A/N: Well I'm back with another new story, hope you all enjoy. For those of you wondering, Runa is on Hiatus until further notice.
July 22, 2016 2:16 a.m. London, England
Captain Sam Thornton led his squad up to the side of the warehouse. He had his team stack up on the sides of the door, Naomi Vasquez, Marcus Griffin, and Sven Burke on the right and Mackenzie Singletery and Patel al-Shazir on the left. Sam stood in front with his point man, Damian Graves, the night shrouding them in darkness. Their Night vision goggles the only thing allowing them sight. He called out on coms.
"Rose, you see anything from your vantage point, over?" A response came a short time later.
"Negative boss, it's dead out here, moving up to your position. Over." With a nod, Damian slowly opened the door, and Sam trained his rifle ahead. He moved in slowly, followed by his team into the facility. The large space was filled with clutter, boxes strewn about every which way. A stairway on the far side led down into the basement. They checked their corners, spying nothing they moved as one, eyes always moving with their weapons. The stairs led down into more darkness. The facility was silent, not even the hum of machinery or the chirp of insects. Downstairs they found a few more computers, Sam nodded to Patel who took out a laptop and hooked up into the mainframe, he mined the data as the rest of the team began to explore the dark room. Damian spoke.
"Sam, this place is dead, is command sure this is the right place?" Sam nodded.
"There's gotta be something here, keep looking. Patel, scrounge up anything you can find, we're not going back empty handed." The team nodded and hunted. After several minutes of searching, Marcus shouted out.
"Got something!" He was running his hand along the wall, where a faint line could be seen. "Seems like this is sealed off from the rest, should be able to blow it boss." Sam nodded and stepped back, putting up a hand and extending a finger, telling the team to regroup on him. Marcus placed the charges as Patel packed up the laptop after extracting as much info as possible. The charges were set and Marcus got back to a safe spot. Sam trained his rifle on the door and the team followed his lead. Marcus blew the door, nearly deafening everyone in the room. They ignored the ringing and pushed up. A room sat behind the wall, lit with walkway lights. Two corpses lay under the rubble, having been killed by the C4 blast. Sam moved up, aiming every step of the way. The path led further down in a winding way. The thudding of footsteps could be heard coming up towards them and they prepared to deal with the threat. A small squad of three had spotted them, weapons in hand. Before they could even move, Sven, Sam, and Patel had sent out nine shots, three for each man and they fell in a heap. The crew sped up their pace, meeting no more resistance. The hall ended in a large room with a massive chamber in the center, consoles ringed it filled with people and guards. The chamber appeared to be glass and vents could be seen on the sides and top. Not wasting any time, Sam, Naomi, and Marcus opened fire, dropping guards quickly and sending staff to the ground. Naomi set up a firing position with her LMG on the left as Sam and Marcus flanked her, putting down suppressive fire. Damian took Mackenzie, Patel, and Sven to the right, laying down heavy fire. Rose mounted her anti-material riffle on a console in the back and picked off stragglers from afar.
The noise was incredible, the hail of gunfire never ending. However, it seemed to end as soon as it started, all the guards lying dead and Sam's team spotless. The remaining staff hid under their desks, only two were left that had not been caught in the crossfire. Patel hacked into the mainframe once again, searching for anything. Finding nothing, he dropped out until he noticed a console inside the chamber. He went in, flanked by the rest of the team. Patel hooked in and was greeted by a large holographic display. He stared in wonder as the machine began powering up. Lights flared and the door they entered slammed shut, sealing them in. They looked to see the two lab techs typing furiously at a console. In a rage, the team began to slam their weapons into the wall, hoping to make some sort of dent. The room began to cool quickly as they shouted louder and smashed harder. However, as the machine became louder, sparks began to fly and the techs were overcome with fear again. The console exploded, killing both techs as Sam and his team still beat on the glass. The world got colder as Damian let loose one final barrage of fury.
"You miserable rotten pathetic sacks of shit, I hope you rot in Hell!" Soon, the cold was overwhelming and then it all went black.
January 12, 2186 12:16 p.m. London, England
"Anderson, we need to get to the Normandy now!" Anderson nodded and let loose more shots from his Predator pistol. The Reapers had invaded; they'd crushed Earth's defenses in minutes and overwhelmed them just as quickly. John Shepard, born and raised in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania on Earth, joined the Alliance at eighteen, stationed at Elysium only to have it be attacked by Batarians. John Shepard, the man who constantly beat the odds. Having saved the colony nearly by himself, having taken down Saren and Sovereign, having gone through the Omega four relay and returned with his whole crew. John Shepard who had to destroy Bahak to buy more time from the Reaper invasion. The man who had been right all along, only now he was wishing he wasn't. In the end, it hadn't been enough time, London was burning before his eyes. A Reaper beam tore apart the platform they stood on, sending them careening into a pit. Their way blocked off, they hunted for a new direction, Anderson leading the way with Shepard in tow.
They followed a winding path they led down even further. Down the path, they found corpses, hundreds of years old, bones broken and missing. Anderson and Shepard followed the trail of bodies, some with weapons nearby, some with lab coats. Out dated terminals sat lifeless as the bodies but they looked not at them, but at the central chamber which housed eight life forms; eight humans. Soldiers from what Shepard could tell, but their gear had to be hundreds of years old, still using lead bullets and Kevlar body armor. Shepard went to a terminal and fiddled with the controls as Anderson stared at the group.
In front was a tall red headed man, his face a mask of fury and rage. His finger pointed towards the outside. Beside him stood a man with a short mass of chocolate colored hair and captain's bars on his chest slamming his rifle into the wall. A massive middle eastern man was taking aim at the wall with is rifle. A blonde woman helped a dark skinned man slam a rocket launched into the wall while a Hispanic woman and short brunette were pounding away with an LMG. Finally, one man stood with his arms crossed and head shaking as a cigarette sat in his mouth. He was tall and skinny, a marksman's rifle sat against the wall. Shepard spoke.
"Anderson! This is a cryo chamber! But it's ancient, like well below the tech of anything we're capable of now. This is gotta be one hundred and fifty years old, at least." Anderson nodded and tapped one final key. An alarm blared overhead and Anderson and Shepard took cover. They popped out when they saw that the chamber was unfreezing. After a few seconds, expletives and slams were all that could be heard as they carried out their ancient anger. Shepard hit a key and opened the door, the sound hitting both Anderson and Shepard all at once. They stood outside and said nothing. Everything seemed to slow down and they began to move towards the exit. The man with the captain's bars nodded his thanks at them.
"Much appreciated you two." Shepard was about to reply when seven weapons came up and pointed at him and Anderson. "Now you're going to tell me what the fuck is going on. Now!" The man screamed, his rage understandable. Anderson opened his mouth to talk but a massive explosion rocked the ground. The red headed man spoke.
"Sounds like a damn war going on out there." His shotgun never left Shepard's chest. Shepard spoke quickly but firmly.
"There is a damn war going on. The Reapers are back and are going to kill every single one of us if we don't get moving!" This seemed to pique their interests as the Captain spoke once again.
"Reapers? What the hell is a Reaper?" He asked. Shepard started but another explosion sent shockwaves through the ground. Anderson took charge.
"We'll explain later but right now we need to get the hell out of here!" The group looked to their captain who shrugged.
"As soon as we get clear, we're going to talk and I will get answers. Now, lead the way out of this hell hole." They nodded and headed back up the way they came, the rubble had been knocked aside and they moved out as a group of ten. As they moved, the soldiers of Jackknife squad met their first Reaper. They stared in awe before the dark skinned man mumbled
"Oh for fuck's sake." Shepard nodded as they made their way. Suddenly, another Reaper laser sheared through the ground, sending them sprawling in all directions. The laser turned to go in for the kill when the Normandy came screaming like a bat out of hell, distracting the Reaper. Its target changed, they made their way forward. Anderson spoke into the coms.
"Williams, what the hell do you think you're doing? Never mind, lose that giant piece of scrap and then meet us at the spaceport, we're on our way." There was a pause as Williams replied. Then Anderson spoke once more. "And thank you LC, you saved our asses. Anderson out." They made their way to the spaceport and came upon a wounded Marine and a medic dressing his wounds. The smell was horrific, charred flesh from a Reaper laser, no matter what the medic did, the man would die. The medic did everything he could, but they watched as the wounded man faded into death. Shepard came up behind the medic.
"You did everything you could soldier, that's all we ask for." The man shook his head.
"It wasn't enough, it won't be enough. We should've listened to you Shepard, god dammit we were so arrogant. We could've pre-" Shepard stopped the man.
"It doesn't matter now; you need to get to those that can still be saved." The man nodded and stood, doing a quick salute before grabbing the fallen Marine's Avenger and hustling back the way they had come. Before he left earshot, Shepard spoke again. "This isn't over you know, we can still win this war. Don't lose hope, don't ever lose hope." The medic nodded again and took off in a sprint. The group rounded a bend and saw Reaper ground troops. They were repulsive, with red and marred skin, four eyes and a face like a Batarian. Shepard wasted no time, putting two shots into the first one's head, Anderson followed suit, putting six shots down range into two more targets. Shepard turned to kill the last target when a metallic BANG! went off twice, the creature fell in a heap and Shepard turned to see the team Captain with his rifle in hand and aimed. The two shared a nod as they made their way forward to a radio that Anderson spoke into, he patched Shepard into the conversation finally.
"Normandy, do you read us? We're at the spaceport awaiting extraction right now." There was an explosion and then silence for a second before Ash spoke into the coms.
"We read you, we're en route now. Hold the spaceport and we'll be there when we shake this thing." Anderson nodded and said.
"Copy that." He turned to Shepard. "You heard her, we hold here" He turned to the Captain. "Then you get your answers." He nodded and motioned for his team to split up. The blonde woman drew a massive rifle from her back and hung around in the back, mounting it on fallen debris. In front of her was the tall, skinny man with the marksman's rifle. On the left side was the Captain, black man with their rifles and the Hispanic woman with the LMG. One the right was the red headed man with his shotgun, the Middle Eastern man with his rifle, and the short brunette with her small SMG. Shepard spotted an Avenger near the radio and picked it up, taking up position with the Captain on the left, Anderson posted up on the right, Predator in hand. Reaper troops rounded the bend, two falling to the ground and began to eat their fallen comrade. Shepard heard to his left from the woman with the LMG.
"That's disgusting." She turned to her Captain. "How come you don't ever take us anywhere nice Sam?" She smiled sadly and he returned it and he popped off a few rounds. More troops came from the bend, coving the ones that were munching on the dead. The air, already loud with the constant fighting, became deafening as everyone opened fire at once. Quickly, the tide of enemies slowed to a trickle, as did the torrent of bullets and heat sinks. The Captain dropped down to cover and shouted out. "Reloading!" The black man and Hispanic woman opened up, covering their leader, as did Shepard. In the distance, Shepard could see the Normandy, it never looked more beautiful than it did at that moment. Shepard put more shots down range as Joker yelled over the coms, firing two bursts from the Normandy's main gun.
"The Cavalry has arrived; you call for a pickup Shepard?" Shepard smiled as Joker opened up the cargo bay doors. Shepard tapped the Captain on his shoulder. "We're moving out, let's go." He nodded and rounded up his team as Shepard hopped onto the Normandy. The Captain, Sam, Shepard recalled his name, followed suit as did all of his team. Shepard called out to Anderson.
"Let's go Anderson, the fights out there." He shook his head and spoke.
"No Shepard, for me, the fights right here. London is my home and these people need a leader. Go to the Council and bring back a fleet Shepard." Shepard smirked.
"You can't order me anymore, I got grounded." Anderson smiled and drew something from his pocket. He tossed it to Shepard and said.
"Consider yourself reinstated, Commander." Shepard nodded and slipped on his holotags. He was about to speak when the blonde woman leapt back onto the main land. Sam shouted.
"Chambers, what the hell do you think you're doing?" The woman shook her head and spoke with a thick English accent.
"This is my home too boss, I'm staying." Sam sighed.
"I'm not going to be able to get you to come with us, am I?" the woman shook her head and Sam looked to Anderson. "I don't know you; I don't know what's going on but please, keep her safe." Anderson nodded and Sam confirmed it with a nod of his own. The woman, Rose, spoke one more time before the bay door closed.
"Who dares." She left the sentence hanging and Sam gave a small smile before saying.
"Wins. Give 'em hell Rose." She nodded and saluted, to which the rest of her team returned and the bay doors closed.
Shepard motioned for them to follow him further into the cargo bay, they were met by Ashley Williams and James Vega, both of whom wore battle armor and carried their rifles. Ashley nodded to Shepard.
"Shepard" he returned the nod.
"Ash" Shepard was about to speak again when his com buzzed, he brought it up on a nearby terminal and Saw Admiral Hackett, but it was fuzzy at best and nearly impossible to understand. Hackett spoke calmly but tinged with fear.
"Shepard, we've su-ined heavy losses, we can't beat them con-ntion-ly." There was a stream of static and then he said. "been researching a Prothean archives with Dr. T'soni… found a way to stop the Reapers….. only way to stop them." Another string of static that ended with "contact soon, Hackett out." The com dropped and Shepard hustled to the elevator with Sam's squad in tow as well as Ash and James. Everyone was looking at him and he stated.
"We're going to Mars. There's apparently some Prothean weapon that can help us with the Reapers there." Both James and Ash nodded but Sam and his team looked lost. Shepard looked to them as the elevator opened up on deck three. "You're all welcome to stay here, take the left all the way down and there's the Starboard Observation Room, you guys can stay there since we're maxed out on space in the crew cabin. Speaking of which, it's the door on the right before the Observation room, across from that is the ladies room. On the opposite side is the men's room on the right and Life support on the left. The far room is the Port Observation deck, which has a fully stocked bar and poker table as well. Behind the elevator on the left is my XO's office, whoever that may be and across from that is Dr. Chakwas's room, she's the medic of the ship. I'd recommend going to see her immediately, just to make sure everything is in order." Sam nodded and stepped out of the elevator with his team, heading for Dr. Chakwas's office. The doors closed and Ash gave Shepard a look.
"You talk to them like they've never been on a starship before." Shepard simply tapped the button for the armory and spoke into his coms.
"Joker, plot a course for Mars" Joker replied.
"Aye aye, but Shepard, what the hell are we going to Mars for?" Shepard spoke again.
"Hackett said there's some Prothean weapon thing to help us with the Reapers." At this, Joker just laughed. Shepard smirked and said. "And EDI, keep an eye on our new guests until we get back. Report to me as well if anything suspicious happens." EDI confirmed by saying.
"Of course, Shepard."
A/N: Would really appreciate a review and give suggestions for anything you'd like me to add into the story or change about the Mass Effect 3 story. I have some ideas but the more the merrier. As always, may fortune favor you.