Bioware owns Mass Effect. The OC's are mine.
Chapter 9 - Abandon All Hope, Day 3 Early morning
Lieutenant Royce Mason rotated his neck to one side, trying to get the crick out of his neck as he looked at his ten-men squad that he already called the Chaos Legion, designating his call sign as Chaos 6; a command element in Alliance Jargon. Normally, there would be more of a Chain-of-Command to a squad of ten; team leaders and such, yet the Marine knew nobody else save Elias, Asha, and the krogan, and even they he didn't know well enough to start throwing them together with other species. They had gotten some rest during the night, their mission not for several hours, and Royce had spent the time at least getting the names of his new squad. Along with the Krogan merc, Tech Specialist Elias Korvan, and the Asari Vanguard Asha T'vara, the human Marine had two more Turians, a Salarian, a Quarian, a Batarian, and a female Human to his roster. Each looked capable in their own right, though Royce had some misgivings at first.
First, there were the Turians. The male one called himself Captain Preitor Gavorn, which was his rank when he was with the Blue Suns on Omega. The Australian-born man found out that the Turian was once part of a Task Force to deal with the stations' Vorcha problems, and had answered to the Pirate Queen Aria T'loak herself. Thankfully, the Turian mercenary was once a soldier in the Hierarchy, and had little issues with Royce leading him. Surprisingly, Preitor seemed to have little issues with a human leading him; it seemed that losing 50 credits on the fight had showed the former merc that the N6 wasn't small potatoes. For the female Turian, she turned out to be an Infiltrator; one of Palaven's Blackwatch commandos. She had identified herself as Tech Specialist, Second Class Vona, though never gave her family name. Royce was about to ask, when Asha suddenly popped up, placing a gentle hand on the Marine's shoulder, nodding to him in a significant way. Royce looked from the female Turian to the Asari Vanguard, and had remembered what Asha had told him before.
He was standing in front of Vona Arterius; Saren's sister.
Next was a Salarian, a quintessential example of his species. Tall, thin, and nervous-looking, the Salarian was dry-washing his hands as he rambled off his name. Royce had to ask for it three times before he gave up trying to figure it out. As best as he could understand, the Salarian was some sort of independent researcher, whose name was JaleelNisusesBenVaresTolIngreeChorban… or so the Australian thought. The Salarian stood there for three or four seconds silently, and then told him 'just Chorban'. Royce wasn't too sure about the Salarian; at least both of the Turians were armed with impressive weaponry. All the researcher had was some light Hydra Armor and a M4 Shuriken. The researcher began fiddling with his Omnitool, and Royce heard a ping on his own. When he went to check it, he was surprised to find that the Salarian had just forwarded him biometric data on all the people in the Chaos Legion, as well as a tracking system for all of them. A Tech expect apparently already on Palaven when the Reapers came, the N6 thought, nodding slowly. Always handy.
Royce found himself meeting the only other human in the group, a Senior Chief Petty Officer Stacy Valentino. An Alliance Marine like himself, Chief Valentino was a mixed blessing; she was a Sentinel, a human born with Biotics, and savvy with electronics and technology. Sentinels, Royce knew, were a strange sort of powerhouse, good for wearing down an enemies' shields and using their Biotics to enhance their own combat. Unfortunately, Sentinels were generally not much good at any range other than very close. Still, a Sentinel and and another Human wasn't too bad. She told him how she ended up on Menae; same story as him, caught outside Earth during the Reaper attack, now fighting for their allies on the chance they'll join forces. The Australian-born man whispered to her that he'd have a private talk to her later, away from 'so many ears', and Chief Valentino was wise enough to nod discretely before he moved on.
There was, of course, the Batarian SIU operative, Commander Garm Jor'radah. The Blink was probably a pirate or a slaver, but Royce had to admit that went it came to working outside the law and staging raids, the slug was probably one of the best. From what little was confirmed about the Special Intervention Unit, what wasn't assumed to be lies from the Homogeny, was that the training was quite brutal, and one out of five died in its courses. From the times he had fought against Batarians, the Marine knew that they were usually quite fanatical, almost to the point of suicidal, when it came to fighting for their lives. It was often said that the only time you would see a Turians' back was when he was dead, but Royce thought that the saying applied better to the Batarians; they were usually brainwashed to believe that they had better training, better equipment, and were the better species. The Lieutenant looked once at Garm and nodded his head once at the operative, still seeing hate in the four eyes. He also did see something else; grudging respect. Batarians were like Krogan; they always followed the dominate Alpha. Royce was just glad he didn't have to fight the Krogan merc. With his homeworld gone, it was obvious the Batarian had nowhere else to go.
That left the Quarian.
As the Australian-born man approached the fully-suited female Quarian, he tried to think of all he knew of the people of Rannoch. He knew they were born on ships, grew up on ships, and would die on ships. They were renowned for their programming and technical skills. Yet as Royce approached her, the first thing he noticed was that she was glowing… blue. Her suit was mostly black with a grey visor, to where all he could see was her silvery-glowing eyes, yet the female was definitely glowing bluish. It took a moment of disbelief to pass to realize that she was, in fact, a Quarian Biotic; was that even possible? She told him though her helmets' vocalizer that her name was Eloa'Varis nar Tombay vas Thessia. Royce paused for a second after she told him her name. Vas Thessia? Evidently, she had been sent to the Asari homeworld to teach her how to use her Biotics, since the Quarians themselves couldn't afford the implant, the amp, or the training. Her Patron has been an Asari who once had a mate who was a Quarian, and wanted to give Eloa the opportunity to learn. When the Migrant fleet recalled all Pilgrims and asked for the Quarians to return, the Adept had left Thessia to aid her people. Unfortunately, the Reapers had sidelined her trip in the Apien Crest, and she was now stuck like the rest of them.
And Royce was stuck with the lot of them.
General Jorval came, and Lieutenant Royce Mason stood up, looking to his new squad, who were readying their armor and weapons, or in Chorban's case, fiddling with Omnitools. The Turian General only nodded to the Australian once, indicating it was time. The N6 had already described the mission to his new squad, and though none of them enjoyed the thought of being put on what was obviously a dangerous, probably lethal, mission, they all knew that they were guests of the Turian Hierarchy. Nothing was forcing the Turians to feed them, arm them, supply them, or protect them. It was their moon, and their rules. If the Turians wanted them to guard the walls, they would have no choice but to guard the walls. At the least, Royce explained, they were out to do some damage; they would be taking the fight to the Reapers. There were plenty of Turians who were doing nothing more than slugging it out on the ground, not knowing if they would ever be resupplied, replaced, or killed in the next few minutes.
On Menae, everyone was living on borrowed time, anyhow, and they all knew it.
Royce led his Chaos Legion to the Alliance UT-47a, Lieutenant Jeff Harbeck going over last minute systems checks while a Turian Quartermaster was loading what appeared to be old-tech rocket pods onto the side of the shuttle. The side door was opened already as the shuttle pilot looked up from his datapad to the N6 who was leading his ragtag group to the Kodiak.
"Mason. Still babysitting?" Harbeck asked, an eyebrow raised as he looked over the new occupants of his shuttle. The pilot's eyes got wider at the sight of a Batarian getting on the the shuttle; everyone else got the standard 'WTF' look, but the SIU operative got the special treatment. Harbeck looked to Royce for a second, the Marine giving the pilot a silent shrug. "So. Battle wagon of death mission?"
"Yep." Royce confirmed, a quaint term indicating that the shuttle was, more or less, a moving target to give others a chance of success. "I take you to all the classy places. Standard order of business for you; the crazier you fly, the better our chances."
"Got, jefe." Lieutenant Harbeck gave off a lazy salute, nodding his head to the shuttle. "Go ahead and get in, and we'll be off in a minute. Mission starts in ten. And strap in, this time?" The pilot half-pleaded, smacking the marine on his bicep. "Humans ain't so dime-a-dozen anymore. Not with the Reapers here to kill us all."
"Crikey. Didn't know you cared." Royce replied a little solemnly. He never thought how pilots must have felt flying men off on missions, only to find their bays half-full after a mission, or worse. Harbeck probably felt just as bad as he did about what happened to his platoon back on Outpost 39. "Got a bloody good team of boondockers here, if we don't kill each other first. But no promises; you know the rule."
"Yeah. Abandon all hope, all ye who enter." Harbeck replied softly, a sort of saying that the Marine had taken to say ever since the invasion of Earth a few weeks before. It was both a mantra and a prospect; get your affairs in order, do what needs to get done, chances are that you might not get another opportunity. The Australian nodded his head once as he entered the shuttle, and saw that most had taken their seat in the shuttle save for the Asari Vanguard, Asha T'vara. She stood by the opened door, and as soon as he stepped on, he saw her give him a small smile.
"Interesting saying." The Asari said as Royce turned to see that Jeff Harbeck was getting into the cockpit of the shuttle himself. "More Sun Tzu?"
"Dante Alligheri, book called 'Inferno'." The N6 answered, looking to the Asari. "Poet gets a trip to Heaven, but has to walk through Hell first." Royce explained as he pulled the Avenger off his back, checking it though there was no real need. "On the road to Hell, paved with good intentions and dumbass mistakes, there is a sign. On the sign reads 'abandon all hope, all ye who enter'." The Marine, looked out the open shuttle door, seeing the activity of the FOB as other shuttles and flyers got ready as well; a few were a part of the diversion, while others were the real deal. Royce didn't know which was which, which was the point. If someone was talking, willingly or not, they would either identify themselves or give off the wrong coordinates. Either way would spotlight them. "To us Marines, it means do today what you would have done tomorrow. There might not be many more for us." Royce looked over the FOB to see Palaven either rising or setting on the moon's horizon, a small sliver to its normally large presence. Even with its lesser view, the newly-promoted Lieutenant could see damage and destruction on the Turians' homeworld, its surface dotted and littered with fires. Asha spied what the Marine was looking at, only punctuating his point. Royce felt a gentle hand on his bicep, and he looked over to see that the Vanguard had placed her hand there; as comfort or reassurance, he wasn't sure.
"As long as we hold the will to fight, then the battle can still be won." The Asari replied, looking at him with eyes the color of Earth's sky. "There's still hope, Royce, as long as the will to fight is still there. But your Dante has truth in his words; tomorrow isn't always guaranteed, so it is best to accomplish today what you can." To that, Royce felt a soft squeeze on his bicep from the Asari's hand. It hadn't been a figment of his imagination, then.
"Alright, ladies and germs." Harbeck called out, his voice coming over the shuttles' intercom system to address everyone in the shuttle's cargo area. "If y'all would observe the 'sit the fuck down and shut the fuck up' light, and please keep all limbs in the shuttle at all times, Lieutenant.' Royce grimaced as a few chuckles were heard from the squad. "And if any of you dumbfucks puke in my bird, you will be cleaning it. With your tongue. So buckle up your panties and whisper a prayer or two, because speed is set to splatter. And don't say shit about my music."
"Charming fellow." Captain Preitor Gavorn said as Royce took as seat with Asha, the Turian mercenary told Commander Garm Jor'radah, the Batarian merely shrugging his shoulders. "I like him."
"Wait until he starts flyin'." The Marine said to the Turian who once worked on Omega. "He ain't kiddin' about the pukin' part."
A/N: Thanks to GethPrime89 for the review, and the term 'red shirt army'. I swear I'll use it somewhere.
