"The seventh installment in the Grand Adventure of Rebecca 'Revy' Shepard as she and her band of competent henchmen (and women!) attempt to take over the galaxy and spread the truth that Orks are the best fac-ah! Stop! Mom! Stop! That hurts!"
Join us as Revy Shepard attempts to make her own place in the galaxy with nothing but her big brain and a whole lot of money. Beware Reapers, she has a real superpower on her hands, or more like in her banks.
just for fun as the lazer plan seems going to win i just wanted make a omake so here yous go (l dont now rules to them for this quest)
omake merchants
location Citadel, dark star lounge
One of the corner of the bar contains a group of like-minded merchants that has recently drop of supplys for the citadel population. ''What did the girl mushroom say to the boy mushroom? You're a fungi.'' one the member says while others just growls at the joke ''why did we invite him again....oh wait yea I remember now, he is the largest food supplier in this area ahhh why don't you just shoot me now its quicker'' '' come on now it was not that bad..was it'' ''im not going to argue about this so lets just get down to gossip and news we have picked up in the past few months''
''ok guess l will start us off by saying there is a small weapons shortage in the Turian Hierarchy seems they have been buying storage containers worth of weapons and then shipped them to the garrisons on each of their space. So yea l have made a killing for most part. they have also increased the fleet movement and ship to ship searches to prevent hostile attacks or that is whats official records state. what a joke ....well mostly the real reason it seem the smugglers are trying steal and then transport goods from council space to pirate factions in the terminus systems that is a big no no''
'' interesting...moveing on analyzes suggest increase research founding in past 5 years has increased 24% for all nations. my lab was recently buyed out by a Dalatrass. she has our goals and we now focused on researching ship engines for stealth and speed. she also young foolish forgot the nondisclosure agreement needed to be updated when a new leadership came about''
''well yous are not fun at all. the food production has decreased in a regional level as well as the price for food has slightly gone up as well in alliance space at least don't know about other areas at the moment. as well as few regions around them. systems alliance standing army is buying in bulk and making rations.with the new enterprise that has pop up in last few years has changed the game and as an example farming worlds are turning into industrial worlds. its great for business not so great for high populated worlds in 1 or 2 jumps away that buys all there goods to keep up with damand. so my freind what has got you in a twist tonight you eyes are bloodshot you not getting enough sleep in your old age'' the last member of the meeting was just nursing a Ryncol bottle and staring of into space
''I think im in love'' ''hahah what are you on about, you love to battle way too much to get hitched and that on top of old age my freind'' ''not that kind you idiot. l was visiting this one industry world you where talking about and all i wanted to do all the time i was there was an orbital drop right into the middle of all there new named farms for the fight of my life. rows upon rows of weapons as far as the eyes could see. full off powered armour warrior's the GLORY TO BE HADE BATTLE TO BE WON....'' soon followed by said merchant crashing out with a thump as well as the most terrifying smile anyone there has ever seen
''well looks like he has lost his sanity. sooo anyone can tell me why the hell would a farm be so interesting to anyone especially him of all people. did anyone got his last place he was at this is not like him 2 months ago'' ''yea i heard mindoir was his last drop before heading here'' ''repo..cough news says mindoir has recently made a massive guardian lazer farm like the old wind farms humanity would build and see on earth. first of its kind but would be foolish even for a well prepared krogan army to attack on ground they would be stuiped to attack no correction would be insane....'' ''blood pack'' they all said in unison ''oh. well then interesting times to be alive''
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Paragon Industry Space Station (+100 RP to Massive Space Stations Research)
Massive space stations had always been an idea throughout the galaxy, an unfeasible one to the disappointment of many. The materials and engineering required to build one that was safe and habitable in the long term for millions of people? Utterly ludicrous.
Which was why Revy had felt a dull shock when she realised she was likely in the best position to make that dream a reality. Her material science was quite frankly ridiculous, materials strong enough to not be ripped apart from strong centrifugal forces and mass effect fields working in concert? Child's play.
Even her companies standard designs would be of use. The flowing blue and white designs had shown positive effects on an emotional level (one of the reasons they were chosen) and could be incorporated. Some familiarities from planets would also have to be added, long term emotional and psychological damage was one of the foremost problems regarding space stations after all.
Pondering the problem for just a moment, she decided to send off the designs to her design department, with a list of requirements needed. Delegation would be required on such a massive project.
Instead, she tackled the engineering problems of such a station. Combing through the research documents of several citadel scientists who proposed space stations she quickly noted similarities, cross referencing them against each other.
All had come to the conclusion that no single mass effect field should support such a large station, even the Protheans had chosen not to rely on that, with the citadel requiring centrifugal force with mass effect fields to supplement.
Revy had her doubts that such a thing was impossible, perhaps with a large enough power source and a massively purified stock of element zero such a thing could be possible.
But it would be a horrible idea.
Not only would it be a waste of resources, trying to accomplish something that could be done with next to no energy costs in comparison, it would be highly dangerous.
If that mass effect field were to fail...
Revy shuddered, trying and failing to suppress the image of millions floating off the space station, dying in untold millions. A ring of lifeless corpses around a cold, desolate, station.
Nope nope nope nope! Repress Revy, repress!
...Maybe she shouldn't design the station like the citadel, those open arms would never look the same to her again. Maybe something with an actual roof.
And so she shakily began her design with this in mind, replacing the common, and laughably weak, alloys the citadel had attempted such a project with with her own.
A chime rang from her computer, the V.I dutifully informing her of a surprisingly prompt response from her design and imaging department. Did they already have a design? Was it just a work in progress or had they been expecting her to start designing space stations!
Honestly, what opinion did her company have of her?!
She opened the file and studied the image.
The blue of Paragon Industries had been replaced with the green of natural flora (They did know she would have to genetically engineer those plants for life onboard a space station right?) though they had kept the flowing white.
The image clearly hadn't been designed for a space station but she could admit that it looked... pleasant? Yes, she could see how this design could be helpful, though it would have to be reworked significantly.
She sent the team a tentative acceptance on the theme of the design, before advising them to work closely with the engineering department for the next phase of their design.
As she poured over her design notes she couldn't help the slight smile on her face. Her earlier fears and worries washing away. It was good to work on something like this, perhaps the war had been taking a slight toll on her but it clearly hadn't chipped at her optimistic outlook just yet.
hello there viewer I'm nick and Here at Mindoirs premium laser tag playcenter for all ages. We at M Laser tag.INC would like to welcome you to the grand tour of the brand-new edition of our centre (drumbeat please) guardian laser turret which the famous Paragon Industry has allowed us to use accidntly
yes with this new addition with the iconic defence turret of choice for Mindoir. You that are watching this at home or at one of our centres the objective is simple one really. Capture the main control terminal of the laser which is at its base just sticking out which for our players allowing game play such as anti sniper fire as well as shielding the engineer. The main point is to align the laser towards the enemy fighter/bombers which is also a new edition which will periodic fly over the battlefields and eliminate any player that are stuiped enough to be out in the open when they are around. and best bit to you the player might be lucky and gain the manual control of said fighter/bombers. for your chance to play in this 1000 men match of laser tag. All you have to do to play in one our smaller tournaments and pass 6 rounds at low low price of 999 credits per round.
We here at laser tag will welcome new, old anyone who wishes to play the planetary sport of choice so keep calm and tag on. M Laser Tag, Inc and its owners, affiliates, insurers, employees, attorneys, agents, representatives, successors-in-interest, and assigns (collectively "Providers") from all liability for injury, death, and property loss and damage that results from the participant's participation in laser tag activities organized by M Laser Tag, including all liability that results from the negligence or gross negligence of such Providers, or any other person or cause.
''well then boss what do you think. With new hype brought on and seeing the defence guns that will protect the colony of Mindoir l thought we as a company have a massive opportunity to expand our reach over a wider population. After all the galaxy is watching Mindoir, so this is our chance to open up to the different races with our sports.''
''OK nick so is this oh l don't know legal AT ALL you kind of stole a freaking military grade turret what were you thinking and where are you getting fighter/bombers in the ad from ''
'' oh that's easy the fighter/bombers are cheap surplus about 50 years out of date, so it was easy and cheap. only cost 4000 credits a unit lucky for us, we got 500 of them ready for the main final game.'' oh I'm so dead mabay l should have listened to my wife ''the tower is a wee bit harder so here goes. Its technical is it's loosest terms at least it is legal, and I'm no theft I simply borrowed the command codes.....''
''get out just get out(slowly pulled out a whisky bottle and poured a glass). Now l need to phone the mayor and pray that this goes no higher'' we buy large areas of land so no one can build on it but then nooo the industry that bring in around the most GDP gets to do what it wants. At least income has tripled because of the recent hype and news coverage. Guess l need to go and make that phone call.
well that could have gone a lot better at least l still got my job even with the pay cut. how am l going to tell my wife what happens....oh sh'' she will now l borrowed her codes again
''HELLO HONEY something you want to tell me'' says a 6 foot 5 Paragon Legionary fully armed
''oh bollo###'' and l done the only thing I could at this point run away for my life. A woman wrath is never easy to handle especially when they have a grenade launcher aimed at you. Even if was just sand bags in it but l certainly did not know that at the time.
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Actuaria Colonial Transport Craft (+50 RP to ship research of your choice)
I'm going to preface this: I know it's ugly. This is SketchUp, I'm just using it to get a rough feel for the layout. I have done literally nothing to make it pretty in any way. Consider this the 3D equivalent of a shitty MS paint diagram.
From left to right:
The SR2 for scale.
An Actuaria in it's space-borne configuration with the tug section at the top, the habitat module underneath, and the cargo truss under that.
An Actuaria a's tug with a cargo container slung underneath in it's space-lift configuration. It lands like a rocket and the engines are up top for both stability and to not destroy the landing field.
A cubic volume equivalent to what a 20 000 TEU modern cargo ship can carry. This vlume is what highly developed planets would be trading, but because both repulsors and arc reactors scale lineraly, there's actually no reason to build a ship this big instead of just making 81 Actuarias.
Transatmospheric Cargo Carrier
A self contained propulsion bus/tug that can be used for both spacecraft propulsion system and heavy space-lift provider. The use of arc reactors and repulsors allows for higher thrust to be obtained for the same cost, leading to a greater practical mass that can be landed on a planet. The Actuaria can thus readily set down large 10 by 10 by 10 metre standard cargo pods in rough field conditions of the frontier of colonization. The elimination of the need for shuttles to ferry cargo to and from the surface of a planet cuts out a major barrier to the flow of goods to and from developing colonies, while on further developed planets an Actuaria can be assigned to full time orbital lift duties.
Modular Lightweight Cargo System
To maximize ease of loading and unloading, the Actuaria is designed to haul standardized 10x10x10m cubic cargo pods in a truss support structure. As the structure is largely under tension while under thrust, the structural mass is minimized, increasing the ship's payload fraction. When in orbit, the tug can detach from the rest of the spacecraft, extract a relevant cargo container from the truss, and deliver it directly to the surface. The drop-and-go nature of such a system eliminates the need for specialized cargo handling a infrastructure at the destination, allowing smaller colonies to take advantage of a higher standard of shipping.
Reduced Vulnerability to Pirates
The combination of repulsors, arc reactors, and multi-core FTL allows the Actuaria to traverse space faster than traditional cargo ships, generating more profit per unit time. The reduced need for FTL drive discharges also means that Actuarias need to make less stops en-route to their destination, raising the costs of piracy significantly by both reducing the number of times a vessel is vulnerable to engagement, as well as making it easier for military craft to patrol the reduced number of way points.
Lizardtail Escape System
The core systems of the Oneraria are housed in its tug section, and to a lesser extent the space-borne habitat module where the crew spend their time while underway. In the event of catastrophic damage or imminent takeover by pirates, the tug module can detach from the rest of the ship, and thus freed from the mass of it's cargo, accelerate at truly breathtaking speed to evade its pursuers. Though the loss of the cargo is unfortunate in this case, the preservation of the ship's crew and core system (where the bulk of the ship's capital costs come from) is far less financially damaging to the ship's operators than the loss or ransom of the vessel itself.
Overachieving Again (+25 RP to Repulsor Cannon research) (Used)
[ ] Quantum Power Entanglement: Scientists have long theorized that quantum entanglement could be used for long-ranged FTL communication, and indeed you've been working on your experiments in that direction. However, one of the more explosive failures in that department has given you an idea: what if, instead of ordered data, you tried to send non-coherent energy across the link? It wouldn't do anything for communications, but it would open up some interesting options in power delivery.
Edit: Though a prereq tech that only unlocks a single thing seems a bit wimpy to me. Can anybody else come up with other things this could unlock?
"Hm, wha? Dad?" Revy looked up from her workbench. "Hi? Not that I'm not glad for the visit, but you don't usually come to my office lab. What's up?"
Walter Shepard raised an eyebrow. "We were supposed to meet up for lunch."
"Oh, uh..." Revy glanced at the wall-screen, where Cortana, looking annoyed at being muted, was glaring at her over a flashing red appointment reminder. "I... might have lost track of time, a bit?"
"You do tend to do that. So, what has you focussed this time? Wait, are those your old Specter Sam and the Samsonites action figures?" Walter said, picking up the fictional hero in question.
"Yeah, I'm working on a project that reminded me of them, so I pulled them out of storage to fiddle with a bit."
"Heh. I remember when we used to play with these together. Take that, Brutus the Batarian!" He pointed the figure's arm at an imaginary enemy and began 'firing' the Specter's weapon at it. "Pew, pew-" PEW!
Both of them froze at the tiny but very real discharge sound, and more importantly the tiny but very real hole in Revy's wall-screen.
"Revy... that project you said you were working on..?"
"Miniaturized energy weapons."
Walter looked down at the 2cm 'laser rifle' the action figure was holding. "Well... I'd say you cracked it."
John Perry exhaled lightly as he walked around to the front of the machine as the Paragon Industries manual instructed. Standing in the path of the scanning beam, the N7 Combat Engineer hid his dissatisfaction as the sensors linked with his ANI and completed the final part of the handshake protocols for semi-autonomous functions. To be fair, he had signed on to be a test pilot for any new PI ground vehicles that came down the pipeline. What he wasn't prepared for was how quickly new machines were going to be invented. With the smashing success of the Alliance's wonder girl's other creations, there was no way in hell the Brass wasn't going snap up new offerings. Even if it was something as ridiculous as a 5 meter tall mech.
Silently, he admitted to himself that part of the problem was that he'd become a 'bit' too enamored with the new Hammerheads. Who wouldn't be? It was the first line of tanks to ever be fielded by the Systems Alliance. A mobile oppression palace with barriers that made it all but untouchable on the battlefield. Weapons that blew away it's adversaries with a most satisfying boom! And the final insult to the opposition? It could fly.
[Activating Combat Assistant VI]
He couldn't help the slight grin that overcame him at the memories. A world of tanks was a man's romance!
[Registering User: Lieutenant Commander John S. Perry]
[ID: 37337566-N7-DE]
A ping from the ANI caused him to look up, even in it's kneeling rest mode, the combat mech was nearly half a body length taller than he was. In storage mode, the thing curled into a fetal position and was about as big as an IFV. Like this, they'd have to taxi it out of the hold on the hover skids built into the shins. To be honest, he could see the use of the thing in certain, limited roles of combat. Mainly urban warfare and on mountainous terrain. He'd read the specs and the combination of the mass-lightening field, repulsors and hip mounted omni-harpoon guns meant that this Mech could dance, fly, or to save power, climb vertical surfaces with ease.
But it wasn't a tank, just an upscaled Legionary Armor that would be a very obvious target in nearly any other situation...
[Lieutenant Commander John S. Perry, please assign this unit a personal identifier for battlefield usage.]
"Huh?" He shook himself from his thoughts at being addressed by the machine's VI.
[Incorrect Response! Please assign this unit a personal identifier for battlefield usage in the approved format.]
"Oh!" before the mech could spit out another error response, he spoke firmly and clearly as the manual in the corner of his field of view instructed.
"PI-0000003XA-MS-TITAN, assigning personal identifier!"
[Standing by.]
With a sly grin he continued, "Hey, Asshole!"
Unseen, the maintenance crew chief shook his head as he wired credits to a very smug-looking logistics officer.
[Acknowledged, Personal Identifier: "Hey, Asshole!", Logged]
Perry chuckled for a bit but froze as the VI continued speaking.
[Searching for Personal Identifier: "Hey, Asshole!" Registering "Hey, Asshole!" with local area command network and Command OOB ]
"H-Hey Stop!"
[No other Personal Identifier assigned as "Hey, Asshole!", "Hey, Asshole!" has joined the local area command network and is now registered with Command OOB ]
"Sonnova!"
[Paragon Industries thanks you for your patronage and invites you to read our terms of service at your earliest convenience. Powering Down.]
Perry facepalmed, then slowly turned to look at his omni-tool as it started ringing. It was the Captain.
Edit: Tried to estimate how tall a five meter mech would be given practical comparisons, That's almost as tall as an adult giraffe (5-6m) or about level with the middle of the second story windows of a house.
Edit#2: The Chief and LS already had a front row seat to how the final stage of the mech setup worked so they quietly made a wager. Professionalism vs. Human Nature. The Captain already had a feeling it was going to happen, just didn't know the who and when. Perry, while on the can.
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Loyal Subordinate or Double Agent? (+10 to roll of your choice)
Andrew Nicholas, Commander of Paragon Security, smiled as he surveyed the aftermath of the battle with the latest group of Batarian Raiders.
"No", Andrew thought to himself, "not a battle, A Slaughter,"
A battle would have insinuated that this latest batch of alien scum had any chance of victory. Due to PI's excellent relationship with the Systems Alliance and its ongoing contract to guard the Colonies. SA intelligence was more than happy to provide ParSec with detailed intelligence on Batarian Pirate Activity within the Skyllian Verge. This intelligence normally would have to have gone through the Alliance Bureaucracy before he could even get a glimpse at one page. However, after few discrete calls and a few whispered promises, ParSec's friends within the Alliance Military were more than happy to discretely supply all of ParSec's intelligence needs without the burdensome interference of politicians.
And what amazing intelligence it was. It not only provided information on the Batarian pirate fleet's movements, troop numbers, the composition of their equipment and ships, but also their plans for their attack on Elysium. Honestly, a child could have planned out the ambush he had inflicted on their forces. Even without the latest PI gear from their Golden Girl.
Having full knowledge that the pirates were planning to attack Elysium as well as their landing site. Nicholas, had his non-legionary troops and the local militia dig in around the capital. He ordered Jelica Evelina and the majority of the Legionary contingent, to remain hidden near the pirate's landing site, while Ithix commanded their air assets. His plan was to draw out the pirates to attack the Capitol. Once their assault faltered in face of the firepower from ParSec's hammerheads and Tigers. The pirates, being the cowardly lot that they were, would immediately begin to flee back to their ships at which Jelica Evelina and the ParSec Legionaries, would spring the trap and pin the Batarians down in a kill zone while Ithix destroyed their ships.
And the plan worked perfectly.
Nicholas continued to smile as he walked back to his headquarters within one of the "nicest" hotels on Elysium, Andrew began typing a note on his Omni-tool. A reminder to buy, Lindsey Bradley, that Pinot Noir, that she happened to like from New Zealand. It was only fair, after that favor she did for him. The men and women of PI were still celebrating downtown, enjoying the hospitality of a grateful populous.
Nicholas wanted to join them, but, he needed to report to his superior. Hence the reason why he was now entering the deserted headquarters. Nicholas closed the door to his office and open a secure communication link to his mentor.
In the blue light of the holographic image, the Illusive Man smiled.
"Agent Nicholas, it is good to see you again. I trust you succeeded in repelling the Batarian attack on Elysium"
Nicholas drew himself to attention before responding, "Yes Sir, the plan worked perfectly. The Batarian Pirates had no idea that we were ready for them. Every Batarian Pirate, who came to raid, kill and plunder, is dead. The intelligence provided by the Systems Alliance and our Organization was invaluable, However ...".
"Go on"
Nicholas continued, "This has been the Fifth raid this month. The frequency and intensity of these raids have only increased since Revy send us to protect the colonies. And it is only going to get worst as this war goes on. I need more men."
The Illusive Man began to smoke a cigarette. Tasting the cigarette, Illusive Man took his time before replying.
"I don't have the men to spare".
Nicholas was shocked, "Sir with all due respect, that answer is not good enough! I need more men! Revy needs more men! My men and I are playing an important role in her plans. I can't let her down! We can't let her down!"
"Easy Andrew! The Illusive Man raises his hands in a calming gesture. I am fully aware of ParSec's importance in Humanity's war effort. I am fully aware of Rebecca Shepard's importance for our plans and Humanity's future. But I need not remind you that ParSec is not the only Military Organization fighting this war. Our wider organization has been fighting the Batarians before this conflict even began and this unexpected conflict has now stretched our resources thin. I will send you more men when I am able. But, as of this moment, you must make do with the men I have already provided to you and ParSec.
Nicholas calmed down. His face reddening due to his outburst.
The Illusive Man noticed, "I take it that you have grown fond of Miss Rebecca Shepard"
Startled but regaining his composure Nicholas replied, "Yes Sir. She is a remarkable woman. She has plans for Humanity and for the Galaxy that I can barely comprehend, but if she succeeds, she will launch Humanity into a millennia-long Golden Age. She deserves my full efforts in any assignment she assigns to me"
"Excellent, just remember Nicholas, Rebecca is an remarkable woman. Not since Leonardo Da Vinci has Humanity produced such a prodigy. That does not mean she is knowledgeable of what needs to be done."
Nicholas nodded, "Not to worry sir, Revy is an amazing woman, but she is naive about the intentions of the other Races towards Humanity. The Citadel is attempting to limit our strength just when we need it the most and now they seek to cripple her just before she could get truly started. She doesn't even realize that Mordin Solus is an STG plant. Revy is a great leader, but she needs our guidance in regards to the Citadel Races".
"Excellent, I am glad we are of one mind on this. Please send me the data package on the hammerhead tanks whenever you have the chance. I await your next drop off" Illusive Man ended the call.
Andrews Nicholas got up from his stair and began to walk back to downtown Illyria.
Note to Everyone: Hi Everyone, this is my first Omake for this quest. I am pretty sure it is horrible, but what do you guys think? Should I change anything or fix anything?
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Turn 23.4 2175-Q3 For Shepard! (WAR! Part 3) April Fool's update
Batarian's focused on Revy = 66 + 90 = 156
Alliance defense roll = 39 + 25 = 64
Parsec defense roll = 45 + 45 = 90
Shepard defense roll = 96 + 100 = 196
Survivor Gathering Roll = 79 + 20 = 99
Opportunity to take out local anti air? = 13 No
Support from orbit? = 27 No, too close to fire on
Break out of the defenses outside of the Batarian lines? = 1 Yes.
Lt. Rico was the first to snap out of the collective shock everyone found themselves in at the impossibility in front of them. Shepard was here. Shepard their main inventor and a businesswoman was HERE on the front lines and the enemy no doubt knew she was here.
"Shepard get out of here!" He shouted at the mad woman who turned to look at him from her position in the sky. Her bulky power armor glowed with power along with her shoulder mounted guns and heavy weapon in her hands.
She seemed to be about to speak when suddenly a half a dozen yellow beams slammed into her side causing her shields to flare up brightly even as her shoulder mounted weapon automatically turned and unleashed what looked like a LASER in the direction of the incoming fire, sweeping its bright ruby red beam across the field cutting off the attack as soon as it started.
"Dammit, priority message to Command, Shepard is on the field, I repeat Shepard is on the field, we need immediate Evac!" Lt. Rico yelled into his comms hoping that the ships above could hear him uncaring about the Batarians potentially tapping into their comms as the object of discussion was floating above the battlefield in full view unleashing shots into the darkness. With her on the battlefield things were going to be insane as if he was the enemy he would not hesitate to do anything to get ahold of her or kill her.
"All surviving units gather at my position and bunker down, we got incoming and Shepard supporting us!" Lt Rico said as he peaked out of the trench he was in with several dozen other men and women and looked out at the land on both sides of the line. Towards the inner Batarian lines what he saw made his blood chill colder than the atmosphere on the moon as he witnessed dozens of the same power armored heavies that were taken down by Shepard followed along by thousands of the glowing blue eyed monsters behind them all charging towards their position. He looked behind him and to his relief there were only what seemed to be hundreds of regular Batarian troopers and explosive collared slave troopers and none of the monsters supporting them.
The Alliance and Paragon Security troops needed no command to immediately begin unleashing everything they had at the literal horde of enemies barreling down upon them letting loose with everything they had. Volleys of kinetic rounds poured like water while repulsor blasts focused on the larger targets or Batarian commanders seen commanding the slave forces. The enemy forces of course responded back with their own fire of kinetic rounds, yellow beams, and missiles which were mostly countered by a combination of the trench and Angel shield modules, though in truth it was the fact that Shepard was attracting most of the yellow beam weapons which probably allowed their defenses to hold against the fierce return fire. Shepard was flying through the skies, which was suspiciously not filled with anti air fire from the local defense points, and was unleashing a veritable tide of missiles from her suit while simultaneously dodging dozens of beams with sudden janky maneuvers which should be generating stress impossible for people to handle, though Shepard probably had some techno magic that solved that issue.
Her missile barrage meanwhile focused on the Batarian power armored troops as what was recognizable as Pilum fire accurately targeted their massive forms only for the cyber zombie like units to literally toss themselves in between them and the incoming missiles prematurely detonating the payloads leaving the power armor units intact. On the other hand the missile barrage using her micro missiles targeting the cyber zombies units arrived unimpeded and blasted the back of their front lines to pieces even as the twin shoulder laser gun reaped a toll upon them as well after several shots at the power armored units showed reduced effectiveness on their thick armor. That did not discourage her from turning her massive cannon of a hand held weapon onto the massive targets and punching through them with a bright beam of light which only caused the rest to focus fire on her even more preventing her from accurately aiming her deadly weapon thought it did keep them from focusing on the rest of them.
Lt Rico tossed his grenades at the front lines while firing behind him with his arm mounted smg when he noticed gunfire hitting the Batarians from the back. He smiled, seems the survivors were reaching his position, in a few minutes their several dozen had ballooned to over five hundred with several more similar sized groups bunkered down around other officers closer towards the front lines. Just when he thought they could actually hold and continue the mission while getting Shepard out Lt Rico heard a strange whine and looked up to realize they had to fall back. Approaching from deeper within Batarian lines were a trio of the same mechs which tore through their aerospace forces.
At that same moment he and every other soldier received a command to retreat and save Shepard with orbital support unavailable due to danger close. Lt. Rico cursed as he and everyone else began leaving the trenches and focusing fire on the Batarians and slave soldiers between them and the Batarian's front lines even as they kept another hand lobbing grenades, missiles, smg fire, and repulsor blasts behind them to slow down the still incoming horde which did not seem to care about their own casualties. They couldn't even bring the dead with them in their rush to fall back, with the only saving grace being the wounded retreating under their own power as their suits assisted them physically and medically.
"Shepard! We are falling back! You need to as well! Incoming mechs!" Lt Rico yelled at his comms hoping she could hear him as she killed another four power armored troops. She immediately turned to see the incoming threats and less loose another mind boggling amount of missiles like a one woman arsenal at the incoming mechs even as she began flying backwards with the rest of the troops below her.
Batarian hard suits were blasted opens as kinetic rounds pounded past their kinetic barriers and through their armor like it was not even their. Their armor nothing like the ones given to more senior members of their leadership as they were low ranking grunts. Still superior to the non four eyed lesser beings but even then their armor was still around the Citadel standards. A price they now paid as they fell like wheat before the harvester as they and their slaves were cut down en mass.
The Alliance and ParSec troops fell back in disciplined formation providing covering fire for each other with the enemies in the path of retreat melting before their combined focused fire power even as the ones behind were delayed. They began focusing fire on the cyber zombies' legs to cripple them rather than outright kill as the cyber zombies began to trip and fall over the ones in front of them. Unfortunately, things were not going as well in the air with Shepard as she unleashed another round of missiles and seemingly ran out as she kept firing her laser and energy cannon at the incoming mechs and Batarian power armored troops beneath her. Her lasers acting as point defense against the mechs' missile barrage even as she performed a dizzyingly display of maneuverability to dodge their return fire. Kinetic rounds and yellow beams rippling her shields while laser fire was dodged by mere inches to spare causing the sky to look like a strobe party.
Lt Rico looked back as he cut down a Batarian trying to reach for his own grenade with his omni blade as he witnessed one of the shoulder generator on Shepard's armor spark and emit smoke before her barrier visibly dimmed in intensity. That was not good.
The troops continued to fall back, with reinforcements gained from the other groups of survivors joining up with them on their retreat adding their firepower to stemming the enemy pursuit forces while Shepard was still occupying the majority of the enemy heavy force's attention.
'Just how many of the cyber zombie things did the Batarians make?' Lt Rico thought as he let his smg cool down and switched to his repulsor again. The wave of glowing blue eyed monsters seemed endless, no matter how many of them they brought down there always seemed to be more to take their place with the massive forms of the power armored hulks behind them a ever present threat. If it wasn't for the fact that the enemy was focused on Shepard they would be suffering horrendous casualties from those deadly yellow beam weapons they carried.
They leapt over the next trench line filled with the still cooling corpses of the Batarian defenders that tried to stop their march. Their way out was basically cleared as the defenders had left their positions to charge them deeper inside their own lines leaving the outer defenses nearly unmanned.
A bang went off behind them with Lt Rico giving a quick glance back to seeing one of the mechs dropping from the sky trailing smoke like a meteor falling upon one of the power armored units causing a explosion that wiped them both out. Nice.
With the destruction of that mech the Batarian's quickly changed tactics. How could Lt Rico tell? Because the two other mech suits immediately disengaged from Shepard and instead began blasting off towards them, firing their deadly weapons and payloads into their retreating formations. The missiles, heavy kinetic rounds, and laser fire scythed through their ranks, even their enhanced legionary shields doing little than slow down the rate at which their shields broke and armor penetrated under such intense firepower. Their progress was stopped as they had to open fire to take down the giant mechs in their midst else they slaughter them all from behind as they ran. The mechs were a constant blur of death as they rocketed among them never stopping, allowing their automated laser weapons to cut them down, never allowing them to get a clear shot at them with their own repulsors and pilums to take them down with their shots either missing entirely or only winging them causing light damage that was slowly being repaired.
Shepard immediately went after them unleashing firing down at the two mechs with both her lasers and hand held cannon causing significant damage to the two. The purpose of such vulnerability quickly evident as the power armored Batarian troops managed to land dozens of strikes against Shepard's shield causing it to break, hitting the functional shield generator shoulder blowing it off and hitting her main weapon as well causing it to explode sending Shepard dropping to the ground.
Every Batarian force on the field immediately focused in on the falling form and as if they were all of one mind immediately began advancing upon her projected impact site.
Something that they not even allow her to do as the mechs opened fire on her with their lasers destroying her repulsors in her hands and feet causing her to lack the ability to fly and was now doomed to fall. Her body impacted the ground with a audible thud as the two mechs leapt on her to secure her.
The troopers tried their best to reach her to fight over to her position, to save her, but they were swiftly overwhelmed by the tide of cyber zombies once the large power armored Batarian troopers finally focused their heavy weapons on them and quickly targeted those wearing legionary armor with the support of one of the mechs who rained death on them from above with their laser weapons bypassing their shielding. Any that tried to run were quickly gunned down by the mech's missiles and heavy kinetic cannons.
Lt. Rico gasped as a laser cut off one of his arms even as his other kept firing his smg at the mech only for a missile to be launched at him blowing him into the ground, barely alive. A cyber zombie soon came into view of his cracked helmet with a large clawed arm raised to deal the killing blow. The last thing Lt. Rico saw was the sight of Shepard being cut/dragged out of her power armor and her pulling a pin on a grenade in her hand before darkness took him.
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AN: I have no excuse, my muse finally woke up for this chapter. Thank you all for following this for so long, but the Dice Gods have finally said enough and that it was time to end. So ends the tale of The Shepard's Quest
