25 km out of Colony Shuttleworth, Liwei System, Armstrong Nebula, Skyllian Verge

He sighed. Another one of those four-eyed freaks dropped down. Duck, let the rifle cool down, get up, fire, repeat. That was standard training, yet somehow some of these soldiers, still couldn't do that. What kind of troops did he get? He pulled down one of the soldiers, who's gun overheated.

"You won't hit anything with an overheated gun, kid. Stay in cover till the damn noise stops."

He leaned over his cover again, aimed the rifle and fired. Looking around he noticed two more marines getting shot. His troops were going down, fast.

"Armor!". A single shout from one of his marines, destroyed all hope that was left. They were supposed to deal with the flank! Not the damn main force, they weren't equipped to deal with this. They had ample heavy weapons to begin with and those were all spent and by the time the main force would be here, the Batarians would have taken the colony. There was only one option left.

"Twenty, contact the rest of the force, tell them this position is overrun. Thirty-two get me captain Kahoku on the comm." A shell exploded in front of the cover, a piece of shrapnel getting stuck through the helmet of the kid with the overheated gun. What was his number again? Four-o-Six? No time to think about it.

"This is Captain Kahoku of the SSV Kennedy, what's the situation down there Staff Commander?"
"We're getting pounded over here, sir! Intel was wrong, they brought armored vehicles! I need an air strike on my position! We can't hold out for much longer." He hoped the situation sounded dire enough for the darn captain, the alternative was another colony's population taken away as slaves.

The silence on the other side of the comm felt like hours, whilst in fact it weren't even five seconds. The voice came through, bringing both hope and despair.

"Bomber pilots have been warned, we will give you an ETA when the wings have left the carrier."

"Sir, they are retreating! We won!", the shout of a private reached his ears. Retreat? Why would they retreat? They had more numbers, more firepower, more morale, the odds were simply in their favor. It was only then that it struck him.

"They're not retreating, they're regrouping!" he looked at the men who's lives depended on him, some rookies, some idiots who could have gotten promoted a long time ago, if they had shown even a bit of ambition or initiative, some stubborn fools who had served with him for so many missions. Yet every single one of them still alive at this moment, because they were lucky. However, sometimes decisions had to be made, some were easier than others. Yet, if he played this right, he could save some of them. He hoped.

"I know some of you expect some motivational words from me. But all I can give are facts. The Na'hesit Batarians outnumber, out-gun and outmaneuver us. However they made the mistake of attacking us! We have a legacy to uphold! Lieutenant Shepard showed them the strength of humanity when they attack Elysium two months ago! A colony counts on us to prove that strength again! Yet, the colony isn't the only thing we should be worrying about! We all owe the Alliance a debt from the moment we signed up!" His tone lowered, sadness becoming clear in his voice, "That debt is your life. A lot of the faces that were with us this morning have paid that debt, it is with pain in my heart that I ask for eight of you to follow their example and pay the price, Thirty-two and me will stay with those eight, to prevent these slavers from reaching the colony," he paused, needing to catch his breath, and continued with a voice as loud as he could muster without warning the Batarians, "This will be our Thermopylae, our Alamo, Pasir Panjang ,Karbala, Alamana, our Wizna or our Isurava. We will not surrender nor will we show them mercy. The other 16, under Twenty's lead, will dig in together with our main force near the colony to deal with anything that manages to get through. Good luck comrades and know that as long as this unit's spirit is alive, we will be watching over you!"

Gathering the eight men didn't take to long, every single on of them from the "old guard", proven themselves over and over again. The parting words were to their comrades were simple: "Listen to our unit's comm chatter, the moment you don't hear any of us, the four-eyes are coming". The only thing left was waiting. That was the real nerve breaker. They all had said what had to be said, they were just waiting for the end. And then came the call.

"Staff Commander, this is Systems Alliance bomber-wing Salvation, ETA 25 minutes, hold out down there!"; "This is Systems Alliance bomber-wing Faith, ETA 30 minutes."

The sound that followed the messages however, were less pleasant, explosions came closer every barrage, followed by a smoke barrage.

"Mortars! Get your shields ready!" He braced himself, the barrage passing him and his brethren, smoke enveloping them. He prepared to return fire the moment the Batarians commenced their siege... only to discover the lack of fire.

"Sir, why the hell aren't they shooting at us?" The question came from a woman, sniper with a rifle that was at least half as big as she was. He had to think, what was her number again? Thirteen? Or was Thirteen the engineer and was she Sixty-four? He shook his head to get rid of the questions, wrong place, wrong time.

"If I knew that, I'd be at the wrong side of the conflict. It just gives them less time to kill us before they get bombed."

"Humans!"

"You got to be kidding me! Thirteen, aim at his head," he ordered, taking his chance with the number.

"Aiming at the head, sir! Got the rifle pointed right between the eyes."

"What pair Thirteen?", came a voice from the right, Sixteen, male, Earth, Somalian, came into the Major's head.

"You just witnessed what we can do when we are merciful!"

"In the middle of all four, don't want them to feel insulted because we picked a pair over another one, do we?"

"Why bother with what they think?", That had to be Sixty-four then, the other woman, thinking about it, didn't she come from Elysium? Yes, she did, was she pissed off.

"Surrender now!"

Thirty-two snorted, "Surrender, that's a good joke."

"And you will be able to tell the tale!"

"And now they'll tell us their price, you'll see!" Another voice said, Forty-five, Mindoir, went into service a week before slavers hit the planet.

"Aww, stop ruining the fun, dude!" Twenty-three, Eden Prime, father died in the First Contact war.

"You shall be treated with honor and respect!"

"Told you he'd be wrong," said someone to the left to his companion.

"Damn Batarians", Fifty-two and Fifty-three, twin brothers and they loved to gamble... when not on duty of course, or at least that's their claim. The Staff Commander did see a credit chip pass possession there.

"There is no shame in admitting defeat!"

"He should tell that to the Turians!" Seventy, Earth, French, loved to "interrogate", shivers ran down the Staff Commander's spine, he still remembered that last interrogation of that Eclipse sister. Poor thing begged to get shot.

"He'd probably get shot the moment he'd say that to them," came another voice, Six, a comrade, a brother in arms and a person who he was glad to have him join in their final stand.

"You will continue to serve, only your master will change! You will serve the Hegemony!"

"I suggest we follow their example then, sir?" Thirteen suggested, the Staff Commander could see her trigger finger aching, she'd been thought well by Thirty-eight.

"Do it, the bomber-wings will have to hurry up a bit. Can't hear him anymore."

"I personally gua-"

A shot echoed through the valley, the Batarian's voice cut short. Thirteen ducked back down behind cover as the Batarians froze at the action.

"Target neutralized, sir."

The Staff Commander looked over cover, to say neutralized seemed to be an understatement, he could see from his position that, well, the face got quite messed up. Probably no 'open-eyes funeral' for that guy.

"You see what kind of savages these humans are! They refuse an offer to surrender! They shot a messenger!"

The voice addressing the Batarians had to be their commanding officer and boy, was he furious.

"Keep low gentlemen! It's going to get very hot in here!"

"Show these savages no quarter! NO MERCY! OPEN FIRE!"

Infantry let their guns speak, armor let their cannons fire to create a symphony with the infantry. Bullets ripped over the marines, shells flew at them... only to fly over them, this was the Batarian might? By god, how did these idiots think to chase them out of their positions? Sure, suppressing fire could be useful, if you didn't aim so high, and using shells to suppress? Amateurs!

"These idiots don't know how to shoot! Show them how Alliance Marines do it!"

In one fluent motion they leaned over their cover and fired, mowing down a couple of Batarians, only to find the armor's cannons adjusting and returning the fire. A piece of cover was blown away, killing Fifty-two and Fifty-three in one go.

"Salvation wing, fifteen minutes out. Hold the line, Staff Commander!"

"How about you come down here and I'll take control of your plane and then see if you can hold the damn line? I just lost a fifth of my force down here! Hurry up!"

"We're flying as fast we can!"

"Fly faster! Damn-" he leaned over cover only to get blown down by a shockwave "it".

When he got up, he noticed the Batarians stopped firing... some of them were fighting melee-range with Sixteen and Seventy, with forty-five already lying dead on the floor... gauntlet damage. Only then did he notice the blue glow around the Batarians that were fighting them... Brawlers.

He grabbed for his rifle an aimed at the head of the one fighting Sixteen. The shots that followed ended the Batarian's life, he swung his rifle towards the only one, at the exact moment Seventy ducked under a gauntlet strike and jammed his knife into the top right eye. The poor guy didn't stand a chance afterwards.

"More of them inbound!"

He leaned over cover picking off two of them, before the thermal clip overheated. The next moment a Batarian stood before him, fury present in the Batarian's eyes. He instinctively smacked at the Batarian with his rifle. The heat was enough to buy him time to pull out his sidearm. He aimed his pistol at the head... and stopped. Was that... Red Sand on his face? A single shot, finished the drugged Batarian out of his misery.

"This is going easy," came the voice of Seventy next to him.

"Less talking, more shooting," replied Thirty-two.

"The biotics are pulling back!"

An explosion rocked through the valley, the cover where Six and Twenty-three were hiding behind ripped to pieces. A second shot took out the persons who were hiding behind it. The armored vehicle moved closer and fired another shot, taking out Sixteen.

"If we don't take out that vehicle, it's going to run us over!"
"What do you plan on using? We've got nothing!"

"Not entirely correct, sir," came Seventy's voice, "I have one corrosive grenade left, but as long as it's shields are up, it won't do much good."
"Sixty-Four, you heard him, prepare to hack the thing's shields."

"Affirmative, sir! What type is it anyway?"
"D-897 'Zealot'," replied thirty-two.
" Alliance issue, program Ellie, modification..." she muttered.

The unit's comm-chat flared up. The Staff Commander motioned for them to pause.

"Nine, Seven will arrive in 12 minutes with reinforcements, don't you dare die now! Understood?" A female voice, a very familiar female voice.

"Seven, Major? He'd be more useful preparing the colonies defenses, sir!"

"Trust me, I tried," came a voice from another channel, "but you know how she gets when you ignore her direct orders."

He switched his comm channel and muttered "Amen to that."

"You think I don't know of your private channels? Now execute my orders or you'll wish the Batarians would enslave you!" the female voice sounded.

"Aye, aye, sir!" He gulped, he'd have to find a way out of this situation...

An explosion made him come back to reality, like good soldiers Sixty-four and Seventy were still waiting for his order. He saw Thirteen clutching her arm, she probably had been wounded by that last shot. He made his decision.

"The moment that Zealot goes down, you three", he said pointing towards Thirteen, Sixty-four and Seventy, "run towards Staff Commander Seven's company, Thirty-two and me will hold them off. Now!"

They leaned over their piece of cover, the shields brought down on the Zealot, and the acid of the grenade melting the armor. When the crew found themselves exposed, they managed to fire one shot, before being riddled by bullets.

Their last shot landed beside the cover where Sixty-four and Seventy where hiding.

"Get the hell out of here, Thirteen, tell them our line has fallen!" Nine shouted.

He leaned over cover and laid down suppressing fire on the Batarians' position. As he saw them running behind cover he checked one more time and saw Thirteen running away. "At least someone who gets out of here alive" he thought.

"Salvation wing ten minutes out."

"Staff Commander, requesting covering fire" Thirty-two said.

Not even thinking about it, Nine just fired until his gun overheated, forgetting his own advice... again.

Thirty-two, came back with a form hanging over his shoulders, it was breathing. It took Nine a few moments to realize it was Sixty-four, her legs were gone, half her armor melted away. The fact she was still alive alone, was suprising.

"Did I do good, sir?" She asked, her breath barely concealing the pain she was suffering as she was laid on the ground.

"Yes, you did girl, you did," His reply, honest, his hand was reaching for his pistol. She wouldn't suffer for long, she was still a sister in arms. He aimed the pistol "Meet you in Walhalla, girl, there's a seat there reserved for you," and shot.

He leaned over cover, at exact the same moment as Thirty-two and fired, not even bothering with aiming. Only to find his gun malfunctioning.

"Well seems like I'm done for, Thirty-two" He chuckled. God, it felt good to know he wouldn't last long anymore with certainty.

Thirty-two ducked too, a slug piece crashing through his rifle. "What are the odds of that?" He muttered

And they laughed, one last time, and for some reason, it scared the Batarians more than the entire assault before that moment.

"Ah, so, we wait for them to come in melee range? Or do we charge like a bunch of madmen like on Trident?"

"We wait for them."

"So, we have some time to kill, permission to ask a personal question, sir?"

"Shoot it."
"Do you love somebody?"
"Of course."
"What's her or his name?"
"You'd rather not know..."

"Ah, come on ,Sir, we only got, what? Five minutes left to live?"
"Fine, I know her as Thirty-eight, you know her as Major"
"Whaaat?" He asked in a surprised voice. "How do you keep it secret with all these persons around you!"
"I said I loved her, never said she knew." He sighed, "Not that she'll ever do now."

"Nine, you may want to learn to turn off your comm chat, when discussing personal business" came Seven's voice.
"Thanks for pointing out the stupidest mistake I could possibly make in my last minutes alive, you motherdreller!"

He noticed Thirty-two giving him a weird look.
"Long story." A gunshot ringed and a harpoon flew through the piece of cover, into Thirty-two's head."
"You lose Human." A voice, the Batarian commander's voice, to be exact.

Flaring up biotics. Damn, he hated the things, rarely used them, but they could be useful now. He prepared to charge, like the brawlers...

Only to find a harpoon sticking through his knee. The Batarian put his Kishlock away and took out a Pistol. He aimed and he shot at the other knee.
"You Humans have to learn their place, at the heel of the Hegemony!" He smacked Nine in the face, " Your actions will be in vain! We will break through your comrade's lines and make all who reside in this colony, trustful servants of the Hegemony!"

He tilted his head to the right and spoke "Wrong, four-eyes."

"Salvation squadron, commencing bombing run!"
"YOU lose."

And the world around them turned black.

"Bombing run completed, turning around and launching missiles."

"Missiles launched, returning to the SSV Kennedy."
"Faith Squadron, commencing bombing run!"
"No more lifesigns detected on the ground, returning to SSV Kennedy."

That Night, Colony Shuttleworth

"I hate to tell you, Major, but... told you so."
"Shut it Staff Commander, now was there anything else you wanted to say, or did you simply come to mock a woman?"
"Thirteen is in the infirmary, she lost a lot of blood, but the doctors say she'll live. Whatever Batarians were left, legged it when the main force got bombed to oblivion. We won, Major"

"But we lost two third of a company, including it's commanding structure in the process. Was it really worth it?"
"Their sacrifice saved a colony, multiple Batarian rebel leaders and destroyed a Na'hesit division. So, yes, all facts taken together, it was worth it."
"And what does your heart say?"

"That Nine was an idiot, for not calling earlier for the darn bombers."

The Battlefield

Two figures prowled the battlefield during the night. One might say they are looters, others may say other things. In the end, their designation doesn't matter.

"There's no new technology here, let's get out of here before the Alliance comes to get their dead."
"Wait, this one still has vitals, they're faint, but we can save him if we hurry."
"Calling the shuttle, the boss will be pleased."

He tapped the communicator in his ear.
"This is Rath'nasi requesting immediate med. evac. We've got a priority package, hurry up, he's critical."

Hey there! I hoped you enjoyed the prologue. If you have any critics, no matter what they are, tell them, that way I can work on them!
Also, a comment is always appreciated even if it's just something like, "man I hate yadayee" or stuff like that!

Greetings,

Joniedinofreak