A/N: Gratuitous violence continues… with plot of course. So technically it's not gratuitous violence, but EXTREME BADASSERY
Point taken everyone. Fine. I shall not exercise artistic license in order to give the Alliance a smidgen of chance. (That being said I wanted to write about a massive slaughter)… and thanks to TarakX who pointed out naval numbers, (can't believe I forgot that).
And thanks to The Critical One. Council Bastard bells tolls very loudly…
So recent poll reports:
I've got requests that this story be driven by pure gratuitous violence (with logical and intricate plot of course), and some people hoping for a bit more sentiment… and flirting….
Yeah, I should tell you right now that I go to an All Boys school, it's been that way since year 3, and my experience with the opposite gender has been minimal. But challenge accepted, I will look into the ways of flirting, and assimilate.
So in this scenario, I will do what I always do… compromise and cater to all.
XXxxXX
"Someone leaked the investigation. Now half the UNSC believes that the Spartan-Twos are children."
-Arca – Anthony Stanforth Zhuge (Adrian James Chen)
"Then what do you propose we do? The Fours thinks she's a monster, and half of HighCom wants her head on a platter."
-LTCOL Doctor Essingdon Dominic Keyes
"There's not much we can do right now, but hope Hood can pull a miracle."
-Arca – Anthony Stanforth Zhuge
XXxxXX
IN SLSIPSPACE, ABOARD SSV NORMANDY SR-2, EN ROUTE TO TUCHANKA
Although they had just met a few hours ago, Keyes was having a great time working with Solus. The two were in Normandy's medical bay, working on the genophage cure. Essingdon had studied a bit about krogan physiology in the past, and was thankful that they weren't as strong as the Brutes or Elites. That being said, he was also glad that the Covenan species didn't have redundancy systems. But rage seemed to be a common thing with the krogran and the Brutes.
"Keyes, notice uncomfortable mannerisms at mention of yahg, would like to ask why?" Mordin asked.
The UNSC scientist looked at Solus, placing his coffee onto the table. "Coalition-Coveneant war?"
"Ah yes, interplanetary conflict, heard little. Request no more," he breathed in, "if possible."
"Yahg's are violent. They followed the Covenant blindly."
"Yes, did read reports about interrogation. Subjects were believed to be unstable. Further investigations revealed hatred for humans. Odd since no official contact between two species."
"No official contact you knew of," Keyes said.
"Indeed."
A small alarm bleeped from the containment chamber module in which a few samples were being incubated.
"Tissue sample finished synthesising, must file control subject," the Salarian said.
He found Mordin's speech patterns to be adorable, planiloquent, academic and articulate. "I think Wrex, is a good control."
"Excellent, will go now and collect sample."
Essingdon furrowed his brows and loosened his tie. "Krogan have tough skin…" he said uncomfortably, "I don't think that, cutting there will be wise."
"Has to be there, someplace else and the results can be wrong."
Keyes sighed, as if he could sense a bad joke about to be cracked. "EDI, could you get Wrex in here please?"
"Of course Doctor," the AI said. Her voice returned over the intercom a few seconds later, "Urdnot Wrex is busy at the moment, he says he will come to the medical bay when he is available."
"Thanks EDI."
"Maybe after this, can discuss details about other scientific exploration," Mordin said.
"Or we could just go to the beach."
"And test seashells, excellent."
Essingdon gave a soft chuckle. As Mordin turned to tend to his samples, Keyes decided to talk to the Krogan Female; it was a unanimous decision to call her Eve. Eve rested on one of the beds, hugging her legs close to her chest.
"You're taller than most humans," she said, "and tall humans are usually lanky. You are not."
"Why does that intrigue you?" Keyes asked, sitting on the adjacent bed.
"Something of a distraction."
"I see."
As the two continued talking, Eve learned of the old feud between humanity and the yahg, and their ascension to the stars without Mass Effect technology. Keyes learned of krogan history, and how Tuchanka used to be a beautiful paradise. He learned of the vast cultural difference between males and females.
"Thanks for the talk," Keyes said kindly.
"And thank you for coming," Eve said.
Seconds later, Liara entered the medbay, and beamed a quick smile to Keyes. "Shepard and Palmer are sparring in the Gym."
…
GYM
Shepard ducked as Palmer's fist swung over her head, and swept low with her legs. Sarah quickly leapt into the air and vaulted over the Spectre, avoiding the attack completely. Jane spun on her axis and delivered a flying kick. The Spartan-IV swept the kick aside before stepping back.
Sweat beaded down their foreheads, and soaked their fatigues. The two circled around each other like predators, waiting for an opening. A quiet silence filled the gym as crew members stopped to watch the match.
Palmer dug her heels into the mat and launched herself forward. Shepard gritted her teeth as she felt the Spartan crash into her and slammed her onto the floor. Jane wheezed and grabbed Sarah by the collar. Using all her might, she hurled Palmer across the mat.
The two got up, closed the distance again, and began throwing strikes. Most were parried and swatted aside, but few found their marks. Shepard executed a backflip kick, the sheer force of her momentum would've shattered a normal human's face, but Palmer was no normal human. She quickly sidestepped, rendering Shepard's attack a clean miss.
Remembering one of John's moves, Shepard decided to implement it. She threw her left fist, purposely overcommitting to the move. And just as she expected, Palmer grabbed onto her wrist an elbow in an attempt to lock her. Jane quickly stepped forward, before twisting around and swinging her right elbow at Sarah's temple. However, the Spartan was just as fast, and narrow avoided the strike.
Capitalising on the split-second advantage, Shepard quickly retracted her left arm from Palmer's grip and delivered a powerful sidekick to the Spartan's stomach. Sarah was sent reeling end over end, but she was by no means down. She quickly gazed at Arca, standing behind the barriers, and gestured some sort of advice to her.
Palmer raised both her fists, she could feel her lungs burn, and the bottom of chest ache, but she could shrug it off. Launching herself at Shepard again, the Alliance Officer prepared to accept the brunt of the attack again, but Sarah feinted right, rotated, and performed a perfect back handspring.
Shepard was caught off guard by the move, and before she could turn to face, Palmer had struck to powerful punches to Jane's stomach. Shepard stumbled back, but quickly recovered. She began to shift her weight back and forth like a dance move. And quickly, without warning, she dove low and spun a high kick, which caught Palmer's shoulder.
The two entered several bouts of parrying, until finally, both of them caught each other in a lock. Draw both of them thought.
"It's a tie," Lotus said.
Shepard and Palmer sagged, they were drained.
"I don't care, just gimme a drink," Sarah gasped.
Arca raised an eyebrow, like a patronising father.
"May I have some water, please?" Palmer corrected herself.
"Why of course," Arca said with mock happiness. He quickly grabbed a plastic bottle and tossed it to her. Palmer caught the object with one hand, and quickly opened it, downing the contents.
"Scooch," Lotus said, "we've got an old score to settle."
The two Commanders looked at each other, and then looked back at Fifth Element.
"He challenged the Chief at lunch," Arca sighed. He sounded like he didn't want to go through with it.
"You guys are idiots," Sarah said, shaking her head. She climbed over the barrier, and grabbed a towel. Wiping away the sweat, she sat down on the bench.
Arca quickly tossed her a can of deodorant.
"What?" Sarah cried, "It's just body odour."
"And that's odourless," Arca said, pointing towards the can.
"Palmer, we both smell," Shepard agreed. "But at least not as bad as these guys when they get their asses handed to them."
"Ouch," Lotus said.
Having anticipated the match, the two Operatives were already in workout fatigues. Black t-shirt, black pants, and black boots. Arca gestured to Rook and Wizard to join them.
"How many is the Chief going to fight?" Keyes asked, pocketing his AR glasses.
The scientist had just recently arrived, and like Liara who was with him, he was still in his labcoat.
Shepard took a swill from her bottle. "Four."
"Four, fours against a Two," Essingdon wondered aloud, "sounds very imbalanced."
The three women murmured in agreement.
"And by imbalanced, the Fours are screwed," he said.
"Hey!" Lotus and Wizard yelled.
"Aren't you going to join them?" Palmer asked Keyes.
The scientist glanced at Liara, and then looked back at Sarah. "No," he answered, "a few people don't want me hurt."
"Speak for yourself!" Lotus yelled.
The Chief entered the ring, wearing similar attire. The defining trait in all of the men was that their eyes glowed a luminous blue. They quickly bowed to each other, and the match began.
Palmer watched as Arca, Rook and Wizard advanced on the Spartan-II, creating a wall of fists, effectively covering each other, while suppressing the Chief. But John was physically superior in terms of strength and speed. He quickly doubled back, before vaulting over the three, and sprinted straight towards Lotus.
The Operative barely kept up with the flurry of punches, so he sidestepped and aimed a kick at the Chief's side. Catching Lotus' leg at his waist, John threw the Operative at Wizard, who was closing in fast.
Two down, he thought.
Arca and Rook moved in from both sides. Their number was their disadvantage. John quickly overwhelmed Rook and threw Lieutenant out of the ring, rendering him out. The Spartan-II turned shifted to Arca, and used his very own moves against him, long sweeping kicks, followed up by rapid twisting punches.
The Operative staggered under a blow to the chest, and just when John was about to defeat him, Lotus latched onto the Spartan-II's back.
"I got him! Hit him now!"
Arca quickly scrambled to his feet, and with all his might, punched John across the temple. The Chief staggered as his head snapped violently to the right, but he stabled himself, and gave a small grin. Kicking the Paramilitary Officer in the stomach, Arca was sent sliding across the mat and out of the ring.
"Oh shit," Lotus muttered.
John quickly locked his arm into placed, curled forward, and launched himself into the air. Palmer winced inwardly as she saw Lotus used as a cushion for the massive Spartan's dive.
"Ahhh, that hurt," he wheezed.
The Chief spun around to face Wizard, and raised his fists.
"I stand alone," he sighed.
"And you will die alone," John said.
"That escalated quickly!' Wizard said, raising his eyebrows.
Not waiting for the Chief to make a move, the former ODST closed the gap and threw rapid stun punches. He knew that grappling with the stronger Spartan was a bad idea, and that his best chances of survival were to fight up close.
John held his ground firmly, parrying the Spartan-IVs moves, when finally he grabbed his younger opponent's fists, and swept his legs out from under him. Wizard landed with a thud, and quickly yielded.
Palmer and Shepard quickly entered the ring to make sure that there weren't any serious injuries. Everyone seemed to be okay.
"You know, we haven't given you a callsign yet," Lotus wheezed to Sarah.
"Air knocked out of you, and worrying about me not having a callsign," Palmer sighed.
"We've got our priorities right," Arca commented.
"Sure you do."
"How about Shirley?" Lotus suggested.
"No," Sarah hard lined.
"How about Athena?" Arca suggested.
Figuring that there could be cruder names assigned to her, Sarah accepted. "Deal."
"Commander," it was Joker, "we're at Tuchanka."
XXxxXX
TUCHANKA, HIGH ORBIT
Group-1/A7, led UNSC Reach-class Cruiser Adamant, had been assigned by Hood to aid the Normandy in this sector. Ten frigates, five destroyers and of course, one Cruiser, the Group had been assigned to provide support for this task.
From her seat inside the Albatross Freighter, Shepard watched as the Group deployed their vehicles and moved to engage the minor Reaper fleet. As always, the Destroyers took the charge. Their ion cannons spewing lances of cobalt energy into the Reapers. The Lead Sovereign class ship's hull boiled away under the savage barrage. Limbs were torn off and blobs of molten metal drifted away from the stricken ship.
Adamant, sailed forward, plumes of smoke rocketed from the missile pods. The Archer salvos detonated along the Reaper's Kinetic Barriers, and ignited their thermite charges. Streams of molten metal dripped onto the armour, they were travelling slow enough to not activate the shields. Slowly but surely, the Reapers' hull began to give away to the stress, leaving their superstructures vulnerable. One by one, the Reapers tore themselves apart.
UNSC Destroyer White Dagger, flanked the reformation via slispace jump, and unleashed a salvo of plasma missiles at point blank range. The Reaper in front of White Dagger shuddered as its shields winked off, and armour boiling away. With its superstructure exposed, the Destroyer gutted the Reaper vessel stem to stern, before ploughing straight through.
Satisfied that all Reaper naval forces had been dealt with, the UNSC Battlegroup began to clean up.
Jane had received a briefing from Admiral Anderson, Tuchanka was a mess. Reaper forces encroaching on the Shroud, were making things difficult for the krogan to join the war. She had also received word that there was a downed turian ship on the planet, on a sensitive mission. Anderson had emphasised how vital that mission's success was. The Admiral had told her that the team was the Ninth Platoon, led by Lieutenant Victus, was on a mission to disarm a bomb that Cerberus was gunning for.
That bomb had enough energy to ignite Tuchanka's atmosphere, it had been a safeguard by the turians should the krogan become a threat. Shepard understood the necessity of it, but measures like those had a habit of coming back and backfiring. And if Cerberus succeeded, that would definitely be the case.
Then there was news of the Dalatrass contacting Admiral Anderson, in an attempt to talk the Allied forces out of giving the krogan the cure to the genophage. She said the shroud had been sabotaged by STG Operatives in order to prevent dispersion of the cure.
God that bitch is thick, Jane thought.
Shepard decided to tell Wrex about the deal the Dalatrass trying to make. He wasn't too pleased, but he was grateful that he was made aware of the situation.
"Reaper unit in front of shroud," Mordin said, displaying the battlemap via Omni-tool. "Poisoning Tuchanka air, problematic."
Cortana appeared via holographic display. "The Reaper destroyer is too close for orbital bombardment. We fire, we risk harming the Shroud."
"So what's the plan then?" Shepard asked.
"We need to go to the Hollows and rally the clans," Wrex said, "then there's that problem of Cerberus gun batteries."
John answered her question, his voice booming over his armour's speakers. "Third Element and Chalk-Five will go in and secure Ninth Platoon; Fifth Element will secure the gun batteries."
"Groundside is littered, sir," Rook said, "ODSTs won't be able to drop in safely."
"Frigates Sterling and Unto Breach, will come in close to the Hollows and drop ground forces. We'll knock on the front door with the krogan, and Seventh Armoured. Air Force will be conducting CAST missions 'round the clock."
"I'll tag along with Third Element," Garrus offered, "the Ninth Platoon would prefer to see a turian face amongst the rescue party… no offense."
"None taken," Sandman said over the COMs, "meet us ground side."
"Sounds like a plan," Jane agreed. She finally felt that the war was truly swinging in her favour. Watching the UNSC decimate a couple of Reaper fleets will do that to a person.
"Ninth Platoon?" Wrex asked.
"Turian unit sent to help us, they got shot down," Shepard lied, hoping to avoid another war.
Wrex harrumphed, "came here to help, only to need help. Damn turians."
The Air Assault Force flew high over the Tuchankan atmosphere, careful f their approach vector. Already, the Claymores Interceptors and Broadsword Fighters were engaged by the Reaper Destroyer.
"This is Two-One Actual," a Claymore pilot said over the public COM chanels, "We've got heavy Reaper air force here; recommend Vultures wave off for now."
The Chief looked out the viewport to see the Greyhawks breaking off formation and hold steady.
"Shadow One-Three, breaking off. Fifth Element jumping in."
John could see the bay doors open, and the fully armed team, getting ready to jump. The moment the cargo lights pulsed green, the Operatives sprinted out of the dropship and streaked towards the planet surface.
"Fifth Element here, on target to gun battery," Arca informed over the COMs.
"Third Element en route to turian team."
…
EN ROUTE TO CERBERUS FIREBASE (GROUNDSIDE GUNS)
Plummeting through towards the Tuchankan soil at terrifying speeds is an anti-climactic experience. There was no air howling past Arca has he soared towards the planet, the weak gravity field and the lack of tumbling gave the impression of weightlessness suspension. The Operative might've believed that he was static, were it not for the altitude meter rapidly reaching zero on his HUD.
Off in the distance, he could see the Helljumpers' pod roar through the atmosphere, leaving a trail of smoke in their wake. Behind them were teams of Talons, and mechanised infantry riding in on Ospreys and Albatrosses.
"Ten minutes till we hit landfall," Arca said.
"Weather's getting choppy," Lotus warned. The moment they hit the troposphere, it will be hell to remain stable. Enhanced optics allowed the team to see the ODSTs struggling to keep their flight path stable.
As the black starry night faded into the brownish orange glow of Tuchanka's atmosphere, Fifth Element began to experience the problem of heavy winds.
"Genius idea for jumping in," Athena patronised. "We could've gone in on Greyhawks."
The team manipulated their shields to form massive invisible wings. Through their armour's computer's they could accurately guide themselves onto the correct trajectory.
"One minute," Arca said over the TEAMCOM.
Soon the Cerberus fortifications could be seen, they were well dug in with a company of armoured vehicles. Lotus reached into his back and deployed a couple of sensor drones to give them real-time troop movements.
"Why can't we just bomb the place?" Lotus asked.
"They need the gun batteries."
"Okay, so why don't we storm the place?" Palmer asked.
"They've rigged the place; we disable them so cavalry can come in."
The team reversed their posture, and landed on the wastelands feet first.
"Athena, you're team sniper, cover us," Arca said.
"Copy," Palmer complied. She doubled back to a rocky alcove and set up her the M770 SASR. Its ammunition is a .408 Calibre Armour Piercing Rounds, and of course, came with the Catalyst rounds. Making sure that they suppressor unit was attached and functional; Athena gave the all clear for her team.
Arca and Lotus engaged their active camouflage and slowly made their way towards the roaring cannons. The installation was entrenched on a slight elevation, and the walls were at least three storeys tall. Using the gravity manipulators, the two Operatives grasped onto the balcony silently.
Red outlines dotted Arca's HUD as he looked around. There were two Cerberus troops less than half a meter from the ledge.
"You're clear to take them out," Athena said over the COMs.
"Copy, Lotus, whenever you're ready."
Quickly, the two Operatives grabbed the Cerberus sentries and rammed their wrist blades into their target's jugular. They felt the body turn limp and dissolve. The Cerberus visors glowed gold as the ember coloured ashes burned away within the armoured shell, until all that remained, was the white and yellow livery. The empty armours' clattered onto the rocky soil, but was drowned out by the roaring guns and howling winds.
"Sniper looking at your direction," Athena said, and paused. Arca saw another read outline fade on his visor. "She's down."
Arca and Lotus quickly pulled themselves over the red metal barriers and onto the facility. Cerberus Fireteams patrolled the landings and walkways, while the Atlas Mechs and Makos ambled by. Using their wrist blades, they used the plasma edge to cut into crates and plant C12D and flashbangs. They made sure that the traps were inconspicuous before moving on.
"Detonators should be with garrison commanders," Lotus said.
"Too many centurions around, none of them look important enough," Athena deducted.
Smart, Arca thought. "Sensors are picking up a non-armoured signature, or not as armoured."
"Could be our guy," Lotus said.
"It's a woman."
"Whatever."
As the two slowly made their way towards the Command Centre, more and more, red outlines faded from their HUDs, sometimes two at a time.
"Hit the post from both sides," Arca whispered over the COM, "Lotus, hit them from the south entrance, I'll take north. Athena, the moment our traps go off, take down a many targets as you can."
"Affirmative."
Lotus swung around to the other door via unconventional methods. He leapt over crates and onto catwalks before landing softly at the southern entrance.
"Didn't bother to put up any doors," the Operative said.
Arca leaned up against the sand blasted concrete, and readied the Scattershot.
"Lotus, toss a flashbang."
"Copy. Three, two, one, mark."
The Cerberus Operatives inside the post rubbed their eyes and stumbled around aimlessly. A high pitch whine filled their ears, unable to register anything.
Lotus and Arca entered through their respective points, Scattershots blazing. Arca slammed the butt of his weapon across a centurion's visor, shattering it instantly and caving in his temples. The ONISAD Operative spun around and kicked an engineer in the chest, snapping his ribs like toothpicks. Lotus quickly closed the gap between him and the garrison commander, he took out her guards, turning them into ember coloured ashes before grabbing the woman by the throat.
"Clear," Arca said, moments before detonating the traps. Cerberus troops closing in on the Command Post were caught in an overlap of fire, shrapnel and shockwaves.
That was the signal for UNSC Airborne to come flying in. Sparrows dropped off 1st Division teams, while Ospreys ferried in platoons of Blood Talons.
"We're clear," Athena said over TEAMCOM. "Moving to your position."
A Greyhawk descended towards the base, Arca quickly ordered his team on board.
"Arca, Sandman here," the Third Element Leader's voice crackled over the COM. "we've extracted the turian team, and en route to the bomb site, uploading coordinates now."
"We'll meet you there."
The Greyhawk's engine hummed as it pulled into the toxic sky.
…
APPROACH TO THE SHROUD
Interspecies tension? Try intra-species while you're at it, John thought. The tension between Krogan Clans were extremely high, especially between Wreav and Wrex, who had contrasting views on what the krogan should be. In fact, tensions were high enough for both parties to temporarily forget about the Reaper threat… that had made its way to the Hollows. Thankfully Eve was around to dispel the political tension and rally her species to the galactic cause.
Speeches, nerve been one for speeches, John pondered. Out of all inspirational leaders that had graced their kind, the Chief would have to be the one who made the least speeches out of them all. All he did was just show up, and soldiers would rally to him.
The Ares UHBT bounced slightly as its six treads rolled over a mound of rubble. Passenger compartments came as standard in all UNSC tanks, mainly for the purpose of transporting field doctors, engineers or fireteams into combat.
The convoy halted at an FOB, which was perched in the remanent of a Krogan CBD. John and Shepard climbed out of the tank. A few Krogans seemed agitated at the new alien presence that towered over them.
"You're late," the Arbiter said, looking at the Coalition Air Force engaging the Reaper.
Shepard noticed that the Elite sounded a lot like Admiral Anderson, except with a deeper and raspy voice.
"You're still ugly," the Chief retorted.
Thel gave a light chuckle. "It's good to see you again, Spartan."
"You too. Situation?"
"Fleet of Unyielding Resolve has just removed the Reaper fleet on the darkside of the planet. Special Operations Sangheili are aiding your Third Element as we speak. I've deployed a few Scarabs to engage the Reaper."
Jane looked at the heavily decorated fearsome Elite, and turned back to John. She recalled the personal accounts of these once great foes, fighting side by side to the very end. "Looks like this one will be easy."
"We won't need to get Kalros then."
Kalros, legend says that she is the mother of all Thresher Maws, Jane recalled, the big fucking worm.
"Looks like this one will be easy," Shepard said.
UNSC Mammoth Vehicles rolled alongside the krogan tanks and casted a great shadow over them as troops poured out onto the field. Bradley MAVs parked at defensive positions alongside Atlas MBTs and Ares Tanks. UNSC Armoured Warfare was nothing short of overpowering speed and precision.
Shepard turned gaze skyward as she saw five fiery streaks burn across the Tuchankan sky. Griffin's she thought. The UNSC's precipice of Air Superiority roared in at such great speed that it ignited the atmosphere.
"Dropping payload," the squadron plot said.
The aircrafts released a stream of tungsten pellets, and casted a fiery tongue that licked at the Reaper Destroyer's shields. The Kinetic Barrier's sparked as it attempted to cope against the burning air surrounding it.
Next to fly in were the Shortswords. The Mark IIs flew over the battlefield and extended their missile racks from out of their bomb bay doors. Leaving a thick plume of smoke behind them, the HE/EMP Warheads found their target, engulfing it an orange fire ball and smoke.
"Shield's out.," Cortana said over the COMs, "it's vulnerable."
Arbiter turned towards a Zealot. "Send in the Scarabs."
"Yes excellency," he answered humbly. The Elite flicked on a COM channel and began relaying orders.
John turned towards an artillery battery of Javelins. "Light that thing up," he ordered.
"Yes sir," the officer said, "bring up the ionised macaroni!"
Macaroni? Jane wondered.
The Javelin artillery units moved into firing positions, aimed their guns directly at the Reaper, and fired. Streaks of orange-red fire streamed across the sky, as ionised tungsten Ferris rounds were hurled at the Reaper. Each firing vector was precise and calculated, so that should the rounds over penetrate the Reaper, it would not hit the Shroud. The Destroyer screeched and roared as the rounds punctured its body, raining debris onto the Tuchankan soil.
Two massive Type-47D Ultra Heavy Assault Platforms (Scarabs), accompanied by UNSC Titan MkIV Walkers, marched across the barren wastelands, opening fire on the Destroyer. With no shields to protect it, the energy weapons burned and boiled away at its hull.
From the west, platoons of Atlas and Ares speed across the sand, billowing up dirt, and opened fire. Under such merciless barrage from ground and air, the Destroyer faltered, and crashed to the ground.
"That was… easy," Keyes commented.
Easy, I could use a lot of easy, Shepard sighed, then again, didn't do much today… except shooting a husk or two.
Soon the engineers were sent in to repair the Shroud, while Keyes and Mordin delivered the cure. A mist of gold rained down over Tuchanka, curing the krogan of the genophage. Looking around, Shepard could see the expressions of happiness and hope spread across the faces of the race.
They have a future now, Shepard smiled.
…
BOMB SITE
Some measures always have a way of coming back and biting you in the ass, Garrus thought. He knew of the turian's backup plan since he had seen the files.
Lieutenant Victus had made a bad call, and now he was making up for it. He had led his men against the Cerberus onslaught to decommission the bomb.
"Arca, target right!" Sandman pointed to a shuttle.
"Copy that!"
The Operative raised his Ember rifle, squeezed the trigger and unleashed a hellish volume of bullets into the cockpit. The Depleted Uranium rounds penetrated the consoles and killed the pilot instantly, sending the Kodiak careening out of control.
"That thing's down!" Lotus yelled.
"How's that bomb coming?" Garrus asked the Lieutenant. Cerberus forces were stepping up their attack, but were suffering heavy casualties from UNSC airstrikes.
Two Firehawks swooped in, rotary cannons blazing. The bolts of hard light energy tore up the rubble and shredded anything in its path. One Atlas Mech was caught in the gun run, and was turned to slag before it could fire.
"Bypassing firewalls!" the Lieutenant answered.
Additional UNSC engineers were sending in drones to sever as many vital circuits on the bomb as possible.
"Athena, bring up the Epirus!" Arca ordered.
"Copy that."
The female Operative that Garrus recognised as Sarah Palmer, ran up to his sniping position, and unpacked a menacing looking rifle.
"Competition?" she asked.
"You're on," Garrus smirked. She's going down.
The turian squeezed the trigger repeatedly, blood and matter spilt onto the blackened rubble as he scored headshot after headshot on Cerberus forces with the N7 Valiant. However, the Epirus is an anti-material weapon, and it is difficult to compete against a semi-automatic anti-armour weapon.
Athena shot through the walls with the TAP rounds, shredding Cerberus soldiers apart. She slapped in another fresh clip, and shifted her aim onto an approaching armoured unit. The lead Atlas Mech fell over as the rounds shattered the cockpit, covering it in blood and killed the driver.
"Bomb's disarmed!" Victus said proudly.
Garrus smiled. This kid has a bright future ahead of him.
…
THE HOLLOWS
Everyone was accounted for, only light casualties amongst armoured forces. Shepard's eyes panned across the decrypted place, but no matter how overrun it looked, the hope amongst the krogan painted a bright image. Victory was theirs, and Wrex will uphold his promise.
"Thank you Commander," Eve said gratefully, "for everything. You have gave us a new future."
"Don't forget them too," Jane smiled, gesturing to John.
Shepard could possibly swear she saw the female krogan smirking, if that was somehow possible.
XXxxXX
ABOARD NIGHTWALKER, TUCHANKA, HIGH ORBIT
Carbon looked over the barren wastelands of Tuchanka. His hatred for fighting in the war had increased significantly over the past few days. So it was a relief to him and his team when they received new orders from Gaia.
...
High priority message
You are to stand down, and await further instructions. I did not authorise this mission.
...
"So are we going in?" Oxide asked, stroking his beard.
"No," Carbon answered, running a hand of the scar, embedded on his dark skin.
"I really want this op to be over," Ozone commented.
XXxxXX
"So why are you helping my mother? You're making a lot of enemies for yourself."
-LTCOL Doctor Essingdon Dominic Keyes
"I don't like people going back on their word. If some asshole didn't grow a mutated 'conscience', then the Spartan-Two program can be kept under wraps. I know your mother regrets the program, and she'll have to live with the guilt for the rest of her life."
-Arca – Anthony Stanforth Zhuge
"They say she's cold and condescending towards the interrogators."
-LTCOL Doctor Essingdon Dominic Keyes
"Months of close observation will do that to anyone. The sooner we get her out, the better."
-Arca – Anthony Stanforth Zhuge
XXxxXX
A/N:
Some of you have voiced concerns… and it doesn't particularly help me if I don't know what is exactly wrong. And it doesn't help if you review anonymously, I can't follow things up.
So I would like to ask what I'm doing wrong in order to rectify it.
Have I devoted too much to character development recently? (Some of you have voiced that, and I shall add more gratuitous violence and blockbuster action. Be assured, I've done all the character dev I've needed so that these people don't feel like cardboard,)
What do you guys want exactly? I'd like to get some direction you know. I find that working within certain parameters is a challenge that I enjoy. (That being said, there are challenges I won't take on).
Do you feel like I'm drawing things out a bit too long? (Hopefully, you'll be pleased to know that we've returned to our usual schedule of following the ME3 Arc).
Bit too much sentiment? (Once again, that's for character development, you won't be seeing it again… well at least not of the same calibre.)
So please, leave a review, and let me know.
Also, thank you to those who have given me pointers. And who actually wants me to write a conference? (It feels like I will be doing a repeat of Welcome to the Ark).
Forgot to ask, but did anyone like Shepard going Spartan on Cerberus?
…
And when the season's greetings comes round (that's politically correct right), I shall continue on writing. Summer holidays in Australia has its perks, it's combined with Christmas and New Year's.