Jenkins
I scrolled through photos of Feros and its colony on the holo screen in our team's meeting room. The planet was almost entirely covered in swirling clouds of thick grey dust. Only the occasional parting of the clouds offered a glimpse of the dull stone and metal ruins that covered over two thirds of the planet's surface. Feros used to be a Prothean settlement, although settlement hardly would do it justice. The planet was covered in what was essentially a mega city and it was beyond impressive. Even fifty thousand years after the Reapers completely exterminated the Prothean species, Feros still had hundreds of skyscrapers that measured over a kilometre tall standing proudly. It was a testament to their construction capabilities.
We were headed towards a colony called Zhu’s Hope. It was a location that was funded by ExoGeni, a company that specialized in scavenging and studying ancient technology and alien lifeforms. The colony was constructed on the top of one of the still standing skyscrapers, one that was still connected to old Prothean aqueducts and the sky-way. It gave them access to fresh water and a way to travel between the different skyscrapers that were still connected to this massive highway.
“As you can see Zhu’s Hope has its dockyard located in an open section of the skyscraper. Our goal is to land there and make contact with the Colony’s inhabitants and determine the threat they are under, as well as the Geth’s reason for arriving on the planet.” I gave Shepard a look as she simply gave a nod back in approval.
While I may not have been part of the ground crew exploring the planet this time, I took advantage of the last few hours of my free time to do some research and set up a sitrep for the team. Giving the team a summary of our destination and goals, and being able to justify dropping some hints with my ‘research’, was a situation that worked out well for me. It helped that Shepard seemed to appreciate the help getting information together.
“While we don’t actively know the situation, only rumours that geth were spotted before we lost contact, we can assume a few details. The ruins of Feros have been picked relatively clean, so it’s unlikely the Geth would be after any Prothean technology. Instead they are likely there for ExoGeni, either technology or research that was being conducted.” I swap the slide over to a photo of a short haired man, in a grey ExoGeni uniform.
“This is Ethan Jeong, he’s the representative for ExoGeni on the colony, and likely has the highest company clearance available. We should assume that any information colonists give us will be missing key information, and should corroborate any information they give us with Ethan. If anyone knows what the Geth would be on Feros for, it’s going to be him.” I turn off the holoscreen and step to the side sitting down on one of the chairs, giving a nod to Shepard that I was done.
She nods back and steps up in front of the ground team. “There you have it, we don’t know what condition the colony will be in when we land. We go in weapons live. We engage all geth on site, human personnel will wait for my order to engage. As said before, Wrex, Tali and Kaidan are with me. We will secure the colony grounds and hopefully rescue any survivors.” Her ground crew nodded in response, understanding their assignment. I pity any Geth that team runs into, with the combination of firepower and technical expertise Shepard was bringing they shouldn’t have any trouble whatsoever.
“From there we will push on to investigate any greater Geth presence and search for Ethan Jeong. Ashley, Garrus and Jenkins will maintain colony defence if and when we have to leave the site. Keep in contact with regular check-ins and prioritize civilian safety where we can. That’s all. We will be planet side in 15, suit up and be ready.” She gave us all a nod and was the first to march out of the room, as we all stood and followed behind, heading down to the cargo bay.
There wasn’t much time for idle chit chat, as we focused on putting on our armor and grabbing the weapons we wanted. I of course went with my standard armor, the black and dark blue Onyx armor that I received when I first joined Anderson. Equipping the Stinger pistol I got on Eden Prime, as well as grabbing an the assault rifle I had been most comfortable using.
The assault rifle was actually another interesting case of the game overlapping with what was now my real life. My model of rifle was called the Torrent, high accuracy in exchange for faster overheat time. It was a weapon that technically existed in Mass Effect 1 but was only accessible through console commands. The fact that the same weapon was just actively in the world was just another case that led me to believe that this world was a fully realized mass effect. Or perhaps the Mass Effect games were a limited version of this world? Whichever came first I suppose, not that it made any difference in the end.
I stowed both weapons and went to stand on the wall of the cargo bay, watching as Shepard gathered the ground team that would be heading out first. It was frustrating not to be on the front lines with her, but in the end it was her call to make. Too large a group and it would be hard to coordinate on the fly. One thing I noticed about the alliance military is that their only real large scale conflicts were all fleet combat. Ground combat wasn’t something that occurred very often unless it was in defence of an existing site.
Since the Citadel really disliked species actually forcibly taking occupied worlds, space battles were where most effort went as far as training was concerned. Ground teams were often small groups of specialized soldiers trained specifically for that purpose. Those kinds of missions were what Anderson recruited Jenkins for, before that he was a standard soldier getting boring colony defence assignments. I was really glad I had woken up here after that switch, even looking at Jenkins memories made me think the boredom would have killed me.
“Wishing you were with them?” Garrus’ voice came from my right as he leaned up against the wall beside me.
“Obviously, but it is what it is. We will have an important enough job as it is. If the colony has survivors then they’ll need our help while Shepard runs around figuring out what the hell is going on.” I give Garrus a glance, seeing him once again in the blue and black armor he almost always wore.
“Still rocking the C-Sec blues I see. Regretting quitting just to get sidelined on the first job?” His mandibles twitch at the question while he looks down before chuckling to himself and leaning back.
“I am still wearing those aren’t I? It’s my personal suit but I had it tinted when I got the job. I didn’t even think of changing it until you mentioned it actually.” He laughs slightly before relaxing and looking ahead. “And no, I don’t regret it. Even if I got sidelined for this mission, like you said, we got an important job on our own. No need to fret about have and have nots.”
I nod in agreement, Garrus knew how to take things in stride there was no doubt about that. The only real hangup he ever got in the series was over losing people he cared about. The Turian would gain a justice streak before the series ended. Actually that was something I should put on the list. I open up my omni-tool and slide over to my private notes.
It’s locked with a password and heavily encrypted. The only ones with access are myself and Beta, and anyone trying to get access would need a significant amount of time and would be almost certainly unable to do so without alerting one of us during the attempt. Beta himself even assured that most AI would be unable to crack it quickly, so I felt confident it was secure.
It’s where I originally wrote down all the game information I remembered when I woke up here, and added to whenever I remembered something I deemed important. Below that information was a direct to-do list. Top of the order, and already crossed out, was ‘Not Die’. Thinking about it further I uncrossed that, it was an objective that doesn’t really stop, there’s a lot of shit I was going to have to survive to complete this list. I quickly jotted down ‘Warn Garrus about traitor’.
I hoped with some of my changes this wouldn’t even become necessary, but if I could save the guy some hardship I would. As I clicked enter a piece of text floated across my omni-tool.
Another piece of information about the Future? You didn’t contact or speak to anyone that would have delivered new information, so your knowledge must come from an internal source. Visions perhaps, some powerful biotics claim to be capable of seeing events before they occur, although it has never been corroborated.
I chuckle to myself as Beta makes another few open guesses at where my information has been coming from. I think trying to figure it out on his own has become a hobby of sorts, although perhaps it would be more accurate to call it a challenge.
However this would require you hiding powerful biotics from every individual in the alliance, as well as any political and economic bodies that monitor these sorts of things. Highly unlikely.
'Not visions Beta, nice try though. Just remembered a piece of information I had forgotten'. I type the response back, feeling kind enough to give him some more information to ponder. Both because it was fun watching him guess, and also to have him preoccupied for a while.
All of this happened in only a few seconds, and I turned back towards Garrus who was still watching the rest of the crew get ready.
“At least you have a good attitude, I guarantee Ashley is fuming about not being on Shepard’s team.” I chuckle lightly and Garrus starts to smile before his face goes back to neutral as he looks to something behind me. He coughs lightly into his hand trying to hide a laugh as I hear someone speak out.
“What was that about me, Jenkins?” Ashley’s voice is sharp from behind, although not immediately angry. More annoyed than anything.
“I said you’re absolutely fuming because you’re not taking point with Shepard’s team.” I turn to look back at her and just repeat what I said. It seems to catch her off guard as her eyes widen in surprise before she shakes her head and lets out a scoff.
“You know I thought you would at least panic or deny it. Not sure why though since you always seem to be doing the opposite of what I expect.” Her tone and words are much more relaxed around me, which I’m glad to hear. The tension we used to have seems to be mostly gone and it’s much more comfortable now.
“I have a personal code, I never say something behind someone's back I wouldn’t say to their face. I stand by the things I say and if I get my ass kicked for it so be it.” I grin lightly as I give Ashley a quick once over. She’s loaded up to the nines with several varieties of weapon and dressed in the white and pink of her Phoenix class armor. A decent suit as far as Alliance equipment is concerned, but the colour scheme was definitely not my favourite.
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“Are you saying you’d accept my kicking your ass Corporal?” Ashley gives a smile that lets me know she’s at the very least not actively threatening me. Possibly just feeling out the potential for my later, likely deserved, ass kicking.
“I wouldn’t be able to stop it if I wanted to. I’m fully aware and accepting of my physical capabilities. You would be able to beat me senseless no question.” Garrus lets out a proper laugh as I speak causing both Ashley and I to look in his direction.
“I’m sorry, I’m sorry. It’s just strange to see Humans and Turians can bond the same way. Sparring before missions was a common way to build respect. While you both seem less um, physical, than most of our spars would go, the same theory applies.” He looked away as he said the word physical, and I had another flash of memory of some dialogue from Mass Effect 2 where Garrus spoke about such a spar he had with another crew member. And about how he said they had a rematch in her private quarters after the fact. That had me blushing and looking back at Ashley before hiding my reaction.
I could admit that in person Ashley actually made the white and pink Phoenix armor look … nope. Never. Not even on the table. Completely erasing these thoughts from my head, damn you Garrus. Ashley thankfully doesn’t seem to notice and seems more interested in questioning Garrus.
“Turians would spar before missions, is that real? That hardly seems like a safe pastime.”
“They were supervised of course, meant only to settle grudges and deal with stress. It worked pretty effectively. Well, uh, at least in my experience.” Garrus looked away from Ashley, glancing between the two of us. Stop it, do not think those thoughts into existence. I'm not risking it somehow being overheard by the universe.
I was thankfully saved from Ashley pressing his reaction by Wrex speaking up from where he was leaning against the Mako.
“You hear that Shepard. Maybe the Turians got a few good ideas. I can think of a couple of you I’d enjoy seeing spar. Or sparing with. We should implement those ideas, you know, cross species promotion or whatever it is the Council is pretending to preach these days.” The Krogan was giving an angry looking smile as he glanced between groups of us, clearly setting up his ideal matches in his head.
“Not happening Wrex. I have a sneaking feeling you wouldn’t want people holding back enough to avoid injury.” Shepard gives her answer as she finishes equipping the last of her gear.
The armor and weapons were all different, and while it shared her previous N7 colour scheme it was clearly of a much higher degree of quality. All her weapons were seriously scary looking pieces of hardware as well. One of the perks of being a real world and not a video game means you don’t have to be locked out of equipment arbitrarily for balance reasons. Shepard was wielding what must have been Spectre equipment she got access to with her new position, shit was top of the line in every way.
“Well how are you supposed to know who’s stronger if you don’t fight properly? Holding back is just a disservice. Come on Alenko, you’re saying you’ve never even wondered who would win in a fight between you or Shepard?” Wrex turned towards Kaidan who looked shocked at the suggestion.
“What? No of course not, Shepard is my superior we would never have to fight.” He looked genuinely appalled at the idea, and I couldn’t help but smirk at the idea. There is absolutely a time those two might have to fight, although hopefully I could prevent things from getting to that point in the first place.
“Hmph,that’s why you’d lose. I bet Shepard’s thought of it already.” He gave a look towards the Commander that was mirrored by Kaidan, and then the rest of us. Shepard was silent for a moment, before realizing we were looking for her response.
“No comment. Everyone focus up, we have a job to do. We’re heading up to the deck, we should be approaching the landing zone shortly.” Her lack of denial has Kaidan looking shocked. He glances around before giving me a look. All I can do is shrug as I smile lightly.
Shepard leads the way to the elevator and we all fall in line, joining the ride up to the flight deck. There’s only whispered small talk between a few of us as the elevator climbs. Tali scoots over to be standing just beside me.
“Is it a good sign that half of our ground team seem to imagine fighting each other just for fun.” Tali leans in slightly to whisper the question as quietly as she can. I can imagine how it would be surprising but there’s no real worry about it.
“Oh definitely, but only because they’re on our side. If your enemy behaves that way, run.” I give a wink and should nudge as she looks up in shock before turning away in embarrassment at having taken my joke seriously for just a second.
Just as the elevator reaches its destination and the doors begin to open does Joker's voice ring out on the comm.
“Attention Shepard and company. We are 5 minutes out from Feros’ dockyard. I repeat 5 minutes from our destination. Please return to the flight deck so that if we get shot at on arrival I have someone to deal with it or order a retreat.”
There’s a few chuckles as we move up the stairs and across the flight deck towards the ship's main access door. While the cargo bay would technically be an option for leaving the ship, it wasn’t ideal as most ship docks were not designed to allow for a cargo bay access unless the ship was expressly authorized. Another measure that was used across Alliance space to help with settlement security. Smaller entrances and exits from a ship limited the combat capabilities that were capable of leaving the ship at any given time.
Personally I didn’t really see the point, a sufficiently powerful biotic was the same as an entire squad of soldiers bringing armed fire to bear. Only the rarity and inconsistency of biotic power kept it from being any sort of well acknowledged battle tactic. To use a comparison, most biotics you encountered could do little more than move small objects or provide small barriers. More powerful ones like Shepard or Kaidan could hold people in place or throw them around, while the most powerful ones started to approach space wizard levels of bullshit.
Not that we would need to worry about anything of the sort for a few years. Jack and Samara, as well as Morinth would definitely count on the space wizard list for levels of power, but they were a ways away from being people we would encounter. Actually, I should see about maybe being able to find Jack before she gets arrested. Might be an interesting goal, save some unnecessary complications that come from her rescue. Plans on plans, overthinking wouldn’t do me any good, but it was an area of research worth looking into at least. Onto the list it goes as I begin to type off another note.
“What are you writing?” An inquisitive voice came from nearby as I noticed Shepard had stepped back from her place at the front of the group and was standing beside me. We had made it to the head of the ship, and were just waiting for the Normandy to reach the colony and dock safely.
“Hm? Oh just ideas of something to look into when I have downtime. Problem with having a brain that never stops is I will think of things at the worst possible time.” The, well not really a lie more of a half truth, leaves my lips without much effort. I do feel a tiny shred of guilt, having to hide the details of what I know and how, it’s just something I have to do. They wouldn’t be able to understand.
“Of course, well if it’s half as useful as what you’ve thought up so far I’ll look forward to seeing the results.” She patted her hand on my shoulder, giving a nod before moving on, speaking to each of our team one by one with the time we had left.
I had to hand it to her, our first mission hasn't even started yet and she is already effortlessly building loyalty. That’s the power of our main character though, in three years she would unite a galaxy. Clearing a colony is nothing given what she will accomplish.
“You’re staring again.” Another voice from my side as Kaidan walks up to my side.
“Damn it, I’m not trying to but I mean. Look at her, what she’s doing. Can you seriously not tell me it's impressive?” I turn to Kaidan and he just gives me a blank stare, glancing between Shepard and eye contact with.
“She’s just talking to people, man. I’ll give it to you that she’s very charming. But she’s also your superior officer. And way out of your league.” He smirked a little at the last comment and nudged my side, clearly teasing me.
“Pft, well I don’t need you to tell me that. I know when I’m not even in the same ballpark. You though, you have a chance.” I say as I punch him back in the shoulder, smiling as I do so.
“Uh huh? Whatever you say man. Hey, in all seriousness though, are you going to be good holding the colony? I know you and Ashley don’t get along, and we don’t know Garrus that well. I trust you guys to hold your own in a fight, but tensions can cause things to go wrong, even when it should be simple.” He looked genuinely concerned, but he had missed our earlier conversations so it only made sense.
“I think we will be okay. Ashley and I mostly worked it out, and Garrus seems like a good guy. Honestly I think you two would get along well, once you got over his rebellious streak.”
“If you’re sure. I’ll take you at your word Jenkins. Hopefully this won’t be too much trouble.”
“Hopefully.”
Given where we all were standing throughout the front end of the ship, we could all hear as Joker leaned back to shout towards us.
“We’re 30 seconds out Commander, bringing us into the dockyard now. No response over comm signals, and no visible signs of movement on scanners or from the air.” His lighthearted attitude was gone as we entered the airspace of our mission. It was all business from here out.
Shepard, along with her ground team; Wrex, Tali, and Kaidan, all gathered in the decontamination room that would lead out of the ship once we landed. Ashley, Garrus and I stood outside of the space and listened in as she spoke to the group one final time.
“Alright. We are going to head out and clear the landing site. Once we confirm that the colony is secure, Ashley will lead her group in joining us and maintaining the colony’s security while we begin investigating. This includes ensuring survivor safety. In the event of there being no survivors, your job is to keep the area secure for our eventual exfil. Does everyone understand their roles?”
I series of shouts in the affirmative were all she needed to hear.
“Good, let’s show the council and anyone else scrutinizing this mission that we are the best of the best for a reason.”
There was a thunk throughout the ship as we felt what must have been the magnetic clamps of the dockyard attaching the Normandy to its landing point. Joker confirmed this a moment later.
“We’ve landed Commander. We got movement in the dockyard as well, looks like a human though. Hopefully they’re friendly and have come to greet us.” Weird, I was certain I remembered a Geth attack being the introduction to this mission, but maybe I remembered it wrong. Or perhaps we got here early enough we cut it off. Oh well I wouldn’t look a gift horse in the mouth, and it’s clear neither would Shepard.
“Perfect, thank you Joker. Let’s move out team, stay in contact with the ship wherever possible. We will radio the rest of you once we’ve confirmed the area's secure.” And with a final nod Shepard hit the button to activate the door’s airlock, and with a hiss the inside door slid shut, and all sight of the Commander or her team was cut off.
There was a tense minute of silence as we stood waiting, before the three of us left aboard breathed a sigh of relief.
“Must have been one of the colonists on the dock.” I spoke relieved that things seemed to actually be going well. I must have remembered the opening of this mission differently, time would do that to a person. Not that I was complaining, peaceful was good, not that I was dumb enough to voice that idea into the universe.
“Maybe this mission might actually go well.” Garrus’ voice brought a stare from both Ashley and I who could not believe what he had just said. “What?” He asked, seemingly confused by our reaction.
He understood quickly however, as there was the sound of a muffled boom, and then gunfire that could be heard from outside of the ship. Our glare only intensified as we blamed the Turian for the Jinx. Never ever say things might go well. It will only ever get worse from there. All that was left for us to do now was to wait for the Commander to tell us how much worse it was.