I have been busy playing the legendary edition haha! Thank you all for reading and I hope you enjoy the chapter!
Something I want to address is that for the first ME game it feels like there are missions that have a lot of repeated combat. Like with this specifically, it was "take down the three torches" which, other than a few things, involved the same type of combat for a lot of it. In order to not make the story super repetitive, I am going to explain the first fight in detail and then kind of generalize the next ones since they are similar. The detail will come in for parts that are unique or just conversation or remarks that the characters might have. This will save me time so I do not have to write the same thing over and over, but do my best to word it differently and it will also make reading the story (hopefully) less stale. I hope this makes sense and does not come off as me being lazy.
"Solid landing. Mako systems are green across the board." Tali says in the seat next to you as the dust outside of the tank starts to settle.
"First fusion torch is about 250 meters out. Looks like multiple shielded turrets stand guard so we will have to get close to get a shot." Garrus says from behind you.
"Hello? Hey?" You hear come from the Mako radio. "Can you hear me?"
"Yes. This is-"
"Shhh...they will be able to hear you if you are too loud."
"This is Lieutenant (L/N) of the SSV Normandy." You respond in a more hushed tone. "We are wheels down on the asteroid and on our way."
"Take out the fusion torches first before you try to rescue us." She responds. "It is important that you shut them down and make sure it does not colloid with Terra Nova."
"Understood. We will work as fast as we can."
"God speed and best of luck to you all." The radio goes silent.
"No time to waste. Best we get to the first torch as quickly as we can." Garrus remarks.
"Take out those turrets once we get close." You say as you start to drive forward. "Don't want the nice new paint you put on to get scratched."
"You are something else." Tali groans from the passenger seat. "We are on a rock hurtling towards a planet and you are cracking jokes."
"I like it. Eases the tension a bit." Garrus comments. "We could just get into an argument if you want...or just pester you." You let out a snort of laughter, earning a punch on the shoulder from Tali.
"Right...ahem...Garrus that is immature of you." You say as you drive on.
"Coming up on the first torch. Turrets are starting to come online." Garrus says from behind you.
"I will try to keep her steady for you Vakarian." You respond as you flip a switch above you, sliding extra armor over the windows.
"Returning fire." You hear the gun let out a burst of bullets as Garrus begins the assault. A rocket comes hurtling at the Mako, but you swerve to the side in time as you push forward.
"Rocket incoming from the left!" Tali yells.
"Heard you!" Garrus continues to shoot at the turret in front as you lift the Mako into the air, letting the incoming rocket hurtle underneath you and crash into the turret to your right.
"Two of em down! Two more to go!" Garrus yells as he swivels the gun and continues to fire.
"Hit it with the heavy stuff Garrus!" The Mako shakes a bit as Garrus launches a rocket towards the turret, causing it to explode into pieces. A few moments later another missile rips through its target.
"All clear." Tali tells you. "Get us to the torch." You maneuver the Mako over the and the three of you disembark.
"Likely to run into some batarians inside." Garrus says you as you are the last one out.
"Likely to have to shoot some batarians." You say back. "Got a feeling talking won't get us out of this one." The three of you start towards the door.
"Ah you never know. Maybe these guys are different from the batarians that hate humanity and they will talk to us." Garrus jokes. You let out a snort of laughter and slide the door open. As soon as it slides past you, a bullet wizzes past you head. The three of you dive forward behind a piece of cover as gunfire starts to rain down.
"Seems like we didn't find those nice batarians Garrus was fantasizing about!" Tali comments over the sound of gunfire.
"You sure? Why don't you go out there and ask!" He yells back. You peak over and scan the room quickly before dropping back down.
"Couple defense drones fill the room. Batarian sniper up on the second flood to the left and a good deal of them on the ground floor. Couple of varren roaming about."
"What is the plan?" Garrus asks.
"You hang out here and pick off the sniper. Tali stay a few feet behind me. Hack anything you can and what you can rip to shreds with your shotgun. I will be at the front. Sound good?" You look at the two of them.
"Right behind you (L/N)." Garrus says with a nod.
"Lead the way." Tali tells you.
"Lot of people counting on us. Let's get to work." You hurtle over the crate you all were hiding behind and charge forward, crashing into a batarian and sending him flying backwards into a wall. A shot rings out a batarian crashes down from the upper level.
"Die you little bosh'tets!" Shotgun blasts follow as you gun down two more guards. You feel a bullet fly past your head and it drops the two remaining batarians, a clean hole left in both of their heads.
"Looks like that is all of them." You stow your shotgun and hear a buzzing in your ear.
"Make sure you shut down the torch. Then make your way to the other two." Kate says into your ear.
"Where are the controls located? How are you holding up?" You ask.
"Controls are on the second floor. Me and my team are still holding out, but the batarians have killed off most of the other personnel on the asteroid." She responds. "You need to hurry though, we do not have all of the time in the world."
"Understood. Stay safe and we will be there soon." You tell her before she hangs up. "Let's get up stairs and shut off this torch then get moving." A few minutes later, the torch is down and the group of you are getting ready to exit the building.
"Hopefully the other two go as smoothly as this one." You say as you near the exit, rounding the corner. "The sooner we-" A shot interrupts you and ricochets off of your shield. You respond quickly by sweeping out the attackers leg and pinning his chest down with your foot, pointing your pistol at his head.
"Looks like he is one of the crew members (L/N)." Garrus says next to you.
"Yes! My name is Simon Atwell! I thought you were one of those savages." You remove your boot from his chest and help him up.
"Where can I find Kate at?" You ask him.
"Right to the point." He mumbles as he wipes the dirt off of his chest. "She is at the main facility that was in charge of conducting the entire operation on this asteroid. She should be there with her brother Aaron, the two of them are brilliant at what they do."
"Did the batarians say anything as to why they were doing this?" Garrus asks.
"No. We have no idea. They are normally pirates and slavers, but they are not in the business of blowing up entire planets. Terra Nova is in grave danger." He replies. "The leader is also named Balak. He is probably doing his best to get into the main facility that Kate is at."
"Are they the only survivors? Could there be anyone else out there?" Tali asks.
"Some of the offsite engineers may still be alive." Atwell explains. "If you have enough time, I would appreciate if you could locate them."
"We will do the best that we can." You tell him. "We need to get moving."
"You should know that there are mines outside of one of the fusion torches. You will have to go in on foot to get past them and then disable them inside." Atwell explains.
"Good to know. Stay here and stay out of trouble." You tell him.
"Thank you again." Simon says as the three of you exit the building.
"How much time do we have left?" You ask Garrus as you close the Mako door behind you.
"About three and a half hours." He responds from behind you.
"Do you think we have time to find the engineers (F/N)?" Tali asks. "The map that Simon gave us shows that the transmitter we would need to repair is on top of that hill."
"We should see what we find up there. If the stations are close enough then we can take care of it, but we need to focus on stopping this rock." You reply.
A few minutes later you are standing next to the transmitter, watching a Tali works on the device while Garrus scans the area with his sinper.
"How is it coming along?" You ask.
"Al...most....done. There we go." She stands up and taps at her omni tool for a moment. "Looks like one is to the southeast, southwest, and one is directly north of us. It looks like they are close enough for us to get to and not waste too much time."
"Well let's get moving then. The faster we knock these out, the faster that we are able to get the torches offline." You say.
Twenty Minutes Later
"Well that is not good." You say as the recording finishes.
"First one ended up with a dead engineer and looks like the second one is the same way." Garrus says from besides you. "Stupid batarians."
"We should get to the next fusion torch. There is nothing more for us to do here." You say. The three of you load into the Mako and you take off towards the second torch that is guiding the asteroid.
"Mines are coming into view (F/N). Looks like they surround the entire area...plus we will have to deal with the cannons still." Tali comments.
"They are packed too tightly together to drive through." You tell the other two. "We will have to go on foot. How are the turrets coming along Garrus?"
"Two down!" He yells as you hear a rocket launch. "Make it three down!" You smirk and shake your head as you hear him howl with glee.
"Looks like he got them all." Tali says a few minutes later.
"Let's get moving then people." The three of you exit, gathering at the edge of the minefield. "Just follow me and we will get past this nice and easy." You take a step, then another, and then another.
"Careful (F/N)." Garrus says from behind you.
"What do you think I'm doing?" You call back. You take another step and hear a loud beeping start to go off.
"(F/N)!" Tali yells. You dive to the side and avoid an explosion, but hear another loud beep starting. You frantically crawl forward, hurrying to avoid another explosion. The heat from the blast rushes past you as it jolts your forward. You feel something hard against your hand and your eyes go wide as the ground below you starts to flash red.
"Guard! Door!" Garrus yells. You look up and charge forward, connecting with the guard and sending him into the wall all while avoiding another explosion. You slump down against the wall and breath heavily as the others hurry over.
"That was too close." Garrus says to you.
"Cleared a pathway at least." You reply with a chuckle. "Good thing that guard came outside."
"I can put together most broken machines but not people." Tali comments. You exhale deeply as you stand up, groaning in pain a bit.
"Pulled a bullet out of me once so I'm sure you could sew my arm back on." You tell her. "Let's get inside and clear them out. No doubt they'll be waiting for us." They both nod in response as you draw your shotgun. Once inside, you start blasting away.
"Watch those drones!" Garrus yells as a rocket wizzes by.
"On it!" Tali taps at her omni tool and two of the drones drop out of the air. The three of you continue to gun down the batarians until the room is silent.
"Let's get the torch offline." You lead the other two up the steps, stopping when you hear a voice in your ear.
"Hello? Did you get the next torch offline?" You signal to Tali and Garrus to move ahead before responding to Kate.
"It should be offline here in a few minutes." You answer. "How are things looking on your end?"
"Not good. They know that someone is taking out the torches and-"
"Get away from that console!" You hear a raspy voice yell.
"Kate? Kate!"
"Just keep going! Take out the other tor-" She is cut off, likely being pulled away by a batarian. The radio goes silent, leaving only a faint buzzing in your ear.
"Motherfucker." You grumble as Tali and Garrus walk up to you.
"Torch is offline. One more to go." Tali comments.
"We need to make sure it is quick. They found Kate and know that we are fucking with their plan." You tell him.
"We better get moving then. We only have about two and a half hours left." Garrus informs you. You nod and the three of you head back to the Mako.
Thirty Minutes Later
"Cannons down we are good to enter the third torch." Garrus tells you.
"Good shooting Vakarian." You comment. "Let's do this quick. Burned a little too much time finding the third engineer."
"Pity that he ended up dead." Tali remarks as the three of you exit the tank.
"Didn't expect much less from batarians." Garrus says. "We need to end this."
"Let's end it then." The door slides open and your team of three works on clearing out the building, disposing the batarians by any means necessary.
"I will handle the torch." Tali says after you take down the final batarian. "Then we don't have to worry about this asteroid hurtling towards Terra Nova." Tali taps away as you and Garrus rummage through the room, looking for anything that might be useful. "Torch is down. Let's move to the main facility." You nod and the three of you head down to the main floor.
"Stop!" You look and are met with the barrel of a rifle being pointed at your face. "So you have been the ones shutting down the torches." The batarian says.
"No it was three other armed people driving around in the tank." You say sarcastically.
"I don't like your tone human." He spits back.
"And I don't like people steering asteroids towards planets but I guess we all can't have what we want." You reply. "Now what do you want?"
"I have been sent by Balak to put an end to you, but I am looking for a better way to end this than violence." He says. "My name is Charan and Balak told us that this was just going to be a simple slave grab."
"Why should I believe that? Why should I even let you walk away if this was suppose to just be a simple slave run?" You ask.
"He makes a point." Garrus comments from behind you.
"He...he does." Charan says, lowering his firearm. "Look I don't want to die on this god forsaken rock. If you let us go, we promise to not longer continue the life that we are living." You look at him, doing your best to read his facial expression.
"If I ever hear about you ever again, I am going to personally hunt you down and make sure you are put in a prison cell so that you will rot for the rest of you life. Do you understand me?" You ask.
"This must be that human sympathy we have heard so much about." He grunts.
"Look buddy I could turn you into a smear on the ground right now if I wanted to. Get your ass off this rock and stay out of the the life of crime of so help me god I will hunt you down." You say coldly, causing his eyes to go wide.
"Yeah...yeah you are right. This life is not worth dying for." He and his small crew run off with you and your team following close behind.
"All of the torches are offline. I am hoping that means the asteroid is no longer heading towards Terra Nova." Garrus comments once all three of you are loaded into the Mako.
"I hope so too. Better get to the main facility as quick as we can just to be safe." Tali suggests.
"Balak isn't going to let this end this easily." You tell them as you accelerate the tank. "Be ready for anything once we get there."