The screen began showing horrific images... a battle... an uneven fight, though it wasn't yet clear who the Systems Alliance soldiers were fighting. However, they were requesting assistance, and at the very end, they showed a massive ship resembling some kind of crustacean.
"Fuck..."
I didn't hold back. Having lived in this world for over thirty years, nearly half of which I spent in the military, I had learned that ships that large aren't supposed to land on a planet's surface. I had thought this part of the canon was some kind of nonsense, but it turned out to be real.
"Joker, rewind..."
Anderson asked to see the ship again, and we watched it once more.
"It seems the task just got a lot more complicated. John... your objective remains the same: get the beacon out. Do you hear me?"
"Yes, sir."
I replied perfectly calmly, while in my head I was calculating if the colony could hold out. An excavation site is an excavation site; as soon as Prothean ruins were discovered there, all private companies were simply removed from the list of sponsors. Of course, we were paid compensation that covered our expenses, but... I could no longer look after the security.
But the colony, which is located quite far away, is surely lying low right now, because they have no desire to fight a Dreadnought, and no PKO systems will help here. Although...
I glanced at the image of the Reaper again.
...if we try to pretend the PKO is broken and open fire when the ship has almost landed, we might manage to damage it.
Meanwhile, Anderson gave the order to Joker, and we headed straight for Eden Prime. I activated my Omni-tool and contacted Jane.
"Shepard, get the team into combat readiness. I'm authorizing the opening of the locked container sections. Code Alpha-Zeta-Five-Seven-Nine-Alpha-Gamma."
"Yes, sir!"
She didn't ask unnecessary questions and simply set about executing the order. In the sections that had been previously locked stood exoskeletons. These were prototypes from my firm; they likely wouldn't make it into the army's arsenal, but mercenaries would use them with great pleasure. Especially mercenaries in the service of a certain lady...
I myself headed toward the cargo hold at a brisk pace.
"Sir, permission to speak..."
Jane, seeing me, was immediately by my side.
"I'm listening."
"What the hell is this for?"
"The mission has become complicated. Besides the landing and escorting the cargo, we'll be facing an unknown enemy that attacked the dig site."
Jane's questions vanished instantly, and I walked past the line.
"How is the transport training coming along for Chifuyu Orimura?"
"Fine. She'll be able to drive it. Not like a Mako, of course, but she'll manage."
"Good. You'll put Richard Jenkins or Kaidan Alenko on the gun, and Sama, along with Rebecca Lee, take the exoskeletons."
"Sir, what about you..."
"I don't need any of that crap. You remember how I fight."
She nodded somewhat slowly.
"Don't worry..."
Seeing that she didn't like my answer, I put a hand on her shoulder.
"...I've become significantly stronger since Elysium."
Jane only nodded, then stepped aside and began barking orders. About an hour later, we were near the planet, and everyone was now standing by the ramp in the cargo hold.
"Drop me off closer to the dig site."
"Nihlus, that's not wise..."
I tried to stop him.
"I move faster alone, and a crowd like this..."
He nodded dismissively toward my landing party.
"...will just get bogged down among the enemies."
At that moment, the ship hovered and the ramp opened, after which he simply jumped out. I only shook my head in disapproval.
"Shepard, I hope you're not thinking of quietly eliminating Mr. Kryik?"
"Sir, even if I am, it remains only a thought. My attitude toward a specific arrogant representative of the Turian Hierarchy has nothing to do with my mission. Reach the beacon, protect it, and deliver it to the ship."
"Exactly."
Anderson, relaxing slightly, nodded.
"We're here."
Following Joker's words, the ramp opened again, and we made our landing.
"Move it, double time!"
I gave the order and sat on the nose of the armored vehicle, while Jane and Rebecca Lee in their armored suits sat on the sides in the back. In this position, we began our movement.
Literally a few minutes into the drive, a Biotic barrier flared up in front of me.
"Movement!"
Shepard was late with the warning by only a few hundredths of a second, so it might have even seemed like my shield appeared exactly when she screamed. Shots immediately slammed into the shield, and Geth Drones appeared further down the road.
"Fire!"
Shepard gave the order and immediately opened fire herself, as did Rebecca Lee. They acted with surprising synchronicity, and Chifuyu Orimura didn't even slow down. So we destroyed the five drones in passing; they simply couldn't put up any resistance.
They couldn't even deplete my Biotic barrier. With a slight gesture of my hand, I created a Biotic barrier around the entire APC. It was one-way permeable—meaning we could shoot out, but they couldn't shoot in.
"Fuck..."
"That's the Captain's power."
In Shepard's voice, as she responded to Rebecca Lee's shocked expression, there was pride. The kind of pride as if she had created the shield herself.
However, we couldn't dwell on it for long, as we soon ran into a substantial group of ordinary Geth who opened fire on us. Or rather, they tried to, as this time they didn't even manage to get a proper shot off; the girls simply gunned them down.
"Damn, I want to shoot too!"
In the voice of Richard Jenkins, who was sitting behind the gun, there was resentment.
"You want to shoot mosquitoes with a howitzer?"
Disapproval colored my voice.
"Jenkins!"
Realizing I was displeased, Shepard immediately intervened.
"When we get back to base, you'll be studying technical specs! You'll have to tell me from memory how much a shot from this armored vehicle costs, and how much from a rifle. And not just those!"
"But ma'am..."
"Don't argue."
Kaidan Alenko's voice came over the line, and judging by that very voice, he was suffering from a migraine again.
"Shepard is the commander, and it's her call on what to do and how to do it. The only thing you can do is file a transfer request. Personally, that's what I intend to do, because one tyrant was enough for me, and now there are two..."
I winced slightly under my helmet.
"Cut the chatter! Discuss transfer requests or resignations after we're back on the ship. Until then, do your jobs!"
I wanted to tell them what idiots they were, but... why? In essence, these aren't game characters, as this is a real world around me, but they are the living dead... Richard Jenkins would be a corpse if he weren't in the armored car, though that's debatable—Jane had checked his gear before the landing and kicked him in the ass to go change a drained shield battery. Kaidan Alenko... Kaidan Alenko is supposed to die on Virmire...
In short, it's easier with those whose fates I had no clue about. Chifuyu Orimura and Rebecca Lee will be excellent additions to the team. Especially alongside Jane.
A girl in pink armor ran out to meet us...
No, the armor really was pink—or rather, the main part was white, but all the joints were pink.
"Fire!"
Jane gave the order while I created a small shield over the girl. This time it was stationary and impossible to penetrate from the inside. So the girl simply slammed into the shield and immediately collapsed to the ground, covering her head with her hands. Meanwhile, Jane and Rebecca Lee dealt with the Geth pursuing her.
"Get up!"
As soon as the immediate threat was gone, the girl in pink and I were inside the same protective dome. Hearing me, the girl immediately jumped up and snapped to attention.
"Report!"
"Sergeant Ashley Williams, sir! Two-twelfth platoon! Last survivor, sir! I left the defensive fortifications after receiving a signal that civilians were in a shelter!"
"At ease..."
I wanted to yell at her, but if civilians are in a shelter... though that doesn't mean anything yet.
"How many Geth on the planet?"
"On the planet, I don't know... as far as I'm aware, they only landed at the dig site. But there are quite a lot of them."
The girl answered my question clearly.
"I see..."
I thoughtfully looked over the girl's figure; fortunately, I was wearing a helmet with an opaque visor, and it was impossible to tell where my gaze was directed.
"I am John Shepard, Captain of the SSV Normandy landing party. I'm here to retrieve the beacon. You are temporarily attached to my group. You report either to me or to my second-in-command, Lieutenant Jane Shepard."
"Yes, sir!"
She snapped to attention again.
"Can you handle a Sniper Rifle?"
"Yes, ma'am."
Ashley's response was now devoid of bravado, her voice quite calm.
"Then you'll handle picking off enemies at long range. It's not very convenient for me or Revi to do that, and shooting at flies with a cannon..."
"The APC sensors show there are survivors in this building."
"Relay the data to the SSV Normandy. We're moving on."
"But sir..."
"Belay that."
Jane cut off Ashley Williams, who was about to say something.
"Williams, we have orders. Helping civilians is a good thing, of course, but it's relatively safe here right now. If we draw unnecessary attention to this container, we'll only make things worse. Besides, we have an order. And that order is: deliver the beacon to the SSV Normandy. There was not a word about civilians in the orders."
"But ma'am... this is..."
"This is an order. If the Captain were in charge, there would be a chance to discuss this order while we were still on the ship. But now, if you open your mouth and contest an order..."
"Ma'am, the thought never crossed my mind!"
"Then keep it shut."
A note of satisfaction could be heard in Jane's voice.
"What the fuck is this?"
Rebecca Lee, also known as Revi, couldn't hold back when she saw the massive spikes with bodies impaled on them.
"I don't know what this crap is, but everyone on high alert. Geth are machines, damn their microchips, and they won't just put people on stakes for no reason."
When we got close enough to the spikes, they began to move and retracted into the base. Deprived of support, the bodies collapsed to the ground and, twitching comically, began to rise.
"Fuck, they're zombies!"
Excitement was audible in Revi's voice.
"More like techno-zombies... the APC sensors show extreme amounts of Element Zero and some kind of electrical signals in the bodies."
"Even cooler!"
"Don't you start! Fire!"
Jane gave the order, and they really did start shooting the zombies. And those were finished off very quickly.
"Williams..."
Jane turned to the girl, who immediately realized she had done something wrong.
"Why the fuck were you shooting at their legs?"
"But... those are people..."
"Williams, people don't survive after being impaled through the stomach and pumped full of Element Zero! If you screw up like that again, I give you my word, I will personally shoot you, just so your actions don't jeopardize the survival of our squad."
"I... understand..."
The words were hard for the girl. I decided for myself that after returning to the ship, I'd have to check her out further. Because so far, this lady is leaving me with mixed impressions.
"Good..."
Meanwhile, Chifuyu Orimura moved our APC forward again, and we headed toward the dig site, which wasn't very far now...
***
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