Hello again, everyone, and welcome back to my Gears of War/Mass Effect crossover.
Thank you all for your wonderful support and feedback. I deeply appreciate it.
This is the final chapter that will be covering some of the side missions in the plot. The next chapters will focus on the main plot. In other words: Virmire ho!
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, Microsoft Studios, etc. 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
En Route To Hostile Geth Base
March 18th, 2183
Fortunately, Tali, Garrus and Baird, working together, had managed to find out where the signal itself was coming from. As such, the Normandy was now making flank speed for the Grissom system, which happened to be around 40 light years from their current position. As such, it was going to be a four day trip for the Normandy to get there.
That had given Baird enough time to make sure that the Mako was good to go. As such, once again, he was making sure the vehicle was in optimal working condition, his omni-tool active as he scanned every millimeter of the vehicle. Good thing we installed those upgrades, he noted as he got a few tools out. The Mako took a beating to it's barriers, but the armor held up nicely.
While he was working on the armor itself, he thought he heard someone walking over to him. Turning around, he spotted Garrus coming over. "Heard you coming this time," he remarked. "That some effort on your part?"
"Yeah," Garrus nodded. "I didn't want to scare you by accident."
"Thank you," Baird beamed. "So, what'd you come over here for? If it's just for small talk, that's perfectly alright."
"I wanted to say thank you, to both you and Shepard."
That caught Baird by surprise, as he stood up fast enough that he bonked his head on part of the Mako. "OW! Fuck!" he snarled as he rubbed the top of his head. Once he had his wits together again, he asked, "What for?"
"For teaching me a lot of valuable lessons," Garrus replied. "For show me that the fastest way is not always the best way, and for reminding me to always do what's right, even when it's hard to do so. I think I've learned more from you and Shepard than from my cases during my time at C-SEC."
"You're welcome, Garrus. It's the least that I can do."
"Say, can I ask you a question?"
"Sure. Ask away."
"When we find Saren, you think we should capture him alive, or kill him?"
"Why do you ask that?"
"Well, I'm asking because the Council might be hesitant when it comes to us taking him down. What if they don't decide to kill him. In my opinion, it might be a safer bet to take him down for good instead of capturing him."
"I see," Baird remarked, seeing where Garrus was coming from. "I can see why you'd be worried about that. Still, until we find him, we won't really know for certain what to do. Personally, I think it'd be wiser to keep him alive."
"Why is that?" Garurs asked.
"Because if we capture him alive, and figure out how to get that crap out of his body, we can get really good intel on how the Reapers think and work. Right now, we know little about their motivations, their tactics, how they make Husks, and so on, so forth. If we snag him, we can figure out how to prevent Indoctrination, stop the process of 'huskificaiton' as I like to call it, and we can figure out why the Reapers do what they do. Besides, we're not going to kill him unless he forces us to do so. If he does, I'll gladly cut that asshole in half with my chainsaw, but not before."
"That's… a really good point," Garrus remarked. "Wonder why I didn't think of that. Still, I wanted to say thank you, Baird. You really helped me get my thoughts straight."
"You are very welcome, Garrus," Baird beamed. "Good to see that you're a thick-headed man that can still learn."
"Who you calling thick-headed, monkey?" Garrus taunted, though there was clearly no malice in it.
"Screw you, birdbrain," Baird remarked. The two looked at each other for a moment, before they began to chuckle. "Funny. I made friends with the one Turian that thinks he's funny. Oh, well; I guess that's a good thing. Say, Garrus, can you help me make sure this thing's good to go?"
"Sure," Garrus nodded.
While the two got to work, Marcus shook his head at the antics the two had gotten into. I had a feeling those two would be good friends, he noted. There's some chemistry there, though not of the wrong kind. Spotting Carmine coming over, he asked, "You feeling alright, Carmine?"
"Yeah," Carmine nodded. "Just bored out of my mind more than anything." Sitting down on a nearby cargo crate, he asked, "So, how's it going with you?"
"Fine," Marcus replied. "Just waiting for Shepard to give us a new mission. I have to admit, I've grown to like him."
"Me too," Carmine agreed. "That guy somehow combines the best qualities of Chairman Prescott, or rather what few good qualities he did have, with the best of Colonel Hoffman. If he was the Chairman of the COG, we would've kicked the Locust in the ass a long time ago, maybe even prevented the Pendulum Wars."
"I can agree with that," Marcus concurred. "Though, if I'm going to be honest, I think Shepard wouldn't like being Chairman of the COG. Too much power, and he'd feel that he wouldn't be ready for it. He'd make for an excellent soldier, or an excellent Colonel like Hoffman, but not a Chairman of the COG."
"My thoughts exactly," came Shepard's voice, causing Marcus to momentarily start. "I'm not really cut out to be a leader," Shepard shrugged. "I just do what I'm good at: getting the job done."
"But you have to admit, you are doing well," Carmine remarked.
"I am, but I'm not going to pat myself on the back just yet," Shepard countered. "Besides, I came down here because we've arrived at Grissom. I want you, Carmine, Garrus and Kaidan on this mission. Meet me in the CIC when you're ready."
"Got it," Marcus nodded. Looking at Carmine, he said, "Time to go."
Arriving at the CIC, they found Shepard looking at a hologram of the Grissom system. Turning around, he spotted the quintuple coming along. "We've arrived at Grissom," he told them. "Joker thinks he's found the location of the Geth base."
"Where is it?" Garrus asked.
"Right here," Shepard replied, highlighting a gas giant in the system that had a smaller moon orbiting it. "Solcrum," he explained. "According to the Council survey of the system in the past, it's the largest moon orbiting Notaban. There's just one hitch, though."
"And that would be?" Tali asked.
"It's a hot hellhole," Shepard explained. Zooming in on Solcrum, he pulled up the information the Codex had on the planet. Inside of said Codex was a hazard alert. "The planet's hot enough to where we can't go outside. Even if we could, there's not atmosphere courtesy of the star blowing away the atmosphere. We won't be able to use small arms outside of the Mako in that environment, so we'll have to hope they don't ambush us once we land on the planet. There's something else as well."
"Oh?" Carmine asked.
"When we began to approach Notaban, we picked up a fragmented coded message coming from Solcrum. We ran it through the computer, but didn't get anything out of it. Whatever it is, it's not a code that's used by the Council, Alliance or any other faction we know of. If we're going to find out what it is, we have to get there in person."
"Agreed," Garrus nodded. "Time to put an end to the Geth invasion of this system."
"Yeah," Marcus nodded. "A few more robots to the scrap heap."
"Indeed," Shepard agreed. "We'll head down to the Mako and get everyone inside and ready. Once we're down there, we'll have to be extremely careful. One wrong move, and we're all dead. Anyone want to back out?" When no one made any indication of doing so, he said, "Good. Let's move out."
. . .
Once more, everyone was inside of the Mako, with the Alliance military vehicle landing on the surface of Solcrum with a loud, muted THUMP. As soon as they landed, they began to look for the Geth base, since Joker wasn't able to get a fix on it's exact location. "We know the general region, but some kind of sensor scrambler is down there," Joker reported. "We won't be able to pull you out until it's gone for good."
"Duly noted," Shepard replied. "Anything else?"
"Beyond that, no. We already know of the heat hazard present, so that's been accounted for. Once you disable that sensor scrambler, let us know, so that I can come pick you up. Stay safe down there."
"You too," Shepard replied. "Inform us of any ambushes the Geth are sending our way."
"Aye aye, Commander. Normandy out."
Closing the comm link, Shepard said, "Alright, people. From now on, we're on our own until the sensor scrambler is down. Tali, Kaidan, make sure our Mako remains nice and tight. Garrus, you're on the gun. Everyone else, strap in tight. We're going in."
"Copy that," Garrus replied as he manned the gun.
With that, they began driving around in the region they'd landed at. Looking at the video feed, MArcus could tell that the landscape was anything, but welcoming. The air here was quite thin, having been mostly stripped away by the O-class star that formed the foundation for the Grissom system.
It was also quite hot, if the temperature gauge was correct. "315 degrees Celsius?" Carmine remarked. "Damn, that's really, really hot. I'll bet that, if I tossed some bacon out there, it'd be fried and ready for eating in an instant, not that you'd be able to eat it, as it would be destroyed in the next instant."
"Yeah," Marcus addition to the hot temperature, the surface of the moon was a blue hue, courtesy of the star in the sky. Looking at it, Marcus found it unnerving to be so close to a star that was more than capable of killing anything outside of the habitable zone. For the first time in his life as a Gear, he found himself longing to be away from such a foreboding sight. "Certainly won't be winning any prizes for beauty."
"More like winning prizes for being an inhospitable place to live at," Kaidan agreed. "I've seen worse, though."
"How so?" Carmine asked.
"You don't want to know."
"OK."
They only stopped a couple of times in that sun baked and wind blasted landscape. The first of which was an ancient box that held writings of some long dead Asari Matriarch, while the second time was to mark out a spot for minerals. Even though the suit was keeping him nice and cool, Marcus swore that he thought he felt a little heat creeping inside. He was more than happy to be inside of the Mako once again.
It was the third time around that they found the Geth base in question. While driving up a sheer incline, Shepard was able to coax the Mako into climbing up the near-vertical cliff and to the top, where they found a large, flat area. Down below, in the wind-swept terrain, he spotted what looked like a base of some kind. "I think we found our Geth base," Shepard told Tali.
"And it's well guarded too," Garrus added. "I count two Colossus-class Armatures down there. No Geth that are smaller, though I have spotted a few Turrets."
"We'll need to take out the Colossus-class Armatures first," Shepard decided. "I know we've got stronger barriers and tougher armor thanks to Baird's refits, but I'd rather not chance it." Thinking for a moment, he said, "We can engage them from this distance, and we can use the terrain to our advantage here. Garrus, you think you can hit those Colossus-class Armatures from out this far?"
"Sure," Garrus replied. "I can hit 'em from this distance."
"Good to hear," Shepard beamed. "Ready, Tali?"
"Always, Shepard."
"Good. Time to rock and roll." With that, he drove up to the edge of the small mesa they were on. Seeing his opportunity, Garrus fired off the railgun, the sound muted in the Mako's interior.
The shell hit the first Colossus direct where the head was, with only the kinetic barrier stopping the slug from penetrating. Almost immediately, both of the massive walkers, and the turrets in the area, focused on the Mako, with both walkers firing their plasma cannons, while the turrets fired missiles that streaked towards them.
Pulling back, Shepard let the incoming ordinance fly overhead, or smash harmlessly into the ground. Moving forwards, he allowed Garrus to fire the main cannon once again, with the shell smashing into the kinetic barrier again.
It went on like this for a minute or so, then Garrus let out a triumphant whoop. "Got him!" he shouted. "Colossus down! Time to hit the next one!"
"Careful," Kaidan cautioned him. "I'd rather not get cocky if you know what I mean." Just as he said this, the Mako shook around.
"Impact!" Shepard reported. "No damage. Barriers deflected it."
"Firing on that one now!" Garrus reported. The Mako shook again. "Damnit! No damage. Firing again." There was another muted thump, then, "Hah! Scratch one! Engaging turrets!" That took a few minutes, while the video feed showed Marcus each of the turrets being blown apart. "Got 'em! All targets down!"
"Good work,"Shepard nodded. "Time for us to get down there and find out what's going on." Driving the Mako forwards, they eventually came to the entrance of the Geth base. From the looks of it, much of the base was directly underground, which made sense given the hostile environment up above.
When they stepped outside, Marcus watched as Garrus went to work hacking the entrance to the base. "Make it fast," he told Garrus. "I'd rather not be barbecued out here."
"Almost got it," Garrus informed the others. After a few more seconds, he said, "Got it! Everyone inside!" With that, everyone clambered inside as quickly as they could. The interior of the Geth base wasn't like any that the team had encountered before. For one, the room had the same atmosphere as the rest of the planet outside, which forced the team to keep their helmets on. On top of this, the temperature was quite cold, a stark contrast to the hot exterior.
Much of the place was similar to some of the underground facilities they were in only in layout. The floor and walls were about the only thing familiar to the team. Approaching a door, Shepard watched as it rotated counterclockwise, before it opened vertically, with the two halves forming the door retracting into the frame above, as well as the floor below.
Moving through the door, they found themselves in what appeared to be a small airlock of some kind. "Get ready," Shepard told them. "I think we're about to have company."
"My thoughts exactly," Marcus agreed. Both he and Carmine took point, while Shepard and the others remained in the rear to provide fire support. On a count of three, Garrus cracked the door's security and had it fully open. A moment later, Marcus peered around the corner.
The room beyond was what appeared to be a cargo hold. Large crates designed to hold computer equipment and spare parts were neatly arranged to some machine idea of tidiness. In addition, there were large pieces of equipment, with a purpose that Marcus could only guess at. What an alien way of making a warehouse, he thought, if this is a warehouse, that is.
Looking around a little more, he spotted what he thought was an upper level to the warehouse, likely to the control room if he had to guess. The only way up was a pair of ramps that led upwards to either side of a balcony, upon which he could see a large screen and a control panel. Rifle raised, he and Carmine slowly edge forwards.
He was about to move in when he thought he spotted a flicker of movement. Rifle trained in the movement's direction, he fell back on his training and fired off a burst from his rifle. Moments later, a Geth Stalker fell to the ground, it's internal components scrambled beyond all repair by the HESH rounds from his rifle. "We've got Geth!" he shouted.
Just like that, the Geth came out of cover and opened fire. Ducking back into cover, Marcus noted, to some disgruntlement, that his barriers had nearly collapsed. Carmine's had broken, though the armor seemed to be doing a good job of protecting him. "Ugh," he grunted as he got behind Marcus.
"You alright?"
"I'm fine, just scratched is all. The suit's repair systems have got it covered."
"OK." Peering out of cover, Marcus spotted a Geth Prime that was firing at them. "Got a Geth Prime, Shepard!"
"Take it out!" Shepard shouted. "Team, suppressing fire! Give Marcus and Carmine some breathing room!"
"On it!" the others replied. Soon, all of them were firing their rifles and other weapons at the Geth, forcing them to take cover. With some breathing room present, Carmine popped out of cover and fired his Torque Bow. The first and second bolts did nothing, with the bolts detonating against the Prime's barriers.
The third bolt, however, did the trick, with the bolt punching through the barriers before impacting the armor, sticking to it like glue. A moment later, a loud BANG echoed in the room, with the Prime falling down as the explosive bolt destroyed it's power supply. When that happened, the Geth's firing patterns became significantly more inaccurate, while some began charging into the open, rather than falling back.
Marcus, seeing an opportunity, opened fire with his Assault Lancer. HESH rounds cracked barriers and armor as he focused fire on a pair of Geth Saboteurs, forcing one to take cove, while it's compatriot was destroyed. Moving up, he grunted as a few rounds punched through his barriers and smacked into his armor. Some stinging sensations indicated that a few had punched into the armor plating, though the fact that it didn't hurt very much indicated that the armor was doing it's job. Pulling out a grenade, he hurled it towards the Geth, with some of them squealing loudly before the blast destroyed them.
Carmine, now able to move up, continued to do so, though he'd now exchanged his Torque Bow for his Assault Lancer. He was about to move up when a fist smashed into him, knocking him backwards a few feet. Rolling to the right, he narrowly avoided a shotgun blast. When he looked up, he spotted a Geth Trooper that had bull rushed him.
"Come on, robot bitch!" Carmine shouted, firing his Assault Lancer at the Trooper. Said Trooper ducked into cover, before firing it's shotgun at him. Carmine didn't flinch as the rounds bounced off his barriers, and instead held down the trigger of his weapon. Bullets detonated against the Juggernaut's barriers, before they shattered like glass. A lucky shot staggered the Trooper, forcing it onto it's knees.
Rushing forwards, Carmine picked it up, before holding the Trooper before him like a meat shield. "Aw, I'm sorry," he mock-apologized to it. "Did I hurt you, you pretty little – FUCK YOU!" Holding out his Fusilier, he fired at the Geth on the upper level.
While Carmine was doing this, Shepard and the others were firing back with an intensity that only the best could bring. Ducking down behind cover, Shepard pulled out a grenade and flung it towards the Geth, with a loud BOOM silencing the subsequent electronic squeals. Popping out of cover, he fired on a Geth Trooper that had it's barrier's cracked, punching through it's armor plating and scrambling it's internal components.
Garrus and Kaidan were also working together to neutralize some of the Geth. Using a biotic lift, Kaidan threw a group of Geth into the ceiling, smashing their barriers and allowing Garrus to pick them off one at a time. A Geth Stalker tried to ambush Kadian, only for a bullet to blow it's brain apart. Seeing that Marcus had fired the shot, Kaidan nodded at him, with the veteran Gear nodding in reply before continuing to destroy the Geth.
Once they reached the upper level, they found more Geth, including a Juggernaut, that were entrenched. Carmine, seeing this, took out one of his bolo grenades and stuck it to the Trooper he was using as a meat shield. "One for the road, motherfucker!" he roared as he primed the grenade, before kicking the Trooper towards the Juggernaut.
The resulting detonation was powerful enough that several of the Geth were shredded by the detonation. The Juggernaut, while it survived the blast and shrapnel, was staggered by the explosion, with the machine toppling over onto it's back before it began trying to get up. None of the Gears, nor Shepard gave it any quarter, however, and it wasn't long before it too was cut down.
Just as they destroyed it, the monitor flashed to life, prompting the soldiers inside to point their weapons directly at it. Instead of a message from Saren, or something else entirely, they instead saw the image of a crowd of Quarians, with one standing before them on a podium of sorts. The one at the podium was singing in a sad and mournful tone, though none of them understood what it was. "What the hell?" Marcus asked.
"What's that?" Shepard asked. "Is this why they were holding the base?"
"I'm not sure," Garrus shrugged. "We'll need to bring this back to Tali when we can. She can tell us what it is." Spotting the nearby terminal, he began hacking it. "Shepard, I've got data on how the Geth have changed since the Geth Rebellion that happened over three hundred years ago."
"Take it with us," Shepard ordered. "Tali will know what to do with it. Let's blow this popsicle stand."
(Author's Q&A)
edboy4926: Thank you.
OmegaDelta: A lot, and it's going to get harder from here on out.
IDYGOFENIKS: Oh, we'll be seeing something like that soon.
Just a Crazy-Man: Thank you.
Mythian TechCorp: That I will.
Steelrain66: Definitely. I'll be definitely doing that.