So here is the full second chapter, i'm sorry that took me so long to write. anyway, i hope you enjoy, share this with your friends, and please, do review!
I slipped my thumbs into my belt as I walked with Natalie back to her farm. My rifle was neatly collapsed and in a slot I had made in my assault pack, having been forced to remove the electro magnets to modify the weapon system.
"So, you guys are being shipped out?" I nodded and she looked away, clearly bothered about it.
"Yeah, were going out to the Armstrong nebula. Geth were forces were moving in, but some Spectre dealt with them. We're just being sent to set up defenses in case they try to move back in." I had asked my lieutenant if I could come say goodbye before our last patrol. All of our un-needed equipment was packed, and the ship that was taking us off world was going to arrive during our final patrol.
"You'll keep in touch, right?" I smiled to her as she spoke, wishing I could hug her.
"I'll do my best, but once I'm out there, personal messages are heavily restricted." She frowned, kicking at the dirt beneath our boots.
"Well, that just sucks. I am really going to miss you." I stopped her and wrapped my arms around her, knowing that hugging a fully armored soldier was probably not too comfortable.
"I'm going to miss you too." I felt a tear slide out of my eye as I spoke. She gently kissed my cheek and I froze, shocked.
"Just promise me you will come back okay?" before I could lose my sudden burst of courage, I turned my head slightly and kissed her on the lips, both of us froze. She leaned back slightly, clearly stunned. She was about to speak when I put a single finger on her soft lips.
"For if I don't come back. Okay?" she nodded, blushing furiously, her cheeks nearly the color of her dark red hair.
"Okay. Just promise me you will?" I laced my fingers with hers, my smile weakening.
"I'll do my best." She sighed, her brow wrinkling up as she glared at me.
"That isn't promising me anything, Damion." I sighed and forced her to look me in the eye.
"We both know I can't make that promise. But I will do everything I can to keep it. Ya know, you look cuter when you're angry." Her glare intensified and she gently punched my arm. But, a small trace of a smile was at the edges of her lips.
"Oh just shut up, soldier boy." I grinned when my radio suddenly lit up.
"Wolfe! Get your ass back here! We got Geth on approach!" I let go of her hand and grabbed my rifle out, Natalie giving me a worried look.
"Mother fucker! Rodger that Staff sergeant!" I clicked my radio off and shoved Natalie toward her house. "Just go! Get your parents and hide!" before she could say anything back, I sprinted off toward the main colony, my weapon unfolding and extending on its own.
Shepard climbed through the side hatch and back into the Mako, followed closely by his team. They had managed to squeeze all six of them in the five man vehicle. Tali was bracing herself on the back of Shepard's seat, Garrus was manning the cannon, and Kaidan was at the Nav Console.
"Alright, by what that VI said, the Conduit isn't far. Garrus, hit anything that gives us a funny look." He pressed down on the gas pedal and the Mako leapt down the waterlogged tunnel. It lurched slightly as they bounced over logs and so on. Suddenly, the entire rover shook as the ninety millimeter anti-vehicle cannon fired, easily blasting an armature apart. The four legged machines almost looked like long necked dinosaurs, firing both anti-infantry rounds and anti-tank rounds from their heads. The rover started vibrating in bursts as the HUD highlighted anti-tank missiles. Sheppard wove back and forth, narrowly dodging the rockets while Garrus expertly shredded the Geth troops. Within minutes, they were rounding a corner to a downward ramp, having left what seemed like an entire company of dead Geth trailing behind them. Through the dense over growth of what would have been an open air run off, they could see what looked like a miniature mass relay, pointed skyward.
"Well, there it is." Everyone seemed to just freeze, staring at the miniature mass relay. A blue streak whipped through the sky, running along the relay. This marked a ship or item going through it.
"Fuck! That has to be Saren!" Shepard gunned the engines at the sound of Garrus's voice. The Mako ripped down the water way, bouncing every time they hit a hidden root or furrow. They reached the bottom and found five massive Armatures in a river valley at the bottom. A massive ramp on the other side lead up to the relay.
"Garrus! Just annoy them, don't worry about killing!" Shepard gunned the engine and followed the river, headed straight for the ramp. Blue balls of super-heated plasma ripped past. One of them impacted on the Mako, blasting away the kinetic barrier and burning the hull just beside the turret.
"Armor integrity holding, but we can't take another hit like that!" Sheppard fought the urge to glare at Kaidan as he ducked and weaved through the water, narrowly dodging plasma shots from the Geth. The Mako hit the ramp and he screwed trying to dodge, simply gunning for the Mass Relay. Suddenly, just as he felt himself float, he felt something slam into the Mako, and a warning alarm went off.
I slipped through the quiet streets, making sure my chest was facing wherever my rifle was. Most races across the galaxy taught to make yourself the slimmest target possible. But, the Alliance taught it's soldiers to always face your chest to the enemy, because that meant your thickest, toughest piece of armor was always facing the enemy. I tried to move as quietly as I could, knowing that it was near silent, but against Geth, no sound was quiet enough. As I moved deeper into the small town, I started seeing signs of combat, but still, not one sign of life, alive or dead.
"Staff Sergeant? Anyone still out there?" before there was time to get a response, blue plasma bolts started ripping into the prefab beside me, I dropped to the ground and rolled onto my side, empting my thermal clip at them in seconds. Most of the sixteen rounds soared past the two Geth in the alley way, but both troopers dropped, almost like they didn't have their barriers up. My entire body shook as I fumbled with ejecting the thermal clip and slapping the fresh one in the slot, the unfamiliar position slowing me down. My breath was coming in ragged gasps as I tried to bring it back under control.
"Wolfe! Stay out of the town! Damn place is crawling, Civies are down, and we got these damn, electric zombies on our asses! Just stay away kid!" I cursed as I leapt to my feet.
"Staff! Where the hell are you!? I aint leavin you out here!" I tapped a few commands on my wrist computer, trying to find a way to triangulate their position.
"Negative kid! Hunker down! Stay out of sight! There's got to be a whole damned division coming down on our asses!" I finally managed to find them and I disabled my Kinetic Barriers, activating an active camouflage suite I had built into my armor. Although I still made noise, it masked all visual ways of tracking me, including thermal. It also threw out random RADAR and LADAR signals, confusing those types of scans. My feet carried me through the city, my body no longer shaking. Strangely, I was suddenly perfectly calm, knowing what I had to do. I rounded a corner and instantly froze, my eyes going wide.
There was a… creature, for lack of a better term, standing within feet of me. It looked human, if massive sections of it's flesh hadn't been seemingly stripped off, with what little remained turned a dark, dead grey. Everywhere that the flesh was gone, looked like synthetic fiber that pulsed with an eerie blue light. It turned to face me, almost like it knew I was there. It's eyes were just blue lights, and more of that light spilled out when it's mouth opened, letting loose a blood curdling screech. My blood seemed to freeze in my veins and I instinctively fired, the three high powered rounds just tearing through the creatures chest without even flinching it. I started firing more as it charged me, my cloaking already having failed. All of the rounds that hit seemed to have no effect on the husk like creature. It tackled me to the ground, knocking my rifle away as I fought to knock it off of me. It was insanely strong, but I managed to grab my side arm and fired at it. The heavy slug tore clean through its chest and out its head. It slumped against me and I shoved it off, three more coming out of the buildings around me.
"Mother…" I aimed and fired, going for the head, just like all of the old zombie vids. The three creatures dropped as I scrambled for my rifle, swapping out the thermal clip as I stumbled to my feet and ran. I heard gunfire and slowed to a stop, seeing a mass of Geth infantry. One of these Geth was simply massive, almost twice that of the standard Geth troopers. I quickly swapped the magazine out for the solid slug rounds and fired. The rifle bucked up against my shoulder, nothing like the low recoil rounds normally fired by the weapon. But, on the receiving end, the Geth prime's barriers held, even though the massive creature was staggered by the shot. I continued to fire, pounding all sixteen slugs into it. The Prime, although large, could not withstand the force behind the rounds, and was blasted into chunks. Small groups of the Geth turned to engage me, but turned to find nothing there. I had already reactivated my cloak and ran to a new position, reloading the shavings mag. I leaned out of cover and opened fire again, the high powered mattock easily cutting through Geth barriers and their synthetic bodies. These now disoriented Geth gave the pinned down fire team a real chance to return fire, shredding Geth troops left and right. I stopped counting the clips I dropped as I fired round after round at the enemy, occasionally shifting position whenever I could. Within a few minutes, the last of the Geth fell, and I trotted over to the fire team.
"Wolfe, I thought I told you to get your ass the hell out of dodge!" I smirked to him as I slid over their portable cover and gave the Staff Sergeant a half hug.
"What, you think I'd listen to a chicken shit order like that? I may be cold and anti-social, but that don't mean I hate ya!" he couldn't help but smile as I glanced around.
"Is this all that's left of the company?" he sighed, shaking his head.
"No, this is all that's left of the battalion." I cursed to myself as one of the engineers shouted.
"We got more in bound!" I took a quick glance at the surroundings, seeing a portable ladder a few feet away, and a rooftop it could easily reach.
"Hayward, on me!" I sprinted to the ladder before anyone could protest, propping it up against the building and instantly sliding up it. Hayward was right behind me, his massive, muscular build making him an excellent SAW gunner. We crawled on our stomachs to the edge of the roof, him folding the bipod out for his Revenant. I closed my eyes, my entire body seeming to vibrate again. When my eyes opened, the red diamonds marking enemies were just about to storm through the courtyard. I held up a fist, waiting for them to slide into combat positions. Their weapons fired their strange plasma, cutting clean through friendly kinetic barriers. Once the enemy was focused on the main team, I nodded to Hayward. Both of us opened fire, almost simultaneously. Geth units were being absolutely shredded as we fired, until I heard a much louder zinging crack, a teal lance ripping clean through Hayward's faceplate. I cursed, putting my rifle away and taking his Revenant and opening fire. The weapon overheated, its systems preventing it from firing until its clip was replaced. Husks were rushing out of the alleys and through the buildings as I finally managed to ram a thermal clip into the receiver. The revenant was making short work of the Husks, literally tearing their bodies apart. But it wasn't fast enough, as the massive swarm quickly over ran the group below, ripping and tearing at the soldiers. The weapon over heated again, but I was too distracting to reload, my eyes glued to the horrific bloodshed beneath me. The sergeant was backed into a corner, firing his M3 Predator as fast as he could. I saw the telltale blast of white vapor as the weapon overheated, just before the Husks reached him. I closed my eyes and screamed, no longer caring whether I survived or not.
Tali felt the mass effect corridor disappear, less than a second after it had come. She didn't even have a chance to brace when the Mako hit the ground with enough force to send it tumbling. By the time the Mako came to a stop, it was on its top. She had lost her grip and her body was covered in bruises. She groaned as she lifted herself off the deck as Shepard shouted.
"Alright, everyone alive!?" the others slowly sounded off until it was Tali's turn, all reporting bruising with the exception of Wrex, who was audibly giggling about the crash.
"I'm fine, just a little banged up." She let Liara open the hatch and slip out first, quickly following her. The others slowly slipped out as she inspected the damage to the Mako. The entire engine block was nothing but fused metal and smashed engine parts. One of the wheels had come off, most of the randomly bent at odd angles. Wrex had to force his hatch open and climb over the tank. They had landed in the presidium, a high end rich section of a massive deep space station known as the Citadel. The presidium was a ring that connected five long flat arms, extending straight out into space. Gravity was stimulated by the rotation of the station, so that the wards had close to most planet's normal gravity. All except the presidium tower, which used element zero based gravity generators. The presidium tower was literally a long structure sticking off the presidium. The entire presidium was open, with a massive river like lake spanning it that was strange to look at, given the ground curved up, rather than down like on a planet. There was a giant Mass relay statue, as most everyone else thought it was, out on one of the causeways behind them. She had only been on the presidium once or twice, her race being shunned by society for accidently making the sentient Artificial intelligence known as the Geth. She heard an eerie metal on metal scraping sound and turned, instantly pulling the M8 off her back. A cluster of giant spikes on tripods were telescoping down until the mutated Husks on them could stand up. The Alliance had dubbed them, Dragon's teeth, and were used to create the abominable creatures. She aimed and fired a burst without hesitation, watching as one of the Husks slumped off the tooth, dead. The others saw her firing and opened fire themselves, easily shredding the small group.
"Alright, everyone, go for the tower!" they moved as a group, each person watching a different direction. It seemed quiet, but they passed multiple fires and and areas that clearly had firefights in them. They reached the tower elevator to find a cluster of C-sec corpses scattered around portable defense walls. She didn't recognize any of them, but Garrus stooped over one of the corpses and cursed. Before anyone one could speak, Geth plasma rounds started ripping into the area, forcing everyone behind the barriers. Kaidan lifted one of the troopers in the air, Garrus firing his M97 Viper sniper rifle into its face. Tali waited a few seconds as Liara blasted a group off their feet with her biotics. As they were standing up, both Shepard and herself fired their rifles into the downed Geth.
"Saren is getting all the time he needs to give sovereign what he what's while we fight these things!" Sovereign was a sentient starship of unknown age, a member of the race known as the reapers, who came once every fifty-thousand years to wipe out all advanced life from the face of the galaxy. The few times she had seen it, terrified her. It was at least two kilometers long, and could pull maneuvers that no other ship she had seen could do. It looked similar to a giant hand or squid, with seven long fingers attached along its curved hull.
"Alright! Tali, Garrus, on me, everyone else, hold here, and don't let a single one of these bastards follow us!" Tali followed him into the elevator, slapping the holo for the council chamber as soon as Garrus and Shepard were inside. A calm instrumental piece played softly through the elevators speakers as they raced up the shaft.
"Well, this is odd to say the least." Tali couldn't help but laugh with the other two at Garrus's words.
"Yeah, just keep your game faces on people, this aint over yet." She nodded to Shepard as they fell into silence, simply listening to the soothing music. The elevator came to a stop and they rushed out, weapons raised. Geth were swarming the rising tiers above them, already firing. Tali fired back, watching as Geth after Geth dropped under her fire they stormed up the ramp, bum rushing the Geth. They moved so quickly and knocked out so many Geth in such a short amount of time, that the other Geth were actually fleeing before them, scrambling to find decent cover, only to find that the rock or Railing they hid behind, was already behind the small team. They reached the top of the chamber, a large audience hall that the council held its official meetings in. the council would stand on a raised area, behind three podiums, with a massive window out into the space within the five arms of the station. With the station's arms being closed, all they could see through this window, was the underside of Sovereign, the reaper, and the sprawling city's known as the Wards, built onto the inside of the five arms. Just below the raised area for the council, was a massive rectangular opening, looking down on a glass protected garden. Directly across from the council, was a long platform that jutted out over the glass, where anyone addressing the council would stand. They saw Saren here, hacking his way through a group of firewalls, about to reach the master control unit for the station, where he could give station control to Sovereign. Once Sovereign had control, the machine could open the Citadel relay, letting the Reaper Fleet pour into the galaxy from the dark beyond the rim. Saren glanced back as Tali ran beside Shepard, then stepped off the end of the walkway. He floated back up into the air, riding his hover board.
"Shepard! I almost thought you weren't going to make it in time for the show!" Saren fired a pair of hand cannon rounds at them, causing the group to split and dive for cover.
"Sorry I was late, had leave an army of dead Geth to get here!" Tali smirked, having fought that army alongside him.
"But you are too late! Soon, Sovereign will have control of the station and he will activate the relay. The reapers will return!" Shepard popped out of cover, his rifle already aimed.
"It isn't too late to stop them! We can kill Sovereign, and never activate that relay! The Reapers will have to come from dark space! That will take them years! Enough time to prepare for them!" Saren shook his head, his glowing blue eyes showing just how much more cybernetic he had become.
"No! Nothing can stop the Reapers!" She could see Shepard grin from where she was.
"I can." And he fired, the rounds punching into Sarens head. Tali guessed the barriers that normally protected him were down for some reason. He slumped off the board and fell, smashing through the glass and landing in a heap at the bottom. They rushed up to the master Control, loading the bypass that Vigil had given them. Shepard managed to open a comm line and a voice flooded through.
"Commander, is that you?" Tali smirked at the sound of Joker's voice."
"Joker, status, now!" there was a second of lag between Shepard's words and the response.
"I linked up with the fifth and second fleet, just open the relays around the citadel and we can tackle that behemoth." He was about to do so when a new voice came across all channels, even their suit radio's.
"This is the Destiny Ascension, Mayday! Our barriers are down to fifteen percent, our engines are dead! We have the council on board, I repeat, we have the council on board! If we don't get help soon, we are dead in the water, I repeat!" Shepard switched back to the comm with the Normandy, instantly speaking.
"Joker, I'm opening the relays! Save the Ascension, then I'll open the station and let you guys at Sovereign!" Garrus put his hand on Shepard's shoulder as he spoke.
"Are you sure that's wise commander? We are going to need every ship to kill that behemoth."
"I'm sure, now, you two, go make sure he's dead." Tali nodded and dropped down to the garden below. The landing hurt a little, but didn't injure her as they both moved up to the body of Saren. She put the assault rifle away and pulled the Katana Shotgun off her back, aiming at his head and pulling the trigger. Blue blood and brain matter spattered the ground beyond his head.
"He's dead." She could barely hear the radio traffic above, but based on the way the tower was shaking, allied ships were attacking sovereign. She was about to follow Garrus to an access stairway when the entire room started to shake violently. The platform above snapped, bringing Shepard down with it. "Shepard!" she stumbled her way to him, fighting the shaking and heaving floor. She reached him as he raised himself up, coughing metal dust out of his lungs. He glanced over her shoulder, just before lunging into her. An electric blue streak shot past her vision, both Shepard and herself sprung to their feet as what looked like a Turian skeleton perched on the wall ahead of them. Its eyes glowed a vibrant red, chilling Tali to the bone.
"I am Sovereign! And I Will be the Vanguard of your destruction!" she had heard that voice once before, in Saren's base on Virmire. She gulped down her fear and fired her shotgun, the scatter shot denting the metal shell. It leapt toward a different wall, a red blast lancing away from its face. Tali narrowly ducked it, but it still knocked out her barriers. It leapt straight at Shepard, and he side stepped, catching Saren's skeleton with the stock of his rifle. It slammed into the ground, casting dirt across the floor. Sheppard then slammed his foot down on the neck and emptied his rifle into its head. The creature squealed as the metal glowed red hot, melting into the floor. Shepard dropped a grenade on the remains and the group disappeared up the stairs as it went off. They were on their way toward the elevator, still near the top of the tower, when the entire structure shook. Outside, she could see the dreadnaught exploding outside, the trail of a Mass Accelerator round having ripped clean through the vessel. A massive chunk was rushing toward the glass as Shepard screamed.
"Run!" the piece slammed into the glass, blasting debris all across the area, one of the metal fragments glancing off her helmet, and knocking her out cold.
I froze as I crested the final hill toward Natalie's house. The farm in front of me had blast marks all over it. My feet carried me to the house, shouting her name over and over as I ran. The Geth had pulled out about an hour before, leaving behind the zombie like husks they had made, likely in the thousands. Inside the house, I found the corpse of her Father, a plasma hole clean through his chest. There was a small basement on the home that I rushed to, retching the door open. a pair of Husks rushed at me from the basement, and I barely managed to fire in time, killing both. My heart leapt into my throat, knowing that Natalie was an only child. Downstairs, there were the two strange spikes that I had seen being used to create the Husks. My legs slipped out from under me, seeing a small silver necklace on the floor beside on of the spikes, knowing who it had belonged to. Tears streamed from my eyes as I screamed, no longer caring about what could be in the area.