Interloper Rewrite: Chapter 36
Contested Extraction
"Charge!" Ashley's command filled my ears, driving out the white noise of panic. The response replaced the fear with fire. All along the length of the final line, men, women, and Salarians poured out their anger in a roaring yell that rippled up and down the lines, rising in volume as more soldiers joined their voices, even the walking wounded hauling themselves up to brandish their weapons in defiance at the Krogan. I yelled my own throat sore and clutched the battered Lancer that had once belonged to a young Marine off the Everest in hands that no longer shook. Hands clutched the ladders forward as marines and STG operatives vaulted the tattered sandbags, our voices rising in pitch and volume until they become a wall of sound, a shrieking, living noise that beat down from above us. Above us. I risked a look upwards to see a shape that almost brought me to my knees in relief. The sharp-nosed Normandy shot through the air like a hurled spear. Its engines glowed brightly in the gloom, illuminating the green hills and ragged cliffs. Joker's familiar voice crackled through.
"As inspiring as this whole scene is, I suggest everyone who wants to walk away from this find some hard cover, now. Prepare for danger close." The Normandy's belly lit up as racks of air-to-ground missiles lit their drives and streaked out ahead of the frigate. They tore smoky trails through the dark sky as the fiery streamer arced down towards the ground in front of the trenches. Someone grabbed me by the back of my armor and hauled me back into cover as the first of the steel pillars slammed down into the ground. The earth merely shook under the impact, but that was just a minor tremor next to the detonation of the warheads. The sandy ground heaved beneath my feet, the very earth undulating as the shockwave passed, throwing clods of spalling soil from the trench walls. Within a second, I was half buried in the sucking sand. More explosions shook the world, felt more than heard. The pressure threatened to blow out my ears, the world dimming with each strike. Iron laced sand was in my mouth and I realized that I had been screaming. It was all I could do to keep my hands over my helmet and my head out of the water. Thought escaped me there for seconds that might have been hours, or days. There was just the overbearing heat and pressure.
And then, as quickly as it had started, it was done. The explosions were over, leaving behind a silence so deep it almost swallowed the ringing in my battered ears. The Normandy roared noiselessly overhead, bright engine lights lighting the darkened beach as it swooped around to strafe something further down the beach. My heart hammered as I levered myself out from under half of one of the rock-like sandbags that must have been dislodged. Cautiously, I lifted my head to look around. Around me, marines and salarians also stirred amongst the debris. I shook sand from my back and shoulders and stood on legs rendered wobbly by the bombardment. I turned, lending a hand to my rescuer, a Marine I did not recognize. The woman took my hand and shakily returned to her own feet. Together, we peeked out over the lip of the trench, which was now a full foot lower than when I'd been pulled away from the blast. Hell had come to Virmire. The low hump of the hill, the intervening sand, even the remains of the forward trenches were gone, replaced by a charred and cratered landscape in an ever-expanding circle of destruction. Guttering little flames still burned from bone-wicked gobbets of meat and other lumps of charcoal that didn't bear thinking about. Thin ash trickled down over the command trench. In the distance the Normandy turned around and approached again, this time more slowly. The frigate flared its stubby wing struts as it came in for a landing. The cargo hatch hung open as the ship descended. A pair of marines stood on the ramp, standing beside what had to be the jury-rigged bomb. The Normandy's landing legs unfolded, sinking deep into the plain.
"Heard you could use some help," Joker quipped.
The soothing sound of the deck plates rumbled under my feet. The Normandy was in flight again, this time with half of the surviving marines aboard. Kaidan paced the deck, keeping an eye on the techs as they finished their final adjustments. I sat propped against the makeshift bomb we were transporting into the heart of the Geth base. On the ground, the rest of the survivors moved to take up a more forward position, drawing enemy reinforcements off of the bombsite while the thing was prepared to detonate. I looked nervously to my right. Jenkins sat beside me looking equally shaken; this had been our first major engagement. The firefights before paled in comparison. The usually optimistic marine's face shared another feeling, something I couldn't quite place. He must have felt me watching, because he turned to me with a weak smile.
"So are we war heroes yet?" he joked.
"I think we are," I replied, taking a deep, calming breath. Inside, I didn't feel very heroic. We were entering the endgame, the final minutes before the choice had to be made. I felt like a coward leaving the ground team to help guard the bomb.
"Remind me to show you 'Soldiers of the Alliance Frontier' when we get back," Jenkins said, "it's a great vid, I just got it." He leaned his helmeted head back against the bomb. "Those guys were heroes, every one of them."
I nodded as I heard the familiar whine of the engines making a descent. The ramp lowered into place once again, letting in a rush of salty air. Below the bowl shaped clearing in the middle of Saren's base rose up to meet us as Joker pulled a fast landing. Jenkins and I hastily jumped to our feet to greet Commander Shepard's strike team. Wrex bounded up the ramp first. His armor bore a few new scars, but otherwise he appeared unhurt. Tali came next, leaning heavily on Garrus. The Turian handed the wounded tech off to one of Dr. Chakwas' orderlies. Liara brought up the rear of the party alongside the Commander herself. Alenko addressed the Commander with a brisk nod and leaned in to give her an update on the situation outside the compound. Already the sounds of the new diversionary attack could be heard nearby. The Commander nodded and shot of rapid-fire orders. The walking marines snapped to and began the process of moving the bomb out of the hold. A familiar face slid into view and I found myself pulled into a tight hug.
"I heard, on the radio… I was worried." The Asari's words came shakily. Scoring on her silvery armor told me she'd had her own share of action today. I tightened the hug as if to reassure her I was still there.
"I'm here," was all I could manage. Even though we were separated by two layers of heavy ceramics and metals, I felt a little warmth spread back into my shaking limbs.
"You look like hell." She regarded me as we pulled apart. I checked myself over and couldn't help but agree. Parts of my armor were blackened by near misses; the rest of me was covered in a film of sand, blood, and Krogan.
"I feel like hell. There were moments there; I thought I wouldn't be getting out, but…"
"You're here," Liara finished, "the Commander…"
"Wants to speak with you, Liddle. Dr. T'soni, if you please." Shepard walked up behind us. Liara nodded and backed away to join the bomb team. "Walk with me, Deputy." The Commander motioned for me to follow. I nodded dully and walked behind her as she walked down the ramp and into the light patter of rain that still hung in the air. We splashed across the shallow basin. Men flanked the path, eyes and rifles nervously scanning the surrounding compound. Liara offered a weak smile as we left the basin through the guarded security doors. The wind picked up as we walked out across a narrow ledge, suspended at both ends by spindly metal structures. "I'm glad you made it through. That kind of fighting's rough." Shepard's words shook me out of my own thoughts.
"Thank you, ma'am," I said, stiffly. Shepard caught me by the elbow.
"Please, it's Shepard." When I didn't reply, she continued, "I've been thinking about your situation."
"Commander, I can explain…."
"That won't be necessary. I've been talking to Anderson. We've both decided that your past won't conflict with our current mission. We've all done things we've come to regret, Liddle. And besides, anyone who goes through the events of today and volunteers for more is okay in my books. Now, there's something you're probably going to hate me for asking of you, but we've stumbled onto something that might put an end to this entire conflict." We stopped in front of a larger door. This one showed signs of battle damage. We were standing in front of a tall tower, one that my racing brain couldn't quite place. Shepard waved a hand across the door's pitted surface, Omni-tool alight. The doors grated open. I saw a room, split leveled. Atop a suspended balcony stood what looked like a projector, while half way up the room… A prothean beacon. It all came back to me; this must be Saren's private office. I followed the Commander up the short ramp to the beacon.
"You want me to read it?" I asked, "You didn't trip it on your way through?"
"Believe me, we tried. It must be keyed only to activate for someone who's already interacted with another beacon."
I stared down the flat, softly glowing obelisk. The thing seemed to buzz in the back of my brain.
"Here we go again," I muttered. I reached out with one hand while adjusting the neural screen. The buzzing grew until it roared in my ears, blotting out any other noise. My hand stopped, inches from the strange metal. I felt an encouraging hand on my shoulder, and bridged the gap. My fingers tingled with a discharge of static electricity and my mind flooded with images. A green hill, a winding road, the number 27, a door. The images filled me with homesickness. More images were coming now, the same disjointed jumble, but I felt an understanding ripple just below the surface. I saw the Protheans' final message play out in full, with the final note in their dying song, Ilos.
I fell backwards, quickly raising the shroud to block out the noise. Shepard caught me before I hit the floor.
"Liddle, are you alright? Did you see where Saren is trying to go?"
I was about to respond when the back of my neck started to prickle.
Outsider, you profane this galaxy with your presence.
Shepard and I turned slowly. Above us, burning in bloody red was an image of Sovereign. His voice pressed on my mind with the weight of a mountain. The booming tones caused my vision to ripple with every syllable.
It matters not. You are an insignificant anomaly in the inevitable cycle of things.
"What do you mean? What cycle?" Shepard was speaking now, questioning the reaper.
It is not something you can comprehend. Only know this, it is something that cannot be stopped. The Protheans had a star empire spanning the galaxy, and yet we swept them aside. You too will join them in obscurity.
"So you're not working alone? How many of you are there?" Shepard asked defiantly. She stood, unbowed before the image of the star god, her jaw firmly set. Not for the first time, I was amazed by her drive.
We are numberless, without beginning, without end. It is irrelevant; the least of us is greater than the very height of your civilizations. This conversation is over.
"Wait…" the projection closed with a snap. The console went dark. "Damn it." Shepard smashed her fist against the dead projector. She rounded on me, looking somewhere between angry and resigned. "Did you at least get a fix on what Saren is looking for?"
"Yes, I did," I said. Before I could continue, Joker's voice filled the room.
"Uh, Commander, I don't know what you did, but that dreadnaught of Saren's just pulled a turn that would shear any of our ships in half. He is inbound, and fast. I suggest you wrap this up so we can get out of here."
"Roger that, Joker. Keep the engines warm. Liddle, we'll debrief later." I nodded and followed her out. We splashed towards the bomb site to the sounds of heavy fighting. Somewhere in the compound, the Geth had found reinforcements. "Eyes open, Deputy, sounds like we're not alone out here." Shepard drew her pistol and moved in close to the wall. I tried my best to shadow her. We turned the final corner before the doors that separated the walkway from the bomb site. The Marine guards were nowhere to be found. In their place was a squad of Geth. The synthetics were clustered around the closed doors, attempting to cut their way in. Shepard caught me by the arm and pulled me back around the corner with her finger to her lips. "There's only five of them," she whispered, "with luck, we can drop them before they respond."
"And if we're unlucky?"
Shepard shook her head. "You stay here; I'll cross over to the cover on the far side of the path. We'll pin them down until we can get some reinforcements. Ready?"
"Ready," I agreed. We snuck around the corner; pistols raised. The Geth remained completely focused on gaining entry to the bomb site.
"Drop them!" Shepard opened fire, her shots lancing into the nearest platform. The Geth's shields sparked and died, exposing it to her continued volley. The Geth went down hard. I added my fire to Shepard's, the two streams intersected on a second Geth. This one went down faster, but not fast enough to prevent the remaining three from reacting. Their angry warble accompanied a stream of return fire. I dropped to a crouch while Shepard ducked and rolled to the right. I kept up enough fire to cover her before dropping behind some extended pipes for safety. I spun out and snapped off a quick shot only to receive a smattering of hits in return. The shots made my arm go numb, even through my shields. I dropped back and nursed my injured arm. Shepard was having her own problems. Two of the Geth had pinned her down to the crate she had hidden behind while the third moved up to flank her. As I watched, she downed the flanker with an overload. I fired at the two survivors one handed, luckily managing to hit one. The Geth rounded on me. The doors behind it opened. The two Geth were catapulted into the air by a strained looking Kaiden.
"Come on!" he gestured wildly. Shepard and I rushed through the open gate, allowing it to close behind us. The bomb site was now littered with debris. Broken Geth lay in a ring around the open hatch of the Normandy. The marines were holding them off, if only barely.
"Lieutenant, what's the status on the bomb?"
"We're almost there we just need a few more minutes to initialize."
"And what about the diversionary force?"
"Williams reports that the ground force is pinned down. She says she'll hold them off us as long as she can and to get out of here before we get ourselves killed. Her words, ma'am." Shepard looked grim. I realized this was my chance.
"Commander, let me go help the ground troops extract."
"Out of the question, Deputy, we barely have enough troops to hold the Normandy as it is." We neared the open ramp. Just inside, Wrex stood fast, shotgun in his hand. "I won't order these men and women into a hopeless situation!"
"Then let me take a few volunteers, or go alone. Maybe I can distract the Geth just enough to let them disengage," I cried in desperation. Something in my voice must have struck a chord with Shepard, because she looked out at where the smoke was beginning to rise anew. Her face was set, cold, calculating, but her eyes revealed an inner battle.
"You only take volunteers, and you promise me, if things get dicey, you bug out. We can't risk what's inside your head," she said quietly. I saluted and turned back down the ramp. A hand fell on my shoulder. Jenkins stood behind me. He pressed my battle rifle into my hands.
"I'm going with you." By the set of his jaw it was useless to argue.
"I'm going too." Liara stood with him.
"Liara…"
"No, I'm going. We don't have time to argue." They both stood tall and ready to follow me into battle. Suddenly I was less sure about dashing off behind enemy lines. I steeled myself though; it was the only way to save the men and women who had already given so much. I wasn't about to let my own fears spell their doom.
"Okay, let's do this."
The three of us rushed through the eerily empty Geth compound. The concrete pathways arched over water ways and beside planters filled with green growth. If it wasn't for the smoke that still drifted from the cratered beach across the river and the occasional shattered form of a broken Geth or fallen Krogan, it would have felt more like a jog through a luxury resort than a genetic research lab. Our boots raised echoes from the walls of concrete and stone as we ran towards the sound of the guns. My breath was ragged in my throat, my arms and legs burned as they pumped and drove me on, but there was no time to rest. So instead, we ran on. Despite the weight of fatigue, my mind raced, the possibility of pulling off the coup of rescuing both Kaidan and Ashley becoming more solid. Yes, it was the three of us against whatever force had managed to pin Ashley's long squad, but I had Jenkins and Liara at my back. A squad of three against everything that Virmire could throw at us. In that moment, it was like running in Shepard's own shoes. I felt invincible.
The feeling only grew as we caught up with the dregs of Saren's resistance. Geth and Krogan, moving in ones and twos, often with their backs to us as they hurried in the same direction fell before us. By gunfire or biotics, we stormed our way forwards. Up ahead, another set of sturdy looking steel doors jutted half open from their tracks, welded open by a weapon impact. The gunfire was louder now, thin streamers of fire visible just behind the doors. With a quick flurry of hand motions, I sent Jenkins and Liara forward to take up positions on either side of the door. Jenkins peeked around the steel plate and nodded.
"That's them, that's Ashley and the others," he called excitedly. I fell in beside him and gave the chamber beyond a quick look of my own. The remaining marines and Salarians had pushed into a wide, arena-like area and gotten trapped inside the bowl-shaped depression in the center. All around them, stone platforms rose in tiers all about them. Every platform was filled with Geth. The infantry constructs poured fire down upon the embattled men and women, filling the bowl with coruscating waves of incandescent tungsten that battered the scant cover Chief Williams had managed to erect around herself and her soldiers. The haphazard collection of storage crates, broken Geth, and tattered nanite sandbags would not stand up for much more of the pounding. The besieged could do little more than hunker down or risk being made pincushion. Through the broken doors, a clear path dropped us out on one of the higher rings, a perfect ambush position. We scurried through, taking up a position undetected. I leveled my rifle on the nearest Geth. The compact tungsten round tore its arm out of its socket. Beside me, Liara and Jenkins engaged the Geth with fervor. Geth were knocked aside or just plain bowled over by the Asari, while the marine walked fire up and down the row of entrenched machines. The return fire was vicious, but it gave the trapped troops a chance to consolidate and begin picking off their own opponents.
"Down the stairs!" I yelled as I dropped the short distance to a nearby walkway. We leapfrogged down towards our comrades, two always covering the third. Once we had reached the bottom floor, we sprinted the remainder of the distance and dove in to cover. A surprised Ashley greeted us.
"What are you lot doing here? I thought I told the Commander not to send any help." The noncom gave us a piercing look.
"You didn't think I'd just leave you out here, did you?" It was Jenkins that spoke. Ashley looked quite angry at him.
"Damn it Rick, you promised you wouldn't…" she was interrupted by a nearby shot spraying stone chips across her face. "Never mind, just pitch in and maybe we'll get out of this alive.
Another wave of bullets slammed into the crate above me. The shards of metal clattered on the back of my armor. I returned fire, the bright lance knocking the Geth trooper off of the rail it was perched on. It flipped backwards and fell to the ground. Nearby, Ashley threw what I knew was one of her last grenades. It lit up brightly as it exploded against a wall. A nearby cluster of soldiers linked fire to take down an already damaged armature as it attempted to climb the low barricade.
"That's the way. Knock 'em dead marines!" Ashley yelled.
In the distance the roar of engines drew every eye. The Normandy rose from where it had been crouched protectively over the site of the bomb. A rough round of applause went up from the marines around me. I let a small smile crack the rictus my face had been locked in since we dropped down into the coliseum. We had made it. The frigate flitted across the sky, swinging in a wide arc before swooping down across the field. Weapons fire from orbit crashed down on the frigate's barriers while its GUARDIAN lasers struck down the attacking Geth. The heat bloom of the lasers used in atmosphere sent hot wind swirling about us. The open hatch lowered closer and closer.
"Come on people, let's go!" Ashley was marshaling the remaining men, human and alien. Somewhere behind me I heard Liara call my name. I turned towards her and began to run. She had already mounted the ramp into the cargo bay. I was about to follow when the fizzle of barriers dropping and the cracking of failing armor reached my ears. I turned.
"No," I said, in a hollow whisper.
Author's Note:
And that just about wraps up Virmire. We're coming into the endgame here, both as far as the story goes, and in my goal of completing the redux before the coming of the original fic's 10 year Anniversary, which is fast approaching. Whether we hit the mark exactly remains to be seen, but either way, I am incredibly thankful for all of you who have joined me in this trip through my first foray into fanfiction writing.
Sorlian- I'm sure the combat camera footage will end up rerun on a couple of hundred recruitment ads... assuming that the entire operation doesn't become immediately classified.
