get it done," Shepard nodded.
"Please do," Richards nodded. "And do be quick, Shepard. I have family down on the planet's surface. I do not want them to die because of a technical error and an extinction event." With that, Shepard quickly left the cockpit, while Joker brought them closer to the asteroid.
. . .
It only took them ten minutes to reach the asteroid, with Joker flying in close, while Shepard, Marcus, Liara, Cole and Tali were in the Mako, ready to go. Looking at Liara, Shepard asked, "You ready?"
"I've faced down my mother before she was freed, and I've face down Asari Commandos," Liara replied. "In addition, Marcus and the others have done an excellent job training me. I'm ready, Shepard."
"Same here," Cole beamed. "Haven't stopped an asteroid before, but the Cole Train ain't afraid to try something new! If it's hijackers that have jacked this asteroid, the Cole Train's gonna show them the door!"
"Yep," Shepard nodded. "Here we go."
Just as they were about to be dropped off, Joker said, "Commander, I'm picking up a faint transmission coming from the surface of X57 from one of the facilities there in response to my hail. It's garbled, but I'm sending it through to you now."
As the Normandy approached the asteroid, Shepard heard the transmission. "Hello?" a woman's hushed voice asked. "Hello? I heard your transmission. Can you hear me? They haven't found me yet, but I can't talk long. Please, if you can hear me, shut down the fusion torches, or we're all going to die!" With that, the static filled transmission ended.
"Who's they?" Cole asked.
"Maybe it's criminals," Wrex shrugged. "I've heard of Batarian slavers doing something like this before. Maybe that's what's going on."
"Either way, I intend to shut it down," Shepard frowned. "We're going to head there and find out what's going on. Wrex, if anything shows up, take it out with the main gun. Everyone else, buckle in and make sure the vehicle stays in working condition." A moment later, he gunned the throttle, with the Mako zipping out of the Normandy and coming to a landing on the asteroid.
Thanks to the video feed in the rear, Marcus could see what was going on. The asteroid they had landed on was similar in color to Earth's moon, with the dark gray landscape sharply jutting out from the blackness of space. Further off, though, he could see pieces of the asteroid that were starting to break off due to the velocity they were traveling at. Further on, he saw Terra Nova, which looked like a blue-white jewel in the sky. Still, the fact that it was uncomfortably large indicated how close they were getting.
Eventually, the terrain was broken up by something that was artificial. As Shepard rounded a bend, the team spotted what appeared to be a fusion torch. Sitting above what appeared to be a pre-fab control center was a massive thruster that towered into space. Currently, it was spewing a blue-white stream of hot and energetic plasma into the cold vacuum of space. Marcus also spotted what appeared to be small black cylinders positioned around the control center, though he had no idea as to what they were.
As they approached, a transmission reached the Mako's radio. Again, the woman's voice spoke up. "You're headed in the right direction," she told them. "I don't know who you are, but I'm -" Moments later, something interrupted the woman, as she said, "Damnit! Got to go!"
It was then that they found out what the cylinders were. "Are you fucking kidding me?!" Marcus shouted as the cylinders lowered into the ground, revealing turrets that turned to fire on them. "Enemy defenses!"
"Whoever 'they' are, they must've overridden the security!" Tali shouted.
"We'll have to take them out!" Shepard agreed. "Wrex, gun the turrets down!"
"On it!" Wrex shouted. The Mako shuddered as it's main gun fired, blasting one of the turrets into a hail of shrapnel and debris. "One turret down, but we've got nine more to go!"
"Make it snappy!" Shepard shouted. "We're burning time here!"
"What do you think I'm doing?" Wrex asked.
"Shepard, let me out! I've got an idea!" Cole shouted. A moment later, he pulled out the upgraded version of the One-Shot that Baird had found. Thanks to the new materials and technology, it looked much more angular, while a scope on it allowed for long range targeting. In addition, the lever action had been replaced by something else, and the caliber had been increased.
"I hope you know what you're doing!" Shepard shouted as Cole headed out with the One-Shot in his hands. Once everyone had their helmets sealed, Shepard opened the Mako's compartment door, allowing Cole to head outside.
As Shepard drove off, Cole spotted the offending turrets in question. "Hehe," he smirked behind the visor of his helmet as he loaded the One Shot with a magazine. "Time for the Cole Train to use his new favorite toy!" Taking aim, he loaded in a shell, and fired.
While the firing of the weapon was silent in space, the sheer power it showed was nothing short of impressive. The weapon spat out a huge gout of fire from the rear and front as a 50mm HEAT shell was launched out of the muzzle of the weapon. True to it's recoilless nature, the weapon barely even moved a millimeter, while the shell it fired zipped through the vacuum of space at a tremendous velocity.
As Wrex neutralized another turret, the shell smashed into the one he was about to target. The first HEAT charge on the tandem charge warhead detonated, shattering the kinetic barriers and allowing the second charge to penetrate. There was a momentary flash as the HEAT warhead detonated, while the turret went dead with a show of sparks, and a burst of shrapnel.
"Aw, yeah!" Cole shouted. "I got enough for all of ya! You see that, Shepard?"
"I did," Shepard replied over the comm. "Nice work. Now I want a One-Shot. Maybe we could install one on the Mako?"
"Maybe," Cole smiled.
Between Cole using the One-Shot, and Wrex's gunnery skills, it wasn't long before the turrets had been neutralized. "All clear!" Cole shouted as he began to run towards the structure. "Time to see what the hell's going on here."
"My thought's exactly," Shepard nodded. With the plan decided, everyone quickly moved inside, with the airlock doors closing behind them. Stacking up on the door inside of the pressurized room, Marcus and Wrex were on one side, while Shepard, Cole and Tali were on the other side. A moment later, Tali overrode the lock, allowing the team to advance inside, weapons at the ready.
The room beyond was just like some of the prefab buildings that they'd found at other places in the galaxy. The bottom floor, from the looks of it, was being used as a storage facility for spare parts and equipment in order to maintain the fusion torches, along with some mining equipment. The upper floor was likely where the control room was located at. Marcus also noted that the shelves to his left formed a wall, with an opening present at the very end of the room.
It was the people inside of the room that had his attention. There were three people that were next to some Varren. While they were humanoid in shape, it was their faces that had Marcus' attention, with the most notable feature being the two pairs of eyes that the individuals had. Aside from their faces, which looked like a number of slugs that had fused together, along with their needle-like teeth, their skin was a mottled brown. When they spotted the group, he began to snarl.
While Marcus didn't recognize the aliens, Shepard did. "Batarians!" he growled, a flash of anger in his eyes. "They must be using the asteroid as a WMD on the colony!"
"Oh, hell no!" Cole shouted. "The Cole Train ain't gonna let this go unpunished! These terrorists gonna learn why the Cole Train don't tolerate this shit!"
The Batarians, spotting them, immediately shouted something in their language, while the Varren charged at them. Marcus, weapon raised, immediately fired, blasting apart the Varren before focusing fire on the Batarians. "Focus fire!" he shouted. "Take out the Batarians!"
"On it," Cole shouted. "Come on, assholes! Don't keep me waitin!'"
With that, the team opened fire as they advanced on the Batarians. Despite the team's appearance, the Batarians maintained discipline, even as their numbers were whittled down. One fired at Cole, only for the Gear to lob a grenade at him, blasting the terrorist apart. Popping up, Cole fired his Battle Lancer at another Batarian, tearing apart the barriers and forcing the alien into cover.
Another leaned out to fire a tech-attack at Cole, only to be yanked through the air by an unseen force. "Nu-uh-uh," Wrex chided, his body enveloped in a blue-white glow as his biotics flared. Before the Batarian fell to the ground, he blasted the offending terrorist apart with his shotgun.
Marcus and Shepard, in the meantime, were nothing short of a force of nature. Both men swapped taking cover and firing on the enemy as their barriers flared or their weapons needed their attention. Gunning down a Batarian, Marcus ducked into cover, while Shepard leaned out and opened fire. Hearing a growl, Marcus instinctively activated the chainsaw bayonet, before bringing it down on a Varren that leaped at him. The chainsaw roared, splitting the Varren in half while Marcus remained unmoved.
Pulling out his shotgun, he advanced forwards when a Batarian moved in front of him, causing him to pull both triggers at the same time. There was a tremendous explosion of blood and gore as the Batarian was promptly blasted apart, with said Batarian's limbs and head flying everywhere. When the cloud of gore cleared, Marcus asked, "Hey, where'd he go…? Oh, there."
That display demoralized the rest of the Batarians, as their fire became much less accurate than before. Eventually, all hostiles had been neutralized, allowing the team to advance. Spotting the console Shepard asked, "Tali?"
"On it," Tali replied as she moved to the console. Her fingers flew over a number of the console's holographic keys. "Got it," Tali reported a minute later. "Fusion Torch One is offline."
Just as she did this, the radio came to life again. "I'm reading that the torch is offline," the woman said over the radio channel. "Was that you? Can you hear me?"
"This is Commander Shepard of the Normandy," Shepard replied. "Who are you? What's with the Batarians here?"
"My name's Kate Bowman. I'm an engineer. I was a part of the team assigned to bring this asteroid to Terra Nova. We were attacked yesterday by Batarian extremists. I and a few others have been hiding since they arrived. I also have reason to believe that they know the torch went out."
"Why are they doing this?"
"I don't know, but if this asteroid isn't slowed, millions of people are going to die. If I find out anything, I'll -" Moments later, Kate was interrupted, then she said, "I've got to go. Good luck."
"Stay hidden," Shepard ordered her. Closing the comm channel, he said, "Looks like we've got our work cut out for us. Let's head out and shut the remaining fusion torches down." With that, they left the control room and began to proceed to the exit. As they moved along, he thought he spotted someone in the room the airlock led to. "Hey!" he shouted.
Apparently, he'd startled whoever it was, as a gunshot rang out, only to bounce off of Shepard's barriers. "Cease fire!" Marcus shouted, with him and Cole aiming their weapons. Moments later, a man with graying hair, a trimmed beard, tanned skin and brown eyes came into view, his eyes widened with fright. He dropped the weapon he had, a sidearm, to the ground a moment later. Seeing this, Marcus growled, "Dipshit."
"Oh shit!" the man gasped. "I didn't mean to… Are you OK?"
"No," Shepard replied. "It takes more than that to bring me down."
"I'm sorry. I didn't even realize you were human until… well. Guess I'm not much of a soldier."
"It's alright," Shepard reassured him. "I know you're scared, but I'm here to help," he told Simon. "I'm Commander Shepard, with the Alliance."
"Simon, Simon Atwell. I'm the chief engineer on this rock. Listen – we don't have much time. The Batarians fired up the fusion torches. You've got to shut them down before we hit Terra Nova! There are four million people down there, Shepard. I – my family. They live in Aronas. My kids and grand kids. Nice community. Good schools…"
"Shit," Marcus growled. "I'm not a scientist, none of us are, but if this asteroid keeps going the way it is, we're going to be in some major shit."
"He's right," Atwell informed Shepard. "X57 is twenty two kilometers long, twice the size of the asteroid that wiped out the dinosaurs. It would be like millions of fusion bombs striking at once. Millions! The heat of the blast… a thousand kilometers away, clothes will ignite. There'll be global wildfires. Air shock will flatten everything within hundreds of kilometers.
"Terra Nova will die, Shepard. Not just our colony – the planet. There'll be a major climate shift. Mass extinctions. The ecosystem won't recover for thousands of years, millions even."
"Is there any chance it'll land in the oceans?" Shepard asked.
"That could be even worse! Tsunamis would sweep inland at hundreds of kilometers per hour. Millions of tons of water would be vaporized at the point of impact. Global cloud coverage. The plants could all die, and the entire ecosystem rolls over if they go. I – I'd have to run the numbers, but take my word for it: it'd be bad."
"This doesn't make sense at all. Batarians run criminal gangs. Unethical, but profitable. They don't destroy worlds. What does this gain them?"
"Revenge," Marcus shrugged. "Shepard, given what we know between what went down after the Alliance bumped the Batarians out of the Traverse, I think these bastards want some payback."
Shepard had to admit, Marcus had a good point. They did throw a temper tantrum and leave the Citadel Council when said Council gave the Traverse over to the Alliance rather than them. This could be the first in a series of attacks in that regard. With that in mind, he asked "You were on the ground when this happened. How many Batarians have you seen, and where?"
"They landed at the main facility," Atwell replied. "It's locked down now; they changed the pass codes. No idea what's going on inside. I did see groups head out to each of the torch stations. Couldn't say how many, but definitely enough to give you a fight."
"Any idea who's behind this? Who's leading them? That might provide a clue."
"I heard a couple of them talking. They mentioned a 'Balak', I think. It sounded like he's the one in charge. They didn't seem convinced that this was a good idea, but they seemed scared of the guy. Scared enough to do what he wanted."
"Who does that remind me of?" Marcus asked rhetorically.
"Yeah," Cole nodded.
"Same here," Shepard agreed. "Still, what they're doing here is inexcusable," Shepard nodded. "These Batarians are terrorists and we're going to take them out, and shut down the fusion torches. Anything else, Atwell?"
"One of the torches is surrounded by live blasting caps," Atwell replied. "We were set up to excavate when we arrived at Terra Nova. I rigged them with proximity detonators. That tank of yours will set them off, so you'll have to go in on foot. Even then, they'll explode if you get too close. Just go slow and easy, and you should be fine."
"You set them up. Can you disable them?"
"There are manual controls by the entrance to the torch facility, inside of the blast zone. You can disarm the caps there. One last thing: I had a crew working off-site when the attack hit. I'm worried about them. Those Batarians are ruthless. I saw them smash the faceplates of guys working vacuum, and those Varren… I don't think they always wait for a corpse before feeding."
"Any idea where I can find them?"
"They were running checks on our perimeter equipment. Easiest thing would be to tap into the transmission tower out on the surface. The equipment stations will show up on your sensors."
"I'll look for them," Shepard decided, "but the torches are top priority right now."
"Yeah, you're right," Atwell nodded, his face downcast. "Saving Terra Nova is more important than my team. There were a bunch of engineers over at the main facility, but they're probably all dead. That, or being held hostage by the Batarians."
"One of them spoke with us," Marcus added. "Kate Bowman was her name if I recall correctly. The Batarians haven't found her yet."
Atwell brightened at that. "Kaite's alive?! Thank goodness for small favors! She's one of my best engineers. We signed on with her brother, Aaron, I think. He's part of the security detail. I hope they're OK."
"They'll be fine," Shepard reassured the older man. "We'll take care of the terrorists. You'd better find a good place to hide. If the Batarians come back and find you…"
"You too." With that, Atwell entered the room they left in order to find a good hiding spot.
"Shit," Cole frowned. "Just like Sera, ain't it."
"At times, yeah," Marcus nodded as he followed Shepard and the others out of the building.
(Author's Q&A)
myafroatemydog: Thank you. Those are interesting points, and I'll definitely check them out.
SpaceCommander-09: It does, doesn't it.
MarauderPrime12: Thank you.
edboy4926: Thank you.
Guest #1: Thank you.
Guest #2: That would be fun, though I'm not going for something that outrageous.
raven2327: He is. Soldiers like him can really help alleviate a lot of stress.