Sydney Harbour
Sydney Hotel Ruins Neighbourhood
21 Sep 2558
14:37
Garrus Vakarian killed a Cerberus sniper who was targeting the Chief at the last all hell broke loose. A shot alerted Cerberus, unfortunately for them it was not a shot by their sniper. The loss of one sniper was confirmed by the other 4 snipers. To make matters worse the shot revealed to Centurion that support for the Chief was close by, he told the defenders at the disruptor to get ready to attack the secondary target which was Sherpard and his team, he knew this because one of the snipers spotted him and Garrus on the roof.
He ordered the snipers to get rid of them and sent 2 teams to them, the third team he left with him to support them if needed and the fourth team he sent to the disrupter defenders. Unfortunately for the first two teams as soon as they stepped outside Corporal Davies' Warthogs entered the square in front of the building and brought them under fire. The snipers, on the other hand, couldn't help them because they were tied up in a sniper duel with Garrus and Shepard. Of course, the TARDIS had previously been removed and hidden in a safe place. The Doctor was to receive a signal from Shepard when he was to arrive. Meanwhile, the rest of Shepard's team which is all Ashley, James, Tali, Javik and Liara were being led by EDI to the disruptor. They discovered its presence when their comrades' communications with the UNSC were severed and their radio was filled with interference which EDI quickly analyzed and determined its origin. Unfortunately, the position of the jammer was quite far from the Doctor's predicted position, which he determined with his device.
Some time earlier
-Are you sure the Chief is there?-Asked Shepard
-Of course he does, maybe 78%, because that's what the device estimates his position to be, and from what I can see he's constantly moving, and fast- answered the Doctor calmly.- With my friend the Ranger it would have been easier, because his specialty is finding people, and he would have easily led us there, avoiding most of the fights- He added unexpectedly, but he said it in such a way that everyone knew he didn't have a grudge against them, but against himself because he too much assumed that the Ranger would be with him from the beginning -Can't you ask for another Guardian? -Tali asked. -Unfortunately not so much, I chose him because he is the most effective of his type, unfortunately this type of Guardians after a great catastrophe a very long time ago, has become rare and everyone who belongs to this type balances on the edge as he uses the abilities of the Guardian, not his own since it happened-The Doctor replied gloomily and then added -The survivors are used more in desperation than normally and the rest do not have the same capabilities as my friend.-Out of curiosity, Liara asked, -Who is he? -The Doctor smiled at the question, remembering the moments when they had worked together and his approach, and then with a sigh, he replied-He is the de facto hero of many, very many worlds and countless lives, though he doesn't consider himself such, he considers himself more of a soldier who does what needs to be done and not just consider it, moreover he doesn't like to do it in the glory of the spotlight so often people know him, if they know him at all by a different name than he really introduces himself to them.- Hearing this Garrus joked- So we have someone like our Shepard only he hides effectively so he has no problem with the fans?-The doctor, hearing this statement, laughed - You know what I'll tell you, it sounds like a very good description that was written by him and describes exactly what he does, I think he said something like that to some child for whom he was an authority figure.-
-Well, what do we do? -James asked, and so Lance Corporal Davies replied- I have a plan, Shepard you and your best marksman will ride out with us on the Warthogs to the Chief and the rest of your team will head out to the Doctor with his TARDIS will remain hidden somewhere here-he points to the buildings-and will wait for a message from one of the two groups, the one that completes its task faster using the TARDIS will be transferred to the other group to help it.-He looked at the others waiting for their reaction-We don't have a better plan for now, Garrus you take the TARDIS with me and we'll move it to that house and the rest of you move to the disruptor, the sooner you take it down the sooner we'll have communication with the UNSC and possible support from them- said Shepard.
Present time, vicinity of the building where the disruptor is hidden
Shepard's team was hiding in a building facing the target. Thanks to EDI, they learned that the enemy had sent one of their teams here, so they decided to make a quick strike on the defenders before their reinforcements got here and then run off to support Shepard and the others.-What's the plan? -Liara asked, to which Ashley replied-Simply, me and Vega will hit the left side of the building through that tunnel above the street to search the first floor, you and Tali will attack from the right and search the first floor-she pointed to the protean with her hand-Javik, on the other hand, you will strike from the front - she looked at everyone - and if you do not find the target, come to us on the floor and we will check the highest ones together- she looked at EDI - You, EDI, will stay here and report on enemy activity and look for the location of the disruptor and also tell us how much time we have before their reinforcements arrive, Understood?-Williams said, the team confirmed and they started moving into position. Once they made sure they were in position, they quickly broke in and with momentum both sections and Javik smashed the forces of Cerberus defenders. The fight proved to be simple, all too simple it seemed for everyone. The first floor and second floor were cleared with ease.-Weird, it was way too easy-James said in disbelief -I think they've been wiped out before, I saw a couple of human bodies with unknown weapons but they looked like local people's weapons, Man-Javik replied -Hmm, that explains why I saw Cerberus corpses in a few rooms, and I saw Atlases in the back, but destroyed.- Tali said. They heard some human screams on the floor above, and EDI informed them that Cerberus didn't control the entire building, only part of it, and added that Cerberus support was halfway there, so she advised them to hurry.- So they set up a disruptor in a building they didn't control at all? I wonder what kind of genius is in charge.-Said James in disbelief-Contrary to what you might think, it's not that stupid, they're only after the Master Chief and the UNSC soldiers are an obstacle to their goal and locking them up in one room makes it easier because they don't have to waste the heat sink on them, they're more useful for getting the Chief, because he's the only one they're after and thanks to the fact that they've set up the disrupter close by, they can be sure that their enemies won't call for backup.- Ashley replied.-I don't know, it sounds to me like someone made a level from some FPS computer game - replied James- All in all- Ashley replied.-Never mind, we can use this fact to support the UNSC so we can defend ourselves against enemy reinforcements with their help and then take them to support Shepard- said Liara-Let's get going, we've wasted too much time talking here- Javik said.
Meanwhile, Shepard's position
-Garrus, how many of those damn snipers do we have left to clean up? Davies isn't going to be with the Chief to fight them off forever.-Shepard said- I wouldn't worry about our Spartan, he's doing very well on his own with them, and there are two snipers left-Suddenly he sees the Chief throw a grenade at the feet of one of the snipers, who eventually takes him down- Well, there's one left, but that son of a bitch is hiding in that window over there,-shows which window that was partially obscured by the UNSC blockade-one of us is going to have to pull it out so the other can kill it. In the meantime two Warthogs were showing what was happening to the infantry who were trying to stop them without heavy weapons, He did not know what kind of snipers were covering him, but from the conversations his opponents had with each other and the fact that UNSC soldiers appeared with them, Chief knew that they were allies with a lot of experience in fighting people in white armor and what was better, he could see that they did not really feel like fighting snipers. Who they are he had to leave for later, now he had to focus on getting rid of the threats to the Warthogs' crews, and find the Centurion commanding the enemy. After a long moment he found the last squad that was protecting the Centurion. Unlike those sent outside, most of the opponents had shields. As long as they have them they are extremely dangerous, but without them they turn into moving targets, unlike normal soldiers they were worse off without them. Although the Guardians had batons they only used them when they lost their shields which Chief thought was a stupid move as their shields could effectively stop bullets even from a shotgun at close range and a baton would effectively help them force Chief to keep his distance and so without much trouble Chief could hit the shield partially bending it and throwing the Shield Keeper into the air, which he did thanks to which he broke through the wall of shields. Then he took his rifle and killed the unfortunate shieldman with a shot, and the next one, who did not have time to turn around, was shot in the head with the butt. The crackle of a broken skull and helmet assured the Spartan that his target was already dead. Without waiting the Spartan quickly used his thrusters to blast into the air and then hit the Centurion, although the Centurion dodged in time the force of the blow knocked him off his feet. Before he could collect himself the Chief ran up to him and grabbed him by the neck, with a strong grip he broke his neck and then threw his inert body at the approaching soldiers to make it even worse for them. Unknown to Cerberus, the grenade took a bloody toll on them. From the 12-person team protecting the commander, only 5 were left, and that was only the shieldmen. The Chief, without giving even a shadow of a chance, put down his rifle and pulled out two Magnums, and with accurate shots through the peephole in the shield shot them all down.
Meanwhile, outside, the two vehicles were dancing in the parking lot between the wrecked cars, suddenly one of the stormtroopers had a lucky shot and hit the soldier on the back of the truck throwing him off the truck, and severely wounding.- Volkmar, he's hit - Gunter shouted and immediately turned back to the downed gunner. He positioned the Warthog so that Cerberus soldiers could not hit him and jumped out of the vehicle, remembering to pull out the first aid kit. Gunter's death passed him by an inch when a sniper shot at him and missed. When he ran up he saw the condition Meanwhile Davies along with Daquin were doing their best to keep Cerberus away from the other Warthog. The three Assault Troopers decided to try their luck and sneak up on Volkmar and Gunter but to their misfortune Garrus saw this and warned Davies of the threat with a shot. Garrus, noticing them, decided to show the three that the name of the vehicle was no accident and simply rammed them at full speed. Only one of them managed to dodge in time, the rest were crushed by the collision with the vehicle. As soon as the third one got up he was torn to shreds by the vehicle's turret.
- Are you ready Garrus?- asked Shepard, to which the turian nodded. Shepard jumped behind cover, exposing himself just enough for the sniper to focus on him. As soon as the sniper started aiming, and only a split second caused the shot that was supposed to hit Shepard to hit the ceiling when Garrus' shot blew Nemesis' head off. Immediately Shepard jumped down and ran to the wounded soldier and his comrade who was doing his best to stabilize him.- How did he get hit?- he asked Gunter, -Solidly, Commander, fortunately most of the bullets went into his hand, unfortunately he will have to get a prosthesis, but that's not the worst- replied the soldier-What's the worst?- asked Shepard-Although I was able to stabilize him on his chest and arm with biofoam, I don't have enough of it to staunch the wounds around his neck.-Gunter said. -I'll take care of it- replied the Commander and used the omni-blade medi-gel on Volkmar's remaining wounds.-What is this? -Gunter asked in amazement. -Medi-gel is the standard military dressing for all races in my universe, very effective as you can see,- Shepard replied.-I hope your plan works out and we join you in this war, it is worth it for the med-gel, if we had it we could avoid a lot of deaths - said Gunter.-Sorry to bother you Shepard, but we still have about ten more enemies to kill and I can't do it alone,- said Garrus through the communicator. Both men quickly moved Volkmar to safety and then ran over to Warthog.- Any instructions on how to use the turret?-asked Shepard, -You pull the trigger and fire and use the buttons on the cannon to turn it.-The soldier replied and sat down behind the wheel. Okay let's see how this works, it can't be hard right? As soon as he stepped behind the turret Shepard, the Warthog with full power started up. Shepard felt the vehicle jerk but he had been a passenger before during the crazy ride here so he was already used to the speed although it was a different feeling than next to the driver. He looked through the scope and took out two Assault Troopers with a quick burst. He aimed at two more, but it wasn't that easy due to the speed of the vehicle and the fact that kinetic shields could effectively protect against UNSC weapons to hide behind. Fortunately for the attackers Garrus was able to force the Cerberus soldiers to seek new shelter or die from his shots. After a minute of such shooting from 10 opponents there were 3 who decided to escape to the building and then through the second entrance to it from the other side to their Kodiaks, they made this decision as soon as they realized that Centurion with his team stopped responding to their calls.
Of course they were not stupid enough to run to where their commander was rightly predicting that their enemy was coming back here. The problem was that they didn't know how quickly and quietly the Spartans could move. As soon as they entered the lobby of the building they ran straight into the Chief, who just like that knocked one of them out, the others were terrified and started to run away in a panic shouting loudly-DEMON!-. They were running away so fast that the Chief found it pointless to chase them, and he did not shoot at them only because he had nothing left to shoot with and did not want to lose his knife or use a heavy weapon for such an insignificant target. He then went outside noticing where the ejected opponent had flown. He crashed into the wreckage of the bus and was still alive, but the Grim Reaper was already waiting for him with his scythe. Next to him he noticed three people two humans and one unknown bird-like alien who had armor in a similar style to the other human and those in white armor. On the man's gray armor he saw the inscription N7, Chief guessed it was either his unit symbol or his call number like his S117. The man looked to him like a man who had been through a lot in his life but had not lost hope yet, or more precisely like someone who understood its value and would never lose it again.-Lance Corporal Davies- read the Chief from the information he received on his helmet HUD -Report- -questioned looked at Spartan-Sir this is Commander Shepard of the Systems Alliance and Garrus Vakarian he is a turian and a member of Commander Shepard's team, and like us they have come here for you wanting you to support them in their fight against the Reapers that is the Invaders but that is what they call them on their world of origin.-The Chief quickly turned to Shepard -Commander Shepard, can you explain to me what this is all about? - Shepard smiled as he saw the Chief's approach to the situation-Master Chief, as you heard from Lance Corporal the Reapers are not from this universe as we are but from an alternate reality that is our universe and as a result of an old event in the past related to an error of a certain civilization also from another reality the Reapers have gained access to travel between universes to make matters worse their standard program of removing from existence any advanced organic civilization such as mine or your version of humanity has changed to all organic life. We managed, with the help of knowledge that survived to our time from previous cycles in our universe, to build a weapon aimed at destroying all the Reapers, unfortunately the mission to destroy them became complicated after we learned that the Reapers can jump between dimensions. -Shepard said
- I understand, so the Reapers are machines that were originally intended to annihilate only highly organic civilizations in your universe, but a civilization entered your dimension at the time they attacked and attracted their attention, and by gaining access to this technology I assume they simply took it from this non-organic civilization and somehow their program changed to removing everything organic, regardless of development.- The Chief responded with a surprisingly long argument for a Spartan-II.-To make matters worse, the Reapers are able, as you yourself have probably noticed, to turn organic beings into their army and use useful idiots like Cerberus for their Reaping-said Garrus. -Cerberus? -said the Chief.-The ones who attacked you are Cerberus, a human terrorist organization that wants human supremacy in the galaxy and their leader believes that the Crucible, our weapon, can be used to take control of the Reapers, which I personally don't believe and I think it's something they tricked the Man of Illusion into believing. He probably decided to eliminate every important person who is, as the Doctor said, a hero of his universe in order to facilitate the Reapers' offensive. Our friend should explain it better to you- Shepard replied, then informed the Doctor that he could come to him via communicator. A moment later, a blue phone booth appeared in the parking lot and the Doctor came out of it. -Welcome Master Chief, I am the Doctor as I understand Shepard has explained as much as he can and why we need you- the Doctor said and then shook hands with the Chief who after a short while shook as gently as he could. -Yes Doctor- the Chief said after the Doctor looked at Shepard-I have good news Shepard my friend has dealt with the Reapers at home and is preparing to come to us. -Shepard was about to ask a few questions but was interrupted by Davies -Commander I received a message from my unit, Colonel Nowak is close to us with his part of the brigade and is going to link up on this bridge with the other half of the unit. -Shepard looked at the Doctor who was using one of his devices to heal the wounded Volkmar and then informing the Chief of the effective range of the Spartan Laser to destroy the cannon.-Doctor can you bring the others? -The Doctor hearing the request quickly finished his argument and ran to the TARDIS and disappeared.
After a long moment the TARDIS returned again this time releasing a large group of people through the door, Shepard's team and a surviving team of UNSC Marines from an already broken brigade from a division that was scattered throughout Australia. It was apparent from some that they had recently been healed. The damage on their armor betrayed the location of the wounds. Their commander was PFC Franco who took over after their last commander was torn apart by a brute. They were quickly subordinated to Corporal Davies. Fortunately for Ashley and her comrades they didn't have long to convince the marines, well a lot of it was helped by the shouts of Cerberus soldiers which quickly revealed to the marines that their enemy had an enemy they feared. The Doctor's arrival and transport was a mere formality. Instead, the destruction of the disruptor revealed the grim news of the extent of the losses the UNSC had already suffered. The brigade to which the Marines had been assigned no longer existed and its remnants were desperately trying to break through to their army allies while one platoon was supporting Team Blue. Fortunately, the destruction of the Reaper cannon in the opera house should give the remaining forces a chance to evacuate. Unluckily, EDI received word that the Cerberus Forces had fortified themselves around the Opera House, while the forces of the 8th Brigade were tied up in battle when they began crossing the bridge so artillery for them could not support the assault on the cannon. Hearing this Shepard, Chief and Davies quickly put together a plan in which the UNSC forces were to attack and engage Cerberus while Shepard's team was to follow Aliance combat doctrine to get behind Cerberus lines so Chief could destroy the cannon.
A few minutes later, the surroundings of the Sydney Opera House
What the fuck are we doing here?- the Cerberus soldier asked his mate -What do you think, dumbass? We're guarding the cannon so the USC guys don't destroy it.-answered him.-They will fucking destroy it, after all, we smashed them and the Reapers beat them easily, there is nothing to watch. Nothing to do but sit on our asses and do nothing.-Responded the first.-So and I'm a British princess, did you hear what the command said? These people fought for 28 years to survive against a much more advanced enemy and they managed to win, and they estimate their losses to be at least half their population. So I'd advise you not to underestimate the Reapers. Worse yet, they managed to wipe out half our forces thrown here in this goddamn city, even though they had no backup because we turned off their communications. And as far as I know their fleet inflicted some pretty heavy losses on the Reapers and they managed to defend Mars-they see that his skeptical mate is about to interject-No, the Alliance failed very quickly when it came to that, and the only military force in our solar system is the scattered resistance troops on Earth and their entire fleet had to flee to safety, and these guys here only hit one of their fleets so hard and yet they managed to fight effectively in one system for a few days, which is something even the Turians can't do.-The attempt at a retort was interrupted by the loud roar of a vehicle. -Oh fuck it's one of their Warthogs or something like that - said the first one.
-What don't you say, intrepid wise man-he replied and then added -Centurion Wang, we have detected a UNSC vehicle called the Warthog, please give us your orders.-After a long moment, the Centurion replied-Withdraw to the Alpha position and that quickly so they do not see you and then you will protect the section of heavy weapons -The two assault troopers looked at each other and ran to their companions and on the run the second said -Understood, we go to the position.- Unfortunately for them their run ended quickly by the shots of a hidden sniper in the ruins of the building. Who after the assassination quickly jumped from the window on the third floor and with incredible speed ran across the street. All that could be seen was a red stain. After which he took and removed their bodies. The sniper then ran to Alpha's position after which he turned on his camouflage and moved to get rid of the problems for UNSC. The garrison of the position itself had 23 people, unfortunately for them it was no more or less trouble for their tormentor, just a simple garbage cleaning. Without much trouble he quietly with his blades hidden in his helmet got rid of the next opponents. Only when there were only 7 soldiers left they realized that something was eliminating them. Any attempt to contact them turned out to be impossible or someone blocked their communication. -Hans, Jean go check- said the section leader-I refuse sir, this is certain death and your order will only help whoever is hunting us to kill us- said the soldier called Hans. -What's more I think this is a stealth scenario only bots can come up with, it would be better to stay here and aim at every entrance to force our enemy to attack us.- said Jean-That's right, why didn't I think of that, maybe I've been watching too many movies - suddenly a voice came through the communicators - Maybe it's because you are firstly the guys who suffered heavy losses in the battle with Shepard, secondly the opponents from the action RPG trilogy so you can't be too difficult.- The Cerberus soldiers looked at each other, hoping they had heard wrong.- Opponents from a computer game? and who you are. -Suddenly the door they had bolted to prevent anyone from entering from behind was kicked in. And through it came their opponent. Immediately they recognized the appearance of the armor, but in contrast to what they saw it looked much worse, and it was clear that the armor itself had been through a lot.-We're fucked! It's one of those Spartans-IV - said one of the soldiers -Why not one of the Spartans-II? His behavior and how quickly he knocked out almost the entire squad and the fact that the door looks like it was kicked in suggests that he is one of this generation.-said another - That's all well and good, but first of all it's one of those unused armours none of the IVs use them any more and the IIs got new versions of the armours and those who are still flying in the old ones are somewhere else and secondly instead of talking like in some cartoon we'd better start shooting-Said their commander, and then they heard laughter coming from the Spartan. -Since when do old Spartans laugh?- asked Hans. -Since I know never- said Jean. -I'm sorry but I can't, I know that my generation is either dead or a few of us are already IV or no longer Spartans but-Then he paused and with a theatrical gesture said -I am a third generation Spartan, although officially I am MIA or de facto KIA on Reach but this is not the first time I have died ... - he said in a loud tone - originally I wanted to kill you without talking but since you asked and I don't like to leave people without an answer I decided to tell you why I said what I said in my real world you are just opponents from a computer game and your boss's plan is not working and will not work and secondly to the question of who I am. I have many names, nicknames given to me by myself or others during my journey but in this world I am known as B312/BR11 under the call code NOBLE SIX and I have come to kill you just as the elites killed me on Reach and unlike me you will not be able to return here-.He ended his statement in a tone that showed his silent and cold fury that said I will kill you for what you have done and you will never know peace after death - No more of this crazy and dead for 6 years Spartan bullshit, KILL HIM - said the commander, on command the whole squad opened fire straight at the target. The team fired the entire magazine at their target knowing that not even a Spartan should survive it and certainly not a Spartan in the first version of the MJORNIR model with shields. To their misfortune, they did not know that the armor their opponent wore was MARK VB only in appearance. When the smoke from the bullets cleared around the target they saw Spartan standing there with two pistols. Strangely enough these guns did not look like the ones used by the UNSC. They were smaller and black. As soon as they aimed back at their target, Spartan opened fire. His gun made its unusual sound, a short puff puff puff, and out of the barrels came blue arrows too fast to dodge and slow enough to be seen. Before they knew it, the arrows had easily broken through their kinetic barriers and took almost everyone's heads off. Almost all of them because the commander survived. Not because he ducked because he couldn't, something told him and the rest to stand still, but because NOBLE SIX didn't shoot at him. The commander didn't know why he felt fear when SIX approached him. Suddenly the Spartan's left hand changed, instead of his usual armor-clad hand he saw it in a ghostly version that showed signs of damage too great to continue using that piece of armor. He looked at Spartan's helmet and instead of a golden veil he saw a face hiding behind it, the same trick he had seen on ODST helmets, he didn't know it was a modification one of many his opponent had installed in the armor. Through the transparent veil he could see eyes, the eyes of someone who abhors scum like him. Unbeknownst to him, his entire life began to run through his eyes, and more importantly, everything that was considered a sin in Christianity. He began to stew in fear and uncertainty and felt a clear anger at himself for what he had done all his life, but this anger was not his but something he had long since rejected, considering it a fairy tale for the weak and foolish. Then he heard a voice-Will you be so kind as to tell me in plain language everything that I want, or do I have to tear it out before I send you to your friends? -though he felt he shouldn't do that, he answered him -yes, I'll tell you -and then the Spartan put his hand to his head with a quick movement and he felt a stranger enter gently and calmly into his head.-Do you repent for your sins, boy? -said the same voice -I repent and I am ashamed of it -said the commander and then he felt that what was telling him not to help the Spartan started to shout and tried to attack him but he felt that it was quieting down and he himself was overwhelmed by feelings that he had long killed in himself, including what was called shame and humility. He felt clearly that he had to atone for what he had done to other people and to other races and for helping in a genocidal campaign. After he felt that the presence in his head was pleased with what it found in him. said the commander, and then he felt that what was telling him not to help the Spartans began to shout and tried to attack him, but he felt that it was quieting down and he himself was overwhelmed by feelings that he had long since killed, including what he called shame and humility. He felt clearly that he had to atone for what he had done to other people and to other races and for helping in a genocidal campaign. After he felt that the presence in his head was pleased with what it found in him. -Do you want to atone, son, and save what you tried to destroy? -He knew what the answer was and he knew that he would probably have to pay the ultimate price, but surprisingly he wasn't afraid, just as he wasn't afraid to go down this path, just as he wasn't afraid to fight as a member of Ceberus before and now he wasn't afraid to fight with this organization.
-You know what to do and now go- The commander came back to reality and saw that it was all an illusion none of them died but he knew that at the same time they all decided the same.-What orders, commander? -Hans asked -Call everyone back home and we have a task to do- replied the commander and after a few minutes the whole remaining troop of only 14 men left, removing all traces of their presence to their transport, knowing where they had to go to do the penance they had been given. In the meantime a figure looked at them, happy to have found more souls to be saved and sad that some of them were beyond saving. I hope you hurry Shepard, the cannon will not wait forever to be destroyed and now it is time to remove the next obstacle. Thought the Spartan in the red with white stripes and the MARK VB armor that showed signs of damage. Then he turned his camouflage back on and started down the street to his next target.
