XxX-XxX-XxX Official Supporters:
Fanatical Fucking Reader, ScrubLord Yoda
Compulsive Reader, The Impossible Muffin
Adeptus Militaris, Wilger
Commissioner, Gib, Espa Cole If you want to be on the Supporter list, PM me for details or join our private server for details. Hope you enjoy reading my stories, please leave me a comment to let me know if you did, or where I can improve. Link here, where able to be seen :
Second link here, remove ( and ) and it SHOULD work : D(i) (slash)kfhkfUb
I have a kofi account now, too, under this name for those interested.
Beta(s) :
XxX-XxX-XxX
The two of them spent roughly an hour and a half circling around the barren mound of the strip mine, flitting between trees and keeping as low as they could to avoid any eyes that might catch them. The sun was at their back now, casting long, ragged shadows across the broken land in front of them that intermingled with a dull and ruddy red and orange light which made the broken land look as if it was on fire. The handful of Husks milling about in the ruins of the forest and the town lended it an even further apocalyptic look.
"Couple dozen of 'em out there." Wrex growled lowly, leaning against the undamaged side of a half-burnt, but somehow still standing, tree.
"Too many for a quick crossing." He murmured, kneeling beside the alien and surveying the gently rolling, debris strewn open ground. Tapping the side of his rifle, he thought and asked, "How many spare charges do we have?"
"Define 'spare' and 'charges'." Wrex chuckled, "Cuz I only have a few. Which we kinda need for the flak tower."
There was certainly that, and he hummed, looking up at the large anti-air tower on top of the moderate hill that had been built up by the Reaper's work. It rose up from the rough middle of the little town that had been built there, but it had been mostly annihilated. And the few buildings left mostly standing around the base of the hill were doubtless empty, filled with Husks, or filled with indoctrinated workers being used to mine… Whatever the Reapers had found down there.
But, from this side, it was mostly empty, like they'd hoped it would be.
"Grenades will work." He finally sighed, turning to Wrex, "Three or four of them. Back as many yards, in the tree roots."
"Blast 'em over. Make some noise 'n motion, and the Husks oughta come running. Clear us some space to get in." He nodded and Wrex sighed, reaching behind himself and producing a pair of small, grey ovoids that he handed over. "All I got. I prefer brawlin' and the like, in a fight, so I don't have a lot of grenades a lot of the time."
"It'll do." He sighed, backing away on all fours for nearly a yard before he straightened and turned.
One he'd found a couple of trees that would work for his needs and planted them, he buried them under a bit of dirt and ran a long, thin cable between them. On top of one he set up a micro-transmitter, keyed to his Omni-Tool, where the grenade under it would annihilate it. Husks weren't the brightest of creatures, he knew, but it still paid to at least try and cover his tracks. With that dealt with, he returned to Wrex's side and, together, they circled further around the blasted area to make space.
"You ready?"
"I'm a Krogan." Wrex huffed, leaning against another tree and checking the sight on his massive machine gun. "What do you think?"
"Fair enough…" John sighed and shrugged, "Go in five."
Five seconds passed, counted out in taps on the side of his Harrier, and muted thunder split the silence. The crack echoed through the air, accompanied by the rustling and groaning of the trees as they teetered and fell. The silence that followed only lasted a few scant seconds before inhuman howls split the air, and the two of them turned, pressing their backs against the trees they were hiding against.
Dozens of Husks swarmed across the open ground, scrambling and leaping from fallen trees and off of cracked rocks.
"Now." Wrex grunted, collapsing his weapon and leaving it on his waist as he crawled out of the treeline.
John mirrored him and, keeping the better part of a tree-strew hill between them and the Husks, the duo made their way out into the open ground on all fours. It was painfully slow going, and there was always the chance the Husks would get bored once they realized no one was in the forest and come back to find them. But, after another half hour or so, they had done it. They'd managed to reach the base of the hill and were looking up at a sky dominated by the heavy Reaper cannon emplacement.
Now, they just had to climb a steep enough to die on hill, without being noticed by the army of Husks behind them, and plant charges on the emplacement.
"Nothin' to it but to do it, Rook." Wrex grumbled quietly, trading a look with him and smiling toothily. "Eh?"
"I suppose so, yeah."
The hill around the mining site had been built up rapidly by dirt and rock dumped down the sides in every direction except the one used to get up and down. Approaching from the front, that wasn't much of a problem. The paths ran back and forward in the typical, painfully tight switchbacks mines often used. Each of them, he'd seen from the front, had small Reaper emplacements built to maintain control of the location as well as oversee general operations. At least, if their ground forces were capable of that.
It was a good system regardless, though, with a single well-maintained, controlled side used for pathing to keep everything running as smoothly as possible.
But unfortunately, it meant that every other side was left wild and ragged, composed of the detritus dumped, knocked, or accidentally rolled over its sides. The end result was an uneven surface that was dangerously steep and loose in the best places, and near shear in the worst. The mine, and whatever was in it, set aside, he could see why the Reapers would want to emplace a gun here. A commanding view, and terrain so harsh that it served as a natural barrier to almost anyone that would come for it.
Because who would be insane enough to make this kind of climb, with Reaper forces around, and no equipment?
The Coalition was lucky the Reapers didn't know just how crazy Humans could be…
The two of them made the climb slowly and carefully with Wrex in the lead, since whatever could hold his weight could easily hold John's. As they went, both of them tested the rocks under their hands and feet, wary of any loose bits that would cause them to stumble or fall. Or, even more importantly, attract attention from the Husks that had returned to milling about around the devastated landscape.
When the time came, killing them all would be a challenge… But at least they'd have the high ground. And the steep climbs would be just as perilous for the Husks, too. As well as the probably indoctrinated mining crew he could see easily a hundred yards away, huddled around tiny fires now that the sun was going down. Why the Reapers didn't just keep them working through the steadily encroaching night, he couldn't guess.
Maybe it was just too dark for them to see, and the Reapers couldn't replace the crew easily…
Or just didn't want to.
Either way, he wasn't likely to get an explanation anytime soon, and moved on rather than dwell.
When they reached the top, Wrex whistled quietly to let him know. He stopped below the Krogan and waited for a long, tense moment as he pulled himself up and over. Anything could be up there, they both knew, but that was the other advantage of Wrex leading. The ancient Krogan had so many more ways to kill anything he ran into, between his Biotics and his massive fists.
And, judging by the wet, meaty crunch the ODST heard from above him, he'd needed to do just that.
"Clear 'nough." Wrex whispered as his great head appeared. He was laying on his stomach and stretched out a hand for him to take. John took it and tried to ignore how small he felt when Wrex stood and lifted him bodily into the air. As he sat him down, Wrex paid the headless Marauder at his feet a nod and added, "Seems like the only one over here, mindin' the big gun."
"Mhm." Doe nodded, kneeling and drawing his Harrier in one motion as his VISR pinged.
Up here, the ground was flat but uneven, and spread out for just over fifty feet from the gun emplacement on one side to the other side, where a handful of metal Reaper barricades had been scattered defensively. The same were around him, scattered defensively around the four massive legs of the gun battery. Each of which were watched over by a single Marauder, one of whom was dead while the other had its back to them, eyes trained out on the open ground.
How their Marauder hadn't seen them, he wasn't sure.
But it hadn't, and that's what mattered in the end.
"Want me to handle that one?" Wrex asked as they slid into cover behind the Reaper emplacements, where the Marauder wouldn't be able to see if it turned around.
"No." John grunted, jerking a thumb up at the gun over them. "This is the job, and it isn't blocking the entrance to the mine."
"Still interested, are you?"
"Yeah." He nodded, looking at the massive hole that had been bored into the ground at the rough center of the mine. "I… Have a feeling."
"A good one?"
"Yeah, sure." He shrugged, "Let's go with that."
While John kept watch, Wrex went to work, planting their charges on two of the gun's legs, and planting another two just over the lip of the ridge. Once he was done, and had it all wired into his Omni-Tool, the two of them reconvened behind the barrier and drew their weapons. Eyes, and barrels, locked on the Marauder's back, they advanced slowly and quietly, moving across the gravelly ground towards the opening of the mine. While Wrex kept an eye on the Reaper, he leaned around the corner of the entrance and pinged with his VISR.
The shaft was long and curved gently, breaking his line of sight after about fifteen feet. Thick cable ran along the wall with bracketed yellow lights paced out every foot and a half or so. The other wall was full of racks of hand-tools, some powered and some not, with a trio of heavy lift dollies at the end of the rack. They were the same kind he'd seen the workers outside using to haul the stone away, and the tunnel was large enough for two to pass each other with some to spare.
So at least Wrex could fit...
The sudden, dull crunch of bone and metal had him spinning on a heel. Wrex, blue Biotic fire fading from his hand, dropped the dead Marauder with a chuckle and a shrug. "Why risk it?"
"Fair…" He sighed, turning back to the poorly lit tunnel and adding. "First or second?"
"Second." His partner growled morosely, "Your VISR oughta be at the front down here."
"Understood." He nodded, "You have the detonator?"
"Yeah." Wrex nodded, "Special Salarian shit. Bein' underground won't fuck with 'em too much."
Nodding, he stepped forward and they began their descent.
The tunnel descended a hundred feet or so, turning in on itself every ten paces or so. Dozens of straight-aways split off from the main path, but most of them had collapsed, either under their own weight or by purposeful means. Those that hadn't split again into winding, narrow passages he figured for seeking holes. Searching for ore or… Whatever this mine had been pulling out of the Earth.
They didn't stop clearing them, though.
Just in case…
After a while, the tunnel's general design… Changed, suddenly. Gone were the meandering seeker tunnels, for one. Instead, the tunnel began to inline more sharply, heading down as quickly and directly as the workers had been able to carve through the stone. And with help, too, judging from the massive, Reaper-designed battery emplacements they passed by, all hooked up to large tools he couldn't quite recognize. But which, judging from the smoother stone walls and floors, were more advanced cutting tools for the job.
Finally, after just past half an hour of descent, and easily a mile if he had to guess, the tunnel suddenly opened up into a massive cavern.
Their exit was on one side of the cavern and, without VISR, he couldn't even see the top. With it, the roof of the cavern was a spike-covered maw, crossed by the slow winding of the tunnel they'd come down, lit in a dull orange. The cavern itself was easily fifty yards from one side to another, though it was longer than it was wide by twice. The ground had been smoothed out as well, and heavy equipment had been shoved against the back wall where the tunnel opened out into the cavern.
At the other end a sheer, stark white wall seemingly cut the cavern off. It was nearly seamless from what he could see, but his VISR highlighted a dozen small cracks in the center of the wall, where a simplistic dull red icon glowed ominously.
"That ain't Reaper…"
"Or Prothean… At least as far as I can tell." Doe nodded, tightening his hand on the grip of his rifle as they paced forward across the cave. "I don't know what it is."
"We oughta send this up on the net." Wrex growled, "It might be imp-"
The warlord was cut off by a quiet but no less stomach turning scream and they both turned, eyeing the mouth of the tunnel they'd come down warily. The single scream was joined by dozens more until they blended together in a recognizable Reaper symphony. He flicked a look to Wrex, and the alien shrugged.
Raising a hand, he pressed a button on his Omni-Display and the Earth above them shook.
"Looks like our hosts found our mess." The alien beside him rumbled a laugh. Gravely, he turned to the ODST and said, "They'll be on us in a couple o' minutes, Doe. I'm a hardy bastard, and so are you, but..."
"Mission accomplished." The ODST sighed, pacing back towards the sheer white wall for space if nothing else. Turning, he pointed at one of the large crates against the far wall and said. "Move one of those over here. We'll need the cover…"
"On it." Wrex nodded, jogging across the open ground towards the crates and tools pushed against the far wall.
John nodded and turned, looking for the perfect spot to set the box…
And then, suddenly, the red light blinked orange, flashed, and turned green. He froze, eyeing it for a long moment, and then shrugged and made his way over to it.
"Whatever you are, you aren't Reaper, so…" He sighed, pinging his VISR on the wall and coming up empty. "So let's just hope you're friendly."
Cautiously, he pressed a hand against the little blinking light, and the wall groaned. Like a mechanism that hadn't been used in years, which he supposed it was, the stark white wall segmented more obviously. Then the segments slid in and spun, rotating out like an iris and vanishing into the wall around the hole it left behind. Beyond it was a hallway, ten feet wide and thirty tall, that stretched on to another wall with another green light.
"What the hell did you do?" Wrex growled, dropping the crate he'd hefted over with a heavy thud.
"I pushed a button." Doe murmured, stepping through into the… Airlock? It certainly looked like one Turning, he waved for Wrex to join him. "Come on, I'm going to try and close it."
"Yeah, that sounds like a-" His partner's words were cut off by the heavy clang of the metal door slamming in both their faces.
"What the- No!" He scouted, slamming a fist into the little red button that glowed in the center of it. It didn't respond and he snarled, fishing a last grenade off of his belt and reaching for the primer.
"I would not recommend that, Reclaimer." A quiet, synthetic but oddly feminine voice said from behind him. "In these tight quarters, you would self-terminate. And that would be most unfortunate."
Turning, he was surprised to see a strange little metal ball floating in the open door at the other end of the airlock. It was round and had a silvered chassis, but its light was bright and blue. He turned slowly, raising his rifle, and a pair of machines with long, rectangular centers and several dangerous looking arms suddenly slid into view, flexing tiny claws and small, floating boxes that looked like some sort of weapon menacingly.
"Now, now." The machine said, "There's no need for that. Please, let us talk."
"My friend-"
"Will be quite alright, I assure you." The little orb cut him off, bobbing forward and chiming. "I have empaced a hard-light barrier in the other entrance. Nothing these odd constructs have can pierce it, to my knowledge. And if they do, somehow, then I shall dispatch Sentinels to protect the Rokka'Hur."
"Rokka…"
"My creator's designation for the alien outside." It answered brightly, trilling a laugh. "I do not know your designation."
"...Krogan." He said after a moment's pause, lowering the rifle. "We… They're called the Krogan. And you are…?"
"I am the Monitor of Installation Omega." The machine answered simply, "You may refer to me as Orbiter Of Finality, or O-O-F, as you prefer. And, as an aside, if you find that you wish to anachronize a secondary name, do feel free. I will not mind!"
"Alright…"
"Wonderful!" the machine bounced in place and turned, sliding bouncing out through the door and turning back to him. "Come along now. We have much to discuss!"
And, hesitantly, John did just that…
If only so the machine wouldn't let the Husks get to Wrex.
XxX-XxX-XxX
Shepard felt the Normandy's momentum shift and turn a dozen times, yanking her back and forward in her security harness down in the bay. Something sent tremors through the ship around her but, whatever it was, the ship didn't fall apart around her. She heard one of the crewmen nearby, standing at a console while they prepped the Kodiak, swear loudly and frowned.
"What's the problem?"
"We're green to launch, the batteries are down. But ours is the only sector so far, meaning we have to engage stealth and angle just right to do it, which is a bit rough." Cortez answered for his under-staffer, sprinting around his shuttle as he looked it over. Flicking a look at her he said, "The Asset is loaded up, Commander. Whenever you're ready…"
"I'm ready." She answered, hitting the release on her harness and standing. "Let's get down there."
"Admiral Hackett hasn't approved the plan…"
"And?" She growled, one hand on the open door of the shuttle as the man stepped through.
"And nothin', Ma'am." Cortez shrugged and smiled, slipping by her towards the pilot's hatch and adding. "Just wanted it on record I said somethin'."
Rolling her eyes, she stepped into the shuttle and let the door bang closed behind her. Strapping in, she stared at the black box holding the Leviathan Orb and smiled viciously. It was time to end this...
XxX-XxX-XxX
Dasgun :
.