The Long Halloween

1401 (Military Time)\Office of Naval Intelligence, New York

Liar. Disgrace. Insane. Murderer. Those were just a few of the words that Kaelyn Shepard had had associated with her over the past month and a half, and those were the least offensive ones. When she thought back to everything she did, everything she had tried to do to keep the galaxy safe, it still distressed her to think that one decision came very close to undoing it all.

Her troubles really began over two years ago, when just another routine mission (a term she always found ludicrous) had turned into anything but. An alien artefact had imprinted visions in her brain, showing the return of the Reapers, enormous sentient machines spawned by an intelligence from beyond the boundaries of space and time that came to systematically exterminate all advanced organic life roughly every 40,000 years. The Mass Relay technology, which allowed for travel to the other side of the galaxy almost instantaneously, was instrumental in this, as through its use the civilisations of the galaxy evolved down the paths the Reapers desired, setting up their base of power on the space station known as the Citadel, the hub of the Relay Network. The Citadel was in fact a gigantic Mass Relay that connected to Dark Space, where the Reapers hibernated between each Cycle of Extinction, allowing them to immediately invade and take over the network, decapitating and crippling all of galactic civilisation in one fell swoop to make the peoples of the galaxy easy pickings for the Reapers.

This cycle, however, they had not succeeded, due to their technology being sabotaged. That did not stop their vanguard, Sovereign, from trying to activate the relay himself, using his pawn, the rogue Turian Spectre Saren Arterius, to do so. Thanks to Shepard and the allies she had made – some of whom she had lost – along the way, that plan had been prevented. Perhaps realising that they had lost the element of surprise, or perhaps because of hubris, the Reapers started to make their own way to the galaxy. In that time, their agents, the Collectors, the indoctrinated and genetically-modified form of the race known as the Forerunners, had been abducting entire human colonies.

It was later revealed that they had done so to grind the humans down and use their essence to create a new Reaper. It was strongly believed that they had done so in order to gain their own Technomancer, a being who could wield the limitless powers of the Array, believed to be a vast database as old as the universe that recorded every single action committed by living beings. If the Reapers had gained access to the Array and being able to use Technomancy, they would have the power to manipulate all of Creation, essentially making themselves gods. Thankfully, that plan had been foiled by Shepard and her companions, but the victory had earned her a new enemy in the form of Cerberus, a human-supremacist terrorist faction that had aided her as the Collectors operated in the Terminus Systems, outside the jurisdiction of both the Citadel Council and the United Nations Space Command. Her refusal to give them Reaper technology had earned the enmity of their leader, the Illusive Man, who was determined to find a way to use the enemy's methods against them, something which Shepard knew was doomed to fail.

Three weeks later, the Reapers were finally about to arrive. They planned to use the Alpha Relay, located deep in Batarian space, to take a shortcut to the Sol System and catch Earth's defenders completely off-guard. Shepard had been successful in destroying the relay, delaying them, but doing so had completely obliterated a whole star system. Over 300,000 Batarians had died, and Shepard held herself responsible for it all. If it had not been for indoctrinated UNSC agents forcing her into that position...

In the end, it didn't matter anymore. Now here she was, imprisoned in the main ONI building for the past month, hidden from a galaxy that had reacted to the incident with outrage and venom. The Batarians in-particular wanted her head on a pike. Fortunately it had transpired that she had friends in very high places, and so compromises had been reached. That said, she had still being discharged, stripped of her rank, and essentially placed under house arrest in the ONI building; she could not leave the building, nor could she be present for important meetings. Only rumours had reached her ears of war in Batarian space, which would probably account for why the Hegemony hadn't gone to war with the UNSC over her actions. Still, the news troubled her, as she was sure that she knew what it meant. She only hoped that the galaxy was ready for when the war spread beyond Batarian borders, but after all that she had seen and heard in the past two months she didn't have much hope.

At least her prison wasn't uncomfortable, with a bed, a private washroom and a view of the Hudson River. She was looking out across the river to the gleaming skyline of Manhattan, leaning against the glass, combing a hand through her short brown hair while she watched the golden-brown autumn trees swaying in a soft breeze. She was sure it wouldn't be long now before the Reapers arrived, and what was hurting her was that she was in no position now to stop it; she was trapped here as much to save her from the galaxy as it was to save the galaxy from her. She wasn't even allowed to contact her friends and comrades, even if just to find out if they were alright. She had no crew, no ship, and no trust from anyone around her. She was sure that all of these thoughts were contributing to the nightmares; she had not had a decent night's sleep for the past four days. She was distracted from her thoughts by the sound of her door sliding open.

"Commander," a man's voice said with a Puerto Rican accent. Turning around, she saw that the man was James Vega, her personal probation officer. Her friend and mentor, Admiral David Anderson, had insisted that she have one, as required for anyone under house arrest like herself. Of course, they could not bring in anyone close to Shepard; it had to be someone who appeared impartial, not likely to try to help Shepard go into hiding. Vega was a mountain of a man, heavily muscled with a chiselled jaw framing his scarred, stubbled face and with his hair fashioned like a small Mohawk. A tattoo seemed to run all the way up the right-hand side of his body. She had gotten to know Vega, who was a member of the Orbital Drop Shock Troopers, over the past month, mostly because he was not that disciplined and a bit of a motor-mouth. In spite of his job he seemed rather keen to talk to her. He saluted as she turned to face him, a move with she responded to by just shaking her head.

"You're not supposed to call me that anymore, James," she said, gazing at him with her bottle-green eyes.

"Not supposed to salute you either," he said. Behind him Shepard could see people moving frantically in the corridor, and now that the door was open the sound of an alarm was reaching her ears.

"We've gotta go," the ODST continued. "Anderson wants to talk to you."

"Sounds important," said Shepard, stepping towards the door and following Vega out into the corridor. "What's going on?"

"Couldn't say," replied Vega as both stepped out of Shepard's quarters. "He just told me he needed you now."

The scene out in the corridor was one of total confusion, as the staff in the building ran to and fro, some carrying papers and datapads, all of them with identical expressions of worry on their faces. Alarms were sounding from further inside the base. As Shepard and Vega walked down the corridor, they were quickly approached by Anderson himself, dark-skinned and dressed in his blue dress uniform. He had had a long and memorable career, including two years as the human Councillor on the Citadel itself, a role which Shepard had recommended him for but which he'd eventually retired from. He shook Shepard's hand when he approached her, while Vega saluted.

"You look good, Shepard," the Admiral and former Councillor said, looking at Shepard from top to toe. "Maybe a little soft around the edges. How're you holding up since being relieved from duty?"

"It's not so bad once you get used to the hot food and soft beds," sighed Shepard as she followed Anderson down the corridor and out of the detention block, pushing past crowds of worry-stricken staff. "What's going on?" she asked, looking around her into every stranger's face. "Why's everyone in such a hurry?"

"Admiral Hackett's mobilising the fleets," replied Anderson. "I'm guessing word's made it to ONI; something big's headed our way."

"The Reapers?" asked Shepard, stopping dead in the hallway with a worried expression. They were almost at a flight of stairs leading down. Anderson turned to face her.

"I'm prepared to stake my life on it," he said, with a grim expression.

"You know we're not ready if it is them," said Shepard, her eyes narrowed. "Not by a long shot."

"Tell that to HICOM," said Anderson, shaking his head and leading the way down the stairs.

"Unless we're planning to talk the Reapers to death," said Shepard, "HICOM's a waste of time."

"They're just scared," said Anderson. "None of them have seen what you've seen. You've seen them in action. Hell, you spoke to one, then blew the damn thing up! You've seen how they harvest us, what they plan to do to us, how they're trying to get their claws on the Array. You know more about this enemy than anyone who isn't a Precursor."

"That why they grounded me?" asked Shepard in a bitter tone, her eyes narrowed. "Took away my ship?"

"You know that's not true," said Anderson, halting in the corridor and turning to face her, his brow furrowed. "When you blew up the Alpha Relay, hundreds of thousands of Batarians died!"

"It was either that or let the Reapers walk through our back door!" spat Shepard.

"I know that, Shepard," said Anderson, in a low tone. "And so does everyone who matters. If it wasn't for that, you'd have been court-marshalled and left to rot in the brig."

"That and your good word..." said Shepard, now looking rather guilty.

"I trust you, Shepard," said Anderson, leaning close to her. "And so do many other people out there. Right now, you need to show them that their trust is justified."

"I'm just a soldier, Anderson," sighed Shepard, "not a politician."

"I don't need you to be either," replied Anderson. "I just need you to do whatever the hell it takes to stop the Reapers." With that, they resumed walking down the corridors, pushing past the ever-thickening crowds of people.

"So what do you expect me to do, Anderson?" asked Shepard. "There has to be a reason you pulled me out of house arrest."

"We need to head to the Normandy," said Anderson. "She's not as ready as we'd like, but she'll get you out into space and to the Citadel. We've got to start rallying everyone we can and calling in favours to get the resistance against the Reapers underway. We've got a crew assembled; right now Major Alenko's overseeing them and prepping for departure."

"Major?" asked Shepard, stopping and looking surprised.

"Oh, you won't have heard about Kaidan's promotion..." said Anderson.

"No, said Shepard. "I'm a bit out of the loop these days."

"Sorry, Shepard," said Anderson, "but that was one of the conditions of your confinement, remember?"

"Yeah, I know," sighed Shepard. "I would've liked to have heard from him, though. He's..."

"I understand," said Anderson, "and I'm sorry. I know you two had a relationship..."

"One that Cerberus did its best to destroy..."

"I can't say I blame everyone for the way they reacted to you working with the Space Nazis," Vega chimed in.

"I don't either," said Shepard, shaking her head. As they were about to resume their march down the corridors, there was a sudden beeping noise coming from Anderson's Omni-Tool. He brought up the hard-light interface to find that someone was trying to contact him.

"Admiral Anderson!" a worried-sounding female voice was saying.

"Give me a status report," said Anderson, sounding calm.

"Our colonies are going dark," said the voice. "We've lost contact with everything beyond the Charon Relay! Now we've just lost contact with Luna Base!"

"The Moon?" asked Anderson, lines of worry now filling his face. "They couldn't be that close already..."

"Has the UNSC started evacuation procedures?" asked Shepard.

"Yes," replied Anderson, "but the Reapers have got here so quickly. We don't have enough time to evacuate even an eighth of our population..."

"The Orbital Defence Grid has just gone dark!" the woman then said. "The Reapers cut through it like it wasn't there!"

"How many?" asked Anderson.

"Thousands!" replied the speaker. "Tens of thousands!"

"Evacuate all stations!" barked Anderson. "Get as many out as you can!"

"Yes, sir!" the woman replied before signing off.

"We've got to get to the Normandy now," hissed Anderson, looking frustrated. "They're obviously sending the bulk of their forces here."

"To get their Reaper Technomancer as quickly as possible," said Shepard, looking very grave. "We've got to get moving now!"

Then, from outside, a low humming noise could be heard, maintaining an eerie, consistent note like a distant foghorn. Shepard, Anderson and Vega stopped dead in their tracks; Shepard especially knew what this noise was, as she had heard it countless times in her nightmares. Around them, others stopped to listen to the sound, as it grew louder and louder, their concerned expressions now beginning to show signs of panic. The sound suddenly ceased, only to be replaced by a high-pitched whine from somewhere close by, and a series of low, dull thuds.

The next instant, there was a catastrophic explosion right by the group, as something emitting a vivid red light blasted through that section of the building. Shepard found her world thrown into chaos as she was thrown bodily through the air by the blast. Slamming into the opposite wall, a whining filled Shepard's ears as she collapsed to the floor, her vision blurred and her hearing filled only with this whining sound. She breathed sharply, and struggled to pull herself to her feet, as the whining began to fade and she heard Vega's voice calling her name.

"Shepard!" he called, and the Commander soon saw the large marine standing over her, looking very worried. "Come on, get up!" he said, reaching a hand out for her to take and helping her stagger to her feet. Close by him was Anderson, who also looked very worried. Around them the corridor was in ruins; those who were not dead or dying were trying to either evacuate the area or put out the fires that clung to the walls. The path in front of them was completely blocked by rubble.

"Here, take this!" said Anderson, handing Shepard a large Predator-model pistol, Vega proceeding to pull his own large magnum from his belt. "We've got to get moving! The path to the main exit is blocked! We've got to try for one of the emergency exits!" He turned to head down the corridor, raising his hard-light Omni-Tool to his mouth. "This is Admiral Anderson. Does anybody copy?" Shepard could only hear a buzzing noise coming from the other end. Her heart suddenly seemed to stop when she heard the name of who Anderson was trying to address: "Major Alenko, is that you? What's your status?" However, there was nothing but dead silence on the other end, and as the group rounded a corner, pushing past members of staff who were rushing everywhere to try and get the fires under control, she felt as if lead weights were pressing on her shoulders.

"I can't raise the Normandy," Anderson said heavily. "We've got to get outside, try and get a clearer transmission. With any luck, they can still pick up our Omni-Tools and get a fix on our position."

Through the dark, smoke-filled corridors they went, the fires around them seeming to creep up the walls. Once or twice they had to get dangerously close to the blaze in order to get around a pile of rubble. Coughing and spluttering, the trio kept on the move and were peering around, hardly daring to miss any blind spots. The number of other UNSC staff still alive in this part of the building grew fewer and fewer as Anderson led the way to an emergency exit; it was disconcerting to run down the corridors and catch a glimpse of a hand sticking out from under a pile of rubble. As they approached the exit door, the sound of that devilish foghorn came again, seeming to fill the air around them.

"Dios mio..." muttered James, peering behind him. "It sounds really damn close!"

"Come on!" called Anderson, as they rounded a corner and reached the exit. It seemed to have been damaged in the blast, as it was stuck slightly open, revealing the daylight beyond. However, as Shepard approached it, she had to jump back as an arm suddenly reached through the gap trying to grab her. The skin on the arm was shrivelled and grey, blue lights and tubes poking out from where the bone was exposed. A horrible breathy snarling could be heard on the other side of the door, and through the gap Shepard could see the arm's owner.

It looked, for all intents and purposes, like a zombie, the entire body looking like that same moisture-starved skin stretched over a skeleton. The dead eyes glowed with a blue light that matched similar lights visible on the tubes and cables that now made the creature's bones and veins; a horrifying synthesis of the organic and synthetic. It was known to the galaxy as a Husk, a human victim of the Reapers' experiments and rapid indoctrination techniques. It swung wildly at the air, its horrible wheezing cries echoing through the corridor. Taking care to stay out of the reach of the flailing claw, Shepard raised her pistol and shot the cybernetic zombie in the forehead twice. The head seemed to disintegrate like an over-ripe melon, the body now collapsing to the floor.

"Jesus..." breathed Shepard. "The Reapers must have brought Husks with them..."

"Arcturus Station was hit hard," said Anderson, shaking his head. "The Reapers must have grabbed whoever they could from there and any colonies they hit on the way here." He turned to Vega and pointed at the door. "Lt., can you get it open?"

"No problem, Admiral," replied Vega, cracking his knuckles. He marched over to the door and, forcing himself into the gap, managed to push the doors wide enough apart to form a gap for the others to push through. Holding the door at arm's length, Anderson and Shepard slipped through under his arms. Once they were on the other side, Vega pushed himself through behind them, the door sliding back into place as he did so.

On the other side of the door, the group found themselves standing out in the large oval-shaped courtyard, a raised rampart around it giving the impression of the building being located in the middle of a stadium. Behind them the ONI building was a wreck, its glass surfaces smashed and fire streaming out of the openings. Before them was a view of the Manhattan skyline, but now that skyline was broken, many of the buildings smashed and with pieces blasted off of them. Sticking out of the skyline view like a cancer was the shape of a gigantic creature that resembled a cuttlefish, two kilometres in height, covered in a dark purple-black metal with red lights lining its surface. It slowly marched through the city, smashing everything in its path and shooting a bright red laser out to destroy any signs of resistance. As it marched, it emitted the same foghorn-like sound that the group had heard earlier, almost deafening them as they raced across the courtyard, the sounds of screaming crowds and gunfire echoing from the stricken city. As they glanced to their right, they saw another such creature, striding over the buildings and smashing them; presumably this was the one that had attacked the ONI building earlier. The sounds of gunfire could be heard as UNSC soldiers desperately fought to hold back the waves of Husks that were bearing down upon them.

After a tense minute of running, their guns raised at all times, the trio reached a door at the base of the rampart. This was an emergency exit that led into a stairwell inside the rampart, which in turn led down to the docks. The door's control panel was broken, but it gave way with some force from Shepard, Vega and Anderson. The rampart had been split in two by one of the Reapers' laser blasts, causing the stairwell to be exposed to the elements. It would be a precarious climb down what was left of the stairs, but it was do-able.

"This is a god-damned mess..." Anderson grunted, as he and Vega pushed a fallen beam aside, allowing the group to reach the stairwell. "Every minute these machines are here, thousands of innocent people die... I won't be held responsible."

"It's hard enough fighting a war," said Shepard reasoningly, the trio starting their way down the stairs, "but it's worse knowing that no matter how hard you try... you can't save them all." She looked forlorn as she followed Anderson down the stairs. She was thinking of friends long-gone, the close allies that she had failed to save and who had died fighting the monsters that were now laying waste to all in their path.

"Exactly," replied Anderson. He jumped over a hole in the stairs onto the next landing, and stood back to let Shepard and Vega jump over.

"They hit so fast..." Vega muttered. "I thought we'd have more time."

"We knew they were coming," said Shepard.

"And they still just cut through our defences," said Anderson, shaking his head in disbelief. "We need to get to the Citadel and talk to the Council."

"The Citadel?" said Vega, stopping in his tracks and shaking his head. "But the fight's here!"

"It'll be everywhere soon enough," said Shepard, looking grim as she looked through the gigantic hole in the rampart. A Reaper was still marching through Manhattan, systematically cutting down all that it came across. "The Reapers will destroy everything if we don't stop them."

"The Council has to help us..." grunted Anderson. They were almost to the bottom, but the landing they had reached had been destroyed, leaving only a narrow ledge to shuffle along. Anderson led the way, with Vega bringing up the rear.

"You sure those idiotas will listen?" asked Vega, looking sceptical.

"No," replied Anderson. "But Shepard's still a Spectre. That has to count for something."

Spectres were members of Special Tactics and Reconnaissance, an elite group of agents who only answered to the Council. They filled a variety of roles and used whatever methods they deemed fit to complete their missions; about the only thing they had in common was that, when a Spectre was called in, a situation was truly dire.

"But what about the Precursors?" asked Vega as the trio shuffled along the ledge. "They look like they've got some serious cojones."

"They're not at full strength," replied Anderson. "Only one of their ships is ready to fight, and it can't-" Before he could finish, however, there was a violent crash and the ground shook. There had to have been a heavy explosion somewhere nearby. Shepard lost her balance and was about to fall, but Vega grabbed the back of her shirt and pulled her back onto the ledge.

"Thanks," gasped Shepard. "I owe you one."

"More than one, Lola," replied Vega. He had a habit of referring to others by nicknames he felt matched them, simply because he found it easier to remember. It was a quirk of his that Shepard allowed; she felt that anyone around her had to feel as comfortable as possible, given what they would soon be up against. After another minute, the group reached the ground floor without incident, landing right beside the path that would lead to the dock. At that moment, another Reaper suddenly landed in the Hudson River, waves shooting in all directions as the legs hit the water.

"Move!" Anderson barked, and all three ran as fast as their legs could carry them down the path. Anderson raised his Omni-Tool. "Major Alenko! We're cut off from the spaceport! We'll find another landing point! Stand by for further instructions!"

"The Normandy's on her way!" a gruff male voice said on the other end through the static. "We're taking heavy fire... Oh, God! They're gonna take down that cruiser! Evasive manoeuvres!"

"Major Alenko?" barked Anderson as the line went dead again. "Kaidan?! God-damn it, they're in trouble..."

Looking towards Manhattan, Shepard saw a UNSC cruiser, grey and roughly gun-shaped, firing on the marauding Reaper. However, just a few shots from the creature's destructive laser tore through the shields, annihilating the ship. The sky was lit by the bright flare of the explosion, and a shockwave swept through the area, almost knocking the trio off their feet. With one last effort, they made a mad dash and reached the docks, which were now strewn with debris, every watercraft hopelessly smashed and signs of a recent fire. Luckily the Reaper that had just landed was moving on to cause carnage elsewhere, so they moved towards a large cargo container close to the water.

"We got friendlies here!" said Vega suddenly, pointing ahead of the group. Shepard and Anderson turned and saw two UNSC marines, one of them with his leg pinned under a large beam. As they approached their stricken comrades, one of them turned and his eyes widened in horror.

"Get down!" he hissed. "They'll see you!"

Suddenly there was a noise like a wheezing, guttural roar coming from close to the cargo container. Shepard looked in that direction and saw several figures, all of which were horrifically malformed cybernetic creatures. They looked like they were stitched together from various odd parts, were hunchbacked with glowing circuitry and tubing visible under the dry brown skin, and each had a large gun welded onto their right arms. With a start, Shepard saw that all of them had four eyes and familiar ridges on their heads. She couldn't contemplate the implications of this, however, as the monsters opened fire on the group, forcing them to dive for cover. As aggressive as these creatures were, however, they were still no match for three highly-trained UNSC soldiers, and each fell after several shots from their pistols.

"Looks like we now know what happened to the Batarians..." muttered Vega, his expression dark. Shepard gave a low sigh; after the destruction of the Alpha Relay, she expected the Batarians to come under attack from the Reapers. These creatures had clearly been Batarians once, and now it seemed like a lot of their number had suffered a fate worse than death. Anderson, meanwhile, was kneeling beside the soldier with the trapped leg.

"What happened here?" the Admiral asked.

"Our gunship got shot down," the healthy soldier replied, his face streaked with dirt. "We barely made it." His partner, still trapped under the beam, winced in pain, but did his best not to show it.

"You have a radio?" asked Anderson. "We're trying to contact our ship."

"No," replied the soldier. "There's one in the gunship, but it's gonna be crawling with those things." Looking out towards the water, Shepard and Vega could make out the tail-end of a downed Pelican, with faint sounds of movement coming from that area.

"Stay here, son," said Anderson reassuringly to the injured trooper. "We'll get you out of here!" He kneeled down and tightly gripped one side of the beam while Vega grabbed the other. With a great deal of effort, both men were able to pull the beam up just enough for Shepard to pull the trapped marine free. As Anderson and Vega let go, the beam sank further down, forming a serviceable bridge across the water to the main landing platform.

Deciding that they had wasted enough time, the trio crossed the makeshift bridge and ducked down behind the cargo container. As they moved to round the corner, there was a sudden sound of jets as another Pelican flew overhead. The gunners stationed on it were shooting madly at something pursuing them. None of the group got a good look at it, but it was a flying bio-mechanical monstrosity, like a miniature cybernetic dragon, that chased its prey with a high-pitched howl.

"What the hell was that?!" Vega breathed, his eyes wide and hardly daring to believe what he had seen. Shepard and Anderson didn't have time to answer, however, as a group of Batarian Husks suddenly opened fire on them. By returning fire and gradually pushing forward, the trio were able to reach the downed Pelican. The craft was a mangled wreck of ruined metal, but Anderson quickly spotted the radio equipment, which had miraculously survived the crash. Vega crossed himself as he spotted numerous human bodies strewn around the crash site, some of which looked partially eaten. It seemed that the indoctrinated Batarians were cannibals. Shepard, meanwhile, found a functioning assault rifle and loaded it, her eyes peering into every possible hiding place as Anderson activated the radio.

"Normandy, this is Anderson..." he said. "Do you read?"

"Admiral!" came Kaidan's relieved-sounding voice. "What's your location?"

"By a downed Pelican in the harbour near ONI headquarters," replied Anderson, trying to make himself heard above the sounds of chaos behind him. "Shepard and Lt. Vega are with me. I'm activating the Pelican's distress beacon!"

Anderson activated the distress beacon, but there was no reply from the Normandy. When he tried to contact the ship again, all that came through was garbled static.

"Major?!" Anderson barked, but there was no response. He shut off the radio, looking furious. "Damnit, I lost the signal!"

"Let's just hope that beacon does its job," said Shepard.

"And fast!" yelled Vega, pointing at a spot above and behind the other two. "We got company!"

Looking to see where Vega was pointing, Shepard and Anderson spotted several fireballs in the sky overhead, looking like falling meteorites. All of a sudden one shot right over their heads, slamming down onto the walkway behind them. Emerging from the smoke left by the impact came several more 'Cannibal' husks, which immediately fired upon them again. The humans dived for cover and fired back, but for each figure they cut down more fell into the area to join the fray.

"Hope they get here soon!" Anderson called.

"You and me both!" Shepard replied, sending several bullets straight between the eyes of one husk. As the relentless waves of monstrosities showed no signs of relenting, Shepard prayed to whatever gods existed that the Normandy would find them. They were fast running out of ammunition, and within a few minutes they would be overrun...

"The cavalry has arrived!" a new voice suddenly said over the radio, and Shepard felt herself having to suppress a loud cheer. She recognised the voice as belonging to Jeff 'Joker' Moreau, the pilot of her beloved ship. The area in front of them exploded, taking the monstrous Reaper ground forces with it, as it was bombarded from above with missiles.

A deafening roar could be heard overhead, and the group looked up to spot a super-sleek frigate swooping towards them. As it swung about and slowed in order to hover, Shepard felt her heart get lighter as she saw the name 'Normandy' painted along the length of the white, black and blue hull. At last, for the first time in over a month, she felt as if she was coming home, and only wished it was under better circumstances.

"Let's go!" Shepard barked, sprinting ahead and scrambling to the top of a pile of ruined metal, the Normandy hovering in front of it and lowering the ramp to the hangar bay. Standing on the ramp and flanked by two UNSC marines was a figure that made Shepard's temporary high spirits soar even higher. A man of Korean descent was standing there, with black hair and wearing black combat armour lined with yellow lights. His rifle was raised and he cut down two surviving Cannibals that had tried to sneak up on the fleeing trio. Shepard leaped the gap from the rubble and landed on the ramp, Vega quickly joining her.

"Welcome aboard, Commander," said Kaidan Alenko in his familiar gravelly tone.

"Thanks," replied Shepard, allowing herself to breathe a sigh of relief.

"Shepard!" Anderson called from the harbour. He had not jumped the gap, which puzzled both Shepard and Vega.

"Come on!" Shepard called to him, but Anderson shook his head. He turned to see another Pelican fly overhead, heading towards a crowd of terrified civilians in the harbour below.

"I'm not going!" he called. "You saw those men back there! There are a million more like them, and they need a leader!

"If you're staying, we're staying!" Vega called, already preparing to jump back over the gap.

"No, Lieutenant!" called Anderson. "Go with Shepard! That's an order!"

"Fuck this!" Vega spat. "I ain't leaving Earth like this!" He was about to make the jump, but was grabbed by the marines. He struggled with them as Kaidan turned to him.

"Stand down, Lt. Vega!" he barked. "If Anderson wants you to stick with us, then you'd better stick with us!"

"We're in this fight together, Anderson!" called Shepard, now looking very indignant. Anderson just shook his head, a look of cold determination in his eye.

"It's a fight we can't win," he said. "Not without help. Emperor Kedzuel said it himself; we need every species and all their ships to even stand a chance of defeating the Reapers." He slowly approached the edge of the ramp, looking every inch the leader of the armed forces. "Talk to the Council. Convince them to help us."

"What if they won't listen?" asked Shepard.

"Then make them listen!" barked Anderson. "Now go! That's an order."

"I don't take orders from you anymore, remember?" said Shepard, shaking her head. At this, Anderson pulled something out of his pocket and tossed it to her. Catching it, she peered into her palm to find her old UNSC dog tags.

"Consider yourself re-instated... Commander," said Anderson. "You know what you have to do." Shepard took a deep breath, lowering her rifle and putting her dog tags back around her neck.

"I'll be back for you," she said firmly, standing resolute, "and I'll bring every fleet I can." She paused for a moment, looking at her mentor straight in the eye. "Good luck."

"You too, Shepard," said Anderson. As the ship began to lift away from the ramp, he saluted to his protégé and then ran down the ramp. Shepard and Kaidan watched him leave, looking at each other gravely. They knew that Anderson had a huge responsibility in organising the resistance against the Reapers, but they were certain that if anyone could do it, then he could. Vega, meanwhile, having ceased to struggle, looked indignant, but seemed to realise that he was in no position to say anything and stayed quiet.

The ship turned to face the harbour, and for a moment Shepard saw several Pelicans and Kodiak shuttles landing there, with soldiers desperately trying to evacuate the terrified civilians. One shuttle was being filled with children from a nearby school, all of them dressed in various Halloween costumes. For them, a fun holiday had suddenly, irreversibly, been changed into a living nightmare. Among the faces in the crowd, Shepard thought she saw a familiar face, but shook herself. It was impossible that she could have seen him, but when that child's eyes had briefly locked with hers, she had felt certain...

"You okay, Kaelyn?" asked Kaidan, looking at her with concern. Shepard shook herself and put on a brave face.

"I'll be alright, Kaidan," she breathed. "Let's just get airborne. There's nothing more we can do here."

Just as another giant mechanical monstrosity, one resembling a huge spider-like tank, marched towards the stricken civilians, Shepard and her companions headed back inside the ship. As the hangar door sealed behind them, the sounds of explosions and panicked shouts faded away, but even as the Normandy sped through the skies and out beyond Earth's atmosphere, none of the crew felt that they would be able to get the dreaded foghorn-like wails of the Reapers out of their heads.

0

1414 (Military Time)\Outside El Paso, Texas

It was an isolated ranch several miles away from the city of El Paso, nestled on the arid plains between the north-east part of the city and the Hueco Tanks State Park. The occupants had received it as a wedding present from relatives and friends of the family, and mainly used it to raise cattle and keep chickens. Growing crops didn't interest them, in spite of agriculture technology having been improved to the point where growing crops in the harsher climates of the world had become more viable. The ranch had seemed to the owners to be a great place to raise a family, as it also allowed for a view of the city and the Franklin Mountains, a place to be out and with nature while still being close enough to civilisation for the essentials.

As soon as the news about the Reaper attacks had started to reach them, however, they knew it was only a matter of time before the war reached their doorstep. This was a day they had been preparing for for some time, all while hoping that it would never come. So the past half-hour had seen a flurry of frantic activity within the house, as the occupants desperately tried to get their essentials together and ready. They had received the call they had been waiting for not long ago, and now were anxiously dragging what they needed out onto the dusty porch.

"Come on, move your ass!" José Lovano grunted, struggling to push a large crate out onto the porch. He was a wiry man with Hispanic features, black spiky hair, and a well-trimmed moustache and goatee, wearing a dark-green shirt and grey combats. The crate he was pushing was somewhat heavy, lined with UNSC markings. Sweat poured down his face as he struggled to push the crate. "C'mon, can't ya give me a hand here?!" he called behind him.

"You said it yourself!" called his wife, Rachel Tam, wearing a brown boiler suit over a pink T-shirt and her hair its usual shaggy long brown self. "I help the kids, you deal with the army stuff! Shouldn't you be able to move your suit by yourself? It's not exactly the MJOLNIR stuff, you know!"

In the crate was José's old ODST armour, which he had been able to hold onto in spite of not being officially part of the ODSTs for several years. He hoped that all the trouble he had gone to to keep it would pay off. With one last push he managed to get the heavy crate onto the porch, placing it alongside various boxes of supplies. He doubted they would need all of this stuff, and he doubted even more that they would have time to get them all onto their transport. The wind seemed to pick up as José looked up at the sky, sending flurries of dust everywhere.

"Come on, hurry up..." he sighed. Somewhere in the distance he thought he could hear thunder, but the sky was a clear baby-blue. If it had not been for a transmission he had received from some old friends of his, it would be impossible to believe that the galaxy was now facing the greatest war that it ever had. The thought that anybody could be continuing to spend their day as if it were just like any other seemed totally incredible to him, and he was sure that, when the war arrived here, even in this relatively remote part of America, many were in for a rude awakening.

Sure enough, only a few seconds later, a loud foghorn-like sound seemed to split the heavens open. As he watched, a gigantic cuttlefish-shaped object seemed to fall from the sky, landing on El Paso, easily towering over the tallest skyscraper. A single red eye gleamed from somewhere just above the legs, then all of a sudden a giant, terrible red laser struck the town. As he watched, there was a second creature landing on the southern part of the city, and looking up into the sky he saw that it was now ablaze with red flashes, as what looked like small meteorites sped towards the ground. Rachel came outside to watch with him, her arms full with two children; one a toddling girl with dark hair, and an infant boy still clutched in her arms and squealing, frightened by the noise.

"They're really here..." she breathed, her eyes wide and hardly daring to believe what she was witnessing. "The Reapers are here..."

"Hitting nice, soft El Paso..." José snarled, his fists clenched. "Nowhere is safe from those... from them," he finished, looking down at the children, catching himself just before he swore in front of them. Even in the midst of galactic Armageddon he knew that he would never hear the end of it if his children started to learn naughty words because of him. He looked back up at the sky, tapping his foot feverishly.

"They'll be here," said Rachel gently, trying to soothe the crying baby and the fidgeting toddler. "When has Serenity ever given us reason to doubt her?"

José was about to answer, when the sound of jet engines overhead became apparent. Turning around, both of the adults saw a very welcome sight. For speeding towards them through the blue and red sky was a small spaceship, one that vaguely resembled a bird in its design, with a metal 'beak' on the front at the end of a long neck. The main body was flanked by two large rotating jets, while on the rear was what looked like a giant bulbous engine, the shape resembling an insect's abdomen. As the ship approached and slowed, the engines rotated so that it could hover in place while it landed, and they could now see the name of the ship, painted on the side of the beak-like cockpit in both English and Mandarin Chinese: 'Serenity'.

"Told you," said Rachel, nudging José's rib with her shoulder as the ship set down on the dusty soil. The large ramp on the front of the ship lowered, and three figures stepped out from the cargo bay. Two of them were wearing armour and had weapons raised. One was a Spartan soldier, dressed head-to-toe in blue MJOLNIR-class combat armour, save for the head which revealed a Filipino-American woman, just over seven feet tall, with short black hair, spiked at the back and with two long bangs framing her face. The second was a gangly lizard-like Sangheili with brown skin, four appendages that comprised the mouth and wearing a scuffed black combat harness. The third figure, wearing a dark shirt and blue trousers, looked like a distorted cross between reptile and human, his skin covered in pebbly grey scales, with sharp claws and a long tail snaking behind him. His long brown hair blew about in the gusts of wind and his golden reptilian eyes surveyed the area as he approached the couple.

"You all ready to leave?" the reptilian Alan Tyler asked, revealing a set of sharp fangs whenever he opened his mouth. He cast glances up at the fireball-laden sky and at the city-destroying Reapers in the distance. There was no time for small-talk, and everyone there knew it.

"Yeah," José nodded. "We packed as light as we could, but with the kids..."

"Don't worry about it," Alan cut in. "We've got enough room in the cargo bay. Let's just get everything on board, and fast!"

The next several minutes were spent piling all of the storage containers into the cargo bay, and securing them wherever they would fit. The hardest to place inside was José's armour, which took several minutes to secure next to the other armour lockers. The corner of the cargo bay close to the door had been converted into a small armoury. Rachel had her hands full trying to keep her daughter from fidgeting and her infant son held close to her. She spent most of the time directing José as he did most of the heavy legwork, with Alan chipping in while his companions kept watch. José kept looking over at the Sangheili, his expression difficult to read; his eyes narrowed and he looked as if he wanted to say something but thinking better of it. The relationship between José and Dorva was particularly complicated, as Dorva had betrayed the human's old ODST unit against his will. It was something that still haunted the Sangheili to this day, and Alan wondered if the wounds had ever healed, even in this time of war.

As the last crates were put in place, there were suddenly several loud impact noises coming from the fields behind the house, and Alan looked up in time to see some of the red meteorites crashing down into the ground. Already ghastly moaning and roaring noises could be heard coming from the impact sites.

"Heads up!" called Nicole-458, the Spartan, her grip on her rifle tightening. "We've got bogeys incoming!" As José looked around him, he suddenly snapped his fingers, his expression becoming horrified.

"Oh damnit!" he exclaimed. "I forgot something! We can't take off without it!" Before anyone could stop him, he was already running down the ramp and back towards the house.

"José!" Alan shouted after him. "We're out of time, you fucking idiot!" He barely saw José's back disappearing into the house before a group of the Cannibal husks came around the house, and suddenly opened fire on the ship. He, Nicole and Dorva all returned fire, looking for cover wherever they could find it.

"Get the younglings into the back!" Dorva called to Rachel as he cut down two Cannibals with his carbine. "Hurry!"

Rachel was torn, the hand holding her daughter's hand twitching towards the gun strapped to her belt for a moment. The young girl's voice shouting "Mommy!" brought her back to her senses, though, and she ran into the common room at the back of the ship, dragging the two children with her, several laser blasts from the Cannibals barely missing her.

Alan gritted his teeth as one laser blast did pierce his right arm. He almost dropped his Technomantic revolver as every nerve in his arm seemed to be set on fire, but he forced himself to keep firing at the monsters down below. Like all who had fought Reaper ground forces before, he knew that there was nothing left of the species that made them. They were mindless zombies that had no will other than what their masters gave them. Finally, after what seemed like an eternity, the group saw José come bursting out of the house, wielding an old assault rifle and cutting down several Cannibals as he ran towards the ship. One Husk was smashed with the butt of his rifle when it got too close to him, the head exploding like a putrid melon. Alan and the others did not stop firing, even when Nicole slammed her palm onto the control panel for the cargo ramp as soon as José put his foot on it. He didn't stop running until he was halfway across the cargo bay. Up-close, Alan recognised the rifle José was carrying as the one he had affectionately called 'Attila'; that old weapon clearly had a lot of sentimental value for him, the way he had been willing to risk his neck for it.

"Call!" Alan yelled into his commlink, already hearing the whirring of the engines get louder as the ship was pelted by laser blasts. "Get us out of here!"

"Roger!" the worried-sounding voice of his female pilot replied. The ship gave a sudden lurch and lifted off the ground even before the cargo ramp and the airlock doors closed. Everyone stumbled as the ship rocked and buffeted until the motion dampeners kicked in. Several tense minutes followed, as everyone expected the Serenity to be shot out of the sky any second. However, the sounds coming from outside eventually died away, replaced only by the humming of the engines. Outside was dead silence, indicating that the ship was now out in space, and Alan realised that, by a miracle, they had escaped.