The pelican ride out of Mother Base was silent. But this wasn't the nervous, scared silence of green recruits. This was the calm, focused stillness of professionals. Shepard double checked her weapons. She kept her trusty N7 Crusader Shotgun strapped to her back, and opted to use the T-21 light repeating blaster she captured in her last mission. The weapons were cleaned and fully repaired, and she had an ample amount of thermal clips and energy cells. She closed her eyes and let her head rest on her seat. She had done everything in her power to be ready, now she just had to wait until it was time to go.
In a similar fashion the rest of Fireteam Wolf cocked their weapons in an orchestra of death and destruction. Six pumped shells into his M45 Shotgun, while Sarah spun the barrels on her gatling laser, making sure they were prepared for the oncoming onslaught.
Turbulence rocked the pelican as the transport left the warmer, dry air of Afghanistan for the temperate plains of Reach. T3-M4 let out a burst of droidspeak as Shepard felt the ship lurch downwards, beginning its decent.
It had been several days since Shepard had returned from her raid in Korriban, and once again she found herself preparing for battle, this time with the whole Legion in tow. Across from her and her team, Sev and Thane calibrated the sights of their sniper rifles, while Pyrrha and Galen sat near the front, meditating on the upcoming conflict.
Walking out of the cockpit, Snake unholstered his suppressed UNSC-issue M7S SMG. Looking to the team, he began the mission briefing.
"Remember, this is a direct action smash-and-grab. The target is a fortified Covenant war camp located on the border of Reach and the Capital Wasteland that the Brutes have been using it to coordinate attacks against the super mutants." Snake started.
"Thane has been observing this camp for some time, and has confirmed the presence of a brute chieftain. Our goal is to go in, find this Chieftain, and capture and interrogate him. This is the highest ranking member of the Covenant we have come across, and he could have important intel we need."
"We'll be splitting into three teams for this mission. First will be Fireteam Fox, consisting of myself, Thane, and Sev, we're recon and sniper support. We'll go in first, disable defenses and mark the target." He turned to face Shepard and her team. "Once that happens, we'll pull back and provide cover as Fireteam Wolf goes in and draws their fire. Last is Fireteam Doberman, consisting of Pyrrha and Galen. You two are the ace in the hole. When the chieftain shows his head, you drop in and take it. T3 will be piloting the Pelican, providing us with infill and exfil." Snake having said his piece, looked to Shepard to finish the recap.
"It will be standard Covenant makeup. Majority of the base is populated by Grunts, with Brutes as officers and Jackals as snipers. From what we've seen coming in and out of the base, we estimate that they maintain a company sized forced at minimum." Shepard explained. "Any questions?"
An empty silence was the only response.
Snake nodded his head and chambered a round into his SMG. "Fox, Wolf, we'll be on the ground in five. Stick to the plan. Split and maintain visuals. Nav and extraction points are uploaded to your HUDs. Sync?"
"Sync." The Legion responded in unison.
Hydraulic pumps hissed as the rear cargo door of the pelican slowly opened. Hovering a few feet off the ground, Fireteam Fox and Fireteam Wolf made their way out of the pelican's blood tray and onto the grass. As she leapt out of the dropship, Shepard saw Pyrrha giving her an encouraging, but awkward, two thumbs up. Shepard almost raspberried from how adorable the gesture was but held her composure. Instead, she gave a big smile and thumbs up back as the Pelican once again took off.
Snake led the two canine squads as they slowly hiked their way North through the rolling meadows of Reach. After traveling for about two klicks the terrain once again shifted, this time into the dead, irradiated no man's land of the Capital Wasteland.
In the dead of night, the dull, purple glow of the Covenant forward base could be seen from kilometers out. The base had a series of violet, metallic barriers and floating anti-gravity watchtowers providing a circular perimeter around a series of prefabricated bunkers made from the same material. In the center of the camp was a larger citadel, a 7-8 meter tall spire that towered above the rest of the base.
Once they were in striking range, the teams quickly fell into place. The base itself was placed on mostly flat ground, with only small hills, large boulders, and twisted trees giving the Legion cover. To the East was a series of trenches dug up to repel the super mutant assaults.
Shepard pulled Fireteam Wolf into cover South of the base as Fireteam Fox did its work. Gently, Snake and his assassins slithered forward, crawling on their bellies towards the Covenant base. The defensive hover towers that encircled the base were mostly manned by grunts and jackals. And this late into the evening many of the lazier grunts had fallen asleep while on guard duty.
The Covenant sentries had grown lax. The super mutants, with their less than stellar intelligence, rarely pulled tactical strikes like night time raids. As a result the already undisciplined grunts cared less and less about night sentry duty, creating a perfect opportunity for the Legion.
Pulling out his intel scope, Venom Snake focused in on the closest anti grav tower to them. He spotted one sniper jackal and two grunts, marking them with a 1, 2, and 3 that appeared on everyone's HUDs. Turning to his left he saw a short mound of dirt that would give an elevated sightline into the base.
"Sev, I want you on overwatch." Snake ordered, pointing to the heap of land. "Thane, on me."
"Roger Boss." both assassins responded. Sev slowly crawled his way to the top of the hill, lying prone with his DC-17m Sniper rifle, while Thane became the Boss's shadow.
Crouching low, Snake and Thane made their way towards the watchtower with surprising speed. Moving from cover to cover, only stopping to lie prone when the Jackal looked over their nearby terrain. Soon, they made it to the anti-gravity elevator with the Covenant none the wiser.
Snake held 3 fingers up to Thane, who gave a nod in response. Three seconds passed as Snake lowered his final digit and ran into the anti-grav well, rocketing upwards with Thane close on his heels. The jackal barely had time to turn its head as the 63 year old cyborg fell upon it, bringing it into the floor and wrapping his cybernetic fingers around its throat. The jackal flailed for a few seconds, its hollow bones and miniscule musculature unable to break free, before going still. Following the Boss, Thane flew into the air and landed silently on the platform. With inhuman speed made possible with his Drell physiology, Thane dexterously snapped the necks of the two sleeping grunts in quick succession.
Both Snake and Thane knew that they had to be especially careful with killing these guards. No bladed weapons and no firearms, even silenced ones. Brutes had an exceedingly powerful sense of smell. And while the dank, radioactive air of the Wasteland could mask the Legion's scent, brutes, like sharks, are especially attuned to smelling blood, and spilling any now would set off the whole base.
With the watchtower now secured, Snake and Thane had a clear path to complete their individual objectives. Descending the anti-grav lift, Thane broke off and began skulking his way to a pair of inactive Wraith tanks while Snake moved for the outpost's central spire.
Becoming one with the shadows, Thane was practically dancing around the sleeping grunts and patrolling brutes. Using all of his assassin training available to him, Thane swiftly moved to his target, making no noise as he vaulted over purple weapons crates and dashed through open pathways. His goal was simple, to sabotage strategic points of interest such as vehicles, weapon caches, or generators, and the wraiths fulfilled that objective beautifully.
Once he was roughly 10 meters away, Thane slid into cover once again. Three grunts were asleep, escorted by a single, shield wearing jackal that lazily sat upon one of the crates. It was no issue for the assassin to creep behind the avian alien, slip his hands around its head, and deftly twist it 180 degrees. Opening the violet crate the jackal was sitting on, Thane stored the body and continued on his way. Now at the tanks themselves, Thane pulled out a pair of C-12 shaped charges and placed them upon the Wraiths. With the explosives set to remote detonation, Thane once again slipped into the void of night and made his way back to Sev.
Meanwhile Snake had his own mission, to find and tag the brute chieftain they were looking for. Steadily he crept towards the main citadel of the outpost, a tall, silver and purple structure in the shape of a rounded diamond, with a single spire sticking out from its center. If there was anywhere the leader of a group of barbaric, alien, primates was going to live, it would be there.
While Snake lacked the graceful agility of Thane, he was still a master of tactical espionage action for a reason. As he approached the spire he almost crossed paths with a mostly unarmored brute minor, wearing only a turquoise breastplate and helmet. Diving to the side, he stayed within the brute's blindspot, lying prone in the dirt for about half a minute until the minor left to patrol another part of the base. When he was rough 10 meters from the doorway, he hid behind a collection of supply crates and took his time observing the structure.
He saw a single, sealed door with two brutes defending it. These brutes were more heavily armored than their minor comrade, with silver-blue plate armor and a masked, winged helmet. This combined with their brute shots and disciplined demeanor identified them as brute bodyguards, personal protectors and enforcers of a chieftain.
Snake thought about his options for getting passed them. As good as he was, he didn't think he was fast enough to take them both down with CQC before either one of the brutes ripped him apart or alerted the base to his presence. They were too heavily armored for him to try and snipe, not to mention how their blood would alert the base.
Looking at his surroundings, he decided to pop open one of the crates nearby. The crates were actually completely empty, and the metal they were made of was deceptively light. This gave Snake an idea as he flashbacked to his days sneaking into Soviet Union camps with his trusty cardboard box.
Reaching into his utility belt, Snake pulled out a sleeping gas mine, and placed it a few meters away from him, behind a metallic barrier. He then drew an empty ammunition magazine, and threw it in the direction of the mine. Quickly, he flipped the nearby crate over and hid underneath.
The magazine made a resounding clang as it smacked against the metal barrier and fell to the ground. The two bodyguard's heads instantly perked up as they heard the noise. The two brutes shared a look, and with a quick nod both went to investigate the sound. Cocking their brute shots, the guards made their way for Snake's position, their heavy footfalls leaving deep imprints into the ground beneath them.
Snake slipped on a gas mask as he watched them approach, peeking through a small handhole within the crate. Were he a younger, more inexperienced man, his heart would've been pounding as they came closer. But the legendary soldier would not be intimidated by such circumstances. And soon enough, the two brutes found themselves outside of Snake's crate, investigating the dirt for the source of the noise. One of the brutes spotted the magazine out of the corner of its eye and bent down to pick it up. As it did, it heard a small click and hiss, and soon a cloud of light blue vapors enveloped the area.
Rather than falling asleep instantly, the larger size and hardier constitution of the brutes caused them to cough and choke. But this was all the opening Snake needed. Exploding out of his boxy cover, Snake was instantly upon the brutes. He delivered a devastating cyborg straight punch to the first brute's sternum, knocking the air out of it and forcing it to take a deep breath of sleeping gas. It collapsed immediately after.
The second brute, now aware of Snake's presence, tried to raise its gun but couldn't steady itself as it choked. The brute watched helplessly as Snake ran up to it and unleashed a relentless combination of strikes. Jab, cross, low kick, left hook, and finally a crushing overhand right; Snake turned the brute into a punching bag as it was knocked unconscious by his finishing blow.
The sentries now dealt with, Snake could move into the citadel unimpeded. For safety's sake, he jumped back into the alien crate, flipped it over, and began crawling like a purple turtle towards his objective. Snake crept through the spire's main doors, and found the interior was a single open space filled with Covenant computer consoles, the chieftain's personal armory, an exorbitant amount of food, and the chieftain himself, sleeping on his bed.
Through the handhole, Snake peered at the chieftain with his Int. Scope. After a few seconds of waiting as the iDroid did its work, the chieftain was marked with a red triangle on everyone's HUDs. His primary objective completed, Snake then pulled out a block of C-12 explosives, and placed it into a corner of the building where it wouldn't be seen.
Snake slowly lifted the alien crate up and waddled out of the spire. With his new disguise it was easy for him to make his way back to Sev, with none of the still awake guards noticing a crate that seemed to move every time they looked away.
Sev couldn't help but chuckle as he watched the Boss work his martial arts magic through his sniper scope. Sev almost found it boring that he had to stay back, but someone had to give immediate covering fire if things went to Hell this early. Regardless, he did have work to do while his squadmates snuck through the base. Peering through his scope, Sev surveyed the other lookout towers. He counted three more jackal snipers spread out across the towers and marked them for everyone to see.
A few minutes later, Boss and Thane made their way back to Sev's position, the aliens completely unaware of the infiltration. The remains of Fireteam Fox crawled prone up to Sev, drawing their own sniper rifles. Thane unfolded his personal M-97 Viper, while Snake drew a UNSC SRS99 Sniper Rifle from his back.
Snake took a view of the marked snipers and gave a nod to Sev before putting a finger to his ear. "Commander, we're in position. You ready to go?" Snake whispered.
"Ready and willing Snake." Shepard responded.
"Copy. When you see the signal, hit them where it hurts." Switching off the radio, Snake cocked his rifle and looked through the scope. "Fox, we sync shot the snipers, then Thane blows them to Hell. I have target one."
"Target two, in sight." Sev growled.
"Tracking… Target three in sight Boss." Thane added.
"Fire in three… two… one... fire." The crack of three sniper shots shattered the silence of night as the jackals' heads exploded in a mess of gore and bone.
Every brute, grunt, and jackal jumped awake with the noise, some looking around in confusion while the more veteran warriors instantly dove for their weapons. With a single nod from Snake, Thane pulled the detonator from his pocket and flicked the switch. Massive orange and purple fireballs tore through the nightsky as a cacophony of heat and death incinerated the wraiths and a dozen nearby aliens. That was all the notice Shepard needed to burst from cover and charge right for the alien base.
Commander Jane Shepard always felt at home on the battlefield. Thinking about it, she's probably spent more of her life on a battlefield than off. And while she's not a ruthless berserker like Grunt or Jack, who spilled blood for the sake of spilling blood, she always found that fighting gave her a sense of focus and direction she could get nowhere else. BOOM! And right now all Shepard was focused on was getting her ass to cover.
Let off their leash, Fireteam Wolf tore their way into the Covenant base. Sarah Lyons unleashed a hail of laser bolt fire as she held the trigger down on her gatling laser; the sustained fire incinerated aliens and brought a lookout tower to the ground. Meanwhile Six and Shepard were sprinting across what was essentially open ground, charging for the exterior of the outpost.
Shepard was sprinting at her full speed, but could only watch helplessly as Six easily overtook her and reached the base first. Six leapt over the wreckage of the watchtower and rolled into the camp, pumping shotgun shell after shotgun shell at the disoriented aliens. A pair of grunts were instantly torn apart by the pellets, but the other aliens quickly reorganized. Jackals activated their energy shields, creating a shield wall to give their allies time to move to cover and fire back. Armored brutes exited their bunkers, carrying spikers and brute plasma rifles, and fired their own volley at the breach in their defenses.
Six dove behind a purple, metallic barrier and blindly fired at the aliens as Shepard caught up to him. Sarah was still a ways behind them, but was giving a suppressing barrage from a distance. Shepard eyed the enemy formation. Jackals were holding the frontline with the brutes behind them giving fire support. The grunts, their morale boosted by the presence of brute major began to flank Wolf's right. Thinking quickly, Shepard formulated their counter.
"Six! Push right, stop their advance!" She ordered, pointing to the grunts. "Sarah, I'll clear the jackals. When I do, put those brutes down!"
"Roger!" the two powered armored warriors said in unison.
Raising her T-21 blaster, Shepard popped out of cover and began a suppressing fire, giving Six time to break cover and move right while Sarah caught up. Once Six was away, Shepard could focus on breaking the phalanx in front of her. Ducking back behind cover as plasma balls and superheated spikes flew over her head, Shepard focused her biotics into a protective barrier around herself as she prepared for her next move.
Standing above her cover, Shepard focused all her willpower into the largest biotic lift she had ever created. Ignoring the burning pain from the plasma bolts now pelting her, searing her through her barrier, blood poured down her nose as a 10 meter radius sphere of dark energy enveloped half a dozen jackals, sending them flying into the air. The jackals flailed in confusion, some trying to run or even swim in the air, while some of the lower ranking brutes looked up in confusion at the telekinetic display.
"Sarah, now!" Shepard groaned as she felt her mind tearing itself apart from the biotic overusage.
Sarah, who had just arrived at the downed watchtower, spun her gatling laser and laid into the brutes, their mobile cover now gone. With the sound of shattering electric glass, three brutes minors and a brute major lost their power armor and were swiftly cut down by the torrent of nuclear powered lasers. Their main fire support dead, Shepard released the jackals as they slammed into the ground below. As they staggered back up, Shepard switched to her shotgun and charged for them.
With a double tap from her Crusader, Shepard eviscerated the first two jackals who couldn't recover from the fall fast enough. The other four quickly stumbled into a defensive stance after watching their comrades die, but they were too slow. With a strike that combined her cybernetic enhancements, her biotics, and her omni-blade, she punched through a jackal's energy shield, then through its torso, with her fist exiting through its spine.
Lifting the impaled corpse in the air with one arm, she then threw it at a horrified looking jackal. The body slammed into it, knocking the jackal out and back onto the ground once more. The final two jackals watched their buddy get body slammed by a corpse, and were too distracted to notice Shepard blowing their brains out with her shotgun.
Meanwhile, Six was having more fun than he'd like to admit contending with a small army of grunts. The battle reminded him of when he was still alive, a simpler time where he could just focus on killing every alien bastard he came across. There was a platoons worth of grunts ahead of him, along with a brute major leading them. He knew even he couldn't tank the fire of all these organized grunts so he needed to break their spirits first.
Picking up a plasma pistol from the ground, Six switched his Mjolnir's armor ability to hologram, giving him the ability to create a virtual doppelganger of himself. With the press of a button, his digital double vaulted over his cover, running in the open firing off virtual blanks. The effect was immediate, the brute and every grunt in the area looked to the hologram and began firing. With the grunts distracted, Six overcharged his own plasma pistol, and made for the brute major. Aiming down the sights, Six loosed an oversized ball of green plasma that slammed into the brute's armor. The power armor shattered causing the brute to go berserk. But before it could take a swing, Six drew his shotgun from his shotgun and blew the brute's brains apart with a single blast.
Their leader dead, the formation of grunts broke into chaos. Some ran away, arms flailing above their heads, while others pulled out plasma grenades in an attempt to kamikaze. Six pumped his shotgun into the routing grunts, focusing on the suicide grunts first. As they died, their grenades fell into their own ranks, exploding and killing their own allies from the grave. From there it was an easy task to clean up the rest of the disorganized grunts.
Shepard wanted to breathe a sigh of relief at the end of the immediate firefight, but would be given no such respite. While they were able to kill all the Covenant in the immediate area, the rest of the base had reorganized and moved against them. Dozens more brutes, jackals, and probably hundreds of grunts all began converging on their position, firing plasma balls and superheated spikes. Shepard could hear the cracks of the sniper support from Fireteam Fox cut through the Covenant, but they weren't making enough of a dent into the numbers.
To make matters worse, Shepard watched as a Covenant weapon crate went sailing through the air with a deafening Bwom as the brute chieftain now made his appearance. Wearing an elaborate red power armor, with a horse shoe-shaped headdress, and wielding a massive gravity hammer, the chieftain roared a mighty battle cry as he rallied his troops.
"Kill the intruders!" He roared. "Tonight we shall feast on their flesh!"
Surrounded by over a dozen brutes, the Chieftain swaggered forward, sure of his victory. The brute pack made it all of 10 feet when an invisible energy wave slammed into them, knocking the brutes prone. Everyone looked up as the familiar forms of a gold and red huntress and a black clothed Sith apprentice landed amongst the brutes.
Several minutes prior…
Pyrrha fiddled with her Sentry Interface, a simple headset from Shepard's universe that provided her a blue holographic visor over her eyes. They were given to her and Galen since they didn't use armor like the others, and they needed a way to access important tactical feeds. The tech was more advanced than what she was used to from Remnant, and it was a bit of a learning curve for her to get used to it.
With the click of a button, the visor blinked into existence and Pyrrha was now getting augmented reality tactical data from the battle. Blue triangles representing her team and red numbers representing marked enemies appeared in her view, as well as meters representing her aura levels and even physical health.
Now fully set up, she listened in on the overlapping radio calls from her allies. Snake would give stoic, quick orders while Shepard roared with fury. She could hear the alien screams of the Covenant as they died, layered over booming explosions and whizzing projectiles. Monitoring the communications, Pyrrha gripped Miló tightly as she felt a rush of anxiety encompass her.
Suddenly she felt a hand on her shoulder as a calming feeling replace her unease. Looking up, she saw Galen giving her a reassuring smile. He said no words, but his message was clear enough. Don't worry, they're going to be fine. Pyrrha forced a smile to her face and gave him a nod as T3 began spouting his usual electronic noise. Galen listened attentively, before giving the redheaded spartan a translation.
"The chieftain is on the move, prepare to drop." He calmly stated, heading for the back of the pelican.
Pyrrha stood up, clutching Miló in one hand and Akoúo̱ in the other, she looked down and could see the icon for the brute chieftain moving below her. Fireteam Doberman's job was relatively simple. While Fireteams Wolf and Fox cause havoc around the base, Doberman airdrops in, captures the chieftain, and evacs with the others. But in war, even the simplest thing is difficult.
The pelican's cargo door hissed open, and the roar of the engines filled the bay. Galen and Pyrrha looked at each other and nodded, and without hesitation ran for the exit. Pyrrha felt the air rushing around as she entered freefall. She couldn't help but think back to the entrance ceremony for Beacon Academy, all those months ago where she was catapulted off a cliffside. Back then she was able to use her shield to crash through the giant trees of the Emerald Forest
to slow her descent. There was no such flora here so she'd need to improvise.
Pyrrha was rapidly approaching the ground and the idea of becoming flatter than Ren's pancakes did not appeal to her. Clutching tightly onto Akoúo̱, she activated her semblance and coated her shield with a magnetic force. She then threw her shield in front of her, adjusted her body so she was upright, and landed feet first onto her shield. Using her polarity, she sent a counter force upwards, slowing her descent and allowing her to smoothly surf down.
Meanwhile Galen rocketed at full terminal velocity towards the ground. He's survived far worse than a long fall, and he trusted the force to guide him. As he plummeted further and further down he zeroed in on his target, the brute chieftain surrounded by over a dozen elite brute guards. Galen extend his hands out and focused on the force around him. With a calm exhale, he unleashed a massive force push, slamming the brutes into the ground while slowing his own descent. With a flip backwards, he landed amongst the disoriented brutes with Pyrrha gently gliding down behind him. Fireteam Doberman now on the ground, Galen used the force to draw his lightsaber out, holding it in his signature reverse grip. With a flick of his finger, the blue energy sword sprang to life.
With a small smirk, he looked over to Pyrrha. "Focus on the chieftain, I'll handle the rest."
"Understood." Pyrrha nodded, face hard and focused as she held her shield and sword high.
Pyrrha dashed forward and moved to engage the confused brute chieftain while Galen stood still. He was content with waiting until all of his opponents righted themselves. After all, might as well make it a fair fight. One of the brute bodyguards saw Pyrrha charging his leader, and true to his profession aimed his brute shot to protect him. A blue light flashed in front of the brute as he attempted to pull the trigger. Confused that the red huntress wasn't turned into a smoldering pile of limbs, the brute looked down and saw that his arms had been replaced by smoldering stumps. The brute roared in pain as Galen's lightsaber returned to him.
"Now now." Starkiller chided. "Ignoring me would be a very bad idea."
The brutes roared with a fury and unleashed a salvo against Galen. But their shots were wild and erratic and Galen danced across the battlefield, reflecting plasma bolts and dodging spiker shots. With flips flowing into cuts, pirouettes turning into thrusts, Starkiller was too fast for Brutes, his lightsaber finding chinks within their power armor. Limbs and plasma weapons were thrown to the ground he hacked his way through the apes.
Meanwhile, Pyrrha traded blows with the brute chieftain in a duel of strength versus dexterity. She stabbed into the bicep of the brute, slipping past his armor, before withdrawing and making a cut against the side of his legs, but was unable to cut through his thick muscles and cuisses. Pyrrha would continue to cut and thrust, slicing against the chieftain's armor, taking what blood she could.
The chieftain howled in pain, swinging his gravity hammer in wide arcs against the huntress-in-training. The hammer slammed into the ground, ripping apart dirt and stone as Pyrrha cartwheeled to the side. Pyrrha knew a single hit from that hammer would be lethal, but the chieftain would actually have to land a hit for that to happen. While the chieftain was far stronger than Pyrrha, even with her aura enhancements, he was slow and his attacks were wide. Pyrrha could see them coming from a mile away, and even when a swing got too close for comfort, she could alter the trajectory of the attack with the brute never noticing.
And so Pyrrha and the chieftain were at an impasse. She wasn't strong enough to deal a decisive blow against the him, while the chieftain wasn't fast enough to land a clean hit on her. Death by a thousand cuts was a strategy, but Pyrrha knew it wasn't a viable one. As powerful as Galen was, even he wouldn't be able to hold out against the waves Covenant soldiers forever, not to mention the increased chance of casualties on the other teams as the battle went on.
Pyrrha backed up from the Brute, getting some distance. She only had a few seconds to recover her breath and look around the battlefield for anything she could use. Glancing around, she picked up the reflective shine off of several strips and spikes of metal that remained of the crate the chieftain had smashed previously. With a grimace that failed to hide her disgust, she decided to steal a play from a certain witch she had fought against at Beacon.
Transforming Miló to javelin mode, she threw her spear at the chieftains head. The chieftain ducked and shimmied to the side, grinning as his opponent had just lost her only weapon. Pyrrha only grinned back as she raised her arms, and a dozen scraps of razor sharp alien metal began floating around her. With a swipe of her right hand, several chunks flew for the chieftains face, forcing him to raise his arms to defend himself. Spikes of metal impaled themselves into the brute's forearms as Pyrrha threw her left hand forward, driving a metal spike right into the achillie's tendon of the brute.
The chieftain cried out, crippled and falling to one knee. He snarled at Pyrrha, his eyes going red as his berserking rage started. The chieftain let out a savage roar, arms raised and ready to crush. Swiftly, Pyrrha levitated a final strip of metal and flung it straight for the Chieftain's throat. Instead of piercing it however, it instead went horizontal mid flight, and wrapped itself around the chieftain's neck like a collar.
Digging his claws into his neck, the chieftain tried to pry the collar off, but it was far too tight and he couldn't get any purchase on it. The collar only tightened as Pyrrha focused her semblance into the choker, cutting off air and blood flow to the brute. The chieftain was now on the ground, writhing in pain as he tried to rip the collar out, unable to cry out as he had no air left in his lungs. Soon enough, the chieftain fell limp, unconscious at the feet of almost undefeated Pyrrha Nikos.
Pyrrha let out a slow exhale as she savored her victory, but was interrupted as blasts of plasma shot towards her. Pyrrha, unprepared for the sudden attack flinched as she tried to bring her shield up to protect herself, not having enough time to dodge. Her eyes clenched behind the shield, Pyrrha awaited a searing plasma burn that never came. For in front of her, Galen swing his lightsaber in circles, deflecting plasma bolt after plasma bolt back at the Covenant.
Starkiller had done a good job killing Covenant already, evident by the piles of charred brutes and jackals that surrounded Fireteam Doberman. But there were hundreds of Covenant in the base, and they were gearing up for another wave.
Galen turned to Pyrrha quickly, out of breath and singed by plasma bolts. "I'll move the target. Cover me!"
Pyrrha gave a curt nod, called her spear back to her, and moved in sync with the former assassin. Galen raised his left hand up calling upon the force to levitate the chieftain while his right hand deflect any incoming frontal attacks with his lightsaber. Meanwhile Pyrrha moved behind the unconscious brute, infusing her shield with aura to defend from the rear while laying down what covering fire she could.
As the duo retreated, Pyrrha hurriedly constacted Snake. "Boss! This is Fireteam Doberman. We have the target and require evac!"
There was a burst of static and radio buzz before the Boss's grizzled voice came over the comms. "Understood. T3, bring the perlican down on my position. Wolf, on my signal clear a path for Doberman, Fox'll keep you covered."
There was a brief pause as back on the sniper hill, Snake pulled out a remote detonator. "Mark!" He screamed as he slammed the button down, and the C-12 plastic explosive he placed in the brute chieftain's quarters detonated.
The explosion tore a hole into the Covenant formation that was chasing down the Legion, throwing them into further disarray. Fireteam Wolf pushed forward loosing volleys of energy bolts and hails of bullets at the aliens, rushing for Doberman's position. Pyrrha and Galen were making a mad dash for the breach in the base's defenses, but were constantly slowed by the presence of their unconscious package.
Akoúo̱'s once pristine golden surface was dented and scorched as Pyrrha deflected plasma bolt after plasma bolt. Sweat poured down Pyrrha's face as she continued to backpedal in pace with Galen as Miló rang out with an unending stream of dust rounds. Pyrrha would shoot a grunt in the head, watch it explode as fire dust mixed with methane, before switching targets to a jackal that was chasing them. In the distance, Pyrrha saw jackal marksmen and grunt demolitionists gunned down by Fox's sniper fire.
A pair of brutes, seeing their leader in bondage, roared and leapt towards Pyrrha's position. Before they landed however, one of the brutes was caught in a dark energy field, freezing him in midair before throwing him backwards into a wall. The second brute turned to ash as he was pelted by a stream of laser bolts. Pyrrha turned to see that Shepard, Sarah, and Six had finally made it to their position.
"Come on Pyr, we're getting out of here!" Shepard barked out as Fireteam Wolf gave them a suppressing barrage.
The Legion continued to retreat further and further, Wolf lagging behind Doberman to keep the Covenant at bay. Soon they reached the downed lookout tower, and the roar of the pelican could be heard as it broke through the cloud cover. As the dropship slowly descended, the chin mounted chaingun began to rotate faster and faster. BRRRRRRRRRRT was all anyone could hear as T3 fired 4000 40mm rounds per minute into the crowd. The Covenant dove to the side, hiding behind cover, only for the cover to be completely annihilated.
But soon enough, braver and more foolish brutes armed with brute shots and fuel rod cannons opened fire at the pelican, slamming into its hull. T3 quickly put the bird onto the ground, and all three teams plus one prisoner of war piled into the cargo bay. With an electronic WHOOAAAA T3 yanked the controls on the pelican and shot them upwards once again, flying out of range of the Covenant base.
Shepard leaned back in her seat and couldn't help but grin. She gave Thane a congratulatory pat on the back and a fist bumped Pyrrha. She was happy. And why shouldn't she be, their first mission as a whole Legion went swimmingly. It was a clean operation, in, out, with no casualties or loss of major equipment.
Snake however, with his stoic, unreadable countenance seemed far less joyous. Bending down over the chieftain, he dug his robotic hand into the collar and ripped it off, allowing the Brute to breathe. He stood back up and called Pyrrha over, telling her to bind his arms. Pyrrha complied, and her semblance to bend and twist the Brute's armor, turning it into solid manacles and restraints. Six came and made took the Gravity Hammer away from the brute, looked it over and magnetically holstered it to his own back as Galen stood next to Snake.
"Wake him up." Snake ordered.
With a nod Galen knelt next to the unconscious brute. While Darth Vader hadn't bothered to train Galen directly in the art of Force Healing, Galen discovered the basics on his own following the many brutal training sessions he had experienced. Focusing the Force into the brute's body, Galen knit the damage on his throat and lungs, before moving to his mind and returning him to consciousness.
The brute chieftain trashed in place, shaking the Pelican with his massive weight. Six instinctively raised his shotgun, ready to execute the beast when Snake put his hand out to stop him. The brute's raging soon subsided as Galen held out his own hand in front of him. The brute's eyes seemed to glaze over, as Galen subtly affected his mind with the Force.
"Calm yourself, you are amongst friends." He gently whispered.
The brute blinked and shook his head, confused at his situation. He no longer felt the need to crush these pathetic heretics, even though they were human. He no longer felt his righteous hatred towards the demon right in front of him. With a nod Galen turned to Snake and gestured to the brute.
"Ask him who and where his leader is." Snake ordered.
"You will tell us who your leader is, and where we can find him." Galen parroted with a wave of his hand.
"I...ugh" The chieftain seemed to shake off a hazy cloud of confusion. "Our leader is Tartarus. He… will be meeting with one known as Sith in three days time… in the ruins of the divine relic to the South."
Everyone turned to Six for an explanation.
"Hmm. I know of Tartarus. He's not just a brute chieftain, but the brute chieftain, as in the leader of his entire race. ONI's had a mark on him for as long as they've known about him." Six scowled behind his helmet in thought. "As for these divine ruins, I'm not entirely sure. I know that the Covenant worship an ancient alien race, I've seen them pray before their tech, so it probably has something to do with them."
Galen nodded. "And the Sith are the order I was training to be a part of. They are the hand that controls the Galactic Empire. Which means that this Tartarus is meeting with the Empire for negotiations. A deadly alliance, should it come to fruition."
Snake seemed lost in thought as he pulled out a cigar and lit it, his mind already considering what the next mission will be.
"So we have our next, target, timeframe, and location. Guess we won't be needing him anymore." Six more said than asked.
Before anyone could react, Six mechanically raised his shotgun and pulled the trigger. The still dazed brute's head burst like a ripe fruit as buckshot tore through his brain. The alien dead, Six walked up to the corpse and kicked it out of the back of the pelican, closing the door behind him.
Shepard was shocked. She was barely expecting the interrogation to occur on the pelican, let alone an execution. She scowled, almost snarled at Six before standing.
"What the Hell was that Six!?" She roared, confused at the callousness at what just happened.
Six, not intimidated by his squad leader, gave her a look that she swore was actually empathy. "Commander, I understand what this looks like, but you need to understand that the Covenant are not like your aliens. They are wholly and completely dedicated to wiping us out. Billions are dead because of them, and this is the only thing they deserve. We got what we needed, and keeping that thing alive would only serve as a danger to everyone here. If you had a Reaper imprisoned, would you take the risk of locking it up, or you would put it down as soon as possible?"
Shepard gave Six a blank stare. Besides the fact that Reapers were mechanical monstrosities hundreds if not thousands of meters long, Six did have a point. Shepard has executed her own fair share of mercenary or Cerberus scum over the years, like the time she pushed a mercenary out of a window on Illium, but killing a captive prisoner left a terrible taste in her mouth, even if they did deserve it.
She looked around the cargo bay to get a sense of what everyone else thought. Thane gave an impassive shrug to her, but knowing his philosophy on killing that made sense. Unsurprisingly Sev seemed to not care at all, content to lean back and watch the show while Sarah looked as unfazed as Thane. Snake scowled at Six, displeased with the action, but he didn't move to stop Six either.
When Shepard looked at Pyrrha however, she saw what she believed to be the only sensible reaction. Horror and disgust. Pyrrha's mouth hung agape, and she looked like she was going to be sick. When they locked eyes, Pyrrha only turned away not saying anything.
Shepard shook her head, unsure of how she felt about all of this and at this point too tired to care. She sat back down and let her head rest on her seat in quiet contemplation as the Legion returned home from their first victory together in completely silence.
A/N
So this one took me a while to write. Between work, writer's block, the actual length of the chapter, and the release of BL3, this chapter was a slog to get through, but I hope you all enjoyed it.
Anyway, I did want to take the time to answer some reviews, and explain some of my thoughts on who will be coming to Legion of the Damned.
First, the most common question was whether or not W40k characters will be making an appearance or not in this story. The best I can say for now is maybe, but probably not.
Warhammer 40k is one of my favorite science fiction universes out there, and this fic is named after their Legion of the Damned. However, the main reason I'm leaning towards not including any characters from w40k is the fact that the power scaling is so far beyond any of the included universes so far. While I think a character like Sanguinius would fit great into the requirements for being a member of the Legion, I feel like any primarch or even most space marines are so transhuman that they would quickly make characters like Shepard, Sev, or Snake irrelevant. But I could always change my mind about this as the story progresses.
Next, I should mention that I do plan on avoiding taking any characters from universes were death is irrelevant/an established world. Primarily I am talking about universes such as Mortal Kombat, Dragon Ball Z, and the Marvel/DC comic universes, where characters die and are resurrected every other day. Not to mention the power scaling issues that would come with including these worlds as well.
Other than that, I just wanted to say thanks to all of you for reading.