Chapter Five (Test, Part Four)

Shepard threw his fist into a small but thick window pane on the hull to get a good look at the battle below, forcing glass in every direction. Clearing the jagged remnants with his reinforced gauntlet he then looked to the battle below, allowing the helmet to magnify the scene with the push of a button. As he surveyed the battlefield a chill went down his spine. Jet black tanks of all sizes emerged from the loading bay below and opened fire on the well fortified Alliance soldiers, multicolored lasers wreaked havoc on dozens of men while their bullets merely dented the front of the colossal vehicles. Only lucky shots from coordinated heavy weapons fire could manage to wreck the tanks if the squads aimed at the back of them. Shepard also noticed a few two legged vehicles as black as the tanks trudging through the shallow water, soaking up fire with ease while killing scores of men with laser cannons and missile launchers. After taking all of these sights in, he was equally pleased and terrified to see the Collectors. As swarms of the mythical insectoids descended into the fray, yellow particle beams painted fine lines across the battle below and certainly drew the attention of the Chaos soldiers. Muzzle flashes appeared in all directions in response to the unexpected third party.

"What's the situation?" Tali asked impatiently.

"Getting worse, there are too many enemies for our guys to handle. With the Collectors on one side and the Chaos warriors on the other…" Shepard replied as he pulled his head back inside the ship, "We need to find a way to even the odds."

"I have an idea." The masked man interrupted, "This ship didn't land gently, and there is some significant battle damage in some key points. We can use that to our advantage." The armored soldier said as he garbed his mutated face in the cloth and yellow glasses again, returning a sense of intimidation to his face. "But to accomplish such a task I will require your assistance."

"What do you have in mind?" Shepard asked as he carefully studied the end of the long hallway in front of him and behind him, keeping watch for patrols.

"One of the starboard gun batteries that happens to be right above the loading bay is damaged, and with a little effort it can be dislodged. If we can do that, we can drop it right on top of them." The soldier replied, with confidence slowly growing in his voice whenever he gazed upon Shepard. His armor may have been a replica, but to the masked man it was always so much more.

"I'm guessing you wouldn't need our help to just push it off, right?"

"Correct, we need a precise explosion to send it down to them. Do either of you have explosives?" Tali cracked her knuckles and activated her Omni-tool on her left arm. With her right, she pulled scraps and components from various pockets, using the bright orange gauntlet to create a strange contraption. The Imperial soldier noticed a deep sense of concentration in the alien's eyes, which just reminded him that she was an alien to begin with. "Can the xeno be trusted?"

"This woman has been at my side through the toughest fights in my life, the galaxy is certainly in her debt and so am I. I would gladly forfeit my life for Tali Zorah," Shepard approached the soldier, staring down his yellow glasses with equally opaque lenses, his bellowing voice now even more intimidating due to the voice filter, "I know how alien races react towards humanity in your time, but here we are equals. If I can't trust you to not lay a hand on her, we do not have a future together. Is that clear?"

"You've made your point…"

"One thermite pipe bomb ready to go, Commander." Tali was so enthralled in her own work she did not hear Shepard's conversation with the soldier.

"And you just happened to carry one around xeno?" The soldier asked.

"Not in one piece, I simply used some spare parts and some salvage to put this construct together, and the thermite can be chemically fabricated-"

"I am not a techseer, xeno. But if you say it will work, then it will do."

"Tell us where to put it so we can get on with it. Every second we wait leads to more casualties," Shepard added. The soldier pointed to the hall stretched out in front of them for nearly a quarter of a mile. He led while Tali and Shepard followed.

--

"The gun battery station is attached to the main ship through this bulkhead and another one about sixty or so feet down that way, but in the landing the other bulkhead was torn away." The masked soldier stated as he looked around, "This is the only wall attaching the gun turret to the ship."

"Everyone back away, this thing has a blast radius of several meters." Tali stated as she fastened the quickly fabricated bomb.

"You should try and attach it closer to the floor, to try and take out as much of the bulkhead as possible." The soldier stated. Tali looked at the man with an annoyed but silent stare, only turning away when the man backed away. Nonetheless she took his advice and moved the bomb to the lowest part of the wall.

"We have ten seconds… now." They all ran back the way they came for a few seconds after Tali pressed a button on the bomb, Shepard counting down the entire way there. When they reached a safe distance Shepard continued counting, when he passed ten he got worried for a split second. The explosion came but a moment later, shaking him nearly to the point that he lost his balance. Sunlight now filled the once dark vessel, illuminating the demonic corridors with bright orange light. They all ran towards the gun battery when they heard it fall, peering over the side of the smoldering remnants of the hallway. The colossal gun turret fell right on top of the center of the fighting, causing many vehicles to explode and sent a wave of water onto the entirety of the Alliance perimeter.

"Commander Shepard to Jacob Taylor, come in Jacob." Shepard yelled into the helmet's microphone.

An answer came on the radio after a few coughs, "Dammit Shepard, you went ahead and got me wet. Not to mention scaring the fucking shit out of me with a one hundred ton piece of crap dropped in front of me!"

"Couldn't have been avoided, Jacob." Shepard chuckled as he spoke in reaction to Jacob laughing in relief, but he quickly stopped.

"No… Half the crew was in the center of the impact!" Jacob yelled as he ran towards the huge graveyard of endless blood and jagged metal, "Thane, Samara, and Grunt! I need a team over here now!" Shepard stood up and focused only on listening.

--

The battlefield was now silent and empty save for the Alliance soldiers searching the rubble for the three specific warriors. The Collector ship was long gone, leaving behind its many dead. Everyone agreed the Collectors were aware of the humans from the far future, and a chance to obtain specimens and technology from such a far off era was worth any risk. The crushed malformed figures of the mutant berserkers littered the rubble, some were already dead from earlier wounds, and some whom were to strong and survived the gun turret falling upon them were shot by Alliance soldiers as they approached the pile of metal and crushed bodies. Jacob and the others rushed to the center after they heard the radio.

Samara rose first. She protected herself in a small biotic bubble when the turret fell to earth, now the assorted scrap gave way as she floated upwards, glowing with biotic energy. She floated to the edge of the remains of the colossal turret and exhaled deeply with relief, dropping her Vindicator Rifle and letting the biotic glow fade. Cuts and sores leaked purple blood, she looked to the Alliance troopers that attended to her injuries, and then at Jacob and the others and smiled. A few turians found Thane unconscious but mostly unharmed under the wrecked remains of one of the Chaos tanks, when they pulled him out he woke up briefly and gave the turians a gesture that he was okay and then fell out of consciousness. Grunt, who was at the center of the impact, heroically rose up from the rusted black metal with a violent roar. He looked around, eager to continue the fight, but he found no one.

"Primitives you have changed nothing." A bellowing voice echoed from the depths of the darkened underbelly of the ship. "You have challenged the might of an enemy far beyond you." A massive man in metallic crimson armor appeared. And even as he charged forward the same voice continued without change in tone, "As the disciples of anarchy and madness, we are your destruction." Ten dim spheres of light appeared scattered amongst the debris; slowly they grew into the forms of nine foot tall heavily armored Chaos Terminators. Atop their armor colored the blackest pitch were bloodstained golden armor trims and trophy racks covered in impaled helmets and skulls. Tusked helms with blood red lenses glowed an eerie red when they found themselves surrounded with new victims. Within seconds they let free storms of bolter fire on the scattered Alliance soldiers, and they returned fire. Grunt noticed the largest one in red armor was running towards him, and immediately saw him as a new target. Switching out thermal clips in his Claymore, he let out another roar and threw himself forward like a speeding freight train.

--

Little resistance stood between the trio and the time travel device. The spacious hallways built for the hulking Chaos Marines did little to help the few dozen traitor Guardsmen that watched the hallways. They were on edge to begin with, since they knew the battle outside was nearly lost since the Shipmaster went out to meet them head on with the Terminator Guard. But simply being aware did not protect them from the storm of golden fire unleashed by Shepard's Revenant Machine Gun. The masked soldier led the way around corners, down more hallways, through two elevators, and even having to fight three Traitor Marines in such close quarters. But after all of their ordeals, they still pressed forward.

Their destination was a tall cylindrical chamber, the metal walls and floor rusted and brown, its glass rotunda dirtied and veiled by a sheet of soot and grime. In the center of the room lay a cylindrical mechanical pedestal, firmly holding an object at the pedestal's peak in place. A glass cylinder containing a floating grey marble hummed faintly, inactive but still running. Surrounding it were dozens of consoles with unrecognizable symbols and buttons, most likely dedicated to studying or running the device. The trio slowly approached the device, keeping an eye on where they stepped since a fog covered the ground.

"This is it?" Shepard was surprised to say the least, "It's so small."

"Apparently the larger the device, the more freedom one has in choosing his destination." The masked soldier replied, working a control panel attached to the pedestal below the cylinder. "This one was first created by the Commissar Jonathan Grissom, in an effort to allow humanity to learn from future mistakes and keep the events in our time from happening. Long story short, we don't know if he failed or not, because I'm still in the same situation, wearing the same uniform, doing the same crap job and ending my career by getting fucking captured. And not to mention this ship managed to get a hold of the device."

"What does this mean? Do we do anything with the device?" Tali asked the soldier, who moved to a separate console on the far side of the room which consisted of nothing but dials and meters.

"Grissom realized he had more potential with the project than just reaching back into the far past, he wanted to keep the Horus Heresy from ever happening, but with a device that size, one could travel to any time, even to the point of the universe's creation. I don't have time to explain anything further, but right now, in my time, a huge conflict is about to break out over it." He returned to the cylinder, firmly grasping it with one hand, "Both of you get to the doorway, now."

"Why?" Shepard asked.

"I'm going to toss this to you, causing this room to explode moments later. Now don't make this difficult by trying to save me or change my mind. We have no time and you are the only one who can stop this." Shepard paused, but then followed Tali to the edge of the room.

"Oh and one more thing," The masked soldier removed the mask so he could speak more clearly, "If any Space Marines ask where you got this, tell them Lance of the 28th sent you." He removed the cylinder and tossed it to Shepard, causing the room to immediately erupt in flames. Shepard abruptly turned away as the canister reached his hands to shield himself from the scorching fire. It took both his and Tali's shields down, but they were both okay. Shepard looked to the burning remains of the room for a long while, and then turned to leave.