New Syracusae
Planetary Defense Force Command Center
"Sir Etel, a Knight Hospitaller, of House Shepard," Etel said, bowing to the noble approaching them. The noble also gave a short bow in response.
"Lady Khalisah, of House al-Jilani. I am in charge of New Syracusae... or what is left of it," she said, looking over the group. "I thought the long range comms were down?"
"They are," Etel confirmed. "We originally came here to do a favor I owned to someone. We were dropped in to reinforce your defenses, while our ship is heading out to get a fleet here."
"Good. We need everything we can," al-Jilani said. "I heard you had some Alliance people with you?"
"Yes. This is Lieutenant-Commander Ashley Williams, Alliance Navy," Etel said, gesturing to Williams.
"Madam," Williams saluted al-Jilani who nodded in return.
"Williams? Any relation to general Williams of Shanxi?"
"My grandfather," Williams answered, her lip curling briefly in confusion.
"Great. How much have you brought with you?" al-Jilani asked. "We could not track you on our C&C." Etel wondered for a moment before realizing what she meant with her question.
"I'm sorry?" Williams asked, before pointing her thumb behind her to the Normandy's ground team. "Sorry to say, but this is it."
"What? A bunch of ragtag misfits?" al-Jilani said, pinching her nose. "I would have thought someone of the Williams line would have more," Etel tried to gesture for al-Jilani to stop without raising too much attention.
"Well excuse me for not being pampered noble," Williams shot back, before pausing as she seemed to realize what she had just blurted out.
"Bah. Commoners playing Nobles. No understanding of responsibility," al-Jilani snarled as she shook her head. "I hope you know what you are doing, sir knight, associating with them. Now if you'll excuse me, I have a colony to defend," she said to Etel coldly before turning away and walking out of the room.
"What a bitch," Jenkins muttered. Sergeant Hawk simply shook his head.
"She's not normally that bad," Hawk explained as he rolled his shoulders, "she's just been under a lot of pressure lately," Hawk rubbed back of his neck before continuing. "Though it's partially our fault too, we didn't have time to fully integrate you into the network, so you could receive data, but not send it."
"You had to start shooting and Shepard would of been the one giving updates anyways, so that's fine," Williams continued before she turned towards where al-Jilani had gone and waved her hand in the general direction. "But her? What the hell was that even about? What did she expect me to have with me?" Williams asked.
"She assumed that you were a Noble and thus, you would at least have an honor guard with you. A squad or two of veteran troops," Etel explained as she shook her head at the whole situation.
"Why does every Imperial we meet think I'm a noble?!" Williams asked angrily, throwing her arms into the air before sighing. "This is going to be a common occurrence, isn't it?" Etel merely nodded, causing Williams shoulders to slump in defeat.
"Why didn't she bitch about you not having a guard unit with you, though?" Jenkins asked Etel. "I mean, you actually are a noble."
"I introduced myself a knight. That means I am here not as a member of my House, but as a member of my Order," Etel explained. "She probably thought that normally I would have my squad with me, before I said that this was originally a small favor run," she shrugged. "Well, we can worry about that later. You should bunk up somewhere, get some rest while we can. I will try to find Tali, if she is here."
"ETEL! Can't believe it's you!" a voice interrupted her. The group turned to see the source of the shout, seeing a young quarian running towards them, a shotgun latched onto her suit's backside.
"Hi Tali," Etel said with a smile, feeling tension to leave her body. "Good to see you are still okay."
"When they said a knight from House Shepard had arrived, I was sure they were pulling my leg," Tali said, coming to a stop just before crashing into Etel. "You brought help? A chapter of knights? Basil and his tanker buddies? Things are bad."
"I gathered as much," Etel nodded, looking over the ruined landscape. "Sorry to disappoint, but this is all I've got," she gestured towards the group. The Alliance soldiers waved back, while turians merely nodded and Wrex simply continued to pick bits of geth shrapnel from his armor.
"Sorry, didn't expect to run into a full-scale invasion on my way here."
"Well, having you here is better than nothing, Etel."
"Any idea why the geth are here?" Etel asked, looking around the complex.
"I... I'm not sure if I should tell you," Tali answered, looking over the group. "Then again, you're probably going to see it anyways, so here we go," she shrugged. "This place was developing the Archimedes Project, and they hired me a few weeks ago to work on it."
"Oh," Etel said as she put two and two together. "That explains the oversized heat sink we saw earlier."
"Yeah… the local PDF has been hard pressed and Duchess' House Guard is almost gone."
"And there's still more coming," Nihlus pointed out as he stepped forward. "We hampered their artillery assets and destroyed some of their husk making spikes, but we saw at least two more firebases on our way here. No artillery, though, so the only long range strikes we'll have to deal with should be orbital."
"Oh, I almost forgot!" Tali suddenly exclaimed. "There was a geth scout before the attack, the local defenses managed to shoot it down. I got some data out of it and it sounded suspicious, especially with the attack on Eden Prime. I tried to send it to C-Sec, but then the attack came and we lost the comms."
"You sent it?" Etel asked, looking over at Tali, flabbergasted at the sheer chance.
"Yeah. It was some strange sound file, as if the scout ship had been serving as a relay point at some point and it had been stuck in the RAM."
"Guess we have to thank you then," Williams said with a faint smile. "That data helped us to convince the Council that Saren was hiding something."
Etel smiled to herself. "If it weren't against the Faith, I would brag right now," she said, looking over Nihlus who gave an amused snort.
"I think it also says in the scriptures that saying that you are not going to brag also counts," Tali said, wagging her finger in front of Etel teasingly. Etel merely shrugged.
"They also say we are not perfect. So call it my flaw, if you want," she said with a smirk as a man dressed in an engineering suit walked up to them.
"Excuse me, Sir Knight," he said,"but I must request miss 'Zorah to rejoin the engineers. I think we found the source of the problem, but we don't know how to fix it."
"Very well. See you later, Tali."
"Take care, Etel," Tali said and followed the man, two of them starting to talk in terms that made it sound like they were discussing in an entirely different language from the rest.
"Um..." Hawk said, looking uncomfortable for a moment.
"Go ahead, Sergeant. You have permission to speak freely," Etel said, noticing him shifting on his feet awkwardly.
"Well... I am not sure, I do not know miss 'Zorah that well, but wasn't that kind of rude of her? Calling you by your given name?" he asked, gesturing towards the direction Tali had went.
"She is an old friend of mine. I've known her since she was five," Etel responded, waving her arm. "She has the right to call me by any name she wants."
"Well, if you say so," Hawk shrugged before nodding. "I need to check on my men and prepare to link up with the defenses. I trust someone here can help you to find some place to rest and take you to the command center. With your permission?"
"We will see you later, Sergeant. Good luck and happy hunting."
"Thank you, ma'am," Hawk said and gave a bow, before leaving.
"Alright, let's get our gear stowed somewhere. That Mako looks like it needs repairs," Etel said, earning nods from the others.
After asking around, the squad moved the Mako to one of the more secure parts of the base, alongside their gear. Sleeping space was premium at the moment, with the barracks being reserved for the civilians who had sought shelter in the base. They eventually settled for a waiting room near al-Jilani's command center, but before the Alliance soldiers could move on to repair the Mako al-Jilani asked for Williams to be present and the others chose to wait outside. Two engineers offered to fix the Mako while they waited, but Williams declined the aid for reasons that Etel could not understand.
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
The command center was a round shaped room, with most of it dominated by a large circular holodisplay table. It had a touch screen on it, allowing commanders to adjust it to various views of the colony for tactical usage. Right now, the display showed the layout of the colony, with symbols for both Imperial and geth troops imposed on it. Most of the geth formations were waiting outside the city or in the strong points within they had maintained when the PDF counterattacked after the artillery was silenced. But despite the counterattack earlier, stalemate ensued as the sheer losses the local forces had taken beforehand caught up with their momentum and they had to drop back.
"We have a defensive line here," al-Jilani said, pointing towards several clustered PDF troops, marked in green. "With that artillery silenced, we can reinforce them without fearing that they will be bombed on the way," Etel looked over the screen, taking in the tactical situation while Nihlus and Williams were looking it over themselves nearby.
"Your troops are spread thin," Etel noted as she looked at some of the troop number reports on the display. "Not a lot of strength in any one area."
"Yes, I'm aware. There are still civilians who need rescuing. Most of them should be safe now, so I have called all units who can to return here or to specific firebases that have been set up. Hopefully we can then push the enemy away from the city."
"It won't be enough," Etel said, shaking her head. "They will never get through that siege line, not without heavy support."
"I know that," al-Jilani snapped. "I've known that for the last eight hours and also know that we cannot simply close the gates and let them continue to hold the initiative. However, we may not need to completely retake it. Depending how fast the fleet can muster a relief force, we simply need to hold out until they arrive."
"What do the geth want?" Etel asked, though she suspected she knew the answer already. Al-Jilani looked over at Williams, shaking her head.
"I should not share this information, but with the present situation…" She inhaled sharply, as if to brace herself, then continued talking. "They're after the Archimedes mobile GARDIAN system that is being developed here. We are trying to get it up and running, but it's a prototype for a reason," she explained. "Don't ask me for details, I just host the R&D base. I have no role the development itself. That is all on General Lionheart and his scientists."
"Can we use it? GARDIAN can boil the hulls of dreadnaughts and ignore K-barriers. It might be useful if we run into more of those larger geth walkers," Williams asked.
"Colossi," Nihlus cut in. "The walkers you engaged are Colossus variants of the Armature."
"Thanks," Williams said as she turned back to the Duchess. "So, could we use it? If more of those show up the armor's in trouble."
Al-Jilani shook her head in response. "Like I said, we haven't manage to get it up and running. It was on a static mount down at the labs. They managed to move it onto a mobile chassis - cannibalized one from an old V-36 Lupus that was rusting away - but now it refuses to work. Not to mention, it still has a lot of other problems," she looked over the tactical view, pressing view markers for different squads and moving them around. Lines followed her hand movement. "That should reinforce our front line for the moment. Anyway, we have people trying to get it running, mainly technicians who can't fight. Any extra firepower is welcome at this point, so we're throwing the heat sink."
"What's your plan?" Etel asked, looking over the tactical display. Units al-Jilani had marked earlier had confirmed that they had received the orders and were moving to their new positions.
"Most of the base is underground, yes?"
"Yes. The main entrances are here, here and here," al-Jilani nodded and highlighted three locations. "I ordered one of them collapsed, they should not be able to get in through sixty tons of bedrock. Two others are reasonably close to each other, in the city itself near our main highway. We plan to keep them away from the entrances as long as we can, but if they get in, we'll collapse the entrance they take when they try to enter. Then fight to last man and woman defending that last one."
"Let's pray it does not come that," Etel said grimly, looking over the display as Nihlus folded his arms as he quietly analyzed the situation.
"Bishop Richelieu has been busy holding sermons, spending his time trying to reassure everyone and help them through this," al-Jilani explained as she looked up briefly before sighing. "Let's hope that the Lord hears our prayers and doesn't have anything more pressing to do."
"Amen," Etel agreed. Whatever divine aid they were blessed with was something that she had no intention of using lightly. "Assuming the worst case scenario, that the local patrol fleets are out at the moment, we can expect reinforcements to arrive in about three days. We should plan our defenses based on that."
"What is the best case scenario?" Williams asked as she looked around, shaking her head at a nearby view screen displaying the Argos Rho star map as she folded her arms. "I mean, this place is supposed to be top secret, or at least working on a major project. There should be a response force nearby for that if nothing else."
"Plausible," Etel agreed. A response force would make sense.
"There is a special detachment in the Hydra system. Nominally they are there for border security, but they have extra ships compared to normal patrols. Assuming they immediately leave after receiving the message, it would take about twelve hours, Nod standard," al-Jilani said. "However, I would assume that it will take them closer to 24 hours, since Admiral Attia will be wary of an Alliance vessel."
"Where is the next attack anticipated to be coming from?" Etel asked, looking over the defensive formations and noting their relative locations.
"The next attack seems to be coming from here," al-Jilani said, marking a location and direction along the main highway. "However, it would be not the first time they would pull a feint. It's the reason why we collapsed the third entrance."
"Hmm..." Etel marked several units and several new locations. "If we move these units here and here, they can support the main defensive line at the highway, but not leave themselves open for a flanking attack. It would also make reinforcing them easier."
"I see. I will trust your judgment on this, Sir Knight," al-Jilani said, marking the orders as approved. Soon, the unit icons flashed as the orders were confirmed to be have been received. "I am however worried about this line," the Duchess said, highlighting a half strength platoon on one of the routes into the highway near a geth position. "They lost their commander and I don't have anyone to spare, nor are any of the squad leaders up to the task. I'm sending a tank to help them, but they need a leader as much as they need firepower."
"We can reinforce it and from a command squad there," Etel said confidently. Nihlus nodded in approval and Williams unfolded her arms.
"Good. I'll send Sergeant Hawk's squad with you, but until then I suggest you get to it," al-Jilani said. Etel gave a short bow. No reason to be rude, she thought and left the command center, Nihlus and Williams following behind her. They returned to the rest of the team who were waiting outside. Alenko was doing something with his omni-tool and it looked like he was checking his biotic amp. Jenkins and Garrus were cleaning their weapons, while Wrex was taking a nap.
"Wrex," Alenko said as he prodded the krogan.
The krogan stirred and looked at him. "Kaidan?"
"They're back," the Alliance biotic nodded towards them and the krogan glanced over, sitting up as they walked into the waiting room.
"Alright, we got a plan. We will link up with an understrength platoon and try to help them hold the line," Etel said as they approached the center of the group. She turned towards the Alliance soldiers, Williams having drifted towards them. "You guys rest and fix the Mako, while I head over and organize them. Here are the coordinates," she said, sending the nav point to their omni-tools. "If you hear that an attack is coming, head there. Take the Mako with you, if it's combat ready by then," after a round of affirmatives, she turned and left.
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
A few minutes after Shepard had left, a young quarian came to the group. Ashley recognized her immediately. It was Tali. The whole point of this run, and she just so happened to be the source of the evidence, she thought in amusement. There was a point to everything, she just had to try and figure out what it was.
"Excuse me, is Etel still here?" she asked the group, looking around. The turians had gone to find some dextro-amino rations, while Wrex was sleeping nearby as the Alliance soldiers were patching the Mako up.
"Sorry, she just left to go organize a platoon. She should be back later though. Can we help you?" Ashley asked, taking a moment to try and get a feel for the quarian. Unfortunately, the opaque faceplate left little to really see. The only clues that Ashley could get of the young woman was that of her dark environmental suit with light clothing of a light violet shade worn over it, the lone piece over her torso held together by a single brooch. The hood Tali wore immediately reminded Ashley of the style worn in Southwest Asia and colonists descended from those countries.
"No," Tali said with a shrug. "I just wanted to catch up with her."
"Why don't you sit down, tell us about her?" Kaidan asked, gesturing to an empty box. Tali hesitated for a moment before sitting down.
"We used to be close, until her duty to the Hospitallers took most of her time," the young quarian explained. "We used to play a lot, though it was mostly her humoring me. Age difference, and by the time I was old enough for us to really enjoy the same things she was off being a knight in shining armor."
"She was kind of restrained, considering the worry she seemed to have on the Normandy," Ashley commented. Tali gave a short laugh as she shook her head.
"Oh, that's just her trying to uphold her dignity as a Noble. You should have seen her when she was younger. A real troublemaker," Tali said, gesturing with her hands.
"We keep hearing that," Ashley said, grinning to herself as she remembered the incident mentioned by that volus merchant on the Citadel. "Claimed to be some 'Imperial Consort'," Ashley air quoted the term.
"Oh, that's just the peak of the mountain," Tali nodded, waving her hand. Ashley was finding it increasingly difficult to read the other woman's emotions, being unable to see her face. "She calmed down a lot as she grew up, responsibilities of being a Noble and all. Even she isn't going to inherit any of her parents' duties."
"What about you? You were on some pilgrimage?" Kaidan asked. "You're visiting some holy sites or something like that?"
"Actually, no. I am trying to find out about the galaxy," Tali answered casually. "My parents moved to the Empire when I was young. I can barely remember my time on the Migrant Fleet. Auntie Raan, aunt on my mother's side, she visits us occasionally. She still lives on board those ships wandering the stars."
"So, what are you trying to find out?" Ashley asked curiously.
"Nothing in particular. Apparently, it's a tradition on the Flotilla to send young quarians on a 'Pilgrimage' to learn about the world. They are supposed to return with something valuable to the fleet. As my father put it, it was a way of proving our worth."
"So, send the young ones to the wolves, see who's good enough to come back?" Jenkins asked suddenly, leaning against the Mako. Ashley glared at him and made a mental note to give Jenkins a lesson about tact when they were back on the Normandy. Fortunately, Tali didn't seem to be offended.
"Yeah, I always wondered about that," Tali shrugged. "My father explained it as being about proving themselves, but I never understood why they had to leave to do that. Thankfully, there's lots of quarians in the Empire these days from three hundred years of immigration, so they can always find some help," she paused, glancing towards the open bay door where a pair of old looking tanks with a double tread drivetrain were being rolled in and a mechanic made a very annoyed comment about them. "Anyways, I wanted to find more about my people and the galaxy in the general."
"So how did you get recruited to this project? Seems kind of big deviation from your original goal."
"Well, I can't say much, military secrets, but I kind of attracted attention after I worked on few ships. I've always been good with tech," Tali said, rubbing the back of her neck and looking away.
"And so some noble recruited you?" Jenkins asked incredulously. "Just like that?"
"Well, he did have me go through few tests, but in essence, yeah."
"You must be extremely intelligent," Kaidan said as he leaned forward. "Not a lot of kids are bright enough to get pulled into military R&D."
"I'm twenty-two, I'm not a kid," Tali shot back. Kaidan immediately recoiled, fumbling as he tried to apologize before the quarian continued. "I'm sorry, that was mean. But I finished my college education, full honors. How much did Etel say about me?"
Ashley immediately remembered the hyperbole Shepard had said. "Well, she said you could make a barrel do precision jumps with some eezo and omni-gel," Tali laughed at that.
"Well, it didn't do a precision jump, but it did reach low orbit before a micrometeorite ripped it apart."
"So, combat tech?" Kaidan asked. "I've been running some Overload programs on my omni-tool, but I'm curious what you use."
"The whole range," she explained. "It's amazing how much you can do with a disc a few centimeters wide flash forged from omni-gel. Disrupt shields, overheat someone's gun if you manage to hit it, override a drone… you name it, and my Nexus can do it."
Kaidan smirked. "A Nexus omni-tool? I'm kind of surprised, wouldn't a bullet wound be horrific for you? I mean, with the suit and all. The Nexus line's shields are way behind the curve."
Tali turned and Ashley again found herself hating that she could not see the woman's face. Ashley had never appreciated how important facial language was until it was removed entirely.
"It's not like I'd die from a single gunshot. I can take care of myself. Besides, you need a Nexus to run multiple attack programs."
"Eh, I'll stick to my Logic Arrest. Better at medi-gel dispersal anyways," the Alliance technician shrugged as he glanced at the Mako. "Okay, I need to check that gun again. What the hell did Garrus do to the gun? Miscalibrate it?"
"No idea," Ashley answered, "but it's still functioning; considering the beating it took it's working well enough for what we need. We can save the precision repairs for the Normandy. We just need to get it working."
"Yes ma'am," Kaidan answered with a nod as he read a diagnostic scan.
"You want me to help?" Tali offered. "Maybe I can fix it."
"Thanks, but we can handle it," Ashley answered immediately. Even if the Mako's internals were relatively standard, she still did not want an Imperial poking around the systems. Besides, it wasn't like the Alliance couldn't maintain its own vehicles without the Empire holding its hand.
"Alright," Tali paused and Ashley was relatively sure that if Tali's face was visible, and had a similar facial structure to humans, she would be blushing in embarrassment. "Oh, how rude of me. I never got your names."
"Lieutenant-Commander Ashley Williams, Alliance Navy," Ashley answered before nodding to the others.
"Lieutenant Kaidan Alenko, ditto," Kaidan chimed in as he minimized the diagnostic.
"Corporal Richard Jenkins, likewise."
"And the krogan?" Tali asked.
"Urdnot Wrex," Ashley supplied. "But I'd rather not wake him."
"I can still hear you," he said, startling them before he chuckled and adjusted himself briefly.
"So," Jenkins asked to restart the conversation, "quarians in the Empire?"
"Pretty simple, really. The Empire offered to take quarians in after we lost our homeworld, some of us, like my parents, accepted in hopes of a better life. Not much to say. So what about you? I mean, I've never met anyone from the Alliance before. I wasn't sure what to expect."
"Really?" Kaidan asked as he folded his arms. "Why's that?"
"Well," Tali explained as she put a hand to the back of her neck awkwardly. "I mean, ever since I entered school here in the Empire, I was taught all about God's wonders and His hand in mankind's evolution, and the schools always talked about how God must have sent prophets again to Earth after Peter the Second, but…"
"But that didn't happen," Ashley supplied, "instead Earth was found and it had a lot of cultures, some of which don't even believe in God."
"Yeah," Tali answered. "I mean, doesn't that contradict a lot of what the Empire teachings? This is why I went on my own version of a quarian Pilgrimage - to see it for myself," the quarian paused and looked at Ashley. "Wait, you're faithful?"
"Not the same denomination as the Empire," Ashley added quickly. "Though, no offense but we have more important issues at hand."
The quarian nodded. "Not a problem. It's not my business, though you'll probably get asked that a lot."
"Story of my life the last few days," she retorted, unable to keep the bitterness out of her voice. The fact that she was constantly being presumed to be of the same cloth that the Empire was just because of her faith was starting to grate on her as well.
"It's not so bad," Kaidan said with a smirk. "They tend to assume you're pretty high on the food chain at least."
"Laugh it up, Kaidan," she retorted as she shook her head with a grin before noticing that a man was walking towards them. Ashley recognized the style of his clothing immediately, priestly garb, and pegged him as some sort of chaplain.
"Can we help you?" Jenkins asked as he raised an eyebrow.
"No," the man answered, "though if you wish, there is a service being held in the meeting room nearby."
"We're not being expected there, are we?" Jenkins asked, an uneasy edge to his voice.
"No, you have your duties, but I wanted to inform you that there are services if you wish to attend."
Ashley glanced at Jenkins and shook her head slightly. He glanced at her and nodded. "Thank you, but as you said we're busy."
The chaplain nodded slowly. "Our doors are always open if you have a chance and wish to pray," he walked away as calmly as he had come.
"Nice guy," Kaidan said without any hint of sarcasm. "Though, I don't think he expected any of us to take it up."
Ashley shrugged. "Probably not. Though," she glanced over at the other mechanics working on their vehicles or repairing damaged weapons, "if there ever was a time to pray, it's now."
"Though, something I'm curious about," Kaidan said as he leaned forward. "How does the Empire handle the whole three daily prayers during sieges?"
"It's usually considered acceptable to miss it due to calamities like this, though a lot of soldiers tend to at least do a short one if there's a lull," Tali explained as she sat down on an empty barrel. "You'd have to ask a theologian about the details, but only the crazies say that it needs to be done in full no matter what."
"Huh," Jenkins said to himself as he reached for his shotgun and checked it again. They continued to chat for a few more minutes, before Tali had to leave again and the team returned to doing a final check on the Mako.
"I still want to do some fine tuning," Kaidan said as the diagnostic finished.
"We don't have time to strip down the cannon," Ashley answered. "As long as it's good enough to roll and fight, we should get it up to the front and get familiar with where we'll be fighting. Someone want to wake Wrex up?"
Jenkins backed away and Kaidan sighed. "Sure, I'll do it."
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
Half an Hour Later
"Welcome to Palm Boulevard," Etel said with a nod as Williams, Alenko, and Nihlus disembarked from the Mako, the other three following them out. The Alliance marines had their helmets on, though everyone else, including Etel, had them in their hands.
"Looks like you've been busy," Alenko said as he looked at the three machine gun nests arrayed. Two were street level, one on each side of the road and with rubble, sandbags, and prefabricated metal slaps deployed to fortify them. The third machine gun nest was in a taller building behind them overlooking the street.
"Indeed," Etel answered as she gestured for them to follow. "Sergeant Hawk is busy with his squad on the trench line, helping fortify it further. The other three Sergeants here are Manson, al-Fulani, and Lysanor."
"A trench line in the middle of the city?" Williams asked as they followed her into a small building that had part of the wall blown out. "That desperate, huh? That's going to really muck up the plumbing and electricity in the area."
Etel nodded slowly. "They weren't inclined to do it, but given that they're understrength, they decided that they would rather have to spend extra hours fixing everything than die from not having enough defenses."
A pair of soldiers snapped to attention as they approached and Etel nodded to them. "At ease." The two relaxed as they entered the makeshift command post with a small tactical display generated by a nearby computer and holographic gaming rig modified into an emergency holomap. Etel laid her helmet on the table and typed in her access to boot up the system.
"We're here," Etel said as she focused it towards the boulevard they were defending, "and if the geth want to get to the main highway by this road they have to take it. Everything around us is either blown to untraversable rubble or its part of the river that runs through this portion of the city."
"So they're all coming in in front of us," Nihlus said with a nod, "and we can concentrate our defenses in blocking the approach."
Etel nodded. "We have three machine gun nests and a half dozen missile launchers - all reusable and we managed to get a crate of rockets for them. Hawk already made sure they were distributed, so we'll have plenty of anti-armor. The trench line is here," she pointed her finger to it and highlighted the area where it was dug, connecting the two forward machine gun nests.
"A second line is up thirty meters back with one long trench connecting the two so we can run between as needed, or if the first one gets taken and we lose the forward nests anyone trying to use it to avoid the last machine gun instead gets shot the whole way forward. The trench line goes into the nearby shops and there will be several soldiers holding each one as it marks the edge of our perimeter."
"Looks rather shallow for a trench," Alenko commented. "Most of it is the rubble piled up as cover with some pavement blown away and dug under. I take it this area took a beating?"
"A lot of artillery," Etel answered as she shook her head, the unwelcome memory of seeing the dead civilians crushed under the fallen buildings coming back to her. The understrength platoon had moved the dead away to make room to prepare the defenses. Even then, the image was still a sight that disturbed her. "So, the Mako is working?" she asked to move her mind away from that.
"It is," Williams answered as she looked to Nihlus. "Though, I'm not sure how useful it will be here. Not a lot of room to move it."
"We could fortify it as a turret," Nihlus suggested. "Hull down and set up some of the rubble around it to keep it safe, then use the main gun to suppress the geth moving forward. It would be a good addition to the machine gun nests."
"I'm not sure," Etel answered as she rubbed her chin. "We only survived getting nailed by those Colossi because we moved. I'm not sure the Mako could handle that and I already overrode Big Bertha's crew wanting to hull down into a turret here."
"I guess the question is," Williams cut in, "do you want me, Alenko, and Jenkins on foot or in a vehicle?"
"On foot," she answered. "We need everybody up front and we would probably be more useful using our rifles than driving a tank. There are a few men in Manson's squad who could-"
"What about a VI?" Alenko suggested. "Spectre Kryik-"
"Just call me Nihlus," the turian interrupted with a wave of his hand.
"Sorry. Nihlus, do you think the two of us and Garrus could rig a VI for the Mako?"
Etel perked up at the lieutenant's suggestion. "What are you thinking of?"
"Rig the Mako's turret with a VI and hull down. Make a turret out of it, then have us designate targets. We've got targeting lasers that we can slap onto our rifles, right?"
"I've got one," Garrus said from the chair he had sat down in, sniper rifle in hand as he was calibrating the scope.
"And you would be staying back anyways," Nihlus added as he looked at the younger turian. "Lieutenant, the three of us could easily rig a VI and you could connect it to the Mako's systems, then Vakarian can take up a spotter and sniper position nearby and designate targets with his targeting laser to provide us with more advanced fire support. The autoloaders should still be intact, but in the worst case scenario he can man the turret himself."
Williams shifted uncomfortably as Garrus nodded. "I can handle that."
"Good, then let's do it. Williams, the Mako is an Alliance vehicle so you should probably handle that."
"Okay, and what about after that's done?" she asked. "Jenkins and I could probably drop anywhere."
"The rest of us will be up front," Etel explained, pointing at the trench line. "We need to keep the geth back. You and Jenkins are probably going to be the most useful there. We have a few designated marksmen, but most Imperial soldiers only carry two weapons, and most of them favor shotguns like the Scimitar instead of sniper rifles. I'd like you and Jenkins to be up front picking off targets at range, then switching as you see fit to adapt to the situation up front. Wrex, myself, and Nihlus can move around and throw ourselves into any holes that get made in the trench line."
"And I'm with the medics?" Alenko said as he checked the medi-gel he had put in an arm mounted medkit he had likely borrowed from the garrison.
"And providing biotic or tech support," she added. "You've got a wide skillset that can help where it's needed, but if we're being pressed I want you to be ready to stop being a medic and help us push the geth back."
He nodded slowly. "I understand; I'll focus on stabilizing and getting wounded to the other medics so I can help up front."
"Just be careful, the three of us," Etel gestured to herself, Wrex, and Alenko, "we're the only biotics we have here."
"Anything else we should know before we go?" Williams asked.
"Just introduce yourself to some of the troops," Etel said as she glanced out the broken window. "And if any of them give you problems about being Alliance tell them they can talk to me about it."
"I doubt we'll have any problems," Alenko said as he glanced to Jenkins, who was looking perfectly innocent as he was leaning against the wall studying the holomap.
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
A Few Hours Later
"Alert. Alert. Hostile presence detected on the perimeter. All security personnel, report to your positions," a VI's voice sounded throughout the various Imperial communications channels and intercoms, and increasingly the loud sound of explosions and mass accelerators being fired filled the air. Soldiers were shouting orders and acknowledgements back and forth, filling the comm channels to the point where Ashley had to silence several she had been listening in on to try and gauge the situation.
"Well then, time to go," Shepard said as she stood up from the wooden chair she had sat in in the makeshift command post that had been set up. They had been waiting for the attack to come their way, planning out a defensive strategy to maximize what they had and setting up a plan of retreat if all went to hell.
Ashley nodded as she rose. "Once more unto the breach, dear friends, once more; Or close the wall up with our geth dead."
"I'm pretty sure it's 'English dead'," Kaidan said as he checked his pistol, grinning.
"Meh, close enough," Ashley answered with a shrug. She suspected that the original line would not have made much sense to Shepard anyways. They grabbed any of the weapons they had left on the table or propped against the wall and checked the heat sinks as they headed out of the building and moved up to join the defensive line.
"Garrus, get ready to target," Shepard ordered as the six jumped into the trench network, soldiers all around them hurrying to their positions and shouting orders.
"I'm ready," Garrus answered via the radio, "just tell me whenever you want a particular target highlighted. Looks like the first wave is rather light, though. No Armatures in sight but they're sticking to the buildings."
"I see them!" Hawk shouted as they took their positions at the front trench and looked at Shepard. "Just give the order, mi'lady."
Ashley switched to her sniper rifle and gestured for Jenkins to do the same as Shepard nodded. "Light them up as soon as they enter range."
The machine gun nests blazed to life as geth infantry began to cross a street ahead, the machine gun on the building having the best vantage point as the geth were sprinting into the building nearby in pairs. Some pairs made it past intact, others were hit by the machine gun or the Mako's main gun as Garrus directed its fire towards the building they were gathering in.
A sniper round went over Ashley's head, grazing her kinetic barrier and she ducked. "Did you see that?" she asked Jenkins.
"I saw it," he answered, rising out of cover just enough to target the sniper and he took the shot before ducking as two more rounds shot towards him, one hitting his kinetic barrier and dropping it while the other hit the rubble. "Damn it, missed!"
"I see them," Garrus answered and a sniper shot went overhead. Ashley peeked out of the trench and nodded as she saw a geth scurrying back into cover before leaning out again and taking a shot at the other sniper as it tried to hit Jenkins again. She hit the sniper in the chest, but its kinetic barrier withstood the hit.
"Too far," Ashley muttered in annoyance as the Imperial soldiers opened fire with their M-8 Avenger rifles, Wrex's heavy and probably illegally modified assault rifle easily discernable from the rest of the fired weapons. "Garrus, have the Mako hose the snipers!"
"Better idea," another voice cut in as the machine gun nest opposite of the geth advance opened fire, "This is Bloodhound; aiming at the floral shop ahead! Gunner, FIRE!"
Ashley glanced out and saw the shell hit the shop where the snipers had taken cover and smirked as the two snipers were blown out of their perch and sent tumbling to street level.
"Good hit Bloodhound!" Shepard shouted as she stopped firing her assault rifle and switched to her shotgun. "Geth infantry closing in, they're going for the right flank!"
Ashley nodded as she put her sniper rifle away and reached for her M-7 Lancer. "Jenkins, grab your shotgun and help hold the line, I'll stay out here suppress them."
"Yes ma'am!" he answered as he hurried down the trench line, Ashley following and taking up a position outside the building the machine gun nest was set up next do. Jenkins moved in front of it where Shepard, Wrex, and Nihlus had also set up with their shotguns and were keeping the geth from moving forward, shredding a Destroyer that tried to get close enough to burn them out of the building as the machine gun had been set up with a clear firing line into the door.
As Ashley stopped firing to let her rifle cool down she ducked into cover and saw Hawk's comm officer next to her. She tugged his arm. "Hey, trooper! Gerald, right?"
"Yes, mi- uh, ma'am," he said as he winced as an explosion showered bits of pavement onto the communications pack he was wearing. "Something you need?"
"How're we doing elsewhere?" she asked.
"Other places are being hit but I'll get an updated," he said as he activated his omni-tool.
Ashley nodded and rose out of cover again, taking out one of the more advanced geth trooper platforms that was trying to deploy hex shaped kinetic barriers at the windows to stop the other machine guns from pelting the window. She smirked as she reached for a grenade and hurled it into the building as the barrier dropped and the machine gun nest firing at the building halted. Going through the barrier it exploded.
"Thank you whoever threw that grenade!" Hawk shouted as the constant shotgun blasts ceased.
"No problem!" she answered as she turned to Gerald as he released his hand from his helmet radio.
"Other strongpoints are being hit with similar waves," he explained, "Attacks on all sectors, but the main wave isn't here yet. It seems like they're just testing the defenses."
"Thank you," Ashley said with a nod. Gerald moved towards the machine gun nest as Hawk called him while she stayed in her position and continued to suppress the geth trying to move forward through the buildings. Some geth were firing back, but most had been trying to take out the machine gun nest.
"Incoming aircraft!" Gerald shouted into the radio. Ashley immediately looked up as she saw the geth dropship moving towards and hurled herself to the floor of the trench, several rockets impacting around their position. The fact that they were technically at the mercy of the geth ships maintaining holding positions in orbit rose in her stomach uncomfortably as she pushed herself from the ground after the strike.
"How bad were we hit?" Shepard asked through the radio as Ashley's ears were ringing.
"Wasn't a guided spread, mostly to suppress- SHIT! Geth walker and heavy infantry ahead! Fire, damn it, FIRE!" Ashley looked out and saw that the geth ship had air dropped a walker and several larger units such as Destroyers with sized down machine guns.
"Focusing the Mako on that Armature!" Garrus called out as Bloodhound opened fire, followed by the Mako and both street level machine gun nests turning their attention to the large geth walker and the geth infantry. The geth walker leaned back and propped itself up on its legs and the eye glowed as it was charging to fire.
"Move!" Ashley shouted as she realized it was aiming for their side of the trench. "They're firing this way, take cover!" One soldier had risen with a missile launcher and had fired after the Armature let the blue pulse go and Ashley grabbed him, dragging him down as the pulse overshot them narrowly.
Narrowly. The next thing Ashley knew she was sent tumbling headfirst into the scrap metal that they were using to fortify the trench and blacked out.
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
One Hour Later
The geth wave had been dealt with steadily, keeping them away from their position and unable to advance. Though this was not without casualties amongst the PDF troops, even with the Mako and Conqueror's main guns minimizing the damage done by the Destroyers. Etel shook her head as they pulled the injured back with Alenko tending to them. Williams had been hurt, but not badly and most of her injury had come from the head first collision with the side of the trench. Her helmet prevented it from giving her more than a mild concussion, and with some painkillers and a stimulant to counteract the concussion, she was active again.
The Armature itself was destroyed rather quickly afterwards thanks to multiple missile launchers hitting it. They had been kept in reserve precisely to wait for the geth to try to use a surprise armor attack, and the machine guns had completely whittled away its kinetic barriers enabling their vehicular main guns to destroy it. The surviving geth infantry had fallen back and holed up in the buildings ahead, maintaining a small command post that was neutralized with a small raid that Nihlus lead containing Wrex, Jenkins, and Williams.
"How is he?" Etel asked as she knelt next to the soldier that the Alliance biotic was tending to.
"He'll be okay," Alenko said as he finished binding the wound and put the damaged plate of his hardsuit back on. "The medi-gel should keep him stable and fighting as long as we need to, but I'd suggest we send him back for treatment."
She nodded. "Keep the injured in back and try to patch them up as much as possible while we have some downtime. We're going to need everyone we can get."
"I'll do my best," he said as he helped the soldier to his feet. Etel rose and walked back into the trench, nodding to the soldiers who were saluting her as she passed as they waited for the main push to arrive.
The geth's last push had everyone on edge, if only because it seemed wasteful. No husks had been seen amongst the attackers, which had been of great relief, but the cynical officers suspected they were being saved for the main push. The Duchess was with the cynics in that regard, and Etel had to agree with their assessment. The geth were synthetics - logical machines. It only made sense that they would save the tool for breaking the PDF's morale for when they committed.
She felt something land on her shoulders, then more and she looked up with a sigh as her faceplate immediately began to clean itself to keep her vision clear. "Of course it started raining."
"Look at it this way," Jenkins said suddenly, surprising her as she walked into the machine gun nest on the right flank. "The geth will rust."
"If only," Nihlus added, his mandibles twitching briefly as the rain steadily picked up from a sprinkle to a light downpour. "Going to make fighting in the trenches harder."
"If we couldn't handle a little mud we wouldn't of made it this far," Etel answered back with a shrug. "Let's just hope we don't get any in our wounds."
"Here they come!" Wrex shouted from where he was.
Everyone hurried to their positions, with Etel joining Jenkins and Williams in the trench line as the geth were moving forward again with another wave. "You got to be kidding," Jenkins said as he switched to his sniper rifle, "How many do they have here? We've been killing these synthetics left and right!"
"They probably salvaged the ones we couldn't get to," Williams offered as she rose out of cover and picked off one of the geth with her sniper rifle as everyone began opening fire. "They're machines, omni-gel's probably like medi-gel for them!"
"Probably!" Etel answered as several geth shined differently running between buildings trying to close in. "Jenkins, we've got company in the buildings. Go help Manson's squad!"
"Got it!" he said as he moved through the trench line, switching to his shotgun as he went. Etel put hers away as she saw the geth enter the building just before the PDF soldiers defending the nest…
The geth charged out, three rushing towards the trench on her side while others were rushing through the buildings. Their shields were visible like a second skin of energy, absorbing the mass accelerator fire. Alenko overloaded one before throwing it out of the trench with biotics with its shields down, leaving it easy prey for Garrus. Williams and Nihlus tag teamed another one before Nihlus rushed into one of the machine gun nests to help with the ones attacking there.
And one leapt into the trench between Etel and the right machine gun, the crew focused on the geth trying to move in from their front. Etel reached for the geth with her biotics, pulling it right to her and she grabbed it, throwing it into the trench's wall and stabbing it with her omni-blade. The advanced kinetic barrier took the hit, but it dropped dangerously. The geth shoved her back, but she managed to grab the arm it had used to push her away and using it as leverage she pulled it after her.
Using the stumbling geth's arm, she pulled herself closer and shoved her shotgun directly into the back of the geth's head and pulled the trigger. The head had a large hole blown through it that went right through the other side and white fluid sprayed out from the hole she had just made before it collapsed forward into the trench's mud.
"Destroyer!" Williams shouted as Etel removed her now stained shotgun from the synthetic's head. A large geth vaulted over the rubble and into the trench, landing between them. Before she even was conscious of how much trouble they could have been in, Etel's hand shot out and knocked the flamethrower into the air as it loosed a torrent of flames that went over their heads, the assault platform facing Williams.
The Alliance marine reacted quickly, shooting it in the chest with her shotgun and kicking it in the leg, causing it to lose its balance and fall backwards, face up and splashing mud around them. Activating her omni-blade and surrounding it with a shaped biotic barrier, Etel leapt up and increased her mass with her biotics as she came crashing down, gutting the synthetic with her omni-blade and penetrating all the way through.
As she pulled her hand back and the disposable silicon-carbide blade remained stuck in the Destroyer's chest, two more geth stormed in at the other end of the trench. Both Etel and Williams reacted quickly, a shotgun blast from each hitting one of the geth troopers that had leapt in and knocked them onto their backs. Williams moved forward to cover the gap as Etel looked down as she heard a sharp whistle.
"Oh fu-" Her curse was cut short as she created a biotic barrier around her quickly as the Destroyer's fuel tank exploded. The barrier broke and she found herself slammed into the side of the trench, the world spinning before her eyes as she slid down and could smell something burning. A moment later someone was kneeling next to her and she felt someone patting her shoulder.
"You okay?" Williams asked, tilting her head towards her.
"I'm fine," she answered. "What are you…" she glanced to the side and noticed her tabard had been completely burnt and sighed. Wrex barreled into the gap the geth had made in the perimeter and closed it himself by shoving a table into the gap.
"Good thing your mother sent you a bunch, huh?" Williams teased as she grabbed Etel's hand and helped her up.
"Yes, it is," Etel admitted with a sigh as she loosened the burnt clasps and let the few bits of the tabard that remained fell to the ground as they threw themselves back into the fight. Stalemate had been achieved, geth infantry unable to make a push but they were keeping their positions held.
Several more soldiers took injuries or were killed and geth hardware was taken down as they tried to move forward. Radio chatter indicated that the situation was similar across the colony. The geth were pushing on them, but without their artillery the Imperial forces were holding. What perturbed Etel more, at least between bouts of trading fire and biotic attacks, was that there were no reports of the Collectors being involved in the attack waves.
The machine gun mounted on the building behind them broke down as a geth rocket trooper managed to hit the sandbags used to prepare it and injured the crew, but the weapon itself was said to be intact and the crew had grabbed rifles and were providing fire from above to try and make up for the lost heavy weapon.
"Armature incoming!" one of the soldiers shouted. Etel and Williams took cover behind some rubble, just as the machine opened fire, hitting Bloodhound and causing the gunner to swear as its main gun jammed. "Shit, there are two of them!"
"Damn it. They can cover each other," Williams cursed. "We won't be able to overwhelm them, not with those troopers supporting them."
Etel nodded, trying to take a peek at walkers. The two were indeed covering each other. Whenever one looked like its shield would falter, it would curl up and regenerate them while other one would keep the defenders busy. She felt an impact against her shields and pulled back as a geth sniper was taking shots at them.
"We need a plan," Etel said as she gestured for Jenkins, the Alliance grunt pulling out his sniper rifle.
"I'm open for suggestions," Williams responded, throwing a grenade at the Armatures. "We need to..." her voice trailed away. Etel peeked again to see what had caused such a reaction.
One of the Armatures was glowing, and not because of the rain running down its metal armor. No, it was like a spotlight had been focused on it, more and more, burning away the grime so that it looked as if it was just out of the assembly line and then glowed even shiner. It tried to fold itself up, but its legs snapped, causing it to fall into the ground head first. Its armor melted and the light went out of its eye.
"I TOLD YOU IT WOULD WORK!" a familiar voice shouted in the comm channel. Etel looked behind her and saw Tali, riding a tank chassis. On top of it, was what looked like a stripped down GARDIAN turret.
"Great work," Williams said with a slight grin. "Can you take down the other one?"
"Sorry, it takes five minutes just to cool this thing off, not to mention building another charge" Tali responded. "Otherwise, we'll cause our own tank to melt."
"We can take one Armature. Garrus, target it with Mako. Everyone else, open fire!" Etel ordered. A hail of gunfire, alongside several rockets and the Mako's main gun tore into the Armature. Its shield flashed for few seconds before they fell. Rockets impacted against it, staggering it. It tried to stand up again, but the firepower directed at it in a second volley soon caused it to fall down and deactivate.
"Good work everyone," Etel said as the two squads of geth infantry fell back, staying within the buildings to try and avoid being spotted or picked off by Garrus and Jenkins. "Sergeants, report. Casualties?"
"We are light on casualties," Hawk reported. "But that's only for this fight. We were already undermanned."
"Half of my men are down, but we are holding," Manson was next.
"I got six men still standing, we won't be able to last long," al-Fulani said, sounding tired.
"Um, Sergeant Lysanor is down. He's still breathing, but badly wounded," someone else said.
"Who are you?" Etel asked, turning to the woman who had spoken.
"Corporal Sil, mi'lady. I've taken command of the unit for now," the female PDF soldier answered.
"What's your status, Corporal?"
"Both of the squad's fire teams are up, mi'lady, but one's understrength."
At this rate, we'll run out of bodies before the enemy does,Etel thought grimly. "How's Bloodhound?" she asked as she turned to where the tank had retreated to after its main gun had jammed.
"Working," the tank's commander answered, "but that hit we took tore the autoloader six ways from New Jerusalem. We're down to manual loading."
Etel winced. Not having an autoloader to transfer freshly made rounds to the magazine was annoying enough, but having to manually load it was even worse because of the drop in rate of fire, plus either a technician needed to focus on that instead of other technical tasks or the gunner had to load it as well as aiming the gun. "Understood. Omni-gel not enough?"
"Let me take a look," Tali cut in, "I might be able to do something."
"Uh, thanks?"
"Do what you can," Etel answered as she turned to the sergeants and the poor corporal stuck in the job as well as the Normandy ground team hanging around. "Alright, let's get our wounded and dead out of the way before the next wave gets here! Hawk, Manson, see what you can do about getting the trench line repaired. Williams, Jenkins, I want you two to help them. See if you can't set up a few murder holes for the geth to deal with."
"Got it," Williams said, gesturing for Jenkins to follow as the two followed the sergeants in and they relayed the orders.
Etel continued, turning towards the turians and Wrex. "Nihlus, if you can help with getting that machine gun back online. Garrus, check the Mako and make sure it's magazine is full."
She turned to the other two squad leaders. "Sil, al-Fulani, get back to your squads and see what you can do about closing the front way into the machine gun nests. If you have to collapse a wall, do it. We need a smaller front so the geth can't apply their numbers."
The two saluted and left to organize their squads as Etel turned to the lone individual left. "Wrex… do what you do best."
The krogan smirked slightly walked into the trench line and to the right machine gun nest. A few loud crashes later and the entrance was closed off with rubble far too large for humans to move was in the way, closing off the route into the nests. Etel just hoped the geth were not able to adjust their approach in time. Etel spent the time going through the defense line and making sure everything was ready when word came down that there was another wave incoming.
Tali managed to fix the problem with Bloodhound's autoloader, though they still had to manually transfer the newly manufactured reloads as that one had been completely destroyed. The trench line was fortified again and the holes plugged, but they were running out of rubble to reinforce it with. Jenkins had made a comment about a large scale war back on Earth, but Etel had ignored the remark as she was trying to figure out if there was something they could do to hold the access with their remaining forces.
"Is the Archimedes ready to fire?" Etel asked as she walked back towards it, still unable to find any options that appealed to her. "We have another wave coming in."
"It's ready," Tali answered as she checked her shotgun's heat sink. "Just tell us what you want us to hit."
"Prioritize vehicles and other large targets like those cannon husks," she said, "don't waste it on infantry."
Tali nodded as she checked her omni-tool as it received an update. "Picking up some fast movers in the distance. They might be going for a drop. We've been getting poked at while we've been moving. We show up, a drop ship deposits more geth. Normally we move on, but…"
Etel nodded slowly and activated her radio. "Williams, Nihlus, meet me at the Archimedes."
"Right behind you," a turian behind her said, causing Etel to jump briefly as she turned and saw Nihlus was there.
"Coming. And did something happen?" Williams asked.
"Just lost track of where Nihlus was, Williams."
"Roger that."
The next wave began just like the previous ones had, geth infantry advanced through the buildings and stayed in cover as much as possible. Williams had drawn her sniper rifle and was taking shots at long range nearby while Nihlus was watching carefully, checking his omni-tool regularly as battle was joined.
"Shepard," Nihlus said as his eyes widened. "Dropships, incoming. Two of them coming right for us and the geth are pouring this way."
Etel turned towards him incredulously as she heard the whine of engines in the distance. "They're throwing it all here?"
"I think we have what they want," he said as he switched to his shotgun. "Wrex, get back here!"
"Be there shortly!" his comm cut off with a loud thud indicating the krogan had head-butted something.
The dropships quickly hovered overhead, and as their cargo bays opened Etel saw the Collectors within leaping out, using their wings to slow themselves down. Garrus swore loudly as he grabbed his assault rifle and Williams had dropped her sniper rifle in favor of her shotgun as everyone near the Archimedes scattered.
Etel grabbed a pair of Collectors with biotics, pulling them down with as much force as she could and slammed them into the ground hard enough that their legs broke and their biotic barriers flared. Diving to the side and finding herself next to the tank with Tali, two Collectors larger than the usual ones landed in front of them, and the two childhood friends blasted them with their shotguns before they were hit.
As the two staggered from the close hit, Etel threw herself at the one on the right and stabbed it with an omni-blade as the other one's gun suddenly started venting heat before Tali rushed it and smashed it in the eyes with the back of her shotgun before pointing it towards it and taking another shot, followed by an omni-blade strike to the neck.
"Nice takedown!" Etel complimented as she grappled with her opponent and flung it over her, using her biotics to lighten it enough to lift before she slammed it to the ground and used her omni-blade to blind its left eyes. As the Collector howled in pain she brought her shotgun back up and shot it in the head, leaving a spray of pellets where it had been before turning to smash a husk's head as the creatures leapt down and made landings that normal humans could not do.
"I had a good teacher!" Tali answered as she punched a quarian husk in the face, breaking the faceplate to reveal the face had been almost completely covered in wires. "What is-"
Etel turned quickly as she realized what was about to happen. "Tali get-"
It was too late, an electric burst generated around the quarian husk and it threw its arms wide with a loud groan, the electric burst overloading Tali's shields and knocking her on her back, shotgun clattering away on the ground and then stepped on by a Collector that Williams had just staggered with a shotgun blast.
Etel rushed forward and lifted the quarian husk with her biotics, tossing it into a nearby wall with enough force to shatter bones as another pair of husks leapt at her and tried to tackle her when a large mass suddenly charged into both of them and knocked them away.
"This is where krogan excel!" the scarred battlemaster shouted with a wide grin as he grabbed the Collector that Williams had killed as it collapsed. Using the arm to get a grip, he turned and threw it into another Collector that was advancing on a pair of technicians separated from the Archimedes prototype. Knocked to the ground, the Collector quickly found itself shot in the head by the technicians before the two bolted behind the wall they had been pinned up against.
"They're going for the prototype!" Williams shouted as a husk leapt onto her and tried to tackle her. The two struggled before she managed to break its grip, hold it by the neck, slam it into a crack in the pavement, and crush the head with her boot before another husk leapt at her from behind, knocking her onto her back before Wrex blew the husk away with his shotgun.
Etel turned and saw that two geth engineers had dropped in with the Collectors and were trying to attach something to it as the dropship remained overhead. Etel ran towards them before creating a biotic field around herself and launching herself towards the geth, tackling one as she reached it and knocking it into the GARDIAN turret. Something began beeping incessantly at her as the other geth drew a sidearm and drained her kinetic barrier before she could turn around. Two shots went into her shoulder, but using her other hand she threw the geth away with a biotic throw.
"Damn it!" Tali cursed as she climbed up on it amidst the melee. "Now it's all ruined!"
"But it's still ours," Etel retorted as she grabbed a medi-gel canister and applied it to her wounds and passed Tali her shotgun. "Come on, we've got a battle to win!"
The drop in by the Collectors completely messed with their ability to hold the line. The two machine gun nests on the ground had to be abandoned as the geth pushed forward and they had fallen back to the second trench line. The husks and Collectors were driven out from the back and the dropships moved clear as an anti-aircraft vehicle had moved into position on the highway to take them down. The PDF soldiers in the trench and took full advantage of the killzone that the center of the trench made as well.
"We're going to have to fall back soon," Williams said as she and Etel found themselves next to each other. "We can't hold much longer!" She rose and fired, Jenkins opposite of her.
"I know," Etel answered as she pulled a geth trooper into the middle of the trench with biotics and Jenkins shot it. The fact that they were still holding was a testament to the discipline in these squads; Etel was sure some soldiers would have fled already. And they'd be the smart ones, she realized as she understood how untenable their position was becoming.
"Cover me a moment!" She activated her helmet radio and dialed it for the strategic command frequency. "Duchess, this is Sir Shepard; we're losing men and the geth put a lot of force into this wave; we'll need to fall back soon. We'll buy as much time as we can before we do, though!"
"Understood," al-Jilani answered. "Hold as long as you can, we need to reposition our other forces and do this right or the geth will run rampant into the highway."
An explosion from a geth grenade caused Williams to land on the side of her face in the trench's mud as Etel shielded her eyes with her hand. "We'll hold as long as we can, Shepard out." She looked down at Williams as the Alliance soldier spat mud out bitterly. "You alright?"
"I'll be fine," she answered as she leaned out of cover from the trench line and sprayed a burst across it. "You have a plan on how we're going to fall back?"
Etel paused as she came back into cover while she weakened a Destroyer's shields. It tried to charge forward, allowing the Conqueror to blast it. "Well-"
Suddenly, a bright flash in the sky interrupted Etel's thoughts. She looked up, but the clouds were preventing her from seeing where the flash had come from. Soon, however, a burning wreckage of a geth ship rained to the far side of the colony. The comm burst into activity suddenly, almost deafening Etel more so than the explosions surrounding her.
"I repeat, this is chapter master Gillian of the Order of Silken Blade, 6th chapter. Anyone alive down there?" a voice asked.
"This is Duchess al-Jilani of New Syracusae, and words can't describe how happy we are to see you. Do you have space assets?"
"I have two chapter fleets with me, total of eighteen ships. We are currently engaged with the geth ships around the colony. Do you require support?"
"If you can spare a ship, that would be great. Transmitting coordinates."
"Coordinates received. Please stand by," Gillian's voice disappeared for a moment, before returning. "Orion is moving into the atmosphere, they will take a support position and cover our drop ships. The geth ships are falling back, but we will pursue them to make sure they don't get a drop on us."
"Understood. It's good to have you here," al-Jilani said before the comms exchange ended.
A small ship, which Etel recognized as an old Nile-classfrigate, dropped through the clouds and hovered over the city. A moment later and it opened fire with its smaller guns against the geth positions, though the fire support sent into their fight was towards the heavy geth reinforcements rushing to the trench line rather than the geth in it. A wave of dropships followed the aerial bombardment, landing around the battlefield.
One of the dropships landed near them behind the Mako, unloading four squads of Silken Blade members who quickly joined the beleaguered and few PDF soldiers. One of them looked around as she entered the trench line before noticing Etel. She approached her, taking cover alongside Etel as Williams leaned out to cover Jenkins sprinting across the gap to replace a soldier on their side who had been hit.
"Sword Maiden Miriam," the Silken Blade member said with an assault rifle in hand. "You're in charge here?"
"Sir Etel of House Shepard, Knights Hospitaller. Do you have knowledge of the Systems Alliance vessel Normandy?" Etel asked, before taking a shot at a recon drone that tried to flank them from above.
"They are currently held at customs station Medina, but have not been boarded. They're waiting for our message," Miriam answered, somewhat distracted. Etel could not fault her, considering the battle that was being fought. Miriam gestured her squad to spread out amongst the trench line and they filled in the vacant positions or relieved soldiers who were fighting through injuries to stay active.
"Understood," Etel nodded.
"How many Hospitallers we can expect here?" Miriam asked. Etel shook her head.
"None besides me, as far as I know. I came here to run an errand, didn't expect to run into a full-scale invasion."
"It happens," Miriam said, before chuckling. Etel chuckled at the joke too, making the Alliance marines look at her strangely. "It's an Order joke. Not enough time to explain it."
"Ashley!" Miriam shouted.
"Yeah?" Williams responded, apparently from reflex, having not moved her eyes from the enemy.
"Not you, ours!" Miriam responded without even turning to look at the Alliance marine. "Take Margaret and Amna to the left side, then do what you do best!"
"Yes ma'am!" a sword sister answered, gesturing for the two to follow her and leaving. Miriam seemed to finally realize that there were Alliance marines in the group as she looked at Williams.
"What's the deal with the Alliance?" she asked, gesturing at Williams and Jenkins as they rose from cover and began to lay down suppressing fire with the others.
"Long story, suffice it to say they're with us," Etel answered, throwing a warp field at one of the geth troopers that had risen to try and take one of them out. "There are also two turians and a krogan on our side."
"Huh, you move in colorful company," Miriam said with a smirk, before ducking her head as a rocket landed near them, showering them with debris.
"Well, I'm colorful person!" Etel shouted over the noise. "We can discuss the situation with my companions later though!"
"Agreed. All Sisters, wait for the trio to start the mayhem, then we retake the trench and drive them back!" Miriam ordered over the comms before lowering her voice to explain. "Those three have an unhealthy fascination with explosives, so once those synthetics start exploding..."
"... we push them back." Etel said with a nod before she rose and fired across the trench as Williams and Jenkins ducked back down to vent heat from their rifles.
A few seconds later, a series of large explosions rippled in the trench line the geth had taken. Etel felt the blast wave hit her and she dug her feet into the ground to remain upright. The Silken Blade knights charged forward. Etel gestured for the PDF soldiers under her command to follow them or to cover the charge, as was case with the embedded defenses.
The geth seemed disoriented from the sudden explosions, with several of the bigger units having been destroyed. Etel noticed that more they managed to destroy in quick succession, more unresponsive the synthetics became, with an exception of the two Armatures that had moved up to try and force the push.
In the end, though, the Armatures were not enough. With the combined fire power from the Orion, the Mako and Conqueror tanks' guns, and the new reinforcements, the geth attack was soon broken and the machines fell back.
It was a strange sight, Etel decided, seeing synthetics flee. Yet like when they had retreated from the city center, they did not retreat in a disorganized mass, and instead they set up rear guard actions. While not nearly as well coordinated as the ones from before, allowing Garrus and the other marksmen to pick off geth who had moved beyond range of assault rifles, it was still enough to discourage the Silken Blade squads from pushing too aggressively. Instead, they focused on clearing the nearby buildings and making sure the wounded were tended to.
As the dust settled and the geth had fallen back from the area entirely, Etel walked over to Miriam who stood in front of the trench line coordinating the sweeps of the nearby buildings. The rain was also slowly ceasing as the clouds moved on in the wind.
"Okay, what in the God's name were those three packing?" Etel asked as their Conqueror hovered over the trench line to get in front of it.
"I always felt better not asking. I have tried to keep them in check, but like I said: They have an unhealthy fascination with explosives," she responded, looking over the trio who were busy disarming a mine that the geth had left behind. "I can't prove it, but I bet they have some illegal stuff. Normal munitions issued to them don't cause explosions of that size."
"Well, they are your knights. I can't tell you how to deal with them. Do you know what's the situation in orbit?"
"Invincible was lost when her reactor was hit. Drachma and Retribution are dead for all intents and purposes. Though Drachmas' crew managed to evacuate before the systems failed," Miriam listed, raising a finger with each name. "Phoenix, Ursa and Little Princess are badly damaged. All in all, 3 ships out of commission, with two crews lost and three ships needing repairs. In exchange of three destroyed geth ships, with one escaping."
"The geth are stronger than we expected," Etel said as she sighed, looking towards a dead Silken Blade member who was being carried behind the trench line by two of her sisters in arms. "We might need to try to have the Emperor extend his hand at the Migrant Fleet again, they ought to have some knowledge of the geth."
"True," Miriam agreed. "However, how reliable is that data?" she looked up at the sky, where the Orion was floating as the rain ceased entirely and the sun began to shine. "Then again, our ships were not the latest models. Most of our ships were either Nile or Canaan class frigates."
"Problems with having to fund our ships ourselves," Etel agreed. She looked over the battlefield, happy to see that the geth were in full rout, or whatever synthetics did when they began to lose. New Syracusae was in Imperial hands again and the siege was over. "I trust you can take it from here?"
"Yes," Miriam said with a nod. "You can go and rest. You and every one of the PDF soldiers here. You look like you have been through Hell itself."
"You have no idea..." Etel said, shaking her head as she started walking towards the trench line and could make out Tali working on the Archimedes up the street. She smiled as she realized that the two would have a lot of catching up to do.
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End Chapter
Author's Notes:
And we near the end of this story arc. This arc has been quite action heavy and we hope now that it is over, we can focus more on character development. Action will still be there, this is a Mass Effect fanfiction after all, but not in the scale like this.
Now… Tali. Why change her history so much? This actually came up early on in writing this as all of us (Teen Spirit, Mandemon, and myself) wanted to keep the original Normandy team on the ship. However, when discussing the Empire's need for ship capabilities we realized that their 'soup, soap, salvation' would work perfectly; the Empire could get some of the best starship engineers in the galaxy to help develop their fleet, and quarians could live on planets and not hand to mouth in space. Obviously not all quarians would take up the offer, but we liked it because it helped set the Empire's identity as more than just 'generic human religious faction'.
Then the idea of having Tali's parents moving to the Empire at some point to try and give her a better life, and this story's version of Tali sprang from there. From there we realized that having Tali as an Imperial character would make a rather glaring plot hole in her needing to go to Fist since she could just go to the human embassy. So, we had Fist instead intercept the data and modified the Citadel arc appropriately, and had Tali recruited more like she was in Mass Effect 2. Overall, Tali will be much like her original self, but she has a different background this time. Our goal is to keep her core character intact, but there will be some changes as per her different upbringing.
Finally, we would like to thank Darth Cruel and swemanD47 for their reviews.
The codex entries for this chapter are primarily world building; an overview of the group that jumped in to help the colony (similar to the one given for the Hospitallers back in Chapter 2), and a major conflict in the Empire's history. We felt that some world building was needed given the heavy combat that the last two chapters had.
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Codex: Chivalric Orders - Orders Overview (Subsection, Silken Blade)
The Order of the Silken Blade is perhaps one of the more historically significant groups in the Star Empire, at least as far as secular history goes. They were founded during the Star Empire's brutal civil war, the War of Succession, by Saint Ilham and fully recognized after the war ended.
Significant for being an all-female Order, they accept no male candidates. Originally the Empire's military was not willing to accept women in into its ranks, and thus the Silken Blade was seen as a compromise. However, in more recent times this is primarily a tradition in remembrance of the past. Grandmaster Jasmine Naji leads the order currently, and they are primarily engaged in protecting colonies, particularly given the recent geth and Collector threat to human colonies.
Codex: War of Succession
The War of Succession was a major planetary conflict fought from 2153 to 2162 Galactic Standard (1653 to 1662 CE) on Nod, and was one of the few before the Star Empire evolved into its interplanetary state. A full scale civil war, the conflict was fought between the loyalists who followed the de facto Emperor Hassan the II, and rebels who joined Crown Prince Henry whom de jure would have had the throne if not for the events preceding the war. The issue: right to succession for the throne, and whether the prior law took precedence over the decree of an Emperor.
The conflict took root when Crown Prince Henry was discredited by his father for his romantic relationship with an asari who was part of the Citadel liaison team to the Empire. To ensure that the Empire's rulership remained clear of alien hands, Henry was stripped of his position as the heir to the throne and his younger twin brother, Hassan the II, became the ruler. When their father died, Henry argued that he was the next Emperor in spite of his father's decree, as Imperial law stated that the eldest son would inherit the throne. Hassan disagreed, saying that as God's representative within mankind, as well as the head of state, the Emperor's word was superior. The situation escalated as the Noble Houses pledged their support for either claimant, splitting the Empire into two polarized factions. The war followed as Hassan the II sought to prevent the Empire from fracturing.
The conflict was long and difficult, taking approximately a decade to resolve and saw significant destruction across Nod and a casualty count of almost twenty-five million. The Citadel Council remained neutral through the conflict, citing the matter as an internal affair. The war ended with the loyalists winning, and afterwards Hassan codified his father's ruling into law, meaning that by Imperial law any member of the Imperial House who chose to marry a non-human did so forfeiting their right to the throne. The war also saw a major shift in Imperial culture, due to what many Imperials consider the more significant result of the war.
The war is better known for the appearance of Saint Ilham, a woman who created a volunteer military unit which was nicknamed the 'Silken Blade'. This unit was comprised entirely of women, primarily drawn from the widows and orphaned daughters from the war, and quickly managed to become an effective fighting force, leading the loyalist side to the victory in several critical battles. In recognition for their efforts, they became an officially recognized Chivalric Order. Ilham chose to retire rather than continue leading them, but was poisoned later by her opponents. Before her death, she had one final conversation with the Emperor, but to this day the content of this conversation is unknown.
What is known is that a short time later, Emperor Hassan the II instituted reforms that saw women as full equals to men in both law and action under the Empire, meaning they could become the leaders of noble houses or even sit on the throne by their own merit. Legal reforms were quickly implemented and enforced, while the cultural changes such as women being permitted to serve in the military took longer to take hold in the Empire.
