Hello! And welcome to my first attempt at a Mass Effect Fanfiction. I just want to make a few notes before you begin reading.
The summary says suspense, but this story makes heavy use of elements of mystery and romance. One warning to the reader: THINGS MAY NOT BE WHAT THEY SEEM. Make assumptions, do some guesswork, and see if you're as good a detective as you think. Hopefully this will be enjoyable for both reader (you) and writer (me).
This story will have some heavy adult themes, so if you are uncomfortable with violence, harsh language, and suggestive sequences, I ask you to turn back now
I did not mention who was romancing who in the description as it is a BIG part of how the story unravels. Have fun reading and trying to figure out all the twists and turns out.
The story will be told primarily from various POV characters. The first passage is written differently to act as a sort of prologue.
Above all, thanks for reading! Enjoy!
Hammer Has Fallen
The holographic screen loses connection to the camera broadcasting from the war-torn battlegrounds of Earth. Admiral Hackett blinks once, not even flinching at the sight he has just witnessed, despite the implication; Earth may now be doomed. Admiral Hackett has no choice. Despite the deep feeling of terror and confusion stirred within the pit of his stomach, he had to keep his resolve about him, the slightest chink in his armor would alert the remaining soldiers that their chances of defeating the Reapers has likely dropped from slim all the way down to none. Hackett's sunken in eyes stare at the scrambled image a few moments longer, standing in defiance of the heavy purple bags that have formed directly beneath his eyes.
"Rewind the recording, begin at Hammer's final charge. Let's make sure we know what happened."
"Sir." The Alliance Engineer responded, pulling back the frame to near the beginning of the clip.
A view from a tall partially destroyed yet still standing skyscraper captures the battlefield well enough. To the far left tanks and gunships are emerging from the bombed out ruins of a previous battle. Infantry of all type surround the artillery. The scene is actually quite impressive. A vanguard of Asari, Krogan, Turian, Human, and a number of other races that you would not imagine working together side by side. The scene is impressive, until the entire picture is viewed. To the far right massive warships dwarf the allied forces of Human and alien that are standing opposed. The massive flagships known as the Reapers appear to take a defensive position around an intensely glowing blue beam that reaches well into the sky, past what the camera is able to capture.
The soldiers and officers who are looking upon the vid nearby but behind Hackett's position watch in strained silence, not daring to make a sound as the Admiral watches in quiet contemplation. Everyone knows what is about to occur even if they hadn't already seen it. The allied force is Hammer, sent to secure the beam to the Citadel in the hopes of discovering the means to activate the Crucible in time to destroy the Reapers and secure one last glorious victory for mankind, and all organic life throughout the galaxy...and they were about to be slaughtered mercilessly.
Hammer begins the charge regardless, the air in the room seems to leave all at once as everyone holds their breathe, hoping that this time watching will be different, that the first time their eyes were just playing tricks on them, that hope still remained because something had gotten by. They were quickly corrected courtesy of Harbinger. Massive red beams shot out from the mile long Reaper flagships, decimating whole flanks within seconds.
The charge continues, they cannot fail. We are depending upon them.
Another volley from the Reapers obliterates more of Hammer. Panic begins to spread among the soldiers as most of their gunships and tanks have already been destroyed. The few wounded still alive clutch critical wounds. Legs blown off, arms, flesh burned to the skeleton, the pained expression of brave soldiers failing to complete their mission is all captured in painful accuracy by the camera drone. Hammer is already less than half of what it was.
And yet they continue onward, maybe there's still a-
Another blast rocks the building that the camera drone is placed in, but it corrects its sighting and is now again looking at the devastation. A handful of Hammer still remains mobile and charging, they are getting close now. The CIC of the Admiral's flagship becomes heavy with pained silence and simple desperate, pleading, please-god-make-it-happen hope, and then...
The camera drone zooms in to catch a glimpse of a tall Human soldier leading the charge as he had been from the beginning. Clad in imposing black armor, and his head covered in a helmet, the only distinguishing feature that made everyone certain of who he was a silver and red insignia on his armor that clearly read "N7". Everyone in the CIC knew who the man was, the first Human Spectre needed no introduction. To the Alliance, he was already one of the most awe inspiring heroes to have ever been born. To enemies of the Alliance, he is known as one of the most terrifying and destructive forces in the Galaxy. Commander Shepard.
Boom.
About thirty soldiers remain, one tank, one gunship.
Boom.
No more heavy weapons, Shepard and two others, a Turian and an Asari narrowly escape the shrapnel from the recently exploded tank, the blast nearly killing them outright. Shepard uses the moment to radio someone, and shortly thereafter, an equally as well known Alliance frigate precariously enters the battlefield, hastily picking up the Asari and the Turian, Shepard opting to stay behind. The charge mercilessly continues.
Another shot burns a new divide in the already defeated Earth, what's one more scar to it now? Ten soldiers rush forward.
Boom.
Six...Four now...Three...
And one, the first Human Spectre, and the last man standing. He continues forward. This is it, he was going to beat the odds again. Shepard was unstoppable, not even death really stopped him, only slowed him down. The Leviathan's respected his might, Saren was forced to bow to his indomitable force of character, and the Collectors had already faced the full force of his fury. Suicide missions are what made Shepard the icon he is, the one spark left for humanity to end this war on the winning side, and he was almost-
Boom.
There...
It seemed to happen in slow motion. Harbinger, the Reaper leading the others fired once more, aimed for the only person left standing. It was accurate. The ground exploded at Shepard's feet, and the Commander seemed to disappear inside the beam. The resulting explosion finally destroyed the building in which the drone was perched. Chaos quickly became quiet. Remains, corpses, wreckage, and the last hope for organic life lay scattered about the battlefield...Hammer was defeated.
The screen went blank. Admiral Hackett spoke again, without taking his eyes from the monitor, a terrifying silence gripped the massive CIC in a death grip, there was nothing to be said except by the Admiral.
"Anything left of Hammer?"
"There are several reports of scattered forces with a small fraction of gunships and tanks still operational. All forces have gone into hiding for the time being. Some have ceased to respond to orders. They are demoralized." The same Alliance Engineer spoke in return.
"How did the Normandy make out?"
"It was shot down a few miles from the extraction point. Early reports say that there are survivors, and damage to Normandy is repairable with a supply drop."
"And Shepard?"
There is a strained silence before an answer. "No reports Admiral. The beam is still being heavily guarded, and with Hammer all but wiped out..."
"I understand." Hackett interjected, not needing to hear the fluff right now.
Silence still had the room in a choke hold, the darkened CIC seeming like a group of men and women now counting down to their respective dooms. Silent tears of rage and sorrow lurked within the dimly lit area, as well as nervousness, and a feeling of cold terror. A lieutenant suddenly steps forward, breaking the silence and speaking, hoping to get some direction from the Admiral.
"Sir, the Asari, Salarians, and Turians have all threatened to pull their forces from the fight and retreat to their respective home worlds. They seem to believe the war has already been lost...The casualties are massive."
"Negative Lieutenant, if we lose either of those three the war is lost. As long as we stand united we still have a chance of pulling this out of the hat."
"But sir, they've lost...We've lost the person who made them even come together in the first place. Without Commander Shepard..."
Hackett took a step back from the screen, turning his back to it for the first time and closing his eyes a moment. He exhaled a few times from his nose, the only sign that he was in the least bit perturbed by the events he just witnessed. The battle for Earth had only begun one day beforehand, and already they were on the brink of an overwhelming defeat. If they failed to activate the crucible, all advanced life in the galaxy ceased to exist. All families, children, schools, photos from home, memories, hope...It all would vanish. No pressure here at all.
"I want a team on the ground now. Best Infiltrator's we still have. If Shepard is dead I need to know, and if he's alive..." Hackett turns back to facing his original position. "He's going to finish this god damn war, and we are going to hurt these machines in ways they never feared they could be. Am I understood?"
The Lieutenant nodded.
"Good, now get to it."
Hackett turned to the Engineer now.
"Play it again..."
"Imagine you wake up, and your world is...Burning."
I see...A woman. Beautiful eyes, she has a certain air about her. She appears to be almost...Blue? No that can't be right, but yet it is. I blink, but my vision is still very fogged. What am I looking at? A picture of some sort maybe? The woman has something in her hand. What the fuck is that? Again, everything is so foggy...Why? I take a step forward.
Suddenly the woman is on fire. Where did that come from? Why is this happening? The flames spread until the shimmering blue woman is engulfed completely in the flames. My heart aches, badly, but I cannot determine why...This woman must be someone important, important enough for me to risk injury and reach for her. I lunge, trying to get a hold of her. I get close, almost there, just a little farther...
"You..."
I awake with a gasp. The sound is deafening all around as I sit up wide eyed like I had just had my head dunked in a pool of ice cold water. Where am I? I look around and see stone, cracked and corroded. I'm in a room, barely a room. The walls of the stone have large holes blasted through them, revealing the inner iron rods that support the buildings structure. To my left is a body...
I sit in silence for a moment.
To my left is a fucking body! What the hell is going on!?
The presence of the dead quickly shakes me from my deep sleep reverie and returns me fully to the awakened state. I look over to my right and start to put the picture together. I see three soldiers taking cover next to the largest hole in the building. The soldiers faces were marred with grime and sweat and blood, and if there was a physical representation of desperation, it was smeared upon them as well. Intermittently, one of the soldiers would peak from behind their cover and fire off a couple shots from their assault rifles, only to be greeted with a hail of return fire, causing them to duck back into cover. The sounds of battle are loud and obtrusive to my waking ears, but I shrug it off and try to rise to my feet.
One of the soldiers finally notices me moving about and screams over to me. "Hey look he's!..."
One of the other soldiers notices at the same time and places a hand on the soldiers shoulder, giving him a look. The other soldier who had just yelled toward me gives a nod back before looking to me again and screaming over the deafening noise of battle.
"Goodman! Get your ass over here! We need your help or we're not getting out of this hole alive!"
Goodman? I guess that was me. It's not like I was in a position to question it anyway. I got into a crouched position so as to not make my head a target for enemy snipers and worked my way over to the group of soldiers and entered cover, trying to avoid the flurry of shots that ripped through the hole in the cover ever so often.
"What's going on!?" I said
The soldier closest to me, his face marred by several scars, some new, some old, appraised me for a moment. "You must have hit your head harder than we thought Goodman! You're in the middle of the war to end all wars!"
I fell quiet as I tried to recall this war he mentioned. I could remember some things. I was a soldier for sure, I remember arriving here via ship and being assigned with some sort mission concerning securing some sort of foothold in the area. I could also recall who we were fighting. The Reapers.
"Shit...Yeah, I remember now." I said, finally realizing the graveness of the situation we were in.
"About time! Now, I don't suppose you remember being this squad's best marksman!? Because we could really use that right now!"
"I don't have.." I look down into my hands, and I silence myself. A rifle rests in my hands as if it was a part of me. Was that there this whole time? I observe the rifle a moment. I did not remember having this rifle, but somehow, implicitly I knew everything about it in my head. Mattock model X, heavily modified with illegal mods, advanced scope, extended barrel, piercing mod, omni-blade attachment. Damn, this thing was a beauty. I mean, judging by all the nicks, scratched paint, and dried splotches of blood, it had obviously seen some serious mileage, but it was still a beauty of a gun.
I nodded at the soldier in front of me and waited for the fire from the enemies beyond the wall to stop for a moment. As soon as it did, I peaked over the corner and quickly tried to acquire a target. I found it immediately. Charging toward our cover were some sort of half organic half synthetic creatures. They were...Wrong, they shouldn't exist. Their eyes were merely sockets, empty and soulless. Glowing blue cybernetics ran the length of their ravaged and tortured bodies. Sickening screams emanated from the abominations. Husks were the name of these creatures. Again an implicit understanding. For some goddamn reason I just was having issue remembering what seemed extremely basic. I shook off the feeling of uneasiness to focus back onto my targets.
I acquired targets and fired, the satisfying sound of a single Mattock round firing and finding its mark was heard after each pull of the trigger.
Ptchk! Ptchk! Ptchk!
That's how I would describe the sound of a Mattock round being released from the chamber. Husks fell with each shot of the rifle. I took a few moments of cover when the enemy would return fire from their ranged units farther down, and would pop back up again mechanically as soon as they stopped, using a projectile a piece to drop the Reaper forces.
The battle seemed even, but despite my help I could get a sense that not the entire squad would survive if they continued to press the attack. The volley of fire overhead stopped again, that was my cue. I popped out of cover and quickly dropped three husks, and when I went back to cover I was surprised not to hear immediate return fire. I looked to the other extremely weary soldiers and nodded before slowly lifting my head out of cover to observe. The field was being emptied by the Reaper forces that were able to use projectiles. It was as if they had just given up, or maybe they had gotten orders for a higher priority point. I did not give a rats ass why they were retreating, as long as they were giving the haggard and beaten down soldiers some time to rest, it was fine by me.
I stood up, silently watching as the remaining three soldiers asked each other about their wounds, and if they needed help treating them. I simply stood, staring at the mass wasteland stretching before me in rubble, blood, and broken bodies. I peered out over the landscape, and after only a few moments, the right words were coming to form on my lips. I uttered them in a whisper.
"London..."
One of the soldiers called from behind me. "Goodman, we need to get this crate of medical supplies to the field control center, it was our original mission, and a whole lot of civies are fucked if we don't get them back, and soon."
I nodded. Something felt off, like it wasn't supposed to happen this way. He acknowledged that they were in the biggest war that humanity had ever seen...But really, what the fuck hit me so hard that I couldn't remember my own god damn Name?
First chapter down, please let me know what you think. If you hate, if you love it, I want to know so I can improve.
Any questions feel free to PM me.