Disclaimer: Mass Effect does not belong to me. It belongs to it's respective owner, namely Bioware.
"The Milky Way Galaxy is in the midst of war against the Rachni, a species of highly intelligent, space-faring, hive-minded insects. Despite the uplifting of the Krogan, the first contact with the Turians, and the creation of the Geth, the Citadel Council has been locked in stalemate against the Rachni for centuries, with neither side able to break it. But that does not stop them trying, as each side attempts to break the deadlock".
Rachni-occupied planet of Nevos, Teyolia System, Silean Nebula, Milky Way Galaxy.
9th April, 1917 CE.
Looking at Nevos now, you never would have figured it to be a vibrant garden planet, due to the telltale signs of the Rachni occupation of the planet, which could be seen everywhere.
The lone Asari Commando, standing on the edge of the cliff, was looking through the heads-up display, down at a beach where a mass of Rachni Soldiers, with a couple of Brood Warriors here and there were all overseeing a vast mass of Rachni Workers moving to and from places.
As she zoomed in her HUD to get a closer look, she could see that the Rachni Workers had burrowed a series of holes, those providing access to and from the surface for the Workers.
Their target. Perfect.
"Lieutenant, report".
Brought out of her observations, the Lieutenant checked her HUD, and noticed that she was joined up with six of her fellow sisters-in-arms.
Facing Major Arvena Thanoptis, the Lieutenant made her report, "Major, it's our target. That much is certain. There's a lot more Workers here than there were at the last place".
Huntress Marsselia Iellius piped in, "I better hope that this is the place. Because after those last four places we went to, I'm starting to think High Command sent us all on a wild gyurn'na chase".
"You're such a downer, you know that Marsselia?"
"Well, at least, I'm not an optimist, Chethra. Stopped becoming an optimist 98 years ago".
Lieutenant Keilgara T'Listra groaned at that, for Marsselia was quite known for her 'stopped becoming an optimist' line throughout the unit.
But as an eventual bickering contest between Marsselia and her 'best friend', Huntress Chethra T'Dorna, was about to start, a thankful voice cut in, in the form of Senior Huntress Ryilestra Vasir.
"Alright, lock it down, the both of you, before your little pissing contest brings those damn buggers on us".
With that settled, Major Thanoptis conferred with her second in command, Captain Peltyris T'Soni, for a good long while, until she called for all of them to gather round as she laid down a plan of action.
"Right, from what we can gather, there's around 27 Rachni Soldiers, with 9 Brood Warriors. We'll need to take the Brood Warriors out, one at a time, quick and quiet, before the buggers know we're here. Then, we lure their attention away while we get into the holes. Okay, sisters, you all know what to do. Lieutenant, take point".
"But, across the gulf of space, in a lonely solar system, unaware of the wider conflict waging across the Milky Way, the inhabitants of the third planet are going through their first world war".
East of Arras, Pas-de-Calais region, Northern France, Europe, Earth, Sol System, Unknown Cluster, Milky Way Galaxy.
9th April, 1917 CE.
It was nearing Zero-Hour, everyone could feel it as the distant rubble of the bombardments went on and it neared 5:30am.
Private Albert Tillard, of the 2nd Battalion, Oxfordshire and Buckinghamshire Light Infantry, could understand the apprehension, having experienced this the first time at the Somme last year and the subsequent battles that followed.
"FIX BAYONETS!"
As his fellow Ox and Bucks got out the Pattern 1907 sword bayonets from their scabbards, and attached them to the ends of their Short Magazine Lee-Enfield Mark III* rifles, Albert looked to his left, seeing Private Horace Roth, who finished reloading the last of the five round stripper clip into his rifle, which meant that his SMLE was fully loaded with 10 rounds. Horace must have noticed that he was being observed and turned to face Albert.
"Alright, Albie?"
"Yeah, yeah, you?"
Nodding his head, Horace then silently went, "Let's get this done and over with".
"ONE PACE, FORWARD!"
As everyone moved closer to the wooden ladders, Albert looked to his right and saw Private Ronald Lampkin, who was looking at the top of the parapet with absolute nervousness, and his hands were gripping his SMLE so hard, that one might wonder if they were going to snap.
Putting a hand on Ronald's shoulder, Albert went "Hey, Ronnie. Hey, hey", before saying "You're gonna be fine. Okay? Just stick with me and move forward, alright?"
A brief pause, and a nervous nod.
The sound of someone walking on duckboard, caught Albert's attention, as he turned his head around to the left.
Looking further down the line, Albert could see as Lieutenant Edmund Haley-Blyth moved closer down to his position, and got out from his Service Dress breast pocket, the trench whistle.
"At the signal, company, will advance!"
With that, Albert knew that it was almost time, before Albert would hear the sounds that would tell him to go "over the top".
South-east of Vimy, Pas-de-Calais region, Northern France, Europe, Earth, Sol System, Unknown Cluster, Milky Way Galaxy.
9th April, 1917 CE.
Amongst the sounds of artillery firing and mine charges going off, a one Sergeant Charles Boyd, of 4th Platoon, C Company, 10th Battalion (Canadians), was not envying the task set upon he and his men. And he was sure that his new platoon commander, Lieutenant Hugh Phillips (who had only been appointed to their platoon ever since a trench raid operation killed Lieutenant Cedric McGurn around 2 and a half weeks ago), wasn't either.
For his unit, who along of other units within the 1st Canadian Infantry Division, were responsible for the broad southern sector of the entire advance up to Vimy Ridge, and most of all, were expected to make the most advance, in terms of distance, to the Brown Line.
But at least, he could appreciate that his men, whose boots were caked in mud, and their Service Dress uniforms not feeling the most warmest and snug against the cold chill in the air, were in good spirits, still capable of good-hearted humor amongst themselves.
But then, Boyd was instantly back to business when he could hear some people taking amongst themselves, and loudly said "CUT THE CHATTER, THE LOT OF YOU! NOW!"
Immediately, all chatter stopped, and all that was heard, was the sounds of the artillery shells hitting the German lines.
Turning to look at the Lieutenant, he saw Phillips holding the trench whistle in his leather gloves, and put in his mouth, soon nodding to Boyd, who nodded back.
Then, Phillips blew into the whistle, and immediately, all over the trench, was the sounds of trench whistles, scrambling up the ladders and still, the sounds of the artillery commencing the creeping barrage.
Upon that signal, all the men climbed out of their trenches and went over the top, into No Man's Land, where survival was not guaranteed.
And death sometimes would not even come from the bullets or the shellfire, but from the very ground itself, a fact that Boyd nervously reminded himself as his boots stepped into mud covered ground that squished underneaf his very feet as he left the ladder that he climbed.
Boyd then made sure to check that the men were keeping pace with the creeping barrage up ahead of them, as so to keep up with the set timetable, and still maintain a respectable distance so that shell fragments did not kill them.
However, despite this, the creeping barrage was still he and his men's best chance of reaching their first objective. The Black Line. Where the German forward defensive line lay in front of them.
"It was just another day in the blood-stained mud, of the trenches, men laying down their lives in a war that seemed to have no end whatsoever".
Rachni-occupied planet of Nevos, Teyolia System, Silean Nebula, Milky Way Galaxy.
9th April, 1917 CE.
"I repeat, the op is a bust, they were lying in wait for us. We only managed to get out. This time. Alright. Awaiting extraction at exfil point. Major Thanoptis out".
The Lieutenant couldn't really blame the Major, or her fellow sisters-in-arms for looking, or even feeling so dejected.
Whilst going down into the holes, deeper and deeper, they were inbound on a thermal source, that planetary probes had caught up, and Asari High Command sent the 147th Huntress Unit to investigate, and if possible, deploy a beacon to guide in an orbital strike if it was a Rachni target of interest.
But however, when they eventually got there, the heat source was not a target of interest, but a trap.
And before they could get out, the Rachni launched their assault, and the Asari Commandoes only managed to get out, and bury the holes, at the skin of their own teeth.
Now, the 147th were making a speedy exfil to a clear landing site, before the Rachni came in and tore them apart.
As the 147th secured positions around their clear landing site, which they only found 2 minutes ago, after 7 minutes of trekking, the Lieutenant looked at the ground, and saw something shiny. Moving over to it, she grabbed it and pulled it close to her face to examine it.
And gasped as she saw, in her own hands, an emerald green shiny crystal.
Turning it around to examine it, the Lieutenant could feel with her gloved fingers the edges and even the smooth surface of the crystal.
It was so beautiful. More beautiful than anything she had ever seen since….
The Lieutenant paused, and tried very hard to remember when she had seen something as beautiful as the crystal she held in her hands. And it was seemingly in vain, as for all of her years as an Asari commando, fighting Rachni on various planets across the galaxy, even memories of her childhood before she became a commando were becoming hazy to her.
"Shuttle inbound!"
Lieutenant Keilgara T'Listra, the Lieutenant's best friend and "sister-in-spirit", shouted out, as she spotted the shuttle making it's approach.
And there it was, an Serrice Armaments Group UAST-37 dropship making a fast descent towards the landing zone, slowing down enough to allow everyone the chance to board, in which it opened it's side door and when it slowed down, all the Asari commandoes jumped in, including the Lieutenant, who sat down in one of the available seats, still clutching the crystal in her hand.
Then, remembering that she still had it, the Lieutenant took off her helmet to properly look at it, disengaging the seals of her helmet and after taking it off her head, put it on her lap, before examining the crystal further and trying to remember whenever she had seen something so beautiful.
As the shuttle's door shut, and the shuttle steadily got off the ground, leaving the planet behind in order to reach their vessel in orbit, a tear fell down Lieutenant Trileena Navuris' cheek, as she came to the realisation, that she didn't even remember a time when she had seen anything beautiful.
And now starts, my AU Rachni War Mass Effect story, set in World War One.
I had originally planned for it to be instead, a AU Krogan Rebellion story, but I instead settled for a Rachni War story, for I reckoned a fanfic set during the Rachni War (even if it was a Rachni War that went on much longer) was much more interesting, as the Rachni or the Rachni War were rarely chosen stories in recent Mass Effect fanfics.
Setting this story, in World War One, was a deviation from the usual "Mass Effect set in WW2" story that I think was done and tried, no matter how much I would like to tackle a "Mass Effect set in WW2" story, to be honest.
However, a story that was an inspiration for Amongst The Fields of Earth, was DarkDanny's Uplift series, which is set in World War Two, which is a great read and I recommend that everyone check out.
So, there you go.
It'll be a while before the Rachni War comes to Earth, so bear with me. There are a couple of characters I want to introduce before I get around to that, so stay tuned.
Anyways, don't forget to leave a review whenever you can and see you next time!
Update (28/4/17): Just added a much more detailed line about Albert Tillard's unit, as it was a bit obscure on what exactly it was before, which was a bit bothering me, given that the only description about his unit was just simply, 'Ox and Bucks', the Oxfordshire and Buckinghamshire Light Infantry's nickname.
Update (29/6/17): Done some restructuring of the chapter, spacing out some paragraphs, trying not to bunch them all up. Special thanks to Apollonir for pointing this out.