Mass Effect: Raven Chapter 23: XVII-2 - Virmire: Bombsite, a mass effect fanfic

"Throw your soldiers into positions whence there is no escape - and they will prefer death to flight." - Sun Tzu, The Art of War

Chapter 17.2 - Virmire: Bombsite

"Stop shaking it so much, guys!" I stopped my work of filling a container with ballast to throw a horrified look in my colleagues' direction. They were far too careless with our payload for my liking.

"Sorry, chap!" Miller grinned back lopsided. "But you ain't the guy who's gonna carry a bloody nuclear IED, so quit slackin' an' get stackin'."

I clenched my teeth and moved the nightstand-sized crate closer to the cargo bay ramp. It wasn't the first time I was considering to punch Miller's teeth in, but given his experience in both SAS and SAMC, I would've likely gotten the short end of the stick. Plus, at least it distracted me - briefly - from the seething unrest in my stomach.

It had not taken long for our preparations to finish. The threat of Geth ships invading our personal space was a real one, and every minute we remained stationary increased the risk of being detected and, subsequently, bombed with everything they had.

The STG agent Kirrahe had sent over went by the name of Sadosk - which was, in all likelihood, a callsign. It's the name of an infamous kind of viper found in the depths of Sur'Kesh rainforests, after all. But unlike his namesake, the Salarian carried himself with politeness and patience. Accepting that only few of us were technically minded, he took his time to give us a short overview over the mechanisms of this improvised explosive device with the power to wipe out whole cities. And how to activate it, all the while making countless remarks about what we were not supposed to do. Which was a lot.

He also came with a couple of… 'parting gifts' from Captain Kirrahe. And by 'parting gifts', I mean a package of around thirty proximity mines. They had no use for them in their hit-and-run assault; we marines of Overlord team definitely had.

The same went for a set of four generators for deployable energy barricades. I am not certain, but I think that the STG engineers went full 'hold my beer' mode after seeing these hexagonal barriers that the Geth loved to set up everywhere, and were a bitch to take down whenever you needed them gone the most. It worked more akin to the mobile cover that Cerberus brings in ME3, interestingly enough. And - even though very likely still a sort-of prototype - they were a more than welcome addition to our equipment.

905 had been deployed in full strength, ten soldiers in total, since both our commanding officers were busy elsewhere. Four of us stood ready to carry the bomb out, the other six would get our defenses set up as soon as possible. We all were, for the lack of a better word, ready - not in a calm and prepared manner, but the anxious kind of readiness that you can taste in the air around people that are ready to do what it takes.

"... So, ya reckon they'll need to touch this beauty here to stop it." Miller asked Sadosk, and nodded at the package we all made that fuss about. Rounded, with a bronze-ish hemisphere on top, looking flimsy, but capable of a lot of damage.

"Positive. Remote hacking impossible. No antenna left to receive signals. Damaging it would only accelerate the destabilization process without a chance to control it. The Geth must interface it directly. Based on our knowledge of their analytical capabilities, it will be obvious to them when they see the device. Could provide adequate cover as a result."

Sadosk spoke in a way similar to Mordin, but by far not as hasty and high-on-caffeine as my third favourite doctor in the galaxy. Plus, he and Miller understood each other perfectly. My guess was that both of them had 'been there' and 'done that' in their respective careers.

The acting commander of 905 laughed dryly. "Ya oughta be suicidal to take that risk, fo' sho'. It'd be like hidin' behind a red barrel. Only, it's a literal nuke blowin' up – if the bad guys miss us, even."

"Comparison with nuclear reaction inadequate. Eezo explosion is similar in appearance, but fallout effects not comparable to each other. "

The corporal groaned at this grandiose display of nitpicking. "Yer get what I'm sayin': Ya gotta be absolute bonkers. Then again, you're workin' with Alliance marines here, so that's kinda natural."

Standing close to the hull, I suddenly heard a distant explosion and slight vibrations in the metal around me. According to plan, the salarians had destroyed their ship to keep it from falling it into wrong hands, should everything else fail.

I had seen it briefly before. A small corvette, and judging by the large gashes and blackened holes that the enemy anti-air cannons had left, it wasn't space worthy anymore anyway. At least its drive core would still serve its new purpose... I sweated a bit at the thought of seeing similar damage in the NORMANDY's hull. But it was a risk worth taking.

Or was it?

"Has Garraway set up her turrets?" I asked nervously and grabbed yet another batch of barbed wire. "We've got five minutes, tops." The corporal had left a while ago to complete her preparations in solitude.

"Don't ya worry, son." Miller gave me a lopsided grin. "She's got 'em all set up and ready to go. She'll do her bloody job, at least."

I was not going to dignify that with an answer. I swear, my hands flipped him the bird on their own.

"Sounds easy enough." PSC Davies spoke up. He carried himself pointedly calm - which he, being a twenty years old Private Second Class with no combat experience to speak of, just couldn't have. I could relate. "We'll get there, set it up, pick up the Commander and her team and get out."

Miller moved faster than I anticipated. Two quick steps brought the experienced marine directly next to Davies, who involuntarily took a step back.

"I'll say this only once, son." Miller spoke calmly, but with suppressed anger. "An' the only reason you'll get away with it is 'cause you're bloody green. Soldier's rule number one. Never. Fucking. Jinx. It. Ask Garraway an' where she got 'er scar from, boy."

He stepped back to his position just as quickly. Davies looked properly spooked.

"Excuse me," Sadosk spoke up and gave us an irritated blink, "But who is this 'Garraway' woman?"

"The great mistress of canines," Miller replied as he grabbed the roll of wire I handed him and stowed it over his shoulder. His features had turned to stone. "We're callin' her bitch."

That shut the STG guy up. For sure.

Since I was already burdened enough with medical equipment and fortifications, Miller had given the squad radio/signal booster to Katsavidis instead. Of course, the comms built into our armors were more than sufficient to contact people across half the planet. But depending on what kind of jammers the Geth would undoubtedly deploy once the shooting started, we would need something with a stronger signal to contact the NORMANDY and the other teams.

To not be distracted even further in what was a quite stressful situation already, I had closed my own comms for the time being – but I couldn't help it but occasionally glance into Kat's direction with increasing amounts of anxiety. He merely stood there and listened in to the chatter of Shepard's and Kirrahe's teams, with closed eyes and a stony face.

I wondered if he was listening into what Shepard and her people got told by SOVEREIGN. The existence of the Reapers was now a confirmed fact. And Saren's capital ship was one of them.

Things were heating up; in more ways than one. I was not looking forward to the debrief. If I would even be there, which was a thought that only caused my stomach to sink further. But that was the decision I had made, and I was stuck with it.

Suddenly, Kats perked up, listened more intently and spoke a few hasty words. Then he looked over.

"Mills!"

Said marine only looked up briefly. He understood immediately.

"Oi, lads!" He yelled across the deck. "It's showtime! Get yer asses ready! Safeties off!"

With fleeting hands, I pressed a few buttons on my rifle and pistol, saw green lights and stowed them on my back and hip in their quickdraw positions. I put the recon hood on and watched the HUD initializing, the brief blinking of eight green and one blue icon for my squadmates vital signs before sealing it at my neck. I briefly touched each of my pockets to make sure their contents were stowed properly, and finally, with a feel of closure, turned my trusted wristwatch inwards to save it from scratches and pressed the button starting the timer.

My knife and my wristwatch. The only two items that had remained from the time I had begun my adventure in this messed-up galaxy, and the only one I had literally carried over from my old life.

I stared at its ruby clock face. The glass had a few scratches, some old, some new. But it still ticked away unbothered. Deeply breath in, slowly breathe out, deeply breath in. Do not think about the Reapers, about SOVEREIGN, about the indoctrinated salarians, about Rana Thanoptis… Focus on yourself and your task…

"Rudimentary creatures of blood and flesh… You touch my mind, fumbling in ignorance, incapable of understanding…"

"Raven, y'alright?"

Shaken out of my daydream, I looked up. Blue-tinted lenses met a face covered by the transparent visor of an alliance armor. And yellowish brown eyes, bright enough to catch your attention no matter what.

"Yeah, I think so." I sighed, shook my head and grinned unseen. "Let's get this over with." As alluring as it was, this simply wasn't the time to be lost in thought.

Private Katja Danners gave me a pat on the shoulder and smiled, as if she could sense my mood.

"Marines, this is XO Pressley speaking! Approaching deployment zone, thirty seconds! "

"Katsavidis speaking, comms established!"

"Twenty! Shepard has given the All Clear!"

"Raven, Gordon, ready up!"

"Yes, ready!" I tightened my grip on the two rolls of wire I carried in each hand and went ready to run.

"Ten!"

"We're good to go!" Garraway yelled against the increasing sound of gunfire.

"Danners, Mason, Davis - now!"

I heard a collective grunt from the four people to my right as they lifted the bomb up together under Miller's lead. Simultaneously, a loud hiss as the lock sealing the NORMANDY's soft belly against the outside unsealed.

"Five – four – three – two -"

The ramp before us lowered. The magnets in our boots kept us in place against howling winds, smoke and bits of shrapnel. We heard gunfire and crossed the battlefield where the distraction teams fought for their lives. A few rounds lit up the shields as we soared past lone Geth units only now recognizing their new target.

We had Saren's base in aerial view – and the bombsite came closer, fast. I kept a firm grasp on myself to keep the vertigo at bay. The NORMANDY's gravity dampeners made an otherwise dangerous move feasible.

Then, a sudden stop, and we were one and half a meter above ground. The water-filled valley greeted us, the target machinery.

"Go, Go, Go!" Millers yelled.

The six of us not occupied with the nuke jumped off the ramp, into the shallow water. I spotted Shepard's team, but didn't stop for a greeting as I dashed past to the narrow valley that separated the site from the rest of the base. The huge blast door to my left was my target. Water splashed under my boots, droplets covered my gloves and the wire I held in them. A few bursts of gunfire behind me as the others got rid of a few stragglers.

Tali was already there, typing away at her omnitool with all haste and hacking the massive plates of reinforced steel shut. Then she destroyed the door controls. Ashley, in the meantime, gave the order to 'give the bastards something to think about'.

I joined Gordon who had been faster, and together we quickly unrolled the wire, working together to weld it in place and plugging the whole entrypoint. PFC Dickson came over, and then we had the area sealed with six layers of waist-high razor-sharp wire. Enough to bring any infantry assault to a pause.

"This'll hold! Back to the second line, go!"

Tossing a worried look over my shoulder at the skies above us, I followed my comrades as we returned to where Garraway and Katsavidis set up our main line.

I must admit, Garraway and I never looked eye to eye. But she knew her stuff. And those semi-improvised sentry turrets looked like they packed a punch.

I continued my work as my surroundings turned into a blurred mess of motions, movement and shouts. I knew my job, which was to get the spare crates into position and help Gordon to give them some weight, and completed it as good as I could. But it didn't allow me to keep track of what everyone else was doing.

I managed to briefly glimpse on the other side, where Ashley and Mason worked quickly to set up our squad's LMG on its bipod, turning their surroundings into a proper machine gun nest in the process. It was, as far as I recall, an earlier version of what would later become the N7 Typhoon - complete with the face shield and everything.

The Alliance finally had woken up to the fact that their doctrine of giving every soldier four different weapons and foregoing heavier, specialized weapons in favour of speed and agility with aerial superiority and tank/drone support didn't quite work out. Not in the face of a full-scale war, not with the Alliance Navy being spread thinly as it was.

As such, they had started re-issuing and producing new heavy weapons - grenade launchers, missile launchers, light machine guns etc. and began to get them out to the troops. In our case, as one of many supply crates we had received during our last stay on the Citadel. And I am pretty sure it was thanks to Shepard's status as SPECTRE that we got to use some of the newly produced hardware instead of material from Shanxi - or earlier.

A comparatively loud splash to my right. I quickly looked up and saw my comrades drop the nuke into the water on its designated position in the rear semi-circle area which the water flooded into, and further in the distance, PSC's Martinez and Davis worked quickly to deploy a minefield below the NORMANDY. A glimpse further to the right, and I witnessed Liara and Shepard biotically lifting two heavy crates into position. I finished my own work just as the energy barriers flickered into existence and people started to report in.

I cast a glance on my watch. T + 3 minutes and 28 seconds. It is remarkable, just how quickly a well-trained team can get work done.

Behind the barbed wire tangles and minefield, we had created a solid line of field fortifications, three layers deep. Two layers facing the NORMANDY's way, as the ramp and the blast door were significant choke points. The first line was made up of two of the STG energy barriers, providing roughly waist-high and three meters wide cover. Angled at thirty degree to each other, they also gave some protection against whoever crawled up on the high ground to shoot down on us. Parts of the terrain were worked into this line as well.

Behind that we'd set up our main combat line, primarily covered with crates, barbed wire and other more solid objects. Some of us were still busy giving the crates as much weight as they could and literally weld them to the ground. A task that was made more difficult by everything being under water.

In its center, the improvised MG nest covering the whole valley in front of us including the area Shepard had come from, and protected to the sides by two big supply crates which has once housed parts of a Mako hull.

It was left critically open to the rear with the exception of some big structure a few meters behind it, but our hopes were that Garraway's sentries could save our asses at least temporarily.

Roughly another four meters behind this and with the nuke in its center, the other two energy barriers were set up and formed our last line, in a 'pool' of sorts two meters or so below the main level of this area. Positioned in a forty-five degree angle to each other and also angled upwards, they formed a support line protecting the bomb, were covered to the front by the main line and height difference and allowed ample of cover against any potential flanking attempt from the artificial 'cliffs' around us, including the semi-circle behind us. The bomb rested only a meter away from some sort of a mechanical piller, which - considering its prominent position - must've been something important, but I can't remember what it was for the life of me.

Before my inner eyes, I saw the in-game pictures of first Kaidan, then Ashley leaning against the bomb, fighting until their last breaths to make sure the mission would succeed. My heart skipped a beat, then pulsated quicker.

Our defensive setup looked proper and solid. It took a bit of weight off my heart to see it, yet at the same time, it also increased the anxiety. This was a definitely a change to canon, and not a subtle one. And now, with all cards down on the table, I could only do my job and hope for the best.

Since we weren't under fire just yet, work was still being continued feverishly. A few marines made some last-second improvements, like sealing up gaps between crates with omnigel; others stood guard around Millers and Sadosk, who were working to get the converted drive core up to speed. It would take a while to get it armed, and I cursed every second of it. Those of Shepard's squad that weren't helping out watched the skies in sorrow, or listened to the gunfire that echoed off walls, both natural and artificial.

I heard a familiar engine sound over the NORMANDY's omnipresent deep hum, turned around and saw our resident Mako descent from the ramp to take a position next to the bombsite. Positioning it on the ramp to angle the armor and make the best use of its remarkable gun depression.

Knowing that the VI had been updated with the combat algorithm I had… 'recovered' from the Mako we had used on Noveria, I put a lot of hope on the 155mm cannon and the now automated turret machine gun. As soon as the autopilot stopped it, Garrus lend me a hand in redirecting a huge part of its engine power into the shield systems to compensate for the lack of proper entrenchment we could provide. I would've loved to maybe put some crates or a barrier in front of it, but equipment was scarcer than I would've liked.

I exited from the driver's hatch and almost tripped on the slippery ramp, just as the Commander jogged over to us. I had only listened to the reports coming in from the three distraction teams with one ear, being too focused on getting the job done.

One glance on Shepard's face made obvious that what had been revealed to her caused a lot of dread. Or seeing that one STG private to turn on her.

But this wasn't the time to talk about it.

The gunfire in the distance grew in volume and intensity.

"Bomb in position!" Miller radioed in.

"Defenses prepared!" Garraway added.

Our Commander merely nodded.

"That will do if they try anything, good job! Everyone okay? - Williams, you're in charge now! I'm waiting for a word from Kirrahe -"

"Commander, do you read me?"

It was Kaidan.

"The nuke is almost ready, Lieutenant!" Shepard spoke quickly. "Get to the rendezvous point!"

"Negative Commander! The Geth have us pinned down on the AA tower - we're taking heavy casualties - we'll never make the rendezvous point in time!"

I could see the gears work behind Shep's brow. With the AA gun left active, the NORMANDY couldn't just pick them up.

"Hold tight! We're coming to get'cha-"

"Negative! Just make sure that nuke is set. We'll hold them as long as we ca-"

Static.

"It's okay, Commander." Ashley said quickly. "I need a couple of minutes to finish arming the nuke." She hid her worry well. But after months spent mostly on the same deck, I could read the not-so-obvious. "Go get them and meet us back here."

"Gunny's right!" I had not expected Miller to say a thing. "Get there, get the lads - we'll stop 'em from comin' after ya!"

"We don't have much time!" Shepard said, biting her lip. "Joker's spotted SOVEREIGN. It's coming. ETA an hour, topps."

My heart stopped.

I had forgotten about SOVEREIGN.

I had. Forgotten. That SOVEREIGN was in the area.

And Shepard's interaction with it had set it in motion.

" - Squad, form up! We need to go help Kaidan and the other teams. Marines! Keep that nuke safe!"

"Oorrah!"

For all the anxiety I felt - hearing us cry out loud, like one, was inspiring.

Shepard grabbed after her shotgun, faced me, and gave me a thumbs-up.

I replied in kind. Words were unnecessary.

I saw my squadmates leave, making haste to save Kaidan and the STG. The game was afoot.

And words cannot describe how badly prepared I felt.

"Overlord, Alenko speaking - Chief, we've spotted a troop ship, inbound on-"

"INCOMING!"

Katsavidis' scream was louder than even the all-encompassing battle sounds. We had been granted six minutes of rest. If it can be called like that. Ashley and Sadosk had worked on the bomb. The rest had checked the surroundings.

The tension unleashed in a blur.

"Geth Dropship, ETA thirty seconds, from south-east!"

Miller looked over his shoulder. Ashley was quicker.

"We've seen it, LT! Cover!" Bringing some distance between herself and the NORMANDY's ramp, she activated her com as she ran.

"Joker, get the ship outta here! Quickly!"

"Aye-aye! Everyone, hold tight! Scramble!"

He hadn't even finished speaking when the thrusters lifted the ship a few meters into the air, and the massive engines started screeching. The force with which they pushed against the ground created a massive storm in the valley and whipped up a lot of spray that temporarily blinded me. When I could see it again, our ship was already clear by a few hundred meters.

Another deep humming sound approached us quickly.

"Get in cover!" Ashley yelled. "Heads down!"

I had barely thrown myself behind a crate when a massive shadow blocked out the sun.

The Geth ship rapidly approached. Fifty meters, Thirty, Ten. Then it was above us.

And the belly machine guns started firing.

I remember how I cowered. Making myself as hard to hit as I could. Leaning out to take a few shots at the geth units the dropship threw at us, but these shots were only aimed hastily. Staying out for more than a few seconds meant certain death.

And with every projectile that impacted, my cover got ever so thinner.

I don't believe in any greater power. But if there is one, it's got to be Lady Luck.

Because there is no way that my 'skill' made me dodge the thousands of rounds the Geth Spitfires mounted to the lower end of the dropship's hull spit at us.

And there was nothing that would've kept it from making the smallest of moves, twenty meters to either side maybe, and simply bypass our cover to melt us with ease.

For some reason, it didn't. It was simply holding us down and unloaded its cargo. But that was already almost too much.

Ashley's order to return fire still rang in my ears. As did the radio call she made right after that.

"NORMANDY; this is Williams! That Dropship's bleeding Geth all over us! We need help; now! There's too fucking many - "

I didn't hear Joker's reply. But I desperately hoped that the best pilot in the Alliance he could live up to his reputation. I had never needed him to be at his best as much as now.

A lone Geth Trooper landed right next to me. Before it could right itself up and try anything, I quickly put three Mattock rounds right through its chest and head. I didn't even take the time to aim down sights. Sparks flew, it keeled over and smashed into the water.

But that left me exposed. I quickly pressed my back into cover again.

Because now, one of the gatlings was targeting me.

I felt a myriad of impacts against my back, dozens of impacts in the water in front of me, and suddenly, my shield lit up.

I grimaced, but didn't dare to move. The Spitfire had made it through the crate. It had ground away enough material to start gnawing at my shield. But its rate of fire also made it impossible for me to change position. I was pinned.

An explosion. I guessed that a Geth had dropped right into the minefield.

But then, another explosion. Bigger. Louder. And from Above.

I looked up quickly enough to see flames leaking through two holes in the Dropship's armor, and clouds of debris being pushed out on the other end. And far above it, an arrow-shaped object darting past.

I inhaled.

"Overlord, Joker here. Two hits! Returning for another run in just a second, hang tight down there!"

With new vigour, I looked up, fired a few round at one of the gatlings, then dove back into cover.

But nothing happened.

The wounded gunship turned. Gaining altitude and drifting off a couple dozen meters, it tried to show the NORMANDY its narrow end and as many of its guns as possible.

It wasn't quite enough.

The NORMANDY returned with a blast. Fired another salvo of Air-to-Air warheads.

And tore the Dropship in half. Another two explosions in its center collapsed its core structure. It barely held together, but couldn't hold its position. It started to sway heavily, and tumbled towards the ground.

But the triumphant shout got stuck in my throat and turned into a wide-eyed stare.

Because Joker made one tiny mistake.

In trying to get the best angle for his attack, he had to position the ship too far outside the safe area. In doing so, he went into reach of other AA batteries outside the facility.

He dodged a salvo of rockets, the majority of which were stopped by the GUARDIAN lasers. He danced around the ground-to-air machine cannons, some of their fire making the shields flicker.

But then, he ran out of space.

The NORMANDY was struck three times. The port wingtip, the port-center thruster, the belly.

Fire struck from the wounds. It shivered, tumbled -

But Joker got it stable and vanished from sight.

The dropship however, did not.

It came crashing down, close to us.

I only felt a punch, then I blacked out.

I awoke to the taste of murky water, with a hinge of oil, on my lips. A splash of water came up in my face, just as I took a deep breath.

I coughed, but couldn't' see a thing. Someone pulled me up, and dragged me somewhere else.

It took me a while to cease my coughing. Only then I noticed that something was off. I reflexively grabbed after my head - my gloves touched bare skin. My recon hood was gone.

"Welcome back, Raven!"

With my sight gradually returning, I stared up into a face I recognized.

"Nap time's over." Danners said and handed me my Mattock once I got all the water out of my lungs. Despite her wearing her helmet, I noticed sweat glueing strands of hair to the face. And a very stern look.

She answered my questions in very short sentences.

The NORMANDY didn't respond to our hails. Chief Williams thought that the hits had taken out the ships' radio equipment. My teammates had seen it fly away, but no further update on its status.

The Dropship had come down in the area next to us and taken out the blast doors on impact. On one hand, the door was open and our careful prepared barbed wire was done for. On the other hand - she merely gestured over. A quick glimpse told me everything. The blackened and still burning wreckage blocked the entire path. It would take the Geth a lot of time to get rid of this obstacle, if they could make it at all. One less entry point to worry about.

Pieces of debris had fallen out of the sky, one of them had hit and dropped me. Aside from a concussion and the headaches that would undoubtedly follow, I was okay. My hood and shields had softened the blow significantly; but a sharpened edge had left a deep cut in the material as well as knocking out the majority of systems. It was currently looked at by Williams. In total, I had been unconscious for three minutes.

Others were worse off. Katsavidis and Dickson were injured. Kat's thighs had been struck by a few machine gun rounds, and had required a lot of medigel to patch him up. He was already up and running again, though. Dickson however…

She paused.

"What about him?" I asked flatly. I just knew that it was bad.

"He's stable, but we can't fix him up here. We need to get him on the ship. A piece of metal is stuck in his stomach."

Her flat voice matched mine. And that made it even worse.

"Let me look at him."

She nodded, pointed me where I needed to go, and left to work on the Mako. It had taken some damage, but not yet critical. The extra pieces of armor Garrus and I had added had held, despite being under near constant MG fire.

When I first took in my surroundings, it was a mess. The cover we had deployed showed bad signs of battle, part of our active defenses were gone as well. None of Garraway's sentries were still active, but she worked on them with fleeting hands. One of the Salarian energy barriers was offline, Katsavidis and Miller working to bring it back up. The way Kats limped made obvious what happened - and me grimace.

Half of us were working to fix the damage. The other half stood ready to react to any immediate assault.

I didn't think about it at the time, but later I asked myself if I should have expected what happened. I do not recall Geth troop ships being armed, heavily armed even, per default.