The Commanders Shepard

Chapter 5

Upon arriving at Eden Prime, Nihlus air dropped from the Normandy first to do some solo reconnaissance. Joker dropped off the Disasters Squad at another location, closer to the dig site. Alliance Marines Corporal Richard Jenkins and Staff Lieutenant Kaiden Alenko were added to the group to help flesh out the lineup. Jenkins was a dedicated infantryman. No frills, no glamour. Just a good old fashioned ground pounder. A bit of a gloryhound, but loyal to the cause. Alenko was a Biotic, but also had extensive training with different forms of technology and hacking.

Having more experience as a ground team leader, John took command of the squad. "This is Jenkins' home turf and I am the muscle. We'll take point. James is the heart and the brain. You'll be in the middle of the pack with Alenko. Jane, you shadow us from a distance and bring in the rear." Everyone respected his command and took their positions as they moved out.

As they filed out in a soldierly manner, John, while still being mindful of his surroundings, spoke to Jenkins. "This is your neck of the woods, corporal. What can we expect?"

Corporal Jenkins, star struck to be in the presence of his idols, froze for a moment. He quickly recovered and replied, "Sleepy little haven, Eden Prime. The kind of place people spend their lives looking forward to retiring to, sir."

"Sounds like my kind of spot", John said.

Jenkins furrowed his brow. "Not me, sir. I couldn't wait to get off this marble." John didn't know how to take that statement. Jenkins continued with, "Eden Prime was always so boring. I needed to get away from here and into some action, like you and the Disasters. That's why I joined the Alliance. I was so hyped when I found out I was getting stationed on the Normandy with you guys. I knew it meant I'd get to feel some real heat!"

The young Marine's words put a sour taste in John's mouth. As they rounded a hill, he said, "Believe me when I tell you, man. It's never a good idea to go looking for trouble."

Jenkins was so stoked to be conversing with one of his heroes. "You have a point, sir. But now that I'm with you, I won't have to look far. Trouble always finds you. And I get to feed off that action." As he finished his statement, Corporal Jenkins heard a sound that was out of the ordinary. He immediately took off in a sprint to see what it was.

James saw this and was perplexed. "John! What the hell is he doing?"

Without looking back toward his brother, John responded, "No idea. But I think the kid might be an adrenaline junkie."

While still in full sprint, Jenkins called out over his shoulder, "I heard something up ahead, sir! I'm going to check it out!"

The same sullen look and feeling of imminent dread hit all four other members of the squad at the same time. Jane screamed at Jenkins from the rear of the formation. "Dammit, kid! You'll get yourself killed!"

Suddenly and before any of them could do anything about it, Corporal Jenkins was shredded in place by a barrage of incoming weapons fire.

"JENKINS!" Jane screeched.

"No!" James yelled in disbelief.

"Not again…" John muttered in dread.

James sighted in on the enemy through the scope of his sniper rifle. "Enemy air drones! Too fast to get a bead on them with my long arm."

John acquired the targets with his Avenger AR. "Lt. Alenko! On me!" Kaiden moved forward with John, and together they opened fire, handily destroying the two drones with a volley of automatic weapons fire.

After confirming them down, John and Kaiden swept the immediate area for any possible additional contacts. James provided overwatch as Jane went to check on Jenkins. "My God…" she said in horror. "What kind of hardware could do this?" The Corporal's corpse was mangled nearly beyond recognition. "James, you're our gun nut. You ever seen anything like this?

The two of them swapped places. Jane took to watching his back as James inspected the carnage. "Good grief! His armor is torn up like it was paper. And the rounds look like they melted the flesh on the exit wounds."

John had looped back around after an initial sweep. He got down next to his brother and said, "From what I saw, it looked like their shots burned through his shields with just two hits. That is some high powered heat right there."

"I don't know who we're up against," James began with concern in his voice, "but they are sporting some pretty wicked iron."

"You heard the man," John said. "Heads down, eyes up. They've got some really nasty toys, so things are about to get hectic." Before motoring on, John felt he needed to do something about his lost joe. "Normandy SR-1, this is Cataclysm."

"Anderson here. What's the situation?"

"Ambush, sir. We don't know who it is yet, but we're on the move. And mark my transmission location. We need a pick up for Jenkins, sir. Code Black."

"Dammit… We'll pick up your marine, Shepard. And I'll contact his family. Get out there and find some answers. Anderson out."

The crew gathered their wits, reformed their file formation, and moved out.

As the squad moved, they got a hit from Nihlus. "I still can't tell what's going on here, but I've been seeing an unsettling amount of dead people."

James chimed in. "We came across some hostile flyers and lost a man. No indicators of who the aggressor is though."

"Keep at it," Nihlus replied. "I'll push forward and try to find something on my end."

As the squad pressed on, they could hear the signs of trouble. A short way off in the distance, they saw a soldier running from something. The female soldier, clad in white body armor with pink accents, took a shot in the back from another attack drone and fell to the ground. Luckily for her, her shielding held. As soon as she impacted the dirt, she rolled as quickly as she could behind a tree. After a moment to collect herself, the soldier produced her pistol and destroyed her assailants. Once they were down, John noticed that something had caught her attention. He traced her line of sight to identify what it was.

The Disasters squad all looked on in horror at the sight of a pair of armed robotic troopers setting a colonist on some kind of strange apparatus. Shock and awe hit them all at the same time as a huge spike shot up from the structure, impaling the colonist. The soldier let off a hard gasp. The robot troops heard this and turned to spot her. Realizing this, she ducked back into cover and pulled out her Avenger, ready to defend herself.

The Disasters moved on instinct. Without a word to each other, they all engaged the enemy. Years of training and battle had honed their movements to razor precision. Within seconds, the robotic foot soldiers and a few more air drones were reduced to nothing more than heaps of so much charred scrap.

The female soldier caught her breath and slung her weapon. With a sharp salute, she said, "Thanks for the save, sir. Gunnery Chief Ashley Williams, Dog Squad, 212."

The Disasters kept their weapons at the ready, eyes outboard, while John engaged Ashley. Returning her salute, he said, "Commander Shepard, Disasters Squad, SSV Normandy. At ease, Marine." Ashley dropped her salute and relaxed her posture. "Talk to me, trooper. What in God's name is going on out here?"

Ashley took a moment to compose herself before answering. Following an exasperated sigh, she said "No earthly idea, sir. My unit and I were on security detail for the dig site. We were escorting the research team to the transport hub when the Geth attacked."

That piqued James' interest. "Geth? Outside the Perseus Veil?"

Jane interjected his two cents. "That certainly explains the gooey mess they made of Jenkins."

James had a hard timing hiding his nerd boner. "Once this is done, we have GOT to look in to that."

Dread filled John before his next words left him, as he already knew the answer. "Where is the rest of your unit, soldier?" In response, Ashley dropped her head and clenched her fists. He knew... "Alright then, Williams. You're on me. We're going to find some answers, blow up some Geth, and get a little payback for your squad and my marine."

His words lit a fire in Ashley's belly. She unslung her Avenger and with venom in her voice said, "Best thing I've heard all day, sir."

Instantly switching back to field commander mode, John barked, "Alright people. Continuing mission. Same formation. Williams, you're on point with me. Take us to the port where the package was headed." Before moving out, John got on the comm again. "Cataclysm to Normandy."

Joker picked up the hail. "Go ahead, Commander."

"We've picked up a stray and she gave us our way forward. And we know who iced our junior."

Anderson answered him. "What have you got Shepard?"

John replied with, "You're not going to believe it this Captain, but it was Geth."

"Unreal..." Captain Anderson was flabbergasted. "Follow your stray, Shepard. Find the head of that snake, cut it off, and get to that beacon."

"Don't have to tell me twice, sir. Shepard out." John closed his comm channel. "Alright, squad. We've got our marching orders. Fall out!" Without missing a beat, Williams took off in the direction of the station.