Chapter 31: Red Dawn

Tali felt her body strain against the restraints, the bumping and jolting of the gunship throwing her about in her seat. She clung to one of the straps with her spare hand, trying to steady herself. It wasn't normally a sensation that bothered her, but she was trying to concentrate on the screen of her omnitool, its own stabilisation capability overwhelmed by the sharp movements.

The screen was filled with tactical data, about what was going on in orbit and on the planet. Normally, Tali would have ignored it, thinking about her own role and steadying herself for the fight to come. Before the events that had brought her to the Citadel, she had never been in a serious fight. Now she found herself not only fighting, but in true combat, and on a regular basis too. She had approached every moment of that sort by detaching herself from the possibility of defeat, and drew strength from her friends.

As the gunship proceeded into the atmosphere of Virmire, there was an obstacle to Tali putting on her mind's battle mask.

The passenger section was filled out mostly by the Normandy's ground team, minus the still-recovering Garrus and Kaidan. Shepard and Liara were at the back, right at the doors, Ashley and Wrex after them. The first seat was taken by Major-General Haider, who was also busying herself with the data. Seeing her coolly observing the progress of her plan was what had given Tali the idea in the first place. Haider's two heavily armoured guards sat at the front with her, quietly speaking to themselves in a language that was slow to translate.

But it was the woman in the seat opposite her that made Tali's skin crawl.

The stare was bad enough, but the person wearing it was utterly terrifying. Piercing dark brown eyes looked out from a round face, her head shaved bald. Every visible part of her skin was tattooed, and there was no shortage of it. From the waist upwards, she wore nothing more than black kinetic barrier plates attached to straps for the most part. Leather holsters for two pistols hung from the same straps, one under each arm.

Asari script of some obscure type was tattooed around her head like a crown, with the symbol of the Alliance below it on one side and a bizarre double-headed black bird of prey on the other. On her neck were two black bars with yellow stars on them, the rank insignia of a lieutenant. Beyond that, colours and symbols of a huge variety, stretching from neck over her chest to the belly.

It had been nearly half an hour, and the half-naked tattooed lieutenant hadn't said a word. Just stared.

Tali hadn't dared look back since boarding. Determined to drown out the sensation of being watched constantly, she turned on the live audio feed and closed her eyes, leaning back into the seat to listen, letting out a sigh.

"Hey, bucket!" came a growl, "Turn that shit off."

Tali's eyes opened, to find a finger pointed in the direction of her wrist, the previously expressionless face of the woman opposite curled ever so slightly with anger. But that wasn't all.

"Bucket?" Tali asked meekly, "What?"

"Yeah, I am speaking to you, bucket," the woman continued, "Turn off the noise. The babbling is making my head hurt." Her hand went from pointing to an open palm, and biotic flares danced across the surface for a moment.

"Ehh... okay," said Tali, rushing to comply. A thin grin spread over the woman's face, her arms crossing as she relaxed, closing her own eyes and pretending to sleep. What a bitch, the young quarian could not help thinking.

Shepard stood up, and walked uneasily towards them. She nudged the woman, not sparing any force, and was met with a scowl. One that softened greatly as recognition of who had just done the nudging set in, but didn't quite disappear as expected.

"Your name, rank and unit... soldier?" Shepard said, her tone ice cold.

"Jennifer Haider," the woman replied, mustering more than a little defiance to do so, "Lieutenant, Fallschirmjägertruppe, First Legion."

Tali could almost feel the pause that Shepard ran into as she heard the name. No wonder the woman hadn't backed down entirely, she was an elite soldier with a general for a relative. Both Tali and Shepard looked to the elder Haider simultaneously, along with every other person present.

The Commander thumbed over her shoulder. "Your cousin always this big of an asshole?" she asked the Major-General.

"She's not my cousin," replied Haider, "She's my daughter. And yes, she is always this big of an asshole."

The lieutenant snorted her amusement, which set Tali's teeth on edge. Luckily, Shepard's famous frown made its appearance. "She's ten years younger than you at the most," she said.

Tali hadn't understood, her experience with the ages of humans was too limited, but even to her, it did seem that the two Haiders were closer in age than they should have been. Tali had just put that down to the elder one aging like a turian; very well.

"Adoptive daughter," Haider said, clarifying their exact relationship. Shepard sat down, shaking her head. The point had been made, and the shaking of the gunship was lessening. There wasn't time to argue.

"Mama does like to take in strays," said Jennifer, rubbing a hand over her scalp.

"Lieutenant, play nice," warned Haider, "We're closing in on the turian bastard himself. It should be fun."

"Yeah, a real barrel of laughs," Jennifer complained, waving a hand at Tali, "Just worried about the quality of the people watching my back. Never saw a quarian that could stand their ground, unless it was in a ship." Tali's eyes narrowed at the woman, expressing her displeasure in no uncertain terms. She got a rude human gesture in return.

A ferocious grumble erupted from Wrex, sending both Tali and Jennifer jumping slightly.

"Shows what you know," he said, "Tali here doesn't just kill geth, she hacks them and sets them killing each other, then blows the survivors away with that shotgun. Works pretty good with breathing enemies too."

The lieutenant actually flinched, to Tali's delight. "Uh, okay," Jennifer said, before turning back to the quarian herself, "Fuck it, guess you're alright if the krogan is saying so."

"Thanks..." said Tali, failing to rein in her sarcasm and setting Ashley to giggling.

"Wise decision," Wrex sniffed, very much satisfied.

"Two minutes until we hit the landing zone," Haider declared, eager to change the subject, "T'soni, Wrex and Jennifer will run biotic suppression. Shepard, Williams, Zorah, you'll stick with me to provide the fire support. Shouldn't be too long before the armour shows up and we're moving forwards."

"Any reason why we didn't just drop from the Normandy?" Ashley asked, "Open the doors for everyone else?"

"Yeah, the geth would shoot you out of the sky," Haider replied flatly, "Your fancy stealth ship isn't invisible. Just because I don't tell you the details doesn't mean my decisions are bad."

"Yes, ma'am," Ashley replied quickly. Tali knew that the Chief was not one to forego respect for rank, but she was biting back some criticism.

Lighting in the passenger cabin went from white to yellow, indicating that the landing zone was just seconds away. Everyone stood up and turned towards the rear doors, readying to storm out of them.

"Here we go," Tali thought aloud, pulling her shotgun off of the small of her back. She gripped it tight, and activated her advanced kinetic barriers.

"Hell yeah," Jennifer said, her pistols in hand.

To her surprise, the calm Tali had been searching for arrived, just as the lights turned green and the doors opened. She wasted no time in following Shepard, charging out as fast as she could to the battle to come.

Shepard had to admit no matter how badly Lieutenant Jennifer Haider needed her mouth washed out with soap, the biotic was utterly devastating in a fight. Virmire was a beautiful world, at least where the battle had joined, filled with long sandy beaches and large coral outcroppings that sheltered island chains. The air was fresh, and a strong breeze came off the sea constantly. From her position atop one of the outcroppings, she had a great view of the utter carnage being wrought below.

The airborne troops had hit the landing zone and in a matter of minutes were confronted with hundreds of geth.

The tattooed biotic didn't hesitate a single moment. Entire clumps of geth troop units disappeared, shredded by shockwaves that tumbled them like bowling pins. Liara's own singularities were regularly 'detonated' just as soon as the lieutenant was sure they had trapped as many geth as possible. She was equally capable with her pistols, wielding them together with the aid of aiming VIs, using her natural abilities to dart about to use them for maximum effect. Even Wrex was having a hard time keeping up with her.

The Major-General looked on from beside Shepard with utterly inappropriate pride.

In the end, the first wave was repelled with ease, but then, there had been no heavy geth mechs to deal with, only a couple of armatures that ended up flipped on their backs courtesy of the joint efforts of Liara and Jennifer, allowing easy follow up shots from Ashley's RAM-rifle. To the exasperation of the Commander, the lieutenant and the archaeologist appeared to be getting along as they wandered back to the Alliance perimeter to rest.

Haider Junior was most likely the most powerful human biotic alive, Shepard realised. Kaidan was in the top five if her own superiors were to be believed, but Jennifer was on an entirely different level. This raised two very good questions for Haider Senior to answer.

"Who the hell is she?" Shepard asked, "And why haven't I heard of her?"

"Is that an element of admiration I hear?" Haider replied. An obvious deflection.

"Yes, she's very good at killing geth," Shepard said slowly, "Please don't make me ask the questions again. Is she some sort of experiment your scientists cooked up on Mars?"

Haider paused, examining Shepard. Trying to decide something, perhaps? The Commander could not be sure.

"Very well... I suppose you are one of the few people who might understand," Haider said at last, "In the Terminus Systems, Jennifer is known as Jack."

That name was much more familiar, and with the name, the rest of the pieces fell into place. The attitude, the tattoos, the reputation for biotic power.

"Jack? As in Jacqueline Nought?!" Shepard said, "The pirate?!"

"The same," Haider said airily, "Your krogan recognised her as soon as he saw her too, I am actually quite surprised he kept his mouth shut."

"Jack, the pirate who spent a month running riot on Illium, is your daughter?" Shepard asked, "How did she get a commission with the Alliance?"

"I adopted her when she was sixteen," Haider replied, "At eighteen, she failed basic training.. Went off on her own after that, with infamous results. Came back after Eden Prime... we kept in contact, and she knew that I would need her for this war."

"So you got her a commission to fight," Shepard said, completing the story. Even the Alliance was not exempt from the usual corruptions, however successful it might be. Nepotism was still an issue. The Commander suddenly found herself incapable of being surprised any longer.

"It's quite possibly the best thing that has ever happened to her," said Haider, rubbing her neck, "She didn't fail basic training because she couldn't take orders, she failed because it was too easy for her and she got frustrated. 'Kiddy wheel bullshit' was how she put it before she left. Wasn't too hard to convince Field Marshal DeRuyter to give her a commission once her capabilities were made more obvious."

"I don't believe it," Shepard said, hand over her face.

"You ought to," Haider replied, "Jennifer's birth parents lived on Eden Prime."

"Lived?" Shepard asked, "Past tense?"

"Dead," Haider confirmed, "Killed during the first geth invasion, less than five kilometres from the main Prothean dig site. Not that Jennifer cared all that much about them, they refused to take her back after I... never mind. She wouldn't like me telling the story without her permission."

"Just do me a favour," Shepard said, "Don't call her Jennifer... it's too weird to think of Jack the Psychotic Biotic as someone with a mother."

"You're the Angel of Death, Shepard," Haider replied, "You have a mother."

"Yeah, but she's an admiral," Shepard said.

"And I'm a general," Haider continued, "And while I may not have given birth to Jennifer, I think no differently about her than your own mother does about you."

As if to place emphasis on the matter, a squadron of fighters buzzed the rock, on their way to bomb the GARDIAN batteries ahead. Shepard couldn't help but think that they were more than likely from the Athena, sent by her own mother.

The Commander gave up.

"You're a strange person," Shepard said finally.

"I'm different," Haider replied, "If not superior."

"Think much of yourself, don't you?" said Shepard flatly.

"There aren't many who would take in an abused biotic," Haider snapped, "Never mind chasing down the basta... There I go again, almost talking about things I shouldn't."

"That's alright," Shepard said, "I often do things I shouldn't."

The low rumble of tank treads and the engines driving them crept into the air. Shepard stood up and looked to the south, bringing up her binos to get a better look. The reinforcements had come. Two columns of heavy armour were making their way over the shallow reefs and over sandbars, the strange orange-red camouflage a sharp contrast to the bright sand and blue of the ocean. Around them, the black forms of the gunships returning, skimming off the water, mere feet from the surface. Strange crabs that seemed taller than a person scurried out of the way into deeper waters.

Shepard briefly a sigh of relief. The geth hadn't been able to attack again before the reinforcements had arrived. The push against the complex that could only be Saren's facility could begin. With that worry removed from her mind, the Commander mused to herself about how the crab creatures might taste.

"I can't believe after all of it, we're finally here," she said.

"A lot has happened," Haider conceded, "And humanity's place is stronger than ever. We ought to thank Saren for that, before we execute him."

A quiet descended on them both. Nothing more needed to be said.

The fateful moment was close enough to taste.

Another jaunt in the gunships took them to the edge of Saren's compound, the GARDIAN batteries proving no match for the mix of low flying fighters and heavy tanks. The outer fortresses, disguised seemingly as would-be tourist resorts, fell easily. The inner fortifications were much more capable, and the tanks were soon duelling with geth colossi. Haider had the gunships hold off, using their missiles from outside the range of the geth ground units.

Shepard watched the action via the hologram, fidgeting with her rifle. She disapproved of the decision to hold back, and she wasn't alone. Wrex, Ashley, even Liara seemed on edge. The krogan let out a grunt of frustration every few minutes. The Chief's face wore a perpetual scowl pointed at no one in particular. Liara kept flexing her right hand open and close, with a pensive look at the floor. Only Tali and 'Jennifer' seemed to be at ease, the former examining something on her omnitool, the latter seeming to get some shut-eye. They had been in the air another hour.

With nothing better to do, Shepard slid over to Liara.

"Are you okay?" she asked quietly, "Still thinking about your mom? She's probably in the best hands to keep her alive now, right?"

"I know," Liara replied, closing her fist and keeping it that way, "I keep thinking about Saren. Where he is, what he will say when we finally catch up to him... how I am going to make him suffer for putting my mother through this, and for all those he has killed..."

Liara's blue eyes looked up from the floor and at Shepard. "Have I really changed that much?" she asked.

Her cooperation with the violent biotic lieutenant must have sparked some introspection, Shepard thought. "If you have changed, it was out of necessity," she replied, putting her hand on Liara's fist, "It doesn't change who you really are. Trust me, I know." A lesson she had to be taught herself after Torfan, by Anderson.

Liara smiled, her hand turning to take Shepard's own. "How do you always know what to say?" she asked.

"To be honest," Shepard grinned back, "I just go with the flow."

A buzzing came from behind, getting the attention of all present. The fuzzy static seemed to be threaded with a voice of some kind, the volume varying wildly with each syllable trying to be spoken.

"Shepard, I'm getting something here," Tali said, "Some sort of transmission, but it's very weak. Do you recognise it?"

Haider strode down beside the young quarian, and moved Tali's arm to get a better look at the pattern of the transmission. She was quiet for a moment as her eyes lingered on it. A dark shadow fell on her face, which actually managed to send a shiver down Shepard's spine. No mean feat.

"Jennifer, come take a look at this," she said, "You see what I see?"

Haider Junior leaned over, took one look at the pattern and another at her mother.

"Fucking salarians," Jennifer said, leaning back into her seat again, "Same pattern as Ontarom."

Haider nodded, and turned to Shepard. "Commander, there's an STG unit nearby," she stated, "We need to intercept them."

Shepard's eyebrow raised. The salarian government could only have sent a team less than twenty four hours beforehand, during the time the Alliance was gathering the Fifth Fleet. The Council had designated her to chase Saren, it made no sense that the salarians would send a team themselves. They had no reason to act independently that she knew of. Something was up.

"Tali, can you trace the origin of that signal?" she asked.

"I already have," Tali replied, "It's coming from nearby one of the perimeter walls, the orbital feed shows temporary structures have been set up nearby."

"Definitely sounds like salarians," Wrex said, throwing in his two credits.

"Sounds like they're in trouble," Ashley countered, as the voice seemed to grow more desperate.

"Zorah, send the coordinates to the pilot," Haider commanded, "We're going in."

The touchdown of the gunship was rough, sending everyone stumbling as the exit doors opened once more, but it didn't stop Shepard from stepping out onto the sand below. Particles blew about under the force of the gunship's thrusters, nearly blinding her as she ran out. Whistling in the air and the pings of shots deflecting off kinetic barriers sent her sprinting into the nearest rock, leading the way for the others.

The impact of the black rock against her armour jarred, but she was no longer being shot at. Liara and Haider Junior joined her seconds later. Ashley, Tali and Wrex bolted to the shadow of the next rock over, joined by Haider Senior and her two heavies.

Further along the bow-shaped beach, the paratroopers were under fire, but were making it to cover. Beyond that, not much could be seen in the swirling dust and water vapour. Glad to see her own crew had made it in one piece, Shepard gave an okay hand signal to them. Ashley flashed one back, sticking out her hand, just in time for it nearly be taken off.

A blue plasma bolt flew through the gap in cover, and impacted the gunship as it began to lift off again. The kinetic barriers, already strained to breaking point by the suppressing fire, failed entirely. The tail section took the bolt right in the intersection of the fins, the metal glowing bright orange as it disintegrated. Shepard winced, feeling as if the whole thing would flip onto her position and explode.

Instead, the gunship bucked forward and landed roughly in the shallow water, the jets spewing a huge cloud of steam. Another bolt followed up, but only managed to turn the sand where the gunship had landed previously into glowing glass. The gunship pilot and gunner bailed out into the sea, and desperately swam out of the firing zone.

"We're not getting off this beach," Shepard said, aiming the statement at Haider, "I take it we couldn't land any closer than this?"

Haider shook her head. "Their main AA battery is too well protected," she said, "The beach is sheltered by the rock. Besides, landing among all the heavy mechs would have been suicide even if we weren't shot down."

"We should have just hit the whole place from orbit," Wrex grumbled.

"Would have been easier," Tali added weakly, sheltering behind the krogan and leaning on him with her arm.

"Not an option," Haider responded, "We're only going to know Saren is dead when we have his corpse lying in front of us, and if we get him alive, all the better."

Shepard looked to Liara, and in the newly found steel in her eyes saw exactly what her lover thought of that. Taking Saren alive wasn't going to happen while Liara breathed.

No one to blame, in that case. The shooting on both sides seemed to be calming down. The gunships had dusted off and the heavier guns had followed their flight paths, and the infantry they had carried were in cover. They weren't going to put so much as a single foot out in front of the plasma, that much was obvious. Knowing she wasn't going to like what she would see, Shepard took a knee by the edge of the rock and peered around.

It was all bad news. There was at least two dozen colossus units parked in niches of the tall coral and rock formations, well protected on all sides and guarding all the conceivable exits. In front of that, geth platforms were advancing in squads, shooting as they advanced and intent on throwing the Alliance assault back into the sea.

Shepard felt the familiar feeling wash over her, the feeling that she first experienced on Anhur, the one that kept her alive through Torfan, Eden Prime and beyond. The battle lust. She pulled her head back from sight, and sat down against the rock. It was time to do what she did best; risk her life in service of others.

Liara reached over and touched her arm, eyes ablaze. A smile spread over Shepard's lips, as she realised that Liara felt it too. The dance with death.

"What the fuck are you two doing?" Jennifer asked, "Look at the fucking tinheads right there coming to kill us, pay attention!"

The lieutenant hit the back of Shepard's helmet, as if to wake her, but it didn't dampen the fire in her belly one bit. She slapped Liara's shoulder playfully, and turned around back towards the rock where the others were sheltering.

"Haider," Shepard said, sticking a thumb over her shoulder, "I'm going up."

"You have a plan," Haider replied flatly, like she didn't believe it.

The Commander slapped her equipment belt and nodded. The Major-General got the message immediately, and shook her head.

"..You'll be totally exposed," Haider replied, "Not just from the two legged ones either, the crab tanks and maybe even their AA..."

"They'll be totally exposed too," said Shepard, stowing her rifle, "I'm an N7, let me do my job."

Haider cursed again, this time loudly enough for the translators to pick it up. "You need cover," she said, "The gunships won't be able to help you."

"What I need," Shepard corrected, "...is a distraction." With the idea out there, Shepard could almost hear the click of Haider's mind. She was asking permission of a mother, for her daughter to do something very very stupid.

"Jennifer," Haider said.

Lucky for Shepard, the daughter seemed to have a death wish.

"Gotchya," Jennifer replied, flicking the safeties off her pistol with her thumbs.

"Miss T'soni, you'll pair off with her," Haider ordered, brooking no disagreement, "Zorah, your job is hacking. Williams and Wrex, demolition."

A chorus of affirmatives echoed over the comms, and Haider began speaking over her command channel, organising the second part of the necessary distraction.

There wasn't any time to waste. The geth troops were practically on top of them.

"Ready?" Shepard asked the two biotics by her side.

"Absolutely," Liara said.

"What she said," said Jennifer, "Hurry the hell up."

With that, Shepard got ready to run. It was a little distance to the nearest rock large enough for her purposes. She would have to run through the open. All part of the job.

"3.. 2.. 1.." she said, "Go!"

Jennifer launched herself biotically into the air and forwards, over the rock and straight into the middle of the geth troops, pistols shooting as she landed. Liara followed seconds later, rounding the cover and throwing up a singularity. Needless to say, the madwoman in their ranks and the asari throwing dark energy around like candy got the undivided attention of the synthetics quickly.

Shepard saw her chance, took a breath, and bolted. It was about forty paces to the next, much larger rock in the open. She covered it easily, and jumped on the last step to grab a handhold she had spotted from the other side. Hauling herself up and tucking her feet onto the stone face was easy, the sea had eroded it into a pockmarked pattern.

The Commander climbed ever higher, her heartbeat rising in volume inside her helmet. The sounds of shooting and shouting grew. The others had joined the firefight, the danger to them increased, as did the chance of being discovered. The rock was more dry the further up she moved, which allowed her to move more quickly.

Another plasma bolt slammed into the rock above her head, showering her with black shards of stone. She halted, unable to move, fearing the structure had been broken and she would fall. The sensation did not come, and she looked around. The colossus that had fired was charging up to shoot once more.

Haider must have seen it too, because as one, the rest of the humans on the beach rose and fired point blank into the masses of geth moving to intercept the weaving forms of Liara and Jennifer. Their collective roar was eerily like that of an ocean storm, a poetic thing to notice that Shepard had little time to contemplate.

The colossus twitched, swinging its head towards the new threat, and changing its mind again.

Shepard felt fear cut into her gut. The thing still viewed her as the primary threat. She looked up, and found that the first shot had cleared the way to the top. Panting, she scrambled up the last part of cliff and rolled to relative safety.

A second later, the side of the entire rock she had climbed on sheered off under the next plasma impact, the cut mere centimetres from where she lay. The debris fell into the foam below with light splashes, and the scent of burning rock overwhelmed. Unspeakable relief flooding her brain, she controlled her breathing, to continue with the task.

She was in position, the colossus could no longer see her. And she could see everything.

The grey and white metal of what could only be Saren's base of operations rose out of the lush surroundings, concentric walls surrounding it like a castle of old. The dragon waiting to be slayed within. Below the defences however, another battle raged. The strobing flashes reported a heavy firefight, even if the sounds could not be discerned over the one raging just below. Shepard brought up her binoculars.

It was the salarians on one side, of course, but the opponent they were fighting... Shepard couldn't believe her eyes. Masses of krogan charged the STG's lines, repulsed by grenades and explosives. The salarians were holding, for now, but she could see where the line would buckle already. She flipped to her Navy channel without delay.

"Fifth Fleet Fire Control," Shepard said, flipping the switch on her binoculars, "This is Verdun. Request orbital bombardment by laser designation."

"Verdun, this is Athena XO," Commander Corrigan replied, "Orbital bombardment authorised. Request target coordinates."

Shepard brought her binoculars to her eyes once more, and one-by-one, gathered the coordinates of the colossi. The walking plasma cannons were preoccupied with trying to shoot the Alliance strike force without hitting their own, a task that was difficult given that the two had merged and were now fighting a desperate close-in battle. Something she would have to do something about.

"Sending target coordinates," Shepard said, slapping the button on her omnitool.

"Coordinates received," Corrigan replied, "Cruiser Louisbourg firing in thirty seconds."

Her job complete, Shepard began the next one, flipping her rifle off her back and into her hands once more. It wasn't hard to find Liara and Jennifer's place in the chaos below, and to her surprise, Ashley had joined them. She switched back to her squad channel, and began to fire on the geth.

"The bombardment is coming," she said, "Cover!"

The trio made for a tidal pool. Seeing three geth anti-tank units swing their rockets towards them, Shepard coolly took aim. One pull of the trigger, and a round sailed into the lead unit's launcher. The round detonated the explosive charge, blowing all three geth up, the parts thrown about as if they had been dolls thrown against a wall.

"Heh, good to keep the old classics going," Shepard said to herself, as the others began wading into water up to their waists. The other units down the beach were similarly closing in on covered positions.

"What classics?" Wrex asked.

Haider began to explain, but got only a single word out. The deafening, thumping impacts of the orbital artillery strike were a whole lot louder. The low-power accelerator hits struck each colossus, going through armour and the machinery within cleanly, before hitting the ground below. The thunderclaps of the latter were followed by thrown rock and blooms of dust rushing past. Shepard ducked, trying to avoid the fallout, but was struck by multiple pieces of rock with enough force that left her very glad for her kinetic barriers.

The haze began clearing quickly, courtesy of the ocean wind. Where the heavy mechs had stood, there were now only twenty or so overlapping craters, each almost large enough to land the Normandy in. The sea itself began flowing seeping into them through the sands, churning at the bottom.

"Holy shit," came Jennifer's voice, as she emerged from the tidal pool, "You really don't play around, Shepard."

"You don't say..." Tali replied, with more than a little hint of amusement.

"Welcome to our world," said Ashley, "Look, the geth are running!"

"The salarians beyond are in trouble," Shepard said, "Krogan. Lots of them." She sent the location of the STG basecamp to Haider.

Wrex let out an impatient grunt. "Saren must have someone on Tuchanka," he said, "I'm going to tear the name of the traitor out of him myself."

"All units, advance to the salarian position," Haider ordered, ignoring him, "They are in serious danger of being overrun."

Realising she was stuck at the top of the rock, Shepard began to climb down on the opposite side. There was no way in hell she was going to miss the fun.

Ashley was first over the salarian barricades, shotgun at the ready and a collection of enlisted soldiers with her. The scene before her was one of brutality; krogan mutilating and killing salarians where they could be caught, knocking them to the ground and executing them with the heels of their boots or ripping their throats out with teeth. The STG returning the favour with grenade launchers and flamethrowers, blasting and burning two or three at a time. Getting a handle on the situation was going to take more than she had.

The Chief looked to either side, trying to see if any other groups of Alliance soldiers had made it through. Not another soul save the five or six that had followed her, screaming their lungs out and ignoring all else but the advance.

At some point during the charge, she had managed to lose the other members of the Normandy crew, probably when the geth had rallied to try and delay the Alliance linking up with the STG, but had pressed forward regardless. The synthetics had jammed the comms close to Saren's fortress, making matters greatly worse.

"What do we do, ma'am?" one of the soldiers asked calmly, an old Texas drawl stretching out each syllable.

Ashley looked at the soldier with a furrowed brow. Was he stupid? So stupid that he'd follow her to that point and have no idea what they were going to do? It took seeing that all the others were younger, and lower ranked, than herself for her to understand. Most of them didn't even seem to be in the same unit to begin with. The Chief's mind raced back to her officer training.

"We're a composite unit now, corporal," she said, remembering the protocol, "I'm in command. We're helping the salarians. We need to secure their headquarters and protect their commander."

The soldier gave a single nod, and got the others spreading out into something resembling a fireteam. He had only needed that much of a boost, Ashley saw, but as a paratrooper of the First Legion, perhaps that was to be expected. They were machines designed to be wielded, by an officer. And she was one. Technically.

"Forward!" she shouted, preferring the action to the word.

The Chief walked ahead at a quick step, weapon raised.

It didn't take long for the enemy to present themselves. Two krogan burst through a large tent, collapsing it to nothing in a second. One was holding a half-dead salarian, the other a rocket-propelled grenade launcher, and neither were paying attention to anything other than the STG. Ashley couldn't help but notice that they were very similar, both having the same yellow eyes and brown-yellow shell. Twins perhaps?

Regardless, she had them. The shotgun barked, sending 'buckshot' into the knees of the RPG wielding drooler and her own soldiers firing. The krogan didn't have shielding, and the first stopped sprinting and started hobbling, dropping the RPG. The fusillade of the soldiers downed the second, turned into an ugly pasta strainer that leaked yellow-green blood. She grimaced, rushing over to the survivor.

It grabbed her foot and attempted to pull her down, but only managed to drag Ashley closer. She jammed her shotgun barrel in its eye and pulled the trigger, sending the rear of its skull bursting outwards, spraying her armour. A quick wipe with the side of her hand soon saw to that, and they were advancing again.

Suddenly, it seemed as if the krogan were on the retreat. Those that remained were receiving the attention of multiple salarians at one, often in the form of their sticky-bomb launchers that cratered krogan armour and bodies with ease with a direct hit.

They almost ran into another four krogan, providing a distraction for the STG group targeting them to do just that. The corpses fell to the wet sand, broken, halting the humans' in their tracks. The salarians responsible soon emerged from foxholes and the sides of prefabs, about the same number as there were humans, covering all possible entry points into the small space with their weapons.

"Shit," Ashley said, to no one in particular, "We need to get some of those." Hums of agreement followed from her makeshift squad.

"Sorry, the STG does not sell weapons designs to aliens," a salarian informed her, politely, "But we appreciate your assistance nonetheless."

Ashley couldn't tell if he was being sarcastic or not, given that she had done nothing to help him other than stumble upon his group, but she didn't have time for rebuttal.

"Ashley Williams, Hell Brigade, Alliance Army," she said quickly, "Where is your commanding officer?"

"Follow us," the salarian replied, "We'll take you to him. Need to retreat any way, the krogan are gone for the moment, but they'll be back."

"And in greater numbers," said another salarian.

Ashley blinked for a moment, not liking the sound of that and slightly perturbed at how casually they were taking the prospect of being torn to pieces. The salarians didn't wait for a response, they fell out in an orderly but hasty fashion. There was nothing to do but follow.

A few minutes of weaving through ever more dense 'flatpack' buildings and metal barricades, fire from the nearby walls intensifying as they moved, they made it to the main salarian position.

"Friendlies!" Ashley shouted, not wanting to get shot by some twitchy salarian. They were twitchy enough in her eyes without active combat throwing them for a new one.

"Obviously," came the amused reply.

The squad leader pointed his men to join the line, and personally took Ashley and her people to the headquarters prefab, whispering in her superior's ear... or whatever passed for one among salarians, before dismissing himself to return. It was a bare place save for lockers and hammocks, with only a limited set of command equipment in the common space in the middle of the room.

The salarian commander looked up from the small holoprojector, before coming around it and shaking Ashley's hand profusely.

"Captain Kirrahe, 3rd Infiltration Regiment, STG," he said, as she gingerly reclaimed her hand, "I must thank you, Williams. If you hadn't shown up when you did, the krogan would have overrun us."

Ashley tilted her head slightly, not sure what he meant. A glance to her fellow Alliance soldiers confirmed that they had no idea what he was talking about either. "We only killed two krogan," she said, confused at the warm reception.

"They came under the impression that you were the tip of the main Alliance force, and withdrew," Kirrahe replied, returning to his holograms with his hands behind his back, "The geth have held the rest of your people off, for the moment. They've jamming almost all communications, but I've managed to restore limited contact with Commander Shepard. Reinforcements are coming."

"Great, so all we need to do is..." Ashley began.

"Hold the line," Kirrahe nodded, "The krogan have already realised their mistake."

The salarian captain pulled a Viper rifle up from the side of the holoprojector and cradled the thing in both arms. "With me," Kirrahe said, moving out of the small building.

Ashley waved her soldiers to go along with it, and were led to the left-most barricade under the lee of the wall itself, half buried in sand as the protected side of a trench.

The shooting from the walls had ceased, and there was guttural noise rumbling towards the position already. The Chief stowed her shotgun and balanced the huge Rorsch rifle on the metal of the barricade. Her troops eyed the armour-busting weapon with a small degree of awe and a greater degree of envy, but she knew it was only a marginally better choice. Sure, she could kill a krogan or two with a single shot, but then she had to reload. With that in mind, she quickly grabbed the box of rounds, opened it and placed it on the edge by the rifle. She didn't want to get jumped while fiddling the ammunition.

"Remember," Kirrahe shouted, waving his rifle off his hip, "Hold the line!" The salarian took aim, like the rest, opting to stand up rather than huddle down. Admirable, Ashley thought, but stupid.

As expected, the krogan boiled between and through the remaining buildings. Their mouths opened to issue a battlecry, but the cacophony of firepower from the salarians and humans drowned it out. The mass accelerators carved through them, the grenades exploded among them in clouds of blood and sand. The krogan rushed forwards like it was nothing more than rain.

Ashley felt fear curl up in her gut, her teeth clenching involuntarily at the sight.

She took aim at the densest cluster she could find, and pulled the trigger. The Rorsch boomed, eclipsing all other noises for the briefest moment, its slug tearing through a line of krogan.

Still the krogan came.

Ashley opened the weapon, letting the steaming-hot heatsink pop out, and slammed the reload in before snapping the whole thing closed. She returned her attention forwards to find the krogan even closer than she had feared. Again, her Rorsch boomed. Again, a hole appeared in the krogan ranks several aliens deep, but they had wised up to the power of her weapon. They began moving towards her personally, eyes all pointed at her.

Panic set in, and she popped the rifle open to reload more forcefully.

"Come one, come on," she muttered, continuing the process, her squad pouring fire onto the oncoming threat rattling in her ears. The krogan were close enough to smell, firing wildly off the hip as they came on.

Once ready, Ashley looked up. A single krogan had broken ahead of the pack, and was almost on her, ignoring the entirety of her squad's firepower. The blue flashes told her it had barriers, unlike its friends.

She fired the Rorsch, barely aiming. The shot struck the alien in the side. He span like a top, but tumbled forwards and fell onto Ashley herself. The thing moved as it fell.

"Fuck you!" she screamed, activating her omniblade. She stabbed and stabbed, eliciting further groans of pain, covering herself in krogan entrails and sand, as she sliced him apart. By the time it was definitely dead, she had no idea how long she had been fighting. She pulled herself out from underneath the body, and stood up.

The sights and sounds that greeted her almost sent her back into the trench.

Alliance Orca tanks and Mako APCs, painted in crimson reds and dusty oranges, raced over the beaches and over the remains of the buildings, their cannons blasted away at the krogan as every machinegun chattered. The lead tank, marked with the words "MARS ATTACKS" in large white letters, drove straight past and parallel to the wall. Ashley couldn't stop grinning. The cavalry had arrived.

The Mako that had been following skidded to a stop, and the rear ramp opened. Shepard and Haider stepped out, followed by the others in quick succession.

The Commander looked between Ashley and the dead krogan at her feet for a moment. "Chief, are you alright?" she asked, "Any wounds?"

"None, ma'am," Ashley replied, "It just got close, is all."

"Hear that, Wrex?" Shepard said, as the krogan disembarked, "It just got close."

Wrex took one glance, gave one appreciative tilt of the crest, and walked off to find something to kill. That was as complimentary as Wrex seemed to get, most of the time, as far as Ashley could tell. Unless it was Tali.

"Very well done, Chief," Shepard said.

"It was nothing," said Ashley, getting out of the trench with the help of the other Alliance soldiers, whom had also miraculously survived.

"She didn't flinch for a second, Commander," the corporal reported.

Ashley had the sneaking suspicion that too much was being made of the fact.

"Indeed," said Kirrahe, "If we had been overrun, I would be unable to inform you of a most disturbing discovery."

"Inform us, in that case," Haider said, with some hostility, "We formally annexed this world, you should not even be here."

Kirrahe seemed completely unphased, to Ashley's surprise, even as the Major-General's crazy biotic daughter moved to get a clear sight of the salarian, her biotics flaring slightly. Apples don't fall far from the tree even among the adopted children, the Chief thought to herself.

"Saren has found a cure for the genophage," Kirrahe stated, "His krogan are not mercenaries, and they are not clones. They are born."

The entire group was struck dumb. Haider looked like she might actually explode, her face turned so red to the Chief's eye. Wrex could've joined her, the hostility flowing off of him as he loomed ever closer to the STG captain.

"Well, shit," said Ashley at last.

"You said it, Chief," Shepard chipped in.

AUTHOR'S NOTE: Happy N7 Day ladies and gents!

In case you haven't heard already, it seems that the very beginning of ME:Andromeda (i.e. when the ships leave the Milky Way Galaxy) is in 2185, which means the timing of the end of this story will be very fortunate for me writing that scenario into Battlefield 2185. And a great many other stories, I would imagine. It will be very good times around here come springtime, I think.

As for this chapter, a lot happened. I originally planned to reveal Jack's new... situation in BF2184, but I liked the idea of her being rescued and adopted by Haider too much to leave until then, especially as my 2184 story will essentially be a short story.

Fairly easy to see where Liara is going in terms of her personality too, courtesy of repeated bonds with the Angel of Death. Also, the First Martian Armoured Regiment makes its debut.

Hopefully, I'll have another chapter up for you guys tomorrow at the latest.

KnightOfHolyLight: Aethyta is going to be a much more important character than in the games, to say the least.