Authors note: Alright, first step in getting back to a semi reasonable update rate. And the first part of Virmire. Let the carnage commence!
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June 12th, 2155 – Hoc System - Virmire
Saren Arterius stood atop the toppled ruins of some grand tower, looking down upon the chaos and destruction below him. Great constructs the size of buildings wandered, firing beams of pure red energy across the streets and buildings, while large and ugly beasts with four legs clambered around, killing any they came across. Running from the onslaught were hordes of odd multi-eyed bipeds wielding odd weapons that seemed almost organic in their looks. Some of the creatures had wings, while others did not. Some clearly had visible blades or talon, while some did not. And others still wore heavy suits of alloy armour and carried huge weapons that fired columns of pure force that looked like torrents of water, yet destroyed like mass accelerator cannons.
The odd multi-eyed bipeds were Protheans, fighting against a foe they knew nothing about because they had grown complacent and weak.
A horrendous groan ripped through the sky above Saren, making him look up just in time to see a multi-armed ship descend into a Prothean ship, crushing it between its legs and cannons. The cruisers explosion echoed across the city as debris and wreckage spiraled down to the city below, crushing anything unfortunate to get hit. Including Saren.
And in the same instant he was struck, Saren's eyes flashed open, relieving him of his slumber.
His heart beat rapidly, as it always did with such visions. But this time it was different. This time he had finally seen more of the vision, had seen the ones destroying the Protheans.
"It all makes sense now. I finally understand what you were telling me, Sovereign," Saren muttered with a grin as he sat up on the bed and kicked his legs over the side, letting the pounding of his heart and skull die down as the fully realized truth spread energy through his body and mind as one.
The Protheans did not disappear, they were destroyed, wiped nearly clean from the universe because they were unworthy! Sovereign and his kin were the ones who tested species, to see if they were worthy once they had been in space long enough, to see if they were worthy of the galaxy itself! The Protheans were not worthy and died for it because they had become complacent, and now Sovereign was getting ready to test his own species with a different threat. He already had an enemy in the Alliance, those stuck up fools who knew nothing of how the galaxy worked, who thought they knew so much.
"All I have to do, is prove that the Alliance is weak, and lead the council, no, the Turian people to victory against them, and our place in the galaxy, in the universe, is set! We shall be granted the stars themselves by the watchers, and only those who submit will continue on!" Saren said to himself as he stood up off his bed and stepped over to a table with a nutrient drink on it, downing the contents.
Yes. The Asari would learn their place, as would the Salarians and the Krogan and Batarians and the Hanar, and every other race that lived in the galaxy. The Turian Hierarchy was not a shield, it was a weapon, a gun pointed at the heads of the galaxy, ready to claim its rightful place as the rulers of a star empire the likes of which none would ever have seen, nor would again!
Saren chuckled lightly to himself as he dressed himself, and then began putting on his armour. The thoughts of the Asari and Salarians bending their legs to the hierarchy, the thought of his people ruling the galaxy was a brilliant thing. He just needed to show the galaxy its place by destroying the Alliance and sundering the Council to show everyone it had no power whatsoever! Only then could he-
Saren was stopped as a beep echoed from his omnitool, allowing him to notice that his heart rate had not calmed down. No, it had gotten faster, like he had just sprinted a distance only the most powerful and athletic Turians could cross. He took a couple breaths to try to calm his body as he picked up his omnitool and accepted the connection, a screen on the wall lighting up with the head and shoulders of Kylyra Atana.
"Saren,and how are . . . did I catch you at a bad time?" Kylyra asked, noticing how heavy Saren was breathing.
"I'm fine, just an . . . odd dream," Saren said, knowing that no others could know of the visions the Prothean beacons and Sovereigns words were granting him. They barely trusted the fact he had only told them that he had 'found' the ship after all. There was no need to fan their paranoia. "What do you need?"
"Lonar and I have completed our operation, so I have been reporting to every one of our efforts while seeing how everyone else is doing. Do you have time now?"
"Of course, catch me up," Saren said as he sat down on his bed. "How well did your mission go?"
"About as well as expected," Kylyra said with a sigh that sounded more annoyed than relieved. "We retrieved the Thorian creature, as well as destroyed both towers to hide any evidence. All of the colonists and scientists were killed, though I unfortunately don't believe we actually killed a single Alliance person."
"Why not?" Saren asked.
"There was a Geth frigate holding us back until Alliance reinforcements arrived, right before our final and successful, push. The Geth units slowed us down so I had no time to go pleasure killing myself. It would have simply taken too long as the forces they had guarding the remaining colonists were, skilled. There was also a Turian and Krogan with them."
Saren's eyes widened and then hardened. "Which ship reinforced that one Operative at those towers?"
"I can tell you probably already know, but it was the Normandy. Lonar fought your brother and two other operatives to a standstill, and from his report he almost lost his life to them as well."
"That, thing, is not my brother, not since he betrayed his own kind!" Saren spat.
"I know how you feel," Kylyra said with a nod, before smirking a bit. "They may have tried to get in the way, but we still were successful. If it somehow came in front of the Council it would be our words against theirs, and we have the Thorian."
"What of it? Did you get the information I need from it?" Saren asked very hopefully.
"Oh, I got one better. Not only did I get the information you needed, I have convinced the Thorian to join our cause. Apparently the information I shared with it about the Alliance struck some sort of chord. there was another race it claims existed before the Protheans, and it very willingly asked to join in on our fight against them. Something about the Alliance unnerves it, it would appear."
"I see. That is fortuitous," Saren forced himself to say. He hadn't expected a supposedly billion year old fungus to work with them, and it could make things difficult in the future for his own plans, but for now it had its uses he supposed. If it came to it he could just kinetic strike the monstrosity from orbit until it was gone.
"It is, yes."
"Where are you right now?"
"Omega," Kylyra said with a smirk. "I called in some old favors, so we're safe as well. Once we've repaired our ship we will head to the safe house with our new ally. Oh, and I sent you the information you wanted just before calling you, so it should be arriving to your omnitool soon."
"Thank you, now I am only missing one piece of the puzzle," Saren said in relief as his omnitool beep, signaling the file had indeed arrived.
"Good. But what exactly is it you are looking for on a lost Prothean world that no one knows the location of?" Kylyra asked curiously
Saren shook his head. "It will help our cause, I promise. But I cannot let any information leak, not when I'm only missing one last key piece of information. I know you understand."
"I do. Operational security is important, especially with what we are doing. Even if this channel is heavily encrypted," Kylyra said with a nod.
"Has Tela Vasir reported in recently?"
"Yes, she has. She believes she will have the last piece of information you need soon."
"She said that last time."
"Probing the mind of a creature as alien as a Rachni, let alone a queen, takes time. She told me yesterday she expected to have it within the next four days, and that she and her people would have perfected the system to control the Rachni in another month after that."
"I see. That is good to hear," Saren said with a sigh of relief. "When I told her what my company had found, I was surprised by her response. Wanting to weaponize the greatest threat since before the Krogan rebellions is not an easy task."
"No, but technology has moved far further ahead than it was back then. She is confident that they can be controlled. And has suggested Tuchanka as a testing ground. She wants to see if she can wipe the Krogan out of existence, I think."
"Not a bad idea really. The Krogan have caused nothing but problems since their birth."
"True, but we'll have to see how her work in those labs of yours goes," Kylyra said with a shrug. "How about you? I know you are waiting on that information from Tela, but how is that facility of yours operating so far?"
"It's going fine. The facility was at eighty percent functionality last night before I slept. I have twelve thousand Batarian soldier clones in stasis, and once we are at full operational capacity should be able to turn out about six thousand a week as long as we have the supplies. The mercenaries I've hired here are training officers to lead them, and the three transport freighters you had found are almost done being retrofitted. We will need more soon, as well as more ground vehicles for this army of ours."
"Why do you think I came to Omega after a mission?" Kylyra said with a grin. "I should be able to get us some contacts to get more ships and ground vehicles soon."
"Good, an army of soldiers will do us no good if we don't have the supplies to outfit them with. Guns and armour are simple, but if we'll be taking this war to the Alliance we will need vehicles and a lot of anti-tank, and ant- infantry weapon that can kill in swathes."
"Yes, I agree. Lonar mentioned that the Hanar or Drell may have a weapon that can kill in groups like we are looking for. When he's not down a number of tentacles he volunteered to look into it."
"Then keep me informed, and thank him for that as well," Saren said as he stood up off his bed and grabbed a piece of armour, slotting it into place as he noticed that a small purple light above the door to his room was blinking, alerting him to someone waiting outside.
"I will. Is there anything else of interest where you are? I heard from Tela it's a tropical world, right?"
"Nothing major that is not being dealt with presently, I'll keep you posted."
"Understood," Kylyra said, clearly not upset at her question being ignored, before she nodded again and cut the connection.
Finishing donning on his armour, Saren did some last few checks on the seals and joints and then went and opened his door once he was sure everything was in top condition.
In the hallway he was greeted by a Turian who looked like he had lived through hell and had it ingrained on his old weathered plates. "Tashik, what can I do for you this morning? I figured you would be in your lab," Saren mused as the door to his own personal quarters closed and locked behind him.
"I would have been, yes. However there are some things I need to speak with you about," Tashik said as he gestured to the hall, the two of them starting down it.
"Well, what is it?"
"We will need more nutrient liquid for the vats in the near future. We have enough for another ten thousand, but not enough for many more than that. I also thought it prudent to inform you that our workmen have finished repairing the section of pods that were damaged in the accident a few days ago. We will be back on schedule in a few days."
"That is good to hear. Have you encountered any problems so far?" Saren asked as they walked.
"I had one small issue with that Asari technician, what was her name again?"
"Rana T hanoptis. Is there a problem with her?"
"Ah, no not directly. She is doing her job wonderfully in helping Argok train the army, but when she was helping me research those artefacts you acquired she continued to talk to herself long after we were done. If they are capable of doing as you believe, then I believe her will to be rather weak."
"Ah, I would not worry. When she outlives her usefulness as a neurosurgeon, she will still be useful as a pawn," Saren stated simply as the pair stopped outside an automatic door that opened upon their arrival, revealing an expansive laboratory.
"Ah, very well then. I shall not worry about her in the least. I shall continue my work then, as the templates could still use some tweaking before we reach full production capacity."
"Then I will leave you to it and-," Saren stopped as his Omnitool began beeping incessantly. "Excuse me. Argok, what is it?" Saren asked into his Omnitool as he walked away from the doorway to laboratories.
"Sir, we have a situation that I believe will require your presence," came the Batarians tone over his Omnitool.
"Ugh, have our, 'officers' begun causing problems again? Or is it related to those Salarians that we forced to land a few days ago?" Saren asked casually.
"Neither, sir. This is serious, more serious than those STG imbeciles by a lot," Argok stated, sounding very tense. He almost whispered his next words. "Another ship has entered the system. It appears to be heading right for this planet."
Saren stopped and tensed. "Where are you?"
"Tactical information Centre. I'm looking at the long range scans right now. The ship is easily a capitol ship from the initial scans and we should have more detailed scans in a few moments."
"Understood, I will be there presently," Saren said as he closed his Omnitool and went into a sprint down the halls and into the nearest elevator.
In moments he arrived at the TIC, a moderately large room with electronic equipment attached to every sensor and camera in the base. There were three people in the room, two of them being sensor technicians who monitored everything, and the third being a Batarian who looked up from the holo-table in the center of the room as soon as Saren entered. "Quick as always. Here, the detailed scans of the incoming ship are done."
"What model is the ship?" Saren asked as he walked over to the table.
"None. It's an original ship design not in the database, and judging by its size and design, I'm willing to bet it's an Alliance ship," Argok said as he tapped the table, bringing up a hologram of a strangely shaped almost circular ship that, according to the scans, was almost five kilometers in diameter.
"Impossible, there should be nothing leading anyone to this system. That is why we chose it!" Saren growled as he looked at the ship image, silently thankful it was so large, because it meant it was not that betrayers. "what armaments is it equipped with?"
"Scans indicate almost two hundred turrets mounting short ranged Alliance laser cannons. But from their size they would not be as effective against most ship armour. Maybe frigate at the most. I would guess they are meant for point defence and little else."
"I agree. Are there no other weapons?"
"Not that the scanners are picking up. There are numerous spots across it that appear to be hanger bays, or perhaps loading zones. Makes me think it is probably a transport ship of some form."
"Spirits! How many troops and vehicles do you think it could carry?" Saren asked darkly.
"Numerous thousands of personal, hundreds of vehicles. If it was any other army I'd say a mix of both, but it's hard to say if it is an Alliance ship."
"Do we know where it is heading?"
"It is for sure coming down to the planet, but the only place large enough for a ship of that size to land is almost three hundred kilometers down the coast, "Argok said with a chuckle. "There's just no clear land on this planet for the most part."
"We should not assume it has to land on land. It may be capable of landing on the water, or just off the shore," Saren said, just as a console by a technician began beeping.
"Sirs, the ships telemetry has shifted. We now know where it intends to land. Sending you the data now."
Saren stared the holo-table as the data streamed in. "Spirits, they're going to try to land in that bay by where those STG fools crashed," Saren swore with a scowl. "Where is the ship right now?"
"Just coming through the lithosphere now, sir," a Technician answered instantly.
"Good. I want all of our anti-ship cannon emplacements trained on that ship and reducing it to a crashing junk pile as soon as it's in range," Saren ordered before turning his gaze to Argok. "Start making defensive preparations. As long as our jammers are active neither they nor the remaining STG can call for reinforcements. We will have them break themselves upon our defences!"
"Understood. I'll have our forces start fortifying positions and trapping the jungles and pathways."
"Open up some of the pathways as well, we can turn those areas into kill zones for our gunships," Saren added, eliciting a nod from Argok.
"Agreed. We have enough of them, may as well make them usable. I think this may be a good time to make use of those flamethrowers as well," Argok said with a smile as the hologram on the table changed to showing a very wide range view of the base and the ship. A second later the sounds of high velocity anti-ship cannons began echoing across the base, and Saren watched the shots on the holo-table as they soared through the air and began pelting the ship. "I need to head out to get the troops ready faster. Anything else you want prepared?"
"Do as you think is necessary to slow them down or stop them. I don't care if this islands whole ecosystem becomes a flaming wasteland. As long as the Alliance is stopped and slaughtered!"
"Just what I wanted to hear," Argok said as he walked out of the room.
Saren stared at the hologram, watching barrages of fire strike the ship for almost a full half hour before growling. "Why has that ship not fallen yet? How much damage has been dealt to it?"
"Unsure sir. The Alliance shielding technology is still not fully understood, but it appears our guns have yet to pierce the shields," a technician replied, prompting the other to speak up.
"Sir, I just finished a scan of the ships power output. If the scans are correct, all power in that ship is being diverted to the engines, and the shields exclusively. None of its weapons are powered."
"Spirits curse these Alliance fools. How long until the ship gets too low to be targeted by our guns?"
"At its current angle and rate of decent, fifteen minutes."
Saren scowled. "That ship, it moves so slowly, but we have no interceptors to take advantage of its unpowered guns. Keep firing until the last possible moment. Its shields cannot last forever."
"Sir, scans indicate the shields are starting to wane. Permission to divert excess power to the guns to improve fire rates?" a technician asked calmly.
"Granted. I want that ship slagged!" Saren roared. And as if answering his desires, the sound of cannons intensified. Saren could see the massive Alliance ship out the window now, and as he watched his snarl shifted into a grin as he watched the ships shields break and accelerator shells begin to collide into the ship, creating small explosions across its hull. "Good. Now we just need it to fall and to mop up the survivors. This may be a good warm-up!"
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The entirety of the Tower of White Jade shuddered as its graze-shields broke and rounds began colliding with its outer armour. The insides of its main halls were completely different now from when the crew of the Normandy had first entered it. Instead of joyous feasting and causal merrymaking, every person on the whole ship was outfitted in their armour, tending to equipment, or looking over large wheeled piles of supplies and materials that would allow the creation of a forward base and defensive positions. Grim resolve and even darker emotions were present, and the only conversations were based upon weapons, of how they would be used.
Then, just as the rumblings of rounds being blocked by armour began to lessen, the ship jerked downwards slightly, unsettling some just before the whole ship came to a stop. No one moved from their places as all the Operatives on the ship came out from the furthest back doorway, walking the length of the hall until they all stopped at the front of the hall by the massive doors that sat beside the smaller doors that led to the hangers.
"Welcome planet side!" Yuugi called out, her characteristic tone carrying across the whole hall without the need for any amplification. "For those of you that do not know, this operation is a joint operation to hunt down the rogue spectre that is responsible for the carnage on Eden Prime, and probably a lot more than that. This is an attack operation. Some council types are just outside the ship according to our sensors, they will not be attacked, but anyone else on this planet is fair game; kill them without remorse if you see them! Operative Desolas will explain the current strategy, so listen up!"
"Thank you, Yuugi," Desolas said as he stepped forward. "As soon as those doors open we'll be using a rotational Attack strategy type five. All Earthrazers will be tasked with initially setting up the outer base and any fortifications required. All you blade breakers have been given your coded assignments, marking you in groups from one to five. Group one will head out first, advancing toward the enemy positions and cataloguing the terrain on the way. Your job will be to push forward at a casual pace, and after three hours, the second group will take over, allowing the first group to pull back and rest. Groups will keep rotating thusly to keep pressure on the enemy forces and push the frontline forward. Once the base is set up, Earthrazer supporting fire or assaults may be called by the frontline groups as necessary. For this part of the operation, each attack group will be led by one of us. Yuugi Hoshiguma is leading the first group, Youmu konpaku leads the second, Adaaya leads the third, I lead the fourth, and Lady Saigyouji leads the fifth!" Desolas declared loudly before taking a few seconds to breath. "You all know how to fight, you all know how to sunder your enemies and tear them apart, limb from limb if necessary. Our enemies are less than an army of terrorists and warmongers. If they want war, they shall have it!" Desolas roared as he took a step back, the huge doors behind the operatives starting to open.
Yuugi stepped forward again and pounded her fists together, manacles clanking as she did. "Alright, first group move to the front. This world is a jungle, so get ready for some good old fashioned close quarters combat. It's time to break some Blades!" Yuugi roared, setting off everyone in the hall to do the same as she turned around toward the door.
As soon as it hit the sand and seawater, granting everyone within a view of the tropical world, she threw up a fist into the air and the entire first group began charging forward out of the ship. Some flew over others and straight into the jungles, while others took their time, dropping off the doorway platform and into the sea and sand, never slowing as they hefted weapons. As the group was half out Yuugi moved and ran out onto the sand and into the jungle, trees snapping and being blown aside as they failed to impede her movements.
"Alright, everyone knows their jobs, let's get to work, C'mon, move, move move!" Adaaya called out, causing every other group to pick up the pace, grabbing boxes of supplies, fortifications, food, and anything else to keep themselves busy.
"Well, shall we go meet the confused lizards?" Yuyuko asked as she looked to Adaaya, Desolas and Nihlus, the latter of whom looked completely and utterly terrified by what he had just witnessed.
"Uh, perhaps it would be best if I explain the situation to them," Nihlus spoke up, his voice a bit hoarse and dry sounding. "STG are not always the easiest to speak to, and they should understand if I tell them."
"Alright, they're all yours then," Desolas said with a shrug.
"I'll come with you, STG are scientists after all, I'm curious what they are like," Utsuho said with a calm smile, before grinning at Nihlus's expression. "Don't worry, I may be leading the Earthrazers here, but they don't need me to coordinate a simple base setup. They know their jobs."
Nihlus simply nodded as he turned and headed down the ramp himself, Utsuho following behind him quietly, allowing him to survey the area as he stepped of the ramp and onto the sand. The beach area they were on was sand and dirt, leading to the edge of the jungle. The whole open area had to be less than half a kilometer wide, and on the far side, partly embedded into the cliff face was the remains of an STG ship that looked like they had made a mostly intact crash landing. Some awnings and walls looked put up against the ships remains, scavenged from it from the looks of it, and a handful of Salarians were standing outside of it, staring in awe as the Alliance forces continued to pour out of the ship and begin setting up a base on the beach.
"STG, who is in charge?" Nihlus asked as he approached them, noticing that they hadn't even noticed him until he spoke.
"Captain Kirrahe, Salarian Task Group Third Infiltration Regiment, I am in charge here. You are?"
"Nihlus Kyrik, Special tactics and reconnaissance. This is Alliance operative Utsuho Reiuji," Nihlus introduced before taking a cursory glance at the Salarian position, noting accelerator round markings on the walls. "Can I get a status report from you? Why are you here?"
"You, did not answer our distress beacon then?" Captain Kirrahe asked in a concerned tone.
"No, we came here hunting down Saren," Nihlus responded.
"Then you are in luck. He is here," Kirrahe said with a sigh. "Our mission was to investigate the movement of a strangely large quantity of chemicals and nutrient mixes most commonly used by illegal cloning facilities. It led us here, but when we tried to land our ship was shot out of the air and crashed here. We have been skirmishing with Batarians ever since, but from their comms chatter we have discerned that the facility we had seen from orbit, is both a cloning facility, and the base of operations for Saren," Kirrahe explained, before looking past Nihlus and at the Tower of White Jade. "I was under the impression the operatives you were working with used a small ship.
"They do. We joined forces with a number of other operatives due to one of them asking for assistance in finding Saren through some, rather gruesome means," Saren admitted with a shiver.
"I see, regardless of how those means might have been, I am still happy you are here. We were running low on supplies, and the Batarian forces were toying with us, making it difficult to find any more data than we already had," Kirrahe stated as he looked to Utsuho. "Operative, would it be too much to ask for you to share some supplies with us?"
"No problem, we have enough food to last us a month. The base will be set up soon. Once everything is set up feel free to use the facilities," Utsuho said with a smile. "Though any information on the enemy base you have would be welcome."
"Of course. We have some scans, though they are not of the whole base. I will have them compiled presently," Kirrahe said just as a chain of explosions and the sounds of devastated trees and landscapes began echoing out of the nearby jungle. ". . .I am surprised by the Alliance's deployment speed."
"Bladebreakers prefer being on the offensive," Utsuho said with a shrug. If you want to join in on an attack force at some point you may. Rotating charges make it easy for people to rest when they need to after all."
"I see. How curious. We'll need to learn more of Alliance combat doctrine. Seeing your ship come down though I am sure the forces of that base have prepared."
"Oh, they probably have. Unless they really know how to stall though, it won't make a difference," Utsuho declared as another chain of noises came from the forest, the Salarians swearing to themselves they could hear the sounds of screaming Batarians mixed in with the other noises.
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The Jungles of Virmire were a checkerboard of tight plant growth and thin shallow snaking creeks and rivers. Water was abundant in both of these as the rivers made their ways to the seas, while the plants did their best to drink up all the moisture they could. The terrain was soft and uneven, the air was humid, and many of the plants were so filled with water their sap did not ooze as it so much flowed out of cracks in their bark or vines when cut. Narrow pathways of sodden soil flanked some rivers in places, while the only open area in the jungles were those with large rock outcroppings from some tectonic shift, seismic event, or possibly even asteroids crashing into the planet at some point during its lifespan.
It was in these open areas of rock outcroppings that forts and outposts had been built by Saren's forces as his base was constructed. Originally built to help train his impending armies in how to take and hold territories, they were now the only things holding back the waves of Bladebreakers, and the ones manning them were feeling the strain.
xxxxxx
Battlemaster Alxevix was a Krogan who, despite his age, had surprisingly few wounds. He had wounds of course, but they were different than most Krogans as he disliked getting close to his foes like most Krogan did. Why approach the enemy when you could simply keep them at bay at range with appropriate fire and choice of weapons? He had been scouted by the Spectre to train armies of clone Batarians in sharpshooting and defensive tactics. It was a ludicrous idea, but the pay was well worth the simplicity of the job.
At least at first.
Now his defensive training was being put into real use as the Alliance was invading them. He had seen the ship coming down, he had heard the order to prepare fortification, he had watched over as those under him did their best in preparing and now he was doing his best in holding them off.
The area before his outpost was a narrow valley cut out of the sea of trees by a river. Large boulders were in the river and all around it creating some cover, and further down the river was where the first areas of fortifications stood.
That first line of fortification had held for barely five minutes when the Alliance had come upon it. It had taken barely a minute after it fell for their forces to arrive at his outpost, an absurd speed to travel nearly five hundred meters, but as soon as they first showed their faces he made them regret it.
His fort had three levels to it, four if he counted the ground floor. Instead of simply having his forces use their own guns, he had them break out every turret emplacement he could find or get his hands on and had them organized on each of the levels with a very particular plan in mind that he had long since perfected.
Volley firing.
The first layer of guns on the bottom floor would keep firing constantly, never taking their fingers off the triggers. Then, as the first layer's turrets reached three quarters of their heats sinks being overheated, the second layer of gun emplacements would fire. The next layer would follow the same logic, as would the one after and they would work in that way in a circle of never ending fire and death.
The strategy did have its flaws, but with how many forces he had, he could keep replacing the gunners on the turrets for quite a time, and many of his forces who were not on guns were either using sniper rifles of personal missile launchers to make the Alliances forces have even a worse day than they already were having.
Three hours of being shot at and unable to advance would normally be enough to make any force retreat and reevaluate their life choices.
Only the Alliance forces before him were not backing down. Nearly all of them were hiding behind rocks or strange glowing barriers they had created, some using those barriers to inch forward at a snail's pace. Some even appeared to be casually sitting down behind those barriers and playing some kind of card games with each other of all things! It was like they were not taking his positions seriously at all!
"Sir, there appears to be a new enemy among the forces attacking us," one of the clone Batarians said as he held out a scope for Alxevix.
Grunting Alxevix shook his head and took out his own rifle, a Widow sniper rifle that had lost the tip of its barrel in a past battle giving it a serrated and slanted end, and looked through its scope over the enemy force that had quickly come to understand the danger of his rifle. After a moment of looking over the Alliance positions he stopped, his mouth falling open a bit in surprise. "Urdnot Wrex? What are you doing here?" he muttered before shaking his head and pulling the trigger. His shot flew forth and struck Wrex, but instead of striking his biotic barrier and popping it as he expected it would, it hit a glowing green barrier that disappeared as quickly as it had first shown itself. "What is Kalros's name!?"
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Urdnot Wrex had made a lot of choices in his life that he often regretted. They were small things, such as missions that had not gone well, or had been bad from the get go. Not worth the pay, losing too many allies to get the job done, having to deal with clients who had more pride than brains. Things like that.
Hunting down a Spectre would normally be a choice that fell in line with all of the bad missions he had taken in the past. The terrible failure on Feros adding to that list.
However, he did not regret joining the Alliance operatives to hunt down a Spectre.
How could he? After all, not only had the fights been very enjoyable, even the defeat at Feros, they were now taking part in what was essentially an invasion operation. And it had been centuries since he had been in such an operation!
The Alliance ground forces were also so perfect he was beginning to understand why many of his people were siding with their. Their ferocity in combat, paired with their split between melee and ranged weapons made them a terror on the field of battle. And with their lack of vehicles each person's strengths and weaknesses were more pronounced, overcome by sheer force of the allies around them.
When they had landed and watched the Alliance forces start to operate he had been impressed, but stayed back and helped set up the base, both because he had not been told explicitly what they were doing, and because he understood the need for logistics support. Once the whole base was set up however, he began getting antsy and had asked Desolas what their plan was.
It was simple. Until their forces reached the enemies base, their crew could join in any assault group they wished so long as they followed the usual Alliance combat doctrine that was the parameter for the operation.
And when the operation was a chain of rotating assaults that was something he had no problem following. Krogan assault tactics usually employed a full strength attack to the front, and maybe the flanks if they were feeling tactical, and in the past most Krogan assault were stopped not by defenses, but counterattacks pushing them out of the territory they had already acquired as Krogan normally did not care for defense much.
The genius of having assault groups taken over by others on a rotating basis to keep everyone energized was brilliant for a force of all attackers, as he had been led to believe Bladebreakers were, and he was considering looking into Alliance tactics now, if only to bring some of the more useful ones back to his people.
The sound of accelerator fire from ahead of him in the forest grabbed his attention as Wrex was lumbering down the side of a river. As soon as he had been told the plan he had headed out to join the first group, and possibly the second as he was joining in late, immediately. He had passed over two choke points littered with Batarians corpses, ruined fortification materials and kinetic barrier modules, and had even found one Batarians whose body had been strung up by its own intestines to a tree, but had found no Alliance bodies.
That changed as he got closer to the sound of accelerator fire moments later and found the culprit.
The river widened and turned, creating a large open embankment and rock outcropping where a small outpost had been built. It had four levels, each covered in accelerator gun emplacements, and the only cover close to it were a couple of large boulders near and in the river, and a number of mobile shield emitters that some Bladebreakers seemed to have deployed. The gun lines on the outpost were firing in volleys, keeping the Alliance forces pinned down and unable to move, and just as Wrex started to move toward the biggest boulder for cover himself, a mass accelerator round punched into him, startling him somewhat not from the round, but from the green flash the shield emitter he had been given produced when it was hit.
It made him a but queasy, but being that it was powered by magic that was to expected. He was still wearing the bracelet that locked out his Biotics, and with so many people with magic around even he understood that using his Biotics here was less than ideal.
It was impressive that the shield was still up after taking such a massive accelerator round though.
"What is the plan for that outpost?" Wrex asked as he moved behind the boulder where two Alliance Bladebreakers were sitting. It was also in that moment he noticed that there were only a couple bodies around them, and that everyone looked rather calm and collected. Some were even playing cards with each other while being shot at!
One of them, a human by looks who was seemingly rather older, turned to Wrex and smirked. "Oh, a Krogan, eh? You with The Normandy's crew?"
"That a problem, human?" Wrex responded, finding the old humans tone to be rather strange.
"Nah, not at all, just curious as I've fought alongside those two before," He said with a shrug. "To answer your question, the answer is on route."
"What is that supposed to mean?"
"I mean, none of us in this group have ranged anti fortification weapons, just melee ones. Once we got bogged down we called for some Earthrazer support, but Operative Hoshiguma overruled it telling us to get comfy and that she'd be around to bust some concrete for us."
"So you're just sitting here being shot at?" Wrex questioned.
"Yep, pretty boring honestly, but the tree's here are too dense to struggle through to a flank, and not one of us here can fly either. We got the bad split for abilities, I guess," the human chuckled.
"You haven't tried picking off the ones manning those guns?"
"Oh, we have. Their kinetic barriers don't stop lasers after all," The old man said as he tapped his Type 2 laser rifle with a hand. "But the one running that place was pretty smart and had solid metal plates welded onto the tops and sides of them for better protection. Normally that'd slow the turrets movement speed, but there's no need to move when they have us pinned like this."
"Then you're lucky I'm here," Wrex said as he stood up and pulled the Alliance weapon he had been given off his back. It was a blocky and ugly thing, but the way its sides glowed and seemed to drip malevolence had called out to him.
" . . . uh, is that a type 8?" the human asked, causing many nearby to stop what they were doing and look over.
"I just know it was called a pulse siege gun, and is supposed to be a cross between a shotgun, and a grenade launcher," Wrex replied truthfully.
"Yeah, that'd be it. The Type 8 Pulse siege gun – Hephestus," he replied with a manic grin. "It fires a cluster of plasma pulses over a wide area. Looks like we won't need to wait for Lady Hoshigma after all. Get ready to move boys, it's time to demolish an outpost!" the man called out.
In bare seconds everyone was putting away their casual stuff and pulling out their weapons, many of them being swords and even a couple bayonets. "Heh, fast reactions", Wrex said as he flipped a switch on his gun, making it begin to hum ominously.
"Have to be. Bladebreakers need to move fast and hit hard," the man said as he cracked his neck and pulled out a serrated knife before flipping its grip and resting that hand under the front of his gun. "We'll move in after you've fired ten shots."
"Then you'll need to catch up," Wrex said as he spun out from behind the boulder and raised the gun in his hands before pulling the trigger. To his surprise it had recoil that was nearly that of an M-300 claymore shotgun. Like the claymore it also fired out a number of shots in a cone. Unlike the claymore, it was a pulse weapon, so every single round it fired was a plasma pulse projectile. The result from one pull of the trigger was a cone of electrified plasma that spread out and bombarded the outpost in explosions of energy and destruction. Wrex could see that a number of random gun emplacements had been hit dead-on and had been utterly obliterated, but that many still stood, and their operators were only slightly reeling from the barrage. So he pulled the trigger two more times, filling up the heat sink and causing the heat disc to come out and rotate, then pulled the trigger three more times before he began running toward the outpost as his discharged shots began raining electrified death upon the outpost.
The pulse projectiles did not seem to damage the concrete of the outpost very much, but any person or any object made of metal was devastated by it. The sound of screaming Batarians quickly became an orchestra, and most of the guns were destroyed by the time Wrex was halfway to the outpost.
He continued firing as he moved, and by the time he reached the outpost itself, had fired a total of twenty times. And as soon as he hit the keypad to open the door an Alliance Bladebreaker dashed past him and in, sword flashing as he went. Wrex glanced back to see that the Bladebreakers had not just followed as he was firing, they had caught up and were already climbing up the walls in some cases to get into the outpost. Not even Vorcha could climb walls that slanted, yet the Alliance people were running up them, killing any they encountered.
"Hehe, looks like there's little point in joining that melee," Wrex commented to himself with a groan as he rolled his shoulders. "Probably better anyway, as fun as that was, this gun is very heavy."
"Urdnot Wrex!" came the scream of a Korgan from above.
Wrex reacted instantly by throwing himself backwards and rolling to his feet, an act of experience that proved extremely well timed as a Krogan landed on the ground where he had been standing, a large Krogan hammer crashing into the dirt. "Heh, Alxevix, I knew it was you when I saw this absurd defense."
"And I could not believe I would see you with the Alliance. Have you fallen as low as the rest of our kind?" Alexivix declared as he pointed his Widow at Wrex with one hand and pulled the trigger.
Wrex however, seeing the movement, tossed his gun into Alexevix's, knocking it out of line as he reached back and pulled a large axe off his back. The other piece of equipment he borrowed from the Alliance. And within seconds of holding it in his hands, the edge began to glow red hot. "Heh, I'm surprised to see you out of your perch, you bird."
Alexevix growled as he flexed his hand that had been holding his Widow before lifting his hammer and gripping it with both hands. "This was supposed to be a simple job. But if I am going to die, I will at least take you with me!"
"Heh, you can try. I'm surprised you can lift that hammer at all with those spindly arms," Wrex said as he hefted his axe, sidestepping away from the outpost.
Alexivix did the same, and seconds later the two of them began circling the other, waiting for the other to act.
Wrex moved first, swinging the axe in a broad arc that forced Alexevix to back up to dodge it. Alexevix then tried to swing his hammer in the same way at Wrex as he stepped forward, only for Wrex to, in an impressive show of maneuverability, duck under the hammer's arc. Taking the opening, Wrex swung the axe head into Alexivix's leg, cutting it completely off, much to his own surprise.
"No, not, what in Kalros's name! How did you, no, please, I-" Alexevix babbled, unable to understand what had just happened. He was after all, wearing very heavy armour.
"Heh, looks like you didn't read the information that states that Alliance weapons are made to be superior in melee. You lose," Wres said as he swung the axe down into Alexivix's skull, silencing him before he could cry out any more.
"Oh, not bad. Looks like everything is all done here!" came a new voice, causing Wrex to turn and look.
Walking toward him was a tall human woman with a horn coming out of her head and what appeared to be manacles on her wrists and ankles. In one hand she was holding a large dish of some form, and her other fist, as well as her strange wooden sandals, were covered in dried Batarian blood.
"You the operative leading this attack?" Wrex asked, recalling that she looked similar to one of them. Though he had not gotten a good look before to be sure.
"Yep, Yuugi Hoshiguma," Yuugi said with a smile as she drank from her dish. "Nice swing though, nearly bisected his skull with that one."
"He had it coming," Wrex said with a shrug.
"Probably. Still time before the second group comes in to pick up where we leave off. I'll lead this group for a bit. Coming?" Yuugi asked as most of the Bladebreakers appeared to be coming out of the outpost. Mostly covered in blood.
"Couldn't stop me," Wrex said as the whole group began running further down river, encountering more resistance within minutes
Yes, he definitely did not regret joining in on this.