Mass Effect Chronicles:
The Krogan Rebellions
I
As their troop transport shuttles flew over the battlefield, the Turian forces could see that the ground was being laced with mortar fire from the Krogan lines. High above, a battle was raging between the cruisers from each side.
"Alright," Lieutenant Tarak Revlor said to his men. "Those damn Krogan have held their line for two days. That's far too long. Palaven command wants them out of Turian space, and they've called us in because we get results. When we get off of this shuttle, there's going to be fire coming at us from everywhere. We push forward, no matter what. Clear?"
"Yes sir," the Turian soldiers said in unison.
Among them was Sergeant Daren Victus. He had been given a place of his own in the Blackwatch only recently, and that was only because he had held the line alone against a dozen Krogan on Digeris. Most of the officers considered Victus to be unpredictable; more likely to act on impulse than to wait and assess the situation first.
They felt the shuttles touch down at that moment.
When the shuttle doors opened, the Turians poured out onto the field. Dirt and debris was flying everywhere and the sound of the mortar shells hitting the ground was deafening.
Victus pushed forward and took cover behind a low rock wall. One good thing about Menae, he thought, is that cover seems to be plentiful.
"Move up!" The Lieutenant said when there was a lull in the mortar blasts. The soldiers did so, only to be met with a barrage of shotgun fire from the Krogan positions. Two Turians went down before they even knew what was happening.
"Don't make yourselves easy targets!" The Lieutenant yelled. "Stay low and return fire as best you can!"
Victus scanned the walls of rock to the left and right. He couldn't see anything for a second, and then he caught a glimpse of armor. It was followed by the face of a Krogan as he leaned out to take another shot with his shotgun.
Aiming his rifle, Victus took the Krogan out with a precision shot to the face.
A mortar blast struck the ground near him immediately after, sending him flying. When he hit the ground again, the jolt from the impact jarred his frame and sent his rifle skittering away across the rocky floor.
"They're making a push!" Someone yelled.
Victus regained his senses and looked ahead. The mortar fire had stopped and a line of Krogan was charging straight for the Turians. One of them was rather close to Victus and was on him in a second.
Without the time to go for his rifle, Victus drew a combat knife as the Krogan barreled into him. The brute was strong, but Victus knew exactly where to hit it to subdue it.
He stabbed the Krogan once in the side of the head and followed by a second stab under its chin.
"Should've worn a helmet," Victus said as the Krogan collapsed.
Victus looked around for his rifle and found it next to a large boulder. Once he'd picked it up, he started pushing forward again.
The Krogan were coming at them in greater numbers, and Victus wasn't sure how long the Blackwatch would last against their superior numbers. He watched two of his comrades level their rifles and drop four Krogan one after the other. As he observed their tenacity, Victus began to reconsider their odds immediately.
Even as they pushed forward, the Krogan pushed back. The battle had become a stalemate. For every two feet that the Turians gained, the Krogan took one back soon after.
Victus shot down another two Krogan with miraculously placed headshots that even pierced their helmets.
"Hold your ground, men!" Yelled the Lieutenant over the den of noise. "We've got reinforcements on the way!"
No sooner had he finished saying so, than did they hear a barrage of gunfire to their left. Krogan were cut down by the dozens as the Turians pushed into their flank from a rocky ridge.
The Blackwatch pushed harder with a renewed vigor when they saw it. Victus tossed a grenade into the Krogan numbers. An explosion met his ears soon after, mixed with the screams of Krogan.
"We'll take Menae back!" The Lieutenant called to his men.
"Push harder!" Another soldier yelled.
Then the Krogan line broke. They were no longer able to hold the advancing Turian forces and were forced to fall back. The Turians responded by immediately pushing forward and taking the ridge that the Krogan had once occupied.
"Set up a perimeter," ordered the Lieutenant. "I want us ready to push to the Krogan FOB in five."
The men acted with haste to fulfill the orders. Victus scanned the Menae horizon. He could see more battles raging across the fields below. It sickened him to know that it was happening so close to Palaven.
Looking up, he gazed at the Turian homeworld for a few seconds. It was a grand sight, resplendent with greens, browns, and blues.
After a short respite, the troops were eager to get moving. The Turian officers had no intention of disappointing them either.
"Command," said the Lieutenant, "this is Lieutenant Revlor. I need a air strike on the Krogan FOB to soften them up for a ground assault."
"We copy, Lieutenant," was the reply. "Get your men ready to move. We'll bring the rain."
In the distance, a squadron of Turian fighters could be seen on a fast course for the Krogan base. As the soldiers watched them, the Lieutenant said, "Let's move!"
The Blackwatch, along with the other Turian forces, began pushing forward down a rather steep slope. Mostly they just had to slide with their momentum carried them down.
Once they were on the ground, they pushed forward again.
"Someone needs to take out that comms array so the Krogan can't call for support," said the Lieutenant. "Victus, you're on it!"
"On my way," Victus replied, though he resented not being part of the push on the Krogan base.
Taking a side route, Victus started up for the array. It was a long and slightly tedious climb over a rocky slope. He almost lost his footing once or twice.
At the top, he found a single Krogan guarding the array, but at the time he was taking aim at the Turian forces that were on their way to the FOB. He had a missile launcher in his grip.
Victus aimed his rifle and started firing, not caring where he hit the Krogan. The brute recoiled from the strikes, but managed to recover. He turned to Victus and pulled out his shotgun, aiming it with one hand at the Turian.
As the Krogan fired, Victus rolled to the side. He managed to dodge the majority of the blast, but some of its force hit him in the shoulder.
Victus fired his rifle again, this time aiming for the Krogan's head. It took the bolts and fell to the ground slowly, bleeding from several wounds.
Once he was at the comms array, Victus began examining the console. It would be no challenge to take out, but as he looked over the array he noticed a possibility. If he could disrupt the circuitry properly it would overload the array and send out a signal over the Krogan channels that would leave them incapacitated.
A loud buzzing and beeping noise. At the same time, it would shut down the comms array.
It would leave the Krogan helpless, Victus thought. He set to work on the disruption, cutting the necessary cords and rewiring them, as he needed to.
When he was finished, Victus turned the array's signal booster up to its maximum level. The array began sparking, and then with a burst it sent out the signal. The array exploded immediately after.
Victus had already withdrawn to a safe enough distance and watched as the array went up in smoke and electrical sparks.
"Something's happening to the Krogan," said a voice over the comm. "They've stopped firing."
"What are they doing?" asked another voice. "It's like something's giving them a headache."
"Keep firing," said the first voice. "This is our chance."
Victus sat back and watched as the combined Turian air and ground strike destroyed the Krogan FOB. Across Menae, hundreds of Krogan dropped dead from heavy gunshot wounds all at the same time.
We did it, thought Victus. Perhaps now the fallen may rest easier.
Still, even with Turian success on Menae, the war was still far from over.