It took me longer than I expected, but I got the tenth chapter out. This is my second favorite chapter yet, so hopefully its a good payoff for your patience. Enjoy.
Chapter 10: In the Balance
Sara leaped out of harm's way; barley missing the red bolts of energy being fired by the ravagers. She retaliated with grenades, killing one of the bugs. Ulera's biotic combo finished the other one. The growls of husks came up from under the station. Soon, the creatures were clawing their way out of the ventilation ducts and drainage pipes. Wraith curb stomped one before decapitating another with a shotgun blast, but no matter how many they killed, an endless wave of the creatures replaced them.
"Squad, incoming bombing run!" Sara appropriately ducked behind cover as the Kodiak flew by, pounding the battlefield with explosive shots.
"We've got to get out of here!" Yelled Qurt. They were pinned down with the last booster they'd deactivated. The path leading back to Redemption and Liberty had collapsed, and the only other route was through the bulk of the reaper forces. Sara was running low on reserves, and Wraith and Ulera were getting exhausted from using so many biotic attacks.
"I know," said Ulera, suppressing the enemy, "But unless we have a plan, we'll get slaughtered taking them head-on!"
"We don't have much choice, now do we?" responded Wraith. "We stay here, we die for sure. Who's with me?" Sara fired into the enemy swarm, thinking about what Wraith had said.
"I'm with you!" she called out. Qurt nodded his assent. Ulera shook her head.
"I think its suicide, but I don't see any alternative. May the Goddess be with us."
"Keelah se'lai…" Sara murmured to herself. Wraith whipped out his shotgun.
"Okay, we'll push up in twos. Qurt and Sara, you have the sniper rifles; cover us. Ready?" When confirmation was given, he and Ulera charged. Sara began dropping cannibals and husks while Qurt focused on taking out the marauders. Ulera and Wraith popped out of cover, suppressing the enemy long enough for Sara and Qurt to move up. Eventually, with this method they made it to the far side, where the path ended at a destroyed bridge. Down below them was a group of abandoned krogan tanks swarming with reapers. The squad fired down, trying to keep the husks from climbing the cliff.
"On our left!" called out Ulera. Sara looked up to see cannibals and marauders coming down a ladder. Tempest in hand, Sara started peppering the turian creatures to bring down their shields, allowing Ulera to take them down.
"There's too many of them!" Said Qurt, reloading to prepare for another wave of husks. "We need to block this entrance, so we can all focus our attention on one point!"
"Agreed!" said Wraith, "Anyone got a plan?" Sara glanced down at the series of tanks. An idea came.
"I do. Step back from the cliff!" She pulled off her grenade belt, freshly stocked, and tossed it down onto the road. It landed just where she'd wanted it, right on top of a pile of spilled munitions. Lining up her sights just right, she fired. The resulting explosion decimated the tank line, triggering the dormant munitions and bursting the fuel tanks. The bridge below them collapsed, taking the reapers with it. Dust choked the air; Sara's helmet highlighted her allies, allowing her an easier time. Qurt and Ulera were trying their best to protect their eyes and lungs, as they were without helmets.
"Sara, lets help 'em out!" Wraith said, already helping the turian to his feet. Sara grabbed Ulera's arm and led her to the ladder.
"Up the ladder; it should be clear up there." The asari nodded and disappeared over the edge. Qurt was up next. Before proceeding, Wraith put his hand on Sara's shoulder.
"That was quick thinking Sara. You may well have saved our lives." Stunned, Sara merely stammered out a thank you. Wraith chuckled before climbing after his fellow soldiers.
"Smooth, Sara." She muttered to herself before following. As she had guessed, the second level was mostly dust-free. Already, Qurt and Ulera had secured the perimeter, and had determined the path back to Liberty and Redemption was clear. As they were running across the open lot, Griggs came in on the radio.
"Squad, reaper battle group has exited the relay, I repeat: reapers inbound from the relay!" Sara's blood turned to ice. The guns still weren't online, and the ground forces were far from done. "You better get those guns back online ASAP!"
"Can you see anymore boosters?" asked Ulera. Lieutenant Doakes nodded to the squad as they entered the room. Sara noticed that one of the pilots was missing, a grim occurrence.
"Yes, there's an anomaly just below the ramp outside the firing control room. This should be an easy one." The squad dashed outside. Sara looked down the side to see a booster had been planted at the ladder's base. She slid down and deactivated it.
"All right, booster deactivated." She informed the rest.
"Excellent, I'll work on locating the last one. Wait… squad I'm reading large amounts of reaper signatures. Looks like they're commencing a massive offensive. Be ready, I'll support you in any way I can. Griggs out."
"Did you get that Doakes?" asked Qurt.
"Yea, sounds like this is about to end." The human marine popped in a fresh thermal clip. "Can't wait, we've spent too many lives here." They took their positions. Sara crouched behind a plate on the ramp, a clear shot extending out before her. The batarian was to her right. Sara wasn't sure where her friends were, but she thought she could make out Wraith's dirty white armor standing next to Doakes. It comforted her. There was a roar from across the field. Sara poked her head up to see what had made the noise.
"Ah shit!" Yelled the batarian, activating his blade armor. "We've got brutes!" The massive beast was rounding a corner. Its heavy, black metal claw clanked heavily as the beast used it like another leg. The heaving body seemed to be barely contained by the dead, brown skin. In fact, the back had split open, revealing the glowing spine hiding between ribs that protruded out like gnashing teeth. But to Sara, the worst part about the abomination was the turian part. The lower jaw was missing, leaving the skull to jut out at the end of the spine like some twisted, undead snake. As bullets began to pound the monstrosity it raised itself off the ground, pounded its chest, and let out another roar. Cannibals and husks began charging their position. Sara started putting down the encroaching enemies, spattering them all over the battlefield. The brute was closing; its heavy metal arm was curled infront of it like a shield, difflecting bullets like they were foam darts.
"Get back quarian, it's ganna charge!" Called out the batarian. Sara looked down. The brute, still meters from the bottom of the ramp, brought its claw up and, just as the batarian had said, charged. Thinking quickly Sara rolled out of the way, skidding in the blood-soaked entrance. The added lubrication caused her to slide uncontrollably into the dense firing control station. The wind knocked out of her, Sara looked up to see that the brute had brought its claw down right on the spot she had been occupying. It swiveled its head, dead eyes locking with hers. She tried to crawl away, but between fighting for air and fighting the slick blood, she merely managed to cote more of her body in the ichore. But before the beast could take another step, a biotic field encompassed its body. The beast cried out in rage, fighting the biotic force Ulera was holding it in. Wraith flipped out his lashs and slammed them down on the creature. The explosion ripped apart the armor plating covering the brute's abdomen, causing its internal organs to spill out. The glowing blue mess provided a clear and easy shot for Sara, who had managed to pull out her Tempest. Still lying down, she unloaded her entire magazine, ripping apart the weak point. The monster cried out one more time before it backed up too far and tumbled over the ramp edge. Sara hung her head, relief coursing through her. A hand grabbed hers.
"You okay? Sara, get up!" It was Wraith, and with his help she managed to stand.
"Thank you- both of you. Guess we're even now."
"I guess so." Said the Phoenix. "Now let's get back in this!" Sara brought up her rifle, reclaiming her position on the ramp.
Sara ducked down to avoid losing her head to a shot from a cannibal. Wraith stood up and hit the creature with a lash. He sunk down, clearly worn out from using so many biotic attacks. Sara made a silent vow to fight harder so that the man could conserve his energy.
"I'm running low!" said Qurt, steam jetting from his Phaeston. Doakes grabbed a belt of ammo from a nearby crate.
"Make these count!"
"Squad, I've got the last booster! It's on the bridge extending above the court yard." Sara looked up. It took her a moment to spot the dark machine atop the structure.
"We've got to get up there!" said Qurt.
"But how?" asked Ulera. "There's no access from this side." The comm. started beeping; sara's HUD read the signature as the Normandy.
"Commander, we've gotta bug out! Reaper ships are danger close, repeat, danger close!" Sara looked up in the sky; she didn't expect to see the enemy fleet, but an ominous feeling had settled on her. They were coming.
"Damn it! Get out of there Normandy. All right men, I'm coming in." Wraith dropped a marauder. The Kodiak did a quick bombardment, spun around, and hovered a few feet above the bridge. Griggs dropped out on the gun side, sword in hand. A few marauders ran at him from the base side, but there was a puff of dark energy where the Commander had been. Suddenly he materialized behind one creature, skewering its twisted heart before decapitating another. He placed his hand on the final machines head before blowing it off with some kind of hand mounted gun.
"Damn!" Qurt called out, impressed. Doakes gave an approving nod.
"All right men, I'm deactivating the booster! Cover me, will you?"
"Affirmative Commander." Said Ulera, blasting some cannibals. Wraith switched over to his trusty Phalanx, dropping cannibals and husks wherever they dared stand. Sara trained her cross hairs on a cannibal, only to have a burst from an Incisor rip it apart. The quarian looked at Qurt, who was giving her a sly smirk. Ulera was focusing on assisting her allies, lifting enemies out of cover and weakening armor. Griggs stood up and began firing down on the enemy forces.
"I got it! Now wait for me, I'm ganna restart the generators." He phased out and appeared behind the reaper line. Sara sniped a marauder that had begun to turn around. Qurt had put down a minefield, slowing, but not stopping the advance of the brutes that had begun to arrive on the battlefield. The console behind them beeped. In an instant, Doakes was at the computer.
"Commander, its powered! Rebooting systems now.
"Affirmative! Making my way back to you now. Pilot, you're cleared to use bombing runs at your own judgment."
"Copy that."
"How long until the systems are back online?" Asked Wraith.
"This station is pretty old; we installed some newer hardware when we deployed. I'd give it fifteen minutes." Sara glanced at the consol.
"Can I give it a try?" The Lieutenant gestured to the terminal and stepped back. Sara brought up her omni-tool. The century-and-a-half old system was taking too long; the reapers would begin landing by the time it was powered. Sara muttered to herself while entering updated coding.
"Now if this code was spliced into here… and this firewall was removed to compensate for this then-" She finalized the changes and the consol flickered to life. Griggs came in at that time and nodded in approval.
"Nice job Sara. Now let's get these guns online." The system VI chimed in
"Proximity alert: Unidentified ships nearing Tuchankan atmosphere. Recommend hostile retaliation." The targeting screen revealed several reaper destroyers and a Sovereign-class dreadnaught. Sara's heart beat faster. She noticed Griggs give Doakes a nod. She returned the motion and flipped open a glass case hiding a red button.
"Surprise mother fuckers." Said the marine as her hand came down on the trigger. The three guns boomed; the force of which shook the control room to its core. Sara caught herself on the control panel. Outside the reapers were thrown off their feet, allowing the Op Squads to finish some of them off.
"Did it work?" asked Ulera, picking herself up off the floor. Doakes ran to the targeting screen, where three red dots appeared, representing where the shots had gone. None of them were on a reaper.
"What? No that can't be!" Doakes slammed her fist on the terminal. "What the fuck?"
"Error: batteries uncalibrated." Answered the VI. "Auto calibrations will be complete in ten minutes."
"We don't have ten minutes." Said Griggs, thinking hard. There was the sound of cracking joints. Qurt finished rolling his neck as he approached the terminal.
"If turians are good at anything, it's calibrating big guns. Watch this." He went to work, cranking knobs and turning switches. Op Squad Rapture watched with held breath as the turian worked his magic. He stepped back, giving an affirming nod to Doakes. Without wasting a moment, the marine fired the cannons again. All eyes turned to the screen, where the reaper fleet was just entering the atmosphere. Three dots landed perfectly on three separate destroyers. The consol read them as direct and fatal hits. Sara ran outside just as the battery retorted again. Though difficult to see, the quarian could just make out several black specks crumbling into dust. Relief swamped over her at the sight.
"The dreadnaught's pulling out!" called out Doakes. Sara turned around, realizing her fellow soldiers had come out to watch the enemies' defeat too. On the platform, the reapers were retreating. Just then there was a flash in the distance. Sara's heart skipped a beat; her first thought was that a reaper had gotten past their defenses. A white stream of material shot across the sky, encompassing the entire expanse. Ivory particles drifted down like snow, cruising lazily on the breeze. Sara held out a hand and caught one, watching it gently drip out of her palm. The entire battlefield was quiet as everyone marveled at the sight.
"The cure…" said Ulera.
"Shepard did it…" continued a baffled Wraith.
"It wasn't just Shepard." responded Qurt. "We helped too."
"We did it. We did it!" said Sara, nearly breaking into laughter as she finished. Soon they were all repeating the statement, which broke into a chant. Over head, as the tired survivors celebrated the victory, turian fighters flew by, streaming bright victory colors in their wake. Sara had never felt so accomplished in her life. This day would go down in history; and she had helped make it happen. Sara, Wraith, Ulera, and Qurt looked out to where a blasted destroyer was crashing violently into the Tuchankan soil. Griggs joined them, and though he still wore his helmet, Sara could tell he was smiling at the sight.
"Well squad." He said as he turned around. "Ready to get back to it?"
For more information on the characters, please visit my companion story
"Alliance Database: N7 Special Ops"
And there we go. I apologize for the Doakes quote (you know the one) I just couldn't help it. Until next time; remember to never lose hope, and keelah se'lai.