Battarian Invasion

"Peter, do you know where John is?"

"Well the most logical place is school, I mean... it's Monday morning ten o'clock. That means school has already started."

"Ok, but school just called to ask where he is, Evy doesn't know either"

"If he isn't there then I have no clue where he might hang out, relax Meriana... all kids rebel against their parents it's a natural process of growing up, especially when it's about school. but I will talk to him when he comes home of course."

peter went back to work on his computer, working as a server administrator was boring work sometimes, but at least you were allowed to work at home. Meriana brought him a cup of coffee, Peter smiled to her.

"I shall call hi..."

suddenly she was interrupted by a heavy blasting sound, then screams... Meriana rushed to the window to see what was going on. She froze by what she saw. The administrations centre on the other side of the plaza was utterly destroyed. Big pieces of debris were flying through the air, people were screaming and running from the building with their hand above their heads. One man was crawling and clawing desperately with his hands while his legs were crushed under a big piece of metal.

"what the F... server just went off-line."

Peter went over to Meriana and stood next to her looking through the window. Another shell came down from the sky, hitting the school right in the middle. Peter was shocked by the sight of it "what the bloody hell is going on" Meriana began to panic "Evy is in there, oh my god Peter... Evy is in there". Meriana sat back against the wall and was bursting out in tears. The colony Alarm went off, producing a high frequency tone followed by a male voice "We are being attack by an unknown force. All militia, gear up and head for the government centre. All women and children to the government centre's underground bunkers.". The alarm barely ended his sentence when Peter saw gunfire on the edge of the colony. The attackers were shooting while they ran into the Colony, fleeing people went down randomly. Wounded people were dragged away and kicked into a truck. Already some defenders were putting up a fight.

"Meriana, go to the Government centre, I will gear up and aid the defenders."

Peter grabbed Meriana's arm and helped her back on her feet, she was crying and shaking. "now Meriana, GO"

"Yes Peter of course... Just be careful" Meriana kissed him.

"yeah, you too darling, I'll look for John and Evy, I'll meet you there. "

Meriana walked out of the room while she was grabbing her Phone, her hands began to shake when she found out that the connection was dead "come bloody piece of shit, just let me make a call". Peter unlocked his militia locker, and geared up. A helmet like the ones used in world war 1 by the British, but upgraded with a safety glass and augmented reality. A Semi automatic rifle, 200 rounds in 20 magazines and a bayonet. And for protection all militia had bullet protection Kevlar vests. With this poor fighting gear the militia were to hold the line until alliance navy arrived. When Peter Rushed outside other militiamen were already putting up a heavy fight against the attackers which Peter could now identify as Battarians. Running toward the closest piece of cover proved challenging, he fell over a dead body, almost hurting himself with his bayonet. He quickly got up and ran forward. Another militiaman shouted "Peter over here" . He instinctively went over there, there were some men he knew. The man who shouted was Bard, a neighbor. Unfortunately Peter never got the chance to say "hi", Bard was blown up by a battarian grenade. Bard's whole face was blasted away and three others fell as well. Peter was blown backward because of the shock. He quickly grabbed his rifle, planted the back of the rifle in the earth to pull himself up and leaped into cover. Just where Bard was 5 seconds ago.

"dad!"

"John, what are you doing here, where did you get that equipment."

A whistling sound and the explosion of a shell shook the ground, showering John and Peter with dirt.

"grabbed it from a dead man."

"Dammit son, I'm glad you skipped school... It's blown apart"

"I know, I went motor crossing with Brian and Donald, we heard explosions and gunfire in the distance. We went back here as quick as we could. Do you know where Evy is? I tried to call her but communications are off-line."

"No I don't know, but we better get out of here. Cover me while I try to look for others around"

John peeked around the corner and saw the Battarians running towards him. He pointed his weapon and "Bang!". Shot one battarian in the leg. He crumbled and the other two leaped into cover. He shot again, this bullet turned out to be a deadly one. The battarian went down and didn't move again. The other two returned fire upon John so he had to hit his cover again. A heavy shell exploded on the other side of the street. Dirt was showering down on John. Peter was down the street, signaling that he found some others and waved his hand to John, "We'll cover you!". John ran towards the others, they bravely got out off cover and lay a line of bullets through the street to give John safe passage. John made it, but two men were shot. Meanwhile the Battarians had brought in an APC, which was now spraying bullets trough the street, more Battarians stepped out from the back. "We have to fall back to the government centre". shouted one of the men. The rest of them agreed and they turned around and began to run. John was running right behind his dad, he saw at least 5 men go down in front of him. What was left of the group turned right at the next junction. After 50 meters they stopped and lined up. They could all hear the screams of the wounded militiamen who fell during their fall back run. Horrified screams and gunfire... then silence, the Battarians had finished them off. The first 12 men knelt down, and the other 12 stood behind them. All pointing towards where the Battarians would be coming from. "get ready... here they come boys!" shouted the same man who gave the fall back order before. Everyone was nervous, most men couldn't hold still their rifles, their hands were shaking. The sun was shining brightly upon their bayonets and helmets, it made the bayonets look extra lethal. John was breathing heavily and so was the man next to him, he was scared as well. John tried to aim but his rifle was heavy. At least 20 Battarians came around the corner and all the militiamen opened fire. A hailstorm of bullets hit the Battarians, two Battarians dropped dead to the ground, others were crawling wounded on the ground. Low voiced screams indicated that they were in pain, John found it most satisfying and it made his ego rise. The Battarians were shocked, they didn't expect their fleeing foe to face them right around the corner. Before the Battarians could line up their weapons John suddenly shouted "CHARGE!" and without question all the men charged the Battarians head on. John ran about 10 meters behind his dad. Suddenly a shell exploded right next to the spot where his dad was. Peter was blown to the right, his left leg was gone and his face was crushed. John went on charging, he jumped through the dust of the explosion. A battarian appeared right in front of him, he fired his weapon in a reflex and stabbed the battarian with his bayonet "Get down you Bastard" he shouted. The militiamen who survived the charge clashed with their opponent. Now they were on the advantage because the Battarians didn't have bayonets. The standing Battarians were taken care off easily. He pushed a crawling foe to the ground with his boot and stabbed him, ending his life instantly. John saw an incoming enemy just in time to dodge him, he quickly turned around his axis and stabbed the Battarian in his underbelly, fired his rifle and kicked him off his bayonet with his boot. John looked around him, As the last one of the battarian foot soldiers slid from the bayonet of a militiaman, he shouted "Now everybody! Get the hell out of here... Back to the government centre!" . All the men began to run towards the government centre randomly, there was no sign of any organization. The roaring sound from the Battarian APC's engine could already be heard very clearly, but John knelt down next to his dad to honor him. He stood up again with a lump in his throat. "I'll redeem you father, even if it's the last thing I do" John grabbed his father's helmet and began to run, he heard the rattling sound of the APC's heavy automatic gun, he looked back. What he saw gave him a shiver on his back, his mother Meriana... naked, Tortured, walking emotionless, she was being brutally pushed into the APC along with some others who were captured as well. John looked ahead of him again and kept running, still in disbelief of what he just saw. "what are those bastards doing. what do they want from us... could they be slavers?"

John now had a visual on the government centre, it was heavily reinforced already. The militia turned it into their head-quarters, "if I could just reach it!" A shell exploded just to his right and another one left in front of him. He was blown to the left, His sight was suddenly blurry and his hearing was muted. A high frequent beeping tone tearing through his head, he grabbed his head due to the pain. He was creeping through the field of corpses that lay in front of the government centre, battarian and human. "Curse those bloody Battarians, I'll hate them forever" .John pushed himself on his feet and wandered about towards the militia head-quarter, unaware of the battle around him, his sight came back to normal and his hearing was getting better but still dim. He heard vague shots around him and voices far in the distance there was also a flashing light to his right, a hollow "boom" then wind and dust. "must have been an explosion" he thought to himself. He saw two militiamen in the doorway in front of him holding out their hands, one of them was saying something but he couldn't hear what he said. It was vague gibberish. Suddenly he felt a terrible pain in his right leg, he felt to the right as he tried to grab the hand of one of the militiamen. They grabbed him and pulled him inside. Another shot in his back, his body began to shake, and he was spitting some blood. He heard people screaming and shouting. Lieutenant's barking orders, and weapons were fired. Every few second there was a heavy explosion to be heard. "out of the way! we got a wounded here!" shouted one of the militiamen who carried him. He was laid down on a stretch bed en things began to fade, "I made it..." his eyes began to roll, everything seemed to be in slow motion. "Hey! stay with us son..." A man hit his hand against his cheek "You're not going to die on my watch" he said, he had a white bracelet decorated with a red cross, then everything went dark.

John opened his eyes and looked around. The battle was still raging, "so it wasn't a nightmare." He got up a bit, planting his elbows behind him. Next to him he heard a familiar voice, "Hey little brother."

"Ah you're awake" said a doctor "what's your name son"

"John Shepard"

"Do you know who is lying next to you?"

"My sister Evy Shepard"

They heard someone scream "MEDIC" in another room.

"Good, Good enough... I'll leave you then."

The doctor rushed away, leaving John and Evy. Evy turned towards her brother, "I'm sick John, I think I'm going to die"

"No you're not"

"Yes I am... those monsters tried to drag me away, then the militia came and scared them away. One of them injected something to me"

"Have you told the doctors about it?"

"No, now I get those weird seizures. I had three already, it gets worse every time"

Suddenly a little a small stream of blood was coming out of her eye, "John, I'm dying" She said scared and half crying.

"No Evy Stay with me, Stay with me... DOCTOR HELP!" He crouched over to Evy and pushed her to his chest, and stroke his hand through her hair. She began to puke blood on his clothes, The doctor ran inside. "John don't leave me!" she screamed "I'm right here sis" there spurted blood from her mouth as she breathed heavily "JOOOHN! WHERE ARE YOU! I CAN'T FEEL YOU!" she threw up blood again "NOOOOO!" she was clawing his back with her nails. Her body began to shake all over, another Seizure. John held his sister close to his chest, then she was limp as a rag doll. John Began to cry, holding his sister in his arms. Laying his head on her head. "I'm sorry about your sister John" was the only thing the doctor said before he was already being summoned by someone else. John Laid his sister down and stood up, his body was hurting very bad. He stumbled toward a window, and looked outside. He was on the second floor. He saw the village square in front of the government centre, militiamen outside were putting up a fight, men were running aimlessly around and were shooting at the enemy. It was a complete chaos, men were falling by the dozens. Wounded militiamen were crawling around, body's were covering the entire square and at some places the corpses were three layers thick. John saw a militiaman, his jaw was blown off. The man was wandering the square slowly, looking at nothing. John took his rifle and put it on the window frame, he picked his target and shot "Bang!". Picking targets proved challenging, the Battarians were taking good cover. He could hear heavy gunfire from the roof. Some militiamen managed to turn the AA-guns towards the ground, this way they could hit ground targets. Dull pops and tracer bullets came down from the roof towards a Battarian APC. Within seconds it was filled with holes, he heard the men shouting on the roof as the APC exploded "Roo-ah, Scratch one!". They kept firing and some Battarian infantry fell as well. Johns ears began to mute again because of the heavy sounds of the AA-gun, but it was totally worth it. The point and shoot pattern repeated itself a few times. From the corner of his eyes he saw something that caught his attention. A young boy came running out of an alley towards the government centre. He was chased by two Battarians, one of them shot the boy in his leg. The boy shouted in pain en fell on his knees. The other Battarian hit the boy on the back of his head with his rifle. John aimed at one of them and shot, hitting a Battarians shoulder. The other one shot the boy through his head then they took cover. Some militiamen saw it as well and began to fire at the Battarians. Soon they were dead. But the boy was killed, he was too late. Suddenly he heard "Incoming rocket", shouted by a militiaman next to him. John dropped to the ground as the rocket hit the window frame where the shouting Militiaman just was. Another rocket hit something just above them on the roof. John could hear the men screaming. Apparently the AA-gun was destroyed and the men who operated were wounded. The first rocket completely destroyed the window frame and the man was blown away, his right arm ripped of his body. He was screaming, and looked shocked when he saw his arm was blown off. John rushed over to him and pushed him to the ground "MEDIC!". When he looked down to the man he saw it was already too late, he was dead. A loud noise shook the building, Bombers were flying over very low, loud explosions could be heard in the distance as they dropped their bombs. tanks rolled through the streets, firing their heavy main guns upon the Battarians APC's. It appeared to be effective, "Finally the alliance has arrived" John said to himself. Kodiak's were dropping of Rifleman, who instantly attacked the enemy. optimistic voices and shouts were heard through the building. Battarians were fleeing in all directions... Humans had the Victory, but John lost everything, He couldn't see the bright side of it.

Some moments later John Shepard was sitting with his back against the wall, his elbows on his knees and his hands on the back of his head. His eyes staring emotionless to the ground. "what the hell just happened today, Mom died, dad died, Evy died, So many died... why not me?".Evy's Blood was still wet and all over his clothes, he couldn't tell if the bandages on his wounds were drained with his or Evy's blood.He heard footsteps closing in

"Hello soldier, how are you holding up"

"I'm not a soldier, I'm a mechanic, a citizen, a useless colonist... but a soldier... no"

"Well, you militiamen put up a hell of a fight. I'm Captain David Anderson, I came down to check upon the survivors"

"Hmm... Survivor, yeah... I survived, but lost everything. My mom, dad, sister... everyone is dead. how many survived anyway?"

"237 people survived, 5.000 were killed, 47 wounded and 35.000 were taken prisoner, number is still rising"

John wasn't reacting when he heard the number, The reality of it slowly got through to him. "way to many" He thought, John wanted to go away from this hellish place. "Why so few wounded" he asked, "They took the wounded with them" Anderson replied "probably slavers".

"I don't want to stay here anymore, take me with you on your ship."

"Are you sure, the colony could really use a skilled mechanic with the rebuilding project."

"I most certainly am, I need to get out of here, everything I was died today"

"Hmm... Ok, Grab your gear and meet the others at the pick-up spot just next to this building."

John Shepard grabbed his rifle, gave his sister a kiss on her forehead... he sat beside her for a brief moment. The pain she endured was still written on her face "Pure agony" John thought to himself. Then he stood up and walked away, he would never forget the sight of his sister. "She died in so much pain... and her eyes bled..." his stomach turned around about three times, he threw up all over the floor. "Hey easy son", it was captain Anderson "no man can see the things you saw today and be left untouched by it... it's ok, just take your time." John was calmed down by Anderson's words. He looked up, took a deep breath and wiped the tears from his eyes. "Thanks... captain" John walked down the stairs and went outside. It was a complete horror scene, the smell of burning corpses was overwhelming, but John did his best not to throw up again. When he arrived at the pick-up point, he sat down. He was playing with the grass a bit, "Hey Johnny, Tough son of a bitch huh..." John turned his head

"hey Brian... Brian O'niel. You have no idea how happy I am to see you, So few survived... I was afraid I wouldn't see a known face again."

"You're not getting rid of me that easy"

"what about Donald?"

"Died..."

"I'm Sorry man"

"he was your friend too"

"Yeah I know... You Joined up the military as well?"

"Yup, what should I do else? Kill myself? No one I know survived today, my whole life blown to bits. Besides, Donald asked me to when he sacrificed himself, his exact word were: Make 'em pay Brian, don't make me die for nothin'. "

"The same goes for me... I promised to redeem my father."

Brian threw his gear next to John's and sat down beside him. "Oh by the way." Brain took something from his pocket and gave it to John. It was a picture of him with his mom, dad and sister. "Where did you get it?" John asked. "I saw your sister in the hospital... I'm sorry about her... but they found this picture upon her body and they said you left already, so I took it."

"Thanks man..."

The two didn't say anything for a long time, when finally the word came. They were Going.