Vanguard of Vengeance: Chapter 10
The Krogan took a step forward, his heavy booted foot cracking tile underfoot. Red eyes glinted beneath a coal black ridge of bone, split lips parting to show a toothy smile. Shepard retreated a step. Balro was the biggest Krogan that she had ever seen, dwarfing the combined party to a significant degree. Balro raised his oversized weapon and bellowed a challenge. His footfalls shook the chamber as he ran at the team.
"Fall back!" Nihlus ordered. "Fall back and give fire!" The party put words to action and backpedaled furiously. Their attacks cracked and whizzed out at the charging battlemaster to no apparent effect. They struck home with the force of thunderbolts, breaking his barriers and armour in their combined fury. The gory holes they ripped knitted together with astounding speed, closing before Shepard's eyes. Balro returned fire. The shockwave of the blast alone rang loud enough to shake stones from the ceiling. The shot burst upon the shields of the Turian sharpshooter. Garrus grunted and went down as two of the heavy metal darts tore into his side.
"Garrus!" Shepard yelled. The C-Sec agent gurgled, a sign that he was still breathing at least. "Doctor, you go help him!" Shepard took an aimed shot at the still advancing Krogan. The deep furrow it open just above his eyebrow closed almost as fast as the bullet tore through it.
"I'm not that kind of doctor!" Liara yelled back. The girl was panicking, not sure what to do. At least she'd picked up a rifle from one of the fallen Geth and was putting rounds down range. That took guts, but it would be clear heads that got them out of this situation.
"You have medigel, don't you?" Shepard yelled back
"Oh, right," Liara said and dashed to the prone Garrus' side. She drew a vial of the thick cure-all from a small back that hung from her shoulder and smeared a generous amount on the turian's wound. Not a military application, but it would have to do. Shepard focused on pounding the still rampaging Balro as hard as she could. He had switched targets, this time menacingly advancing on Nihlus. The SPECTRE held his ground, forsaking his shotgun for a broad Omni-blade projected perpendicular to his wrist. He hacked at the beast, searing chunks of flesh from shoulder and side. Balro ignored it and grabbed the Turian by the neck. He lifted Nihlus easily into the air and tossed him against the wall of the cavern like a ragdoll.
"You will face me, Saren's Pet," Javik said defiantly. His particle rifle was primed; its jade green energies escaped in a torrent that charred Balro's chestplate. The Krogan seemed to stagger, but he recovered quickly. With a bellowing charge, he bull rushed the resolute Prothean, lifting him into the air with the force of the blow. Javik's rifle flew up, still firing. Its power was wasted on the roof as it carved upwards until heat vented from its sides. Javik landed on his feet, but the Krogan was upon him again. Javik would not be cowed though. He pulled a curved knife from his boot and jammed it into the Krogan's neck. Balro head-butted the Prothean and withdrew the knife. Turning the point towards its owner, he slid it neatly between the plates of Javik's lamellar armour.
"I expected more from your dead race," Balro spat.
Dust poured down on either side as he turned to set Shepard in his sights. Shepard stepped backwards, but her heel caught on something jagged, tripping her. She landed hard enough to chatter her teeth and knock the wind from her lungs. The huge bulk of the Krogan lumbered forward, his face still split by that devilish grin. Shepard fired her pistol again and again until it rang with overheat alarms. Balro went to stomp her into the dirt. Shepard rolled just in time, the heavy boot falling beside her with enough force to crack stone. The boot came down again and again, each time getting closer to its target. With a cry, Shepard was caught by one of the blows. Balro held her there as he pulled his massive shotgun. Close as she was, Shepard could see the barbs suspended within the barrel.
"You have spirit, little human," the Krogan said with a voice that had the sound of heavy metal chain pulled over rock. "I am glad I saved you for last." He cocked his weapon as his finger wrapped around the trigger. In a last, desperate move, Shepard summoned every ounce of her biotic powers. The gun fired with a roar, but it was not the open end of the barrel from which the barbs flew. Shepard's desperate barrier within the open end of the gun had held, the energy of firing instead directed upwards. The concussion of the blast was enough to send both of them reeling, knocking Balro backwards and slamming Shepard into the ground. Something gave beneath her and Shepard had to scrabble to escape a falling section of the floor. Balro wasn't so lucky. He fell right through the collapsing segment and onto the ground below. He coughed roughly as a spear of rock was thrust through his chest.
Shepard breathed a sigh of relief and moved to stand. She was ripped from her feet and pulled towards the hole. Beneath her, Balro struggled to unpin himself from the spear that held him, his efforts staining the ground with his black blood. Her roared and tightened his biotic grip on Shepard's ankle. Shepard caught the edge of the hole and clung to it for dear life. Through sheer strength of will, she heaved herself up on her elbows, but Balro still held tight. He redoubled his efforts, straining Shepard's grip until she let out a cry of pain. Her mind spinning, her eyes darted around the corridor. Her hand found her pistol and she fired behind her one handed. Balro didn't let go, even as round slammed into his already ruined chest. Even now he was regenerating.
Shepard turned her eyes upwards in desperation. Something caught her eye. Desperate, she fired straight upwards. Her shot slammed into the ceiling. A great spar of rock, already loosened by Javik's particle weapon, fell from the roof. Its rough leading edge scraped against Shepard's should, almost bringing her with it. It passed her though, landing with a sickening crunch. Balro's biotic grip disappeared and Shepard rocketed up out of the hole with a tortured gasp for breath. She lay there stunned, holding her battered ankle.
The Normandy's med bay was busy as the slender necked ship rocketed away from the volcanic Therum, Geth fighters in pursuit. Within the belly of the frigate, Shepard looked out over the ward. Her own side was bound up over a triplet of fractured ribs, while Garrus lay in bed being treated for both his wounds and a nasty reaction to the levo medigel. Javik was awake but unresponsive. He had refused to allow Dr. Chakwas to treat damage to organs she had never seen before, instead opting to slather the affected area with a foul smelling gel salvaged from his cryotube. Combined with the casualties and injuries taken by Chief Williams and her squad, the first action of her and Nihlus' mission to take down Saren felt like a bitter victory at least.
Nihlus himself had left the medbay immediately after receiving treatment for the cracked mandible he had received at the hands of the battlemaster of Clan Udun. The fight with the monstrous Krogan hadn't shaken him, not exactly, but Shepard was sure she saw some specter of doubt rise up in his beady eyes as he walked the ship.
"You're free to go, Commander," Dr. Chakwas said, withdrawing the medical sensor tray on its swinging arm. "I'd avoid any further action for the rest of the day. And, I know you won't like this, but put a hold on your workout regimen for the week."
Chakwas was right; Shepard didn't like that at all. "The Workout," as anyone who had ever served with her referred to it, was a ritual that had followed Shepard out of the gutter and into the service. She had performed the Workout on such varied fields as Jump Zero, Torfan, and Arcturus, never altering it and only missing a session for active combat.
And now she had been told to lay off it for a whole week. Shepard smiled politely to the good doctor and took her proffered medical orders, though she waved off the sling. Inwardly grumbling, Shepard swung her legs off of the medical table and hauled herself up to her feet. Her ribs protested, a harsh grating feeling just below the muscles. Perhaps Shepard would accept the sling after all.
Shepard left the medbay with her arm strapped tightly across her chest. The mood in the mess was tense, as it often was after taking casualties. Shepard offered a reassuring nod to a group of marines clustered around the table. They didn't return it. Many of them sported bruises and scrapes from the action of the day, with a few with more serious injuries awarded a place of honor closest to the laid out MREs. The man called Hampton had his head wrapped in light gauze to cover the medigel treatment over the eye he'd likely never use again.
Shepard kept walking, avoiding there glances. Her steps took her up towards the command deck. There stood Nihlus, still in his black combat armour. The volcanic dust of Therum still clung to him, except were dark blue blood had been wiped from around his jaw and chest. Half of his face was in a cast, making him look like he wore some half-formed mask. He turned from his podium as Shepard approached.
"Ah, Commander. It's good to see you up and about again. Good work down on Therum, I'll be sure to include it in your file when you reapply for the SPECTREs." Shepard was taken aback.
"Reapply? The Council seemed pretty sure they wanted nothing to do with me," She responded.
"Yes," Nihlus said, looking back across the bridge, "They'll come around, I'm sure of it. Joker, try to put a little more speed on. I don't like the look of the Geth pursuit, we've raised quite the jarrok nest." Joker's terse reply came back from the cockpit and Nihlus chuckled. "You've got yourself quite the pilot, Shepard, but his unprofessional attitude would never fly on a Turian vessel."
"It's lucky this ship flies Alliance colours then," Shepard replied. "And didn't we beat you guys last time we matched up?"
"You certainly gave it a try, and came pretty close, much as the Hierarchy loathes admitting and tries every day to forget. Not that they should, the Turian fleet could use a measure of flexibility. The hardest sword is sharp to a point, but then it snaps. The Alliance forces are more like a rapier, just enough give to bring the opponent in, then comes the snap." He punctuated his words by banging a fist against the railing. "I've always admired that."
The holographic display in front of him shifted. Whereas before, the Normandy was displayed alone in a sea of black, the image now zoomed out to show the whole system. The planet Therum now swarmed with activity, as did a few of the inner planets. The Normandy had already developed a tail of smaller ships that trailed behind it. If not for what it represented, the image would have been quite pretty.
"We'll have to keep pushing her for all she's got," Shepard said. "This whole system will be swarming with Geth by the end of the day. If they beat us to the relay we'll have nowhere to hide."
"I'll have a chat with our resident Quarian; see if we can't show these synthetics the meaning of haste." The Turian was quiet after that, seemingly content to watch the swarm of Geth ships spread out into a search grid. Under the cover of stealth, there was no way for the Geth to spot them at long range, but if they tripped one of the close sensor nets… He gave a muffled groan and reached for his face. "I've been on the SPECTRE intelligence network. Turns out this Udun Balro heads up a clan up in the highlands of Tuchanka."
"You afraid this clan of his will cause trouble now that he's dead?" Shepard asked.
"I'm afraid it might be a little too late for that. Clan Udun left Tuchanka nine months back. Not just the men, but the women and the young. Their fortresses in the hill were stripped bare down to the rock. I think Balro signed his whole clan over to… to the Reapers. Clan loyalty in that region being what it is, they'll likely still follow it under a new battlemaster."
"Are they all as tough as him?" Shepard asked, her hand unconsciously going to her own wound.
"No, Balro was a beast even among his people. The rest of his clan is no bigger than the average Krogan, not that that is especially comforting. Now, once we make good our escape, I have a few outstanding missions that need taken care of. I want you to work with our new crewmember and the Prothean on digging up some new leads in the meantime." Shepard saluted and turned.
"Yes, sir."
Rain pattered on the ruins of some abandoned warehouse on the forgotten backside of an unpopulated world. Or at least, the official records held on the Citadel claimed it was unpopulated. The truth was somewhat more complicated. Shepard ducked under another spray of pulsing blue fire.
"I thought you said, 'empty, lonely world. Maybe fifteen, twenty hostiles.' That's what you said, right?" Shepard yelled over the sound of pulsing assault rifles and buzzing Geth platforms. There were more than twenty of them.
"Those were the numbers given by my informant on the slaver gang that set up shop here. There was no way of knowing that the Geth would beat us here!" But the Geth had beaten them there. The synthetics had sprung their trap shortly after the small team had infiltrated the broken down warehouse. Just enough time to separate themselves from the Mako that could have whisked them away to safety, but not enough time to react to the skinned bodies of thirteen Batarian slavers that had been left where they had fallen, haphazardly scattered like broken dolls on the warehouse floor. The attack had been sudden, the only warning a flicker of long dead bulbs as static washed over the concrete.
Shepard lined up a shot on another platform. The grey armoured trooper had been trying to flank what little cover Nihlus and his team had managed to scrape together from the sodden detritus of the battlefield.
"How are we getting out of this one, Commander?" Ashley asked at Shepard's elbow. The marine Chief slapped a fresh string of microgrenades into her under-slung launcher. "Because if you need a couple of pointers, I've got five of them right here." The launcher's action closed with a snap.
"Give me a second, I'm thinking," Shepard said. More rounds snapped off of the metal shield that stood between her and her ambushers. Something splashed to her right. Shepard spun, rifle coming up. Her broken ribs torqued and she twinged, the shot going wide. Out of a blur of invisiblilty, a white painted Geth winked into existence wielding a curved and wide barreled shotgun. Shepard kept firing and dragged her point of aim up and onto its chest plate. The rounds sparked uselessly on kinetic barriers.
"Watch your head!" The Geth jerked as something hit it just below the shoulder. A neat hole began to leak translucent fluid as it fell as if in slow motion. It collapsed at Shepard's feet and she kicked it away. She turned to look behind her. Garrus waved, the barrel of his rifle still steaming in the heavy rain.
"Thanks for the cover!" Shepard yelled back. She put her shoulder back to her cover and her mind back to thinking. The situation was fast becoming untenable, their position dire. If they didn't break the ring the Geth had put them in soon, they would be overrun. Shepard's eyes scanned the warehouse, desperate for something, anything. She caught sight of an overhang just above the south entrance. "Chief, can you put one of your grenades over that door?"
"Do the Salarians speak faster than Turians can think?" Ashley replied. Shepard gave her a puzzled look. "Sure thing, Commander, I'll need some covering fire though." The Gunnery Chief readied her weapon. Shepard offered her a grim smile and flexed her fingers.
"On my signal; Three… two…" Before she had gotten to one, Shepard sprung up from her position. Raising only the arm on her unwounded side, she concentrated all of her biotic strength. Her arm, hands, and fingers were wreathed in swirling energy oily purple in colour. It pulsed and grew only for a short second before being unleashed by Shepard's feral grin. It spread outwards, expanding as it knocked aside Geth and loose stone. The attack on that side knocked sprawling, giving Ashley enough time to make one shot.
The launcher fired with a soft pop. Too small for the eyes to follow, the micro grenade spun through the air towards its target. It hit the crumbling concrete of the overhang with a splatter of adhesives. It exploded. The wall above the blast almost shattered, its broken parts falling to splash down in a pile in front of the door. The falling concrete crushed Geth beneath it and blocked that passage. With the back entrance closed off, the flow of Geth slowed, but it didn't stop. Now though, there was a chance. The rain continued to fall across the battlefield, but now it was Shepard's battlefield. Around her, the members of her ground team advanced in defiance to the attacking synthetics. Shepard paused for a second to survey the ground. Lightning played through the air above, illuminating the battlefield. Atop a ruined watchtower on the outer wall of the abandoned warehouse. A figure perched atop it, dark against the night. Shepard blinked. The figure was gone, replaced by shadows.
Author's Note:
That's Therum down and a new member added to the crew. The next chapter or two will cover a few side missions. I'm trying to invent a few, so it won't all be old hat. Let me know how you like the action in this segment, I've been working on spicing it up a little. Comments and reviews, as always, are welcomed.
NonSolus, Lomskis: If there's any one language that could be mistaken for alien, I'd have to say it was Welsh. No offense to the land of mountains and dragons, but I like to use vowels when I speak. Other than that, the Zieoph were fun to write about, so if you liked them you can look forward to more strange and alien cultures from Javik's past.
Full Paragon: I figured BalrogGandalfKrogan would be the perfect end boss for a crawl through an ancient alien mine. I hope Shepard's fight with him stands up to its inspiration.
