I don't own the Mass Effect.


Operation: Dante's Inferno


Branded Survivor

(Shyeel T'Voth)


Everything had gone to the fucking deeps.

No sooner had Voya snarled that Cieran was down than the entire bloody station had shuddered around us, Shepard shouting over the radio that they had done something to the station, were rushing back at top speed... and that we needed to be ready to go the instant they returned. A couple of seconds after that the Collectors had stopped trying to act like intelligent, tactically oriented beings in favor of going berserk and trying to roll right over us.

"Fall back to the second line!" I shouted, Cieran's monster pistol bucking in my hand as I retreated, covering Voya and Aye hauling the limp man back towards the ship. Others were doing the same with too many fucking wounded, leaving too few of us to help Illyan's people try and cover them. "Fall back!

"Focus left!" Lawson shouted as she sprinted back, her rifle snapping off rounds as she led her team. "The right is retreating, they're heading back for you Shepard!"

"Confirmed!" The Spectre replied on the all-hands frequency, her shout making me wince as I snapped off another round, putting down a Collector as it charged. "Don't leave without us!"

It was tempting as fuck to do just that.

I saw one of the assholes with a particle lance swing it in my direction, and flashed myself backwards on reflex just in time to avoid the golden beam of energy. Cursing the loss of my Kishok, I vaulted a make-shift barricade to land next to two of the body-suited Nightblades, the maidens gamely firing off rounds from carbines they had to have taken from the dead or wounded.

"Keep covering the wounded!" I snapped, "Hold this line!"

There was a chorus of clicks as everyone still ambulatory hauled themselves into our second, smaller and more constrained, defensive position at the base of the ship's ramp. A darting shot careened off my helmet as my barriers collapsed, and I dropped before another could hit more directly and splatter my brains everywhere.

That gave me a few seconds to glance back, watching as the two women continued to hauled Cieran between them, sprinting for the ramp. Other Asari began to appear along the line as they used their own biotics to cover the distance, before turning around and trying to help those without disengage. Growling to myself, this wasn't the time to play it safe, I hauled myself back up to a knee and resumed shooting as the junior lancers simply turned and ran for it as the Cerberus group also sprinted for safety.

Most made it, though more than a couple took hits and snarled in pain as they were wounded.

Some didn't. One of Aya's people tumbled, missing most of his head, and two of the line soldiers didn't even make it halfway back.

The Collectors seemed to recover themselves from their berserker state on seeing a dozen or so of their number get cut down trying to chase after them. They quickly shifted tactics, piling into the positions we'd just abandoned to open up a fusillade. But they didn't stay in cover, or duck when shots started hammering at them... they just used it to obscure themselves as much as possible, firing until we settled our own aim and killed them.

More blue explosions came as the Scions continued to lumber forwards, trying to break up our new position. "Snipers, try and hit those things or we're fucked!"

"Concentrate on the right one!" Lawson concurred, "Work your way to the left!"

The battle seemed to stabilize for a handful of long breaths as our people reached cover, the Collectors running low on easy targets and evidently needing a moment to come up with a new plan.

"Shyeel!" Illyan's voice caught me as I ducked again, letting the pistol cool and my barriers recharge, "Voya's hit!"

Motherfucking- "How bad!?"

"I'm fine!" The Quarian swore, but even from down here I could tell that she wasn't. She'd had to drop Cieran next to where Illyan was manning her spitfire, leaving Aya to drag him into safety. One of her hands was tight against her chest, and her voice was wavering. "Just... need a minute."

Lawson growled before I could say anything, "Get the wounded into the ship! Everyone else, use whatever grenades you have left to buy time!"

Jack sprinted back at once, her barriers flaring as the Collectors tried to tag her. She utterly ignored Voya's increasingly weak protests in favor of flaring her biotics, hauling the Quarian up as if she didn't outweigh her, and then resuming her rush deeper into the ship.

"Athame's bleeding azure..." I muttered, getting back up, sighting on a Collector. Two shots put out its shields, the third turned its head into modern art, and then I switched to a new target. This was worse than bad. Cieran, Voya, Chek, Terro...

From above and behind, Illyan continued to sweep our sole remaining Spitfire back and forth, firing out heavy bursts that were doing as much as the rest of us to keep the bugs back. They tried a rush a few breaths later, just as everyone who still had grenades finished getting them ready. Illyan's own fire shifted to a technical barrage at the same time, overloads and incinerate mines screaming out to join the grenades.

Discs were being flung out everywhere, exploding in shrapnel, napalm, flashes of light, and razor-wire as our people used up what artillery we had to keep the Collectors back long enough to finish getting the wounded.

It even seemed to fucking work, at least for a minute or so. The small rush was obliterated almost instantly, and the rest hung back, hunkered down, and didn't do shit besides fire of a few blind shots to remind us that they were still around. It was about when Jack got back, collapsed and panting for breath beside me, that the Collectors decided we'd run out of artillery and that it was time to finish us off.

"Biotics!" The scream from one of the Cerberus grunts made me jerk my head around just as she lost hers to a gout of emerald warpfire.

"Focus fire!" Lawson's shout wasn't really needed, everyone opened up on the robed target as soon as they saw it sprinting along the back wall, tearing crates and gouges into the stone but not killing the stupid thing before it flashed into cover.

Motion out of the corner of my eye made me join the shouting, "Two more left! Left!"

The elite targets flashed left and right, relying on mobility and cover to make up for their relatively weak barriers. To my surprise they didn't start throwing shit around instantly, but it didn't take very long to figure out why.

Two more of the scuttling, butchered Krogan things emerged from the main hall, and right behind them was at least five or six shambling scions all being guided by another Collector biotic and a half-dozen figures that might have been carrying those goddess-damned grenade launchers and particle lances.

"We can't hold!" I spat into the priority channel. Not with all but heavy weapon gone, and our heavy hitting biotics either wounded or barely conscious after hours of combat, "We have to get the ship airborne and use its guns to clear this place!"

"That could collapse the tunnels and block Shepard!" Lawson shouted back.

"Which won't matter if we're all dead!" I countered, "Into the ship, Asari hold as rear guard! Go!"

The Blades around me didn't hesitate. Jack and the others turning ad hauling their exhausted asses back up the ramp. On the other end, the remaining Cerberus agents did hesitate, but not for more than a couple of seconds before Lawson cursed and told them to run before snarling for the ship's crew to be ready.

Which left me and maybe seven other Asari behind to hold off a small, angry horde of insects who clearly saw their prey trying to escape.

High pitched whistling screams came from their deformed heads as the shifted right back to their berserker state, which meant that dozens of them began to sprint, fly, or scuttle in our direction at top speed... but at least also meant that they fucked up their own line of sight and stopped us from getting instantly blown apart by their heavies.

My right hand fired Cieran's pistol as rapidly as I could aim and pull the trigger, while my left yanked my warp sword loose from my belt. Mirala, the surviving Nightblades, and the trio of girls from Khar'shan did much the same, blue warpfire blazing as we pushed power through the eezo lattices.

One of Trena's little assassins had evidently hung onto a final grenade for an emergency, a razor-wire model flying out to reduce a portion of the charge into gory, flayed messes, but that was a small gap against the rush that hit us.

I mentally offered an apology to my friend as I dropped his custom weapon, not having the time to holster it as the first bug flung itself at me, wings buzzing and a SMG firing wildly as I lunged forwards. I may not have been all that good with a sword, not compared to freaks like Trena or a Justicar, but I was more than good enough to gut a flailing insect and then roll aside to behead a second one.

Unfortunately that was about the only easy success I had, since numbers and point-blank gunfire promptly began to take their toll after that.

Two of them tried to tackle me down, while a third put a burst into my chest that shattered my barriers for good and nearly buckled the technical plating over my tits.

I barely avoided one of the tacklers, got clipped by the second, and went spinning to the ground. Bouncing back up let me hack down another creature before it could jump on our ardat-yakshi from behind, and let me also get shot in the back a few times. One of the rounds got through my panels and armor, purple blood misting out of my right bicep and making me bite my tongue in agony.

"Now!" Illyan's bellow came as I spun just in time to deal with a pair of husks that had caught up to their leaders, the things moans' inaudible over the gunfire, screaming, and general chaos. "Back!"

Snapping my head around, I didn't hesitate before flashing myself towards the ship. I mostly made it, banging my hip into a crate and tumbling onto my ass as the others hauled their asses back as well. "Close the ramp!"

The ship was already floating backwards, the mouthy pilot clearly not wanting to risk burying us when the main guns opened up, and the massive ramp began to retract at once. A count glance showed that Mirala and I only had two companions left, one gasping Lancer and a slumped over Nightblade, the other four hadn't made it.

"Shit..."

I let the fire die from my blade as I slumped back, which meant I was entirely unprepared when a Collector biotic exploded in a flash of green light right on top of me. The bow shock ripped the sword free from my loose grip and sent me skidding back along the decking just as three other robed figures arrived, emerald energy already blazing around them as they launched themselves at a bunch of tired and exhausted targets.

A hand snapped up as I forced my damaged body to pour energy down the limb, a flickering curtain barrier snapping around myself just as a gout of warpfire blazed over me. I nearly lost it when I divided my attention, pain roaring up and down my injured arm as I flailed around, trying to grab a weapon.

"Here!" The gasp came from the wounded Nightblade as threw her sword at me, actually falling over just from the effort of it. It tumbled along the floor and nearly impaled me, but I wasn't about to bitch as I grabbed it and hauled myself up.

The Collector almost seemed to shake with laughter, as if amused, and the pressure against my weak protection trailed off as it strode arrogantly forwards. I could hear other people shouting, screaming, biotic detonations shaking the ship nearly as much as the main guns firing just over our heads at things still inside the hangar.

None of that mattered, my attention was entirely on my drained body as I hefted up the short assassin's blade, poured energy into the spider-web lattice of eezo within it, and charged.

The collector drew some kind of stick from its side, the weapon expanding into a long staff that burned with its own eezo, blue tinged with green to become nearly black, and it nearly parried my initial lunge. It whirled the weapon like it had done it a million times, advancing, forcing me back as it tried to land blows on my shoulders and helmet.

I had to use both hands, and each block and parry sent agony rippling up and down my right arm, something the fucker seemed to notice. Its fifth strike proved to be a faint at my left side, and when I bit at the motion it whipped the other end of the staff around to smack right onto my wounded bicep.

My brain ordered my fingers not to let go, but my body had evidently had enough. The scream came out before I could stop it, my new sword clattered to the ground, and an massive foot nearly caved in my ribs as it kicked me down.

One of its hand raised, a half-dome of power encircling us to protect it from the stray gunfire as someone noticed my predicament. I tried to get up, flash myself away... but there was just nothing left to give. My long damaged nervous system had already given me more than it had in years... it had played out, just like the rest of me.

The Collector didn't waste much time, striding forwards, lifting its staff perpendicular to the floor and to my chest, and raised it, clearly intending to drive it right through me and into the decking.

Illyan's warhammer hit from the side as she emerged from a biotic charge, the titanic weapon simply caving in the thing's torso like it had been made from paper.

I had enough energy left to gape at her before she turned, letting me see that she was an absolute mess of blood... most of it her own, then she flashed away again.

"Idiot..." I gasped, rolling onto my side, trying to get a leg beneath me.

The giant maiden came in at another of the biotics just as it batted Lawson aside. It whirled to face her, side-stepped her swing, then reeled back as Goto appeared atop a crate, pumping rounds from a shotgun into it. Illyan didn't miss again, spinning and bringing the hammer down right onto its head, crushing its skull and spine and leaving it to totter for a moment before collapsing in a twitching heap.

Silence came as it fell, only gasps for breath and the rumble of the ship's engines audible.

"Well..." Illyan groaned. "That was a th-thing...sh...shit..."

I started dragging myself forwards as she tottered for a moment, Goto and Lawson likewise scrambling towards her as other wounded began to groan and call for help. None of that mattered compared to Illyan as she went down, her body curling into a fetal position as she began to seize.

"Shepard is aboard!" Chambers' shout came over the loudspeakers as I reached my friend, frantically ripping her helmet off, cursing her for taking her nullifier off and trying to be a goddess—damned hero. "We're rushing for the relay! Sitrep in cargo bay!?"

"Medics!" Lawson shouted instantly, "Whoever can be spared!"

"On the way!"

I ignored that in favor of trying to get a better look at Illyan, her pupils dilating horribly around purple eyes, blood running from them and from her nose. "Goddess... you... idiot. Get something... in her mouth, before she... bites her tongue off!"

Lawson was already on it, grabbing a broken metal bar of some kind and roughly forcing it between clenching teeth. "Kasumi! Bind her leg before she bleeds out! Arturo! Check on Korolev, she's not moving! Where's Church?"

"Dead!" The man called back from somewhere behind me.

The Cerberus woman cursed, pulling something from her belt, checking it, and then stabbing it into Illyan's neck. "Shit... I have to check on the others."

"Go." I gasped, grabbing the maiden's broad shoulders, helping to roll her onto her back so that the tiny human girl could try and straighten her leg enough to get a tourniquet around it. "Dammit... you had to overdo it..."

Illyan rasped something between the metal, a whimper breaking the syllables apart as she blinked tears and blood from her eyes. "...shr...shor..."

"Shut up." I gave her a light slap on the cheek. "Just... stay calm."

Something that might have been a laugh tried to emerge... then she began to size again, her entire body convulsing as her eyes rolled back.

"I can't stop this!" Goto frantically tried to keep the limb straight, "I need your help!"

I leaned forwards, ready to do so, and put weight on my right arm as I did. White flashed across my eyes, and I blinked again the young human was cursing non-stop and screaming for help. I blinked again and found that I was laying sideways on the deck with no memory of how I'd gotten there.

"That's not good..." I heard myself whisper as booted feet pounded in our direction, and then the weight of the ocean rolled over me, turning my world to darkness.


Yeah... sorry about the insanely long weight, my muse deserted me entirely, to the point where I ran off and started a RWBY story just to try and find it again. Took longer than I'd hoped, but I managed to track it down. I won't promise when the next chapter will be, but I'll promise it won't be another two month wait.

I know this chapter is short, but to be honest it was always intended to be. Hopefully my first person skills haven't atrophied, and hopefully everyone is still around to read and enjoy. We'll be moving into the epilogues from here, tallying the body count, checking the wounded, and finding out what happened to Shepard & Co in the core (spoiler: not everyone from the Shep-Vasir-Williams team made it back... actually most of them didn't).

And yes, I did the fall unconscious fade-to-black thing again at the end of the chapter. I promise it's the absolute last time i'll do so in this story. :P

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