Chapter 36: Assault
Battle-group Alpha had swollen to twelve vessels. Shepard's request for reinforcements had been met with instantaneous reply in the form of four more gunboats and a pair of cruisers.
Shepard stood in the briefing room of the Trafalgar. The destroyer's circular room housed almost forty soldiers, a mix of humans, quarians and turians. To his left stood Tali, carefully eyeing each of the soldiers present, searching for any unfit to assist in the assault. Miranda stood to her left and Garrus to Shepard's right.
Tali started as she noticed a familiar red armor, now wearing a silver-black veil indicative of an officer's position. Kal'Reegar! The Quarian on the other side of the room nodded, acknowledging her gaze and she could almost see the marine grinning behind his black faceplate. Tali's spirits rose at the sight of her old friend.
Captain Kingsford, the Trafalgar's commanding officer, entered the chamber and pressed a single key on the ring-shaped table. Topaz colored lines snaked from the holo-projector situated in the center of the room, forming a ghostly representation of the Collector shipyard. Several cruiser-sized ships were docked along the underbelly of the station, seemingly still under construction. Shepard and his team watched the image intently, looking for any similarities to the station they'd destroyed at the galactic core.
The Trafalgar's Captain lifted his hands, silencing the hushed deliberation among the soldiers. He nodded to Shepard. "Commander, you've been given tactical control o' th' mission, do y' have a plan of action?"
The Spectre nodded and walked up to the holo-projector. "As you all know, we're here to stop the Reapers. Now, there may or may not be a new reaper under 'construction' in this station, but that's not the primary concern. The primary concern is that we eradicate the Collectors wherever we find them so that they can't feed the Reapers any fresh Intel."
One of the turians stepped forward. "Rynd Hessar, Captain of the Gunship Hiroga. No disrespect Commander, but why are we sitting around talking about this when we could've started shelling the hell outta that thing fifteen minutes ago?"
"I'm getting there," Shepard held up a hand, calling the room back to attention. "The Collectors work for the Reapers, so it's reasonable to assume that they've been operating in this system under their masters' orders. We need to know what the Collectors have in that base in terms of Intel and tech data. That means sending in ground teams. Here," He pointed at the hologram, indicating an external docking mechanism.
"We take in a ground team of five, drop them in at this point and have them advance to the security hub to procure any info they can about transmissions from the Reapers, weaponry, armor, etcetera." All of the room's inhabitants carefully watched the man's arm as he traced a path through the image.
"Second and third fire-teams advance on the station's defense batteries and ship supply lines. Team four takes out their sensor grid. I'll lead the fifth group to the station's core reactor; rig it to blow to kingdom come."
Kingsford nodded. "So while yer playin' around inside, we take down those cruisers?"
"That's the idea." Shepard answered.
Shepard, Tali, Grunt, Jacob and Garrus stood together in one corner of the Normandy's cargo hold. Miranda, Legion, Kasumi, Mordin and Jack had already boarded their transport and were waiting for the go ahead. Their team would be charged with disabling the station's security while the other units advanced.
Kal'Reegar's team was tasked with the advance on the shipyard's weapons systems, their efforts would be supplemented by EDI. The other fire-teams consisted of a group of turians and another human squad.
Shepard cinched the last strap on his armor and knelt on both knees, hands folded. Garrus and Jacob recognized the gesture and faced away in a sign of respect. Grunt issued a quiet huff and did likewise.
Tali knelt next to the Commander and the two prayed.
Shepard's boots hit the metallic surface as he broke into a run. Tali, Garrus, Jacob and Grunt followed directly behind, each scanning the environment for signs of hostile activity. Seconds after they'd touched down, Reegar's team buzzed in over the comm.
"We're on the ground Shepard, see you on the other side. Keelah se'lai!"
Miranda's team radioed in, "We're on the move Commander, Legion's already in their network."
"Copy that!" Shepard slid up to a large metal support as a Collector patrol lit on a nearby platform. The Commander signaled Garrus and pointed at the aliens. The turian immediately set to work, lining up each drone through the scope and tagging them in succession. Four of the aliens had fallen before the remaining eight pinpointed the group's location.
Tali drew her Carnifex heavy pistol and opened fire. The quarian's aim snapped from one collector to another as the 'hand cannon' delivered its deadly payload. Grunt's assault rifle cut into the aliens, causing them to stumble as they advanced.
Shepard had barely thrown a warp field into the last collector when Miranda radioed in a progress report. "Shepard, we're making good progress, only light resistance so far. Legion's gotten access to climate control systems and we're overheating what we think is the barracks."
Kal'Reegar pulled up to the bulkhead and directed his team to flank the door ahead. The quarian lieutenant kept his Stryker assault rifle trained on the thick portal. Fia'Zurn, Reegar's infiltration specialist, sprinted up to the emerald control panel. Four seconds later, the bulkhead split open to reveal a waiting pair of scions.
Reegar loosed his rifle in a torrent of high-velocity slugs, chewing into the misshapen creature's thick armor. The Scions groaned and projected a pair of cobalt beams at Fia as she rand for cover. The woman's shields failed a moment later and she tumbled behind a large rock column, clutching her side.
Fia screamed as she tried to lean up against the rock, an icy blue substance had coated a small patch of exposed skin, corroding the tissue and producing a faint blue smoke as it ate at her environment suit. Kal waited for his team to pick up the fire against the scions and bolted to her position. The specialist tried to lean around the pillar to get a shot at the abominations, but found Reegar's hand on her shoulder, forcing her back behind cover.
"Stand down, Specialist, you're hit!" The Lieutenant grabbed a combat knife and started scraping the gelatinous substance from his soldier's wound. "Stuff is damn sticky…" He muttered.
Fia's vision was swimming from the pain. It hurt to breathe, and she couldn't shift while Reegar was trying to get the injury clean.
"That'll have to do." Kal huffed as he drew out a tube of medigel. "Yer gonna bleed out if I try to get all of it."
A thunderous explosion echoed through the doorway as a series of grenades detonated around the scions. Black strips of flesh and cybernetic materials whirled past.
Fia felt a soothing cool as Reegar applied the medigel to her wound. "That should hold you. Don't move."
"Lieutenant, we've got new contacts!"
Reegar leaned out from the corner to see an amalgamation of husks and collectors advancing on their position. "Combat drones, now!"
Six holo-shielded drones skittered into the enemy mass, each releasing charged blasts of plasma into the hostile formation. Multiple husks and drones toppled as the quarian strike team focused on the nearest of the aliens.
Reegar's assault rifle shook violently in his hands as he fired into a husk that had made it through the door. 34, 33, 32,31,302927… The numbers on his ammo counter blurred together as the husk withered only to be replaced by another. They were being overrun.
"Anyone got a cryo blast?" Six red lights blinked in his HUD, confirming his fears.
Zurn grabbed Reegar's forearm and nodded. The Lieutenant shook his head. "No, not in your condition."
"I know my duty," her weak reply filtered through her environment suit. "If I'm gonna bleed out, at least let me take some of the bosh'tets with me."
Kal looked at the soldier's injury, still leaking blood despite the medi-gel. She was dead either way. "Fine."
Fia struggled to her feet and braced against the rock, panting heavily. Reegar saw the crimson-purple trail of blood seeping through the combat dressing. With a cry of defiance, the specialist lifted her arm at the oncoming horde, the omni-tool on her wrist radiating a brilliant orange.
A cold blast of air enveloped her body as the device charged. White and blue lines of frost projected from her omni-tool, chilling the room's atmosphere. Reegar watched the lines arc to a single point, coalescing into a massive white sphere. Some of the collectors hesitated as the diamond colored mass in the center of their ranks swelled- then exploded, coating nearly the entirety of their number in a sub-zero blast.
The Quarians shouted as the collectors and husks snap-froze where they stood, the ones closest to the epicenter actually exploding from the massive temperature differential. Fia collapsed to the ground with a smile on her lips, the last of her strength spent. Reegar ground his teeth together and drained his weapon into the frozen horde. The rest of the team followed suit, shattering their foes in a cloud of white.
Grunt's shotgun thundered again as the last Collector fell. Shepard's team was coated in blue, black and grey gore, spilled from the bodies of husks and Collectors alike. Mordin picked a particularly tenacious piece of husk from his outfit with a somewhat irritated expression. The squad advanced, soon running into yet another group of the insectoid aliens. The team opened fire, cutting a swath of death and destruction into the attacking wave.
Five of the insectoid beings broke from the rest of the pack, their attention focused on Shepard. The Commander sighted on each of the aliens individually as they charged, his Mattock heavy rifle tearing through their biotic barriers and peppering their bodies with gunfire. Just before the last of their number would have fallen, the assault rifle clicked; its clip had run dry.
Shepard released his hold on the weapon's body, still clutching the grip with his right hand. He pulled his shotgun out with his free hand and blasted the advancing alien in the face, ripping its head from its shoulders and sending a geyser of black fluid into the air. The Collector hadn't even hit the ground before the Commander holstered the weapon and re-loaded his assault rifle, unloading into the main body of aliens.
Garrus stood on a higher perch than the rest of the team, sending carefully trained sniper rounds into the fray. A pair of collectors landed next to him, their gossamer wings still fluttering as they attacked. The Turian brought the barrel of his rife to one of the creatures and let a slug tear a jagged hole in its chest. He tried for a shot on the second alien, but missed, barely grazing its chitinous skin.
The Collector rocked back and regained its footing, lunging at the sniper without heed for its own survival. Garrus brought the butt of his firearm around to the insectoid's midsection in a vicious swing, cracking its hard shell. The Collector stumbled back, giving him a clean shot through its head.
Grunt and Jacob stood shoulder to shoulder, each pouring automatic fire from behind a low wall.
Shepard saw Tali silence another pair of collectors with her sidearm as Miranda's team fed him another status update. "We're making good progress Shepard, Legion's already gotten control of the environmental systems and life support."
Three more of the aliens were closing on Tali's position as the rest of the team focused on their own targets. A cold fear gripped the Commander's heart as she tried to fire again, only to have the thermal clip slip from the weapon. Not again!
Tali swore and cast the weapon at one of the advancing collectors. The pistol caught the alien square in the face, rocking it back on its heels. With a shout, the quarian drew her knife and kicked the collector, sending it over the lip of the walkway.
Tali ducked as one of the assailants fired its particle beam, grazing her shields. The Quarian lunged forward, swinging the weapon in a deadly curve across her opponent's chest. The alien screeched as its obsidian blood trailed in an arc behind the blade. Speed. Shepard's sparring lesson echoed in her head.
The quarian caught another Collector by the wrist and gave a sharp turn, forcing the alien off balance and over the edge of the walkway. Pacing.
The final collector made a swipe for her, but Tali deftly evaded the blow, greeting the attack with one of her own. The Collector's forearm left its body as the ceremonial blade pirouetted through its shell. Accuracy. Tali's arm came down in a brutal swing, sinking the weapon in the center of the drone's skull. Strength. Tali let the insectoid creature collapse before planting her foot on its chest and pulling the knife free.
"You could've used your shotgun," Shepard stated, half serious.
Tali caught the humor in the statement and patted the weapon. "Golram's too good for them," She answered, a hint of playfulness in her voice. She drew an SMG from her belt and nodded to signal she was ready to go.
Once again, the path was clear and once again, the team made its way forward.
Captain Kingsford was watching the readouts on the station's power grids when the first shot came. A yellow beam struck the Trafalgar's shields and caused the vessel to shake violently. "Report!"
One of the bridge crew frantically scanned the sensors, "Three Collector vessels are casting off, weapons are powered up on two of them, propulsion systems online!"
"Hard starboard, get me a firing solution for pods one through eight!"
"Hard starboard aye!"
"Firing solution prepped, torpedoes armed!"
The Captain keyed the com channel to the battle-group. "Battle group Alpha, yer cleared t' engage, I repeat, yer weapons free!"
Streaks of blue light crossed the hostile vessel's beam weapons, creating a ghostly green as the battle-group opened fire.
Kingsford released the button to the other ships. "Torpedo pods one through four fire! Five through eight on my mark!"
A dull thump sounded as sixteen mass effect torpedoes rocketed from the Trafalgar, followed ten seconds later by another salvo as the Captain gave the order to fire. Just as the first salvo connected with the largest Collector vessel, a pair of topaz beams lanced into the destroyer and sheared through the shields, scoring the hull.
A sapphire fireball erupted along the large Collector craft and it fragmented into dozens of pieces.
"Status!"
"Hostile vessel destroyed, damage control reports hull breaches on decks seven through fifteen."
The comms operator brought his hand up to his ear, then looked at Kingsford. "Sir, the battle-group reports all targets dow- Wait, unknown contacts inbound."
Kal'Reegar's team had almost reached the weapon station when they found her. The quarian had been locked in a collector stasis pod and shoved off to the side. Reegar was suspicious at first, but then realized that she hadn't been modified in any strange fashion by the aliens. His omni-tool confirmed her as being a member of the Mithrean's crew, a one Naria'Pael, formerly vas Rayya.
Shyyn'Thorrel, one of his 'heavies,' was a member of the Rayya, he'd leave him with the girl.
Kal ordered the team to free her from the pod before assigning Shyyn to stay with her as the rest continued on. He hated to leave any of his people, even those he didn't know, but the mission had to come first, too much was at stake. They'd return for them once the objective was complete.
xXx
Naria felt a jolt and two pairs of hands gently guide her out of her cramped prison. Her vision was blurry and her hearing unclear. One thing was up to par, though, her nose. Even though the scent was synthesized through her suit, she caught the distinct smell of blood, quarian blood.
She moaned, her empty stomach churning at the scent. A gruff voice barked a brief series of orders and she realized that all but one of her rescuers was moving on. Panic set in as the memories of her surroundings returned. Naria felt a strong hand on her shoulder and a firm male voice quietly consoled her.
"Take it easy, we're not gonna let anything happen to you."
The fourth and fifth teams were making good progress. Thanks to their slightly delayed entrance, many of the station's inhabitants had been called to fight the first three squads, leaving comparatively light resistance for their units.
Both groups had suffered casualties, however. The turian team had lost one of its number, while another had been rendered combat ineffective from a bullet wound to the shoulder. Two humans had succumbed to the Collector resistance as well. Despite this, the turian squad was more than three-quarters of the way to their objective and the human team had already begun cutting the supply lines to the ships in dry dock when the alert came.
"Ground teams, we have unidentified craft entering the combat zone, repeat, unidentified craft entering the combat zone."
Shepard's squad hadn't faced any resistance in the previous two chambers and it was beginning to worry him. The hostile forces present in the first several rooms had been anything but sporadic. Now that the opposition had seemingly vanished, he was beginning to wonder what kind of trap they were walking into.
Tali's omni-tool flashed on as they reached the next bulkhead and she began hacking into the Collector network for what felt like the hundredth time. The team split up and took position on either side of the door. Moments later, the bulkhead parted with a hiss.
"That was a little too simple. I only had to crack three firewalls…" Tali puzzled.
Shepard nodded. "Stay sharp, five meter spread."
The Commander proceeded, signaling the team to follow. A large metal pillar rose in the center of the chamber, bracketed on each corner by waist high walls forming a broken octagon. Emerald control panels shimmered along the inner surface of each wall, casting a faint glow throughout the room. Five doors provided access into the room, including the one they had used to enter. Four of the portals were located along one of the walls, the outer two spanning the corners. Again, the Commander could detect no signs of movement.
"This doesn't feel right Shepard…" Garrus was on edge.
The bulkhead slid shut behind them, heightening the tension. Every one of them could sense that something was amiss. Combined decades of combat experience told each of them that the Collectors weren't absent due to oversight.
Shepard positioned his squad behind each of the control panels and Tali set to work. The quarian allowed herself a brief grin as she registered her husband dig in next to her.
"Just get whatever data you can, once the other teams give the all clear, I'll arm the charge."
She nodded and set to work. The seconds ticked by at an agonizingly slow pace. A minute and a half later, three sets of doors parted and gunfire raked the team's position. Grunt was unable to get completely behind cover thanks to his massive bulk, and Shepard soon heard the krogan bellow with rage as a few stray rounds managed to puncture his armor and nick his thick hide.
Shepard popped out of cover long enough to loose three short bursts from his assault rifle and send one of the Collectors toppling to the ground. Another drone dropped, accompanied by two more of its kind as Garrus' sniper rifle went to work. Jacob sent a trio of lift fields at the sides of one of the doors and a handful of Collector 'assassin' drones tumbled into the air, only for Grunt to pulverize them with a high energy concussive shot.
John keyed the squad-wide comm channel. "We're at the control core and taking heavy fire! I'm planting the charge in five minutes tops!"
Garrus almost winced. If the Collectors kept up like this, five minutes would be an eternity.
Naria uneasily gripped the rifle that Shyyn'Thorrel had given her. When she'd transferred to the Mithrean, the ship had just been slated to set off for Sigma 23. Ray'Jar, her intended, was due to transfer to the ship upon its return. That return had never come. The Mithrean had ventured too deep into the star system and encountered a ferocious new foe.
Kinetic barriers had barely held for thirty seconds against the new hostile's particle weapons. Boarding action was initiated soon after. Naria had watched from a shadowed corner as her XO was impaled by a hulking alien with a gaping jaw full of what seemed to be skulls.
Her attempts to stay hidden had lasted for several days before the aliens found her. She'd kicked and clawed and screamed, but the collectors had paid her efforts no heed. Why they'd chosen to preserve her remained a mystery.
Pael's thoughts returned to Ray'Jar. "Shyyn?" She asked.
The Soldier maintained his vigil but leaned slightly in her direction. "Yes?"
"What ship are you from?"
"The Rayya Ma'am."
What were the odds? "Did you know a Ray'Jar, by any chance?"
"Engineer? Tall, muscular guy?"
Naria felt her hear surge. "Yes." She struggled to fight back the tears. He would have moved on, but she had to know for sure. "Did he-… talk about anyone much?"
"Yeah, the two of us had to share a room last week." The soldier reminisced. "He kept going about some Naria, clan Pael I think. Told me to keep an eye out for her."
Serendipity in its purest, most unadulterated form. Pael's head felt light. Ray'Jar was not only alive, but still wanted her!
A few minutes of awkward silence passed between them. Naria thought she caught sight of something moving in the distance, but dismissed it as nerves.
"So, did he say why?"
"Yeah, I think she was his intended. Sweet girl by his description, spunky too. He said she'd been the roommate of Tali'Zorah, you know? Admiral Zorah's daughter?"
Naria felt her chest warm and nodded. There was meaning for her after- The bullet sparked on the wall behind her, giving off a sharp 'ping' as it hit the metal. Shyyn pushed her down, opening fire on the collectors responsible for the attack.
Several insectoid screams confirmed that the soldier was dead on with his shots. Naria witnessed some of the aliens as they crumpled beneath the withering hail of gunfire. A click sounded as the rifle's thermal clip hit its capacity. Shyyn let the weapon drop to the ground and un-holstered his sidearm. He methodically continued his defense, guiding the pistol's slugs with trained precision.
One of the aliens lit behind the warrior as he dropped the last of its comrades. Naria tried to warn him, but the alien landed a ferocious strike to the back of his helmet with the butt of its particle beam rifle.
The Collector turned its attention to Pael as Shyyn slid to the ground, unconscious. Naria screamed as the collector charged her, crushing the trigger of her assault rifle into the handle. The Creature staggered as dozens of rounds punched into its chest, blasting jagged holes in the chitinous shell.
Naria watched in disbelief as the Collector fell, laden with bullets. No sooner had the beast fallen than a voice blasted over Shyyn's helmet speakers. "Ground teams, we have a positive I.D. on the new vessels, Cerberus operatives inbound to your location! Saying again, Cerberus operatives are inbound!"
Revision Note:
I kicked myself hard when I realized there was a better reason for Shepard and friends to assault the Collector base on foot. The original impetus for getting them into the base felt thoroughly contrived and I never was very happy with it. The search for Intel felt much more believable and proved far more satisfying. Credit to Ryvaken for pointing out the lack of Medigel in Fia's death scene and another kick in the teeth to me for not having Mordin in the previous draft.
Author's Note:
Phew! Longest chapter to date, roughly 3,000 words in total!
I'd planned the assault on the shipyard when I first started my outline. To be able to finally write it was almost cathartic. I've used biotics rather extensively throughout the fight scenes I've written so far, so it was refreshing to have a tech power other than combat drone or AI hack play a role for once.
I loved the name and character of Naria'Pael and asked DA if I could tie her into Awakening. He was kind enough to provide me with the character details necessary for her segment.