I don't own the Mass Effect.
Operation: Dante's Inferno
The Silver Blade
Cieran Kean
The Collectors made two probing attacks in the time between Shepard's departure and Miranda's arrival. Not overly serious ones, they were more annoying than anything else, but it was still another bloody thing to deal with. Especially given that we had to keep Tali and one of William's wounded soldier types protected while they lay comatose behind a bit of debris.
Thankfully our reinforcements had gotten them onto the ship as soon as they'd arrived, along with the bodies of our fallen. Of course even in removing one concern they'd brought in another; the last two nuclear bombs that we'd been sitting on. Grunt had been the one who'd been tasked with carrying one of the things when they made their push, EDI and EVA the other, and Shepard had gone ahead without waiting in either case.
"I'm going to leave them on the ship for now." Miranda spoke from where she was crouched beside me, the pair of us resting behind a broken loader of some kind. "If we absolutely have to we can simply arm them and drop them before exiting."
I nodded slightly, it wasn't as if one spot was better than another in the small hangar so that was as good a plan as any other. "I want your teams out in that alcove, right over there. It has the access to the narrower run down to the core. We'll handle the main run and the service exits."
She gave me a quick nod of her own, the moved off to start snapping orders to her people. Her voice mixing with Shyeel's as my companion got our own teams into their positions.
Our formation resembled a lopsided crescent, one end near the front of the Normandy and then curving around the ship's port side where the last gate would open to the main run we'd held not long before. The area I'd given Miranda's people was on the right, with Chek's veteran team right next to her. Terro's team, now commanded by Deshi after the former's death at gate three, was to his left in turn. Beyond them would be Aya and her people, and my little trio would be anchoring the formation at the far end. Horvak and his line soldiers would be our only serious reserves, the eight survivors hauling debris around to create a defensive position in front of the ship's ramp. Behind them, Illyan and the ship's crew would be providing what cover they could.
Not the best defensive position, but it was what we had. At least there was a minimal number of service shafts and tunnels connected to this one compared to the main hangar. Even better they were almost entirely concentrated on the interior side, largely ensuring that we were secure from being flanked.
Although... our flanks were really our least concern. The Collectors would have worked out the plan by now. They'd throw everything they could at Shepard to try and stop her, and at us to make sure that none of us escaped even if she succeeded in triggering some kind of meltdown. Worse, we'd obviously had the measure of surprise for most of the past hour of combat, but the increasing numbers of combat drones and decreasing numbers of the slighter worker drones made it clear that time had passed.
I grumbled about that as I walked over to where Voya was already setup, settled on a knee with her Viper resting on some kind of broken machine. "I hate competent enemies who don't care about their own lives."
"Doesn't everyone?" Her head shook tiredly, her entire body shifting back and forth a bit as she settled in. "Saw some movement two minutes ago, but might have just been Seekers."
"Aya?" I called, glancing at the team next to us, "Yours see anything?"
The Batarian woman shook her helmeted skull, "Just slight movement sir. Are you sure we shouldn't close the gate?"
"I want to stand off their first push first," I replied, "We close it now they'll know they need breaching equipment to start off with. Might buy us some time."
"Assuming," Voya muttered, "That we can close the gate when it comes time."
I glowered at her through my visor, "Do I nitpick your plans?'
"All the time." She replied breezily, then her entire body stiffened. A heartbeat later her rifle barked out a round, and everyone around tensed. "Husk... it's down."
"Just the one?" I asked, wishing to the goddess that my rifle had survived. My hand cannon was an amazing weapon, and the only I had seemed to have any real degree of accuracy with, but it wasn't exactly a sharpshooter's tool.
"For now."
I grimaced, "Shyeel, we're going to need you over here. Illyan! You're handling the reserves, tell Horvak when you want them to move up."
"Got it boss." The latter replied, while Shyeel merely appeared behind us in a burst of biotic light. She came in close enough that the bow shock knocked me into Voya, making us both grumble and call her some rather unflattering things that merely made her snort while the Lancers nearby choked down laughter.
It didn't do much to relieve the tension and exhaustion, but it did a little... and that was all we really had time for.
The Collectors hit us from more or less every direction at once, and, what was worse, they didn't bother with husks or worker drones. Two Scions emerged into the main run, covered by more than a dozen combat drones along with a biotic. Rather than actually trying to advance, they quickly settled in behind the stasis pods strewn across the pseudo-roadway and began laying down suppressive fire.
We replied in kind, but the Scions proved to be the primary issue. The biotic quickly acted to deflect what technical mines I tried to send at them, while the lumbering creatures began to work on demolishing our cover.
I growled to myself as their plan became clearer. They were trying to draw us into either advancing on them to deal with the creatures, sit here and lose our defensive position, or withdraw and let them get closer without a real fight. Nothing but positives from their point of view.
"Snipers focus on the Scions, aim for their weapons!" I snapped, "Heavy weapons try and tag the biotic! Miranda, status on the right?"
"Dozen collectors, biotic, double Scion." Came the quick list, "Evidently it is a kind of combat formation."
Evidently. "Can you hold them?"
"The hall they're moving down is narrow enough, we have them contained."
"Good." I exhaled, "Illyan, I need whoever you had manning that second Spitifre over here. Aya! Get Vecca over to the gate controls, wait for my signal to shut them!"
Confirmation came in the form of a lithe little Asari scuttling back from the firing line, then darting past the three of us and looping around towards the wall. She slid to a halt next to the control panel in question, her position completely out of sight from the Collectors still throwing erratic fire at us even as the others returned fire.
Shyeel took to directing the fire, coordinating a barrage between herself, Voya, and Nikros' sniper rifles to continuously hammer the Scion on the left side. It managed to get off a pair of rounds of its own, demolishing the Krogan woman's cover and forcing her to move farther to the right, but collapsed itself under the impacts from their fire. The other Scion, irritably, had a much better position with most of its body protected by stacked stasis pods, and the enemy biotic seemed to be personally protecting the thing.
Its barriers didn't hold up under the deluge we threw out at it, but it bought it enough time to entirely fuck up our defensive line on this side before Shyeel managed to put it down. Aya was still secure with us, but the rest of her team had been forced to shift over, huddling up with Deshi's team, leaving a giant bloody gap in our ranks... and worse, concentrating our people neatly.
"Close it!" I shouted, knowing that grenades or particle lances would be coming soon, and with everyone concentrated like that they were sitting ducks. "Close the gate!"
Vecca was already on it, her hand slapping the controls. The heavy bulkhead began to slide shut almost at once, moving smoothly at a pretty good rate of speed as it did. The firing sputtered to a stop and then cut out as they clanged shut, leaving only the quieter sounds coming from where Miranda and Chek's teams were holding the other entrance.
"Reform the cover as best you can!" I continued giving orders, glancing over at the other side. "Miranda, sitrep!"
There was a heavy surge to the gunfire, then it abruptly petered away. "They're pulling back, likely taking stock of the situation."
"Probably." I agreed, flicking my omni-tool to adjust the channel. "Shepard, you alive?"
"Yes, and still advancing." The Spectre replied at once, "We're on some kind of conveyor system of platforms heading towards the core. They behind us?"
"Of course they are." My voice was dry, "They're also hitting us from the left, and I'm expecting them to start playing games with the walls soon enough. Sooner you can hit the core the better."
She made a grunting noise, "We're working on it."
I was about to respond with a comment about her needing to work a bit faster when there was a ringing clang through the entire hangar. Everyone glanced at the bulkhead we'd just closed, and Vecca proved to have a good head on her shoulders; she wasted no time in bolting back towards our position and all but dove into cover just as a second blow rang out.
Everyone got back into position and tensed up... for nothing to happen. More sounds came and went, but the tones shifted, becoming deeper, farther away.
"EDI?" Lawson asked after the second minute.
"I am not detecting any unusual activity within my scanning range." The AI responded at once, "There have been no overt explosions or surges in their power grid."
That made me frown a little, "Tunneling below the gate?"
"Unlikely." EDI managed to insert a verbal shrug to her words, "There is a great deal of service equipment and solid rock beneath this hangar. They would require sizable amounts of equipment and time to make such a plan work."
Miranda spoke before I could, "If not below, above? No... the gates retract laterally, could they be disabling the equipment locking them in place?"
EDI hummed, "Possible, but such a thing would again require explosive detonations on a level we could detect."
I grimaced, "What if they're using biotics, or just brute strength?"
There was a long pause, "That... would be possible."
No sooner had she stated as much then a pair of spots on the thick gate began to glow ominously. I didn't need to remind everyone to be ready, but I did so anyway, settling in beside Voya and Shyeel as best I could as whatever it was continued to melt their way through the metal. The process didn't take nearly as long as it should have, though the heavy talons that slammed through the still red hot alloy was rather unexpected.
Whatever was dragging it was evidently strong as shit because they didn't have any problems simply dragging the doors open.
I decided to help them, activating my omnitool and firing off an incinerate mine. The orange disc whipped out from its launcher at a high, curving angle that brought it down through the widening gap to detonate in a muted flash of light and a whistling shriek from something. Voya quickly fired off one of her own, the barrage followed by those Lancers who had launchers.
More yellow-orange explosions were joined by more of the odd screams, then a biotic, or more than one, flooded the gap with a barrier while also tossing out power to divert our mines away. Our Asari, plus Jacqueline but minus Shyeel, quickly responded in kind; lances of warpfire, counter-throws, and the occasional shock-wave joined the deluge to create an almost psychedelic display as blue and green dark energy met one another.
Of course, that was just the prologue. The actual battle resumed once the two halves of the gate were about three meters apart, allowing Husks to start flooding through.
I brought my pistol up, firing it one handed while my left continued to trigger mines. Once again everyone else followed suit with no real need for me to bother with orders. Biotics, gunfire, and technical devices began to tear into the cybernetic zombies. None made it more than a couple of meters past the gateway... at least at first.
I began to feel a lot less clever about shutting the door when I had as the Husks continued to storm out, dying in droves, overheating our weapons, tiring us, and buying their commanders more time to finish opening the gates behind them. Closing the gateway may have bought us time, but it had also given the Collectors the ability to pile up fairly close to us instead of having to storm forwards under cover.
And apparently they'd also had the time to summon everything they could to deal with us.
The Spitfire armed crew-member that Illyan had dispatched proved himself to be invaluable almost at once, the heavy weapon thundering in tight bursts accompanying by incinerates from its secondary barrel. He probably cut down close to a third of the husks on his own, ensuring that none of them managed to cross the thirty meters or so to reach us.
He was also the first to die when the Collectors shifted to Asari tactics.
Three robed biotics appeared when there was only a dozen or so Husks still upright, surging forwards in charges. The first struck the poor manning mounting the Spitfire, emerald warpfire rolling out over the screaming man before anyone else could react. I didn't see where the third one ended up primarily because the second one emerged from a charge right on top of Voya, the bow shock knocking Shyeel and I sideways.
I hadn't realized that Aya had evidently copied my armament style, and only realized that when the Batarian woman snapped her left arm forwards, a submission net whipping towards the biotic. This creature was quicker on the uptake than the one I'd killed earlier, managing to half-dodge the incoming fibers. Rather than wrapping it up entirely the net simply began to sizzle and burn over its left arm, head, and shoulder, drawing a buzzing scream as it flung it away.
Of course that left it motionless for all four of us to open fire at point blank range. Collector biotics may have been offensive juggernauts but their barriers were fairly weak and the creature reeled backwards as they shattered. Blood and viscera went flying as it died, letting us scramble back into position just in time for the last several husks to vault our cover as they hurled themselves forwards.
My right arm rose on reflex, a snap-fire shot taking the head off the one coming at me. That didn't stop its momentum any, and I cursed as I used my shoulder and left arm to hurl the corpse aside. That gave me an excellent view of the rest of the Collectors setting up, and to be an ideal target as they opened fire. Evidently friendly fire didn't bother them because they shot down several of the remaining Husks even as they started hammering at us.
Cursing, I ducked back down, blindly firing my pistol a few times while I adjusted my tech launcher for an overload pattern. "Sitrep!?"
"Wokim is down!" Aya shouted as she returned fire with her carbine, ducking as her shields broke. "Vecca got burnt but she's upright!"
"And fucking angry!" The Asari in question snarled from farther down the line, a burst of biotic energy hurling a shard of metal like a javelin to impale a Collector who'd lingered in the open too long.
Deshi was next, "Jin and Kin are dead, that biotic landed on top of them."
I fought down a curse. "Horvak! Half of yours to Deshi!"
"En route!' The Turian replied, my rear camera showing me several figures already rushing in that direction.
I risked a quick glance at the situation. The Collectors had drawn themselves up in several lines laterally across the entire 'street', and were firing at us in a steady rhythm; groups of four coordinating their shots to try and keep us pinned down. Several had made it into the hangar proper, on the wall side near Deshi and Chek's teams, forcing them to focus on that area and severely limiting our return fire to the main body.
Even as I watched another team of four made a fast sprint into the hangar, ducked behind some cover, and only a shockwave from Jacqueline stopped them from extending the battle even farther on that side.
"They're slow rolling us." I growled, firing off three overloads in rapid succession the moment I saw a group that looked ready to try and move to our left. "Trying to extend our lines so far that we won't be able to hold off a direct assault."
Shyeel grunted as her Kishok thundered, taking the head off of a drone before we both had to duck once more. "What do we do about it?"
"Working on that." I replied. Retreating to our second line would consolidate us but it would also let the Collectors approach even further, and if the assholes had any heavy weapons they could start trying to damage the ship. The ideal solution would be to commit our reserves, advance, and throw the fuckers back... but we just didn't have the numbers.
We could either sit here and take it as best we could, or we could withdraw and try and setup a better defensive line... Athame's azure, I fucking hated competent enemies.
Our goal was to hold this position and survive until Shepard's team returned, so what we needed most was time. The longer we held this forward position the better... dammit, I needed our pitiful reserves, and likely some of the people Illyan was holding back as well. With them we might be able to hold them off, perhaps manage a localized counter-attack.
"We hold here!" I shook my head, "Miranda, do you need reinforcements!"
"Negative." She replied at once, "They're holding us in place but not seriously pushing."
Which made sense. That avenue of approach was far more narrow, it would be far harder to actually push into the hangar. "Horvak, get everyone else over here, I want you to set up on Chek's right and extend the line all the way to the wall. Illyan! Give Ula as many grenades as you can, then send her to the secondary line!"
Her reply was instant. "On it!"
"Good." I exhaled, glancing back to see Horvak and his remaining people rushing off to the far end of the line. "Ula, I want you as our artillery. Focus on any groups and hit them as best you can."
"Yes sir!" She called even as the first of the Asari in their black bodysuits and light armor began to dart down the ship's ramp.
Their arrival, and our meager reinforcements, proved enough to shift the engagement into something like balance for several minutes. The Collectors ceased trying to extend the line in favor of just trying to keep us pinned down, probably while they whistled up some more biotics, Scions, or Husks to bolster their own efforts. That or they were considering shifting their focus to Miranda's side. In either case no one on our side actually died, but I don't think we killed more than one or two Collectors. They seemed to have picked out where our snipers were located and concentrated most of their efforts in those areas.
As I was sitting next to two of said snipers, I didn't contribute overly much beyond to adjust firing patterns. After the third such minute, I decided it was time to take some momentum back for ourselves.
"Chek!" I called after taking another look over the situation, and noting that the Collectors in the back ranks were adjusting themselves for one reason or another. If they were getting ready for something, this was the ideal time to make them think about something else. "Take Horvak and push up on the right, throw those fuckers out of that position and take the corner back! Ula, Deshi, focus your attentions on supporting them!"
The Krogan let out a booming laugh in reply, following it quickly with one of his prearranged battle plans. It took an extra couple of sentences to fill in the Line soldiers on their job, but they all rolled forwards a second or three after Ula's people used their biotics to throw a barrage of smoke grenades and stunners into the corner in question.
Our most veteran team rushed forwards under a deluge of suppressing fire from Horvak's people, the Krogan leading with Jacqueline and Mirala right behind him. The three plunged into the smoke and chaos, flashes of gunfire and biotic power illuminating the smoke in wild, strobe-like patterns. Washana and Vessian plunged in after them, and a few seconds later the Line soldiers followed up.
The Collectors, proving that they were annoying intelligent at times, quickly began to pull back. Of the dozen that had been back there, eight managed to get out of the smoke and rush back towards the nearest position of cover provided by a few stasis pods. That, of course, brought them into Deshi's line of sight, and his team wasted little time in dropping three of them, and Jacqueline managed to catch another with a gout of warpfire.
Chek didn't need any further instructions; rather than stopping there he continued to push. Mirala's biotics flared as she grabbed a stasis pod and actually levitated the thing. Jacqueline let out a furious bellow a second later and hurled it forwards like an airborne battering ram. It caught and crushed one of the Collectors like the bug it was, and sent the rest scattering as Chek rumbled forwards, backed up by the other two members of his team.
Naturally, just as it looked as if they would be able to setup in a position that let them fire right down the Collectors line of battle inside the hangar proper, while also being safe from fire from the main run... the enemy made their own move.
No fewer than five Scions abruptly shambled into view, firing in sequence as they came around the corner. Everyone ducked and swore as the strange explosions detonated around us, then rose and began to return fire just in time to receive an absolute deluge of fire as the Collectors put everything they had into making us duck once again.
Then the things that had opened the gates finally came around the corners from where they'd been lurking; two massive centaur like creatures came surging forwards and four spike tipped legs. It was only when they opened fire with particle lances that I realized that they were some form of Praetorian, but with what I thought were Krogan torsos and heads rather than the odd Human things the Matriarch had shoved into my head. Their right arms ended in the massive talons that they'd used to haul the gate open, while their left ended in double-ended barrels of the lances that blazed out golden beams.
One went right after Chek and Horvak, while the other simply bowled forwards, heading right for the ship.
"Focus fire!" Suiting action to word, I opened fire with one hand and triggered an overload with the other. "Aim for the legs!"
Everyone else joined in, but the thing's shields held more than long enough for it to reach Deshi's position at the center of our line. Everyone scattered, but Nikros was a shade too slow. The thing slammed one of its legs right through her left leg, booming out a mocking sound as the Krogan woman howled in pain. She shoved her Kishok into its guts and pulled the trigger at about the same time as it leveled its weapon arm and put two beams of plasma through her chest.
Deshi let out a furious snarl that would have done Voya proud, the young Taker actually diving beneath the creature and firing his carbine at point blank range into its belly. The thing roared again, moving with impossible speed to scuttle sideways away from him. He tried to follow and was batted away by its clawed hand, crashing to the ground somewhere near Ula's team.
It turned just in time to see Voya and I bearing down on its flank, our pistols barking against its failing shields. It tried to shift back, what might have passed for it intestines dangling disgustingly beneath it as it turned to face us. The particle lances glowed as it aimed at Voya, but it was too slow to keep up when she threw herself to the right, the energy burning lines in the ground behind us.
Activating my left gauntlet, I ducked a wild blow, slammed my fist into its front left leg and breaking something before following up on Nikros' work and putting three rounds into the gaping wound in its armored stomach. The thing reeled backwards, staggering as it seemed to go down, then abruptly whirled itself around to drive its good front leg at me.
I hadn't expected the maneuver, or the speed with which the crippled creature managed to move, and the blow took me across the chest. I didn't fly as far as Deshi, the things strength was evidently failing, but I still tumbled as I hit the ground. I managed, barely, to come up in a crouch with a knee on the ground, glancing up in time to see Voya dodge a much slower blow, dancing inside its reach and shoving a grenade right inside its body.
Then she was bounding away, the thing dying messily as said grenade went off.
Deshi staggered up next to me, offering me a hand. I accepted it, saw a flash of light and hauled him down just as a Scion's round screamed past us.
"Sitrep!" I coughed, the pair of us scrambling forwards, staying as low as we could.
Mirala's sensual voice was low and hard, "Chek is dead, that thing tore his throat out. It's dead but Washana and Vessan are crippled, it's all Jack and I can do to stop the bleeding."
I swore, "Get them back to the ship! Horvak, hold that position! They're moving up!"
The Collectors had used the time their centaurs had bought them to roll their entire third line up to their second, and their second up to their first, and even as I watched their first began to storm forwards under suppressing fire from those behind them. The fucking Scions were still upright, and fired off another barrage from the rear lines, sending several of us stumbling around as we tried and failed to cut down the charging enemies.
I dropped one from the team rushing to were the young Quarian and I had found cover, then three of them were bounding over the pod we were behind and coming at us. Ducking, taking a short burst of gunfire to my right shoulder as the first came at me. Technical panels shattered, and pain ripped into my bicep, but then it was close enough for me surge forwards, slamming my left hand into its odd skull.
The gauntlet shattered armor and bone, the thing tonelessly collapsing in time to let me fire into the one that had jumped Deshi. Its shots had evidently done more damage to him than I'd suffered, he was on his ass and struggling to get it off him. My rounds took it in the back, killing it and leaving it to slump over the wounded man.
Collector number four landed on the pod beside us, aimed its gun, and then the top half of its head came apart as Shyeel executed it before it could do the same to us.
"Thanks!" I shouted, kicking the corpse off of Deshi and offering him my hand. He took it a bit woozily, letting me haul him up as I turned around to try and get a better idea as to how everyone else was doing.
That left me facing the correct direction in time to see the Scions fire... but this time my fatigued reflexes weren't enough to get us out of the way. The blow hit me on the left shoulder like a charging Krogan, sending me flying back into Deshi. My helmet slammed into his as we both went down, tumbling over one another.
The station whirled around wildly, gunfire and biotics screaming overhead... I remember trying to get up, remembering a splitting ache in my skull...
Then darkness fell.
Next up is Dante's Inferno: VI
And Cieran is down, not dead but very unconscious, and things aren't looking so good for the crew. We've got one more chapter to go, covering the final defense of the ship as Shepard makes her run back to the Normandy... and we still have several named characters who won't be making it out.
Please read and review, criticism is welcome, flames not so much, as usual. Reviews are my lifeblood as a writer.. every-time my email goes off with a review it makes me want to write more, so please take the time to leave one. Guests can leave them as well, and it only takes a minute, so please. Even if it's as simple as "I enjoyed it, please continue."
Thanks, Kat
Review Responses:
AngelForm; in my head cannon the ship's lasers are mounted on its aft-dorsal section, and then on either flank above its 'wings'. That doesn't really give it much ability to fire on infantry targets directly beneath it, and firing the main cannon or missiles would have been asking to bury themselves in rubble considering how damaged the hangar already was.
5 Coloured Walker; Primarily plot driven, with the occasional good bit of mental debate and then discussion with Blocked over who is going to die when. For this particular mission only five major characters had absolute plot armor, I considered everyone else more or less equally before settling on who all would go down.
BJ Hanssen, Septim7, xneseyx; in my head Grunt was always the most likely person to end up dead. He's reckless, aggressive, and had the notable disadvantage of being a Krogan when it comes to taking cover. Skill and natural toughness only go so far.
