Mass Effect
Serialisation – Chapter 14
Finding the Dig Site
They drove the Mako through the tunnel and entered a small
clearing near another lava flow. The two rocket troops that were guarding the
exit of the tunnel were no match for the wheels of the Mako, as Shepard drove
over and past them. There was a second tunnel that they entered, and another
two rocket troops weren’t any match for the Mako as they were crushed beneath
it.
The Mako left the second tunnel, and a small blockade had
been set up, again with minimal resistance from the few geth troops that were
stood behind it. Shepard drove the Mako past the blockade and round a small
corner, when they came to an abrupt stop. The road was blocked with rocks and
debris, possibly by a controlled explosion by the geth. The Mako couldn’t get
past, but there was just enough space for Shepard, Wrex and Kaidan to go
through on foot. It would be a tough last leg of their journey to find Dr
T’Soni, but they were confident that they would be able to make it through.
They passed the rocks and went up a small knoll, to find a
squad of geth troops, rocket troops and shock troops. Shepard took point and
found cover behind a boulder, while Kaidan and Wrex did the same slightly
behind. Shepard equipped his assault rifle and took out two troops in one
sweeping move, while Kaidan took out the rocket troop out with his biotic
throw, slamming it against the rocks behind. Wrex chuckled at Kaidan’s biotic
display and decided to show off his own biotic abilities. He threw a warp at
the last remaining geth, the shock troop and it started to affect it at a
molecular level, as it was slowed and stumbled back, he then used his biotic
throw to hit the geth against the same rocks as Kaidan had, only this time the
geth pretty much disintegrated into dust. Wrex looked over at Kaidan, with his
shotgun in one hand, holding it like a human would a pistol, nodded his head
and smiled. Kaidan, just looked in awe, he knew he was a strong biotic, but
Wrex’s hundreds of years of battlefield experience and use of biotics certainly
showed.
They continued past where the geth came from, around another
turning in the rocks, when they saw a large open area with a few rocks for
cover. Where they stood at the opening of the clearing, there was a small rock
that Shepard took cover behind, and told the others to stand back. He took out
his sniper rifle and trained his sights on the rocket trooper at the other end
of the opening, and blew its head off in one shot. He knew it would remove
their element of surprise, but getting shot of that rocket trooper would tip
the balance in his favour. He waited for his rifle to cool down for a second
shot in the field, he broke cover and shot the remaining geth troop in the
open. There was still a lot of gunfire and a couple of rockets coming from the
ridge around the opening and from a lookout post near the ridge. They wouldn’t
be able to take them out from their position, so they would have to get down on
the field behind what little cover there was. Up past the ridge, there was a
large mining structure, which would most likely be the entrance to a possible
excavation site, it was on top of the location on their map that had been
pointed out by Joker as having strange readings, so they knew they had almost
reached their destination.
Shepard instructed Wrex and Kaidan to give him cover while
he would make a sprint to the nearest rock on the field. Kaidan and Wrex
provided that cover by throwing biotic warps towards the sources of gunfire
followed by heavy assault rifle fire. Shepard sprinted down to the rock, taking
a couple of hits to his shields in the process. After reaching his target, he
poked his head out to get a view of the geth, he saw the rocket trooper who had
been concealed before in the lookout, and a couple of other geth troops on the
ridge. He told Kaidan to try to use his biotics to remove the rocket troop
causing havoc from the lookout, and Wrex just started to run. He knew he’d be a
big diversion for the geth on the ridge, and Shepard saw this. While Wrex was
running, he started shooting his shotgun towards the ridge, getting lucky or
just being that good, by taking out one of the geth. While he did this, Shepard
took the last geth out with his sniper rifle. They paused while behind cover,
and saw that they could advance. They moved up towards the ridge, and started
moving towards the mine entrance they could see from before.
As they neared it, everything seemed too quiet and
under-protected by the geth. They didn’t see another type of geth, crawling
along a platform above them. It was a geth stalker. It immediately took notice
of the trio, and jumped down in front of them, it took them by surprise enough
for them to fail to shoot at it. It made a strange mechanical grinding sound
and leapt away. Not long after, a geth dropship flew overhead. As it did, it
dropped out a small army of geth troops and a geth armature. Taking them out in
the Mako had almost turned into a game for them, but they knew they would be a
much harder challenge on foot.
They all took to the nearest cover they could as gunfire,
rockets and fire from the armatures pulse cannon hurtled toward them. Shepard
yelled at the others to leave the armature for last, from what he had already
seen of them, he knew they would be able to out manoeuvre it on foot. The geth
stalker was causing the group the most problems, jumping down between Shepard
and Kaidan and causing their weapons to overheat, rendering them momentarily
useless. Wrex saw they were in trouble and threw an especially strong warp at
the stalker, managing to take it out in one hit. The geth troops – having no
concept of pain or fear – advanced towards them, Shepard and Kaidan took out
different weapons and started firing at the nearest troops while their assault
rifles cooled down.
Wrex meanwhile still had his shotgun in hand, and fired
relentlessly at the rocket troops that were flanking the armature, taking them
out in swift fashion. The geth who were advancing on Shepard and Kaidan were
being cut to ribbons by them, and before they knew it, they only had the
lumbering armature to deal with. Unfortunately, it would take a lot of
firepower to take down, its shields were quick to recharge.
Shepard had a few grenades, and threw them all at the
armature. They all exploded underneath the beast’s body, but it continued to
advance slowly towards them. They had taken its shields out, and even damaged
part of its armour, they just had to whittle it down until it fell.
Wrex and Kaidan starting using their biotics on it, but only
Wrex’s warp had any effect. Kaidan switched tactics and used his tech skills on
it, trying to overload it and sabotage its weapons. This worked well and the
armature briefly stopped firing. Wrex barraged it with shotgun fire and Shepard
fired ruthlessly at its head with his assault rifle while Kaidan continued to
use his tech abilities to stifle the armatures attacking capabilities. Before
long, the armature fell and the last geth standing before the entrance to the
mine, and possibly Dr T’Soni, was destroyed.
Toolbox 24
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