As you've probably guessed from the fact I'm not @Hoyr this isn't an update. It is however an omake so I hope that makes up for it.
As one of the Alliance's most decorated special forces operatives you've never been one for playing it safe. Still, you can't help but be apprehensive about riding an effectively untested vehicle during a high speed reentry. Still it's your own fault; if you hadn't specifically requested one from Miss Shepard you'd be looking to wasting a day fighting through the pirates' defenses before actually reaching the bunker where Haliat is hunkered down in. Instead you're about to plummet towards the ground at three times the speed of sound followed up by a rapid deceleration four seconds before impact.
"Echo Squad you are clear to launch. Good hunting." and with that there is no more time for contemplation. With the cargo bay door already open the Tiger's VI automatically activates and sends you shooting out the rear. According to the documentation Miss Shepard included with the Tiger orbital insertions can be done manually however the VI's nearly instantaneous reactions make it a better choice in every possible way.
All you have to distract yourself from the fact that the only thing between you and certain death is a demonstration model that rolled off, or knowing Miss Shepard likely floated off, the production line less then a week ago is a song.
It's working pretty well, like usual, up until a bright red warning starts flashing in front of you.
You can't help but stare at the screen in surprise. You have a lot of experience with military VIs and they aren't capable of this level of independent operation. You knew Miss Shepard had improved her VIs but not to this extent.
Shaking off your surprise as the Tiger comes to a halt outside the target bunker you quickly release your restraints and turn to your team. "Echo Squad! There is a whole bunker filled with pirate scum. You ready to teach them not to mess with the Alliance!?"
Your squad of marines yell out the customary "Oorah!" as they charge out the rear doors. Following them out you can't help but check your helmet is on, even though a Legionary's helmet is pretty hard to remove, as you see a pair of what you think were Batarian guards before the Sagitta pulped their heads. There is a reason they harp on never removing your helmet in Basic.
Once you double check that the area is secure, the VI might have said it was secure but you don't live as long as you have by trusting everything a VI tells you, Echo 3 moves forwards to place the breaching charges on the bunker's door. While you can't tell for sure until you actually enter the bunker from the outside appearance it's probably another prefab, they are pretty popular with pirates for some reason.
Breaching goes without a hitch and you and Echo 2 take the lead with Echos 3 through 6 following behind and Echos 7 and 8 guarding the entrance. It's a quick trip down the empty passageway into an empty room with only one other door. Definitely looking like another prefab job.
Echos 3 and 4 move into cover behind a pair of crates a bit back and to the left of the door while Echos 5 and 6 do the same but to the right. With that you signal Echo 2 to open the door while you stand on the opposite side, grenade in your left and pistol in your right.
As one of the Alliance's most decorated special forces operatives you've never been one for playing it safe. Still, you can't help but be apprehensive about riding an effectively untested vehicle during a high speed reentry. Still it's your own fault; if you hadn't specifically requested one from Miss Shepard you'd be looking to wasting a day fighting through the pirates' defenses before actually reaching the bunker where Haliat is hunkered down in. Instead you're about to plummet towards the ground at three times the speed of sound followed up by a rapid deceleration four seconds before impact.
"Echo Squad you are clear to launch. Good hunting." and with that there is no more time for contemplation. With the cargo bay door already open the Tiger's VI automatically activates and sends you shooting out the rear. According to the documentation Miss Shepard included with the Tiger orbital insertions can be done manually however the VI's nearly instantaneous reactions make it a better choice in every possible way.
All you have to distract yourself from the fact that the only thing between you and certain death is a demonstration model that rolled off, or knowing Miss Shepard likely floated off, the production line less then a week ago is a song.
It's working pretty well, like usual, up until a bright red warning starts flashing in front of you.
Code:
Warning! Radar Scan Detected!
Warning! Radar Lock!
Warning! Anti-Air Fire Detected!
Warning! Anti-Air Fire Detected!
Warning! Anti-Air Fire Detected!The alert messages quickly cycled through with the last remaining in an active loop.
This was it. The Tiger should be able to dodge the MA cannons until you hit the 1,500m mark and once you cross 700m, where you begin your deceleration burn, the large towers won't be able to lower their elevation enough to hit you and the smaller ones can't punch through the Tiger's enhanced shields. Problem is the 0.8 seconds where you are vulnerable. Theoretically the shields can take a single hit but it's a pretty near thing. Intel predicts there is a 5% chance of the MACs hitting hard enough to puncture the shield and...
You feel a sudden jerk as the Tiger wheels through the air and 'down' seems to spin randomly!
It only lasts a second and from what you can see on the display it was a successful dodge since the shields are still at 100% but it was rather disconcerting. What's worse is that you're about to enter the kill zone.
You hear what sounds like the Tiger firing a missile, an explosion, and are thrown around in your seat, with only your Legionary keeping you from breaking something on the restraints, in what even with the adrenaline seems like a blink of the eye.
Still you've made it through...
Ugh! Even with the Inertial Dampeners in the Tiger and your suit this deceleration hurts. Was that more missile fire!?
With a shuddering jolt the deceleration comes to a rapid close and you hear the wheels reactivate as the VI begins driving you towards the nearby bunker. At the same time a message comes up in front of you:
This was it. The Tiger should be able to dodge the MA cannons until you hit the 1,500m mark and once you cross 700m, where you begin your deceleration burn, the large towers won't be able to lower their elevation enough to hit you and the smaller ones can't punch through the Tiger's enhanced shields. Problem is the 0.8 seconds where you are vulnerable. Theoretically the shields can take a single hit but it's a pretty near thing. Intel predicts there is a 5% chance of the MACs hitting hard enough to puncture the shield and...
You feel a sudden jerk as the Tiger wheels through the air and 'down' seems to spin randomly!
It only lasts a second and from what you can see on the display it was a successful dodge since the shields are still at 100% but it was rather disconcerting. What's worse is that you're about to enter the kill zone.
You hear what sounds like the Tiger firing a missile, an explosion, and are thrown around in your seat, with only your Legionary keeping you from breaking something on the restraints, in what even with the adrenaline seems like a blink of the eye.
Still you've made it through...
Ugh! Even with the Inertial Dampeners in the Tiger and your suit this deceleration hurts. Was that more missile fire!?
With a shuddering jolt the deceleration comes to a rapid close and you hear the wheels reactivate as the VI begins driving you towards the nearby bunker. At the same time a message comes up in front of you:
Code:
Warning! Impact With Anti-Air Projectile Predicted!
Warning! Evasion Impossible!
Warning! Probability Of Unit Destruction = 100!
Alert! One (1) Pilum Launched!
Alert! Anti-Air Projectile Shattered By Pilum Detonation!
Alert! Probability Of Unit Destruction = 0!
Warning! Ten (10) Hostile Units Detected Within Landing Zone!
Alert! Ten (10) Sagitta Launched!
Alert! Hostile Units Terminated!You can't help but stare at the screen in surprise. You have a lot of experience with military VIs and they aren't capable of this level of independent operation. You knew Miss Shepard had improved her VIs but not to this extent.
Shaking off your surprise as the Tiger comes to a halt outside the target bunker you quickly release your restraints and turn to your team. "Echo Squad! There is a whole bunker filled with pirate scum. You ready to teach them not to mess with the Alliance!?"
Your squad of marines yell out the customary "Oorah!" as they charge out the rear doors. Following them out you can't help but check your helmet is on, even though a Legionary's helmet is pretty hard to remove, as you see a pair of what you think were Batarian guards before the Sagitta pulped their heads. There is a reason they harp on never removing your helmet in Basic.
Once you double check that the area is secure, the VI might have said it was secure but you don't live as long as you have by trusting everything a VI tells you, Echo 3 moves forwards to place the breaching charges on the bunker's door. While you can't tell for sure until you actually enter the bunker from the outside appearance it's probably another prefab, they are pretty popular with pirates for some reason.
Breaching goes without a hitch and you and Echo 2 take the lead with Echos 3 through 6 following behind and Echos 7 and 8 guarding the entrance. It's a quick trip down the empty passageway into an empty room with only one other door. Definitely looking like another prefab job.
Echos 3 and 4 move into cover behind a pair of crates a bit back and to the left of the door while Echos 5 and 6 do the same but to the right. With that you signal Echo 2 to open the door while you stand on the opposite side, grenade in your left and pistol in your right.
The door hisses open and after a tense few moments Echo 3 gives the all clear signal.
Disarming the grenade for safety you and Echo 2 proceed down the corridor while Echos 3 and 4 take your former positions, ready to cover you. Just like last time Echo 2 takes the keypad while you reactivate your grenade.
The door opens without warning!
A man in a red hard-suit steps through and before you can begin to raise your pistol a crack from the room you just left echos out and a red mist sprays out of the mans head as he collapses like a puppet whose strings were cut.
There is no way the pirates didn't hear that! You quickly throw your grenade towards where the middle of the next section should be in a prefab bunker and Echo 2 closes the door. It will only hold them for a second but that and your head start should buy you the time to get back to the first room.
You're just crossing back through the doorway when the door to the main room re-opens. Without a moments hesitation you drop to the ground as bullets wiz over head. Rolling to your left you spring back up just as a grenade goes off in the passage.
Pulling your assault rifle off your back you command your Legionary to divert all power to it's shields in 3 seconds and step into the line of fire while dropping to one knee just as the time runs out. With your shields powered by the full 5GW of your Arc Reactor they laugh off the pirate's attempts to harm you with their sub-standard weaponry while you unleash burst after deadly burst from your significantly more powerful Diamond Back X.
These clearly aren't the smartest of pirates as they just keep running into the kill zone that your team has turned this corridor into. Eventually though even the dumbest of pirates can figure out that if they run into your guns they'll die.
You decide to reward their decision by leading your team, after switching back to normal power distribution, in a charge down the corridor. The second you reach the open door however you come to a sudden stop and instead throw a flash-bang into the room as does the rest of Echo squad. The cameras and microphones of your Legionary automatically filter the light and sound out so the second they detonate you resume your charge.
You burst into a large room filled with cargo crates, almost certainly stolen, with pirates either clutching their eyes/ears in pain or randomly firing, mostly hitting each other. You and Echo 2 cross into the middle of the room, eliminating all the pirates in your path, while Echos 3 and 4 go left and Echos 5 and 6 go right to ensure there aren't any hiding behind a container waiting for a lucky shot.
The six of you quickly meet up at the door leading into what should be the final section of the bunker. Sometimes this is a series of smaller rooms and sometimes it's just one large room. It's actually the only variable part of the prefab bunker design.
As Echo 2 opens the door the rest of you throw another round of grenades in, and take cover along the walls as they go off. Entering the room it's pretty clear that Haliat preferred the single large room to the multiple smaller rooms. Inside there is only Haliat, or rather his corpse, sitting in his chair. Seems like he sent all his...
Two turrets just popped out of the roof and opened fire! You quickly unleash your rifle in full auto upon the left turret and in the two seconds it takes to obliterate it sees your shields drop from 100% to 30%. The second yours explodes you spin towards the second but see it's already blasted.
Looking around you speak for the first time since you landed "Everyone okay?" You get affirmatives from everyone aside from Echo 3. Turning around you see her face down on the ground but your squad display shows her suit is fine. "Echo 3? You okay there?"
"Uhhgh. Just kill me now!"
Smiling under your helmet you ask "What's wrong?". She's clearly fine.
"I bloody well tripped!" You can almost picture her entire face glowing cherry red at this point.
It was now that Echo 2 decided to chime in "You tripped? How exactly does a trained gymnist and ballerina trip?" You can practically hear the smirk in his voice. Echo 2 isn't going to let her live this down for weeks.
Still the missions not over yet. "Cut the chatter." You command before heading over to Haliat's desk. The display is fried but the actual computer looks intact. "Echo 4, see if you can hack into this."
Your completely unsurprised when it takes but seconds for Echo 4's military grade slicing suite to gain complete access to Haliat's computer. He might have been a successful pirate but he clearly didn't appreciate the value of good equipment.
"Doesn't seem to be much of value here. Mostly just loot inventories, porn, and Haliat ranting about how much of a
master pirate he is. Only thing of note I can see is mention of his plans for some big raid that would make him feared across the galaxy." Echo 4's always neutral voice drones out. There really are days you wonder if he's really human and not the Alliance's first successful AI.
You give him a quick nod. "Copy it all anyway. Maybe SAMI can get something out of it." and with that you spend a couple minutes waiting while Echo 4 copies the data before heading back to the surface.
What you find up there is quite the surprise.
According to Echo 7 the Tiger wandered off about a minute after you entered the bunker. Thirty seconds later they heard the sound of gunfire, including the Tiger's main gun, for about a minute then nothing. A minute later the Tiger showed back up again. When Echo 8 pinged it the VI responded by saying it had detected hostile reinforcements inbound and eliminated them. Odd.
Still you ended up piling back inside the Tiger for your return trip to orbit. This time you make it through the 0.8 window without the MACs taking a shot so while it was a rather bumpy trip back to orbit, with the Tiger dodging quite the number of rounds, you ended up returning the Agincourt without even a scratch on your Tiger's paint.
------------------
Authors Note: Hmm. Not as happy with this as I'd like. I don't think I captured Anderson' voice, at all, and the combat seems kinda meh. Still, what do you guys think?
Disarming the grenade for safety you and Echo 2 proceed down the corridor while Echos 3 and 4 take your former positions, ready to cover you. Just like last time Echo 2 takes the keypad while you reactivate your grenade.
The door opens without warning!
A man in a red hard-suit steps through and before you can begin to raise your pistol a crack from the room you just left echos out and a red mist sprays out of the mans head as he collapses like a puppet whose strings were cut.
There is no way the pirates didn't hear that! You quickly throw your grenade towards where the middle of the next section should be in a prefab bunker and Echo 2 closes the door. It will only hold them for a second but that and your head start should buy you the time to get back to the first room.
You're just crossing back through the doorway when the door to the main room re-opens. Without a moments hesitation you drop to the ground as bullets wiz over head. Rolling to your left you spring back up just as a grenade goes off in the passage.
Pulling your assault rifle off your back you command your Legionary to divert all power to it's shields in 3 seconds and step into the line of fire while dropping to one knee just as the time runs out. With your shields powered by the full 5GW of your Arc Reactor they laugh off the pirate's attempts to harm you with their sub-standard weaponry while you unleash burst after deadly burst from your significantly more powerful Diamond Back X.
These clearly aren't the smartest of pirates as they just keep running into the kill zone that your team has turned this corridor into. Eventually though even the dumbest of pirates can figure out that if they run into your guns they'll die.
You decide to reward their decision by leading your team, after switching back to normal power distribution, in a charge down the corridor. The second you reach the open door however you come to a sudden stop and instead throw a flash-bang into the room as does the rest of Echo squad. The cameras and microphones of your Legionary automatically filter the light and sound out so the second they detonate you resume your charge.
You burst into a large room filled with cargo crates, almost certainly stolen, with pirates either clutching their eyes/ears in pain or randomly firing, mostly hitting each other. You and Echo 2 cross into the middle of the room, eliminating all the pirates in your path, while Echos 3 and 4 go left and Echos 5 and 6 go right to ensure there aren't any hiding behind a container waiting for a lucky shot.
The six of you quickly meet up at the door leading into what should be the final section of the bunker. Sometimes this is a series of smaller rooms and sometimes it's just one large room. It's actually the only variable part of the prefab bunker design.
As Echo 2 opens the door the rest of you throw another round of grenades in, and take cover along the walls as they go off. Entering the room it's pretty clear that Haliat preferred the single large room to the multiple smaller rooms. Inside there is only Haliat, or rather his corpse, sitting in his chair. Seems like he sent all his...
Two turrets just popped out of the roof and opened fire! You quickly unleash your rifle in full auto upon the left turret and in the two seconds it takes to obliterate it sees your shields drop from 100% to 30%. The second yours explodes you spin towards the second but see it's already blasted.
Looking around you speak for the first time since you landed "Everyone okay?" You get affirmatives from everyone aside from Echo 3. Turning around you see her face down on the ground but your squad display shows her suit is fine. "Echo 3? You okay there?"
"Uhhgh. Just kill me now!"
Smiling under your helmet you ask "What's wrong?". She's clearly fine.
"I bloody well tripped!" You can almost picture her entire face glowing cherry red at this point.
It was now that Echo 2 decided to chime in "You tripped? How exactly does a trained gymnist and ballerina trip?" You can practically hear the smirk in his voice. Echo 2 isn't going to let her live this down for weeks.
Still the missions not over yet. "Cut the chatter." You command before heading over to Haliat's desk. The display is fried but the actual computer looks intact. "Echo 4, see if you can hack into this."
Your completely unsurprised when it takes but seconds for Echo 4's military grade slicing suite to gain complete access to Haliat's computer. He might have been a successful pirate but he clearly didn't appreciate the value of good equipment.
"Doesn't seem to be much of value here. Mostly just loot inventories, porn, and Haliat ranting about how much of a
master pirate he is. Only thing of note I can see is mention of his plans for some big raid that would make him feared across the galaxy." Echo 4's always neutral voice drones out. There really are days you wonder if he's really human and not the Alliance's first successful AI.You give him a quick nod. "Copy it all anyway. Maybe SAMI can get something out of it." and with that you spend a couple minutes waiting while Echo 4 copies the data before heading back to the surface.
What you find up there is quite the surprise.
According to Echo 7 the Tiger wandered off about a minute after you entered the bunker. Thirty seconds later they heard the sound of gunfire, including the Tiger's main gun, for about a minute then nothing. A minute later the Tiger showed back up again. When Echo 8 pinged it the VI responded by saying it had detected hostile reinforcements inbound and eliminated them. Odd.
Still you ended up piling back inside the Tiger for your return trip to orbit. This time you make it through the 0.8 window without the MACs taking a shot so while it was a rather bumpy trip back to orbit, with the Tiger dodging quite the number of rounds, you ended up returning the Agincourt without even a scratch on your Tiger's paint.
------------------
Authors Note: Hmm. Not as happy with this as I'd like. I don't think I captured Anderson' voice, at all, and the combat seems kinda meh. Still, what do you guys think?
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Mind if I grammar-check?
Which may still be broken, I hope not. Okay now that I have that out of the way, yay! update! 14 pages or so of it. So there is more stuff of course a News section a Politics bit, and Events bit (which will include what Liara find when she turns the artifact on). Then the next bit which should be the personal action/research/company actions bit. Anyway all the usual, there's probably a glaring error or five I missed. I almost though it was done with an entire section missing! 
