So this is a one shot, I don't have any more of it written and I do not currently have plans to continue it. if I get enough feedback I will reconsider. It is fairly different from my other project currently, Trishula. Writing military dialogue is a little easier for me, just because of the structure, and the technical stuff is fun but I feel too much technical detail binds up most stories more than it helps.
"Commander-"
"Captain."
"Captain sorry. Look, captain, we want to show that we are committed to fighting for the alliance and what better way to do that than to help alliance troops in need? Besides its not like we can retreat at this point!"
-10 minutes previous-
Captain Hannah Shepard was hungry, tired, and suffering from an acute withdrawal of patience. Dealing with a redheaded biotic girl was not outside her experience but this situation had additional aggravating factors. Namely the Cerberus uniform… no, wait she had done that to, so it must be the squad of ATLAS assault vehicles and support crew she brought with her. She rests her elbows on her office desk and steeples her fingers as she regards the girl.
"Ms. Langley-"
"Red, Ma'am. I am aware our files give names but those were assigned by the project head based on a popular culture obsession." The redhead stood at attention in her white uniform, eyes focused at some point over Captain Hannah Shepherd's head. The captain groaned and rubbed the bridge of her nose.
"Very well, whatever you wish to be called. While it is Alliance policy, given the attack on Earth 2 days ago, to accept Cerberus defectors, we are not going to 'slap some new paint on them and send you back out' as you have requested. We have no experience with the technology at work in the experimental units you have brought us and unlike Cerberus we are NOT in the business of sending children into battle."
"But-"
"No buts Ms. Red, now please return to the holding area with the rest of your group until we can-"
BEEP
"Quiet you… " The captain taps her omni-tool to clear the message, it can wait 30 seconds. "As I was saying, please return to-"
BEEP BEEP
Sighing, and giving the girl the one finger universal sign for 'wait', the captain answers the voice only call.
"This is Shepard."
"Captain, reaper forces are making a push ground side, 101st orbital is requesting immediate support. Danger close and reaper interference prevents accurate firing solution Ma'am."
"On my way, Ensign." She taps her omni-tool again to close the call and turns to face the young defector but finds her already gone. Having been mother to a similar child, she would normally have felt the required suspicion, but the present situation occupied her thoughts as she moved towards the bridge.
Captain Hannah Shepard's present major concerns were all about to come together in a way only a krogan could love.
"Captain Shepherd! Port side cargo bay doors just opened, where the defectors are being kept!"
"Ensign, get me eyes on right n-"
The ship's PA comes to life with simulated background crackle and words that bring back that oh-so-familiar feeling for Captain Shepard. Like the one when her daughter had first discovered she could move things with her mind.
"ECHO SQUAD, DEEP STRIKING!"
Red could understand the captain's concerns she thought, she really could. A group of Cerberus defectors led by a beautiful teenager bring unfamiliar technology and demand to be redeployed in defense of humanity… and those other species too of course. They had been brought aboard just 2 hours ago and the captain was in the middle telling her no when the groundside infantry called for assistance. At that moment Red knew this was their opportunity to give a grand debut. She had run back to the cargo hold where they were keeping them and their equipment and gave orders to begin immediate preparations for a combat drop.
The alliance guards who tried to stop them just couldn't see the big picture and required a mild neural shock to subdue. When this is all over she was sure they would thank her.
"Green, Blue, suit up! Reaper activity is causing interference so we are going to be planning this on the way down. Let's show our new friends what we can do!"
Red was already fitting her armor over her body glove uniform while her squad mates opened their footlockers and the support crews began start up sequences on their units. The pilot suit was based on the adult size trooper armor, sized down for the teenage pilots. Red was already at a jog as she closed the final seal on her helmet. She confirmed primary and secondary checks with her unit's support crew before closing the 4-eyed face shield and climbing into her unit.
"Begin final check sequence, Echo 02."
ECHO-02
STATUS
E.Z. CORE: IDLE AT 500 RPM
O.S.: START-UP COMPLETE
BEGIN PRIMARY CONTROL SYSTEMS CHECK
… LIMB CONTROL GREEN
… BALANCE CONTROL GREEN
… SENSORS GREEN
… COCKPIT SYSTEMS GREEN
BEGIN SECONDARY SYSTEMS CHECK
… WEAPONS CONTROL GREEN
… MASS ACCELATOR GREEN
[WARNING!] ORDINANCE RACKS EMPTY
Red keyed in her bypass
CONTINUING…
… MANIPULATOR GREEN
BEGIN SENTINAL SYSTEMS CHECK
… AMP CIRCUITS GREEN
… MICRO FABRICATORS GREEN
… CONTAINMENT FIELDS GREEN
… KINETIC BARRIERS GREEN
ALL SYSTEMS GREEN!
"Unit two is good to go, stand clear!" Red announces before closing the cockpit.
Unlike the standard ATLAS, the experimental units did away with the vulnerable transparent cockpits. There was a brief moment of darkness before glowing holographic displays and controls lit up the cockpit. With thundering steps, unit two makes its way to the cargo bay door. Inside Red is hacking into the ships system. It would take too long to train the whole crew on launch procedures. She can just open a door and announce it over the PA.
A quick check to each side confirmed unit zero and unit one had cleared start up as well. The stripped down frame of 00 was on her right and the hulk of 01 with its double eezo cores and oversized manipulators on her left.
"Echo lead, this is support lead, all personnel are suited and braced."
"Thank you chief, opening door." The groan of machinery revealed the best view in the galaxy, a garden world from orbit.
"Echo lead, one more thing."
"Aye, chief?"
"Good hunting."
"Acknowledged support lead…" Red smiled and switched over to the open operational channel. "Echo squad, prepare for jump." Patch in ship PA…
"ECHO SQUAD, DEEP STRIKING!"
As dramatic as she makes it sound, thought Green, we are really just walking off the edge of a starship deck. His machine then did just that, one foot in front of the other until there is nothing to step onto. The machine naturally pivots and with a flurry of thrusters corrects itself, falling front first downward.
"This is echo lead, we are away. Activating reentry shields."
Red in her sentinel-type 02 had command control over all jump operations and no action was required on Green's part as the glowing orange shields came up. He took the time to balance power load across his unit's twin eezo cores, mounted side by side behind the cockpit, before he would have to rev them any higher. His vanguard-type required enormous amounts of power at the critical moments of jumps when there was no time to balance the power load.
"Alright team, here is what we have so far…" Red began feeding combat data to the other units, overhead images appearing in front of each pilot. Being the production type, her unit was the only one with a full sensor package right now. Each screen showed a general topographic map built from Cerberus's mapping, internal sensor data, and alliance IFF transmissions. Alliance forces were presented a blue amorphous bob and reaper forces were in red. As they descended and passed under interference, the shapes became more distinct. Alliance forces had a fair position within an agricultural outpost and was slowly whittling down the group of reaper forces attacking them, however there was a larger reaper group heading for their position.
"Echo 01, you will make an active strike on the reaper reinforcements. Aim for the rear of the group where the heavies will be. Echo 00 you will drop close enough to 01 to cover him after he blows his barrier. I will put 02 in front and burn the smaller targets. Once we are all on the ground, we will close in and crush the middle. Everyone clear?"
"Echo 00, orders confirmed."
"Echo 01, c-clear!"
"Good lets get… oh the captain is calling, Echo 02 over and out."
Green looked at the increasingly detailed map and chose his landing target with the tap of a finger. His machine automatically made the minute corrections and a moment later a text only message from 00 confirmed Blue was locked on the same vector. As the tactical map became more detailed he could see the reaper force come into focus, tactical software picking out individual types from stolen alliance data.
"Echo 01 to Echo 00, copy?"
"This is Echo 00, I copy."
"I am going to go in with full power to both charge and nova. Projections said they would have flyers but I don't see anything airborne yet."
"Then we will see them once we make ourselves known. Do not fear as I will be able to bring it to ground anything I cannot neutralize in the air."
"Roger that 00…" Green flicked the switch to cease transmitting and began to spin up his eezo cores, talking himself through this process in combat for the first time. "Bringing eezo cores to full power… maximum safe output reached, charging N-circuits…"
Green could feel the static along his spine as his own amplifier began to interface with the amp circuit within the machine. A healthy adult human may put out about 75 watts of power and create spectacular biotic effects with amplifier systems that could fit in the palm of one's hand. Unit 01 had twin engines producing several thousand kilowatts of power and an amp larger thanits pilot.
Unit 00 may have more versatile field control, Unit 02 may be the complete model, but to a vanguard, all that mattered was force and velocity. Green opened the operational channel up as the squad reached the critical point. All 3 units were at terminal velocity, and moments later the reentry shields disintegrated.
"N-circuits charged, capacitors at maximum! Commencing charge for effect in 3…"
Green 'grabbed' the holographic controls, haptic feedback coming through his armored suit.
"2…"
The suit served as armor of course, but the pilot 'plug' suits contained several technologies to keep them safe and conscience during high-speed maneuvers…
"1…"
… Like this.
"Charging!"
The time between activating the biotic charge function and striking the ground in this arrangement is about a second and half. During this time several things occur at once. As the machine is enclosed with a biotic bubble, a region of altered space forms between the machine and its destination. By a mechanism not unlike the Normandy's Tantalus stealth drive, the Atlas Vanguard is both drawn and pushed towards its destination. The projectile striking the ground releases energy equivalent to several tons of TNT, is actually the protective shield of the machine, which itself lands unharmed. For those observing however the heavily armed war machine seems to appear out of nowhere. Not even reaper-enhanced eyes are ready to track movement at 4 times the speed of sound at extremely close range.
The shockwave from landing obliterates nearby husks and cannibals and lifts several brutes off their feet. The Nova a split second later turns all in a 100-meter wide circle to dust. Within seconds, unit 00 makes landfall and erects a barrier around itself and 01. Another impact in the distance confirms 02 has also made it to ground.
"Echo lead to Echo squad, this is an independent operation in support of alliance troops. They have NOT sanctioned the op, but the captain asked the platoon at the ag station not to shoot us if they can help it."
"Echo 01 to- screw it, Asuka what the fuck did you say to her?!"
"Baka-Shinji! Don't fucking call me that! I'll tell you both everything later, just kill the damned reaper spawn!"
"Echo 00 to echo lead, orders acknowledged, intercepting approaching airborne units."
"Dammit, echo 01 to echo lead, engaging brutes."
It was recorded that the 101st orbital division fought off an enormous group of reaper forces with the help of "precision bombardment" from the Dreadnaught SSV Orizaba. Somewhere in the dark parts of the galaxy, Admiral Steven Hackett drinks his coffee and reads incoming reports.
"Project E, Humanoid Combat Vehicle Bearing Biotic Amplifier? Who comes up with this s-… oh, Cerberus… Well guess we can't be too picky."
end
So yeah, that was fun. Little bit of extra detail just to clear up what is going on. Cerberus funded a project to test putting biotics in ATLAS mechs and using the mech to carry and power huge amplifiers. The nutjob they put in charge of it had an unhealthy obsession with NGE. He renamed the children kidnapped to be the pilots after the kids from the show, he used the same unit designations for the machines, died the unit 00 pilot's hair blue and her eyes red, etc. In a coup led by Asuka (or Red as she prefers to be called, hating the name she was given) the pilots and crews killed the crazy project head and defected.