As I said before, I have rewritten the first 10 chapters of this story. That will be my excuse for being late.

Hey fellas, once again I'll like to take a moment to promote my own discord server. If you feel like you want to discuss things with me, or with others, please do come. discord .gg / F578759

Mads was fumbling with his camera inside the rover. He was adjusting the settings, and clearly hadn't noticed that it was already on. The footage was aged, a bit damaged even, but it was clear who was who.

"Oh shit, is it on?" Mads asked. "Well... Hello, and erh... Welcome? To the 7th installment of my miniseries... At least I think it is the 7th. Haven't updated in a while" Mads confessed. "We are currently 12 KM away from what is the de-facto border with ISIS. Today is-" Mads looked down at his watch. "-20th of February, 2017. Temperature is... 17 degrees." Mads informed as he leaned back in his seat.

"There is a small town about 14 kilometers to the east from here. Current orders are to secure it, so that's what we will be doing today." Mads explained as he took out his pack of cigarettes and zippo lighter. He fumbled with his lighter and tried his best to light the cigarette. "Fucking great, no juice." Mads remarked as he gave up, and resorted to his back up.

The video cuts to another scene. This time, it's the bodycam, showing Mads' POV. From the looks of it, they are clearing out a village, making rounds.

"Remember to be careful." Mads ordered. The whole place was a mess, and had been so for some time. Most of the terrorists had attempted to leave it a wreck, so that nothing could be salvaged. A terrible smell haunted the small village, and the platoon was hard at work trying to locate it. They did find it. It was a ditch, with the rotting bodies of most of the inhabitants of the small village. They had been burned as well, probably in an attempt to cover it up.

"Dear fucking god." Mads said as he squatted down. Most of the soldiers were speechless. Mads then went on to report it, doing a headcount of the dead, which quickly came up to over 200 poor souls. Pretty much everyone that had lived there.

Next up, they moved through the villages. Mostly to see if anyone had survived, if there was anything to be found. A sand storm was picking up, dust flying around them, making it harder and harder to see. One of the soldiers called out, a soldier by the name of Boris, that he had found something.

"Be fucking careful Boris." Mads ordered worryingly, there was no telling what could happen.

"It's a woman and two kids. Look at them Romanov, they are traumatized. They won't hurt anyone." Boris said as he guided them outside of the house. Mads ordered most of the others to continue their search around the small village.

"Look, she poses no threat. I'd even wager that-" Before Boris could finish his sentence, a knife entered his guts. The woman had pulled out a concealed knife, and taken it upon herself to kill as many of these invaders as possible. Boris screamed as she kept stabbing him, Mads just stood there, shocked by what he saw. By the time he snapped back into it, Boris was as good as dead. Mads put in bullet in the woman's head. The kids almost looked like stone statues, no emotions on their faces as, what Mads presumed to be, their mother died.

"No no no." Mads tried his best to stop the bleeding, but there was close to 7 different entry points scattered across Boris' stomach and chest. He was coughing up blood, and losing it at an alarming rate. "We got you, you'll be alright." Mads reassured him.

"I-I-I'm sor-Sorry... I should have-" He grunted in pain as Mads kept trying to save him. The medic was on his way. "-I should have listened... I'm sorry.."

"Don't worry about that. Just focus on staying alive, got it?" Mads asked and tried his best to keep his voice calm.

The last bit of the video shows the life draining out of Boris' eyes. His body goes limp, and Mads trying his best to get him back to the land of the living. The video cuts after a few moments to darkness.

14/3/2186

Citadel

Mads knocked on the door to the warehouse. A few seconds went by, before a small hole in the door was opened. Mads could see a pair of blue eyes on the other side. The hole closed again, and the door opened. Mads took a deep breath and stepped inside. The room was crowded with different people doing different things. Some were packing, others were unpacking.

At the table in the center, was Sergei. He was sipping on some pure Russian Vodka. His eyes lit up as he spotted Mads and gestured for him to come over to the table. Despite all the work going on, no one talked to each other. It was actually uncomfortably quiet in there. Sergei pulled out another glass and poured a glass to Mads. They both nodded to each other, and then drowned it.

"Captain Romanov. I must admit, I was surprised to hear you wanted to meet, since you are back in the good graces of the Alliance again." Sergei remarked as he poured another glass. Mads sighed as he accepted another round.

"Being on good terms with the alliance doesn't mean they will begin to buy this expensive ammunition for me. I need a lot of new gear, and ammo for my current ones." Mads requested. Sergei leaned back in his chair as he drank the content of his glass.

"Well, as you can see, the chaos has even hit my operation. You were right Romanov, I didn't believe it, but you were. I will provide whatever tools you need to win this fight." Sergei replied.

"Good, I need all the help I can get." Mads added.

"What is your first move?" Sergei asked as he took out his data pad to sort through his inventory.

"I'm going to Palaven, see if I can save the Primach, if that is even possible." Mads said. "With him on our side, we might win favor with the Turians, and we need it." Mads remarked.

"Quite so. Nothing brings races together like the threat of extinction." Sergei chuckled as he snapped his fingers. One of his guards brought him a protective case, and put it on the ground. "I'm throwing extra ammo in the batch, so hopefully you won't run out soon. Now, for some new gear." He said as he rubbed his hands together and careful opened the case. He smiled as his eyes shined up at the sight of what was inside. He turned the case around to Mads.

Mads was quite satisfied with what was inside. A FN Fal, a fine weapon….. Well, he had never actually tried it out. But he had heard good things, it was a powerful rifle, capable of almost being a marksman rifle on its own. "Very nice." Mads remarked he took it into his hands. It was quite heavy, but it felt right. The guards brought over more cases.

"Since we are on the subject of DMRs, how about a M14?" Sergei asked.

"Yes please." Mads quickly replied as he put the FAL down in the case again.

He tried out the M14 too, and found it pleasing. "A Benelli M4 as well?" This day was turning out to be quite good.

"Where did you dig all these up?" Mads asked, he felt like a child in a candy store.

"I have my sources. Now, how about an LMG?" Sergei asked, and that was the frosting on the cake. Mads simply nodded with a wide smile. A RPK-74M was brought to him, with a drum magazine on it.

"Fuck yeah." Mads said he tested the bipod on it.

"I will be sure to give extra ammo for them all. Now, there is one last thing. I do believe this would serve well on your shuttle when you are going to and from battle." Sergei remarked, and gestured for the Guards to bring the final piece.

Two guards carried it to the table, and unclothed it. A fucking minigun, Mads was at a loss for words. Sergei had actually dug up a Minigun.

"How much?" was the only words to leave Mads' mouth.

"Consider this an investment that we will survive this war. I will try to supply the fighting forces as best I can. I will return to earth and help out there." Sergei replied.

"Are you sure?" Mads asked.

"Indeed. By the way, on a side note, this might be interesting for you." Sergei started saying as he poured another glass of Vodka.

"Hit me." Mads said.

"I have gotten a large order for guns from the Migrant Fleet. I think they may be preparing for war." Sergei said, not much louder than a whisper over the table.

"Everyone is preparing." Mads replied, a bit confused.

"I don't think it's for the reapers." Sergei added.

"So you are saying that-" It dawned on Mads. "-Shit, they are really going to fight the Geth?" He asked, but he already knew the answer. "Thanks for the information. Please bring all the guns and the ammunition to the Normandy as soon as possible. We leave tonight." Mads said. Sergei nodded.

"Godspeed Romanov, and good luck." Sergei said as he sat down in his chair once again. Mads shook his hand one last time and left with a nod.

17/3/2186

Normandy, approaching Palaven's moon, Menae.

Mads was making himself busy with double checking the scope of his new toy, the FN-FAL. James and Liara was beside him in the shuttle, which had just taken off from the Normandy was was rapidly approaching one of the moons of Palaven. Reports stated that there was heavy fighting here as well. The Turians had most likely been hit just as hard as the humans had, so getting the support of the Turian fleet would be a hard task.

"I thought the alliance had switched from gunpowder long ago." James remarked as he shifted on his feet.

"Rhodesians never die." Mads replied as he continued trying to get the right settings on the scope.

"What?" James asked confused.

"Nevermind, your Mexican ass wouldn't ass wouldn't understand anyhow." Mads said.

"Stupid fucking Russian." James muttered.

"Oh Goddess." Liara gasped, she was looking out of the window of the shuttle, and could see the flames from Palaven.

"Jesus fucking Christ." Mads said as he came to take a look as well.

"What's going on?" James asked a bit nervously.

"We have a friend on Palaven…" Liara answered.

"Oh..." James said.

"If anyone can survive that, it's Garrus. Maybe we will run in to him." Mads theorized.

"I would hope so." Liara said.

"Landing in E.T.A 2 minutes!" The pilot proclaimed. They all did one last check on their weapons to be sure they were functioning and in well shape. Mads took a deep breath as the shuttle came to a halt on the surface of the moon. The doors opened and revealed a new war zone. The reapers were truly going in hard on everyone, and it would only be a matter of time before they came for the rest of the council species. Question is: would they be willing to listen then? No one would be able to answer that, only time would tell.

There was already heavy fighting happened when they stepped off the shuttle. The moon had, once again, been turned into a war zone for the Turians. Last time it was the Krogans that had tried to invade, this time? It was something much worse. It was only a matter of locating the nearest command center to find the help they needed. But, that was easier said than done. The place was in the middle of a huge fight.

The Turians were putting up a good fight, but sometimes numbers do count, and if you have more bodies to throw than the enemy has bullets, it won't matter in the end. Still, Mads, Liara and James managed to clear the hordes that were throwing themselves at the gates of the command post. That seemed to earn them a pass through. They walked through the gate, and it was clear that this was getting close to a military disaster for the Turians. They were hanging on just as a thin thread as the humans. Even looking at their home world was damning, the flames were visible from their moon, and Mads let out a small prayer for Garrus.

"Captain Romanov. I heard chatter from above that you were paying us a visit, I must admit, I didn't think you would show up. General Corinthus at your service." Corinthus greeted, yet not taking his eyes of the planning table. He must have spent days looking at maps, planning the next attack.

"Nice to meet you General. But I must confess, I came here for a very specific Turian and I was hoping that could help me. You see, I'm looking for the primach, he is due for a war summit. So, if you could point me in the right -" Before Mads could continue, a Turian private came running up.

"Sir! They are swarming the comms tower! We can't get it back online!" The private informed, still out of breath.

"Damn!" Corinthus cursed. "Look Romanov. I would love to help you, but the primach is dead. His shuttle was shot down over an hour ago. There will be a successor, but with all the death going on, it's hard to keep track. The high command will know, but we won't hear shit until that tower is fixed. If you go get it back online, I can feed you a status update." Corinthus offered.

"It's the only deal on the table I guess. Consider it done." Mads replied as he took out his FAL. Corinthus nodded and yelled for the guards to let them out in to the fire once again. The gates opened, and once again the husk creatures stormed at them. Nothing they couldn't handle though. The FN Fal was pulling its weight and showing that it was indeed a good rifle.

"Fucking husks." Mads muttered as he kept his finger on the trigger. At least the fell easily, the husks were no match for the bullets this thing could spit out. At some point, there was a break in the husk offensive.

"Liara, see you can fix the damn thing. James and I will keep them from clawing at you." Mads ordered. Liara gave a quick nod, and went up the steps. Meanwhile, Mads and James moved to better cover.

Sometime later, they emerged victorious. They went back, and the Turians seemed quite pleased with having stable communications again. It was a small victory, but they would take whatever they could get their hands on.

"Got any news for me?" Mads asked as he went up the small ramp to the general.

"I checked in with central. It's a bit chaotic, and they are still trying to figure it out." Corinthus replied as he tried away at his terminal.

"Not to worry Romanov, I do expect we will get you what you want." A voice called out from behind the General. The voice was too familiar, but it couldn't be him… Could it?

"Garrus fucking Vakerian." Mads greeted as he pulled the Turian in to a hug.

"Remind me to ask you for some of that anti-aging cream you are using. It works like a charm." Garrus joked. It was good to see some things never change.

"Garrus, the only thing between you and a bullet in the back of your head is the alliance code of conduct." Mads threatened, although in a joking manner. "James, this is Garrus Vakerian. One of the key people who helped me take down the collectors." Mads introduced the two. They both shook hands.

"Liara, a pleasure as always." Garrus said as he saw Liara coming up beside them.

"It's nice to see you still breathing Garrus." She replied with a smile.

"I got it! General Adrien Victus is the next in line for the primach position." Corinthus informed them.

"Victus? I have heard the name before." Liara remarked.

"He is a tough son of a bitch, that's for sure. He is a good man, lifelong military, popular with troops. A bit like you Romanov actually." Garrus remarked.

"As long as he can get us what we need, I don't care if he is the queen of England. Anything interesting to share?" Mads asked.

"He gets the job done, but he isn't all that popular with military high command. Has his own idea of strategy. I could share a story, but I think time is pressing. I was with him this morning." Garrus recalled.

"He is the next in line, and I'd suggest getting to him before it is someone else's turn to try on the crown." Corinthus advised.

"Righto, let's get moving then, shall we?" Mads suggested as he gestured for them to go out first. They were about to set off in pursuit of their only hope. Then Joker broke the peace, informing them that the Normandy was acting up, and he was getting worried. Liara offered to go, and Mads sent her on her merry way. Though, something else came in the way before they could leave.

"Harvester!" A private called out.

"Fuck me..."