Mass Effect 3 Re-Imagined Chapter Eight Part Three: Story Time With Tim

Hello again, faithful followers of this blog! I’m Timothy Scott Purvis and this is the next installment of my fan story Mass Effect 3 Re-Imagined written for my wife Christmas 2013. Mostly because of how disappointed we both were with those final fifteen minutes of the game. Of course, it was difficult to rewrite without changing the entire story. Which might be why the developers went with the asinine ending they went with. Even so, I think I came up with something amusing and special. So I’m sharing it here.

No, I didn’t edit it any. Mostly because it IS a fan story and I have other things to do. So, you’ll just have to be content with the unedited insanity that is my rewrite of the game. There are grammatical errors. There are inconsistencies with plot. There are moments that will make you go, ‘What?’ But, in my defense, it’s no worse than what Bioware gave us back in 2012. So take that Triple A developers!

Anyhow, here is chapter eight part three of ME3RI.

(PS: Yes, I am copy pasting a lot of these lead ins. Pretty much because there are a lot of chapters to post and I’m doing this waaaayyy ahead of time when they will pop up through scheduling. If you’d like to skip ahead to where the chapter begins, by all means, knock yourself out.)

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#

Vickers and Liara hurry back to the lift and get on. Liara kneels down and presses her hand on the lift floor.

     “Hold on to something!”

     “What the hell are you doing, Liara?!”

     “Not wasting any time!”

     Her eyes glow blue as she creates a mass effect field around the lift. Vickers wraps his arm around the lift railing just as the device flings upward towards the upper levels. The g forces cause his body to begin slumping towards the floor.

     “If you’re creating a mass effect field, how the hell am I experiencing a change in gravitational pull!?”

     Liara struggles to look up at him, “It’s a micro field! It comes from me not a machine! I can’t stop gravity, lieutenant!”

     “How much longer!?”

     “Moments! Hang on! This is going to be sudden!”

     The lift stops causing Vickers to lose his grip and sling him off the lift. Liara is tossed up several feet but she uses her biotics to slow her descent to the ground and goes to help Vickers to his feet.

     “No time for a rest! To the transport!”

     “Love your bedside manner, doc!”

     The ground starts to rumble as they race back the way they came. They hear an explosion somewhere deep in the mountain and see the vehicle they came in.

     Liara jumps behind the wheel and starts the transport, “Get in!”

     Vickers stumbles into the passenger seat as Liara slams the vehicle into reverse and causes it to slide into the opposite direction. She guns the accelerator and pushes towards the entrance.

     “Normandy! This is Liara! Do you read me!? Normandy!”

     “No good! We’re still in the dampening field!”

     “Not for long!”

     “You’re a real lead foot, aren’t you?” Vickers grips the seat back with one hand and the door with his other.

     Liara casts a devilish grin at him and forces the transport into a higher velocity. The transport zooms out of the tunnel as a shield glitters brightly all around them. Vickers looks back at it.

     “How come we didn’t see that going in!?”

     “It must have been broadcast from within. Whatever the reapers did, it’s still active! We won’t be able to communicate with the commander until we get back in!” Liara opens up the comm channel again as they look up and see the reaper zooming off into the sky. “Shit! Normandy, come in!”

     A voice comes to them within seconds, “Hey, T’soni! How goes the field day?”

     “No time for small talk, Joker! There’s an incoming reaper! You have to stop it!”

Onboard the Normandy, Joker stares at the comm panel with wide eyes. It takes him a moment to stammer anything.

     “I’m sorry, what?!”

     “There’s a damn reaper leaving the planet’s surface, Joker! Stop it!”

     “Confirmed, Dr. T’soni,” EDI replies. “Initiating intercept course.”

     “Whooa whoooa whoooa! We’re in no position to fight reapers!” Joker shakes his head, his cheeks wobbling in the effort.

     “It isn’t a big one, Joker! It’s roughly twelve feet in diameter with seven legs and a thin torso! It has an energy conduit in its possession! It stole it from the excavation site! It must be recovered!”

     “Affirmative,” EDI replies. “Jeff, would you prefer that I engage the enemy?”

     “Pffft, noooooo! I’m just getting tired of being dragged into the commander’s recreational activities!”

     “I seriously doubt reaper conflicts are her idea of recreation.”

     “You wouldn’t know it by how often she does it.”

     “Jeff, I have a reaper signature incoming.”

     “Good thing we shut down the relay…” Joker hits several connections. “Its energy source isn’t like anything I’ve seen before. Even from a reaper.”

     “It’s pure dark energy, Jeff. I’m reading the conduit in its core. Strange.”

     “What?”

     “It is a protected data nodule.”

     “Like on Thersander!?”

     “Yes. Recovery is paramount.”

     “Already on course, EDI. Strengthen our shields, would you. I don’t know what surprises this bastard has in store for us.”

     “Shields at maximum capacity. Ablative hull plating charged. Weapons online.”

     “We gotta be careful—“

     “True. We don’t want to damage the nodule.”

     “You read my mind, EDI. Engaging target,” Joker brings up a targeting reticule. “Reaper on monitor. Oh, what the shit?! Is that a giant spider!?”

     “Profile is only marginally similar to spiders, Jeff. This one is more intelligent.”

     “EWWWWW!!! Great! Intelligent spiders! Remind me to thank the commander for the awesome times!”

     “Would you like me to roll you up a newspaper?”

     Jeff quirks the corner of his mouth and glares at EDI’s monitor display.

#

The Normandy flies towards Palaven’s atmosphere. Several turian warships turn towards the reaper but are far out of reach. The creature glows and gains speed as it approaches the Normandy. Several shots fly out from the ship as the reaper returns fire and grazes the Normandy’s shields with its body and straightens out its appendages.

On the bridge of the Normandy, Joker looks puzzled, “No damage to shielding. That isn’t a war unit. Coming about.”

     “I’m communicating with turian warships on the status of the reaper. Several are coming in to aid.”

     “This thing is moving fast. I’m already maxing the engines to keep up with it. Our shots are reflecting off its hull! Damn it!”

     “Keep us within range, Jeff.”

     “What are you doing?”

     “Accessing the data nodule. I have an active feed. The reaper is trying to counter my efforts.”

     “Is there any way we can get it out of the damned thing?!”

     “Negative. Its velocity is increasing. Turian warships incoming. They will be in range in two minutes.”

     “They’ll destroy it before we can acquire the nodule, EDI.”

     “Turian primacy has been informed of the nodule. They have ordered the disabling of the reaper and acquisition of the conduit. Their captains are expressing doubt that that is an achievable goal.”

     “We’re at max speed without hitting a mass effect envelope or going to FTL.”

     “At this range, going to FTL will overshoot us by lightyears.”

     “Yeah, which is why I’m not doing that. How’s that data transfer coming?”

     “Half way through. Accessing inner nodule core. Barrier has been erected by the reaper! Transfer incomplete!”

     “Did you get enough!?”

     “Unknown.”

     “Firing on the reaper!”

#

Shots fly out and are absorbed by the reaper as it slowly vanishes into the dark of space. The Normandy continues pursuit but the reaper is nowhere to be seen.

     “Where’d it go?!”

     “It…” EDI starts slowly. “It would seem the reaper drone has some sort of cloaking device.”

     “Isn’t cloaking speculative? I didn’t think it was possible!”

     “It’s merely the refraction of light, Jeff. Unfortunately, the reapers have obviously found a way to mask their energy signatures as well.”

     “This is the first one I’ve seen do that. Why did it wait so long to cloak itself?”

     “I’m an AI, not a mind reader, Jeff.”

     “It’s a machine!”

     “That doesn’t mean I know what it’s thinking. We should get back to the commander.”

     “Right. Has the primacy communicated with us yet over the shit going down?”

     “Communications among the fleet show they’re just as concerned as we are. Several ships have been sent to the relay to prevent the reaper from accessing it. I don’t believe its trajectory will take it there.”

     Joker frowns and looks to EDI, “Why? Where else is it going to go?”

     “With reaper access to the Trebian relay now denied, it would be logical to conclude it will go to FTL and travel through deep space to complete its mission.”

     “That could take months if it’s heading towards Earth.”

     “It seems the only course of action it would take.”

     “So we could, theoretically extrapolate its route, right?”

     “Theoretically, yes. However, it is still cloaked and knowing its route doesn’t tell us where it is on that route.”

     Joker makes course adjustments and turns the Normandy back towards Palaven, “Which means we could search indefinitely without seeing hide nor hair of the damn thing.”

     “Correct.”

     “What about FTL signatures?”

     “There was a momentary energy surge when the reaper disappeared. It was like it just melded into the spaces around it. I can postulate that since it uses a dark energy field that it can utilize dark energy to mask its signatures. But, that is theoretical.”

     “Fuck my ass.”

     “…That is a highly disturbing image, Jeff.”

     “Not as disturbing as what the reapers might do with that data nodule. How much did we recover?”

     “Fifty seven percent.”

     “Shit. Let’s hope it’s enough to give us an advantage. At least keep up. We’ll be planetside in ten minutes. Inform Palaven security we need clearance near those ruins.”

     “Affirmative.”

#

Genevieve pushes aside a thick wall of debris. She uses all of her might as the materials begin to waver and fall down. Dust rises and blinds her causing her to cough heavily. After a few moments, it begins to settle and she pushes ahead stepping over the debris and scanning the surfaces with her light. She looks up and sees the hole leading several floors up towards where the reaper exploded.

     “Garrus!”

     She continues onward calling out his name hoping for a response. She is in the crater of the hole and figures he must be around there somewhere.

     “Garrus! Speak to me, damn it!”

     She hears a groan from across the room she is in, “She…pard.”

     She runs across the debris field and sees a form under a dark cloud of dust, “Garrus!”

     She pushes through and stumbles towards the form. After a moment, she finds him lying on the ground, blood pooled all around him.

     “Garrus! Shit! Don’t move!”

     She examines him and finds a long rod has penetrated his side and come out just beside his stomach region. She grimaces and reaches for the medigel in her pack.

     “Hang on, Garrus. I’m getting you out of here.”

     “Gen…Genevi…eve. I’m…sorry.”

     “Shh, let me take care of this,” she uses the medigel on his side and monitors him with her omnitool. She isn’t satisfied.

     “I…I just…want you…to know. I…I would…ave…ollowed you…to hell…and back.”

     “Take it easy, Garrus. I’m going to get you back to the Normandy,” Genevieve says looking at the rod and seeing it rooted to the floor beneath Garrus. “Damn.”

     “S…ave…self. Leee…ve. Me.”

     Genevieve strokes the side of his face with her hand, “I’m never leaving you. Now shut up and let me work.”

     She pulls out a torch from her equipment satchel and goes to work cutting loose the bar. Garrus grunts and tries to move his hand. He barely touches Genevieve on her thigh.

     “I…ove…ou.”

     “Save your strength, Garrus! That’s an order from your commanding officer!”

     She slices through the rod as Garrus goes quiet and his arm falls to his side.

     “Garrus! Keep talking, Garrus! Fuck! Runnin’ out of time! You’re a lot more trouble than your worth, you know that? Always a thorn in my ass!” she smiles at him as she begins to remove the rebar from his torso by cutting it at the entry wound. “At least you remembered the lubricants. Sorry, forgot to bring any. Probably would have come in useful.”

     His breath becomes more shallow and she furrows her brows as she pulls away half the rebar and uses the torch to superheat the exposed tip of the bar still sticking out of his wound.

     “Stay with me, Garrus. Can’t have my turtledove leaving the team just yet. By the way, this might hurt.”

     The end of the rod glows a bright white and she firmly grips the end of the bar coming out of his backside. She pulls with all her might and the rod sizzles as it contacts flesh and pulls all the way through until it is removed. Garrus suddenly jolts up right and grabs his side.

     “HOLY FUCK!!! GOD DAMN!!!” he collapses back to the ground, his hands at the cauterized wound.

     Genevieve forces him to move his hand as she applies another round of medigel.

     “There, now that wasn’t so bad, was it?”

     He growls in pain, “Y,you ever…pull a nuclear…furnace rod from your ass? It’s…what I’d imagine it…feeling…like.”

     Genevieve chuckles and rubs his face, “The medigel should be reducing the pain. But we need to get you back to the Normandy for treatment.”

     “You…know…we do have hospitals…here. We’re not…livin in the stone ages!”

     “And I know that. But the Normandy is portable. The nearest hospital is in Cipritine. And I can’t walk you there,” she leans back against a piece of debris and strokes a ridge on the top of his head. “I’m not even sure I can walk you out of here.”

     “Feels like my head is on fire…”

     “It’s not your head, it’s your side. I had to take care of the bleeding. Medigel only goes so far.”

     “What…about the reapers?”

     “Two destroyed. The other one escaped. Hopefully the Normandy got it and is on the way back to retrieve us.”

     “We…need to get to the surface first.”

     “Think you can walk?”

     “I think I can grimace in pain and bear it…we don’t have many other options.”

     A rumbling echoes out behind them and Genevieve turns to see half the stairwell collapsing into a heap.

     “Fuck…”

     “Please, tell me that wasn’t our only way out?”

     Garrus forces himself to his knees as Genevieve wraps his arm over her shoulder and helps him to his feet. He tries to take a step but his weight collapses into Genevieve who braces herself and holds him upright.

     “That was the only way I saw. But there was the rampway we came down. Maybe it connects to this level too.”

     “Uhhh…shit. Maybe you should get out of here and send a team back for me.”

     “You’re coming with me.”

     “Still can’t communicate outside the buildings?”

     “No. The reapers must have a transmitter somewhere around here.”

     “Yeah, three stories up…likely enough. Can’t…believe we survived that…blast.”

     “Tell me about it. Come on, let’s stumble over there. Get out from under any potential falling debris.”

     “Sound…enough plan.”

     They slowly walk across the debris field towards an entrance opposite where Genevieve came from and find themselves traversing another hallway and through several more dark rooms. Genevieve examines her omnitool as they come to a dead end.

     “There’s another energy source over there,” she points to another room nearby. “It’s very faint though. Maybe we can use it to contact the Normandy.”

     “Lead the way…”

     They continue onward until they reach the room the energy source is coming from. The room is circular with several dead monitors on one side of the curving room, a dip in the center of the room that holds several smooth tables of an unusual design, and an alcove on the far side of the room wherein rests the slumped form of an automaton.

     “Garrus…”

     “I…see it. I don…t…believe it. How’d it get here? Been searching…for months…and here…it…sits.”

     “It must have been found and brought here by whoever built this city. They were studying it, I guess. Before…”

     “Before…they vanished? There is no…indication of a war, no… indication of an emergency. It’s like they just…left.”

     “Yeah, and all their equipment is still in pristine condition but with enough dust and grime to give you black lung.”

     “Aside from ancient grit…yeah…I’d wager it’d still work…including our friend there.”

     “We don’t have time for—“

     “Genevieve…we need to know what it knows.”

     Genevieve sighs and helps Garrus over to a seat lining a railing encircling the central depression. He leans back against the railing with a grunt as she goes over to the automaton and touches it.

     “It’s not doing anything.”

     “Gotta…operate somehow.”

     “Hmmm…” she looks around the room and down to the floor.

     A series of wire like connections run from the automaton to a console on the far side of the room. She follows it over to the console and brushes away a thick accumulation of a tar like grime. It smears but the equipment underneath shows no damage. She checks the connection and runs a hand over the console. Nothing happens.

     She wipes away more of the substance and checks over the whole of the console. Finally, a holographic display pops into existence as she runs her hand over a section of the console.

     “I’ve got something.”

     “Wh…what?”

     “It’s a holographic interface. I can’t read the symbols. I’ve never seen anything like it. They are like shapes within shapes with pulsing energy jumping between them. I don’t know if it’s a display or a diagnostic or a language.”

     “Well, it can’t be a bomb…”

     “Cheery thought…” she touches one of the hovering shapes and it transforms into a disc with other shapes pouring out of it in waves of energy. She runs her hand over it and two lights come on in the room.

     “Did something…” Garrus comments and pants heavily looking at the automaton.

     “Thank you, captain obvious,” she discovers another display and brings it up.

     “…Sentients!!!!”

     Genevieve turns and Garrus tries to lean forward. The automaton glows a light blue but says no more. Genevieve looks back at the display and runs her hand over another shape.

     “…Theeeeeeeessssse…beasts consume you! …Seek…archives! Turn it…it…it…” a feedback loop occurs almost deafening them both and Genevieve runs her hand over another shape. “…twi…i…iisted knowledge…we developed…tiiiiiiddde of death! …Still seethes…use it…neffffaaarious ends! They feeeeeddd…weeeeee ee ee…die.”

     The automaton collapses into itself and Genevieve walks forward slowly. Behind the automaton she sees a shelf of old nodules.

     “What…do you think?”

     She looks at Garrus with a frown and back at the shelf behind the automaton, “I don’t know. Something happened. These nodules behind it, they might be useful.”

     She steps up on the automaton and looks through the nodules. Pulsating energy startles her and two of the nodules start glowing the same blue as the automaton. Genevieve quickly activates her omnitool and downloads everything she can from the nodules. When they start dimming to a dull red, she picks them up and puts them in her satchel.

     “Come on, let’s keep looking for a way out. I don’t think we’ll be getting anything else out it.”

     “You’re…probably right.”

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SHAMELESS SELF PROMOTION STARTS!

I would appreciate if you have Kindle or even if you want some paperback goodies if you’d head on over to my page and maybe show me some love there. I mean, if you’ve been reading a while and see something you like, wouldn’t you like to have it in your personal library? I have some cool short stories available for cheap. Also Tales From A Strange Mind that collects my short stories (there’s also a Kindle edition but, for some reason, Amazon wouldn’t let me link them together) , Tales From A Strange Mind II which collects my old novellas, Red Star Sheriff (Which also has a Kindle edition but Amazon, am I right?) my first novel ever released, though, yes, it does have some grammatical errors and drags on for way too long, sigh. But I still love it and I will be writing a follow up sometime within the next few years. I have a collection of my poems called MisAligned: The Heart Waxes Poetic which collects my old poems but not some of my newer ones included those flash fictions! I’ll probably do that in the future as well. And if you love the perfectly inane, why not check out my Star Cloud scripts presented in book form? Star Cloud The Original Scripts. Another one where Amazon was being difficult with me in connecting the Kindle and PB versions. Still, the paperback they let me sale for cheap and it’s well worth a look if I say so myself. Or, if you don’t want to click on individual links (all of which will take you to my author’s page anyway), just click on my author’s page directly by tapping my name: Timothy S Purvis See for yourself what all I’ve published since I began this venture in 2016.

I mean, if you like my work, of course. No pressure. Just trying to find my way in this world without working menial tasks and suffering physical and mental issues as a result. If only I could merely stay home and write. That would be my most epic fantasy brought to life. Well, if you don’t want to do that, you could also donate to my cause down below after all is said and done. It would help. You know, if you liked what you saw and all. Up to you. I don’t have a lot of reviews on my materials because of low sales. I mean, very, very low sales. In the single digits. Right now, I have to rely on Pubby for reviews and those people only read your synopsis and recap it for a five star review. I want honest opinions. Not mean ones, but honest. So, if you ever find yourself buying some of my work, I’d certainly appreciate some feedback. Again, up to you.

Also, I’m selling my work for cheap over at Smashwords.com! Check out that page here: https://www.smashwords.com/profile/view/TSPurvis

Also, I’m selling my work for cheap over at Smashwords.com! Check out that page here: https://www.smashwords.com/profile/view/TSPurvis

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So brings to an end another week of Story Time With Tim! Hope you’re enjoying the work so far and hope you’ll be back for more next week. Until then, read to you soon.

~Timothy S Purvis