[Shattered Soul] 10 – Feros Part 3

Seeing the amount of firepower between the ExoGeni Headquarters and Zhu's Hope, it was clear to the group that the Geth were here for something in the Headquarters, if they had so much firepower, why send so little at Zhu's Hope but have such heavy armaments and so many Platforms blocking the way to the Headquarters?

"How do we plan on getting around them? One or two shots from one of those Armatures and they'll take down the Mako," Wrex spoke up, stepping up some rubble and scoping in to look at the Geth.

"We can't go around them, so our only choice is through," Shepherd replied, his head focused on the Geth, deep in thought.

I materialized above Wrex's Omni-tool.

"I have an idea," I spoke up, drawing everyone's attention.

"What is it?" Shephered responded, his eyes shifting to my holographic form.

"The Mako's cannon is meant for long-range warfare, it can easily hit those Armatures from here, and with Tali's help, we should be able to disable or cripple some of those Geth Platforms while the rest of you snipe at the smaller platforms from here. Of course, with the skyway somewhat collapsed, we are not able to see any of the Geth up ahead, but these ones down here, we can easily take down. Tali, how accurate would you say the Geth are from this distance?" I offered before asking Tali.

"They are machines. Their accuracy is near perfect, but at this distance and with all of this rubble? The Geth would have trouble hitting us if we are behind cover. Those Armatures, however, will have no trouble hitting us at this distance, their cannons easily being able to tear through any cover we use," She informed all of us before passing and looking to me, "If your as good as you think you are, we could temporarily disable the optics on those Armatures, but it wouldn't last very long and it would be much harder, as those Armatures contain more Geth Programms then the smaller platforms."

"Sounds good to me. Wrex, Kaiden, take the high ground and focus on the Rocket Geth. Tali, Church, take out the optics on those Armatures. I'll man the Mako's gun," Shepherd laid out his plan.

"Target the base of their necks, Shepherd, two or three shots and you'll get through their shielding, but with another shot or two to the necks, and they should go into critical recovery mode and focus on repairing the damage," Tali suggested, revealing even more she knew about the Geth.

With the plan in place, we waited for the Mako to arrive, which took no time at all, as it landed before us a moment later, the Normandy passing by at tremendous speed before turning around, likely heading back for the hangar so it didn't get shot down or engage in a dogfight with who knows how many Geth ships were in atmosphere still.

As soon as the Mako landed, Shepherd hopped in and drove the Mako behind a rather large pile of rubble, leaving only its cannon peaking over the rubble.

While the turret swiveled to face the armatures, Kaiden and Wrex sprinted up the sloped pavement between the lower and upper skyway, taking cover behind some rubble and taking aim with their rifles. Kaiden only had an assault rifle, so he'd likely struggle to hit anything, but Wrex, the battlemaster he is, came fully equipped for anything, as he pulled forth a slab of metal that, upon a click of a button, unfolded to make an ugly sniper rifle.

When everyone was ready, Shepherd gave the signal.

"Now."

With a thundering shot, the Mako rocked back as an explosion struck the closest armature. In an instant, the Getb Armatures and Platforms focused on us and began sending a hail of plasma our way, only for multiple Rocket Geth Platforms to get struck by sniper rounds while the smaller platforms were hit by a hail of bullets from Kaiden's rifle.

Moments later, the Armatures who were charging up their cannons and nearly all of the other Geth platforms in the area suddenly had their optics cut off, blinding them and Shepherd and the others did not waste the opportunity.

More explosions covered one of the Armatures before its shield finally broke, while Kaiden and Wrex took down more than a dozen of the Geth Platforms around them before even a minute had passed, but for an AI, a minute could be longer than a year or as short as a blink of an eye. Yet, I was unable to push myself as fast as I wanted due to the low capabilities of the Omni-tools around me, and at that minute, the Geth Programs were slowly taking back control.

Here and there, one of the smaller Platforms would regain control of their optics and grant vision for the other Geth Platforms. Wrex almost instantly took them out, but with each second, more and more Platforms regained their optics while we focused on the Armatures. Before long, the smaller Geth Platforms were fighting back while the bigger Armatures began to fire their cannons. Their accuracy was terrible, but they improved with each new Platform.

The first Armature was taken down, allowing the commander to focus on the second. By then, we were struggling to hold off the swarm of Geth Programs pushing against us while most of the smaller Geth Platforms were back to working at full capacity and rushing toward our positions. 

Luckily, it didn't take but two more shots to take down the other Armature and the Platforms didn't last much longer afterwards, especially with the more dangerous Rocket Geth Platforms dealt with, leaving the Primes and fundamental Geth assault Platforms, Platforms that were easily taken down with the help of the Mako's cannon.

"That seems to be all of them, though there are likely more further ahead," I spoke up through everyone's Omni-tools.

"Everyone alright?" Shepherd asked through the comms before opening the hatch of the Mako and sliding out.

"Yeah, we're alright," Wrex grunted out, seemingly annoyed by the fight while he marched down to the Commander and the Mako, with Kaiden following behind him, his usual stoic expression on his face.

"Wrex, you mind grabbing me one of the more intact Geth Platforms?" I spoke up quietly from his Omni-tool.

He grunted and headed down the road, leaving everyone to look at him in confusion.

"What's he doing?" Tali asked Kaiden.

"How would I know?" Kaiden responded, staring at Wrex, who marched down the road where everyone could see him grab a Geth platform by the leg and begin dragging it back towards the Mako.

When he reached the group, he tossed the Platform, it landing by the Mako.

Taking the time to examine the damages, I noticed that it was missing an arm and had scorch marks across its left side. It must have been one of the Platforms hit by the Mako's cannon.

"What are you doing, Wrex?" Shepherd asked, confused.

I decided to speak up. "I asked him to grab one for me."

"Why?" Tali asked, accusingly, crossing her arms.

"I want to get a look at their internals, see if I can find more weaknesses and if possible, see if I can even puppet one of them to act as a physical body for me," I answered honestly, already using her own Omni-tool to run scans across the Platform's shell, finding that most of it was seemingly built in mind to block this kind of scanning.

"What?! Shepherd! He cannot do this! IF he gets a Platform to move around with, who knows what he'd be able to do! He's dangerous as is, but he will be far more dangerous if he has a means of interacting with the physical world!" Tali objected.

"Tali. I am not the Geth. Please stop judging me based on your preconcieved notions about AI," I interrupted her before she could speak further, getting tired of her bullshit the more she talked.

Shepherd just sighed.