They had been on the outskirts of Horizon for well over an hour. There weren't any signs of battle. In fact everything seemed empty more than assaulted. The rolling plains stood eerily silent as houses reminded everyone that this was not an abandoned settlement, it was someone's livelihood. Both Red and Blue team were ready for anything, but hell was an unpredictable beast.
Upon nearing the city limits, an enormous ship was seen. It was near the center of the colony, and looked like a flying wasp's nest. The team couldn't focus on it for long.
"EDI, can you get a lock on that ship?" Shepard asked.
Instantly she replied, "No commander, any shot would likely cause major collateral damage"
"Ok, looks like we stick with plan A; blue team fall in. Red, status?"
"Red team reporting entering the main city" Garrus barked into the com, close behind him were the rest of his squad. There is no Vakarian without Shepard, he thought to himself.
"Blue team entering also. Fifty meters west of your location, over and out." The commander replied.
Upon entering the city, a soft drumming was heard, similar to a dragonfly flying nearby, but a little louder.
"Red, enter the building immediately, hostile contacts on my radar." The team followed without question, their radar had gone from empty to a sea of registered organics. Garrus still was at the twelve o'clock; Tali and Jacob covering the six, while Aj took the nine, Miranda the three.
Before they could advance on the likely hostilities, everyone heard a bellow. "I AM KROGAN!" It wasn't even through their com unit.
"Blue team, hostiles engaged, repeat engaged. Collector weapons a new beam, unknown strength. Try not to find out."
Red team advanced through the building, and upon opening the front door, saw what looked to be giant bipedal insects. There were nine of them, dutifully surrounded with a few strange looking coccoon-like pods. Garrus took the first shot with his new Viper; a hybrid assault/sniper rifle would serve the deadly turian quite nicely. If the first shot didn't kill the Collector albeit a direct headshot, the insuing flames boiling its skull finished the job. "OPEN FIRE!" He bellowed.
His orders were a mood point. The team executed the rest in an instantaneous and perfectly fluid motion.
In the background, Tali lifted her tool, "Go get them Chiktikka!" The drone ran towards the hostiles, but never made it. The beams made short work of the poor thing. She still shot an Incinerate at one, burning it alive.
Jacob began using his Eviscerator, and managed to hit one with a few cryo rounds, then biotically slamming the frozen being into the ground, shattering it to pieces.
Miranda had thrown a Warp at a different one, and threw in a combo with a biotic pull, which Tali quickly took advantage of and killed it with her Scimitar shotgun.
Aj threw out an Incinerate as well, killing one, and opened fire with his Revenant on another. Neither had a chance, and both burst into flames for different reasons.
The remaining three opened fire, but were soon overwhelmed. Albeit powerful, their weapons were not fully-automatic Cain's. Aj jumped from cover and started raining hell with his weapon, and Garrus lobbed one of Zaeed's infamous incendiary grenades, taking out one and causing the second to fall right into Aj's firing lane. The third one was taken out by Miranda's highly accurate Locust; it didn't even have time to freeze before it had succumb to her bullets.
"Red team, so far so good. Hostiles down" Garrus informed.
"Blue team, took down a dozen. Courtyard ahead, surround and flank. Out"
The teams ran into position, Shepard's squad actually had much less cover, but thankfully Garrus's accurate rifle along with Chiktikka managed to assist in causing enough of a distraction. The five Collectors again stood no chance from the nine squad members fire.
The teams reunited, but ahead, they saw over 20 of the damn insects. One of them, in the middle, started to glow. 'ASSUMING DIRECT CONROL' it boomed, clearly overheard by all. It looked as though it was shattering out of itself, but merely glowed and focused on the advancing parties.
Even Grunt did not charge at the many beams headed their way. Blue team headed left, which had a small amount of cover, and ended in a small building. There was a large bulkhead blocking the way, but that was a problem for later.
Red team stood behind the Collector's leftover pods, they made surprisingly decent cover. A few shots by Miranda and a quick shot by Garrus caused two of the beasts to fall, while Tali took out one which was trying to get behind Blue squad. Aj continued to rain fire with his weapon, and took one out. The eerily glowing being began to advance. It shot a few strange and slow moving orbs, which were easily dodged.
"RED TEAM CONCENTRATE FIRE!" Garrus ordered, and began shooting at it. His rounds were seemingly hitting an inpenitrable barrier. Miranda and Jacob both sent a Warp, which seemed to weaken it considerably. Aj and Tali both started to shoot as soon as the biotics had finished, and the barrier fell. The creature was still not slowing down. It bellowed, "YOUR RESISTANCE IS FUTILE!"
As it approached, merely a few meters away from the Red squad, Blue team had reached a flanking position. The Collectors behind the leader started to aim moreso at the enraged krogan and his shotgun and expert mercenary's Mantis, but met a firey death at their hands. The two enraged members had to duck from the powerful beams after thir respective assaults. A flashbang along with a Locust taking out two enemies, while one was slammed and another shot to shit with a Revenant proved the other two's affinities for destruction.
The particularly powerful Collector had slowed down thanks to Tali's shotgun at close range along with Aj's fire, but was still not dead. Miranda and Jacob started raining hell, and Garrus was aiming at its joints. After a few well-placed rounds by the turian, its right arm disintegrated. Before it had time to react, the team went all out. For a split-second, the creature was partially frozen and in flames at the same time, but it eventually crumbled to ashes.
The remaining dozen Collectors had been focusing on Blue team, so Red team advanced. Grunt took the initiative, and charged, while Zaeed and Shepard followed close behind. The beasts stood no chance. A close range Mantis round took out another, creating a rather large hole in one's torso, while Grunt grabbed one, threw it to the ground, and stomped on it's face, crushing it. Shepard managed to take two down with a highly accurate burst, both screeched in agony before they burst aflame.
The advancing Red team assisted admirably. A few well placed Incinerates from Tali and Aj took down two more, and Miranda decapitated another. Jacob got one close range, freezing it, then another shot ultimately turning it into a thousand flecks of ice. Garrus kept covering fire from a distance, and took two more down.
As the remaining three tried to fly away and flee, they were unfortunate enough to land in the scopes of Zaeed's Mantis, and Kasumi's Locust. Grunt grabbed the third before it was out of range, threw it to the ground, and shot it in the face, laughing at the destruction.
"Kasumi hack the door open!" Shepard ordered, behind him, Zaeed and Grunt were laughing at the destruction, while he, Miranda, and Jacob took the quick pause to snag a quick energy boost. The theif scurried to the door to follow orders.
"Tali, how are you holding up?" Aj asked.
"Just fine, don't worry." Noticing his worried look did not abate, she added, "Really, these bosh'tets have nothing on me and you." She happily ended.
"Sorry, just can't help it." He walked over to a Collector and took its weapon, which was surprisingly heavy, and brought it to Shepard.
"Commander?" The man turned and looked at the gun wide eyed. "Mind me taking this since you made me leave my Avalanche onboard?"
"Yeah, sure. Actually..." He jogged over to Zaeed and Grunt and pointed at Aj. Both grinned, and soon four squadmates had one of their deadly beam rifles. Garrus looked conflicted on the prospect, but patted his sniper and walked to the bulkhead.
"Door's open Shep!" The nine squadmates advanced in unison, but it was an empty room...until they heard a small noise from the corner.
"We know you're here!" Shepard bellowed, and a shaking dark-skinned older male popped out of the corner.
"But... how? They took everyone... Lilith...Sam..." He stammered.
"We're here to help, but we can't target their ship"
"We have AA towers, but they weren't calibrated properly before..." Only Garrus had any sort of reaction, a slight smile.
"Were at?"
"Outside, through the buildings, and past another bulkhead...but I can't..."
"Just stay put, we're going to take care of it." They all left the room, and the bulkhead behind them sealed shut.
The two teams took a right, and saw not only Collectors, but husks and two large bulbous humanoids, Scions.
Without orders, Red team began opening fire on the right flank, which had the two Scions and a few Collectors, while Blue team headed to the left, mostly husks and some of the Collectors as well. The blue team easily cut through their side, three beam rifles in the hands of the deadly trio slaughtered the insects and human abominations without mercy, while Kasumi picked off any stragglers.
Red team had a lot more trouble, the scions were heavily armored. Aj quickly focused his fire on one the things, while Miranda and Jacob biotically slammed a couple of Collectors. Chiktikka vas Paus distracted the other scion, while Garrus shot it in the face, over, and over. The scion shot a strange shockwave at the two biotics, momentarily knocking them to the ground. After a brief cover from the beams, Aj moved his own beam rifle towards the scion Garrus had been aiming at while Tali took up some of the slack on the few remaining Collectors. She would not be able to hold them at bay for long, and thankfully she wouldn't have to. Another shotgun joined hers while a Locust cut through a further target. Garrus and Aj finally took down the first scion, but the second was slowly advancing.
As soon as Blue team finished, they aimed their rifles at the remaining scion. Taking the initiative, the rest of the team focused on the disgusting creation, and it toppled over within moments of the overwhelming fire. The last two Collectors were annihalated by a quarian and dark-skinned human's combined shotgun fire.
"Kasu-"
"I got it!" The theif had already began sprinting towards the bulkhead as the scion fell.
"EDI can you connect to the AA guns?"
"No commander, I will need a constant link to properly calibrate the towers."
The words sunk in, a preliminary scan in front of them showed a couple dozen organics, and the terminal required was right in the middle. "A constant link?"
"Yes commander"
"Commander, I can do it just cover me." Tali exclaimed.
"What the hell Tali?" Aj questioned, but he was ignored.
"Everyone, advance to the middle, surround Tali and provide cover fire."
"Bulkhead is ready Shep!" The door opened right after.
The entire team ran for the center terminal; everyone was shooting on the go. Everyone's shields were flickering, but still holding. They all got to the middle and faithfully surrounded the quarian while she linked EDI to the terminal.
"ETA 30 seconds commander. Beginning targetting."
Four well aimed beam rifles continued to hold back the insects. Kasumi and Miranda picked off any husks in the distance before they got close, while Garrus kept a steady rate of fire with his Viper, decapitating more than a handful of the bastards of both types. Anything what got in close was quickly taken down by Jacob's Eviscerator, while he used biotics for anything out of optimal firing range.
After about twenty seconds of well orchestrated slaughter, a giant floating beast came by. It looked simiar to a Collector, but one which had mated with a hanar. It had husks inside its gaping maw, and began to fire on the team's position.
Aj, Shepard, and Miranda began shooting at the new abomination, which was quickly closing in on their location. Jacob threw a Warp at it, but it didn't seem to have much of an effect.
"Upload complete" EDI announced; the guns began firing, but the Praetorian had already aimed at the terminal. Tali jumped out of the way, but still was knocked into a crate. She got up and sent an Incinerate at the bosh'tet what nearly killed her.
Aj ran over to her, and began firing along with her at the creature. The beast was getting the full force of the other seven squadmates, but didn't seem to abate. When Grunt got in close for a charge, it biotically slammed itself into the ground, knocking the young fighter a few meters back. He got back up even more pissed off and continued with the beam. It took another full ten seconds of literally constant fire to get the thing to disintegrate.
All the while, EDI had been firing at the ship; as soon as the Praetorian died, though, it began to fly off, seemingly uninjured even by the hail of artillery.
The group watched in silence as their target flew away; Shepard thought for a moment to tell EDI to give chase, but decided it was too much of a risk. Thousands of colonists were onboard.
After it left visual range, Shepard slammed his rifle to the ground. The team had scattered around besides Garrus, Tali, and Aj looking for other possible hostilities. "GOD DAMNIT"
The man they had seen earlier sprinted towards the four, and glared at them expectantly, "DO SOMETHING! They have most of the colony... my wife... "
Shepard had to look at the man and tell him what he least wanted to say, "I'm sorry. We did all we could..."
"Shepard, we did more than anyone else could've." Garrus added.
A bulkhead opposite they came from opened, and a fully armored female walked towards them. The man's glare only intensified, "Shepard? That Alliance hero? How can you just stand there when they took nearly everyone?"
The woman was only a few meters away, her helmet still covering her face; she was in full Alliance armor.
"Shut the hell up, what did you do to help?" Aj barked "You hid like a damn coward while Shepard actually did something?"
The woman stopped in her tracks. "Sh...Shepard?" The man looked at the woman and mumbled 'damn Alliance dogs' and walked off.
That voice...can it really be...He took of his helmet and let it drop to the ground. He looked at her and managed a weak smile. "Lieutenant Ashley Williams..."
The woman gasped, and did the same. "But... you, you're dead!" Her face was one of complete astonishment. The other three stood still, but two of them were smiling at seeing their old friend again.
"I was dead Ash... Cerberus spent a fortune getting me back alive." He took a step closer and his smile grew a little.
"So it's true... you're alive...and now Cerbeus?" She ended almost yelling, causing him to frown.
"Apparently the Alliance and the Council pissed on everything I did while I was gone!" He angrily yelled right back.
"I can't believe you John. I... I loved you, and you left me for two years without a single word, and now you're back with terrorists?" She looked more distraught now than angry.
"I've been dead damnit! It's been three weeks for me since the Normandy was lost. Cerberus is the only group who's working to stop the Collectors! I've been trying to cont-"
"How do you know Cerberus isn't behind all of this Shepard? They could easily be tricking you!"
"Do you think they're tricking me too Ash? Do you think they'd even want a turian around unless it was that important?" Garrus interjected.
"G..Garrus?" She choked.
"We're here for Shepard, Ashley, he knows what he's doing" Tali added happily, but tensed up in anger after the response.
Shepard was about to grin at just how lucky he was to have his two closest friends have his back when Ashley yelled.
"You shut the fuck up bitch! You're just try-" Aj strided up to her and slapped her in the face. He loaded his Revenant and aimed it at her heard. She looked at the unknown man with a fear she hadn't attained since staring down a Reaper.
"Don't you ever talk to her li-" But he was stopped by Shepard grabbing his shoulder and pulling him back. Aj nodded and walked over to the visibly shaken Tali and grabbed her hand while Garrus scowled at his former crew member.
"I'm sor-" He whispered but Tali embraced, him seeking comfort from her former friend's second hateful remark the last two times they've met.
Ashley got up and glared at Aj, but said nothing further. She looked at Shepard even angrier. "You betrayed everything you stood for. I can't believe I let you use me!" Tears began to flow from her eyes. "Well you know what? I found someone who actually cares about me now." She pulled out her armored right glove and revealed a golden band.
Shepard's mind suddenly went blank...Sh...she's...married..and hates me... He sulked for a moment but her shouting made him snap.
"I'm proudly Ashley Bernard now." She replied in an amused tone. "Not with a heartbreaking, backstabbing trai-"
"SHUT THE HELL UP WOMAN!" Shepard barked above her voice. His commanding tone even caused Garrus to flinch and Tali to stop and look up.
"If you want to hide behind your fucking Alliance, then go right ahead. Unlike you worthless mutts, I plan on doing something about" He motioned with his arms at the empty colony "this. Don't you ever call me a traitor. If you're too damn stupid to see what the real threat is then that's your own problem. But don't you EVER FUCKING SPEAK TO ME AGAIN!" He picked up his helmet and stormed off, never looking back. Garrus quickly followed.
Tali glanced at the woman; she was speechless, shocked, and broken in one shout. Aj grabbed her hand and tugged, resisting the urge to shoot the psycopathic lady on the spot. They both saw her trudge away wordlessly.
After a few seconds of walking away, Shepard pulled up his com, "EDI, send down the shuttle. I need to get out of this place."
"Understood commander." The synthetic replied.
The rest of the team had heard his outburst, and stood a bit back from their leader. Only a select few knew who the lady was, but everyone could tell by his face that now was not the time for questions. Garrus merely put a talon on his shoulder for a moment before joining the crew.
Tali could only squeeze Aj's hand tighter watching their former commander stare emptily at the courtyard, heartbroken.