"Mess with me, I let karma do its job. Mess with my family? I BECOME KARMA." - Jane Shepard (CPT, SAN, N7, OST)
Shepard vs. Ryder, July 12, 2183
Author's Note: Welcome to 'the fight'. I think I've teased you and hung you over the boiling pot long enough.
The one fight you'd never thought would happen is about to begin. And we're letting Wrex lead the charge.
Check out the disclaimer and the 'date' and go grab some popcorn.
Viewer's Discretion: I've opened up a poll in my profile where you (yes, you) get to choose the ARC following the next one (seven chapters from now). There are five choices in which you (dear reader) get to let me know what you want to see/read. This ARC will be made available in December (as I've already plotted November's ARC and will murder NANOWRIMO as best I can). Poll is open from 10/20/18 to 11/20/18. Participate!
With a bestial roar, Urdnot Wrex, born Battlemaster and Clan Scion of Urdnot, son of Urdnot Jarod, son of Urdnot Krull, son of Urdnot Gruuk, who killed the Grand Queen of the Rachni with a nuclear weapon after delivering it to her Hive and ending the Rachni Wars, leapt into the fray. Literally.
"Wrex," Captain Jane Catherine Shepard had spoken to him when she had called for a break, obviously delivering quiet instructions to individual members before they reached the end of the tunnel when they were being led by the obviously diseased Human, 2nd Lieutenant James Vega. "While I don't actually have an idea what's going to happen, I can guess pretty damn well. We're being led in because this Thorian wants something, and I don't doubt that it's going to bore me to tears by talking." Yeah, that was about what he had thought, too. Trash always wanted to talk their way out of a richly-deserved death-by-gunfire. "I'll distract it while you slink off and use those centuries of experience of yours to find the weak point, find a way to kill this thing quickly. No idea what it might be, so that's why I'm relying on you. You slip off, stalk your prey, and wait for my signal. Focus on whatever that target is to the exclusion of all else. We'll do our best to keep your back clear, but chances are we'll probably have our hands more than full with whatever's going to happen. Questions?"
Wrex had rather been looking forward to the fight.
When they had entered the cave, he had noted that the enormous spherical growth that dominated the underground complex, and he surmised that it was the Thorian; perhaps the brain, perhaps the heart, but it was certainly important. He let his eyes study the growth, and noted that it dangled from the ceiling from a series of stalks that came from the caverns' rocky roof, like roots that were upside down.
It was a plant; cut the roots. Simple enough.
The Human Captain had been right, Wrex mused as he had slowed down while the others moved towards defensive positions while Shepard was talked to (yeah, she pegged that one). The Thorian wanted the SSV Normandy, to escape its cavern prison and the planet somehow. The details weren't very important; the Lion wouldn't give up her vessel for kruv. The only reason the entire place wasn't on fire was because the Thorian had her krannt, most especially the one they called the Angel, Ryder Sara, daughter of Alec. While Humans weren't very tough on the Krogan scale (they were squishy, filled with water, and broke rather easily), Wrex recognized that both Shepard and Ryder were warriors, Warlords and Battlemasters of their kind. They had honor, they had courage, and they certainly didn't talk their enemies to death like the Asari were wont to do. Pity neither one of them seemed interested in him; Wrex wondered how feisty they might be on the mating couch. Well, honestly he had overheard Sara and her Asari partner Professor Irissa T'vara being rather noisily intimate in the cargo bay of the Normandy after Therum. He guessed Humans couldn't smell that kind of thing like Krogan and Turians could. No matter.
While the Thorian talked and Shepard played for time, the big game hunter went for his prey, studying everything before coming up with a plan of action.
Wrex smiled as he looked at the largest living thing he had ever seen (which was saying something), ready to add that to the tally of strange and unnatural things he had hunted and killed in his long centuries of life.
This is going to be good, the Krogan thought to himself as he pulled out his Nakmor Arms' M-490 Firestorm Plasmathrower, fondling the flame-spewing weapon with great relish at the thought of what was to come.
"We have a Wrex."
It was time.
With a bestial roar, Urdnot Wrex leapt into the fray. Literally.
He burst through the strange forest of fungal growth to plow through half-a-dozen of those small green humanoid things that had been standing around waiting, seemingly unaware of his presence behind them, sifting through the odd forest, using stalks to mask his presence before bursting through with a charge, lowering his headplate slightly downward as he kept his eyes up to crush through a thick part of the enemy. The bony crest of his headplate and his thick shoulders collided with several, knocking over the light bodies with pathetic ease as he bowled over some more before he reached the clearing a few seconds later, having knocked over at least two dozen with his massive body and five hundred kilogram weight. He pivoted as he activated his Firestorm, opening up the plasmathrower as he faced the little green men, gouts of superhot sticky plasma gushing forth in a stream of intense white heat, coating dozens of the little weak buggers as he did a quick sweep with the M-490, laughing as he did so. The little plant people quickly turned to panicking torches, running every which way as they were set on fire.
It was a good start, but that was just a taste of what was to come.
The Krogan pivoted once more as he crouched for a moment, activating his Soulfire to lighten his mass before leaping up and forward as hard as he could, going a good thirty meters in the air as he launched himself towards the Thorian. His armored meaty paws reached forward to catch himself as his three-fingered hands dug into the squishy skin of the gigantic sphere plant creature, ignoring the sounds of gunfire and explosions as the rest of TEAM LION continued to provide the distraction and means to keep him focused on the true target; the Thorian. Let the mortals deal with the peons.
He had big game to kill.
Wrex began to climb up, ascending the overhanging curve by digging his heads into the flesh of the plant and making his ascent, the curve slightly backwards with his hump facing the ground instead of the sky. That didn't bother him much; he'd easily survive a thirty meter fall, even without the Soulfire. But it would waste valuable time and the glory of the kill, and that simply wouldn't do. Wrex climbed, ignoring the syrupy fluids that coated his armored fingers like sappy blood, ignoring the battle that seemed to rage as intensely as ever when being led by Shepard. Shepard, ah… she always did bring the best violence.
And she had rightfully given him the target he deserved; the biggest one.
Wrex climbed, feeling the pleasant ache in his arms from the act, making the upcoming kill all the sweeter. It wasn't worthy if it wasn't a fight, if he didn't out-smart it, used a good deal of his skills, or simply out-toughed it. Climbing to a kill was a good chore, and Wrex reached the centerline of the creature where the slope was forward. The Krogan reared back on his arms and pushed off with his legs, launching himself several meters forward to reach his target, scampering up on all four limbs as the slope got progressively gentler until he was able to climb it with just his feet a minute or so later. He was chuckling to himself as he pulled out his Firestorm, happy to see he still had most of a kilogram of plasmic fuel left in its tank, with another two in reserve. Oh, the story that this kill would make! Whelps would listen with glee and females with thoughts of a good night of breeding with him in his honor. There was nothing like celebrating a good kill like a night on a couch with a female looking to mate.
Wrex reached the four roots that connected the Thorian to the cavern's ceiling, each of them twice as thick as he was. Eyeing the target with glee, he raised his M-490 Firestorm and thought of a good quote. It wouldn't do not to let the target know it was about to die gruesomely.
"Somebody called for an exterminator?"
And Wrex lit up his Firestorm and began to laugh.
Doctor Liara Delphoria E'shora of House T'soni had her own block of instructions, too.
"Liara," The Human Captain had addressed her as she had the others during their so-called 'fiver' (Humans and their odd idioms!) where the Council Agent talked to each person personally and on a private channel. Considering that the Thoi'han could 'gain' intelligence by infecting a sapient with its spores, this was a move to avoid losing any planning by giving blocks of instructions without accidentally revealing too much if one or more of TEAM LION were infected. Jane Shepard was a Special Forces warrior of her kind, trained to think in such ways and find avenues to exploit. Which they would be needing for the ancient horror. "How this will go down is likely guesswork, but I have an idea. We'd be dead if it didn't want something we have, so it's leading us right into a trap. My job is to spring ours first, and I need your help with that." Liara nodded, indicating that she would. "Good. Anything that has a gun? You fuck it up Biotically. Ignore the green monster people; that's why we've got shooters. But you're the most powerful Biotic we've got, and the only way to stop an Asari or a Biotic is to get the first hit, close in, or flood them with pain. When I give the signal, you eliminate anything with range weaponry, starting with the heaviest weapons and working your way down."
"This Thoi'han may have Sara in its clutches." Liara pointed out quietly, already assuming that all of TEAM LION left in Hadley's Hope had been infected. "If it controls her, it controls her Biotics, too."
"Leave Sara to me." The N7 replied, her tone… soft, sad. The Protheantologist did not need to be told of the near-sisterly relationship that the Lion and the Angel had with one another. She was actually aware of it on Therum during the few conversations that the Doctor had with the Corpsman days before the Geth attacked Dig Site Alpha. It was quite obvious what Shepard had in mind; she wished to rescue the woman she saw as a sister. Liara knew that would imply to everyone as well, the members of TEAM LION and the colonists and Marines, but there was no doubt in anyone's mind that the Lion took this attack personally. The Asarkin did not blame the Human one little bit.
It was obvious when the Thorian began talking through Sara Ryder what Jane would like for the Maiden to do once Liara saw how the enemy was splayed out, with the green humanoid-like creatures keeping to a perimeter and the five members of TEAM LION right up front. It did not take her long to formulate her own plan; as soon as the signal was given, Liara knew what she had to do and how to do it. Asari were, after all, the most powerful Biotics in the galaxy, and the only ones who were near them in strength and endurance were natural-born Krogan Battlemasters and AntiQuarians. Captain Shepard had given the Doctor plenty of time not only to formulate a plan of how she would be able to accomplish her task, but to build up residual bioelectrical energy within her to ready herself for attack.
It was not as if she could just fling about Biotics as if it were magic, after all.
Liara saw her targets, Lieutenant Vega, Marshal Collins, Agent Zevin, and Sergeant Williams, and knew what she would do. She let her training take over, Biotic classes from both her tutelage on Thessia and the Presidium Academy of Education giving her a repertoire of defensive techniques and a variety of non-lethal acts in which to choose from. What she wanted to do would be a difficult exercise in strength and control; she wanted to hamper them without hurting them overtly, halting their progress without injuring them significantly. The level of control had to quite precise, but thankfully Liara was quite adapt at precise control thanks to her years of training as well as that of a Protheantologist. She was, after all, use to dealing with fragile artifacts that were embedded in ruins that could potentially collapse or destroy an artifact if shifted incorrectly. The field she had in mind would be of an unusual shape, but once activated, she could hold it for a good length of time with little worries as long as she was allowed to concentrate.
"All you need to do is accept."
Liara knew it was almost that time.
The Asarikin Maiden gathered the bioelectric energy that coursed through her body, generated in the naturally-occurring Eezo nodes that existed along her spine and her endocrine system, the tingling sensation running up her spine as the build-up ran through her nervous system, connecting to the Armali Councils' Tsunami Biotic Amplification Device that she wore just under her lowest crest likku, increasing the level of energy build-up within her. Her hands were ready as she thought of he motions that were necessary, the physical pantomimes that linked with what she wished to create, to control the use of her Biotics into an effective tool instead of something dangerous and uncontrollable. Decades of practice with her Biotics between schooling and digs had her pick an act that would work well in this situation; maximum effectiveness with as little injury as possible. She had the time to build up the necessary bioelectrical charge, five seconds of concentration having her Tsunami Biotic Amp quite hot with its capacitance, indicating that it was ready to deliver the charge directed by her arm movement, hand movement, and even finger movement. An incorrect invocation, even the slightest misalignment of her fingers, and the gesture would ruin what she had in mind and could cause any number of things; a fizzle, a uncontrolled act, or even sending what she wished into an incorrect direction. What non-Biotics did not know that the act in itself was an art form, as graceful as dance and as precise as mathematics. Many of the younger species went for simpler methods for expediency, developing lesser Biotic acts that were generally weak or less-effective. But for an Asari, with their log lives, millennium of discovery and continuous tutelage to achieve perfection so as to train younger generations more precise forms? There was simply no better Biotics in the galaxy.
"We have a Wrex."
It was time. Liara could feel it in her likku.
The Maiden was quick yet precise with her form, performing Gentle Waves-like-Thundering Clouds, her left arm making a sweeping motion with her fingers splayed out as wide as the could go as her arm traveled in a full circle, maximizing the full rotation of her shoulder before launching her left and right hand forward into a pushing motion, her right hand held in a manner that indicated to hold downward. A wave of biokinetic force swept forward rapidly as her body ionized with the high currents of bioelectrical power, turning the very air around her into a corona of blue as she sent the force towards her targets into a smear field that would encompass a small air while it lobbed into the air in a graceful arc to land where she wished it to; a testament of her training and skill that it was well-formed and landed in the correct location thanks to her training and practice. The shimmering glob of power linked to her through her hand movements and a slight tether of ionized energy connecting through the air had the Protheantologist know that her strike would be as successful as she predicted as the field struck the four figures standing behind Sara Elaine Ryder, Liara sweeping her hands out and down as she increased gravity significantly.
Lieutenant James Vega, Marshal Samantha Collins, Sergeant Ashley Williams, and Agent Zevin Raeka all bodily fell to the ground as the Asari Biotically pressed them to the ground and held them there.
And the green-growth creatures began to charge.
Corporal Jeanette Vasquez, Detective Garrus Kaaldor Vakarian, and Niki'Raan nar Tombay all had the same instructions though they didn't know that their personal orders were in tangent with others; wreck havoc upon my signal. Vasquez knew that she was the sole heavy gunner as soon as Urdnot Wrex leapt up in the air like something in between a howler monkey and a frog as she activated her Devlon Industries' M56 Marshal Medium Machine Gun, sweeping the weapon to the left flank of her position where a large majority of the weird green plant-people things were standing, a fair amount of them on fire thanks to the Krogans' flamethrower and likely his own orders. Jeanette pivoted and swept her weapon in a tight arc, fanning the trigger of her machine gun to maximize the volume of fire while trying to keep the heatsinks' capacity as low as possible to maximize her length of assault before having to cool down her weapon for ten seconds. Five-to-seven round bursts were absolutely shredding the monstrosities as they began to charge forward as Vas swept left-and-right, right-and-left, bringing down the creepy things quickly as what appeared to be hundreds poured forward. A quick detonation in the oncoming crush had her see that 1st Lieutenant Kaidan Alenko was engaging the tide with his Milkor SuperSix M32 Multi-Purpose Munitions Launcher, a heavy spray of shrapnel perforating an easy dozen or so of the sprinting creatures as the both of them continued to fire side-by-side while Private Nathanial 'Ballsack' Balsach took to the other side with his Valerion Kinetics' R36 Karseus Assault Rifle, suppressing any flanking assaults.
Niki'Raan had unholstered her cousins' Rannoch Industries' Reegar Carbine Electromagnetic Emissions Shotgun, the EME weapon absolutely devastating to crowds and hallways, a weapon designed to kill Geth. Niki saw that it worked quite well on those… ugh! PLANTS! Walking plants, at that, the arcs of ionized energy lashing out like so many tongues of electricity amongst the oncoming crowd, sending dozens down as the Quarian fired right through the Universal Power Cell from beginning to end without letting go of the trigger. Dozen fell down smoldering as the blue-clad Quarian female Rifleman ejected the Power Cell from the shotgun as Seaman Monica Negulesco stepped up next to her with her Winchester Arms' M-96 Mattock Auto Assault Rifle and began suppressing the hordes of (ugh!) plant creatures in a steady rhythm while Private First Class Holland Hoss and Louis Broussard began engaging with their Valerion Kinetics' R36 Karseus Assault Rifles, covering for the Pilgrim and her devastating weapon as she exchanged the used Power Cell for a fresh one, having learned her lesson on Therum to keep several small deployment packs upon her EnviroSuit for additional Power Cells. She had recharged them all in the General Dynamics' M35 MAKO Armored Personnel Vehicle after expending quite a few of them in the fight in the ExoGeni Headquarters against the Geth, and she had liberated several Cells from Tali'Zorah nar Reyya when her cousin had been MEDEVAC back to the SSV Normandy for medical intervention. A fresh UPC was loaded into the shotgun as Niki raised the weapon and activated the Electromagnetic Emissions weapon, keeping a count of how many Cells she had left.
She hoped that thirteen would be enough.
Detective Garrus Vakarian walked forward with his ERCS Rapid Response-issued M-15 Vindicator Battle Rifle in his talons, accurate three-round bursts being delivered one atop another in devastating effectiveness as the former Blackwatch soldier proved while the Hierarchy had the best military in the galaxy, and the Blackwatch the best special forces combatants on top of even that illustrious claim. There was no fear or hesitation in his motion or aim as burst after burst took out a creature with fast, lethal precision. The Rapid Response Unit Officer strode forward ahead of the protective position that the group was forming around Doctor Liara T'soni, the groups' only true naturally-born Biotic weighing down four members of their own team and the only range-capable personnel that the Thorian had in its grasp save for Petty Officer Sara Ryder. Garrus stalked forward with a plan in mind as he pivoted and engaged targets in rapid time, each burst lethal, the shots taking a Thorian-controlled creature in the skull again and again and again. He moved forward knowing what needed to be done as he went towards where the four members of TEAM LION were being detained Biotically by Doctor T'soni, preventing their group from having to engage and kill their friends. He didn't want to end their lives, but they needed T'soni's Biotics if they wished to stand a chance against the hundreds of pratum-colored creatures. He queued up his Cipritine Armory's Nordash OmniTool while mag-locking his Vindicator to his armored chest carapace while drawing his Special Crimes Unit-issued ERCS M-3 Predator Auto Pistol with his left claws, engaging the rushing combatants while toggling an App selection that linked with his Rapid Response-issued Armax Arsenal Predator H-Series Heavy Armor, his minifacturing unit fabricating a specialized law enforcement munition. He went through the heat sink of his Predator quickly as he holstered it to his left thigh while unlocking his cooled Vindicator from his chest with his right claws, engaging hostiles one-handedly while plucking the grenade he had just fabricated from its minifacturing pouch. He toggled the activation button with his left thumb talon while putting a three-round burst into a nearby green humanoid and lobbed the grenade towards the four detained members of TEAM LION as he clutched at his Vindicator properly and began methodically bringing down targets, pivoting and moving to maximize his proficiency as he was taught to do in the Blackwatch as he heard his grenade explode.
Its official name was the 'Citizen Detainment Munition'. Everyone in C-SEC just called it 'the gooey bomb'.
It was a device manufactured from PlastiGel and OmniGel, a slurry of tacky semi-liquid substance that expanded upon detonation into a putty-like glaze that would harden after a second or two exposure to any normal atmosphere, coating everything in a five meter area. It was useful for arrests and apprehensions without harming any CitCitz, whether offenders or not, and allowed a situation to be defused without any calls of C-SEC brutality being taken seriously. The munition went off and coated Vega, Collins, Williams, and Zevin with its tacky excrement before solidifying into a hardened shell that immobilized. Garrus did a quick look to see if it had covered the four members properly enough to where T'soni could lift her Biotic field, and was pleased with what he saw. He hadn't missed.
He never missed.
Seaman Monica Negulesco sweated despite the environmental seal and temperature regulation inside her Kassa Fabrications' HyperGuardian Medium Expeditionary Armor, putting burst after burst from her Mattock Auto Rifle into the charging green plant creatures as they approached, the tide barely held back as they reached within meters of the position that had basically converged around Doctor Liara T'soni, the so-called 'pivot point' in a defense. The creepy monsters were bull-rushing forward, scary as all despite not being armed with any firearms, threatening to overrun them with bodies. The Mattocks' heatsink went overheat as Monica pulled out her Kassa Fabrications' M-6 Carnifax Magnum Pistol, delivering six shots quickly with both hands on the pistol to steady her aim while firing as fast and as accurately as she could. She wasn't as fast at transitioning weapon or aiming-and-firing as some of the others, but she had learned quickly during the assault on the ExoGeni Headquarters to keep track of rounds fired and how to operate her weapons without physically looking at them even for the briefest of moments, muscle memory and experience guiding her hands as she slapped the spent Carnifax back on her left hip and drew her Kassa Fabrications' M-12 Locust Submachine Gun, unleashing a torrent of gunfire into the coming crowd as she sweated, fear and panic building up in her at the sight of hundreds coming towards them, her breath coming in all too fast as the Locust went through its heatsink. Negulesco holstered the weapon on her left thigh as she pulled out her Mattock and began firing again, her heart thrumming as fear made her want to go faster to keep the danger away.
1st Lieutenant Kaidan Alenko attached the Milkor SuperSix MPML on his back as he pulled out his Hahne-Keder Diamondback Assault Rifle, the beefier version of the standard M7 Lancer in his hands as the Explosive Ordinance Disposal Officer began lacing fire upon flankers as Corporal Jeanette Vasquez continued to pour her murderous torrent of fire from her M56 Marshal. He had expended his entire clip of anti-personnel grenades when the Marine Gunner cooled down her medium machine gun, the kill grenades devastating the horde of leafy creatures as Kaidan shot all six in ten seconds to maximize their effectiveness and covering for the rest as hails of shrapnel tore through mossy flesh and cut bodies into ribbons. Unfortunately, his Kassa Fabrications Inferno Heavy Armors' minifacturing suite took a few seconds to make a grenade, and he had already gone through his pre-made ordinance quickly enough targeting the Thorian-spawned monstrosities. Between Vasquez, himself, and Ballsack, they were able to keep from being overrun, but the hordes kept coming relentlessly. Like Husks.
Kaidan knew it would only be a matter of time.
"Fire in the hole!"
Private First Class Louis 'Brassiere' Broussard was engaging the oncoming enemy with his Mercier-Taglia Corporations' MT-35 Broadsword Combat Shotgun, having the select-fire position to single as he put heavy packets of shaved metal through the tight choke algorithm of the weapons' software suite to make the cone of flechettes smaller and thus more lethal. Each shot put a green creepy humanoid on its back with massive amounts of physical trauma done to each individual torso as he went through all seven shots through the weapons generous heat sink before moving back to his Valerion Kinetics' R36 Karseus Assault Rifle, sweeping his rounds at head level to provide as much lethality as possible. He overheard Niki'Raan's declaration that indicated that she would be using a grenade, and saw something cylindrical flung out with her left hand towards the rushing mob before it exploded a mere two seconds later, not even enough time for it to fall to the ground. Much to his surprise, it wasn't an actual anti-personnel 'kill' grenade; instead, the grenade bloomed into a spreading cascade of fire that splashed over everything in a five meter area, setting dozens and dozens of the Thorian-spawn on fire further back from the front line. The fire wasn't the typical yellow/orange combination, either; it instead showered blue/white, and he had been around enough aircars and shuttles to know that the fuel was Hydrogen Slush instead of a normal accelerant like Mezoline or Herioline. God knew where the Marine Rifleman had gotten the fuel or the capsule to fabricate was was practically a Fuel-Air-Explosive, but she must have fabricated it on the Normandy before going to Feros. The fire burned hot as hell as creepers practically melted under the wilting flames in seconds, dropping dozens of them immediately as writhing torches of panicking limbs thrashed upon the ground, threatening to set their nearby fellows on fire as the ground around the area-of-effect munition continued to burn at near-magnesium levels.
Despite Raan obliterating through the ranks with her cousins' Reegar Shotgun, the explosively burning grenade, and even his, Hoss's, and Nugee's contribution, the tide of monsters still kept coming strong, without faltering. Bra switched from Karseus to Broadsword to let the assault rifle cool down as he began to engage targets once more, holding the line. The coming plant people just kept coming like the Husks did on the ACV Horizon, mindless and relentless. One would fall, and another would immediately take its place, clamoring over those who had fallen in the single-minded pursuit of reaching TEAM LION. There was no tactics or thought to them, which Bra should have been grateful, but facing an absolute horde of enemies that felt no fear or compunction towards losses awoken a base primal fear within the Marine, that fear of the dark things that the unknown could contain, something so alien that the Human mind couldn't comprehend it. Instead of giving into that fear, Louis used it to make his shots better, his hands faster, her resolution firmer. His friends were here and he wouldn't abandon them. Not even at the bloody end.
Louis switched to his assault rifle and let the R36 make its opinion known.
Doctor Liara T'soni saw that Detective Garrus Vakarian had deployed some sort of containment munition upon four of the members of TEAM LION that she had apprehended with her Biotics, seeing them coated in some sort of sticky resin that kept them from participating. Knowing that the objective that she had been given was now complete, the Protheantologist began to contribute in a way she never had before; she was going to fight. For nearly a month, Liara had been practicing and training herself to reach at least a comfortable level of prowess martial-wise to the respect of the other members of TEAM LION, to gain the comforting knowledge that she could act in a time of need no matter the situation. Sadly, having more than three weeks of practice might have improved her basic skills, but she wouldn't gain nearly as much tactical finesse as some of the other member of TEAM LION unless she put for both the same devotion as well as the amount of time. Captain Shepard and Detective Vakarian had years (and even decades) of experience, and Urdnot Wrex centuries. Even the Human Marines had six months worth of experience being Marines, not to mention their basic instruction phase that they called 'boot camp' to teach them how to work on both an individual level and a small unit level. Liara had none of these skills when she first boarded the SSV Normandy save for the basic competency skills with a pistol, in which she was at least a fair shot at a range when no one was shooting back. Therum had quickly disillusioned her of the thought of some miraculous knowledge or talent for war that she did not possess.
What she did possess, however, was Biotics. In that, she could take down any member of TEAM LION single-handedly if applied properly.
Raising her hands, the Asari Maiden began to move, dancing the forms that would activate her Biotics in a way that drove the bioelectrical charge that ran through the Eezo nodes in her body and through the Biotic Amplification Device that she wore, shaping the energy and sending out as she wished it to be delivered through body and hand pantomimes studied vigorously at the Presidium Academy of Education and even the Advance School of Armali where she went to as a Youngling. Though she did not possess the forms that would turn her Biotics into flesh-rendering or bone-snapping talents outright, a clever use or a combination of forms could easily kill a sapient if one were to lift one several dozen meters in the air and let go, or thrown just over an overhang and left for the opponent to fall to their death. Even a singularity created in the same space as a living being could be utterly devastating to the person in question, a standard warning when taught defensive techniques at standard Biotics Tutelage. Liara built up her bioelectric energy and began to dance, grace and finesse under fire as a lift field was directed at a mob of running green-fleshed humanoids, several tumbling up into the air as Liara spun and sent a small smear of force in the opposite direction, knocking back a group with a wave of force. The others of TEAM LION harassed and suppressed with weapons fire to keep the enemy at bay in a desperate bid of survival as the Maiden moved amongst them, the blue shadow of unseen force that struck like a knight in chess, over and around others. She kept up the defensive techniques with quick precision and half-measures, continuously building up her charge without depleting everything in reserve as one form flowed into another, her Biotics flowing through her and into the battlefield as the spawn of the Thoi'han came under her Biotic assaults. Where as the others of TEAM LION shot at their foes, holding them back with discipline and gunfire, it was the Asari dancing amongst the middle of them that made her efforts known, distorting gravity in a myriad amount of ways to slow them down, lift them up, push them back, or send them crashing to the ground.
The Protheantologist danced her forms in a way that would have made her teachers and species proud, educating the Thorian on why the Asari believed themselves to be the most advanced species in the modern era. A graceful swoop that involved the entire body had a singularity appear over the heads of a cluster of creeper-spawn, pulling and tugging over a dozen upwards as the vortex of gravity dragged everything inward towards the microevent, lifting many and slowing even more down in a large radii, where the form move into the next, a spinning of the hands and the pivoting of the body where an invocation of hands and fingers lashed out with an event that appeared in the ground, yanking everything downward, two hands' worth of plant-covered sapients brought to the floor of the cavern in a bone-jarring manner. In the many training sessions and few deployments that Doctor T'soni had been in with TEAM LION, she had shown herself to be only a little better than an average rifleman, lacking the experience and endurance one gained from years of effort and dedication. In this though, it was she that proved herself as the others defended her, the eight remaining members of TEAM LION standing in a semi-circle and pouring their expertise into defending their position, bolstered by their lone Asari warrioress. It would have been a sight known to Urdnot Wrex and any Republican Military Leader, who had fought Asari units before, a small ring of Sister Commandos bristling with weaponry and Biotically-charged barriers around a singular Sister, devastating the enemy with the fury of the Goddess born within them by dancing under the protection of her Sisters.
TEAM LION defended, and Liara danced, the enemy held back by gunfire and yet slowly conquered by the one member they could not reach; a tactic utilized by the Asari since the War of Queens ten thousand years prior. Weapon heatsinks were exposed and cooled as hands transitioned from one weapon to the next, ammo blocks replaced as they were spent, triggers squeezed as aim was acquired, reticles on the various sights and scopes placed at effective locations as rounds were sent to shred and tear into their plant-like victims as the cavern was filled with the cacophony of war, that eternal grind of violence and in which death was the only peace known. Electrical arcs danced amongst the creepers while the chainsaw-like chatter of a Marshal whined through the din, assault rifles and battle rifles firing in the chatter that spoke only the end while being switched out for pistols, shotguns, and submachine guns when heatsinks glowed with rapped heat and were needed to be cooled. In this, TEAM LION proved itself devastating as they had several times before, an eclectic group of warriors and soldiers brought together by duty or choice, yet working together with such cohesion as strengths were bolstered and weaknesses covered. They achieved a proficiency crewed by so many different species one normally only saw amongst private military groups and mercenaries, most species' military only hosting their own kind. The ground of the cavern floor was slick and littered with the oozing fluids and pieces of the creepers as TEAM LION pushed them back, a small island of death in which approach was impossible.
And still hundred of Thorian creepers came, relentless and unerring.
When Urdnot Wrex barreled into the mass of moss-covered creatures with his headplate lowered, Captain Jane Catherine Shepard (SAN, N7, OST) went into action, using the Krogan big game hunter as a very effective distraction.
"Cortana! Put everything into the Speedware!" Jannie told her updated and uploaded HMWA MasterGear SPECTRE Mk. IV Armor software management suite that she had integrated into her Rig Suit-lookalike SPECTRE Armor, increasing the power management levels of the servos and actuators of her armor to boost her movement and strength at the highest level of one-hundred and fifty percent to allow her to rush faster and overpower something with the element of surprise. Before the words left her mouth, she was already sprinting forward as the leg actuators in her armor boosted her sprint speed by fifty percent to thirteen meters per second instead of her normal eight plus as the N7 bull-rushed straight towards the one thing that mattered in this whole mess.
Sara Elaine Ryder; the Thorian's so-called 'Queen of Blades', and her best friend.
Jannie moved forward into a shoot, dipping down to wrap her around behind Not-Sara's legs where her knees naturally bent and pulled up and towards her while thrusting her right shoulder into Ryders' solar plex. The Jiu-Jitsu tackle had Jannie slamming Sara straight onto the ground, the younger woman landing on her back with a hearty oof! as Shepard gained the mount, getting Sara's torso in between her thighs and tucking her feet behind her legs for positional control and balance. She got her knees just under the younger woman's armpits as she pressed her hips right near where Sara's sternum was located while sitting straight up, achieving the high-mount. The N7 wanted to end this fight as quickly as possible with as little injury as possible to Sara's physical body, so she moved into the low-mount to put Sara into an Ezekiel Choke by slipping her left arm behind Sara's neck and putting her shoulder into her throat while using her left arm as a lever to apply pressure.
Jannie wasn't expecting a double knife-hand strike to the sides of her throat.
The Council Agent coughed and choked for a brief moment at the same time as she lost her grip, shoved upward as her mind reeled from the double blood-strike that instantly but temporarily stopped the blood flow in both her carotid artery and jugular vein, causing a less-than-a-second blackout and panic attack as she was pushed up with a savage double palm-strike to her rotator cuffs before another palm strike delivered by Not-Sara's right hand struck her right under her helmeted chin, snapping her head back. Jannie lost her balance and focus as she tipped backwards slightly, her momentum allowing Sara to sit up and reverse their positions, getting Shepard's back onto the ground. Jannie kept Sara in the Closed Guard position, locking her feet behind Not-Sara's back to keep the younger woman from taking a more advantageous position as the Navy Corpsman stood up and leaned forward, practically folding Jannie in half as Sara's infected face loomed closer, her hands reaching out towards the N7's neck. The Captain grabbed Sara's left arm and shoved it to the right of her own head, half-twisting Sara's body and befuddled any advantage she might get by wrapping her right arm around Sara's left, locking it up. Jannie grunted as Sara's right hand went to her helmet and shoved it to the left, forcing Jannie to lose sight of her assailant. It was a disadvantage, but she could still feel Not-Sara trying to get out of her Closed Guard and free her left arm.
"Foolish mortal."Not-Sara spoke, strain and viciousness in her tone as she did so. "You and your meat will die here, and we shall consume their bodies to make more of our spawn."Sara hit something along Jannie's neck, and it deactivated her helmet, causing the armor around her head to retract back to the gorget and backpiece of her SPECTRE Armor as Sara's armored hand pressed Jannie's left half of her face into the cavern floor. The N7 growled in pain as she felt bedrock scraping against her cheek and by her eye as she grasped Sara's right wrist with her left hand and pushed it upwards, getting some space between them as Shepard unhooked her right leg from behind Sara's back, twisting her hips to the left to slip her foot under the younger womans' left arm and over her head as she slammed Sara into the ground face-first, grabbing her left arm and putting pressure on it by twisting it where the elbow met her own armored thigh and bent it slightly in the opposite direction in an arm bar. The Corpsman's distorted voice screamed out in frustration and a little bit of pain as she struggled under Jannie's grip while the N7 locked her feet together and isolated Sara's left arm in between her shins, controlling her friends' body to keep it face-down in the ground, unable to escape.
"Yeah, your master plans' getting its ass kicked by a few measly mortals." Shepard quipped as she held Sara's hand palm up, contorting it in a way where it was extremely difficult to get ones' arm loose even from an amateur wrestler or practitioner of Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu. And the N7 was far from being an amateur. She did a quick look around to see how the other fights were going, seeing Vega, Collins, Williams, and Zevin plastered in some kind of solidified goo that kept them apprehended (she suspected it was Garrus' doing), and the rest of TEAM LION battling the Thorian-spawn that were seemingly coming out of the woodworks, dozens and dozens of shots being fired inside the cavern in a final protective line to ensure maximum carnage and potential survival. "I've got an offer for you, plant. Give me back my friends and I won't cook your ass like it's a potato." Jannie snarled as the infected face of Sara looked at her own, hate and malice in those distorted features as the N7's eye was caught by something with Sara's left hand. It's shimmering, Jannie realized.
Oh fuck.
Shepard was bodily tossed up, over, and off of Sara as her mass was reduced significantly by the younger womans' Biotics.
The N7 landed in a combat roll with her pivoting and ending up in a sprinters' crouch as she looked to see Not-Sara getting to her feet, both hands distorted like mirages as the Thorian took full control of the younger woman's Biotic abilities. Jannie briefly wondered if the plant had access to all the skills that Sara could do with her Biotics, or merely manipulate a few acts. If it knew what the others knew, it wouldn't necessarily be that effective, since the Thorian had completely admitted that only Ryder had Biotic capabilities amongst those in Hadley's Hope. And Ryder wasn't as nearly as strong or as proficient as her twin brother Scott Michael Ryder, who had practiced with his Biotics in the Amateur BiotiBall League on the Cit with the same zeal and dedication that Sara showed with her education and training to be a CitEMS Paramedic. While inherently powerful for a Human Biotic, Sara lacked the finesse, practice, training, and experience to make herself truly dangerous, what most people thought about when thinking of Biotically-capable beings such as Asari, Turian Cabalists, Salarian Transcendents, Batarian Justifiers, or Human Adepts. At best, Sara could make a fight very difficult, but she wouldn't be able to kill Jannie immediately with some of the scarier abilities that a Biotic learned through training and practice from militarily-oriented Biotic schools.
Still, this was going to suck.
Jannie went on the offensive, charging her Speedware program to enhance her land speed and reflexes to give her the edge as Sara began to move, already invoking her intrinsic Biotic abilities as the N7 closed the distance between herself and her best friend, knowing that any kind of range would have her lose. The younger woman performed whatever maneuver to cast off her ability as Shepard collided with the Corpsman, Captain and Petty Officer bodily crashing as the N7 felt her body getting significantly heavier, her mass increasing from whatever Sara had done. Her SPECTRE Armors' Threat Management software noted the rapidly-increasing mass as it activated its Physics Threshold Deterrence Program to combat the effect as Jannie's' muscles and bones screamed in protest as she felt far heavier than she should, feeling as if someone had dumped four times her bodyweight on every part of her as the servos and actuators of her Armor drew more power from her Armors' power supply to support the extra mass as the N7 grappled with the Navy Corpsman, the redhead twisting her body as she moved. Jannie put her right shoulder right into Sara's chest as she pivoted and turned, bring her right arm around and behind Sara's head as she clasped the back of the younger woman's neck, putting Ryder's chin against her shoulder as Shepard faced away from Sara and immediately dropped to her knees in a flashy wrestling move known as 'the stunner'. The impact rocked Sara hard, the younger woman grunting as her head was snapped upward in a potential knock-out strike as Jannie continued to hold Sara's head and bent forward fast and hard to perform a semi-unorthodox Judo throw to bodily land her best friend right in front of her by flipping Ryder over her shoulder and planting the Corpsman both in front of her and facing away from her. The SPECTREs' Second landed with a noisy crash as Jannie wrapped her left arm around Sara's neck and got her into a sleeper hold position, grabbing the inner bend of her right arm and cranking it by wrapping her right hand behind Sara's head to press her armored bicep and forearm into Sara's exposed neck for a blood choke. Not-Sara gagged and struggled against the maneuver, both of her hands grasping Shepard's left arm to pull it away and break the hold, the Corpsman's feet kicking out in panic.
"C'mon, kiddo…" Shepard whispered as she pressed herself as tightly against Ryder as she could, her breastplate grinding against Sara's backplate, her head next to Sara's as she pressed it forward with her own skull to make the choke work faster. "Go to sleep already. I don't want to have to hurt you."
"Your kind… will die."Not-Sara struggled to speak past the choke, her words gurgling and struggling to reach past Shepard's arm. "If… not by… us… then the… Firebringers. We… can save… your species."
"Yeah, you did such a good job of it for Hadley's Hope, fucker." Jannie replied softly, her head pressed against Sara's as a tear escaped one of her green eyes, hurting from the fact that she was having to do this to Sara, even if it wasn't her; the last person Jannie would have ever wanted to ever bring pain to. "If we're going to lose? Then we're going to lose on our own accord." Not-Sara continued to struggle and choke, Ryders' body jerking and thrashing to escape the sleeper hold, but Shepard was relentless as she continued to keep the hold in place, forced to hurt someone she loved oh so dearly, someone closer to her than a sister. "You did something to those colonists, you took my friends, and you tried to make a monster out of my Sara. You mess with me, and I let karma do its job.
"Mess with my family? I become karma." Shepard rang out with finality as she twisted her left wrist slightly to activate her Kassa Fabrications' Polaris OmniTool, the red-skinned OmniTool holographically coming to life as she slipped her right hand for a brief moment to toggle a notification before returning her hand to the back of Ryders' head. The order she had pre-sent before entering the cave had been finalized as the N7 closed her eyes, her right cheek pressed against Sara's left, remembering the first day that she had held this wonderful person in her hands for the first time, a tiny little baby with blue eyes wrapped in a blanket. I'm your Auntie: I'll be here for you always, a nine-year old Jane Catherine Shepard had promised an hour-old Sara Elaine Ryder, the young redhead holding the newborn closely in her arms, looking down at the chubby cherubic face with awe. "I love you Sara. I always have, and I always will." Jane said to her best friend as the order she had sent was answered, the SSV Normandy have been set in position for the past hour, the Stealth Frigate flying in geosynchronous orbit over Shepards' current position, the bow of the Frigate aimed towards the surface, its main cannon primed and ready. Shepard knew what was going to happen next, having a trump card and now having to use it. The Normandy hovered over the skies of Feros as its one hundred and fifty meter cannon opened up with a kinetic strike, its main round sent crashing towards the planet at just over a percent of the speed of light, burning atmosphere as the depleted uranium round struck the surface several hundred meters above the caverns' roof. The interior shook violently as Shepard heard rock and dirt spill from the ceiling and walls of the cavern to cascade upon the ground as Not-Sara struggled in her arms.
"Mark? Again."
"NO! NO!" The Thorian choked out through Sara's mouth, desperate and pleading as her feet kicked out for purchase and escape even more, her hands trying to rip Jannie's arm from around her neck as if it would stop the inevitable. "We are… immortal, meat! We… have survived eons!" Shepard held on relentlessly as the cavern shook violently once more, the sound of earth cracking above her head as she hold onto Sara, thinking of that precious little baby in her young arms, of that little girl in pig tails who would run up to her for a hug, all smiles. She tried to squeeze her eyelids shut, to keep the tears from coming as she held onto her friend, trapping the monster and holding on to the woman as dirt and rock crashed onto the floor, breaking apart upon landing as some fell alarmingly close. "We… can help you… survive, meat!"
"Really fucking hate that name, y'know?" Jannie whispered as her mind flashed to precious memories, of a thirteen-year old Sara being there when Jannie graduated the Systems Alliance Military Academy, cheering her on, or when sixteen-year old Sara held her as Jannie cried when she walked in on her husband cheating on her with another woman. "Mark? Again." There was another thunderous boom from above, like the sound of a thousand thunderstrikes occurring at once as the cavern shook hard, the earth quaking above head as another kinetic impact struck the surface of Feros, no doubt obliterating the surface and creating a much deeper crater from the original two strikes. Jane was going to kill this fucking ancient monstrosity, and her heart and soul wept, knowing that the act would likely take the lives of her friends and her best friend. Oh Sara, I'm so fucking sorry, Jannie held on, keeping the pressure of the chokehold on the Corpsman as her heart went to the young woman she held onto. "When you get to hell, plant, tell the Protheans I said 'you're welcome'.
"Mark? Again."
The ceiling split open as another kinetic strike devastated Feros, splintering earth and rock as large chunks of earth tumbled from the ceiling, impacting the ground below. Not-Sara screamed in rage, defiance, and denial as groans of earth and rock continued to erupt from the roof of the cavern, the structural integrity of the natural cave failing as it began to enter into a cave-in state. Rocks clattered against the ground for several seconds as more were worked loose from their moorings to fall and shatter against the rocky ground as they pattered against the strange mushroom-like forest surrounding Species-37 and even the various creepy people controlled by the Thorian. Shepard saw the form of Urdnot Wrex descend from the gigantic testicle thing that loomed over everything, his speed of descent slowed by his Biotics as the Krogan landed with a surprising grace with his Korogish Graal Hunting Shotgun in his meaty three-fingered hands as the big game hunter moved towards Shepards' position, holding up a singular hand to erect a Biotic protective field over the downed forms of the infected members of TEAM LION as well as herself and Sara while he casually put a superheavy shot from his Thresher-hunting weapon into some plant-like humanoids, blasting several backwards.
There was a groan above, like that of a dying building ready to topple, of something being ripped from the very bones of the earth, of fate enacted. Jannie continued to hold Sara as she struggled and cried out in horror as there was a massive tearing noise far above as loose dirt and chinks of rock pattered against the swollen, bloated body of the Thorian, the gigantic testicle thing beginning to shift, listing slowly as its roots far above head began to lose its precious cargo to damage and gravity. This was it, Jannie knew as she leaned her face against Sara's and placed a gentle kiss against her infected cheek as Not-Sara screamed and struggled in a useless bid of last-ditch efforts. Goodbye, Sara, Shepard thought to herself with a broken heart as she uttered the words that she knew she would forever hate herself for.
"Mark?
"Fire for effect."
Author's Notes: Not at all the Thorian fight you remembered, is it?
Fire For Effect - In Artillery/Indirect Fire, the term 'fire for effect' is a barrage of artillery/mortar fire in which all of the available artillery/mortar pieces fire at once at a specific location. Generally, you 'walk' rounds to a target by bracketing (this is, in fact, the duties of a Cavalry Scout [19D], a Forward Observer [13F, or a Fister], and a JTAC [what we generally called the Air Force Close Air Support Observers]). This is a more-or-less precise indirect fire barrage that means that everything within about a 100 or so meter area is going to have a really shitty, really short day (ie., you're going to die, explosively!).
"Somebody call for an exterminator?" Cpl. James Page, Terran Confederate Marine Corps 'Firebat', StarCraft. (James Page is the Firebat's voice actor)
Most stories have Biotics work like most works in fantasy does with magic; a few finger movements, a special word, a wave of something, and hooray fireball! I wanted to touch upon the D+D concept of magic; that a practitioner takes years to develop their abilities in a correct manner. I hate to say it, but yeah… like Harry Potter too, save without a wand. For the forms, I used T'ai Chi Ch'uan names and the idea to create that Biotics is a sort of martial art in order to unleash, so that 'using' Biotics would prevent the use of other weaponry by a singular person… which Mass Effect somewhat supports Canon-wise (can't shoot and Throw someone, and there are some arm motions involved). This also supports that Biotics up close is likely dangerous, which is why Sara wasn't flinging Creepers back in The Siege Of Hadley's Hope, IV. I also 'reversed' the cooldown; you have to build-up first instead of spamming something instantly. You do load your weapon first, after all.
I mention that Liara only knows 'defensive' techniques, which is pretty true to the first Mass Effect game where Lift, Pull, Throw, Stasis, Barrier, and Singularity were some of the powers, and I think the only real 'offensive' ability was Warp (which honestly, molecular dis-cohesion is internal combustion, thus this ability will be known as Warpfire). Asari (and everyone else) do not come out of the womb knowing how to Reave, Slam, Warp, Lash, or any of the others. Asari schools teach simple stuff for self-defense (and to add to the fact that they are superior to everyone else, something I've touched upon in this story a couple of times with Sara's grousing about Asari in the Academy) but don't teach baby Asari Jedi how to do some of the more offensive/dangerous techniques. Hey, no one picks up a firearm for the first time being a crack-shot either, so the idea that training and practice (ahem, proper training) makes sense. I have a list of about 30+ powers and a decent idea of what they do and where one can learn them (like Asari at C-SEC have unique ability that's similar to the Crushing Prison spell from Dragon Age while Sisters of the Eclipse have their own unique ability called Ensnare that is a mixture of Lash and Stasis).
The move that Liara does is Wave Hands Like Clouds (Yúnshǒu) which is actually a four-step movement (Wave Hands Like Clouds, Cloud Hands, Cloud Built Hands, Wave Hands In Clouds). This is completely hand/arm movement, and is pretty recognizable in movies showing T'ai Chi; it looks like someone pushing their hands out, lifting their wrists while dropping their fingers and hands, and alternating a push/pull with the hands). This isn't what Liara does physically, but I'm kinda liking the idea that something like T'ai Chi (which promotes energy and balance) as an activation for Biotics. It beats flinging your arm about like a badly-pitched softball.
Now that I think of it, I kind of made Liara more like Aang from Avatar: The Last Airbender or Korra from The Legend of Korra. Honestly, that's kind of what I have in mind, a sort of pseudo-martial art dance that gives out much more than physical force (hmmm, forcebending, perhaps?). Biotics, at the end of the day, is a gravitational ability (not necessarily telekinetics), using directional gravitational manipulation to create such acts.
I mention that Kaidan has a Hahne-Keder Diamondback Assault Rifle, one of the many choices from the first Mass Effect that was an improvement on the Lancer. The last time I mentioned this was back in End Of Watch, IV!
Bra carries a secondary weapon, the Mercier-Taglia Corporations' MT-35 Broadsword Combat Shotgun, which I stole from the Cerberus Daily News Wikia.
I was originally going to do a slobberknocker of a fight between Jannie and Sara, but opted for more of a BJJ/MMA fight with some (ahem) professional wrestling moves. Yes, Jannie pulls a stunner on Sara. Ever been hit by one? Getting your chin drop-slammed into someone's shoulder is a nice way to seeing stars. I did my best to make these moves as real as possible with actual descriptions (I actually tell you what they are, how you do them, hand positions, etc) as when training and using these moves, this would be necessary to know like in all martial arts.
Forward unto next chapter!