Chapter 9 - Xenos, Mon-Keigh and Hostiles, Oh My!
A/N - ...Why is there no specific details on anything I look for? *sigh* For story purposes, going to say geth colossi are anywhere from 10 meters to 15 meters tall, from the end of their toes to the tip of their nose. Or camera/pulse cannon things. Whatever. Armatures are from 4 to 7 meters tall.
Also, I thank all the readers, for being amused at my mental exercise here, giving me 150 followers, and a minimum viewer count of 40 for the last month, and a minimum page view count of 100 for almost a month.
And I don't apologize for the ending, the scene required, nay, DEMANDED IT! Also...
'Milk for the KHORNE FLAKES!' - Every non-chaos player after the most common chaos battle cries.
Arlas finished changing out of his armor, and put on one of the tabards a warrior of a path would wear when about the craftworld and not an exarch. He had four, one bland and simple, lacking significant decorations, and another for each of the three paths he had walked before becoming an outcast, as the outcast path had their cloaks instead of a tabard. The one he chose was from his first shrine path, the path of the aggressive defense, the path of the Warp Spider. A simple red background, with a black rune that represented the shrine, and a golden border, the tabard reached to his knees, and was secured with a simple woven black belt attached to the tunic. Combined with the black bodysuit which encased him from the neck down, and he cut an impressive but minimalistic figure amongst the overdressed mon-keigh.
He arrived at the communications room, and a quick look showed a dozen chairs arranged around the room, six of them already occupied, and the twins standing near the center. He ignored the stares from the individuals already in the room as he glanced at the chairs, before leaning against the wall. He simply stared at the twins, ignoring the two turians, the quarian, the other two humans, and the krogan. After a moment, he glanced at the others, and realized everyone was gaping at him, no doubt in awe at seeing an Eldar in the flesh for the first time. He simply raised an eyebrow. "I thought there would be a meeting."
The various beings in the room had been staring at him, some with shock, some with confusion, but the three human woman had been slightly more… interested than he appreciated. It was like having a youngling expressing interest in him, and without the mildly flattering feeling that also cause. His comment went without notice, so he simply settled for giving the twins at the head of the room a glare and waiting.
They didn't take long, realizing she was undermining her authority with the various outsiders by not proceeding, and examining the newest alien could, no doubt, be done later. "Right. Since everyone is here, take a seat, and then we will have everyone introduce themselves, state their specialization training and combat experience, as well as any other relevant information they wish to share. I am Joannis Shepard, Lioness of Elysium, Lieutenant Commander of the Systems Alliance. Trained as an adept, and prefer to use my pistol and submachine gun. I enlisted 11 years ago, became an N7, which caused most of my file to become classified."
Jaclyn glanced about, before speaking. "Jaclyn Shepard, Lynx of Elysium, though if you call me that I will order you into the sparring ring and ensure you never do that again. Lieutenant Commander of the Systems Alliance, trained as a vanguard. Weapons of choice are my shotgun, pistol and submachine gun. Enlisted at the same time as my twin, earned the same designation, and the same classified nonsense."
The eldar didn't move, but he was the only one other than the twins not in a chair. After a moment the softer twin sighed, before turning to the figure sitting on one end of the group, to the twin's left side. "Tali, you can start."
The quarian jerked slightly, before nodding. He was modestly surprised to note that her accent was pleasant to listen to, compared to the others, but for some reason she couldn't stop wringing her hands. "Uh, do you want me to stand up when I introduce myself?"
That got a wry grin in response from the human leading the meeting. "If it makes you feel better. But no, you don't have to."
Her comment made the young quarian woman relax, or at least stop trying to pull her fingers out. "I am Tali'Zorah nar Rayya. And it is Miss Zorah or just Tali if you are talking to me, not Miss Rayya, and certainly NOT Gemling."
The quarian turned to glare at him, but he simply met the stare with his impassive, unblinking gaze, and she quickly turned back to the group. "I am an engineer, and specialize in electronic warfare and system repair. Weapons of preference are a heavy pistol and shotgun."
She stopped, apparently having nothing more to add, much to the amusement of the female turian sitting on the twin's right. Next was the sitting human, and she didn't waste time or words. "Gunnery Sergeant Ashley Williams, Alliance Marine for seven years. Trained with all five major weapons, specialize in all of them. Also proficient with heavy armor, and squad and platoon level tactics."
The human male was next, though he took a moment to glance about the room first. "Staff Lieutenant Kaidan Alenko, Alliance sentinel. Proficient in pistols and submachine guns. Capable of tech attacks or biotics. I specialize in shoring up weak spots in any team. Been with the Alliance for thirteen years."
The human twins didn't speak, having already spoken. Instead, they turned to the female turian sitting on their right. Heavy armor, its light greys and reds, contrasted to her darker flesh and white facial markings, but none of that did anything to hide the fact she was tiny, even smaller than the twins, who were barely one and two thirds meter tall. She glanced about, before speaking. "Spectre Icivia Kryik, assigned to observe the two newest Spectre members. I am a combat engineer specializing in autonomous turrets and heavy weapons, shotguns, and assault rifles. My credentials are classified."
That got an amused chuckle from the red armored krogan sitting away from the others, occupying one quarter of the room by himself. The turian Spectre gave him a flat stare, but the twins were already turning to the other turian, a male in blue armor and a simple blue stripe across his face and another on the back half of each mandible. He cleared his throat, and tapped his eye piece before speaking. "Detective Garrus Vakarian, C-Sec designated marksman for seven years. Lead investigator and detective for two and four years, respectively. Weapons of preference are sniper rifles, assault rifles, and heavy pistols. I have training in assorted fields, but specialize in software and explosives."
He started to say more, but a quick glance from the Spectre sitting beside him made him pause, before closing his mouth with a click, clearly finished. Another chuckle from the krogan, before the large being started speaking in a voice like gravel grinding against a rock, making the pathfinder wince slightly. "Urdnot Wrex, vanguard and battlemaster. Specialize in killing things, and not dying. Been a merc for nearly six centuries, and wandered the galaxy well before that. Preferred weapons are a shotgun and whatever else happens to be nearby, including a convenient enemy. Met Jaclyn on one of those classified missions, got hired, and that was the start of our working relationship."
Wrex gave a dark chuckle at the last comment, but didn't speak further. The softer twin eventually guessed he was finished, and turned to the last individual in the room. Arlas waited, simply blinking once, before speaking in his normal monotone. "Pathfinder Arlas, eight hundred sixty five years of age, eldar forward scout and skirmisher for... four hundred sixty nine years, senior forward scout and skirmisher for... one hundred and thirty two of those years."
He paused before he listed the various years, doing some quick math to convert the years from his people's over to Citadel standard, acquired from the various people he had been borrowing languages from. He noted the krogan had tilted his head slightly to stare directly at him with one eye as he paused, his emotions spiking a bit with aggression and suspicion, overlaid with a strong feeling of anticipation. He dismissed the krogan from his mind, pulling his thoughts back from the others. "Further training in various positions for a total of… three hundred and forty years. Weapons are varied, outfitted as a long term operative, to operate without resupply, reinforcements or contact. Preferred weapons are my long rifle, sword, and pistol."
He finished talking, and waited. And then blinked, waiting for everyone to get over their confusion. Icivia was the first, giving a scoff of disbelief, but he suspected it was forced, as her eyes spoke of cunning. "I call svern crap. The only species that live that long are krogan and asari, and even they start slowing down at six hundred. Though the rare freak like Wrex here is an exception to that rule. But I have seen recordings of you in action. There is no way you are that old."
He stared at the turian, thinking fast as the angrier twin, standing slightly behind and to the side of her sister, turned to the alien. He realized the turian female was not just here to observe the twins any more. She was also here to watch him, since his interrogation, sorry, political meeting with the Council had been a total waste of time on their part, though he had learned that he wanted nothing to do with those three. So he decided to give her a few things to think on. He gave a tiny smirk, fairly certain no one was looking his way, and opened his mind before 'flipping' a certain part of his thoughts.
It was difficult to describe how a psyker, or one that used psionics or warp powers, did what they did to someone without the same ability. Like trying to describe color to a blind being, or the sky to someone that had lived in a cave their entire life. But the results were not so difficult to describe.
There was a tiny flare of white unlight around his eyes, and a slightest whiff of ozone, before he started projecting his thoughts, and his emotions, mostly disinterest and scorn. *Well, since you are here to watch me as much as the mon-keigh twins, I suppose I should give you something to report. If only to keep those incompetents you call leaders from shrieking. I am from one third to one fifth of the way into my expected lifespan. For a civilian, we live about a thousand of your years, but with certain training methods we can radically extend our lifespans. I believe the current record for longest lived Eldar is held by a leader of another craftworld, at over fifteen thousand of your years.*
His tone was arrogant and condescending as he simply stared impassively at the turian Spectre. *You call yourselves mighty. I call you weak, foolish, hedonistic, and arrogant. Come talk to us about power when your civilization has lasted for its first million years. Then you can speak of knowing what real power is. Until then-*
He gave her a condescending smirk, before speaking for the first time since she had called him out. "Be silent, when your elders speak."
Everyone started at the sound of his voice, but he turned and left before anyone else spoke. He actually got into the elevator before being stopped, by the red armored krogan, who stopped him by simply sticking an arm between the doors. The krogan wordlessly stepped into the small space, before looking up at Arlas, who simply glanced down at him, before returning his attention to the door. Or more accurately, the hump that was now blocking his view of it. His action caused the krogan to narrow his eyes, but for several seconds neither spoke.
The krogan eventually gave a hmph, before speaking. "Most people know better than to get into an elevator with a krogan. Or any small, enclosed space, for that matter. Ignoring one in such a place is even worse, but you, you don't just do it without concern, you go and actually dismiss me. That means you are either brave, stupid, or ignorant."
Arlas realized that the krogan was not going to just go away so he looked down and raised an eyebrow, silently asking the alien to get to the point. Instead, the krogan chuckled again, before moving to one side and facing the door, though the alien didn't turn away from him. "Well, guess we'll find out when we get into combat, and if you last longer than five seconds without shields. Be nice to have someone my age around, and not acting like a damned kid."
Arlas didn't reply, but did nod slightly. The trip suddenly didn't seem quite so unbearable for the pathfinder, being stuck in a tiny ship for months on end with aliens that wouldn't stop asking questions. He might have found someone similar enough to him to make the wait between missions somewhat bearable.
The elevator finally reached the bottom, and as the elevator opened to the mostly empty hanger. Arlas walked out of the elevator and toward the empty spot, which suddenly shimmered and blurred, revealing his dark grey and red landing craft, ramp already down and waiting for him. He heard someone swearing behind him, and turned to give the krogan who was staring at the suddenly appearing ship with a calculating look and one hand on his weapon, and gave him a quick smirk. He entered the ship, and closed the ramp, before heading to the personal sections. Maybe staying away from the crew would make the trip better.
Nope.
The trip to wherever they were going was three days long, with as much as an extra four days once they arrived in the system to find the specific planet. Arlas wished he had a farseer yet again, or more talent with his psy-powers so he would spend less time dodging their overly inquisitive questions. He had to admit the access to fresh food, mostly salad leaves and bread for him though he did swipe a handful of small nuts and a drizzle of a sugary confection the humans called honey just to spite the traditions of the craftworld, almost made the annoyance worth the frustration. They even had fresh fruit, including several he had never seen before, but he refrained from indulging himself that much. He did admit to himself that he might indulge after a successful mission…
He had already endured six full days of incessant pestering, the twins having apparently had the extreme misfortune to plot a course that brought the ship to the proper star for the mission last. He was grateful that the long route had given him time to learn a few things, even when they stopped to respond to a distress beacon. He hadn't been taken down, but apparently they had run into some animal that had given them some problems, and recovered some bodies.
He was actually somewhat proficient with the cognitors the Imperium used, but these humans used computers and omnitools. He had to learn to use them, or would miss a frankly unacceptable amount of information. He had gone to the twins a few hours after the meeting with the rest of the 'specialist team,' as the twins called it, and asked to be taught how to use the computers and omnitools. The Chance and Fate Twins of eldar mythology had immediately proven they were present and up to their usual antics as the Shepard twins immediately agreed and asked Tali to do the training after providing him a omnitool. They mentioned it was a basic model, not going to do much in terms of combat or extra functions, but it would get him used to the systems without worrying about him breaking something expensive.
Arlas couldn't guess why, but Gemling agreed, and while she was less than completely professional, she did give him the coaching he needed to use both systems. She was also assigned to ensure the engine worked, impressing him with her ability to multitask and so he kept his conversations short and to the point so she could focus mostly on her job and he on his. He had yet to figure out some of the attacks he had seen one of the humans do with it, but Tali did mention that would be taught after she was sure he wasn't going to fry her or some important piece of equipment. She did add that everyone shocked themselves the first time they tried to attack with the omnitool, and she hoped he would electrocute himself several times.
The rest of his free time was spent digging through this Extranet thing everyone here seemed to use, learning everything he could about everything. It would have been distracting, some of things he was learning, if he didn't have his habit of two hours of weapons training and maintenance, whether it was needed or not, an hour of exercise, and at least another two hours of psy-craft training.
It was during his training on the seventh day that he felt the lurch that signalled that they were arriving at their destination. No one else seemed to feel or react to dropping out of faster than light travel, but to a warp sensitive eldar, they might have well as set off a bomb. It knocked him out of his psy-craft training, and a small detonation of the gathered energy heated the cleared area of the armory of his landing craft, but damaged nothing. He sighed, and stood up, idly stretching, as Yol-Pvera sent a thought. *The mon-keigh twins have requested the specialists to the comm room for a briefing. You were not on the requested team.*
Arlas sent back a feeling of understanding, before pulling on his Warp Spider tunic. He stepped out of his ship, pausing for a moment only to look over his Vyper stored inside the transport bay and made a note to actually pull it out to give the large jetbike a full check later. He had a briefing to attend first.
He arrived in the comm room a few moments later and noted he was the last to arrive. He simply leaned against the wall, folded his arms and began braiding his hair, ensuring it would fit into his helmet for the mission. So he was surprised when the softer Shepard starting speaking. "This mission is going to be myself, my twin, Icivia, Kaidan and Tali. The Mako can only seat a maximum of six and Spectre Icivia is bringing some extra equipment, so Arlas, you aren't required."
Arlas shrugged but remained didn't move. "May I remain to listen? This would be my first human briefing, and I suspect it would be very informative."
Joannis considered his request for a moment before she nodded and went over what she expected groundside. A single geth frigate was in orbit though a couple others were dispersed throughout the planet, apparently looking for something. The geth were mostly scattered in overwatch positions throughout a specific area where a few local power plants could be detected on long range scanners. She went over the probable area of operations, opponents, weapons, and detailing just about everything over a half hour long brief.
The briefing was rather informative so Arlas waited until it was finished and everyone but the Twins to leave before asking his most pertinent question to the twins. "So, why are we not using my craft?"
His question got both the human females to start in surprise, something that would normally amuse him if it wasn't for the fact his fifteen person lander was being sidelined for a six person wheeled vehicle. Sadly, before anyone could say anything, the pilot came over the ship comm. "Approaching the drop point, ETA, fifteen minutes."
The much angrier twin swore, but then shared a glance with her sister, before shaking her head. "Not enough time to brief everyone now. We can use it on the next mission. Why didn't you say something earlier?"
Arlas gave a shrug before moving to stand away from the door so the turian female could leave. "It was obvious. I stay on the ship, and assist your operations. You show me the galaxy, and get me and my weapons to help with problems."
The twins shared another glance, before shaking their heads. "Not this mission, we don't have the full team briefed, we don't know enough about your ship to properly determine the best course of action, and further more, we don't have the time. However, when we get back, we need to sit down and talk about that. First, we have a doctor to rescue."
The Twins left the room, leaving the eldar to roll his eyes before heading back to his ship to resume his psy-craft practice and start working on the Vyper.
Two hours later, he was sitting in the middle of the hangar, under the prow of his ship, ignoring the others in the bay. He had tried to do some divining earlier, but after an hour he had given up and come out to work on direct energy manipulation in the hangar. A ball of pure un-light glowed between his hands, and the smell of ozone was thick and heavy, making it a bit difficult to breath. It also required almost all of his concentration, especially since he was both out of practice, and trying to improve his control, at the same time. If any of his Warlock teachers had seen him trying to do this, he doubted he would have gotten punished with only a rebuke, a cuffing, and a reduction of his rations. He probably would have been kicked out of the shrine entirely for a month, at least.
But he was not in a shrine, he didn't have a teacher with him, so he was taking risks that would never have before. Even worse, he wasn't completely concentrated on the task he was doing. Ashley and Wrex had turned on their omni-tools at some point and started listening to the twins as they fought their way across Therum below. And as soon as he heard the fighting, his concentration had been fragmented. The callouts had been pretty standard, just reports of what they encountered, a threat dealt with or avoided, but a few reports stood out, usually just new names. Troopers, rocketeers, amarture, juggernaut, destroyer. Some were called out more often, but they were just names to him.
But he noted there was one name that spiked fear into both minds when it was called. Colossus. He had no idea what it was, but the fact that even the normally brash krogan reacted with a trace of fear made him abandon his training the first time it was called. He dismissed the psy-energy, and headed over to the storage area where Ashley stood, inspecting, disassembling, and repairing the various toys that passed as mon-keigh weapons. "What is a colossus?"
The human female jumped as he spoke, before glaring at him and answering. "Ten meter tall geth walker tank. They had two on Eden Prime, but pulled them out before the commanders arrived. It has a heavy anti-tank weapon for vehicles or groups and a heavy machine gun for everything else. Hits hard, and is harder to kill, lots of armor and shields from what I heard on the comms. And they fight smart, and repair themselves fast. And their mako got damaged killing the first one. As long as they don't run into another…"
She was clearly trying to be helpful, but was also letting her nerves get to her. He frowned as he considered it, before realizing she wasn't inured to loss like he was. She was still shaken about having her squad and host shot out from under and around her. He nodded, but before he could respond, both omnitools chimed again, and one of the Shepard's spoke. "Damn, another Colossus ahead, hasn't seen us yet. Icivia, Kaidan, are those repairs done?"
"What can be. Several systems are either shorted out or completely blown out and running on backups."
"Damn. Right, we take this slow and careful."
Arlas stared at the omnitools, before looking at the human, face now pale from lack of blood. "I am going to predict that is a bad thing."
She nodded wordlessly, as Wrex gave a guffaw, before leaning back. "Damn, and here I was thinking this might last a while."
Arlas glanced back at his ship. "So, I assume that I should do what I can to assist at this point, yes? As should the rest of the... Specialist Team, I think the Twins called us?"
Ashley glanced back at him, and then saw him looking at his lander. "You have a ship."
He rolled his eyes though only the krogan saw him as he responded with his usual monotone. "A remarkable deduction, mon-keigh. Clearly, your species are destined for great things with such keen senses and minds. Get the rest of the ground team, I leave in five minutes. Clear it with the steersman and the twins."
He headed to his ship, to get into his armor and ready the ship for the flight. Yol'Pvera was already running the pre-flight checks. As he entered the ship, he heard Ashley ask, "Did… Did he just call me a monkey?"
Arlas frowned as he paused, wondering why Wrex was laughing that hard, before shrugging to himself and dismissing the suddenly distracting thought. What, by Khaine's gore drenched sword, is a monkey?
Seven minutes later, the last of the mon-keigh came jogging in, the male turian. "Spirits, we're going, we aren't going, we are going… Can someone make up their mind or not?"
Arlas was in full armor, and showing the others where to sit, putting Wrex on one end with an empty seat beside him. He was a fair bit larger than the normal passengers, so Arlas was having to retool the seat. He was lucky the wraithbone was still active and attuned to him, so he could just merge the seats for the krogan. But the turian would require a minute to fix his seat so the grav-tethers in the seats would hold him in place rather than letting him fly about the troop bay if the craft had to make a sudden maneuver.
As he adjusted the seats, the eldar glanced at Ashley. "Human, are the doors going to open, or am I required to open them myself?"
Ashley glared at his back, as he knelt next to the seat. "I have a name, eldar. And yes, we are over the site, the commander is waiting, and Joker is opening the bay now."
Arlas actually smiled under his helm, and stood up. "Turian, this is your seat, using the others will result in your unexpected flight about the troop bay. All of you, don't touch the vehicle in the back. I don't need to do any more repairs to it."
On cue, every head turned to the corner that didn't have chairs, examining the medium sized vehicle with a large weapon mount on the back and he watched their thoughts as they examined it. He found their impressions of it rather enlightening. They first noted that it was conical in shape, though the bottom was flattened and had two short, stubby wings attached to the back. Next were the weapons; a single barrel hanging under the main chassis, of significant caliber judging by the size of the barrel, and an identical pair of different weapons mounted to the stand behind the cockpit. While they were examining his heavily modified Vyper, he stepped up to the wall opposite the bay door, and as it sealed, the wall suddenly slid open, revealing a door further in.
He heard a few of the mon-keigh swearing in astonishment, though they were cut off when the door resealed itself. He smirked, and left his weapons on their storage racks, and headed into the cockpit. Once there, he sat down, and merged his mind with the psychoreactive materials that made up the ship. His mind quickly expanded, interpreting the signals and sensations of the wraithbone as sound, touch, and sight, though he was surprised to realize that he could sense and control some functions of the Vyper from here. Apparently Yol'Pvera had been improving the sensitivity of the wraithbone while they had been planet hopping.
Regardless, he had just finished expanding his senses when the bay doors opened, and Yol'Pvera sent that they were ready. He mentally reached out, and brushed against the four minds in the troop bay and the pilot of the Normandy. *Vampire lander departing hangar bay.*
The short squad in the lander jerked at his projected thought, causing him to roll his eyes and send annoyance. *Stop jumping, you are worse than civilians in a warzone.*
He put the lander on course for the location where the human female had said the Twins were. The lander's bay door shimmered and revealed the view from the cockpit, the intent being to let the passengers see what they were landing in. A minute later they were skimming over the broken landscape, staying lower than his passengers liked judging by the mounting fear he could feel in the back, though the krogan was making enough noise of enjoyment he could faintly hear him even with two walls in the way, but he wasn't going to go higher to get spotted by every machine in the hemisphere. After a few seconds, he could mentally reach out and sense the six in the human vehicle.
A quick sense of their emotions showed their position was bad, but not so much that any of them were panicking. Concerned, yes, but more than that would require him to see the field. After a second of careful consideration, he relayed his plan to Yol'Pvera, putting her on the piloting, while he fired the pulsar. Since it was hard mounted onto the spine of the craft, and could only aim a couple degrees to one side or another due to the focusing crystals, it needed the more skilled pilot to aim the craft, with the co-pilot to provide precision corrections.
He made sure the lander was in range for the massive laser, and noted that, at the usual distances it was fired they were practically point blank, before having Yol'Pvera perform an 'iyalith angue,' or leaping death, bouncing the craft high over the next mountain range to to give them a perfect line of sight on the geth walker. He nudged the focusing crystal slightly to one side, and then caressed the firing chamber, causing a gout of white light to spring from the prow of his landing craft to impact the geth titan on its right shoulder, just slightly off center.
For a second, all that could be seen was a flash of bright white light, and then the explosion from the laser was gone, revealing a hole in the ground a three meters deep and across the entire path. He let his thoughts reach the mon-keigh, deigning to allow them to observe the perfection that was the Eldar's weaponry. *Hmm, too much gun, I believe. Perhaps we should use the pulse lasers on the Colossus instead. Where was it?*
The only word he could use to describe the swirling cloud of emotions in the back was flabbergasted. Also the normal status of most aliens that the Eldar dealt with, before it turned to hostility, likely due to their innate imperfections causing jealousy. He laughed to himself at the arrogance of that thought, before turning his attention back to the ship, and heading toward where the mon-keigh scout vessel wallowed.
He landed the vessel on the path next to the ground vehicle, and opened the troop bay, letting everyone out. He stayed in the cockpit, listening through the omnitool as Ashley reported to the Twins. He was only half paying attention, as he had been at the center of it, and soon they called up the larger ship still in orbit, ordered it down to collect the ground vehicle, after which the entire ground team got on board. A quick check on the Twin's thoughts, as trying to only grab one of the Twin's minds while they were in proximity was nearly impossible, revealed where they were supposed to go. Literally about a quarter of a kilometer, though the ground vehicle would have had another two kilometers to go to avoid the lava pools and obstructions along the way.
Arlas rolled his eyes, before reaching out to the mon-keigh looking about the troop bay. *Seats everyone. We are about ten seconds from the landing point, though I am going to take a minute to do a circle, make sure we don't get shot out of the sky trying to land and drop everyone off. And Ghost, hands off the Vyper!*
He felt shock, a flicker of guilt, anger and surprise from the female turian, before he activated the anti-gravity engines. The vehicle bounced into the air, causing the turian female to quickly scramble for a seat. He sealed the door, and did a quick loop at a half kilometer from the landing zone, pausing to fire the twin-linked pulse lasers at various infantry units and sniper nests, clearing the immediate vicinity. Once the circle was done, he headed for the indicated area, where a half collapsed structure stood near a hole in the ground.
He circled one last time, before setting down in the clear area just beyond the structure, using the cliff over lava to make it easier to position the lander for offloading. After everyone was out, he retreated from the ship, pulling his senses back in, and waited a moment to return to normal. It was difficult, after feeling the wind whipping across his hull, heat kissing the plates, but he stood, and grabbed his weapons from the armory, before stepping out of the lander. A quick check ensured he had all three of his 'main' weapons, long rifle, pistol, and fusion gun, plus the witchblade, so he sent a thought to Yol'Pvera. *Circle at two kilometers, holo-field engaged, and intercept any landing craft that try to land or drop troops. Try not to have too much fun shooting everything down.*
All he got from his companion eldar was a feeling of contemptuous annoyance at such a simple task, before the bay door sealed, and the lander vanished. He heard its engines whisper as it took off, and he turned to join the group of Mon-Keigh, idly wondering what pranks to play on them. They were all gathered near the half collapsed structure, standing in the shade, and arguing. He simply turned on his omnitool, and listened to the talk of tactics and squad composition, before suddenly getting distracted.
The distraction was a whistling noise, followed by a metallic and slightly hollow sounding thump, which then repeated a quite rapidly, and finally finished with an even louder whistling and thump. He noticed everyone else in his group scattering, and glanced behind him. He noticed about thirty geth troops of various colors, and one four legged walker, about six meters tall, all of them glaring at him as they stood up. *Ah, right.*
He nodded sagely, and then activated his jump pack, landing on the other side of the structure, as the location where he had been standing exploded. *So THAT was what that noise was. Now I know.*
Ashley glared at him as she yanked her assault rifle out, and started peppering the approaching troops with fire. "Be impressed later, fight now."
Then a loud whoosh, followed by another explosion, and things got very noisy and hectic, very quickly.
A/N - Current poll will close on 17 November, and the next one goes up. Get your votes in, determine the flow of the story. Also, enjoy the story, I write it for you guys. And girls. And those who don't identify with a binary gender. :P