Disclaimer: I do not own Mass Effect or the various X-COM games. They belong to their respective copyright owners. This story is not written for profit. I make no money from it. It is not for sale or rent.

Chapter 2: Picking up the pieces

=SF=

Part 1: Conflict resolution

00:03, 13 August, 2176 AD

Athena District

Olympus City

Elysium

Vetus System

"Duck!" I did as the voice demanded and hit the ground a moment before a hail of mass accelerator rounds flew through where I stood. Downrange someone cried in pain before the same man addressed me again. "You're welcome."

A glance was enough to tell me what happened. A Batarian had been sneaking up on me, though now he was a crumpled, bleeding mess. I turned my head and shouted a thanks to my rescuer, who turned out to be another alien, a Turian this time.

Great, at this rate I would have to turn in my X-COM badge. I was supposed to be killing aliens or at least drinking their boozie during R&R, not needing to be saved by them. Then again, those might be what remained of my old fashioned views.

"How did you end on this nice vacation spot?" I asked my rescuer.

"Work." He answered in a dry voice. "I'm supposed to be a liaison with you law enforcement. Name's Vakarian."

"Veil. Shepard, cover those civies and have them fall back. There's another wave incoming!" I shouted a moment after I noticed a bunch of Vorcha being herded our way. "So a cop." I nodded at my new acquaintance. "Is there a law enforcement convention in town by any chance?"

"Heh. No such luck."

Why did the name Vakarian sound familiar? I shook my head, returned to the task at hand and shot one of the advancing aliens before being forced into cover as my shields broke under the return fire.

A loud boom, followed by pained screams announced that we had a few less volunteers to work with.

"Spirits, they are getting slaughtered out here!" Vakarian exclaimed.

Huh. "I didn't think that a Turian would find it a problem, given your society."

"That's a damn stereotype even if it's mostly right. I've been a cop on the Citadel for years so I learned a thing or two about the other species. I know very well that even among your kind there is such a thing as civilians, though you people generally have the right idea, just like us." Vakarian's mandibles twitched in what I suppose was amusement.

"Well, yeah. To be frank, given what I remember from the war, after I was unfrozen I expected to be faced by society similar to what I was taught about yours. We still have some time to go."

"Finally, a rather sane species! Who would have thought that about you people?" The Turian smirked, I'm sure of it. "Though the lack of any support incoming is a black mark in my book."

"In mine too. Those bastard shouldn't have been able to pass through the planetary defenses, much less enjoy

"Gunships!" The Armorer shouted in warning a moment before I could hear the distinct whine of engines.

"Air support? AA fire?" Vakarian asked with a mild interest.

I checked my Omni-Tool. "We're jammed. Even if those were available I can't call them."

"It's the old fashioned way then."

"Oh?"

"Fire at them until they fall down, leave or we're dead."

"I had the same thought. Shepard, it's your turn to draw fire. Blue Girl, I want Warp on target after Armsy fries their shields..."I started snapping orders as the whine grew louder.

=SF=

00:22, 13 August, 2176 AD

SSV "Berlin"

High Orbit over Elysium

Vetus System

"Gravitational anomaly! We have a wormhole incoming!" The Sensor operator shouted.

"Rostov made it." The XO concluded and smiled viciously.

"All ships, clear the transit area!" Captain Michaels ordered.

Ten seconds later, reality warped and a huge, purple rift tore its way through space above Elysium. A moment later, the armored bow of the Dreadnought "Tokyo" emerged from the breach in space-time. Only about half of the gargantuan ship was through, when its sensors were stable enough to lock on target. A second later it opened up with its secondaries, filing space around it with fusion lances and plasma. Another moment passed, before missiles and blaster projectiles were added to the onslaught. Caught off guard, the pirate ships unlucky enough to be in range simply ceased to exist.

Then the behemoth was through and it started launching parasite craft. Two wings of Piranha Interceptors, soon followed by a wing of Dragon Heavy fighters.

Once "Tokyo" was out of the way, her escorts started pouring through the rift.

"Ma'am, Admiral Duboa's on the line, requesting status update." The Comm officer disrupted the silence, which had fallen on the bridge when the reinforcements arrived.

=SF=

00:25, 13 August, 2176 AD

Athena District

Olympus City

Elysium

Vetus System

"What did you people do to piss the four eyes that much? Any self respecting slave raid would have broken off by now!" The bartender slash Asari commando shouted. She was taking cover behind the burning remains of a SWAT van, which was overturned in a desperate attempt to block the entrance of the shelter we were protecting.

That wasn't going too well. We managed to hold the position for the last half hour against multiple enemy waves, but that took its toll. We were down to five effective and four of us were wounded. The only one still intact was the SWAT sniper and that was because he was relocating after each shot. That left the rest of us up shit creek without a paddle. Shepard was to my left, laying prone behind a mostly demolished fallen column. To my right, the Asari, Ayethia or something like that, was taking pot shots with her sidearm at any Batarian who had the gut to come near her. The blue chick was doing great work, yet she wouldn't be able to keep it for much longer. Her black leather outfit was torn and bloody, a testament that even the Matriarch's significant biotics couldn't keep her intact against the onslaught that hit our positions again and again.

As for myself, the carapace armor and my enhancements were all that kept me together after going toe to toe with an another Krogan. My fingers ran over the control panel of the med-pack and I hissed as a cocktail of stimulants raced through my veins. For a moment the last engagement of this battle flashed in front of my eyes.

"Any word on reinforcements?" Vakarian, the last of our little group casually asked. I had to wonder how an X-COM operative, a human marine and a SWAT officer ended up protecting a shelter with the help of two aliens. It was a brand new future all right.

"Comms are still jammed."

"Ah. Pity. I hopped to attend my daughter's birthday next week."

"We aren't dead yet!" The Asari grumbled and shot a Batarian in the head before melting his face with a Warp.

"Two words. Right flank." The Turian, whose name I haven't bothered asking deadpanned.

I carefully glanced over my cover and winced. Another fucking huge lizard was approaching, with a small horde of Vorcha right on its heels.

"Anyone up to handling that?" I asked.

As if to answer my question, a sniper shot hit the overgrown lizard in the head, harmlessly dissipating over his barrier. The Krogan growled and sent a huge warp at the building which our sniper was using and then he waved at the Vorcha to lay some suppressive fire.

"Nah. I have a headache. You?" Ayethia asked, though she holstered her pistol and retrieved the shotgun.

"We aren't dying yet!" The Armorer, who was lying behind a nearby cover with the rest of the too wounded to fight, managed to croak loud enough for us to hear. "Look up."

I did so and grinned.

The sky was on fire with the contrails of orbital insertion pods and fighters burning for our location.

"So you're really crazy enough to pull this?" Vakarian asked. "I thought that those reports were exaggerated!" He gave me a flat look as if it was somehow my fault.

"Is there at least a single alien on this rock who isn't doubling as a spy?!" This came form Shepard, who sounded disgruntled.

"Yep. I'm sure that at least a few of the maidens working in my bar are here just for the experience and make some credits." The Asari helpfully chirped.

"You're all aware that the cavalry will arrive well after those bastards have finished killing us all, right?" Shepard muttered.

"Yep."

"Yes."

"Yeah."

The three of us chorused.

=SF=

Part 2: Mopping up

00:23, 13 August, 2176 AD

In the skies above Olympus City

Elysium

Vetus System

Major Chow had to enter a sharp dive, nearly crashing into an inconveniently placed skyscraper. He was forced into that almost suicidal maneuver after his shields gave up under the abuse of two enemy frigates, which were in the vicinity in order to at least keep the skies neutral.

They were more than successful. Matthew and the few other pilots who managed to launch were able to provide only sporadic support to the be leagued defenders of the city. Even now, as he weaved through the skyscrapers of the financial district, doing his best to keep out of LOS from enemy lasers, he could see through his sensors dozens of gunships pouring fire at ground positions or simply trashing the place.

The fact that unless the major wanted to die for no real gain, he couldn't do more than snipe at the odd enemy flier that was unlucky enough to stumble in his path, made him furious. Only after triggering the medical suite build into his flight suit to disperse the necessary drugs allowed him to keep his attention fully on the task at hand by making unnecessary distractions as anger flow to the back of his mind.

That was the only reason why the sheer fury he was feeling at the invaders didn't make him do something rather foolish and regrettable, like trying to take on one of the frigates head on. While he did have the armaments to eventually kill such a ship by himself, outside of a very lucky shot it had to be a dead of thousand cuts for the enemy escorts.

Chow pulled up a moment after his sensors screamed a warning. It was just in time too, because a series of GUARDIAN shots passed through the space his Spirit was supposed to occupy. Even with his last moment maneuver, two laser beams briefly touched the armor of the Interceptor, leaving melted gorges in the alloy.

"Damn it, this is a job for the fucking Dragons, not a head hunter like me!" The Major hissed as warnings flooded his HUD.

For once his luck was positive, he lost only some armor. Not to mention that a second later the shields reinitialized and started rapidly rebuilding.

Another warning blared, this time from the long range sensors which were monitored by the VI assisting in flying the Spirit. Chow acted on reflex and brought up a small window in the upper right of his HUD. A glance was enough to have him grin like a maniac.

There was a huge friendly contact in orbit and it was lighting up local space with its targeting sensors.

The Major returned his attention to the task at hand. Soon enough he wouldn't have to worry about those frigates or their friends in orbit. That meant that he was finally free to help whatever was left from the grunts on the ground.

The view in his HUD shifted, highlighting gunships and enemy ground units. Mathew's grin widened and he went on the hunt.

First to go was a flight of gunships, which simply hovered over a long avenue and blasted anything that moved on the ground. Their pilots never knew they were in danger, before Chow triggered his weapons. The closest flier got disintegrated by a plasma burst a moment after the Spirit's laser canons burned through its two buddies, sending them crashing to the ground.

Another pair of downed gunships later, the sky above Olympus lit up by dual explosions as the enemy frigates were blasted from orbit. Mathew didn't need his sensors to know that a relief force was already in reentry. That massive friendly signature could only be a Dreadnought or Carrier and either of those would have made a short work of a rag tag pirate fleet. Well, what was left of it at any rate. He somehow doubted that the System Defense fleet had been shut down like the planetary defense grid. Which in turn meant that all this time, the enemy had been tangling with the Navy.

Sure enough, an incoming transmission, strong enough to cut through the jammers set by the enemy within the city, confirmed his suspicions.

"OD Minus Three. Hold position. Aegis on call in One."

Well, there was a problem with that. The enemy jammers were still going strong and whoever friendly was still alive down there obviously didn't have mil-spec comms to call in support. All contact with the city proper had been lost the moment the ECM started blanking the area. At least the reinforcements that were dropping two minutes after the air support should be able to call targets.

If they weren't on Elysium or one of the other few worlds that freely admitted aliens, targeting wouldn't have been an issue. Even an interceptor like the Spirit had good enough sensors to distinguish human life-signs from extraterrestrial ones. So in that case target acquisition would have been much simple.

Unfortunately, blowing up the supposedly friendly ETs was frowned upon… even if you swore that it was by accident.

At least Mathew was free to shoot up any enemy flier or armor on the ground, which he gleefully did. It was just after he gave the plasma treatment to a tank that definitely wasn't a Human built, when he flew over a square littered with wrecked and burning vehicles. What made it stood out was the emerald plasma bolt that flew from one of the upper floors of one of the buildings overlooking it.

Making a split second decision, Matthew abused the drive of his interceptor, bleeding off speed in such a manner that would have seen him squished if it wasn't for the inertial dampeners. Even with them, he felt the push of deceleration rather acutely. A sharp turn later and the Spirit back over the square, hovering omniously above the wreckage. He zoomed in and frowned.

It was an active warzone down there. A couple of humans and two aliens of all things were guarding some kind of entrance. There were few hundred bodies strewn around, most apparently killed while trying to kill the defenders as well as what appeared to be the bodies of SWAT members and civilians.

Matthew smirked when he saw some alive invaders first hand. They were led by a huge Krogan, who was glaring at him. The lizard was obviously in charge of a bunch of spiky, ugly as sin bipedal aliens, who were ready to overrun what was left of the friendlies.

The Krogan shouted something, perhaps a challenge. The major responded by pressing the trigger of his plasma canon.

He had heard that the Krogan were supposed to be the toughest bastards in Citadel Space.

This one was obviously not tough enough to tank the Spirit's canon.

Mathew turned his attention to the spiky ones and opened fire, before instructing the VI to open a channel to the reinforcements. Those people looked like they could use all the help they could get.

=SF=

00:26, 13 August, 2176 AD

Athena District

Olympus City

Elysium

Vetus System

"No heroic death for us. Not today at least." I shrugged after that God sent fighter blew up the Krogan and his buddies. The plane wagged its wings at us and shot up with a while that used to give me nightmares, before I got shot in the face and the world changed while I slept.

"It's always better to be an alive hero." Vakarian muttered. "Dead you're only useful to the enemy."

"Amen to that."

"I third the sentiment." Ayethia muttered. "The Goddess can wait to embrace me for a few more centuries." She added quietly. Then the Asari grinned. "It would have been a hell of a way to go."

"You're all insane."

"Blame my pops. He was a Krogan." She shrugged.

"I find myself with an odd lack of surprise." Vakarian commended in a dry tone.

"Chill out Shepard." I admonished her. "You were eager to charge into the fray earlier. Too eager in fact." I frowned at the wounded woman. "Once you saw that the invaders were Batarians you almost went berserk. What gives?"

"What's this? Are you my analyst now?" Shepard grumbled then added a grudging "Sergeant."

"Not my aspiration in life. I had to go see a shrink after they thawed my ass. You did well kid and it would have been great if you have kept your head into the game. No need for blue over there to save your ass that way."

Shepard glared at us and kept silent.

I shook my head at her. This wasn't the time. I glanced at the secluded area where we had heaped the wounded when it became too dangerous to risk moving them within the shelter itself.

"Watch my back." I said aloud and pulled myself up with a grunt. While my carapace armor managed to stop more than a few mass accelerator rounds, that left me feeling as if a pissed off Berserker had used me as a stress relief.

I was barely able to make my way there, when the first pods started impacting nearby.

The bloody cavalry was finally on the ground.

"You're late and missed all the fun!" I shouted at the armored soldiers, who wasted no time in peeling themselves out of the flying coffins they used as a delivery vehicle.

"Veil! Didn't I tell you to stay out of trouble?!" A familiar voice exclaimed.

"Anderson? Do you know that maniac?" Shepard managed to croak from her position.

"Franks, Tilly secure the perimeter." Anderson ordered aloud.

"Call in the medics, we can catch up later." I shouted after taking a good look at the wounded. A few looked too far gone for even modern medicine to be of much help, with most of the rest not being too far behind.

"You're one to talk." An armored figure, who had to be Anderson grumbled after waving and omni-tool over me. I never heard him approach."You know that you're shot, right?"

I swear, he was glaring at me behind the visor of his helmet.

"Multiple times, the carapace saved my ass." I nodded.

"That's not entirely correct. What mods did you get?" He asked with a hint of concern.

Uh, oh. I took a good look at the pitted and dented armor I wore. Huh. There was blood leaking from below it and I never felt the wetness, much less as much pain as getting shot should warrant.

"Kelly, get the medics over here yesterday!" Anderson shouted, before returning his attention at me.

I blinked in confusion, finding myself sitting with my back propped on a smashed car.

"Delkatar, look at me and stay awake. How did you meet my protegee anyway?"

"Who?" I blinked owlishly, wondering what the hell was happening.

"Damn, those stimulants made him not feel the wounds. Even with the mods he almost bled out." An unfamiliar voice butted in.

"I miss being shot up with plasma. No bleeding, though the burns fucking hurt." I grumbled.

Something pressed to my neck and I knew no more.