Me: Here it is, the first chapter of Mass Effect: Invasion.
Trin: Final part of this storyline?
Me: Unless I decide to make a story for the Spec Ops missions.
Trin: You mean multiplayer?
Helix: Who is this one centered on?
Me: Shepard.
Helix: John, Jane or Angel?
Me: Yes. On-…
Random Cerberus Trooper: On with-…+Cut in half by Gears Lancer+
Me: +Covered in blood, puts down Lancer+ On with the story! Oh and for those of you wondering, MCPO…well…Commander John 117, has arrived!
"Talking."
"Thinking."
"[Electronic communication.]"
{AI intercommunication}
The Fall of Earth-Nova
[Nova Galaxy, Sol System, Reclaimer Alliance Tribunal Building:]-Angel
Helix looked out the window, watching the ships fly back and forth. She also noticed two children playing together, a blonde girl and a black-haired boy. One was holding a toy Alliance fighter, and the other was holding a toy UNSC Sabre. She smiled as the door to the room she was in opened, revealing the youngest of the Shepard siblings.
"All right, trial's starting in a minute," the N7 said.
"Right," Helix said as she followed the soldier.
"And here I was thinking ONI was untouchable…then again, didn't its new director get the old ONI leaders arrested?" Angel thought to herself.
Angel stopped in the middle of the hallway when she noticed two things. One, everyone was running to where they needed to get to, like their life depended on it; and two, Admiral Anderson was walking towards them.
"What'd we stop for?" Kim asked as she noticed Anderson. "Oh."
"Admiral?" Angel said as she shook Anderson's hand, Helix just stood at attention and saluted.
"Good to see you Angel, we need to make this quick," Anderson said as he lead them to the hearing room.
"What's going on, why is everyone in such a hurry?" Kim asked.
"We lost contact with multiple Alliance outposts. One UNSC outpost as well, they reported seeing something that looked like a giant squid heading towards them before we lost contact."
"UNSC ships have been proven to be-…," Kim tried to say.
"Frigates yes, but Prowlers with their shields down and docked?" Anderson asked. "They were in the middle of re arming and repairing damage when the report came."
"Damn," Kim said as they walked into the hearing room.
"We were hoping it would be Captain Shepard here," one of the three Admirals on the podium said.
"My sister has to oversee the final checklist for the SR3 and SR2 before they launch," Angel said as another person walked into the room.
Angel turned to see who it was and saw a pale man with cyan eyes and multiple scars on his face, the rest of his body covered in green armor with a blue stripe on his right shoulder and the number 117 in white at the top right of his chestplate, a green helmet with a gold visor was tucked under his left arm. She looked at Kim to see her standing at attention and saluting the man. She was also wide eyed with what looked like a mix of admiration, awe, and inadequacy towards the man.
"Who is that?" Angel asked as the man stopped near them.
"That's the hero of the UNSC. One of the last remaining SPARTAN IIs, and the CO also," Kim said. "That, my friend, is the one and only MCPO…well…Commander now…John Andrews, S-117."
"Oooh…still doesn't tell me anything. I'm Alliance, not UNSC."
"He's the one that defeated the Flood in the Terra Galaxy and the Forerunner known as The Didact."
"Sirs," the Spartan said. "I was told to report here for my reassignment."
"Commander Andrews, you will be going with Lieutenant Shepard to her sister's ship, the Normandy SR3, for you new assignment," another of the Admirals said.
"Sirs, we just lost contact with Luna," a com officer said.
"The moon, they couldn't be here already," Anderson said in disbelief.
"Since when did anyone have the cat lover's phone number?" Angel asked in a whisper to Kim.
"Not the time," Kim replied with a whisper of her own.
"What about our MACs?" Commander Andrews asked.
"No longer functioning. I don't understand, they were working perfectly a second ago, we aren't even getting signals from the crews."
"What about the MACs themselves?" Anderson asked.
"Still getting signals, but they're completely offline…sir I'm starting to lose the signals from them."
Suddenly the sound of a giant horn could be heard from outside. Everyone turned to look out the window to see a giant, black, metal squid landing, red lightning surrounding it.
"My God," one of the Admirals said.
"Move now!" Commander Andrews shouted as he quickly put on his helmet.
Anderson, Helix, Angel, and John ran towards the door as the window exploded inwards, destroying everything and killing everyone else. Angel slid to the floor as the podium broke Kim's neck. Her tattoo instantly started glowing green as the bones mended themselves, and her neck went back to normal. She looked over to see the Spartan stop the podium from hitting Anderson by grabbing and throwing it to the side. Another explosion happened and Angel ducked again. She got back up to see the four of them were the only survivors. She looked over at the S-II to see a golden aura surround him and disappear after half a second.
"We need to get moving," Anderson said as he handed Angel a pistol.
She looked to see it was a Carnifax version 1. She looked at the SPARTAN and GHOST to see the Commander hand the ONI Operator a Magnum sidearm. Angel activated her Omni-Tool and turned on her shields.
"That could've been a lot worse for me," Helix said as she felt her neck.
"How so?" Angel asked.
"If the podium had killed me instead of breaking my neck and paralyzing me, I wouldn't be talking to you now."
"So you'd still be healing?"
"No, I mean I would be dead, there's no regenerating from death."
Helix walked over to the window to see multiple Alliance ships fighting Reapers. None of them were winning. What confused Angel was that there were no UNSC ships. She looked behind her to see the SPARTAN standing there, his expression unreadable behind his helmet. All Angel could see was a golden reflection of herself.
"Where's the UNSC?" the man, now looking like a hulking, green, death machine, asked.
"We had them leave as soon as we had signs of the Reapers appearing," Anderson explained. "Better not to reveal the ace up our sleeve until we truly need it."
"We're going to lose Earth because of that," John said.
"And we'll be able to do more surprise attacks on Reapers with the UNSC waiting in reserve. You may outmatch them, but they outnumber you."
"You're right," John said, understanding the Admirals reasoning.
"What!" Angel shouted.
"Shepard, we'll be able to take Earth back, if we have more reinforcements. We can't lose most of our heavy hitters by trying to keep one planet from them," Helix said.
"The UNSC used similar tactics during the Human-Covenant War. Sangheili call it drowning the enemy in your blood," John said.
"…They'd just send however many ships they want to take down even one UNSC ship."
"Exactly, now we need to get moving. Helix is in contact with her team aboard the SR2, they'll pick us up from there," Anderson said as he pointed to a destroyed dock not too far from where they were, "but if we aren't there, they can't stay."
"Basically, we miss the bus and we're stuck here," Helix said.
Angel nodded as they jumped down from the window onto a small balcony. They ran across the building as fighting raged around them. The Commander lead them, stopping at a gap near the end of the building. He waved everyone else across, them having to run and jump, before jumping across easily. When he landed, the slightly destroy platform, tilted downward. He jumped forward as the platform fell to the water below them.
"Guess that's why you had us go first," Angel said as they continued to move forward.
They rounded a corner and were nearly crushed by a crashing Alliance fighter. The drone that had shot it down didn't even slow down as it passed by them. Angel climbed a small ladder and looked around before running forward again. Angel vaulted over another small ledge to see several Husks climbing a wall.
"Husks!" she said before firing at them.
John raised his AR and fired three bursts, killing the former humans, and returned it to the position on his back. Angel nodded to him before running towards another ladder, this one leading them down to a different building. She slid down it as several more Husks appeared. They completely ignored the group and began banging on the walls of the building, trying to get in. Angel fired one more shot into the head of one husk before her pistol let out an anger beep.
She reached for another heat exchange before realizing she didn't have any extras. She silently cursed herself before vaulting over the small wall they had used for cover. She activated her Omni-Blade and killed one Husk as Helix's tattoo glowed red and she punched through the other. Another Husk climbed over the side and Angel ran over to it before jumping, giving herself a small spin as she did, and decapitated it. The Husk's head fell to the floor and rolled off the side as a Reaper began charging its laser.
"Oh shit," helix said as she and Angel ran back towards the barricade.
They were halfway there when the building exploded, sending them tumbling forward.
"That could've gone better," Angel thought to herself as she got back up and looked over the damage.
The building they planned to go through was still mostly intact, only the first room's damage was visible though. She and Helix walked forward as Anderson and Andrews followed them. Helix walked over to the door with Angel and tried to open it. It opened partially as a Husk got halfway through and clawed at them. Both soldiers jumped back out of its reach as Angel reactivated her Omni-Blade and stabbed it through the head. Its body went limp and Angel removed the blade.
"Something's in the vent," John said as he went over to it and knelt down.
Angel went over to see that two children were inside the vent. One of them, a boy, was slowly backing away as the other, a girl stayed there curled in a ball, toy SPARTAN held tightly in her hands.
"Are…are you a SPARTAN?" she asked John.
Angel looked back at the man to see his emotion hiding armor.
"I am. I'm actually the Master Chief," he said to her.
The girl smiled before crawling towards the armored giant. The boy stayed where he was. Once she was close enough, John pulled the girl out of the vent and handed her to Angel.
"Come on Jack, they can help us," the girl said.
"No one can help us," the boy replied as an explosion happened behind them. Angel and John turned around to see another Alliance Cruiser explode from a Reaper's attack. They turned back around to see the boy was gone.
"Jack? Jack!? …Come back," the girl said as she started to cry.
"Hey," Angel said to her. "Come here. It'll be alright, we won't let anything happen to you."
"Can't we help him?"
"Someone else is going to be getting other survivors, but we'll take you with us since you're here," Angel told the girl.
"…Okay," she said as she wiped her eyes.
"What's your name?"
"Max," she said with a smile.
"Well don't worry Max, we have a SPARTAN to help us," Angel said, hoping that didn't mean she should be terrified.
"Right!" she shouted happily as she looked at the Commander and smiled.
John took off his helmet and smiled back at her before putting his helmet back on. The girl's smile widened.
"I kept telling my friends SPARTANs weren't robots."
Angel led the girl to the next room. It looked like the real damage was here. John took Max from Angel as thrusters activated on his armor. He jumped over to the next area, Max held tightly to his chest plate, and waited for the others. Angel, Anderson, and Helix maneuvered through the rubble and began shimmying across a small outcropping. Anderson had to stop Angel from falling halfway across.
"Thanks," she said quickly.
"No need to thank me, you would've done the same," Anderson said to her.
"True," she replied as they finished getting across.
Angel spotted a small pile of Heat Exchanges and grabbed them, reloading her weapon before handing half of what remained to Anderson. The rest she kept for herself. John continued to hold onto the girl as they slid down the side of the building, stopping at what was a bridge of rubble. They crossed it and saw an Alliance Dreadnaught firing at a Reaper. The Reaper fired once and destroyed the ship. The resulting shock wave shook the platform they were on, tilting it to a dangerous angle and spilling them over to a lower platform.
"Ow," Angel said as she got up.
She looked over to see a lower platform that was just barely above the water, one with an Alliance Marine and a UNSC ODST, and the Marine was pinned under a fallen beam. Angel jumped down as the others followed her.
"You guys alright?" she asked them.
"Get down you dumbass!" the ODST shout-whispered at her.
Angel looked across the water to see a group of Reaper troopers that she didn't recognize. She noticed that they only had one hand; the other was some sort of cannon type thing. They noticed her and screeched before firing their strange cannons at the group. John spun and used his body as a shield for Max. She screamed as the others began firing at the Reapers. Angel noticed that when one fell, another would begin to 'eat' it, causing armor to form on its body.
"Cannibals," she said aloud.
"Neat name, we'll use it, now kill the damn things!" Helix shouted at her.
Angel put three quick rounds into the head of the last one. John turned back around as Max clung to the back of his leg. Helix walked over to the ODST and Marine, lifting the sleeve of her shirt to revel another tattoo. The ODST's visor depolarized and revealed a smiling man in his mid-thirties.
"105th, kickin ass, takin names-…," the ODST started.
"And droppin into hell for 200 years," Helix finished as she and Anderson helped lift the beam off the Alliance soldier.
"You guys call in for evac?"
"Yeah, need a ride?"
"Would love one, an Alliance communicator is near that crashed gunship."
"Let's move," Anderson said as the group got up and began moving towards the gunship, the Marine being helped along by the ODST.
Angel rounded a corner and all but slammed into a hail of bullets. She dropped to the floor and rolled over to cover as her shields began to slowly recharge. The ODST popped out from the corner, gun raised, and began sending bursts into the heads of the Cannibals.
"Clear the EZ!" the ODST shouted as he ran forward, Helix close behind him.
"Don't fuck with the 105th!" Helix shouted happily as she fired her magnum at the Cannibals.
The ODST tossed her his Silenced Magnum and Helix began taking down even more of the Cannibals. She ran forward, killing another and using its body as a meat-shield while killing the last group of them. She dropped the body as the others ran up to them.
"Hoorah! Just like old times, huh Kimmy?" The ODST said.
"It thought we agreed you'd stop calling me that when we were kids?" Kim replied with a laugh.
"Can't let my favorite cousin off without a few scrapes now can I?"
Anderson walked over to the communicator and activated it. He then called the SR2, hoping that they weren't being jammed.
"Anderson to Shepard. Captain Shepard, do you read?"
"[Joker here, we read you loud and clear Admiral,]" the Normandy's pilot said.
"We're at the EZ, we have a civilian with us, get here now."
"[Understood, I see you now. Lowering ramp.]"
Angel looked up to see the SR2 come low to the ground near them, its ramp lowered. She looked back to See John pick up Max and Kim and her cousin help lift the injured Marine towards the SR2. The group moved as fast as they could, managing to get to the ship just as more Cannibals arrived. By then, the injured Marine, Kim, Angel, John, and Max were aboard the Normandy. Anderson and the ODST turned and looked at the Cannibals, watching as a stray missile destroyed them.
"Anderson, come on," Jane shouted from behind Angel.
The younger Shepard turned to see her older sister standing in her armor with Ash and Kaiden at her sides.
"I'm not going," Anderson said.
"The hell you mean you're not going Admiral?" Kim asked.
"You've seen what's happening, everyone still down here needs a leader."
"If you're staying then so am I," Jane said.
"No, you need to gather the Alliance's forces. We won't have any chance of winning this war without them."
"I'm staying with the Admiral, I can help him with how any UNSC troops still here operate," Kim's cousin said.
"No time to argue, just go!" Anderson shouted. "Oh, and Operator Helix?"
Angel watched as Kim turned to face the Admiral, catching the dog tags he threw to her.
"Consider yourself reinstated, Colonel."
Angel looked back out the ramp as the Normandy started rising. She watched as Anderson and the ODST started running towards where other Alliance soldiers were. She looked towards where a group of shuttles was landing to see the child that had been with Max near them. The child looked up at the Normandy SR2 as it continued to rise, only looking away when a Reaper walked out from behind a building. Everyone at the Evac Zone looked up at the giant mech before running towards a shuttle. Angel watched as the boy climbed into the shuttle closest to him. It closed and launched into the only to be shot down half a second later by the Reaper. Angel looked away as the squid shaped robot finished off the other shuttles.
"[Heading to the SR3 now,]" Joker said over the coms as the ramp closed and sealed.
Me: That was fun.
Trin: I'm not sure whether or not I should be worried for the Alliance, or feel sorry for the Reapers.
Me: Worry first, sorrow later. Codex!
March 3rd, 2566: Nova Galaxy Earth falls to Reaper forces. Reapers manage to temporarily disable MAC Platforms long enough to get troops aboard them and make landfall on the planet. With no UNSC ships in the area at the time, Nova Earth fell within an hour. Contact was lost with the two THORs that were planet side. Combat recordings and reports show both mechs being swarmed by Reaper forces, though taking a considerable chunk of the Reaper forces with them. Reclaimer Alliance forces, other than the small amount trapped on Nova Earth, have retreated to the Citadel. Normandy SR3 was last seen heading towards Mars, the SR2 launching from it when the SR3 got close.