Jenkins
‘Gunnery Chief Williams, this is Corporal Jenkins. We are with Shepard but unfortunately don’t have much time for chitchat. We were hoping you had intel on Saren.” Ashley shook Garrus’s outstretched hand, although she hesitated for just a moment.
“I’ll give you all I have in just a second. Dr. Michels, are you okay?” Garrus turned towards the red headed doctor looking genuinely concerned for her safety. She seemed alright physically, but an encounter like this can have longer lasting consequences.
“I’m okay, thanks to you. All of you.” She looked back at us, giving us a nod of thanks.
“Yeah sorry for shooting up your clinic. Who were those guys?” I asked away, already knowing the answer, but her response would speed up this encounter.
“They were Fist’s men, they tried to keep me from telling Garrus about the Quarian.” The doctor responded and Ashley and I shared a look.
“She has to have intel, if they’re trying this hard to keep her hidden.” I pull up my omni tool as I talk, shooting a message off to Shepard. Garrus confirmed that Fist is trying to bury a Quarian, we’re on our way. I give Ashley a nod letting her know we are good to go.
“Agreed, we need to make our way to Fist fast. Let’s move. Stay safe, and thank you for the Intel Doctor.” We turn to leave and I delay for only a second, waiting for the words I know are coming.
“Wait. I know this is your guys’ show, but I want to bring down Saren as badly as you do. I’m coming along!” Garrus stepped forward, holstering his pistol in favor of the large sniper rifle affixed to his back. Ashley turned around and stood firm.
“Absolutely not. You’re a Turian yourself how can we trust you not to just try and cover for him.” Ashley didn’t wait for a response, it wasn’t a real question anyway. She was already turning away as Garrus continued.
“I couldn’t find the proof I needed in my investigation. But I knew what was really going on. Saren is a traitor to the Council and a disgrace to my people! I’m helping take him down!” He was shouting by the end of his sentence, clearly passionate and angry about being unable to stop him earlier. Ashley turns back to look at him, conflicted in her decision making. She gives me a glance, although I doubt she was actually looking for advice. Still I tried a gentle nudge.
“Fist is likely well guarded. More help can’t hurt.” Please work, we need Garrus Ashley, set aside your prejudice for 5 minutes so we actually have a full squad going into this fight. She was silent for a moment, before deciding.
“Fine. Step in line and move out, we don’t have time to waste.” She was cold, turned around and led the way out of the clinic. To his credit Garrus took it in stride.
“Yes ma’am, lead the way.” He looked at me as we followed Ashley out of the clinic and took off at a jog back towards Chora’s Den. I just gave him a shrug and fell into step.
Shepard never gave a response to the message I had sent, but only 2 minutes into our run my device gave a ping, just a single alert. Shepard was ready for a distraction. I hit the command needed and, just out of earshot back at Chora’s Den, a remote explosive detonated. I doubted it would clear the room, but it should be enough for Shepard to take advantage of. Our path wasn’t clear though, as when we rounded a corner we were nearly taken out by a series of shots. There were two well armed Turians set up in decent cover. It was a well placed ambush, and would have shredded the average soldier that fell into it. Thankfully we weren’t average soldiers.
Ashley took the brunt of the first rounds, being the one who was leading the charge. Thankfully her heavier armor protected against the initial rounds, and Garrus was fast on the shield boost afterwards, protecting her from the second wave of fire. Being at the back of the pack I had yet to round the corner where the fire was taking place, and from my position of cover was able to reach out and trigger an overload. The two Turians who were crouched behind two crates for cover, suddenly convulsed and cried out in pain, unable to keep themselves from standing up with the amount of electricity flowing through their systems. A loud bang went off as Garrus put a single heavy sniper round through the skull of one of the Turians, while Ashley fired half a magazine of concentrated fire into the head of the other. As the overload faded, their bodies collapsed. Didn’t matter the quality of armor, that kind of clap back wasn’t something most living beings could handle.
That being said that overload was ridiculous, two well armored and trained Turians shouldn’t have been completely unable to move or act, it was as if every piece of tech in their loadout acted up at once, far more than any program I had built was capable of doing. I glanced at my omni tool to see a message. They were the ones that attempted to scan your device earlier. A threat to your device's security is a threat to me. Do not expect such assistance to be a regular thing. -Beta.
Oh Beta. You Tsundere machine, trying to pretend you don’t like me or want to help. Whatever your motivation I still appreciated the help, that was much easier because of his assistance.
“Shit, these must be Saren’s men, tried to cut us off from Chora’s. Thanks for the save with the Shield boost there Jenkins.” Ashley shook her arm out, before sliding her rifle back onto her back. Even if her defenses didnt get busted, it’s still plenty spooky getting hit by enemy fire. She took it well but I felt the need to correct her.
“Wasn’t me, I hit the overload.” She looked back at me, before glancing over to Garrus who simply gave her a nod in return.
“Right. Thanks then. We need to keep moving, any lost time is the longer Shepard and them are fighting on their own.” We grab our gear and prepare to get moving, but as we pass the Turian bodies one of their comms comes to life, a panicked gruff voice coming through.
“Where the hell are you two? We’re taking heavy losses, Shepard teamed up with a Krogan and they’re slaughtering us. You promised us protection for guarding Saren’s assets, where the hell is that support.” I glanced over at Ashley as we walked past.
“Sounds like they’re not the ones we should be worrying about. We’ll be lucky if anyone’s left by the time we get there.” I joke, as we pick up our pace once more, trying to close the distance to Chora’s as fast as possible.
‘Your Commander certainly appears skilled, however I’m certain they will appreciate our speedy arrival nonetheless.” Garrus filed back into line as we moved once more, seemingly unbothered by Ashley’s cold treatment.
The halls we ran through were fairly empty, only the major paths tended to have people walking them, and the wards were constructed like a maze, looping paths and tunnels snaking throughout the structure. The only thing keeping us from getting lost on our direct route was the map I had pulled up, that showed us the quickest path to Chora’s from our location. 5 minutes of running later we were only a few more turns from reaching the bar’s entrance when our comms came to life once more.
“This is Shepard, we found Fist. He’s dealt with. There’s no Quarian though, she’s currently headed to a meeting that’s a trap. Sending the coordinates, set that meeting as your destination. Protecting the Quarian is our highest priority now. We will meet you there.”
I pulled up the Quarians meeting point. We were closer to it then Chora’s Den, in fact to even get to Chora’s Den we would have had to walk through the alley this supposed meeting was happening in. I smirked lightly, any outsider would find the situation wholly convenient, but when you know that the meeting is set for an alley just outside of Chora’s Den then it would be easy to plan a path that takes you through there. I gave a nod to Ashley confirming I had the location and she answered.
“Copy that Commander, we are on route. We will secure the Quarian and then carry on to your location.” There was no response over the radio, but It was to be expected, Shepard was likely in the middle of a firefight. We moved out quickly from our position. The meeting point wasn’t far from our location, two more side paths and then there would be a door heading into the alley. I call it an alley but a maintenance tunnel would be a more accurate description, since it was between two existing buildings, it was just a path in the maze-like structure that was the Citadel. I had to remember that the Citadel wasn’t built by the Council, or even the Protheans. While it was being used as a place that could be lived and operated on, its true purpose meant it didn’t really matter if anyone lived there, or if walking through it made any kind of sense.
Still before long we reached a door, I gave a gesture to our group letting them know this was it and to be ready. Weapons up we breached the door, walking in slow but ready. I was expecting a fight, when you first find Tali in the games she’s in the middle of an ambush, and you have to rescue her, pull her out of the fight that isn’t too much trouble, even on the tougher difficulties. So I was a little surprised instead to see that the Quarian was standing alone in the small tunnel space, the red glow of nearby lights outlining her form. No enemies in sight I realized we must actually have been early. The ones that were trying to ambush her didn’t make it here yet which was convenient.
Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.
As we walked into the space, weapons ready we lowered them realizing it was just the Quarian, and she noticed us as we approached.
“Are-- who are you? Where’s the Shadow Broker. Where’s Fist?” Her voice came out mechanical through her filter. Quarians were an interesting species. I wasn’t actually certain as to what they looked like, they lived in fully sealed suits that protected them from all external bacteria. From what I could recall this was because their home world possessed few natural microbes or bacteria, so they had low natural immunity. After the Geth forced them off their homeworld 300 years ago the sterilized environments of their habitat ships made the problem even worse. Now the Quarian basically couldn’t live without their suits, and as such they played a large role in how they represented themselves.
Tali here was short, probably only 5 and a half feet tall, and very thin. Her suit was mostly a black form fitting material, with exception to purple cloth that she wore as decorations, forming a hood and shoulder wrappings that added a bit of flow to her appearance. Her suits helmet was mostly the glass face plate, a cloudy purple tint through which you could only really see her eyes, which appeared almost luminescent.
“Sorry, Shadow Broker isn’t coming. You've been set up. Fist has Saren’s men on route to meet you, our job is to get you out of here.” Garrus spoke first letting his C-Sec instincts take over much to Ashley’s annoyance given the look she was giving him. Thankfully she kept it to herself and said nothing, instead keeping an eye on the door opposite the end of the hallway. I turned around keeping an eye on the door we came through as well, essentially securing the space.
“Your job? Who are you? How can I trust you’re not just one of Saren’s men here to get rid of me?” She asked the question, her tone peaking lightly through the light mechanical speaker in her headset. Ashley apparently didn’t enjoy the implication, choosing to speak herself.
“Because if we were Saren’s men we would want you dead. And if we wanted you dead, we wouldn’t still be having a conversation. We’re with Commander Shepard and Captain Anderson of the Alliance. We made the claim against Saren and the evidence you supposedly have is what we need to prove he’s the traitor we think he is.” Ashley speaks briskly and harshly, uncaring for how Tali feels about things, but a direct approach could be understood. As far as we were concerned we had enemies coming in before our allies, and wasting time with friendly chit chat could be a problem.
“Uh, right. Right. I was trying to sell this to the Shadow Broker but it’s clear there’s something more going on. I can tell you about what I found, but not here. We need somewhere safe.” She seemed hesitant, but given the three of us had essentially formed a bubble around her weapons facing out, we must have been convincing that we were on her side.
“We’ll take you to the Embassies on the Presidium, even Saren wouldn’t be able to safely launch an attack there.” Ashley turned towards me and I gave a nod, taking point as I began moving back towards the door we entered from. It would be the fastest route to the Presidium this way. Ashley was turning to contact Shepard and let her know we were making progress before things started to go wrong. The door we came from opened, and 2 Turians in full combat armor, as well as 3 Salarians in their strange looking combat suits started walking through. I made eye contact with the Turian in lead, as he saw me I noticed his eyes scanning our group, our weapons, and finally the Quarian in the center of our group that appeared to trust us.
“Hey, sorry wrong door guys. This is actually an important shoot we’re doing for a film so if you could just wait outside before - SHIT!” I started trying to defuse or distract the situation but they didn’t seem all that interested in talking. All 5 raised there weapons quickly, and the quick scan I gave of my surroundings revealed I had very little in the way of cover. At the end of the hall in their position they could open fire as heavily as they wanted and not have to worry about who they hit or where the rounds would end up. We were practically fish in a barrel.
As the first few rounds were fired I was able to activate a shield boost, shrugging the rounds that collided against my chest and helmet off with ease, but continuous fire wasn’t something any shield boost could handle. Ashley and Garrus fired from behind me, forcing two of the Salarians to step back out of the doorway to use as cover, but both Turians seemed shockingly motivated to end my life. I moved back down the hall, raising my own pistol and firing at the group of individuals, trusting my boosted shields to buy me time. I couldn’t turn my back as it would just leave me an undefended open target, and I couldn’t dive out of the way or step aside, as that would leave Tali open to fire.
The fire from my pistol was enough to force them to move, and slow the rate of fire that was moving my direction. I turned back to see Garrus and Ashley had pulled Tali out of the direct line of fire and were providing suppressing fire as they had managed to find a relatively secure position, and as Tali threw out a grenade I took the opportunity to rush to cover with my allies. The explosion rocking by the door entrance kept the few Salarians trapped outside and I thought I had made it clear.
It was at that point I heard the distinctive crack and beeping of emergency sound as my shields gave out under the suppressing favor. That sound was followed by immense pain as a high caliber round blasted through the back of my leg and out the front, causing me to drop to the floor. The Turian at the back of the room created a barrier with his biotics, shielding his other ally who slowly walked up to me. He pointed his Pistol down at my head, and looked forward to the rest of my group.
“Hand over the Quarian or the Marine dies. Simple choice to make, any funny business and he’ll be dead before you can-” His, I’m certain very threatening monologue, was cut short as a round entered the bottom of his chin and blew out the top of his head.
Why he felt the need to brag and monologue before kicking my weapon away, or why he assumed I’d just let him take me hostage is beyond me. But the one most surprised by it seemed to be the other Turian, who roared out and leveled his rifle in my direction. I should have been terrified, after all with the barrier still up my allies had no chance of protecting me from his fire, and by the time I could hit an overload I’d likely be a few dozen kilos lighter and full of holes. But I wasn’t worried.
See I had knowledge they didn’t. It was sort of like a superpower, knowing how things would play out. See had this situation happened at the start of the engagement, sure it would be a problem, I’d be dead. But this happened roughly 10 seconds in, give or take. And as the games would determine, Shepard always arrives, just in time for the fight to get good. Things moved in slow motion as the Turians weapon fired, the muzzle flash filling the space. The bang echoed in the short hallway, but was drowned out as a groaning scraping metal sound filled the air. And before the projectiles could cross the small section of hallway between me and where the enemy was firing from, a section of the ceiling tore free from its position with a misty blue glow of energy.
It slammed into the ground between me and my would be killer, and fully blocked the rounds that collided with it. I didn’t bother glancing back in my allies direction as I knew what I would see, and a familiar voice filled the hallway.
“Wrex! Smash that barrier! Kaiden, get a shield around Jenkins now!” The roar of Commander Shepard was all that could be heard in the hallway, before a deep hearty laugh took over and nearly 200 kilos of Krogan Battlemaster smashed through the pitiful purple shield that separated me from my allies. The Krogan, adorned in red and black armor, sporting thick red plates and a nasty set of scars across his eye and cheek didn’t slow down, and simply charged through the steel metal that had been thrown into place as cover. Behind him, barely a step behind followed Commander Shepard. Using the Krogan as almost a living shield the two engaged the remaining enemies in a flurry of ammunition and splatters of blood.
Kaidan was right behind me, setting up his own barrier between me and the firefight, and gave a quick inspection, before pulling out the medigel and applying it to my leg.
“We leave you alone for 30 minutes and you manage to get yourself shot. I swear for someone so smart you sure are damn reckless.” He was chuckling lightly, but looked relieved that my injury wasn’t worse.
“I had it totally under control. You didn’t see it but I was about to use that Turian leader's body as a meat shield before hitting the group with an overload, which would have cleared it with ease. Definitely earned myself a promotion.” I laughed as well, and noticed as Garrus and Ashely followed through the hole that had been smashed through the metal, and shortly after the sound of gunfire ended.
“Are… Are you okay? I didn’t mean for anyone to get hurt, I thought I could trust Fist to set me up with the Shadow Broker.” Tali had walked out from where she was in cover and looked down at me, sounding partially guilty for the situation. However there was no need for worry. Medigel was expensive, and damn hard to find in large supply, but it was unbelievably good at healing wounds.
I sat up before slowly working myself to my feet, leaning lightly on Kaidan for support while the wound finished healing.
“Don’t worry about it, I’m fine. Wounds like this will be fully healed in 15 minutes with some medigel. Besides, getting shot is just part of the job for marines, and given how today has been I’m surprised it’s taken this long.” It was hard to read facial expressions through the suit she wore, but her shoulders relaxed as I spoke. Hopefully she wouldn’t worry to much about it.
“Jenkins. You alright?” Shepard walked back through the hole in the debris her Krogan warrior had made, and seemed equally relieved to see me standing.
“A-okay Commander. Contact with Garrus secured and Quarian protected, mission completed.” I gave her a smile and feigned a salute, too which she just shook her head. Approaching the Tali she spoke.
“I’m Commander Shepard, sorry for the late entrance. I heard you could help us.”
“Tali'Zorah nar Rayya. I can, but not here. I was told the Presidium would be safe?” Tali responded, seemingly shocked by Shepards gentle tone. Ashley had managed to create the perfect good cop bad cop scenario without even trying.
“Then let's go, give Jenkins time to heal that wound and for you to tell us what exactly you found to put you on Saren’s hitlist.” Shepard gave a nod and we began walking on with our day. I spared a glance back at the hallway we had found battled in, noticing the torn up ceiling, damaged floors and walls and the bodies that still littered the ground. Yeah, we were gonna get in trouble for making a mess for sure.