"Operation Corkscrew"
Widower Ridge, 182 KM North of Tember City, New Cyrene, July 20, 2193.
"Alright Dagger team, one last run down before we get down and dirty." Kai Leng said over his team's encrypted radio frequency. "Civil Protection Militia holds down enemy infantry and holds off their advance. We take a little hop, skip, and jump through enemy lines, slink into one of these landships, gun down everyone inside, then blow it up. Between the dust kicked up by all these vehicles and the new moon, we should be able to sneak in without getting spotted. Geneva Convention restrictions are lifted, but we're on record for this mission, so try to not make it so obvious that we've been actively breaking these rules for years. Am I clear?"
"Da, crystal clear." Dagger 4 answered.
"Been itching to see how well these new incendiary rounds fare against aliens." Dagger 3 quipped.
"Kuso," Dagger 2 huffed out. "every time you play with fire, I end up having to spend precious hours of my downtime cleaning the damned smell off of my armor."
Dagger 5, ever the quiet one in the team, laughed lightly.
"Quiet, it's about to go down." Leng shushed the other operators.
Booms were heard from the east. Several dozens of Militia mortar teams began saturating the Alien armored column with 75mm shells. A mixture of high explosive, incendiary, white phosphorous, and even jury rigged EMP shells rained down on the armored speartip of the invading alien force. Though the mortars were clearly not enough to punch through the armor of the heavy Tomkahs or even the quick and nimble Asari hover tanks, the lighter personnel carriers were softer targets... soft enough to take heavy damage from high explosive mortars even. The jury rigged EMP shells were designed to run interference on the enemy's electronics and shields. These mortars are HE shells with their payload removed, replaced with a crudely built EMP bomb. The EMP emitters would generate a small disruption field stretching up to two meters from the shell. The EMP field generated is not strong enough to disable vehicles outright, but it would be enough to cause their shield generators to waver, or their engines to seize up every now and again.
As the first shells landed, Leng turned to his N7 team.
"That's our queue." The N7 Black Ops leader said. "Beginning recording now, everyone on best behavior."
All at once, the N7 operators activated their armor's optical cloak and rappelled down the ridge, where the Alien armored column was being held up by almost a battalion's worth of local Militia conscripts. With the white phosphorous and smoke as cover, and with the jury rigged EMP mortars playing hell with the alien's electronics, the N7 team slipped through the outer cordon with relative ease.
Leng and his team dived into a ditch on the ground as one of the Alien transports began offloading troops by the dozen.
The N7 leader motioned to his team to lay low as he peeked out of the ditch. He saw aliens of all sorts, dismounting and streaming towards where the Militia regiment were. Leng assessed the infantry, and found that the heaviest they had were probably medium line infantry, with the rest being light infantry of various specializations. A flexible force, with just enough firepower to go fight their way through a rut. Add in the bevy of armored support with them, and they've got a fast moving and heavy hitting enemy on their hands.
"There's no way in hell CP grunts will be able to hold out long against these guys." Leng said quietly.
When the coast had cleared, the N7 team advanced once more. They moved further down towards the enormous monster that was the Krogan Landship, and the closer they got, the more it dawned on the N7 operators just how big it was. It was almost 9 meters tall, a bit over a dozen in width, and just under 30 meters long. There were two large turreted cannons on the top deck of the Landship, with a dozen sponson mounted guns on the sides, as well as a pair of forward facing gun in the Landship's bow. Its tracks rumbled loudly as the titanic machine inched slowly forward, crushing bits of rock and stone to dust as it brought its immense weight to bear.
Pictures definitely did not do this one justice.
"Dagger 4, prep the grappling launcher." Leng ordered. "2, you're going first."
Dagger 2 nodded and he joined 4 in preparing the grappling launcher. The team jogged in pace with the slowly advancing armored convoy, alongside the massive landship. 60 seconds on the dot, 4 launched the metal climbing rope which attached itself on the landship's hull using a magnetic hook. Dagger 2 attached himself onto the metal line and let the magnets on climbing rig lift him up. Once he reached the top, he detached the line and took watch as his squadmates made their ascent.
Leng was the last to ascend, and once he was at the top he began giving orders again.
"Prepare breaching charges." He ordered. "We go in fast, take the command center, nab whatever info we can get, figure out how to kill this thing, then get the fuck out!"
Dagger 3 pulled out a breaching charge from the disposable duffle bag he was carrying. He planted it on the large metal hatch leading inside the landcruiser before backing off to the side. Leng counted down from three silently with his hands, then signaled them to begin the breach. The volatile fuel mix ignited violently, burning and warping the metal which comprised the metal hatch. Once it was weakened enough, an explosive charge detonated and blasted the hatch apart. Before the smoke and dust had even settled, Dagger team advanced with their thermal vision. As the Krogans behind the hatch were blinded by the smoke, they fired blindly at the opening. Leng and his team ducked low and opened fire, taking out a Krogan or two thanks to their rifle's high-impact configuration. The Krogans, realizing their position was now untenable, retreated down the hall and into a large room, where they had prepared some better defenses.
Dagger team piled on the sides of the doorway leading to said room, and Leng prepared his entry plan.
"Dagger 4, prep flashbang. Dagger 3, prep frags!" Leng ordered. "Flush them then push them back!"
"'Nade out!" Dagger 4 yelled out as he threw in the flashbang.
With the Krogans inside blinded, Dagger 3 threw in his frag grenade and scattered the enemy inside. With the defenders disoriented, Dagger team moved in swiftly, eliminating or incapacitating the Krogans as fast as they physically could. The steps of their plated boots were accented with the staccato of M7 Lancers firing in their high-impact configuration. Even then, the combination of shields and military grade armor plating was enough to stop most shots from becoming fatal. It was then that Leng noticed the armor on their legs... or more accurately, the lack thereof. It would seem these Krogan soldiers had skimped out on some parts of their armor.
"Their legs aren't as well armored!" Leng called out. "Blast their kneecaps to incapacitate them!"
Dagger team complied and began sweeping low with automatic fire. Just as Leng expected, the lower rated armor on their legs didn't hold up as well against the M7 Lancers in high-impact configuration. Though the Krogan were tough, not even they could stay upright when the bones they used to stand were shattered and the muscles shredded. With them being incapacitated on the ground, it became very easy to take them out.
"Here I was thinking they'd put up a tougher fight." Dagger 2 commented.
"They don't look like the grunts we've fought before, their armor is all different." Dagger 4 observed. "Their shields break to easy, their armor isn't as protective."
"Vehicle crew with light armor, probably." Leng surmised. "Good for us, makes things simpler."
Dagger team pushed onward, moving forward in the vehicle towards what the operators assume is the Landcruiser's command center. Soon enough, Leng and his team reached the command center. A quick breach was followed by a swift - though admittedly one sided - firefight. If the Krogans they engaged before were under armored, these ones might as well as be naked. Their shields were quickly drained, and the crew uniforms over their skins could harldy stop a Mass Effect propelled bullet. The last crew member on the command center was executed by Leng himself as Dagger 4 plugged into the system with a Turian provided hacking tool.
Voices were heard from the hallway they came from. Alien reinforcments had arrived it seems.
"Dagger 4, how much longer are we going to have to wait?" Leng asked.
"Give me a few more seconds and... done!"
Dagger 4 yanked out the wire connecting the hacking tool to the Landcruiser's mainframe, then reported to his superior.
"Got what we wanted from the alien suka, let's get out of here." Dagger 4 said.
"Affirmitive." Leng nodded. "Place charges on the ceiling, we're blasting a new exit for ourselves!"
The team complied, and managed to get the explosives placed just as a Krogan response team arrived on their door step. Leng pulled out a smoke grenade from his belt and tossed it out towards the doorframe. The N7 leader then detonated the charges just as the smoke bomb let out its obscuring screen. Now concealed from the enemy, the N7 operators quickly scrambled up the roof and ran a dead sprint towards the rope they used to scale the Landcruiser in the first place. Leng covered his team as they rappelled down the side and managed to hop off the massive tank just in time as the first Krogans managed to reach the roof of the Landcruiser.
Once on solid ground, the team quickly reactivated their optical cloaks. Dagger 2 quickly shot out a green flare, a sign that the operation was a success. Once the Civil Protection Militia teams saw that, they began disengaging and withdrawing from battle.
Between the dust clouds kicked up by the moving vehicles, Dagger Team vanished as well, leaving no trace behind them.
-000-
"The Big Gun"
Glatisant Line, Thargora Thoraga, July 22, 2193
Kuril scraped off the mud from his boots and wiped off the dirt from his armor as he entered the command bunker. They may be in hard times right now, but he was meeting with the highest ranking Turian officer on the planet right now. It wouldn't hurt to at least make himself look presentable... well, relatively speaking at least.
To say that things have been rough since they got boxed in on this infernal planet would be the understatement of the millennia. They've been holding out for a little over two months now and things were always looking more and more grim. The Turian captain unclasped his helmet and clipped it onto his belt. He walked down the narrow halls of the command bunker and went into General Oraka's command room. The room was cramped, filled with various monitors and communications equipment used to monitor and command all Hierarchy forces still on the planet. In the very center of the room was a holotable which was almost always surrounded by half a dozen officers at all times. One of these officers was General Oraka himself.
Kuril stopped by the holotable and saluted the general before placing a datapad on the table and sliding it towards Oraka.
"I thought I told you to take a rest, Kuril." Oraka chastised without even looking up from the holotable. The general glanced to the side and eyed the datapad. "What's this?"
"A datapad, sir." Kuril snickered.
"Not in the mood right now, Captain."
"Right, sorry sir." He apologized. "It's reports from a scouting mission I lead a few days ago. We went over to one of the abandoned Krogan anti-orbital facility we took out when we first invaded the planet. Long story short, the Pioneers attached to my team thinks that there's a lot we can work on there."
Oraka raised a browplate before speaking.
"Such as?"
"Well, there are the most obvious things like salvaging electronics and materials like metal... maybe some left over Krogan fuel here and there. They also spotted a few busted power generators we could try and fix, if we choose to do so."
"That can't be all, you're holding out on me." The general interjected. "You wouldn't have bothered to deliver the report yourself if there wasn't something that will need my undivided attention."
"I was getting to it, sir." Kuril replied. "Get this, some of the Pioneers and Quartermasters think that they can restore one of the Krogan hypervelocity guns to working order."
Oraka furrowed his browplates together before shaking his head.
"And why would we want to waste resources and personnel fixing a hypervelocity gun? We're not exactly swimming in free hands and material right now."
"Right, right, I know that, sir. But think of what we can do with a hypervelocity gun! We could take down that new warship that the Council has in the fleet, or maybe even a dreadnought!" Kuril explained. "It would weaken the Council's hold on the planet and help our friends in the navy when they finally come back."
"Sound arguments, but it's all still a big gamble." Oraka shook his head again. "IF we can restore the gun, IF we can score a hit, IF the hit does anything at all."
"I know... I know that it's a bit of a stretch but-"
"But we can't spare the resources necessary to bring a hypervelocity gun back into operating condition." Oraka put his foot down. "We'll go forward with scavenging the facility for parts, but not for restoration. Am I understood?"
Kuril stayed silent for a moment, before letting out a sigh and responding.
"Clearly, sir." Kuril answered.
The captain gave a salute to his superior before excusing himself.
As Kuril exited the command bunker, he was greeted by a close friend of his.
"Octavis, how'd it go?" Quartermaster Nyx asked.
"About as well as expected, Quilla." Kuril answered.
"He said no?"
"He said no."
Nyx cursed under her breath.
"So what now?"
"What now? We go through with it anyways!" Kuril replied. "Quietly, that is."
Nyx raised a browplate, but didn't say anything.
"Oh, don't look at me like that, this was your idea originally." Kuril shot back.
"True, but how exactly do you intend on carrying through with it? It's not like we can just take the resources we need."
The Turian captain smirked, his fringes coming together to form a smug look.
"And that's why I'm a captain, and you're just another supply officer." He replied to her, smirk in face. "I'll figure something out with the Pioneers... just be ready to write off some items from the inventory."
Nyx raised a browplate, took a deep breath, then sighed.
"Fine... but if we're found out..."
"Yeah yeah, I know the drill." Kuril reassured his close friend. "Relax though, we'll be fine."
Somehow though, Nyx didn't think they'd be fine.
-000-
A/N:
Big apologies to anyone waiting on me to update this story. I'm approaching the final stages of my time in university and things are starting to ramp up. Unfortunately, among other things, Fanfiction writing got sidelined in order to prioritize my work and studies. I hope you guys can understand.
Additionally, there are a few other stories and projects I'm working on to spice things up a bit for myself.
I would promise to get back to updating the story on a monthly basis again, but I know better than to promise things I might not be able to fulfill. All I can say is that I'll see the story through to the end.
For now, I hope the update suffices and that I'll be able to update soon.
Good Luck and Godspeed to you all.
Thanks for reading.