Commodore Rotministrov pinched the bridge of his nose. "Are you really telling me that half the sex workers in the system have gone on strike?"
Captain Sale nodded. In her suit of powered armor she stood a good meter taller than the Commodore. But he outranked her. So here, on this 13 kilometer Munin class Destroyer, the Commodore held power over her. Though she could easily break his spine with a flick of her wrist.
"Back on Mars they had the honor of living on the galaxy's greatest War World. There's no honor eeking out a living on some outer world. They expect more than just danger pay for their labor."
"Very well then", replied the Commodore, " I will see what I can do. But I'm not sure the Vice Admiral will approve of more funds getting channeled out here"
The captain had to resist the urge to laugh. "Something tells me that Vice Admiral Anami will approve."
"Yes, yes I think you're right. Perhaps you are right"
Rotministrov's bothered expression morphed into a grimace. "Do you think the Vice Admiral will remember that argument we had on Mermaid?"
Flames, fire, and the smell of cordite assaulted the Captains nose. It had been years. But she could still hear, see,smell, and feel the echoes of her first campaign on that planet called Mermaid.
"I think you already know the answer to that question, Commodore"
The Martian Commodore straightened his back. "You're right captain. But I suppose it can't be helped. I must talk to the Vice Admiral once more. For the good of the Galaxy, and for Queen Serenity. May the Queen watch over us all."
The Sol system, Humanity's birthplace and the seat of Neo Crystal Alliance power.
Mars was just one world in the Sol system. It's Navy was smaller than Jupiters. And it's finest soldiers were just pale shadows of their Uranian contemporaries. But the Martian Navy did have one bragging point. It had the highest casualty rate of any Military in the Sol System.
Peace was bought with a tide of red martian bodies. It was purchased with a tithe of martian blood. And it was maintained by an populace who knew the cost of war.
Somewhere on Mars there was an office. And in that office one could find Vice Admiral Anami. A fanatically loyal officer kept behind a desk.
She often worked through her planets earth like nights. She listened to the radio while she worked. Usually it was attuned to channels broadcasted from nearby academies. The Students there liked to do late night shows. Listening to them joke around, and read off major casualty statics, brought Anami back to her old school days.
" . . . 14 million dead from an unexpected attack on the border world of Sundry last week. Neptune Inter Service Intelligence says that the aliens behind it possess stealth technologically the likes of which we've never seen. . ."
Vice Admiral Anami knitted her brows together as she casually approved another 89 Martian distinguished service medals. Sundry . . . why did that planet sound familiar.
"By the goddess", commented one of the radio hosts, "if we can't send in reinforcements than this will be the 9th planet that Commode Chair Rotminisuck has lost. I'm surprised that chaos hasn't sent him a thank you letter"
Vice Admiral Anami's eyes flashed red. Ah yes, now she remembered. Sundry was a planet protected by Rotministrov's fleets. She remembered him. He single handedly compromised Martian defensive positions on the planet mermaid. All because he wanted to lure the enemy out into the open instead of resorting to urban combat operations like a true martian leader.
His cowardice had cost countless Venesian and Terran lives. The Martian position wasn't there for show. Their forces were guarding the main bodies rear!
Vice admiral Anami opened up her desk. Inside was a letter that she made months ago. It was a request for a change in duty stations.
With 14 million dead, a mere 4 billion 986 million Martians stood between this new enemy and Sol. Odds like that called for drastic action. They called for an officer that could actually win wars. Vice Admiral Anami knew that Mars needed her on the front lines.
Now she knew where she was needed.
Captain Sane's office was small. It was covered in dust. The hazy monitors that filled up half of it blinked ominously. Somewhere within their deep cores there was an encrypted message. The Message arrived last night. And Just now, part of the systems blessed silicon-crystal matrix had translated it from encrypted ancient lunarian to simple martian.
Captain Sane laughed aloud as she read the contents of the message.
Vice Admiral Anami was coming. And when Vice Admiral Anami arrived on this 13 kilometer long munin class destroyer that circled the Planet Called Sundry, the Vice Admiral would assume direct control.
Captain Sanes lips curled into uncharacteristically warm grin, "Serenity be praised".
Sirens screeched on the planet of Sundry. Planetary defense guns pointed towards the sky. They pointed towards an enemy that the planets defenders could not see.
Martian psychics had received a vision. A vision of fire and flame. A vision of destruction wrought by another alien ship that hid from sensors.
And, according to the psychics best predictions, the invaders would arrive . . . now.
-000-
"And", the Salarian said, "we arrive safely above the planet."
Stealthed drop pods carrying mutated varren burst from the Salarian Dreadnought. Over the course of 9 seconds the dreadnaughts thanix cannons silenced half of the worlds blindly firing anti orbital defensive guns. The Salarian ship might as well have been firing on a troublesome Vorcha enclave.
Shepard, who was standing next to the Salarian, stared at devastation. Shepard could see the Ember red explosions blossoming from the planet. "Why do you need me, exactly?"
"Fleets can win wars but they can't hold territory. You'll be part of the ground team", explained the Salarian.
"Right . . . "
A half kilometer long ship blinked into existence a short distance away from the Salarian Dreadnought. One short burst from a thanix cannon reduced it molten slag.
"Teleportation is an fascinating trick they have Shepard. Soon we'll discover how they manage it", the Salarian said matter of factly, "and then we can truly help the Leviathans-"
Shepard drew his weapon and pulled the trigger. Salarian brians went everywhere. Shepard tripled timed it to the nearest elevator, and quickly hacked its control panel. He got in. And pressed a button that would hopefully lead to an escape pod, or something.
"Last time I - fuck", the elevator came to a halt. The elevator door opened. Salarian guards opened fire.
A flurry of mass accelerated rounds clattered against an elevator that, to the casual observer, was completely empty. But the Enthralled guards knew better. Once they were done firing they tossed a grenade into the "abandoned" elevator.
That flushed Shepard out.
Shepard rolled towards them as his active camouflage flickered out. The Spectre fought like a cornered rat. He activated his Omni blade and grunted as the blade slice clean through a Salarian.
Rounds slammed into his shields and the Spectre's close combat training took over. He butchered the guards. Their Viscera and blood redecorated the floor, and the walls and the ceiling.
The last shot from the last guard broke Shepards shield.
And before Shepards shields could come back up an even larger group of Salarians came into the room. A group of Salarians that were lead by someone who looked an awful lot like the Salarian bloke Shepard shot just a few minutes ago.
Shepard dropped his gun, and deactivated his omni tool.
"Uh, all hail the Leviathans?", was the last thing Shepard said before he was ragdolled by a hail of concussive rounds.
On the Planet of Sundry, hell broke loose. Thousands upon thousands of gene altered Varren threw themselves at the planets defenders. Ordinarily this would be a hopeless battle. But interspersed among the planets backwater Auxiliary guard there were diamonds in the rough. Martian Officers clad in thick power armor. Ladies of fire.
Erratic magnetic accelerator fire was accented by the deeper thudding boom of a Martian Heavy machine gun. Standing in the streets, with a small band of auxilary troopers at her back, a Martian Lady of Fire was leading the charge. Her Invida heavy machine gun carried martian 13.2 x 85 mm high explosive rounds. This round could harm the mutated varren that now filled the colonies streets. It could kill them.
"Mars guide my blade", the Lady of Fire roared as a colossal Varren Barreled towards her. She dropped the Heavy machine gun and drew a massive tungsten sword. Her blade slammed into the Charging skull with earth shaking force. Cracks appeared in the blade. The Varren recovered from this clash before the lady of fire did. Its massive maw went wide and came crashing down on the Lady of Fires armored neck. Steel cracked and artificial muscle fibers were rent.
The Lady of fire, knowing damn well that this was the end, pummeled the Varren with her fist. The Metal plating on her gauntlet turned red hot from the force of her strikes. With an ear splitting crack the beasts skull cracked. And before it could regenerate the Lady of fire drew a side arm to send half a dozen shots into the creatures brain.
She was too late. The Beast tore her neck open. And it was the Auxiliary troopers that fired the fatal bullets which felled the beast. But as soon as one Varren fell a dozen more took its place.
Across the planets surface such battles raged. Human munitions and Martian blades crashed against the gene modified ravenous Varren.
-0-
Shepard looked up at an unfamiliar ceiling. The Salarians hadn't made the mistake of trying to drug him. No, they'd just knocked him out. A crude method of capture that a enhanced metabolism could not guard against.
And now that Shepard was awake, and he could properly analyze his situation, hope was fading. He was trapped in a mass effect field. He could think, he could blink and breath, but escape would be an issue.
Shepard prayed that someone would come along to explain their evil plan. And then they'd get lazy, or cocky. Maybe they wanted to brainwash him or . . . Shepard didn't know what they were planning. He wasn't sure he cared. He just wanted to get off of this damn ship.
A door opened. Shepard tried to strain his neck to look and see who it was. But that wasn't an option at the moment.
"Orders have changed. The Leviathans want Shepard to be shot"
"Really? But the artefact is nearly complete. And with some time we think that Shepards resistance can be-"
Bang bang, and a body hit the floor. Then another. Shepherd could hear footsteps. The footsteps were getting closer. Out of the corner of his eye shepard could now see the barrel of a gun.
Another shot, then three more in quick succession. The containment barrier cut out. Shepard burst free, and running on pure adrenaline rolled to the floor before leaping to his feet. His armor was gone. His weapons were gone. He didn't even have an omni tool. But the primal thundering in his chest said that it wasn't time to give up. Not yet. No, not yet.
Shepard burst to his full height before exploding down low into grappling stance. In the blink of an eye he calculated the distance between himself and the Salarian with a gun. And at the end of his lighting fast calculations he realized just who the hell he was standing in front of.
"Jondum Bau?"
"Correct", replied the Salarian Spectre, "We don't have much time. The Enthralled crew members have wiped out half of those that resisted. The other spectre's onboard are fighting where we can. But, we could use some one with your talents Shepard"
"You're kidding"
"I wish I was", replied the Salarian Spectre, "Things have gotten pretty bad since we entered this new galaxy. It seems like something is accelerating the progress of those that have been enthralled. Nothing's going right for us, chronic bad luck"
"So, we're fucked"
"Affirmative Commander. If something doesn't change quickly to even the playing field then the enthralled will kill all the loyal Salarians onboard, and return to Sur'kesh in complete control of this ship"
On the planet the tide was turning. The Auxiliary's enhanced augment's had adapted to the movement patterns of the Varren. And now the towering cyborgs wrought a horrible toll on the gene modified beasts. The 4 meter tall combinations of human and machine were no longer obsidian black. Now every inch of them was covered in blood. And the engineered monstrous varren could scarcely grab a hold of their slick metallic exterior.
Constant fire support from the planets Lancette fighter bombers also helped in evening the odds. Each shot from the crafts 90 mm magnetic accelerator cannons could pulverize entire packs of varren. And, thanks to the crafts nuclear powered ramjet propulsion system, fuel was not an issue. So the craft stayed in the air for hours on end. Their pilots were ruthless. And the mess they made was a sight to behold.
In Orbit something else was happening. Something just as pivotal. An martian officer had arrived on a Munin class martian ship. And she was ready for a fight.
The ship warped from its location on the dark side of the planet to a position near the alien ship. The crew of the destroyer couldn't detect the ship with their powerful sensors, nor could they see it. But the psychics on board could feel the other ships presence. And martian armament did not require precision nor discretion.
"Captain Sale, have you readied your half company"
"Yes, Vice Admiral"
"You'll be going into the thick of it"
The Captain shrugged, "We'll all be dead soon"
Thanix fire slammed into the Munin class destroyers psychic shielding. The shields flickered out. The Thanix cannons cut into the front of ship. Killing goddess knows how many martians. The Vice admiral looked up at a tactical monitor.
"Now we know exactly where the enemy is. Have you ever fought aboard an enemy ship?", the admiral asked while an ensign powered up her ships weaponry.
Seven of the ships 26 XXI fission powered lasers cut into the hitherto unseen alien ship. Their unstable energy ravaged the enemies armored plating. They cut, and boiled, and whole sections of the enemy vessel became visible. Like hideous scars in physical space they appeared.
"Vice Admiral, this will be my first breaching operation aboard an enemy ship"
The Vice Admiral laughed. "Well, you won't be alone in that regard. Our good friend Rotministrov has never boarded an enemy ship. He'll be going with you. Find their leadership and capture them. I want answers captain"
"You shall have them", the captain swore.
-0-
Shepard and Bau had made it all the way to blast doors outside the bridge. They were running low on heat sinks. The security guards they been gunning down were dropping less and less heat sinks. Closer that the spectres got the more dire their ammo situation got.
"Here we are", Shepard said, "that was almost too easy"
"Almost", replied Jondum, "how many heat sinks do you have left"
"Two, plus one that's half cooled in my side arm. You?"
"I'm down to my last heat sink Shepard", replied the Salarian spectre. Up until now we've been gunning down security guards and crewmen. But on the other side of this door there are probably augmented STG agents waiting for us. They're the ones that stole from the security guards stash."
"Why would they do that", Shepard asked.
"Two reasons", Jondam replied, "first off they probably had a feeling that some of the spectres aboard this ship would try to reach the bridge. So they wanted to deny us the means to seriously challenge them. Scorched earth policy. But, there is one other reason I can think of"
"What's that?", Shepard asked. Even though he didn't really want to hear the answer.
"Are you familiar with the Geth Spitfire?"
"Yes"
"Well", replied Jondam Bau, "STG was working on a Salarian equivalent last time I toured their facilities. Less damage per shot, higher fire rate, and higher accuracy. If I remember correctly the targets they used bore your likeness Shepard."
"I'm honored", replied the commander.
"Well, no point delaying the inevitable"
Jondam Bau opened up his omni tool and hacked the blast doors. The heavy metal doors split open slowly.
"Their, focus your fire on the big one" came a scream from a salarian on the other side of the doors. Shepard thought they meant him. But that wasn't the case at all. Because when the doors opened wider the spectre's could make out a fire fight was already underway between the STG operatives, and a distinctly alien faction.
Rapid mass accelerator fire shrieked over the gutteral noise of chemical propellent based firearms going fully auto. Shrapnell struck shields, and mass accelerator rounds ripped through human like bodies. Red blood was everywhere.
The harsh scream of an rapid fire mass accelerator weapon rose above the din. It's frantic roar was cut short when a rocket slammed into the STG heavy weapons team that manned the gun. They burst into flame, and were cooked alive by the incendiary properties of whatever the rocket carried.
"The leadership is probably hiding in some safe room. They'll be farther along"
"So, well have to fight our way through"
"I'm afraid so", replied Jondam, "unless you managed to hide some stealth tech in your prison pocket"
Shepard aimed down the sight of their captured rifle. It was an black market copy of the M-15 vindicator. It wasn't exactly Shepards first choice. But it'd have to do.
"We'll push left, and hug the wall. Let's try to stay out of the way of the hostile humans."
"Good plan", replied Jondam, "we'll see if it works"
The Largely distracted STG operatives gave minimal resistance as Shepard and Jondam pushed forwards. Accurate headshots, and hasty resupplies from dead foes kept the pair alive. At one point Jondam had to pick up a crude looking rifle from a felled human.
Reloading the blasted thing took a little guess work. But Jondam was a quick learner. And he appreciated the rifles x 4 zoom infrared optic. Even if its lethality against shielded opponents left much to be desired.
Five minutes into the fire fight both the Salarian and the Human rank's were thinning out. Shepard and Jondam were far ahead of both factions. But Shepard noticed that one of the alien looking humans was gaining on them. The individual in question was a meter taller than the surrounding troopers. And they wore some kind of advanced armor that let them shrug off fire that was tearing through their allies.
If the group in question was made up of Krogan, and not strange humans, than Shepard would have guessed that individual was the groups warlord.
"You see them too", Jondam said, "think their after the same Salarians we're after"
"Probably", Shepard replied, "guess that means we can't take our time."
"Was that ever an option?", Jondam asked as he prepared an breaching charge on one of the safe room walls.
"Nah", replied the Commander.
Shepard took his place behind Jondam and waited for the charge to go off. This wasn't Shepards first breach. And, with any luck, it wouldn't be his last.
-0-
Captain Sale screamed. She tossed aside her Ioke fire and forget rocket system. She charged past the few badly mauled alien operatives that were still in her way. One tried to get in front of her so he could line up a shot with his Scorpion. Her armored bulk reduced this foolhardy operative to paste as she barreled towards the alien safe room.
She smashed into a large blast door, and felt the metal buckle as inertia carried through the supposedly impregnable barrier. The impact broke her helmets visor, and it rattled all her bones. Reverberations from this impossible collision created microfractures in her tungsten sword. But she cared not.
She drew her blade and brought it down on the nearest alien foe. The tested martial weapon cleaved the salarian in twain. And then, she reached out with one of her hands and snagged a Alien that tried to run. Shattered its arm with contemptuous ease. And then she dropped it and smashed it's legs with a duller section of her sword. The possessed alien let out a scream as her blade broke its cartilage.
Like a ravenous predator she fell on the rest of the aliens. She was a hurricane of steel and rage. She was half way through the group when a wall blew open, and shots rang out. But the shots weren't aimed at her. No, this hail of fire struck down some of the aliens she wanted to capture.
And to her intense confusion one of the individuals fire at the Salarians . . . was a human she'd never seen before while the other was a Salarian.
-0-
Shepard was out of Thermal clips. And is friend Jondam Bau was out of magazines. Before them there was a 3 meter tall warrior surrounded by crippled Salarians.
"Run?", asked Shepard
"Run", Bau agreed.
They both turned and beat a hasty retreat. Shepard saw a elevator and power slid into it while Bau straight up leapt into it. Both of them barely cleared the doors before they closed.
Bau was frantically typing code his omni tool, "I found our ticket out of here. A frigate that's still intact. Its currently stored in a dry dock towards the middle of the ship"
"We don't have any weapons"
"Correct", replied Jondam Bau, " but we do have friends. They'll meet us there"
"And then?", asked Shepard
"And then we do what Spectre's do best. We dodge blasts and apologize for collateral damage."
-000-
"This is Commodore Rotministrov reporting from the Alien vessel. We've taken our hostages. We will hold our position and await further orders"
"Where is the captain?", asked a voice over the radio.
"She is . . . occupied", replied the Commodore.
"Please clarify Commodore"
"The captain is occupied. She is pursuing two enemy commando's without support. She smashed through the doors of a nearby elevator, and leapt down the shaft."
"Understood", replied the voice on the other side of the line.
-000-
"So, we're all that's left"
"That's right Shepard", said Jondam Bau, "Five Spectre's against whatever's left alive on this ship. I like those odds"
Shepard stared at Bau and the other three surviving spectre's they'd met up. Between them they had three working weapons and four thermal clips.
"Fuck it", Shepard said, "this shit can't get any worse. Let's go take that frigate"
Just then the sound of metal buckling was heard. Something very large, and very angry, had arrived. And that something had its eyes on Commander Shepard.
-000-
The Spectres ran through a deserted hallway. They didn't have time to stop or even breath. A 3 meter tall armored soldier was on their tail. And they were gaining on them. Every few steps the pursuer would let loose a feral roar of indignation, and they'd get a little faster.
"I take it back", Jondam Bau said as they turned a corner, "this isn't too easy. It's exactly the sort of challenge i've been waiting for"
Shepard didn't reply. Instead he silently chanted - Fuck this, fuck this, fuukkk this - over and over in his head.
Jondam Bau hacked the next set of doors. This quick half a second long action cost them dearly. The Hulking warrior was closing in fast.
They sprinted down an open passageway that led to an wide cavernous hanger.
"Shepard, you have to get back and tell the council what happened"
"I will, I'll tell them with you"
There was a wild look in Jondam Bau's eyes. "Not enough time", he said.
"Jondam", Shepard half screamed as they closed in on the docked Salarian frigate, "what are you-"
"Keep on going", Jondam said. He took a scorpion from the hip of another Salarian Spectre and he turned, "I'll hold the line"
Jondam aimed his pistol. He was targeting the massive worriers leg joints. He knew her armor was too thick to penetrate without heavy weaponry. But this pistol was all he had. So he'd make his shots count.
The first few shots stuck the soldiers armored knee cap. They didn't blast through the metal. But they did bend and crimp the joint. That slowed the soldier down. Jondams next two shots missed. But he did manage one last shot before warrior closed in. He aimed it at the humans cracked visor.
The explosion shattered it. Raining glass everywhere. And when the 3 meter tall soldier did stop in front Jondam Bau he could now see the rage in her unnatural violet eyes.
Jondam Bau looked behind him. Shepard and the other three were boarding the ship. Today was probably his last day. But he was okay with that. He only had a year or two left anyways. Better to go out now in a blaze of glory. Before things got boring or he had to retire.
The hulking opponent swatted Bau with its hand, and he flew into a nearby shipping container. The impact broke his back. He looked up at the armored opponent and grinned.
The Armored Soldier looked at the ship that was taking off, and then then looked back at thim. There was dawning comprehension in their eyes.
Jondam Bau laughed. He was about to die. But, he'd won.
Slowly the Armored soldier moved towards him. It drew its sword and let the massive blade drag against the bays metallic floor. Jondam bau could see that the blade was remarkable sharp. The tip of the blade left a gash where it touched.
Bau's armored adversary stopped a meter away from Bau. It took off its damaged helmet. The warrior threw it aside. Jondam quickly took in his pursuers features. It, no she, bore a remarkable resemblance to Kasumi Goto. If Miss Goto had violet eyes, wore red war paint, and had a patchwork of scars that covered half of her face.
'Remarkable brutality', Jondam thought to himself, 'her strength and durability is almost krogan'.
The warrior raised her blade. Bau lifted is right arm. One last card to play. He wondered how that massive blade of hers would hold up against an superheated silicon carbide blade.
Captain Sale muttered a prayer for the alien warrior before her, and then she brought down her blade. It crashed through the crate that the small alien was leaning against. But it halted right above the aliens head. Something was stopping it.
The Captain applied more force. She was met with more resistance. She'd swung her sword so fast that it'd tripped the anti projectile field that the aliens use. Captain Sale roared. She brought her sword up again and brought it crashing down. The blade shattered and so did the barrier. The broken blade was still long enough to reach the Salarian.
But right when the blade was close enough to touch the alien there was a lighting quick flash of red. The Salarian had deflected her blade with one of his. A Blade that was generated by the strange device all the aliens wore.
This deflection superheated what was left of Sale's blade. Her armor was martian. Her armor was built for heat. So she didn't drop her blade. Her blade was martian. It was made for combat against martian drakes. The heat caused no damage.
Sale laughed. "I crippled you, and you still fight. You have spirit Alien. I think that I'll take you alive. After I break every single bone in your body"
