The shuttle shuddered unusually as it made a rapid descent down to the moon, Fluttershy's eyes fixed on one of the screens showing the burning planet in the sky outside.
"You okay Feathers?"
"We've got a friend down there," Shepard said bitterly.
"Boyfriend to be exact," Fluttershy added.
"Well... shit."
"He'll be okay, Garrus is one of the toughest warriors around," Liara comforted her.
"LZ is hot Commander!" the pilot called out from up front.
"James, open up the hatch. Fluttershy, pick off the bastards," Shepard ordered, the two immediately jumping into action. As the hatch opened Fluttershy lined up her rifle and started taking shots. One after another the husk's remnants of their brains got blown out as Fluttershy systematically took out the reaper forces.
"We've got an opening!" she reported back to the commander as the last one fell.
"Understood. Set us down!" he ordered to the pilot, the shuttle setting down and letting the team of four out before flying off again to the safety of the Normandy.
"More husks!" Liara called out as the former humans charged at the newly arrived troops, flinging her biotics at the things. Both Shepard and James opened up with their rifles while Fluttershy joined in with the biotics. the group of husks absolutely got obliterated and it didn't take long for the group to get to the first turian barricade.
"Where's your commanding officer!?" Shepard called out to the soldiers manning it.
"Straight ahead, past the corner at the next barricade!" one of them called back. No more husks got in their way and the turians at the other barricade swiftly let them through.
"General?" Shepard asked as he found the turian in charge of the outpost and recognised the rank.
"Commander Shepard, I just got word you were coming down. General Corinthus," the turian replied, not taking his gaze off the screen he was looking at. "What do you need of me?"
"I need to talk to the Primarch."
The general finally looked up from his screen and frowned. "The primarch, Fedorian, is dead. His shuttle was shot down when he tried to leave the moon for Palaven an hour ago."
"That'll complicate things... how bad are things general?" Shepard asked.
"Lost about four hundred men in this sector over the last half an hour. The idea was to set up positions on this moon as an advanced position to flank any force, sound strategy just..."
"Irrelevant," Shepard provided.
"Exactly. The sheer force of these things just makes them immune to that kind of tactic. The primarch found that out the hard way," he grunted. "I would give you the name of the next primarch but our antenna array got damaged."
"Where is it located?" Shepard asked, General Corinthus pointed in a direction outside the camp.
"Northwest, I'll have a squad get-" the general was interrupted as a massive flying reaper monstrosity came flying over.
"HARVESTER!" a soldier shouted as fire was poured into the air. "It's going for the airfield!"
"Damnit. Fluttershy, Liara, go to the radio tower and fix it. James, with me, we are going to kick that thing's ass," Shepard ordered. Fluttershy and Liara immediately split off and headed for the tower. A squad of turians waiting for them at the gate leading to the antenna.
"Husks overran this section, we haven't been able to take it back," their leader, a sergeant, explained quickly.
"I can run diagnostics on the thing if we can get to it, if we work fast we may be able to get it up and running before we're overwhelmed," Liara proposed, getting a laugh from the sergeant.
"With all due respect lady, I'm not sure what difference the two of you will make compared to the two squads here."
"With all due respect back, please open up this gate and let me demonstrate," Fluttershy said without any humour in her voice. She really wasn't in the mood for any bullshit while her boyfriend was out there somewhere in this highly deadly environment.
"Lead the way," he shrugged, letting the gate open and got his men through spearheaded by the pegasus and asari.
"First, let me..." Fluttershy's wings lit up in a biotic aura. "...clear a path!" A singularity soared through the air and pulled the large group of husks that had occupied the space around the antenna off their feet and broke their bodies. "We're clear!"
"Mother- Alright, move up to the tower!" the sergeant called out to his men, the turians kicking into gear and taking defensive positions around the antenna while Liara went to look at the antenna and tried to figure out why it was malfunctioning.
"The problem isn't fixable from down here!" Liara called out as husks climbed up from below in an attempt to retake the ground they'd just lost. The turians were able to handle the stream for now but the sounds coming from the cliffs in the distance didn't inspire confidence that would last.
"I'll get it!" Fluttershy called out, flying up to the top of the antenna and starting the scanner to feed data for Liara to read out from below.
"Found the fault! Sending instructions!" Liara shouted up over the roar of the machineguns. Fluttershy's omni-tool beeping as it received the data and she immediately went to work fixing the problem. Halfway through Fluttershy took a break to shoot a husk off of a turian before his face could get clawn off, before finishing the repair.
"It's done! Get out of here!" she shouted, remaining in the air to take shots at the groundbound husks. The volume of them charging was getting a serious problem even as the heavy new rifle Fluttershy had nailed multiple of them at once. The turians below didn't waste a second retreating back to the safety of their compound, a veritable hoard of husks beind them.
"OPEN FIRE!" the sergeant shouted at the crews manning the heavy machineguns as the two turians at the back of the pack were grabbed from behind and downed. An eardeafening roar sounded over the plain as the husks were shredded on mass. "Damnit, I hate those things... thanks for helping us out, those were some damn good tricks."
"No problem," Fluttershy nodded, turning as a massive explosion came from the direction of the airfield. Shy immediately opened a radio channel. "Commander, what's going on?!"
"Nothing to worry, we cleared out this mess," Shepard immediately replied. "Head back to the General."
"Copy that, see you in a sec," Fluttershy closed the channel and swiftly got back to the command post, Shepard and James arriving not long after.
"What have you got, General?" Shepard asked of the turian commander.
"Well, succession would be easy in normal circumstances, but with this many MIA and KIA..."
"General, I don't give a crap who it is. I need someone to talk to!" the commander told the general, straight to the point.
"I'm on it Shepard, I'l get you your primarch." Fluttershy would be able to recognise that voice anywhere.
"Garrus!" Fluttershy exclaimed, jumping right into his arms.
"Good to see you too," he smiled back at his girlfriend, putting his sniper rifle on his back to free up the hand to scratch Shy behind the ear.
"Vakarian, sir!" the general straightened up and snapped a salute.
"At ease general," Garrus told him.
"What are you doing here? Why aren't you on Palaven itself?" Shepard asked, relaxing slightly in the company of a friend.
"We lose this moon, we lose Palaven. I'm the closest damn thing to a reaper expert we have so I'm..." Garrus hesitated. "...advising."
"Message from Palaven Command, the next primarch according to them is General Adrien Victus," the General interjected.
"His name's crossed my desk before..." Liara muttered.
"Know him Garrus?" Shepard asked the turian.
Garrus let Fluttershy down who was purring happily. "I was fighting alongside him this morning. Career soldier, popular with the troops, has a bit of a reputation to play fast and loose with the rules which doesn't get him in the graces of high command. Not to say he isn't brilliant, he gets results."
"Sounds like the person we need," Shepard said.
"Exactly, we both know conventional strategy isn't going to win this war. He might be our best shot to beat the reapers," Garrus agreed. "We had to split up but I can lead you to where he was last reported going."
"Then we have no time to waste." Shepard turned to the General. "Good luck out here."
"Take that luck with you, you're going to need it," the turian replied before the group was off into the barren landscape of the moon. Fluttershy flew slightly above and acted as sentry while Shepard and James took point with Liara and Garrus on support behind them. After finding some stragglers who gave further directions they eventually saw reapers airdropping in units further up, the sound of a fierce raging battle sounding from the besieged location.
"That sounds bad," James commented.
"No reaper is taking this Primarch from me!" Shepard shouted as he went into a full sprint.
On the location of the battle various new forms of husks revealed themselves, turian looking creatures with guns but those weren't the most notable. Two massive brutes were busy turning some cover behind which turians were taking refuge into scrap metal, massive vices made out of cold metal acting as their hands.
"Fluttershy, Garrus, take the far one!" Shepard ordered, taking Liara and James to take on the one closest.
"Take to the air, make it mad!" Garrus called out to his marefriend who was pretty much already doing what he'd asked her to do. The first shot of Shy's rifle glanced off the thing's armour, taking some of it off but mostly doing nothing more than shift its attention from mauling some turian's cover to finding out what hit it. Garrus also opened up on it, using his assault rifle to get as much material downrange at the massive brute.
"Careful, it's charging!" Fluttershy called out to Garrus who was behind cover to replace his thermal clip. He barely rolled out of the way before the brute smashed through the cover, getting up and firing behind him to put some distance between it and himself.
It stumbled, looking disoriented for a moment, something Fluttershy was going to take advantage of. Dropping from the sky like a stone she activated the omni-blade around her wrist and rapidly jabbing it into the brute's back, taking off before it could retaliate. It had clearly done some damage as one of its arms didn't move well anymore.
"JUST DIE ALREADY!" Garrus roared, having switched out to his sniper rifle and shooting the thing as quickly after each other as he could. Fluttershy landed next to him and charged up a biotic attack, the brute seeing his two tormenters next to each other got ready to charge again. The thing was lifted just off the ground but that was enough to avoid the charge, armour plates being shredded off its body, allowing Garrus to fire a set of accurate shots into the thing's internals. The brute staggered as it dropped from the biotic lift, taking a few more rounds before falling over and dying.
A little further up Shepard was busy doing the same thing Fluttershy had done and using his omni-blade to hack off the brutes head, succeeding pretty much at the same time as the pony and turian. The auxiliary forces had all been shot down by the turian unit that was also present. "You two good?" Shepard called out to Garrus and Fluttershy.
"Never been better!" Garrus called back, looking around for the turian they were looking for.
"General Victus?" Shepard called out, hoping he'd respond to them.
"Yes?" one of the turians in the fortified positions came forward.
"Commander Shepard, Alliance navy."
"Ah, commander, I know who you are. What brings you here?..." He then noticed Garrus approach. "Vakarian, where did you go?"
"Heavy reaper unit on the right flank, I believe your exact words were 'Get that thing the hell of my men!'," Garrus replied with a smirk.
"Appreciate it," he replied, turning back to Shepard for business.
"General, I'm here to inform you that Primarch Fedorian was killed and you are next in succession," Shepard informed him, Fluttershy could see the shock in his eyes and feel it coming off him.
"I am the new primarch?" He said more than asked in disbelief.
"Yes. And I need to discuss the release of Vindica and the commitment of turian resources for a superweapon project to kill the reapers," Shepard continued to press him.
"Commander, our people are stretched as it is, I may be able to release the Equestrian dreadnaught for a detachment of Alliance cruisers but I cannot throw turian support in whatever your people have cooked up with the pressure we are under now," general Victus stated, getting a grasp on himself. "We need someone to take off the pressure off either our navy or army."
We do have some relations in high places that could possibly help out... Fluttershy thought.
1. We might be able to get the Migrant fleet to support?
2. The Asari might be able to help with their fleet?
3. We could try to get help from the krogan?
*grumble grumble* something something xeno primarchs *grumble grumble*
Another great chapter. They better get the Vindica, this may be our only chance to get some answers. And more importantly, an ending different from that dumb three choices one.
When an option involves Krogans...I'm gonna pick Krogans.
I LOVE the Krogan characters after all, the are just...the best. Wrex and Grunt..MAH BOIS.
Even if...if an certain amazing singer of a Scientist Salarian may end up dying T~T. I hope Flutter and crew can change that...but if not...still.
Don't know why the krogan would help and they are ground based soldiers not a fleet. Asari have a fleet but if memory serves the Asari are going to be defending their own home planet and doing worse off than the turians. The migrant fleet have an issue too but their group is the only one that could possibly help. Also Rainbow is with them and Tali I think.
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The game's path was Krogan, because if the Krogan get in on the fight at Palaven, that frees up army personnel. That shifts resources, and allows the Turians to be more flexible with their ground assets. More flexibility means less dependence on aerial support, which in turn frees up ships for the Commander. It also brings the Krogans into the war, which isn't a bad outcome in itself.
As for why they'd fight? Well, Mordin answered that one. His solution was all the reason they needed to throw everything they had into the war. Suddenly, they had a future. That was worth fighting for.
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Well, the Equestrian dreadnought isn't officially part of his order of battle. Any authority he has over it is at the direction of Princess Luna, and he knows it. So he can spare the dreadnought if they really want it... but pulling it away will create a massive logistical hole in his defense plans. He needs other ships to fill the gap. He doesn't doubt the Vindica has some advantage they need, but if they take it, he needs some kind of force to replace the loss it makes in his battle lines.
If the Krogan get involved, and he can shift ship deployments around to provide less ground support, he can patch that hole and free up the Vindica for another mission. Or someone can show up with additional ships to take up the load. Either works. He's just stating what needs to happen before he can release the dreadnought.
I would say going for the Migrant Ship.
We have some heavy support in Tali and Rainbow already doing the talks there, they have a lot of ships which is what we need right now, and most important, we make sure the IDIOTS don't suicided charge at the Geth as soon as possible. The longer the Quarian are left alone the worse the situation with them is going to get.
The second option is the Krogan, they are useful but their situation is not time sensitive, plus they are ground forces that are not that useful in this situation.
The Asari are worthless, they are going to be eating reaper ass so badly that the team will have to redirect forces to help them, not what you want when you are rushing to get help.
Asari, I guess I am in minority
so in other words, the choice is
stop the geth and quarian war sooner
Follow the story of the game and go get the Krogen who are also under attack by a REAPER RACHNI whos children are being controlled if you remember,
or we can go save/get the help of the blue people with biotic powers who are hiding the codex for the Crucible hmmm... choices
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I'm not sure we CAN change his fate without racking up some serious Renegade points. We find out about the sabotage far too late to prevent it, and it can't be fixed remotely. Also, from his POV, ensuring that the Cure is distributed, even at the cost of his own life, is the completion of his personal redemption arc. It has to be him in the "hot seat". In his own words, "someone else might get it wrong".
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Most of us just assume that they will flat out tell us no. And as fun as it would be to see that conversation play out, we want a good outcome here.
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The problem there is two fold. One, the higher ups will just say no because they are hyper focused on retaking the Motherland even if they have to drive themselves extinct to do it. Two, their combat forces are mostly comprised of their own colony ships with guns strapped on them. They are either going to send ships filled with civvies, or place more of those self-same armed civvie ships into their own front lines to compensate.
Given I havent played the games and just go from indirect assembled information, I would say Option 3, they need a race of psycopathic warriors to start grinding down Reaper assistance swarms, at the least to hopefully annoy the reapers like mosquitoes.
Nasty infesting ones that load you up with infections and toxins and cause distractions.
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It's true that the Quarians come with many more issues that the Krogans, but we are going to need all races to help if we want a true victory over the Reapers and the Quarian situation is just going to get worse as time goes on, so I would prefer to deal with the difficult issue before it becomes worse that going for the more immediately helpful Krogans.
About Mordin, we have Twilight on the ship. Her shields can take a lot of punishment and she can teleport, so she could extract Mordin after his job is done, not even counting that she could help to speed up the process. We don't need to convince Mordin that it's not worth it (we are not) we only need to keep him safe and we have enough resources to do so.
I forget -- did Legion survive, and how did the initial Tali-Legion confrontation after the Alerai mission in ME2 shake out here?
I voted Quarian but here's hoping whoever gets picked agrees with sending ships.
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Just rewatched the scene in question, and you are correct. There is enough of a time window for an evac teleport before the explosion. More so if Twi can speed up the process. Now we just need to see if the Author will give us that option.
3. Is the safe way, lets keep the others in the back for now...
1. Is the best for the Turian short term since they get two army's for one mission.
3. Will be helpful for the Turian infantry, also keeping Geth and Quarians out of the defense of Palavin.
Maybe 2.? The Asari will be screwed over anyway if we follow canon outcomes.