Jane Shepard
The airlock sealed shut, cutting off Jane and her team from the rest of the ship and their crew. In all honesty she didn’t want to leave Jenkins behind, he was part of her original crew and an engineer. That skill would be useful given what they may have to deal with digging through ExoGeni’s facilities. However after his and Ashley’s outburst in the meeting room she had to make an example of them. She was all for open communication and dialogue, but fighting between members of the team would not be tolerated, especially not in that environment and with that hostility.
She was hoping benching them would give them a bit of time to sort out their differences, and with someone as collected as Garrus keeping an eye on things she trusted that it wouldn’t get out of hand.
Thankfully for her engineering concerns she was still able to bring Tali for this mission. The Quarian seemed more than competent, and the small talk she had been able to have with her led Jane to believe she would perform well. Wrex was obviously a powerhouse, and would be helping her frontline any threats they came across, and Kaidan would fill in the gaps in their defense. It was a good team, and would perform well in combat, Jane was certain.
They stepped out of the Ship's airlock and onto the surface of Feros for the first time. The stone that made up the towers surrounding them was weathered by thousands of years of absent caretakers, but the signs of life were still present. Metal crates and shipping containers filled the cargo bay, and showed that it had been in active use until recently.
Thankfully Jane wouldn’t have to play much of a guessing game, they had someone ready to meet them. A darker skinned man in green workers coveralls. His outfit was covered in light dirt and dust, although it was impossible to tell from a glance if that was just from regular wear in Feros’ dusty atmosphere or if there was something actually going on.
“Oh thank god you’re human, ah well. Mostly human.” The man stopped in front of us, knowing well enough not to make any sudden moves towards alliance soldiers. He glanced about Shepard’s crew warily, but still seemed relieved at our arrival.
“We saw your ship land from the colony. Fai Dan wants to speak with you.” The name was familiar to Jane. He was mentioned briefly in Jenkins’ briefing as he was head of the civilian operations of the colony.
Jenkins considered him less important than Ethan Jeong since it was unlikely the civilians living on the colony’s day to day would know much about ExoGeni’s research, or the Geth’s motivation. Still it was a good sign that Zhu’s Hope was maintaining its former leadership structure.
“Perfect, we were hoping to meet with him and Ethan Jeong if possible.” Jane paid close attention to his reaction at the mention of Ethan. While she didn’t expect much, how a person responds to the mention of someone else could tell you a lot about both individuals. He seemed surprised by having Jeong be sought after specifically, but quickly gets it under control.
“The situation with Jeong and ExoGeni is complicated, but Fai Dan can explain it to you. He wants your help preparing for the Geth, he worries they are preparing to make another push.” Jane gives a nod and prepares to follow before she feels a shiver run down her spine.
Glancing up and past the man that greeted them she can see a strange Geth machine. It looked similar to the troopers she had already fought, but was covered in white armor and carried a much larger, shoulder mounted weapon. She reacted as fast as she could only shouting one command
“TAKE COVER!” The cry she gave out moved in time with her own biotic energy. An act that would take someone far less experienced than her minutes of concentration, Shepard quickly performs a biotic pull. Consciously increasing the mass of the air between her and the man that had been sent to meet them to the point of creating its own gravitational force. The man is pulled from his feet and through the air, slamming into Jane’s arms as she throws him behind her to keep him safe.
At the same time Jane does this, the Geth unit fires its weapon. The rocket sailing through the air almost seems to move in slow motion, making its way towards Jane. She worries for a moment, but hopes that her new Spectre equipment can hold up to the ultimate scrutiny. She never gets the opportunity to test it as, moving far faster than something that size should be capable of, Wrex crosses in front of the path of the rocket.
He drags one of the large metal storage crates with him, holding it in front of himself like a shield. His body glows gently, as a glance towards both Tali and Kaidan reveal outstretched arms and the origin of the Wrex’s new glow.
The blast shakes the floor of the entire dockyard and causes dust to rain from the ceiling. The crate Wrex had dragged is blasted apart into shrapnel, but with the combined force of his armor, a biotic barrier and boosted shields, It goes unnoticed. Well, not completely unnoticed, as it did manage to piss the Krogan Battlemaster off.
This was not good news for the Geth trooper as it was certainly surprised to find itself face to face with a charging mass of muscle and metal. Wrex closed the distance with an almost unnatural speed, not even bothering to fire his shotgun. His only weapon was simply his size and weight. Mass times velocity equals force, so a 600 lb sprinting Krogan can do a hell of a lot of damage.
The geth learned this the hard way as it was lifted off the ground and carried shell first into the wall behind it. The sound of crunched metal and sparking electronics was the only noise that could be heard from the geth as its existence was quickly cut short.
A call runs across the group's comms as Ashley’s voice can be heard. “Commander! What the hell was that, do you need any assistance? We are ready to deploy if needed."
Jane wanted to respond right away but she had no choice but to keep it brief. Wrex was exposed in his current position had his side lit up by the purple plasma fire of several other geth troopers that had entered the shipyard and opened fire. Even with Wrex's boosted armor and shields, concentrated fire wasn't good for anyone, so Jane responded quickly.
“Unnecessary, hold back and wait for orders.”
Shepard doesn't hesitate to target one of the remaining large metal storage units with a biotic push, causing it to slide across the floor and slam against the wall between Wrex and the incoming fire. He only spares a glance in Shepard's direction and offers a nod of thanks, before leaning around the cover to open fire.
Kaidan and Tali both marched forward to the sturdier cover that was the cement railings of this shipyard. They engaged the enemy as well, interrupting their concentrated fire that had been peppering Wrex's position.
"Stay here, we'll handle this." Jane tucks the man who had come to meet them into cover before standing to her full height and charging toward the geth.
Having lost their element of surprise the Geth squad had begun to be pushed back towards the entrance to the dock. They held the doorway, using its cover to try and engage the Normandy ground team safely.
However Jane was no longer distracted, and she was already fed up with being shot at. She hoped that not every mission would start with a near death experience, but so far Feros was another par for the course. Afterwards Jane would feel bad for how unnecessary her acts of violence would appear, but in the moment she had frustrations to vent. And the Geth were a perfect target.
"Shields!" Jane gave the shout as she charged towards the enemies position and she felt the energy as Kaidan provides a layer of biotic protection and Tali boosts her existing shield system.
The combination of defence boosts made Jane feel nearly invincible, and confident enough to try something new. Biotic barriers were interesting. From an objective standpoint Shepard knew that element zero and biotic fields were all things that strictly followed the laws of physics. However the way they could be used allowed for certain bending of the rules. Directional gravity fields is one such use.
It was what allowed the artificial gravity of spaceships and stations to function, and it was how biotic barriers worked. Creating a field of 'negative' gravity that repelled any forces attempting to cross its field. The method biotics were taught was to surround a target with such a barrier, as an evenly spread field was easier to maintain than something that was directed or had specific areas of greater defence.
However with her shields and barrier being maintained by her allies Jane felt protected enough to try something riskier. Concentrating on a small area in front of her chest, a circle about 2 feet across, Shepard manifested a negative field that moved with her as she ran towards her targets.
She had no cover, nothing but glowing blue and orange barriers surrounding her form as protection. The Geth switched targets, all choosing to focus their fire on Jane's exposed form as she rushed them. Even with two layers of biotic barriers a few plasma rounds managed to sneak through, breaking apart on her shields and armor.
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Wanting to prevent such any rounds from getting through Jane adjusted on the fly, turning that circular barrier in front of her into more of a cone. The occasional round that had penetrated her the field was no longer capable of doing so, finding themselves deflected and curving away from the charging commander.
In a glowing streak of purple, a halo of energy gathered in front of Jane and trailed behind her as she ran forward uninterrupted. The rest of her crew would note how she had almost resembled a comet breaking up in atmosphere, while the geth would simply realize that their enemy suddenly became immune to traditional energy weapon fire.
They tried to retreat, backing out of the door and attempting to retreat to new cover. They were far too slow. The first geth to make contact with the commander's attack was split, shattering into fragments on impact. The second was torn in two, bent and ripped apart on contact with the angled biotic field. The last one was knocked off its feet and sent flying. It flew down what was left of the small hallway, smashing the upper half of its torso into the top of the doorway on the far side. It crumpled to the ground and did not get back up.
Shepard fell to a knee, breathing heavy. Her head pounded inside of her skull, whatever she had done, while effective, had taken a lot out of her. It wasn’t the worst, as she could tell she only needed a moment to catch her breath, but it wouldn't be good to use such a technique during an active fight. Even a single moment of vulnerability can be all it takes to get a soldier killed. As she climbed back to her feet she looked back to see Kaidan and Tali staring at her as they walked into the hallway, stepping carefully over the shattered pieces of Geth that lined the hallway floor.
“What the hell was that Commander? All due respect.” Kaidan asked the question as he looked at Jane in shock. It was more difficult to tell in the case of Tali, but Jane assumed she held a similar reaction. The only one not silent in shock was Wrex, who laughed heartily as he approached.
“Ah ha ha ha. That, my friend, was a Nova Charge, or almost one at least. The execution at the end there fell a little short but still damn impressive given I’ve only ever heard of Asari Commando’s pulling it off.” Wrex approached, slapping a firm hand on Shepard's shoulder before marching ahead and taking point with his shotgun ready.
“Did that answer the question for either of you? Because I’m still confused. Impressed, but confused.” Tali asked the question as she walked up as well, looking between Kaidan and Shepard for a response.
Kaidan gives a shrug as he responds, “No clue, I've heard of biotic charges, It’s fairly common among the more aggressive biotics in the alliance. But I’ve never heard of a nova charge before.” He looked at Jane for an answer, but all she did was shake her head.
“It’s unimportant, we need to secure the rest of the colony and make sure the survivors are safe.” She tapped the button on her comms. “Ashley, the shipyard is secure. Please take your team reinforce the position and secure the man taking cover on the docks. We will clear the remains of the colony site and call you up afterwards.”
Jane didn’t want to overthink what Wrex had said. It didn’t matter what that attack was called, or who is supposed to be able to do it, it worked. Mostly. That was all she concerned herself with. The response from Ashley was all she needed for reassurance to continue further.
“Understood commander, we will secure the docks and await further orders.” Jane took the response in stride, readying her weapon and moving further down the hall to where Wrex had stacked up on another doorway. He was leaning in, weapon ready, but hadn’t moved forward or fired yet.
He simply gave a nod as Shepard approached and stepped back from the door, allowing Jane to take point once more. Through the doorway was a rather large and open stairwell. Light shone down through the center of the stairwell, as it appeared to climb several stories and open up to the top of the tower they were in. The stairwell that led down was blocked off, filled with debris that appeared to have been placed there intentionally.
The only way forward was up.
The stairway was quiet, only the occasional sound of a gust of wind blowing through the many holes that likely filled this millennia old tower. It was ominous, and foreboding, but not all unwelcome. The silence allowed other sounds to stick out as they made their way up the tower, and gave them plenty of warning when they finally encountered enemy contact.
The sound was different from the other Geth they had encountered so far. Where the Troopers they had encountered before were essentially just soldiers, ground units that moved as anyone else would, this sound lacked the clanking steps that would follow such soldiers. Instead the sound was closer to a spring coiling and releasing. A light thumping sound followed by rushing wind and another thump.
The strangeness of the sound had the team already on edge, so they already had weapons up and ready for anything that came from further up the stairwell. Despite being ready for a threat, none of them were truly ready for exactly what kind of threat appeared. Flying with great speed from further up the stairwell, the geth collided with the one of the stairs railing clinging flat against the outside of the railing with no difficulty. It had no visible weapons, but long stretched limbs. The 3 fingers they held on each hand were equally long, giving the machine an unnatural appearance. The limbs were coiled up like frogs, and had the appearance of exposed muscle, long thick tendons covering every inch of the limb. Its large cylindrical head turned and looked directly at the group, the blue glow of its central viewing camera turning red as it rested on them.
Wrex was the first to fire, followed quickly by everyone else as they attempted to blast the Geth machine apart. It reacted insanely fast, leaping across the interior space of this stairwell to a higher point. It moved far faster than something of that size had any right too, and somehow was able to twist itself in the air to once again land in a way that faced them. They tracked it with their fire, following to where it had landed and finally scoring a few hits on the machine.
One limb was blown clean off by the fire, causing it to lose the purchase it had found and hang with far less security. That moment of instability was all it took as the Shepard team focused fire and blasted the thing to pieces. The light in its head flickered out and it fell from position, tumbling down the center of the stairwell and out of sight, the sound of it’s metal frame smashing against the walls of the stairwell filled Jane with a sense of satisfaction. They never heard it hit the ground, but given these towers were greater than a kilometer tall at their highest it was unlikely they would.
“What the hell was that thing?” Wrex asked the question as he leaned over the edge to watch it fall.
“I don’t know, but I think it was attempting to infiltrate our devices' security, likely to attempt to disable shields or force our weapons to overheat. It seems Corporal Jenkins security upgrades served their purpose.” Tali spoke plainly, also looking over to watch it fall.
“I thought you were supposed to be a Geth expert or something. How do you not know what just tried to ambush us?” Wrex asked the question plainly, not with any malice but in genuine confusion.
“Just because I am a Quarian does not mean I am an expert in all things Geth. We created them, and studied them of course but they have lived in isolation for centuries. They have clearly developed new technology and made changes to themselves in that time. If we can recover the body of one then I may be able to take it apart for greater study, but as of now I can only make educated guesses.” Tali seemed annoyed at the question, but not overly upset.
“Focus up team, we still have a colony site to secure. Asset recovery will be kept in mind, Tali, but colony security and investigating Saren will take priority.” Jane wanted to get the group back on track, if there were more Geth in the stairwell they would need to be dealt with on the way to the colony.
“Of course Commander.” Tali gave a nod and raised her pistol before following in line.
They climbed the rest of the stairwell without incident. There were signs other units had come through, but no resistance was found. As they reached the top of the stairwell it opened up. The ceiling was missing from this space, and the stairs stopped abruptly. Clearly a section of the tower had fallen away, and left this area exposed to the light of this planet's sun.
They followed the hall that showed signs of use. The dust that covered much of the building they had been through was lacking from the floor in this area, and there were finally signs of combat. Pieces of metal and debris from geth soldiers, and as they continued down the hall a few corpses of troopers. There were 3 standard troopers destroyed in this hall, and as they exit into the light they can see the cause.
There were barricades set up watching the entrance, manned by several armed colonists. They had their weapons held high, the shake in their arms showing that they aren’t experienced soldiers. None fired however, and upon seeing the armored soldiers they visibly relaxed. However a voice called out to the guards here, one of the older men dressed in better equipment, likely the head of their militia.
“Patrick, Liam, go down and ensure the path to the Shipyard is clear of Geth. The rest of you hold position until we get confirmation, then go secure the East tunnel.” The men grumbled about it, but to their credit they followed orders, marching down the hall Shepard's team had come up. The man turned to face Shepard, and while he was professional in his tone and orders, she could see the exhaustion and worry on his face.
“Thank god you’re here. Corporal Manning at your service, I wish I could provide you a better welcome but I’ll be frank in saying that we are stretched thin at the moment. Fai Dan will want to speak to you, he’s currently helping guard the east gate.” The worry on his face was already fading at the sight of Jane's team.
“A Corporal? That doesn’t make sense there should be at least a lieutenant in charge of a colony this size. What happened?” Kaidan asked the question looking pointedly at the man. Manning turned away before answering, anger sliding into his voice.
“That would be standard usually, but Exo-Geni funded the colony themselves. That included security, and they prioritized that security on their research site on the other tower. I’m all the actual colony site had as far as security is concerned. Just.. talk to Fai Dan. He can explain our situation better, I need to ensure our injured get treated.” The man turned away and focused back on his soldiers. Kaidan gave Shepard a look that she could only share. She raised a hand and sent a message over comms.
“Ashley, take your team and make your way up to the colony site, the route here is secure. We will meet with Fai Dan and gather intel before we move out further.” The response was quick and professional.
“Yes Commander, on our way.”
Shepard spared another look at the colony's security team, a few of them sporting minor injuries, but nothing majorly life threatening. The Corporal did a good job with what little he had to work with, but it was clear he was understaffed and unprepared. Jane had a bad feeling about Exo-Geni. If this is how a mega wealthy company funded and supported their colony, she could only imagine how little regard they actually had for their own people. It was likely whatever research they had or were doing would take priority over the lives of their own scientists.
The thought left a bitter taste in her mouth, but so be it. She couldn’t deal with the company’s policies now, she could only work through their aftermath. She only hoped that Fai Dan would be helpful with that.