Author's Note: So, in the latest Mass Effect 3 trailer, Shepard kills a Reaper titan by sicing a Thresher Maw on it.
Bioware, in terms of monster vs Reaper action, consider yourselves outdoneā¦
Chapter 53-Redemption
The Batarian fleet and the Charon Relay to find what remained of the Citadel's, the Geth's and Aria's fleets waiting for them, hidden from view by Pluto. The first vessels of the fleet hove into view as the relay lit up, snapping the Batarian vessels through at the speed of light before depositing them on the other side. Hails were sent between the ships as they began to coordinate the fleets and manoeuvre into position, vessels shifting into position for what could well be the final fleet engagement of the war. Malleus had talked to their commanders before coming through, and they knew the plan. All that remained was to execute it.
The blocky, khaki-coloured Batarian ships were the first to move off, a front wave of vessels and the rest followed, engines flaring as they powered up. Scanners hummed into life, searching for any threats, and soon enough the Reapers were found, the giants sensing a potential threat posed by this defiant gathering of force.
They did not have the firepower to face the Reapers in traditional space combat, Malleus knew; that would be akin to trying to kill someone wearing power armour just with bows and arrows. But they had the numbers, just. They could end up being badly mauled by this, even obliterated entirely, but there was no other alternative.
"This is it," he said from the bridge of the Normandy, word relayed to the commanders of the other fleets. "You know the plan. So in the name of the Emperor, full speed ahead!"
As one, massive engines silently roared into life, propelling the ships forwards to face their massive foes. The Reapers seemed to slow their advance as the fleet powered forwards, almost bemused before their massive beam weapons opened fire and ripped ships to pieces. Only a few hundred against nearly four times that number, they were confident in their chances of victory; what, in this hopeless charge, could the Harvest even hope to do them?
The fleet pushed closer and closer, all power to the engines as they tore through the void, captains heedless of the ships that were torn from the vacuum around them. There was no time to pause, no time to hesitate, simply a single chance to defeat the foe before them, no matter the cost.
For a moment, the Reapers seemed hesitant, confused as to why their enemies were still closing instead firing back, sending out crimson death all the same even as the Council, Batarian, Geth and Omegan vessels pushed onwards. Then the two fleets collided, and Malleus played his hand.
Thousands of shuttles holding marines and freebooters emerged, falling from the small ships to the Reaper dreadnoughts, the relatively slow speed of the shuttles negating the kinetic barriers' protection. They touched down on the surfaces of the massive Reapers, magnets in their boots clamping them to their dark metallic hulls.
In the lee of Jupiter, hatches were found, entrances were made, and life struck against death.
#
Kal Reegar had to admit it; these lasrifles were good.
The weapon had a strangely blocky design compared to the more curved makes of the Avengers and Vindicators he was used to using, but already he adored it; he had heard the enemy footsoldiers had shielding powerful enough to resist full magazine from most rifles, but this thing simply cut past those and melted away that onyx armour they wore as well, killing them in just one or two shots. For all intents and purposes, the small group of Migrant Fleet Marines that he was leading had far better shielding than their enemies.
He ducked around a corner, the weapon still held into his shoulder, and opened fire on a group of enemy that were in his way. Lances of blue light snapped from the rifle, ripping through shields and punching bubbling holes through their armour, and the enemy squad before him fell as another two of the Marines under his command joined his fire, shots tearing them down like corn before a scythe.
Beneath his mask, the Quarian smiled grimly, gesturing for the squad to move up, hurrying through the strangely organic looking corridors of dark metal. Ahead, he could pick out the sound of gunfire, and he increased his pace to burst onto a gantry above some kind of shuttle bay. Below, three Kodiak landing shuttles were landed, doors open as a platoon's worth of Batarians battled it out with Reaper troops that were pouring in. Not entrusted with lasweapons, the four-eyed aliens were forced into cover and were struggling to bring down the heavy duty shielding that protected their foes, mass-driver shots pinging uselessly against them.
"Quorro, Karrit, move left and get above those Batarians," Reegar ordered with quick hand gestures. "Derra, Leik, I want you to stay here. The rest of you, with me."
The Quarians had their enemy surrounded, held the higher ground and kinetics were worthless against their weapons, and the killzone they created was utterly lethal, cover nowhere to be found against the enfilade of laser fire. Reegar emptied his magazine, the shots enough to cut down a trio of enemies before he ducked behind cover to slam a fresh las-clip into the weapon. The doorway he was facing slid open and a Reaper soldiers stepped forwards before he flicked the weapon into full-auto and melted its chest away with a few rapid shots. It toppled back as a second one pushed forwards but he dealt with that one with relative ease, las bolts melting its visor and almost evaporating its head.
More of them were pushing forwards through the corridor and he glanced over at Illa and called; "Give me a hand here! We've got enemies trying to flank us!"
"Understood," the Quarian who was next to him on the balcony replied, taking cover by the doorway and sending blue lances down the confines of the corridor, toppling another Reaper.
"Pushing forwards," Reegar said, ducking low. "Cover me."
Illa's shots went over his head as he dashed forwards, lasrifle held low yet still comfortable enough in his shoulder for him to aim. He reached a T-Junction as another of Illa's carefully aimed lances felled a Reaper that had just rounded the corner, glancing round both of them and sending a shock grenade down one, the blast of electricity destroying shields and frying circuitry.
"Derra, Leike, Quorro, Karrit, it's Kal Reegar here," he called into his enviro-suit's radio. "I need you on me, asap! Rest of you, hold position until I give the order to follow."
He leant out to open fire on another pair of enemies that were advancing on them, felling them and emptying the las-cell, and he pressed a third one home. Behind him, he heard boots clattering on the deckplate as the rest of the squad followed him, and they got to cover, laying down suppressing fire on the few enemies that tried to advance on them before Reegar nodded to the rest and took point, pushing forwards.
He managed to gun down another enemy that tried to shelter behind a corner, turning it and opening fire on the group of foes before him. In the tight confines of the sloping corridor there was no cover to be taken from the lasrifle's relentless might, and only a few managed to return shots, the mass-driver rounds deflected by the kinetic barriers that protected him.
He pressed forwards, the other Quarians at his back before he opened a door into a wider corridor of the Reaper. A few enemy soldiers turned to face him and he dropped to a knee, opening fire on them as the rest of his detachment burst through with him, lasrounds spraying across the hallway. To his left, he could see the hangar with the Batarians in, fire against the beleaguered exiles all but non-existent now, and his fireteam fanned into the corridor to plug the main source of reinforcements before they could reach them.
"Hold position," Reegar called to them, before flicking on the radio; "Alright, the rest of you get down here."
He got a round of affirmatives from the rest of his squad, before he hurried towards the Batarians who were already beginning to move forwards now that the imminent threat of being overwhelmed was vanquished.
"Who's in charge here?" he called out, before one of the Batarians nodded to him.
"That's me," the alien replied. "What's the plan? We can't take the enemy as easily in a fight as you Quarians can, seeing as we apparently aren't trustworthy enough to have lasrifles."
"We're moving on the core," Kal Reegar replied. "We'll be the vanguard; your people can cover our backs and give covering fire when we need it. That sound good?"
The Batarian nodded.
"Good," Kal Reegar said. "Then let's kill this thing."
#
The Normandy was like an eagle in flight, silently screaming through the void at full speed, the very tip of the spear that was the fleet it led. Swift and darting, it wove around fire that would have annihilated a slower, less agile ship, while the vessels around it found the Reapers and attacked.
A few hundred kilometres away from it, the Leviathan of Dis powered forwards, it colossal size and sheer mass allowing it to weather the storm of beam fire the Reapers were focussing on it. Burn scars already crisscrossed its thick, scaled hide, while an eye had been scorched away and left as nothing more than a blackened ruin weeping untold gallons of clear puss, but it pushed forwards nonetheless, utterly unstoppable.
The jaws of the Leviathan opened, ivory teeth the size of buildings gleaming for a moment in the glancing light of the sun as it hung in the void, before the monstrous spacecraft's head twisted and they closed around a Reaper. They were crude weapons, but nonetheless effective, the sheer force behind them punching through the dark metal and crushing the sentient spacecraft utterly. It knocked one of the two bisected halves away with its snout, electricity still sparking across the ruined ship, and continued forwards, hunting for yet more prey.
The Normandy swept past that scene, Thannix cannons blazing as they punched several Reaper interceptors from the void, pulling up in a steep turn that was felt even through the artificial gravity on the ship in order to avoid a Reaper spinning past it, speared through the heart by the flaming wreckage of a Batarian cruiser. It dodged over chunks of debris from destroyed Reaper and allied vessels alike, arcing round whilst within, Malleus tried his best to coordinate the battle. It was little help that holographic display before him was confused to the point of being near-indecipherable, friendly and hostile markers becoming one indistinct cloud of red and blue. Occasionally a red marker would wink out as the small armies of boarders that had been unleashed upon them achieved their objectives, aided by the power of their lasrifles, but ships in his fleet were dying by the score every moment.
"EDI," he said from the command pulpit. "Give me a battlefield projection; can we kill the Reapers before they kill us?"
"Calculating," EDI said, before replying; "I do not believe we can, commander. I suggest a change in plan."
Malleus nodded, before saying; "Get me in contact with the Leviathan immediately."
The image before him had a flat panel superimposed upon it, a blur of static that Malleus flicked to one side of the display to allow him to focus on the battle, and the picture of a Batarian.
"Captain," Malleus said to him across the radio. "I need you to do something for me with the Leviathan."
"What is it?" the Batarian asked.
"We need to distract the Reapers not being boarded so our ships can get close," Malleus said. "The Leviathan is the only thing with the durability to provide that distraction."
"What do you need?" the captain asked.
"I need the Leviathan right among them," Malleus said. "I need it to draw their fire."
The alien frowned, and he said; "We'll be killed."
"Your people need to earn their redemption, captain," Malleus replied. "I'm giving you a chance to gain it."
There was a pause, and the Astartes pressed his point; "We are fighting for life itself. Sacrifices need to be made."
There was a pause, before the Batarian nodded.
"I'll see what I can do," he said.
From its place at the edge of the furious combat where it had been picking off Reapers, the Leviathan changed its course, plunging towards the heart of the Reaper fleet like some crude bone knife. The massive organic ship tore forwards, yawning maw closing on a Reaper and shearing through the craft even as beam fire ripped into its hide, drawing great scars across its scales. Bony plates were melted away even as it plunged forwards, slamming into another Reaper, its sheer bulk enough to overpower kinetic barriers with the collision's force. The Leviathan's shields long since overwhelmed, another beam sliced into one of the fins that it used to guide itself through the void, laming the colossal limb.
It twisted in the vacuum, spearing towards the offending Reaper even as one of the dreanought's weapons gouged a furrow into its thick skull. The Leviathan's colossal maw opened in a silent roar of fury, before they closed down upon its hull, colossal teeth tearing through its armour and crushing it beneath the sheer force of the bite. Another Reaper found itself in reach of one of its fins, the colossal limb reaching out and slamming into the craft like one continent hitting another. The force of the impact was enough to completely obliterate its kinetic barriers and sent it spiralling away, and those ships that could fire opened up on it while it was vulnerable, blasting away armour and tearing it apart.
The Leviathan plunged further into the heart of the Reaper fleet, and against so massive a ship and surrounded by an ever tightening cordon of Council, pirate, Batarian and Geth ships, the Reapers were forced to divert resources to deal with the threat. Malleus had them, he knew; they either ignored the Leviathan and let it wreak havoc, or turned their attentions upon it to let the boarding craft advance and attack unmolested.
"Press the assault," he ordered across the radio, knowing that even so, their time was limited to how long the Leviathan could last. "Hold nothing back; no mercy!"
Clouds of shuttles swarmed across the void, more and more of the craft touching down and disgorging troops onto the Reapers. Migrant Fleet Marines blasted airlocks and bulkheads open and stormed forwards, Turians dropships disgorged small companies of what stevedores and marines they had left, the avian aliens moving into the Reaper with as much speed an discipline as they could muster. Bullish Yahg thundered onto the Reapers, Krogan doing the same, while scores of Geth combat platforms were fired from their carrier ships on the sides of the Reapers like strange mass-driver rounds, the synthetics not bothering with the use of shuttles and troopships.
One by one, Reapers began to drift, nothing more than massive hulks that lay empty and dead as the cores that powered them were destroyed by explosives, even as thousands perished and yet more friendly vessels were blasted from the void. And finally, the Leviathan died.
Its one remaining eye had been struck blind by the beam weapons of the Reapers, another of its colossal limbs lamed. Thousands of scars and wounds had been ripped into its hide, even as it thrashed and roared, its great limbs and jaws smashing Reapers to pieces. One of the engines that propelled it had been shot out, but it continued nonetheless, plunging forwards into the densest concentration of Reapers. It twisted its jaw, a thrashing blow that slammed into a Reaper and smashed it away with an impact that left a colossal dent in its side, more shots from the its fellows gouging chunks of flesh away even as more shuttle craft began to land on the dreadnoughts'hulls, boarders surging forwards in a desperate effort to bring an end to their hated foes.
Another Reaper was swatted away by a limb, while a great hunk of meat was gouged out of its side by precisely coordinated beam fire, a colossal heart revealed underneath ribs the size of skyscrapers. More shots speared towards it, even as the Leviathan writhed in the void, throwing its bulk into a Reaper and smashing it aside.
Its jaws opened in a silent roar of agony as the merciless aim of its billion-year enemies hit its heart and killed it, convulsing in cataclysmic death throes that sent earthquake-scale shuddering through the ship, throwing the crew against the walls of its corridors and rooms.
It finally died, a massive hulk of organic wreckage that drifted aimlessly in the void, cyclopean limbs splayed out helplessly. The threat finally abated, the Reapers turned back to the allied fleet they were facing, but it was too late; what remained had got too close for the Reapers to bring their fearsome guns to bear, and more and more boarding forces pushed forwards, desperately attacking the giant vessels in the knowledge that this could well be their only chance to beat them.
"They're breaking engagement," someone suddenly announced across the comm. network. "They're pulling out!"
Barely a score of Reaper vessels remained from the original fleet that had faced them, powering away even as the multitude of boarder-stricken brethren tried to stay and hopelessly fight. The fleeing Reapers sent beam fire at any ship that dared get close, striking them from the void as they tried to pursue.
"Shall we follow?" came a hail from the Knife Edge, the pirates on board no doubt eager for more action.
"Negative," Malleus replied. "We don't have the numbers to weather the approach once more. Make for the Charon Relay and guard it with every ship we have left; let nothing through. I'll take the Normandy and escort the lasrifle shipments to Terra."
"Understood," came the acknowledgement. "We'll keep it locked down tight."
"The Emperor protects," Malleus replied. "Malleus out."
He looked at the battlemap before him, observing the markers for the fleeing Reapers and the badly mauled fleet that were beginning to retreat back into the orbit of Pluto. Somehow, despite the fact that the Council fleet and its allies had been reduced to a mere one hundred and fifty ships, they had managed to force the Reapers into flight, something once thought impossible.
Now all that remained to be done was to finish the scum off entirely.
