Mass Effect: After the Smoke Falls

Attack on Palaven pt. 2

Everyone was in the War Room within a matter of seconds. Shepard stood at the hologram of the Cerberus Flagship, which wasn’t a good sight at all. It was like an alliance cruiser mixed with Reaper materials. The energy schematics were off the charts. This thing was a Reaper, minus the goal of the destruction of all sentient organics in the universe.

“And I thought Reapers would be behind us.” Garrus sighed.

Shepard nodded at his old friend. “You’re right. I thought all Reaper tech was destroyed by the Crucible?”

“It was shut down, not completely destroyed. There were teams sent out to destroy Reaper remains but some remains were not there when the teams arrived. Cerberus must of grabbed some and reactivated the non-sentient tech.” Liara explained.

“That doesn’t make me feel better.” Robert said. They studied the schematics for several seconds, Orion pointed out an irregular part of the hologram.

“It appears that a massive object as penetrated the hull’s integrity.” He stated.

Kaidan nodded. “You’re right. It looks like rock almost.”

“Meane was destroyed, Victus probably used part of the moon as a projectile and hit the side of the flagship.” Garrus stated.

Wrex nodded. “That bastard is smart. So what’s the plan?”

Shepard brought the image up closer, about to where the hull breach was. “Joker will help the Turian fleets repel the attackers; Primarch Victus has already asked Hackett for help but I don’t know how long it will take. While they’re distracted we’ll send in three teams to go in and take down the ship. Robert, Garrus, and Orion; you’ll be in charge of taking out weapons. Kaidan, Wrex, and James; Propulsion systems. Zaeed and Grunt, you’ll be with me to plant explosives on the engines.”

“What about prisoners?” EDI asked.

“What do you mean?” was Joker’s reply.

The hologram zoomed into the lower part of the ship and showed several blips. “These signatures are in the brig. Six in the cells, and one in the Interigation room. If possible we should bring them aboard.”

Shepard nodded. “Liara, Samara, and EDI can go take care of the rescue ops. then. Any questions?”

“What happens if we run into that Leng wannabe?” Robert asked.

“He’s a lot more devious than Kai Leng, so I’d suggest extreme caution. If he does spot you, run.” Robert stated.

Shepard cracked his knuckles. “If that’s everything then I suggest we suit up. One last run into hell Garrus?”

Garrus laughed. “You kidding I wouldn’t miss this for anything.”

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Tali woke up with a start as she noticed that she was laying on the cool metal of the Interrogation room. She struggled up, using the wall to support her. ‘The power to the stasis field must have been reduced to life supports.’ She thought to herself. She limped over to the door and checked the panel. Locked. Cursing under her breath, she checked for the sides of the cover. When she found them she struggled, but the effort caused pain to shoot through her burnt arm and she fell to the ground. She felt something hard pierce her calf. Grunting in pain she pulled the item out of her suit leg and noticed it was her combat knife, the tip covered in her blood.

‘How did that get in there?’ suddenly she heard someone at the other side of the door. Hurriedly, she crawled to the side and peered around the corner. The door opened and Admiral Xen walked in.

“What in the-? She’s escaped!” Tali heard her mutter. Struggling up she snuck behind Xen and shoved the knife in her back.

“That’s for Rannoch you bitch!” She growled as Xen slipped off the blade.

Xen flipped around on her back, her blood pooling underneath her. “You- how did you get-?

“The power was reverted to life supports most likely, unfortunately for you I remember what you did and you won’t get away with it alive!” Tali limped towards Xen and stood over her.

“You were always a short sighted girl, just like Rael.” Xen said. She coughed, blood splattering under her visor. “You. . . you. . .” Xen’s head thudded against the cold metal and she spoke no more. Tali sighed and kneeled down next to her.

“I never understood you Xen, but I always knew you had guts.” She said to the corpse as she took Xen’s Arc Pistol. Standing up, she felt her adrenaline kick in and she was able to walk normally. ‘One thermal round, going to have to find more soon or jury rig this.’ She ran out of the room, leaving Xen to rot.

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Shepard stood in the Hangar bay, fully suited for combat. Next to him was Zaeed with his Reverent Machine gun and Grunt with his modified Claymore shotgun. The trio hopped into one Kodiak shuttle while Liara, EDI, Samara, Kaidan, Wrex, Jacob, Robert, Garrus, and Orion got into their own.

“Once we’re  in we speak through private channels, don’t want Cerberus knowing we’re in.” Shepard said over the com system.

“Shepard, one of the prisoner’s is moving.” EDI stated.

“Your goal will still be the same, but be weary if that prisoner is delirious then he or she might attack.” Shepard stated.

“Coming in towards Palaven now.” Joker said “In-

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