Hello there,
If you enjoy my stories, you can read up to 15 chapters in advance per story on my Patreon page / patreon.com/Samael61.
If you like how Shepard is a total genius badass, you should check Arrival : Ruptures to enjoy more of the same.
—
Illium
Pitne For, a volus merchant in trouble, had directed them to Detective Anaya, who was awfully anxious to get Samara out of Illium, fearing her code would lead to a cross-species incident, and was very helpful to Shepard and his team in that regard.
Clearing out the mercs in there after entering the crime scene Anaya had directed them to was a simple job, and the first sign of the justicar was an asari Eclipse merc flying at them, followed by another one thrown out of a window, with Samara floating down with her biotics.
A short interrogation was followed by the mercenary refusing to divulge what Samara wanted, and the Justicar snapped the asari's neck.
Samara walked to Shepard and his team, introducing herself. "My name is Samara, a servant of the Justicar Code. My quarrel is with these Eclipse sisters, but I see Commander Shepard before me."
"Are we friends? Or foe?" She looked him dead in the eye, not an ounce of fear, and Shepard grudgingly admitted that the Illusive Man had chosen the correct person.
"Not foes, and I hope to be friends. Have we met before? I can swear you look very familiar to me." He wasn't flirting, because he definitely had seen her, or someone who looked like her, in a very intimate setting.
Samara racked her brain but came up empty. "I do not believe so, Commander. How may I be of service?"
"I am going against the Collectors, and I need the very best, which is you."
"I sense the truth in what you say, and it humbles me. But I seek an incredibly dangerous fugitive." Samara walked back, looking at the corpse of the Eclipse merc with an emotionless gaze. "I cornered her here, but the Eclipse sisters smuggled her off-world. I must find the name of the ship she left on before the trail goes cold."
"I wish you were willing to go with the human, Justicar. I've been ordered to take you into custody if you won't leave." Detective Anaya came in, having heard from her comms that the shooting was over, which meant everyone inside was dead.
"The solution is simple. Justicar Samara goes with you, not in custody, but to cooperate with the law enforcement, while I find the name of the ship your fugitive left on. After that, you can join me, and if you find the trail again, we can hunt her." Shepard offered. This way, a potential conflict would be avoided, and the Eclipse would take another blow.
"A most sensible solution. I accept. I will be waiting with Detective Anaya for twenty-four hours."
"Well, you'll have my gratitude if you succeed." Anaya wasn't looking forward to the idea of detaining a justicar.
—
Pitne For had confessed to selling a biotic enhancing drug to Eclipse but had forgotten to mention the side effects of the drug and was in hot water with the mercs. The volus's business sense had kicked in, and he agreed to give Shepard information on the mercs, as well as the copy of an ID card he used to access the base to drop his merchandise.
The asari vanguards were protected by biotic barriers, which did more than just block mass accelerator fire, and they did not hesitate to throw canisters full of red sand at Shepard and his team.
Jack, already a fan of biotic-enhancing drugs, used it to her advantage, spamming her most destructive attacks, but it tired her out, while Zaeed was safe, as the drug required biotics to bond and harm the host.
The base wasn't that big, and the team came across an asari claiming to be a new recruit, but knowing the Eclipse customs, Shepard didn't really listen to her pleas before shooting the asari. For some reason incomprehensible to him, Elnora had left a voice recording of herself admitting to killing Pitne's partner, which only solidified his choice to kill her.
They also found another volus, Niftu Cal, who was working for Pitne For and was high on red sand, declaring himself to be a biotic god and the things he would do to pitiful mortals.
A light touch knocked the volus down, confusing him even further.
Finally, they found the leader of the Eclipse mercenaries, one Captain Wasea.
Finishing her drink, the asari put down her datapad, her furious look slowly evaporating to a defeated one. "Everything's gone to hell ever since we smuggled that filthy creature off-world. First a justicar shows up, and now the legendary Commander Shepard himself."
"Tell me, what will it take for you to leave?" The asari, more sensible than the rest of her sisters, offered, knowing there was only one way this ended.
"The name of the ship that you used to smuggle the fugitive, and the credits your group has." If the asari was cooperative enough, Shepard would spare her, because people like her definitely would be useful in the future.
Waseya sighed, activating her omni-tool to transfer the credits to Shepard. "AML Demeter, its course was set to Omega."
"Thanks."
—
Back at the precinct, Shepard found Samara sitting in a meditative pose and gave her the name of the ship.
"As expected of a warrior of your caliber. Thank you, Commander. You have fulfilled your end of the bargain, and I will fulfill mine." Samara's tone did not betray her blank look, but Shepard knew she had to be relieved.
Turning to Detective Anaya, who did look relieved, Samara got ready to leave. "I am ready to leave immediately if that will satisfy your superiors, Detective."
"You're free to go, Justicar. It has been an honor having you in my station. And it's nice you didn't kill me, too."
"The Normandy is docked near the main trading floor. I'll see you aboard."
"First, I must be sworn to your service so that I am never forced to choose between your orders and the Code." Shepard blinked, remembering reading something about an oath, but the justicar acted before he could remember what it was about.
Samara's eyes glowed white with biotic power, and she got on one knee, her head bowed down. Anaya got up from her seat in respect, standing to the side.
"By the Code, I will serve you, Shepard. Your choices are my choices, and your morals are my morals. Your wishes are my code." Samara's body glowed with more biotic power, as if sealing the oath.
"I never thought I'd see a justicar swear an oath like that."
"If you make me do anything extremely dishonorable, I may need to die trying to kill you when I am released from my oath." Samara would do what her code dictated, regardless of her chances of success against Shepard.
"I am honored, Samara." Now if only Shepard could remember where he had seen the asari before him.
Shepard gave Detective Anaya the proof revealing the truth behind the death of Pitne For's partner, as well as his red sand smuggling operation.
—
Jacob was more appreciative of having Samara, a warrior of honor and code, on board than he was about Thane, an assassin, but Shepard already told him to stuff it.
—
Far Rim
Dholen System
Haestrom
His next recruit was an old friend, Tali, who was on a classified assignment from the Migrant Fleet in Haestrom, a former quarian colony deep in geth-controlled space.
Haestrom's sun was acting anomalously, and EDI warned them that the solar output overwhelmed the protective magnetosphere, but that was not the biggest problem.
The twenty Geth ships, including a cruiser, that surrounded the planet were.
"Damn, Tali must have pissed off the geth pretty good." Joker commented, analyzing the scans of the geth fleet.
"It is extremely likely that they are after her laser weapon. In the current circumstances, a ground operation contains high risks. The geth might resort to orbital bombardment if they realize you are on the planet." EDI popped out to add her piece, which the pilot rolled his eyes at.
They were like a married old couple.
Her analysis, however, was correct. Shepard did not have any opportunity to test if the synthetics had adapted to his ravager virus and would be willing to do whatever it takes to kill him.
"Good thing we have proton torpedoes. EDI, what is the status of the enemy fighter coverage?" The only way the geth could detect them was to look out the window, which the synthetic vessels did not have.
"None. The geth did not deploy any. They must have considered it unnecessary." Surrounding a handful of organics with twenty ships was an overkill already; fighter support would have been ridiculous, especially if they wanted the laser weapon in one piece.
"Good. Joker, get close enough to the ships, and drop the torpedoes right beneath them at a timer." The geth were about to have a really bad day.
Joker was all too happy. "I love how you think, Commander."
—
The geth were fully focused on the planet, and without fighter coverage, the synthetics did not detect Normandy. Time was short, as the geth had a division's worth of units on the ground closing on Tali and her team's position, only held back by the quarian's quick thinking.
They had barricaded themselves deep underground, cut down all access points, and set up traps to slow down the geth while requesting assistance.
After an hour of maneuvering, Joker had set up twenty-two proton torpedoes, one for each destroyer and three for the cruiser.
"Do it." Shepard ordered the pilot, and Joker, with a toothy grin, pressed the button, sending out the signal.
The darkness of space was illuminated by the light of an antimatter reaction, and the small geth fleet was shattered in an instant, disrupting the connection between the ground units. The second part of the plan was to use the remaining torpedoes to clear out the field and extract the quarians. The former colony site was filled with old buildings and thousands of geth trying to find a way inside the bunker, but it was not to be. A single, low-yield torpedo annihilated much of the district, leaving behind a glowing, radioactive crater with molten stone slowly flowing to the bottom.
Over ninety percent of the geth ground units went up in the firework, and the rest were fried by the radiation and the electromagnetic pulse that followed.
"EDI, see if you can contact the quarians."
"I am attempting now. It will take a while for the interference from the strike site to fade."
—
The quarian team had found an emergency exit in the bunker leading away from the initial explosion site and had quickly boarded the Normandy for extraction, their data secure.
"So good to see you again, Shepard." Tali thanked Shepard, tired from being awake for a day without rest.
"Tali, how are you guys doing?" Their exhaustion told him all he needed to know, but it still was nice to make small talk.
"Better now that the geth are gone. I swear, the Admiralty Board are getting on my nerves with their stupid missions."
"How about you take a vacation and come with me?"
"You don't have to tell me twice."
The Normandy dropped off the remaining team members on a Migrant Fleet ship that came to pick them up, while Tali briefed them on what was happening with Haestrom's sun.
—
Rosetta Nebula
Alpha Draconis
2175 Aeia
Jacob had an issue, one concerning his long-lost father, having received a distress signal from the ship Ronald Taylor was part of. It had disturbed his crew member enough that Shepard had set a course for the origin of the distress signal.
Discovering the initial crash site, the team found the VI of the ship still functioning and came across a survivor further ahead.
What they found painted a pretty grim and disturbing picture.
After crashing on the planet, the crew had survived, but rather than send out a distress signal, they had decided to use the toxic fauna, which caused neurological issues in humans if consumed, to create their own little kingdom. When the females foraged the environment for food as rations were limited, they had become forgetful, and the men of the crew, at least some of them, had used it to their advantage, turning their crew members into sex slaves.
Some of the males had mutinied over it, and things had only gotten worse from that point on.
They were questioning the female; several feral males had attacked them, and Shepard had only one question.
"They were former Alliance military, right?"
"Yeah?" Jacob said with a questioning tone, wondering why Shepard wasn't firing.
"Attention!" Shepard shouted so loud that Gunner Chief Ellison would have an orgasm, and it had the intended effect. No matter how much of their memory was gone, Shepard knew no Alliance marine would ever forget that specific shout calling everyone to attention.
The feral males snapped to attention in a daze, instinct overcoming their aggression, and dropped their weapons.
"You lot are the sorriest excuses for Alliance marines I have ever seen in my life. Why, if I could change you for a fucking volus, I would, because at least those bastards would be useful as comedic relief for my beloved Marine Corps." He called out to the petrified former marines, who responded the only way they knew.
"Sir, yes sir."
"Drop down and give me twenty. After that, you ladies can go to sleep, and I swear to the holy spirit of the Marine Corps, if I see a single eyelid open, you will be counting every single grain of sand on this planet until your asses grow barnacles."
"Sir, yes sir." The males, scared out of their minds, dropped down, doing push-ups, before lying where they were, eyes closed in sleeping positions.
"Bullshit." Miranda scoffed. Years of being animals, and Shepard's words were enough to set them straight.
Jacob just watched Shepard like a fanboy.
—
More and more evidence of what had happened was discovered, and it only served to tick Shepard off, and the way females treated Jacob made it clear who the one responsible for this atrocity was.
Acting Captain Ronald Taylor.
Which had programmed the security mechs to serve as his personal attack force and had the gall to speak over the comms as if he were completely innocent.
Shepard blitzed through the mechs, each step sending out biotic waves that sent the older model LOKIs flying away, and stood before whatever feral males were left over, serving as Ronald Taylor's bodyguards.
They did respond the same way to Shepard's orders.
Shepard had considered what to do with Ronald Taylor and how to kill him but had a better idea eventually. The Alliance had a prison for batarians of interest, and Shepard would have Ronald transferred over there.
Act like a batarian, get treated like a barbarian.
The Alliance had come to pick up the survivors to be treated, and Shepard had made sure to mention his little request.
—
Turns out it wasn't the Illusive Man who leaked the information about Gernsback to Jacob, but Miranda, which ended up with Shepard telling the two of them to either kiss and make up or deal with their couple issues somewhere else.
They did not find it amusing.