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Chapter 4: The Spectre
=SF=
Part 8
16:09, 10 September 2176
Empress Claws' FOB Dauntless
Karank's Jungle
Marnloow
If it was up to him, Lesser Fang Ranloow Morra would have either be back in his reinforce command center or with a rear guard keeping the damn aliens off his retreating troops. What was left of them anyway. The huge man rubbed his scarred muzzle and glared in the general direction of the Claw's main base.
Well, the Empress didn't pay him to enjoy himself, but to do what had to be done, Morra thought. Then he frowned. It's been some time since there was a proper imperial government that could pay anyone. Nowadays, he and the survivors of the armed forces were happy if they had reasonable amount of ammo and food to put in their bellies. Getting paid or being able to spent those mythological money anywhere were dreams of a better past.
The same was true as far as any real hope of driving the invader off Marnloow. Too much of the population bought in the propaganda, or were bought by the nice toys and admittedly excellent free medical care that the Advent government was able to provide thank to their alien overlords. The only thing that kept the Empress Claws still fighting was sheer stubborn nature of the operatives and the fact that the enemy simply didn't care enough to spent the resources needed to finally be rid of them. Unfortunately for the resistance, and Morra had no illusions that the and his comrades were anything else at this point, the Advent had finally gotten fed with the pain in the tail the Claws were.
Oh, after two decades to turn the jungles into death trap, being rid of the last loyal soldiers of the Empire wasn't going to be cheap or easy, yet the traitors and more importantly, their masters, could afford the losses… which frankly would have been less than Morra and his fellow Claws could hope for – a mostly uncontested air superiority in the enemy's favor made for a lot of sins.
Honestly, the Lesser Fang didn't expect to live much past this evening if he was lucky. The weird events this afternoon didn't fill him with hope either, even if that was the main reason for his orders. From what Morra could gather, Advent had been hitting the Claw's all across the perimeter – a lot of infantry, mech support, artillery and they were about to commit air assets, when the enemy positions were hit from orbit. That much had been obvious through all the jamming and holes blown through the sensor net covering the jungle. Command had been getting desperate – that's the only way Morra could explain his orders – to go out a meet the new "friendly" aliens who had apparently secure his flank, flattened the Advent in the region and incapacitated half a platoon worth of soldiers before calmly asking to talk with someone in charge.
"We'll watch you back, sir." Sergeant Klaar, the man in charge of the Lesser Fang's security detail, tried to be reassuring. The NCO was even bigger that Morra himself – he was at least a head taller and resembled a walking wardrobe masquerading as an Empress soldier. The sergeant patted his large grenade launcher and gave Ranloow a fang filled grin.
"If it comes to that, we're fucked anyway." Morra grunted.
"That's been the case for twenty year, sir. At least we'll kill a few more of the bastards and avenge you if everything fangs up." Klaar.
The Lesser Claw growled deep in his chest and his whiskers twitched in annoyance. "Form up and lets see the "nice" aliens." Morra hissed.
The two squads of shock troopers that made the last part of the FOB's reserve followed the sergeant's lead and spread out in defensive formation. They were armed and armored with the best stolen or reverse engineered tech the Empress Claws could get their paws on – it was generally much better than what the Advent common soldiers usually carried and could compare to the equipment of the collaborator's elite formations. Of course, that didn't mean much on the rare occasions the Ethereal decided to sent a squad of their troops down – those were monsters on the battlefield and not just because of their superior technology.
Ten minutes of marching through a cramped tunnel, then a bit longer to navigate the trench network and all the nasty traps for the Advent Morra's engineers had laid practically everywhere and the Lesser Fang reached Lesser Claw Traaw and his new friends. Ranloow simply stared at the sight. Truly, the reports he got didn't make justice to this… Morra closed his eyes and rubbed his temples before allowing himself to look at his captured men.
Couldn't the bloody aliens for once not be a pain in the tail?!
"I pity that poor bastard." Klaar pointed at the Lesser Claw, who was sitting on the edge of a trench along with a few of his subordinates.
Traaw and his people were all disarmed, with their weapons laying piled up on the far end of their trenches from where the soldiers sat. By the look of it, they haven't been captured in an honorable combat – something that was still frowned upon, despite all the Empress did to dissuade such notions even before the aliens invaded. While the Claw's had abandoned any silly ideas of honor on the battlefield – that was reserved for how you treated your enemies after you've defeated them – the rank and file, especially those that were folded in the organization from the remains of the regular armed forces, all too often saw things differently.
"If by the Empress grace this isn't another sick trick of the invaders, I'll be writing Traaw's next review as he was the First Emperor himself come back to help us." Morra stated aloud.
"That might help." Klaar nodded sagely. "He'll deserve it for not fucking up what might be our first break in a long, long time. Either that or we're all dead anyway so it won't matter." The sergeant shrugged.
"Too true." Morra agreed. The Lesser Fang was looking around and carefully examining the few aliens he could see. They all wore various types of customized power armor – which looked more functional and advanced than what Advent had to work with. The same went for their weapons.
All that such observations told him was that this was either another mind fuckery or the ancestors had finally decide give the People a break – something Ranloow already knew.
Morra's fur stood up when he decided it was high time he got to it and walked closer to Traaw and the two humans standing near the Lesser Claw. The Lesser Fang grimaced. While he didn't have enough talent for witchcraft for anything but keep his mind free from outside interference most of the time, he was more than sensitive enough to feel when it was used close to him. Those two aliens were warlocks, that he was sure of and his spirits fell. Oh, he was still going to talk to them at the tiny chance that they were really here to help fuck the Ethereal's days. Unfortunately, the fact that there were warlocks among them, made the deception more likely – even if Morra knew intellectually that anyone who could fight the enemy and hold their own either needed warlocks in their ranks or to be immune to the enemy's witchery.
Traaw stood up and saluted with a clawed paw next to his heart. Morra did so in turn and looked at the aliens.
"Lesser Claw, its good to see you still in one piece. Care to introduce us to your new friends?" The Lesser Fang suggested.
"Sir! These are Leutenont Andersseen and Sergeant Veel of the humoon Systems Alliance." Traaw announced.
"Lieutenant Anderson and Sergeant Veil." An annoyed voice sounded in Morra's mind. "Our translator's are still glitching." The human to the right waved. The Lesser Fang grimaced at the blatant display of witchcraft.
"Lesser Fang Ranloow Morra, commander of this installation." He introduced himself. "While I appreciate seeing Advent blown sky high, I would like to ask why are you here? I'll admit I find the idea of friendly aliens strange."
"Then the two of you have something in common." Anderson spoke and nodded at the human NCO. "The short version – we were in position not unlike yours. The main difference is that we were able to kick the Ethereals off our homeworld hundred and fifty of our years ago. One of our scouts detected Ethereal emissions from this region and we came to check what they were up to."
"Busy making our lives hell and experimenting on our people." Morra supplied.
"Unfortunately I'm not surprised." Anderson sighed.
"Will you fight them or go back home? Can we expect your help in kicking their tailless asses out just so you can replace them?" Morra asked.
"I'm all for fighting the old enemy. What happens if we're able to remove their presence from your homeworld, is so high above my pay-grade its not even funny. What I can tell you for certain that people back home won't stand for us acting anything like the bastards."
"Pretty words. You might even believe them." Morra said.
"A century and half ago I fought the Ethereals when they tried to take my world." The Sergeant spoke coldly, right into Morra's mind. "I personally experienced what they do to people. I won't stand here and pretend that we're angels. We couldn't afford to be if we wanted to win. What we are, are probably the only people in the known galaxy who will help you against the Ethereals, without any reservations."
Morra shook his head. He could feel the man's pain as he spoke about knowing what the invaders did – a pain that every Empress soldier still fighting knew intimately. He also felt the conviction when Veil stated that his people, these humans would fight the Ethereals. It wasn't much. It wasn't up to the sergeant – the Lesser Fang knew that very well.
Yet, for the first time in more than a decade, he dared hope.
"I'll speak with command and inform them that you might really not be hostile." Morra declared.
"I guess this is the best we can hope for, given the circumstances." Anderson said.
"Indeed. I don't think we would have acted much differently back in the day. Probably shooting first too and then thinking about asking any questions." Veil nodded.
=SF=
Part 9
07:25, 12 September 2176
Command Center
Empress Claws' FOB Dauntless
Karank's Jungle
Marnloow
"At least you're properly paranoid." I praised our hosts.
"It's more desperation than anything else." The overgrown house cat in charge around here snorted. "If you want actionable information about the Ethereal presence in this system and their goals, beyond using us in their sick experiments, this is your best chance." Morra leveled a clawed finger at the map covered table around which we were all gathered.
Our hosts didn't trust us, yet they weren't beyond using our assistance in killing Advent soldiers or at least buying themselves a bit more time to prepare four our betrayal. At least we proved that we had no issue killing the collaborators – which admittedly didn't mean much. Most of them were either the Cat's own people who had joined the Ethereal backed government or otherwise expendable troops – mostly clones not unlike what I fought during the war. Those were quite expendable if the odd bits and pieces I got while dueling with Sectoids and Ethereals were true.
"What do you get from this scheme?" Vasir asked. She got a wary look from our hosts, who were quite wary of her biotics, which was kinda weird. The People were apparently all right with Psionics – from what I gather, while not common, the phenomenon hadn't been unheard either before the Ethereals came to take the place for their own. The Mass Effect based space magic on the other hand, threw them for a loop for some arcane reason.
"Intel and the potential rescue of a few VIPs we believe are being held in that facility." The Lesser Fang said. "We've had our eyes on the place for a long time, but until you came, we didn't have reliable way of extracting any assault force."
"I'm in. The Council needs to know what the Ethereals are really doing here besides the obvious from an unbiased source." The Asari shrugged. "Both you and the Humans have admittedly very good reasons to hate their guts. The Council would need something besides your word if they're to aid you in this conflict."
Morra growled and his ears flattened back along his head. He closed his eyes and took a deep breath.
"I know that in your place, the Empress would have wanted reliable Intel before committing the People to a war. I hope so anyway." The Lesser Fang's whiskers twitched in what I presumed was grim amusement. "Yet, right now, I can't help but hate you for not striking at the Ethereals immediately."
"I'd feel the same way if this was Tesia." Vasir nodded. "What about you?" She asked Anderson.
"Hitting an Ethereal research facility? I'm looking forward to it. However, we'll need to plan it carefully. If the Ethereal bring a powerful fleet before the Alliance can position sufficient forces in the region, we can be left hanging."
"That brings back memories." I muttered. Most of them bad.
"Would those stealth transport of yours do?" Traaw asked.
"In theory." Anderson grimaced. "We haven't had the opportunity to test them against modern Ethereal sensors. Still, they're our best bet to get away if things got hairy. What assets can you free for the operation?"
"Sergeant Klaar's people. They're my best equipped soldiers and all of them are veterans. Command should be sending us two strike teams too – two dozen of our best soldiers."
It would be interesting to see the Cat's version of XCOM in action, that was for sure. I wonder how they compared with the people I fought along during the war. Probably better – by now they should have a lot more experience and better tech than we got at the time.
"I'll be taking most of my platoon, minus couple of squads we'll leave here to help coordinate between our people if things get to help and we all got taken out during this op." Anderson announced.
"Any word on when your reinforcements would arrive?" Morra asked.
"The skipper probably knows, but won't share it with someone who could get mind rapped on the ground." Anderson explained.
"Can't he helped." Morra hummed. "We should get this excursion planned. The Empress still have a few loyal subjects in the nearby city and they've managed to infiltrate the food processing plant that supplies the base. They believe that infiltrating a squad should be possible."
"Distraction?" Vasir asked.
"At the very least." Morra tapped a claw on a row of warehouses relatively close to the main entrance. "Here's the unloading point." He drew a line to a tall structure in the center of the base. "Not too far from the building housing the shield generator. If they can disable it, we should be able to insert strike force using your ships, perhaps put some feet on the ground faster by orbital insert." Then Morra pointed at various red square. "These are AA emplacements. If you can take them from orbit once the shield is down, our life will be much easier. Some air support wouldn't hurt either." The Lesser Fang pointed at a series of hangars built around three long landing strips. "Those contain Ethereal fighters, scouts and the Advent air units tasked with protecting the base."
"Get the ship down, mark targets for orbital strike, put feet on the ground to disrupt the enemy's initial response and then insert the Strike Force and secure the objectives. It should work as long as our ship is able to fulfill its role. I'll run it past the captain, but unless the Ethereals send proper naval forces, the armed civilian ships they have left here to keep an eye on you shouldn't be a problem." Anderson thought aloud. "Sergeant, I'll be attaching you to Klaar's people to add some psionic punch. Make sure that shield goes down or you'll have to fight your way out through the base's whole garrison."
"Plan B? In case we die horribly and the shield remains up?" I asked.
"Not something you'll have to worry about."
"Actually, smuggling the Sergeant with our people might prove problematic. He can hardly pass for one of us. We'll have to insert our operatives in civilian garb as far as the city and ship their gear separately. I'm not sure that the cargo route would work." Morra said. "I'll check with command if that's feasible."
"Then Klaar will have to manage." Anderson conceded.
"He's one of our best men. While warlock support would make things easier, I don't believe command would risk one of ours on that mission." Morra stated.
"You don't trust us with such an asset." The Spectre noted.
"Do you have anything reliable on the facility's internal layout?" Anderson changed the topic.
"Reliable? I wouldn't bet my life on it, though we do have some data..."
=SF=
The People's Rank structure:
Lesser Claw – Lieutenant/Lieutenant naval;
Claw – Captain/Lieutenant Commander;
Greater Claw – Major/Commander;
Lesser Fang – Colonel; Captain naval
Fang – General/Admiral;
Greater Fang – Marshal/Fleet Admiral;