Mass Dragon Effect I: Shadows of the Past
Chapter 3: The Battle for Eden Prime Part 2
Disclaimer: I do not own Mass Effect and Dragon Age. Bioware owns those, and I am currently waiting to see if EA has drained their soul yet.
Beta Reader: Albert
Last Update: 11/13/2021
Location: Exodus Cluster/Asgard System/Eden Prime
Human Date: February 3, 2183
Once a vibrant green world meant for agriculture, Eden Prime was now a world of smoke and fire as fighting broke out across the entire planet. The invading darkspawn were terrible creatures that killed any living being they met. However, their targets would not make it easy as John, Velanna, and Tali crossed through the dark smoke-filled field to a planetary computer. A computer connected by hardened landlines spread across the planet. The quarian, Tali, quickly went to work while she was defended by her commanding officers.
She was working to break through the interference to open a line of communication. It was a difficult battle as Tali yelled out, "Give me a minute as I work on the console."
"We've got your back, Ensign," John declared as he got into position as he looked at his partner, who closed her eyes. "Do you sense anyone coming?"
Velanna nodded as she focused her telekinetic senses only a non-implanted mage or magician could accomplish. Using her deep connection to the fade, a dimension that supposably connects the mental energy of the group conscious of all intelligent life, rudimentary or otherwise, to open her senses to detect others. Her mental powers soon detected danger as she reported, "Darkspawn coming in fast. Our HUDs (heads up display) will be able to pick them up now."
A bleep appeared on John's eyepiece as eight targets appeared, and they were coming in fast. "It must be war dogs. They're the only darkspawn that is that fast on land and remain cloaked." Tali stiffened in the admission of danger as the HUD identified the targets but with some interesting results. "No, five of them are war dogs, and the other three are unknown."
"How soon will they get here?" Tali asked as she trembled in fear.
"Now," John had stated as the darkspawn came into sight.
All darkspawn are based on various species turned into corrupted nightmares from DNA mutated by the X-Chrome Mutation Virus. An airborne-based pathogen that could infect all sentient species unless they were immunized or had a strong enough immune system to fight it. Otherwise, corruption can only happen due to a large concentration of the virus through infected organic material or liquid-based transmission, aka darkspawn blood and meat. Alternatively, specific darkspawn mutations known as broodmothers consume other species' DNA.
War dogs are the corrupted forms of quarians that resemble werewolves with their long muzzle as they run on all fours. They were fierce, terrible killers that few could keep up with during a chase. However, they were less dangerous than these new tall corrupted humanoid beasts with four arms, eight eyes, and a bottom half that resembled a spider's body. Monsters that were equipped with either four swords, four pistols, or two shotguns to go along with their sharp teeth.
They were going to be a nightmare in close-quarters combat. Therefore, Velanna wasted no time taking out these new threats as she pulled out a sniper rifle and fired off three successful shots into one of the spider's heads. Causing it to collapse on the field as John opened fire on the darkspawn rushing towards him, killing three war dogs. In response, one of the war dogs got up onto its hind legs, pulled out an assault rifle with its three-digit pawed hands, and opened fire with a stream of bullets. John and Velanna took cover and stayed there due to suppressive fire just as a spider-like darkspawn with four pistols joined in. Tali let out a squeak of fear as she jumped behind a desk for cover when a second war dog with more powerful kinetic barriers appeared.
She quivered as she worked her omni-tool built-in fabricator to create two holographic drones to help her commanding officers and herself while working on the computer. One was a defensive drone that gave her additional cover and kept the darkspawn attacking her busy. The second was a combat drone that flew towards the darkspawn, attacking John and Velanna. It fired off a jolt of electricity to cause the darkspawn attacking John and Velanna a shock strong enough to stagger. Allowing the elf and human to fight back.
Velanna used her virokinesis and debility-ergokensis to fire off a paralyzing field to hold the three of the darkspawn in place while weakening their defenses. John followed up with his omni-tool incinerated program to launch a ball of plasma at the creature, causing its armor to combust. The war dog with less substantial shields quickly fell to the ground, dead as the spider-like darkspawn tried to escape. Try being the keyword, as Velanna set up its downfall with hex and debilitating curses tied to her debility-ergokensis. Simultaneously, John concentrated on the shielded war dog attacking Tali'Zorah. He used the overload tech ability to drain the shield's power before firing on it to take down its shield.
As John wore down his target's shields, Velanna struck the spider-like darkspawn with powerful hexes that amplify energy discharged against it. So that a second electrical strike from the quarian's drone was enough to fatally electrocute the darkspawn despite it only has enough power to hurt it. Tali celebrated her kill as John downed the second darkspawn while Velanna killed hers. Leaving the last darkspawn, left mostly alone, to counter-attack as the second spider-like darkspawn appeared in front of John. Its swords raised to cut John down. John dropped and rolled away from the darkspawn, barely avoiding the strike as he moved to get some distance between him and his attacker.
Distance John used to quickly recover as he got to his feet and rushed the darkspawn. The two dashed towards each other as John had formed an orange omni-blade in each hand. The darkspawn slashed down and hit John's kinetic barriers. It held for a second before it broke, but that was all the time John needed to strike the darkspawn right in its chest with his omni-blades. The darkspawn barely scratched the armor before it became too weak to move. John's shield quickly recharged as his omni-blades dissolved, allowing the darkspawn to fall to the ground, dead.
With the darkspawn dead, Tali stared in awe at her commanding officer's skill until John yelled out, "Get back to work, Ensign! I want to know where Supreme Commander Urdnot Wrex is now!"
"Yes, sir!" Tali chirped as she went back to work while John and Velanna examined the new darkspawn.
Her omni-tools sensors took DNA samples to find a familiar species as John snarled, "Batarians! Of course, the darkspawn that we've never seen before would be made from batarians."
Velanna glared at the corpse when a revelation hit her, "Do you think whoever is controlling the darkspawn helped the batarians attack Terra Nova and…?"
"And betrayed them once they were no longer useful," John finished for Velanna before giving her his answer. "Yes, that seems likely. Especially when you consider it will force our patrol fleets in the cluster to hunt for them. Leaving Eden Prime vulnerable to attack as we look for threats at the edge of the Exodus Cluster," John grimaced in annoyance as he opened communications to the ship. "Normandy and fellow ground teams, we have encountered a new darkspawn type created by what looks like batarians. Sending data collected along with some vocal notes made by Velanna and me."
"Right, we're processing the data, and all we're missing is a name for this subclass. Since you encountered them, you get to name them," Cortona chirped through the comms.
"Arachnoids," John stated, and Cortona uploads the codex.
"Got it, Captain. I'm in the process of turning it into a codex to be sent to the entire galaxy to view. It should be uploaded now," Cortona stated before Anderson took over to ask his subordinate a vital question.
"John, how close are you to finding Supreme Commander Urdnot Wrex?"
John was about to retort when Tali yelled, "I've got him. The last report he is on stated he was helping the military defend a Geth server three clicks away."
John nodded as he reported, "We are going to him now. We will report if I succeed or fail to find him, Captain Shepard out."
John then ended the transmission as he watched Tali get up with her shotgun out as he pulled out his pistol and submachine gun. Without saying a word, the three soldiers headed to Wrex's last location.
Location: Exodus Cluster/Asgard System/Eden Prime
Human Date: February 3, 2183
Out in the field, Jane's team blazed through the grassy rock lands of Eden Prime. Finding only a few darkspawn scouts to fight. That was until they came upon a quarry where they observed a woman running for her life. She had every reason to flee as following her were thin-bodied, elfish darkspawn that resembled the xenomorph from the old human horror movie "Alien." Though these shrieks did not have a bulging head or a second mouth for a tongue, it had spiked gauntlets that were deadlier than its claws. They were also fast as the shrieks were gaining on the lieutenant. That was until Ashley Williams slumped down to the ground and pulled out her small, blue M-3 Phalanx pistol and opened fire in rapid succession. Killing the two shrieks with such pinpoint accuracy that would leave most envious. Though it was only a half measure as it brought the young woman to the attention of others.
To be more specific, darkspawn grunts, hairless mutant monsters that resemble a corrupted human. They were holding a soldier over a large platform. While they were supervised by a hulking alpha grunt in thick armor. It smiled sadistically behind its horned helmet as it looked at the struggling soldier. Ashley knew what was going to happen as fear spread onto her quivering lips. There was no warning when a spike went through the man's chest that raised the soldier up, much like the victims of Vlad the Impaler in Earth's history. Ashley gave a silent scream as she ran behind some rocks. Ready to make her last stand as she pulled out her M-96 Mattock.
A stand she would not need the moment she heard explosions and darkspawn screamed in pain. Ashley looked around her cover to see several explosions within the darkspawn's lines, and they just kept coming. Ashley looked up to see a krogan with black/reddish armor firing explosive rounds from his M-37 Falcon into the horde of darkspawn. While a blue and silver geth sniped targets with its Javelin sniper rifle. Ashley felt relief as she saw two humans run to her location, close enough for her HUD to identify the four soldiers coming to her aid. When she saw the names of her saviors, she felt rejuvenated as she yelled out a war cry and joined her saviors in the field of battle.
Commander Jane Shepard and Lieutenant Kaidan Alenko rushed through what remained of the darkspawn lines to hit the alpha when they were intercepted by shielded enemies. Jane went up against a mage darkspawn type, while Kaidan went up against a biotic darkspawn. Jane stopped to use a telekinetic pull to slam a rock into the darkspawn, but it avoided the object. The darksapwn then retaliated with its own electrokinesis to summon a powerful bolt of electricity towards Jane.
Jane responded with hydrokinesis to summon a wave of water that caught the electricity to send it back to the darkspawn, who screamed in shock. Lightning danced around and took down the creature's shield. From there, the fight was over. The darkspawn was not prepared for Jane to use cytokinesis to freeze the wet beast before she used a telekinetic crush on the darkspawn. Shattering the mage subtype's skin for the kill while Kaidan took care of his opponent.
Kaidan's opponent was a vanguard type as it performed a biotic charge at Kaidan, readied to fire his shotgun upon impact. However, Kaidan was quicker as he pulled out his N7 Crusader and opened fire at point-blank range with a concussive shot. Forcing the darkspawn to stumble back from the blow. Kaidan then used a biotic pulse to finish off its shield and a biotic warp to break open its armor.
The darkspawn stumbled back further. Clutching its chest as it looked up to see Kaidan's shotgun pointed at its head. Just before the human had fired off at point-blank range, a charge shot to blow off its head. Ending the last elite darkspawn that belongs to a pissed-off alpha darkspawn. The latter of which wanted to end the lives of its enemy, no matter the cost.
It pulled out a grenade to throw at them when it noticed another grenade rolling up to its feet. Ashely's frag grenade exploded, taking out its shields and causing the plasma grenade in its hand to explode, incinerating its entire arm in the process. The darkspawn howled in pain as it turned to the one responsible for blowing off its arm when it saw Ashley Williams come up with her assault rifle. It gave one defiant howl before Ashley shot it three times in the head in rapid accession; it was killed by the third shot.
Leaderless, the renaming darkspawn panicked and were soon wiped out to the last creature by the well-oiled team. In the end, the only thing left alive in the quarry was Jane's team and Lieutenant Ashley Williams, facing each other. Guns ready for an ambush as Ashley examined her rescuers just as Jane and her team examined the young woman. Taking notes of the red stripe to show she was a specialized soldier. Marksman if her weapon loadout and fighting style was any indication.
It took around twenty before Ashely felt calm enough to introduce herself, "Lieutenant First Class Ashley Williams. Commander of what is left of the two-twelfth infantry. Are you the one in charge, ma'am?"
"Of this team, yes," Jane stated as she looked at the woman. "Are you hurt, Williams?"
"Just a few scrapes and burns, nothing too serious," Ashley said solemnly. "The rest of my platoon was not so lucky."
"What happened, Lieutenant?" Kaidan asked the young, solemn woman.
"We were out on patrol, making sure no one got too close to the dig site where we held this classified artifact."
"The Prothean Beacon?" Trex asked Ashely.
"Yes," Ashley acknowledged with a nod. "We were keeping people away when the attack happened. Realizing the enemy was jamming our communication, we set up a narrow-beamed communication line to contact command. We were ordered to hold a communication station, send an S.O.S., and defend it as long as we could."
"We saw that when we intercepted your cries for help," Trex said with a grim face.
"We held on as long as we could, but I knew it was a lost cause. So, I ordered a retreat. But, sadly, it came too late," Ashley added with almost a tear falling from her face. "We were overwhelmed by sheer numbers. And when I saw the last soldier under my command die, I ran and ran until I ran into you. And now I'm all that's left."
Jane grabbed onto the woman's shoulder to state, "There was no way you could have avoided this."
"Yes, ma'am," Ashley stated solemnly, conveying that she was not convinced of it herself.
Jane was about to ask the woman questions when she was interrupted by Nihlus through their comms, "Jane Shepard, Nihlus here. I'm at the dig site. There's are a lot of bodies up here. But I don't see the Beacon or any enemy movements. I think the enemy has moved the Beacon."
Jane was about to question where when Ashley stated, "Maybe not ma'am, sir. We were moving the Beacon to the spaceport for extraction when the attack happened. Perhaps it's still at the spaceport."
"Any chance of survivors there as well?" Kaidan asked a thinking Williams.
"Perhaps," Ashley reluctantly admitted. "The two-twenty-fifth infantry was protecting the workers and scientists in the area. Perhaps their unit fared better than mine, but I doubt it."
Jane nodded as she asked through the comms, "You got all that, Nihlus?"
"Yes, and I see the spaceport up ahead. I'll meet with you there," the turian reported before communication was cut.
Jane then looked at Ashley to state, "Come with us; we could use your help."
"Aye-aye ma'am," Ashley stated with a grin on her face. "It's time for payback."
Jane, feeling a sense of déjà vu, as she ordered her men plus one too, "Move out!"
Ashley nodded in compliance as the five-man squad moved forward to the spaceport and dig site up ahead, starting a chain reaction that would end in the death of a comrade.
Location: Exodus Cluster/Asgard System/Eden Prime/Eden Prime/Geth Server 7
Human Date: February 3, 2183
Within a flat grassland was the entrance to an underground bunker/cave held by one of the Geth Servers found on Eden Prime. A massive structure able to process, download, and upload thousands, if not millions, of geth programs controlling units defending the planet. The defender was protected by a shield generator, turrets and troops. The only cover within a kilometer served as a perfect place for the server's defenders, which included soldiers in camouflage armor and geth troops of all types. Including the thin hoppers, hovering rectangular bombers, and the hulking four-legged armatures. The latter of which resembles a silver brachiosaurus with a turret attached to its one-eyed head. They were in a perfect position to defend themselves from the wave after wave of darkspawn that descended on them.
Automated and manned machine turrets opened fire on the approaching horde. The ground was littered with corpses of the advancing horde as a new form of danger came from the sky. Avians, the corrupted form of turians, were terrible creatures that resembled a feathered version of pterodactyls. They swooped down like birds of prey to grab their prey from the clouds in the sky. The defenders were able to kill several of them, but it was not enough. The high number of avians allowed a few to survive long enough to pick off the defenders with their razor-sharp claws on their feet.
One such avian saw a hulking krogan in blackish-red armor and made a dive towards him with open claws. Only for the scared krogan to pull out a small, hulking shotgun with eight mini-heavy barrels attached and open fire at point-blank. Supreme Commander, Urdnot, Wrex laughed at the creature's splattered remains as he pulled out a biotic lift grenade and threw it far into the advancing darkspawn. A large number began to float as those nonaffected tried to pass them with limited success.
Wrex then threw a biotic warp into the floating darkspawn. Detonating the dark energy to kill a large number of unshielded darkspawn and weaken the others enough to be picked off by his fellow soldiers. He gave an infectious grin as he swapped his Graal Spike shotgun for his Striker Assault Rifle. A long-range weapon he used to fire into the horde with biotic warp rounds that shredded material on contact. Pushing the darkspawn back to give the men time to reinforce the line.
Wrex cheered in excitement, but only for a moment before the horde renewed their attack as a new squad of avians assaulted the line. An assault led by a master flyer, the group's alpha, who was also a mage. With a flap of its wings, the darkspawn used pyrokinesis and aerokinesis to summon a flaming tornado onto a group that consisted of two krogans, a geth shock trooper, and a human. Wrex watched in anger as the two krogans, and single geth were consumed by fire while a human fell back in pain. Only for the master flyer avian swoop down and garbed onto the human before it lifted him high into the air. Ending the human's life mid-flight with a squeeze of its claws before dropping the human in front of Wrex. Almost like it gave Wrex a challenge as it threw down the proverbial bloody gauntlet.
One Wrex gladly picked up when he yelled out, "Kill that avian!"
His men responded by opening fire on the darkspawn but with little effect. It avoided most of the bullets the ground forces unleash, and its shield absorbs the few lucky hits. In contrast, the other members of the darkspawn horde made significant headway against the defenders. Wrex was worried the line would break when he heard gunfire off in the distance. He turned to see a team was attacking the darkspawn from behind with deadly precision.
A team he recognized as he gave a deep laugh, "Looks like the grandchild of Alice McCoy is here to have fun! Ah, the good old days!" Wrex lamented before he joined the battle as well.
Behind the line, John was leading the charge with his highly accurate, rapid submachine gun and pistol. He fired into the horde, killing darkspawn with three to four shots while using biotic push to send them flying away. Giving the room for Velanna with her N7 Eagle Pistol to lead the attack. The darkspawn found out the hard way as she created entropy energy-based leaches to swarm over several ground units and excrete toxins. The sight of the witch made Tali freak out as she shot the darkspawn with her arc pistol. She watched the darkspawn fall in silence as Tali stared at the bite marks and electrical burns from her pistol's electrical bullets. Tali nervously followed the elf as she pulled out a defense drone and combat drone to cover both the engineer and mage.
Velanna was taking advantage of such defense as she was drawing attention when she manipulated her environment. Plants mutated and grew into thorny vines wrapped around the necks of unshielded darkspawn. In contrast, others felt sleepy as they entered into a nightmare they would not wake from. It was not long before several darkspawn gave a satisfying crunch while others were rolling on the ground, shaking to death. This caused the avians to divert their attention towards the new threat, Team 1 of the USS Normandy.
Just as John wanted as he yelled out, "Now!"
With the order given, Velanna used toxikinesis to manipulate the air above their head into a highly corrosive explosive gas that was in the flight path of a squad of avians. The darkspawn did not slow down as they entered into the gas, just as planned. John used his omni-tool to launch a plasma bolt into the flammable clouds, igniting it. Immediately, several of the darkspawn were cremated as their corpses came crashing down to the ground. Leaving only the master flyer avian to come out unscathed as its kinetic barriers took the brunt of the explosion.
Angered and out for revenge, the darkspawn turned its attention towards Velanna and fired off a fireball. Velanna's powerful shields took the brunt of the attack as the avian swooped down to attack Velanna with weakened kinetic barriers. Its claws poised to strike the woman who did not look the least bit scared. The darkspawn found out why when Tali's holographic defense drone manufactured from her omni-tool intercepted and detonated in front of the avian. Taking out its shields and forcing it staggering back.
Right into Tali's line of sight as she used her cryo-blast program to fire off synthetic nitroglycerine from her omni-tool onto its back. Causing its wing and joints to freeze over and fall out of the sky. It landed headfirst in an undignified position on the ground. It twitched and shivered from the cold as Tali finished it off with her omni-tool program incinerate at the downed avian. The sudden heat caused a violent reaction due to the rapid change of temperature as it exploded into chunks of cooked meat.
Tali gave a great whoop of excitement as she exclaimed, "Did you see that?"
John saw the darkspawn line disperse, and he felt proud for Tali as he softly said to himself, "Good job, Ensign. You performed well above standards," John added as he watched the darkspawn run away, though not the shriek that snuck up from behind.
Its blades are ready to bear down on John. By the time John noticed the shadow behind him, it would have been too late if a krogan had not sent a biotic charge into the shriek. The darkspawn slammed in the ground, unmoving as a massive krogan stood over the human he had just saved. A krogan John recognized as a powerful man chuckled before him in his deep krogan voice.
"I thought I was the one going to be rescued, not the other way around, Captain?" the red krogan stated as his green eyes glinted with merriment.
"I guess there are always exceptions to the rules. Are you Urdnot Wrex?" John asked the krogan, who smiled in response.
"Yes, I am, and you must be the proud Captain John Shepard, a human after my heart," Wrex laughed in excitement.
"You know me?" John asked.
"Oh, yes. In fact, I was in a meeting discussing you and your sister's possible future with the SPECTREs before, well…. Before, everything went to, as the humans would put it, hell," Wrex laughed before he moved on to more pressing matters. "I assume that if you're here, then your sister is going to retrieve the Beacon while you came here to end my fun."
"Yes, we have orders to escort you to safety," John stated as he waved Velanna and Tali towards him.
"Well, that is interesting. For I will need your team for a more important mission," Wrex grinned as John raised an eyebrow while Velanna voiced her disagreement.
"Sir, we have orders to escort you to safety. We can't afford to bring you into harm's way," Velanna pointed out with a nervous twitch as Wrex stared at the woman.
"That would be true if you didn't know what I know," Wrex stated. "Above our heads are a series of defense satellites that are under our enemy's control."
"What do you mean they are under "our enemy's control." I thought the satellites were just deactivated. They were not even moving out of a decaying orbit when our ship passed by them," Velanna pointed out with a nervous cough.
"It was only deactivated because your ship's stealth system was activated. The darkspawn are probably waiting to lure our ships into a trap before activating them," Wrex theorized, much to the shock of John's team. "A trap our reinforcements will face if the darkspawn continue to have control of one of our satellites' relay stations on the surface."
"That will kill thousands, if not tens of thousands, when one of our fleets arrives. We can't allow that to happen," Velanna muttered in quiet shock.
"I assume you have a plan to save the fleet?" John asked.
"You got it right on the mark. I know the perfect way to get there while avoiding the majority of the horde," Wrex pointed out. "Assuming, of course, your quarian is a skilled hacker."
"Tali?" John asked the young woman.
"I think I can hack it. I just need time," Tali reported with a nervous smile.
"Are you sure?" Wrex looked at Tali, who began to sweat under the stare until John defended the girl.
"I can bet my life on it," John told Wrex with conviction. "We just need to get there. Though, even if we fail, we can also warn the attacking fleet through the Normandy. So, they will be prepared for such an attack."
"Then let's have it done," Wrex stated as he loaded his shotgun. "You lead. I'll follow."
Location: Exodus Cluster/Asgard System/Eden Prime/Dig Site
Human Date: February 3, 2183
At the edge of a camp of metal cargo trailers that had surrounded the dig site, Jane's five-man team had arrived. Their guns were out as they approached the dig site, ready for battle. Though it was unnecessary since the field was empty. Not a single darkspawn was in sight, only corpses on the spikes.
"I don't like this. It is too quiet," Trex grumbled as he gripped his shotgun.
"Keep your eyes open," Kaidan advised as they approached the dig site when they noticed off in the distance, more spikes similar to the one the poor man was placed on.
"More spikes? Why would the darkspawn impale their victims instead of eating them, Ma'am?" Ashley asked.
"I don't know Ash, but the victims don't look human or any species anymore," Jane stated as she looked up to the cybernetically modified human. Nothing organic remained of bluish-black corpses that hung overhead. Instead, they looked more like zombie robots than people as the group slowly approached them to get a better look. All seemed silent until one of the spikes descended to the ground, lowering the corpse down for what the team assumed to dump it. Until the robotic corpse moved as it pushed itself off the cylindrical platform.
"My god, they're still alive," Kaidan exclaimed in shock as the creature rose to its feet.
"What did the darkspawn do to them?" Ashley practically screamed as the creature stared at them.
It starred at them with soulless eyes before it screamed and charged as Jane used a burst of wind to send it tumbling to the ground. She then put two bullets into the cybernetic zombie just before it exploded. Causing a chain reaction as over a dozen more spikes descended to the ground. Releasing over a dozen more walking corpses.
Seeing the approaching horde, Jane yelled out, "Everyone, open fire!"
Jane did not need to order her men a second time as they responded with gunfire. They caught half of them in streams of bullets as they tried to gain their bearing. However, the other half was able to plop off their spikes and run. They avoided the bullets at first as they moved in a zigzag formation. It took a while to realize they moved in a predictable pattern as the team got creative in taking down the running zombies. Ashley took time to fire a concussion round to knock one down into another before finishing them off with a burst of bullets.
The others were taken down by methods that were even more creative. Legion used an electrical chin overload to stop two of the running husks. Before gunning them down with a Geth Pulse Rifle. While Trex fired off from his omni-tool's fabricator an explosive mine, made from a grenade, right in front of the cybernetic undead. The explosion was the backdrop to another husk being smashed into the rock due to Kaidan's biotic push as three of the cybernetic zombies got closer to the combat squad.
They would not make it far when Ashley opened fire, causing two to explode as a third leaped into the air towards Jane. Jane sent the zombie flying with her aerokinesis (wind) and a hole in its midsection courtesy of a 'bang' from her shotgun. With the dead now staying dead, Jane directed Legion-VII to examine the spikes. Jane and Kaidan studied the robotic zombies while Trex and Ashley stood guard.
It only took a few seconds for Kaidan to gasp out, "There is nothing organic left. All of it has been replaced by cybernetics. Even the skin and bone are synthetic."
"To go that far is disturbing," Trex commented before he kicked over a corpse. "Why would they go that far just to have shock troops?"
"I'm more concerned about where they got the material to make these things, LTs, ma'am," Ashley stated in a calm tone that had her all but salute to them.
"It's Jane, Ash," Jane Shepard sighed as she looked at Legion as it clicked out its report.
"Shepard-Commander, the fluid from the victims is gathered within these spikes, and nanoprobes repurpose the body into shock troops."
"Creating these husks as disposable troops that are raised from the dead. Much like the story of the Dragon's Teeth," Jane stated as she opened a transmission. "Nihlus, Anderson, do you read me. I'm sending you tactical data on new targets of interest. My codename for them, "husks" and "Dragons' Teeth."
"I have seen them all over the spaceport. I'm taking 'em out now," Nihlus reported over the comms. The group soon heard the explosions from a Krysae Sniper Rifle off in the distance. At the same time, Anderson gave an acknowledgment before he explained the situation.
"We've been able to re-establish communication with the ground forces on the planet and passed on the information, Commander. The General was surprised to find out the spikes were more than just physiological attacks. It apparently takes a few hours for our dead to become husks. Therefore, he is issuing a destroy on sight order for all husks and Dragons' Teeth."
"I read you, Anderson. Trex and Legion-VII will begin implanting the explosives. Now," Jane reported as Trex developed a big grin under his helmet as he went to work planting explosives. "We'll meet up with Nihlus at the spaceport, Jane out."
Jane cut transmission when she heard a muffled sound from one of the containers up ahead. Knowing they were not alone, Jane looked at Ashley and Kaidan's backup. While Legion-VII remained in support as Trex continued to plant explosives. The three humans came up to a door to see it was locked. Jane quickly got to work on the door's lock through her omni-tool pre-built hacking program and unlocked the doors.
She opened it, ready for a fight, when she heard a woman yell, "Don't shoot, we are unarmed."
The group had lowered their weapons to see two human scientists and half a dozen farmers. A mix of humans and small/old krogans. One of the scientists, a male, stepped forward in a panic, "Hurry, close the door before they get us."
"It's alright, we've taken care of them, you're safe now," Jane reassured the group, who sighed in relief.
"Thank you; I don't know what would happen if you hadn't come through," the female scientist bowed. "My name is Dr. Warren, and I was one of the scientists here at the dig site with my assistant Manuel here. We were examining the site when the attack came. The marines guarding us got us and nearby farmers who worked the fields near the dig site to safety as they held off the darkspawn. They gave their lives to ensure we got to safety."
"No one is safe; the end of the Federation, the Council, and all life is upon us. Soon only ruin, and corpses will remain," the scientist Manuel practically screamed when a disgruntled krogan gently picked up the man and set him aside.
"Okay, that's enough doom and gloom for you. We don't need another insane rant," the krogan stated as he put him to bed.
"Is it insane to see the future we have unleashed? To understand that there is no escape and that there is no hope for anything. No, I am not mad. I'm the only sane man to see that we've awakened the beast that will kill us all," Manuel stated with a quiver.
"Beast? You mean the darkspawn?" Kaidan asked with a raised eyebrow as Manuel shook his head no.
"The darkspawn are only a sample of things to come. Something far worse comes from the shadows to show how insignificant we all are," Manuel quivered before he was dragged to his room by the krogan to put him out of sight and out of mind.
Seeing Manuel pushed out of the conversation, Dr. Warren apologized on behalf of her colleague, "Sorry about that, Manuel has a brilliant mind, but it has always been unstable. It's only been made worse since we found well…."
"The Beacon?" Jane asked.
"Yes," Dr. Warren stammered as she looked at the farmers nervously but just could not stop as she blabbed. "It was an amazing discovery. An intact Prothean Beacon, who knows what secrets lay hidden within it."
"Which probably means that was why they attacked us," one of the farmers grumbled.
"And you are?" Jane asked the farmer.
"I'm Cole. We were in the field when we saw the huge ship descend towards the spaceport before we ran to safety," Cole told the Marines before him. "It was admitting some kind of signal as it descended. Sounded like the shriek of the damned. Only, it was coming inside our head. It almost made it impossible to think."
Jane looked at Kaidan to ask, "Do you think it could have been jamming technology?"
"I don't know any that would admit that kind of frequency. Though I don't know what else it could be," Kaidan stated.
"We'll soon find out once we get closer. We should go," Jane advised, ready to leave.
Though they stopped when one of the farmers looked nervous as he turned to Cole to state, "Hey Cole, we are just farmers. Maybe we should give them the stuff."
"Geez, Blake. You need to learn to keep your mouth quiet," Cole advised with a snarl before Jane went into interrogation mode.
"You want to come clean, Cole."
"Some of the people at the spaceports were running a small smuggling ring. It was nothing major. In exchange for a small cut of the profits, we allow them to store packages in our sheds."
"Smuggling is illegal on Eden Prime. And if any of it is military tech, I have the right to arrest you on charges that could mean jail time up to five, if not twenty years. Depending on the level of technology," Ashley accused them. "In fact, I should arrest you right now."
"No one is arresting anyone right now. Especially if Cole would be kind enough to tell me who his contact is and hand over any tech he has on hand."
"Yes, and hang on," Cole nervously swallowed as he pulled out a box and opened it to show it was an asari shotgun, the Disciple.
She pulled up the odd-shaped yet pleasing white and purple shotgun to her eye level. A small shotgun fitted for the all-female asari race that had emphasized commandoes over simple soldiers as their primary military force. In addition, like their commandoes, the shotgun was small but a powerful long-range weapon due to its small spread. Something Jane wanted for a shotgun as she traded her shotgun for the asari's shotgun. After she swapped her shotgun upgrades using a workstation nearby. She was done within seconds, thanks to her omni-tool program and user-friendly interface.
Cole smiled as he stated, "Normally, I had no idea what was in the packages. But when the attack happened, I decided to look to see if I could find something to fight the darkspawn. I don't know how Powell got his hands on an Asari Commando-style shotgun, but it was useful. I just wish it were a pistol. It would have been more useful to me."
"Powell, is that the name of your contact?" Ashley asked with a glare.
"Yes… he's one of the dockworkers if he's still alive, that is," Cole admitted.
"Thank you for the information. But now we need to go," Jane ordered the group.
"Good luck, Commander," Dr. Warren waved goodbye.
"I don't need luck. I have a badass team," Jane smiled as Trex set off his bombs, destroying the Dragons' Teeth with great pride and joy.
Location: Exodus Cluster/Asgard System/Eden Prime/Space Port
Human Date: February 3, 2183
At the small spaceport, Nihlus heard the explosion off in the distance as he approached the main site, where he heard gunfire. Nihlus looked ready for a possible fight as he brought his shotgun up, only to lower his gun as he exclaimed in shock, "Saren?"
Standing in the center of the bodies of several darkspawn was a silver-colored turian in silver armor with a black cloth over the back half of his head. He held an M-77 Paladin with a power amplifier with his right prosthetic arm that was cybernetically modified like the rest of his body. To the point that, to him, carrying the heavier and more powerful assault rifle, the M-78 Revenant Assault Rifle, took as much effort to carry as a child holding a plastic gun. Nihlus was internally glad he did not have out the massive warlord's machinegun as the other turian turned towards Nihlus. Scars of his previous battles glowed along his cybernetic jaw and odd blue eyes that stared at his fellow SPECTRE.
He moved with power as he spoke in a clear, authoritative voice that sent shivers down the turian's entire body, "Nihlus."
Saren moved closer to the younger turian as he demanded answers, "What are you doing here, Saren? You're not allowed in Federation Space since the incident and your vocal anger against the humans."
"The Council sent me in case the humans and their allies backtrack on their agreement," Saren stated as he patted the back of Nihlus's armor. "A good thing too, considering how everything fell apart."
Nihlus nodded in acceptance as he looked to the burning spaceport up ahead, "I wasn't expecting the darkspawn to return or to be used as someone's weapon. The situation is bad."
"Don't worry, I have everything under control," Saren stated as he turned to face Nihlus. Just as a small arc grenade he planted went off, firing Nihlus's shields and internal systems.
"What in the spirits happen," Nihlus turned to see Saren with his pistol pointed at him.
"Sorry, Nihlus, but I cannot let you stop the return of the Reapers," Saren whispered before he pulled the trigger.
Location: Exodus Cluster/Asgard System/Eden Prime
Human Date: February 3, 2183
Over the hill towards the spaceport, Jane and her team moved with caution as they approached the spaceport. That was until they heard a gunshot and quickly went over the hill to see the spaceport off in the distance. Surrounded by corpses of darkspawn and husks, as well as two shrieks that decloaked over a body that looked severely damaged. Ashley took out a sniper rifle and looked at her commanding officer for confirmation. Jane only gave the nod, and with pinpoint accuracy, Ashley took out the two darkspawn in rapid session.
That was when she heard a roar and looked up with her scope to see something massive. She lowered her gun as she beheld in awe the gigantic squid-like ship rising off the ground. "What was that?" Kaidan asked in fear.
"That's the ship from earlier. Looked at the size of that thing," Ashley muttered.
"This unit would estimate that ship to be two kilometers in length. The drive core needed to land and take off a ship that size on an average gravity world must be massive and really advanced," Legion-VII remarked. "Even our dreadnaughts that are one-point-two kilometers long are unable to land on low gravity worlds."
"Which means the shields on a ship like that would be really strong. We'll need a shit-load of explosives to destroy that ship," Trex added as he checked his guns.
"Well, it's getting away. Let's worry about it later," Jane stated as she directed the group downhill to the spaceport.
They continued past the grassy field and up the ramp to see the severely mutilated corpse of a turian recognizable due to the armor. "Commander, it's Nihlus," Kaidan pointed out.
"Well, he's definitely dead. The darkspawn really tore the turian to pieces," Trex examined the body. At the same time, Legion-VII pointed its gun at the crates.
"Shepard-Commander, this unit is picking up movement," Legion reported, and the others swiftly pointed their guns towards the crates.
That was until a dockworker came out yelling, "Wait, don't shoot, I'm unarmed."
Jane lowered her gun, and her team followed suit, "Sneaking up on us could have gotten you killed."
"Sorry… i-it-it's just those m-mo-monsters got me scared," the human male stammered in fear. "My name is Powell; I was a dockworker when those things attacked. I'm the only one left. They killed everyone."
"I'm sorry for your loss," Jane said sadly. "How did you escape?"
Powell sighed before looking down with self-loathing, "I was hiding in one of the crates, sleeping on the job when the attack happened."
"You survived because you were lazy?" Ashley snarled as the man nodded, 'yes.'
Jane now felt even sorrier for the man as she stated, "If you hadn't been sleeping in, you would have died too."
"I guess, but it doesn't stop me from hearing their screams," the man added with a quiver. "At least their deaths were quick, and they weren't betrayed like the turian over there."
"What are you talking about? Wasn't Nihlus killed by the darkspawn?" Trex asked with a growled.
"No, he was killed by another turian," the human said quickly. "The turian, Nihlus, called out the other turian by name… um, Saren, I believe he said. And when Nihlus turned his back on him, he shot him and then ordered those monsters to mutilate the body."
"Saren, as in Saren Arterius?" Jane asked with a growl.
"I… I don't know. He never identified himself by his last name," Powell stammered out.
"Did the turian suspect unit have the following identifiable characteristics: silver skin, implants along the body, and cobalt blue eyes," Legion-VII asked in clicks.
"Yeah, that sounds like the turian, except his eyes that were a glowing pale blue. I think," Powell admitted.
"Wonderful, it's the turian Anderson warned us about," Trex growled behind his helmet.
"Um, Ma'am and LTs, who is Saren Arterius?" Ashley asked.
Jane looked at the others before she gave Ashley Williams an answer, "Saren Arterius is a turian SPECTRE for the Citadel Council. He is one of their best black ops and assassins out there. He is also one of the few SPECTREs blacklisted from entering Federation Space, regardless of the situation. Mainly due to his rhetoric against the Federation and sabotaging a joint operation. A failure he tried to blame on our commanding officer."
"According to digital records, Saren-SPECTRE's male creator was killed during the Human Turian War between the Human System Alliance and the Turian Hierarchy. First Contact between Humans and the Council. And his biological unit sibling died in Federation Space years later," Legion-VII added.
Jane nodded at Legion-VII's additional comment before stating, "If he is controlling the darkspawn, then we'll need the Citadel Council to stop him."
"That may be difficult as they are not going to take the word of a smuggler," Kaidan pointed out as they turned towards Powell.
"W-wait, I'm not…." Powell tried to stammer an answer, but Lieutenant 1st Class Ashley's glare was enough to make him clam up.
"Don't deny it. Your friends gave you up," Ashley told the man. "So, I suggest you keep quiet, or I'll arrest you right now," Ashley threatened the man, and he quickly shut up.
"Did his armor camera record his conversation with Saren?" Jane asked Legion-VII.
"Negative, Shepard-Commander. All of Nihlus's equipment was fried, and his hard drive was purged. To the point that it will take weeks to recover data. If it is possible to recover data."
"And it looks like they did the same with the cameras around the spaceport," Trex pointed to the busted cameras.
"Great, we have no evidence that Saren led the attack, and the Beacon is probably taken off the planet," Jane grumbled.
"That may not be true," Powell nervously stated to gain their attention. "The Beacon was taken down to the tram station. It could still be there if you hurry. And as for evidence, I may have a solution." Powell then pulled a large object covered with a cloth, and he pulled the fabric down to reveal a glowing green crystal with black cybernetics across the body.
"Is that a Ghosting Crystal?" Kaidan asked.
"We had an accident at the dock where a crate of Ghosting Crystals fell, and the crate busted open. It destroyed all but one of the crystals. I found the single crystal and reported that all the crystals were destroyed. I was planning to sell it, but you'll need it more than I do," Powell stated as he handed over the crystal.
"You may have just won your right to walk away as a free man," Jane told the man before she looked at the mutilated corpse.
The Commander then put the green cybernetic crystal, a modified dilithium crystal, over Nihlus's body and activated it. A green glow formed around the body. It absorbed his brain's neurological electrical currents to download a person's personality and memories into its matrix. The green light swirled to form a ghostly image of Nihlus came forth from the crystal, asking questions.
"Where am I? Why is everyone so much bigger than I am?"
"You were killed, Nihlus. Do you remember what happened?" Jane asked.
"I remember everything. I remember seeing my friend Saren in the middle of the field. I remember letting my guard down. I remember him planting a device that overloaded my armor's systems. And I remember him killing me," Nihlus stated with an open mouth.
"I'm sorry, Nihlus, we will make sure Saren will be brought in to answer for his crimes," Jane stated sadly.
Nihlus nodded for a moment before he developed a bewildered look, "Where am I? Why is everyone so much bigger than I am?"
Jane almost cried as she stated, "I'll tell you when we need you," before she deactivated the crystal. Putting the neural copy of Nihlus to sleep before securing the crystal in her armor.
With the crystal secured, Jane rose up to speak with conviction, "We need to find the Beacon and stop Saren."
"Take the tram. It's the only way there," Powell pointed out before he looked down. "I can't stay here. I need to be away from this place."
Powell soon disappeared into the crates, hiding again as the team approached the train tram with caution. They were not taking a chance even though Nihlus annihilated the darkspawn around the spaceport before his death as they approached the tram loading area with no tram. The team kept their guard up as they recalled the missing tram. Until they saw the tram was returning loaded with darkspawn, led by a grunt biotic. Saren had sent the darkspawn to secure his rear and slow down anyone chasing him. Jane's team quickly ran for cover as the grunt threw a biotic warp at them.
It missed, and Kaidan responded by overloading its shield just before Ashley fired on the creature three times in the head for a kill. As the grunt fell, Trex fired his M-37 Falcon into the crowd to cause confusion and panic while killing a goblin that tried to summon an attack drone. The attack drove three of the darkspawn together for Legion-VII and Jane to eliminate them. Legion-VII froze the one in the middle with a cryo-blast while Jane fired off a fireball that caused an explosion that took out the darkspawn.
Jane stood proud, thinking she had won until she turned her head movement coming over the side of the wall. "Oh shit!" Jane yelled as she crouched behind a crate the moment she saw two massive hands climb over the rail.
The others ducked as well, far enough to be protected but high enough to see what it was. The ground quaked as climbing over the wall was a giant, armored darkspawn known as an ogre. It was a muscular beast made from corrupted qunari, with long bull-like horns and the ability to crush people with its bare hands. A creature strong enough to carry a cannon that would be installed on an M-35B Mako aimed. The entire team ducked down as it opened fire in three bursts. Causing metal shards to shoot up as their cover barely held together.
It was all the motivation that Trex needed as he pulled out three different grenades. Trex threw a sticky grenade onto the cannon and only rose again to throw both an inferno and polonium (radioactive poison) grenade. The three grenades combined to create an explosion massive enough to damage the gun. Trex gave a yell of victory until he was forced to duck when the beast fired its still operational weapon and destroyed the container Jane was hiding behind. Spilling its contents on the ground, as Jane lay on the ground, motionless.
The others were pinned down, again, as the ogre pulled out a second weapon. It was a weapon that resembled a larger version of a massive Geth Spitfire, a fast-repeating machinegun used by the giant Geth Primes. The group remained down as bullets drilled into their cover when Jane regained her senses. She got on her hands to see in front of her was an M-560 Hydra. A rocket launcher designed to fire a burst of four missiles at a single or at multiple targets with a single pull of the trigger. Each missile had three shaped charge explosives designed to take out shields, shred armor, and destroy the target with a series of explosions.
The heavy weapon and its ammo were meant to be delivered to an anti-armor squad. However, it never did, and it never will. Jane wasted no time grabbing it before she ran towards the ogre. She aimed her rocket launcher at the ogre for a second before she opened fire. The four missiles flew from her gun and impacted the beast. Killing the ogre after three massive, fiery explosions as chunks of burning flesh flew in every direction. Jane sighed in relief as she dropped the empty launcher onto the ground.
Not bothering or trying to reload the weapon as she looked at her fellow soldiers to state, "Let's go."
The group nodded as they rose up and ran down to a walkway onto a massive tram platform meant to carry starship parts from the spaceport to the loading area. Jane quickly activated the tram once her entire team was aboard as it rode towards the spaceport. Off in the distance, they watched an army of darkspawn led by ogres and snappers, giant snapping turtle darkspawn that reminded them of krogans with a shell as hard as a diamond on their back.
The darkspawn marched to meet a Federation army of soldiers accompanied by Geth Armatures and the more massive Armatures known as Colossus. Along with the tall three-eyed Geth Primes with Spitfires, and the Atlas Mark II, a heavy mobile mech suit with threads along its "feet," a machine gun, and a cannon. In addition, a sizable ground force was led by UF vehicles into battle.
Flying into the horde were A-61A Gunship and M-44B Hammerhead, guns blazing. The gunships flew overhead, firing missiles and bullets at the darkspawn below. While the M-44B hover tank went deep in enemy lines on the ground, with the turret on top firing homing missiles as its mini turrets cleared the way. A few would not make it, but most got out of the way for the charging army led by the M-35B Mako backed by its bigger brother, the M-53A Varren Tomkah. A heavily armored six-wheel tank fired its dual main cannon to kill a snapper while a wave of missiles fired from the guns hit the horde.
The squad watched the combat with great interest as they headed to the spaceport, not realizing that the army was a distraction for John's team, and unexpectedly, their team as well.
Location: Exodus Cluster/Asgard System/Eden Prime: Team 1
Human Date: February 3, 2183
Over a flowing river that led to a massive satellite dish installation stood a bridge that was only accessible on foot and one that John's team approached with caution. While the human and elf approached with caution, the massive krogan took the young, impressionable quarian under his wing as he taught her a shotgun trick. "As you can see, once you master this pump and lever trick, you'll be able to reload quickly with just a flick of your wrist," Wrex told the young woman with a smile.
"Wow, and you learned this during your travels," Tali said in awe. "It must have taken you years to learn that trick."
"Oh, the trick is easy to learn. It just takes a long time to figure out how to hide it from others. I learned it during my mercenary days before I became the head honcho for my people," Wrex added with a smirk.
"It must have been an exciting life," Tali said in awe.
"Well, it wasn't boring as leading the krogans and sitting in one meeting after the other. That's for sure," Wrex laughed in excitement. "Ah, the good old days, when I explored the galaxy on others' credit chips instead of sitting all day listening to political bull crap. (Sigh) I miss fighting on the frontlines."
"Well, good news. We're here to fill your stomach with blood. We are on the bridge, and my HUD picked up movement in the water," John pointed out.
"If it's like the previous war, then it is likely that darkspawn hanar called stingers are swimming in those waters," Wrex grumbled.
"I can also see the goblins and vrogs have taken control of the base's defenses. Including defense turrets and combat drones," Velanna stated as she used her omni-tool screen as binoculars. She also saw the goblin and vrog darkspawn had spotted them as the automated turrets turned towards them.
"Shit!" Velanna yelled as she and her team ducked behind cover just before the turrets opened fire.
Mass Effect rounds and the occasional practical plasma laser tried to penetrate their cover. John knew the defense drones were being prepped to kill them, so he yelled out, "We need to get to the facility, now!"
"No, we don't," Tali yelled out. "I can hack the facility from here using its wireless telecommunication. I just need more time than I would need in the facility since it will not be a direct link."
"How long will it take?" John shouted through the sound of gunfire.
"At least ten minutes!" Tali yelled back. "Maybe fifteen."
"Fine then, hold the line for the Ensign!" John ordered as he pulled out his M-96 Mattock to shoot at the darkspawn behind cover.
Velanna followed suit with her N7 Valliant sniper rifle, taking potshots at any darkspawn she could hit. Long-range weapons, both the human and elf, were able to use to kill some of them as they drove the rest back to cover. Just as the first wave of stingers arrived at the water's edge. The black jellyfish creatures wasted no time jumping out of the water towards John's team. The team also wasted no time in responding with lethal force. Wrex had the first kill with a shotgun to the body, while the others followed suit.
John and Wrex threw grenades into the water to quell the numbers, while Velanna used her powers to make the air in front of her toxic to any living being. Unfortunately, there was an overwhelming number of darkspawn to the point that grenades and toxic clouds could only delay their attack. One landed close to Tali, who gave out a surprised shriek as it moved slowly towards her. Unable to stop the hack, Tali tried to back away, but it grabbed her leg and started to pull her closer to it. Tali panicked and tried to use her shotgun when the darkspawn was turned with an ice sculpture via a mage's cryokinesis.
Shocked, Tali tried to wonder who had saved her. Since the only mage in the group was a magician, mages cannot use primal (elemental) or pure particle energy (spiritual). Until it clicked in her mind that magicians can use elements when they call on a special guest to form a partnership. She turned to Velanna and gasped in amazement as she saw Velanna in her demonic mode as a wave of demonic energy rolled off her. Forming the shape of two horns and a long tail.
Tali stared for a second before getting back to work as Velanna growled, "You will not harm anyone, for I desire that all you beasts die!"
Velanna wasted no time in her attack. Turning the lake into boiling water as she flung rocks and boulders at anything that was darkspawn related, cursing them for past transgressions. Wrex whistled in response, "Damn, I forgot how powerful those pansy magicians are when they go all krogan berserker." Wrex smiled as Velanna summoned a school of leaches to start devouring what was left of the darkspawn in the lake. "How powerful is the interdimensional entity she shares her body with."
"The desire demon Velanna partner up with is on the level of a powerful top-level demon. A pride demon," John explained to Wrex. While both watched as Velanna yelled at the monsters that they gave her nightmares as a child.
"Good for us since we are going to need… oh shit, Velanna, run!" Wrex yelled but too late as a few missiles hit Velanna.
The elf fell to the ground in pain and rolled over on her back as John ran over to examine Velanna. He found her shields were down, her armor was smoking, and she was bleeding. Without a second thought, John administrated a shot of the miracle gel known as med-gel into her arm. The gel sealed up wounds while tiny nanobots sent electrical pulses to stabilize her vitals as she slowly rose up in pain. It would take time to get back to fighting shape, even with her propensity in vitakensis for healing. She wished that was not the case as behind John, dozens of automated drones were heading their way.
They were getting closer and closer. Velanna anticipated the floating, aerodynamic platforms would open fire on them when suddenly, they stopped midflight. They just floated there as the darkspawn tried to give it orders when the platforms' turrets and drones did a one-hundred-and-eighty-degree turn to open fire on the darkspawn. The darkspawn were quickly cut down in size as the drones flew into the installation to cleanse it of filth as the space satellites above moved into an attack position.
John said, "You did extremely well, Ensign," when the satellites opened fire with disruptor torpedoes and PPCs on the darkspawn frigates and horde below.
Whole fields were cleansed as the darkspawn population was eliminated while the majority of the ships on the ground were being destroyed. Several ships tried to escape, but only two were being successful. The two-kilometer ship seemed to shrug off the attacks and the alien cruiser following behind. Both ships could escape if nothing was done, but one could be taken down with the available firepower. Therefore, John opened his communication as he made a tactical choice.
"Normandy, this is Captain John Shepard. I spotted a cruiser size trying to escape with the two-kilometer dreadnaught. I request you shoot it down before it gets away!"
"This is the Normandy, don't worry, Shepard, we see it. We'll make sure it doesn't get away," Anderson stated over the comm as Team 1 watched the firefight from below.
They watched as the USS Normandy decloaked to fire four of its disruptor torpedoes into the ship, followed by its slower but more powerful slugs from its Thanix Cannon. The weapons hit the ship, causing it to lose its kinetic barriers and spin upon impact as the ship returned fire. A useless gesture as the USS Normandy avoided the alien ship's primary weapons while shields absorbed or deflected its secondary weapons. The faster USS Normandy began to roll around the warship. Firing its plasma lasers across the vessel's hull to take out its defense turrets and gun placements no longer protected by kinetic barriers. The USS Normandy then flew past the cruiser's rear and made a steep turn around to fire two plasma torpedoes designed to burn through armor into the ship's engines. The resulting explosion destroyed the ship's engine as it descended to the ground.
John's team watched the alien ship crash, and the USS Normandy made a victory lap over the defeated ship. At the same time, John received his next set of orders from Admiral Anderson, "John, General Haliot, Martock is sending troops to secure the crash site. Assist in their recovery while we inform the Fifth Fleet the Defense Satellites are back under our control."
John's team was on the move when he acknowledged his orders, "On it, sir. And over and out."
Location: Exodus Cluster/Asgard System/Eden Prime/Spaceport
Human Date: February 3, 2183
Within the large spaceport, the darkspawn stood attention as Saren stood in front of the beacon. His body was floating as his mind assimilated the data until he was set down. Drowsy, Saren looked at the darkspawn to state, "I've got what we came for. Set the device to overload. I want it destroyed before someone else uses it."
A darkspawn vrog and goblin nodded as they got to work on the self-destruct when Saren heard explosions off in the distance. He looked up to see the defense satellites were back under Federation control. Saren growled out, "It's time for me to go. The rest of you beasts hold the Federation back with your lives. We cannot let the Beacon fall into anyone else's hands before it is destroyed. Snap to it."
The darkspawn quickly growled out acknowledgments as Saren walked over to the orb-shaped ship. He got in time to hear gunfire and explosions to see Jane's team had arrived. Saren sighed in annoyance as he closed the ship's cockpit as it rose up off the ground. Leaving the darkspawn to their fate as Jane electrocuted the last two darkspawn. The Commander watched the vessel escape into the large, two-kilometer ship's hanger before it rose up into space at the speeds of a heavy cruiser. The giant ship soon made a dash past the defense satellites towards the relay when it detected the arrival of the Federation Navy's 5th Fleet.
The 5th Fleet was a substantial attack fleet that numbered around one-hundred-and-twenty-eight warships. The majority were Terran class frigates, Far Child class frigates, Garden class heavy frigates, and Genesis class heavy frigates. Broken evenly between similar weight classes with every two frigates partnered up with one heavy frigate. However, about twenty-five percent of the fleet was made up of heavier classes of warships. The majority of which were broken in a 2 to 1 ratio were the Liberty class cruisers and the larger, more powerful Enterprise class heavy cruiser. A ship that was considered the middle ground between dreadnoughts and cruisers.
Though in terms of firepower and size, the heavy cruisers were considered a budgeted version of the seven actual heavyweights. Four are 1.05 kilometers-long warships that resemble Earth whales are known as Monolith class carriers. Pure support ships that carried hundreds of fighters into battle within its square winged fighter bay attached to each end. The last three were the 1.2-kilometer-long Unity class dreadnaughts. A design that's silhouette is similar to its smaller cruisers. Though with thicker armor, larger guns that were placed all over the ship, and the main cannon that was nearly a kilometer long. It was a warship designed to be the fleet's artillery. Hitting targets with such a destructive force powerful enough to destroy most warships or space stations on its own.
The two-kilometer ship was identified by its silhouette as Sovereign realized it was an unwinnable battle with such a vast fleet. Therefore, it turned at speeds that would sheer most ships in half and jumped to FTL speeds before the fleet could open fire. Escaping before it was even in the optimal range of the Federation Navy's 5th Fleet. With their main quarry gone, the fleet headed to Eden Prime. They now focused on their efforts to liberate the planet. Destroying any surviving darkspawn ships in orbit while escorting the round, caterpillar shape geth Servant class drops ship (frigates and heavy frigates). The dropships carried hundreds of thousands of troops to reinforce the planet and drive out any darkspawn dug in.
Location: Exodus Cluster/Asgard System/Eden Prime/Spaceport
Human Date: February 3, 2183
Back on the ground, near their target, they moved to secure the site. Once secured, with Saren out of sight, a frustrated Jane got on the comms to give her report. "Normandy, the Beacon is secured. However, Saren escaped in a…." Jane explained while the rest of the team examined the Beacon.
"It's amazing, an actual working piece of Prothean technology," Kaidan stated as Trex grunted.
"Looks like a glowing piece of junk to me."
"It wasn't doing anything like this when we dug it up. Something must have activated it," Ashley stated as she moved closer while Jane acknowledged their orders.
Jane turned to see Ashley get closer, only for the Beacon to activate. It was then dragging the scared woman slowly towards it. Without thinking, Jane rushed towards Ashley, grabbed the woman, and flung her out of the way. Saving Ashely by taking her place as Jane rose off the ground. Ashley tried to move in to help Jane, but she was stopped by Legion-VII.
"No Williams-Lieutenant. This unit is detecting a massive energy surge. Interrupting the download could kill Shepard-Commander," Legion-VII explained with a worried click as Jane screamed in agony.
Jane saw blurry images, words burning, lives lost as she was assaulted by all manner of graphic images. She continued seeing such images until boom. The beacon exploded, sending her tumbling as her team rushed towards the downed woman. Kaidan called for a medical emergency as Ashley, Trex, and Legion-VII tended to Jane.
Location: Exodus Cluster/Asgard System/Eden Prime/Unidentified Ship Crash Site
Human Date: February 3, 2183
On the other side of the world, John's team entered the hive-like ship as they saw Federation soldiers crawling all over the downed vessel. They moved forward, only to be stopped by a yellow stripe (tech) ensign that apprised them of the situation, "Sirs, we have secured the site. No sign of the crew. We think the ship was automated, or they destroyed themselves before we could board the ship."
"So, there is no one aboard?" John asked.
"I wouldn't say that," as the soldier directed John to a pod. He cleared the pod to reveal a thin, tall alien with a face that resembled Earth's amphibians with the top of its scalp shaped into fleshy horns. It was a salarian.
"And he's not the only one put in cryo. Some are criminals. Some are citizens of the UF or the Council. Others were people born in lawless zones such as independent colonies or worlds in the Terminus Systems."
"Why would they take these people?" Velanna softly asked as he saw them opening a pod that held a young human girl taken in the recent raid.
"We think they were taking samples to experiment on making the best darkspawn hosts or troops," the soldier replied with a grim face.
"Whoever is responsible will pay for this," Wrex growled as Tali nodded quietly in the background.
"Sir, there is something else we need to show you," the soldier said as he led the team deeper inside. Using telekinesis to push debris away until he led them to another chamber filled with more pods. "Also unidentified, which is not unusual except for a few things. All of them are wearing primitive armor, clothing, and weapons."
"Define primitive," John ordered.
"Earth's Reissuance era," the soldier stated with a straight face.
"They were using weapons hundreds of years out of date?" Tali asked in shock.
"Yes, but that is only part of it," the soldier stated. "The second thing to note is that we found three male qunari and eight male elves, among others."
"How that's possible? I thought the only discovered qunari and elves brought back to Terra during the Darkspawn War were female?" Tali asked in shock.
Tali recalled her history lessons of when the First Battalion predecessors invaded the darkspawn's homeworld during the Darkspawn War to plant a nuclear device. The plan was to detonate the bomb at the invasion site to give the scientists time to close the dimensional rips that the primitive darkspawn had used to invade Earth. Only a small fraction returned with young preteen females, such as a toddler, the darkspawn held to possibly breed new darkspawn when they entered puberty. It took longer than she liked to realize the implications.
Implications that Captain John Shepard was very willing to voice, "Not unless our enemy found the darkspawn's homeworld. And the locals are still alive despite our worst fears. So we'll need to get the FID (Federation Intelligence Division) in here, see if we can find the darkspawn's homeworld to wipe it out."
"What about the survivors?" Velanna asked nervously while looking at the people trapped in the pods. Silently wondering if any of them were a relative of hers.
"From what our scans and hacks revealed, we determined they took over a thousand people from this unknown world. Unfortunately, only a hundred survived, as far as we can tell," the soldier reported. "They were systemically taken for tests just like those grabbed from the rest of the galaxy. We're just waiting for orders on who to wake up outside of those in critical condition."
"That will be up to our superiors. Though I think Federation and Citadel citizens can be awakened now while we cherry-pick a few others," John stated as he looked at the pods. "Which of these people from the unknown world were scheduled to be processed next?"
The soldier pulled up his omni-tool to state, "The following people were going to be processed next. A redheaded female human in cleric cloth and equipped with a bow and arrows. A dirty blond human male in fur robes and equipped with a dragonhead staff. A blond male elf in leather crow armor with tattoos over his body and equipped with several daggers. A black-haired female elf in green robes with vine tattoos on her face and equipped with a wooden staff. A white-haired male qunari with no horns equipped in heavy armor and equipped with a long sword. And finally, a blond male human dwarf in fancy tunics and equipped with a crossbow."
"We'll take them to the ship and find out what they know," John ordered as he reported over their comm. "Admiral, this is John, we secured the ship, and we found some things to bring back."
"Good work, we are getting Jane and her team on board. We'll come to you as soon as we can," Anderson stated through the comm.
"Were they able to secure the Beacon?" John asked.
There was a brief pause before Anderson stated, "The Beacon was destroyed. According to Legion-VII, the darkspawn set it to overload. However, before it was destroyed, it downloaded a large amount of information into Jane's mind. She is in a coma, and the doc is working on her right now."
John slowly nodded as he stated, "Understood, sir, we'll see you when we can."
John turned off his communicator as he looked down while Velanna approached John with a hand on his shoulder, "Are you alright?"
"I'm fine," John stated with an emotionless face that hid his fear for his sister. He instead burry it as he ordered his team to, "Just get back to work; this is going to be a long day."
Location: Undisclosed Location/Sovereign
Human Date: February 4, 2183
Deep within the bow of the two-kilometer-long warship strolled an asari, an all-female race that closely resembles humans to an almost unprecedented degree. The only main difference, outside of being able to live to a thousand years, is that they had tentacles that function like hair and skin color were in shades of blue or purple. This particular asari had dark blue skin in a black dress that showed off her ample cleavage she flaunted to manipulate others. It made negotiations with other races and fellow asari easier, and one the woman took advantage of. Attributes she needed as she approached the throne that Saren sat in as she gave a report in a steady, cold tone.
"We've identified the ship that hit the ship that carried our samples. It was the Normandy, a Specter class heavy frigate commanded by your nemesis, Rear Admiral David Anderson," the asari with a black hood relayed to Saren. "They have managed to secure the planet and free several of our test subjects."
"A problem, but not a major one as we have a dozen more ships filled with subjects. Though it would hurt us to no longer have those samples from that planet Thedas," Saren growled. "What about the Beacon, Benezia?"
"One of the humans, Commander Jane Shepard, may have used it," Benezia stated calmly, even knowing that the news would set Saren off.
And she was not disappointed. Saren growled and yelled as he lost his cool. He hurled his drink towards Benezia, who shuffled to the side and allowed his drink to hit the wall as Sareen thrashed everything around him. She kept her poise as he growled and yelled as he marched towards Benezia. Only to stop after he grabbed her face. Saren gave one more growl before he finally calmed down to think about the situation.
With a snarling, even tone, "This human and anyone who is with her must be eliminated."
Benezia only smiled as Saren let her go as he walked back to his throne, planning their next move as he continued to grumble his annoyance. They began to plan their next move as the Galactic Darkspawn War's first battle ended in a victory for both sides.
Done with another long chapter. I hope you enjoy the story, especially with the defense and second mission on Eden Prime. I took a lot of liberties with that mission, and feedback on how well or poorly I did was good. Sorry that the 5th Fleet could not do its thing, but Sovereign did not survive 50,000 years alone by being stupid. Please review and tell me what you think.
Anyway, Happy New Year, and Expect a long delay with Chapter 4-6 as more changes will be incorporated in the following 3 chapters.