Disclaimer: I do not own mass effect or call of duty.
23:11 11/12/2157- Lieutenant Deceus:
The humens surrounded the crash-site. His men were running out of rations and ammo. He knew that if none of the ships escaped to warn Palaven, then they would lose this planet. He ran to a turret as its previous gunner fell on the floor, a hole in his skull. He immediately opened fire on a group of humen warriors that were attempting to cross the the trench that divided his ship and the humen's perimeter, they responded by bringing up their spirits damn shields. 'It seemed like every humen warrior had it.' The incendiary rounds were blocked by the quickest reacting warriors, but those who didn't were cut down to little shreds of meat. He continued his streak, the turian soldiers next to him assisting him even though they themselves were bloody and injured. Everyone was but he just like everyone else he wouldn't back down.
And suddenly the strange electric buzzing could be heard. He looked towards the sky, seeing bright flashes appear in the dark grey. A lightning storm. That was when he noticed something strange, the humens were falling back, away from the ship. The drones were creating a cloud around them, sacrificing themselves to absorb all the firepower his fellow soldiers were putting into it. He could not be any more proud at the display of military unity, teamwork they put into it. However, some of his soldiers left their positions trying to chase down the retreating enemy.
"All soldiers pursuing, stay back, and reinforce defensive positions, the huemens are about to attack!" he heard someone order.
They stopped, but only to look at the sky. Instinctively he shifted his eyes too, looking at the sky, and then he saw it, the white flashes turn blood red.
Red lights began to rain from the sky, hitting the turians who originally attempted to chase down the humens. He watched as it simply disintegrated them, kicking up debris in every direction. Some of the lights got bigger, explosions coming out of the fortified positions that lay within and around the ship. His soldiers were dying and there was nothing he could do about it. Deceus could only stare in awe, as the red lights came for him…
23:13 11/12/2157-Private 1st Class Michael Sheperd
"Hot damn! That's gotta' hurt." Came the barely audible transmission by Excalibur.
Michael watched with satisfaction, as the Paladin fired all its weapons. Lasers destroying everything in their path, 5cm shells impacted fortified positions, leaving them little more than scrap metal.
"Oh shit! We got a lock on." But those who were remaining began to open fire on the warship. Missiles launched towards the warship. 'No No No!' Thought Michael, he could only watch as some of the drones on the battlefield intercepted a few of the missiles the aliens launched, the rest speeding towards the Paladin.
"Spark the flares! Copy tha…Deploying flares!" Flares and ECMs sparked everywhere, distracting a majority of the missiles. Meanwhile Lasers were shooting down those weren't taking the bait, making a light show that under any other circumstance would be considered beautiful, but not here, not now. And it was not enough, AA fire from the few remaining alien positions were impacting the Paladin's hull. The thick hole was being speared with overwhelming firepower The Gatling lasers overheated at the worst moment possible. Michael could only shake his head as missile after missile impacted upon the warship, the Multiple Kill Vehicles not being able to keep up with the pace. The small ten second battle ended with a blinding explosion that forced Michael to look away, even as his HUD polarized. And when he looked back up all he could see was an uncountable amount of debris sailed through the air, shredding everything it touched. Most of it hitting the crash site. Piece after large piece of metal crashed into battlefield, deforming the ground it touched. Trenches were hit, and the crashed alien ship collapsed within itself before exploding in a fiery ball. Fire incinerating everything within several hundred meters… including the airship. He jumped off the edge of the crater, entering the inferno below. Jump assists slowed him down, preventing the fall from breaking his legs or causing any injury. He glanced back up only to see two of the remaining soldiers fly down behind him before a large ion engine crashed into where they were only seconds before. Everyone who was too slow to react was crushed.
As soon as he finished landing his radio cleared up, meaning whatever jamming device the aliens were using was destroyed in the explosion. "Attention all units within the Grid Kilo two-three, your orders have been updated." He read them quickly, 'Rescue operations were to be underway immediately, with an airship coming in to carry those in critical conditions for advanced medical care and to establish a temporary hospital', Pararescue teams and soldiers ran towards the blast zone in an attempt to get out any survivors. Drones sped through the air, scanning every possibly living thing. Michael's exosuit distributed most of its energy reserves for maximum speed.
As he sprinted between the large pieces of metal and small craters that stuck out everywhere, he saw numerous soldiers giving as much medical care to others as they could to those who were injured. He ran past a dead soldier, the metal of his exosuit scorched into his skin, his body in half. The blue BDUs soaked in red, organs and blood laying on the ground and his body black burnt from the fire. 'Nothing he could for him' thought Michael. The chaos around him became a blur, he ran past more fire. More debris.
And even more bodies or what remained of them. He reached a door in the side of the airship, his helmet picking the faint distress signal of someone within the burning, confined spaces on the ship. Michael kicked at the door once, creating a large dent in the metal. He kicked again, the door teared off its titanium hinges, and he ran inside, stepping into the ruins of a large hanger. Metal crates were everywhere, and a wall of flame divided the entire hanger in half. 'No way anyone could get passed that, thought Michael' He began to search for the origin of the distress beacon, finding only blood splatters and ashes all over the floor. After minutes of searching, he found the distress signal's origin.
It was inside a large container; unfortunately the doors were locked in place. He guessed that someone must have locked themselves inside of the crate when the ship crashed. He punched the center of the door, warping it; he repeated his action multiple times, before finally creating a hole large enough to stick both of his hands into. He put both of hands into it, before pulling apart the door. He stepped into the large dented crate. Within it he saw a young woman lying down, highlighted by the light of the fire behind him, he could see her red hair covering her face. His HUD quickly zoomed in, and discovered very faint biosigns. She was unconscious but alive. 3rd degree burns covered her body, if he didn't get her out soon, she would most likely die to asphyxiation. He picked her up, placing her over his back firemen style. He sprinted out of the hanger and into the grey corridors of the ship, unsure of whether or not the person he was carrying would survive.
He paused in confusion as the route he traced back coming in was blocked. His mind quickly realized that the hall must have collapsed upon itself. He turned around only to have that part of the hall meet the same fate. That meant that the whole ship was about to fall apart, he would have to find a way out and quickly. He frantically searched for a way out, his helmet warning him that his thermos could barely handle the heat. He laid his eyes on a damaged portion of the wall, he mentally commanded his armor to focus all its power into the exo's servos. Michael's plan was to kick the wall down, he put the girl on the floor before bringing his leg back and kicking the wall. The hall began to collapse due to the sudden structural integrity it was facing, he grabbed the woman and placed her in the fireman's carry again before walking through the hole in the wall. He could see the outside but a support pillar stood in his way.
'So close but the fucking thing is in the way'
He would have to move the support pillar out of his path, but it was to high to kick, and to break it would probably cause the entrance to collapse. He knew what he had to do, he used his left hand to grab the woman's leg, and with his right hand began to push the pillar up; the titanium began to burn his hand, but he knew that if he stopped now, the woman and him would die. Michael could feel his arms muscles began to rip, his servos working past their safety limits to move the obstacle that stood between him and freedom. With a roar he yelled giving enough space between him and the pillar to let go. He exited through the door he came in, greeted by a small team of rescue forces.
"Holy shit boss!" one of them stated. Michael's vision began to blur as he fell on his knees. "He's bleeding! Medic!" screamed one of the soldiers. A man with a red cross stepped forward, the medic Michael presumes, before reaching out and taking the girl off his back. The same guy who was talking before reaches out to Michael, grabbing his shoulder before saying "Thats a hell of a brave thing you did there, good job soldier." Those were the last words he heard before being placed on a stretcher. He quickly glanced at the woman he saved. She was also on a stretcher exactly like his. He managed to get a look at her name tag, which happened to be a half burnt "HANNAH…" before his vision turned black.
Councillor Chambers, Citadel
The trees within the chambers shed off a few leaves, the bright pink and white colors flowing through the air. The chambers were polished and clean as they always were. And through the large windows was the captivating sight of the Widow Nebula. The white and pink giving the room a soft glow, that could not be replicated anywhere else in the galaxy. Every race was competing for a podium that would allow them to have the serene sight behind them.
And Councilor Tevos was very, very unhappy with what she was hearing. 'An attack against an unknown species, yes they were breaking Council law but what exactly was the turian military thinking? Diplomacy was always the best option.' But before she could say anything Valern beat her to the punch. "And what exactly was your plan Spartacus? Defeat an unknown species with unknown capabilities and make them a client race? This was a terrible mistake on your species part; your predecessor wouldn't have allowed this to happen.
Spartacus stared at her, attempting to get her to back down, and failing. He sighed before speaking, "I have no say over what the Primarch does. And we created these laws were created for a reason, or did you forget the Rachni Wars?! We were eliminating the potential threats to galactic stability, we were doing our job… opening a mass relay could have had severe consequences". Neither one of the councilors could disagree with that answer. Spartacus stared down at his omnitool, catching Tevos attention. She asked upon seeing Spartacus's faces turn to a frown, "What's wrong Spartacus?" Valern made an educated guess before he could answer, "The Turian's plan probably backfired on them". Spartacus looked up, and softly said "The fleet the Primarch sent hasn't reported for 8 hours. Something must have gone wrong, with the communications or something." Tevos could see that Valern was doing what the Salarian's do while finding answers before they even exist, "Unlikely. Fleet was most likely destroyed by a quick response fleet. Underestimated these huemens, likely have advanced stealth technologies or advanced ship-grade weapons. Would be interesting to learn more about them."
Spartacus did not take it too lightly, "Turians? Defeated by a bunch of primitives? Thats not possible, so obviously your brain must have overlooked something." Before Tevos knew it, they were arguing again.
Tevos lightly pinched the bridge of her nose, as Valern and Spartacus were arguing over the issue, Tevos was trying to figure out peaceful solutions to the problem at hand. A diplomatic team would have to be sent, without the turians being on it. It would take time to easy away the feelings of conflict the race had towards the turians, blame could also be shifted to the patrol group's Commanding Officer. She was sure that she could, with time, solve the problem. However, in the event that they would respond in a hostile fashion to the diplomatic team, she would be forced to send the Turians to pacify their race. 'I have a lot of planning to do' she thought, she looked at the two arguing councilors before saying "I have an idea, but first a public meeting with the Primarch will need to be in order." This caught the two bickering councilor's attention. Valern paused for a moment before making an educated guess, getting every part of it right. "You want to send diplomatic team quickly, shift the blame unto the fleet's commanding officer, preventing fallout out on the council. And in the event the diplomatic team doesn't work, you can just say that the Turians were following Council laws before forcing them to join as a client race. Well Done Tevos"
And for the first time ever, the councilors' saw Valern laugh before his face became serious again.
"STG Intelligence teams are already on standby next to Relay 314, we'll know if they make any moves." Tevos smiled at that, every one of them were the best at what they did.
"Time to get to work…"
Codex
Integrated Munitions Rifle Mark-3: The IMR is a selective fire assault rifle. Due to 3-D printing technology, it is capable of printing 60 rounds every 30 seconds; with a maximum ammo reserve of 540 rounds. The IMR is the standard issue assault rifle for Alliance Marines and has been in service for over a hundred years. The IMR an attached electronics suite that provides information on rounds remaining in the magazine, ammo reserve, compass heading, as well as several other convenient functions. The IMR can be outfitted with a number of modifications including flash suppressors, a grenade launcher or a shotgun, and more exotic ammunition types like Hollow Point rounds.
Note: I enjoyed reading the review by a RandomReviewer, and if anyone has any other suggestions, than by all means please do speak your mind.
I know this story doesn't seem long, and that each page seems short. But this is the very first time I've ever written something like this, so do excuse me. Anyway, next up I'm introducing a certain task force with a lot of cool toys.
