Chapter 17
"What is the place of the servant, without the master? Similarly, what is the place of the master without a servant? Master and servant, commander and soldier, are intertwined in a bond closer than family, they are brothers. The commanders are in the unenviable position of sending his brothers to fight and die before him as he directs the battle, unable to willingly join them in their righteous battle against their foe, lest more brotherly blood be shed than needed, for a commander closes two of his eyes when he joins his brothers in direct battle.
So is the great burden of command."
Fifth Psalm in the Scroll of Brotherhood, required reading for all Batarian junior officers
Intercepted Field report of 7th Battalion, 3rd regiment, 986th Division Batarian Army
Major Joda Hilra'va'Hasta
Enemy resistance heavy, Terran military and paramilitary forces have set up strong concentric ring defenses on Elysium plateau. Landing fields taken with minor casualties of the 7th battalion landing craft but near total loss of all organic aerospace assets in transit by "citadel" anti air emplacements. Gunship squadrons were reduced to two thirds strength on deployment by Terran SAM sites situated across landing zones. SAM sites disable by efforts of 3rd battalion forward scouts after they were discovered *Note written into the margins* (Why were no preliminary landing sweeps conducted?). Area secured in thirty minutes, only minor resistance by civilian and police forces was found.
Moved forward on Highway 8 called "Heracle's Way" in local parlance, and went to establish forward operating base at Henderson/Ishikawa Memorial Mall where forward armored scouts encountered Terran police evacuation center, they engaged and eliminated the terran position for minor losses in return. Forward scouts ceased pursuit and established communication and supply depot as swiftly as possible, harassed by Terran civilian guerillas using IEDs and suicide truck bombers, eliminated with extreme prejudice, all captured survivors excuted for breaking Citadel war laws 2601 Paragraph 5 subsection 3 regarding fighting without a uniform. Names recorded and listed, special commendation to these human families for the bravery of their sons and daughters fighting in the face of certain death. *Note written in the margins* (Their blood will make excellent soldiers for the empire, special orders delivered to not harm families if found).
Received light artillery barrage as the battalion moved into the mall. Captain Kila'va'Herasa wounded as he directed supply trucks into cover within the mall. My forces mustered and immediately set out to engage the enemy before more artillery could be called upon our depots. All infantry were ordered to pack double ammunition, rations, and equipment to prepare for hard fighting.
Forward scouts encountered the main enemy line while pursuing Terran military police retreating into the city down the Mielens Boulevard (Steet 988-1) where an enemy ambush was prepared and attacked our forces. Casualties high, lost 1st scout company, several armored vehicles, and nearly the entirety of 4th company to enemy fire at all angles. I, Major Hilra'va'Hasta ordered a retreat to reassess, enemy sniper targeted me and killed lieutenant Yurwa Kontra'va'Hilsa as he threw me aside. *Note written in margins* (I'll see to it that his family receives the pension they deserve, whatever the Hegemon says!)
Called up forces from 2nd, 3rd, 5th infantry battalions, and 9th armored regiment to assist 7th battalion in assaulting street 988-1. Estimated at least three companies of mixed terran forces guarding the main junction, requests for divisional artillery, air support, and citadel commando teams were denied. Organic mortar support attacked by Terran commandos, the entirety of 3rd and 9th battery destroyed, all ammunition destroyed, spare equipment destroyed. *Note written in margins* (by the pillars, each of these buildings are like a fortress! It requires fusion torches to get into them and then more cutting to get from segment to segment, they're impossible to clear out and I don't have the men to do so anyways!) Entirety of 7th, 8th, and 9th companies sent to clear out surrounding buildings of enemy saboteurs and raiding parties, encountered two teams of three terran soldiers, casualties moderate but both terran fireteams forced to retreat with casualties.
Assault on street 988-1 continued, receiving heavy casualties from machine gun and mortar pits protected by kinetic barriers all the while, with snipers on the roofs harassing officers and armored vehicles. An unknown Terran weapon, called by the men a "Khar Spear" and a laser derived sniper rifle, bypassed barriers entirely and damaged the armor on the vehicles, we lost half a dozen APCs, and nearly five Varush assault tanks to it. Our backlines continued to be insecure as Terran guerillas and raiding forces harassed our flanks using building access to move in and out of our lines.
7th Battalion continued to attack down the street for nearly two hours before we managed to receive artillery support from the 45th artillery regiment. Breakthrough was almost achieved before usage of heavy artillery assets but we were attacked in the rear by a Terran armored vehicle of unknown classification and all elements of all battalions routed. Casualty list included in attached documents.
We spent thirty minutes regrouping before coordinating an assault with the 45th regiment's barrage. The fresh 2nd infantry battalion commanded by Major Isura Jopah'va'Hilsa led the attack as Terran positions were suppressed with artillery. Overrunning the position and starting to clear it out. The Major and his battalion were met with Terran heavy infantry mechs screening the retreat of the Terran infantry defenders. The screening force remained for nearly a minute before retreating themselves.
Major Jopah and his battalion were lost entirely when the Terrans detonated sub-nuclear charges from their previous positions. 7th Battalion moved forward in their wake and provided medical assistance to survivors and attempted to push after the Terrans as quickly as possible. APCs and tanks could not traverse the street and required engineering vehicle assistance.
Street 988-1 was the final roadblock along battle segment 10-5 and the Terran defensive line contracted. 7th Battalion pursued supporting 9th armored regiment engaging Terran holdouts and delaying attacks. Several armored columns were lost with all soldiers while others snuck through the Terran lines. *Note written in margins* (My men were exhausted beyond what was expected of them, many armored columns advanced without forward scouts. Need to call up conscript reserves from the backline faster!)
We hotly pursued the retreating Terran forces until we reached street junction 823-3-4-5 where an amalgamated force of Terran conscripts, foreign legion, militia, and army regulars were fighting. We fixed the position with heavy machine gun fire and tank cannons suppressing the storefronts they had taken cover in and elements of 12th company were advancing behind the Varush tanks in assault formation. We were then once again attacked from the rear by Terran raiding forces who destroyed several of our tanks and targeted officers and senior NCOs leading the assault. Once again, the 7th battalion, caught between two zones of fire, panicked and retreated. *Note written in margins* ("Retreated"?! It was a damn near rout! My battalion has fought without rest for nearly the entire length of this battle. It was all I could do to halt the rout without resorting to summary executions!)
After the 7th Battalion, which is now reduced to a quarter of its able fighting men (28% combat capable), regrouped with the 8th (76% combat capable) and 9th Battalions (49% combat capable) we've moved in conjunction with a Special Intervention Unit to recon in force the enemy positions. The Terrans have fortified themselves in city park 23 known as "Horned Lake" locally. SIU team six attempted infiltration while my battalion and the others arrayed ourselves to attempt a crossing of the pedestrian bridges. We have since heard nothing from the SIU other than some sporadic small arms fire. All attempts to establish listening posts and visual recon on the surrounding buildings have been fruitless as enemy snipers have suppressed all attempts.
We are once again asking for support from the 7 9th armored regiment, heavy artillery assets, and maybe even gunship and air support if at all possible. In the meantime we have sent all available units around the park in an attempt to encircle this hardpoint.
I will not order another charge into the enemy guns, this battalion, and this division, has received devastating losses in our push into the Terran lines. We need conscript replacements, we need armored support, and we need more organic artillery to support any sort of push into the Terran positions in the park. I have attached all relevant reconnaissance information and maps of the park itself, it is a formidable defensive location. I advise that we encircle and bypass the positions, or use available units to secure our rear lines from enemy raider actions instead.
For the Hegemon, for Khar'Shan, for the Batarian people,
Major Joda Hilra'va'Hasta
Intercepted reply to field report of the 7th Battalion, 3rd regiment, 986th Division Batarian Army.
Situation understood, reinforcements en-route.
Disregard losses, advance and secure park.
In the name of the Hegemony, of Khar'Shan, and its glorious people
Vice-General Questra Opra'vasa'Shan
Terran Federation, Skyllian Verge Sector, Elysium, Elysium City 2677GS/2349AD October 20
Shepard handed Anderson back his pair of snoopers, "I don't see anything sir."
The older man grunted as he took another long look, "That's the problem Shepard." Anderson lowered the pair of snoopers to look at his wrist watch, "They should've attacked hours ago. It's almost dawn, conditions are only going to get worse for them if they wait."
Shepard nodded solemnly. He wasn't going to complain, nor speak up. He'd seen the condition that some of the men were in, and he sincerely didn't want to fight again today. But what he wanted was irrelevant in the face of his enemy, and his orders.
"Maybe they've thought better of it sir?" Shepard theorized, leaning against the railing of the park gazebo they had converted into an observation post, "I mean, we've given them a hell of a beating to this point." Shepard's mind wandered into his memory of the bodies. The bodies of hundreds of dead batarians he had walked over when chasing after Wrex's company, "We've had to have annihilated at least a battalion sir, maybe more."
Anderson visibly mulled that over, "If they're resting, reinforcing, and rearming… that'd explain why they haven't encircled us fully." Both the men's eyes turned to the east, where sporadic gunfire and skirmishing continued.
The brit sighed, "I'll make a tour of the men, Lieutenant." He checked his wristwatch again and mumbled under his breath, counting, "Take uhh, a twenty minute break and talk among the troops, get back to me with what the general mood is." His head snapped back up, "That good Shepherd?"
Shepard stood at rigid attention, he fought the urge to salute, "Fine with me, sir." He was about to turn to go when a shadow emerged from the smoke fog of early twilight.
"Top of the morning to ye gentlemen. Commander Anderson I presume?" A thick Irish accent announced gleefully. Two hands clasped together as they rubbed together. As the man approached, Shepard thought he was looking at a catholic father until he saw the dark red epaulets and white on black cross on his chest.
Shepard waited, hesitating at this new arrival, "Oh don't you worry boyo." The 'father' spoke to Shepard now, "I ain't some alien spy or assassin." His attention turned back to Anderson, "Father Carlyle O'Connor, 1st Black Cross Paladins." He offered both his hands to the men, who hesitantly took them, "Fine men, both of ye I'm sure." He continued affably, "Me and my brothers and my sisters have been cut off from our main thrust, so sadly, or perhaps for you, luckily, we've elected to join you in the defense of these holy waters now."
"They've not been ordained, father."
"Nonsense my son! They are our waters, they are the waters of God and the sons and daughters of Adam and Eve. They are drunk by the faithful, are used to baptise the faithful, and an equal place of worship for those who do not follow the path of Christ." The Irish crusader announced with so much cheer and spirit, it was like meeting distant relatives who wanted to make a good impression.
Anderson and Shephard shared a quick look, "Go on Shepard, it'll be fine."
The Marine nodded and made to leave but was stopped by the crusader, "Shepard? Lieutenant Shepherd with that Rex feller?"
"Ummm, yes sir." Shepard replied cooly.
O'Connor nodded sagely, taking in Shepherd full now, "Fine work ye did boy. You and that Lieutenant Rex."
John stopped, "We were not alone sir, we had Lieutenant Petrodes and Chief Brockman-"
The crusader interrupted, "And the many fine soldiers among your company, yes boy. They're all fine people, but leadership like yours and Rex-"
"Wrex. With a double-u, sir." Shepard counter interrupted.
"Wrex… Yes Wrex, sorry, hard to tell in the heat of the battle. Yes, I'm sure they're all fine people boy." The irishman's eyes narrowed, "Don't forget you yourself are one of them, take a compliment when you can my child." As an afterthought, O'Connor started to pat himself down until he found a bright silver whiskey flask, "Here, don't drink it all at once of course, but share it with the others my child. A toast to your survival, or a communion to god." He shrugged, semi helplessly, "Whichever ye prefer."
Shepard turned the silver flash over in his hand, Anderson sent a green comm-ping. Go and take it. Was the nonverbal order, "Thank you, er, father?"
The Black Cross commander nodded sagely, "And thank you my son for your faithful service to the Phoenix. Go now, the attack will come soon." He looked to Anderson, his last words sinking in with the hardening look on the father.
Shepard conducted a survey of the troops, well as much as one could say it was a survey. Morale was generally high, even in the walking wounded. That was good, he told himself. But he still felt conflicted on the whole matter, they had been encircled, and with nowhere to go but down, he felt the encroaching fingers of panic grip his spine.
"So I said to my client, 'credits or I'm gone, collector tech may fetch a high price on the black market, but I don't have a cargo ship to transport it'." Entering a midline dugout, Shepard found a couple squads of men resting and watching the humped figure of Wrex as he spoke, "He says to me, ' I got two million credits of this stuff, its guaranteed to restore fertility in Krogan'," foreign legionnaires chuckled, but blank faces were on the Terran born among them, Wrex looked at them and scratched his chin, "They stay that about everything from feel good shit to legitimate experimental procedures kids. Anyways, I ain't looking to be a father so I tell him, he either gets the collectors right there to pay me in credits or eezo, or he ain't got a bodyguard."
"So did he pay you?" A Colonial Guardsman asked, he was smoking a cigarette and sitting on an empty ammo crate.
"Yup, he folded pretty quick there, offered me fifty thousand credits, of course I didn't take that, not after he tried to swindle me, got him to up it to eighty thousand. Some of the easiest money I ever made too." Wrex accepted a cigar from his Batarian sergeant and inhaled deeply, as he spoke smoke vented from his nostrils, "Met the collectors, don't let C-Net fool ya, they're a bunch of insectoid looking skeletons, with glowing eyes and some weird particle weaponry. Not very tough from what I could gather, but I wouldn't want to be shot by them either. Anyways the trade off was made, we got the merchandise and I was paid my full fee. Eighty thousand credits in two hours is good money."
Shepard sidled up to a Quarian engineer near the lip of the trench, "Lieutenant Shepard." The Quarian greeted with a smile beneath his mask, barely visible in the dark confines, "Just trying to get our Phalanx up and running, it took a hit in the retreat."
Shepard looked at the machine, then the man and nodded, a Phalanx was an Anti Projectile Laser Projector. It kinda looked like a Tesla coil, with a disco ball at the top and a long cylindrical housing that protected the inner workings connected to a field generator or a power grid. The Federation had bought the production license from the Salarians so it worked off readily available C-Tech, well "relatively". If his manuals were correct Salarian mil-tech was experimental oftentimes, but thankfully the eggheads back at Earth had been smart enough to buy the relatively reliable shit from the frogs. Course relatively reliable meant "handle with care", an impossibility in a warzone.
"What's wrong with it?" Shepard asked conversationally, reading the name tape on the Quarian's breastplate, "Nar Redda".
"The little bosh'tets casing took an autocannon round. It still works but when it heats up I can't guarantee it'll continue to function." The technician dug around the open paneling, at his side bundles of wires had been torn out and replaced. Shepard handed the quarian the multitool he was feeling around for, "Thanks."
"No problem technician. Mind explaining how it works?"
"Uhh sure, it has a few radar antennas it gets targeting data from, combined with operational battlefield analysis networks, it uses the operational data to locate artillery fire bases and uses the radar focused on said locations to target the rounds, it only has at best fifteen seconds to get a firing solution, but all it needs to do is either detonate the shell or knock it off course with a laser blast, a few millimeters of dispersion in flight can cause it to miss if it doesn't go up." The quarian grunted as he pulled out a dented capacitor and examined it, cursed in his language, and went back inside the machine.
"So I was with some buddies from my old outfit, we just got off a good job in the terminus and wanted to blow off some steam. We'd been burned last time by cheap Omega hookers so flesh was off the table. Got some good shit from some Asari smuggler, rented out an entertainment cube and we shot up. Now I shit you not, we met genuine Geth." A couple chuckles from legionnaires, but everyone else was watching in a mix of rapt attention and nervous energy, Shepard looked over and it was the Batarian sergeant speaking, he'd removed his helmet to replace a bandage on his head and was putting it back on, "No I'm serious, we were high no lie, but I'm serious."
"So for you boys and girls who don't know what an entertainment cube is, think of a VR setup but instead of wearing some glasses, you're in a box with reactive screens. Like uhh, like those holodecks from that show-" He was tapping his fingers together, in a facsimile of a human snapping their fingers.
"Star?"
"Yeah, from Star!" He coughed hard as he regained his thoughts, "So we think we see Geth on the viewscreens, but a group of them just jump us and put us face first into the ground. We're all high so forget about fighting back." He looks thoughtful for a moment, "So we're all obviously terrified if we're even cognisant, and then I guess they knock us out cause we all wake up face first in the ground." He shrugs, "Not the most satisfying story but it was weird as hell, swear on my heart we saw actual geth beyond the veil."
Nar Redda emerged from the Phalanx pylon and wiped some dust and ash from his visor, "Hey Sarge, did they have red and white markings?"
Everyone looked over to the Quarian then back to the Batarian, "Hmmm, I think so. They had x marks across their entire body. Yeah now that I think about it they did. Why?"
Redda wiped his hands clean of purple grease shrugging, "Reminds me of some old stories from the Geth War is all."
Everyone gave the boy time to speak but he didn't seem to be interested in providing more detail, "Is that so Jarka?" Wrex finally prodded, leaning forward, "Well you clearly know something boy, why don't you spit it out?"
Again Redda shrugged, "Not much to tell really. We got a whole archive of Geth War footage and reports. Including the red and white ones. The nar'se'lai, Child Takers." Redda sat down as he gathered his thoughts, "The Admiralty don't like to admit it, but during the war, the military government recorded killing more civilians than the geth did. A lot of the data is censored, or outright deleted, but my family maintains the records so we know stuff that your average Quarian wouldn't even think about. One of those being census records and death certificates." He scratched his neck, "An awful lot of records, entire cities in fact, have 'lost to bombardment' as cause of death. Quarian naval bombardment specifically. Anyways, during the evacuation, a lot of people were left behind, children, the wounded, elderly. But the Geth apparently had special strike teams that targeted evacuation ships containing children. Red and white special ops I guess. Don't know why, but it spawned a lot of boogeyman stories you tell kids. 'Be good now or the nar'se'lai will get you', every family has their own variation, and its scary until you're a teenager about to embark on pilgrimage, and then you read some records for history classes and realize that they actually existed." Redda kicks up some dirt with his digitigrade hoof.
"Speaking of stuff you think doesn't exist, but it does." Shepard tried to fill the silence, "You ever hear of the cyber demons?" The humans among their band looked up in shock, but the citadellians looked puzzled, "My family are long time spacers. Mom and dad were both captains of their own ships, Mom's a commodore now and she has some crazy stories back before the bug wars. So this was when she was just an ensign on a scout ship, back when we just invented the Gravity Drive that could barely make five light years a month and we called our navy the Federal Stellar Authority. A lot of private interests had bought their own remote and crewed exploration vessels and a healthy amount of 'pirate tradition' had emerged to undercut the competition. The race to be the first one to find a suitable colony world was cut throat back then." Shepard shook his head ruefully, the humans among them also nodded, it had been a bloody waste of ships and crews, "Cherenkov drives back then were super unreliable, sometimes they'd tear the ships apart and leave you drifting in alternate reality to die of asphyxiation, other times you'd accidentally run into an asteroid or rogue planet and splat you go."
"Anyways, thats the backdrop for the mission, a standard patrol to check up on some company scout ship that was overdue for a checkup. So mom is manning sensors as an ensign, and they emerge into Sirius, it's a binary star system but she said it was super creepy. Like there was a permanent eclipse happening, which if you know anything about Sirius is absolutely not right, that place burns like a plasma torch. The entire crew is jittery because it's taken a month to get here, and will take a month to get back, jokes on them, an updated drive had just been developed that made that trip into a week both ways. So they're cramped into this tiny ship, the system is shrouded, and the lost corporate ship is right there in the dark side of a moon. Mom joked that if they hadn't immediately found it they'd have done the bare minimum search and fucked right off cause they'd all seen enough horror vids to know where this was going." A couple people chuckled, but the atmosphere was dark and quiet. Everyone was laser focused.
"So as junior most deck officer, she was assigned the job of leading the marine team. Now this is pre-shuffle by SICON after that disastrous first contact at Hesperus, so the marines were closer to uniformed police than an actual military arm of the FSA. They get in some old timey mark one Marauder EVA suits. Now these things are just civ-spec militarized work suits, but everyone's spooked, so they take a nuclear charge with them just in case they want to die now and not later, and load up on extra parts, ammo, and equipment."
"The entire time they're hailing the ship, and the creepiest part is that it's breathing. Normally you know you get static and stellar interference, but the frequencies all around were taken up by breathing, labored, heavy, quick, relaxed. Now, the captain, and I don't know whether it was prudent or stupid, didn't tell mom about the breathing. He felt she had enough on her plate and freaking her out on a space walk and ship inspection was probably wise. He did tell the marine senior noncom first, so not negligence buuuut. Yeah."
Shepard looked back, a bit of paranoia creeping into him, "So the ship is shadowed and IR readings are pretty dead, they turn on the ship's floodlights as they approach, and this thing is fucked, like a snail decided to coat it in mucus and then apply a carbon torching to the exterior. If it wasn't melted it was scorched black. But scans showed that the interior was still good, the reactor was in standby, and the docking port was still intact. So mom thinks that maybe the ship got too close to a gas giant, got covered in acid, and flew close to the white dwarf in order to burn off the mixture and were dead in space. She was trying to comfort herself but as she started to burn with the team towards the ship, her guts turned to ice. And not just her too, literally everyone's vital signs spiked and showed discomfort of some form." Shepard took a drink of water from the tube in his helmet and collected himself.
"Now herself? Yeah she's willing to admit that she was a bit of a weenie at twenty, but two of these guys on her Marine team fought in the Hod jungles back during the second Extrasolar war. Hod's jungles make marines like me shit bricks just thinking of going back there." He smiled, and was gratified he got a few chuckles, he sniffed, "Right so, right."
It took a few seconds for Shepard to regain his thoughts, his mind falling to his mother and all the stories she and dad told him, he felt homesick, so terribly terribly homesick, "Right so they get in the hatch and see scribbling everywhere, it's in blood and oil." Shepard repeated a drawing his mother made on the dirt, a U with squiggles going in and out of it so that it looked like a corrupted 8, "They report in, check conditions, the atmosphere is still oxygenized if stale, and begin to enter the ship proper. It's not a massive ship, about the size of a Kowloon class freighter, but it was meant for long hauls and had a hydroponics, a galley, and individual rooms for the crew, not to mention mission equipment. So a hundred meters long including engine pylons, quick walk up the central spine. The central corridor had been crushed inwards like a, like-" Shepard searched around and found an empty water can, he took it in his hand and crushed the mid section, "Like that."
A few people blinked, "The ship's integrity wasn't breached, mom described it like a mass of metal, and pipes, and life support tubing just emerged into the ship like a ruptured blood vessel or a clotted artery. It was impassible though and the side rooms were still accessible, so they investigated it by the book." Shepard swallowed, remembering the memories mother had instilled upon him, even in his adolescence, of the terrible scene, "Like someone water etched those symbols with blood. Each room had a mural and symbols around it, and the canvas was scorched black like the exterior, but blood, uncoagulated blood, was centimeters deep in every room, it coated the walls where the etchings were. And the ship has been, mutilated, so that you have to walk into every room to get to the bridge."
Shepard licked his lips, "They get to the bridge, and now they're fucked. One guy was just repeating bible passages in blind panic, another straight up noped after the second room and walked out the nearest airlock to be collected by the mothership, even after being threatened with court marshal. Shit mom almost joined that guy but she physically couldn't turn around, no matter how terrified she was, something in her screamed to just leave but she said it was like being on a rail, each step she took was forward."
The air was dead silent, the sound of gunfire had faded away, and for a few seconds, even the artillery and citadel ceased firing, "They get to the bridge, and it's empty. No murals, no inches of still liquid blood, not even a cigarette burn. The only sound she can hear is breathing at the front where the captain's chair is. She walks to it without thinking and turns it around. The captain is there, his face is recognizable from her briefing, and he'd been turned into… flesh furniture I guess is how she described it, like a complicated series of tubes and bellows."
"He's still fucking breathing. His eye are dead and glassy but his body is still fucking breathing and she just fucking shoots him, she looses it and just sprays him and his chair down with the machine gun until it goes click. They're officially freaking the fuck out. Fuck getting the black box and the bridge records, nope, nope nope nope fuck that shit. They get a plasma torch up and return to the clogged spinal corridor and begin to cut into it to leave the way they came in, and they grind the rest of the crew- grind the clot open and find the rest of the crew in similar states all breathing in these pods. Each of them like the captain, flesh furniture, or, or instruments and tools of some diabolical kind." Shepard was breathing hard now, the nightmares he had as a child when his mother told him those stories coming back to him, and remembering how inescapable the sense of dread the story filled him, that filled even his night terrors today.
"So they try to call the mothership. No response, they can't get any signals on the radio, and they're trying to cut out of that fucking tomb and emerge on the other side and see the guy who bailed, or whats left of him. He and his suit has been bisected at the chest, it looks like his body was exposed to a hard vacuum. It's just a pile of intestines, legs, and frozen blood. Then it starts walking towards them, and it screams on its exterior radio, 'Unworthy! All of them are unworthy even as tools!' and it fires the few rounds it has in its belt left before everyone else just hoses the poor fucker down, blam blam blam blam like that, and they're just fucking screaming, and pushing and shoving each other to get out of the back airlock." Shepard pantomimes the actions, like a gravball player, "So they get out and just jump into space firing their thrusters. Screaming on the radio for the mother ship and scarring the fuck out of the standby team cause they were just as much in the dark as they were going in as coming out."
Shepard sits down, suddenly exhausted now that the climax of his fantastical anecdote was over, "So they get scooped up and mom tells her captain to just blow the ship out of space and burn back to the nearest civilization and to stop arguing with her and fucking do it. He refuses of course cause she and the rest of the team are absolute fucking fucked out of their minds. They shoot a radio nav buoy into the wreck and follow her advice on leaving at least. And that's that, mother heard from the grape vine that their records of the ship were the only ones that existed anymore, a follow up team found no trace of it, not even a dust trail indicating someone else came in and moved it, oh they could find their ship's dust trail and the trail of the exploration ship, but nothing after that. Just fucking gone like that." Shepard coughed, his throat sore from the story and the yelling of previous battles, he didn't want to lose his voice before the next battle.
Another cough, "And yeah, thats it. Fuckin' ghost stories man. Mom didn't want to do any more digging after that and she even requested a section 8. Denied, sent to counseling instead but she was a nervous wreck after that for years. Refused any and all EVA missions for the next decade."
Everyone stared at Shepard, some nodded in understanding, others, the most knowledgeable of the spacers, made the sign of the cross or swore under their breath, "Cyberdemons." Someone whispered. Shepard searched him out, but couldn't pick out the speaker, that word shot through the terran minds like a memetic virus, suddenly everyone found something better to do.
"Hah, good story Shepard!" Wrex slapped the young man on his back so hard he almost sent the power armored marine flying, "You hear that boys and girls? Don't be afraid of dying today cause at least you weren't the unlucky bastards in his story. Wrex's confidence perked Shepard up a bit, "Come on we've been on break long enough, clean your guns, get some ammo ready, and eat some food and water. If the Batarians have any sense they'll attack soon and I don't want to hear bellyaching during a fight!"
The group broke up, but Wrex's hand remained on Shepard's shoulder as he pulled him into a dugout, "Shepard… We all got stories, but here's a piece of advice, don't tell those types of stories to your men. Got it?"
Shepard nodded, "It's not the appropriate time for unsettling them, yeah. I just-"
"You got carried away sheep-herd. Don't get me wrong, good blood curdling story, and you were… Animated. But knowing when to shut your mouth is a great skill as a soldier and commander, at least you're getting the talk about it here and not a disciplinary meeting." Wrex petted Shepherd's helmeted head like he was a dog, "Now get out there and do what you were supposed to do."
With his marching orders Shepard went off.
The gunfire returned in a slow manner, but it quickly peaked as the rear of their defensive perimeter opened up, "Lieutenant Shepard are you reading?!" A voice called with the distinctive twang of Ceylan.
"Shepard here Ceylan, report!"
"Fucked, its all fucked sir! We're coming down Plaka boulevard with hostile mercs right on our tail." Ceylan's voice was devoid of panic but full of fear.
Shepard's taught instincts took over, "What's your situation? Where's Ikersie?" He began to run down the trench towards the back of the defensive line in the park. The incoming sounds of battle spooking and alerting the soldiers all around him.
Shouting was erupting, men and women rushed to their positions, and the previous malaise affecting the Terran lines began to melt away.
"Ikersie's dead! I'm the only one left! We've got about a platoon of mixed personnel, two marauders, and three ground cars. We're taking heavy fire from the buildings around us and we're coming up quickly on their rear lines!"
"Ikersie, wait for us to counterattack,we'll pincer them between us!" Shepard ordered but the crescendo of fire accelerated to a dull whine of constant gunfire. Moving through the trenches was too slow. He pulled himself one handed by the lip of the trench and began running over the hills, exposed for all to see.
"Lieutenant, what are you doing!?"
"Get that marine back in a trench!"
A familiar voice in an Irish tenor reverberated out, "Shepard what are you doing, have you lost sense!?"
His power armor assisted physique sprinted dangerously over rocky terrain and leapt across trenches and foxholes. Surprise and concern seemed to sweep over those he passed, heads rubbernecking as a blur of man and machine moved like quicksilver through their ranks.
Jumping into the forward most fire pit amidst a squad of Japanese mobile infantrymen, Shepard saw the chaos erupting among the batarian lines. Smoke, gunfire, tracers, and even soldiers were evolving into a chaotic array of battle.
"Shepard what the fuck are you doing!?" McIntire called out from behind, Shepard looked back at the man, and he stopped dead in his tracks, take aback for a second, "Shepard, sir, don't-"
Shepard leapt over the trench lip again, the infantryman around him following to the lip as they watched what could only be described as a mad man raced towards the Batiarna lines armed with only a rifle and little else.
"I won't leave them out there!" Shepard called back, more in adrenaline fueled panic than a logical response to responsibility.
Pulling his plasma rifle free from its socket in his back, Shepard's only thought in mind was saving Ikersie, and he didn't even know why. He only knew that Ceylan was in trouble and he had to help.
Shepard's mad charge towards the Batarian lines was met with no resistance, the fighting echidna the Batairans distracting the already stressed Batarian pickets, with the roar of gunfire and battle growing louder and louder.
The first person he met was a Batarian looking towards a street deeper into the city, his rifle resting on a makeshift loophole made from fallen masonry. His entire body jiggled in startled astonishment as Shepard kicked him hard in the side of the chest, his power armor assisted boot cracking ribs for sure.
The Batarian's partner tried to stand up and pull free a sidearm. Shepard shot him twice in the chest, the plasma pellets fading right through his kinetic barrier and burning straight through his chestplate.
The wheezing groan of agony from the first sentry drew Shepard's attention and boot, a swift kick the head sufficiently inflicted enough blunt force trauma to render him unconscious, perhaps permanently. Shepard's mind glossed over the fact he had just killed two sapients up close. The only thing echoing through his mind was saving Ikersie, well that and McIntire's fist.
"Sir, what the fuck are you doing?!" He snarled into Shepard's face as he pulled the smaller man down the ground.
"Ikersie-"
"Shut up! I can't believe I'm the one saying this but you can't just run off alone and fight a one man battle against an army!" McIntire eased some of the pressure on Shepard's chest but was still laid across him, pinning him, "I understand you are worried about Ceylan, but you can't just go off without orders like that. Take three deep breaths."
"Kinda hard with you on my chest like this Mac." Shepard snarked bitterly.
McIntire mocked humorlessly, "Ha ha sir." His hard eyes were boring straight into Shepards, and he counted each breath the smaller man took.
After the third calming breath he rolled off his commanding officer. Shepard sat up, "Call Anderson sir." McIntire ordered.
Slowly Shepard did just that, "Commander Anderson, this is Shepard."
"Shepard, report."
"I've taken an enemy sentry post to the north of our position and am in position to assist a break in effort from friendly forces." Shepard complied shakily.
Silence reigned on his radio for a minute before Anderson spoke, "Take two squads of the Japanese heavies to assist you, assist the break in by all reasonable measures. No risks, understood?"
Shepard swallowed, "Understood sir, executing now."
Like a script in a video game, the two squads lumbered out from the battle fog, the red sundisk of Japan barely visible on the matte gray camouflage exteriors of their exosuits.
They took up positions in the little sentry post, the gunfire growing in intensity before nodded to Shepard to lead, and he took three more calming breaths, "Alright, here's what we're going to do."
Shepard and McIntire snuck along the sides of a building, shadowed by the smoke and ash that clogged the streets, they had ambushed several positions held by exhausted Batarian conscripts.
"Alright I see them, they're pinned down in that market square." McIntire commented, "I see about a company sized force all around them, looks like they're hyping themselves up to storm them."
Shepard nodded, "We won't let them."
Looking into the square, Ceylan and his group had circled the wagons, taking the ground cars and using them as cover before a multitiered shopfront in the far corner. The square would have been mostly devoid of cover before, but the batarians had been busy digging in with explosives to establish a forward operating base and were currently fighting from it. Maneuvering elements from neighboring pickets were slowly leapfrogging their way forward, hugging the sides of buildings for cover as they went to strangle the terran position.
The duo took aim at their targets and painted the exposed batarian positions.
Behind them, the Japanese exosuit squads fired their Y-rack mortars. The plunging fire suffered no obstructions. Explosions ripped through the FOB, an ammo depot exploded into a multicolored fireball that consumed nearly half the market square with its concussive force.
"Ceylan, we have eyes on you, we're laying down suppressive fire now."
Ceylan double tapped his mic as confirmation, and from his position, Shepard saw a single thermal figure emerge from the Terran dominated corner of the square. Other figures emerged and sprinted towards the relative safety of Horned Park.
Thermal readings were really the only way to get a direct visual reading in all this battle fog, and all around signatures were moving along the rooftops and ground floor. Many were thrown into panic and confusion by the sudden detonation of the outpost and ammunition. Sheaprd and McIntire took single shots into possible targets, trying to keep the attention off the fleeing platoon sized element they were trying to usher.
Ceylan skidded up next to them and fell prone beside them, "Report corporal!" McIntire demanded.
"Terrible! Everyone else is dead, I got mostly walking wounded, and we're all stragglers, we're using the two Cross Marauders we picked up to carry the critically wounded." Ceylan listed off a variety of minutia in regards to his own person, his plasma containment core was almost cracked, his suit was at a quarter power, and he was personally dinged by a lot of small arms fire.
"Alright that's enough, lets fall back!" Shepard ordered. The other two marines shouted their assent as they stood up and followed behind the lieutenant.
What sounded like a resounding explosion erupted beside Shepard and he was thrown to the side as something heavy impacted him.
Author's Notes:
Blood: Sorry for the delay folks, but at least it came out sooner than the last chapter! Going to call it here since we're at 17 pages for this one so I'll just chop it here for you fine folks to read so you don't have to wait another few months. The last two sections here was literally written in a day and I'm not totally satisfied with it but better done than not.
The last month and a half really saw the completion of about half this chapter, and with this one we only have one more chapter to go before the end of the Elysium arc.
I hope you enjoyed it, and yes hopefully we'll increase the tempo of chapter releases.
L4: this shall continue!
Review
RandomReader: ah okay then
Qrs-jg: and back again
Jkdelta38: will do!
AyeJimmy123: SAME THING THAT HAPPEN TODAY!
Krieger Techpreist: will do
suckstobeacritic: thank you
Jason Skeans: yeah have to feel bad for them some times.