Heyo, sorry the update is late guys. My internet crapped out yesterday and it took like thirty minutes for me just to pull up Google. But never worry, it is back to normal. So, Read, Enjoy, Review.
The Turian first fleet faced the six Reapers, fighters charging forward like the pawns on a chess board charging an army of queens. There was a moment of silence, the calm before the storm. Then every Turian ship fired at once, sending their strongest weapons at the Reapers as the battle commenced. Occuli ships on the side of the Reapers surged forward as these bullets slammed harmlessly against the Reaper's kinetic barriers and armor. Lasers flew out at the Turian ships, taking down entire cruisers with a precision shot to the ship. Johanna watched the battle with growing anxiety, knitting her hands together and breathing into them as she stared at the fires that covered Palaven. Was he down there right now? He was a strong fighter, but what if he was already among the KIA? What if the Reapers had turned them into one of their infernal monsters, and he was killing people he had once sworn to protect. "Oh no, Palaven." Liara commented, looking at Johanna with sympathy. Of course with her Shadown Broker resources, she would know who he would have chosen to spend the night with. James looked at John for help.
"We have an old friend there." John answered, watching the burning planet as well.
"Holy hell. They're getting decimated." Vega commented, looking at the images of the First Fleet being wiped out. Sparks' light was on as it recorded, Samantha silent as she watched with the rest of the squad.
"Strongest military in the galaxy and the Reapers are obliterating it." She finally commented, tapping her omni-tool. The light from Sparks died but it continued to roll, taking footage of all the battle that the shuttle's camera would allow.
"Was it like this on Earth?" Liara ventured. Her voice was unsure, casting a weary at Samantha. But she wasn't focusing on their conversation, merely engrossed her own thoughts. The reporter was making them all nervous to speak, but they were trying their best to pretend she wasn't there. Everything in their conversation was no doubt being recorded.
"Yes." John answered, with a heavy sigh. The images of the boy still danced around in his mind. He was so damn close to getting out of their alive but the Reapers still killed him.
"Shepard, I'm so sorry." Liara apologized, looking towards both Shepards, with the word meaning something different for both. John just nodded solemnly while his sister ignored Liara. Thankfully, Cortez managed to keep him from getting too emotional.
"Commander, the LZ is getting swarmed!" He warned. John nodded and stood up on the shuttle, getting his weapon out. Everyone in the shuttle followed his example, opening their weapons and programming the ammo mods they were going to use.
"James, open that hatch." He told Vega, aiming his weapon forward. James nodded and stepped to the side, hitting the open button as he went. The moment the window was open, they raining fire down upon the swarming husks, working with the Turian defenders to tear apart the swarming force. The husks, already among the weakest of the reaper forces, fell easily beneath the fire, no armor or shields to soften the blows they received. John solemnly wondered how many humans had already been turned into those monsters that they could use them to assault the other species? How many people would be able to live through this damn war?
The shuttle landed once it was confirmed that the husks were gone, allowing the five people to get off. They were Manae, Palaven's largest moon, and last standing outpost against the Reapers. "If you're looking for command, it's around the corner, past the first barricade." A rather relieved Turian soldier told them from his post. His squadmate lay dead nearby, three husks on the body with bullets in their back. If John hadn't shown up, it was likely he would have joined his friend. They nodded and continued onwards.
They arrived in the Turian camp and found the Commander easily, with only a slight delay from Samantha as she paused to lets Sparks take a shot of row upon row of dead Turian marines. She was silent as she did it, giving them one final salute before she continued. John remembered thinking that she was unlike any reporter that he had met. Most seemed eager just to get at their next story and tear at the person like vultures but she seemed to have a firm respect for the military at the very least.
"Tobestik, get your men up on that north barricade." The Commander of the command was shouting orders when he arrived. One of the two soldiers that was standing near him nodded and ran off, calling to a squad of nearby Turians. "Sergeant Bartus, find a way to get that comm tower operational." He ordered to the final Turian. The Turian nodded and sprinted off as well, closely followed by five other Turians.
"General?" John greeted as he approached the Turian commander. The General paused for a moment, casting a look at John like he was doubtful that the man was really in front of him at the moment. It was clear from his face that the man hadn't had much sleep for the past few days, surviving on pure adrenaline most likely.
"Commander Shepard. Heard you were coming but I didn't believe it. General Corinthus." The Turian greeted them, not turning away from his holographic display of the battlefield. Sparks flew behind Corinthus, peeking over his shoulders as he looked at the display.
"I've come to get Primarch Fedorian." John told him. Corinthis stopped typing the moment John finished, looking at the holographic display of the battlefield for a moment before taking a deep breath and getting back to typing.
"Primarch Fedorian is dead. His shuttle was shot down an hour ago when it tried to leave the moon." Corinthus told him, shaking his head as he did so. John cursed underneath his breath at this revelation.
"That complicates things." John said, scratching the back of his head. "I'm Sorry. I heard he was a good man."
"And a good friend. He would have been an outstanding diplomat." Corinthus added with a sad shake of his head.
John let out an exasperated sigh as he leaned onto the battlefield display. "So what happens now?"
"The Turian hierarchy provides very clear lines of succession." Liara informed, walking up to them. Corinthus shook his head at this.
"With such heavy casualities, it's hard for me to be certain who the next Primarch is. Palaven Command might know." Corinthus opened his omni-tool and brought up the communication channel with the Palaven Command. It was mostly static with the exception of a few jumbled words. "However, at the moment, contacting them is impossible. The Reapers took out our comms tower. Husks are swarming that area—we can't get close enough to repair it. I sent a group of men to deal with it but…" He didn't continue. He hadn't sent a very large group of men to deal with it and he knew that it was unlikely they would get to the comm tower.
"Well, I'm not leaving this moon without the Primarch. I'll go make sure that comm tower gets fixed." John promised, pulling his Avenger off of his back. Corinthus looked relieved, nodding his thanks.
"Thank you, Commander. I'll take care of things on my end." Cornithus told him. John nodded and turned towards the rest of his team.
"Let's hop to it people." He told them. They took out their weapons and followed his suit, rushing to the tower as fast as they could. When they arrived, they found that Sergeant Bartus, the turian that had been sent to the tower beforehand, had lost most of his men, with only one being uninjured and two with severe injuries. When they arrived, he was desperately fighting off a swarm of husks, cutting them down left and right but not nearly fast enough. If they had not arrived the moment they did, it was very likely that he would have fallen as well.
"The husks at the tower overwhelmed my men." He apologized, upon seeing his rescuers.
"It's alright Sergeant, save your men. We'll take care of it." John promised, stopping just long enough to promise him that. The turian offered him good luck before grabbing the uninjured man that his other soldier hadn't lifted. Despite their numbers being about equal, John's force ripped the husks apart, more than half of them having N7 training. John watched Samantha fight the best he could without losing his own wits. Her strategy was easy to understand. She activated her tech armor first thing out of the gate, using her shotgun and her Avenger rifle to keep the husks at bay while she waded into their depths. She threw warps when she could, taking down any assortment of armor that the husks might have been wearing before pumping a searing hot blast from her shotgun into the husk's chest. It was effective, but against things other than the husks it would prove to be deadly. John wondered what her strategy would be if they were to find themselves at odds with cannibals.
It wasn't long before the area around the Comm tower was cleared enough to allow them to get to fixing it. "Johanna, get that Comm tower up and running." John ordered.
"Just keep the husks off my ass, and I'll have it up and running in a few minutes." She told them, quickly scaling the ladder. John nodded and ordered his group into a defensive position around the tower. Not one husk would get up there.
When they got back, Corinthus was already in a deep message battle with the Palavan command, tapping away at his battle map and the messages quickly, like there was no tomorrow. Relief was in his eyes, clearly glad that the comm tower was back up. "What have you got?" John asked, getting closer. Corinthus sighed and pushed off the battle map, looking at John.
"As your partner said, succession is usually simple. But right now, the hierarchy's in chaos…..so many dead or MIA." Corinthus told him with a shake of the head.
"Look, we need someone—we don't care who, as long as they can get us the Turian resources we need." Johanna spoke up as she placed her sniper on her back. Corinthus paused as he looked over at the other entrance to the post as a Turian began to walk up it.
"Don't worry, Shepard. I'll help you find the next Primarch." The turian promised, his face still masked from view as he stepped up into the post. However, John and Johanna already knew who this man was.
"Garrus!" Johanna exclaimed with happiness, loud enough that she canceled out her brother's excited claim. Corinthus turned and saluted Garrus as he came onto the command outpost, causing the two Shepards to raise an eyebrow.
"Vakarian, sir—I didn't see you arrive….." Corinthus began to excuse himself as he saluted.
"At ease General." Garrus told him, regarding him slightly as he talked. Johanna stepped past John and approached Garrus with a playful grin.
"You're alive." She greeted, crossing her arms and looking at him. Both Garrus and John knew that it was her attempt to hide her girly emotions from emerging. They reached out as if to shake hands, but Garrus grabbed Johanna's hand and pulled it close with comfort.
"I'm hard to kill—you should know that." He told her with a playful tone.
"Good to see you again." She paused as she looked towards the burning planet that took up the majority of Manae's sky. "We'd thought you'd be on Palaven." She let the relief slip into her voice as she talked, showing that she wasn't as stoic as she was playing off she was.
"If we lose this moon, we lose Palaven. I'm the closest damn thing we have to an expert on Reaper forces, so….I'm advising." He explained. He looked over at John as Samantha and James walked up next to him, both waiting patiently for an introduction.
"James, Sam, this is Garrus Vakarian. He helped me stop the Collectors and Saren. He's a hell of a soldier." John introduce his two newest squadmates to Garrus. As he talked, they both took their turn to shake Garrus's hand, Sparks flying around him and gathering shots.
"Lieutenant. Sergeant. Good to see you too, Liara." Garrus offered his greetings. Liara greeted him similarly, nodding her head and exchanging another glad to see you're alive.
"General Corinthus filled me in. We know who we're after." Garrus informed, looking towards John now.
"Palaven Command tells me that the next Primarch is General Adrien Victus." The Turian general spoke, breaking the silence he had been in since Garrus had arrived.
"Victus? His name has crossed my desk a few times." Liara commented.
"I was fighting alongside him this morning." Garrus spoke up as well. "Lifelong military. Gets results, popular with his troops. Not so popular with military command—has a reputation with playing fast and loose with the rules."
"You think that he can get the job done?" John wondered.
"We both know that convential strategy won't beat the Reapers. Right now, he could be our best shot. And I trust him." Garrus told him, nodding his head.
"Okay, let's get him on the shuttle and get out of here." John nodded. Garrus took the sniper off of his back and put it out in front of him with a nod. No sooner had he said that did he hear Joker scream into his radio.
"Commander! Shepard, come in!"
"Can this wait, Joker? We're in the middle of the war zone." John wondered, stepping off of the Command outpost.
"We've got a situation with the Normandy, Commander. It's like she's possessed—shutting down systems, powering up weapons. I can't find the source." He warned the Commander. John clenched his fist and growled to himself.
"I need the Normandy standing by, we may have to bug out. Liara, can you got back and take a look?" He ordered, looking at the Asari before him. She nodded and sped off towards the landing zone where Cortez was waiting for them. If things were really going the way they seemed like today, then the pilot might have to move anyways to get them from a different location. "Garrus, you said you were with Victus this morning?"
"Yeah, but we got separated. He went to bolster a flank that was breaking. Could be anywhere out there." Garrus told him. Corinthus spoke up, mentioned that he was doing what he could to raise the General. No sooner had he said that did a massive winged Reaper pop up near the edge of the Command post, flying over them with bullets and the occasional rocket bouncing harmlessly off of its armor.
"It dropped something off at the airfield." Samantha warned, using her omni-tool to call back Sparks as he attempted to chase down the fleeing Harvester.
"General Corinthus! Tell Victus we'll rendezvous here!" John told the Turian General. He turned to the four squadmates that was still with him. "In the meantime, let's go take care of whatever the hell that thing dropped off." He paused for a moment, smiling and looking at his Turian best friend. "Coming Garrus?" Garrus just laughed and reloaded a shot into his sniper rifle.
"Are you kidding!? I'm right behind you." He announced.
The last Brute fell as Samantha put six rounds from her shotgun into an exposed part of its chest, blood splattering her and Sparks. Sparks whirred angrily and began to fly erractically as if it was disgusted by the blood. "Oh calm down you big crybaby! I'll clean it off!" She cried at it as he narrowly avoided crashing. She walked away, catching the camera drone with one hand and finding a clean piece of cloth to wipe him down with. While she did that, the command post opened nearby, releasing the Turian that they had been looking for. When the communications couldn't reach him, John had decided to forget waiting and charge forward, saving the man himself.
"Commander Shepard of the Normandy. I know who you are. I can't wait to hear why they have you out here." Victus greeted John. He turned, noticing Garrus standing next to Johanna with an amused expression. "Vakarian, where did you go?"
"Heavy Reaper unit on the right flank. I believe your exact words were, "Get that thing the hell off my men"." Garrus reminded.
"Appreciate it." He thanked before turning back towards John.
"General, you're needed off planet. I've come to get you." John told him.
"It'll take something beyond important to make me leave behind my men or my turian brothers and sisters alone in their fight.
"Fedorian was killed. You're the new Primarch." Garrus told him. John nodded, glad that Garrus had done so. He knew it was going to be hard enough getting any turian off planet, and he wasn't sure that he could convince the Turian in front of him that he was actually the Primarch without a higher ranking Turian telling him so. And from what he gathered, Garrus was now that Turian.
"You're needed immediately to chair a summit and represent your people in the fight against the Reapers." John told him. Victus didn't say anything, walking past them and looking at Palaven as it burned in the moon's sky. John didn't pressure him, letting him process everything he had just been told.
"I'm Primarch of Palaven? Negotiating for the Turian Hierarchy?" He said aloud, no doubt trying to convince himself that this was really happening. He turned towards John with a look of loss and confusion. "I've spent my whole life in the military. I'm no diplomat. I hate diplomats."
"Neither am I, General. But war is our resume. Right now, at a time like this, the galaxy needs leaders who have been through that hell. Not diplomats who spent their time in a cushy office their whole life." John told him.
"I like that. You're right." Victus agreed.
"And if you want my honest opinion, uniting these races may take more strength than facing the Reapers." John told him. He walked towards the edge the camp and pointed towards the devastation of Palaven. "See this devastation, double that for Earth. I need an alliance. I need the Turian fleet." Victus walked over to where John was standing, looking at him with sympathy.
"Give me a minute to say good-bye to my men." Victus told him and walked towards where his men were massing to watch the exchange. Garrus watched him go, leaning towards Johanna as the general began to say good-bye.
"Without him down here, there's a good chance that we lose this moon." Garrus mentioned.
"Yeah, but without him up there, there's a good chance that we lose everything." Johanna reminded. Garrus nodded and looked towards a nearby Reaper as its laser cut a swath in whatever it was fighting.
"Look at that. And they want my opinion on how to stop it?" Garrus muttered to himself. She nodded in agreement, knowing the feeling. Preparing for the Reapers was one thing, but actuallyfacing them seemed to be another thing altogether. "Failed C-Sec officer, vigilante….and I'm their expert advisor?" She rested a hand on his shoulder as he talked, trying to comfort him the best that she could. He turned towards John, as he waited patiently for the General to finish his good-byes before he called the shuttle to pick them up. "Think we can win this thing?"
"Yeah….I don't know Garrus." She said with a sigh, as they turned to face each other. "But we're sure as hell going to give it our best shot."
"I'm damn sure that no one else can do it. For what its worth, I'm with John and you." He told her. She smiled and shook his hand.
"Welcome aboard Garrus."
It just wouldn't feel right if I didn't include Garrus in here. So, this chapter is basically a recap of the Palaven mission and what not. And no worries, worried reviewers, Samantha will not be forgotten, she will appear quite frequently. Also, I won't confuse her with Traynor because I only refer to Traynor by her last name while Samantha will be referred to by her first name. So, no confusion there. Um, that's about it, so I bid thee ado.