Chapter 25: Battlefront Part 1
Shepard stared at disbelief at what the soldier just said and shook himself out of his confused trance.
"If this is some kind of a sick joke soldier I'm not laughing," Shepard said angrily but with little heat behind his tone. The soldier shook his head morbidly as he holstered his rifle to his back.
"I'm sorry sir but we're stuck between a rock and a hard place," the soldier said cautiously.
"Tell me what happened," Shepard ordered. The soldier nodded but looked away in the direction behind him.
"We've set up a temporary base a few miles away; I'll fill you in on everything once we get there." The men lead the company of Krogan and Quarians to a small cave that was well hidden from sight from any direction including from aerial scouts. The ships were put into storage under the Krogans supervision while the soldiers requested the aid of the Quarians to help with ship repairs and quick upgrades. The cave went deep underground and seemed to connect to a dried out aqueduct. There were maps of the colony on the walls and on stones used as makeshift tables. There was little in use of technology aside from what Shepard's group had brought and the few vehicles the soldiers had had previously. As Shepard and Grunt followed the soldier who had brought them to the hide away they saw several groups of families huddled up looking terrified as they saw men and women arm themselves with what weaponry they had.
"Shit Shepard, it looks like there expecting the ceiling to cave in at any minute," Grunt observed nervously putting his hand on the butt of his Claymore.
"That's the basic gist of it," the soldier informed sadly.
"What happened? How did this happen?" Shepard demanded raspily.
"It was the Yahg sir, they came out of nowhere. They jammed our communications and shot down half of the ships orbiting the colony."
"There should have been an SOS sent out before communications were cut off, and how are they able to block off an entire colony?" Shepard questioned angrily quickly getting frustrated.
"We're not sure sir, our tech specialists seem to think that they tampered with our satellite towers cutting off our contact with the rest of the galaxy. It happened like clockwork sir it was a nightmare: communications were taken out, our orbiting ships were taken down by an unseen foe and suddenly there are hundreds of Yahg swarming the colony."
"Are there any ideas on what shot you down?" Shepard asked.
"Not a one sir. There were reports of ships on radar approaching but they couldn't find out was alerting the signal, after that our ships were taken down."
"How many trained soldiers do you have?" Grunt demanded.
"Approximately 200 trained soldiers along with about 500 volunteers who have had no training what so ever.
"That few?" Shepard asked astonished. "What about civilians how do they fare?"
"Well we have approximately 5,000 civilians hidden in the deeper sections of the aqueducts that consist of women, children, elderly and others unable to fight." Shepard sighed harshly as he looked around the cave seeing soldiers instructing volunteers how to fight while groups of families were lead passed them to what Shepard expected were the deeper sections of the cave. Shepard shook silently in anger; first the Batarians attacked them and now the Yahg? What did these people do to deserve such a thing? Shepard sighed as he looked over to Grunt.
"What do you think Grunt?" The Krogan looked down to his battle master and shook his massive head with a disapproving scowl on his face.
"Having untrained men fight is pointless, especially on a foe like the Yahg. As far as I'm concerned there are only about 250 soldiers that can actually fight and 20 of them are Quarian. So they don't really count. This place may be secured for now but it's only a matter of time before the Yahg find this place, and when they do we can count on a blood bath." The soldiers face paled at Grunt's words and looked over to Shepard hoping he'd have more hope filled inspiring words. When he said none the soldier began shaking his head frantically while asking in a panicked tone,
"So what are we going to do then? Is there no hope?"
"Nope. No hope," Grunt said bluntly as he grabbed his Claymore off his back and cocked it readily. "Just 30 Krogan looking for a good fight." He said the last bit with a laugh as the soldier looked back to Shepard worriedly.
"He isn't serious is he?" the soldier asked. Shepard nodded and put a supportive hand on Grunt's shoulder.
"Grunt's company is made of the finest Krogan soldiers on Tuchanka, if anyone can help fight off the Yahg it's them." Grunt nodded and beamed slightly at Shepard's words. The soldier still looked unsure but eventually nodded his consent.
"Very well Admiral I leave my men at your command, we follow your lead." Shepard's group immediately took the initiative to do their best to help fortify the makeshift base to give it better protection for the civilians and for the men stationed there. The Quarians were able to make several dozen mines with scrap material they were able to scrounge from their land vehicles and from their crashed ship when a group of Krogan scouts had returned with what supplies they could salvage, they also worked on trying to send a message out to the nearest militaries to send reinforcements with little success. Shepard then ordered that everyone not trained by a form of military be kept at the make shift bunker to defend in the event that the Yahg found them. Grunt had sent out several groups of scouts to survey the area and to return several hours later with reports on the colony and its major facilities, unfortunately when they returned the reports were not good.
Apparently the Yahg had sent thousands of their soldiers to the colony to invade and follow through on whatever their orders were. There were several groups each consisting of several hundred Yahg guarding key facilities on the colony like the satellite towers. If they were to have any hopes of getting help they would need to liberate the control room of the facility from the Yahg's control.
"The facility is heavily guarded by approximately half a thousand Yahg," one of the scouts informed seriously. "They split up there men here, here and here leaving about 200 or so at each entrance. Now there's no way we can get in through a direct approach due to our lack of men and their superior vantage point on higher ground."
"What if we used the Mako to draw their attention from one of the entrances?" Shepard suggested.
"That wouldn't do any good," Grunt pointed out. "They'd see it coming a mile away and take it out; there's a chance that they'd be able to learn of the cavern's location if they see the direction we're coming from."
"What about here, there isn't a patrol placed on the southern border," Shepard pointed out hopefully.
"The southern border is protected by an unusual kinetic barrier: it blocks out any projectiles fired at it and kills anything organic that touches it," one of the Quarian engineers informed. Shepard looked at the area the barrier was guarding and Shepard's mind returned to his battle on Omega with Aria trying to take down Petrovsky.
"Cerberus had barriers like this set up on Omega, how did the Yahg get a hold of it?" he asked aloud.
"We don't know, but there is a bit of good news." The Quarian engineer said hopefully. "While numerous and strong these Yahg don't seem very technologically advanced, they connected the barriers to the facilities external power grid. If we can get one of our engineers to it a small team might be able to break into the facility, lower the blockers on the communications systems and call for reinforcements; then it's only a matter of surviving until they arrive."
"How far away are the towers?" Shepard asked.
"Approximately two miles from our current position," one of the Krogan scouts declared. If we want to remain undetected and avoid using the vehicles it would take about 20 minutes for a group of Krogan to sprint to the tower."
"Remember that a Quarian needs to be present with you," the engineer reminded sternly.
"Fine, at a constant scouting speed it'll probably take about 40 minutes," the scout said submissively as he accounted for the Quarian joining the group."
"How many should we send into facility?" Grunt asked strategically. "Too few and they won't stand a chance, to many and they'll be seen several miles away."
"I suggest a team of no more than 5,"Urdnot Dagg, Grunt's second in command, suggested. "Bringing at least three soldiers a biotic and one of the Quarians for the tech stuff."
"Sounds like a plan, who wants to join me and Shepard in attacking the facility?"
"Me?" Shepard asked in surprise.
"Of course," Grunt said looking at Shepard with an obvious look on his face. "We Krogan are a small army no matter the number, but you have more experience in sneaking into places and what not. Aralakh Company follows your lead battle master." Grunt then reflexively looked around to see if anyone would object to following a human; thankfully no one did, probably due to the fact that Shepard had an impressive track record even among the Krogan.
"So who's in?" Grunt asked once again, this time more roughly. The first to step forward was a Krogan wearing seemingly nothing but a cloth robe that seemed to cover his entire body except for his eyes. The only way Shepard could have told it was a man was by the deepness of his voice when he spoke.
"I volunteer to be a part of the infiltration team, I will not fail you or the team," he bowed his head to Shepard and Grunt causing the latter to nod his head in agreement. The second two Krogan stepped forward instantly, both of them covered in scars and looking as if they had been swallowed by a harvester. Their names were Kroll and Skrawl, they were brothers of clan Khel and they were the definition of Krogan soldiers: big, scary and dangerous. The head engineer of the Quarians was chosen to accompany the group and they immediately began prepping themselves before heading out. The Alliance soldiers presented Shepard with a set of armor, nothing as significant as what he had on the Normandy but it would get the job done, he was then supplied with weapons by Grunt who insisted that the limited weapons the Alliance had managed to scrounge up wouldn't pack as big a punch as Krogan weaponry. He had handed Shepard a Claymore shot gun, a Blood Pack Executioner pistol and a Striker Assault Rifle. Since each weapon had been designed to be used by Krogan they were each modified to dramatically decrease the recoil rate of the weapons, less they harmed Shepard after firing.
Shepard saw each of the Krogan except for the cloaked one arming themselves to the teeth and doubling up on all the weapons they could carry. As Shepard watched the cloaked Krogan take a single pistol he turned to Grunt with a questioning look.
"He's a Shaman," Grunt said understanding Shepard's questioning stare. "There the most powerful biotics on Tuchanka and because of that don't use weapons due to them not being as powerful as their own might."
"That strong huh?" Shepard asked impressed. Grunt chuckled as he packed several grenades into his belt.
"Oh yeah, they're about as powerful as the Matriarchs when it comes to raw power; but the Asari focus on finesse and technique. Morons." Shepard laughed as the five left the cover of the hideout and made the hour long trudge towards the satellite towers. When the towers came into sight approximately 20 minutes into the trek Grunt stopped the party and had them hide in cover behind a small grove of trees.
"Why are we stopping?" Kroll asked, obviously itching to get into a fight.
"Calm down Kroll, we need to figure out how we're going to advance undetected from here on out. Cover gets thin and if the Yahg have these fancy kinetic walls up I wouldn't doubt they have other toys to keep an eye out for us." The Quarian Engineer, whose name was Zelman Corya Vas Rannoch, nodded in agreement as he typed at his Omni-tool causing a combat drone similar to Tali's appearing beside him.
"My drone has an advanced cloak upgrade on it, it should be able to pass through undetected and find any extra security they may have left for us." Without waiting another minute the drone flew off towards the satellite towers without making a sound. After waiting about 20 minutes Kroll and Skrawl were getting fidgety when the drone returned to Zelman's Omni-tool. Zelman observed the data and chuckled to himself.
"We're in luck, aside from the kinetic barriers there's no added security beside Yahg posted on patrol. It's not necessarily a good thing seeing as there's 500 guarding the towers but we don't have to worry about hidden cameras."
"Let's move then," Shepard instructed, earning him ecstatic words of agreement from the two brothers as they continued their trek to the towers. They were silent as they passed the Yahg guarding the front and they were fortunate that the dark of night managed to hide their shadows. When they reached the rear section of the tower Shepard saw the familiar red barrier blocking off the entrance into the facility.
"Alright Zelman your up, we'll provide cover for you in case something happens," Shepard assured him. The Quarian nodded and headed to the power box under the tower while Shepard and the Krogan took defensive positions insuring that they'd be able to react if they were attacked. They all stood hidden in their positions not daring to breathe when they heard the sound of something powering down, they turned and saw Zelman appear from under the building as the barrier in front of the door disappeared. Shepard signaled for them to advance into the facility, once Kroll, Skrawl and Zelman made it in however several shots were heard aimed at them. Shepard turned to see two Yahg running towards them with incredible speed. Shepard reached for his rifle but Grunt caught his arm in mid grab, gesturing to the Shaman.
"He'll take care of it," Before Shepard could question him the Shaman glowed a brilliant blue as he lifted his arms over his head. As he did the two Yahg floated into the air as well, when he brought his arms down they were slammed into the ground hard enough for Shepard to feel the earth shake. When the Yahg didn't get up the Shaman ran past Shepard into the building followed by Grunt who shot Shepard a crooked smile as they ran to catch up with the others. They ran down hallway after hallway and hadn't run into any Yahg, but unfortunately their luck ran out. As they ran into a larger room with what looked like newly installed monitors all over the place there were also a group of Yahg manning the terminals. When they saw that the room had been invaded they immediately attacked. The group was outnumbered two to one, but seeing how the Yahg towered over the Krogan it seemed more like four to one. The Shaman threw back several Yahg into the walls and summoned am immense barrier to surround the group. A Yahg charged directly into the barrier and was shot back; the other Yahg seemed surprised by this and began firing at the barrier with what weapons they had.
"It's like they've never seen a biotic before," Skrawl commented as he pulled out his rifle and began firing at the Yahg. The group was able to quickly dispatch the Yahg into the room thanks to the Shaman's barrier but when he dropped it he staggered to one knee. Shepard rushed to his side and put a hand on his shoulder.
"Are you alright?" he asked. The Shaman nodded and stood up shaking his head as he spoke.
"Yes, the Yahg are heavy creatures and require more energy than other races to be dispatched. That plus there attacks on my barrier were constant and troublesome. I need but a moment and I will be fine. Shepard nodded and turned to the rest of the group.
"We're going to look around the room for a few moments, see if we can learn anything about what the Yahg are doing here. Zelman do what you can with those terminals and see if you can find what they were watching, Kroll and Skrawl you guard the door. Grunt and I will look around." As they went to their respective jobs Shepard and Grunt approached the Yahg corpses and examined them.
"Armored skin, thicker than a Krogan's," Grunt observed. "Any small caliber bullet won't even bruise their skin, means drill rounds or incendiary ammo is the way to go when fighting these guys."
"What about explosive ammo?" Shepard asked.
"I don't think so. It looks like their skin was conditioned to be resistant to explosions."
"Can they do that?" Shepard asked worriedly.
"Blood Pack does it with their Vorcha but I don't think Yahg have that kind of adaption power, or any kind of regeneration for that matter."
"So just thick skinned?"
"Looks like it,"
"Guys get over here, this isn't good," Zelman called out. Shepard approached the terminal Zelman was working at and asked what was wrong.
"It looks like the Yahg have surveillance on every inch of Mindoir that they can observe from here, watch." Zelman then began showing images of the colony and Shepard's heart dropped at the sight of his home. Buildings were destroyed; corpses of children and women on the ground and the Yahg seemed to corral the other humans who weren't dead into what was once the town hall.
"Oh my god," Shepard breathed sardonically.
"That's not the worst of it," Zelman said morbidly. He clicked one last button to show a frontal image of the cavern the alliance and survivors had been hiding in.
"Oh shit this is bad," Shepard said frantically.
"And it only gets worse; we can't call out for help from here."
"What do you mean? That was the whole point of the mission," Shepard said angrily.
"I know but think about it, they have every square inch of Mindoir under surveillance except for this place. The place where they were supposedly blocking communications to the outside." Shepard was able to wrap his mind around what Zelman was trying to say.
"It's a trap!" Shepard shouted angrily. He turned to the shaman and said hurriedly, "Call Aralakh Company and tell them to get out of there, the Yahg tricked us." The Shaman didn't argue and did as he was instructed, at that moment Skrawl and Kroll came running in panting heavily.
"What happened?" Shepard demanded.
"The Yahg found the bodies we left outside, they were on their way here before we slowed them down," Skrawl informed.
"We used up most of our grenades and took down the hallway leading here. It probably bought us ten minutes," Kroll informed. Shepard swore again and turned to Grunt who had holstered several of the Yahg's weapons and had rejoined the group.
"What's the plan Shepard?" he asked casually, not showing any sign of worry on his face. He had total faith in Shepard's ability to lead and knew he'd lead them out. Before Shepard had time to respond the Shaman spoke up.
"I can't contact the others, either they somehow blocked our transmitters as well or their just out of range."
"We're going to assume that they've blocked our transmissions as well," Shepard said, his commanding sense returning to him. "Here's the plan, we've got maybe ten minutes before we're over run with Yahg. Assuming they haven't attacked the Alliance base we need to warn the others that their hide away is compromised. Here's what we do: We set several explosive traps to go off the minute the Yahg make it into the room, hopefully buying us another few minutes then we make a bad break back to base, it really doesn't matter if they see us, our covers already been blown. Zelman corrupt the data on the terminal, hopefully they don't have another observation hive like this it'll help us stay off radar.
"On it, I'll need five minutes though," Zelman requested.
"You get three," Shepard ordered. He then turned to Skrawl and Kroll. "You two set the traps, use as many explosives you need to take out the majority of the oncoming Yahg; the more collateral damage the better." The two Krogan laughed menacingly.
"Collateral damage is our specialty Shepard," Kroll assured them as they removed dozens of grenades from their belt to set the trap. Shepard then turned to look at Grunt and the Shaman. "The minute there finished were going to make a mad dash for the front exit, I have absolutely no doubt that they'll have left a few hundred Yahg to guard the front the minute we exit I need you," he said gesturing to the Shaman, "You're going to have to throw up a barrier and hold it until we're clear of the Yahg, can you do that?"
"I'll die trying," the Shaman said confidently.
"The rest of us are going to have to mow our way through the Yahg blocking our exit," Shepard looked over to Grunt with a coy smile on his face. "Good thing we brought plenty of ammo, hopefully we won't need any luck." Grunt gave one of his signature laughs as the Khel brothers came running towards the group.
"We just finished the trap, it'll definitely keep our rear covered," Kroll insisted.
"Zelman are you finished yet?" Shepard asked.
"Just about… done!" with final keystroke the screen's images were replaced by static among all of the screens. As Zelman went to join the group they began to hear the heavy footsteps of the Yahg approaching, causing Kroll and Skrawl to look at one another uneasily.
"Uh we may want to get out of here," Skrawl suggested.
"Yeah, we don't want to be here when the bombs go off," Kroll added. With a nod the group ran off towards the only remaining path available to them; after only several moments of running a giant explosion went off behind them powerful enough to give a Reaper pause.
"What the hell did you do?" Zelman asked angrily as he struggled to keep straight from the explosions after effects on the building.
"Collateral damage," Kroll said with a smile as he high fived his brother. Unfortunately it was impossible for the Yahg up front not to hear the explosion, so it wasn't long until they were met by fire by the guarding Yahg. The Shaman was about to attack biotically when Shepard stopped him.
"Save your energy!" he shouted over the gunfire. The Shaman nodded as he took out his heavy pistol and began firing precise shots on the opposing Yahg. Grunt ripped off his grenade launcher and unleashed a maelstrom of explosions as he fired relentlessly on the Yahg.
"I'd like to see them get up from that!" Grunt challenged confidently. It was at that moment that he was shot in the shoulder causing him to stumble back from the impact.
"You asked," Skrawl pointed out sarcastically. Shepard ignored the Krogan's jab and examined his injured friend as the others provided cover.
"Are you alright?" Shepard asked worriedly. Grunt scowled as he reached into the wound and pulled the bullet out of his shoulder immediately dropping it onto the ground. Shepard was about to object but he saw the wound already closing thanks to his regenerative abilities.
"That almost hurt," Grunt said angrily as his eyes turned hard. As the smoke from the grenades passed they saw there were only two Yahg left standing. Tossing the launcher into the air in favor of his Claymore Grunt yelled out "COVER ME," as he ran directly for the Yahg. The Yahg had never met a foe foolish enough to charge them head on before, but they apparently had never dealt with a Krogan in blood rage either. As the others provided cover Grunt ran to the two Yahg while firing low at their knees, when one Yahg was forced to the ground Grunt tackled him head on sending him into a wall where he moved no more. Before the other Yahg could react Grunt shoved the Claymore into its mouth and fired repeatedly until the Yahg stopped moving. As the group met with Grunt Shepard noticed that the Krogan was panting heavily.
"The damn things are heavier then they look," Grunt complained as he reloaded his Claymore. "Apparently a shot to the head isn't gonna end em either."
"Good thing we brought a contingency plan," Skrawl said as he tossed bulky weapons to the crew. When Shepard caught his he noticed that it was the same weapon they had used back on Uttaku to kill the Rachni the synthetic Queen had produced. The group ran to the exit and as they ran they were immediately caught in a fire fight. The moment they exited the Shaman threw up a barrier protecting the top half of the group, leaving an opening at the bottom for the others to use their firestorms without weakening the barrier. As row after row of Yahg infantry was struck few of them were willing to fall against the intense wall of fire thrown against them. Once the team had extinguished there firestorm's reserves the Shaman immediately closed the barrier around them to protect from the intense enemy fire.
"I can't hold this for long," the Shaman warned as he shakily moved forward with his hands lifted. The team continued firing off at the Yahg but there was simply too many of them.
"How you holding out Grunt?" Shepard called out.
"Pretty good, although if one more shows up it might be a problem," the tank bred said as he threw an inferno grenade into the mass of Yahg, sending them a blaze. At that moment the group saw a light off in the distance coming directly for them, Shepard cursed assuming that the Yahg were getting reinforcements. His mood change however when the vehicle began firing upon the Yahg, managing to open up a path in the huge downpour of Yahg. Once the Mako pulled up beside the barrier the hatch opened revealing none other than Urdnot Dagg.
"Come on you Pyjaks, before they remember they outnumber us!" Not waiting for a second invitation the group hurried into the Mako where they drove off from the Yahg forces trying futilely to catch them on foot.
"What are you doing here?" Grunt asked as he gripped Dagg's hand appreciatively for the save.
"Half an hour after you left the soldiers tried to kill us," Dagg said causing Shepard to pale.
"Why would they do that? The Alliance wouldn't open fire on friendlies," he argued.
"Yeah except they aren't a part of the Alliance," Dagg declared tossing a data pad to Shepard. As Shepard looked at the pad he paled even more than before.
"Cerberus," he said angrily, squeezing the pad hard enough to almost crack the screen.
"Yeah, as soon as your squad left some of the Quarians were going through their computer plans and found out that they were Cerberus agents working for the Yahg." Dagg shook his head in disbelief at his own words. "Who'd have thought Cerberus would have been working with the Yahg."
"No one apparently," Shepard said angrily. As he continued to look through the data pad his heart stopped as he read a particular piece of info. Grunt saw Shepard's mood change from angry to sad and grew worried for his battle master.
"Shepard, what's wrong?" he asked. Shepard shook his head and handed the data pad to Grunt.
"The woman in charge of leading the Cerberus forces here is Sonya Weston," he said bitterly.
"The lawyer?" Grunt asked surprised.
"She's not a lawyer Grunt; she's one of Petrovsky's operatives. She just used the whole lawyer thing to bring me to Mindoir." Shepard laughed morbidly as he shook his head. "I shouldn't be surprised, I should have expected a trap, my dad would never have left me anything." Shepard was silent for a few moments before turning to Dagg.
"How many men did we lose?" he asked in a commanding tone.
"None, we managed to overpower the agents and move out all of their equipment and vehicles after the Quarian techs swept them for bugs. We managed to evacuate with most of the civilians."
"They really were civilians?" Shepard asked surprised.
"We were as surprised as you, the people said that the soldiers said they were Alliance and to follow them if they wanted to live. Some of the volunteers fought with Cerberus but the majority of them are with are group in a new hiding place. Hopefully we won't have to hide long before reinforcements come."
"Reinforcements aren't coming Dagg, it was a trap," Grunt said bluntly. Dagg seemed undisturbed by the news and turned to Shepard.
"What do we do Shepard?" he asked. Shepard looked at the Krogan in the Mako with him and took a deep breath.
"I'll tell you what we'll do," Shepard said as he opened his eyes, a green fire seeming to have lit in his brown eyes. "We're going to regroup with the rest of Aralakh Company and make Cerberus and the Yahg regret shooting our ship out of space and trying to conquer my home colony."
"Finally!" Grunt shouted out in joy as the Mako drove off to meet with the rest of their team.
AN: Hey guys I'm going camping for all of next week and while I should be able to update the next chapter I might not for reasons beyond my control. So I hope to see you all next week, so until then.