AN: Welcome back folks! Time to get this party started. And to answer the question kyle put up, the Raptor series is an assualt rifle model used in the first game. If I remember the timing right, the Raptor sniper wasn't in production until some time in 2187. Well, time for the story.
I ran into a nearby alleyway, where after taking my knife off I activated the armor. Fuck. FUCK! Why did pirates have to come today? I opened the cases, attaching the Raptor to my back, attaching the knife holster to my side, and slid a pistol to either leg. I realized that I was freaking out. My legs were shaking, and my hands were trembling.
I closed my eyes, trying to calm down. Breathe...breathe... nope. Not working. My breathing didn't slow down, it got worse. Explosions roared around me, and it got worse. My blood was pounding in my ears, and my heart was pounding. I put my hands to my head, trying to drown out the noise. FUCK! I quickly turned around, punching the wall I was leaning against. It cracked under the attack, and the sound pierced through the pounding. My eyes shot open, and my breathing was calmer now. Okay... Okay... I got this.
Time to go to work. A hum got my attention. I followed the noise and saw a ship landing. I moved, sprinting forward to catch up to it. Must be a lone crew. Well... I'm about to find out. I made my way through the streets, and it was like a damn warzone. I saw a group of pirates shooting anything that moved, and looting everything they could. Let's see... five in total, three humans and two batarians. Two had assault rifles, one had a shotgun, and the last two were armed with pistols.
I brought up the knife, activating the cloak and moving silently behind them. I went behind the shotgun, he was the biggest threat. Cool thing about shields is that while they're great against guns, but sadly it's not really the case when it comes to close quarters. I brought the knife down, tearing out the pirates throat like it was nothing. Before the others could react, I kicked one in the groin, and went for one of the pirates armed with rifles.
I moved, snapping his neck like a twig. The guy next to him brought up his rifle, trying to aim for anything really. I didn't give him a chance, picking up the discarded shotgun and aiming for his head. The last two guys, armed with only pistols, ran the opposite direction. I walked up behind them, my tactical cloak shimmering away. I brought up my assault rifle, taking aim and firing. As they fell dead, something caught my eye.
The dead batarians at my feet... they were armed with high grade stuff. You don't see this in regular pirates. What the hell is going on? Could they be... no. If they were trying to recreate Mindoir... not happening, not on my watch. That's when I heard a ringing. I looked at my HUD. It flashed, and lo and behold there was the silhouette of Azrael in the corner.
"...Now you see why I wanted you here." They finally said. I growled.
"What the hell are you playing at? Did you know this was going to happen?" I asked him, kicking one of the dead batarians. Azrael sighed tiredly.
"...Yes I did. If I could, I would have stopped it. But there were too many variables in place. I... couldn't bear the thought of leaving Elysium to it's fate. That's why I sent you here, to minimize the damage." They said. Despite the voice modulator, I could hear the sorrow in their voice. Damn... I want to be mad at them, but they were at least trying. I saw Azrael perk up a bit. "There's still hope. Look, there's a young Lieutenant who's providing support for the colony at the moment. I've put the coordinates in your HUD. You may want to hurry, they won't last long without help." They said. I saw a marker light up, and I was off. Hopefully I wasn't too late.
Surprisingly enough, I was right about the crew I killed back there. I didn't see any other pirates going through the colony. I made it to where my marker said, a makeshift barricade, when I came face to face with the barrel of a shotgun. Well shit.
"Hold it right there." A young, but surprisingly stern voice said. I looked past the shotgun, taking a look at the person holding it. She was young, in her early twenties by the looks of it. She had short brown hair, which was rather disheveled at the moment, and blue eyes that were glaring at me, daring me to try something. I saw that she was wearing Alliance armor, so I did the smart thing and raised my hands in the air, away from my weapons. I discreetly made sure that the voice modulator was working before speaking.
"Easy there. I'm not here to cause trouble. I'm here to help. Mind lowering that weapon?" I asked hopefully. The woman shook her head.
"Not until I've verified that you're not a threat. Who the hell are you?" She asked. Okay, not beating around the bush is she? What exactly am I going to say? I saw movement out of the corner of my eye. It looked like... ah shit.
"GET DOWN!" I roared, tackling the woman to the ground. Not a moment too soon, because the area where we were standing exploded. Shit. I looked down at the woman, who looked unhurt, but I had to be sure. "Are you alright?" I asked, checking her over. She shook her head then nodded.
"I'm fine." She said. I offered her a hand, which she took. As I helped her up, I looked over to see that despite the destruction, there were still people holding the line. Thankfully the pirates seemed to have retreated. I looked back at the woman, who looked rather sheepish. "Thank you for helping me out. I guess you aren't a threat after all. Sorry about that. I'm 2nd Lieutenant Kaitlin Shepard." She said, sticking out her hand. So this was the person Azrael told me about. Well, that makes things easier. I shook her hand, chuckling.
"A pleasure Lieutenant. I'm..." I paused for a minute, before deciding what to call myself. Time to take a page out of Azrael's book. "Thanatos." I continued. Shepard raised an eyebrow.
"What, are you a bounty hunter or something?" She asked. Huh... that's actually a good idea. At least, that's what I'm hoping Azrael was going for. Fuck it. I nodded.
"Why yes I am. Don't worry, I won't charge for this. Consider this on the house." I reassured her. She grinned in response.
"Good to know." She said, chuckling. Shepard gestured to the assault rifle on me. "You know how to use that thing?" She asked. I nodded. "Good, because we're going to need it." She said, nodding to where the pirates were forming up again. Well shit.
"It's your call Shepard. Where do you need me to be?" I asked, pulling out my rifle. I don't know about you, but I prefer to listen to someone who actually has training you know? Shepard motioned me to follow.
I kept pace with her, checking out our surroundings. The place itself was a large hastily made barricade, quick and efficient. Behind it was a large array of smaller barricades, built to stop any land vehicles from entering. I saw a couple dozen soldiers, armed with all sorts of weapons. With these guys at this location? We probably could last a while.
"Stick with me. I don't exactly have the range, but you do. We just have to hold this position until help arrives. If we have to, we fall back. Understood?" She asked, ducking into cover. I nodded, moving to a position opposite of her when I saw another wave of pirates coming forward. This was going to be a long day wasn't it? My question was answered as another explosion rang out.
I brought up my assault rifle, taking aim. Come on you bastards... We're right here.
(Some time later)
Thankfully, the line held for a while. Sure there were a couple of incidents involving some sneak attacks, but we managed. Then shit hit the fan in the worst way possible. Unfortunately the battle was starting to take its toll on everyone. Everyone was slowly getting exhausted, and I wasn't looking too good myself. I had taken a few hits, nothing too major thanks to shielding, but I did get grazed by a sniper a few minutes ago, one that I was sure was aiming mainly for me.
I cursed as I ducked into cover, barely dodging the sniper aiming for me. There they go again. That was way too close for comfort man. I gestured to one of the remaining sharpshooters we had, and they went to work. I turned to see Shepard calling in support. These guys just kept on coming, and it was getting annoying.
I peeked out of cover when I noticed the gunfire stopped. Wait... why did they... oh my god.
"GRIZZLY INCOMING!" Shepard called out, said tank barreling towards us. SHIT SHIT SHIT! I looked around for something... anything really. There! A few feet from me was a missile launcher. I stumbled towards it, hoping I got lucky. Alright, let's do this. I propped the launcher on my shoulder, taking aim. The armor was too thick probably, but I could get one of the wheels. I fired, and the missile flew. It hit the front wheel, flipping the tank and sending it tumbling through the air.
I tossed the launcher aside, ducking to avoid the incoming wreck. It landed with a loud boom, and the grinding of metal filled the air. I heard the marines near me cheering, but I knew it wasn't done. I looked past the wreckage, to see even more tanks coming at us.
"Shepard? Orders?" I asked, hoping she had an idea. Thankfully she didn't disappoint.
"Fall back! Everyone move!" She ordered, lifting up a barrier to give us cover. She was a biotic? Huh... must have seen that before. Nice. I turned to see that a few men were just standing there dazed.
"You heard her. MOVE IT!" I roared, moving out. The rest quickly followed, keeping pace thankfully. We jumped past some barricades, waiting to see what would happen. I brought up my rifle again, despite the protesting of my body. Thankfully the tanks stopped, unfortunately it got slightly more annoying from there. Pirates began pouring out, leading a charge towards us. Shit. I looked around, trying to find Shepard. Where was she? That's when I saw her.
She was moving with grace I had never seen, going through the pirates like they were nothing. Biotics swarmed around her, sending people flying. Armed with her shotgun, anyone who got in her way was done for. She was like a force of nature. While I knew she probably didn't need it, I decided to give her cover fire, dropping any pirates she didn't. I slowly made my way towards her, trying to give her more support.
Any pirate who got close to me was taken down by the Alliance soldiers behind me. We were doing good, don't get me wrong, but the pirates were starting to gain more numbers. Ducking under a hastily thrown punch, I unloaded my rifle into the poor bastard who attacked me. After a bit of resistance, I finally reached Shepard.
"Shepard! We should stay back to back, can't let these guys surround us." I told her. She nodded, and we moved into position. The pirates charged forward, trying to swarm us. Shepard's shotgun boomed, and I ditched the assault rifle in exchange for my pistols. At one point a pirate was able to get around Shepard, knocking one of my guns out of my hand. I elbowed him, bringing up my Bowie knife. I shoved it into the pirate's neck, tearing it out with a spray of blood. Shepard was doing her on thing, throwing biotics left and right. I ducked under another pirate's attempt at a melee attack, bringing up my knife once more.
We were starting to get overwhelmed. That's when things suddenly got better. The pirates looked up, suddenly dropping their weapons. I did as well, and damn near whooped in joy. Alliance ships dotted the skies, dropping most of the advancing fleet. I could see shuttles heading our way, at least twenty if I was right. The attack had been broken.
I stayed off to the sides, away from anything major. I didn't want to attract much attention to myself. Shepard was speaking with someone, probably her commanding officer or something. Come to think of it, they looked rather familiar. Wait a minute, is that...?
Shepard walked over to me, her CO following her. Yep, it is him. He spoke up, offering his hand to me. "Shepard here told me of what you did here. The System Alliance owes you one son. I'm-"
"Captain David Anderson. It's an honor sir." I said, shaking his hand. Damn, did not expect someone like Anderson to show up. Let's just say that my old man had a lot to say about this guy. Ah hell, looks I'm definitely getting recognition after this. Talk about doing the exact opposite of what I wanted.
"You know, the Alliance can use someone like you. Would you consider signing up as a contractor?" Anderson asked. I shook my head. If he had gotten to me a few days ago, it might have been a different story. To serve under a legend like him would have been amazing. Now...
"Thank you, but no thank you Captain. No offense to you, but I prefer to work alone. Good luck with this." I said, gesturing to the clean up efforts. Anderson nodded.
"That's fine. I suppose it was a long shot either way. Just know, there's always room for you here in the Alliance. I'm going to check on the clean up efforts. Good luck out there." He told me, walking away and waving down another soldier.
I turned to Shepard. "Lieutenant. You did good job out there. I hope to see you again." I said. Shepard grinned.
"It's Commander now, actually. So you're not joining us? Ah well. Good luck out there." She said, still beaming.
"Commander Shepard. Nice ring to it. Until next time." I said, walking away and activating my tactical cloak. It was time for me to head out anyway. I had just gotten orders from Azrael.
'You helped save the colony. Now it's time to avenge it.' This... this was going to be fun.
AN: So... what did you guys think? I tried to make the battle believable, but at the same time adding my own little touch to it. Also yes I realize that a time skip could be seen as lazy writing, but I'll try to avoid that as long as I can. Until next time, Read, Review and Enjoy!
Update 2: Just adding some details here people! Don't mind me.
