Commander in Chief

Chapter 16

The Overlord

Master Chief - Sierra-117

I open my eyes to a bright light in my face; my eyes complain at me before I can open them fully, when I do, I see the avatar of Cortana sitting on the desk in front of me, with my Carbine to her side. "Ah, have I missed something?" I ask to myself and Cortana at the same time before a hulking mass comes into view and stand above me, blue lights shine from the armour as my eyes focus and I see Garrus.

"If you are talking about food Chief, then you have, but nothing else important. Well, except, you now, the mission you are suppose to be on now with me, Legion and Tali. How could you forget that?" He said sarcastically before sitting down next to the Chief, moving himself to be move comfortable. I move my hand away from him reflexively before putting it back as he is no threat; he is a friend of me, no need to be worried of his moves. "How you doing Cortana, him sleeping on the job is usual for him, no?" He asked, putting a hand on my shoulder and pushing at it in a friendly matter. No-one has done that to me for a long while.

"No, not for a long time, you know, fighting in a 30-odd year war against ever increasing odds and such, he needs his sleep, even if he did sleep for a whole week. Oh and Chief, you have a delivery from Spark, he fabricated a Binary Rifle from the Forerunner alloys we obtained. He said it was for you, I did say that you have enough weaponry, but he insisted that you have it." She said to me and I got up to inspect it, it had the blue haze that the Liberian Knights were coloured now, instead of it being the usual orange. I pick it up and move it into ready position, the tip of the weapon almost clouting Garrus in the head.

"Woah, Chief, mind out where you are pointing that thing, even though scars are a lady killer, I don't want anymore to add to the collection just yet." Garrus complained as he ducked under the barrel of the weapon.

"Have you got any form of magnetic holders on your back? You know, to store weapons?" I ask him, putting the rifle down on the floor.

"Yeah, I have, 5 of them in fact, to house one of each weapon." He said with his back to me, showing the glowing parts of his armour. He turned back around. "Why do you ask anyway?"

"Well, I have a good enough supply of weapons at my disposal, plus that new gun that I have found earlier. I don't actually need this, say; I've heard that you are a good sniper around the ship, why don't you have it?" I say to him, his eyes widening in shock.

"What? Really? This monster of a weapon for sniping? I won't deny the gift but I don't know I can actually carry it, it looks quite heavy." He says worried that he can't even lift it? Well, that's invalid.

"Don't worry, it is so much lighter than it looks trust me, the Forerunner alloys are very strong, but a lot lighter, a bit like Carbon fibre." I say back, lifting the weapon off the floor and putting it in his awaiting hands, he still misinterpret the weight because when I let go of it, his arms still lifted up until he finally got the feel of the weapon, raising it to aiming stance and looking down the sight of the weapon.

"What's the range on this thing then?" His militaristic accent came out as he asked a serious question.

"As long as you can see the target, you can kill him, though no significant testing was able to be done due to lack of guns. From field testing, I could kill anything that was in my sight with one shot, as long as it was organic, it disappeared, anything mechanical, then it would just deactivate. Just be careful at close range, when not looking down the scope, for some reason, it wouldn't go straight, some design flaw I guess."

"Seriously? Any range as long as I can see it? Sounding like something I want to use already." His military voice disappeared as he surveyed the gun a bit more, but no longer as Shepard came round the corner, I mover in front of Cortana and she disappeared into her chip as I picked it up and slotted it back into my Helmet.

"I heard you got Garrus to like something... oh wow, seriously? A sniper? That explains a lot. You got a better toy then the one in the Main battery?" He asked as he slotted his helmet over his head. He started talking again before Garrus could even speak again. "Never mind, I don't even want to know, come on, we have a Cerberus Base to 'help' and then destroy." I picked up my Carbine and Vanquish and slotted them onto my back. I moved over to where Spark was floating, currently scanning the weapon I had picked up from the Citadel.

"So what have we got here Spark?" I asked, moving up to where the gun was, looking at it, it definitely originated from this Universe but had aspects that I couldn't put my finger on, something felt familiar to it.

"A M-300 Claymore shotgun, originating from the Krogan race, built for ruggedness and overall power compared to other shotguns, it can fire more pellets but only has a clip size of 1, so is need of manual reload every time it is fired."

"So what's with all the wires over it, the colour it gives off looks like Sentinels like yourself, Blue aura surrounded by a steel shell."

"It is heavily modified with tech that I can only pinpoint as forerunner origin, the power needed to charge the EMP in it is not proportionate to what is needed for the actual gun, this upgrade is a way of bypassing Class 4 Combat Skin protection shields, but you have a Class 5, which is most unusual, this upgrade would only be possible by Forerunners, not the races in this Universe. There must be a Forerunner with the knowledge of this out there."

"When I interrogated the Krogan who attacked me, he mentioned someone called Mendicant, ring any bells?" I need an answer, I cannot be going against this again as I will lose every time. At the sense of the words, Spark dropped the gun and faced me.

"Who did you say Reclaimer?" He pressed.

"I said Mendicant." I respond

"That... is most disturbing."

"Why, should I be worried about him?!"

"No, but I will explain when you get back from your mission, we must discuss this with Wenrum and your ancilla."

Cortana jumped the gun before I could. "I am here you know Spark."

"Yes, but we cannot talk about him now, it will take to long. I shall wait for mission to end, Goodbye Reclaimer." He said and floated of towards the other side of the Cargo bay, making Tali jump as he passed her. "Not now Quarian." Is all he said before going in the elevator and leaving.

"Well, it looks like it important to him." Cortana sighed

"Yeah, but lets get on with mission." I deadpan

"Ok then." I moved to where the two tanks sat in the Cargo bay, Shepard was in between them with Wenrum, Tali, Legion and Garrus with him; I join the group and wait for his orders. Silently hoping that I didn't have to deal with another Tali blow-out.

"Ok, team, we will be going down in both vehicles, Me, Legion and Tali will be going in the Hammerhead, Chief, Garrus and Wenrum will be going in the Mako, Wenrum will be doing a hot drop as he cannot fit in the Mako. Are you alright with this?"

"Yes, Shepard, we are fine with this tactic, we will scout the base for any hostiles before you make it to the base. Anything we find suspicious we will report to the Reclaimer." Wenrum said as he mover away and got ready at the edge of the Cargo Bay."

"Well that's sorted, everyone get ready, we will be dropping in 1 mike!" Shepard moved to get into the hammerhead with Tali and Legion following him into, I take the cue and followed Garrus into the Mako, Garrus still had his Binary on his back.

"You know how to drive this Garrus?" I paused as I sat in the Gunner set of the Mako. "Right?"

"Yeah, I do, at least I don't make everyone puke all over the place like Shepard did a few years ago."

"I am going to take your word." I tapped my helmet with my finger. "Cortana, you can come out if you want to, it's only going to be us in hear plus Wenrum." I hover my Omni-tool over the systems below my, allowing Cortana access to the Mako.

"Ah, freedom at last, oh and just in time for your free-fall partner John, I hope Wenrum can make it down there without breaking his armour."

"I could have got out of that situation easily."

"Yeah, you and your excuses."

"Could we please get on with the mission?" I ask, not directing it to anyone.

"Nah, I'll want to watch Wenrum fall while we fall as well."

"So we are being hell jumpers again?"

"Practically, but this time you can't make any noise as you don't have a Rocket Launcher." Cortana smiled as she turned around to see the Cargo Bay door open and Wenrum run down the ramp and jump out, falling from view, as he disappeared, his voice popped up in my ear.

"We will keep contact with you Reclaimer through your radio. Good Luck." He says as his voice cuts out and I get ready on the Gun of the Mako. Garrus inching forward down the ramp. Then stopping at the edge, waiting for the signal from the pilot.

"Hey, Scarface, get your arses moving." Came the voice over the radio. "Shepard will follow you down, Big Green Giant is still falling, if you are quick, you might beat him." He said and Garrus took the point and gunned it down the last part of the ramp, dropping off it and going into free fall. My magnetic boots keeping me from flying up from the inertia of the whole thing, we keeping dropping through the atmosphere and out into clear air, I could see the base from up here in the gunner seat and it suddenly got closer and then a resounding thud went through the Mako, making me lurch back into my seat.

When we landed, I saw a huge mech laying there on the floor, a four-legged thing, the Mako rolled forward. Garrus taking note of it. "Geez, the Geth are busy here."

The 'Geth' on the floor shimmered a bright green but still just sat there. A Hornet engine sound could be heard above me and when I looked up, the Hammerhead came into view. "That's Shepard. Hope he doesn't awake that thing..." As he said that, the Hammerhead landed with a crash and a scrap of metal could be heard as the floor of the Hammerhead scraped the floor. The 'Geth' shimmering again but this time moving. Its head popped up from the shell and the four legs moved out of the case.

"Oh, come on you piece of shit, really, you hear me!" Shepard shouted over the radio and turned the Hammerhead to face the 'Geth'. But before he could fire off even one shot from the cannon, a bright small orange light that resembled fire popped into vision, it falling into line with the 'Geth' and the haze turning from orange to Green and this light smashing onto the top of the 'Geth', completely shredding it to pieces due to the force and heat, the result of the was a pile of metal and a white and green light, once the dust settled, Wenrum appeared out from it, looking back at it before moving towards the Mako.

"I think the appropriate word for that is 'oops'" He said before leaping onto the top of the Mako and jamming his blade into the top of it. "We will stay on top till we reach our destination."

"Don't touch the cannon! I don't want to have to calibrate that thing for spirits know more hours." Garrus commented as we got moving.

"You won't mind it Garrus, you don't have much else to do, do you?" Tali taunted.

"I finally got it perfect, it's like a code, once you have it perfected, and you don't have to do anymore work. You should know what I mean Tali." Garrus retorted.

"Yes I do, when I get it perfect, I save a back-up of it so, you know, don't lose it." Tali responded and Garrus just shut up.

"How far to the base Shepard?" I ask as I scan the hill that we were passing.

"Not far now, just through this crevice and we should be there." Shepard informed. I knock on the roof of the Mako to get Wenrum's attention. "Wenrum, be careful up there, we are going through a tunnel soon." He responded with a bang back.

The squad get to the tunnel and start to go down it before we start to hear more bangs from the roof of the Mako. "What the hell Wenrum, what is going on up there?"

"Just a few... enemies tried to get a free ride from us, they are gone now, we can carry on." He replies.

We arrive to the Base and all of us disembark from the convoy. My feet landing on the metallic floor of the bases exterior. "What have we got here then?" I ask to Cortana.

"Well this is Hermes Station, one of the four in the area, the others are Prometheus and Vulcan, with a main one being Atlas." As she finished her sentence, a high pitched screech filled my helmet, making me wince at the sound of it.

"Cortana? Are you ok?" I ask, wondering what is going on.

"What's wrong?"

"Your voice, it sounded in pain, are you sure that you are fine?"

"Yeah, I'm pretty sure."

"Ok then, let's get going." I follow Shepard and the crew with Wenrum behind me into Hermes Station. The doors open and I get my Carbine ready for anyone who would think to ambush us. As we move through the white corridors, an announcer came online.

"Be advised, this is a secure facility. All weapons must be declared upon entry and checked with security personnel on duty."

"You know, with the force we encountered, I think it might be difficult to make us relinquish our weapons anyway." Garrus said as we moved down the stairs, Shepard stopped and looked down at the bodies.

"Plasma damage, this wasn't a betrayal from the inside, the Geth must be here, but how, according to Tali, they have never been outside the Veil, anything to add Legion?" Shepard stated.

"This platform detects multiple other platforms but they do not reside within the consensus, they are barren to us, if they were heretics, they still would communicate with a group, but they act alone, with one directive." Legion compiled.

"And what is that directive?" I ask.

"We do not know at this time, we are still searching through runtimes."

Another voice entered the conversation, but it was none of us, a screen lit up on the other side of the room which caught Wenrum's attention. He walked over to the vid screen and stared at it. "What the hell is that thing?" He asked as the rest of us moved to where Wenrum was standing. I was thinking of an answer before Shepard started. "He is just a Geth that we have picked up, along with this one here." He pointed at Legion before carrying on. "My name is Shepard and I am here to help with your VI problem."

"Thank you for coming Commander, my name is Gavin Archer, you have come at the worst time as the VI is infecting all the Geth on the station. The VI is trying to find a way to get off the station and transmit itself elsewhere. Please can you get rid of the Geth presence here and I will meet you in the control ro-" A huge screech sounded around all of us, making Garrus and Shepard hold their ears in pain, a green, code-like, structure appeared on the wall in front of me, the code snaking on the floor and below my feet, the shimmer going up my suit and stopping at my helmet, nothing happened for a time being but then Cortana popped up on my HUD and started jittering in a green Hue.

"You are being replaced! Everyone like you has a replacement!" She shouted. It sounded like she was before the incident, falling apart. Oh no. She kept jittering in a green hue for a few more seconds before it disappeared and she returned to normal. "What is happening to me, that VI doesn't feel like one, a VI wouldn't be able to bypass my firewalls, there is something more than this." She said and as she finished, Wenrum started to jitter as well, but didn't say anything. I open my radio channel with him.

"Are you okay over there?"

Wenrum turned around to look at me. "Yes, we are fine, just something trying to breach our systems."

"Ok then tell me if it gets any worse." He didn't reply and walked back to where he was. I'll take that as a yes then.

Shepard moved with his weapon un-slung and walked down the hall, and then stopped by a corner, a volley of white energy moving past the door, with him shouting "Geth!" Garrus and Tali moved towards him with Wenrum and me behind them, we got to the door and all I could see through the frame were robotic machines that resemble a Quarian on body structure, they were behind cover in the room ahead. Fire being thrown our way but not from any directions that I could distinguish. I activate my Promethean vision and see about 15 individual Geth scattered about the room, my Carbine readied for any of them popping out of cover. None did, it was a standoff between us lot, then I get an idea. "Wenrum, do you have your Hard-light shield?"

He looks at me. "Yes, why is that needed to be known now?"

"Plan I have, you use your shield to move up and I'll hide behind you and take any of these machines out that play dumb and try to shoot us."

"Ok then, get ready."

"Shepard, give me and Wenrum covering fire, were moving in now."

Shepard had to do a double take before wondering about my plan. "What? You are going to get yourself slaughtered."

"Just take my word for it."

"Ok then, Legion, Tali, Garrus, give them covering fire when they move in."

"3...2...1... GO!" I say and Wenrum activates his shield and his form walks into the area, me following him, The other three trying to keep the Geth pinned down, That worked for a moment and then they stopped and the barrage of white light was hitting Wenrum full force, I saw three of them in position and took them down in one shot each, their head being ripped off with the experimental rounds that Spark made. As we got about halfway, another three popped up in front of my but this time I was too slow as all three of them were disintegrated by orange light, I look back and see Garrus with his Binary Rifle. While I was distracted, Wenrum dropped his shield and jumped, slamming his Gravity Hammer into the ground, sending multiple Geth flying in all directions.

A Geth jumped out of cover but looked different as it was being surrounded by Orange light, the Geth looked at me and turn 90 degrees and fired on its allies. Tali came through the comms. "Thank me later Chief." Then suddenly a bright purple aura shot passed me and landed on top of the Geth I was staring at. Shepard appeared and shot gunned down the Geth next to him. We all moved up the stairs and up to a balcony. A screen lit up and a humanoid face appeared, the screech returning, but this time and faint please could be heard from it. Archer came through the comms as the face disappeared.

"Commander, the VI is trying to get off the station from the Satellite above you, you need to destroy it before it can do it." Shepard got the message and moved up the stairs that resulted in us appearing at the bottom of the Satellite, the massive structure towering above us.

"This may be an issue. Archer, how do we dismantle this thing?"

"There are junction boxes at the three corners of the tower, destroying them and they should result in the collapse of the structure."

"Ok, Chief, get one, Wenrum you get another, me and the rest of us will get the other one."

I move towards the boxes that we are suppose to destroy, I rip off the canopy restricting me from access to find an electrical box behind it, I reach for my Vanquish and put a couple of seconds of fire into it, making it explode and the platform to get off balance, I hear a loud crash which, by my guess, is Wenrum, and the platform made a bit move of a slant. A third explosion can be heard and the platform started to fall beneath us, I activate my Jetpack and launch off the platform and land on a solid structure next to it, watching the platform fall under it's own weight. "Shepard, come in, are you all right?" Nothing came back. "Shepard? Garrus?" Nothing. "Anyone on this frequency, come in. Damn it, where are they?"

"If I had to guess, they would all be down there, in the rubble, where they all were before the Satellite fell on top of them." Cortana said, while I scanned through the smoke, looking for any signature, but I am too far away.

"Looks like I am going to have to find them."

A/N: Sorry about the lack of posts, This time of year can give you a clue :P