Mass Effect
Serialisation – Chapter 13
Therum
Shepard returned to the Galaxy Map in the CIC of the
Normandy, and decided to head to Knossos, it was the nearest system to Sparta
and as good a place as any to continue the search for Dr T’Soni.
It took a while but after arriving in Knossos, they started
scanning the planets immediately. It didn’t take long before the planet Therum
light up like a Christmas tree for Commander Shepard. The planet was already
settled by the Alliance and was a heavy industrial centre. It should have been
the first planet they went to thinking back; a few months back some ancient
ruins were discovered on the planet surface that as yet hadn’t been excavated
and explored, it was a perfect fit for Dr T’Soni – the archaeologist.
Shepard went down to the planet with Wrex and Kaidan in the
Mako, and shortly after being dropped off by the Normandy, Shepard was contact
on the comm by Joker.
“Commander, I’m getting some strange readings – really
strange, like off the damn charts. It looks like it’s coming from an
underground complex a few clicks away from the drop zone.” Joker said, sending
the co-ordinates through to the Mako’s navigation system.
Therum was a mineral rich and rocky world, it was an easy
choice for the Alliance to exploit the natural resources available. There were
only a couple of small settlements on the planet, but the plans were for it to
become a major industrial centre like Bekenstein. After travelling in the Mako
for a short while, they realised that they were facing a race against time to
find Dr T’Soni, a geth dropship flew overhead and dropped two armatures in
their path. Geth Armatures are large anti-vehicle and anti-personnel units that
have heavy machine guns and a pulse cannon for taking out all manner of
enemies. However, they are also quadruped walkers, and are easily knocked down
by brute force. Fortunately for Shepard, the Mako is pure brute force.
The two armatures landed on the ground in front of the Mako,
it would seem odd that only two were dropped, but it immediately indicated to
Shepard that the bulk of their forces must be further ahead, and these
armatures were sent just to slow them down. Shepard was determined not to let
that happen. He couldn’t just pass them and risk them catching up to them later
down the line, so he employed a similar tactic as he used previously against
the Thresher Maw on Edolus. He drove the Mako at full speed against the first
armature, using the vertical thrusters to “hop” over any incoming balls of
plasma-like energy that would have seriously crippled the Mako’s shields. As
they approached the first armature, Shepard increased their speed whilst
alternating between the Mako’s own machine gun and cannon to wear down the geth
walker. After dealing a large amount of damage upon it, they rammed it hard,
barely scratching the Mako’s shields or heavy armour, the armature flew through
the air and smashed into a nearby rock face, shutting down or dying or whatever
it is geth do when they’re destroyed. Shepard decided to employ the same tactic
against the second armature to devastating effect, but this time sending the
armature into a nearby lava flow. After dealing with them, they drove on
towards the strange readings signalled by Joker and the Normandy.
They continued to drive on for a while, and the path
narrowed into a bottle-neck. They turned a small corner and suddenly came
across 3 heavy-geth turrets. Immediately, the turrets trained their sights on
the Mako and started to fire rockets. Wrex spotted an even narrower side
gulley, and spoke up.
“Only a fool punches a nathak in the mouth. We should sneak
around a pull its tail.” As Wrex spoke he pointed out the small side route that
could be taken, and Shepard drove. After entering the small gulley, they had to
drive slow to navigate it, and encountered a solitary turret in their path. It wasn’t
a challenge, and the slow rate of fire of the rockets didn’t pose a problem, as
Shepard could hop over them – again using the vertical thrusters. They
destroyed the turret and drove into the compound, where there were more geth
units within. The compound itself was an overrun refinery, no traces of
humanity were left, as the geth patrolled it. There were a few bigger geth that
were in the compound that would later be identified as a Geth Destroyer, Geth Shock
Trooper and a Geth Juggernaut. The Destroyers were slightly larger than normal
geth, and could utilise a plasma flame thrower to devastating effect. The Shock
Troopers were able to throw up a hexagonal shield at will to take cover behind,
and were able to quickly advance up the battlefield as a result. Geth
Juggernauts on the other hand, were not in need of a shield. As their name
suggests, they were enormous versions of standard geth units, but also fired
rockets, and could just as freely advance up the battlefield due to their incredible
robustness.
They used the Mako to clear out the compound, and then
stormed the gate house to get past the secure gates. The path led on towards
the dig site that Dr T’Soni could well be. The presence of the geth only served
to confirm their thoughts that they would find Dr T’Soni soon. The only
question they needed answered however, was whether or not she was working with
her mother and Saren.
They drove away from the small compound, and figured that
they would encounter more geth along the way and they did. They came across and
destroyed another 4 armatures, before coming to a large clearing by a tunnel.
There were several geth rocket troops dotted around who were easily disposed
of, they werern’t the problem. The problem lied with the Geth Colossus standing
in their way. The Colossus was about 4 times the size of the standard
armatures, and their pulse cannons were guided, no amount of hopping the Mako
or evasive manoeuvres would prevent them from striking their targets. Shepard
decided to practice their previous tactic in order to take this giant out –
ramming it.
Shepard drove as fast as the Mako could go, taking fire the
whole time with the shields holding out well – just before reaching the
Colossus, Shepard hit the vertical thrusters and the Mako flew into the body of
it, hurling it to the ground. He knew they wouldn’t be able to maintain that
kind of offense against the Colossus, so employed a playground bullies tactic –
while the Colossus was floored, Shepard spun the Mako around and drove over the
top of it, hitting the brakes so as to park their tank on top of the Colossus
in the hopes of preventing it from getting back up. And it worked. It would
take longer, but they needed to destroy the Colossus, so they go out and got in
close to it, inserting their weapons through the cracks and joins in its armour
and firing relentlessly until their weapons overheated. This worked as well,
and the light on the Colossus’ head went out.
Shepard, Kaidan and Wrex got back into the Mako and drove
into the tunnel to continue their search for Dr Liara T’Soni.
Toolbox 24
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I really hope you're still enjoying this. I'm not posting chapters up as much as I'd like, but this is going to keep on going right up to the end - so get used to it. :-)
Oh and when I find the time, I'll remind you that I'm not a one-trick pony and write about some other games. T'ra.
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