Chapter 7a: Palaven pt1
"Hold the line! Don't them through!" Shepherd said firing his gun. He was in the middle of battle, a desperate battle against the husks. The wreck of the Normandy was behind him, the ground team survived, but the crew wasn't so lucky. That was not saying much as the husks ambushed them. The team was decimated; Kaiden, James, Liara Kasumi, and Garrus had died; only leaving Shepherd and Tali.
"Wayne, Look!" Shepherd's eyes went wide as Harbinger landed; its core started to glow, and it was aiming at Tali. Shepherd tried to run to her, but as hard as he tried, Tali went farther and farther away from him. Harbinger fired and Tali's scream filled the air, Shepherd rushed to Tali's side, she was bleeding everywhere, her suit was shredded and face plate was broken, she was dying. "Tali, Tali please don't do this to me "he said tears. "Please, don't leave me"
"Wayne, I love…" Her eyes closed as she went limp in Shepherd's arms. The husks closed in, while the one in front started to glow orange. A booming sneering voice entered his mind.
"YOU HAVE FAILED, SHEPHERD"
"No…" he said cradling Tali's dead body.
"THEY ALL LOOKED UP TO YOU, SHE LOVED YOU, AND YOU FAILED THEM!"
"No!" The sky grew red, as the screams of the innocents filled the night air. The reapers descended from the air and destroyed planet after planet. Innocent fled trying to escape the carnage, but they disappeared and husks replaced them. Tali's dead body dissolved into blue cybernetics, her once beautiful white eyes were replaced by the soulless blue eyes of a husk. Tali grasped his throat tightly as the rest of her helmet shattered to reveal her face twisted and deformed by reaper tech.
Harbinger's voice echoed as the reapers one red-eye gazed at him. "YOU HAVE FAILED THEM ALL, YOU DESERVE TO SUFFER!"
"NO!" Husk-Tali raised her now clawed arm into the air…it would be the last thing he would ever see…..
The Normandy
"NO!" Shepherd said as he shot up. His breathing was heavy, his body was covered in sweat. He looked to his left and saw Tali sleeping peacefully, she was alive, his love was alive. Shepherd got out of bed and went to the bathroom to wash his face off; he looked in the mirror to see the bags under his eyes and the blood-shot eyes. Sleeping hadn't been too good for the spectre since the war started and when he did get some sleep he would have nightmares like the one he just had.
He sighed, it was just a nightmare, but it felt so real…people sometimes say that dreams are a sign to what's to come. Shepherd in the past would have written it off as nonsensical drivel, but now it maybe something to that nonsense after it was dreams that led him to stop Saren. If his nightmare was a sign of what's to come, he would prevent it even it cost him his life. As he went to bed, he saw Tali in the doorway; he must have made more noise than he thought….
"Wayne, are you alright?" She asked. Shepherd kissed her on the forehead.
"I'm fine, rookie…" Tali looked at him, not really convinced. Shepherd gave a small smile to reassure her. "I promise…" Shepherd walked past her and to his drawer for clothes, he could forget finishing up that sleep. The com opened.
"Commander, Admiral Hackett, wants to speak with you"
"Right…" Shepherd finished getting dressed and went to the elevator where Tali grabbed his arm. The spectre looked back. "Rookie…?"
"Wayne, do you trust me?" she asked softly.
Shepherd was taken aback at the question. "Of course I do, I never want you to think I don't trust you"
"Wayne, I hope you know you can tell me anything, right?"Tali asked. She lowered her head. "I just don't want to lose you to this damn war…" Shepherd raised her head, and looked into her eyes.
"And you won't, promise…" Tali hugged him tightly.
"I won't lose you either…" he said softly.
The War Room
Shepherd went into the War Room and pressed the communicator's button, Admiral Hackett appeared. Even though it was a hologram, he could tell the old admiral wasn't getting in sleep either, nice to know they were all in the same boat. "Commander, Udina kept me updated on your meeting with the Council, looks like they're running scared"
Shepherd snorted and crossed his arms. If there was one thing he could count on, it was the Council nutting up in the face of a crisis, how the Council survived this long with such asinine leaders he will never know. "More like arguing on which part of the galaxy to save, they're even useless when we don't need them to be"
The Admiral sighed. "True, but the fact of the matter is we do need them, so what is the plan?" Hackett asked.
"I'm going Palaven to rescue the primarch, he's needed for the summit with asari and the salarians" Shepherd said. "If all goes well, I'll be able to bypass the council and appeal to their leadership directly"
Hackett nodded. "I like it; we can start the ground work for our counter attack"
"Unfortunately, we don't have a lot to back it up, too many unknowns to consider"
"Then gather as many alliances as you can…" Shepherd nodded, it sounded easy enough, he was sure there some people he hadn't pissed off yet that could be swayed to his side. Plus there were plenty of people who owed him a few favors for helping them out with their problems, as soon they finished saving this primarch he was going to cash a few of his good wills provided that the reapers hadn't killed them off yet.
"And the prothean device….?"
"Get me people who can build it, and if you can't, I'll take ships, soldiers, supplies…anything"
"And when it's finished?"
"Then we pool our resource for the final battle, until then we need to keep hitting in every theater of war" Hackett said. "I'll be expecting regular updates"
"Sir, if you can, could you try to locate the Migrant Fleet, they'll be a huge help in the war and plus this is personal for me"
"Of course, I'll let you know if I find anything on the fleet" he said. "Good luck Shepherd"
Palaven's largest moon has been shrouded in secrecy since the dawn of the turian space age. During the Krogan Rebellions, the Hierarchy classified nearly all data on Menae, and its sister moon Nanus, because they feared the krogan could use the moons as weapons by smashing them into Palaven's surface. However, some information has leaked out. Images of turian bases where personnel walk without enviro-suits indicate advanced infrastructure-likely a network of subterranean tunnels with powerful mass effect field generators that retain heat and atmosphere over swaths of the surface.
The Reapers' plans for bombarding the bases were met with fierce resistance by the turian fleet and the moon's anti-aerospace defenses. With their easy victory stalled, the Reapers deployed a variety of ground units to take the bases one at a time.
The turians are the superior force, but the Reapers have the patience to slowly grind them down. With every base captured, the Reapers deny the turian fleet another place to repair or refuel.-Codex
The turian was in the middle of a bloody battle with the reapers, and the reapers were winning. The fire of their cruisers and dreadnoughts did nothing to stop the onslaught of the machines as they shredded the ships, like a hot knife through butter. While the turian army was keeping the reapers busy, the Normandy could slip by undetected to Menae, Palaven's moon. The Normandy released the Kodiak and went dark until Shepherd contacted them with the Primarch in tow. While the team waiting to land on the surface, Tali looked at the image of Palaven burning.
"Oh Keelah, Palaven!" Tali gasped.
"I always wanted to visit the Turian homeworld, but not like this…" Kasumi said. What's more their old friend, Garrus was likely on the planet fighting with his people. Although Garrus was a very capable soldier, they still worried if he was safe, especially Liara. The asari was on pins and needles as she heard the information about Palaven, worrying if her boyfriend was safe, since them Liara buried herself in her Shadow Broker work to keep her mind of Palaven. The image then shifted to a reaper shredding a turian dreadnought to pieces with its weapon. The other dreadnoughts opened fired, with assistance from their fighters and crusiers, but their weapons had no effect on the reapers just swatted them away like they were annoying pests.
Shepherd shook his head. "Strongest military in the galaxy and the reapers are taking them down like they were nothing…." He said. "Just like Earth…" Tali gripped his hand.
"We'll get Earth back, cuz…" Kasumi said.
Shepherd sighed. "I hope so…" Cortez spoke up.
"Commander! The LZ is getting swarmed" he said. "Bringing up the guns now"
"Kasumi, open the hatch" The shuttle's turret came into position as the thief opened the hatch. As the Kodiak came along the side of the ridge, they saw the husks climbing um the side as the turians fired on the ones top-side. Shepherd fired the guns, and the husks fell as they were shredded apart in bloody chunks. The shuttle landed to the side of the turian's cover.
"Okay, we get in and we get out" When the team came out of the shuttle, the Husks came swarming at them. "Kasumi, submission net, slow them down" Kasumi nodded and opened her omni-tool, it was a new program she ordered from the black market on Earth, they prided themselves on having rare items. The submission net was one of them; it was mostly used by the batarians to 'discipline' their slaves. Kasumi fires an electrified net entangled on of the husk, while it was immobilized it shot out electricity and shocked husks passing it and stunned them. While they were stunned Tali and Shepherd came in and blasted them with shotgun blasts. After a few more waves, eventually the husks stopped coming. He approached the turians.
"You guys all right?" Shepherd asked.
"Yes sir!" the turians said saluting,
"Where is your commanding officer?"
"Straight ahead and around the corner, past the first barricade" The team nodded made their way to the camp. In the distance, they could see a reaper, seeing from a distance was one thing but seeing up close was something else. To that reaper they were simply insignificant, it didn't care about a person's life no more than Shepherd cared about the life of a fly or an ant. After all why would they care about something they could easily crush underneath their feet? Shepherd always said that he was going to defeat the reapers, but now seeing what they could do…it was humbling…
"They should have listened to you…" Tali said.
"I know, but there's no point of worrying about it now, let's go" he said solemnly. They made it the base, to meet the leader. Once inside, their first sight was rows of turians bodies covered up in tarps, men and women who died fighting to keep their people safe. Shepherd hoped that Garrus wasn't one of them, they approached a make shift command center with a turian in red and black armor, he was speaking with his men. A female turian in white and black armor and a male turian in yellow and black armor were standing at attention waiting for orders.
"Tobesik, get your men to the north barricade" he said. "Reinforce the 6th and 8th divisions"
Tobesik saluted. "Sir!"
"Sergeant Bartus, get that com tower operational"
Bartus saluted. "Yes, sir!" The turian went back to the terminal, as Shepherd and team approached them.
"Commander, I heard you were coming, General Corinthus"
"We're here for primarch Fedorian" Corinthus stopped typing and looked at Shepherd.
He frowned. "I'm afraid, that won't be happening…"
"Why not?" Tali asked.
"Primarch Fedorian is…dead, his shuttle was shot down an hour ago, as it tried to leave"
"That's going to be a problem…" Kasumi said.
"How bad is it?" Shepherd asked.
Corinthus sighed. "The enemy is unlike anything we faced before, four hundred dead in half an hour, not even the krogan was this brutal" he said. "We set up camps on this moon as an advance position, to flank the enemy, it would be a sound strategy, but..."
"Irrelevent…." The spectre said grimly.
"I'm afraid so, with the reapers' sheer force, such tactics are useless, the primarch found out the hard way"
"I'm sorry; I heard he was a good man"
"And a friend…he would have been an outstanding diplomat…"
"So what happens now? We don't have a primarch" Tali said.
"Then we find his successor, and hope he didn't share Fedorian's fate" The com came in. "This is Corinthus, what is it?'
"T…This is Bartus….we're surrounded by husk at the com tower…all of my men are dead" he said. "Need reinforcements….Need…." The com shut off abruptly, Cotinthus growled in frustration, the reapers was just pinning them down.
"Damn it, without that com tower, everyone's isolated" he said. "Shepherd, if you can help us, then I'll find the successor, Palaven command would know, but the com tower is out"
Shepherd nodded. "Got it, we'll get this done in no time" The team exited the camp and headed for the com tower, as they got closer they saw the bodies of Bartus and his men. Shepherd sighed. "They never stood a chance…" They then heard the growls and howls of husks, up ahead they saw husks ran towards them. Shepherd and Tali went in guns blazing blasting them with their shotguns; Kasumi disappeared giving them support by stunning them with her nets and disorienting them with her flash bangs. When the battle was done, they went to the tower. The control panel was a sparking mess, wires were exposed, and the display was fading in and out.
"Damn it, it's damaged, we need someone to fix it"
"I can fix it no problem, just keep the husks off me" Tali said. Shepherd and Kasumi nodded. They then heard the growling of husks.
"Wayne, here they come" Kasumi said.
"Ready, cuz?"
Kasumi smirked. "Just try to stop me" They rushed into battle, as the husks swarmed the battlefield.