//------------------------------// // Zhu's Hope // Story: Mass Effect: Element of Kindness // by CommanderApplejack //------------------------------// Chapter 11 Zhu's Hope [No-one hurts my FRIENDS!] 60% Fluttershy felt anger rising to the forefront of her mind, these machines had launched an attack on a colony full of innocent people for what? To release a race of machines to wipe out all life in the galaxy? How many more innocents had to die before they would be satisfied? All of this flashed through Fluttershy's mind in an instant as she reached into her saddlebag, producing the heavy pistol she had gotten from the very turian that was now in danger. To an outside observer, holding a pistol in hooves might seem impractical but the telekinesis in Fluttershy's hooves was holding the pistol in place as firmly as any other species with hands would be able to do. Does Fluttershy hit the geth? Yes The pistol let out a loud bang as the pegasus fired it, due to the lack of training Fluttershy had it wouldn't be anything more than a lucky shot but then again... ...a lucky shot was all she needed. The round impacted just below the neck of the machine, the geth had probably been under fire previously given there was no shield in the way as the bullet ripped through its armor and came out on the other end. The disabled machine immediately collapsed to the ground as the pegasus had hit its vital internals. Garrus' eyes went wide as he turned around to see the geth collapsing behind him, though he didn't get to thank the pegasus as another geth passed the barricade, only this time he was prepared. The machine received an elbow to the chest which knocked it back over the barricade followed by a burst from the turian's assault rifle. Fluttershy's anger meanwhile had subsided and the horror of what she had done was setting in. I-I didn't mean to... No, that's a lie. I really did want to kill it... I'm a horrible pony! Who wants to be friends with a murderer?! What will the others think of me? The pegasus's downward mental spiral was interrupted as the roar of machinegun fire came from their side of the barricade as Ashley, leading a large squad of humans, charged forward while firing at the offending geth. "Need a little help, big guy?" She said with a smirk as she slid into cover next to Garrus, but the turian ignored her as he seemed to have something else on his mind. Pushing past Ashley he slid into cover next to Fluttershy who was looking at the remains of the geth with a haunted look on her face. "Snap out of it!" He ordered, Fluttershy flinched as she looked up at the turian in confusion. "Whatever you're cooking up in your head right now has to stop. You saved my life and destroyed a geth that could have gone on to kill countless more innocents, in my book that makes you the good guy." Garrus curtly stated, Fluttershy slowly nodded. "Good, now let's finish getting rid of these geth and treat our wounded." The rest of the assaulting machines were quickly dispatched as the extra firepower from the humans that had come with Ashley proved too much for the geth. After the last geth had fallen, Fluttershy rushed to the wounded humans, two more of them had died in the firefight and a couple of them had a few minor wounds that could be quickly patched with medi-gel. "Williams, there's something wrong here," Garrus whispered into Ashley's ear as he noticed the colonists passively watching Fluttershy work, seemingly not caring if she would succeed or not. The human nodded in agreement. "Do we have a contingency plan in case they turn hostile?" Ashley whispered back as she had noticed the behavior too. "None yet, the prefab might be an option but I don't know if its internal doors will hold if there's an attempted breach." Garrus replied as Fluttershy trotted towards them. "Could the two of you give me a hoof getting the wounded to Doctor Chakwas?" She asked but frowned as the two soldiers continued to observe the colonists, "What's going on?" The radio in Garrus's and Ashley's ears buzzed to life as they heard a loud explosion in the distance, "Shepard to Medical Team, do you read?!" The Commander shouted, clearly distressed about something. "Loud and clear, Commander, Ashley replied silently. "The colonists of Zue's Hope have been infected by a lifeform below the colony, they are most likely under mind control and are to be considered possible threats," Shepard informed the two soldiers who both felt a cold shiver go up their spine. "Fluttershy, I need you to go to Doctor Chakwas right now," Garrus told the pegasus who shot the two of them a confused look but headed inside anyway. Garrus and Ashley slowly walked backwards away from the colonists, not taking their eyes off the humans. Then just before the two soldiers could get inside one of the colonists raised his weapon. "CONTACT!" Ashley shouted as she jumped behind the building closely followed by Garrus, bullets tore through the space they had been previously occupying. "Colonists have become hostile! I repeat, colonists have become hostile!" Garrus shouted into the radio, as the two soldiers charged into the room where the Doctor and pegasus resided. Garrus turned around to the door and pulled the protective panel of the door control, using his omni tool to lock the door in a closed position. "We're ten to fifteen minutes out, hold out until we get there! Shepard out." The commander shouted, closing his comm line. Garrus turned around to see the doctor stab one of the wounded colonists with a syringe. "Vakarian, would you please explain to me why my patients were trying to get up despite having extensive injuries?" Chakwas asked, not the least bit amused at the fact that her patients had tried to get up. "They're under the mind control of a lifeform below the colony, that's all the Commander told us. He's making his way back here asap." Garrus replied as he and Ashley dragged a storage locker in front of the door. "Are they going to become a problem?" Ashley asked as she pointed at the colonists in the room, Chakwas shook her head. "I knocked them out with drugs, they won't be a problem and they'll be fine afterward," she explained as she put away the syringe again. Bang! The loud sound of something striking the door made the group freeze. "Crap," Garrus simply said as the door was struck another time, the turian making sure the locker was firmly stuck against the door. The pounding continued relentlessly but—luckily—whoever was hitting the door didn't seem to get the idea to fire their weapons at the door. Fluttershy cowered on the floor every time the door was struck while Ashley and Garrus made sure the locker stayed firmly in place, this went on for a very long twelve minutes until the soft sound of gunfire penetrated through the door. "Shepard to Medical Team, over!" The Commander's voice came over the comm to the relief of the group that was stuck in the prefab building. "This is Medical, we read you loud and clear, Commander. Over," Ashley replied as the banging on the door came to a stop. "We're using gas grenades to neutralize the colonists, we'll be in there shortly. Shepard Out." The Commander said as the gunfire drew rapidly closer, less than a minute later a knock came from the door. "Oly Oly Oxen Free" The Commander's voice coming from the other side of the entrance. Garrus quickly undid the work he had done to lock the door while Ashley pushed the locker out of the way. "Took you long enough," Chakwas told Shepard though her voice betrayed that she was glad to see the Commander as the door slid open revealing the human soldier, a relief shared by the others in the room. "We ran into a bit of geth resistance, I'm pretty sure the main cannon got a bit de-calibrated while we took them out," Shepard said with a smirk, Fluttershy had to suppress a laugh as she noticed Garrus's eye twitch. "Anyway, Tali is operating the cargo crane outside to reveal the passage to the thing that mind controlled the colonists. I want Fluttershy and Doctor Chakwas to be escorted to the Normandy, Joker confirmed that there are no more geth ships in the area so he'll be docking soon." "Will do, Commander. Anything else?" Garrus asked as Chakwas was rapidly packing her equipment back into her bags. "Nope, we'll be back after we find what Saren was after," Shepard replied as he led the group out of the building. Outside, the colonists lay knocked out on the pavement along with human looking grey husks. "W-what are those?" Fluttershy stammered as she saw the dead creatures scattered around, they definitely weren't present when she got into the room with Doctor Chakwas. "We think the plant that controlled the colonists made them. If it makes you feel any better I don't think they had any will of their own." Shepard explained, Fluttershy nodded in understanding. The Royal Guard similarly used golems to train their recruits, though the constructs were able to fight to some degree, they had no 'soul' so to say. After getting to the staircase down to the docks, Shepard turned around to meet back up with the team that would go underground while Ashely, Chakwas, Garrus, and Fluttershy would go back to the Normandy. The starship was already waiting for them by the time they arrived. Chakwas took Ashley to the medbay as the human had been clipped a few times in the fight against the geth while Garrus—due to the intervention of a certain pegasus—had gotten off without any wounds. Not wanting to disturb the Doctor as she looked over Ashley, Fluttershy decided to take place at the mess' table. Garrus meanwhile was leaning against a wall browsing his omni-tool. Fluttershy on the other hoof was thinking about what she should do next, she could try figuring out how to control her omni tool or go up to the cockpit to talk to Joker until Shepard got back. The shy pegasus glanced at Garrus who hadn't moved from his spot yet. I could do that or maybe... I could... 1. Try fiddling with the omni-tool 2. [Talk to joker] 3. [Would you... uhm... like some rations?] [Vote link]