Episode 1: Huskfall

Gerrit's colony is attacked, and he must work with a company of mercenaries in order to escape.


Face bloodied, his arm undoubtedly sprained, an altogether sorry-looking Gerrit Pajorn dragged himself across the threshold of a small two-room prefab, stopping at a cabinet and opening it, searching for something to heal his wounds.

Whiskey. That's the ticket.

He slumped into the comfortable sofa, taking a swig directly from the bottle of Burskin '92. He paused a moment as he lowered the bottle from his lips, noting the greenish smear its neck, and began to raise his left arm to the cut running from his lip to under his left eye, but winced as he remembered the pain.

Okay then. Maybe whiskey wasn't all he needed.

With a slight groan, the drell rose again from the sofa, depositing the suspiciously light bottle on an end table. He stumbled into the bathroom and flicked on the light, looking over his face in the mirror. It would certainly be tender in the morning, but only that cut needed attention. On his face, at least. He opened the medicine cabinet, drawing out some of his precious medi-gel supply, and began to thoroughly examine himself for injuries.

Half an hour later, slightly intoxicated with the potent medi-gel and whiskey combination, the drell returned to his spot on the sofa, silently cursing the empty bottle beside him. Assuming that sleep was an unlikely option, he pulled a remote from between two cushions and turned on the news with the hope that it would bore him unconscious. Within minutes, he was asleep on the sofa.


A persistent thumping reverberated through the small structure. Gerrit blinked his eyes open. There was still only starlight coming in through the skylight above, but someone was at the door. The drell was slowly rising to his feet, flexing his newly-healed arm as he did so, when what was unmistakably an explosion shook the prefab. The drell immediately crouched into a ready position, absorbing the vibrations, before racing to a storage compartment and quickly entering the access code. The compartment slid open, revealing a simple blade roughly four feet long and obsidian-black.

Retrieving the blade almost reverently, the drell murmured, "Well, Kira, it seems I may need you after all."

Another series of frantic poundings brought his attention back to the door. He strode over to it and slid it open. Pale and quivering, a human boy stood in front of him, glancing about and nervously fingering a pistol.

"Gerrit! Something's attacking the colony!"

"So I gathered," the drell said, stepping past the boy and surveying his surroundings. A siren blared. Lights flashed. The first vestiges of screams carried over the roofs of the tiny structures from the direction of a glaring fire. "Who is it?"

"I have no idea! It's just creepy things. They're not human!"

"'Creepy things'?"

"Yeah. They're like people but all… dead and… machine."

"Right." Gerrit adjusted his grip on the sword and looked down the street. "Henry, take cover."

Just as the boy ducked behind a prefab, three creatures rounded the corner and charged as soon as they saw Gerrit. They were grotesque mockeries of life, ashen gray skin and mechanical blue eyes devoid of any humanity.

Gerrit stood, waiting, focusing his energy. As soon as the things were close enough, he unleashed a torrent of biotic energy, charging into the midst of the three creatures, immediately disintegrating the leader and sending the other two flying back. One came apart on contact with the ground about two dozen feet in front of Gerrit, but the other, which had been caught with the edge of the blast, quickly regained its feet. It rushed at Gerrit, who swiftly dispatched it with a calculated swing from his sword.

Signaling to Henry with his free hand, Gerrit cautiously approached the corner the three creatures had appeared behind.

"Is the colony overrun?" Gerrit asked as Henry caught up with him.

"I… I think so," Henry mumbled. "What we gonna do, Gerrit?"

"Get to the spaceport. There must be some form of evacuation."

Henry nodded and followed as Gerrit walked briskly down the road, senses alert for any more sign of the creatures. Suddenly, Henry grabbed his arm and he had to fight not to slam the boy against the nearest wall.

"Gerrit! Look at that!"

Gerrit glanced in the direction that Henry was pointing. "Those are ships, Henry. They're fighting."

"How we gonna get past them, Gerrit?"

Gerrit stopped. He hadn't thought of that. Of course an invading force would have combat ships. This colony, though, didn't. Or did it? Gerrit thought about what Terrek had said the previous night: expanding. Expanding where? There were in every colony on the planet, and the Alliance could easily stomp out any basic mercenary fighters. So they must have a ship. A good ship.

"Change of plans, Henry. We're going to visit the Khans."


The Khan's base of operations was a permanent structure, which meant that is was part of the main city. This was, of course, where the bulk of the fighting was located. Gerrit was able to fight through the creatures they encountered with little resistance, though Henry did have to fend for himself once or twice. That didn't worry Gerrit; the boy might be slow, but he was an excellent shot. Not his first choice for a battlefield companion, but there were worse options.

Gerrit could hear the sounds of heavy fighting coming from ahead of him as he neared the compound. He slowed and crouched behind a small rocky ridge on the edge of the clearing in front of the Khan's base.

A krogan and an asari were making short work of the Khan's guard; the krogan wielding a giant hammer that crackled with bionic energy and the asari alternating biotics and pistol shots. Within moments, the guards were dead except for the captain, who had fled into the city.

"No sudden moves, drell."

He turned to see two women in combat armor, each with a submachine gun pointed at his head. Gerrit raised his hands slowly and deliberately.

"I'm not Khan," he stated.

"And him?" The lead woman spoke, gesturing at Henry.

"Civilian."

"Name?"

"Gerrit Pajon."

"Pajon?" The woman lowered her gun and turned to a salarian standing behind the women. "Is it him?"

After glancing down at a datapad, the salarian nodded. "He does match the file."

"Well then. Seek the enemy of your enemy and you will find a friend." She waved off the second woman and stepped forward. "Peras T'maran, of the Pandora Company. This is Emira S'nalla and Demol Kendric, our mechanic and pilot, respectively."

Gerrit shook her hand. "And those two are with you, I assume?"

"Yeah. Our leader, Akira D'naris and her boyfriend, Khel Bandrik."

The salarian, Demol Kendric, glanced sideways at her. "I doubt either of them would appreciate that classification. Especially to a stranger."

Emira shrugged. "Only 'cause it's true."

"Hey! What's keeping you over there?" The leader's voice drifted over the rocks.

"That's our cue. I assume you want a ride?"

Gerrit nodded. Peras grinned. "That's why we're here. Need to get our ship back."

Demol scoffed. "My ship. Which you lost."

"Oh, shove it, egg-head," The mechanic pushed Demol's shoulder companionably. "I'm sure she's fine. And if she's not, she will be when I'm through with her."

The salarian's eye twitched. "How reassuring."

"Come on! We've got husks over here!"

"We're late, ladies." Emira leapt over the crest of the rocks, Gerrit close behind, and sent a wave of biotic energy at the husks advancing on the two combatants by the door.

"Took you long enough," the leader grumbled. Her eyes fell on Gerrit. "Who's this?"

"Gerrit Pajon. The local who's been riling up the Khans. Offered him a way off in return for lending a hand."

"Sounds good. You can fight?"

"Yes. As can my companion, though not as proficiently." Gerrit indicated Henry, who had arrived with Demol and Emira and seemed to be giving them a wide berth.

"That's all right, Demol's just dead weight." Emira shoved the pilot again.

The salarian crossed his arms. "Do you want me to fly the ship? Because last I checked, your flying nearly got us all killed."

"Shut up, both of you," Akira barked, turning to the door. "I need to get this thing open."

A few short moments later, the seven of them stood in front of the opening to the Khan base.

"Right. We need to do this quick. No bathroom breaks, no side trips. Straight to the hanger, then we get into the Anesidora, and we fly the hell out of here."

"And the hanger doors?"

Akira glanced at Gerrit. "Should be open. But if they're not, then I'll deal with it. Ready? Let's go."


A/N: Thank you to TheZadak and chinas for following.