Lazarus Station, Unknown location.
It was dark, then there was light, a light bright enough to be a star as it bathed the area around him in its white glow. Bringing his hand up to shield his eyes he turned his face away as he realized what he had just done before pulling his hand down and looking at his fingers. Fingers, his skin, his movements, he could feel them, he could feel everything. Looking down even more he could see his toes in a soft dirt, the granules of earth making their way between his toes as he pushed his feet into the dirt. Both his hands went to his face now, the light now a regular sun as he took in his surroundings and began to feel alive again.
Dirt, dirt as far as the eye could see, was this the afterlife, was this death? His hand went to his face again, to the spot Gunnery Chief Ashley Williams had shot a hole in, thus ending his life. Who would have thought, he sure as hell didn't, that his once friend would ever have done such a thing? She'd been with him for the entire chase for Saren, side by side she had fought tooth and nail to find the bastard and had fought to the end, all the way to the Citadel. What had broken her then? What had driven here to place a pistol an inch from his eyes and pull the trigger? And why the hell had she been wearing an Imperial uniform? All questions for another time he guessed, or whenever he left, wherever the hell he was.
"Three, two, one!"
Who the fuck was that?
His eyes opened and he was gone. Somewhere else again, a place of white walls and sterile surgical equipment. A place where three people in white medical outfits were currently unlatching all manner of IVs and other devices from his body in a very quick manner. All were sweating profusely as the sounds of this place hit his ears, the sounds of something he would never forget for as long as he lived. Laser fire, and lots of it.
"I think he's awake, Shepard can you hear me?!"
"Uhhh…...ahhhhhh!"
"Yup, he's alive, alright his legs aren't gonna be used to walking just yet, get the gurney!"
Outside of his vision, he heard the squeaks of wheels as somebody far away screamed their last breath.
"Alright prepare to move him, ready! Three, two, one, lift!"
Three pairs of hands rolled him away from the very cushioned medical cot he'd been staying on, and onto the cold metal slab of a gurney.
"Med wing, come in, Med wing, come in what's the status of Sierra over?"
Shepard looked to the leader of the group, he'd seen him before, balding, sweating, last time he was getting his shit pushed in by an Australian woman. Wilson?
"This is Med wing, were oscar mike now, Sierra is secure over."
"Roger, hurry it up the imps are moving fast and were burning through people to buy you time over."
Burning through people? Imps? What the hell had happened to the Citadel military while he had been gone that they'd become so desperate that they'd throw people into the fire for one man? Why was HE so important?
"Alright people, get your thermal packs ready, we're going to walk through hell!"
A double door at his feet slid open jst as a red laser bolt impacted inside the room, the area beyond blasted the sounds of carnage and war as his gurney was wheeled out.
"Shit left side!"
"Fuck, I'm fucking hit, oh god I'm hit!"
"Frag out!"
Mass accelerator fire, and a lot of it was going off right beside him as his gurney was wheeled between downs of people in the middle of combat. Turians, Asari, Salarians, and humans passed by, giving glances to the naked man on a gurney as he was wheeled between them all. Flashes of a smile, the perking of eyes brows, he got it all as red bolts impacted overhead or into the people he passed.
"Suppress them! Suppress them now, Sierra on the move! For the Citadel!"
Sierra, he must be Sierra then. That battlecry must have been new then, he;d never heard "For the Citadel" during his time of service. The gunfire rose to new heights as every gun opened up toward the unseen Imperials. After what seemed like a full minute of his gurney being sprinted past dozens of soldiers, the trio of medical professionals entered another set of double doors. As the airtight slabs of metal closed, the sounds of gunfire and war left his ears, replaced with barked orders and grunts of exertion.
"Get that equipment loaded now! Wilson, how's Sierra!?"
The Australian from before, somehow she sounded even angrier than before.
"Fine and stable Miranda, wish you would have told us deck three was a rolling gun battle though."
She didn't answer the bald man, instead, she walked up to the gurney and cupped his face in her hand. Her too perfect face entered his vision, peering down at him as if he was an object with cat-like eyes as she pushed his head to each side for an inspection.
"No fluid loss, eyes reacting to stimuli, he's alive and breathing then, good."
She let go, barked off an order to someone he couldn't see, and gestured to something else.
"Get him loaded, we're leaving in two minutes, an Imperial task force has been spotted at the edge of the system and we cannot dawdle."
"But Miranda, the soldiers, we can't leave them…."
His please stopped as the woman turned to face him, even from here Shepard could feel the annoyance radiating off her posture.
"They will fulfill their purpose Wilson, they were never meant to leave this place and both you and I know that."
"Fuck, goddam Imperials. Alright, grab the handles, let's push him in."
Shepard considered how defeated Wilson sounded as he wheeled Shepard in, what had he just awoken too?
Two Weeks later, CFV Resurgence of Thessia.
"Good morning Shepard."
Two weeks of back-breaking physical therapy had led him to this moment, the catalyst of his pain being the woman he had come to know as Miranda. A cat suit-wearing, holier than thou, ice queen that had been his tormenter day in and day out as she punished him through all manner of machines and equipment to get his body ready for the day he would reenter combat. She was not one for conversation, no chit-chatting, only the treatment he needed to get himself ready, only answering small questions here and there to ease his mind as he pushed himself harder and faster.
So far what he'd figured out was simple, the Citadel council had lost the war and gone into hiding. Beyond that, he knew nothing, the status of his crew, the status of the galaxy, all beyond his reach for now as he was better day by day. But today was different, rather than enter his room with smugness and entitlement she'd entered with a common greeting, it was, OFF.
Rising from his bed he pushed his legs to the floor before standing up to his full height and stretching every muscle with an audible crack. She was still buried in her notes, going over something or another, uncaring of the almost naked Shepard as he put on a fresh set of alliance fatigues. As he finished her head rose from the datapad and noted he was ready before speaking.
"Good, it has been noted that your therapy is as of now finished, you have been deemed fit for combat Lieutenant Commander Shepard."
Now that was the first time she had used his rank, what was going on today?
"Therefore it has been deemed your best interest to begin your briefing on what exactly has transpired during your three-year nap."
"What….."
Three years? Three years he had been, dead? Oh, oh god, oh god what the fuck! He began to hyperventilate, his heart raising its beats per minute like a drum solo as beads of sweat went down his spine and neck. He had been dead for three years, three fucking years of nothing only to be woken up like nothing had happened.
"Calm down Commander, I can see your heart rate from here, you're alive now that's what matters, now take a seat while I begin the briefing."
How could she be so calm about this, what the fuck was wrong with her?
"CommanDER."
He took a seat in front of a video screen as he began opening a slide deck, his briefing of this new galaxy.
"Alright, where to begin, ah, the defeat of the Citadel."
The picture changed to that of an unending army of clones, all marching in perfect sync down a road he had never seen before. As the camera panned up he saw the arms of the Citadel and the grey hulls of hundreds of Imperial shapes as they broke up the blackness of the void. Finally, the camera panned on a man he had only seen once, long ago, above a world of metal.
"For today, I hereby decree this galaxy belongs, TO THE EMPIRE!"
His voice, oh he hated that fucking voice as it announced the conclusion of his little war, of his victory.
"Now to begin, June fifth twenty-one eighty three is known as being the day of the Empire, the day the war officially ended with a Citadel rout on every battlefield as command and control ceased to exist with the death of ninety percent of our top brass."
New images entered the screen of battles long gone, entire fields strewn with the equipment of defeated soldiers as they were marched away by clones and, what the hell was that?
"Go back, what's that normal-looking guy in the green armor and fatigues?"
"Oh, that would be the Imperial army, normal humans enlisted within the Imperial armed forces. They are widely used as occupying or mass assault troops whenever the clone legions are unable to respond."
"So, Imperial citizens?"
"Yes, from their galaxy, moving on."
The screen switched again to a picture of thousands, or even tens of thousands of former Citadel soldiers in lines as far as the eye could see. All looked broken, their armor half destroyed and the shame evident on all their faces.
"Following the capture of millions of former Citadel personnel, the Empire designated these troops as the Auxilia. A formal addition to the Imperial military made up entirely of aliens, or nonhuman. With numbers now in the tens of billions, it has fallen upon every nonhuman world to pay the Imperial tax. This tax is bodies, millions of bodies across the entire galaxy who are implanted with explosive chips at the base of the skull and sent abroad to the other side of the portal. Or where the Empire came from originally."
"So they really aren't from here…."
His thoughts went to CT-1157, the clone he had, no should not think of that now.
"Sur'Kesh was the first to fall, followed by Thessia, Earth, and finally Palaven."
With each planet's name came pics of their downfall, Sur'Kesh looked like a wasteland of burned-out jungle and destroyed mountain ranges. Thessia burned, her spires now fallen debris, and her great oceans covered in a thick layer of ash and smog. Earth, his home, was like a picture taken from the last great wars of its time. Burned-out rubble, refugee columns, and the shattered remains of once-prosperous people de-evolved to nothing more than hungry bodies. Palaven took the cake for most changed, the pic took time for Shepard to realize what he was staring at, but when he did he eyes went to the size of saucers.
"That's, that's impossible."
"Palaven was reduced to Ash by the fighting, casualty estimates were in the five billion range as the last bastion planetside fell to Orbital fire, a tactic known as Base Delta Zero by the Imperial navy."
Half of its surface glowed the color of a rising sun, it's surface hot with the fires of plasma and laser bombardment as thousands of Imperial ships circled the dying planet like sharks.
"With the final defeat at Palaven, the Empire turned away from our galaxy militarily and began to rebuild from the shattered remains. Surprisingly, Imperial investment within the destroyed zones along with the security provided by the Imperial navy has almost allowed a complete one-eighty for the former citadel nations. With this success comes a price, of course, men, material, and anything and everything the empires wishes to call for is answered in full as war material is shuttled through the galaxy gate."
"So they've turned our homes into factories then?"
"Precisely, entire planets now sprout the necessary equipment and material to produce every Imperial weapon ever made, from rifles, to armor, to vehicles, and aircraft. The majority of Imperial construction has focused on these areas, so they may "hold back the tide." Their words."
Tide? Hopefully, her briefing would go into that.
"Moving on to notable aspects of the new milky way, Rannoch, the homeworld of the Quarina and Geth people has now become the hub of Imperial navy construction, see the image."
Was that a ring of Saturn, no to metallic, not enough rocks, zooming out the picture became clearer as the object in question became more massive in scope.
"Holy shit."
A ring of metal, a ring of entirely artificial construction encircled the place Tali had shown him aboard the Normandy. Her picture had been three hundred years old, from a time when Rannoch had been ruled by the Quarian people. It looked vibrant, with hundreds of ships leaving or entering the planet's atmosphere, chock full of the people who called it home. Now though, now he could see a dockyard which stretched from horizon to horizon, millions upon millions of people working night and day as they constructed the very tools of this galaxy's oppression.
"What the hell is that thing?"
Miranda noted the object of Shepard's attention, and zoomed in on a section of the ring carrying something massive enough that it almost bisected the entire structure.
"That is a Titan class warship, we know of only eighteen in existence on our side of the galaxy. Seventeen kilometers long they come with a crew of one hundred thousand people and enough fighters to block out the sun."
He could see twenty just like it, all under varying degrees of construction throughout the yard. Was this what had become of the Quarians he knew, were they witness to their own demise?
"Ahem, moving on, from what reports we can receive from sources on the other side of the portal, we have found that the supposed tide is in fact not a lie."
A single image, so full of objects it clouded his eyes' sensory nodes, what was he looking at? What the hell was that? It took a good minute for him to understand what he was seeing, and he was horrified.
"What the fuck is that?"
"That is a battlefield picture taken from the eight hundred and seventh Palaven Auxilia Legion. A private Tescos died giving us this image, before you is what they call the mind. A race of bug-like beings whose only purpose is the consumption of all organic matter in the galaxy. This battle alone cost the Empire thirteen million soldiers before it was won, we know this because thirteen million auxilia were sent and never seen again. All Turian by the way."
The numbers, holy fuck, all of it, everything CT-1157A had told him all those years ago, it had all been true. From the numbers, to the scope, all of it.
"To Sum it up, the former Asari, Turian, Batarian, Salarian, and every other alien race in the galaxy creates and sends forth the weapons which the empire uses to fight threats just like this. Meanwhile, Earth has become well, it's easier to show you."
It looked the same, green pastures, blue oceans, but something was off to Shepards eyes. Something that just stung as not right, something…
"Are those, Orbital guns?"
Hundreds, no thousands of the stations circled the earth, black dots from here, he could barely pick them out but somehow he did as he looked over every square inch of his former homeworld.
"Earth has become a fortress world, where cloning labs, military barracks, and infrastructure meant to favor the defender are more common than anything else. Its entire population has enlisted into the Imperial army, or met more disastrous results."
All of it was just so overwhelming. To see everything he had fought for turned on its head was, angering to say the least. But then…
"Who the hell are you people then, why did you resurrect me?"
Miranda ended the presentation and looked to the commander.
"We are what is left of the Citadel council, the remnants of a bygone era in some people's eyes. Now, who am I? Miranda Lawson, former Cerberus top operative, and former Imperial prisoner commander. Are you done asking questions now?"
He had more questions than he was willing to admit but he was listening much more attentively now, and he was watching her much more closely.
"What do you mean, former Imperial?"
"I escaped an Imperial indoctrination facility a year after my capture, pretty sure I saw your former squadmate Ashely Williams while I was there but it's all hazy, to say the least. Now I serve the Army of Freedom, the remnants of our people who still wish to see our galaxy be taken out from under the yoke of oppression."
"What about the Reapers then, where do they play in all of this?"
Miranda's face scrunched up, burning itself in her data pad she looked over something before giving her answer.
"It is noted in Imperial naval records that a great battle took place before they came to our galaxy, they describe ships that resembled squids, thousands of them attacking with the mindless fury only AI could attempt. This battle of Coruscant as it is called bright forth the Empire to our galaxy, and created the rift which links the two."
It was a lot to accept, alot to deal with, but he was ready. Ready to dish out some payback to the Imperils once again.
"So when do we get to work?"
Miranda smiled.
Imperial Colony world of Freedom's progress, Terminus February 3rd, 2185
The old Kodiak shuttle shook as it entered the atmosphere of Freedom's Progress. Odd name for an Imperial world, but it was a pre-Imperial alliance colony so it sorta made sense. He and ten others filled out the cargo bay of the dusty shuttle, all human, all former alliance. After his briefing with Miranda, he had been quickly brought up to speed on modern weaponry and armor. More thermal protection, less shields, more emphasis on armor-piercing ammunition than the normal blocks. All needed for this new age of warfare where the enemy held laser weaponry and armor capable of defeating all but the most destructive of rounds.
After that he'd been taken to the bridge of the ship he had been aboard, thereafter meeting its Asari Captain he had been tasked with meeting with a local insurgency that was currently battling Imperial forces. That local insurgency was what had brought him and ten others to Freedom's progress, all elite soldiers, they had been scrambled together to find the leader of this group and set up ties between them and the AOF.
Army of Freedom, Shepard had laughed at the name when he had first heard it but soon noticed nobody else had joined him. He had been quickly informed by Miranda that the Council took the name very seriously, as did everyone else who had signed on to free themselves from the Empire.
Back onto Progress, this Insurgency had started out as nothing more than local alien workers striking against harder and harder Imperial laws. Laws which began prohibiting their rights, curfews, random ID checks, raids by local police, all of it only got worse as some members of society began to fight back. Being the Terminus, the colony had more than an abundant share of arms from all over the galaxy so when the first shots were fired by the local security forces, the locals had returned them in kind. Population estimates put this world at less than nine percent alien, but that nine percent had started a fire that had spread to the industry of this world, basically cutting them off from its one real export.
Progress was noted to be a mining world, where special ores were extremely ores being tungsten, steel, and titanium. These ores were then shipped off-world to a system three jumps away and used in the production of Imperial walkers. With the delay of ores, production would either halt or slow, thus earning somebody, somewhere a respite from the Imperial military. And that was why Shepard and the ten former N class commandos around him were currently being sent here, to find out just what the insurgency needed so that they could keep fighting. To absorb more Imperial resources and bleed the Empire just a little bit more.
Flipping through the mission briefing on his datapad, a small section caught his eye, requiring more of a look. The group was called the People's Liberation Army of Progress, an alien led force consisting of mostly non-human persons from across the planet. AOF estimates put their numbers at twenty thousand and rising by the day as security forces clamped down harder and harder with every loss or advance. Meanwhile, on the other side of the coin, Imperial forces numbered in close to two hundred thousand police officers from all over the planet, alongside a former Alliance infantry division that had turned traitor during the war. Two hundred and twenty thousand Imperials, nine million planet-wide citizens, and twenty thousand rebels, all currently battling it out or stuck in the middle of a fiery shit show.
"Ground team, prepare for a hot infil! Locals report Imp triple-A cutting down anything not flashing their codes!"
Their Batarian pilot did not sound like he was having a good time as the ship rocked back and forth to dodge the incoming rounds. Thankful they were all strapped into their crash webbing as the ship suddenly shuttered.
"Fuck, were hit! Controls are still responding but I don't know for how much longer!"
"Shepard, are you there!"
Miranda's voice echoed through his mind as the ship began to take massive G forces.
"Yes!"
"Alright, just a heads up an Imperial task force has been spotted heading our way. The estimated time of arrival is three hours, no more, no less, get in, attend the meet, and get the fuck out, clear!"
"Rog!"
Another shudder of the craft, and the pilot's cries suddenly turned to panic.
"Fuck, all control gone, we're going in! Hold your hats!"
Another crash landing lets see how well this went.
"Ten seconds, I've cut off all power so we just have to go through our landing! Hold on!"
Five, four three, two…
It was violent, with a shearing of metal the Kodiak impacted the earth's nose first before tumbling forwards once, twice, three times as it hit something capable of stopping the orbital dropship. With the last thud, the craft came to a stop with the red emergency lighting showering the surviving occupants in its cheery glow. Shepard's head was swimming as his hands went to the chest release and sent his body crashing to the floor. Not the worst landing but certainly not the best was his response. The other occupants of the Lander were completing the same task as they checked over their equipment of those who were stuck to their seats. One member of the team was still in his crash webbing, his head on his chest as his buddy smacked his shoulder.
"Sandler, yo sandler, fuck, Commander Sandlers done."
"Rog, booby trap the body, we won't be getting it out."
It was a reality of missions like this, when someone died you couldn't trudge the body through the snow and hope to make it back in one piece. It was better to let the opposing force find the body, and die trying to check for any intel. With a sigh, the N soldier placed an explosive charge under his dead friend, said a small prayer, and made his way to the doors of the shuttle.
"Anyone check on the pilot yet?"
"Doors not responding, no idea."
"Alright, open up the crew doors, we need to find out just where we landed."
Two of the operatives tugged at the manual door release and opened the compartment to the outside world. Four guns came up as their surroundings came into view with the first four soldiers moving out to secure the perimeter. Shepard followed behind with the rest.
"Clear, looks like a local apartment block sir. Orders?"
Shepard brought up his local map, noting local Imperial and insurgent forces before drawing a route out on his pad.
"Alright, it looks like we're closer than we expected, little under a mile to the designated meeting point but we're gonna have to make our way through at least a platoon of local police. They've set up a checkpoint directly in our path, nothing we can't handle right?"
Each of the N's agreed.
Shepard put away the map before looking to where the cockpit on the Kodiak should have been and noted its absence. So that was where the pilot had gone.
"Alright staggered formation, move out!"
Honestly, this city was kind of a shit hole. Everywhere they moved all they found were corpses, burned out buildings, signs of fighting, and more corpses, all human with maybe a single alien here and there. What was begging to worry him about said corpses was the nature of their clothing, no military, no cops, all civilians, and each of them cut down either execution-style or with grenades. Signs of ethnic conflict, but that came with fighting a xenophobic empire hell-bent on our destruction. Still a sad sight to see, as smaller forms began to be seen among the adults of the population. This was for the galaxy, for freedom.
In the distance, it was nothing but the sounds of war, the cracks of high-velocity weapons, the booms of high caliber artillery, and the screams as jets flashed overhead. Here and there a different type of sound would shatter the sky, alliance bombs, or former alliance bombs going off somewhere as aircraft dropped munitions across the entire city. Was this what the galaxy was like? A never-ending war as both sides blew each other up and ruined the places they lived and breathed? A Kodiak flashed overhead making the squad go to cover as it flashed a spotlight onto the street below.
"Imperials, get down!"
There were no AOF here, and the insurgents did not have air cover. Shepard hid behind a burned-out air car, the driver's corpse still smoldering as the brick-shaped aircraft slowly went overhead. It could have passed for anyone with its white camo paint had it not been for the Imperial cog wheel slapped on both sides.
"Shit, must've seen our bird go down. They're out looking for survivors, Williamson!"
The N6 perked up at his name and turned toward the Commander.
"Get the tube ready, if they start rappelling shoot em down. We don't want an entire platoon on our asses out here."
"Rog sir."
Corporal Williamson pulled the launcher off his back, activating the weapon from safe to armed; he began tracking the craft as it moved down the street. It took ten minutes for the Kodiak to depart, ten long, sweat-inducing minutes as it slowly but surely moved down the street.
"Alright, form up and move on, be mindful of any more air support."
This was a full-on war and here they were, now nine men sent behind enemy lines to find an insurgent leader and gain his support. Fuck this was stupid. He should have said something at the briefing, exposed his fears of something like this occurring. He didn't know they were this desperate for allies, willing to sink this low to find somebody who could enable their cause. When he'd looked out of a viewing window toward the AOF fleet orbiting a nebula he had never seen before he was reminded of the old Quairna migrant fleet. Every ship class, every ship type, maker, crew complement, all of it was their as it floated through the void. Every war capable vessel had been sent off, to hide at the conclusion of hostilities.
With this fleet was the council somewhere, hidden deep within the defensive rings that made the AOF flotilla. He wondered if it was still the big three, having heard about Anderson he already knew the answer for him. Anderson, his mentor, leader, was dead. Killed off in the last days of the greatest war, what a shame. As he took up alongside the other nine soldiers, he swore he could see a red glint among the ruins to his front. One blink it was there, the next gone. Odd.
1st Battalion 3rd Freedom's Progress infantry division, Freedom's Progress.
At the tactical operations center of one three ID, the area was abuzz with activity as orders were sent out to frontline units and situation reports were funneled to awaiting officers. One of these officers, Lieutenant Colonel Yakson, commanding officer of the first battalions was busy watching the holo map as forward elements of Alpha company cleared HAB block three when a lieutenant from the S2 called his name.
"Sir, I've got activity from the downed Kodiak in sector four!"
He and every other officer in the TOC had seen the brick-shaped craft as soon as it entered Progoress's atmosphere. Having determined it to be aiding the rebels, he'd had it shot down. Furthermore, he wanted eyes on the craft itself and more importantly, its occupants. So he dispatched a platoon, and a new weapon sent here from the local Imperial forge world. The Probe Droid, a weapon infused VI hooked up to some of the best optics a frontline commander could ask for. He;d received twenty of them in the last shipment from Tussar six, and was currently using them to great effect in finding, and eradicating this little rebellion.
It was so different from his days in the alliance, so much more fluid, streamlined, the bureaucracy was gone. All of it, the rules and regulations, had been turned aside and the new improved ways of war were taught to them all. Three years had served the Empire, three years since had taken to the oath and turned on the weaklings in the alliance. Here he was, the garrison army of an out of the way Imperial mining world. Not a bad gig, considering battles were being fought were a million casualties a day was considered a success. But then this rebellion had come, the aliens on this world had bitten the hand that fed them, and he would teach them the error of their ways. Now to see just what his new toys had found.
Leaving the table he bent down to eye level with the techs screen as it showed the live feed from droid number fifteen.
"Holy shit…"
His eyes went wide in surprise, then fear, then hatred.
"Commander Shepard, hero of the Citadel, pervator of the human way of life, S three!"
"Yes sir!"
He had twenty guns on the southern side of the city, and he would deal with this menace before it chewed him in the ass.
"Get Divarty on the horn, I want them to level HAB block four, and S two, inform the local task force of our findings, priority code Sierra."
"Yes sir!"
Yes, one block of this city was worth nothing. Shepard would die and Yakson would make General officer.
Shepard.
This was the place, the area in which their meet and greet would bear fruit or turn rotten. All nine of hius operators were currently holding the defense in the upper stories while Shepard waited in the basement of the HAB block. They were late but what did you expect from a bunch of locals rising up against an entire army division.
"Movement, two hundred yards east. I'm seeing three ground cars, armored up, sporting crew serves."
"Rog, let them come out front and prepare for them to enter."
Fin-afucking-lly.
Minutes later he heard three sets of boots hitting the stairs as he rose to meet the locals. His first sight was of a Batarians missing two eyes, nothing other than that out of the ordinary other than the fact he hated Batarians. Next was an Asari in old, battered, Eclipse armor. She had the usual, stick up her ass posture he expected from anybody who would sell their soul to a bunch of mercs. Last but not least was a sight he hadn't expected from the rebels, a uniform of a thought dead organization, an organization he had once belonged to, the Spectres.
The sight of the office symbol of the Asaris chest was a sight to see, odd, he;d never met this one in all his travels in hunting down Saren but that was a gimme. Shepard extended his hand to each of them as they gave him looks of wonder and spoke their names. He heard them, but did not pay any attention until the last member of the party spoke.
"Tela Vasir, Spectre Tela Vasir Commander Shepard. Now mind telling me how you're back from the dead?"
"Long story with a lot of moving parts, now shall we discuss the way forward?"
They then went into their rebellion, how they fought, and bled the locals as the bodies began piling up and fighters enlisted to their cause. They spoke of great triumphs as battles were fought and won against uncountable odds. The need for supplies was their most worrying cause as munitions became more scarce by the day, they needed the AOFs help, and they were here to beg.
"We need the army, we need fighters, supplies, and anything else you can give us if you think we're going to be fighting for much longer."
"Commander, I don't know what resources the army had but, I think it would do all of us good if we were given a way out in case things do go astray."
Shepard mulled it over, activating his Omni tool he went over the closest AOF fleet capable of pulling in twenty thousand people and grimaced. Freighters, old carriers, all capable of doing such a task but food would only become scarce as the council pulled more and more resources.
"Shepard, incoming!"
Miranda, oh shit!
The building rocked on its foundations as artillery landed just outside. Dust was flown into the air as the basement occupants hit the floor, the building rocked again as yet another shell impacted outside.
"What the hell! That's Imperial artillery, how the hell did they find us!"
Tela craned her neck toward Shepard, her eyes narrowing on the human commander as the ground shook with another impact.
"Your not fucking Shepard, hes an Imperial, kill em!"
Her two compatriots didn't require another word as they pulled pistols out from under their jackets and opened fire. Shepard mind went into overdrive as his muscles responded automatically to the threat. In less than a second, his own handgun was up and he'd already dumped four rounds into the batarian and asari leaders as Tela went for the stairs in a biotic dash.
"'Sir, orders ah!"
One of the Ns screams was cut off by a biotic attack ripping him apart. Shepard was hot on her heels, determined to make sure his men did not die to these people's stupidity. Why had it been so easy for them to go straight for the blame game the moment the Imperials showed up, why had Tela wanted him dead? These thoughts were on his mind as he clambered up the stairs and found a blood bath. In a space of less than five meters, a firefight was fought between the two sides with deadly effect. The Ns, while elite, were being cut down at point-blank range as the rebels mowed them down with the magic of more firepower. Tela was already out the door to her waiting transport as more shells landed among the HAB buildings. That when Shepard noticed it, why this place had felt so off ever since his men had first stepped onto this planet.
The rebels were all nonhumans. Every single one was an alien of some species or another and their hatred for humanity was shown as they began to butcher his men before him. Rushing the downed warriors, Batarians, Asari, Salarians, and Turians slashed and cut at his men as he extended his M8 and began cutting down the blood-crazed aliens. Three, four went down before his heat sink popped, throwing a grenade he went behind a pillar as he popped another one in and returned to his grizzly work.
"Shepard what the hell is going on down there!"
Miranda was screaming in his ear as the vitals of his team went down, thankfully his killing spree had earned them a respite as the rest of the rebels refocused on the one human.
"Death to the apes!"
"I'll wear your fucking skin two eyes!"
What the fuck had he and by extension the AOF gotten themselves into? Four Batarians rushed him with cleavers made up of scrap metal screaming for his blood. He obliged in the form of superheated projectiles turning their flesh to paste. Seven remained, all armed with rifles, and all more than ready to cut down Shepard. In their rage, they had forgotten the N's who by now had recovered from the initial onslaught and had just then opened fire.
Five guns cut down the rest in a fusillade of fire, the yellow tracers stitching through the bodies as the rebels danced in the light of their destruction. As the last body hit the floor Shepard took a deep breath as he went over just what the hell had happened.
"Shepard, this is Miranda, what the fuck just happened!"
"Fuck, Miranda, locals are fucking insane. They've committed an ethnic cleansing on the local human populace. Be advised they attacked first. We need extract now! I've got men down in the field!"
"Shit, I was afraid of that. Alright, I've directed a shuttle to recover you on the western side of the city, sending the location now. Listen, you're going to have to cross through Imperial lines to get there but it's better than fighting off the rebels, how copy?"
"Rog, we'll wait for the bombardment to end before we move over."
This day just got worse and worse.
Miranda, CFV Might of Palaven.
The situation had gone from bad to worse, Imperial bombardments was flattening the entire city block and Shepard had been attacked by the locals. Ethnic cleansing, insanity, fuck it all to hell. AOF drones were now being dispatched across the entire city and what they had found had been disgusting. The rebels were nothing like intel had described, the blood-crazed murders were not freedom fighters, but butchers. The UAV pilots were too busy keeping themselves from throwing up to keep notice of every new atrocity they came across. Men, women, children, it didn't matter as seen so of butchery played out across the entire alien sections of the city.
"Uh, Mam! We have contact from the relay!"
Great, just fucking great.
"What is it!"
"Imperial, designate as Victory-class star destroyer with, wait there's more coming through now!"
While the captain was busy sweating over the new additions to this system's fleet arrangement, Miranda was busy tracking Shepard's ground team as they advanced across the city. It was a running gun battle for the guys on the ground as Rebels and Imperials fought tooth and nail to kill the AOF special forces team. She witnessed Shepard take down a Mako with an AT launcher just as a Turian ran at him with an Omni blade. She didn't need to watch as he disemboweled the alien before moving on. She had done better than expected as she watched him very carefully, in every battle he would win, every fight taking down more than anyone else. Yes the resources to bring him back had been costly, but seeing him in action made it all worth it.
"Oh shit, three Star destroyers all Venator class following behind, along with a dozen cruiser class. Fuck its the task force!"
An Imperial task force, clones, legions of warriors whose sole purpose was war. This was about to get very bloody and this rebellion was going to end within the day. She needed Shepard out of there, now.
"Shuttle thirty-one, status!"
The pilot's shaky voice came back through the com, she could hear the pepper of AA fire as he flew through a storm of hell.
"Dodging ground fire and fighters, but I'll be able to make the RV."
"Sending new coordinates now, Shepard will be under fire the entire way so you WILL get him out of there."
"Course mam, it's what they pay me for!"
"Captain!"
The Turian officer was sweating over the incoming task force as its made its way across the void and toward the planet.
"Captain!"
That pulled him out of his daze.
"Yes, yes commander!"
"Will they be able to find us?"
His head turned, thinking before he spoke.
"Meane class stealth frigates are said to be able to latch onto the belly of a star destroyer and still not be seen. Being the first vessel of its class, we shall see."
Great.
Shepard.
He had shot hundreds of rounds, thrown dozens of grenades, and cut and slashed anything that came before him, and yet they kept coming. Former alliance soldiers, their armor bearing the cogwheel of the empire. Rebels, local insurgents out for any blood of the homo sapien variety, it did not matter. His team had killed dozens of each side as they moved throughout the city and toward the new RV Miranda had given him.
Armored vehicles exploded before him, aircraft went down in flames of metal and steel, and yet the war did not end. They had just crossed into an alleyway as an Imperial armor column started to pass in the street behind them. A dozen Makos with attached infantry rolled along as the team hid in the shadows.
"What the fuck is this place."
Another three hundred meters of this shit and they would be out of here, another three hundred meters through this hellscape of a planet, Fuck.
"Shepard."
"Yes Miranda."
"An Imperial Taskforce has just jumped in the system, we were wrong about our time table. We're estimating they will begin landing in less than ten minutes. Be prepared for clones in the field over."
.Great.
"Alright three hundred meters guys, that's all we've got to go so let's get to it!"
His route led them through a HAB block in the alien quarter, here they would have to be on their toes as this was the heart of the rebellion. Weapons high and on every window or door possible, the now team strength unit made their way in a single file through all manner of half-destroyed housing. Eyes peeked out at them from the windows, civilians taking a look at the newest transgressor to their property. What sounded like an alarm was sounded, followed by another, and another as they went deeper into the territory. He could feel it in his bones, something bad was about to happen and the locals were going to act.
His point man had just entered a doorway frame as three pairs of hands reached out and dragged him in. Number two followed the man in as the screams of the point man entered the net.
"AH, fuck, help, ah!"
His voice quickly became sputtery as Shepard followed number two in and found the grizzly scene before him. The points man's head was halfway off, cut with makeshift blades and household cutting knives. The house's occupants, three Salarians, looked at the two newcomers with rage in their eyes, Shepard did not let them act. With a burst, he cut down all three before directing his number two for explosives. He would not let this man die in vain, if they wanted blood they would get it. While three and four pulled security outside, Shepard and two wired the building with every single explosive they could.
"Shuttle thirty-one to Shepard, come in Shepard!"
"Shepard here."
He had just placed the last wire, the final charge which should in theory make a lasting present.
"Expedite now! I've got LAATs in the air!"
"Roger we are moving, alright double-time to the RV! Shoot anything that moves!"
They followed his order to the letter as they ran past and shot anything and everything they could. No one else would die today, not to the Imperials or the rebels. Two hundred, one hundred, fifty, he could hear the hustle overhead as it banked for the RV.
"I see you, and about a hundred people not far behind! Hurry the hell up!"
If the pilot could see them, now he was worried.
"Sprint! Sprint!"
With every ounce of energy he had, he threw himself toward the craft set down in the middle of a destroyed garden. Rounds began peppering the walls and buildings behind him, a few even striking the Kodiak as the team finished the last leg of their deadly journey. Shepard was the last aboard, jumping in just as the craft began to lift off he turned around and looked down on just what the pilot had seen. It was like when you kicked over an ant hill, when the dirt was brushed aside you could see thousands of ants everywhere you looked. Looking down as the shuttle rose, he could see the likeness. There had to be thousands of people leaving the hab blocks and filling the streets to the brim with a wall of flesh. Gunfire was still going right past the shuttle as he pulled the detonator from his vest. With one last look, he smiled as he depressed the switch.
"That for my men fuckers!"
An entire building shattered, the explosion taking out everything within fifty meters as the mushroom cloud went skyward. Hundreds had to of died in the blast, with more wounded beyond repair from the shrapnel. Shepard only smiled, having killed the butchers on his terms. Stepping off the floor he went to close the hatch when the craft suddenly veered to the right and he was thrown into the wall of the craft, only able to stay inside as two pairs of hands grabbed his body from being thrown out.
"Shit, hold to something!"
The reason for the pilot's erratic maneuver was not apparent until a blinding beam of pure white energy suddenly went off right beside the Kodiak. Shepard had to shield his eyes as the blinding light exerted itself upon the ground below him and the pilot's voice met his ears again.
"Laser bombardment, holy shit they're not messing around."
Upon the lights dimming, Shepard brought down his arm and looked below to just where the blast had been targeted. The HAB block he and his team had just been at was gone, burned away by the fires of an Imperial warship he couldn't even see. Falling back into a seat, he let out a deep exhale as he let it all sink in. All of it had been for nothing.
Deep_Space_Platform
All_Sections_responding.
Good, and what of the Imperial task force?
Destoyed_All_Beyond_Recovery.
Good, they were getting too close for my liking. Harbinger, what is the latest estimate on the Imperial/45 war?
Estimate_Imperial_Victory_Within_Four_Years.
Interesting, four years, and a total victory. Good to know they didn't need my help with all of that. Now onto greater things, the Geth situation had been resolved?
Yes_All_Units_Functioning.
Good, prepare a thousand, we will be meeting again, soon.
The knowing Harbinger nodded to its new master through the virtual space in which they spoke. With its presence gone he dropped the facade and once more bared its resentment for this creature. He would have his revenge, he would see the two galaxies burn, one way or another.