Chapter 61: Gears of War Jump Chapter ( Formerly Welcome to Sera)
Holy shit my head hurts. For the first time more than a single person was affected by the Exit Portal Effect, the phenomena that stuns, disorients, and marks for violent devouring that starts off our travels in a new universe.
This time we had landed on a tightly packed fireteam of Theron Guards led by a Theron Sentinel on a scouting mission to evaluate the Lethia Imulsion Facility as a growing threat to the security perimeter of Nexus as both a Lambent mustering ground and possible incursion point for human attacks on the underground tunnel network known as the Hollow.
Jack and I groaned as our minds worked through the grueling training and education of the elite combatants of a race of subterranean mutants. Fortunately there was a lot of overlap in their lives otherwise this would be less a case of multiple perspectives of the same subject and more like tying our minds to five different horses and lighting their tails on fire. The Theron Guards were superhuman mutants trained as elite commandos capable of seeing in complete darkness, tracking via scent like a dog, and surviving harsh injury and exposure.
We got all that times five with the fifth portion being even more powerful and well trained. I now knew Locust Horde military equipment and doctrine better than I knew Mass Effect technology and tactics, and it wasn't bad doctrine to have burned into my psyche.
The Locust fought extensively in underground and urban environments and domesticated a wide variety of handy war beasts, and the Therons had over a decade of experience each combined with harsh discipline and training that beat the mistakes and stupid out of them. With all that between them, the Torque Bow felt like it had been made for my hands.
"Damn it." Jack muttered as she held an enchanted ring in her hand, "The magic isn't working."
"The Ring of Namira still works." I told her as the extra power from our feast still flowed through me.
She grabbed the Ebony Blade and nodded her head, "So the demon artifacts still work but all the shit not powered by a connection to an interdimensional devil god are now decorative only."
I checked the Hammer of Might and grinned at the thrum of power. There is a fair bit of debate on Malacath's place as a Daedric Prince and the hammer wasn't even something he made himself, but the fact that it still worked as intended despite being in a new universe was another point in favor of the Lord of Outcasts.
I reached over to one of our generous hosts and pulled out his tool kit. He carried everything the team needed to repair their gear in the field, and I used it to put together two new suits of armor for me and the wife. It wasn't pretty, but little in this world is. In truth the armor was a bit superfluous considering my raw durability and regeneration would see me through anything short of a lightmass bombing or a three hour soaking session in an imulsion lake, but it felt right. It felt properly krogan, and that was something that was always a tenuous claim for me and was becoming more and more a distant memory.
The leader carried the majority of the food, his second in command carried their medical supplies, and they all carried enough ammo to hold them through heavy fighting. We had five Torque Bows, Three Hammerburst Assault Rifles, Two Gnasher Shotguns and five Boltok Revolvers. They carried a smattering of grenades and knives between them and I had a hell of a time rigging everything for us to comfortably carry it all.
I stripped the extra three Torque Bows and the odd rifle out for parts and mounted two pistols on a bandolier belt cowboy style for each of us with the last strapped to my chest pointed up and away from my head and made use of the mag tech back holsters for the shotguns and torque bows. We'd carry the rifles, but with our strength and endurance that was no problem.
We chose to continue their mission to the imulsion plant. I knew that we were nearing the start of the first game and I was sure Delta Team would appreciate having the plant cleared out. Those guys sure deserved a little peace on that hectic mission. Not that I didn't expect them not to shoot me on sight. I may not be grey, but I was big and scaly, and definitely not human and if there is anything the war torn years after the Emergence Day taught the Serans it was that anything not human was out to get them.
We arrived to find a gang of the Stranded trying to hold off against Lambent infected wretches, poorly. When we opened up on the glowing yellow chimplike creatures they began popping rapidly, deploying their infectious fumes upon death in a last ditch effort to convert more lifeforms to the Lambent plague.
"Oh thank God help came!" A man cried, "I thought we were done for."
"What the fuck is that!" another cried as I came into view.
One shot me with his shotgun and I stared at him.
"Ow." I deadpanned, "Shoot me again and I will murder and eat everyone you care about."
"Please don't." The shaking man begged.
"It's up to you, dude." I informed him.
"Alright, listen up fucktards." Jack took over, "This place is about to become Locust Central and the Lambent are already here so you all need to find someplace else that sucks less than here to stay."
"We'd gladly leave." stated the bearded leader of this gang of Stranded, "But our transport is broken down and unless we find some parts we can adapt from this facility to get it running again we are stuck. We are way too far out from anywhere to make it to shelter before nightfall."
"Alright." Jack nodded, "Give Grunt here some time to clear out this facility. Till then, I am going to teach you people how to defend a position."
"Damn Lambent are the worst kind of enemies. Fucking stingy enough not not leave behind anything to eat besides brain rot soup." I complained as I used my super nose to lead me to the various groupings of infected wretches that had taken up residence in the Lethia Imulsion Facility.
Getting used to such a hugely empowered sensory organ would take some time. My senses had sharpened after Jabba and Jar-Shak, but neither of those had a genuine super sense, let alone the power of five of those super senses combined. Fortunately between being a krogan, hutt, argonian, and locust hybrid nothing really smelled offensive to me. I wouldn't like to be standing next to a big steaming pile of shit, but at the same time it wouldn't be gag inducing.
I spent an afternoon and evening hunting down all the damn fungus infested cave chimps, only stopping to step out and catch a few of the flying kryll of a snack.
It's funny how these toothy bastards are a nightly disaster for the people of this world, but for a guy with skin that would make steel jealous they are a direct delivery all you can eat buffet. Free too. It will be sad when these guys are all gone due to WMD related extinction.
When I got back to the Stranded camp Jack had set herself up as Queen of the Lost. She had the band of bitter survivalists wrapped around her finger, and why shouldn't she. Jack was an empress twice over with nearly a century of combat training and experience. There were few people I could think of in the worlds of fiction with her drive and survival instincts. To these sad fucks living off the corpse of their civilization she was a goddess come down to show them the way.
"Place is clear for now." I told her, "Can't make any guarantees that things will stay like that till morning, but they are free to poke around the insides of the facility."
"Alright, you heard the man!" Jack yelled at them, "Get to stripping this place, and remember the buddy system! One man works while the other keeps his fucking head on a swivel and his finger on the trigger guard! Trigger guard, not the fucking trigger. Got that Sanchez, or do you want to shoot my husband again and make him eat everyone you love? Your choice, dude."
"I will be working." Sanchez assured her, "No way am I risking death by lizard man."
"There's hope for you yet, Sanchez." Jack nodded, "You're dumber than cats and dogs, but if you live long enough you just might learn enough to walk and chew gum at the same time."
I chuckled as the Stranded got to work.
"You make for a damn fine post apocalyptic queen." I told her.
"I am working in my element, babe." Jack grinned, "This world is going to be my bitch."
CREATORS' THOUGHTS 
JManM
JManM Big boost this chapter. I rated Grunt at the end of Mass Effect at the upper levels of Class 5 lifting strength. With Jabba, Jar-Shak, and the 5 Therons he is approaching the upper range of Class 10. I'd put his current lifting strenght as 8.5 tons, which is important considering he isn't going to get much physical might on the next jump and after that I have him and Jack dropping on top of a Brute Chief on the Convenent Supercarrier on the way to Reach. The average Brute is upper Class 10 with the strongest pushing into lower Class 25. And I will be using their literary durablity, not the paper thin defense they had in Halo 3.
I hope someone enjoyed the math I try to keep track of for this story.
You can support me and my family at
ko - fi . com / jmanm
Chapter 62: New Friends
The Stranded must have taken the Jury Rigging perk, cause these guys were repairing their vehicles with parts that frankly made little sense. They finished fixing their trucks and then spent two days stripping the facility for resources. I had to throw back a few Lambent incursions and a Locust probing attack during that time. I vastly preferred the Locust as they were kind enough to leave their meat behind upon death.
The 'grubs' were thicc bois made of very dark red meat that had a natural mushroom marinade taste. I guess that would be imulsion saturation. For anyone else eating Locust meat was just asking for Lambent infection, but my immune system would make a scouter explode. I am pretty sure my blood is the cure for Space AIDs, but would likely be too hardcore for anyone to survive drinking it.
Delta Team showed up at the facility already looking exhausted. They'd been fighting all day and that wasn't going to stop now. The Locust were holding the lower reaches of the drill platforms with more manpower than they had in the game. Turns out losing an elite force recon team and a repelled probing force prompted a hard response from the Horde. Who'd have thought?
"Alright everyone calm the fuck down!" I heard Jack yell as I approached the fortified encampment with the last scrapper team, "I get it. You guys are elitist G-Men working for a defunct government that betrayed its people, and you guys are pissed off scavengers not willing to piss on a COG soldier if he was on fire. I don't give a shit cause sometime in the next ten minutes my husband is going to turn up and if any of you jagoffs shoot him again I am going to stand back and watch as he ties you up and peels open your skulls one by one so he can eat your brains while you are still alive."
"Your married to a fucking cannibal!" screamed Baird in outrage.
"Cannibalism requires the participants to be equals." Jack refuted.
"Don't you dare mix philosophy with cannibalism!" Baird yelled, "That is straight up doubling down on sacrilege!"
"Holy shit!" screamed Cole, "It's some kinda super grub!"
He raised his gun to fire but Jack decked him with a straight right sending the ultra thicc boi down to the ground dazed and confused.
"Everywhere I go you humans scream and run for your torches and pitchforks." I complained, "Get some class you ignorant mother fuckers and act like you've been there before."
"The super grub is sassy as fuck." Baird commented.
"He is only like, five parts grub." Jack explained, "he is still three parts alien and only expresses whatever physical traits he subconsciously wants cause of quantum fuckery."
"That's five eighths grub, girl." Dominic stated the obvious, "And how would that even work?"
"We ate five Therons when we got here during our Post RRE Ravenous Assimilation Phase. PRRAP for you acronym loving types. Gives us the power and knowledge of the people we land on when entering a new universe." Jack answered.
"That is so many shades of fucked up." Baird commented.
"Sounds metal." Marcus stated quietly, "Listen we gotta get this Resonator down into the Hollow so we can launch a big attack on the grubs. We need someone to guide us through the facility."
"Grunt will take you boys down. He's been all over the facility the last couple of days and knows the Hollow like the back of his hand." Jack assured them, "Plus the big guy needs a new group of guy friends. The last crew didn't work out too well."
"What happened to them?" Dom asked.
"Killed by dragons." I stated glumly, "Had to gather up all the pieces for a funeral which was really hard. There were a lot of pieces and I was really hungry."
"We are going to die and be eaten by a giant alien lizard man." Baird despaired.
"Don't forget that he is a super grub hybrid." The recently recovered Cole added, "Fucking five whole Therons. Even I don't think I can eat that much."
"You people worry too much." I comforted the Gears, "This is going to be a kick ass boys weekend and when the dust settles we will all be big fucking heroes."
Delta squad didn't look convinced, just tired.
After scheduling our rendezvous for after I help the Deltas drop a bunch of WMD's on the Locust, I left Jack and the Stranded to guide the Gears deep into the bowels of the earth.
"We are going to get to enjoy the cart ride down because the Locust have pulled back to a strong defensive position on the drilling platforms after the shellacking I gave them. Remember to keep your arms and legs inside the cart at all times as this ride sure as hell wasn't made for human use."
After an invigorating bumper cart ride we arrived at the flashing yellow button that would open the door to the grub's position.
"From this point on expect heavy resistance." I told them, "It is going to be glorious."
I took point for the team, shouldering the self made stock to my modified Hammerburst Assault Rifle. I opened up with a precise stream of full auto pain and devastation on the entrenched Locust, my eyes able to see more clearly in the dark than any of theirs and without the crippling light sensitivity many of them experience. A few bullets ricocheted off of the front mounted shield on my rifle and I started to jog.
Gears of War is a series of cover shooter games, running at your enemies like you would in Halo is a fast way to die, but I am like phase three Demon of Hatred and these guys are still having trouble with Lady Butterfly. I only slowed my jog through the drill platforms long enough to kill anyone I encountered, otherwise I kept on trucking.
"Well damn." Dominic muttered as we stepped onto the weird drill elevator combo that led down into the hollows.
"If you have some brothers available, can we call them in?" Baird stated as he whistled at the destruction and broken bodies left in my wake, "I don't think we need Lightmass bombs if we can sign you guys up for the Coalition."
"I had many brothers and thousands of sons." I told them as Marcus informed their controller, Anya, of our presence on the drill platforms. "Not a one of them is as strong as me, but they could wipe the floor with the grubs."
"When you smashed that boomer to death with a tail strike." Cole said, "I liked that. I liked that a lot."
"This baby was a new addition in the last world Jack and I dropped on, and the middle fingers and claws." I shuddered, "I was born with only six fingers. Two on each hand plus the thumbs. I used to see people flipping each other off and I wanted that. I wanted it so bad. I truly came from nothing, man. Now I have glorious bird flipping fingers."
"Dude…" Cole choked up.
"Are you seriously crying right now?" Baird accused his swole as fuck partner.
"He… he didn't have no middle fingers, man!" Cole declared, "That's so fucked up."
"I… I don't get you people." Baird shook his head as the elevators started bringing us down.
"The fuck you mean by 'you people'?" Cole demanded while very black and very angry.
"The emotionally open." Baird answered, "The fuck you think I meant? You two are both like three beers too intimate and it's freaking me out."
"You know why we can do that, Baird." I looked the blonde COG soldier in the eye, "Because we aren't afraid of anything. We have lots of confidence, organization, clarity, and knowledge. With all that confidence, organization, clarity, and knowledge we can boldly say, 'Be loving and openhearted with my emotions.'"
"The fuck?" Baird requested clarification.
"I guess the wife was right about you soldier boys always needing acronyms. Cole and I have lots of COCK so we aren't afraid to say BLOWME." I explained.
"Damn straight!" Cole agreed while aggressively nodding his head, "Preach, Lizard Homie."
"I think I'd like to die now." Baird muttered.
CREATORS' THOUGHTS
JManM
JManM
I was planning on doing this chapter later tonight, but upped my writing time for today in honor of my first donation on ko - fi. This is for you, homie.
I can resonably do three chapters (about 4500 words) a day on weekends if people make it worth my while. The work week will be too hard for about the next month, so no multi chapter days Monday through Friday. I will track the donations over time and make sure you all get your money's worth out of me.
My son thanks you for the new baby toy, homie.
You can support me and my family on
ko - fi . com / jmanm
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