Hello everyone! Sorry for the wait (especially to you Valtiel! :D) This would have been out yesterday, but my friends wanted to go bowling and I said I'd go... sooooo, sorry about that! :) Anyway, let's get to it! Keelah Se'lai!

Ch. 14: The Battle of Akuze Part 1

Akuze

Commander Shepard

"Loco!" James ran over to Shepard as he held his head in his hands.

Shepard grunted as he stood up. "The Leviathans... closer than I thought... turn on the shielding."

James nodded and opened his omnitool, along with the rest of the group. The anti-Leviathan shielding was useful, but took a significant amount of power from other systems. It would protect them from the Leviathan's control during the fight, however.

When they finished the group turned towards the door in front of them, and began moving away from the facility. All of the Alliance ships had left, so they needed to find some other way off of the planet. Perhaps a civilian ship, or an alien vessel of some kind. But first, they had to save the civilians from the incoming thralls.

The civilians ran past them, and attempted to find shelter in a nearby store. Shepard ordered the marines to get into defensive positions on the roadway, hoping to stall the enemy while the civilians tended to their wounded with medigel.

Shepard ducked behind a barrel as several Leviathan-controlled mercenaries started firing at them. Without armor and with only a pistol, he couldn't charge in as he normally would. Instead, he covered his team with supporting fire and some biotic powers. He had to leave the rest to the marines.

Kellerman activated his omnitool, sending an Overload at one of the mercenaries. His shields ripped away, and Greer took the chance to pelt the mercenary with incendiary rounds. James and Zaeed each blasted another mercenary away with their rifles, and crouched back into cover to reload.

The opposing mercenaries quickly found cover of their own as another wave of troops came in behind them. The new force was much larger, and a few creatures were charging forward, ahead of the rest.

"Those things are gonna tear us apart!" Greer yelled as he readied a concussive shot.

"Maybe I can cause a distraction." Kellerman replied as he began activating his combat drone.

Kellerman activated the drone and sent it towards the creatures. It zapped the nearest creatures, causing them to stop and click in anger. They attempted to strike the small drone, but it narrowly dodged the attacks, and continued zapping them.

The marines acted quickly, throwing incendiary grenades, incinerates, and concussive shots at the creatures. They let out deafening cries as they began burning up before falling into a crisped pile of corpses.

"Nice work, Kellerman." Greer smirked as he reloaded his rifle.

"Don't get comfy yet, rookie." Zaeed warned after taking down another merc. "Those guddamn things are everywhere."

As if on cue, a large thud came from behind them, and a clicking roar. A creature had jumped behind them, and prepared to strike.

"Shit!" Kellerman attempted to fire an Incinerate in a panic. The creature head-butted Kellerman, causing his Incinerate to fly into the air as the marine landed painfully on his back.

The creature immediately turned to Shepard, raising its sharp claw at him. The creature attempted to pierce the Commander's chest, but Shepard quickly formed a biotic barrier, causing the creature's attack to bounce back harmlessly. The creature momentarily stepped back, attempting to regain its footing, and Shepard took the chance. He focused all of his energy into his fist and smashed his Nova attack onto the creature's head. Its head burst open and its body fell, lifeless, to the ground.

"Damn bugs." Shepard said as he took cover again. "Kellerman, are you alright?"

Kellerman grunted as he sat up behind the crate. "Yeah... just give me a minute."

Zaeed fired another concussive shot and ducked back into cover. "We don't have a guddamn minute, we stop shooting we die."

Kellerman grunted again as he slowly got into position. "Yeah... I know..."

The group, despite its early successes, was in a bad spot. They were pinned down guarding the roadway in front of the store as the civilians tended to their wounds, and the group's rear was almost completely exposed. Fortunately it seemed at least a few of the civilians were doctors or nurses, and were tending to the wounded quickly, so they might not have to hold out much longer...

Shepard ducked back into cover after another merc fell to the ground, and reloaded his pistol. This wasn't a fight they could stand much longer, especially without any kind of backup. Maybe if he tried the comms?

Shepard activated his comm and set it to his old frequency. "Hello, this is John Shepard, is anyone on this frequency?"

Static was the response, but Shepard had to try one more time. "I repeat, this is John Shepard, is anyone on this frequency?"

More static. Shepard cursed as he threw out a Pull at one of the mercs, who was sent flying into the air. As the marines pelted the merc with mass accelerator rounds, Shepard attempted the frequency one more time.

"God damn it someone respond!" Shepard demanded.

"Shep- hear me?" A muffled voice attempted to ask through the static.

"Hello? This is John Shepard, identify yourself." Shepard responded.

"Ar- kidding? Th- karian." The muffled voice attempted to answer.

Shepard smirked, finally recognizing the voice. "Garrus!"

"Th- and only!" Garrus replied through the static.

"I'm getting a lot of interference on this end, can you read me loud and clear?" Shepard asked.

There was silence on the comm for a moment, until a muffled bang rang through it.

"Is that better?" Garrus asked.

Shepard smirked. "Yeah, I can hear you fine now. Did you use your charm to woo that lady comms jammer into letting us speak?"

"You know the ladies like scars, Shepard. And when she heard I was a better shot than you she couldn't help herself." Shepard could just tell the Turian was smirking as well.

"I'm going to need you to cancel your date, Garrus. We need help over here." Shepard replied after taking a few more shots at the thralls.

"What's your location? I've got a few friends that want to help."

Shepard opened his omnitool. "I'm sending you the coordinates now. Hurry, we're in bad shape and are trying to save some civilians."

"Got it, we're on our way!"

Shepard threw another Warp at a Vorcha, causing the thrall to float like a balloon before it was pelted with incendiary rounds and fell to the ground. As the body landed on the ground ,however, another wave of thralls moved in, taking cover and attacking the group with renewed vigor.

"I hope that guddamn Turian's got an army with'em, or we ain't making it, Shepard." Zaeed said as he put some medigel on his wounded shoulder.

"If I understood him correctly, he should have every former crew member with him besides us or those on the Normandy." Shepard responded. "I'd say that counts as an army."

"We still should contact the Alliance, Shepard." Greer said as he got back into cover.

"No, I can't let them divert resources from saving the civilians to help me." Shepard handed Greer a thermal clip. "Here, looks like you're running low on thermal clips."

Greer nodded, and reloaded his rifle. "Thanks, Shepard... but why do you have spare thermal clips?"

Shepard unleashed a shockwave attack, knocking back a few mercs that had attempted to move closer before returning to cover. "I keep extras in my pockets. I always expect trouble."

Greer shook his head. "I think trouble always expects you too, Shepard."

"Maybe, but it's never prepared enough." Shepard smirked. "I haven't really lost to trouble yet."

"Less talking, more fighting you two!" James yelled as he reloaded his rifle.

Shepard fired at an Asari merc, causing her to slump to the ground before getting back into cover and reloading his pistol. He peered over the cover slightly, attempting to survey their opponents. Behind the many thralls were several transports they had landed in. Maybe, if they could defeat them and take those ships...

Shepard ducked back into cover as mass accelerator rounds blasted where his head once was. Taking those shuttles would be out of the question until help arrived. They just had to make sure they didn't blow them up in the mean time.

"Shepard, we've got a problem..." Greer said as he began firing behind them.

Shepard turned his attention to where Greer was firing, and as he expected a large horde of troops were closing in from behind them; they were completely exposed! There was only one option left...

"Into the store, now!" Shepard ordered as he sprinted out of the cover and towards the civilians.

The group sprinted behind him, and smashed through the glass before taking cover behind some shelves. Shepard took cover near the civilians, and prepared for the worst...

"Status report." Shepard ordered the nearest frightened civilian.

"I-I... W-we're unharmed, but most of us aren't." The civilian stammered. "Dr. Vendis is taking care of them behind the counter."

"Good, make sure everyone is ready to move soon, we may need to."

The civilian stared blankly at him for a moment.

"Did you hear me, sir?" Shepard asked.

"You cannot stop the apex race, Shepard!" The civilian said in the Leviathan's deep, horrible voice.

The civilian jumped at Shepard, attempting to grab his neck. Shepard's biotics flared, causing the civilian to fly back and slam into the wall, knocking him out.

Dr. Vendis and another civilian raised their pistols at Shepard, and began firing. Shepard used his biotics to throw a snowboard at the two humans heads, causing the snowboard to break in half and the two people to fall to the ground, unconscious.

"Shepard, what's going on back there?" James asked as he peered back at the civilians.

"The civilians are under Leviathan's control." Shepard replied. "I needed to incapacitate them."

James shook his head. "Damn war. They're a lost cause then Loco, we should get out of here."

As the Leviathan's forces began firing into the store and the marines returned fire, Shepard began looking for some form of escape route. He doubted there would be any secret escape hatch in what appeared to be a 'buy everything you need here' type store, but perhaps he could find... or make one.

Shepard snuck behind the counter, and checked on the civilians there. There were several unconscious people laying on small blankets, and it appeared that the medigel was working on them. The doctor and other civilian were both lying face up, with rather sizeable bumps on their head. Shepard knew that he had probably given them both a bad concussion, but it was better than shooting them...

Shepard looted the two civilians for their guns and thermal clips, then made his way farther back, to what looked like a stairwell to the upper floors. Fortunately for him and the group, there was also a door with a large exit sign above it.

"Squad, fall back! We've got a way out." Shepard called to the marines.

The marines pulled back from the shelves, and past the counter to rendezvous with Shepard. The Leviathan troops started pouring into the store in an attempt to give chase.

Shepard gave covering fire as the marines crammed into the stairwell. They took position at the door, and Shepard fell back to help. Zaeed opened the door, and the marines took point, surveying the alley they found themselves in.

"Shepard-Commander?" Sir Butler asked as he came out from behind a dumpster next to the door.

Shepard approached the Geth as the others closed the door and pushed the dumpster in front of it. "You're the Geth from the hotel, what are you doing here?"

"I was fired after telling my boss I displeased Shepard-Commander and his family. I deserve to be a bum." Sir Butler's head flaps drooped.

"I don't remember you doing anything besides asking if we wanted ice cream." Shepard sighed and handed the Geth a pistol. "We don't have time to talk, take this gun and help us."

Sir Butler nodded. "Acknowledged, I will make up for my mistake. Lead on, Shepard-Commander."

The group made their way through the alley, and Zaeed peered out past the end building's wall when they reached it.

"Too many for a head-on fight." Zaeed cursed as he turned back to the group. "They'll tear us a new arsehole if we try that route."

"We need to do something..." Shepard shook his head as he stood a few feet behind the others. "But what?"

Suddenly Sir Butler pushed Shepard, causing Shepard to fall to the ground as he said, "Hostile organic, optical camouflage!"

The Geth cried in synthetic pain as the monomolecular blade cut him down, causing white synthetic fluid to pour out of Sir Bulter's torso. Echo pulled his blade out of the synthetic, and kicked his body to the ground.

"Your turn, Shepard." Echo smiled darkly as he pointed the blade at Shepard's throat.

Author's note: Aaaaaaaaaaaand cliffhanger! :P You all knew Echo was coming back right? I couldn't just throw out the Cerberus Assassin that easily! :D Anyway, I hope you enjoyed! Remember to favorite, follow, review, etc., it's a great help! See you next time, and Keelah Se'lai! :)