"Pedites pugnas decernent. - (roughly:) It's the infantry that decides the battle."
- Slogan of the German Infantry Training Center, Bavaria

Chapter 11 - Feros: Hold Zhu's Hope

I noticed the other person in the room only when she seated herself on the opposite side of the mess hall table. I looked up, shook myself out of my thoughts and then saw just how annoyed Shepard looked like.

As in, the unhappy, stressed-out kind of annoyed. Luckily, I wasn't to be blamed. The blame was rather on the ones that had designed our stealth system, the propulsion and the heat capacitors.

I didn't understand the more technical aspects to it - I'm just a grunt - but from what I had picked up, something caused the heat and static the NORMANDY's drive core produced during FTL flight to -somehow, magically to me, quite annoying for our techs - gradually trickle into the capacitors and emission sinks used to keep us hidden while we were stealthed, and not into the capacitors they were supposed to go into.

The problem was, that these special sinks, the one part of our ship that caused the NORMANDY to be so cutting-edge and invisible, were slowly burning out in the process. Over time, the time we could maintain the silent running without being roasted ourselves would go down to near zero.

The two servicemen I had overheard during breakfast sounded amusingly frustrated, but seeing Shepard like that actually showed how much of a problem that design oversight really was.

"Commander." I greeted her in a friendly tone and raised my glass, hoping that would make her feel a little better. I didn't quite feel like my place in her team was that secured - a small bit of awe may still have been with me, I cannot tell, writing these lines now.

By the looks of it, she did enjoy it. At least she smiled, even though the slight weariness remained in her eyes.

"Guten Morgen, Raven."

I was perplexed enough to almost spill my orange juice. She chuckled, before turning her attention to the cereals on her tray. Shepard had spoken with an American accent, but it was pretty clear regardless.

A bit unsure, I grinned lightly in response. "I never noticed that German sounds so, well, aggressive when it's meant to be polite."

She snorted before taking a large sip from her coffee. "Well, now you know. That countryman of yours down in Engineering has such a strong accent, it makes me angry just listening to him. And don't get me started on the tech-stuff he's telling you, even when you don't want to hear it, 'cause you heard it five times already."

She leaned back and rose her hands in a comically-despaired fashion. "Zis heetsink capazitorr needz to be rreplazed ass soon as we arrr back on ze Zitadell."

I laughed at Shepard's display – that, apparently, only riled her up even more.

"Next time I'm down there, I'll take you with me so you can just translate it to me."

Still grinning broadly, I shook my head. I had spoken with that guy, a Serviceman 2nd class on a few occasion, and we always dropped the English for German after a few words. Mainly because even I was barely able to make out what he said, but also because it obviously is nice to talk in your own tongue every once in awhile.

Admittedly, we did annoy the ever-living hell out of everyone around us, and I was sure that I would be informally banned from entering Engineering very soon, but that only made it sweeter.

"I zink I can do zat, Commander." I said, feeling a bit of sadistic joy at Shepard rolling her eyes and emptying her cup as if it contained liquid painkillers. "In all seriousness though, Shepard - you're not exactly looking happy. Something off?"

She shook her head, gulped her coffee and placed the mug on the table. "Nothing, really. But this… 'design oversight' you probably heard about could be a real problem when we're on Feros. Our silent running is cut in half, our GARDIANs are almost useless right now. We're going into a live warzone, if our intel is correct. And this time, we're the only Alliance unit in the area."

She gave me a questioning and hard gaze. "You've read the briefing doc?"

I nodded. "Yeah. You guys go in and look what Saren's after, the Marines plus Williams and I hang back and defend the colony. Or what's left of it. Reinforcements are on the way."

"That's the very short, but good enough." Shepard put a spoonful of cornflakes in her mouth. I took this opportunity to think about what Feros would bring - I had forgotten some of the details, but generally, the mission was supposed to not be too critical. Not too dangerous.

Except for the fact that you and your squad are going to help a bunch of civilians that will at one point turn on you and become some sort of zombies.

I felt a slight shiver creeping down my spine. Luckily, Shepard wasn't paying attention.

"Well, my gear's ready. The Mako should be as well, just in case. Last time I checked, Garrus was complaining about the target algorithmen…"

"He tends to do that, doesn't he?" Shepard asked dryly.

"... but everything else should be ready. Set up a few additional incendiaries and have updated my omniblade. Whatever's coming at us," I finished, sounding a bit too pleased with myself for my own liking, "I'll be ready if you need me."

"Great." She nodded, and smiled. "You're making progress, Raven. Had you told me that you actually would make a good addition to the team when we first met, I would not have been so sure about that. But you're showing quite some promise."

"Hm." I wasn't quite sure what I was supposed to respond to this unexpected praise, feeling a bit self-conscious. "Thank you, I guess?"

Shepard's smile turned a bit warmer. "I'm not kidding. Watch out, when this is over, we may just get you promoted to NCO. I think you'll fit right in."

A fair portion of pride mixed into my embarrassment. I was not so certain if our Commander was right about all of that, but her praise was high regardless. "Thank you, Commander. I must admit, I feel better about all this 'soldier' business than I thought."

She smiled, but didn't say anything. I took it as an invitation to continue.

"Never thought I'd like being on that much of a schedule… but maybe I just needed someone or something to kick my arse." I grinned openly, first with a bit of sarcasm, then genuine. "We're doing good work here. That's more than I have done so far."

It was true. I had been a student before, my subject being geography, humans and the way they were acting and influencing the world around them. An interesting field, if you're into that topic, but my character often made me very bitter about people.

At that time I just began to understand that I had lost all hope that what I did would really matter.

Call me young, dear reader, call me naive, romantic, idiotic or a mixture of all of it, but now, from a distance I can understand that I wanted to make a difference, and that this was one of the things that kept me from really looking for a way back home.

In this world, I could make the difference. And so I had found what I had lost years ago - a reason to push myself further than I had thought possible.

Of course, having a squad that at least partially depends on you is quite a strong motivation as well.

I just was not so sure about my future in the Alliance. But despite that, I added: "Maybe when Saren's done for, I actually will enlist permanently. It's far better than ending up as hitman in the Terminus." My left hand's thumb stroked along the edge of the dog tag I had placed next to my plate. I was wearing it whenever I was on duty, but sometimes the iron chain it hung from on just annoyed me to no end.

Shepard nodded approvingly, but I noticed that her eyes were watchful. "If you decide to do that, I'll make sure to give you some help. But, let's not rush ahead of ourselves. We still have no idea what Saren's up for, and the Geth are still attacking our colonies." She leaned back, having finished her meal in the meantime. I hurried to catch up with her and stood up as well, grabbing my tags and the tray.

"One more thing", she said on the way to the dishwasher. "You're on a double-shift today. Make sure that our gear is ready, we'll be needing it. In the second shift, go to Dr. Chakwas and let her take some more blood."

I bobbed my head in understanding, suppressing a grimace at the thought of the Doc and her sharp needle. Over the last two weeks, we had slowly built up a small blood bank for myself. While human medicine was advanced enough to create synthetic blood for transfusions, it needed a small amount of natural blood in order to get the process going.

Of course, in the worst case I could be given a normal blood donation from anyone with my blood group - but having my own blood in reserve eliminated most of the common risks, like infections or any other complications.

And while I didn't like the laying-around-being-bored-and-stung part of it, I understood fully that my life would maybe depend on that one day - especially since my relatively unaltered body was more fragile in that regard, than my fellow and experienced squadmates. Better safe, than sorry.

"When you're finished there, you're off the clock. Relax, do something else, sleep - but keep in mind that as soon as the third shift ends, we're only an hour from Feros. Understood?"

"Copy that, Commander." Our conversation got cut short by the sound of a lock opening, and Liara left the medbay. She noticed us and stopped dead in her tracks.

"Oh, Shepard, Raven… I hope I'm not interrupting you?"

I shook my head. "Was just about to leave." I turned to Shepard, and nodded. "I'll be in Cargo if anybody needs me. See ya later, Commander. Liara."

I closed the distance to the elevator, only turning around when the door was about to close behind me. For a brief moment, I saw Shepard greet Liara… In a very warm and welcoming way.

Hm-hm.

I stared at the cabin's grey walls, grinning my signature grin - like a guddamn' crook, as Zaeed Massani would have phrased it. I may have been wrong - I had been a few meters away from Shepard - but didn't I see a certain glint in her eyes, when she noticed our resident asari?

Not my business.

I would know soon enough, I told myself. For now, I lifted the necklace with my tags on them…

PFC RAVEN, JESS
XXXX-XXXXX-XXX
A NEGATIVE
ATHEIST

… and put it around my neck where it belonged. As I said: For now.

"Alright then." I said aloud when I arrived on the Cargo deck to the sight of Wrex demonstrating shotgun reloading techniques to Tali - something he had been doing all day. "Back to work."

Twenty-four hours later.

"Ya're green, Raven."

I turned around to Miller, who took a look at the two seals on my chest, nodded and then turned around to let me check his armor one last time.

"Looks good to me."

The process of putting on one's armor may not be the most difficult task ever, but if it wasn't done with extreme care, the multiple layers of plating and ceramic could turn from life-saving to deadly dead weight in just a matter of seconds.

The most crucial parts were the clamps and seals that kept each part firmly in place. Even one of them being askew or loose, and on hostile worlds or in space, you were a dead man within a few breaths.

At least this time though, we were heading to a place where suffocating or getting barbecued wasn't that much of a concern.

We only had to worry about tireless and merciless killing machines.

And rebelling, mind-controlled civilians, murderous plant-things, corporate motherfuckers doing sick experiments…

I suppressed the line of thought as good as I was able and put on my helmet instead, before grabbing the rig from the bench, strapping that one to my chest and then attaching rifle and pistol to their respective places – not before checking them once more and firmly locking both of them.

The shuffle of armor parts and muffled conversation did remind me, in a strange way, of the times when I was in a football team. When we were in the cabin, getting ready for a match? Sure, the cleats had been replaced by bullet-proof sabatons… and heavy-duty body armor and high-calibre rifles don't really compare to jerseys and shin pads either. The air was filled with anxiety and nervosity though, even if going to war was not exactly the same thing as stepping on the pitch.

It didn't quite feel dissimilar, all things considered. And the camaraderie, the knowledge that we had work as a team to leave the field victorious?

I grinned at that thought, even if it was filled with a hinge of bitterness. Like every single time I thought back to home, these days.

I had been gone for more than twelve weeks now – probably without any trace.

I responded to the corporal's thumbs-up with a nod, before turning to go to the elevator.

"Hey, Raven, one sec!"

I looked over my shoulder and saw Danners approaching me with a piece of foil in her hands – the kind of foil that was used to glue our Alliance & member states national markings, rank insignias and specialization badges to the pauldrons.

"You forgot to attach your unit designation."

I tilted my head. "Something I missed?"

"Haven't you checked your mail?"

I shook my head. "I had a night shift, no time for anything."

She smiled a devious smile. "Looks like the egg-heads in high command finally figured out how they wanna call us – here." She turned the visible side to me.

White numbers, in the same font as the NORMANDY's name on the hull.

905.

I looked up, puzzled. "There is no ninth fleet."

She sighed. "Right, I keep forgetting that you never had to take basics. Okay, the one hundreds through eight hundreds are the squads and platoons that are attached to the eight Alliance fleets."

"Yep."

"And the nine's for 'special purpose units'." She grinned again, and finger-quoted. "900's the one guarding Vancouver HQ, 919 are attached to our HQ on the Citadel. I guess having 'SPECTRE Shepard' as our CO makes us special enough. Well -" she raised her voice "maybe it's because we got some quite 'special' guys with us, too..."

"I heard ya, ya ol' hag." Miller didn't even bother with turning around. His best buddy, Private Gordon, and Corporal Mason were barely able to contain their mirth.

"I guess so." I answered, chuckling lightly at Danner's rolled eyes and clenched fist. "What's with that Zero Five, though?"

"No idea." She cast a devastating glance of death at the gambler's back. He defended himself by not noticing. "Maybe Hackett's a bit salty that we're not assigned to his fleet anymore, and that's Commands way of mocking him."

It appeared a bit petty to name us the fifth unit to just make fun of the admiral of the Fifth Fleet, but I accepted the explanation without any comment. Commissioned officers and members of the admiralty board are only humans, too.

"Ten minutes until we arrive the Zhu's Hope outpost dock." Joker announced professionally. "Colony and outpost are still dark, and their comm-buoy is dead in orbit, apparently. I see a few Geth Dropships around, Commander. They haven't spotted us, stealth system is online 'n active."

The mood changed from 'joking' to 'tense' in just three sentences.

"All hands, this is Shepard speaking. Battle stations! Be ready for everything! Squad, on me. Nine-Oh-Five, stand by near main lock. Stick to the plan. Shepard, out."

"You heard the Commander!" Kaidan's voice echoed throughout the Armory. Everyone's heads turned to him. He looked quite impressive in his new Predator-armor. "Raven, with me. Chief Williams, you take your team and move in once we have cleared the area. Raven will rejoin you in Zhu's Hope. Reinforce the defenses! Keep the colonists safe! Take out everyone who attacks your position! Is that understood?!"

A loud chorus of Ooorah! answered him.

"Alright, get ready!" He turned to me and made a gesture for me to follow him. I nodded, hastily grabbed my Mattock and made my way through the assembled marines. "See ya in a few, Raven!" Miller shouted after me, giving me a pat on my armored shoulder as I went by. I briefly nodded in his direction. "See ya!" I responded equally, then Kaidan and I hastened upstairs to meet the usual suspects at the inner air lock. Everyone was here, no one stayed behind this time around. It's worth noticing though that Liara appeared to be the most troubled one. I just had to flash a small sarcastic grin at her obvious display of nervosity.

I'm the one who should be nervous here. You're the bloody Shadow Broker in training. Come on.

The servicemen at their battle stations shot us nervous glances, everyone having been issued a pistol for the worst case of a boarding attempt scenario.

"We're docking. LZ looks clear for now - no, scratch that! Commander, there's a human coming towards the skybridge!"

Joker's observation was on point, even I could see his signature on my HUD now. The tension in my back became hard to endure, I nervously shifted from one leg to the other and clutched my rifle as if to strangle it.

"Ship's secure. We're in."

"Understood, Joker. Pressley, you have the ship."

"Aye-aye, Commander."

The airlock opened up, we even skipped the decontamination cycle and stepped right on the field.

"Ready up, guys!"

We changed into combat stances, and I took my position, forcefully pushing any doubt into the back of my head.

The first thing I noticed was how foul and dusty the thin air tasted. Looking around, everything was so obviously devastated and long dead. Grey dominated everything. There was no doubt that we had entered the long-abandoned Prothean city… once maybe a hub of life, now almost lifeless and rotting. We had dared to step on an ancient race's grave.

I briefly glanced out of the port's barred windows, and felt a brief wave of dizziness. We were far above the clouds, near the top of a tower that the briefing document declared to have a height of around five kilometers.

The squad cleared the skybridge in silence, then we only had to walk a few meters to reach the man who waved at us. He looked remarkably calm.

"We saw your ship. Fai Dan wants to speak with you immediately."

Shepard looked a bit confused at this 'greeting'. "Who's Fai Dan?"

"He's… our leader. He need's your help to… prepare for the Geth. They're making another push."

Much like the first time I heard him when playing Mass Effect 1, I marveled a bit at his stuttering pattern of speech. David Al Talaqani. I remembered his name, just as I had Corporal Jenkins'. That marvel got cut short, as I suddenly noticed some spark from behind him…

"Please. Up stairs, past the freighter -"

"DOWN!"

I yelled from the top of my lungs and grabbed the man's collar. Stumbling down and dragging him with me was one single motion.

I was almost too late. The rocket that was launched that very second missed him by barely an inch.

It impacted right next to us. Shrapnel filled the air, and while the explosion was too loud, the shocked and distorted face only inches from my own showed me with painful clarity that the colonist didn't go out of this unharmed. He screamed, that was obvious, and it was a truly a hellish scream of pain. A few pieces of debris hit my armor and left a scar on my glasses.

I pressed him down and tried to get myself up again - I glanced on Al Talaqani's back and saw a nightmarish mixture of black and crimson. His suit was torn wide open, burned rocks and blackened metal was imbedded all over his back... And there was a lot of blood, oozing from where his skin had been abraded...

The sound of rifles and shotguns shook me out of my daze. I quickly glanced to everyone - they used the cover available to them and engaged the Geth into a murderous firefight.

"Civilian down! I'm reviving, cover me!"

I heard brief acknowledgements, but focused on the downed colonist. I brought up my omnitool and started the medical routines, ignoring my shaking arms as good as possible, but getting my head low when I heard a bullet whizzing just above me. He made painful noises and tried to move, but to no avail. Any more thrashing around and the damage to his spine might have increased a hundredfold… the doc had been very clear about what to do in case of shrapnel damage.

I gave him a large dose of sedatives and painkillers, he was unconscious almost immediately, then made sure that he could breathe. I then tore his shirt from his back, as carefully-yet-fast as I could given these circumstances. I had no disinfectants at hand, so I only could apply a thick layer of medigel on the entire back and hope for the best.

I had worked focusedly, I didn't even notice that the guns had gone silent in the meantime. The silence hit me like a truck, and I looked around in a fit of panic.

The squad had pushed ahead to clear the port of any remaining Geth; I could see their heads on the far side close to the exit, and Shepard dashing over to me.

"Raven, what's his status?"

"Stable, loads of metal and stone in his arse. Might have injured his spine." I looked into a controlled face, occasional strands of red hair glued to it with sweat. "The Doc needs to have a look at him, anything else I'm doing might hurt more than help-"

She brought her right to her ear. "This is Shepard, change of plans! Williams, on me! Alenko, fall back to Raven's position, he needs a hand here - Dr. Chakwas, ready up, a wounded colonist with a lot of shrapnel in his back is coming your way!"

I shut my mouth and instead focused on my omnitool's readings as the three confirmations came through. Shepard gave me a thumb's up.

"Quick thinking, good job. Stay focused, okay?"

"Aye-aye, Shepard!"

She gave my shoulder a friendly pat and nodded to Ashley, who had meanwhile left the NORMANDY in full gear, and Kaidan, who had just arrived. Shepard gestured quickly.

"Ash, come with me – Alenko, you're in charge of our guys now! Get the wounded in, then get to Zhu's Hope ASAP. Got it?"

"Understood, Commander!"

"Let's go!" With that, the two women sprinted to catch up with the others.

We lost roughly ten minutes, getting the civilian properly treated. Kaidan sent me to Dr. Chakwas, who handed me a stretcher and even left the ship herself. She took another scan and decided that she would have to get a surgery going as soon as possible. Moving David Al Talaqani proved difficult – until Kaidan lit up in blue and carefully lifted the wounded on the stretcher. It still took a felt eternity for him and me to carry him through the NORMANDY into the medbay - and on the way through the CIC, we passed by the marines and Pressley, who watched the entire scenery in uncomfortable silence.

Chakwas worked with a speed I could only dream of, stabilizing and properly sedating her patient in a matter of twenty seconds before waving me and Kaidan out.

I let out a relieved sigh, feeling just a bit of satisfaction for remembering the ambush in time. I had no time to celebrate the live saved, though. Back in the CiC, the Lieutenant gestured at us and we left the ship again to move up to Zhu's hope as ordered.

We were a total of seven people - Miller, Danners, Katsavidis, Gordon, Alenko, another Corporal I hadn't really talked with so far and myself. Four men stayed behind at the ship - Corporal Mason, a PFC named Dickson, with whom I too hadn't exchanged more than two words, and the two PSCs Martinez and Davis.

The third and last corporal assigned to 905 went by the name of Natalie Garraway. From what I had heard so far she was our squad's combat engineer. Her hacking talents could come in quite handy against the Geth, but her real specialty was the construction of field defenses.

I guessed her age to be around thirty-five, but with the average human lifespan being extended to 150 years it may have very well been around fifty, maybe even sixty. I could tell already that she was a very focused individual, but also a bit… lackluster? She was very difficult to read, one way or another. A fact that only got supported by her black and short hair, brown and emotionless eyes and a very prominent scar on her right cheek.

She and I weren't going to be friends at any time soon, but as long as she would do her job, I would do mine - and that was, giving her cover fire and first aid as necessary.

"Listen up, squad.", Kaidan spoke to us via radio - we were advancing towards the colonist outpost, had our guns at the ready and kept a very watchful eye on everything around us. "The Commander and her squad are investigating where the Geth came from, the ExoGeni buildings. It's up to us to hold the outpost until the Geth are eliminated and Alliance reinforcements arrive. Raven, keep 733 Sigma open. We two stay in contact with Shepard."

"Understood." I adjusted my radio frequencies via omnitool and almost stumbled over a Geth 'corpse' in the process.

The other guys had done a pretty good job in clearing the route - wrecked synthetics were all over the place. Unfortunately, blood stains in various colours were no rarity either – including at least two dead bodies in civilian clothing. We moved in silence, quickly past the stairwell, then approached their defensive barricades - when suddenly, a bullet whizzed past us.

Two minutes later, a very embarassed colonist pointed us to Fai Dan and, when he thought we weren't looking, picked up his rifle from the ground – just before getting told to 'get his shit together' by his fellow guard, and in no uncertain terms.

Miller snorted softly, but didn't comment. I couldn't wrap my mind around just how quick he was in disarming that guy in hand-to-hand, thus preventing further friendly fire incidents.

Danners had no such decency. "Do we look like freaking flashlights?", she grumbled."Fucks sake, Sir, we've got a helluva job to do if everyone's like him."

"I know, Private." Kaidan answered, sounding tired already. "Let's stay calm for now. Come, I can see the ship he's sent us to. Shepard and that outpost leader should be around."

The path to them was short, but insightful regardless... had the air tasted foul before, now it reeked of millennia-old dust and recent death. I found it hard to breathe, eventually I pulled my breather mask out and placed it firmly on my face.

There was something else in the air as well... I couldn't be certain, of course, but had a hunch. And there was no way I would breathe more of these bloody spores than I had to.

Bullet holes were everywhere, additional stains of blood, debris from recent combat. And, close to the crashed freighter… roughy twenty bodies, more or less well covered by blood-stained blankets.

It was depressing, really.

What was just as unsettling was the behavior of the colonists around. I don't claim to be a psychologist, but aside from the fact that knew that these guys were under the control of a murderous plant-life-form-whateverthehell, I could just see them behaving somewhat apathetic. And nobody would have been able to convince me that that was just the 'normal' type of apathy a person in a warzone, who had lost friends or loved ones would display.

I firmly reminded myself to never and under no circumstances turn my back on these guys. If the in-game story arc would be followed, they wouldn't turn rogue until later down the line - but in all honesty, my trust in 'canon determination' had waned quite significantly.

My squadmates didn't look too happy either. It wasn't within my powers to gauge why, but well, there were plenty of potential reasons around. We kept our guard up until we reached the Commander's current location - at Fai Dan's position. And just in time, before I even had the chance to take a proper look, another Geth attack came in.

Between us Marines, Shepard's chosen few and the few colonists that actually knew what they were doing, that small push of roughly fifteen Geth of all kinds failed quite miserably, though. I didn't even had to use any of my 'skills' - seeing Millers, Danners and especially that engineer Garroway dispatching the synthetics such impressively only served to shrink my self-esteem even further. In all fairness, though, did score my two kills as well.

As the - metaphorical - gunsmoke settled, I rose from the ground, knocked some dust of my Mattock and joined the rest of our guys, who stood in front of Shepard and SPECTRE squad. I couldn't help but notice the awkward feeling that overcame me - I felt like I was standing on the wrong side. Liara gave me smile and a nod, and Garrus greeted me with a raised talon. That made me feel slightly better. I stowed the rifle on my back, stood as upright as I could manage and folded my arms behind my back.

"There you are." Shepard said, gave us a respectful nod and turned to Fai Den. The man looked almost exactly like in-game, but I could see a lot more signs of distress and tiredness. The same went for the hispanic-looking woman at his side. I didn't remember her name, but I knew that we would have to fight with her later down the line. The mercenary in employ of ExoGeni.

"Listen up, marines!" Shepard put as much authority in her voice as as she could - I suspected an attempt at raising the colonists' morale. "My squad and I are going to find out what the Geth are after. Alliance reinforcements are en route, ETA twenty-four hours. Reinforce the defenses! Help the colonists defending their home! Hold this outpost! Show these bastards what it means to attack our colonies! Mess with the best -!"

"Die like the rest! Ooorah!"

That was our response, and I felt a rush of adrenaline. She always knew how to pick her words. Satisfied, she readied up her shotgun, spoke a few words and gestured the rest our her team. Liara followed her first, she looked impressed by the speech. Shepard stood next to me and Kaidan, and nodded.

"We'll be back soon. Show 'em hell, Alenko, Raven."

"We'll do just that, Ma'am." Kaidan said, saluting calmly. I mimicked him and nodded with a grim smile playing on my lips.

Exactly sixty-five minutes later, I was kneeling before a pile of concrete ruins and glued them together with hefty amounts of omnigel, recycled from plenty of the scrap metal and debris that we could scavenge from the area.

"Okay, I think we're done here." I told the woman standing next to me, who had just finished her part of the improvised barricade. The mask contorted everything I said, but that couldn't be the reason for her to act that uncomfortably around me. "If you need me, I'll be at the sniper's nest."

She nodded, mumbled a 'thank you' and then picked up her rifle to resume her guard, almost unmoving. I watched for a second without her noticing, then shook my head and quickly walked back to the heart of the colony.

The 'stoic' attitude of the colonists was really starting to grind on me. An hour had passed without any accident, but my (justified) paranoia was only getting worse over time. At one point, every one of these guys would go all mind-control zombie apocalypse on us – and I just hoped that when it happened, I had some cover behind me instead of some bullets in my arse.

At the very least, the outpost could now be considered truly fortified - our team had done quite a good job repairing the heavily-damaged covers, barricading a few small holes in the structures to keep Geth Drones from flying in and even constructing a proper sniper's nest with a double-layered cover around it on top of the downed starship.

Our engineer in particular left me quite mind-blown when she, with nothing but her omnitool and some tech-scrap from the BOREALIS managed to set up a few improvised defensive turrets - in essence, glueing four spare Avenger rifles together, setting them up on rotating platforms and even installing a combat-VI. It looked quite…. well, raw, but it would do it's job. I just hoped that the target algorithms would ignore the colonists later.

We even deployed barbed wire at certain chokepoints.

I will say, I was amazed by the outpost's mass fabricator. A highly advanced 3D-printer, creating many meters of that wire, most of the components we needed and a batch of fresh and modified ammoblocks from nothing but omnigel. Sure, my omnitool had done the same thing as well, but it had been the first time for me to really see what that technology was capable of on a larger scale. With a brief shudder, I considered whether or not humanity's entire industry was dominated by these machines these days.

I still was in doubt regarding the effectiveness of razor wire against synthetics, though. They had no flesh to peel off, and even when Garroway told me matter-of-fact that they would serve to slow the flashlights down, I didn't believe them. She then proceeded to tell me how it could rip exposed coolant pipes from their torsos, make them trip and get off-balance, and after a while I just had to believe it. It still struck me as odd.

But well, why shouldn't the simple things turn out to be more effective than high-tech sometimes? I was the one effectively throwing old bottles filled with gasoline around, after all.

The one thing we failed to do was to restore communications with Alliance HQ - then again, not even the NORMANDY's state-of-the-art systems were able to punch through the interference fields set up by the Geth. We were lucky that they mostly focused on locking down the entire system, not focusing on our position, so our own tight-beam short-range comms came through almost undisturbed. The loud static in the background was annoying, but, oh well.

All in all, however, we had turned Zhu's Hope from a petty outpost into a real bastion.

Whatever wanted to enter Zhu's Hope from either angle would be caught in quite a hefty cross-fire within few seconds. Even Geth Dropships would have a hard time getting in here - or setting up their troops. We were quite content that we could hold the line for the expected day. That we would have other problems to worry about real soon, well… I didn't say anything.

I was thinking about how to further improve our position when suddenly, I heard Kaidan in my ear.

"905, this is Alenko. Good work so far. Danners, Millers and I are back from our trip to the Varren, and we got those power cells as well. The colonists will now man the defenses and our scanners don't pick up anything. Ten minutes break, but remember to stay alert. Alenko, out."

With Shepard and her squad pushing ahead, the task of restoring water, hunting varren, retrieving the power cells and taking out that small Geth pocket had fallen to us marines - once the first lines of defense had been set up, of course.

Kaidan was leading the three-man squad on all of the assignments but we switched out teammates after each of these trips. I was on the team that shut down the Geth transmitter, aside from enemy fire a relatively harmless trip. It gave me the opportunity to see Gordon in action, though - that man was a dare-devil that definitely didn't have to hide behind any of us, including Shepard when it came to put some synthetics out of order.

I was glad about our announced break and strolled over to meet Miller, who had beckoned me over with a tired gesture. I joined him, sitting on a crashed concrete pillar next to the ship. An excellent opportunity to pull out the package I had smuggled off the ship. I removed my breather mask, tried to ignore the smell around me, sat down and grinned.

"So, how are those dangerous alpha-varren working out for you?"

He gave a long, exasperated sigh, to which I chuckled as I took out a cigarette and placed it in my mouth. My squadmate took the helmet off, placed it at his feet and stretched his hand out.

I narrowed my eyes at his unspoken request, but gave him a second cig. He bent towards me, and I lit up for both of us. Note to self: Rebuild your tobacco reserve.

He took a drag, leaned back and exhaled. "Ah, they're not too bad if ya know whatcha doin'. The Eltee kept them at bay with mind magic, we finished 'em off. The prob were the Geth on our way. The fuckin' flashlights just dunno when to quit." He chuckled a bit, and I grinned some more. His accent was just brilliant - it sounded like a weird mixture of texan and british.

I noticed something from the corner of my eye. A colonist walked by us, carrying one of the crates with grenades in them. Miller noticed him as well. He spoke in a low voice.

"Correct me, if I'm wrong, Raven, but… there's somethin' off with these fellas, right?"

"Yeah." I took another drag, thinking quickly about how much I could give away. "Definitely. I dunno, mate, but they're just... too calm for all this."

"Heh, I got the same feeling." He exhaled, the looked at me. "The way they're always sendin' us to that Dan guy? I'm bloody tired of it already. 'Talk to Fai Dan, he's our leader.' Every. Single. One of 'em is saying the exact same thing. That can't be right." He gestured at me with his chin.

I kept my gaze on the colonist. "Well, Katsavidis said that could be normal for a civilian in this stress…"

"Hah!" The marine bellowed, a sound that startled me. "Kats is good, mate, but he never was in the kinda shit I've been in." He leaned back, breathing out. "I've been with the clean-up crew on Elysium. Later on Torfan. Trust me, a man who's in an active fire zone ain't like that. He's either fighting, doin' something, or he's shocked, tryina run away, or hides in some corner. Fight or flight, that ringin' some bells with ya? He ain't going on with his fucking life as if nothing happens, and then lookin' tired about it."

The corporal threw the stump to the ground, staring at it as the glim died down.

"We've seen that one guy in the tunnels." he continued, voice low. "Newstead, I think he's called. That guy's nuts if ya ask me, talking about his master's whip like it's a fuckin fetish - heh, literally."

Lucky for me, I was able to hide the 'turn away and grimace in disgust' in a 'turn away to not blow the cig smoke in his face' move.

Miller he continued, voice remaining serious. "That Dan fella said Newstead was ill, that nobody could help him. But I wonder…"

He never finished that sentence. Sirens went loud, and we were on our feet within a second, sealing our breather masks in another one.

"Red Alert! Geth forces are in range!"

I looked on my glasses' HUD, and cursed - jammed. Which meant…

"Raven, Miller, where the hell are you?"

Miller picked up the radio faster than I. "We're on the other end of the outpost, Sir. We're on our way -"

A red beam was suddenly in his face, and with a combat roll he brought a piece of concrete between himself and the one targeting him. I was only a second slower, taking a potshot at the Geth Hopper that, unfortunately, honored his name and hopped away causing my bullet to add another hole to the already damaged Prothean structures.

I took cover to Millers right, having spotted a whole bloody pack of these 'Heretics' coming in on the skyscraper's side, roughly hundred meters from us. The colonist we had watched earlier was out of luck - he grabbed after his sidearm, but was felled by a single "Hopper beam".

"Raven here!" I shouted into my com, feeling oddly calm about the unexpected arrival of the Geth lockdown force. "A pack of at least six Stalkers is breaching from North-north east! Miller and I hold 'em off, you guys worry about the main entrance!"

"Copy that! Make 'em count, Raven!"

I looked to the corporal at my side. He gave me a court nod before peeking and taking out one of the Geth platforms that had stayed in place for too long. The rest of them approached our position in unsettling speed.

"Using Flash!"

I lobbed my flashbang just on the other side of the barricade - the explosion ringing in my own eardrums - and noticed in satisfaction that the 'nades were quite effective against the Geth's sensors. I fired a few rounds into the pack in quick succession - three platforms were out of commission. Luckily, while fast, the Hopper-class Geth couldn't take a single Mattock round without going down, and one of Garraway's 'sentry turrets' gave us some fire support from afar.

Miller's Alliance-issued Avenger was less powerful, but where I had to take aim he simply sprayed and prayed in full-auto, he wisely had installed an wolfram ammoblock before leaving the NORMANDY. And his rounds pierced the metal Geth bodies with almost frightening brutal efficiency. When the last platform literally exploded, I felt tempted to take a deep breath - but the second wave hit us only mere moments later.

That one was a hard fight. Fifteen of these fuckers against the two of us, bút somehow we made it work. I burned four more of my six flashbangs, and each of these four bought us a few seconds where we had a chance of fighting back without getting pinned down. Strangely enough, the Geth didn't bring in any other units - had they dropped only two or three of their higher-end platforms as well, us two riflemen would've been sent to hell without a problem. I didn't complain, and I'm sure that my squadmate didn't mind either.

Exactly nine minutes, twenty-five seconds (my omnitool had kept track) after the… 'hostilities' started, we were done, my HUD was clear once more and all of the other marines reported in. By the sound of it, they had stopped quite the push at the front gate - anyone but Kaidan I would've believed to exaggerate when he talked about nine Geth Juggernauts and overall fifty Geth infantry units. It was bordering on a miracle that we had only lost three colonists during that, and none of our detail. Still, three dead colonists felt like three too many for me. But there was exactly shit I could do about it.

I sighed and went on to apply some more medigel on a colonist who had taken a graze wound to his arm. He hissed, but then chuckled.

"I'm glad you guys are finally here. They would've killed us today, if it weren't for you. Thank you."

Miller, who watched us with a glass of water in his hand, grimaced. I had my own reasons to be careful of such statements.

"No problem. 'S all part of the job", I said, finishing my work and standing up, giving the man a pat on the shoulder. "Stay low for now, 'kay?"

The civilian nodded, thanked me and joined a group of some other colonists that were quietly chatting among themselves. I turned to Miller, he gestured me over and I went to walk with him.

Our new objective was to investigate the hole the hoppers had slipped through and make sure that it wouldn't happen again. We never got that chance, though.

An explosion rocked the plateau. Somewhere above us, yet far away. I followed Miller's gaze and got a brief glance on a Geth dropship falling from a skyscraper - if my memory served me right, the one which you had to take down in ME1.

And yet again, I got distracted.

By a hundred screams of tortured souls.

My blood froze as I spotted the colonists we were with earlier.

The shivered, screamed in anger, fear, some even grabbed their heads.

The man I had treated only thirty seconds ago gazed at me, mouth agape. Even from twenty meters distance, I could see the blood in his eyes.

His hand shivered violently, as if it resisted its master's will, resisted, but it still went down to his hip.

To his pistol…

Last edited on 23.10.2018 - corrected a few continuity errors.

A/N: Hello, guys! Another chapter taking too long, but I hope that this one is worth the wait.

As a note, this one is not named 'Feros Part 1', because the second part of the deployment has a second objective to it. In-game, it's 'Feros: Geth Attack' and then 'Feros: The Thorian'. I intend to follow that rule a bit more from now on.

Also, together with the one and only 5 Coloured Walker, my trusted Beta, marked by weather, wind and my stupidity (ya don't wanna know what he had to endure to get this one ready for release) I'm currently working on revamping and polishing the earlier chapters of ME Raven - and quite a bit. Ever since I started writing, my English has improved significantly and I want the story to reflect that. So yeah, will also iron out some of the small plotholes I've hammered into this over time.

When the next chapter is coming out, that rewrite will be done! (Don't worry, I'll make sure to remind y'all in the next chapter's author notes.)

Well, that would actually everything I wanted to mention... right? Well, if I've forgotten something, I'll get another chance in a few weeks.

Anyway, thanks for stepping by! Please consider to Follow (to be notified when the next chapter comes out), Favorite (frankly, to make me feel better) and Review (As the ones who've reviewed so far know, I try to answer every single review this story gets. Thank you all!)

See you guys around!