AN: Pretty much the entire chapter is dedicated to the Horizon mission. I hope it's adequate - I'm not really great at fight, resp. shooting, scenes.
07 - Stage One: Denial
"If you're not going to eat that, I'll take it" Jack made a motion with her fork.
Shepard sighed and pushed her plate toward the convict "Go ahead."
"I admit it's much better than usual but enough not for seconds" Kasumi remarked.
"Should eat Shepard, need energy for missions" Mordin spoke up.
Garrus nodded "It's bad enough that Trev skipped and Miranda's in her dungeon again."
"Why'd Saint T skip anyway?" Jack asked in the middle of scarfing down her new portion.
"Apparently she's not feeling well"
"Weak" Grunt huffed.
"Need I remind you she knocked you on your ass?" the master thief smiled sweetly.
"That was awesome" Jacob nodded with a smirk, proud of a human besting a krogan.
"Really?" Shepard arched an eyebrow, skeptical, "When? How? No offense to Trev, but you know what I mean."
"Humph" Grunt stabbed his food.
"Grunt charged her and she used my shield. And withstood it. He got zapped by it afterwards. It was hilarious. Pity I didn't catch it on video" Kasumi giggled.
"What shield?" Shepard asked.
"Commander!" Joker interrupted on the intercom, "You got the head honcho on the line for you. Seemed urgent."
"Commander!" Miranda strode from her office, "The Illusive Man…"
"I know, I know, I'm going" Shepard sighed and stood up, "It really must be something."
The operative would normally roll her eyes but now she just nodded "The Collectors have struck again."
"Shit"
/
The entire ground team was suited up in the shuttle bay, waiting for the Normandy to drop out of FTL. Everybody was last-minute checking their guns and clips, readying for a fight while Miranda briefed them on the known capabilities of the Collectors.
"Remember, full-on helmets. And don't worry about the seekers, Mordin did his thing" Shepard finished up.
The salarian nodded "Should work."
"Should?" Jacob wasn't thrilled. Mordin just smiled and returned his attention to his omnitool.
"If it doesn't work I'm going to kill you. I wore this fucking armor just for that thingy of yours" Jack growled at her light armor.
"You look lovely" Garrus chuckled.
"Shut it bird man!"
"It certainly is an improvement" Miranda added with an amused smirk.
"Fuck you all"
The Normandy lurched slightly, signifying the end of their journey. Joker confirmed it a moment later.
"Ok, folks, let's go"
The ground team loaded into the shuttle. With ten people it was a tight fit, especially with bulky armor, but with Joker giving the go signal not long after, they didn't mind overly much.
"Not praying today?" Jack asked snidely. Trev shook her head and didn't rise to the bait.
"You alright? You look hot" Shepard said in a worried tone. Kasumi and Jack snickered. The vanguard flushed but rolled her eyes "I meant like feverish and you know it."
"I'm alright" the templar smiled tiredly.
"You sure you're good to go?"
"I'm not in top shape but no bugs are going to get me" Trevelyan said decisively, "Besides, those Collectors have barriers so you can use me."
The commander eyed Trev for a second and nodded "You're right. But as soon as we get back you go see Chakwas."
"Aye, aye"
"We'll split up, cover more ground. The attack is apparently still in progress, so our goal is to drive them away first, then we'll pull out the bug spray. Garrus, you lead the second team. Take Trev, Jack, Grunt and Jacob. Stay on the comm."
Miranda pursed her lips, clearly less than happy by Shepard's choice of leader, aka not her, but let it go without comment. Garrus for his part wasn't overly thrilled either but nodded his assent.
Jack opened her mouth, no doubt intent on taunting Miranda, but Shepard silenced her with a glare. The convict huffed and donned her new full-plate helmet.
The rest of the journey was made in silence until the shuttle finally landed. Shepard was first out, closely followed by Grunt. "Ok, people, let's do this. Garrus, you take the left."
"On it"
The Normandy ground team split up, Garrus and his people taking the high road while Shepard took hers right into the heart of the colony.
"Where is everyone?" Jack spoke up after a while.
"No colonists" Jacob worried, "Bad news."
"No enemies" Grunt said disgruntledly, "Worse news."
"Their ship is still here" Garrus remarked, "Let's get a move on."
A moment later the group heard loud gunfire from Shepard's presumed position. Grunt cocked his shotgun "Knew I should've gone with Shepard."
Garrus cast an annoyed glare at the krogan and brought his talon to his ear in an attempt to contact his commander. He was greeted by static "Comms are down."
"Contact!" Trev shouted and got into cover.
"Heh, heh, heh"
Following Grunt's charge, Jack launched her patented shockwave while the rest peppered the Collectors with bullets.
"Jack, forget the shockwave and join Trev in stripping them of their barrier!" Garrus barked his first order as team leader.
"I don't like the warp"
"I bet if Miranda was here, she'd be able to help me" the templar taunted.
Jack growled "I know what you're doing." Nonetheless her next move was to fire a warp at the Collector that was looking to ambush them form a second story balcony.
"Scooped and dropped!"
The rest of his team rolled their eyes at Garrus' poor one-liner and continued shooting. They almost had them all when they were forced back into cover as another wave of enemies came rushing in. The new ones immediately go into the best available positions, giving truth to all that hive-mind theory.
"We need to move" Trev said, reloading her Mattock.
"Grunt?" Garrus prompted.
The krogan grinned widely and charged, tanking the damage with the help of a nifty barrier, courtesy of Jacob. The rest quickly changed cover, Garrus managing to even score high ground.
"Those dudes can fly?!" Jack shouted when the remaining trio of Collectors decided to relocate as well after losing many of their comrades.
"Bugs" Grunt said in a disgusted voice and got one of them with his shotgun.
"All tangos down" Jacob declared.
The team did a quick sweep. When they found no surprises, Garrus ordered to proceed.
The city was now eerily silent and they still didn't encounter any colonists. Jacob tried the comm again but they were still down.
As they moved into another square, seems the Collectors were nice enough to pick kill zones with plenty of cover, Garrus picked up a flashing datapad off a nearby table.
"What is it?" Jacob asked.
"Seems the Alliance installed an AA Tower" the turian explained and put the pad down.
Trev looked at Jack questioningly. The convict shrugged "Big honking gun that should be firing at that ship right now."
"Maybe it's damaged" Jacob mused.
"Let's find it" Garrus shrugged and put his sniper back into ready position.
"How did a farm colony get a defense cannon?" Jack asked in suspicion.
"Who cares," Grunt growled, "Let's go."
The B team continued on, crossing into another area. Their silent professional approach meant they got a drop on another dozen of Collectors. Normally that would be good news but they had to refrain from more devastating or wide area attacks since the square was full of fleshy-looking pods and frozen colonists.
"Husks!" Garrus exclaimed, a bit shrilly actually, at the release of the grey-bluish skinned zombies.
"Are they possessed?" Trev frowned.
"Just kill them!"
The templar was a bit rattled but obeyed, aiming her assault rifle to center mass. She was glad those creatures didn't have the barriers the Collectors had because she had abused her templar abilities quite a lot today. Although she wasn't as tired as usual, which was peculiar since Cullen said he felt his power weakening almost immediately after quitting lyrium. She chalked it up to biotics being different than magic, but it still bore looking into.
"Fuck!" Jack swore as her retreat was blocked by a frozen colonist, causing her to trip and getting swarmed by several husks.
Trev quickly bashed two across the head with the butt of her rifle but it was Grunt who got them off of the convict, simply by picking them up and throwing them away.
Trev dragged her behind cover "Alright?"
"Yeah, fuckers surprised me. Now get off me"
"Sure, but Garrus got the last collector and Jacob is mopping up the… husks? Yes, those"
Jack grunted and stood up to join the rest of the team which was now inspecting the frozen colonists. It was quite creepy - it was clear they were merely immobilized, not unconscious. Their eyes were terrified.
"It's some kind of stasis" Jacob commented.
"No shit" the convict rolled her eyes, "Glad Mordin's stuff holds."
Trev nodded "They just pass us by. Still, they're a very efficient weapon. But I'm more curious about those husks."
Garrus hummed "Tell you after. But their presence here means now we know for certain the Collectors are working with the Reapers."
"They must've taken a good chunk of the population already" Jacob said sadly, looking over all the pods.
"Let's get them out" Garrus instructed.
"They are safe already, shouldn't we rather save more of them?"
"Shepard can handle it. But let's be quick"
The team busied freeing the no doubt already traumatized colonist out of the pods. After several pods Trev scolded her team like little kids about being heartless and made them all say a few words of comfort to the frozen colonists. Jack and Grunt were unhappy, but Trev pulled her best Seeker Pentegast glare, rendered less effective by the helmet. Still, the intention was clear and the chaos twins obliged. Even if Jack's line was "Hang on, it won't suck forever." Still better than Grunt's "We'll lay waste to the Collectors. You'll be avenged."
Once all the colonists, still unfortunately few, were out of the pods and staring at the sky, Garrus called them back into formation.
They encountered their enemy twice more, in the last wave getting a new kind of Collector, a heavy artillery piece. On legs. With a hump. And a disgusting corpse-face. He packed quite a punch, especially when one of his shots collided with a fuel tank, the explosion clipping Jacob on the side.
"That bunker is still closed, we might find survivors there" the Cerberus operative pointed after he sat down to let the medigel work its magic.
Trev shook her head "They'd just get frozen with the rest."
"I agree," Garrus nodded, "We leave them. And I spotted the AA Tower, we might do some creative running to get there."
"We should've gotten EDI to download the schematics of this town"
"Let's just go through" Grunt rolled his eyes.
Jack pumped her biotic aura up "I'm good with through."
"We're not going through" the turian said sternly.
"Why not?"
"What about over?" Trev shrugged, "All those weird houses have flat roofs."
"Excellent idea!" Garrus exclaimed in relief, "Let's do that."
Jacob stood up and stretched a bit to gauge his healing "Good call."
"Through would've been more fun" Jack shrugged, even though the sane part of the team was fairly certain she was just joking.
"It has less cover so let's make it quick" Jacob hummed.
Grunt was already hopping over two crates and climbing up "So shut up and move already. Phe, humans."
"Pardon?" Garrus asked sweetly.
"Don't get me started on turians"
The sniper chuckled and followed his team in climbing the pre-fab and then free-funning towards the Defense Cannon. Surprisingly they didn't encounter any Collectors. Once they reached the plaza that held their target, it ceased to be surprising as all the bug-men were swarming Shepard and her A Team.
Garrus immediately bunkered down with his Viper while the rest had to get closer to unleash all their talents.
"Hey, guys!" Shepard greeted, "Nice to join us. FYI the glowy ones talk."
"You smoking something?" was Jack's contribution.
"Who glows?" Jacob questioned.
"SHEPARD. THIS HURTS YOU."
"That guy" the commander said before blurring into her patented charge routine.
"YOU CANNOT STOP US. WE ARE YOUR GENETIC DESTINY. DO NOT RESIST…"
The glowing Collector got disintegrated in a biotic explosion triggered by Miranda's warp.
"EDI, how long till you're done?" Shepard tapped her ear.
"Incoming!" Zaeed rasped, making the team bunker down again.
"Targeting complete," EDI chimed in, "Firing at Collector vessel."
"Finally!"
The next wave was massive, as if their enemy knew they were planning on attacking the ship directly. Two of those artillery giants, a dozens of husks and the inevitable Collector drones. A true party.
Garrus had their backs as he sniped as fast as he could reload, while the biotics worked on crowd control. To everybody's astonishments the most effective was the Jacob/Jack duo with their biotic combos. Zaeed's grenades kept the vultures at bay as the Normandy team shot down every foe.
Victory was almost at hand when a loud screech alerted them to a new threat.
"The fuck is that?" Jack shouted from behind her cover.
"I'm sick of bugs already" Kasumi groaned.
Miranda checked her omnitool "Cerberus calls this one a Pretorian. We have seen only one of this kind before. It's heavily armored."
"Awesome. We know it's name" Zaeed said dryly.
"Trev, it has a strong barrier" Shepard called.
The templar eyed the floating scarab, indeed feeling the power of the barrier "I'm on it."
Usually when using the main templar ability, magic is denied in all its entirety within the person, no matter how skilled the mage is or how deep his reserves, but the pretorian's barrier proved to be hard to drain. And took a long time, as opposite to the usual instant.
"Most peculiar" Trev thought as the barrier was no more. Then she doubled over and nearly collapsed behind her crate.
"Yeeehah! Rocket launcher for the win. You alright Trev?" Shepard asked when much of the armor was burned off.
"Dizzy" the templar replied faintly, "You seem to have his well in hand so I'll just… sit. For a minute."
"Sure thing. Miranda, cover her"
"Aye, aye"
With Grunt taking most of the bugs' attention, using surprisingly graceful moves to avoid its devastating beam, and the tech-wise team members using incinerate, the pretorian screeched again and dropped. Mordin was most curious about it but reluctantly joined the rest in another barrage at Shepard's laughed order 'kill it with fire!'
As the bug slowly turned to ash, everybody did another sweep of the plaza.
"Was that all of them?" Kasumi asked.
"Seems so" Garrus' voice spoke on the radio and the turian himself started to hop down the rooftops.
"Collector vessel is taking off," EDI informed, "It has taken significant damage."
"Well, Horizon is safe" Kasumi said without much enthusiasm.
Jacob frowned "Part of it anyway."
"Mission complete. Have collected much data. No need to stay" Mordin said jovially and immediately started working on something on his omnitool.
"At least someone's excited" the cloaked thief murmured.
Miranda pointed at a colonist that was running towards them "I know somebody who most certainly will not be."
"No! Don't let them get away! Half the colony is in there!" a surviving engineer shouted at the group, looking in horror at the departing ship.
"How do you suggest we do that?" Jack snorted derisively.
"They're gone" the commander sighed, "We did all we could."
"More than most Shepard" Garrus comforted his bestie.
"Shepard? Wait. I know that name"
"Yes, me too" another voice spoke up and as an Alliance soldier and a small group of colonists came into the plaza. They had been alerted by the functioning guns, no doubt.
"Ashley!" Shepard said happily and took off her helmet.
"Hello, Jane" the soldier crossed her arms, assuming the classic position of 'you have some 'splainin to do'.
The red-head's smile dimmed "Hi."
AN: Next up - Stage Two: Anger. 'Cause I was mighty pissed after the Ashley/Kaiden scene in the games. Especially Kaiden, but that might be because I never liked his character. Eh.
