A/N: This chapter has been put into a lot of thought for your enjoyment.
10-27-2183 1275 hours (Citadel standard time)
The small yet elaborately decorated conference room was a favorite place for the councilors to discuss sensitive matters without worrying about prying eyes of the public and had nothing to hide. However, this was not the case and this room had been used to discuss classified intelligence and matters of citadel security. It was now that the current councilors were in this room and were discussing such matters. The four Councilors sat around the large wooden and plastic table.
"I'd say now is the perfect time to attack the Terminus systems and end their tyranny on their people and ours!" Udina yelled across the table. The Council was currently arguing what would be the correct form of measure in response to the terminus systems due to the actions of Balak and the slavers.
"I must disagree with you. We have evidence that the Hegemony is not actively supporting Balak as a whole." Argued Valern. He, unlike Udina, believed that a war with the terminus systems would solve nothing and only leave a power gap for someone, possibly worse, to take it.
Sparatus opted to provide his opinion on the matter. "While I disagree with my fellow colleague Udina in taking a fight to the Hegemony, I believe it best to increase fleet production and crack down on raids and pirate bases harder."
"But that will only increase their desperation. There must be a peaceful way to deal with the Batarians. We can ask them for reparations and as a show of good faith we can allow them to trade with Citadel species." Tevos suggested.
"The only thing Batarians and pirates will ever trade is people for money. There is no negotiating with them." Udina snorted.
"Correct me if I'm wrong Councilor, but didn't you have something similar on your planet Earth a century back. The rouge country of North Korean then is very similar to the Batarians now, yet it took you almost a century for you to retaliate. May I ask why that was?" Valern asked Udina. In truth is was a very similar situation, though there were some noticeable differences.
Udina hated the smug smile the salarian councilor had on his face after asking him that question. Udina knew it was meant to discredit him, however he would counter the councilors point. "You are correct Councilor, however that was because the North Koreans were brainwashed and any direct war would have likely caused a nuclear response by their government. However that all changed when the Alliance created the titans. I'm not at liberty to discuss what occurred, however I assure you that the North Korean government was broken and after a massive relief effort by various countries, the people of North Korea finally had the option to step out of the shroud of terror that had held them in bondage for so long. Today there is no North or South Korea only Korea and that is all thanks to direct intervention." Udina stated his point and stared at the salarian councilor with a smirk of his own.
"But if they were not directly involved then we cannot punish them. After all this was an isolated incident." Tevos then leaned forward in her chair looking at each councilor. "If we declare war, not only will it be bloody, but we can expect the Hegemony to abandon all rules of warfare and use similar tactics as the Krogans during the rebellions. Is that what we want, to send our brave men and women to the gates of death for the actions of one man?" Each councilor was affected by her words. Even Udina had to admit, it was a good point, said even better.
Sparatus, as a turian, knew the hard life that was the military and the sacrifices many families have to endure for many more to live freely. "While I am reluctant to send our men and women to their deaths, we cannot let these attacks go unanswered. If we do nothing we risk more pirates becoming braver and conducting riskier raids. Look at Mindoir or Elysium, already the enemy is marching towards our gates and it's our responsibility to push them back."
"What do you suggest Councilor?" Tevos asked him.
Putting his elbows on the table, he went into deep thought of what must be done. Finally he said "Would an embargo not work? Surely their economies are crippled and the threat of sanctions should be enough to bring the Batarians to the negotiating table."
"I'm afraid not. This would only cause an increase in their desperation for supplies and materials, thus leading to an increase of pirate raids on our colonies and shipping lanes even with our current defenses in place." Valern stated. While he would like nothing more than to ensure the Salarian Union protection from such a fate, he knew the Batarians would hold nothing back when they have nothing to lose.
"Well we must do something." Udina urged. As humanity's councilor, he would insure that his people will be safe from such barbarians.
While the Alliance hardly got attacked by pirates, their expansion into the Traverse and their small navy has caused some civilians to be captured and sold into slavery. Surprisingly enough, any humans captured would often escape with many other captives. Their stories ranged from sneaking away to staging a riot and escaping in the chaos. Udina was not an idiot, while he was thankful for the return of many captured humans, he knew that they alone couldn't escape from pirates or the Batarian military. He has heard rumors that Red Hand mercenaries have come across men and women in white and yellow armor operating in territory, even they would consider suicide.
'Could this possibly be the creation of an Alliance black op team? If so why wasn't I informed? Surely something as politically volatile as this would cause the Alliance to inform me of such a move.' Udina was in deep thought about the implications of such actions on the Alliance part.
Little did he know, however that Valern was also having similar thoughts. Gathering reports of STG teams operating in the terminus systems, he concluded someone must be assistance humans exclusively in escaping, but the question was who?
'It seems not even Udina is aware of who is helping humans escape from the Batarians. I do not know to either be relieved or worried. Udina not being informed tells me that he has no connections with these operatives, but, as humanity's councilor, if he doesn't know then who can? Must see to it to gather information from the Shadow Broker' Valern thought.
"I agree, Councilor. Therefore I have a proposal: If the Batarians do not take responsibility for the actions of Balak, then they risk direct Council intervention on their borders." Tevos proudly stated.
"It seems plausible enough. Though I still argue to have spectres deployed to ensure that their dreadnought production is either sabotaged or delayed." Sparatus suggested. He knew that the Batarians were building large cruisers and had a total of nine dreadnoughts in their possession. While still remarkable far behind the Hierarchy, he wanted to make sure they don't ever posses more. Since they were not a part of the council, they were unbound by the treaty of Farixen and that worried him.
"And what about the geth?" Valern question.
"The geth have not been seen outside the Persus Veil for almost three centuries, even we saw on footage that the geth attacking us are nothing alike to the ones the quarians have encountered. For now I'd recommend we remain vigilant and do nothing to provoke them." Tevos answered.
"What of the quarians? No doubt they will use this as an excuse to attack the geth and will no doubt be obliterated. While whatever they decide to do is their own business, I fear an attack on the geth may provoke them to war with all organics not just the quarians." Sparatus concluded. He was well aware that the geth posses a navy almost as big and strong as the turians and this unnerved him. If the Hegemony and the geth ally against the Citadel, the results will be catastrophic.
"Let the Asari republics deal with the quarians, Councilor. Now I realize you've also called a meeting to petition for the Volus to be granted a council seat."
Nodding at Tevos and stood up and began walking back and forth. "The Volus have been the Citadel's bankers for almost the entirety of its creation and I ask you that if this is not enough contribution, then nothing ever will. The Volus are mounting immense pressure on my government and without their merchantable expertise we cannot maintain our large fleets and maintain our role as the galactic peace keepers."
Udina then began to talk. "It is true Councilors. Many of our corporations have contracts with the Volus protectorate and our economy is strongly intertwined. If they are denied a council seat then it is likely that they will recede from Council markets. Frankly councilors, our economy is run by them and I fell it is time to grant them a higher responsibility."
Tevos listen to both her co-workers statements. She knew that Volus corporations have been departing from Asari markets, resulting in massive amounts of credits lost. Sooner or later, she realized, the Volus were going to get a council seat. She looked at Valern and asked him "What do you think Valern? Should we grant them a seat on the council?"
Sighing, he replied "If we don't I fear the Salarian Union will have a depression and right now they can't afford that with my government discussing settling five garden worlds and another dozen for mining."
Nodding her head, she turned to Sparatus and said "Very well. Sparatus inform the Volus protectorate that they will be given their council seat."
Sparatus gave a bow and was preparing to leave, before a spectre walked into the room. "Councilors forgive me, but we have a call from Commander Shepard and he says it's an emergency."
"Put them on the private line." Tevos ordered.
The spectre nodded her head and got on her radio to delivers Tevos' orders. Moments later Commander Shepard's hologram appeared in the room.
"Shepard what can we do for you?" Udina asked wanting to get straight to the point.
"Councilors, I don't have much time, but we need to mobilize a fleet and move on Eden Prime. I've just learned Balak is sending his troops there as we speak and he is going to attempt to obtain the conduit." Shepard explained to them.
"What exactly is the conduit, Commander?" Valern asked, wanting to know more on the device.
"You're not going to believe me, but based on a prothean beacon, it is many porthean stasis pods with live protheans in them!"
"By the goddess! Live protheans? Commader, are you sure of this?" Tevos asked him.
"Hundred percent, Councilor."
"Very well, Shepard. I'll get online with Hackett and attempt to get the Alliance fourteen and thirteen fleets to mobilize on the planet." Udina quickly said, getting up from his seat and almost running towards the Alliance embassy.
"And the Salarian Union will provide the salarian second fleet to assist." Valern reassured.
Shepard nodded, thankful for the extra support. "Thank you councilor, I must go now to prepare my team."
"Good luck Commander." Sparatus told him. As much as he would like to also deploy a fleet to the planet, the Hierarchy's fleets were busy engaging Batarian and Geth forces elsewhere.
After the video feed was cut off the remaining councilors sat there contemplating the possibility of live protheans.
SSV Corvette Normandy
Commander Shepard was in the weapons locker room gathering all the weapons they had. Everyone knew it might come to a massive battle and everyone was packing extra armor, weapons, and other necessities. He skimmed through the Normandy's inventory to see what heavy weapons that they had. He decided to take the cain, grenade launcher, and missile launcher with them; Wrex and Ramirez grabbed the heavy weapons and made sure that they were all loaded.
"Joker how much longer until we exit FTL? he asked.
"We will be arriving at Eden Prime in four hours." came the quick reply of Joker.
"When we exit, I want the Normandy's scanners and sensors online and a full scan of the system."
"Roger that Commander."
Getting extra clips for his weapon, Ramirez asked "So how bad do you think it'll get down there?"
"I don't know Ramirez, but we have to prepare for the worst." Shepard told him.
"Shepard, whatever happens there it's been an honor serving with you." Garrus told him in his usual flanging voice.
"Garrus make sure to duck out there."
"Turians don't know how to duck, but I'll see what I can do."
Tali and Nyreen were in the medical bay gathering as many medi-gel as they could carry.
"By the amount of medi-gel you are taking I'd imagine that you getting for a war." Dr. Chakwas told them after seeing the amount of medi-gel that they were taking. They'd practically took all her supplies, leaving behind empty cabinets.
"Well doctor we expect the worst down there." Nyreen countered.
"Just be careful out there dear. We have already lost a beloved member of this crew." She said solemnly.
"I will doctor, don't worry."
"This should be enough for your mission." Daro said in her accented voice.
"Thank you. I really appreciate it." Tali said.
They left the medical bay and towards the elevators. Stepping inside, Nyreen pressed the button for the elevator to go to the cargo bay. Once there, they began loading the medi-gel on blue jays.
Approx. 4 hours later
Shepard was tasked with stopping Balak. Already it had cost him to lose a fellow friend and he would be damned if Balak wasn't stopped here. Whether or not there were live protheans on Eden Prime, Shepard was about to find out. On the bridge he stood behind Joker awaiting exit from FTL.
"All systems are online and functional. We will be exiting FTL in 1 minute. Preparing FTL exit protocols." Joker reported.
Shepard nodded and began walking towards the elevator. On his way there, on the comms, he said "Crew members of the Normandy, I know you are tired. We have lost a good friend getting here, but we got here. We will ensure his sacrifice was not in vain. We will not go down without a fight and we will stop Balak here. Strike with speed and courage. Let this upcoming battle carry us to peace. Good luck to all of you."
"Dropping from FTL….now Commander." Joker reported.
Immediately upon exiting warp space, Shepard and the Normandy's crew witnessed an entire force of over 3000 ships blocking the planet. The force consisted of various batarian, geth, and even some reaper, both destroyers class and the dreadnought class, ships.
"We are going to need help Commander." Joker reported upon laying eyes
Just then the system's relay was powering up and the entire Salarian second fleet arrived. Moments later the Alliance thirteen and fourteen fleets arrived through warp space.
The voice of Admiral Hackett was heard throughout the ship and many others. "Shepard, I need you to meet up with the ground invasion and deal while with the ground forces we'll deal with the ships."
Shepard was quick to respond. "Sir, who's leading the ground invasion?"
Hackett merely said "An old friend. You see soon enough, now go commander." He then cut the link.
Many of the corvettes in the Alliance navy cloaked and with a frigate escort descended on the planet. Hackett had organized his ships into four battle groups. Battle group 1, which contained all carriers with a guard of corvettes and a few destroyers, were to stay at the rear and deploy their aircraft to make strafe runs on weaken ships. Battle group 2, which had the remaining frigates pair up with destroyers, were to attack cruisers and frigates in order to weaken them. The cruisers and battle cruisers, which made up battle group 3 , were ordered to engaged the reapers destroyers and the batarian dreadnoughts. This allowed battle group 4 to destroy the larger reapers ships. Of course this meant all battle ships and dreadnoughts, which were few in number, would be reserved for the larger ships and would only provide covering fire.
SSV Dreadnought Heart of Sol
Hackett took a quick glance around the familiar bridge of one of humanity's most advanced and powerful ship. It was illuminated by blue overhead lights and orange consoles. He sat in the center of the bridge, amongst his men.
He made sure to have scrolled through the various reports and data streaming into his omni-tool on the details of his mission. He knew he was against long odds, but he was confident that he would not fail. Twice he'd made sure that the joint fleet was operating at peak performance. Reactors were operating at full capacity, shields were at one hundred percent, weapons were online on the various ships, and each had their orders.
'They are ready of what is about to be asked of them.' Hackett thought looking at his men.
"Sir the Salarian Admiral in on the line requesting a connect." Madison, the ships AI, informed Hackett.
"Put him on."
The hologram of the salarian admiral, Jaleon Redrin replaced the image of Madison. "Admiral according to my analyst the reaper forces have shut down the orbital systems. If a ground team can recapture the power plants on the planet, then we should be able to bring the back online."
"Very well, Admiral I'll deploy A.C.S and Alliance troopers to take the power plants, until then I fear we must make do with what we have."
Bowing his head, the Salarian Admiral disconnected the link from Hackett's ship.
'Probably thought that I would've actually requested an STG team to recapture the plants. Like they wouldn't try to figure out how the reapers managed to disable them in the first place.' Hackett thought.
"Madison have the relay nuclear mines been detonated?" he asked.
"Yes, sir. My calculations show a massive debris field."
"Good. have all carriers move to that location with an escort."
"Very well, sir." Madison hologram then vanished from the bridge.
He got on the comms and said, in his usual gruff voice "All ships move in and engaged the enemy forces."
The council and reaper fleets exchanged heavy fire, lighting the darkness of space. The Alliance had a total of over 16000 space-capable aircraft, ranging from drones to their fighters and bombers. The 3600 drones of the Alliance navy sped towards the enemy fleet and began strafing runs. Of course they would be slaughtered if they engaged larger ships, which is why they were used only on frigate class vessels and enemy aircraft, depleting them in order for the Alliance and Salarian bombers to begin their runs.
The fleet of 600 ships moved together, almost in precise synchronization like a ballet formation. The larger ships having longer range, fired first on both sides. The enemy fleet had the advantage of rate of fire and numbers. However, Hackett had the advantage in power and while his ships fired at a slower rate, they did not have to discharge their main weapons on a planet's magnetic field. He knew he had to get the enemy fleet away from the planet or else they could continue their level of fire.
"Sir, the enemy fleet is maneuvering and orienting itself into attack formation." Madison informed.
"What of their weapons systems?" Hackett asked.
"I'm detecting a large concentration of heat from the enemy ships. Sir, they are powering up their Mass Accelerators and are firing…..now!"
Thousands of explosions rocked the entire Human fleet. Massive orbs of pure energy ripped apart some of the frigates and corvettes that were making planet fall. However, the majority managed to make it and while their loss was depressing, it allowed the Alliance frigate and destroyer battle group to move towards the enemy's right flank.
"Sir the frigates Vodograd and Thermopylae are down." The AI informed Hackett.
"Tell the cruisers to fire their disruptor torpedoes and geothermal missiles in knife fights and to save their rail gun cannons for long range fire. And I want targeting solutions on their large ships.
"Aye, Admiral. Anything else?"
"Have battle group four fire their missiles on the nearest target ."
"Very well." The Heart of Sol's AI delivered his orders to the Alliance battle group.
Hackett had only one other dreadnought at his disposal, the Shield of Argos and he was saving it for their inevitable brawl with the 15 reaper capital ships.
The massive amount of the missiles and torpedoes that both classes of vessels managed to fire was incredible. Over 360 streams of bright lights flared across the open space and impacted on their targets. The blast managed to destroy 5 enemy cruisers and damaged 3 frigates.
Madison appeared on Hackett's tac-screen. "Sir the destroyers and frigates are launching their EMP warheads at the enemy frigates and cruisers."
The EMP warheads are a strange creation in the Alliance arsenal. In the vacuum in space an EMP burst cannot exist since empty space has no magnetic field. However, that is the magnificence of the warhead itself. Having a self-sustaining magnetic field inside a capsule, it is then surrounded by delivery system that mimics the conditions for an EMP to occur. It has a smart system that enables it to falsely replicate itself on enemy sensors, without a unique code you cannot know which one is the real one. It has a razor-sharp point in order to penetrate armor and once it detects electronics it detonates. Depending on the location of the detonation it can momentarily disable the ship or completely destroy it. Since the delivery system contains gamma rays, it is advised to wear a bio-suit when manufacturing or repairing such a weapon.
"Hmm, have they launched their missiles?" He asked her.
"Negative."
"Very well. Tell them to continue their evasive maneuvers and to only engaged damaged targets." Thinking his head on how he could finish the fight, he asked the AI "Monica have you been able to penetrate the reaper ships?"
"Negative. Both them and the geth seem to have unusually strong warfare suites and a large proportion of my processing power has been diverted tasked to fend their cyber-attacks off attacks off.
The enemy cruisers that had survived the EMP strikes were severely damaged and life-pods could be see being launched from the ship.
"Tell the salarian fleet to engage the enemy's left flank." Hackett ordered.
"Very well. Done Admiral." Madison responded.
Hackett had noticed that whereas the enemy fleet formation had been previously advancing towards his ships, the sudden approach of ships on both their flanks seemed to give them a moment of pause. They had almost seemed to completely halt their forward motion, which Hackett took full advantage of.
"Monica, order Battle group four to advance along the enemy fleets center and try to divide them. And tell Captain White to launch all the carriers aircraft."
"Right away Admiral."
SSV Super Carrier Mercury
Captian White, had been given the go-ahead to launch her fighters and bombers. Over the comms, she ordered "All aircraft launch, I repeat all fighters launch."
Thousands of aircraft were soon pouring out of all the carriers hangars. They raced towards the enemy's aircraft.
White, on the line with several bomber flight leaders, said "All bombers target cruiser and dreadnought class vessels and if necessary drop your nuclear payload."
"Affirmative m'am." was her reply.
Alex Rider and his team of 19 bombers were currently navigating through the firefight that was occurring in space in attempt to destroy their targets.
"Let's keep this nice and easy, people." He said to his team.
"You think we might be thanked after this?" Arnold, one of Alex's compatriots, asked him.
"Maybe. Does it matter?"
Before Arnold could respond, Kristina hollered into the comms "Sir new target! Geth-class dreadnought in sector Alpha-23, bearing 13 by 47! Their launching interceptors."
A dozen or so interceptors changed course and were on intercept course with Alex's bombing unit.
Alex got on the comms and said "This is B-1 squadron leader, anyone out there requesting assistance. We have bogeys at 13 by 47."
The geth interceptors were only minutes from their position and were preparing to fire. Just when it seemed they were about to tear up Alex's unit, four of the geth interceptors exploded. A feminine voice came on the line. "Roger that B-1. We are engaging bogeys now."
"Thanks for the assist." Alex told the mysterious woman.
"Don't mention it."
Turning his attention to his unit, he said "Alright people let's take out that dreadnought."
When they were over the dreadnoughts they dropped their payload. With a series of synchronized flashes, yellow streaks appeared on the geth ship as explosions weaken the kinetic barriers. One of the bombs managed to take out a GUARDIAN laser, however the dreadnought was still kicking.
"Coming in for another run, this time make sure to drop your nuclear payload." Alex told his team. His reply was a series of affirmatives.
The GUARDIAN lasers of the geth were too busy trying to fend off other bombers and fighters that it was nearly over-heated, which was the perfect window for Alex's team.
"Drop bombs…now!" he yelled.
Once again, a series of explosions rocked the ship, though this time the bombs did more than just weaken the kinetic barriers. The combined nuclear attack caused the ship to detonate and a bright aura soon replaced the ship.
"Alright people lets head back and rearm."
Eden Prime
1 hour into the attack
Chaos was everywhere, that was all anyone could see in the streets of Eden Prime. Shepard's team were advancing towards the prothean excavation site, with Anderson and the 34th Infantry division and the 2nd Titan platoon. They were getting pounded by Geth artillery fire and the best they could respond was to simply take cover in the destroyed buildings.
Major Denison and his men were able to destroy a few of the artillery emplacements before a geth counter-attack overran their position. Now all that remained were corpses on the streets. The local militia were generous enough to gather the bodies and place them in a make-shift morgue.
From the shelter of a collapsed hotel, Anderson huddled over the tac-camera in the middle of the table. They were joined by the 56th airborne, or more precisely what remained of them. The majority of their unit had been killed during the intial drop by Geth AA fire.
Garrus who had been sniping anyone that got near peaked through the window to see a massive enemy force headed their way. "Shepard, I see the enemy and they're coming with heavy armor."
Across the room, Ramirez stood up and started directing troops in a hurried manner. "Alright, soldiers I want a firing line across the enemy line through this building. Spread out to the streets below if you have to, don't bunch up. Anyone with a heavy weapon get on the roof and start picking off their armor!"
He didn't need to repeat himself and the soldiers moved into place with little trouble. Ramirez gestured Shepard over to talk, and Shepard made his way across rubble quick as he could.
"Shepard we need to move now. There are a fuck-ton of geth and batarians headed our way and they have more men than we have ammo."
"I know," Shepard appeared to be thinking. Finally he said "Ramirez take 78 men and go around the hotel and flank them from the rear. The narrow streets should create a kill zone if you disable their rear guard."
"What? And just fucking run for it without linking back up or having additional support?" Ramirez was incredulous. Sure he would do what was necessary to stay alive, but Shepard's plan meant men and women would actually die before they could get a shot out.
"The fight is about to get real nasty and I need someone I can trust leading the men. Once the fight starts we won't have time to link up, so instead make your way towards the excavation site. Don't worry about leaving anyone behind just make sure you pull your men out of there to fight another day." Replied Shepard.
"Roger that. Good luck John."
"Good luck to you too, James."
Ramirez walked off and began gathering men for his ambush. A titan and a few Alliance troopers were busy setting up whatever rubble and furniture they could find and were stacking them into a make-shift barrier. The rest were checking weapons and handing out grenades and ammo.
Scanning across the room, Ramirez saw a familiar face on a soldier that he fought with on Therum . "Bradley? John Bradley? Damn never thought I'd see you again." he said, handing his hand out.
Bradley shook it and replied "Same here, though I guess fate has a funny way of throwing people together."
"Right you are. Listen I need men for a high risk op and figured you may want to volunteer."
"Well it sure beats sitting here." Turning to one of his men, he ordered "Foley, go and tell Connors and Jones that we are leaving."
The sniper went to do his assigned task.
"Get your men geared up, and we may need extra help so I'll gather up more men." Ramirez told him as he walked out of the room.
"Roger that."
Looking out the window Bradley could see that the geth had nearly reached their positions and there were already shots being fired from both sides. He frowned as he looked to the sky. It was filled with a blanket of black ash and flames throughout the city of New Persia only made visibility worse. "I'd kill anything if it meant we had air support…."
Carrie Sherman grinned and said "Damn Captain, I'd thought you'd be more optimistic."
"And I'd thought you'd be less perky, staff sergeant."
Ramirez returned and told Bradley that they were ready. "Captain it's time to move out."
"Let's go men." Bradley ordered. The men and women chosen for the task filed out. Ramirez lead them across open ground, around the narrow streets, and into the buildings on the side. The geth were passing them and Ramirez told his men to hold fire until the enemy's rear showed itself.
"Conners you ready with the guardian?" Jones asked his squad mate.
"Yeah, just make sure you don't get hit." Conners replied, setting the heavy weapon on the window sill.
Foley chuckled before ducking behind a couch as a incoming rocket took a house less than 2 blocks away and turned it to ash. "Looks like the machines aren't fucking around…." he muttered to Bradley. Looking back he saw Ramirez was taking up a firing position.
The geth's rear was roughly 26 yards away and were aiming what looked like artillery pieces towards Shepard's position. As he watched the artillery being set up, the geth infantry fanned out across the streets and started to launch smoke grenades all over to cover their advance. In just a matter of seconds the air was shrouded with smoke. Ramirez could still hear the sound of the geth marching; the sound of their feet banging on the ground.
Before Ramirez could give the order to fire at will a massive form wandered into the street in front of the building. One of the soldiers next to him screamed "HOLY FUCK!" before opening fire on the strange figure.
Enemy fire tore through the smoke and forced Ramirez's men to take cover. Some were too slow and were sprayed with enemy rounds. He looked over the barricade and saw geth and batarian troops emerging from the smoke screen.
"SWITCH TO THERMAL AND OPEN FIRE!" He screamed.
The geth's crackle of fire was drowned out by a boom Connor's guardian impacting one of the geth's artillery pieces. The explosion caused some of the enemy troops to stumble and were sprayed down by Ramirez's men.
In the midst of the enemy stood a monster of machine and metal. It was a huge creature standing at 12 feet tall. Nearly its entire body was covered in heavy plated armor and from a massive head piece it looked at Ramirez. It was a Geth Juggernaut and it locked its weapon on Ramirez's building.
"Fuck my life." muttered an annoyed Ramirez.
Then all hell broke loose.
The juggernaut let loose a barrage of bullets into the building. Rifle, Sniper, and missile fire rained down on the geth's position. The juggernaut bore down on Ramirez's position as it fired a rocket into the building. Debris fell onto the streets below. Sherman got a wine bottle, and making a makeshift Molotov cocktail, threw it out the window down to the batarians blew. Their screams could be heard through the heavy firefight.
Suddenly, there was a 'pop' and the juggernaut exploded into a mist of circuits and armor plating. The batarians scattered in panic and confusion. Ramirez slowly looked up and saw Connors holding a smoking Guardian and giving an exaggerated thumbs-up.
"Damn good work Connors." Ramirez said to him.
"Thanks, but I think we still have a lot of those machines left." Connors informed him.
Ramirez nodded his head before turning his attention back towards the fight. He popped out of cover and fired a few rounds into the approaching geth troops. He saw a batarian go down having lost half of her head to a sniper round. His men were doing well, the narrow street had forced the geth and batarians to bunch together and made it a killing ground, like Shepard had predicted. He had made sure to destroy the enemy's rear vehicles preventing them from escaping.
Desperate for cover several batarian soldiers had managed to swarm their way up to the ruined hotel and were slowly advancing on the defenders. Lines of fire sailed through the air and incinerated many of the cover the Alliance soldiers were taking cover behind. A few of A.C.S troopers howled in agony as their bodies were lit on fire only to be cut down by batarian fire.
Jones detonated the mines that he had set up. The hotel shook and lurched to the side. Another of his detonations caused the structure to shatter. Batarian soldiers screamed as they were crushed in falling wreckage.
"Do they ever give up?" Ramirez whispered to himself. With his objective completed and enemy troops advancing on their position he decided it was time to bail out. "Bradley gather your men and get the hell out of here! Me and the rest of the titans will cover you! We'll regroup at these coordinates, now go!"
"Copy that Lieutenant Commander." Bradley said. He tapped his com twice to signify retreat. He personally wasn't happy with the decision, but he had his orders.
Ramirez and the remaining titans fired their weapons on the advancing batarians. They were cut down by grenades and heavy fire.
Once Bradley and his men were outside, Ramirez shouted over the com system "Alright men, we're pulling out!"
Just then a rocket explosion rocked the building and it started to collapse.
"Shit! EVERYONE OUT!" He shouted. Ramirez ran towards the nearest window and jumped for it. It was a leap of faith, jumping out of the third floor of a building.
He hit the ground hard and pain was felt throughout his body. As he looked up he saw the building coming down on him and then…..everything went black.
A/N: Will Ramirez survive the collapsed building? Will Shepard and his team make it to the prothean site? Will I stop talking as if this was a weekly episodic show? Find out on the next chapter of Heart of sol.