…
"I am the Swarm. Armies will be shattered. Worlds will burn. Now at last, on this world, vengeance shall be mine. For I am the Queen of Blades."
(Sarah Kerrigan)
…
Fehl Prime, January 18th, 5:25 PM, 2185
…
I sat cross-legged at the edge of the gun platform towering over the pit, watching the sunset in the distance as I took in the feeling of the wind blowing through my hair. Down below, the Normandy sat in the field outside the colony as people moved to and from it providing munitions, supplies, and other essentials that we might need for the upcoming battle. Dan, Dimitri, and the rest of my crew were supposed to arrive soon with the original Dragoon in tow, the last piece of defense we'd be able to afford ourselves until Hackett's battle group got here.
It was still undetermined when they'd arrive. They were originally supposed to be here today, but they were diverted to deal with a band of pirates that had attempted several raids on the human colony Cuervo. Now we'd be lucky to see them before the 20th. Half of me was frustrated by this, but the other kind of expected something like this to happen.
I spent most of my time after my demonstration walking through the colony, trying to get a feel for how it was set up and how best to defend it. There was a large inclinator that led directly into the pit, eventually ending at the buried research labs below the surface of the planet. I had suggested the labs as a good place to evacuate the civilians in case we were overrun, but Toni insisted they were sealed to unauthorized personnel under all circumstances. I thought that was short sighted, but considering the colony's primary export depended on what was made down there, I couldn't blame him all the same.
Luckily, the structures surrounding the pit provided great cover, and the circular design of the primary colony complex allowed us to easily shift people around. I had plenty of ideas to bat around tomorrow.
"So, this is what you do when you're not bothering people?" I heard a familiar voice say as I turned around, seeing Jack standing there with her arms crossed.
"Hello to you too." I greeted with a mildly annoyed tone, feeling slightly intruded upon. I was about to say something about it until I realized she probably felt the same way about me coming into her room, so I stayed quiet.
"What, not off preparing for war like the rest of them down there?" She jeered in a slightly mocking tone with a curious look on her face.
"There's nothing left for me to do until my friends arrive." I replied, looking back at the sunset before another thought crossed my mind, getting me to immediately turn back around. "Wait, how did you get up here?"
"I used my biotics." She bragged, walking to the edge of the platform and letting herself fall off, only to stop herself mid-air and float in front of me with a bluish field of energy. "Besides, I hate stairs. Too boring."
"Seems like you'd know, plenty of practice I'd assume." I remarked with narrowed eyes, forcing myself to accept the natural flow of the conversation. "So, you must have asked around if you knew I was up here. Got something important to tell me?"
"Maybe… I'm not sure yet." She said with a noticeable pause, closing her eyes as she threw her head back. "I've been looking around, trying to connect the dots… might have a location on a Cerberus facility soon."
"That's good." I nodded, pushing my hands together and raising them above my head as she looked back at me. "The moment you have something for me, I'll see what we can do about tackling it."
"Yeah, about that..." She paused, pushing herself back to the platform as she stared me straight in the eye. "If we end up hitting this place, I don't want any big military-types to get involved. I want to do this myself."
"You know we can't just give you free reign to attack them on your own." I argued, beginning to feel uncomfortable as she got closer. "Someone has to go with you."
"Ha! And who's gonna go? You?" She mocked, looking quite smug. I stood up, crossing my arms as i shot her a raised eyebrow. "Oh… you're serious."
"Damn right I'm fucking serious!" I suddenly burst, drawing off my previous encounters with Cerberus to fuel my resolve. "I want to find them and wipe them out like the cockroaches they are. They've caused untold damage to me, my friends, and colleagues over the years, and I'm tired of always being on the receiving end. If you go to attack one of their facilities, don't expect me to sit on the sideline and watch!"
She looked unamused for the longest time, staring at me while remaining completely still before turning away and cracking a small grin.
"Hmph… maybe you're not the giant pussy I thought you were." She remarked, still managing to compliment and insult me at the same time as something could be heard in the distance, immediately ending our conversation.
"What the hell is that?" She asked, looking towards the northeast same as me.
I could hear what sounded like music, and it was getting closer. I listened as it became less faint, finally able to hear what it was just as the crack of a ship going incredibly fast could be heard through the air above us.
The Explorer was here, and Dan was blaring "Klendathu Drop" from the Starship Troopers soundtrack. I could only assume the madman was going to do a combat drop with our Dragoon mech.
"Oh, that son of a bitch!" I yelled in sudden anger, managing to surprise even Jack as I ran towards the edge of the platform and frantically opened my omni-tool. "Dan, what the hell are you doing?!"
"Hey Sean!" He replied back, sounding rather pleased with himself. "Like the t-track I picked?"
"You asshole! We have an entire civilian population down here!" I shouted, looking back up as it descended. "Turn that off! You've scared the daylights out of them enough!"
"Fine, sheesh." He agreed reluctantly, sounding more disappointed than anything else as the track cut off. "I'm preparing for the drop, hold on."
The line crackled then went dead, replaced by a loud feedback screech as Dan took manual control over the ship's speaker system.
"Commencing drop. Clear landing zone." He announced clearly, echoing across the plateau as red lights lit up and flashed around the belly of the Explorer, revealing the Dragoon mech attached to its underside.
The hydraulic frame holding the mech was shifted, moving it into an upright position with its feet towards the ground. The ship stopped its descent, hovering roughly one-thousand meters from the surface of the planet.
"No, no, no! Dan… that's too high!" I yelled in vain as the mech decoupled from the ship, sending it into freefall.
It fell about four-hundred meters before Dan fired its jump jets, managing to barely slow it down before another series of rockets attached to the legs were lit. I wasn't sure how those got there or why, but it seemed to have done the trick. He hit the ground going roughly forty miles per hour, sending up a cloud of sand and dust before everything settled.
"Huh… wouldn't mind taking that for a spin." Jack joked as I felt my ears radiate with heat, a side effect of me becoming both incredibly annoyed and embarrassed. I saw my omni-tool light up again as Dan attempted to call me, but I dismissed it, attempting to calm my breathing.
No, he and I would talk in person.
…
Seventeen Minutes Later
…
By the time I had reached the landing zone, a large crowd of people had gathered, including most of the Normandy's crew and a fair number of curious colonists who wanted to see what had caused all the racket. Jack had followed me the whole way down, though part of me didn't really understand why considering how much she apparently disliked me.
"You seem pretty pissed." She observed with a shit-eating grin on her face as I walked towards the immobile mech in front of the ship. "And here I thought you were the super-serious type."
I shook my head as I attempted to cool myself down, knowing she was just trying to get a rise out of me. I pushed my way through the crowd, running into Vega and his squad near the front.
"Hey there amigo!" He greeted as I got closer, pulling me in and pointing at the mech. "Is this the surprise you mentioned earlier?"
"Unfortunately." I jeered, confusing him as I finally spotted Dan sitting on top of the mech, legs hanging over the side as he typed away on his omni-tool. "Has he been up there the entire time?"
"Yeah, I think so. He hasn't talked to anyone yet." He answered, crossing his arms before Okeer suddenly strong-armed his way to me, stopping to look at the mech before addressing me.
"Your creation?" He plainly questioned in his deep baritone, crossing his arms.
"Parts of it." I quickly answered, still struggling to hide how truly angry I was.
He let out a "humph" of approval as I looked back at Jack, suddenly feeling mischievous. "Hey, you interested in doing something for a laugh?"
"What did you have in mind?" She asked in a surprisingly curious tone as I leaned in and whispered my idea to her. I could tell from her eyes lighting up she already liked it. She nodded with a smile as I did the same.
With our plan set, the two of us walked out into the open, getting Dan's attention almost immediately.
"Oh, h-hey Sean!" He greeted with oblivious enthusiasm, grinning with how pleased he was. "Why didn't you answer my call?"
"How about you come down here for a little chat?" I asked in a calming tone, beckoning him down with my finger.
"Well, I would, b...but Dimitri still hasn't arrive with-" He began before a biotic blast from behind knocked him off the side, sending him screaming towards us before Jack caught him with less than two feet left till impact. This seemed to result in several worried reactions from the crowd, but at the moment I was still too annoyed to care.
Jack held him there as I walked over, she and Okeer laughing their guts out as I crossed my hands behind my back.
"Haha! I like this human!" Okeer cheered, throwing his hands together as I focused exclusively on Dan.
"Dan, you're my friend, and I appreciate you, but if you do something like that again I'll never make you ship CO again. You understand?" I threatened, kneeling down next to him as he glared daggers at me.
"You're a real fucking asshole!" He exclaimed with venom dripping from his voice as I cocked my eyebrows, unamused. "Let me down!"
"Only after you apologize for blaring music over a civilian colony with no warning or reason." I ordered, not willing to let this go. "And also for dropping the mech outside of its designed tolerance range."
"It wasn't outside of its projected range, I used the retrorocket pods we had originally built!" He argued, trying to deflect what I had said as looked at the mech, only now noticing the burnt-out solid fuel rockets attached to the mech's legs.
Part of me was impressed and wanted to congratulate him, but I quickly banished said thoughts from my mind.
"That's not important right now! Just apologize." I demanded, getting a groan and a head shake from him.
"Fine, I'm sorry." He finally said, getting a weight off of my chest. "I went too far."
I looked back at Jack, nodding to her as she released him. I then offered my hand, which he slowly accepted.
"You could have gotten yourself killed doing that, you idiot." I remarked in a lighter tone, giving him a quick pat on the shoulder as he sighed and did the same. "Save that crap for a battle."
"I was q-quite safe." He reassured, cracking a small smile. "I only blew out two of the ser...servos in the landing."
"Only two?" I questioned with a smirk, knowing we both now understood each other as I saw Dimitri with the mobile stair lift in tow. The moment he saw the both of us together, he looked very confused.
"How did you get down?" He asked, pointing at the top of the mech before moving it towards Dan.
"I'll tell you later." I smiled, shaking my head at how ridiculous it all seemed.
With that, the three of us walked off towards the Explorer with Okeer, Vega, and his men in tow, apparently still interested in what we were going to discuss. Or maybe they wanted to see what other piece of tech we had, who knows, but I trusted them.
We still had more work to do.
…
Fehl Prime, January 20th, 9:56 AM, 2185
…
We spend our entire Friday preparing for this day, getting together battle and evacuation plans, performing weapons training, and finishing up the final touches on Mordin's antidote and countermeasure. The small transmitter was now firmly attached to the back of my armor, hooked into my kinetic barriers and electrical systems. My exo was fitted perfectly, and my plasma cells were charged.
I paced around the fire control station for the colony's defensive guns with James, Shepard, and the rest of the Marines stationed here while everyone else sat in defensive positions around the rest of the colony. The Normandy and Explorer were above in orbit with minimal crews, waiting to notify us at a moment's notice of any incoming ships.
We were as ready as we could be, unless the Alliance reinforcements arrived early.
"Terahertz readings aren't giving us anything, Sean." Lydia spoke into my earpiece as I stared at the radar screen next to me.
I shook my head, eyes glued to the screen as Shepard shot a concerned look my direction. Even at this point, neither one of us really knew what to expect.
Suddenly, the radar screen beeped as a new contact entered the vicinity of the planet, jolting me.
"Shepard, we've got a new contact… unknown IFF." Joker said over the comm as static could be heard. "It's them."
"Both ships, engage the Collector vessel!" Shepard ordered loudly over the comm while we still could. "If it's too much, retreat! If it flees, give chase!"
"Yes sir!" I heard Lenlo acknowledge over the comm shortly before the signal went dead, being replaced with static.
The Normandy and Explorer broke off from one another, attempting to engage the Collector ship from two angles. I held my breath, unable to stand not being up there before my heart suddenly dropped. Even from here knew something was wrong as the Explorer broke away from the fight, heading towards the planet faster as its signal grew weaker.
"Come on… come on, come on…" I repeated to myself, watching the Normandy stick to its attack pattern before looking back at one of the Marines manning the gun system. "Are we in range to assist?"
"At the speeds that thing is moving, not accurately." Kamille denied, causing me to clench my teeth as I stared helplessly at the screen. I felt a sense of dread as I saw the Explorer enter the atmosphere.
"Lenlo! Lenlo! Do you read me!?" I shouted into my omni-tool, running outside to look at the sky. "Answer me!"
I watched helplessly as I saw a streaking light in the distance plunge towards the planet, landing somewhere out in the distance, too far away for me to see with the naked eye. All I could see was a flash as something exploded.
The Explorer… my ship.
"No no no no!" I yelled, refusing to accept my ship had gone down for a few brief moments. "Lenlo!"
"Sean, get in here now!" I heard Shepard shout as I looked up to see the Collector ship, now within visual range, moving towards the atmosphere.
Knowing there was nothing I could do right now, I obeyed Shepard's command and ran back to the command center, feeling the energy drain from my body as the full weight of the situation came down on my shoulders.
"Cannon is charging, sir!" Mason announced, barely going noticed by me as I sauntered back to the radar screen, seeing the Normandy was gone and the Explorer was still giving off a weak signal. The Collector ship was quickly moving through the atmosphere, somehow moving even faster than before.
"Fire as soon as we reach full power." Shepard calmly ordered, folding his hands behind his back as I noticed a bead of sweat trickle down from James' forehead. "Hopefully, they've done enough damage that we can knock that son of a bitch right out of the sky."
I forced myself to calm down as I could hear the capacitor banks in the tower charging, emitting an electrical "whine" that progressively got louder.
"75 percent!" Mason said, drifting his finger over the fire button as Kamille continuously modified and tweaked her firing solution. I gripped the edge of the console so tight that I could feel sweat form on my palms under the gloves.
"Wait for it… wait…" Shepard said in a lowered tone, watching the power build as the ship closed within one hundred miles of the colony. "Fire!"
The entire platform shook as the twin guns fired, flashing like a starburst outside as the rounds soared towards the massive ship, making contact less than two seconds later. I noticed the impact, seeing a massive fireball erupt from the side of the ship. It didn't slow, but actually picked up speed and turned to its side slightly.
"Gotcha." Kamille smirked, running over to the window to watch as the ship slammed into the planet roughly eight miles out, sending up a massive cloud of dust before the shockwave reached us. We waited without a sound, waiting for the dust to settle so we could see what was left.
I couldn't believe my eyes. The ship, despite still looking heavily damaged, was more-or-mess still in one piece. Columns of smoke rose from the hull of the odd vessel, but it wasn't destroyed. Not only was the ship not pancaked, but I could see the sky around it growing slightly darker. Seeker swarms.
"Fuck!" I loudly exclaimed, slamming my fist on the console hard enough to leave a sizeable dent.
"Attention, this is Commander Shepard."He announced over the colony-wide announcement system, taking out the Plasma Gun i had given him. "The Collector ship is down, but the Collectors themselves are not. Prepare for combat!"
He looked hard at me for a few seconds as if to ask "are you sure you're ready for this?" as I nodded, slamming a fresh plasma cell into my gun. He nodded, pursing his lips as he, Vega and I ran out of the control center, leaving Mason and Kamille to operate the gun and monitoring equipment in case there were any other surprises waiting for us.
I didn't need anymore surprises.
…
Seven Minutes Later
…
We finally reached the colony's outer defensive wall where elements of our crews, the other marines, and volunteers from the colony's civilian population waited for the Collectors to get here. At this point, I knew it wouldn't be much longer.
I was still seething with barely-contained rage, wanting nothing more than to kill every last one of these bastards and go out and investigate the crash site personally. I knew that would have to wait, unfortunately. I held out hope that everyone had survived, and that the ship could be repaired.
"What's the situation, Toni?" Shepard asked as he sat behind the wall, watching over the side with a set of binoculars as I snapped myself back to the world around me.
"That swarm is getting closer, and that's not all." He stated, handing the binoculars to Shepard before he then gave them to me.
Looking at the hostiles from this distance, I could easily see the bulk of this attack was being led by the massive swarm. The "cloud" of Seekers was so thick that it partially blocked out the sun above them. Behind them were larger, bipedal figures that appeared to be armed with small arms, though what kind of weapons they were, I had no idea. I assumed they were the Collectors. All the way in the back were about a dozen large creatures that looked like giant, armored ticks. I didn't like the look of them one bit.
"How far out are they?" Shepard asked, looking at them unassisted over my shoulder.
"I'd say… about four thousand meters and closing." I estimated, going off of the shadow creeping towards us. "Three or four minutes until they reach us."
"Radio traffic is still scrambled, just keep using the base intercom system until we can find a way to transmit through it." Toni chimed back in as I handed the binoculars back to him.
"It would certainly help." I nodded, looking down the line and spotting Dimitri decked out in a custom Gen IV exosuit. I looked at Shepard, nodding towards him as he nodded back in confirmation.
I was in charge of this firing line, a little over two dozen people, including Jack, Dimitri and Pistis. As I walked down the line, I examined all the people waiting for the attack. While a good portion of them were members of the Normandy's crew, the vast majority were actually colonists who had volunteered to take up arms. I respected their courage, but part of me still feared for them.
A lot of them were younger than me, in their early or mid twenties, and even included an Asari researcher. I was initially against the idea of involving the colonists, but many of them refused to go. In the end, I spent three hours the previous day giving a mass training session dealing with the proper use of my Plasma guns, which they were all armed with in addition to the weapons many already owned.
If the Admiralty knew I had instructed Dan to "procure" four crates of Plasma guns from one of CASTLE Base's storage hangars, they'd be pissed. Of course, that was assuming they didn't know already.
"Hey, you look ready to take on a legion of arachnids." I greeted, getting his immediate attention as he turned to face me directly. "Bet you're wishing you had developed those shoulder-fired nukes."
"Da, I have earned right to become citizen." He joked, understanding my Starship Troopers reference as we both turned to look at the impending cloud of doom approaching. "Still, not sure how this will pan out."
"We'll have to play this by ear." I nodded, beginning to notice an audible *din* in the background as they got within unassisted visual distance. "Make sure if anyone goes down they're removed from the firing line and replaced as quickly as possible. We need to keep the fire on."
He nodded, looking back as I noticed some of the colonists started looking worried. I couldn't blame them, but I didn't want them to go into battle with such low morale. I decided to do a pep speech.
"Alright, listen up! We have the advantage here! We have the cover, the defensive positions, and the firepower! I want a steady base of fire on the humanoids targets first, and the big ones second!" I shouted out, looking up and down the whole line as I spoke. "Remember that the transmitters on your backs are protecting you from those swarms! Don't let them intimidate you! We've got to thin out the bigger targets so the flamers can do their jobs! If the line breaks and I shout Alamo, retreat back to baseline Delta and dig in! Do I make myself clear?!"
"Yes sir!" Most of them shouted in acknowledgement, eliciting a good feeling in my belly as I looked back at Dimitri.
"Pretty good, though I believe Rear Admiral Kahoku was better." He assessed, getting me to let out a huff of amusement.
"Oh geez, thanks." I dryly replied, getting into position with him behind the makeshift barriers as we focused and waited.
Thirty seconds later, the swarm washed over us, filling the air with the, frankly, terrifying din of chirping insect noises. The flamers placed in the positions above us lit up the sky, close enough that I could feel the heat on my back. Luckily, Mordin's countermeasure seemed to be working so far. No one had been stung, and we were going unmolested as they were burned from the skies.
"Steady… steady!" I shouted over the noise, waiting for the Collectors to get within optimal firing range. As soon as I spotted their glowing eyes I grit my teeth and shouted "Open up!"
As I gave the order, all of us fired on the flying Collectors, creating a bright blue line of plasma bolts that appeared epileptic against the seeker swarms around us. The bastards didn't seem to expect the sudden volley of fire being sent their direction, and the wave in the front was dropping like flies.
"Keep up the fire, make your shots count!" I continued to shout, watching the Dragoon mech move out into the open as Dan fired the plasma cannon into the air, vaporizing several swarms of Seekers in one massive blast. He used the targeting computer to its fullest effect, knocking Collectors out of the sky just by looking at them.
"Die, you fucking scum!" He yelled through the mech's loudspeakers, queuing up Rob Zombie's "Living Dead Girl" and blaring it at full volume. I didn't have the time to appreciate his music choice, however, because at this point we had begun taking retaliatory fire as their second wave moved in. They used a mix of mass effect weaponry and some kind of beam projectors that burned through our cover frighteningly fast.
We all began prioritizing the ones with the beam weapons, timing our shots to cover each other's reloads.
"Keep up the fire on the left side, don't let them flank us!" I shouted over the swarms, gunfire, and music as I pointed in that direction, redirecting fire to close the gap. Suddenly, two beams cut away at my cover, nearly nailing me and Dimitri and knocking us back several feet.
One of those larger, tick-shaped creatures loomed over us, close enough that I could make out what looked like hollow, human faces inside of its "shell." The sight of it was terrifying.
"Jesus Christ!" I screamed, nearly on the verge of panic as Dimitri and I focused our fire on the flying abomination. We blasted it with over a dozen plasma bolts, but somehow it was still coming. It flew towards the main wall, letting out a shrill shrieking noise that pierced my eardrums before a missile slammed into it from above, blowing it into dozens of pieces and splattering me, Dimitri, and several colonists with a grayish, black ooze.
"My friend, are you alright?!" Dimitri quickly asked, offering his hand to me which I took, pulling me backup to my feet.
"Don't worry about me, plug that hole!" I yelled, quickly switching out to a new plasma cell as more of the creatures could be seen coming. Jack ran up, throwing out several biotic blasts before projecting a barrier to temporarily cover the breach.
The full weight of the Collector swarm was on top of us now, and I wasn't sure we'd be able to hold our current position much longer. The tick monsters were targeting our flamethrower emplacements, clearing the way for more of the swarms to fly right by. They were using the swarm as a mobile wall of cover to advance on our fortifications. Dan was being mobbed, and despite his size and all the armor plating, I could tell he wasn't doing well out in the open anymore.
"Dan, get your ass back behind the colony walls!" I ordered over the intercom system just as a round grazed my kinetic barriers, sending me back behind cover.
"Understood!" He obeyed, running under our covering fire as he moved towards safety. I looked down the line, seeing at least seven people in my line were injured and were being moved back to baseline Delta. They were chipping away at us slowly, but surely. We were losing.
One of the tick creatures rammed the wall on our right flank, tearing a hole straight through and killing two of the colonists instantly. Dan saw this, and immediately retaliated by taking manual control of the Dragoon's arms and grabbing the creature, smashing it between its hands.
"Everyone get back!" He yelled over the loudspeakers, firing another blast from his plasma cannon before taking two beam blasts from more of the ticks, piercing the mech's left forearm and blowing it off at the elbow.
"Dan, move!" I shouted, seeing the Collector bipeds pushing Shepard's line back, breaking our formation. "Alamo, Alamo!"
We all retreated, Jack defending us with a barrier and Dimitri covering her with plasma fire as we ran for the next baseline. Once we passed it, we hastily got into position as Pistis ran alongside me, still able to effortlessly handle the massive Reegar weapon while keeping pace with me.
"Doctor-Michaels, we believe we might have solution to Collector swarms!" It yelled over the gunfire, managing to both surprise and interest me. We moved behind a piece of solid cover, a storage shed on the edge of one of the farms inside the colony walls.
"Let's hear it!" I urged, trying to catch my breath as I listened to him.
"We have analyzed Collector swarm. We believe a powerful enough ultra high frequency sound wave can kill the Seeker swarms." He hypothesised, focusing rapidly on me with its aperture. "Colony transmitter use possible if hooked into defense gun power grid."
I threw the idea around in my head quickly, pacing as I thought as fast as I could about it. Without the swarm, the Collectors would lack their biggest advantage, and we might be able to turn the tide in our favor. But, going with Pistis to do this would also mean abandoning my command here.
It was a hard choice, but in the end I was willing to try anything.
"Dimitri, we might have a way to kill this swarm, but it means I've got to give you command of our line!" I shouted, getting his full attention as Dan finally caught up despite his mech's heavy damage. "Hold the line while Pistis and I see if we can't even the odds a little bit.
He gave me a salute for confirmation, giving us the go ahead to move out.
We'd have to be careful. We were just two against many, and it was a fair distance to the main colony transmitter.
…
A/N: Another chapter, and another chance to practice writing a battle, this time a long, protracted one! My spring semester is going to be over soon, so I hope to get out more chapters in the future! I don't really have any more to say, except I hope you guys liked the chapter and'll forgive me for the cliffhanger.
Also, thanks to Tom712 for pointing out I had accidentally mixed up Shepard's gender. I must have been tired when I wrote those parts.
I'd love to read any reviews, and I'm always up for suggestions or constructive criticism! Stay tuned!