Survival of the fittest chapter 20
The Normandy arrived near Palaven undetected as per orders.
Jane, Liara and Vega took off in the shuttle along with the Normandy's new shuttle pilot, Steven Cortez.
They looked out of the shuttle windows and grimaced at the burning planet; Jane's heart broke as another world was decimated. She looked at the planet knowingly, she had seen this with earth and knew the chaos that was unfolding below.
Their shuttle flew by, headed for one of Palaven's moons, Jane could see explosions happening across its surface she swallowed hard... it must have been what earth looked like from above when the reapers first hit, bright orange burning throughout the lands.
Liara put a hand over her mouth, "Oh no…no!" she gasped between her fingers
"Holy hell! They're getting decimated," James yelled shaking his head in disbelief
"Strongest military in the galaxy and the Reapers are obliterating it," Jane sighed sadly
"no-one stands a chance" James ground his teeth, "they're too strong"
"Was it like this on Earth?" Liara asked softly
"Yes." Jane replied
"I'm so sorry."
"we need to get the primarch" she ground her teeth "and get a fucking army"
"Approaching the landing zone," Cortez shouted. "Get ready."
The shuttle came down for a low drop. Jane slid open the door and saw husks on the cliff nearby. She removed the pistol from her hip and quickly shot them down.
Liara noticed the towers set up with turrets, some form of defence, turians were still manning them…that was a good sign, it meant they had some semblance of control.
"there's still Turian's around"
"good"
Cortez brought the shuttle down low enough for Jane and her squad to jump out.
"let's make this quick" she stated coolly "Get in and get out, Move it people!"
They began their advance, taking out any husks in their path as they passed through the turian barriers and finding an entrance.
Jane waved a hand at the guard's on the gate, one nodded and allowed them entrance. The group made their way through the camp looking for the turian in charge. They approached the general whom was issuing a string of heated commands to his men and stood to the side, "General?" Jane pressed
"Commander Shepard, heard you were coming but I didn't believe it. I'm General Corinthus."
she nodded "pleasure" she extended a hand which he briskly shook, "I've come to get Primarch Fedorian."
He hung his head low and sighed, "Primarch Fedorian is dead, his shuttle was shot down an hour ago as it tried to leave the moon."
jane rubbed her head with a groan, "That's going to complicate things" she looked to the others before back at the general "how bad is it?"
"We just lost about four hundred men in half an hour. We set up camps on this moon as an advanced position to flank the enemy. A sound strategy…just…"
"damn" jane sighed
"The sheer force of the Reapers seems to make them immune to that kind of tactic. The Primarch and his men found that out the hard way."
"I'm sorry…I hear he was a good man."
"And a friend…he would have made an outstanding diplomat."
"So what happens now?" jane asked softly
"The turian hierarchy makes clear lines of succession," Liara stated
"General Corinthus?" Jane probed.
"With such heavy casualties, it's hard for me to be certain who the next Primarch is. Palaven Command will know. However, at the moment contacting them is impossible. The comm tower is out and husks are swarming that area – we simply can't get close enough to repair it."
"leave it to me general, I'll get your tower operational."
"Thank you, Commander. I'll take care of things on this end."
Jane looked to her squad and inhaled deeply, "Let's move out!"
James looked to Jane and the others and saw felt a familiar pang of anger resonating through them all, fucking reapers.
The group made their way around the barricades and past a squad of Turian soldiers that provided back up.
They approached the tower, "Husk's" james yelled throwing a frag into an oncoming group.
"Keep them back!" Jane yelled as she fired a barrage of rounds into an oncoming assailant, "we've got you covered" she motioned to liara, the asari climbed up the ladder and began repairs.
The Turian back up and her own group tore through the husks with ease.
"that should be it" Liara shouted down to them
"General Corinthus, can you read me?" Shepard said into her comm.
"Yes, much appreciated, Commander. I'll contact Palaven Command."
"C'mon! Let's get the hell out of here and back to the General," she said.
They ran back down the pathway, through the barricades and back over to Corinthus.
"What have you got?" Shepard asked him.
"As your partner said, succession is usually very simple. But right now the hierarchy is in chaos; so many dead or M.I.A."
"I need someone, I don't care who - as long as they can get us the turian resources we need."
"I'm on it, Shepard," a very familiar voice said.
janes heavy heart jumped at the sound of his voice and her smile brightened as she caught sight of him walking up the ramp towards her.
"We'll find you the Primarch."
"Garrus!" she breathed with relief.
"Vakarian, sir, I didn't see you arrive," Corinthus said.
"At ease, General," he replied as he turned his attention back to Shepard.
"You're alive thank goodness" she reached out for him.
He reached out and grabbed her hand in his, "I'm hard to kill - you should know that."
"It's good to see you again," she choked out, he was one of her best friends and seeing him lifted some of that crushing worried that piled on her shoulders, "I thought you'd be on Palaven…I…"
He squeezed her hand firmly, "Its so good to see you jane", jane noted how he frowned slightly looking around briefly before back to her. Where is aki? He squashed the thought there could be a million and one reasons why she wasn't here.
General Corinthus cleared his throat behind them.
Garrus retreated from Shepard as he continued, "If we lose this moon…we lose Palaven. I'm the closest damn thing we have to an expert on Reaper forces so…I'm…advising."
Shepard turned to Vega, "James, this is Garrus Vakarian. Garrus, this is Lieutenant James Vega."
James reached out to shake Garrus' hand.
"I've heard so much about you," Vega chuckled. "Nice to finally put a face to the name." james had heard about him from jane and Aki's stories, hell he felt like he knew the man already.
"Uh…Lieutenant…nice to meet you. Nice to see you too, Liara."
"Good to see you in one piece, Garrus," Liara replied.
Garrus turned his attention to Shepard once more, "General Corinthus filled me in - we know who we're after."
Corinthus spoke up, "Palaven Command tells me the Primarch is General Adrian Victus."
"Victus? His name's crossed my desk," Liara said.
"Know him, Garrus?" Jane asked.
"I was fighting alongside him this morning. Lifelong military, gets results, popular with his troops…not so popular with military command; has a reputation for playing loose with accepted strategy."
"Do you think he can get the job done?"
"We both know conventional strategy won't beat the Reapers. Right now he could be our best shot and I trust him. He'll do whatever it takes to get the job done; reminds me of an old human spectre I knew…"
"That's good enough for me," Shepard said with a warm smile. "Let's get him on the shuttle and get out of here."
"Commander, it's Joker. Come in!"
"What is it, Joker?"
"We've got a situation on the Normandy…it's like she's possessed; shutting down systems, powering up weapons. I can't find the source!"
"Liara, head back to the Normandy - see if you can figure out what's going on."
"I'm on it, Shepard," Liara replied as she took off.
a Harvester flew down and attacked the barricades before flying off, dropping something in the nearby distance.
"General, tell Primarch Victus that we'll rendezvous here," she looked over to James and Garrus, "In the meantime, let's go take care of whatever that thing dropped off. You coming, Garrus?"
He could see the spark in her eyes, that fire for a fight- jane looked tired and hella mad, she had the look about her that right now, she would fight the devil itself.
"Are you kidding? I'm right behind you," he replied with a smirk.
They made their way over to the air field, taking out husks and marauders.
"Holy shit! Those look like turians!" Vega exclaimed.
"Yeah, they do," Shepard replied dryly the lingering of her nightmare making her shudder.
They took out all enemies and made their way back to the barricades.
Enemies were dropping down on the other side of the walls. Shepard climbed up the ladder and into the defence turret, she took out the husks as they approached. Garrus set up against the wall next to her and took out husks with his sniper rifle.
He had a lot of questions, a lot of things he wanted to say- but this wasn't the time or the place, he inhaled deeply emptying his mind.
a new enemy dropped from the sky…
"Holy hell! What is that thing?!" Vega yelled.
It was an armoured brute, it was huge and terrifying and severely fucked up. It charged the wall and slammed into it with all its might causing Shepard to topple over the fall and hit the ground with a thud.
"Shepard!" Garrus yelled as he jumped over the wall and down to her, he couldn't have her hurt, the galaxy needed her now more than anyone. James followed after him and drew the brute's attention away from Shepard by throwing a frag and quickly emptying a clip into its side.
The three of them ran around the brute; avoiding its charges as they fired round after round into the armoured beast shattering shields and flesh until it fell.
"Commander, I still can't get a stable comm link with Victus."
"Okay General, I'm going on foot then. Shepard out."
She walked over to Garrus, "Can you take me to the last place you saw Victus?"
"Yes. C'mon, this way."
She followed Garrus as he led them down cliff faces towards the area that Victus was last seen.
"When did the Reapers attack?" she asked him.
"Two days ago."
"I'm sorry Garrus. Where's your family? Did they make it out?"
"Hopefully they're on one of the evacuation ships. I don't know though…haven't had contact."
Jane inhaled sofltly "earth was hit too" she felt her hands tighten around the gun she held "it was chaos"
"I'm sorry about Earth, Shepard. We'll find a way to stop them, we have to. C'mon! It's not much further, should be quick as long as we don't run into trouble."
Jane was right on Garrus' heels as they continued down the path, she looked up in the sky to see Palaven, it was a sad sight to see, her stomach knotted painfully.
Garrus stopped suddenly and Jane looked up to where his gaze was fixed.
"Damn it," Garrus sighed. "Look at Palaven…that blaze of orange…the big one…that's where I was born."
"I understand" she nodded placing a hand on his arm, "we'll sort this" she stated determined
He looked down at her the sadness in eyes, "is she dead?" he stated bluntly, "I have to know" he had been numb all these months, work, eat, sleep, train- the cycle continued like some kind of machine, it was nonsensical, he couldn't focus, couldn't feel anything but longing and now- jane was here. Earth and Palaven on fire so many dead and Aki? Where the hell was she? He couldn't lose them… his family and her- he needed to know if only to keep fighting without the need to ask lingering in the forefront of his mind.
Jane swallowed hard and shook her head once, "I-" she stopped herself and shrugged sadly "Garrus- i just don't know" she stated the lump in her throat threatening to suffocate her entirely.
Garrus nodded once not allowing the despair to eat at him, there was a job to do and by the spirits was he going to do it, "We better keep moving," he said as he took off running again. "We lost three million lives the first day, five the second."
"How's your military holding up?" Vega yelled from behind Shepard as he kept pace with them.
"Look around - that should give you some idea," Garrus snidely replied.
"You're putting up a good fight," Jane said.
"For now…but how long does it take before the fight is kicked out of you," Garrus replied. "If they'd only listened to your warnings about the Reapers…we might have been ready."
"Maybe…it's hard to figure out how to prepare for something like this!" Vega shouted.
They rounded the corner and were greeted by husks climbing the cliffs. They took them out quickly and continued on.
"Shit I hate those things!" James yelled. "And New York is crawling with those creepy bastards?! Aaagh…I never should have left Earth!"
"It's going to be bad all over," Garrus said.
"Leaving the fight just pisses me off!" James replied.
"But you're here asking Victus to do the same thing; leave the fight to make nice in some board room," Garrus hissed.
"This summit is the only chance we've got," Shepard said. "None of us are beating the Reapers alone."
They made it to the camp where Garrus had left Victus that morning.
"Soldier, you okay?" Garrus yelled out to the nearest turian.
"Yes sir, we'll make it," the turian replied.
"Have you seen General Victus?"
"Half an hour ago…headed south."
"Okay, good luck."
"Yes, sir."
They continued heading south down the winding pathways and eventually made it up to the top camp which was infested with enemies.
"God damn it! The Primarch better be alive!" Shepard yelled.
They ran into the compound and immediately began taking out the enemies as they ran to cover.
Shepard could see turian soldiers on the buildings up ahead firing everything they had at two brutes that were circling in the centre of the camp. With a little help from Shepard and her squad, the brutes were down within a few minutes.
Jane neared the building against the cliff's edge where General Victus was.
"General Victus," Shepard said as she approached him.
"Yes?"
"I'm Commander Shepard of the Normandy."
"Ah, Commander, I know who you are. I can't wait to find out what brings you out here," he replied and then looked over at Garrus. "Vakarian, where did you go?"
"Heavy Reaper unit on the right flank. I believe your exact words were Get that thing the hell off my men".
"Appreciate it," Victus replied.
"General, you're needed off planet," Shepard said. "I've come to get you."
"It'll take something beyond important for me to leave my men or my turian brothers and sisters in their fight," Victus replied.
"Fedorian was killed, you're the new Primarch," Garrus stated
"You're needed immediately to chair a summit and represent your people in the fight against the Reapers," Jane added.
The General stared at Shepard for a moment, then walked past her and stood at the edge of the cliff, looking up at his burning home world.
"I'm Primarch of Palaven?" Victus said softly. "Negotiating for the turian hierarchy?"
"Yes," Shepard replied softly.
He turned back around to face her, "I've spent my whole life in the military…I'm no diplomat; I hate diplomats."
"What makes you think you're not qualified?" she responded thoughtfully
"I'm not really a by-the-book kind of guy…and I piss people off. My family's been military since the unification war. War is my life; it's in my bones. But that kind of passion is…deceptive; it can make you seem reckless when you're anything but."
"You sound perfect; war is your resume and at times like this we need leaders who have been through that hell." Jane liked this man already, he was what she wanted in a leader, someone who's been there and done it. Who knew what he was now negotiating for.
"I like that…you're right."
"And honestly…uniting these races is going to take as much strength as facing the Reapers," she said as she walked over to the cliff's edge, she pointed to the planet "See this devastation, Primarch? Double that for Earth. I need an alliance…I need the turian fleet." She was determined, she wanted him to see why this was so Important.
Garrus watched Victus for his reply, Victus walked over to Shepard and stood in front of her with only a short space between them. She stared into his eyes, there was nothing but silence as the turian studied her face, judging her character by what he could see in her eyes.
Jane knew what he would see, he would see desperation and anger, he would see strength and courage, he would see an ally ready to fight and die for this cause.
Garrus had seen it in her a million times, Victus would see a goddamn hero.
"Give me a moment to say good-bye to my men," he finally said.
"Of course," Shepard nodded.
Victus walked away and gathered his men around to say his farewell.
Garrus walked over to jane "hell of a speech"
She smirked slightly "this war needs everyone"
"Do you think we can win this, Jane?" he said softly.
"I don't know, Garrus. I'm sure as hell gonna give it my best shot."
"I'm damned sure nobody else could do it." He frowned
"I can't do it without you though- I need my right hand man"
"I'm with you, Jane. Always" he looked to her and nodded
Victus walked over to them and nodded to the commander.
"Are you ready to go, Primarch Victus?" she asked.
"One thing…Commander, I appreciate your need for our fleets but I can't spare them…not while my world is burning. But…if the pressure could be taken off Palaven…"
"That's a pretty tall order." She stated with a light frown
"We need the krogan. I can't see us winning this thing without them. Get them to help us and then we can help you."
"The krogan…really?"
"Looks like your summit just got a whole lot more interesting," Garrus smirked.
"We better head out then. My "to do" list just got a whole lot bigger." Jane groaned internally.