Eclipse

by jackkel dragon

Returning from the Terminus systems after years spent working for the Blue Suns, Hilda Gordon finds Earth in flames. In a few short hours Hilda finds her home destroyed and her life in danger. A desperate resistance bands together to win back their home, but their existance hangs by a thread as the Reapers wipe out the last remnants of hope. [Original Characters]

2183: Unidentified Hanger in Chicago, Earth

Hilda stared into the visor of the helmet. The blue paint was nearly black in the darkness of the hanger, leaving only the stylized sun painted in white plainly visible to her eyes.

The sound of small scurrying footsteps from the entrance caused Hilda to place the helmet on a crate and turn to see who was running to see her. Two children, a boy and a girl, grabbed her by each leg and held tight. She sighed as she recognized their faces and those of the man and woman following them.

"I have to go" she whispered gently to the children, her siblings. She frowned at her parents as they approached. "You didn't have to see me off."

Hilda's father crossed his arms. "You could at least say goodbye before you take the first ship out of Chicago."

"The sooner I'm gone, the sooner I'm back." Hilda looked down at her siblings, still clinging to her legs. "I'll be back. We won't have to live in the shelter anymore. I'm going to make it better, okay?"

"Come, children" whispered Hilda's mother. "We should go home before someone takes our space. Let's go."

The children reluctanly let go of their sister's leg and followed their mother obediantly as she led them out of the hanger. Hilda's father scoffed at the blue helmet that she reached to pick up.

"Blue Suns? You actually want to be with four-eyed freaks more than your own family?"

Hilda scowled. "Maybe if you weren't so useless to whatever gang of the month you run with, I wouldn't need to leave home just to support our family."

Her father opened his mouth to retaliate, then sighed. "I'm not going to argue with you again. Go ahead and get yourself killed. It's your life to ruin."

With that, he turned and left.

"Hey, you coming or not human?" called a voice from the Blue Suns ship. Hilda turned and saw a turian waiting impatiently on the loading dock. "We're prepping to launch. If you're coming, get in."

Hilda pulled her helmet over her head and latched it into place. "I'm coming."

---

2186: The Freighter Crossfire

Hilda looked out the sole window of the Crossfire as its krogan pilot brought it into its descent to Earth. After three years of mercenary work in the Terminus Systems, she was glad to be on her way home.

"We just got clearance to land at a port not far from where you want to go" noted the krogan, Gorath. "You have my two grand ready to go?"

"Ready as it'll be until we land." Hilda nodded. "I should go check on my partner, tell him we're here."

"Good idea. I've got some cargo to offload here, but I don't plan on staying long. I don't think a krogan is going to be welcome here for long." Gorath cracked a grin as he thought of the surprise the port authorities would have when they found out he wasn't quite the human his falsified ID claimed him to be.

Hilda turned and left the bridge and headed to the common area. Krylik, a turian and fellow member of the Blue Suns, was practicing his biotic lifting abilities with a stone he picked up on a previous mission. He palmed the stone and tucked it into a pocket as Hilda approached. "We there yet? This ship is cramped. I think I may have shrunk just trying to fit my bunk."

Hilda shook her head and grinned. "You don't have to worry about shrinking any longer. We're making the final approach to Earth."

Krylik nodded. "Good. To be perfectly honest, I didn't trust this Gorath to fly us here. Glad to know he pulled through."

"I can hear you" came the krogan's voice over the intercom. "Don't act like I'm not in the room."

"But... you're not." Krylik shurgged.

"Can it. I'm getting a wierd signal, I have to make sure it doesn't affect our landing."

Hilda frowned. "Wierd signal? That doesn't sound good."

"Is wierd ever good?" Krylik asked, making a sarcastic gesture.

The Crossfire shook violently just as Hilda was opening her mouth to respond. She fell and landed on the floor face-first before being pulled back into the wall by a shift in the artificial gravity. The breath knocked from her lungs, she collapsed to her knees and barely kept herself from smashing her head into the floor again.

Looking up, Hilda noticed that Krylik wasn't much better off. He rubbed his manidbles and gagged a bit. "Think I bit my tongue."

"What the hell is going on, Gorath?" Hilda yelled. She got up slowly, trying to compensate for the erratic gravity. While the worst was over, it still seemed to shift to Hilda's senses.

"Damn. What are those things?"

Hilda grabbed the wall with one hand and used it to keep her balance as she walked back to the front of the ship. She wished her helmet wasn't in her pack; she felt she was going to need it if the ship took any more damage.

Hilda almost fell when she looked out the window. She didn't need the krogan to point out the offending entity, though his hand did happen to be pointing out the window toward it. The thing was massive, and unlike anything Hilda had ever seen before. To her horror, she noticed that it wasn't alone. There were hundreds, maybe thousands of them.

And they were all rushing toward Earth.

Before Hilda could say anything to express her disbelief, some of them began to glow red. After a second or so, they fired beams that tore apart the orbital defense forces of the planet like paper. Others launched some sort of pods to the surface, and still more simply sped on while charging their weapons.

"Shit." Krylik responded. Hilda felt like her heart skipped a beat when she noticed he had followed her into the bridge.

Gorath lowered his arm, which had still been pointing at the monstrosity racing away from them. "Reapers."

"What?" Hilda looked at the krogan. "What are they?"

He took a deep breath. "Reapers. Some Alliance marine claimed they were going to take over the galaxy or something, that the Citadel attack three years ago was led by one. I thought it was just paranoia. How could anyone take someone like that seriously?"

Krylik let out a breath he had been holding. "Well, it's obviously not just some PTSD soldier's nightmare now."

There was silence as the three of them watched the Reapers attack Earth, ripping apart its defenses with alarming speed. A few Alliance ships slipped past the horde, but many were shot down trying. Even from space, the surface of the world began to burn.

"Take us in."

Krylik and Gorath turned to stare at Hilda. Krylik managed to speak first. "Are you insane? We're lucky they didn't notice us! We have to get out of here now!"

"Yeah, we're not going down there. Those things massacred dreadnaughts, I'm not taking chances here."

Hilda tried to push back the panic clawing its way into her heart. "I need to get down there. My family needs me."

Krylik grabbed Hilda by the shoulder. "We won't do any good dying in that warzone. Those things just destroyed a whole fleet in less than a minute!"

Shrugging off Krylik's hold, Hilda turned to Gorath. "I'll pay you ten times as much if you get me down there, Gorath. You can take off the moment I'm on the ground. I need to be there!"

"Money's not very useful to a pile of ash" Gorath noted.

The Carnifex heavy pistol pointed between his eyes kept him from continuing.

"No it isn't" Hilda conceded. "I need to get down there, Gorath. I didn't leave my family behind so I could come back to find their graves."

Krylik gaped in shock. "You're crazy, Hilda! We have to get out of here while we can!"

Gorath sighed. He shook his head at Hilda and grinned. "I've been looking for a bit of a challenge. I'm not sticking around once we land, though. Don't leave anything behind."

"You too now?" Krylick looked between Hilda and Gorath. "Spirits. You two are going to get us all killed."

Hilda holstered her pistol. "I'm sorry, Krylik. I wasn't expecting to come home to this. You should get out of here with Gorath when he leaves."

Gorath turned back to the Crossfire's controls and began his descent to the increasingly violent planet below. Hilda ran to get her pack and helmet ready. Krylik sighed deeply and shook his head. "This was not how I pictured my day starting."

"I think a lot of people are thinking that right now" Gorath replied. "Hold tight. We're going in hot."

---

Chicago, Earth. Zero Hour of Reaper Invasion

The smell of charred flesh and burning rubble choked Hilda, even through her helmet's filter. She hung precariously from the Crossfire's loading ramp's railing, trying to keep her breath steady while taking in the devastation of her home. Reapers had begun to land on the surface and crawl over helpless people while shooting lasers at those who tried to escape in shuttles. The larger Reapers grabbed hold of skyscrapers, crushing them in their grip while blasting away the Alliance vehicles attempting to defend the city.

A beam passed by the Crossfire as it dove into a hangar, barely missing the edge of the ship. Hilda could feel the energy from the blast even after it had passed, causing an involuntary shiver.

Hilda jumped down to the floor of the hanger as the ship touched down. She pulled her Avenger assault rifle from its magnetic holster and inserted a termal clip.

Krylik, his helmet on and his Eviscerator shotgun at the ready, jogged down the loading ramp. "Hey, you're not going into a warzone alone."

Shaking her head, Hilda trained her weapon on the hanger door. "You don't need to follow me, Krylik. This is my home, my family to save."

"That may be so" came Gorath's voice as he followed Krylik down the loading ramp. "But we're not going anywhere while those things are swinging their lasers. It's actually looking safer to be on foot than in the air right now."

Hilda sighed and turned back to Krylik and Gorath. "This is about to be a warzone, you should at least hide in this hanger until things quiet down."

Gorath shook his head. "It's not going to quiet down anytime soon. Might as well do something useful." He pulled a Vindicator from its holster and pointed at the hangar entrance. "Let's get going."

Holding in an exasperate sigh, Hilda relented. "Keep your weapons ready." She waved her hand over the haptic interface of the door. It turned red and blinked out, leaving the door only partially open. Hilda Shoved her weapon inside and used it as a crowbar, prying the door open enough to squeeze through.

While the others pushed the door further open, Hilda surveyed the docking area the hangar door led into. It was abandoned, and looked like it had been for a while. The ceiling had begun to crumble, and the violence outside was causing dust and rubble to fall.

Hilda moved toward the front gate of the dock and took cover behind a pillar. She waited for Kyrlik and Gorath to catch up before running to the gate and pushing it open.

A humanoid shape knocked Hilda to the ground before she could get the gate all the way open. Pain shot from her shoulder as the thing bit hard on its victim.

A mechanical screech filled the large docking area as more figures ran past Hilda. She reached for her fallen Avenger with her free arm, seeing one of the things fly away from a biotic blast.

Jamming the assault rifle into the creature's side and smashing down on the trigger, Hilda managed to push the thing off her. She resisted the urge to grab her bleeding shoulder, instead hitting the creature again with the side of her rifle.

Hilda almost lost her grip on the rifle when she saw what she was fighting. It looked vaugely human, but horribly gaunt and stripped of all clothing. Instead, glowing wires and machines held the monster together.

It shrieked with its horrible robotic voice, and Hilda immediately shot another burst of gunfire at it. Taking the shots in its chest, it appeared to collapse, hopefully dead.

Hilda heard more shrieks from the other monsters and turned her weapon on the gate. A look over her shoulder told her that Gorath and Krylik had managed to kill the rest of the first wave. She ejected her thermal clip and loaded a new one, waiting for the next group.

"These things look like zombies from those human apocalypse vids" Krylik shouted over to Hilda.

"Keep focused, more are coming!" Hilda yelled back. As if on queue, more of the robotic creatures ran through the half-open gate into the docking area. This time, combined fire from the three inside the building took them all down before they could attack anyone.

"Let's go before more get here" Gorath suggested, swapping thermal clips. "I don't want to be trapped in a place like this when the next horde arrives."

Hilda nodded and squeezed through the gate. She briefly wondered how the things had managed to get through so easily, but decided to focus on finding her family instead.

"We need to get to the shelter on 51st street." Hilda looked around for any landmarks that hadn't been destroyed already. "It should be... this way" she pointed at a familiar intersection. "Let's go!"

Krylik lifted a piece of rubble from the street with his biotics and tossed it aside. "Lead the way."

Hilda broke into a jog, trying to move as quickly as possible without tiring herself. In the distance, she heard more robotic screams under the sound of the Reapers' destruction of the city.

Old memories rose to the front of Hilda's memory as she raced through the city. Her first gang fight, her first kiss, her first kill...

She was forced back into the present as a horde of the robotic zombie-like creatures leaped over a pile of rubble at her. Behind them, a pair of mechanical monsters that resembled batarians aimed shotguns at her.

Hilda slid into cover, three years of combat experience in the Terminus systems coming to her rescue. She unloaded a clip into the humanoid monsters as she slid, taking one of them down before she had to duck and swap clips.

Krylik threw a biotic blast at one of the batarian-like things and tore it apart on a molecular level. The other, unfazed, unloaded a shotgun blast into Krylik's leg. Blood spat from the wound as Krylik cried out.

The shotgun-wielding monster didn't have time for another shot. Gorath blasted its face off with a well-aimed burst from his Vindicator before turning the weapon on the other creatures. He tossed a kit at Krylik. "Slap some medi-gel on the wound!"

Leaving Kyrlik and Gorath to the first wave of zombies, Hilda trained her weapon on a new group coming from the other side of the street.

Before she could fire, several of the creatures fell dead. A quartet of soldiers in Alliance colors ran up to mop up the rest. Behind them, a half dozen civilians carrying second-rate weapons tried to keep up despite most of them being badly hurt from burns.

Recognizing one of the civilians, Hilda stood from cover and gunned down the last of the creatures. She lept over her cover and ran to the group of humans fleeing the horde.

"Dad!" Hilda unfasted and pulled off her helmet with one hand, cringing as the shoulder muscle screamed in pain.

For a moment, there was only a confused stare from the group. Then, one of the men stepped forward. "Hilda?"

Hilda peeked over her shoulder to make sure that Gorath and Krylik had finsihed fighting. Asured that it was clear for the moment, she ran to her father. "Where's everyone else?"

"You know her?" asked one of the marines, who was busy swapping thermal clips on his assault rifle.

"She's my daughter, Jackson." The man looked Hilda in the eyes. "No one else made it, Hil. Your mother stopped to help Nathan when he tripped..." he trailed off, a pained look in his eyes.

"Damn it." Hilda turned around, feeling the urge to hit something. "God damn it."

"Not to be overly alarmist here, but we're dead too if we don't find a safe place to hide" yelled the soldier who seemed to be leading the group.

"We have a place over in the docks a few streets down" noted Gorath. "We have a ship, too. But not big enough for everyone, and too much chaos to get out."

"Anything's better than the open" the soldier responded.

Hilda put her helmet back on to hide her despair. Surely others in this group had lost loved ones too. It wasn't the time to break down. "Follow me." She reloaded her thermal clip and waved on the rest of the group. The soldiers seemed reluctant to follow a stranger, but the civilians were ready to follow anyone promising safety at this point.

Krylik caught up to Hilda as she led the group. "What do we do now?"

Hilda pointed ahead with her weapon, holding back tears to keep her voice level. "We get back to the Crossfire. Until we're safe, nothing else matters."

---

Crossfire Hanger in Chicago, Earth. 4 hours after the Reaper Invasion.

Hilda held back a grunt as pain shot through her shoulder. Gorath was trying to be gentle while applying the medigel, but his bulky arms made it difficult to judge how much pressure to apply to Hilda's wound. Krylik sat a few meters away, wrapping a treated bandage on his leg wound. The Alliance soldiers were also hard at work, patching themselves and the civilians up.

One of the marines walked over to Hilda with her father close behind. "I hate to admit it, but you did a better job getting us out of that hellhole than I could. Private Jackson." He extended a hand. Hilda shook it with her good hand. "Matthias told me you served with the Blue Suns. Is that right?"

"Correct." Hilda flinched as the Gorath slapped the last of the medigel onto her wound.

"Our CO got killed when we ran from the Reapers and husks" Jackson indicated his remaining teammates. "No one left is above the rank of Private. The others want you to lead us now."

Hilda pulled her shirt over the sealed medigel around her shoulder and handed Gorath the medical kit. "Me? I led mercenaries, not trained soldiers. And I wasn't much higher up in the ranks in the Blue Suns than you are in the Alliance."

Jackson shrugged. "Just wanted to let you know."

"There's another thing, Hil." Matthias edged in front of Jackson. "We're not going to survive without supplies, even if we can hide here until the Reapers leave."

Gorath looked up at Jackson as he packed away the medical supplies. "Don't you have some sort of shelters filled with supplies in case of emergencies?"

"We weren't ready for the attack" Jackson snapped back. "We don't have nuke shelters like you might have on Tuchanka."

Gorath shook his head. "Pays to be prepared."

"What do you want me to do about it, dad?" Hilda directed at her father. "I've been away for three years. I don't know where I can look for survival supplies."

Matthias stroked his chin. After a long silence, he seemed to come up with something. "I'll bet Valana might have backup supplies."

"Woah" Jackson held up his hands to reinforce his confusion. "Slow down. Who's Valana? It doesn't sound like a human name to me."

"She's not human. Or at least no one thinks she is." Matthias scratched his head, trying to come up with a way to explain. "She hasn't shown her face to anyone, she works through a salarian proxy and audio communication. The few people that met her said she's a biotic, too."

"Maybe an asari?" Gorath suggested. "What I want to know is why a salarian and an asari are on Earth."

"She's a... well..." Matthias stumbled. "I suppose you could call her a black market dealer. She sells contraband and stolen goods."

"What kind of goods?" asked Hilda.

"Weapons, food, drugs. That sort of thing." Matthias muttered.

Jackson sighed. "Well, is this black market dealer close by? I'm not going all the way through the city for a potential dead end."

"She's not far from this place, I think." Matthias looked to Hilda. "You remember the Akuze Memorial, Hil? Valana's proxy usually hides out in the subway there when he's not with Valana."

"What if he's already left to find shelter?" Hilda asked, not liking the increasing risk of the situation.

"Then we're stuck with nothing but what we might find down there." Matthias looked around. "We have to do something."

Jackson shook his head. "I'll go tell the others. If they're willing to risk it, we'll see what we can find."

While Jackson and Matthias walked over to the others to explain the plan, Krylik limped over to Hilda. "Sorry about your family, Hilda." He slumped into a sitting position on the wall. "Shitty way to come home."

Hilda took a seat across from Krylik, rubbing her face to hide her momentary shudder of pain. She had been pushing her family's death aside while helping the others get to safety, and now the pain was threatening to rise to the surface again.

"If I'd come home a day earlier, I'd at least have been able to see them one last time." Hilda choked on a sob.

"We'll make those things pay, Hilda." Krylik tapped on a Claymore shotgun he had found in the streets. "Husks, cannibals, Reapers, whatever they call them. We'll kill them."

Hilda nodded slowly, more for Krylik's benefit than out of agreement. She could imagine the faces of her family as they died, burned away to nothing or torn apart because she was too late. Hatred for the machines that killed them began to burn inside her mind.

"I'm counting on it."

---

Akuze Memorial in Chicago, Earth. 18 hours after the Reaper Invasion.

Hilda peeked out from her cover and looked through the scope of the Mattock rifle one of the Alliance marines had lent her. Down the street, she could see the remains of the Akuze Memorial. She didn't remember any of the names on the list, but apparently one of the soldiers had been born in Chicago. It would remain a mystery to her now: the wall of names had been reduced to rubble, likely by the large brutish husks and their cannibal allies loitering around the area. Behind them was the only entrance to the subway under the memorial that hadn't been collapsed.

"I've got good news and bad news" Hilda whispered to Jackson, who was standing with his back to the wall and his weapon at the ready behind her. "There's an entrance that didn't get collapsed yet. But there's also some nasty looking husks and a bunch of cannibals guarding it."

"Nasty-looking?" Jackson asked. "Can you be more descriptive?"

Hilda tried to focus on one of the husks. "It has a sort of turian head, but it looks twice as big as a krogan."

"Damn. Brute." Jackson tapped his belt and pulled out a few grenades. "We'll need grenades for those, I'll bet."

"How do you have names for these things already?" Hilda asked, pulling back behind the wall and out of sight of the Reaper forces. "They attacked yesterday."

Jackson held up some sort of device that Hilda didn't recognize, but looked sort of like a radio. "Emergency communicator. I've been using it to listen in on Alliance broadcasts. I'd call for backup, but I think the Reapers have been tracking down whoever uses these things. I get fewer messages by the hour."

"You could have mentioned that earlier." Hilda scowled.

"It didn't seem important to let you know about something that wasn't really helping us."

"Knowing we could have just asked for someone with supplies to meet up with us might have been a good idea, you know."

"If you heard half the things I have about these Reapers, you'd be careful too." Jackson retaliated. He sighed. "Look, take some grenades. I'll tell everyone we found an entrance."

Hilda accepted the grenades Jackson offered reluctantly, watching him run off to get the others. She attached the explosives to her belt and adjusted her helmet. After a few minutes, Krylik and Matthias joined her at the wall, and the rest of the group began to creep over from their hiding spots.

"We've got two brutes and about a dozen cannibals between us and the subway" Hilda informed the group. "Focus fire on the brutes until they go down, then make a break for it. Hit the cannibals if they leave cover, but don't take too long trying to clear the area. We don't know how many more husks might be nearby. We want to be inside the subway and behind a gate long before any reinforcements arrive."

A collective nod went through the group, some more apprehensive than others. There was roughly one cannibal for each person, but the brutes tipped the odds against them. The risk was not lost on the untrained civilians holding second-rate equipment.

"Jackson, you and the other marines will go in first with me." Hilda gestured for the marines to get into position. "Krylik and Gorath, stay back and make sure the civilians get through safely."

"Ready to go" Krylik responded, nodding.

"We're ready too" Jackson noted, tensed to leap from behind cover at the Reaper forces.

Hilda nodded. "Let's do this. Stick together and make a run for the subway at the first chance you get. Go!"

The marines jumped out from their cover, weapons blazing. Jackson flung a grenade with his free hand as he began to run. Hilda darted to a collapsed pillar, firing at the brute closest to her.

Behind her, she heard the burst of a Vindicator and felt the discharge of a biotic blast and a cannibal aiming at her collapsed to the ground. A marine next to her wasn't so lucky, and his head splintered from a heavy blast.

The first brute went down, wailing with agony. The noise sent vibrations through Hilda's skull, throwing off her aim and allowing a cannibal to dive for cover.

The other brute, seemingly angered by the death of its comrade, leaped forward with more speed than Hilda expected from its bulky form. It grabbed a marine in its giant hand and smashed him into the ground several times before flinging his corpse. Hilda ducked for cover too late, and the body slammed into her. She skid on the street, rubble tearing into her armor.

Hilda fought the momentary shock and tried to push the gory mess off her, mindful of the bullets flying past her. Once that was done, she realized that she had lost her grip on the Mattock and that the marine's weapon was mangled beyond use.

Before she could find another weapon, her mind split from a horrific noise. She clutched her head, trying to focus through the sound. It came again, louder this time.

When Hilda opened her eyes again, the morning light was gone. It was as if night had suddenly decided to envelop the street. She looked up and felt like her heart had stopped.

A Reaper had arrived.

Perched above the memorial's remains, the Reaper blocked out the little sunlight that had managed to shine into the street. It was charging its beam to fire.

Hilda panicked. She scrambled to her feet and started to run toward the subway entrance. She lost her balance and fell almost instantly, smashing her face into the street. She pushed herself back up, ignoring the blood she had left on the ground.

The street was turning into an execution pit. Another dozen cannibals and twice as many normal husks charged in from all sides. Hilda noticed that some of the civilians had already fallen from the combined fire of the husks, and those still moving were not unscathed.

Jackson and the other living marine were holding their ground at the subway entrance, waving on the surviving civilians. Hilda saw Gorath leap down the stairs and turn to help in the defense.

Hilda started to run toward them, but then remembered her father and Krylik were still behind her. She spun around, nearly tripping herself. Krylik was only a few meters away, backing toward the subway. He was shouting something, but Hilda couldn't hear him. She realized her ears were ringing.

Even in her half-deaf state, she heard the blast from the Reaper's beam as it hit the street. The world shook under Hilda's feet, knocking her to the ground.

Krylik grabbed her arm and pulled her up, pushing a pistol into her hands. He shoved her toward the subway and shouted something. Hilda tried to look back, seeing her father helping another civilian limp toward them.

Another Reaper beam disintegrated them in an instant. Hilda was too numb to react, instead letting Krylik shove her over to the stairs to the subway entrance.

Once there, Hilda's focus began to come back to her. Still not able to make out much sound, she tried to gesture to Jackson to tell him there was no one left to stay for. He seemed to understand, because he turned and ran down the subway stairs.

Hilda followed him quickly, aware of bullets passing close to her as the cannibals tried to kill them. She ran to the gate and pulled one half of it closed. Once Krylik was past the gate, he pulled the other side closed and Hilda locked it.

"I'm going to cave in the entrance with a grenade" she heard Jackson say, albeit more quietly than he likely said it. He tossed the explosive at the gate and everyone ran down the subway.

An explosion and the sound of rubble falling indicated that the cave-in had worked. Hilda could barely stand up after the encounter with the Reaper, and grabbed a railing separating the loading ramp to the subway tracks to keep her balance.

"How many did we lose?" She asked, already suspecting the answer.

"It's just your team, me, and Jackon" replied the marine Hilda didn't know the name of.

"Fuck." Hilda felt her legs give out, only keeping herself from collapsing by using the railing to slide to a sitting position.

"That Reaper came out of nowhere!" Krylik yelled. "How'd it know we'd be there?"

"It probably didn't know we were here." Gorath noted. "It just happened to be nearby."

Jackson tossed his assault rifle aside and slumped down next to the wall. "And it certainly managed to smash us like ants. How do we fight that?"

"Bigger guns and a lot more than a single med kit" Gorath grumbled as he pulled out his med kit. "Who needs medigel? I've got enough for each of us to get a little."

Hilda began to notice that she had been shot in the hip, making it painful to sit in the position she had slumped into. She tried to move to a more comfortable position, but managed to strain the wound further, causing her to grunt with pain.

"I've got a flesh wound to the hip" she noted.

Gorath moved over to her and started to apply the medigel. Jackson patted himself down, checking for wounds. "Nothing here. Doesn't matter though. We're stuck underground with no supplies or backup now."

Hilda gasped as the medigel sealed on her wound. Gorath stood up. "Done. Krylik, you need some gel?"

"I'll take some." Krylik held his side as a small stream of blood trickled out.

Hilda stood up slowly, testing to make sure her legs held. "As soon as we're patched up, we need to get going."

"Going where?" Jackson asked.

"Valana. We need to find help if we want to live."

"Matthias was supposed to help us find her, and now he's dead!" Jackson snapped.

"That doesn't change that we'll die down here unless we get help." Hilda stretched her shoulders and wiped some blood off her face. She realized her helmet must have fallen off in the chaos. "We move on."

Jackson shook his head and stood up. "Fine. Not like Mason and I have anything else to do."

The marine apparently named Mason nodded. "Finding Valana's salarian friend is sounding like a good idea right now."

Gorath closed up his med kit, watching the exchange. "I think we're all ready to find this guy and his boss, but we don't know where to look."

Hilda pointed at the collapsed entrance. "I think there are enough collapsed passages to narrow down our choices. Let's just hope the one we need is still open."

Krylik pulled his armor back over the medigel covering his wound as he rejoined the group. He looked up at Hilda. "Lead the way."

---

Subways under Chicago, Earth. 26 hours after the Reaper Invasion.

Hilda punched the wall of the subway, cursing under her breath. "Another dead end."

Mason rounded the corner of the passage and nodded at the pile of rubble obstructing the tunnel. "We're not going that way anytime soon."

"We've been down here for hours" Jackson moaned, the light from his rifle's flashlight waving around the passage as he thrashed his arms in frustration. "Why did we even agree to this plan? Were we so desperate to expect that this salarian would still be down here?"

"If you have a better plan, let me know" Hilda replied, brushing past him. "It was your idea to cave in the entrance, so we're trapped down here until we find an exit anyway."

Krylik studied the pile of rubble. "There's not as much debris here as the other cave-ins. Maybe we could dig through here?"

"If you have a few hours to spare, go ahead" Gorath snarked. "I'm not going to stop you."

"Maybe we don't have to." Krylik charged a biotic blast and flung it at the rubble. Hilda wasn't an expert on biotics and dark energy, but she expected the rubble to shake from the impact.

"You even trying, Krylik? That didn't do anything."

Krylik tilted his head at the rubble. "That should have done something." He charged and flung another blast at the debris, with the same lack of effect.

Mason stepped toward the rubble pile and tried to place his hand on one of the chunks. Instead of the debris stopping his hand, it appeared to disappear behind the stone.

"We may have found a hidden entrance" he noted.

Hilda moved back over to the cave-in and reached out at it. She felt no debris, even as her hand passed through the chunks of stone. "You're right. This must be a projection of some kind."

Gorath checked the thermal clip on his Vindicator. "I wonder who's hiding in this lovely corner of the world. And how much they like visitors."

Jackson frowned. "Not much, if they went through the trouble to fake a cave-in."

Hilda brought her pistol to a ready position and waved everyone on. "Let's go in. But be ready for an unfriendly welcome."

"I'm really wishing I learned to make a biotic barrier." Krylik held up his weapon. "My shield's not up to this kind of thing."

Hilda walked through the illusory cave-in, ready for trouble. Once she was past the projection, she pointed her flashlight around the passage, but found nothing of note. The rest of the group began to follow her through.

"I don't like this" Jackson muttered.

"You don't belong here." A figure appeared out of the darkness, seemingly materializing out of the air. "Valana owns this area. You'd do well to turn back before she makes it her goal to evict you."

Hilda stepped toward the figure, lowering her weapon slightly. She noticed the newcomer was salarian in form. "We're looking for Valana. Do you work for her?"

The figure stepped back from Hilda, keeping itself cloaked in shadow. "You actually came to find Valana? What could you want from her?"

"We need food and supplies." Hilda gestured to the passage they had passed through. "We just lost half a dozen people to the Reapers on the way here."

"A foolish and risky move" the figure noted. "What makes you think that Valana would be willing to help you? She has to look out for her own in this time of crisis."

"What about a trade?" Hilda suggested. "We'll help defend Valana's people if she gives us the supplies to do it."

The figure stood in silence for a moment. "I suppose this isn't the time to stand divided when we can band together. However, you'll have to convince Valana yourself. I can only promise you a audience, nothing more."

"That's fair."

The figure nodded. "Right then. My name is Genat Vik." He stepped out of the shadows into the flashlight illumination. "Who am I introducing to Valana?"

"I'm Hilda" Hilda pointed at Krylik. "This is Krylik."

Krylik nodded. "Last I checked, anyway."

Gorath stood forward. "Gorath."

"Uriah Mason" replied Mason.

Jackson stepped forward and lowered his weapon. "Russel Jackson. You going to show us where your boss lives?"

"Yes." Genat waved them on. "Follow me. I'll take you to her right away."

---

Valana's Hideout under Chicago, Earth. 27 hours after the Reaper Invasion.

"I heard that Genat was bringing some visitors" spoke Valana, walking into the abandoned subway station the group had been led to. Her tattered dress seemed to clash with her apparent success in the underworld. "Hilda, Krilik, Gorath, Uriah and Russel, correct?"

"That's right" Hilda responded when no one else spoke up.

"And you want my help, hm? Are you not aware that I already have a few dozen refugees taxing my limited resources, entirely free of charge? Do you think I can support more? I'm pushing my generosity as it is."

"We can help protect this place against the Reapers" Hilda replied.

"So you say." Valana walked a circle around the group, looking into each person's eyes. There was no doubt she was an asari, as her blue skin and head tentacles could be made out in the dim light of the room. "Yet you say you lost six people on your way here."

"Eight." Jackson looked away from Valana the moment after he spoke up. Valana smirked and shook her head at the interruption.

"Eight dead. And there's five of you left. I don't see why I'd want to hire a group of mercenaries that can't even keep up half its number."

"We're not just mercenaries" Hilda began. "Mason and Jackson are trained marines, Krylik is a biotic, and Gorath is a krogan. The men and women we lost were mostly civilians, minus the two soliders with them."

"I still see only five of seven trained soldiers alive, in that case." Valana toyed with her dress as she spoke. Hilda noticed that under the tatters was a full suit of body armor, tinted blue to appear as flesh. "With only so many here, I'd like to limit myself to people who can get everyone out alive."

"Not everyone's going to survive an attack from a Reaper." Hilda stepped forward. "We fought a Reaper to get here, and we barely made it away alive. I'd like to see you get as many people out of that kind of situation as these 'mercenaries' did."

Valana smiled. "A Reaper? Not just the little monsters they churn out?"

Hilda nodded. "There were plenty of those, too. But it was a full Reaper that got most of our group."

Valana paced, playing with her dress again. "I'm starting to like what I hear. But I can't just let you join my little band of friends just yet." She held up a hand to quell any response. "Listen to me before you speak, please.

"You can keeps yourselves alive, but that only goes so far. I know little about the Reapers, but I do know that they aren't going to be any good for my business, or even my continued existance. If you want my supplies, you'll have to help me evict the Reapers from Chicago, one by one if need be."

"That's a tall order" Krylik noted.

"It is. So far, not much has been able to damage them, much less destroy them. However, I intercepted an Alliance broadcast saying that air strikes and orbital bombardment are effective against the smaller ones when they charge their beams."

"You have a plan for getting that kind of firepower?" Jackson asked.

"I do, actually. But that's getting ahead of ourselves." Valana pulled a datapad out of the folds of her dress. "There's a storehouse nearby, but it's been overrun by those little robot zombie things. Secure the supplies there for my little resistance, and you'll have your share and a chance to join me as I rid the city of these Reapers."

Hilda took the datapad and looked around at the others. "Who's in?"

"Got no where else to be." Krylik shrugged.

Gorath nodded. "Not getting back to the Crossfire until we have a clear path back, and no Reapers would be a nice start."

"Mason and I are in too" Jackson noted. "Taking down a Reaper or two will make it easier for the Alliance to mop this up."

"We're all in, then." Hilda reached out a hand to Valana, who shook it enthusiasticly.

"Excellant. I'm looking forward to seeing those supplies. With them, we'll be able to plan out how to kill these robo-squids."

---

Unidentified Storhouse in Chicago, Earth. 33 hours after the Reaper Invasion.

Hilda switched on the night vision of her new helmet and surveyed the street behind the group. "We're still clear, for the moment." She walked back over to the side door of the storehouse, which was being hacked by Gorath. "Any progress?"

"I'm not exactly an expert on hacking" Gorath muttered. "But I think we should be in soon. Give it a minute or so. Can't promise the building's alarm won't go off, though."

"Which means fighting those husks swarming the main gate, most likely." Jackson kicked a piece of rubble aside. "How does Valana plan to get the supplies out of here when the Reapers find out we're here?"

"If she's going to keep secrets, she needs to deal with the consequences." Hilda stepped forward. "I don't like this either, but we're not being given much choice at the moment."

"We're in." Gorath stood up and yanked his hacking apparatus from the door. "We'd better get moving."

"Right." Hilda tapped the flare gun on her hip. "Let's hope Valana's extraction plan was better planned than the infiltration strategy."

"I'll breach." Krylik charged a biotic blast and held it. "If there's no hostiles, we'll make a break for the floor with the supplies. Twenty-seven, right?"

"That's right." Mason checked his thermal clip. "Ready to go."

"Alright." Hilda signaled Krylik. "If it's still intact, the main stairwell will be on the far side of the room. Breach."

Krylik opened the door and tossed his biotic blast into the entryway. A hiss sounded as a husk in the building heard the impact, and more joined it as it ran to the door.

"Go!" Gorath yelled, decapitating a husk with a burst from his rifle. Hilda gunned down another one and ran through the door.

Inside the building, dozens of dead workers littered the floor. There was dried blood everywhere, tinting the floor dark red. Some sort of spears had been set up around the room as well, where impaled corpses looked half-altered into husks.

Hilda pulled out a grenade and tossed it at the nearest clump of spears. She didn't wait for it to explode, instead racing for the stairwell.

Another husk fell from a biotic burst. Hilda shot down an ambitious husk that had climbed a crate to jump on her, its corpse nearly falling on her.

Reaching the stairwell, Hilda turned around and shot at a group of husks. "Hurry up!"

Gorath was being held by two husks that had jumped down onto him. He managed to punch one off with his free hand, splintering its arm. He took the severed arm and used it to swat off the other one, shooting a burst of rifle fire into it to be sure.

Mason was gunning down husks quickly with his Tempest submachine gun. The ones that got close were quickly blasted by Krylik's biotic powers.

Jackson had nearly reached the stairwell when he slid to a stop and stared past Hilda. "Brute!"

Hilda spun around to see the monstrosity lash out with its giant hand. She stepped back too late, and it scooped her up and began to tighten its grip. Hilda tried to shoot at it, but with only one hand on the rifle she couldn't aim well enough to hit the brute.

The pressure around Hilda's chest suddenly disappeared and the brute flailed about wildly. Hilda landed on her back, the wind knocked from her lungs. She pulled a grenade from her belt as quickly as she could and chucked it at the reeling monster.

Realizing she was in the blast radius, Hilda rolled away a few meters and stood up just in time to be thrown off-balance by the explosion. A husk jumped at her, but was pulled away by a biotic power.

"The brute's down, get to the stairs!" yelled Gorath, shoving Hilda forward. She joined him as they ran back to the stairwell.

They began the long climb up the stairs, turning to shoot at the husks that followed them every few seconds.

"I sure am glad all the stuff we need is twenty levels up!" Krylik gasped. "I didn't sign up for a marathon."

"Quit whining and shoot the damn husks!" Jackon retorted, emphasizing his point by gunning down a husk that had been charging up the stairs.

The stairwell kept going, and the group kept up the pace for another few minutes. At the floor they had been told to find, Hilda shoved the broken doorway open. "Everyone get through!" She psuhed her back against the door so she could continue shooting husks as she held it open. "I'll cover you."

Krylik was the first one in, racing away from the horde of husks. Jackson and Mason followed soon after. Gorath stood next to Hilda, gunning down husks with well-placed bursts.

"Get in and we can shut the door on them" Hilda shouted.

Gorath ducked in the doorway after blasting the leg off one more husk. Hilda followed him, letting the door slide back shut. To her dismay, it didn't return to its nearly-closed state.

"Damn it. They'll be able to get through here one at a time." Hilda waved everyone on. "Find the supplies. We need to get the hell out of here."

Gorath stood behind a crate near the doorway. "I'll let you know when they start to swarm and try to hold them off until then. Let me know when our ride gets here."

Hilda nodded. "Don't be a martyr. You let us know when they start to get bad."

"Get going!" Gorath shot a husk trying to squeeze through the doorway.

Hilda turned and began to pull the lid off some of the crates. Most of the ones she opened had building materials, causing her to move to another room.

It felt like an alarm was ticking at the back of Hilda's mind as she opened the crates looking for food, medicine, or weapons. She was starting to loose hope when she heard Jackson calling the others to him.

When she got there, Jackson was pulling out a brand new Revanent assault rifle. "We've found the weapons room. Anyone find anything else?"

"I found a room packed with rations" Krylik pointed to the door he came from. "I'll go mark it."

"Mason, go see if you can find an medigel" Hilda pointed the door Mason had come through. "I'm going to signal Valana. Better two for three than nothing."

Jackson nodded, bending down to scratch a mark onto the crate with the Revanent rifles in it. Hilda pulled out the datapad showing the floor plan, noting the shuttle pad and running to the nearest door leading there.

Stepping onto the pad, Hilda began to get a better sense of the destruction the Reapers were causing. She nearly dropped the datapad in her hand as she stood gaping at the ruins of her home. In the distance, she saw Reapers flying from one building to the next, shooting beams or dropping pods at the few that stood against them.

Remembering her mission, Hilda pulled out the flare gun. She hesitated, noting that the Reapers would see the flare. "This had better work" she muttered to herself as she shot the flare into the sky. With dozens of stories of ruined building around the pad, she hoped Valana would see the display before the Reapers came to investigate.

She ran back into the warehouse, heading for the stairwell. Gorath was sitting on the crate he had been using for cover, occassionally firing a burst of fire into the husks trying in vain to breahc the door.

"Signal's out." Hilda shot one of the husks as she approached. "Not much has changed yet?"

"Not yet. But I'll bet the Reapers will send more now that they know we're here." Gorath tossed a grenade into the crowd of husks at the door, obliterating a group of them. "They may have a nearly limitless army, but they're not going to waste resources like this if they know there's a problem."

"I'll let you know when we're ready to leave. Warn us if anything gets through."

"Don't worry, I'll come running."

Hilda jogged through the rooms, making sure everyone had marked the crates they were taking with. Two crates of weapons, two of food, and a crate of medigel Mason had found were all ready to go.

Reassured that the plan was working so far, Hilda ran back to the shuttle pad. She was greeted by the sight of Valana walking down the loading ramp of the Crossfire.

"Valana?" Hilda frowned. "I didn't think you'd come yourself."

"No one else will be able to carry five crates of supplies with their mind around here, last I check." Valana chuckled. "Tell your friends to fall back to the ship. I'll take it from here."

The two of them ran back into the building. Mason and Krylik were pushing their crates into the room where Jackson had found the weapons when Hilda got back. "You're the one lifting the supplies?" Krylik directed at Valana.

"I can manage." With those words, the crates lifted into the air and began to move with her. "Get to the ship. We need to leave as soon as the cargo is loaded."

"Not gonna argue with that." Mason followed Valana out of the room, followed by Krylik.

Hilda went to the doorway to the stairwell, finding Gorath and Jackson holding off a pair of cannibals. Gorath looked over his shoulder at Hilda's footsteps. "About time. Ready to go?"

"Ship's here" Hilda gasped, starting to tire from all the running around. "Let's get out of here."

"Let's leave a present for them." Jackson pulled a pair of grenades from his belt and tossed them both through the door. "Let's move!"

The three of them ran, trying to ignore the mechanical screeches of the husks. As they came to the shuttle pad, they heard the sound of metal being smashed and hundreds of footsteps.

Valana was moving the last crate into the ship as the three rushed onto the pad. "They're right behind us!" Jackson yelled.

Gorath slowed his run as he recognized the ship. "How'd you find my ship?"

"Explanations can come later!" Valana shouted as the last crate dropped into place. "Everyone in!"

Hilda jumped onto the loading ramp, running up to give Gorath room to get in. Once everyone was on, the loading ramp started to close.

Outside, Hilda could hear gunfire and the cries of husks. Gorath shoved past her and into the bridge. Hilda could hear Valana grunt as she was evicted from the pilot's seat.

"This is going to be rough. Strap in!" Gorath yelled back. Valana walked out of the bridge and sat down next to Hilda in the passenger area.

"If I'd known it was his ship, I'd have let him fly here." Valana muttered, trying to hide her cheeks red from embarassment.

"I can hear you back there. Can it." Gorath said over the intercom. "I'm going to follow this roundabout route you have on this datapad you left on the controls, if you don't mind. Looks like the escape plan to me."

Krylik slumped in his seat. "That was a close one."

"We're not out of this yet" Gorath reminded him. "Get ready for some wild maneuvering."

---

Valana's Hideout in Chicago, Earth. 2 weeks after the Reaper Invasion.

Hilda saw the Reaper's beam charge from the edge of her vision. She could barely move, using all her strength just to keep taking steps foward, toward the stairway into the subway. Hearing a scream, she twisted her head to look back.

Behind her, a few dozen meters away, her family cowered in fear. Their eyes were fixed on the Reaper bearing down on them, paralyzed with fear.

Without any further warning, the beam fired. Hilda watched as her family disintegrated, each of them turning to glare at her accusingly as they burned away. She tried to take a step back, but tripped on a pice of debris and fell flat on her back.

The breath knocked out of her, Hilda couldn't push herself back to her feet. She felt rather than saw the advance of the shadow cast by the Reaper overhead. Hilda looked up and saw nothing but blackness surrounding a single red beam.

---

Hilda shuddered as she woke. She held a hand to her head, noticing the thin sheen of sweat. She sat up, her heart hammering. She took a deep breath, trying to slow her pulse and breathing to a reasonable level.

The darkness of the hideout was overwhelming. The single red light used to illuminate the room without harming the eye's ability to adapt to darkness unnerved Hilda. She quickly got out of her cot and got dressed. Her armor was difficult to see in the darkness of the room, now that it was painted grey to blend in with the wreckage of the city.

Once she had her clothes and armor back on, Hilda sat on her bunk and waited for everyone else to wake up.

---

"The scouts reported what appear to be anti-air cannons placed at these locations" Jackson informed the assembled leaders in Valana's resistance, pointing at a crude map drawn on a sheet of metal. "There's a few Alliance air-to-ground vehicles stationed nearby, but they're being held back. The cannons picked off the ones that were sent to destroy them, so they obviously won't be taken out from the air."

"That will be problematic" Valana noted. "We don't have many shuttles to begin with, and we need them to transport new supplies back here. Any idea how we can take these cannons out?"

Genat stepped foward. "We have some explosives from that assault on the storehouse two weeks ago. Not powerful on their own, but if we can find a mass accelerator capable of propelling them, we may be able to destroy the cannons with them."

"So we need to find grenade launchers." Valana traced a few spots on the map. "Do you think we can jury-rig one from the cannons on one of our shuttles?"

Jackson nodded. "Could work. But it'd be difficult to carry. It'd be heavier than most humans could lift."

Valana smiled. "We could have the krogan use it." She turned to Hilda, who had been observing the meeting without comment so far. "Think he'll be up to it?"

Hilda took a moment to answer, having been lost in thought. "Yeah, sure. I think he'll do it."

"I hope he's more certain than you are" Jackson muttered.

Hilda frowned. "After we've taken out these anti-air cannons, what are we going to do? What's the long term plan here?"

"We'll be able to continue bringing in supplies once those cannons are down" Genat replied.

"I mean after that. We can't just sit here forever, scavenging for food until the Reapers decide to dig down to us." Hilda looked around at the others. "How are we going to drive the Reapers out of Chicago?"

A slience passed over the others. They looked like they were considering plans of action, but they came up with nothing.

"We need to do something." Hilda sighed. "Even if it's to just kill one Reaper. We can't just wait here while each person we lose becomes an enemy and the Reapers destroy our resources."

Jackson rubbed his chin. "Well, if it weren't for those anti-air cannons, I think the Alliance air-to-ground attack fighters nearby might have enough firepower to kill one of the smaller Reapers. Thing is, it sounds like they're only vulnerable when they're charging a beam."

"That sounds like a huge risk considering our resources and allies right now" Valana responded. "I don't know how long we can hold out if we lose the only Alliance support for miles around."

"If we don't do anything, we'll all die anyway." Hilda picked up the rough map and examined it. "If we could lure a Reaper to this intersection here after the anti-air cannons are down, we should be able to take it out and get away with a minimum of losses."

Jackson grabbed the map from Hilda and looked it over. "What makes you say that?"

Hilda pointed at the streets. "It's too big for a large Reaper to fit in, and they haven't been known for attacking one of their own just to hit a few humans. We'll only be fighting one Reaper before we retreat."

Genat shrugged. "It could work. Plus, we have to think of morale. Many of our people are civilians, not warriors. They need to be reminded we can still get out of this war alive."

Valana nodded slowly. "We'll still need that modified cannon for the explosives. But how will we lure in a Reaper?"

"If the destruction of the cannons don't get any attention, we'll have to present a target that can't be destroyed by husks but is dangerous enough to warrant destruction." Hilda rubbed her temples. "What do we have that's valuable but won't be husk bait or disastrous to lose?"

Jackson looked up from the map. "I have an idea, but I don't think anyone will like it."

"And what would this idea be?" Hilda asked, apprehensive.

"We could hit a Reaper with the Crossfire."

Hilda frowned. She doubted that Gorath would accept his ship being used as bait. But the more she thought about it, the more sense it made. It had already evaded the Reapers twice, and it was sturdy and quick enough to be a valuable target.

"We'll have to ask Gorath." Hilda shook her head. "He's not going to like this at all."

---

Streets of Chicago, Earth. 2 weeks after the Reaper Invasion.

Hilda stood behind Gorath as he brought the Crossfire down in an abandoned sidestreet. He stood up and picked up the massive launcher repurposed for the grenades he'd use against the anti-air cannons. "It's time to go. We all ready?"

Hilda nodded. "I'm ready." She looked through the doorway at Krylik loading his weapon in the central area of the ship. "You set?"

"Ready as I'll ever be." Krylik hefted his Eviscerator to his shoulder. "Let's go give those Reapers a bloody nose."

"Let's give them more than that." Hilda grabbed the Vindicator Gorath gave her from its holster and snapped her helmet into place. "Let's make them feel what we've felt these past few weeks. Time for them to watch one of their own die."

"I'm with you there." Gorath smiled as he loaded a grenade into his launcher. "Not happy about the bait thing, but if it means we get to watch the fireworks from the air it'll be worth it."

Hilda tapped her helmet's radio button. "We're in position."

Jackson's voice came over the radio. "Good. We're starting our distraction now. Go burn down some cannons."

"Will do." Hilda lifted her hand off the button. "You heard him. Get to work, Gorath. We've got your back."

Gorath didn't need any more urging. He shoved past Hilda and stormed down the loading ramp, explosives jingling in their casings as he ran. Krylik nodded at Hilda. "After you."

Hilda lifted her rifle into a ready stance and moved down the ramp, looking from side to side. No sign of hostiles yet, but she could hear the distraction teams fighting in the distance.

Upon reaching the first anti-air cannon, Gorath knelt on one knee and fired the grenade launcher at the monstrous emplacement. The cannon seemed unharmed, a barely-noticable ripple appearing over its surface.

"Damn, barriers." Gorath turned to Krylik. "Can you burn down the barrier?"

"I'll try." Krylik holstered his shotgun and focused for a few seconds before sending a biotic warp hurtling at the cannon. The rippling effect on the machine was replaced by a biotic explosion, then disappeared.

Once the barrier was down, Gorath fired another grenade. This one destroyed part of the base of the cannon, and it appeared the emplacement wouldn't survive another hit.

While Gorath reloaded, Hilda heard the screech of a husk. She turned around to see a number of husks and cannibals charging at her. "Husks!" she shouted, reflexively firing a shot into the chest of one of the monsters.

Krylik followed up with a biotic shockwave, pushing the husks backwards and knocking them off their feet.

A blast from behind Hilda caused her to spin around, allowing her to see the anti-air cannon as it blew apart. Gorath stood up and waved to the others. "Come on, we've still got more to go!"

Hilda turned and shot a cannibal in the face as it bent over to feed on a fallen husk before complying. She ran after the krogan as he moved to the next target, stopping every few seconds to fire at the husks chasing them.

Gorath slid to a halt as he found the second turret, pulling out his Carnifex pistol and firing a few shots at the cannon to confirm that it was also protected by a barrier. He shouted over to Krylik to deal with it, turning his grenade launcher on the husks behind the group.

Hilda felt the wave of heat from the grenades as they exploded behind her, and she looked over her should to see that the husks had been obliterated.

"We need more of these" Gorath mused. "That barrier down yet?"

"Working on it!" Krylik concentrated and unleashed his biotics at the barrier guarding the turret. "That should do it."

"Get to work, Gorath." Hilda looked around, hearing more screeching. "We aren't going to be clear for long."

Gorath went straight to it, firing a grenade at the turret's base again to weaken it before using the second to destory it.

"Another down. How many have we got?"

"Four or five in this area." Hilda shouted. "Let's get going before the Reapers catch on."

A shrill, piercing scream tore through the street at that moment. Even through her helmet, Hilda was nearly paralyzed with the intensity of the sound.

A ripple appeared in the air, jumping from spot to spot. Hilda couldn't get a good look at it, but expected the worst. She raised her weapon and fired a burst at the ripples, but they moved too quickly to hit.

The scream came again, much closer this time. Hilda's limbs froze as if paralyzed, and she could only watch as the ripple in the air slowed down into a uniform shape.

Just as Hilda regained control of her body, the monster came into focus.

It looked vaugely similar to an asari, but it was much taller and floated through the air effortlessly. It's body was horribly thin and wires protruded from every orifice.

As Hilda tried to absorb these details, the creature waved a hand of impossibly long digits and a biotic blast began to charge in the air in front of it.

Hilda began to turn and run back as the blast became larger and more dangerous. She grabbed Krylik's arm and shouted to Gorath "Run!"

---

The biotic blast landed near Hilda's feet, flinging her across the street, smashing into a pole. She heard her helmet crack and felt the remains of the visor dig into her face. She rolled onto her stomach and tossed the ruined helmet aside.

Krylik was picking himself up a few meters away. "What the hell?" He looked at the asari husk chasing them. "What is that?"

"We don't have time!" Hilda pointed at Gorath running to the next turret, having escaped the blast. "Help Gorath take out the cannons. I'll hold this thing off."

"What? You'll be killed!" Krylik yelled.

A burst of gunfire past his head silenced his protest. Still holding up her gun at Krylik she gestured to Gorath. "We're not leaving unless we kill a Reaper today. I'm not giving up this chance."

Krylik nodded slowly, starting to jog to catch up to Gorath.

Hilda turned to face the monster approaching her. It rippled with barriers and biotic energy. Hilda pulled out a grenade and tossed it at the creature before ducking under a piece of rubble.

The grenade had as little effect as Hilda expected on the monster, but it did stop charging its next biotic attack. She fired a few bursts at the monster's head, noticing the subtle difference in the barrier's form as it took damage.

The husk raged at the gunfire blocking its sight, disappearing and appearing again a few meters closer to Hilda. It flung a burst of biotic energy, knocking the Vindicator from Hilda's hand.

Pulling a combat knife from her belt, Hilda charged at the monster. It reached to grab her, but she managed to bring the knife across the creature's chest before it could get a hold. The barrier absorbed most of the trauma, but Hilda noticed some of the wires holding the husk together tore off from the cut.

Switching her grip on the knife, Hilda brought it down on the husk's back. The monster's barriers exploded with a biotic discharge, knocking Hilda on to her back. She looked up and saw that the knife had lodged itself in the beast, causing it to squirm in pain.

Hilda stood up and yanked the knife from the husk's back and cut into it again. More wires frayed and electricy began to spark from the wounds.

The creature spun around and latched onto Hilda's throat with its long fingers, shaking her until she dropped the knife. It screamed in Hilda's face, and she felt like her ears were about to explode.

Hilda kicked out at the husk, landing a hit on its chest. Surprised by the attack, the monster dropped Hilda and stumbled back. Hilda rolled away as she hit the ground, looking around for a weapon.

The creature screamed again, flinging biotic blasts at Hilda. She dove for her rifle, ignoring the cuts she suffered from the rubble as she did so. She rolled into a crouching stance, firing a burst at the husk's face.

The husk opened its mouth to scream again, but instead gurgled as its brain circuitry failed. It collapsed to the ground, apparently dead.

Not willing to risk it getting back up, Hilda moved toward the husk cautiously. She fired a few bursts at the corpse, making sure it didn't twitch when she did so. Just as she lowered her weapon, biotic ripples appeared around the husk.

Hilda spun and ran, hearing the blast charging behind her. It exploded and sent her flying through the air. She skidded on the street as she landed. Looking back, she noted that the husk had self-destructed.

As she stood, Hilda heard the screech of lesser husks approaching. Turning to look down the street, dozens of husks were racing at her.

"I don't have time for this." Hilda sighed as she pulled a grenade from her belt. She flung it at the husks and turned to run. She reached for her radio, then realized it was attached to her broken helmet. Scowling, she started down the street toward the closest anti-air cannon.

---

The city streets were breaking into chaos. The screams of the husks and cries of Valana's underground army reminded Hilda of the initial invasion two weeks before. She tried to block out the memories of that day as she ran.

A husk leaped from a pile of rubble at Hilda, latching onto her and throwing her off balance. It shrieked into her face, its glowing eyes staring into hers.

Hilda headbutted the husk and fired a burst into its chest. It staggered towards her again, and she shot off its head in retaliation.

As the husk fell, Hilda felt the force of a gunshot being deflected by her kinetic shielding. She turned and saw a band of cannibals taunting her. She reached for a grenade, cursing as she found she was out.

Diving for cover, Hilda heard the cannibals open fire on her. Hiding behind a pillar, Hilda loaded a new thermal clip into her rifle. Taking a deep breath, she peeked out of cover and shot down one of the cannibals.

This only seemed to anger the rest, as they began to advance on Hilda, firing as they charged to keep her behind cover.

Hilda was about to dash across the street to find a more defensible location when a biotic shockwave flung past her and sent most of the cannibals flying. Hilda looked up and saw Valana charging another biotic attack.

Hilda stepped back from the pillar and fired a few bursts at the remaining cannibals, keeping them off balance as Valana charged her attack. As the cannibals were regrouping, they were melted by a massive biotic warp.

"Surprised to see you here" Valana shouted, walking over to Hilda. "Your friends seemed to think you were dead."

Hilda tapped her ear. "I lost my helmet radio. How's the plan going?"

"Aside from the dozens of casualties, it's going well." Valana pointed to the sky. "Private Jackson and the Alliance team are in the air now that the turrets have been destroyed. Your friends should have our Reaper soon enough, too."

"What should we do, then?" Hilda pointed her gun at the cannibals. "I'd rather not run into any more of these today, and we can't really help against the Reaper."

"We might as well get back to the hideout." Valana gestured for Hilda to follow. "Let's go see if any of my team survived, then head back."

A horrible mechanical howl interrupted her. Hilda looked up to see the Crossfire race by overhead, a Reaper on its tail. Several pods seemed to drop from the Reaper, and Hilda could make out the features of husks inside.

"Time to go!" Hilda shouted, grabbing Valana's arm. "Radio everyone and tell them to fall back now!"

Valana followed Hilda and pressed her radio button. "Everyone back to the hideout, now! The Reaper is here. Repeat: the Reaper is here. Leave now!"

A pod smashed into the street in front of Hilda, and she brought up her weapon to fire on the husks. Alongside the ordinary husks was one that appeared turian in shape. Hilda fired at this one, and frowned when a kinetic shield deflected her attack.

"I'll handle this one" Valana stated, stepping in front of Hilda. She focused briefly before sending a biotic blast at the group, evaporating the lesser husks and destroying the shield of the turian husk.

Hilda followed up with a burst to the turian husk's face, dropping it. "Keep moving. We have to get out of the way before the air strikes start to drop."

Valana pointed down the street. "There's a subway entrance just a little way down that street."

Hilda ran in the direction Valana pointed, noticing several Alliance ships flying overhead. When she got to the subway entrance, she recognized some of the corpses as people in Valana's resistance.

"This way doesn't look safe anymore" Hilda noted, pulling a radio from one of the bodies.

"Damn. I didn't think the husks would attack out exit points."

"They outnumber us. We should have prepared a barricade." Hilda attached the radio to her ear and flicked it on. "Jackson, what's your status?"

There was a lot of static on the channel, but Hilda could make out Jackson's voice. "We're hitting the Reaper with everything we've got, but we lose a ship every time we get a good hit on its weak point. We can't keep this up much longer."

Hilda cursed under her breath, her plan falling apart in front of her. "Then you need to try something else. If you can't destroy it, at least try to immobilize it so we can find a way to kill it."

"We can knock down a few buildings on it if we use some of the ships as decoys, but it's going to cost us."

"We need to bring that thing down." Hilda commanded. "Play it safe if you can, but we're not leaving without a dead or immobilized Reaper."

"We'll bury it, then. I'll let the others know."

Hilda took her hand off the radio and looked down the subway entrance. "We'd better make sure the hideout's still safe."

Valana nodded, taking the lead. "Let's hope this plan of yours didn't get us all killed."

---

Valana's Hideout, Earth. 2 weeks after the Reaper Invasion.

The first thing Hilda noticed about the subway was the trail of bodies leading to the hideout.

Dozens of husk and human corpses lined the walkways, blood making the ground slick and painting the walls a hideous color. Hilda kept her Vindicator raised, ready to fight at a moment's notice.

Valana scowled at the carnage. "None of this would have happened if we stuck to raiding storehouses."

"Now isn't the time." Hilda pointed her rifle's flashlight into the darkness ahead. "We need to see if anyone survived the attack."

"What makes you think they survived?" Valana shouted. "Everyone that could fight served as a distraction for your stupid plan! I'll bet even they're dead now. We're probably walking into a trap!"

Hilda turned and glared at Valana. "I'm not going to back down just because we took more casualties than we expected. If anyone's still left alive, we need to get them out of here."

"This is suicide!" Valana yelled. "It's two of us against hundreds of them!"

Hilda lowered her rifle and grabbed Valana's shoulder, pulling her close. "You're the asari biotic here, aren't you? You destroyed those husks in the street like they were nothing."

"I wasn't fighting a whole army of them alone!"

"Has being a black market dealer on Earth made you soft? Did the rest of the criminal underworld just leave you alone because you were an asari?"

"No" Valana admitted. "But they were all weaker than me. There wasn't ever any risk of losing."

"Is that what this is? Fear of losing?" Hilda scoffed. "In the past three years, I watched dozens of trained mercs die. The Terminus systems don't have any room for anyone afraid to lose. There, the deaths weren't even a statistic. It was a fact of life."

"I didn't live in the Terminus systems like you did!" Valana complained. "Why are you holding me up to that standard?"

"Because the Reapers are holding us all to a stricter standard." Hilda pointed down the tunnel. "They don't care whether or not we're afraid of failure. They don't care if we die in the most pathetic way imaginable. Until the Alliance comes back, there's no one looking out for us but ourselves."

Valana shook her head. "What do you want from me?"

"Either go down that tunnel and face your fear of failure, or turn back and figure out what you want to do about the Reapers on your own." Hilda let go and turned to walk down the tunnel. "Because I'm going in, whether you're following or not."

Hilda heard nothing but the sound of her own footsteps as she walked down the bloodstained tunnels and stepped over the corpses. She was about to write of Valana when she heard another set of footsteps, moving faster as if to catch up. Valana appeared next to her, a defeated look on her face.

---

The gory passage leading to the hideout couldn't possibly have prepared Hilda for what she found there. The giant spears that she had seen in the storehouse were here, only in greater numbers. On each spike was a former member of the resistance, organs being ejected onto the ground while wiring replaced their innards.

"Goddess." Valana whispered. "Is this... is this how they make husks?"

"Apparently." Hilda managed, feeling sick. "Let's check to see if anyone managed to barricade themselves in one of the rooms and see if we can find some explosives. We can't leave these here."

Valana nodded, walking over to the rooms where the resistance used to sleep. Hilda crept into the weapons storeroom, digging through a crate until she found some explosives. She took out enough to level the entire hideout and walked back into the main chamber. She began to place the explosives, arming each one to respond to a detonator she found before moving to the next spot.

Hilda had almost lined the entire place with bombs when she heard a shriek. The noise sounded organic, but was followed by mechanical screeches. Hilda finished arming the current bomb and ran to the source of the sound, making sure the detonator wouldn't trigger prematurely as she ran.

She found Valana running from the rooms, flinging a biotic warp behind her as she ran. "Brutes and banshees!"

"Banshees?"

"Asari!" Valana shouted, panicking and throwing off a biotic shockwave at the approaching sounds.

"I fought one of those earlier today. I barely made it." Hilda shook her head. "How many are there? Do you think we could kill them all when we collapse this place?"

"Maybe, but there's at least three of them and twice as many brutes!"

Hilda heard a wretched sound from behind her, causing her to face the offending noise. She gasped as the hundreds of spikes lowered at once, and each let down a husk. The husks' eyes began to glow with power as they activated, and all of them turned to look at the two women standing in front of them.

"Fuck." Hilda managed, not able to think of a better way to respond.

The husks began to charge, and Valana's shriek told Hilda that the brutes were on their way as well. Hilda began to panic, not sure what to do. She spun back and forth at the two advancing groups of husks several times. She remembered her detonator as the first husks were only a few meters away.

"Valana, make a barrier around us both now!" Hilda shouted.

"Both of us?" Valana cried. "There won't be enough protection for both of us!"

"Just do it!" Hilda yelled, pulling out her detonator.

Valana saw the motion and immediately threw up the barrier, strengthening it after it had gone up to make up for her lack of focus time. Hilda pressed the switch of the detonator.

A deafening sound reverberated through the hideout as the force of a dozen explosions shattered the concrete keeping the earth above from collapsing. Seconds later, huge chucks of stone began to drop throughout the tunnel, crushing husks instantly.

A brute charged up to the barrier Valana had thrown up and swung at it, only to be crushed by a pile of debris. Valana's face was wracked with fear and exertion. Hilda coluldn't do much but wait and hope for the best.

The entire subway seemed to be collapsing around them. Chunks of debris collided with the barrier, visibly weaking it with each impact.

"Just a little longer, Valana!" Hilda shouted, hoping it was encouraging.

Time seemed to slow down for the next few moments. Valana turned her head as if to acknowlege the comment. As she did so, a massive chuck of concrete crashed into the barrier. Whether it was the weakness of the barrier or the momentary distraction, the barrier shattered. Valana's eyes went wide as she was crushed by the rock.

Hilda stood perfectly still, paralyzed with the fear induced by the realization she might be about to die just as Valana had. Once she regained control of her body a few seconds later, she ducked under a piece of debris, hoping that it would shield her from the last of the falling rock and concrete.

---

Subway Wreckage under Chicago, Earth. Unknown time.

Hilda felt a familiar touch on her shoulder.

She realized she was curled into a fetal position under a pile of rubble, and someone was trying to coax her out. She couldn't place the feeling that the hand urging her on brought foward, the memory just beyond her reach.

She coughed, expelling the dirt and dust lodged in her throat. She touched the hand on her shoulder. Female. Human. The memory still eluded her, seemingly just at the edge of her consciousness.

Hilda slowly streched her limbs, trying to get the blood flowing in her hands and feet again. The hand that had woken her withdrew. Hilda realized she had her eyes shut tight.

Opening her eyes to look out at her rescuer, Hilda could do nothing but gape.

"Mom?"

Her mother sat on a slab of concrete, smiling weakly at Hilda. "I almost didn't believe it when I found you." She lowered her head. "After seeing what happened to your siblings... I expected the worst."

Hilda crawled out of the rubble she had been tucked under, taking a seat next to her mother. She felt surreal, as if living in a dream. "Is this... is this real?"

"More real than I can bear." Hilda's mother frowned and rubbed her face with her dirty hands.

"What do you mean?" Hilda asked tentatively.

"I've been hearing voices at the back of my head for weeks." Hilda's mother looked at her. "They've told me to do terrible things. I... it's like I'm not myself sometimes. Like I'm a passenger." She shook her head, tears forming in her eyes. "But when it's over, I'm left to pick up the pieces. To witness what I was forced to do."

Hilda shook her head, not understanding. "What have these... voices made you do?"

Hilda's mother grabbed her hair with both hands and started to pull on it. "Nathan, Hillary... I tore them apart. They begged me to stop, but the voices told me to do it. When I tried to stop, they took over. Their blood was literally on my hands."

Hilda sat back, not sure how to respond. "What do these voices sound like?"

"I'm can't explain them." Hilda's mother sniffled. "It's like they're not there, but I remember what they tell me to do. They led me here. I didn't know why, until now."

"Why?" Hilda asked. "Why would these voices or whatever want you to kill your own children?"

"I don't know" Hilda's mother sobbed. "I don't know."

Hilda reached out a hand to comfort her mother. As she touched her shoulder, her mother turned on her with glowing red eyes.

"Pitiful human" came a voice far too deep to have come from any human's mouth. "Your soldiers died thinking they had saved your insignificant band of vermin from me. But a few tons of stone and steel isn't enough to stop perfection."

Hilda recoiled. "What are you?"

Hilda's mother smiled far too widely for the human face to bear, leaving slight tears at the edge of her lips. "I am not comprehensible to one as lowly as you. On my own, I am equivalent to a nation of your kind. As a whole, my kind surpass yours on every level."

Hilda's brow lowered. "You're a Reaper."

"A surprisingly accurate term for one created in the death throws of primitive beings. It doesn't encompass our entitre purpose, but it will serve until your cycle is eradicated."

Hilda stood up and took a step back. "Who are you? What do you want?"

"My name would be of little meaning to you. Simply know me as the Eclipse that blotted out your sun and extinguished any hope of your pathetic army besting me." The abomination of Hilda's mother stood up. "My purpose is beyond your reasoning, so I will not waste time trying to explain. Simply know that this cycle has been repeated for ages on end, and it will not end simply because you wish to cling to your wretched existance."

Hilda saw a pistol on the ground and picked it up, leveling it at her mother. "I'm not going to lie down and die just because you want me to. I'll find a way to kill you."

"I surpass you in every way, human." Hilda's mother stepped forward slowly, menacingly. "Even as we speak, my primary form repairs itself. And if you think to kill me while my mind is within this host, know that I can control minds without direct possesion. And even if more thralls don't arrive to assist me, the human you call your mother has been improved beyond your own feeble state."

Hilda clenched her teeth and growled at the monster approaching her. "Shut up! You keep talking about how you're so much better than me, how I can't even understand you, but you just stand there grinning like an idiot."

"It appears this exhange is at an end." Hilda's mother stretched her head. "Prepare for your annihilation, human."

Hilda checked the thermal clip in the pistol and aimed it at her mother's head. She stood there for a few moments, unable to bring herself to fire. What happened next nearly made her drop the pistol altogether.

The face of her mother began to burn, a white fire spreading across her entire body within seconds. Claws extended from her arms, and talons from her legs. Machinery glowed as the flesh and bone burned away, and a thousand cruel implements began to whir as they activated. As the fire faded away, where a face used to be a metallic skull looked up, its eyes glowing red as a Reaper's charging beam.

---

Hilda froze as the abomination of metal and bone approached her. Too late, she turned to run away. A claw dug into her shoulder, and she screamed in pain as she felt the flesh torn off. She pulled away, feeling a chunk of her muscle ripped from her body.

Eclipse crushed the lump of meat in its claw and gave Hilda a cruel grin. She held up the pistol with her good arm and fired several times, each shot deflecting off the machine's metallic body.

Hilda dropped the useless weapon and pulled out a combat knife. She held it out in a defensive stance, but Eclipse knocked it away with a single flick of its wrist.

A stabbing pain ignited in Hilda's stomach as Eclipse grabbed her with its claws, holding her up high before smashing her into the ground. She rolled away, barely registering that the blood from her shoulder wound was getting on her face.

"Don't you see how pathetic your kind are?" The monster stepped closer, reconfiguring its arm into a blade. "You wouldn't struggle if you understood our plans for you."

Hilda saw a Vindicator rifle under a piece of rubble, and reached to pull it out. A taloned foot stepped on her arm, twisting until the bones started to crack.

"But instead of accepting your fate, you choose to die like the vermin you are."

Hilda pulled her arm back, denying the Reaper a chance to break it. She kicked the Vindicator from its place under the rubble and dived for it, grabbing it as she rolled. She regretted the move immediately, as debris rubbed into her shoulder wound and caused it to flare with pain.

Trying to ignore the agony, Hilda turned the rifle on Eclipse. She fired several bursts at its chest and head, to no effect. It reached for her with its blade, and she deflected it with the side of the rifle.

The rifle made a horrible screeching sound, and the huge dent in the side suggested it wouldn't work again. Desperate, Hilda raised it and slammed Eclipse's blade arm with the blunt end of the weapon.

There didn't seem to be much damage done to the arm itself, but Hilda noticed that several wires holding the arm to the shoulder of the machine were now exposed. She grabbed Eclipse's shoulder and started pulling on the cables.

The other arm slashed at Hilda, causing her to drop the rifle as her shoulder wound was torn further apart. That hand free but weakened, she decided to pull on the cables with both hands. After a few moments of struggle, the cables tore out, leaving the blade arm on the ground.

"You think that will stop me?" Eclipse asked, nearly spearing Hilda with its claw hand as she dove away. "Even with fewer appendages, I am still stronger than you can ever be."

"What will make you shut up?" Hilda shouted back, picking up her knife from the ground and flinging it at the machine's face. It lodged itself in one of the eye sockets, shorting out the red light inside.

"I don't rely on my eyes to see you, human."

"I wasn't trying to blind you" Hilda growled, running at the machine and jumping onto it, pulling it to the ground with the force of her impact. She grabbed the hilt of the knife with both hands and began to pry off the metal armoring around the face.

The abomination tried to swap Hilda off with its remaining arm, but she put a knee on it to keep it from moving as she worked. She tried to focus on prying off the skull of the machine, but the glowing red eye remaining unnerved her.

Deciding she couldn't take the glare of the eye any longer, she yanked the knife out of the first socket and gouged the second, not returning to her original goal until the light of the eye went out.

"What do you think this will accomplish?" the Reaper asked.

"You have to be in there somewhere." Hilda replied, pulling off the armored skull to reveal what appeared to be a processor or storage unit.

There was a silence as Hilda tore the knife out of the skull and Eclipse came to terms with what would follow. "Even if you destroy me, your species is doomed. You cannot stop the harvest."

"Shut." Hilda raised the knife. "Up." She brought it down on the Reaper's computer brain, ripping it open and cutting the circuits inside apart.

Hilda gasped for breath after she let up, having ravaged the machinery in her rage. She noticed the machine's arm and legs were no longer resisting. She stood up and backed away tentatively. She was about to consider this a victory until a booming voice shook her and threw her off blanace.

"Savor your fleeting victory, human." Hilda looked up to see the red eye of the Reaper, and she realized the Reaper had fallen into the ruins of the subway after it had been buried. "I may not be able to recover from the damage your pathetic army inflicted on me, but there are too many of us for you to fathom. You will be crushed in the end."

"Big talk" Hilda gasped, the pain in her shoulder starting to remind her of the wound there. "from someone who's about to die."

"You understand nothing. You have doomed an entire species to extinction through your actions against me. But I expect no less from a human." The light began to dim. "When your end comes and you attain perfection, remember that you killed an entire civilization in your ignorance."

The red light dimmed further, then went out. Hilda dropped the knife and fell to her knees, grabbing her shoulder and wishing there was something she could do to stop the pain.

---

Chicago, Earth. Unknown time.

"You sure she'll be there?" Gorath asked, putting the Crossfire down next to the pit of destruction caused by the fight with the Reaper. "I don't want to end up like those Alliance marines because we wanted to find one person."

"This is the last place we'll check" Krylik reassured him as he put on his helmet. "If she's not here, we'll leave without her."

"If you say so." Gorath replied. "I'll stick with the ship just in case."

"Good idea." Krylik walked down the loading ramp as it extended. He looked around the crater, noting that the Reaper wasn't moving at all. He toggled his helmet's thermal sensors and looked again.

"I see something moving. I'll be right back" he spoke into the radio. He walked down into the rubble, making sure to watch his step.

He went to where the thermal reading had shown a moving object, but he found nothing but some dead soldiers and a lot of blood. He shook his head, turning away. "False alarm. Just some corpses and a few fires. No life here."

He nearly jumped when he heard a chuckle behind him. "I don't qualify as living anymore?"

Krylik spun around and saw what he thought was one of the corpses push herself to her feet, hand on an ugly gash in her shoulder where a huge chunk of muscle had been torn off.

"Hilda?" Krylik asked.

"Hello to you too, Krylik." Hilda gasped, clutching her shoulder. "Damn it. Look, your bad joke about thinking I'm dead's over. Can you get me some medi-gel?"

Krylik pulled a medkit from his pack, then decided to put it back. "Let's get you on the ship first."

"If you think I'll live that much longer."

Hilda let Krylik support her as they walked back to the alley where the Crossfire was waiting for them. "I hate to be the one to tell you this" Krylik said, "but Gorath and I aren't feeling like Earth's a great place to be right now."

"That's fine." Hilda muttered. "I'm done with this place anyway. There's nothing left for me here."

"Gorath said he's got some friends we can stay with until the Council and Alliance gets this Reaper business under control." Krylik continued. "I can honestly say I'm not keen on fighting Reapers any more than I need to."

Krylik helped Hilda into the Crossfire and sat her in a chair, taking out the medkit to apply medigel. She sighed as the gel hardened over the wound. "I'm not sure if we'll get a choice. But I'm sure as hell not fighting the Reapers themselves anymore. I'll leave that to fleets."

"I suppose killing zombies or husks or whatever could be fun on occasion" Krylik mocked. "But, I think I'll pass unless they come to us."

"You ready for lift-off back there?" Gorath shouted over the intercom. "We're about to race the Reapers to the nearest fuel depot and see how long they can chase us after we're through a half dozen random FTL jumps. Don't want to see anyone's breakfast back there when we're done."

"We're good." Hilda replied, looking out the loading ramp as it raised, seeing nothing but a ruin where her home once was. "Get us off this planet."