A/N: This story takes place in an alternate universe. It does not follow cannon and it is not compatible with any of my other fanfictions. Thank you.
"Mommy, what's that in the sky?"
Sarah Shepard looked up, her hand stilling on the brush she'd been running through the coat of her favorite palomino. Her four year old son, David, stood just inside the wide barn door, gazing intently at the sunny, summer sky.
"It's probably just a bird, Baby," she answered him, continuing with her chores. Soleil deserved a good rub down. That morning, she and David had ridden her around all fifteen hundred acres of the family farm, inspecting the wheat fields and checking in with the workers. Sarah didn't usually bring her son with her on such trips, but her parents were away on holiday and she couldn't very well leave him alone in the house.
"It doesn't look like a bird," David argued, his voice sing-songy with the over confidence of a preschooler. "You should come see."
"David, I'm a little busy right now," she chided, a little exasperated. It was only eleven am, but she'd had a light breakfast and was starving. Even biotics who didn't use their abilities all that often burned calories at a faster rate then most. "I need to get Soleil put back in her stall so we can go in and have lunch. Why don't you come over here and help me. You can put the brush away."
"But Mommmmeeeee! You need to come see!"
With an eye roll and a quick prayer for strength, Sarah put the brush down and stalked over to where her little boy was standing. "Fine," she sighed. "What was so important, you just had to show me right..." Her voice trailed off, eyes growing wide as she took in the horizon.
Sarah didn't need to follow the angle of her son's pointed finger to see what he'd been looking at. Her heart jumped into her throat, suddenly pumping so much blood all at once that it rushed loudly in her ears. In the valley below them, directly over the center of town, hovered a giant, black, space faring vessel, that took up half the sky. The edges of the colony were already starting to shimmer with the telltale orange glow of fire.
"David," she whispered, reaching to clasp his little hand tightly in hers. "Come here, Baby, we need to get inside."
He jumped easily into her arms, thin legs wrapping securely around her hips, little face buried in her shoulder. She rushed for the house, desperate to get to her hunting rifle before whoever had brought that ship got bored with the town and started raiding the nearby farms. Who could it be? Batarians Slavers? Turian Pirates? She'd never seen a ship like that in her life; sleek, with long black tentacles, and eezo that burned purple instead of blue.
She stopped inside the front door of her parents' farmhouse and let David slide from her arms. "Everything is going to be okay, Honey, but I need you to go up to grandma and grandpa's room and get me their long range com," she told him urgently. "It's the square orange one grandpa keeps under the bed. Can you do that for me, quick as you can?" He nodded once, before running off down the hall. His little feet galloped loudly on the wooden stairs.
The gun cabinet was just inside the main living room and keyed to her biometics. Sarah put her palm against the glass plate and waited impatiently for it to scan her. "Come on, come on, come on," she chanted, as each second dragged on for an age. Finally, the lock released with a tiny click and the smooth barrel of her 42 Sabertooth hunting rifle slid easily into her sweaty palms. Her dad's old pistol was in there too, so she stuffed it into the waistband of her jeans for good measure. All at once, her fear turned to focus. She could do this. She could protect her child and her land. No one was going to take either from her.
David's little feet clip clopped on the wooden stairs as he made his way back to the entry hall. "Is this the right one, Mommy?" He asked, expectantly holding up the shoebox sized communicator.
Sarah took the device from his arms and stretched her lips into the widest, most sincere looking smile she could manage. "It's perfect, sweetheart," she praised. "I'm so proud of you."
He beamed with pride, before her into the dining room, where Sarah set the com down on the table and turned the dial to it's highest setting. "Mayday, mayday," she called, praying someone, somewhere, would hear their cry. "This is Sarah Shepard of Sunrise Farm on Mindoir Colony. to any friendly ships in the vicinity. We are under attack by an unknown enemy. I repeat, we are under attack and request immediate assistance."
She repeated the message a few more times before David's little hand
suddenly squeezed hers in a painfully tight grip. His breaths started hissing through his teeth in little pants. Sarah looked up from the com, eyes darting at once to her panicked son and then towards the window he was gazing through.
"Dear God," she breathed, as the wheat fields suddenly ignited without warning, the flames seeming to engulf their entire crop in mere seconds. group of towering synthetic soldiers emerged from the fire unscathed, heavy weapons clutched in their metal hands.
"Mayday, Mayday," Sarah called into the com one more time, as the soldiers marched steadily towards them, destroying everything in their path. "This is Sarah Shepard of Sunrise Farm on Mindoir Colony, to any friendly ships in the vicinity."
The mechs were only about a hundred and fifty meters away now. David gripped her even tighter with a soft whimper and moved to hide behind her legs. "Mommy, I'm scared," he cried.
Sarah couldn't take her eyes off their inhuman faces; long and illuminated like an electric torch. A sick ball of dread lodged in her belly. Her eyes burned. It was impossible, she thought. They were impossible. This had to be a dream; some horrible nightmare she'd wake up from at any moment. No one had seen these things beyond the veil in decades.
"We are under attack," she forced herself to continue, voice barely wavering, as the enemy marched closer. "I think it's the Geth."