"Whaaaaat?! Another one of these so soon? What's this madness? And where is the DA chapter?!"
I know, I know, people, calm down.
The fact is, I had some of these chapters ready to be published for some time and since Hitokiri Akins just posted another chapter I decided to proceed with the new one here as well.
As I said, the Chronicles of the Fifth Blight will be coming soon, don't worry.
Meanwhile, enjoy the read.
"This is unbelievable," Lt. Volkov commented, visibly annoyed at their situation "The Reapers are on top of us and none of the other species thinks joining forces against them is in their best interest?"
"Apparently not," Lt. Kaya replied.
"We're not totally screwed," Lt. Mathieu interrupted "The leaders of the turians, asari and salarians intend to hold a summit to decide their moves against the Reapers. Commander Shepard will also be there."
"Shepard?" Rossi asked "I thought she was in jail."
"Apparently she got out," Mathieu corrected "Admiral Hackett gave her the task to gather as many allies as she can."
Commander Parker, hearing Mathieu's report, did his best to supress a sigh. He still remembered the day Shepard had surrendered herself to the Alliance and how she had strongly stated she had never been Cerberus' stooge and had only followed her directives as a Spectre. And, although her efforts to stop the Collectors were undeniable and commendable, her refusal to give an actual explanation on how she had survived the destruction of the original Normandy and her coming in contact with Cerberus was a show that some of her claims were of questionable credibility. Oh, she claimed that Cerberus essentially kidnapped her, but even that strained credibility for the first human Spectre. But Parker put those thoughts aside, focusing on what was truly important.
"All right, stow the chatter, everyone," he told his team "We have a mission to handle."
His team quieted down, and looked at their leader as he began the briefing. "As you may already know, Cerberus has decided to start opposing the Alliance's war efforts, limiting our movements throughout Citadel Space."
"Why would they do that?" Rossi asked "They are racistic bastards, but not idiots."
"Not our concern, Rossi," Parker stated "There's hope, however. Our mission is to retrieve a defector, who is going to provide us with critical intel on Cerberus activities and projects." As he stated the word 'defector', the Commander activated his omnitool and used it to project the profile immage of their man.
"His name is Antonio Cabrera. Biotic. Ex-Corporal in the Alliance Marine Corp. Court-martialed almost two years ago for insubordination and violent conduct. Nothing has been heard of him until now."
Parker then switched the picture with the schematics he had been provided "It appears he joined Cerberus and volunteered for a project called 'Phoenix'. Its purpose is enhancing human physiology to develop stronger biotics, and they've specialized in manipulating mass effect fields as whips. Long-ranged and deadly."
Parker turned off his omnitool before finishing "The base where the project is being held is also a fighter base that gives Cerberus an advantage in this sector. Cabrera has promised the base's intel and given us instructions to secure it for the Alliance, in exchange for an extraction."
"Are we sure this is not a trap?" 2nd Lieutenant Roberta Kraus, their shuttle pilot, asked.
"Even if it is, the intel is too good to ignore, Lt," Parker replied.
He then turned back to his team and told them: "The plan is the following; Tamotu, Volkov, Kaya and I will land near the main hangar, stir a distraction and disable the base's defenses. Mathieu and Rossi, you two will take advantage of it and get in through a side entrance, rendezvous with Cabrera and get him out. Understood?"
"Understood, sir!" the two women answered.
"Approaching the base, Commander!" Kraus informed Parker.
"Alright everyone, get ready!" Parker ordered his team.
One moment later, the shuttle was at the entrance of the facility, and Parker and his men immediately dropped in and began their assault on the main entrance. They set a demolition charge to cause a distraction, and bunkered down for the incomming Cerberus troops.
With the distraction team on the ground, Lieutenant Kraus flew the shuttle to the to the backside of the base, where Rossi and Mathieu also dropped. They ventured into the base, making their way toward the waypoint that their schematics indicated.
Once there, however, they found three of Cerberus troops dragging away another one of their own. So, to not risk to lose their target, Rossi gestured Mathieu to take cover, while also activating her stealth generator. Moving as quietly as possible, she managed to get close enough to stab in the chest one of the troops. Taking advantage of the other two's surprise, Mathieu came out of cover and used an arc grenade to short out their shields, and then used an Incinerate on another, setting off a fire tech explosion. The third, panicking over the sudden deaths of both his comrades, fell easily to Rossi's pistol.
"Antonio Cabrera?" Rossi asked the survivor after making sure all of the Cerberus troops were dead.
"Yes," the man replied "I was told to expect a 'Commander Parker' for an evac. Which of you is that?"
"Commander Parker is attacking the main entrance, giving us the opening we need to get you out of here," Lt. Rossi answered, offering her hand to Cabrera.
The defector took it, his face drooping "Will the Commander manage to handle the defenses without my help?"
"Don't worry about that," Rossi replied "Now come on, we need to move."
On the other side of the facility
"All defenses down!" Lieutenant Tamotu said.
"Excellent work!" Parker replied. "Let's head back to the LZ now!"
He activated his comm as the team fell back toward the LZ, taking down any Cerberus troops that got in their way "Rossi, we're heading back to the LZ. What's your status?"
"Mission complete, sir," the Lt. answered "Kraus is picking us up right now."
"Copy that. We'll be waiting." Parker barked out, gunning down one of those whip bastards he had mentioned in the briefing.
"Understood, sir!" Rossi answered.
The team made their way back to the LZ, Volkov keeping fire off their tail while Kaya dropped a Singularity at the choke point, which gave Tamotu time to detonate it with a Warp. Parker then lobbed a grenade to help cover their escape before sealing the door behind them. Once at the LZ, however, another problem presented itself.
"Incoming Atlas!" Volkov warned, as the mech dropped from the sky.
The team bunkered down as Parker quickly went through what he'd heard of this type of mech; the combination of a YMIR's armor and firepower and the tactical mind of a human pilot, powered by an element zero core and armed with a rocket launcher and a high-power mass accelerator cannon, both highly destructive weapons against which even Volkov's omni-shield wouldn't last long.
"Scatter!" Parker ordered as he saw the Atlas aiming at them.
No sooner had the order come out of Parker's mouth, the Atlas began launching rockets in Kaya's directions and firing with the cannon at Tamotu. They began to return fire, but they did little to no damage with their weapons.
Parker took the time to assess their options; without Mathieu to resupply them, everyone was at a shortage of ammo and Kaya and Tamotu were close to exhaustion due to the heavy biotic. The Atlas, though, had a disadvantage: without its pilot, it would go non-functional. The problem was the highly resistant glass protecting him.
"Tamotu, can you do one more Biotic Charge?" the Commander shouted at his team mate, as an idea hit him.
"I believe I can, sir!" Tamotu shouted back.
He then turned to the only person in the group with tech training: "Volkov! Use an Overload! We need to disable the shields! I'll stagger it with my grenades, then everyone else open fire with flame rounds!"
"On it!" the team shouted. And although Volkov's technical skills were not as good as Mathieu's, the shields of the Atlas were quickly lowered by the combination of Overload and the fire tech burst. Once they were done, Parker unleashed a salvo of his shoulder-mounted missiles, which damaged the cockpit's glass.
"Tamotu!" Parker shouted. "Slam into the cockpit and rip the pilot out!"
"On it!" Tamotu said, channeling dark energy around him, and rushed forward, shattering the glass, and used his biotics to punch through the pilot's armor, and grabbed him by the shirt. He then leapt back, pulling the pilot with him, and once on the ground, Tamotu finished him off with his shotgun.
With no pilot, the mech was now disabled, but Parker was not willing to let it be used against them again. He ordered his team to toss their remaining grenades at it, damaging it beyond repair.
After that, Parker looked up to see their shuttle coming into their airspace. They were forced to leave quickly, however, as Kraus alerted the team that Cerberus fighters were incoming.
As the shuttle flew away from the facility, Cabrera took the chance to speak: "I...thank you for this extraction. I did not think the Alliance would..."
"The Alliance does not give up on its men," Parker interrupted him "Even those who gave up on it."
Cabrera lowered his head at the remark "I know. I should have known better than to do this. But back then, Cerberus were the only ones who seemed to be acting on the disappearing colonies. It was only after the others within the project began disappearing that..."
"You'll be able to make your case once you're in Citadel space," Parker interrupted him again "For now, be glad to be back on the right side."
"I am, sir," Cabrera reassured.
"If I may, Commander?" Mathieu intervened right after, at which Parker nodded his permission "What was going on in there? Why were you being taken away?"
Cabrera took a moment before replying: "I was caught while attempting to break into the archives. I was looking for the most sensitive intel, the one that was most likely to be erased in case of an attack. Just in case."
"What did you find?" Parker asked.
"Two things," Cabrera answered "First, there is a top-secret facility, somewhere on the planet Sanctum, where all bases are ordered to send any Reaper-releated artifact they come across."
"What does Cerberus want from Reaper artifacts?" Volkov asked.
"That answer is in the base's computers, I'm afraid," Cabrera replied "The second thing: this post was turned into a fighter base only recently, but its original purpose was attempting to salvage Rachni genetic material from the incident that occured here three years ago."
"Rachni?!" everyone asked in surprise.
"Yes," Cabrera confirmed "Though, someone had already beaten Cerberus on time. An unknown party that had taken everything that could be taken."
"This is very grave, Cabrera," Parker commented "You need to tell high command everything about this."
"I will, sir."
This one was written by me and later edited by Hitokiri. If you haven't already, I'd recommend reading his "Chronicle of Ana Shepard" as well.
See you next time