So...I know a lot of you wanted the new chapter for Chronicles of the Fifth Blight. Don't worry, I'm not giving up on it, but between a few things about the new chapter having a couple of issues I need to fix and personal real life problems I haven't been able to finish working on it.
Meanwhile, allow me to present another story "Mass Effect: Front Lines".
This story is the result of a collaboration between me and another writer, Hitokiri Akins. It is set in the same "universe" as the one from his "Chronicle of Ana Shepard" and is concurrent with the ME3 events that happen there.
This story will be understandable enough on its own, but I recommend you read "Chronicle of Ana Shepard" anyway.
Credit for this chapter goes to Hitokiri himself, with a few edits from me. Enjoy the read!
The Reapers were here. Earth had fallen and the only ones who had any chance to take it back were the elite of the military: the N7 marines.
Lt. Commander John Parker and his squad of elite soldiers dropped off the shuttle and into a Reaper controlled system. His job was to lead his team into an evacuation run, to get the inhabitants off the world of Mindoir, a world that had been attacked by batarian slavers 16 years prior. It also happened to be the homeworld of the famous Commander Shepard.
"It can't be a coincidence that the Reapers struck here first," Commander Parker thought as he and his squad moved their way through the colony. But he pushed those thoughts out of his mind as he and his team moved their way into the main settlement.
"All right everyone, fan out," Commander Parker said "Volkov, Tamotu, take point. Kaya, Mathieu, cover our rear. Rossi, cloak and scout ahead, but don't take any chances."
The team gave their confirmation, and a few moments later, 1st Lieutenant Eugenia Rossi sent a message over the radio about what the Reapers' strength was: mostly husk shock troops, but they had some marauders and cannibals to round out their capability.
"Acknowledged, Rossi. Stay put until we get there," Commander Parker said, before turning his attention back to his team. "All right guys, you know what we're here for. Get the colonists to the extraction point. Get in, get out. No heroics."
The team knew what they were doing. Volkov and Kaya were to escort the colonists to a defensible point until they radioed for extraction; Volkov's shield allowed him to protect his charges while they got away, while Kaya's potent biotic power was able to cover their escape. Parker, Tamotu and Mathieu would draw the Reaper's fire while Volkov and Kaya got the colonists out, and Rossi sniped at anyone who tried to sneak up on Volkov and Kaya.
Once at the battlefield, Commander Parker saw the chaos immediately: the Reaper troops had pretty much burned the colony to the ground. Crops were destroyed, communication dish crumbled, homes damaged beyond recognition.
And when Commander Parker saw a cannibal dragging a colonist behind it, he knew that they didn't have a lot of time.
"All right, let's raise some hell!"
The team moved with purpose, taking down Reaper troops with both their weapons and special abilities.
2nd Lieutenant Reneé Mathieu used her grenade pylon to help the team resupply as they fought, and used her special grenades to take down the shields of the marauders and home in on the cannibals who were trying to capture the colonists.
1st Lieutenant Mali Kaya used her Annihilation Field to keep the husks off her and Staff Lieutenant Dmitri Volkov while they got the colonists into a safe location and used her Dark Channel and Singularity abilities to keep the Reapers at bay.
2nd Lieutenant Yoshi Tamotu used his Biotic Charge to move across the battlefield, helping those who needed him, and used his biotically charged monomolecular blade to get the Reapers off the innocent civilians.
Lieutenant Rossi continued to snipe at the Reapers while cloaked, and used her electric blade to strike down any Reapers that got too close.
And Lt. Commander Parker controlled the battlefield with his shoulder mounted missile launcher and weapons superiority, as well as his greater tactical knowledge to move his people around to save the greatest number of people.
The battle was long fought, getting the colonists to a defensible prefab, where they could call for extraction.
While there, Commander Parker considered their options: Lt. Mathieu was down to one grenade pylon, so this would be the last time they could resupply themselves, while Kaya and Tamotu had gone through heavy biotic use, and were on their last energy drink. They still had plenty of thermal clips, and Parker's own missile launcher used the old cool down system, and not the power cells or thermal clips that the rest of their weapons used. N7 marines were well versed in all forms of combat, and were willing to use old proven technologies that others had abandoned.
"This is a lot tougher than that batarian slaver camp we took down last month," Lt. Volkov said.
"Got that right," Lt. Kaya said "Though the Reapers aren't that much uglier than the batarians."
This got a chuckle from the group, which helped raise their spirits.
"Still, I feel sorry for the four eyed bastards," Volkov said "Getting hit out of the gate, and all."
Commander Parker nodded his head, thinking again about how bad this war was going to get.
Yes, the Alliance officially denied the Reapers existed up until the point where they invaded, but all N7 marines were being trained for the arrival since Admiral Anderson became Councilor Udina's advisor.
The Admiral, N7 himself, used every bit of influence he had to make sure that any N7 that graduated the program was ready to fight the Reapers, so each and every one of them had an idea of what was coming.
"Shit!" Lt. Rossi shouted from the top of the building "One of those big bastards is coming right for us!"
Commander Parker ordered his squad to bunker down and prepare for the brute.
These things had the power of a krogan with the tactical mind of a turian, so they were powerful enough to crush a tank but smart enough to kill soldiers inside that managed to survive.
"Kaya! Volkov! Tamotu! Biotic explosion! Everyone else, lay down as much fire as you can!" Parker shouted.
The team moved into action with practiced purpose: Kaya set up the unstable biotic field with Dark Channel, and Tamotu hit the brute with a simple biotic Throw to detonate it.
Volkov tossed out a Throw of his own to synchronize with the unstable field and caused a secondary explosion that allowed the rest of the team to gun down the brute with little trouble.
It was that moment when Commander Parker got a message from their shuttle; the LZ was ready for pick up, so it was time to go.
And with the way out relatively clear now that the brute was dead, the team managed to get to the LZ with little trouble.
They were thanked by the mayor of the town just before the last civilian shuttle took off, and then headed onto their own shuttle to bring them back to Admiral Hackett.
"It's going to get worse, isn't it?" Lt. Mathieu said, vocalizing what they were all thinking.
"Yeah, it is," Commander Parker said. "But we're trained for this. We are the best the Alliance has to offer."
"Damn right, sir," Lt. Rossi said, grinning behind her helmet "Doesn't matter who gets in our way. Reapers, Cerberus or geth, we'll do what we've been trained to do."
Commander Parker slumped back in his seat as his team congratulated themselves.
"We may be the best, but we're not going to win this alone," he thought "We need the other races, or else the Reapers are going to wipe us all out."
So, that's it for now. I'll update here soon after Hitokiri does with his story.
The new chapter for Chronicles of the Fifth Blight should be coming soon, so stay tuned for that.
See you next time folks!