Log 10

Date: 15TH OCT 2186

Location: WASHINGTON, USA

"Do we have any idea what it was?"

"Our analysis think it might be the remains of the Turian 18th flotilla but we were unable find any definitive confirmation in the debris field."

"Goddamn it. Have you informed the Turian Primarch yet?"

"Not yet. Last time we spoke he was still worried about his son being out of contact on deployment on Tuchanka. I might spare him the bad news until he makes it back safely."

"Agreed. Thanks for the update Admiral but we're moving out in the next hour so I'd better let you go."

"Understood. Take care of yourself out there Anderson, we're still counting on you to protect Earth. Hackett out."

I shook my head, the only thing that scares me more than the state of Earth right now is the state of the rest of the galaxy. I'd spent a whole week with that communicator in the end before I managed to arrange to head out to visit our forces in the city. We've made a lot of progress in that time, we're now able to communicate with about thirty different cities (some indirectly) around the world. So far, talking is just about the only thing we can do though. Most of our contacts are civilians not soldiers and given the strength of the enemy we're advising them to avoid confrontation wherever possible. But no matter how much progress we make it was still frustrating to be stuck in that makeshift office day after day.

I resigned from the council because I prefer the action of being a front line soldier (well okay, I prefer the action most of the time. I'd probably pass on the gunshot and stab wounds, not to mention the punctured lung). Doing this work isn't nearly as bad as what I faced as a member of the Council (no political BS getting in the way) but I don't intend on hiding myself away for the entire war. In any case many of our resistance fighters (actually most) are civilians and don't really know me for my track record with the military beyond some sketchy details. To earn their trust I have to fight along side them as an equal (Well it's a really good excuse to get me out of the base at any rate).

I've always believed in leading by example but even I was surprised by the effect it had in motivating these people. An hour before we were set to leave Mr. Stevenson pulled me aside to talk to me about something.

"I need to speak with you Admiral, it's urgent."

"Of course but you'll have to hurry, I have to leave in an hour."

We went up to my makeshift office so that we could speak in private, already I could see that something had him really concerned.

"What's happened?"

"Will's signed up to join your resistance group," Jeff said flatly.

There was a moment's silence after that. Thinking back to the excitable young man I had spoken with just a few days earlier I wasn't in the least bit surprised that he had decided to join up. I opened my mouth to speak (I'm still not sure if I was planning on defending Will's decision or promising not to accept his application) when Jeff interrupted me.

"Will it make any difference?"

"What?" (A valid question at the time, his voice was barely more than a choked whisper).

"Will... Will signing up make any difference to whether these Reaper things try... Try to-"

He cut himself off there, his voice was hoarse, his eyes wide and staring. I understood exactly what he was going through. It was hard for me in the first days of the war, imagining what might happen to my own son Jason. I've been very lucky in that regard, Udina let me know Jason was safe when I first contacted him (he's working on the crucible project as an engineer with his mother). I could never imagine what it would like to have him joining the military, let alone having to ask about the possibility of him being killed by aliens.

"I- I won't lie to you Mr Stevenson. The Reapers are coming for all of us, armed or not. It's your decision in the end, all I can do is promise to protect him for as long as I am able."

Jeff shook his head. "No you're wrong, it's his decision and he's made it. And I've made mine, I'm signing up to join your resistance but there's one condition."

"What's that?"

"Wherever you send my son, you have to send me too. I don't care what the risks are I want to be there to keep him safe."

My first thought was to refuse him, in a normal military a request like that wouldn't even be considered. But the regular military were either gone or dead and any or all of us could be dead hours from now if we were unlucky. I decided we would throw out the old rule book and just be grateful for any support we could get.

"We're going to go back to the city to grab some supplies, be ready to leave with us and Will in the next half hour and then report back to me."

"Yes sir"

"Oh and Mr. Stevenson?"

"Yes?"

"I want to make you a promise now that I'll do everything in my power to keep your family safe."

Since we couldn't risk taking any of the vehicles in case we were seen by the Reapers (we'd received word they'd just transmitted a message through what remained of Earth's communication network forbidding the use of any transportation on pain of well... vaporization) we were stuck on foot. I wanted to leave the trained soldiers behind to protect the village so my personal escort consisted of Daniels (who never seems to leave my side), Jeff, Will and two more civilian volunteers. Most of our actual soldiers had been deployed to scout a wide area around our current base. If the Reapers tried to move in we needed to be ready to evacuate villages and keep ourselves one step ahead.

We headed south, keeping to the trees to avoid risking contact with the enemy. We were managing to stay out of their way quite successfully (we could still hear one or two Reapers in the distance though) but my 'squad' was clearly very jumpy. Jeff, Will and the others had been brave to sign up but out here their inexperienced showed. I was glad to have Daniels with me, when I first met him I admit I'd had my doubts that he'd hold up if things got heavy, but he'd held his own well in Vancouver and I felt I could rely on him if trouble started. Of the others Jeff was probably baring up best, he was far from a trained soldier but at least he wasn't jumping at his own shadow.

As for the others? I was reminded of the shuttle when I was flown into the First Contact War. In many ways the situation wasn't so different to this one. Back then we were facing our first encounter with an alien species and all we knew was that they weren't friendly. We were all more than a little jumpy on that shuttle I can tell you, we were flying into the unknown about to take on a challenge bigger than we'd ever expected to face. A good description of how these people were feeling, soldier and civilian and not without good reason. The Reapers had killed anyone that had ventured out this far before we arrived. I recalled that last time I cracked some feeble joke to ease the tension and it seemed to work reasonably well. I wondered if it might be possible to try the same approach here.

I looked over to Will, probably the most anxious of the group, who was nervously scanning the treeline as we walked along.

"How're you doing son?"

"Fine sir, no problems to report."

"I think we can drop the 'sir' for the time being son, we've got a long march a head of us."

"Yes sir- I mean of course,"

"How's your mother handling, well... All of this? Is she okay with you joining up with us?"

"She cried for a while when I first said I was signing up, but I think she understands that we have to do this. I'm more worried about her and everyone else back at the village."

"I've left my best people guarding that place, don't worry everyone there will be kept safe." I said praying that I wouldn't be made a liar of.

"You'll see her soon and you'll have plenty of stories to tell her when we get back."

"I hope so, she said she was going to make a fruitcake for us when we get back."

The simplicity of this charmed me and remembering how helpful a bad joke had been in the past I replied.

"Shhh, not so loud. That's our new secret weapon against the Reapers."

Well that one managed to raise a few smiles, even a laugh or two from the rest of the group. I'd like to say it wasn't one of my better jokes but comedy's never been my strong suit. I used to get far more groans from my squad back in the day than anything else but at least it helped to help everyone relax a little.

What didn't help were the areas of cleared forest, lines burned across our path where Reaper fire had cut a swath through the trees at some point. These gaps were never very wide so we weren't out of cover for long but the scale of the destruction made me realize I might have to make the squad endure a few more of my jokes.

After ten hours of marching we decided to make camp for the night. There's not much I can say about that night apart from how much the squad hated it. We couldn't afford to use artificial light of any kind for fear of attracting the Reaper's attention and visibility was near zero. If the enemy did find us the first we would know about it would be a scream from our scout as he was confronted with a creature of nightmares in the pitch darkness. As for myself, much as I didn't want to admit it, I guess I'd spent too long in warmer, drier accommodation while playing politician on the Citadel. I'd roughed it more times than I could count but that'd been a fair while ago now. I put on a brave face for my squad but I think I'll be handling the hotel bookings next time.

The next day we set off early, I could tell the men were thinking that the sooner we got going the sooner they'd be able to sleep in a building again. That kind of attitude would never be accepted in trained soldiers but they're weren't too many complaints about last night so I let the matter rest. As we progressed we came across the signs of Reaper fire more frequently and I began to wonder who the Reapers might've been shooting at. It was hard to tell but since there was nothing obvious worth firing at around here but they may have been aiming at a moving target like a skycar or a shuttle that had been trying to escape the planet. I briefly paused to offer up a small prayer, hoping that whoever the intended target was they had managed to get away.

Unfortunately as we reached the next clearing it became obvious that they hadn't. This time the clearing was far larger than any we had come across so far, at least 150 meters across. Unlike previous clearing, there were no scorch marks, no charred ground. The area had simply been flattened as if someone had driven a couple dozen bulldozers straight through it. I turned to look at Will who was examining the scene.

"What do you make of it son?"

"Um, sir?"

"Just relax, a soldier needs to be able to assess a situation quickly, what do you think happened here?"

"Well this can't be from weapons fire, nothing here is even singed. Maybe a Reaper ship tried to land here?"

"I'd say something tried to land here, but not a Reaper they use their tripod like legs to support them when they land. No I think it was one of our ships that landed here, though I suspect the technical term for this sort of landing is called a 'crash'."

"You think an Alliance ship crashed through here? Think they might still be around?"

"We don't know it's an Alliance ship for certain yet but we should definitely check it out. Daniels?"

"Yes sir?"

"Why don't you go on ahead and scout it out for us? Be careful and don't approach them until you've reported back. Everyone else take five, we've been marching half the morning already."

"Aye sir"

Daniels headed off in the direction we thought the ship had been going when it crashed and soon disappeared out of sight. While he was gone I consulted the map, we had done about 55 klicks of our journey so far, it was still another 40 (at least one more days march) to reach our destination but we were getting close to more urban areas which might provide us with some cover if we needed it. Not sure of what we would be facing in the next few minutes, all I could do was plan routes that might keep us out of danger.

Daniels returned a few minutes later clearly out of breath.

"You were right sir, there is a crashed ship up ahead, an Asari one."

"Asari here? You're certain?"

"It's definitely an Asari vessel but I can't confirm who might be inside. The ship's been surrounded by Reaper forces who are trying to break in."

"Did you see any sign of the crew?"

"I saw some return gunfire coming from inside the ship, no way of knowing if it's the crew or just automated turrets. I couldn't see very clearly from where I was but I couldn't get any closer without alerting the Reapers. Sir I think we should move on quickly."

"If the Reapers just wanted to kill those people they could've opened fire on the ship from orbit."

"Judging from the state of the ship I'd say they did shoot it down sir."

"Exactly, they shot it down rather than destroy it outright. And now they're wasting ground troops, trying to take the ship instead of blowing it away. I think that there's something or someone on that ship that the Reapers believe to be strategically significant."

I paused for a few moments weighing the options. Our small squad was far from equipped for dealing with something like this but we were now miles from both our base at Seattle and the volunteer center at Welcome. If we left then every single person on that ship would die before we could send reinforcements and the Reapers would get whatever they were after on the ship.

"Look" I said, trying to delay the moment of decision "What was the strength of the Reaper forces?"

"They had a small army in place, several large groups entrenched in various positions around the perimeter of the ship, I think they're testing the ship defenses, looking for a weak point."

"Can you get us close enough to see what's going on without being spotted?"

"Sir, I'm not sure how we'll be able to take on such a large army-"

"I haven't made that call yet, Private we're just gathering intel. Now then, lead the way soldier."

"Yes sir."

Daniels led us though the trees, closer to the crashed ship. The ship was smaller than I had expected, not a warship by any means in fact it didn't even look like a military ship. This was getting weirder and weirder, I couldn't imagine what an Asari transport would be doing heading to Earth weeks after the Sol system had been declared unsafe.

There was as Daniels had said, several large groups of Reaper footsoldiers around the quite an army but more than we could take on in a fair fight. Mostly the group was made up of Cannibals and Husks with a few Marauders thrown in just to make things worse. No sign of any Brutes or Harvesters thankfully but there was something new.

"Daniels do you see those things down there?"

"Yeah I saw them before, definitely a new kind of Reaper footsoldier but no idea where this one came from..."

"Looks like some kind of insect species but heavily mutated. Luckily they don't look like they can be very mobile."

"No but still, see the cannons mounted on that one? I think they're meant to be some kind of walking tank."

"OK I think I might have a plan but it won't be easy and I'll have to rely on all of you to play your part. I wouldn't normally say this, but if any of you have doubts say so now. If you're not all fully committed to this we should walk away now."

"We're not leaving these people to die here Admiral," said one of the quieter members of the group, Jake Langmer I think his name was. There was a general nodding of heads indicating the group's agreement.

"Alright then, I'm taking Mr Stevenson and we need to get to that access hatch over there. To help us make it, Daniels will take everyone else except Will and distract the Reaper group round this side of the ship."

"What? I'm not just staying back while everyone else helps. I'm not a kid!"

"No, not at all. I have a different job for you. I hear you told the recruiters back at Welcome that you used to win gold at your local shooting competitions?"

"Uh, actually only won gold once, mostly just bronze and silver, I just wanted to impress you all."

"That's okay, son. Now I want you up on that ridge over there with your rifle aimed at the ship's drive core."

"Sir? What about all the people inside?"

"Your father and I are going to get them out through that hatch at the back. Hopefully we'll be able to draw the Reapers into the ship and get out ourselves before you blow the ship. If it all goes well we'll escape in the confusion, but if we don't all make it out quick enough you have to blow the ship anyway. There's too many here for you to handle, if it gets bad you blow the ship and run."

Will nodded nervously but didn't say anything.

"Okay let's go."

It took us about five minutes to get everyone in position for our strike. It was hard to tell but it looked like the Reapers may have managed to breach the defenses on the far side of the ship and more of their forces were starting to crowd that area. Unfortunately the group near the entrance we were interested in stayed put, presumably waiting to ambush anyone attempting to escape though the hatch.

I began to crawl through the long grass, inching nearer to the ship with Jeff in tow. We wanted to get as close as possible before the shooting started to minimize the amount of time Daniels would have to hold them off for. As we moved forward slowly, we strained our senses listening for the start of Daniels' attack and our cue to sprint towards the ship. Instead we heard silence, which grew ever more agonizing. If we held this position much longer the Reapers might spot us before the distraction started. Taking a risk I looked up to see Daniels still holding position but it was hard to see why he was hesitating. Reluctantly we pushed onwards, hoping that we'd reach whatever point Daniels had decided was close enough to start his attack but it was starting to get dangerous. I was just contemplating ordering Jeff to head back when Daniels finally launched his attack by lobbing three frag grenades into the enemy's midst.

I looked up again, most of the Reaper troops had turned to fight but there were still two soldiers doing nothing but watching the hatch (Makes sense when you think about it. If the Reapers view their troops as nothing more than tools; then why not have them calmly stand guard while enemy fire rains all around them?) If either of them saw us they'd alert the others and we'd be dead before we made it halfway to the hatch. So we were trapped there, forced to hug the ground while gunfire and explosions thundered around us. I started trying to get closer to the nearest of the guards (knowing it would be a miracle if I managed to take them both out without raising the alarm) when the Cannibal simply disappeared from view. The second guard looked round trying to see what had happened and a shot hit it in the back of the head.

I glanced over my right shoulder and smiled. Will was certainly a fast learner, not to mention a damn good shot. I helped Jeff to his feet and we raced to the ship. Once we were inside I told Jeff to wait by the entrance.

"What? I'm not just here for decoration either you know."

I wondered if one day a Stevenson would actually follow my orders without question but I guess it was to be expected from civilians.

"I need you to secure our escape route. Besides we both know Will won't blow the ship until you get out. Like I said to him, if things start to get bad just get out of here. Don't wait for me any longer than you can afford to."

I set off in the direction I believed the bridge ought to be but it got harder and harder to navigate as I pushed deeper into the ship. With no power, the wide elegant corridors that marked their architecture became vast dark caverns, easy to become lost in. I was forced to grope my way along the outer walls or else risk missing passageways entire. Half blind as I was it was hardly surprising that someone saw me before I saw them.

The first I saw of them was when the sunlight, breaking through a hull breach in the roof, glinted off the weapon they had leveled at my chest. I froze and taking my chances in the fact he didn't look like a Husk I raised. my hands in surrender.

"I'm with the Alliance. We're here to help."

"I see."

The first shock, as he stepped forward into the light was that this was a Drell, an uncommon enough sight in and of itself (their species did not develop space travel as the other races had. Instead a small number of them were rescued and integrated into the galactic community when an ecological disaster threatened their homeworld). But there was more to it than that, he was dressed in filthy rags, so badly torn in places that I could see the bright green skin beneath. He'd obviously managed scrounge up a few pieces of armor from somewhere which provided some protection but also left gaping holes open to attack. Most captivating of all were his large jet black eyes, filled with more venom and suppressed anger than I had ever seen in any member of his kind I'd met before.

He seemed surprised, almost shocked really by my answer but he did at least lower his weapon.

"Anderson? Huh, that was easier than I was expecting."

"What do you mean?"

"She came here looking for you. Sort of. Never believed we'd actually find you in all this mess personally."

"Who? What for?"

"There's no time to explain while we're under siege .How'd you get in here?"

"We've cleared an exit route at the back of the ship, we need to get everyone out of here now."

"That's the Justicar's call. I can take you to her but stay close, this section's crawling with Husks."

At that point I can remember thinking, a Justicar? This just kept getting stranger. Justicars are an ancient order of Asari law enforcers. Don't think of them like regular cops, they're more like a warrior sect sworn to bring justice to the galaxy. Upon joining the order an Asari is required to forsake all worldly possessions (aside from some essentials like amour and weapons)and swears several oaths that bind them into obeying the Justicar Code. The Code is a set of thousands of rules used to determine the actions a Justicar must take in any conceivable situation. Justicars are incredibly rare and almost solely operate within Asari space due to their often severe tactics. Asari revere them greatly but other races would be less likely to accept their sometimes brutal idea of justice. Meeting one on Earth might literally be the last thing I expected.

Much of this went through my head as we ran deeper into the ship. We encountered Husks several times (I was told they'd breached the outer defenses and then scattered throughout the ship) but they were simple enough to defeat in small numbers. Eventually we reached what was left of the bridge which was engulfed in a firefight. The Reapers had swarmed most of the room but several of the crew were still fighting back, using their consoles as cover. We needed to break up this assault as quickly as possible to give us time to retreat so I lobbed two frag grenades into the Reapers midst and ducked behind the nearest cover available, dragging the Drell with me.

The grenades tore a large hole in the enemy and turned all the attackers attention on me. This, as it turned out, was a mistake for them. I heard a shot to my right and turned round in time to see a shotgun wielding Asari vaulting over a console before her last victim (a marauder) had even hit the ground. This I realized must be the Justicar, a suspicion that was confirmed a few moments later when her biotics sent a huge chunk of debris flying across the room. A couple of the Cannibals avoided the projectile, a few of the Husks managed to duck and the rest were flattened, knocked down like bowling pins.

I thought about trying to assist but it simply wasn't necessary. She moved in on the two still standing and drawing a dagger from its sheath on her hip, killed the first with a single stab through the heart. She threw the body at its companion, staggering it and turned to face the Husks who were getting to their feet. Another blast of biotics left the Husks scattered and broken and she finished off the performance by spinning round and blowing the last Cannibal's head off (I hadn't even seen it get back into the fight).

My grenades had cleared a fair number of the enemy to start with but still the feat left little doubt why the Justicar have such a fearsome reputation. More than a dozen enemies had fallen in as many seconds.

"Justicar?"

"My name is Lara T'Ren, you are Admiral Anderson?"

"You know me? Actually nevermind, we need to evacuate everyone right now."

"The Code does not permit me to flee when there are enemies left to-"

"Look" I said speaking quickly as I knew more Reaper troops would arrive soon and desperately wanting to avoid an argument that put me on the wrong side of the Code.

"My team is fighting to hold open an exit route for us. Half of them are volunteer civilians. Innocents."

The Justicar smiled at me briefly.

"Thank you, the Code demands that I must assist."

Speaking into a comm device she called for an immediate retreat and we all started to fall back just as the next wave (Marauders and Husks mostly) broke into the room. A tactical retreat swiftly became a race to escape as the Marauders let loose the Husks to hunt us down. They chased after us shouting and snarling like rapid animals as we ran down the corridors towards the exit.

As the Justicar fell back with her best fighters to hold them off I found myself without a guide. It quickly became clear that the rest of the crew only had a limited knowledge of the ship's layout as well so we all found ourselves in the same dark labyrinth pursued by creatures of nightmare. Once I opened a door only to find half a dozen Husks behind it. They would have killed me then had the other Asari's biotics not forced the door closed again, their combined effort enough to deny entry to the snarling animals on the other side.

Finally we ran into Jeff who was still standing guard near the hatch with two dead Husks at his feet. For a moment I thought he might collapse with relief at the sight of us but I ordered him and the others to get out.

"Once you get outside, don't stop running until you reach the trees, we're gonna blow the ship."

Well that certainly got them moving and I held back with T'Ren (who had joined us eventually) while they climbed through the hatch one by one. It was slower than I liked but we finally got down to just me and the Justicar without incident.

"OK you next, I'll be the last one out and signal Will to blow this thing."

She slid out feet first through the hatch, as she looked back at the last second she cried out.

"Admiral, behind you!"

I turned round quickly to see a Marauder coming round the corner at the end of the passageway. I froze for a moment expecting to be shot at but what actually happened was far worse.

"Assuming direct control."

The creature doubled over in pain and would fall under Harbinger's control within seconds. I decided not to hang around for a chat this time and bolted through the escape hatch. When I got out a couple of the others were still hanging around outside the ship.

"Go, go, run!" I roared at them sprinting away from the ship myself as I signaled Will to blow the damn thing. He hesitated for a while, giving us a chance to get clear and then took the shot. When I asked him about it later on he said he saw a face with two glowing eyes emerging from the hatch just before he took the shot.

The explosion was massive; I didn't see it but I could feel the force and the heat on my back as I ran. I was knocked off my feet by the blast but had to quickly force myself to get up again.

Most of the Reaper forces had been destroyed in the ship as I'd hoped but Daniel's group was still engaging several more that had attacked his position. We snuck up behind this lot, taking them by surprise before they knew what hit them. I turned to face the enemy on the other side of the clearing but those bug things had already gotten into position and were starting to lay down heavy fire on our group. So we ran, into the trees and fled like the devil himself was after us (because he was).

Harbinger was coming.