…
"To knock a thing down, especially if it is cocked at an arrogant angle, is a deep delight of the blood."
(George Santayana)
…
Challenger 3, November 19th, 2:12 PM, 2186
…
The Cobra jolted slightly as we entered the atmosphere, the din of the rushing air and the engines overtaking any other sounds. I sat near the front of the ship, looking up at the pilot as I occasionally glanced back at the ORIONs, all barely able to fit in their seats as we flew down towards the surface. I was armed with my newly upgraded Pulse Rifle, stark black paint job and an improved cooling system. I could have brought Ol' Reliable, my Plasma Rifle, but I was beginning to prefer the range and penetration the pulse rifle offered over the Plasma Gun's brute force and power. Blasting big, melty holes into things with a Plasma Rifle as if it was a sledgehammer and blowtorch rolled into one is always fun, but the pulse rifle was more like a hot scalpel, cleanly slicing into targets with very little collateral.
I knew why it was so hard to choose between the two, of course. One had been developed by Mara and I over the course of many years, and the other had been made by what were our sworn enemies, based on technology they had stolen from us. Disregarding my clear bias, I had to begrudgingly admit the Pulse Rifle was a clear improvement over our current Plasma Rifle designs. The only real positive to come out of the switch was the urge to further improve our Plasma injector technology for the future.
"Ten minutes out." The Geth pilot announced through the ship, getting me to focus back on the world.
Reegar sat across from me, hands held together as he seemingly stared ahead into space. Jina sat back with a relaxed pose, talking casually with Jora about some inane subject matter I had no interest in. Gata nodded his head to music I couldn't hear, and Yaelo held her hefty anti-material rifle across her lap. Son sat in complete silence with his head tilted to the side, and I was about 90% sure he was asleep again. All of them wore the matching power armor, completely masking their genders due to their sheer bulk. The only way to tell who was who without them taking their helmets off was their voices or the nametags emblazoned on their chest plates.
"You seem restless, sir." Reegar observed through his helmet's voice filter, returning all my focus to him.
"I'm always like this before a mission. You just haven't been around to see it." I defended, hunching forwards slightly. "Besides, Cerberus always has some sort of dirty trick up their sleeves. I'm always waiting for the other foot to drop."
"I know, I was privy to the restricted files. You've certainly survived more than your fair share of ground combat the last few years." He nodded, genuinely surprising me. "Defending those colonists on Fehl Prime couldn't have been easy, especially with the odds stacked against you like that."
"I was just one of many people on Fehl Prime, doing their best to defend innocent lives." I remarked, intentionally downplaying my part in the defense as my mind began to drift back to that one moment, watching that Collector abomination rip apart Dan's Dragoon prototype. Just thinking about it, I could smell the smoke, blood, and sweat all over again, causing me to let out a sharp, stuttered breath before recomposing myself.
"Um, sorry sir. I didn't mean to bring back bad memories." Reegar quickly apologized, getting me to shake my head.
"It's fine. Remembering certain things can be good for reminding you what you're fighting to protect." I dismissed, not wanting to dwell on it any longer than I needed to. "Besides, I'd hardly be much of a leader if I didn't know how to control my emotions."
"Now you're starting to sound like a Raloi, sir." He immediately replied, managing to get a sharp snort out of me.
"One minute." The pilot announced once more, getting me to undo my seat strap and walk over to the cockpit for a closer look.
Sure enough, there was a massive sand storm quickly approaching the area, much bigger than any I had seen in my U.S. history books back in college. The red cloud was easily over a mile tall at the minimum, and lightning strikes could be seen near the surface as the dust rolled over. It would be here much sooner than we originally thought, that much was certain.
"Land us half a click from the ship's landing zone. Once we're on the ground, take back off and hold orbit above the storm. We'll contact you once we're ready for exfil." I ordered, getting one of those exaggerated Geth nods as I turned back to Reegar and his fellow ORIONs, who had all gotten up and were now standing with their weapons ready. I nodded to Reegar, pulling my mask over my head and securing the seal.
We hit the ground with a dull bang, the ramp dropping as the six ORIONs rushed out into the open, forming a circle as they swept the landscape for any movement. I followed them, joining their circle as I drew my Pulse Rifle and aimed it at the horizon.
"Landing zone secure, sir." Reegar said, getting me to turn back towards the Cobra.
"We've disembarked, get clear!" I shouted into the comm, watching the ramp retract as it took back off. We were now effectively alone.
"Yaelo, scout ahead. Son, take point. We may lose radio contact once that storm arrives, so keep your beacons on." Reegar quickly ordered, gesturing towards the northeast as he turned back to me. "Sir, what are our rules of engagement in regards to this third party?"
"Do not fire unless fired upon. I'd like to know who we're dealing with before killing them." I replied, switching the Pulse Rifle out for my trusty Carnifex. "Oh, and as far as the chain of command goes, I'll defer to you in all combat situations, but leave any negotiations to me."
"Understood, sir." He nodded as we began our trek towards their landing zone. It would be less than half an hour until the storm arrived, giving us a very narrow window of time to find out where those Cerberus ships had landed. The landscape was outcroppings of weathered, sheer rock covered with fine reddish sand, forming tiny, rocky dunes. A few scant, dead plants could be seen growing up between the cracks in the rocks, blowing violently in the wind from the incoming storm.
"Sir, I have eyes on the third ship. It appears there are several armored humans unloading gear from the vessel." Yaelo announced over our encrypted channel, getting us to stop for a moment. "Should I engage?"
"Negative, keep an eye on them until we arrive. The Admiral wants to attempt contact." Reegar answered, looking back to me as he hefted his rifle. "We'll lead the way, sir."
"Alright." I replied, running up the nearby dune as we finally caught up with Yaelo, who was perched on the edge of a rock outcropping with her anti-material rifle. I threw myself to the ground, pulling out my binoculars to get my own look at what was going on ahead of us.
I focused first on the ship, which much to my shock was one of our Galleon-class corvettes. It was heavily modified with larger engines, additional armor plating, and some massive retractable grappling arms bolted to the upper hull. The biggest feature was the large retractable ramp under the belly, positioned roughly where there would be storage or a PLS. It didn't look like a copy of Dan's design, and I could barely make out the outline of the ship's previous name which had been scraped or chemically burned off. The UCV Porsuk. According to the reports I had briefly read long ago, the Porsuk had gone missing six months ago during a patrol in the Hades Gamma Cluster, with all hands presumed lost. Seeing it here, now with new "owners", didn't inspire much confidence.
Down on the ground I watched three humans, two men and a woman, offload some crates, followed by an old, battered M35 Mako. It looked as if it had been heavily modified, with a larger rear end and an additional set of wheels to accommodate the modification. The turret had also been enlarged and raised slightly, likely to give the gun more depression. As I focused on one of the men, I came to a shocking realization.
One of them was Randall Enzo.
"Son of a bitch… I never thought I'd see him again." I exclaimed as Reegar and a few of the ORIONs turned to look at me. "One of them's a former Cerberus operative… at least he's supposed to be a "former" operative."
"Well, either way he's dangerous, right?" Son questioned, sounding highly cautious.
"He's incredibly dangerous, but last time I saw him he swore off Cerberus after seeing the result of one of their experiments." I briefly explained, watching them begin to load up the off-roader. "If he's here chasing Cerberus, we might have quite the ally."
"Do we really need help from one of them? They're flying around in one of our ships, for all we know they could be using it to infiltrate Confederation space." Yaelo pointed out, getting me to shake my head.
"No… I don't think so." I denied, standing back up. "I'm not exactly sure what they're doing or what they're planning, but I think it's worth the risk of asking."
"It's your call, sir." Reegar agreed in a reluctant tone, moving from a prone position to a crouch. "We'll loop around the dune and flank them in case things don't go as planned."
I gave him a quick salute, jumping down the dune and sliding to the bottom. The area around the ship grew darker as the edge of the storm began to block the sun, giving the area a gloomy look. I walked a few meters towards the ship, feeling that familiar sense of tension build up in my chest as I made my way through the shadows into the light.
"That's all the explosives we have, Randall. Do you have the detonator?" The woman called out, securing the box to the roof of the vehicle with two straps.
She was a thin woman with short ginger-colored hair, wearing a light armored hardsuit. It was clearly of Cerberus make, but the insignia had been completely scrubbed off by the looks of it. She was only armed with a handgun, and had what looked like a large burn scar on the lower-left part of her face.
"I have it. Just make sure those boxes are strapped down." The other man answered in a noticeable Afrikaans accent as I inched closer, still hidden in the shadows.
He was a tall African-American man with a high-and-tight haircut, moderately built and wearing a suit similar to the woman's with the emblems scrubbed. He carried a heavily-modified Mattock and what appeared to be a grenade launcher on his back.
"Looks like that storm is rolling in faster than we thought." Randall remarked, finally coming back into view as he walked down the long platform. "We'll have to move fast if we want to reach the facility before it hits."
I walked out of the shadows into the light, pulling off my mask as I held up my empty hands.
"Randall!" I called out, getting the two to flip around with their weapons drawn as he crackled briefly with a biotic field.
"Who the hell are you?! Identify yourself!" The man yelled, taking a few staggered steps forward as Randall walked over, taking a better look at me.
"Relax, Derek. You too, Inali. I know this man." He ordered, getting both of them to lower their respective weapons. "Dr. Michaels… fancy meeting you in a place like this. It's been a long time."
"That it has." I nodded, walking towards them as I lowered my hands. "So… what are you doing all the way out here?"
"My team and I have been spending the better part of a year looking for any Cerberus facilities and destroying them. We found information leading to a possible outpost in this system, so we shadowed two of their transports to get an exact location." He explained without hesitation, getting me to cross my arms.
"Interesting… so that's what you've been doing since we left the Overlord facility." I muttered, briefly looking past him at his two friends. "Also, are you aware that this is a United Confederation vessel?"
"Oh, the Borealis? We found this thing outside of one of their facilities a few months ago and stole it. Unfortunately, the original crew didn't survive, Cerberus murdered them." He explained in a surprisingly nonchalant fashion, nodding his head towards it. "It was hard to venture into the uncharted systems without access to one of your Gravity Drives, so we re-appropriated it."
"Let me guess… legitimate salvage?" I remarked, narrowing my eyes as he put on a thinking face.
"Hm… you could say that. I don't plan on giving it to you if that's what you expect." He shrugged, looking around at the dunes. "I suppose now it's your turn to tell me why you're here, right?"
"Oh, one of our long-range recon probes detected Cerberus engine signatures in this system, and we jumped in to investigate." I answered, making sure not to mention Sovereign's computer core. "We suspect the Reapers are shadowing them after the recent losses they suffered, and we're trying to figure out why."
"You guys gave them hell from what we've heard. Word spreads quickly in our circles." He nodded, looking impressed as he continued to glance around. "So, did you come here alone, or…?
I smiled as I let out a sharp whistle, waving the ORIONs towards me as they began to come out of cover towards us.
"We're all on good terms here, Reegar. Everyone stays civil." I radioed, focusing back on Randall who, for the first time, looked legitimately surprised. "Sounds to me like our interests intersect. Interested in partnering up again?"
"We might be able to work something out." He smiled, walking forward as we shook hands.
…
Unidentified Planet, November 19th, 3:22 PM, 2186
…
Sitting next to Randall in the passenger seat of his heavily-modified Mako, I watched as the storm began to roll in, battering the nearby landscape with numerous lightning strikes. Massive amounts of static electricity was being generated by friction, and seeing it closer like this made me happy we didn't end up going on foot.
I looked back in my seat, seeing the glum looks on Inali and Derek's faces. Inali, the ginger, had previously been Randall's "handler" in Cerberus during his ops, and had apparently agreed to leave the organization after Randall told her what they had been doing in the Overlord facility. Derek used to be one of their field agents much like Randall himself, but was abruptly "let go" by the organization after he lost some sensitive information during a covert operation on Lorek. He promptly joined Randall's "crew" when he was rescued from that very same operation.
"We shouldn't be too far from the facility. The tracking device is still where it's supposed to be." Randall pointed out, showing we were still about four miles from the source of the signal. "How do you want to do this?"
"What, you don't already have a plan?" I replied, shooting him a quick, worried look.
"Our plans aren't that complex, at least most of the time. We usually just bypass the perimeter defenses and kill everyone inside." He replied, still managing to sound nonchalant about the whole thing. "Though, I don't know how you prefer to do things, so I thought I'd leave it up to you, seeing as how you've got more manpower than us."
"Well… to be honest our strategy isn't all that different." I joked, leaning back in my chair as we rocked back and forth on the Mako's beefy suspension. "I suppose we could split into two groups and tackle them on two different fronts."
"That can work." He nodded, looking back at my team. "So… who are these guys? They sounded like Quarians, but they didn't look the part."
"They are Quarians. They're also United Confederation special forces attached to my ship for this assignment." I clarified, looking back at them sitting quietly. "Are you guys doing OK back there?"
"We're fine, sir. A little cramped, but fine." Reegar replied, getting me to nod.
"If you guys are special forces, then why do you need our help?" Derek asked me as Randall immediately flipped around to shoot him a glare.
"Hey bosh'tet, if you have a problem with us then you can tell it to our faces." Yaelo growled at Derek, leaning forward in her chair as I too flipped around.
"Hey, I told you to knock that off! We're all on the same side here!" I immediately yelled, feeling quite heated.
Before anyone could say or do anything else, the storm finally hit us in full force, the thousands of sand particles hitting the hull of the Mako and creating a dull scratching noise. Seconds later, one of the many static discharges struck us, knocking out our power and putting us in the dark.
"Damn, I was worried that would happen. Inali?" Randall called out as I pulled on my mask and switched on my flashlight.
"Already on it." She confirmed, slipping between our two seats as she pulled open the panel under the dashboard, presumably to switch out the fuses.
As she worked, I peered through the windscreen again, seeing the sky had turned an apocalyptic shade of blood red. Visibility was poor, but thankfully it wasn't zero.
"How far were we from the signal before we lost power?" I asked, looking back at Randall who had donned his helmet.
"Roughly a kilometer and a half. Why, you suggesting we walk the rest of the way?" He questioned, looking back at Derek and my men.
"I suppose it depends on how many fuses you have stored in this thing." I joked, making sure my mask was sealed. "We may not have any idea what we're going up against, but at least we know we have the element of surprise. No sense in announcing our presence with an APC at their front door."
"Yes… and with this storm, we'll have the perfect cover to move in on foot." Randall nodded, agreeing to my idea. "Inali, when you're done with those fuses, turn on the magnetic beacon. The storm might still be here by the time we're done there."
"Sure thing." She agreed, eyes still focused on the panel as a small spark shot out of it.
He then turned back to me, sighing deeply.
"Alright then… how do you want to do this?" He asked again, leaving me with the ball.
"Hm… we'll proceed as a group, but once we get eyes on the facility we'll split up into two teams. My ORIONs will breach one end while we silently enter the other." I laid out, remembering our assault on the Pragia facility.
"Uh..."we", sir? Are you not coming with us?" Reegar questioned out loud, reacting the way I predicted he would.
"Indeed. You and your men work better as a team when I'm not around to weigh you down." I answered, trying to calm any fears in his mind. "I'll be alright with them, don't worry about me."
"Sir, I really don't think-" He protested further as I immediately cut him off.
"Lieutenant, it's not up for debate. Once we separate into two teams you will take full control of your squad for the remainder of our excursion." I further reinforced, refusing to argue about it. "Understood?"
"...yes'sir." He agreed after a short pause, getting a single nod from me as Inali finally popped the new fuse into place, getting the emergency lights to switch on.
"Alright, secure your helmets and make sure you have extra filters. We're going for a walk." Randall remarked as Derek and Inali put on matching helmets, their visors lighting up and creating an orange glow.
We opened the hatch, immediately letting a cloud of sand into the compartment. We all filed out one-by-one as quickly as we could, sealing the door behind us. The din of sand hitting me reminded me of an ice storm, where instead of rain we'd get millions of tiny frozen water droplets bouncing off of everything in sight and causing people on the roads to forget how to drive. The sand was far worse though. Not only was it much louder than ice, but it was getting in every nook and cranny imaginable.
"Let's go!" Randall yelled over the storm, taking the lead as we followed closely behind. The glow of his omni-tool lit him in an odd way, almost looking like an old oil lamp as we followed him through this red-colored cloud.
Even after wading through swamps, blizzards, and oil rain, I had to admit this was easily the most oppressive place I had ever been. The blood red sky was playing hell with my sense of direction, and it was completely dead. The mutant, rain-soaked swamps on Pragia were interesting to look at, and I always had a soft spot for snow in all its shapes and forms. Even that strange biome around the Overlord facility with the oil still had life, but here there was nothing. It was a true wasteland.
Finally, after walking for what felt like forever we finally came across some sign of civilization, a worn, broken-down fence filled with gaps we could easily walk through. We cautiously proceeded, coming to a concrete wall in similar condition.
"Switch to thermals." I ordered, turning my own on to better see in the storm.
Ahead of us was a small road, with several really old rovers parked next to it. Across the road appeared to be a garage, along with a small security station. Anything further than that was too hazy to make out with all the sand.
"Looks like we've found what we're looking for." Derek nodded, turning to Randall as he extended his Mattock to full size. "Ready?"
"Hold on…" I held up my hand, noticing something else as the storm thinned out slightly. "Three men, armed, standing guard next to one of the rovers. No armor from the looks of it, just environmental suits."
"Let me try something." Randall suggested, opening his omni-tool and cycling through several frequencies on his radio band until he stopped on one. "Tune your receivers to 194.2, it isn't encrypted."
I did so, immediately able to hear the local chatter of the guys standing guard outside.
"-t believe this shit. Five hours and they move us out here in the middle of a sandstorm." One of them exclaimed as I successfully tuned in, clearly hearing them with no trouble. "They have some fucking nerve doing this to us on such short notice. Who the hell is running this operation anyways?"
"I dunno, some woman who used to work as a field agent. Just be happy you're not one of the guys they have posted down in the Freezer. That place nearly killed Mathias when the regulator on his suit failed." Another chimed in, sounding quite tired. "Also, I wouldn't go around asking too many questions. Marcos went complaining to the old boss, and got transferred faster than you could blink."
"Lucky bastard. At least he doesn't have to stand around getting crotch rot like the rest of us." The first one remarked as the second one sighed.
"Are you sure he was transferred? I thought I saw him walking into the sublevel a few weeks ago." The third stepped in, sounding equal parts confused and curious.
"I saw him clean out his locker, and he said he was being shipped to Monarch. Not sure why he'd lie about something like that, though." The second one replied, not sounding too sure himself. "...anyways, enough gossip. You have your orders, patrol the perimeter until the storm passes."
"Yeah, whatever." The first one grumbled as they all started walking off in different directions, leaving me with several questions I didn't have time to answer.
"Lieutenant, take your men around the perimeter and look for an alternate entrance. We'll go in this way." I ordered, turning back to him as the sandstorm picked up once more. "Eliminate any patrols you come across."
"Yes'sir." He nodded, whipping around to face his fellow ORIONs. "You heard the Admiral. Let's move."
They all sprung up surprisingly fast in their heavy armor, dashing towards the west as we continued to monitor the garage for any further activity. I quietly took out the suppressor I kept in my pouch and screwed it onto the end of my Carnifex. It wasn't possible to suppress my pulse rifle, so it was my only choice for this sort of thing.
"Alright, let's go. Make your kills as clean as possible, we don't want them raising the alarm too quickly." Randall said as we all stood up, making our way over the sand and the road.
I immediately turned the corner, coming face-to-face with one of the guards. Without even thinking, I quickly raised my Carnifex and blew two holes through his helmet, dropping him to the ground without a sound. The storm was so loud that it was nearly impossible to hear the suppressed handgun. Derek and Inali did the same with the other two, and wasted no time dragging their bodies out of the open. I rolled mine under one of the rovers, concealing him perfectly.
"Stack up. Derek, run a bypass." Randall ordered as we pressed ourselves up against the doorway.
"I can do you one better." He joked, holding up a keycard. He slid it into the door's reader, holding position behind Randall as the light went green and revealed a dusty little airlock.
After quickly checking to make sure there were no cameras, we piled in as we were engulfed in bright UV light. The red sand dropped to the ground as the door sealed behind us, only to blow back up as the decon cycle began.
"Activate the ECM module. We'll need to move fast once this door opens." Randall remarked to Inali as she pulled open a pouch on her belt and flicked a switch, causing my comms to immediately die. He quickly turned back to me, gripping his rifle tighter. "Hopefully they don't have a V.I. monitoring the network. The module forces any communication or security monitoring devices into a feedback loop, but a V.I. will catch on quickly."
"Sounds good." I nodded, knowing there was little I could do at this point other than roll with what they had.
The airlock door finally opened, revealing a rather run-down motorpool eerily devoid of activity. It all appeared as if it had all barely been touched for years, and gave me strange Silent Hill vibes. We quickly fanned out through the room, making sure all corners were clear.
"Here's a map." Derek pointed out as we all walked to him, taking a better look. "Strange… the map claims this is a mining facility belonging to Signus Minerals."
"Signus? Signus hasn't existed for nearly twenty-five years." Randall immediately pointed out, getting my mind to race off in several different directions. "How could a defunct corporate mining outpost exist all the way out here in a system that hasn't even been charted?"
"Maybe Cerberus has more stake in this place than we originally thought." Inali suggested, shaking her head. "We might have stumbled into something big here."
"Remember what that one guard said about "the Freezer" while we were out there?" I mentioned, getting the three of them to turn to me. "Maybe there's a newer facility under us inside of whatever space they excavated down there. Maybe they even found something down there important enough to sink the company and scrub the system from all records."
"It wouldn't be the first time they've pulled something of the sort, that's for sure." Randall nodded, turning to the old, rusted door on the other end of the motor pool. "Let's get going."
We opened the door, finding an old, dark, decrepit hallway in similar condition to the motorpool. We quickly made our way down, stopping in the shadows when two men dressed in lab gear walked past in an adjacent hallway. They were too absorbed in whatever they were discussing to see us. We followed them a bit farther, only to find two large inclinators guarded by several more men. The room was clearly in better condition than the areas we had just come from, but it appeared to still be original.
"Hm… six, maybe seven targets. Light hardsuits, likely with kinetic barrier mods. Three with Mattocks, but the rest have the prototype rifles." Derek assessed as the two men stepped onto one of the two inclinators, beginning their descent as a blast door sealed above them. "This could be tricky."
"We can take them." Inali immediately replied, holding up her handgun. "We'll need access to that lift to go deeper anyways. Might as well remove them from the equation now."
"Agreed. Inali, you're with the doctor. Derek, with me." Randall nodded, looking back to me with his odd helmet. "You ready?"
"Let's do this." I confirmed as we broke off into our two little teams, sneaking in as close as we could without being seen using some supply crates. Once we were in position, Randall charged up his biotics as I armed one of my grenades.
I cooked the grenade for a moment, throwing it at the nearest guard. It exploded as it hit him in the back, shredding him to pieces as Randall launched two crates with his biotics, smashing another guard against the wall with a loud crack. Derek and Inali unloaded with their rifles as I dove for cover, taking aim with my old Carnifex and cleanly putting another one down before they could get a bead on me. All in all, the fight was over in less than thirty seconds, leaving the room strewn with blood, bodies, and debris.
"Very clean, good job." Randall congratulated, walking over to the nearby control panel. "No alarms, either."
"No point hiding the bodies after something like that." Derek joked, holstering his rifle as I turned back to the inclinator, feeling surprisingly pumped.
"Let's get down to the lower levels." I urged, taking a deep breath through my mask as I tried to prepare myself for whatever we'd find down there.
…
A/N: Another shitty cliffhanger, I know. It just so happens that I reached my word limit again, and was surprised to discover I'd have to make two chapters out of this part of the story. I hope you guys like what's coming next, because I've been thinking long and hard about how to do this, and I'd hate for it to be a failure. Hope you're all doing well, please leave reviews. I'm very tired, and saving all my energy for the release of Legendary Edition tomorrow.