There was a lurch as the Normandy slammed down the lightspeed barrier. The Human ship's vertical orientation made the shift more comfortable, but they really needed more time to work on calibrating the gravity compensators.
"Clean emergence ma'am; only 750 km drift. All craft reporting in."
Tali nodded, but remained silent. Everyone in the fleet knew their jobs; probably better than she did, but she was 'Chosen of The Mistress', so she was the de facto Commodore. There wouldn't be any need to issue commands until-
"Con, LIDAR: aspect change in the Batarian formation. Frigates are splitting up to protect the cruiser and the transports, and..." the Quarian manning the sensor console looked up at her. "Reclassifying three Frigates to 'Pillar of Damnation' Class Destroyers. They're on a slow approach. The Cruiser is hailing."
Tali gave a sour look to Captain 'Mal, who just huffed in return before turning to the sensor tech. "Are they transmitting their unconditional surrender?" The tech's incredulous look was his only response. "Then ignore them. Have Wol'Nosc scramble the rest of her strike craft and her EWAR birds and start jamming all comm frequencies."
Tali stood back and watched. Not only was the Captain a gifted Vortal, he was a veteran warship commander. She would never get a better chance to learn than this moment.
"10 seconds until missile detonation, Captain."
'Mal shifted back on his heels. "Now we find out if these Human missiles are all they're cracked up to be."
Tali nodded absently as she watched the drive plumes of the advancing Batarian destroyers.
As the timer reached zero, there was a tiny flash of light in the distance. It seemed as if every alarm on the bridge went off. "Shut those off!" Captain 'Mal barked out. The bridge quickly returned to normal. "That's better. What's the status on the cruiser?"
The hologram projector in the middle of the command deck lit up with an image of a normal looking Batarian cruiser; normal that is, except for the uncontrolled tumble and the two four meter wide holes neatly burned through her side. Her uncontrolled movement showed a matching pair on the other side of her 150 meter girth. The screen also showed three of the escorting Frigates maneuvering away from the stricken cruiser. The fourth had collapsed in on itself, having caught the edge of one of the laser strikes.
Tali blew an impressed raspberry. "I'd say the new missiles worked out nicely."
'Mal chuffed. "That they do ma'am." He turned towards Tali in a formal Parade Rest. "By your command Ma'am?"
Tali appreciated the formality, however unnecessary it felt. "Signal the strike group to attack. Cruiser Maladus will advance as our wing."
The Normandy and her escort, a 100 year old salvaged Turian Cruiser began to advance on the Batarians who were now in complete disarray. The Wol'Nosc's fighter squadron and her remaining four bombers flashed by, making straight towards the Destroyer squadron which had turned to face the origin of the nuclear lasers. Tali almost wanted to advance at flank speed towards the Batarians, but they needed to keep clear of their Carrier's first bomber wing which should be making their own attack run...
Two sets of disruptor torpedoes streaked into the wounded cruiser and her remaining escorts at .01c from above and below the orbital plane. By the time the missiles entered into the GUARDIAN systems 50 kilometer range, they had less than 1/50th of a second to react. The cruiser and all of her escorts evaporated in the resulting gravity shockwaves.
'Mal's heel struck the deck and laughed. "Ha! Crazy Bosh'tets! Signal the Maladus; ahead Flank to Ikari. Tell Wol'Nosc to pick up her strike craft once they're done with the destroyers, then move to blockade the relay route."
Tali could see on the secondary tracking monitor that the new 'Particle Cloud' shield system on their fighters had spared all but one fighter from being swept by the Destroyers' Guardian systems. Once in range, their new Combine Pulse Cannons made short work of the defending laser nodes and K-Barrier emitters. The bombers had followed behind and smashed the now defenseless ships.
At flank speed, the two cruisers rushed up to the remaining four Frigates who were still trying to determine which direction the actual attack was coming from. The Maladus struck first with her lovingly maintained heavy gun. Whether it was Turian engineering, Quarian ingenuity, or just technological stagnation, the 100 year old gun was just as fast and powerful as her modern counterparts and shredded one Frigate in seconds. The troop and slave carriers descended back to the planet's surface while the three remaining Frigates made a run on the Normandy. One unwisely passed slightly above the two cruisers. Only shrapnel came out the other side. 'Mal targeted one of the remaining two with the Normandy's mixed missile and Pulse cannon close in weapons. The deluge of targets and exotic energy overwhelmed the small ship's defensive systems as her port side was ripped open like a frayed seam on a pressure suit.
The last frigate used the second's bulk to shield it from the Normandy's guns, and made a mad dash for the relay.
Tali keyed her comm. "Wol'Nosc Actual, this is Fleet Actual; one Frigate on approach to your position."
"Copy, Fleet Actual. Moving to intercept." Her monitor showed her own Frigates leap from behind Ikari's moon into an encircling formation, while bombers swarmed around the satellite. The lone escort ship was hammered with fire from all directions and sailed on a ballistic course into deep space.
Captain 'Mal looked over at Tali. "I do believe we've won, ma'am. Care to do the honor?" He gestured to the comm station.
She smiled wickedly and keyed the All-Fleet channel. "Attention Normandy Battle Group; all craft set Condition two and commence Patrol Operations." She could almost feel the deck vibrating from the cheering.
She looked over to 'Mal. "Knight Commander," she smirked at his long suffering look, "the skies over Ikari are clear. Make it rain."
'Mal snapped a sharp salute and activated his own comm station. "All ground teams, this is the Captain. You are clear to commence ground operations."
They both watched as their own dedicated close-air-support fighters streaked out towards the planet below, followed by the assault shuttles carrying the Quarian Assault teams in the first Quarian planetary assault operation in more than 300 years.
Lan'Vigar knew that today was going to be different.
The past few weeks, ever since he had arrived, had been spent doing nothing but training. It hadn't really been a few weeks, just a few days, but time was different in the Rooms; you could spend what felt like and looked like weeks in the Vortessence, when in reality it had only been a few hours at most.
It was incredibly draining to do it, but it was something that Lan had thrown himself into with all the determination he could muster. He could muster… that did prompt a small smile, that he could think that and not associate his accomplishments with his clan.
That smile faded as he thought of his parents; they would both try and parade him around as an example of clan 'Vigar and the traits associated with them. Lan was only eighteen, but it was amazing how much of a child he had been when he'd first arrived on the ship.
"L-L-Lan… are y-y-you sure that all of you will be safe?" He turned to look down at Veetor, the twelve year old staring up at him with wide eyes. He was much too young to go with the rest of the apprentices into this combat environment.
All the ones that were too young would be staying behind and talking with Dr. Chambers and the human female called Miranda; but Veetor was the oldest of the group by a long shot. Still, no sense in worrying the little guy.
"We'll be fine Veetor, you know us; we all got each other's backs. Right guys?" He looked at the twenty other older trainees, and all of them nodded and made sounds of agreement. They were all Quarians, the only other Trainees that weren't were too young like Veetor.
"And you shall have us to protect you all…" Even though he was slowly getting used to it, the Mistress and her habit of appearing from the shadows still managed to make Lan and all the others jump in surprise.
Then her words fully registered in his mind, and Lan took note of Sergeant 'Reegar and Ensign Goto flanking the Kelek'miin. As much as he tried to squash it; Lan couldn't help but feel a bit of apprehension and excitement. They had never seen the Mistress in combat before, and while she had trained them; she never directly engaged with them or sparred with them.
This was an opportunity to see the Kelek'miin's power; to see if the myths were true.
The Dropship's began to spin up their engines, and the Marines began to board the craft; each of the apprentices splitting off in pairs to each dropship. Lan shifted his gaze over to his dropship, and looked at his omnitool; blinking in confusion, Am I the only one assigned to this ship? He thought.
"No, The Lan'Vigar is to stay with us…" Lan jumped, and quickly felt a rush of heat to his cheeks as he realized that he had let his mental barriers drop; allowing everyone else feel his uncertainty.
The Mistress floated up to him, and a shadowy hand extended from the mass of inky black clouds; flicking him in the forehead. "The Lan'Vigar must observe caution, as we are to land in a den of wolves; all too ready to tear our minds to shreds to grip the power we wield."
Lan and the others shuddered as they recalled Matriarch Benezia's warnings.
"Of course Mistress." Lan replied.
The Kelek'miin nodded, and turned and floated into the dropship; "Enough of this talk; we have much work to do, and little time to do it."
ZAP!
The Four eyed alien screamed and dropped his gun as it exploded. Adrian just shook his head as he quickly put a .357 Deagle round into the Aliens head; the round punching through its armor. It really was just sad to him that their shields or whatever could only protect them from one measly explosion.
Anything short of amputation, his PCV could mostly fix.
Although the shrapnel in his ass, as one example, was still less than amusing; the nanites had long since pushed them out and healed the injuries.
WHAP!
Adria staggered slightly, and ducked back into cover; muttering curses under his breath as one of the Aliens that he had yet to kill was still blasting away at the spot he had just been. Adrian snorted and jogged through the rubble, the nanites making it seem like he was sprinting like a marathon runner, and quickly flanked them.
Tossing a satchel charge, he watched as it landed in their midst; the Aliens scrambling away from it, except one idiot who activated some kind of holographic wrist thing, and he pointed it at the charge.
Whatever he was doing didn't matter, as Adrian pressed the big red button; and the satchel charge practically vaporized the cluster of four eyed aliens, taking out at least five or six. He checked his suit power, and noted that his PCV was already down to 63%; and that was just from a few bursts.
Have to be careful, ain't dealing with dumbass Aliens this time; I'm dealing with smart ones now. He thought to himself, quickly pulling out one of his tripmines; and attached it to the piece of wall he had taken cover behind. Being careful to not trip the infrared laser, he quickly covered the mine with more rubble so that it wouldn't be seen; then he popped out of cover and fired a burst at the Aliens.
He waited until he heard them running towards him to try and simply overwhelm his position through sheer numbers; then he sprinted away as fast as his nanite enhanced legs could carry him. The Aliens barked words after him, their language reminding Adrian of Arabic; and they were no doubt screaming after him to stop running so they could kill him.
Fuck you E.T! He thought angrily, even as the Aliens glowing weapons spat bright orange traces of some kind after him. "Shit-shit-shit-fuck!" He snarled, ducking behind cover. Why hasn't the mine gone off yet?!
KABOOM!
Adrian smirked, even as the screaming reached his ears; digging into his go back, he pulled out another tripmine, prepared to start the whole process over again. He was so focused on what was on the ground; he didn't hear the approach of the dropships carrying his saviors.
Ayita narrowed her eyes, and allowed her sorrow at the destruction surrounding her to flow outward into the others around her. Kasumi and Kal both understood it; but the team of Marines and Lan seemed a little unnerved at the rare display of emotion from the Kelek'miin.
Beyond anger of course, but Ayita had an image to maintain; an image she despised, but a necessary one regardless.
Lan swallowed and took a step forward; and Ayita spared him a glance, and the young apprentice seemed to gather his courage, saying "Mistress… what is wrong."
Ayita wanted to snort in response; but opted for a dignified sigh instead, "It is saddening to us; The Lan'Vigar has not experienced such a loss, but we have. It seems inevitable, across dimensions and races; that others will always advance themselves at the expense of others." She mused, even as she sensed dozens of hostiles converging on their position.
She also sensed what Cato had identified as an Asari Huntress, one that seemed to be enthralled by that Tevos bitch. As much as she wanted to free her or kill her, Ayita knew that the Asari had to live and have their enslavement continue.
Benezia and Samara wanted her to put on a show, so the Vortal Woman; the Kelek'miin would gladly do so.
Shaking her head, she turned to Kal and Kasumi; and said to them and them alone, "Find my Father, he is on the opposite side of the city."
Kal blinked, while Kas winced; "Ayita, I may be good; but not that good. In an active warzone, I would need a big distraction." Kasumi replied.
Ayita turned her attention back to the group of Batarians charging their position; the group slowly taking up defensive positions. "Then you are about to get one." And with those words, she widened her link to Lan and the Marines; "Prepare yourselves; and Apprentice… watch and learn, as what we have taught you shall be put into action through us." She stated, before spreading her arms; allowing black mist to spread across the entire open area of the city block.
From the Quarians point of view, she had literally spread herself all over the area; but to Ayita, it was just a smokescreen while she snuck up behind the Batarians. Once that was done, she dropped the black mist while hiding herself in the shadows of a destroyed building; coalescing the mist into a 'False Shadow', another trick that she had learned by accessing the memories of the Vortessence.
Making sure her voice projected itself from the False Shadow, Ayita shouted; "Show yourself, Enslaver of Sentients; we desire to speak with you."
She smirked as all the Batarians visible to her from where she sat hidden seemed to jump and grip their weapons nervously. She made sure to make the 'False Shadow' more… alluring, to the male psyche; knowing that it would tempt the Batarians, and also distract them.
After a minute, the Batarian Commander shouted; "What do you want, Shadow?!"
"We desire your surrender, and we shall spare your lives." She replied through the False Shadow.
The Batarian barked a laugh, even as he looked the False Shadows form up in down with a sort of primal hunger; much to Ayita's disgust. "Ha! I dunno what the fuck you are, but I think you would make a good slave regardless; in more ways than one I might add. You, surrender and stop all that weird floaty shit; and I'll let you live."
Ayita sighed, as it became quite clear to her that the Batarian would not stand down; "Have it your way then." She said, drawing her energy around herself while remaining unseen to the Batarians; and doing the same with the false shadow to bait them into firing first.
"OPEN FIRE!" The Batarian Commander screamed.
"NO!" Lan shouted, as over three dozen ME weapons sprayed the Mistress' shadowed form.
Ayita smiled, So he does care. She thought, even as she dispelled the fake Mistress; "You honestly believe that you can stop us?" She asked simply. The Batarians and the Quarians all frantically looked around as her voice echoed through the ruins. "You clearly have no faith in the Vortessence…" She quickly made six more shadow copies surrounding the Batarians, each infused with enough power to copy her attacks for a few minutes; and each set to dissipate once the energy was spent.
And each set to mimic her actions; and set with instinctual responses.
"Allow us…" She clapped her hands together, spawning the shadow copies; while sending a slight shockwave of Emerald energy from her palms. The inky-black mass of cloudy shadows furiously lashing outwards, "To educate you…"
Ora K'Rani was... concerned. She wouldn't say 'afraid', as that would be nearly heretical; but concern was warranted. In her 400 years of life, 250 spent as a Huntress, she had only encountered two of the cursed. Both of those times the cursed had been a child, and she had come away with scars that would never fade. There were almost a dozen in front of her now, all adults. The platoon of Quarian Marines with them were almost superfluous. It was telling that nearly every one of the cursed were themselves Quarian.
There was one, however, who was something else. She, for no creature with that kind of power could ever be anything but female, was cloaked in shadow; or perhaps she was made of it. It mattered not. What mattered was the raw, elemental power she displayed.
But beyond its initial display of deception, it had not done much; the other Quarians had been largely left to their own devices. Sure, the Shadow Female had launched a bolt of the Cursed Lightning from time to time; but very rarely, mostly contenting itself to simply float above the action.
Watching with those timeless Emerald Green Eyes.
The Batarians of course were just feeding themselves into the meat grinder. The Commander had called for immediate aid; and the second the word 'Quarians' had left his mouth, it was as if half of the Batarian Slavers on the planet had come to his aid.
Still, these Quarians were a concern.
Ora tapped her chin, then got a wicked idea to try and provoke the Shadow Female into action. Closing her eyes and taking a breath, she quickly slipped into a nearby Batarian snipers mind; and subtly suggested to him that he target the youngest Marine, the one that had seemed to be rather close to the Shadow Female.
Ora quickly turned her attention back to the Square, where the Quarians seemed to be almost… casually killing the Batarian Slavers left and right; showing no signs of being fatigued or stressed. In fact, their attacks only seemed to be getting stronger; which meant that they needed to be stopped.
And she did what all Asari did; watched… and waited.
Ayita sensed the hit before anything else.
She had been mostly focused on avoiding shots sent towards her, which she anticipated by simply touching her mind on the Batarian soldiers; any that had the intent to shoot her, she simply had her False Shadows blast them with Lightning.
She had spread herself thin doing this, but she wanted a controlled environment for the apprentices to put into practice everything that she had taught; but a controlled combat environment was still a combat environment. She may have been doing this mainly to buy Kasumi and Kal time, and give the apprentices the necessary experience; but her limit was if one got seriously injured.
So she had kept a minor link with all of them in order to sense their pain. And so she felt it when the shot hit Lan; and it felt like a hammerblow to her chest and shoulder.
"NO!"
"LAN'S DOWN!"
"CORPSMAN!"
Ayita whipped around to see Lan clutching his chest, a massive hole in it; red blood pouring from it. No… she thought, immediately feeling her rage overtake her somewhat; "NO!" She reiterated, blanketing the battlefield with the impenetrable black mist from earlier.
She quickly floated to where she sensed Lan had gone down, double checking to see her disguise was still in place; before floating up next to where he lay and the young female Quarian apprentice attending to him.
"Lan! Lan please stay awake, you're going to be okay!" She was shouting, sounding close to tears and panic.
Ayita remained silent as she floated up to the pair, and was caught off guard when the Apprentice shot a glare up at her; her Silver eyes flaring Gold, while her palms sparked Crimson Energy. "YOU! This is your fault! Fix Him!" She demanded.
Ayita blinked, and narrowed her eyes; already mentally flagging the Apprentice as a potential host for the Nihilanths fragments, before she held up a hand "Calm yourself child… The damage is severe, but we shall ensure he survives; after that, the rest shall be up to him, and you."
The girl blinked in confusion, her energy and eye glow fading back to normal as she opened her mouth to speak; but Ayita had already lowered herself to the ground, and placed a hand on the Quarian teenager's chest. She closed her eyes, and breathed in and out; I am one with the Vortessence… Snapping her eyes open, she growled; "Cherr... alang... lung…"
Ayita hadn't really had the chance to discharge much as of late, just the bare minimum to prevent a forceful discharge; so as a result, all of her tricks as of late had been negligible at best. Her attempts to stabilize Lan took a chunk out of that pool of Energy; but she would have more than enough for what she intended to do, and she would make sure that bitch saw it all.
She opened her eyes, and sensed that Lan was now stable.
Her task done, Ayita stood and looked at the female Apprentice; "Watch over him… do not be distracted by what we are about to do." She ordered.
"Do what Mistress?" The Apprentice asked, even as she knelt next to Lan.
Ayita whipped her arms outward, and drew the black mist back into herself and her shadow copies; and floated up about a dozen feet into the air, looking around as the Quarians began to fall back. The Batarians stared at her and the False Shadows, but Ayita's focus was not on them; she turned and bored her emerald green gaze onto the Asari watching the brawl from her hiding place.
Ayita felt her shadowed hands spark back and forth between Crimson and Emerald; but she paid it no mind. She knew that she was in control; and while it was dangerous to channel the edges of the Nihilanths power, this situation warranted it in her opinion.
She broke her gaze from the Asari, and looked down at the Apprentices; "We shall teach them a lesson; and you shall watch, and learn what a Master or Mistress of the Vortessence can do."
Ora felt her blood go cold as the Shadow Female turned its baleful gaze towards her.
She could feel the anger and the hatred the Alien had for her; and the fury at one of its charges being injured in such an underhanded way. Ora had not thought it possible, but this Alien had clearly sensed what she had done; and it was not happy with her.
Ora swallowed, and for the first time in her life, she actually felt... afraid.
She stiffened as a vast, Alien consciousness touched hers; and she cringed as a cold, female voice said, "Behold Our Works, Ye Mighty, And Despair." And with those words, the Shadow Alien looked away from Ora; and turned its attention to the Batarians, even as Ora frantically double checked to make sure her helmet camera was still recording.
It spread its arms, and the Hollow Copies of itself mimicked the action; before it began raining down spheres of Emerald Green Energy onto the Batarians heads.
Ora had expected the Batarians to be incinerated, or their heads to explode or some other suitably flashy display of power. Instead, the Batarians simply...stopped. Their weapons weren't dropped, simply lowered as they each stared uncomprehending at the globes of balefire that had settled on the ground near each of them.
Then bolts of lightning lashed out, and the Batarians all began cursing and swearing as their guns began sparking and exploding; their barriers depowering, and their armor began smoking in some places.
Then the real horror began.
There were about four dozen Batarians, and a number had packed side arms; about half quickly drew their guns and pointed them at either the Main Cloud Shadow, or the Hollow ones. They only managed to get their guns off their hips, before they let go of their guns and held their throats as one; before slowly being lifted into the air, choking despite nothing grabbing them.
Several more drew their pistols, or tried to pick up their destroyed rifles in hopes that they would work; only for their pistols to be yanked out of their grips, and float in front of them for a moment, before turning on their former masters and firing into their heads.
The ones choking on nothing went slack and fell from the air onto the ground unceremoniously; while the Hollow Shadows began shooting the Cursed Lightning at the ones on the perimeter, the lightning burning clean through their bodies even as the bolts electrocuted them and melted their armor.
Within seconds, Only Ora, the Shadow Witch and her Quarian servants reamined. Even the one who had been struck down by the sniper was now standing, albeit on shaky feet.
"Do you see, Child of the False Goddess?" The voice arrived in her mind, sounding as if it had been whispered in a great stone hall, but still clear as if the speaker was next to her. Suddenly, she found it very hard to breath; and felt as if she had been yanked out of her cover by a very strong Biotic pull.
A Biotic pull with the amount of strength only a Matriarch could manage; and an amount of power that would be draining for said Matriarch. But the Shadow Witch seemed to do so almost casually.
"Your purpose is done here, while Ours has only begun; Leave while we are inclined to allow it."
Ora had to fight down a defiant snarl and curse laden rant in response. She was an Asari, and Asari Commando at that; one of the most feared and respected groups in the Galaxy, how dare this Shadow Witch treat her with such a… dismissive attitude.
The Witch narrowed her eyes at her, but said nothing; despite almost certainly having heard her thoughts, and simply flicked its shadowy wrist before turning and floating away with the rest of the Quarians following her.
The pressure on Ora's throat was released, only to be replaced by what felt like a kick in the chest; sending her flying into a nearby destroyed wall.
The impact knocked her breath away, but failed to cause anymore serious damage beyond that. Grunting, Ora quickly got to her feet, and glared after the Shadow Witch and her 'disciples' for a moment longer; before she reluctantly turned and headed back to her ship.
She was angry, but not suicidal; and she knew when she was beat.
Still… She shuddered as fear once again gripped her heart, but for a different reason; In public, Tevos kept up that calm facade of a wise, all knowing, woman who was almost Grandmotherly to the galaxy at large sometimes.
But in private, her ruthlessness was something else.
It was not uncommon for someone to end up disappearing for bringing too much bad news to her; to say nothing of many of her opponents. Quietly and secretly arrested and shot for treason; or in the more 'merciful cases', simply content to exile them.
Ora just hoped that Tevos was in a forgiving mood today.
Adrian narrowed his eyes as he walked through the rubble of the destroyed city; absently shooting another one of the four eyed aliens. That power… it feels… familiar. He mused, even as he fired several bolts from Sparky at another hostile Alien.
The power reminded him of the 'Zapper' Aliens; the ones that shot lightning from their arms and the like. Not the giant Aliens that he had gotten Sparky from, the human sized ones that seemed to have no weapons at all.
Blinking, Adrian was drawn from his ruminations when he realized something; there was no one else in the area. "Huh… guess I killed everything then." He mused.
Then he caught something at the edge of his vision; something very familiar.
Adrians eyes widened, and quickly began firing sparky's bolts as fast as the Shockroach could charge them; "Stay back! Haven't you Black Op's had enough!" He snapped. Quickly ducking behind some rubble.
Unbelievable, dropped in the middle of fuckin' nowhere; on a different fuckin' planet no less, and these Fascist Assholes still manage to track me down and find me! He thought frantically.
"Wait! Wait! We're not Black Op's!" A woman's voice shouted back, a vague Japanese accent tinting her words.
Adrian scowled, Yeah like I haven't heard that before. He grumbled; but decided to stall for time in order to pinpoint where the sneaky bitch was so he could fry her electronics with Sparky. "Really?" He called back, really laying on the sarcasm; "Then what's with that sexy black catsuit; and the invisibility module? I know my Girlfriend made sure I saw everything that she could do in it." he smirked, And then some stuff out of it.
That smirk faded to a sad frown; then he refocused himself, shifting around and noticing a piece of broken glass next to him. He knelt down, and quickly peeked it over the top of the wall he was crouched behind. It was a very thin reflection; but his training allowed him to see what was on the other side with it.
He looked for the telltale shimmer of a person moving with the active camo module engaged.
"I… I like it alright? It kept me alive from the Secret Police when I stole food for my kids!" The woman replied.
Adrian snorted, "You ain't got kids, not with that figure." He joked, mainly to try and piss the bitch off; and cause her to make a fatal mistake.
"Um… thank you?" She replied.
Adrian shifted, frowning heavily as he finally caught the shimmer; the woman continuing to talk regardless, "Look, they aren't related to me by blood, but I gave myself up to the Secret Police for them; and I would sooner kill myself than let any harm come to them." She said.
"So… a Black Op's with a conscience; how interesting, how about all those kids that died in Black Mesa when the Nuke went off?" He asked, Already shifting Sparky into a shooting position.
"Squeak!" Adrian frowned at the Shockroaches protest, but ignored him as he prepared to fire.
There was a long pause, followed by a very confused sounding "What?", before Adrian launched himself over the wall and fired.
Or tried to anyway, as Sparky hissed angrily; and instead discharged his electric bolt into the ground. Adrian cursed in response, now of all times you get pissy with me? He thought, quickly drawing his Deagle and firing at the Black Ops assassin.
But like all the rest of her kind, she was fast.
Unlike the rest of her kind however, she was also sloppy; and not aggressively attacking him, instead just running away into cover. This prompted Adrian to scramble after her, starting to feel the slightest bits of exhaustion start to creep in; meaning that the nanites were being pressed to their limit. Still… this warranted some investigation.
He leaped over the destroyed wall and pointed his Deagle right at the Assassins head.
He stayed his hand however, even as the Assassin shrieked in surprise and held up her hands; and Adrian noted that her pistol was futuristic and blocky, and most importantly still in its holster.
She quickly decloaked, and Adrian blinked in surprise.
Ayashe had been an exception, as she had been the same age as him when they met; but the vast majority of the assassins had been in their thirties at the youngest. The Assassin in front of him had to be in her early to mid twenties at the oldest; and she was wearing some kind of strange hood over her head, with almost religious patterns on it.
He narrowed his eyes, as he recognized the woman for what she was; some upstart playing dress up. "Who are you!?" He barked in his best Drill Instructors voice, sounding very much like Clint Eastwood's Gunny Highway at the moment.
"I-I-I'm Kasumi Goto! I was sent here to find you with my friend; you're on a hostile Alien planet, and we need to get out of here before our presence is discovered!" She explained quickly.
"You expect me to believe that?" He asked, smirking slightly as he tested her.
The Black Ops were good at many things, but ironically faking emotions was not one of them.
Kasumi's face scrunched up in a fury as she exclaimed, "Look around you, are we on Earth?!" She stopped and her eyes widened, "KAL WAIT!"
Adrians arm was yanked back, forcing him to drop the gun; the nanites and his own natural strength being offset by his exhaustion. Adrian snarled and quickly judo flipped the hostile over his shoulder and slammed him into the ground.
Adrian raised his boot to crush the Black Op's or Four Eyes throat; but froze as a different, almost Human Alien stared back at him behind a purple mask. It raised its hands, three fingered hands, and froze; it's glowing silver eyes wide with terror.
Click. "L-l-let him go…"
Adrian looked over in surprise to see Kasumi had drawn her pistol, and was pointing it at him. The Technology was decades ahead of the time, further convincing Adrian that the Government Man had dropped him in the future.
He looked at Kasumi's face, and saw that while she was scared; and didn't want to shoot him, she would if she had to.
Adrian sighed and closed his eyes; "How long…"
"What?"
"How long was I gone?" He clarified.
Kasumi bit her lower lip, before saying; "I… About Nineteen years." She admitted, "But I can't say more than that; because it's not my place, and we need to go."
Adrian looked down at the alien for a moment, then nodded and stepped back; taking pressure of it's throat. Nineteen years… that's how long I spent in… His shoulders sagged, as he realized it wasn't the future; It was the present.
Coughing drew his attention, and blinked in surprise to see Kasumi kneeling next to the Alien, a hand on his shoulder and a hand on his back; whispering something to him, before the Alien waved her off. Unlike the Arabic sounding Four Eyes, or the African sounding Blue Women; this one sounded vaguely Eastern European to Adrians ears.
Kasumi looked at him and said, "Alright, we're good to go; how about you?"
"Ma'am… I've been ready to go for nineteen years; take me home."
Tevos watched her fellow Councilors listen to Huntress' report. She watched as they watched her recording of the events on Ikara. She waited as they considered the information.
"Am I to understand, Councilor," she resisted the urge to glare at Sparatus' cheeky tone, "that you wish to censure the Quarian Migrant Fleet for...what? Saving one of your colonies from slavers? We should be thanking these Quarians, not lashing out at them."
Even shortsighted Valern pretended at having agency. "Ikara is known to have been supported by one of your political rivals back in the Republics. This seems, unusually petty."
Tevos sensed around, but not even the ever traitorous Specter Vasir was within the reach of her senses.
Perfect.
"No, councilors, I don't expect you to punish the Quarians for rescuing one of my rivals' colonies from whatever goddess deemed fate had befallen it." She keyed the helmet cam from the ill fated attempt to deal with Justicar Samara. As it played and her fellows watched the death of the Huntress at the hands of the Cursed, she subtly reached out with her biotics and stroked their minds. "I expect you to recognize a galactic threat when presented with one."
With Valern, suspicion was second nature. Quarians quite literally all look the same. What's to say the 'Pilgrim' in the store isn't one of these Biotic analogues: an agent provocateur waiting to strike?
Sparatus was just as simple a mind, driven by the constant threat of foreign aggression and a loss of prestige. How many of these Green Biotics do they have? A dozen? A hundred? If one was a match for a seasoned Huntress, how effective would a company be? And that ship was clearly not of Quarian make. The Suit Rats have a new benefactor. How long until they decide to seek vengeance for their miserable self-imposed state?
Tevos eased back as each errant thought took root. Be it hours, days, or even weeks, the tendrils of her influence would worm their ways into the well worn paths of their minds. It was only a matter of time before they came to the inevitable conclusion that the Quarian Question had now become an existential one.
Pilot A/N: Don't really have much to say here in all honesty.
For the scene where Ayita, or rather 'The Mistress', wipes the floor with the Batarians after Lan gets taken out by the sniper; we took direct inspiration from that scene in "Indiana Jones: Raiders of the Lost Ark", the clip of God's wrath against the Nazi's specifically.
Um… Just more showings where it was clear where our interpretation of Adrian Shepard came from.
I actually recently watched SCP Overlord, and It was an enjoyable experience. It's one of those things that I wish I could write for/if I had the money, I would fund the hell out of and make it a TV Series in the same vein as "Seal Team" and "Supernatural".
I suppose I should recommend a story to hold you guys till next week; and I'm going to recommend three. One is "The Broken Reaper" by EdgeofToday, a friend and co-writer of mine; another is a Halo SI story called "The Songbird", and the last is a Mass Effect-Harry Potter Crossover called "Blue Magic", all of which are really good reads.
Man… kind of makes me wish that there was a Supernatural-Mass Effect crossover, first five seasons of Supernatural only of course.
In any case, I've rambled enough, Ian have you got anything to add I didn't cover? Tevos Perhaps?
Ian A/N: Personally, my favorite part to write was the opening space battle. As I'd said in the last chapter, there is a ridiculous aversion to Nuclear weapons in most sci fi franchises, as well as a tendency to not consider the ramifications of advanced sciences on potential tactics. In this case, I chose nuclear shaped charges as lightning strike tactics. We may examine more novel tactics by all sides as the story progresses.
Stay tuned dear reader.
Pilot: Right then.
Leave a review, and tell me what you guys think.
A TV Tropes page and review would be greatly appreciated.
And I will see ya when I see ya.