Chapter 14: Deposition
Facing down Xamutet, the Collectors were silent but ready. Armed with particle weapons and rifles covered by organic carapace, the insectoid soldiers stared down the Necron Lord. But the 'Dark Blade' of Solvatakh hadn't shifted in his combat stance. Xamutet's shield was up and his blade was crackling with green energy. The cold air was tense as each side waited for the other to make their first move. Then the Collectors beside Harbinger began opening fire upon Xamutet, but his Dispersion Shield simply absorbed the incoming rounds.
The dark lord charged his foes, causing most of the insect soldiers to take to the sky in order to maintain firing upon him. Harbinger however remained steadfast, wrapping himself in a biotic field wreathing with chaotic energy. The Gravatar's necrodermis withstood the enemy fire upon his sides and head from the flying Collectors as he rushed to bring his sword down on the Collector leader. Harbinger pooled fiery biotic energy into his clawed fist. When Xamutet broke his guard to swing his phase sword down upon the Reaper controlled puppet, Harbinger unleashed a blast of biotic power so intense that it sent Xamutet flying back. The Necron Lord quickly righted himself mid-air and dug his sword into the roof to slow down his momentum until he stopped. He then found himself right back where he had started his charge on the roof and he audibly gruffed his annoyance.
Once more the Necron lord was fired upon by flying Collectors, but then green beams of Gauss Flayers once more lit the sky and cut down Xamutet's attackers. The flying enemies' screeching forms began turning to ash while tumbling to the ground below. The dark lord's warriors had finally reached the other roofs of nearby buildings and were now providing fire support. Collector forces moved to engage the arriving Necron warriors, while Harbinger and Xamutet continued their duel on the rooftop.
The Necron Lord holstered his sword to his side and readied his staff, while Harbinger's form was wreathed again in a field of biotic energy. When Xamutet brought his Staff of Light to bear and fired, Harbinger disappeared in a blur of bright light. The Collector leader reappeared to Xamutet's left and unleashed several blazing spheres of biotic power. Before the Necron Lord's staff beam could cut the Collector leader in half, Harbinger shifted position again in another blur of biotic light. Xamutet turned his shield and blocked one of the energy spheres but missed the second. It curved around and slammed into him from his flank knocking him slightly to the side and engulfing him in flames covered by a warping biotic field on his body.
The Necron Lord gruffed once more in annoyance. Harbinger appeared behind him and unleashed another blast of biotic power from both its hands at point blank. Xamutet caught himself from falling forward using his staff, quickly twirling around and hitting Harbinger in the face with the blunt end of the weapon. The fiery Collector was sent spinning off to the side where Xamutet seized the advantage leaping, upon his downed foe. He then smashed the Collector leader's head in with a loud crunch.
A screech was heard followed by Harbinger saying, "Releasing control." as the Collector's body was then reduced to ashen mist. By contrast, the damage to Xamutet's form was already repairing and he was incredulous, "Was that all you had Harbinger? How disappointing..."
A blast of energy hit Xamutet from his flank and encased him in some kind of organic resin. He looked through the gloom and saw groups of flying Collector's dropping human-like cybernetic creatures onto nearby roofs to his right. The creatures were eight feet tall with sacs of organic masses on their backs. Their left arms had been converted into some kind of cannons and their barrels were already warming up for another volley. Xamutet brought up his shield and blocked their attack. He checked the status of his warriors and found them tied down on the roofs to his left, bogged down by multiple Collector squads on all sides. Adding to that, those large flying insect constructs had arrived and were inflicting more casualties on the Necron soldiers.
Xamutet called on any nearby Immortals to shift focus from whatever they were doing to aid their brethren on the rooftops. For now, he would have to deal with these cybernetic creatures himself. With his shield up to block the enemy attacks, he readied his staff to eliminate the threat. As he did so however, he was slammed into from above and knocked through the roof. The impact forced him down into a hallway below the rooftop. Xamutet's body was sprawled out from the sudden attack with several portions of his necrodermis cracked. Feeling something on his back the Necron lord attempted to roll over and swung his staff at the offending creature, only to hit air. Xamutet righted himself and began to stand up, only to find the Collector's leader standing across from him once again.
"We do not die." Harbinger said coldly.
"Neither do I, pest!" Xamutet responded before bringing his shield forward and charging his foe. Harbinger attempted to unleash another powerful blast of biotics from his hands but now in the cramped hallway the Dispersion Shield took all of it. With no means of being able to flank his opponent Harbinger braced himself and took Xamutet's charge head on. The Collector leader was hefted onto the shield and the Necron Lord kept going until he slammed into the end of the hallway, pinning the fiery Collector against the wall. The impact dented the wall and Xamutet let the body of his opponent drop before once more bashing Harbinger's fallen form with his shield repeatedly. With its death screech, the Collector leader was again forced to relinquish control of his host.
Xamutet barely had time to take in his victory before a blast rocked the building. A hole opened before him amidst an explosion followed by shots fired from the Collector's cyberized creatures. The Necron Lord was still quicker, his Dispersion Shield taking the enemy fire, but then another blast hit him from the side again as another hole in the building opened up. One of the large insect constructs flew in quickly and slammed into Xamutet using its own body. The Gravatar, though pinned, was able to switch weapons and bring his sword down upon the creature's head. The monstrous bug cried out as Xamutet tore open its skull with the embedded phase sword before kicking the metal beast off him.
A swarm of Collectors poured into the building from the openings, guns blazing upon the Necron lord. Xamutet began cutting through them once more like a scythe through wheat severing limbs and bisecting bodies, covering himself in Collector gore as he went. Suddenly a Collector erupted into flames and crackled with energy among them, suddenly performing a biotic charge. It slammed into Xamutet while he was severing the heads of several other insectoid soldiers, sending him flying through the weakened wall from where the large monster had him pinned earlier. The Necron lord's form flew into the side of another building, where he quickly tumbled to the ground below. Xamutet hit the ground hard, his weight creating a cratered impression where he fell onto the snow covered earth.
Harbinger appeared from the hole above in the building and charged its fiery biotics once again. This time though, the Necron Lord saw the attack coming and his mind within a split second ran projections for countermeasures. The Collector leader biotically charged again only to meet the Gravatar's Dispersion Shield bashing into it. The shield bash neutralized the biotic field, sending Harbinger off course into the side of a building nearby. The structure's wall dented inwards from the impact before the Collector leader himself fell to the ground. Xamutet quickly drew his staff and lanced his opponent with green energy, severing its insect body down the middle before it could finish standing back up.
Harbinger's voice responded even as its host began turning to ash, "We are not finished..."
Xamutet ran a system check on his body. The strange resin he had been covered in was slowing the rate his necrodermis recovered. However it was also being slowly neutralized and eventually he would recover fully within a few minutes. The Necron lord didn't remain idle however, quickly moving and querying any Scarabs or warriors for an update on the battle around him. He found that all warriors around him were either caught in battle with overwhelming numbers or being reformed back at the complex. The main complex itself was now being invaded and the Spyders themselves were now committed to its defense. The Necron Lord witnessed through a Scarab's eye several Spyders engaged in melee with the Collector's large insect constructs, impaling one with its massive claw hand before using its other forelimbs to stab the Collector monstrosity's eye. Enemy fire from the insect soldiers would find little to bite as the Spyder's necrodermis was incredibly resilient.
Satisfied with the report, Xamutet rounded the corner of the building ahead and found himself surrounded by Collector seeker swarms. They landed all over his body, all trying to find a place to sting him. Annoyed at this, the Gravatar charged his staff and slammed the ground creating a shock wave which sent the insects flying off him in all directions. The swarms attempted to regroup and try again only to have tendrils of Scarabs slam into them. Xamutet kept moving, attempting to regroup with warriors he had recalled to a building up ahead. Instead he found more of those cyberized creatures with cannons for arms set up in front of the structure and firing in his direction. He quickly brought up his shield and blocked the attacks, then powerful particle beams struck him from above. Several of the Collector's mechanical insect monsters were flying above him and unleashing their eye beams upon him. The Necron lord brought his shield up to block the beams and was hit with cannon fire from the cyborgs ahead coating him in more resin.
Collector soldiers sprang from all around, from windows, to building corners, and even random debris of structures lying around. Overwhelmed on all sides, Xamutet's necrodermis began to crack once more from the resin and enemy fire striking him. Harbinger's voice was heard once again coming from the direction of the cyborgs, "Your minions have failed you usurper. Soon your structural integrity will fail you as well."
Xamutet fell to the ground on one knee, attempting to use his shield to block most of the enemy fire but more kept pouring forth upon his blind spots. The Gravatar spotted Harbinger, walking slowly up to him, ignoring the potential friendly fire. The Collector leader charged his biotic field, still striding up through the firestorm, "The forces of the universe bend to us and to us alone. This...is true power."
The enemy fire finally ceased, as the Collectors were seemingly going to allow Harbinger to have the final blow. Xamutet's body was now full of holes and damaged components, though some parts were still attempting to seal the damage. The Gravatar even had an eye lens shot out, revealing his face as he dropped his shield to look at his enemy. He let out a metallic grunt seemingly exhausted from enduring so much enemy fire. Then he began to laugh, starting as a slight chuckle then becoming an uproarious cackle. Harbinger may or may not have been confused but to Xamutet hearing that quote reminded him of another arrogant fool. An Aeldari witch who also claimed that their mastery of the warp was 'true' power. The irony of hearing it again from another enemy just tickled him. In the end, the witch suffered greatly for her arrogance by his hand, just like this petulant insect would. The Gravatar's skeletal hand reached for something around his left side.
Xamutet looked to Harbinger as he walked up to him, finally finishing his laughter, "Hah hah hah! True power you say?" The Necron lord finally clasped what he was looking for and drew it forth on his open skeletal palm, so his opponent could see it.
It was a spinning object that constantly shifted its shape from various cubes to spheres, with glowing green symbols that also changed with the object's form. Harbinger was nearly ready to deliver the final blow with his biotics and once more drew close. Xamutet remarked upon his enemy's statement, "That isn't true power...THIS IS!"
With a silent command, Xamutet sent the protocol to unleash the Tesseract Labyrinth's contents and suddenly everything was engulfed in a blinding light. It shifted in different colors of green, before finally ending in white. When the light finally faded Xamutet was already fleeing from the area, leaving behind him a thirty foot tall grey metal giant. It floated slightly off the ground and its body was similar to a human's with a well defined musculature. However, its head was like a dark shadow of shifting necrodermis that ran down its back with bands that extended out, almost akin to wing like structures. It's eyes were two large white orbs, akin to small suns amidst the shifting shadows of its head. It looked before the assembled beings in front of it for a quick second before unleashing a metallic roar that shook all nearby.
Xamutet had taken cover near various debris back down the street he had come from and yelled out to Harbinger, "Behold Harbinger! Behold the power of Ungara'Dat, Messenger of the Gods!"
The Collectors finally stopped analyzing the giant being before them and began opening fire on the giant. It roared in anger and flew past Harbinger to smash a squad of Collectors in cover with its clenched fists. The large Collector constructs fired on it and one quickly found itself grabbed by the giant. Ungara'Dat then smashed the monstrous bug construct into the pavement of the street before squashing it with its foot. The giant quickly clasped the other insect monster before it could back away and tossed it at another group of Collectors, flattening them against its tumbling body. Not even the cannons of the cyborgs found their weapons effective. Their rounds merely absorbed by the skin of the god-like being. An orbiting sphere of energy of shifting bright colors was beginning to form above its head as the Collectors continued in vain to inflict damage upon it with rifle fire and particle weapons. Harbinger sent fiery balls of biotic energy towards it, only to find them seemingly captured by the being's index finger. The biotic energy coalesced into the giant's palm and formed a large blazing sphere. The sphere on the giant's palm grew larger, while the one above its head shrank slightly. Gripping the energy in its hand, Ungara'Dat threw it towards Harbinger. The Collector leader didn't even bother to dodge the attack, perhaps out of curiosity to see the impact on his host or he simply knew there was no way to avoid it, "This outcome...was unexpected."
The gigantic ball of biotic energy slammed into Harbinger, disintegrating its host in a fiery explosion. Ungara'Dat then unleashed beams of light from its own eyes into the cyborgs, decimating them in blasts that sent parts of the cyberized creatures flying everywhere. More and more Collector forces arrived unleashing storms of fire from weapons of all makes, attempting to inflict any kind of damage. More of the Collectors larger flying insect robots arrived and unleashed their eye beams on its upper back. Ungara'Dat roared out as impacts all over its body was absorbed by its necrodermis skin and the ball of energy above its head grew quickly in size. The metal giant ceased attacking, allowing the Collectors to send everything they had at it while preparing itself for what was about to occur. The ball of energy above its head was now the size of its own imposing frame and was continuing to expand. Then Ungara'dat clasped the sphere on both ends, gripped into it and pulled. The sphere was ripped in half and began breaking down, disseminating into smaller spheres. Hundreds of them began to form from the seeping halves of the larger sphere as a dark energy like field encompassed them all. The giant looked at its attackers and a pulse of white light emitted from its eyes followed by yet another metallic roar. The spheres of energy suddenly shot out as if from a gun, seeking out and slamming into the giant's attackers tearing them asunder in fiery explosions. Everywhere it looked it sent more spheres, turning the area into a series of detonations that annihilated all before it.
Even Xamutet felt in his matrix the slight sensation of appreciation as he witnessed the pure destructive power of the C'tan shard. He remained in cover while his necrodermis healed, keeping his shield held up high in the direction of chaos. However, he knew he couldn't let Ungara'Dat wander about for too long. The being had gone mad from its long imprisonment and the shattering of its original body millennia ago. The Necron lord's mind remembered the flickering images of a great battle involving the armies of several dynasties along with Crypteks who specialized in energy manipulation. It was their efforts that allowed their armies to finally break the feedback field of the being and shatter it into the shards it is now. Each participating dynasty took shards of it as a trophy of their great victory over the C'tan. Xamutet had been keeping it among his most precious trophies for many ages and always had kept a watchful eye on it. Especially now with the dynasty in its current state. While the fail safes of the Tesseract Labyrinth were still active, it was not a guarantee that the shard would obey. Indeed, the madness of the being prevents it from following precise commands and if left unchecked it would destroy all before it in its insane rage.
Ungara'Dat continued to unleash its spheres into the surrounding area, laying waste to buildings, Collectors, colonists and even the few Necron warriors left amidst the fighting around it. Xamutet was forced to move from his cover as explosions wracked the building he was next to, nearly bringing it down on top of him. He checked the Tesseract Labyrinth's status, it still wasn't charged enough yet to bring back its captive. The Necron lord looked through the clouds of snow and dust to see that the metal giant finally had finished unleashing its spheres. The area around it was now nothing more than smoldering ruins of buildings and craters. It roared once more and chased after a swarm of Collectors that it spotted. The alien insectoids began retreating from it, realizing that attacking the giant was utterly pointless. Xamutet gave chase and sent out a message to any remaining humans to flee from the C'tan shard's path or they would be killed. The metal giant was hovering along the northern perimeter of the colony now, unleashing blinding light from its eyes into the Collectors that attempted to flee from it. Any that were caught by the beams had their bodies expand and explode in fiery detonations. Ungara'Dat reached out and grabbed more Collectors, crushing them in its hands before flinging their bodies at the others. Every now and again a group of humans were caught in the C'tan shard's rampage despite the warning. The buildings they were taking shelter in collapsing from the giant smashing through it to get to its targets or destroying the structure with beams of light from its eyes while attempting to kill Collectors within. The destruction of the northern perimeter of the colony was getting near total by the time the giant reached the processing plant.
Xamutet looked again through the eye lens of a Scarab watching the action from above. The Collectors at last were beginning to retreat from the area. Not only that, they were surprisingly retreating all across the colony. Was it the C'tan shard's doing or was it something else? The Gravatar didn't have the time to contemplate on it too much. He had to keep up with Ungara'Dat for when it was time to force it to return to its prison. The metal giant continued to pursue the Collectors, stamping on them when they were below him, grabbing them or blasting them with its eye beams out of the sky. Swarms of Collectors were flying off now, along with everything they could carry from the colony. More of Ungara'Dat's beams of light streaked across the sky to catch many Collectors and cause them to explode. Adding to the C'tan shard's light, the familiar green lancing beams of Gauss Flayers were firing. The few Necron warriors and Immortals that remained continued to unleash fire along with Ungara'Dat onto the fleeing Collectors. Once more, many insectoid alien corpses fell to the ground, sometimes along with whatever they were carrying.
Xamutet at last reached the metal giant's location near the processing plant and allowed it to continue destroying his enemies for a while longer. Simon Kerrick and his squad were spotted by the Necron lord emerging from the processing plant's entrance, covering their ears whenever Ungara'Dat roared. For the next few minutes the humans and the Necron lord observed the carnage the metal giant was wreaking. Collector corpses and remains continued to fall from the sky, along with carapace capsules containing Necron technology, or colonists, or the remains of colonists. Simon seized the initiative again and broke from his stupor of staring at the giant to call on his fellow colonists to recover the people from the pods.
When the last of the Collectors were out of effective range, Ungara'Dat roared in anger and looked ready to unleash his wrath upon the humans and Necrons next. He looked to his 'master' in particular and shrieked a cry of hatred in the Necron Lord's direction. Xamutet narrowed his glowing eyes into slits and checked the Tesseract Labyrinth. It was ready, time for Ungara'Dat to return to his prison. The Necron lord held out the Tesseract, its shifting shape unveiling like an overly complicated flower and an intense light once again was unleashed from it. The C'tan Shard held out its hand and seemingly attempted to manipulate the energy being emitted by the Tesseract but found its powers null and void. It roared one more time in hate towards Xamutet before the light eventually engulfed it. After a moment, the Tesseract Labyrinth closed, returning once again to a spinning shifting device with glowing green symbols. The dark lord pocketed the device once more and took in the sight around him.
Collector remains now littered the snow covered landscape along with the remaining human defenders now recovering items, captured colonists, or colonist remains. The blizzard was finally beginning to let up and Xamutet could see in the distance that the Collector cruiser was having the last of its army board it. They flew through the sides of the ship and hanger doors sealed behind them. A familiar sound of fiery energy ignited behind Xamutet where he quickly turned around, staff at the ready to see Harbinger. The Collector leader was once more before the dark lord on top of a pile of rubble that had once been an apartment.
"The construct was...impressive.", Harbinger flatly stated.
"Hah! Is that all you have to say about it? What you have witnessed is only a fraction of the power my dynasty can bring to bear against you."
"Its power was potent, but lacked control and true purpose."
"True purpose? There is no truer purpose than service to my dynasty."
"An objective that is bent only towards self-indulgence. Leading only to destruction and chaos unto the greater whole of the galaxy."
"We would bring order to the galaxy. Whether by destruction of all who oppose us or their forced servitude, it matters not to me."
"Such overt control will lead only to stagnation and decay. Our cycle, will allow species to rise and fall as they must. Ensuring ascendance of only those species whom are worthy."
"We gained our ascendance long ago by our own hands! We did not need beings like you to dictate who was worthy or who wasn't."
"Your arrogance blinds you to the truth."
Xamutet's eyes turned to slits in annoyance, "I grow tired of this exchange. You only succeeded here due to a miscalculation. There will not be a second one insect. Attempt to enter our territory again and you will be destroyed..."
"Finding your weakness is now only a matter of time. We are eternal and eventually, we shall return and reclaim what is ours."
"Go ahead and try. By the time you learn anything, we will be exterminating your kind to the last."
Xamutet fired his Staff of Light and then bisected the Collector with the beam. As Harbinger's puppet turned to ashen mist in the wind, the Collector leader whispered a cold promise, "We will meet again..."
The Necron lord looked back to see the Collector cruiser taking off into the upper atmosphere. He kept watching until it was out of line of sight through the cloud cover, then a comm signal was detected. Veronakh had arrived at the edge of the system and with the enemy cruiser gone it would seem the interference was also.
"Xamutet, what is your status?"
"I am here Great One. The enemy has retreated, though it wasn't without great cost."
"I see the enemy vessel already jumping out of the system. I presume you made a good accounting of yourself?"
"We made the enemy suffer greatly for their trespass. However, it is unknown at this time just how many laborers and material they were able to abscond with."
"Find out immediately, I want every detail you can provide so that I can decide our next move."
"Already ascertaining it as we speak. I am also sending data I acquired from battle with the enemy. We are also recovering enemy remains throughout the colony."
"In spite of your previous blunder Gravatar it would seem that there may be something to be gained from all this. We will discuss what happens next when I arrive in person."
"By your will Great One."
Aria came into a control center with a holographic table centrally located in the middle of the room. This was the operations area of Omega, with operators manning holographic consoles throughout. The situation was escalating the more time went on, due to the sheer number of enemies appearing from either within the station or via dropships. Power fluctuations were also adding to the confusion as displays went in and out due to the maintenance areas of the station also being attacked. Operations thankfully utilized a backup power supply off the main grid so they could sustain constant situational awareness. Personnel were quickly coming and going throughout operations, reading reports as they were happening across the station via holographic displays on their Omni-tools and holo displays.
"I need an update, where else are we being hit?" Aria asked a nearby Batarian manning a console.
The Batarian operator opened a window and it showed various sections of the station in red, "We got more docks being attacked, numbers eight through twenty-two. Same kind of guys as well."
"Have the Eclipse been mobilized?" Aria asked, now frowning at the screen.
The operator cycled through windows until he brought up a map of the station with security footage of mercs on the move, "They're moving towards Grizz's position at dock 15 and their mechs are reinforcing his push. Making good progress so far as we can tell."
"Just got an update from Anto boss!" Shouted a nearby Turian controller.
Aria looked his way, "What happened?"
"Vorcha confirmed in the maintenance tunnels wrecking shit! Looks like they're throwing their lot in with whoever these guys are. They are putting up stiff resistance at the maintenance access points and Anto is requesting backup." The Turian replied.
Aria turned to look at the map of Omega and sighed shaking her head, "Fucking perfect..."
"What do we do boss?" asked the Batarian operator.
"Pull Gavorn and his men from whatever he is doing and move to maintenance. If Vorcha are causing problems he'll be the best one to deal with them." Aria ordered.
Another Batarian operator spoke up, "Ma'am, we got hostiles heading towards Dr. Solus' clinic in the lower levels!"
"How many?" The Omega Queen asked, starting to show more exasperation towards the situation.
"Several platoons based on what people are reporting in!"
Aria shook her head but regained her commanding presence, "Dammit...have Anto regroup with the Blood Pack and make a push on their rear. Between the clinic's mechs and those two that will hopefully break their attack. Reinforce Gavorn with the Blue Suns as well, he'll likely need them."
"Orders sent!" replied the operator.
The Batarian controller from earlier cycled through more holographic windows and then encountered an anomaly, "Uh...boss, you might want to take a look at this."
Aria moved up to the console of the operator and looked at a holographic cross section of the station. An alert had been issued at one of the various tunnels leading to the reactor.
"Looks like we got some kind of pressure and motion discrepancies in reactor access tunnel 35."
"People moving through there?" Aria asked now with a hand to her chin in thought.
The Batarian shook his head, "Don't know yet, I'm requesting more detailed data from the VI overseeing that section."
"Keep an eye on it." Aria heard the door to operations open and looked behind her to see an entourage of Turian mercenaries with the one in front of them all having his helmet off. He had red and white face paint on the front of his face with the red portion around his mouth and nose. Aria recognized him and was annoyed by his sudden appearance, "Derius, I said to have your people on standby. Not stride into operations like you own the place."
The Turian commander smirked at that remark, "That might happen one of these days with the way things are going. But I came by to work out the finer details of our contract. You know, face to face and all that."
Aria crossed her arms, "I'm not in the mood for bullshit Derius. I'm willing to pay good money to get these fuckers off my station. You want more, then do more and stop wasting my time."
Derius motioned with his claw to his fellow mercenaries, "The Talons are willing to commit alot of guys to help you deal with the problem. Hell, we're one of the biggest merc companies after Commander Shepard shot up things around here. I'm just saying if you want more from us, you gotta give more too. We don't bend over backwards for free."
Aria sighed, "So what, more money?"
"We want more space, our operations are expanding and recruitment is up. So naturally we need more room for living quarters and munitions."
"As well as more territory so people can 'hire' out your protection services I imagine?"
"Hey, people want reliable protection. The Blue Suns had that for awhile but then they fucked up. We're mainly handling the Turian districts right now but I figure, hey, everybody here deserves the best security, not just Turians. So long as the price is right. To sum up, we want some more of the territory the Suns had. Someone has to fill the void that they left, may as well be us."
Aria scowled, "I'll think about it, provided you actually get out there and get it done."
"Sorry but some of my officers need a bit more than just a maybe. Isn't that right Nyreen?"
A Turian to the commander's left removed their helmet, revealing a female Turian underneath. Aria hadn't seen Nyreen for some time but now her mind was filled with questions and irritation. The Omega Queen had helped Nyreen with her biotic abilities and the two even had a relationship. Nyreen however couldn't reconcile with some of their differences and moved on. Now she was a merc with these scum bags?
"You're right Derius, we need more than just your word Aria. In just a few years, I come back to find your place an utter mess. I would like to think that with everything going on you'd have at least a change of heart about a few things." Nyreen said with an odd chip on her shoulder.
Aria sighed and held her forehead, "Seems like this fucking galaxy can't stop making my headache even worse."
"Can't help you much there Aria. After all most of them you've brought on yourself."
Derius looked to his subordinate, "Now now Nyreen show a little respect here. I know you two had a thing before but right now this is business."
"Sorry sir." Nyreen replied with a slight nod to her CO.
Derius waved her off, "No worries, now...about those details Aria."
The Omega Queen was starting to get fed up with it all and threw up her hands, "Ugh...fine you'll get whatever you want, just get out there and-"
"Boss, something's up!" shouted the Batarian operator.
Aria spun back around and moved back to the operator's map screen. Multiple objects had been detected moving down the highlighted access tunnel to the reactor, "Got a lot of movement around reactor access tunnel thirty-five, don't know how many there are yet."
"The reactor is sealed?" Aria asked.
The operator nodded, "Yeah all doors and hatches to the reactor area are still locked down. However, I can't raise any of our security teams or the workers down there."
"Do we have anybody we can send down there to check it out?"
"No...all other units and teams are spread out everywhere or are otherwise engaged. Wait...we're getting a message from reactor access tunnel thirty five!"
Aria began reading the text message, it read, "Hope you've been enjoying the show from up there Aria. My friends and I are about to bring the coup de grace to Omega within the next twenty minutes or so. Better hurry if you want to save your precious station from being turned into scrap. Maybe you should come down yourself for once to try to stop us instead of just using your goons. See you soon or in hell...Omega bitch."
"Fuck!" Aria exclaimed as she took a step back to regain her composure. She turned and looked to Derius, "Alright Derius, you want to get everything you want then you're going to get every guy you've got and help me secure that reactor. I'm not losing my station to these fucking assholes."
"Heh, then we got a deal then." Derius then turned to Nyreen, "Alright Nyreen get the boys on the horn, its time to earn our keep."
"Yes sir!" Nyreen saluted, turning to motion the rest of the mercenaries to head out.
Before the Talons could leave the room Aria began to follow them, "Oh you're coming too?" Derius asked.
Aria strode up to Derius with a scowl, "I did say I wanted you to help me secure the reactor. At this point it might be therapeutic to get out there and deal with the problem myself."
Nyreen smiled, "Been a while since I've seen you cut loose Aria. This should be fun."
Aria looked back and shouted to the operator from earlier, "Have Bray gather some men and meet up with me and the Talons at reactor maintenance access! I want him down there in ten minutes or less!"
"Got it boss!" the operator replied as he returned back to his console.
Shepard was on his way to the front door of the complex. He was now wearing his security disguise along with Garrus and Zaeed who followed close behind. There were no emblems or patches on their armor and they were colored in blacks and grays. Shepard also saw the slight shimmer of Kasumi, cloaked and following as well. The facility itself looked like a plain industrial building from the outside with private security. In truth, all the security were in some way handled by C-Sec. However, these were hand picked guards who were all sworn to secrecy for the Citadel Council. Not even their own C-Sec bosses knew what they were tasked to be guarding. From the information Veronakh provided it seemed that while the security procedures were tight, the attitude on site was lax due to the building being a black site.
The Commander approached the checkpoint at the front door, guarded by a pair of Turian guards who wore the same colored armor. One of them approached and asked, "Identification?"
Shepard activated his suit's Omni-tool and transmitted his security clearance and ID. The guard activated his and received it, giving a nod, "Alright looks good, face check please."
The Commander tapped his helmet twice and had the helmet's visor changed from black to clear. The Turian inspected the face and saw the same one as on the ID. Shepard had tinkered with the helmet to give a holographic face of the person he was impersonating superimposed over his own. The guard seemed to be buying it, but there was still one last check and this one Veronakh would need to step in to help with.
The guard began to initiate a biometric scan, prompting Veronakh to tell the Commander in his ear, "Keep an eye on his Omni-tool Shepard."
Doing as instructed Shepard looked at the guard's Omni-tool, not noticing his own eyes flickering with green light. The guard looked puzzled for a moment and checked the scan again before finally saying, "Alright biometrics match, had a little glitch there for a second but it seemed to work itself out."
Shepard nodded, "Not a problem Kiridus."
"Take care of yourself Han. Alright next one up." The Turian guard motioned for the others behind Shepard to step forward, while allowing the Commander entry.
Shepard entered inside and found another pair of guards along with the building's staff, lounging around a lobby area seemingly bored. They wore clothing that had black and white patterns, perhaps indicating support staff. The Commander then heard Veronakh again chiming in, "Miss Goto will have to use the ventilation system to get inside, to help her along I need you to find junction boxes throughout the facility to give me remote access to the system. I detect one close by in this area to your left."
The Commander moved through an archway that scanned him once again and gave a positive chime as the guards nodded. He then proceeded to his left and activated his Omni-Tool, trying to look like he was only checking his messages. Veronakh spoke once more, "I only need you to observe the junction, no need to manually interact with it."
Shepard did as instructed, the waypoint on his visor showing him the junction box. He got within several feet and eyed it while maintaining appearances of still checking his messages. After a minute, Veronakh informed the Spectre, "Excellent, Miss Goto is now beginning her infiltration. I'll need you to access several other junctions so I can help her the rest of the way. This should also allow me to map more of the facility. The others should be able to help cover for you as you do so. I have more biographical and familial information regarding who you are impersonating that you can access as needed in the event of...unexpected questioning."
"Thanks..." Shepard replied drily.
The disguised Spectre shut off his Omni-tool and moved up to what appeared to be the lobby's reception area to his right. Soon, Garrus and Zaeed joined him, having finally gotten through their own security checks. The receptionist, a male Turian brought up a data pad and began to interact with it while speaking, "Welcome back Han, how you doing today?"
"Doing good, was just checking my messages. Making sure the kids were doing alright."
"Yeah, twin Asari girls can be a handful I hear. They aren't chucking things around with biotics yet are they? I mean they are nine now."
"Hah! No, nothing like that. Least for now."
"Yeah well can't imagine a better guy taking on that kind of responsibility." The Turian finally finished checking in the Commander on the datapad and motioned him through, "Okay, you're on shift, go on through and relieve Hadwell. Poor guy's been on his feet for eight hours."
"You got it." nodded Shepard as he continued past the reception area.
Shepard proceeded down the hallway past reception where another scan was given while he looked around, "There's another junction past the hall Shepard." Veronakh said.
The Commander heard another chime from the scanners and kept going till he reached the end of the hall. It divided into three pathways, one that was straight ahead but guarded, then two other hallways on his left and right. A waypoint appeared on his HUD that pointed to his left. The Spectre followed it until he was once again a few feet away from the junction. He was about to pretend he was checking his messages again when a voice called out to him from behind.
"Han! You're on shift! What are you doing? Your post is the other hallway!" yelled out a surly helmeted voice.
The Spectre spun around on his heels and saw a human guard in full gear walking right up to him but this one had an insignia. He went with it and figured it was a superior officer about to chew him out, "Oh! Checking my messages sir! Its...its from my wife we..." Shepard then had text and information appear in the corner of his HUD, likely from Veronakh indicating specifics regarding his disguise, "Its our anniversary soon and she wanted my opinion on where we should go." the Commander said improvising from the information.
The security chief crossed his arms, "She should know you're on duty right now."
"I know but I figure I could get back to her real quick and-"
"You can answer her on your break, now get-"
A ringing chime sounded in the security chief's helmet, prompting him to bring a finger to his helmet's left side. He began talking but looked back to Shepard, "Stay there Han I ain't done with you yet." the chief said still greatly irritated as he turned to answer the call.
The Commander wasn't about to look a gift horse in the mouth though. He turned to look at the junction and once again turned on his Omni-tool to put up appearances. While he looked to the box, he listened in on the chief's conversation, "Yes sir...nothing to report so far. No I haven't seen anything unusual other than bored security personnel looking at texts while they're on duty." the chief was silent for a moment, "A Spectre? Why would he need to come down here?"
That got Shepard's attention. The security chief continued, "I don't see a reason why he would need to come down here himself. We have everything under control!" The human officer sighed while he listened to his superior, finally relenting, "Alright, I guess a surprise inspection isn't out of the question but he's just going to be wasting his time. If there are suspects in the area my guys out front would have called them out by now. Yes sir, I understand, I'll make sure Mr. Gravinius has our full cooperation."
That was more than enough time for Shepard to help Veronakh get access to the junction. Added to that it seems there was a Spectre coming over for an inspection. Which meant he was now on the clock. There was no telling if whoever this Spectre was could see through their disguises. Best not to take a chance if they could help it. The Commander turned to look at the chief again who was still annoyed from seeing Shepard once again checking his Omni-tool's messages, "Well I hope you answered her question while you waited Han. We have an inspection coming today and as of right now you're on notice."
"It was just a quick message sir-"
The chief waved him off and then pointed a finger at him, "Yeah, I've heard that excuse before. You know the rules and you know that once you're on shift everything else is secondary. What we're guarding is some of the most sensitive information out there. You need to talk to family you do it on break, not before, you got that?"
The Commander nodded, "Yes sir..."
The chief put his hands on his hips and then nodded back, "Good, now get moving and stop wasting my time."
Shepard saluted and then briskly walked by his superior before he heard Veronakh in his ear again, "Well done, Miss Goto is making good progress so far."
"Yeah and now we've got a Spectre coming to make an inspection. You didn't know about it?"
"No, seems rather impromptu. Hmmm, it's possible we're being tracked."
"Obviously..."
"Continue with the plan, I'll keep my own eyes open outside for this Spectre. Mr. Vakarian and Mr. Massani should be arriving at their own posts at the moment. One of which is the building's security center. While they work their end you'll need to find a way to keep getting me access to those junctions. Two more are left in order to get Miss Goto access to the main data room."
Shepard sighed, "On it..."
The Commander proceeded to his post where he found a pair of guards at attention by another archway scanner. Thankfully it didn't take long to figure out which was Hadwell, the guard in question was the human of the pair that was beginning to stretch and welcome his 'replacement', "Han! Thank god...feels like forever since I last sat down."
"Yeah, I got this Hadwell. Go on and get home."
Hadwell finished stretching and nodded gratefully, "Thanks, graveyard shifts are killer man."
"Sure are, now try those shifts while also putting up with a family at home. Now that'll kill ya." said the Commander continuing his feint comradery.
"Ya see! That is why you don't get married while doing this kind of work. Well I better get going." Hadwell turned to look to his fellow Turian guard, "Hopefully Neradix will arrive soon to relieve you too Verdius."
Verdius shifted at his post annoyed, "I hope so, bastard has been running late the past few shifts."
Hadwell nodded and proceeded to head out of the building, leaving Shepard and Verdius to their post. The Commander withdrew a standard Avenger rifle and took up his posting for a moment while he thought of how to reach the junction. According to his HUD there was one past this security checkpoint but he needed to give a reason why he needed to leave. He knew Garrus and Zaeed had the cameras covered, right now it was just a matter of a good excuse.
"Veronakh think you can send a message to my Omni-tool?" The Commander whispered to himself.
"Really Shepard? You're using that line again?" Veronakh replied.
"One last time, then I'll think up something else."
A chime came up on Shepard's Omni-tool as it activated, the Commander feigned a sigh of annoyance, "Ah not again, I thought we decided on that."
"What's wrong?" asked Verdius.
Shepard looked to his fellow guard, "Its my anniversary coming up and my wife is trying to find places for us to go thats affordable."
"Yeah, you can answer her on break."
The Commander kept up the act, "If I don't answer immediately shes going to get on my case! You think I can just head to the corner back there and answer?"
"Why do you need to go there?" Verdius asked, no doubt cocking a scaled brow at that.
"I need the privacy."
"Privacy? Really?"
"Come on man its not like you haven't done anything to step away for a moment."
"No, I've never stepped from my post ever. Nor can I let you leave your post to answer a call. The chief would have both our asses."
At this, Veronakh gave his own input, "Interesting little bit of relevant information that I found in the security footage Shepard."
A screen appeared in the corner of the Commander's HUD and it showed the Turian guard in question sneaking away for a smoke break. The human Spectre quickly formed a response to follow up on this new info, "Really? Even though you've been sneaking off for smoke breaks?"
Verdius was taken aback, "Wha?! Who told you that?"
"Geveras, the camera guy told me when we were on break. Said he kept it under wraps for you because you two were old friends."
"Geveras would never tell anybody that."
"Its fine, he's on shift right now and he's covered for me too. See? Just let me get this call done and I'll back in a minute."
"Chief catches you or me without you and we're done."
"He won't I promise! It'll be real quick!" The Commander said as he jogged through the checkpoint. The Turian guard shook his head but didn't bother to pursue him, seems like the story was enough to dissuade the guard from looking into it.
Shepard continued up to the corner where he activated his Omni-tool again and began speaking into it while looking at the nearby junction, "Hi honey, you know I'm at work right now and you nearly got me in trouble again."
An Asari's voice surprisingly spoke to him, "Well I need to know if you agree with the destination. It's a bit of money sure but the view is worth it, don't you think?"
The waypoint soon disappeared from the Commander's HUD indicating success, "Yeah...its beautiful. I guess we'll go ahead with that one." Shepard said, his tone shifting back to a more dry expression.
"Great! See you soon, love you!" The Asari voice exclaimed happily.
"Yeah...love you too..."
Shepard ended the call and a chuckle could be heard in his ears, "Aw whats wrong? Was I not believable?"
"No...you were fine." Shepard was thoughtful for a few seconds then asked, "Whatever happened to the real guard?"
Veronakh was indifferent to the Commander's question, "His fate isn't your concern Shepard. Stay focused and remember who truly matters to you."
The Spectre closed his eyes and sighed, "Right..."
Shepard continued down the hall past the corner and then followed the waypoint to an adjacent hallway on the left. It was leading down towards a high security area. Three guards were there, two on either side of a locked sealed door and another in front of a scanner.
"The final junction is in the adjacent server room to the right of the checkpoint ahead." Veronakh said.
Shepard looked and saw a few facility staff mingling around that room talking, "It would be suspicious if I suddenly barged in just to look at something, this isn't my post."
A quick layout of the immediate area was displayed on his HUD while Veronakh explained, "With the junctions I've accessed I have been able to create a layout of the area. I'm sure you can figure out something with this."
The Commander eyed the layout carefully, "Well there is a restroom further past the servers along with the break room across from it."
While Shepard was watching the layout he wasn't paying attention to the guard from the scanner eyeing him and walking up to him. The human security officer called out to him which prompted the layout to disappear from his vision, "Hey! What are you doing here? This isn't your post."
"Oh! Uh..." Shepard stammered as he quickly tried to think up an excuse. His right hand gripped his gut and the Spectre continued, "Yeah...I don't feel so good."
"Whats wrong with you?" the guard asked.
"I dunno...think it may have been something my wife made for me last night." Shepard said, pretending to be ill.
"Well if you need it the restroom is just down the hall that way." the guard said pointing in the bathroom's direction.
"Yeah...I know..I was just debating whether I needed to or not."
"Well if you do, then you better do it quick before the chief catches you."
"I will, thanks..." Shepard nodded as the guard turned around and went back to his own duty station.
The Commander kept holding his stomach and continued to pretend being sick while he moved down the hall past the servers. When he entered the restroom he stopped holding his stomach and looked around. Seeing it unoccupied, he went to the faucet and took a look at himself in the mirror. He suddenly became aware of something he hadn't been paying attention to until now, "Normally I'd have some anxiety or feelings of stress while dealing with this kind of situation. Not the first time I've had to infiltrate a place like this but...I'm surprisingly more calm than usual though..." Shepard thought to himself.
Veronakh chimed in while the Spectre was in his thoughts, "The mindshackle gives me limited control over your physiology. I have been keeping your systems regulated to prevent undue stress hormones that could cause problems."
Shepard was quiet for a moment a plan formulating in his head, "Is it possible for you to cause me to induce vomiting?"
"I...could do that if needed, though may I ask why you would need me to do so?"
"I've got an idea how to get into that room and give Kasumi a distraction to extract the data."
Solvatas, now in her 'Sylvea' disguise observed the battle occurring throughout Omega on one of her henchman's Omni-tools in the reactor access corridor. The forces she had sent throughout the station's docks were now being contained by Eclipse mercenaries. While her Vorcha in maintenance were fighting hard to hold it, Captain Gavorn was now leading a push to retake that critical infrastructure of the station back. Solvatas however gave a smirk when she learned that Aria had taken her bait. She was assembling a force in reactor access corridor twenty-seven and seemed intent on smashing what appeared to be the last best hope for the attackers to win.
"Mistress?" asked a young woman's voice from behind.
"Yes Nev'El?"
A silhouette of an Asari's form with green eyes glowing in the dark walked through the darkness till it drew close to Solvatas, barely visible in the dim lighting, "It would seem as though our forces throughout Omega may be overrun if we don't reinforce them soon. Why are we holding back?"
"Ah, its quite simple my dear Besakt."
Solvatas waved over the map of Omega and it expanded out to reveal all the attack points on the holographic representation, "First of all the forces I have thus far deployed are expendable. They are simply mercenaries and pirates. I never expected them to accomplish too much. This assault has never been about capturing the station with brute force Nev'El."
The Thanatar waved her hand over the hologram again and this time zoomed in on the reactor of Omega, "It was about stretching all of Omega's defenses to their breaking point in order to get Aria to be exactly where I want her."
"Why there?"
"Limited access points and restricted movement due to being a dangerous environment. Things that we personally need not be worried about. With the heart of the station under threat and her forces spread thin, she would feel that she has no choice but to commit herself to the battle. To cement it, I also sent a goading message to give the impression that the enemy leadership would be present." With a finger Solvatas moved away the map and brought up a profile picture of Aria on the holo-screen, "Aria is a notorious escape artist and she would never commit herself to a fight unless she was confident she would win it. As long as she thinks it is merely an alliance of pirates and mercenaries, a force that she knows she can defeat, she won't contemplate retreat."
Solvatas motioned for the henchman to end the holo-display and turned to face Nev'El who was still in the darkness with glowing green eyes, "If I unleashed my full might from the start there is a chance Aria would attempt to flee. Given her skill and reputation there is a good chance for her to succeed and lead rebellion later on. So what better way to ensure your reunion with your former queen than to create a circumstance where there will be no escape?"
Nev'El finally stepped into the bright portion of the dim light that they occupied, revealing her normal Asari appearance in a unzipped jacket with pants and a tank top. She wore a smile on her face as she remarked, "I can't imagine anything better mistress."
Solvatas looked at her Besakt, scanning her Asari form for discrepancies, "Hmmmm, Your emitters seem to be functioning properly."
Nev'El looked down at herself saying, "Yes, it is... strange to see my old self again."
"Du'Maat does wonderful work, when we captured a few of those holo-emitter devices he couldn't help but recreate our own superior version of the technology. Aria will have no idea what she will truly be facing until it is too late." Solvatas said with a wicked smile on her face.
Nev'El returned her mistress' expression, internally relishing the prospect of delivering her vengeance upon Omega's queen. They returned back to the access corridor where in the darkness many sets of green eyes awaited. Their weapons activated, bathing the corridor in green light revealing an entire company of Necron auxiliaries, warriors, and Immortals. The time had now come to spring the trap.
The bulky maintenance access door opened outwards into Omega's reactor area and Talon mercenaries quickly rushed in to take up positions in the large reactor room's gangways. The reactor area had a series of bridges and paths leading around the massive eezo core that powered the station. Around the reactor was a large chute, designed to be large enough to eject the core into space in case of an emergency. The force mainly consisted of Turian soldiers in black armor with the white and red emblem of their company. They were armed with standard Phaeston rifles and were using what limited cover they could. Some even set up some light barricade devices when the all clear was given by the scouting squads.
Derius arrived with the bulk of his forces alongside Nyreen. Helmet on and observing his forces securing the reactor area. Coming up behind him were Aria's own security forces along with the Omega queen herself and the Batarian named Bray. The Batarians and Turians of Aria's security teams moved up along the flanks of the mercenaries, securing hatches and bulkheads around the reactor room.
Aria's brow furrowed and she looked to her Batarian team leader, "Where are these fuckers? Any word from ops on where our people are in this mess?"
Bray brought out his Omni-tool and looked at a map of their area, "According to ops still nothing on comms, not even transponder signals. As for the enemy in the access corridor, they're still coming. For some reason they slowed their pace as we were approaching."
Nyreen turned and remarked, "Makes me wonder if they became hesitant or were simply adjusting their plans to prepare for us."
"Regardless we got here, my Talons are already getting set up. Whatever they are planning to do they're going to have to work twice as hard to secure this place now." Derius said while he observed his men starting to dig in.
Coming down from the gangways towards the larger maintenance access corridor thirty-five entrance, the Talons began setting up kill zones. Mercenaries with Revenant machine guns set up on gangways overlooking the entryway. Others began planting mines and setting up cover for the rest of their squads. After a few more minutes of preparation, the Talon mercenaries and security forces were ready. Scores of Mass Effect rifles, machine guns, and submachine guns now all aimed at reactor access corridor thirty five. They waited and listened, but all that was heard was the thrum of the station's Mass Effect core. Then a sound was barely heard by some, most of it was drowned out by the ambient sounds of the reactor area. The closest mercenaries to the large bulkhead door drew close, avoiding setting off the mines and pressed themselves against the door. They attempted to listen and try to figure out what their enemy was doing on the other side. When that didn't work, one of the mercenaries brought up an Omni-tool and waved his hand now covered in holographic light, onto the massive bulkhead door. He watched a sound wave form appear on his Omni-tool's display and made adjustments using his other hand. Eventually the barely audible sound was then amplified and the sound revealed the marching footsteps of mechanical feet.
The mercenary reported to his commander, "Sir! Sounds like a shit ton of mechs are coming!"
Nyreen cocked a brow at the report, "Mechs? First various groups of mercs and killers attack the station from everywhere, now they're throwing mechs at us?"
"Should be relatively simple then, mechs aren't much of a threat except when in large numbers." Derius put a talon to his helmet, "All squads arm disruptor rounds and any anti-mech tech we got. Should be relatively simple to cut 'em down."
Bray looked to his leader and noted Aria looked uncertain, "Something bothering you boss?"
"Something is...I'm just not sure what yet. Have some of the men make sure we have a clear exit, just in case."
The Batarian nodded, activating his Omni-tool and sending out Aria's order. Then a call came out from the security teams over Bray's open channel, "Hey the doors are sealing!" A klaxon rang out and warning lights came on as the bulkhead doors began to seal shut behind their forces.
"What!? Override them! Ops what the hell is going on?" Bray shouted.
"We don't know! For some reason the reactor area is going back into lockdown!" replied the operator over the radio.
"What?!" Aria exclaimed.
One of the security teams also chimed in, "Boss we can't get the doors open, they're going into diagnostic mode and refusing our override codes!"
"Then rip open panels and force them open if you have to, we can't get stuck in here!" Aria yelled.
Aria and Bray looked to their teams while Nyreen and Derius focused on access door thirty five. The security teams working on the doors began to manually force the doors open. Some teams made it worse, causing secondary doors to come down and seal them even further. However one team was making headway by disabling the automatic system and starting to force the door open with their bare hands. A Batarian and Turian were making good progress and right when they were about to go through the open space, a metallic hand grabbed the Batarian and pulled him into the corridor. A gasp and yelling followed, along with a sudden spray of blood that spattered all over the Turian by the door. The security officer drew his weapon and looked inside, only to see green glowing eyes in the black passageway.
"Contact!" The Turian yelled out as he opened fire on the figures in the darkness. The light of the impacts revealed mechanical forms walking towards the security team member. Metal hands grabbed the ajar door and with ease began to force it open revealing mechanical humanoids. They were very human like and metal grey in coloration, their cheeks seemingly cut open to reveal exposed metal teeth. The robots held polearm weapons that had some kind of a glowing green gun system attached to the top of the blade. The Turian guard kept firing his Avenger rifle at the robots but found that their armor was too thick for his weapon's current mod. Before he could retreat, the closest of the robots rushed him and brought its large axe blade down on top of the poor guard, cleaving him down the middle. Blue blood and gore sprayed across the gangway. Suddenly throughout the reactor area, more doors opened with more mechanical killers moving in and cutting down the surprised security teams by them.
"Get out of there you fucking idiots!" Aria cried out
Nyreen quickly got on the comms, "Squads Peregin and Dergat open up on those flanking clankers!"
The Talon mercenaries provided supporting fire as ordered and found their disruptor rounds weren't having the impact they were expecting. The robots merely shrugged off the incoming fire and kept running along the gangways to find cover. Suddenly the main door to access corridor thirty five began to open, alarm klaxons rang out as the door revealed a darkened space where only green eyes and glowing weapons waited.
"Hit 'em hard Talons!" Derius ordered.
Tech Overloads and disruptor rounds poured into the access corridor, followed by several heavy weapon teams firing missiles into the first ranks of incoming machines. When the dust from the missile impacts cleared, the machine horde hadn't even moved. They were surrounded by a green energy barrier that seemingly had withstood all of their firepower.
"Heavy ordinance ineffective!" cried out one of the mercs.
Before Derius could give another order the field dropped and the first rank of robots readied their weapons and fired. Screaming echoed through the area and radio comms as the first row of mercenaries had their bodies flayed and turned to ash by energy beams. Then several torrents of lightning came from the rear rank of robots that decimated several squads instantly. Before the missile teams could fire again, the flanking robots who had found cover from earlier pointed their weapons and fired green energy beams of their own. They cut down several missile wielding mercenaries before Aria finally used her biotic lash ability to grab one of the robots and pull it off the gangways into the reactor chute that led out into space.
"I'll handle those mechs on the catwalks, keep that ordinance firing into the corridor!" Aria yelled as she took cover from incoming beams of energy using a pillar by the gangway.
Nyreen and Derius nodded and from the cover the mercs set up earlier, they began to put more rounds down range into the horde of machines now marching into the reactor area. However, they found they were already losing the battle. Scores of mercenaries and security guards were being gunned down or mangled in melee against the bipedal bots at the ground floor. Some of the men were beginning to panic as casualties quickly mounted, attempting to reach any nearby hatches to find safety only to find them sealed shut. Before they could try anything else they were turned into glowing green ash from the robot's weapons, screaming out as they liquefied.
Another volley of missiles fired out from the upper gangways towards the force of mechs and once again a barrier of energy among the machines quickly expanded out and blocked the missiles. Nyreen tried to get a good look at whatever could be creating that field but instead winced as she saw more of her comrades being caught by several fast moving machines with their polearms. The poor mercenaries had their weapons sliced out of their hands before being cut down into pieces by the axe blades. With more and more of their number falling fast Derius realized that their position was already hopeless. He took cover as more green beams shot his way. He saw Nyreen do the same and he shook his head at the chaos happening all around.
"Nyreen, we're not making a dent in this shit!"
"I'm aware sir, if I can find whats making that barrier-"
"No, half of our forces are already gone! In another few minutes at this rate...we'll all be dead."
Nyreen looked to her commander, "Then what do we do sir?!"
The mercenary leader was quiet a moment, "...A fighting retreat. Get any remaining techs to link up with you and get one of those emergency hatches open somehow, a bulkhead door is too exposed."
"What about you?"
"I'll see if I can rally any remaining squads to help buy you some time. Get Aria and the techs and get out of here!"
"...Yes sir."
Once the beams shifted focus to another unfortunate squad, Nyreen went to go get Aria. The Asari queen was busy flinging more mechs off the catwalks with her biotics to protect the heavy weapons and security teams. A tap on her shoulder spun her around to see Nyreen getting her attention, "Derius says we need to retreat, its too much!"
"I can see that, our men are getting fucking ripped apart everywhere!"
Nyreen put a talon to her helmet, "All units, particularly any techs, rally on me! We need to get out of here now!"
Aria then looked to her Batarian team leader who was using an adjacent pillar by the catwalks for cover, "Bray we need to get off the gangways its-"
At that moment a green lance of energy struck Bray in the head from a lower catwalk. The Batarian screamed as his head was liquefied down into an ashen state. Aria was horrified but shook it off and looked to see the attacker, another mech with those halberd staff weapons. She once again used her lash power to grab the mech and flung it into another pair of machines attempting to flank the mercenaries. She readied her shotgun and fired a Carnage round that seeked and slammed into the machines as they attempted to stand. The blast knocked several off the gangway and into the emergency chute into space and engulfed the remaining ones in fire. A sudden strike of green lightning slammed into their catwalk, causing the two women to get down. Thankfully Aria and Nyreen weren't hit but they quickly saw what the target was. Derius had linked up with a squad on their level and apparently the group was hit by what appeared to be a lightning weapon. The attack had been so intense, it had disintegrated the mercenary Commander's lower torso then jumped to hit the others, creating smoldering holes in whoever else it had gone through.
"Derius!" Nyreen cried out.
The Omega Queen grabbed Nyreen by her shoulder, "He's gone Nyreen! We have to get off this!"
Aria and Nyreen quickly jumped off the side and activated their biotics to slow their fall to reach the ground floor. They ran from the reactor gangways, using various pillars, cooling units, or whatever piece of cover they could find in the area to reach an emergency maintenance hatch. Several surviving squads attempted to follow with some of the mercs being cut down by Gauss Flayers in the process. Finally Aria spotted a hatch on the floor and called to any surviving allies to reach them. The retreat was in chaos though, with many mercenaries getting cut down as they attempted to abandon their positions.
A few squads however, were able to get past the criss crossing beams of green energy by utilizing cover and finally reached Nyreen and Aria's position. The few remaining techs scrambled over the door with their Omni-tools out attempting to bypass the hatch's locking mechanism. Other mercenary squad members quickly setup portable barricades to protect the techs while they worked. The machine army was closing in all around them now taking shots at any merc foolish enough to poke out their head from the barricades. Nyreen assisted by holding the front with the other mercs while Aria watched for flanking robots.
Finally one of the tech's called out, "There, I got it!"
The hatch seals unlocked and two of the techs pulled open the hatch manually. One of them looked inside and instantly a halberd blade came up through the hole and skewered through the poor Batarian's visor. The tech was then pulled through along with the halberd as it withdrew back, prompting the others to exclaim, "Close it! Close it now!"
Techs and several mercs quickly moved to seal the hatch just before a metal arm reached out to grab the sides of the entrance. They were able to slam the hatch down on the robotic arm and force it to withdraw before re-engaging the hatch seals. When they finished, lances of green energy sniped from the ground level and took out another tech, cutting through his armor and melting down his chest and head. The survivors quickly found themselves surrounded on all sides, but surprisingly the machine killers weren't firing on them. Their weapons were still trained on them though and from their ranks more of the halberd wielding mechs moved to the front of the machines. They then formed into squads who then rushed the survivors positions.
Nyreen prepped a cluster of lift grenades and tossed them into their ranks. The biotic explosions sent several groups of them flying but still more came up behind them. The rest of the surviving mercs opened fire on the charging robots, with some techs using overload in the hope to slow them down or deal damage. Alas, the mechs merely shrugged off the rounds or were stunned for several seconds from the shocks before continuing to advance and quickly they were in striking range of their halberds.
The survivors were now caught in a melee surrounded on all sides. Nyreen and Aria with their biotics easily kept their foes off balance. The surviving mercs on the other hand were either quickly cut down or forced to grapple against their opponents. Aria used her lash ability to aid some survivors by using one mech as a flail against its fellows. Nyreen used her lift grenades against reinforcing mechs rushing in and unleashed her unmodded Revenant machine gun point blank into a mech grappling with another merc. Finally the machine released him and the Turian mercenary officer quickly knocked down the robot and unleashed rounds point blank into its eye socket. It finally seemed to be put down for good as a black liquid sprayed out of the machine's head and onto her, its other glowing eye shutting down.
From behind, Nyreen was attacked by another mech and it chopped down with its halberd on her left shoulder severing her left arm. She cried out in pain which got the attention of Aria, "Nyreen!" the Omega queen called out.
The Asari quickly fired a carnage shot at Nyreen's attacker as the female Turian fell to her knees. Aria rushed over to her friend and lashed out at another mech with her biotic abilities flinging it at another group of its fellows.
"Nyreen! Stay with me!" The Omega Queen yelled at Nyreen, trying to keep her from going into shock while she applied first aid via her Omni-tool.
Nyreen was agonizing from the wound but the medigel was at least starting to ease the pain, "Agh, Aria...I think we're done."
The female Turian's eyes got the Omega queen's attention, looking past her to the other mercenaries. Aria turned to look as well, seeing the last of the survivors now being tackled to the ground and impaled repeatedly by multiple blades. It was just Nyreen and Aria now, surrounded by mechs walking up to them to no doubt finish the job. Aria took a knee by her friend and looked her in the eyes, "Let's not make it easy for them."
"Yeah...ugh...die standing right? I guess its...not a bad way to go." she said with gritted teeth.
Aria nodded, "I'm sorry about getting you caught in all of this...and for all the shit you had to put with all those years ago."
Nyreen smiled and shook her head, "Spirits...you're choosing now of all times to apologize for being an asshole?"
The clanking footfalls of metal feet approached from all around the pair. They looked at each other deeply and then Aria held onto Nyreen and whispered, "Let them get close, then we hit them with all the power we have left."
Nyreen nodded, and began to charge her biotics. Aria did the same and they saw the bipedal machines were now all around them. Several of them drew close and were about to grab the two biotics when Nyreen suddenly unleashed a burst of biotic power that sent the machines flying back. A bubble of biotic power formed a shield around the two friends. Aria then unleashed her own biotic ability, Flare. It was the strongest Flare she could muster, crying out as she pooled every bit of her strength into a blast that shot out from the bubble and smashed into the killer robots. Metal joints cracked and eye lens were shattered as the closest of their metal opponents went flying off from the impact.
Aria was now winded from the effort, her elbows now on her thighs as she caught her breath. Nyreen shook her head, "Wish you put that kind of effort into other things." The Turian mercenary then saw more of those damnable robots coming along with the other damaged ones getting up, "Shame that's probably all we're going to get."
Nyreen pooled her remaining strength into sustaining the field as Aria got to her feet and fired a Carnage shot at an approaching mech. It took the attack head on and was forced back five yards covered in flames, only to look back at Aria again with its cold green eyes. The robot ran towards the field and soon found itself unable to enter. It and others of its kind soon surrounded the biotic field and began striking it with their polearms. Nyreen winced as the attacks on the field took more of a toll on her. Aria's biotics still hadn't recovered, so she whipped out a Katana shotgun and was now firing round after round into the robots attempting to inflict some kind of damage. The energy field was weakening and starting to crack under the constant blow of axe blades striking against it. Nyreen was audibly struggling, "I'm...sorry Aria...I can't.."
Aria looked to her friend one last time, with a resigned look on her face. Finally the field broke under the pressure of blades and the two biotics were quickly seized by a flurry of robotic hands. The Omega queen continued to struggle on, her biotics beginning to charge again, when she was struck with a tech attack. A dampening strike, one that attacked a biotic's amp, only in this case along with shutting down the biotics abilities it also caused intense pain. The Turian and Asari cried out in agony as the robots finally were able to hold them down. An approaching, elderly voice of a woman spoke from the ranks of machines, "That is enough of that."
A green biotic sphere of energy then struck Nyreen and she screamed as she was wrapped in a biotic field. The field then began to tear away at her armor and skin, slowly turning it into green ash. Aria shrugged off her pain to witness what was happening to her friend with a horrified expression, "Nyreen!" she cried out. The biotic field continued to rend down Nyreen as she struggled with one of the robots holding her down. A pile of glowing green ash began to form at the Turian's feet formed from the remains of her own body. After an agonizing thirty seconds of screaming, Nyreen's head slumped and the robot let her fall to her knees to finish turning into dust.
Aria in a rare display of emotion was crying for her lost friend. Now she was alone, facing whatever fate these bastards intended for her. The ranks of machine killers now took up an 'at ease' stance, though a few kept their weapons trained on the Omega queen. A cordon formed in their ranks and an elderly Asari in a shimmering blue dress holding an ornate staff walked through to the front. Another followed close behind her though Aria couldn't tell who it was, only that it had the shape of another Asari.
When the matriarchal woman finally reached the defeated queen she spoke, "Aria T'Loak, at long last we finally meet."
"And you are?"
"I...am Solvatas, Thanatar of the Solvatakh dynasty."
The elder Asari held out her hands, "And this station...is now mine."
"Not fucking yet it isn't. I still have plenty of soldiers ready to fight against you, you old bitch."
"Do you child? Most of them are mercenaries and petty thugs. I doubt they would do any better against my core forces. Even then you have yet to see my full might brought to bear. You really think they will remain loyal once they see who truly holds all the power on this station?"
Aria was quiet, she wasn't a fool. She knew that there were plenty who had been just waiting for an opportunity like this. Not only that Solvatas was right, many would no doubt bend the knee once they realized Aria didn't have the power to keep order let alone fight against the old hag. Now she understood the feelings of Patriarch after all those years. She wondered how he'd react once this was all over, if just like him that Solvatas would keep her alive as a trophy also.
"I thought so..." Solvatas remarked, walking up to the remains of Nyreen. She looked at them for a second before looking to Aria, "Admittely she probably didn't deserve this fate. But no doubt you've done something similar to many others over the years haven't you? A way to send a message to everyone else you aren't to be crossed? How does it feel when it comes to those whom you clearly care about?"
"Fuck you!"
Solvatas strode towards Aria, walking around her with a wry smile, "My my, what a mouth on you child. Is that the best retort you can muster? Spouting expletives like feces from a sick Varren?"
"She was...my friend you fucking hag! I'll throw all the shit in the galaxy at you if that puts a chink in that smug face of yours."
Solvatas shook her head and sighed, "Honestly I don't know why I even expected more from you. The supposed great Omega queen, who held onto power for hundreds of years. Now look at you, reduced to a babbling adolescent with the mouth to match. You're not even worth my time to kill."
The Asari Matriarch stepped away from Aria bringing a hand to her chin seemingly in thought. After a moment, she turned around and voiced an idea to her prisoner, "Let's make this more interesting. What would you say to a proposition I have in mind?"
"I say if you're asking me to be one of your underlings you can go lick a Vorcha's ass."
"No, I have no intention of having you be a part of what my dynasty has in mind on this station. What I propose instead is a means for you to save whatever face you have left in the Terminus, along with your own life. Provided you have the actual strength."
"...Fine, what is it?"
"A fight to the death."
Aria cracked a surprised laugh, "Hah! That's rather barbaric for such a sophisticated tramp like yourself."
"I figure its something even an unwashed pirate queen like you can understand. Defeat my Besakt in combat and you will be free to leave the station alive."
"Your Besakt?"
"My bodyguard, she's recently come into my service and is admittely rather young. But she is no slouch my dear."
Aria attempted to get a good look at this 'Besakt' but the robots were obstructing her view. A scant few seconds passed before Aria relented with a sigh, "Fine, I guess I have no choice but to play your petty game."
"Good, I'd say its more than fair considering what you deserve Aria. Still, you show you're not entirely foolish. Now we'll see if your strength can match your sense."
Solvatas turned and motioned to the other Asari among the robots, "Nev'El, its time I leave you to it, enjoy yourself."
The elder Asari stepped back to her machine cohorts while the Besakt Nev'El took her place. At first the Omega queen thought it was just another Asari who happened to have the same name. No, it was the same Nev'El who she booted off her station not long ago, now sporting an open jacket and modern jeans in a white tank top with hands on her hips smirking at her. Aria was surprised at first then scowled, "You have got to be fucking kidding me..."
"Told you I'd be back Aria. Turns out I didn't need to wait centuries. I just needed to know the right people."
"Sure, least this time its not another useless male. Still, this is what I get for helping a friend I suppose."
"You weren't helping me, you were just using me for your bullshit organization."
"That bullshit organization helped pay to keep you alive, in case you forgot."
"At the expense of my self respect! Did you even pay attention to what was happening to us at the club?"
"Of course, as long as it wasn't anything too risky or problematic you were well looked after."
"Alot of the girls hated what they were forced to do! Said your asshole guards didn't do anything to stop the worst of them! I would know, I went through it too!"
"Its a rough galaxy kid, a shame you couldn't see that before you got wrapped in shit way too big for your little maiden head."
"Oh ho, you have no idea what I have seen in only the past few hours, what I've experienced. If anything you're the one that's in over your head. Solvatas is going to bring real change to this station and that's just the beginning."
The robot holding Aria released her and the dampening on her biotic amp was finally released. She began to warm up her biotics and a glowing field surrounded her. The bipedal bots backed away and gave the two combatants space to duel. Solvatas stood atop an industrial sized AC unit built into the floor to oversee the match. Nev'El and Aria walked around each other gauging one another's strength. Then Solvatas hit the top of the AC unit with her staff, signaling the match to begin.
"You haven't even primed your biotics yet. You're already throwing the bout little girl?" Aria taunted.
Nev'El kept circling around her opponent with a smirk, "Heh, I don't need to use em yet. After all, I want this to last Aria. In fact, I'm going to give you the first hit."
"Goddess are you that touched in the head now? Has being with this dried up husk of a Matriarch swelled your ego that fucking bad?"
Nev'El pointed at her own right cheek, "I'll give you one right here. You better put everything you got into it. Cause you won't get another chance."
The Matron Asari entered a boxing stance, fists at the ready, "Your funeral... you fucking idiot."
Aria pooled biotics into her left hand and delivered a left hook to Nev'El's cheek. She didn't put too much into it, she just intended to teach this mouthy maiden a lesson with a good left hook followed up with strikes to the face and mid section. But that didn't happen, instead after connecting with Nev'El's cheek, pain shot through her own left hand and down her forearm. Aria gripped her hand and her grunts of excrutiating pain were heard through gritted teeth. It felt like she had just struck incredibly dense metal. The fallen queen hadn't put enough biotic power into the blow to prevent her hand from sustaining damage. By contrast Nev'El's head had taken the hit but there were no signs of actual visible damage on her. She simply felt her cheek with her hand and slowly brought her head back to look at Aria, "Well...that was disappointing Aria. I told you to put all you had into it."
Omega's former queen looked in shock as Nev'El approached her with fists clenched, "My turn."
Aria tried to brace for the impact, but Nev'El in a sudden burst of speed brought her right fist into the Omega queen's midsection. Aria found herself lifted slightly off the ground and sent rolling across the floor five yards away. She gripped her gut in pain and was having difficulty breathing, having had the wind knocked out of her.
Nev'El walked over to her and taunted, "Oh, what's wrong Aria? One hit and you're already done? I was even holding back on that punch, guess I'm still getting used to my new found strength."
The downed Asari wore an enraged face as she forced herself back up, primed her biotics and attempted to land another punch from her left fist. This time Nev'El evaded the blow, causing Aria to kick with her right leg at her opponent's midsection. The younger woman countered by grabbing her foe's shin and opposing arm, throwing her to the ground. Aria quickly rolled away before Nev'El could bring her fist into her back, creating a slight crater in the floor where she had been.
Looking around, the pirate queen quickly found a ruined Revenant machine gun on the floor in front of her from a fallen mercenary. She gripped the barrel with both hands and used it like a club against her opponent, striking the left side of the Besakt's midsection. The weapon surprisingly bent and then broke even more against Nev'El, who only smirked before striking the stunned Aria in the face. The Omega queen fell on her back and was dazed. Then she saw the form of her opponent walk up to her and prepare to hit her again on the ground. She rolled once more and used her biotics to quickly get back on her feet. She felt liquid run down her nose as droplets of purple blood fell from her face.
Aria quickly primed her biotics and unleashed a lash attack at Nev'El, who simply raised up her hand and put up a biotic barrier of green energy easily blocking it. When Nev'El dropped the barrier Aria then took out her Tempest submachine gun and fired a Carnage shot. Surprisingly Nev'El didn't even bother to dodge the attack taking it in the chest. Her body was wreathed in flames, yet her clothes didn't disintegrate nor were there any signs of damage to her body at all. Aria looked in horror as Nev'El shook her head smirking once again.
"What the fuck are you?"
"Stay alive long enough and maybe you'll find out." Nev'El sinisterly replied as a flash of green light washed over her eyes.
Suddenly the young Asari took off in a dash towards Aria who fired her Tempest in response. Nev'El took everything the Tempest had but didn't slow down, slamming into Aria and knocking her to the ground. The impact knocked the submachine gun from her hands and the Omega queen scrambled to get back on her feet. She primed her biotics again as Nev'El strode up to her. Aria unleashed a flurry of biotic punches to the Besakt's face and midsection giving everything she had left to inflict any kind of damage. Aria hadn't noticed a soft green glow envelop Nev'El in her blood hazed frenzy and she received another punch to her gut followed along with the Besakt's own right hook. Blood sprayed from Aria's mouth but she refused to fall, attempting once again to counter with a punch to Nev'El's cheek. The younger Asari evaded the strike and hit with a counter blow to Aria's face again. The Omega Queen's face began to swell from the hits and purple blood was now oozing from her lips and mouth. Nev'El continued on the offensive as Aria backed up attempting to guard against the blows but it was obvious who was in control of the fight now.
Nev'El rained blows on Aria's face and midsection with a slight smile on her face. Purple blood hit the floor with every strike and quickly Aria was barely able to stand up from all the punishment. With one last uppercut to the fallen Queen's jaw, Aria finally fell to the ground for the last time. She had trouble breathing and was coughing up blood, her face now badly swelling from the punches. The Besakt walked up to Aria's fallen form and with one hand lifted up the beaten Asari.
Solvatas called out to her Besakt, "Nev'El."
The victorious Asari turned her head to look back to her mistress as Solvatas continued, "I know you wish to get the most out of this moment, but we have a schedule to keep. Finish it..."
Nev'El nodded and then looked to Aria who was barely holding onto consciousness. She let the fallen queen's feet down onto the floor where she weakly stood while the Besakt was holding onto her throat. Then Nev'El brought her other hand around Aria's neck and slowly began to squeeze. Aria attempted to weakly fight back hitting her opponent's forearms but she didn't have the strength even to pool biotics into her strikes. Then she tried to force Nev'El's grip to lessen but the Besakt's hands were locked in place and wouldn't yield. Strangely they were cold as ice.
"Still want to know what I am?" Nev'El whispered to her drawing close to Aria's face.
Then Nev'El's form began to glow slightly and then dissipate, revealing slowly the true form underneath the clearly holographic disguise. Aria's eyes widened in horror when she saw the metal face of an Asari with cut out cheeks, revealing metallic teeth. Glowing green eyes staring back into her own.
Nev'El now spoke with a cold metallic voice, "I am the right hand of my mistress, the deliverer of her judgement. I am Necrontyr and I am the future."
The machine that was now Nev'El continued to squeeze on Aria's neck who could do nothing but gasp and choke as the sound of bone cracking was heard, "In your last moment, feel the suffering of everyone you've hurt, everyone who has had to endure your reign. Let that pain crush you till the end...o'queen."
The last sound that the fallen queen would finally hear was the sound of her own throat and neck being crushed by Nev'El's metal hands. Purple blood dripped down to the floor and the Besakt let her enemy's body drop to the ground in a heap. With her task done, Nev'El turned and walked toward her mistress, dropping to one knee in supplication, "It is done mistress, Omega is now yours."
"Well done, my dear Besakt."
Solvatas activated an Omni-tool like device on her forearm and then proceeded to hack into the PA system. When finished, she announced to all on the station, "Citizens of Omega Station. I am Solvatas."
Throughout the station the fighting began to die down as security and mercenaries heard Solvatas through the speakers. People out in the street also stopped to listen and saw an unknown broadcast stream appear on their monitors. The people began hoping that the fighting would die down soon and things would get back to normal. Those hopes were dashed when they saw the body of Aria on the ground from the monitor, surrounded by robots of unknown make.
"Aria T'Loak, is dead. For those that require proof, a broadcast of her death will be shown along with this announcement. Those of you still fighting in Aria's name I offer leniency in exchange for unconditional surrender. If you insist upon continued defiance, then you will be destroyed without any further chance for mercy in the future. This station will be officially annexed into the Solvatakh Dynasty. Any that would deny a peaceful transition of power will also be removed from the station either by exile or death depending on the severity of the charges."
A green holographic window appeared on Solvatas' forearm as she zoomed in on the station's reactor, now in control by her own forces, "Those who think my words are mere bluster need only look at the current broadcast to see my army is now in control of the station's reactor. Should I deem it appropriate I could have entire sections shutdown in accordance with my previous statement." The camera then reversed, showing Solvatas' 'Asari' appearance talking into the video, "Let it be known that there will be changes for the station moving forward, but such is the way of progress. I will be open to talks with those who need to negotiate contractual obligations or any pressing matters on the station. But only when the conflict has officially ended. To those who have endured the lawlessness on the station for so long and have suffered under Aria's rule, rejoice...for true order has come at long last."
Solvatas turned off her holographic window and device, now smiling while looking towards the reactor. She had much to organize on this rock, but Omega was now hers. She was now the new Queen of Omega and perhaps with this latest achievement, the Great One would return what was taken from her at long last.