Chapter 7: Gehärteter Stahl
Councilor Tevos' private chambers, The Citadel. 28th of May 1940, Earth Time.
"… of our transponder during our rough transit through the previously unmapped Arcturus Relay, we were unable to proceed with our regular updates. The relay delivered us into a belt of asteroids and planetary debris. Captain Naira and most of the crew were lost during a severe hull breech, leaving me and the rest of the crew to attempt repairs. Our drive core and communication system is now partly operational, and we will proceed with a regular transit through the Arcturus system. The FTL drive and our autonomous positioning system are some of the systems still damaged, meaning that our trip back to Citadel space will be taking about two years. Our security chief has already contacted his Turian contacts who are less than three weeks away, meaning that we will receive adequate repairs, and if that fails, transport back to Citadel space…"
Tevos closed the report from Dr. Tria and frowned; how convenient that the transponder and the FTL drive were not one hundred percent operational. Something about the whole ordeal made the Asari councilor feel uneasy. But as the report was closed, fifty more had appeared in the minute that she had spent on the Liliac's report. Therefore, the Asari took a sip from her Thessian wine, and erased all of her worries of the matter.
Werner von Braun, ANTWORT base, Kummersdorf, Germany, 28th of May 1940.
"He is landing where?!" Werner shouted to flight control and Sergeant Victus, while jumping up from his seat in the control room.
Sergeant Victus looked up from his omni-tool, flexing his mandibles, something Werner had grown accustomed to meaning annoyance or frustration.
"The operative my cousin is, like I said, a Krogan. These creatures do not value discretion or secrecy. He's most likely dropping in his personal shuttle to access the situation and the fighting prowess of this world's native species; meaning you."
Werner trembled in rage as he spoke, "He will blow our cover to the Allies, making them gain interest and ambition about alien tech. Atleast have him wear some kind of armor and our colors, so he doesn't succumb to friendly fire. And he must not allow our enemies to witness this."
Victus smiled meekly, "I do not think Urdnot Wrex will leave any witnesses."
Sergeant Daniel Morris, 12th Royal Lancers, outskirts of Dunkirk. France, 28th of May 1940
Sgt. Morris was watching as his regiment was doing its best effort to hold back the German advance towards the beaches of Dunkirk. The evacuation was in full sway, and regiment's orders were to halt the German onslaught as best they could. So far they were doing an admirable job with the resources they had; their Morris CS9 armored cars were doing what they could with their 0.55 inch anti-tank armament. Their primary weapon was adequate in knocking out the Panzer I and IIs, although a favorable angle, and range within one hundred meters were preferable for a penetrating shot. Due to their vehicles' light armor, any return fire would often prove fatal.
In the grassy hills in the idyllic French landscape, the 12th had dug in hard, and had successfully pushed back three major German assaults over the last two days. Every assault on their position had depleted their men, ammunition and vehicles considerably, but their resolve was as strong as ever. Their only true fear came from the Luftwaffe, to which they didn't have a true answer, due to their severe lack of anti-aircraft weaponry. But the Stukas had only strafed Morris' position once during their entrenchment of their current position.
In Morris' perimeter, there were twelve functioning armored cars, and about three hundred men, armed with small arms and a few anti-tank rifles.
Morris was on high alert as the radio had just announced an incoming German armored advance on their position, and the Sergeant could hear the distant rumble of German steel and lead heading towards them.
As the first German tanks and soldiers became visible, the marksmen of the regiment were beginning to pour sporadic fire on the advancing enemy, whilst the rest of the men held their fire; ammunition was to be conserved until you could make a clear kill-shot.
In the middle of the mayhem of noise, there was a, different, sound coming from the skies. Morris and his men first took to the ground, as the distinctively wobbling sound was somewhat akin to a wayward artillery shell. When the blast they were expecting never came, they first looked at each other, and then to the skies, where they saw the thing. It looked something like a tram, cut horizontally in the middle. Lights were emitting from behind it, looking somewhat similar to a tank's exhaust, albeit it seemed to radiate more power.
Remembering his duty, Morris again took aim from behind the broken wall he was using as cover, and prepared to hail bullets on the incoming Germans. He was not a little astonished when he noticed that they had stopped their advance, and were taking up positions in the obviously exposed hillsides facing the 12th's men, taking escalating fire.
Morris' focus was again broken by the wobbling sound coming from behind him, and he turned around sharply. He could see what looked like the door, to the side of the flying thing was opening. Out walked a creature of a size the Sergeant had never seen, and clad in armor unlike anything of this world. The creature's entire armor was covered in at least twenty swastikas, seeming to have been hastily and sloppily drawn on it.
The flying tram flew about five meters up into the air as the astonished British Lancers watched the creature donning a rifle, larger than anything mounted on their armored cars or even tanks.
With a bellowing roar that shook the men facing it, the creature started running the twenty meters towards their position, and at the same time the armored cars in the vicinity exploded. The flying tram was shooting some kind of advanced German weaponry that almost seemed to ignite their vehicles like they were made of twigs.
Morris started firing at the creature now running towards them, but every shot seemed to only result in a blueish-purple light flicking momentarily near the creature's body. As the roaring, Nazi abomination came closer to them, it started firing away with its heavy weaponry. Two volleys from the apparent shotgun, resulted in two of Morris' fellow soldiers being severed in two, a hit in their abdomen regions separating their lower bodies from their torsos. A desperate soldier threw a grenade at the creature, which it then proceeded in throwing back at the unlucky soldier, ending the man's life in a fiery explosion of fire and gore. At this carnage the creature actually started to laugh, in a very non-human way. This was enough for the nearest men who turned around and started running in the opposite direction. This was to no avail as a blueish light seemed to capture the men fleeing, and made them actually float in the air, with their arms waving wildly. The creature fired two more rounds, which made the floating men's heads explode.
An armored car with a brave driver decided the charge the beast head-on, firing wildly on its approach. The shots seemed to hit home, as the beast staggered for half a second, followed by a roaring charge against the vehicle.
What followed took away most of the sanity that the battle hardened sergeant had left; when the creature and vehicle connected, the car's front rose to the sky, severely dented. The Nazi beast of destruction physically flipped the four and a half tons heavy vehicle, making it hit the ground violently upside-down.
This was enough for the rest of the surviving men in the crumbling perimeter, and they all started flee in an unorganized fashion. Their retreat was being bombarded by the flying tram, and men were enveloped in fire as they were being vaporized.
Morris watched the carnage, and went limp. He fell to his knees, watching the death of his fellow soldiers in apathy. Someone grabbed his arms and dragged him away from the destruction, but all he could hear was the roaring laughter, and a distinct dialect of German he could not identify.
Urdnot Wrex, outskirts of Dunkirk. France, 28th of May 1940
"What honor is there in running, weak minded pyjaks!" Wrex bellowed as his M-300 Claymore took down the last of the straggling pink-skinned Humans, standing in the middle of what was left of their so-called entrenchment.
His blood-lust sated, and no more of the pathetic creatures within shotgun length anymore, Wrex folded his shotgun and attached it to his magnetic holster on his back. In the distance he could see the other Humans cowering in a comfortable distance, and he assumed that they were the supposed Allies of this Turian that the delivery was expected to. Not that he could figure out what business a Turian would have with a primitive, undiscovered race. Wrex shrugged as he started walking towards the Germans that the Turian had mentioned in his frantic reports to Wrex when he was approaching the planet. Politics of Turians bored him, and he was here for a paycheck, and for the prospect of battling with a new, perhaps promising race. So far he was far from impressed with the Humans' skill in waging war, but he also realized that he had only caught a fraction of a glimpse of what they could be. After all, they seemed to be donning some incredibly primitive weaponry, which was hardly even capable of getting through his shields.
Wrex readied the translator-pack that the Turian had forwarded him, as he came close to the Germans. Although he was always itching for a worthy battle, even he could see just how many guns were trained on him when he was walking in the open. He readied the shuttles firing system, just in case.
The Humans looked awe struck, and looked curiously at the Human symbols that he had grudgingly painted on his armor to identify himself as a friendly to the pink-skins. He pointed at the nearest youngling and spoke with an artificially amplified voice.
"You, take me to your leader, now."
Even though he of course didn't have any official command over these primitives, he knew that his display of prowess had brought them into submission. Fear he thought is the universal language among all species.
Generalfeldmarshall Kietel, ANTWORT base, Kummersdorf, Germany, 29th of May 1940.
"So, Mister Wrex, you're telling me that you attacked and eliminated the specific defensive perimeter, just because you wanted to have some fun?" Kietel said, as he stared at the huge Alien in disbelief.
The Alien was leaning against the wall in the conference room, showing only disinterest in the whole ordeal. He didn't seem particularly astonished about meeting a new race, and had so far been unmoved by anything, except for showing some interest in the disposal of the crew of the Liliac, something Kietel still hadn't given in full detail to the Krogan looming over him.
"Yep." Was the answer, and only sign that the creature had even listened to what Kietel had said.
Victus was standing beside Kietel, and was displaying what Kietel thought was amusement.
Kietel's shook his head and strode on, "So I assume that the small craft that you came down with does not hold all the items that we have ordered, could you please elaborate on when and where we will acquire said material?" Kietel barely surpassed the urge to grit his teeth, mostly due to the reports of how the Alien before him had single handedly defeated over a hundred British soldiers in an entrenched position.
The Krogan shifted and glared at Kietel as he spoke, "My ship is in orbit, and ready to make your coordinates at a moment's notice, but not before I have watched your vids of the taking of the Asari vessel. Purely for my entertainment." The Krogan said, as he smiled viciously.
Kietel looked at the Turian beside him, who nodded as their eyes met. They had already ruled out any action against the Krogan, for now, as Victus had informed them that the Krogan could destroy their base and everyone in it, before they could even get a shot in. The Krogan was killable, but taking him down would mean such a tremendous loss of manpower and materiel, that it would hardly be worth it. This is not some naïve Asari expedition, Victus had said. The Krogan most definitely had some kind of contingency plan with his ship in orbit, if things would go south. So Kietel would play along, for now.
"Very well, we will show you what we documented of our operation, if you guarantee that our shipment will be delivered. We have already transferred your funds." Kietel said sternly, in an attempt to be commanding with the creature.
The Krogan just answered, "Show me."
Urdnot Wrex, ANTWORT base, Kummersdorf, Germany, 29th of May 1940.
Urdnot Wrex was laughing a bellowing laugh, as he watched the incredibly grainy frames that the Germans had filmed of their taking of the Liliac, and the detailed description that the so called General supplied. To see how easily the Asari had been duped was nothing short of comedy to him.
"You've got a quad you pyjak, I'll give you that!" Wrex said in a somewhat approving manner to the Human. "But you should know that you were lucky with your catch; a Krogan mercenary ship would have turned your whole country to ashes if you would have tried something like that. Not that we would have any reason to even go on any pointless exploration." He added, just to punctuate the danger he was to them. The danger they most assuredly now also knew he posed.
To see the Turian twitch at the footage in embarrassment made the experience even more enjoyable to Wrex.
"Alright I will have your shipment sent down wherever you want it, on one condition." Wrex added.
Kietel visibly stiffened at this, but composed himself to ask in a neutral tone, "And what would that be?"
Wrex shifted towards Kietel and gave him his full attention since dropping down on the rock they called Earth. "You have my curiosity, and I'm going to stay a while. It will be … entertaining for me."
"And can you then promise to stay out of our conflict?" Kietel added with a steely voice that Wrex assumed instilled fear and respect among his species.
"Oh no, I can promise you that I will be involved where I see fit, and if you have a problem with that, you can kiss your base, life and supplies goodbye. You can see my role as one of pure education and curiosity." Wrex countered, smirking.
Kietel sighed, nodded quickly, and rushed out of the room.
Wrex chuckled to himself, oh this might be a fun job after all.
AN: Thanks for reading!