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Captive - Part 4

Mia was on the Naseby when Keating returned, with snow on her armour and blood on her helmet.
"Thank you," said Mia, feeling a lot better after several doses of medigel on her gunshot wound. She couldn't walk on it, yet, but it had stopped bleeding, "What you did was... helpful."
"It's fine. I was just doing my job."
The base exploded through the observation port behind Keating.
"What was that?"
"Oh, after I shattered the Turian I set the internal heat generators for the base to maximum, and threw a grenade into the system. They tend to explode when that happens."
The intercom beeped into life, "Someone called Thomson wishes to speak to you, Commander," said the pilot, "It concerns the gang."
"I'm sorry, Mia. I have to go. Just ask the doctors if you need anything."

"Who are you?" Keating asked the mysterious caller.
"I'm Lieutenant Thomson. A member of my team mentioned that a Spectre was trying to destroy the gang on Omega that is dealing with Quarian slaves. He also gave me the name of your ship. It's a long story, but they've left Omega and are now on Sur'Kesh. They have my girlfriend. I'm massing a force to destroy them. Do you want to be a part of it?"
Keating smiled, "And you think I would miss something like that? Send me the coordinates."

"Mia, we're taking a bit of a detour through a battle. I hope you don't mind," said Keating as she went back to tell the Quarian the news.
"What?" Mia questioned, "What are you talking about?"
"Well... Apparently someone is trying to get a large force together to deal with the gang. They have a shit load of Dreadnoughts and we, so far, have a hundred thousand ships. A group of which will be doing battle with them, the rest will be trying to protect the Migrant Fleet. I volunteered to have the Naseby in the middle of the battle."
"Why? What the hell possessed you? Keelah."
Keating shrugged, "It's my job. Plus, I get to be in control of the guns. Which is always fun. Especially against a Dreadnought."
"Surely this frigate doesn't have the weapon strength to be up against a Dreadnought?"
"That's what you're supposed to think. But underneath the Frigate shell, it has an Everest-class Dreadnought mass accelerator cannon, capable of firing a twenty kilogram ferrous slug every five seconds. It can fire them at 1.5 percent the speed of light, due to some modifications I made. It has the impact of a forty kiloton bomb. Alongside the standard Frigate GARDIAN defences, it's pretty cool. Oh, and we have a Thanix cannon too."
"So... you've just armed this frigate up?"
"Pretty much. We destroyed a few Reapers. Well, that was an accident. I fired the ferrous slug and it took out a Reaper behind the Reaper I was initially aiming at. Fired straight up into its main cannon before it could destroy us, and their formation meant... well, yeah. Anyway, we'll be there in a few hours. I'm contacting the Citadel, seeing if we can get Destiny Ascension to help. That ship is pretty awesome."

The SSV Naseby got in formation behind the SF-2 Falcon. Keating wasn't going to let Thomson get all the fun. The GARDIAN turrets were ready, and she was sat in the chair where she could fire the weapons from inside the cockpit. The auto-targeting system began scanning for the Dreadnoughts, but they were not in range yet. They had yet to go down to Sur'Kesh.
"Team one, are you ready?" Thomson's voice said through the radio, "Keep to the plan. Wait for my signal."
Keating tapped on a terminal behind her, sending a confirmation to the Falcon to acknowledge the Naseby's readiness.
"Team one away."
The group of about three hundred starships broke away from the larger group and flew down towards Sur'Kesh, and into the battle.

As soon as the fight began, Keating fired three slugs in fifteen seconds, firing the Thanix cannon whilst doing so. A beam erupted from the front of the Naseby, raking across the front of a Dreadnought and leaving a cut in its hull, which glowed orange with scorched metal.
The three slugs, meanwhile, destroyed a Dreadnought each.
The pilot then steered the frigate down the middle between two Dreadnoughts, luckily avoiding the five slugs that had been fired their way.
The SF-2 Falcon also broke away from formation, heading for the leading Dreadnought.
Destiny Ascension had fired several times, each shot taking out a Dreadnought.
Keating, however, was not going to be shown up by the Citadel Fleet's flagship. As the Naseby flew upwards, she cut a line through the hull of a Dreadnought, firing a slug downwards as she did so.
Her aim was true, because the slug hit the Dreadnought and hit it with so much force, it took out the Dreadnought beneath it after it had torn through the first.

Needless to say, the battle didn't last very long. However, she was physically not able to lock on to one of the Dreadnoughts. The one she had seen the Falcon steer towards. It was almost like something was stopping her. It simply did not exist on any of the scanners.
"Destiny Ascension, this is Commander Keating of the SSV Naseby. Are you able to pick up any readings of the last surviving Dreadnought?"
"Negative," came the reply, "We are unable to lock on."
Her holographic monitor turned red.
She sighed, "What did I do, overheat the weapon system?"
Mia moved from one end of the CIC to the other with the help of a crutch, "What's happening? All the systems went red," the Quarian pointed out.
"All of them?" Keating questioned, "Shit."
She brought up the radio again, "Destiny Ascension, it's Commander Keating again. Our systems are not responding. Requesting immediate assistance."
There was nothing but static.
"Destiny Ascension, this is-"
"Your communication methods have been disabled," said a deep voice. The red lights of the systems around her pulsed in synchronisation.
"Look, pal," Keating sighed, "I have no idea who you are, but unless you give me back control of my ship, I'm going to find you, hunt you down and feed your remains to a space hamster. Got that?"
"Your threats are unnecessary. This will only take a moment."
"Ma'am," said one of Keating's officers, "All the doors are locked and we can't raise any other deck on the intercom."
"This is bullshit. Look, monitor-guy, you might think you're all tough, putting on a big, bad voice and hacking into my ship, but we'll see how tough you are when you have a fucking bullet in your head."
"You do not understand who you are talking to, human."
Mia tapped Keating on the shoulder, "He sounds serious. I think you should listen to him."
"Noted," she responded, "And ignored." she turned to the monitor again, "I will only listen when you have released your control over my ship. You can go all 'you do not understand who you are talking to', but I don't give a shit. This is my ship and my crew. Nobody fucks with the Naseby and lives to tell the tale."
"Releasing control," said the monitor, and everything returned to normal. The weapons screen began glowing orange again, and the locking mechanisms on the doors turned green and unlocked.
"I am a Reaper," said the voice through her communicator.
Keating laughed, "Nice one. You're just some kid who has nothing else better to do. I will find you, and I will be telling your mummy. Everyone knows the Reapers were destroyed, idiot. I was there. I killed some."
"My name is Revenge. I survived the Crucible blast. I need your help. Unless you want me to take control of your vessel again. And the fact you killed several of us just makes you more promising."
"Could you speak up? All I'm hearing on my end is shit. And lots of it."
"Do you want to be destroyed, human?" the voice growled, "Because I can make it happen with a single data transmission."
"Do your worst, Revenge. You can lock some doors and deactivate some terminals, big wow. Anyone with the new Omni-tool can do that. Destroy us, I dare you. I double-dare you."
"Keating," said Mia, "This might not be a good idea..."
The communicator was silent for a second, "Listen, human." it said finally.
"I didn't hear any manners in there."
"Please listen, human."
"That's better. What do you want?"
"I am not lying to you. I am the last Reaper in existence. There is something I need your help with. Have you ever heard of the planet Junthor?"
Keating nodded, "I have. Well... I think I have. The one which is all ruins, correct?"
"Correct."
"Where is Junthor?" Mia asked.
"The Armstrong Nebula," Keating pointed out, "It's the home of an extinct race that no one knows about."
"We know about them," said Revenge, "We were the ones who reduced their homeworld to rubble."
"Yes, yes, we both know how you claim to be a Reaper. I don't buy it. However, if you want something from me, we have to trade. Make it worth my while."
"If we find any weapons technology, you will be able to keep it. All you need to do is go to Junthor and land by the pillar with the inscriptions. Do we have a deal?"
"Yes. Yes we do. But you'll have to show me yourself in person once we get there. If you're not a Reaper, I'm going to kill you."
"I would like to see you try, human," Revenge responded.
"No," she grinned, "No, you wouldn't. You don't want me as your enemy. Now get the hell out of my radio."
Her communicator went dead.
"If he's telling the truth, you realise you just talked down a Reaper?" Mia questioned.
"Yes. Yes I do. There aren't many people who can say that," Keating smiled.

Marriage - Part 3

"We can't just destroy the Presidium," said Thomson, with a raised eyebrow, "The Council wouldn't be very happy, and I'm pretty sure we'd be a little bit illegal."
"We do not have to make the Presidium non-functional," said Revenge, "But if we disable the system that is converting it into a relay for their signals, it will limit their functionality in this area. Then you can go and investigate Junthor."
"Can you do it remotely?" Thomson asked.
Revenge shook his metallic head, "Unfortunately not."
"Emi," Thomson said, "I think you should come with us. If they can instantly indoctrinate someone, it's better for you to be here rather than on the ship. They could try and attack you again."

Thomson covered Emi as Revenge led them to the area of the Presidium that he said the system was on.
It was a grey, dark tunnel, which was more close to a ventilation shaft than a passageway. Revenge was on the Geth's hands and knees;" Thomson was shuffling along on his knees to be able to incorporate the bulk of his weapon, whilst Emi crawled behind. If it had been on Earth, there would be no doubt in the fact that it would be covered in spider webs. However, for a passage which looked as if it hadn't been used for the past thousand years, it was relatively clean. There was a fine layer of dust which coated the floors and walls, but nothing major.
He had collected his M-8 Avenger from the Falcon for extra protection. There was no doubt that they would attempt to stop them deactivating the signal relay.
A small crab-like creature with what appeared to be a bloated orange abdomen scuttled across in front of Revenge. Emi shrieked, but Thomson stood on it after Revenge had moved over it, and before it came close to her.
"How close are we?" Thomson asked.
"Approximately 15.2 metres away."
"I was expecting some resistance by now," said Thomson, "They seemed desperate to get their hands on Emi."
"Perhaps they have forgotten about this passage," said Revenge.
"Maybe they did," replied Thomson with a shrug of his shoulders, "Something just seems a little odd."
Emi nodded, "... I think I know what you mean..."
"They're not something you'd expect from a race from the Prothean times," Thomson pointed out, glancing around the tunnels.
"The Keepers maintain the Citadel," Revenge said, simply, "It is their doing."
The passageway opened up into a small room, barely tall enough for Revenge to stand at full height. Thomson, Emi and Revenge had to press close together for them all to fit in at the same time.
In front of them, there was a single terminal. The hologram glowed orange, and it displayed some sort of controls concerning the controls for the signal relay.
Revenge turned around, looking back down into the passageway.
"What is it?" Thomson asked.
Revenge grabbed his weapon, "They are trying to stop us. Deactivate the terminal whilst I hold them off."
Thomson nodded, and began swiping the holographic terminal until he reached the deactivation option. Gunfire was audible from behind as Revenge began firing down the tunnel.
The terminal started displaying a screen with two circular objects, almost like dials. Thomson turned one, but it reset a second later and beeped, and the word "Error" flashed several times.
"Emi," he shouted above the gunfire, "I need your help. We need to turn the dials at the same time."
She nodded, and moved so she was stood next to him. She placed her gloved finger on the terminal.
"On the count of three. One... two..."
"Thomson..." an echoing, alien voice whispered from back down the tunnel, "Don't do this..."
It was silenced by Revenge's gunshots.
"... Three."
They twisted the dials, and the terminal blinked into darkness and folded up. All the aliens vanished.
"They must have been using the relay not only for indoctrination," Revenge explained, "But to cast projections of themselves. They weren't actually here."
The Reaper handed Thomson back his rifle.
"So we're going to Junthor, now?" Thomson questioned.
"Yes. We should go," came the reply from the large Geth unit.
"... I'm not so sure..." said Emi, "... I don't know whether we should..."
Thomson turned to her, and held her arms gently, "I'm not entirely convinced, either. But if it's the only way to make you safe..." he looked at Revenge, "... It is, right?"
"Unfortunately, yes. Yes it is."

Stealth - Part 3

When he returned to the shuttle, he found all the systems disabled. There was an odd red glow emitting from the screens and the engine refused to start.
"Shit," he sighed, "Just when I want to make a getaway."
"I saw you dispatching those Krogan. There are not many who could have killed so many," a voice said from inside his shuttle, the screens pulsing in time with the syllables.
"Who are you?" Stealth asked, "Give me back control of my shuttle."
"I am known as Revenge. You humans call my species "Reaper", though it is irrelevant."
"Fuck!" Stealth yelled, trying to get out of the vehicle again. However, the doors were locked.
"Do not be alarmed. I wish you no harm," said Revenge, "I need you to do something. It is of the greatest importance."
"Work for you? Go to hell."
"We were destroyed. We have no wish to harvest anyone anymore. We had our chance. The galaxy can do as it wishes. However, there is a certain issue concerning Cerberus. More specifically, something they created.
A few years ago, before we invaded your galaxy, the Collectors were abducting entire human colonies. Beyond the Omega 4 Relay, they were constructing a Reaper. A Human-Reaper. When the Collector base was destroyed, Cerberus went through the relay and salvaged anything they could. This included the body of the Human-Reaper.
Using technology from a gang on Omega, based on the Geth interface design, which allowed data to be uploaded to their Consensus, they created a machine that was able to transfer the consciousness of one being into another. Either permanently or temporarily.
I was on Tuchanka when the Crucible killed all of my species. I was underground, in battle with a Thresher Maw. When I reached the surface after disabling it, I was met by a man who called himself Vengeance. He had an extraordinary capacity for war, and his biotic levels were enhanced. I learned that he was the result of the Human-Reaper experiments, and I later came to regret siding with him when he began wrecking havoc inside the Reaper network.
It appears he has made contact with the Gang on Omega. I believe they are going to start to make him another body.
This is why I contacted you. Your skills are exactly what I need to stop him."
"You want me to destroy the gang?"
"Eventually, yes. But infiltration is the key. I will give you the coordinates. Releasing control of this shuttle. I will, how you organics say, have a dialogue exchange with you later."
"You mean 'talk to you later'."
The shuttle's systems stopped glowing.
Stealth sighed, "Well, that was interesting."

Captive - Part 3

She could feel warm liquid running down her leg from the bullet wound as she climbed out of the snow. She used her hand to pull her leg up and to keep it stable, otherwise she'd have fallen again. Her movements were slow and painful, she practically dragged her wounded leg through the snow in the brief moments where she wasn't hauling it upwards using her hand to create short but painful steps manually. Her leg had gone numb as it lost blood.
Mia began hearing growls and barks behind her, and distant shouting was audible. Several soldiers with Varren were closing in on her location.
There was a second gunshot, and snow was flung up into the air as it hit nothing but ice.
She brought Nar'Mia around and fired several shots, which she instantly regretted. In her weak state, the gunfire knocked her off balance and sent her rolling down an embankment, landing in a pile of snow at the bottom. She hissed in pain and swore furiously.
There were sounds of quick and frantic panting before a Varren, a four legged and extremely vicious creature that was used in a similar way as humans would use hounds - for hunting, came into view. It bounded down the hill in a single leap and set upon her, growling viciously whilst trying to tear her to pieces.
Luckily her suit resisted the attack, but the aroma of rotting meat originating from its mouth was overpowering. At times like that, she was glad she could activate an air filter to get rid of bad smells.
She managed to haul the large creature off of her, and she scrambled for her gun as the Varren charged.
It jumped at her, claws outstretched and jaw open.
She pulled the trigger, and the Varren's head exploded, showering her with fleshy entrails and scattering its blood across the snow. She stood up slowly and painfully.
Then the Varren's... Keeper? Protector? appeared, wielding a vicious looking cattle prod, which sparked with electricity. She wasn't sure whether it was for her or the Varren.
"Bosh'tet!" she hissed, "I hate you! All of you! Leave me alone!"
The man swung his cattle prod in a wide arc, sweeping her legs out from underneath her. She landed on her back, and he jabbed the device into her chest and it crackled with blue light.
She grabbed the handle, "Our suits are unaffected by electricity. Bosh'tet."
Mia pulled the cattle prod from his grasp and spun it around and jammed him in the hand, sending him to the floor with muscle spasms.
By the time she had climbed to her feet, a second Varren was upon her. They rolled over in the snow and she used their momentum to throw it off her, but before she realised what was happening she was rolling down an embankment and was face-first in snow.
She moved so she could see again and quickly wiped the snow off her visor. Her gun was too far away to reach effectively, but she still had the electric prod in her hand. The Varren bounded at her and she jabbed it in its forehead, and it howled and dropped to the floor. She tried to scramble to her gun, but found herself unable to move.
"Come on body..." she hissed, "Just survive a little longer..."
Hands grasped her shoulders and she was pulled out of the snow, and she looked up into the helmet of who appeared to be a human soldier.
"Mia?" the soldier asked. Mia realised she was a female, which was unrecognisable by her armour. Or maybe it was her eyes. She just managed a nod in response.
The soldier moved her so she was behind her and she raised her rifle, "I'm Commander Keating of the SSV Naseby. I'm a Council Spectre. Hang on, I'm radioing in for my ride."
She pressed against the side of her helmet, "This is Keating. Sending you my coordinates. I have Mia. She's injured and needs medical help. Requesting evac."
Keating fired her rifle one handed, and there was a sharp growl of pain from a Varren Mia hadn't even seen.
"If you wouldn't mind, I'd appreciate it if you would hurry up," Keating sighed as she gunned down the Varren's trainer, "There's a pack of Varren incoming and to be honest I have better things to do than to be stuck in this damn frozen hell hole."
She turned to Mia, "Mia, stay with me. They will be here in a few minutes. Just wait here. They'll pick you up. I have a job to do."

Keating left Mia. She knew that the Quarian was injured and was in a critical condition, but she couldn't do anything to help. Her suit stopped the application of medigel, and she knew that her time would be better spent doing what she was actually being paid for.
She marched up towards the base. She activated the blue holographic visor that came across one of her eyes and the sensors immediately picked up on the pack of the four Varren that were heading towards her at a frightening speed. She would only have a few seconds before they were upon her.
Keating put her rifle on to her back and it collapsed in on itself until it was just a fraction of its original size, and drew her pistol from a holster on her leg.
She shot the first Varren in the head, killing it with a single bullet. The second she knocked to the side by punching it as it dived at her, and shot it in the back as it tried to recover.
The third, however, she had not accounted for. The air suddenly glowed blue and she was hurled off her feet and landed in the snow. She quickly stood up as the two remaining Varren dived at her one after the other.
She activated her Omni-blade, stopping the Varren in mid-air. She fired her pistol and shredded the rib cages of both of them with a single round.
Keating turned around as the Naseby extracted Mia from behind her. Her ship was relatively large, a frigate. She had fought in the Battle for Earth against the Reapers, which rewarded her vessel with a large scorch mark down the side where a Reaper fighter had shot her. It was, however, mainly a stealth ship. Normal frigates carried Kodiak shuttles. She preferred a Skycar, though.
She continued her path towards the base. The first step on taking down any gang, especially one who were dealing with slaves, was to target the people who they had sold to. The Council had brought a gang on Omega to her attention. They were growing in power rapidly - pushing back the Blue Suns and the Talons rapidly across the station and were also in the slave and starship market.
As far as she was aware, over a hundred Quarians had been kidnapped from in and around Omega, with their ships also going missing. They had also ordered enough Dreadnoughts to create an army.
And it was her job to stop them. This was her last job before going to Omega and finishing them once and for all.
Keating holstered her pistol and drew her rifle from her back again. She heard a round from a sniper rifle whizz past her helmet and embed itself in the snow behind her. She dropped to one knee and returned fire, catching the sniper on top of the roof of the base with a volley of bullets in his chest.
She slammed her hand against the door of the facility, pushing the green circular hologram. The door slid open and she stepped inside, immediately felling a guard with her rifle.
Keating ejected the thermal clip, cooling the weapon so she was able to fire again. She walked down the corridor, pushing her back against the wall when she reached the ninety degree corner at the end of it. She quickly poked her head around the corner and saw two guards running her way. She raised her weapon and waited until they came around the corner - and unknowingly ran into a hail of mass-accelerated rounds from her rifle.
Keating made her way further into the facility, passing several bodies of guards whom, she guessed, Mia had dropped, judging by the holes which had been peppered into their chests, which matched the spread of the shotgun she had been found with.
She reached what appeared to be a security control room, and only had to gun down another seven guards to be able to get in. She quickly hacked into one of the terminals with her Omni-tool and started downloading the data in the network.
"Commander Keating," said a familiar voice, "I knew you would show up eventually."
"Histus Gyrth," she replied, greeting him, "Why do you have a robot body? The last time I saw you, you were a Turian. Now I'm not sure what you are."
"That stupid Quarian bitch shot me in the face. Still, I have plans. I always have plans. The gang sold me some prototype technology. Allows conscious transfer. I programmed it to activate upon death. It transferred me to this body, which was specifically set up as a combat unit. I hope you understand that rifle of yours is useless."
Keating put her rifle on her back, and the now robotic Turian stepped from the shadows into the light, not that made much of a difference. Her helmet had night vision. She had been able to see him clearly since she entered the room.
"I shall get my revenge on the Quarian," said Histus, "Right after I-"
"I don't have time for this," Keating growled, and felt energy quickly build up in her arm. She let the biotic energy discharge, throwing the robotic body up against the roof of the security room, and back down on to the ground, shattering all but its head.
"Unlike you," she said to the robotic skull, "I have a job to do."
She kicked it across the room like a football.
Her hand went to the side of her helmet, "Mission complete," she said to the pilot of the Naseby, "I'll be there in a moment."

Being Evil... Can Be Fun

Sorry for the bad quality I had to film it on my phone because apparently there's no drivers for Windows 8 for the capture card I have. I just thought it was funny. My Shepard is evil... and it's fun.


By the way, that guy was a mercenary. So it isn't TOO bad.

Commander Shepard

So, I chose to play as a female Commander Shepard and yeah this is what I made her look like:

And this is what she looks like just in the game. Sorry about the dodgy visor, it improved my shields.