Log 20
Date: 4TH NOV 2186
Location: UNKNOWN
"Can't this thing go any faster?"
We had buried Jeff back in the forest near Concrete. There wasn't time for a proper ceremony after the doctor's threat but we made sure his body wouldn't be dishonored. I thought Will would want to say a few words but he simply demanded we head back to his village.
We had already tried reaching them on the comm but all the channels were being scrabbled(we didn't have a QEC available). So instead we had all squeezed aboard Daniel's shuttle and set course back to the village of Welcome at top speed.
Inside the shuttle the mood was tense. The shuttle wasn't designed to hold so many so conditions were cramped and many of us were mourning the loss of at least one comrade after the results of that ambush had been tallied up. Five dead (about a quarter of the entire squad) and three more injured. I was in the cockpit acting as copilot for Daniels but I could still sense the hostility particularly from Will.
"Sit down," I called back. "If we try to go any faster we'll burn out the engines before we get there."
"And it'd be harder for you to write that stupid book," muttered Will.
Well okay maybe it hadn't been the most appropriate moment but it helped clear my head and make sense of everything that had happened during the ambush. If the village was under siege when we arrived I would need to be focused.
Will was riled up and looking for a fight with anyone. I couldn't blame him, he'd lost his father and his entire village was now probably under attack. But in his current state of mind he was a danger to himself and others, particularly when we were about to face Cerberus. Given the option I would've left him behind but it hadn't really been practical (who could say if there were any of those monsters still left back there). Now I faced a nightmare situation, under normal circumstances Will wouldn't be allowed within a hundred miles of this battle but I couldn't see any way of avoiding it. I decided on trying to confront the problem now, it would still be bad but dealing with it in the middle of a war zone would be worse.
"Do we have a problem son?" I asked.
"You let my father die while you were busy chatting to your new best friend."
Well nothing like cutting to the chase from the start. I lowered my head in acknowledgment of his words.
"I don't think it would have affected the outcome-" Xi Chan began saying before I silenced him with a look.
"I'm sorry Will, I let myself get distracted. I- I thought we had won, I'm sorry."
"What good does that do him now?"
"I liked your father Will, he was honest and hardworking and he cared for his family more than anything else. He didn't deserve to die that way."
"Die what way exactly? What the hell were those things?"
Oh boy this was not going to be a good discussion but they all deserved to know what they were up against.
"A new Cerberus weapon. It's based on a Reaper virus that," I paused for a moment unwilling to continue.
"That what?"
"That transforms suitable hosts into those things we fought. They're called adjutants."
"Suitable hosts Admiral?" prompted Xi Chan.
"Humans," I began dully "Asari, Turians, Salarians, most sentient species in fact."
They was a short silence in the shuttle as they all
"We were fighting people?" Daniels wondered aloud.
"So Cerberus is no better than the Reapers then," was General Coberg's reaction.
But Will's reaction was by far the worst.
"Serov said he wanted to take the villagers for experiments..." he whispered and I could see the horror rising in his eyes. "Those creatures we fought... were they?"
"No," I said firmly. "Daniels just flew here directly from Welcome. There's no way they could have been from your village."
"But it's still going to happen to them isn't it? That's what Serov wants them for."
"We're going to stop him. But I need you to stay focused and be careful."
"Careful!"
"I promised your father that I'd keep you safe. It was one of the last things we talked about before he died. I know you're angry but keep your head down. I've already lost one of you to this war, I'm not losing you too."
I turned round to face Daniels again hoping my pep talk (probably the wrong word to describe it) had helped somewhat.
"How long 'till we get there?"
"We've passed over the mountains now, I'd say about ten more minutes."
I turned my attention back to the view ahead watching as the village rolled into sight. It was immediately apparent that the siege had already begun. Cerberus had brought a small army to launch the assault and the was a hailstorm of fire being exchanged between groups of Cerberus fighters and the increasingly surrounded resistance who were sheltered in the nearby buildings. I could see three main groups attacking the settlement. There were two smaller flanking groups (about thirty to forty odd each) made up of ordinary Cerberus fighters. Those groups were trying to distract the enemy, using heavy armored troops to shield them while their snipers targeted anyone they could see.
The third, far larger group was making a frontal assault, attempting to push its way into the heart of the village where most of the civilians would be hidden away. That army consisted of Cerberus fighters (many), Adjutants (several more than I'd ever wanted to see again) but front and center were the Atlases. The Atlas is Cerberus's most heavy duty ground assault unit. Essentially no less than a walking tank, each one is equipped with a rocket launcher to attack large enemies and a chain gun to rip apart smaller targets. Not to mention its heavy armor and shielding. There were eight Atlases on the field, probably every single one Serov had but more than enough to crush any resistance in their path.
They soon began to notice our arrival and a rocket shot up to greet us. Daniels swerved wildly and managed to avoid getting us blown out of the sky. He opened fire on the offending Atlas and reduced it to scrap metal within seconds.
Unfortunately this caught the attention of the rest of the Atlases who turned on us like a pack of wolves finding new prey. This time they unleashed a lethal rain of incoming fire from their chain guns. Daniels did his best but there was no way to avoid all the incoming vectors of attack and our kinetic barriers were being wiped out.
"Land it!" I shouted at him.
Daniel tried to bring it down in a controlled landing within the siege perimeter but the enemy guns were relentless. I heard one of the engines explode and realized the kinetic barriers would fail within minutes.
"Just get it on the ground!" I roared at him.
Daniels landed the shuttle on the edges of the village and we all raced to get out of the ship before it was destroyed. Most of us left via the rear entrance and scrabbled for cover. Will on the other hand left out of the front and charged directly at the attacking force. Well so much for nipping the problem in the bud. Cursing I sprinted after him, tackling him to the ground just as a rocket shot over our heads and destroyed the shuttle. I grabbed Will by the arm and dragged him up, pulling him with me as we headed for cover. I didn't care how much I was hurting him now, I just needed to get him out of the line of fire.
We broke into a nearby house, two Cerberus troopers were already there but I caught them off guard with my shotgun. After that was finished I turned to Will, startling him with my fury.
"You want to die out here son? You pull a stunt like that again and I'll let you."
"I have to find my mother!" he cried out before shouting in alarm as I knocked him to the ground. I then signaled a couple of men to join us in the house.
"I am going to find her Will. And when I do can you tell me how I explain to her that I let you get yourself killed?" I asked him harshly, to my shame achieving exactly the kind of shocked response I'd been going for.
"These men are going to see that you stay here. If he puts one foot outside that door, shoot him in the leg, understood?"
Seeing that escape was hopeless Will grimly picked up his rifle and took aim through one of the windows. He sighted on a Cerberus soldier running into one of the nearby buildings and the target went down with a hole in the side of his head. I nodded my approval hoping desperately that he would do anything else stupid. I hated myself for leaving him there (so much so that it was like a physical pain in my chest) but I couldn't take him with me into the heavier fighting in his current state and I couldn't stay with him myself without abandoning my duty. Trying to clear my head of all the horrifying scenarios that could befall Will while I was gone, I gathered the rest of the men and entered the fray.
We were still cut off from the main force but it did mean that the flanking squad attacking from the east was now facing a fight on two fronts. The battle lines collapsed into a confused mess as my squad entered the fray. I needed to break through the enemy lines so I could find out what the situation was. I called several of my men to me and made to charge through. Lara, Daniels and Coberg fell in behind me and we were able to skirt round the enemy squad only facing the occasional combatant. We hit some issues along the way, a turret set up on a narrow corridor we had to detour round, one time we rounded a corner and came face to face with an Adjutant (not a pleasant experience on a number of levels not to mention a shock. In the end Lara froze it in place with a biotic barrier and the General left it afew grenades as a souvenir).
When we finally did break through our situation didn't improve much. We were now standing in the main target area, explosions thundered around us as we raced to try and find someone in charge. Unfortunately in a battle there's rarely an opportunity to ask anyone for directions. Well we did ask the soldiers but in the confusion none of them had any real idea. Still after getting lost in the ruins (twice) and having a brief argument over where to look (which ended when another Adjutant jumped us) we finally located Colonel Travis and Major Coats. They were huddled in a small building near the front which had been hastily fortified against incoming fire. The others stayed outside and joined the fighting while myself and Daniels went inside.
As we approached both officers stood up and saluted me.
"Good to see you back sir," said Coats. "As you can see we're in a bit of a situation."
"How bad is it?" I asked.
The Colonel exchanged glances with the Major but she then decided to lead the briefing.
"We're keeping the enemy back sir but only just. We're holding the perimeter for the moment but Cerberus keeps sending troops and those creatures to slip through our lines and wear us down."
"I'm surprised they haven't tried to punch through with their heavy weapons," I remarked. The Colonel gave me a smile.
"They've been trying but we've had a fair while to prepare this area for an assault," she explained. She then pointed to the map in front of her.
"Most of the larger buildings in the center have been equipped with kinetic barriers and cannons. Xi Chan managed to salvage them from the shuttles we bought from Vancouver after we started to run out of fuel to use them all. We're sheltering all of the noncombatants there as well."
I nodded. "They'll keep pushing us though, how long do you think we can keep them at bay?"
"Hopefully until reinforcements arrive? We managed to get word to another resistance cell not far from here before Cerberus blocked communications."
"So we hold out here until help arrives?"
The two officers exchanged glances again.
"What are you not telling me?"
"Some of the kinetic barriers we took from the shuttle aren't functioning properly, including the one around the generator building that powers all of our defenses."
"You didn't think to check them?"
"The fault was very subtle, the affected units work just not well enough to do any good. Whoever sabotaged them clearly knew what they were doing."
"Sabotage?"
"We think it was done on the original shuttles back in Vancouver."
I suddenly noticed my headache had flared up again, I pulled my helmet off and rubbed my eyes in tiredness and frustration. I like to think I'm not a violent man, a man of action yes but I don't reveal in causing pain. That said if I ever learned who had betrayed us at Vancouver? Well indoctrinated or not that man would pay dearly for what he's done.
"Is the generator secure?"
"We don't know, we've been cut off from that area since the attack. We've heard sounds of fighting in that direction but it's hard to say how they're holding up."
"We have to get more troops through to support them."
"We need to be careful Cerberus may not actually be aware of the value of that target yet. If we launch a major assault we risk alerting them." warned Major Coats.
"We could try splitting up," suggested Daniels. "Smaller groups might stand a better chance of getting through without alerting suspicion."
I nodded.
"Let's get on with this before Cerberus find out they've already won the battle."
We went outside and explained the situation, I decided not to mention the possible sabotage for the time being.
"Two teams of three" I said. "Xi Chan and Lara will come with me. Daniels is the only other one that might be able to repair the defenses so he goes with the General and Major Coats."
"Can we hold the building with just the six of us?" asked the General critically.
"We don't have many other options. If Cerberus finds out about this target and throws their full force at it we can't defend it. It's too far outside our perimeter, our best chance is to take out any Cerberus troops nearby and bunker down inside. Maybe Cerberus won't focus on that building before our reinforcements arrive."
"And if they do?"
I didn't bother to answer, we all knew if Cerberus learned the six of us were all that was preventing their victory, we would die.
"I know its desperate but that's what we were in for from the beginning in this war. Let's just get it done."
"Yeah but that was meant to mean fighting Reapers," muttered Coberg before leading his party away.
We made it through the enemy perimeter much more easily this this time. Cerberus wasn't focused on this area so a small group could get past. Unfortunately the building itself was a different story. Cerberus's army had swept through here wiping out the resistance as they went. Worse yet we could see several troopers were still there through the windows. Xi Chan explained that the generator had been hidden behind a false wall but that Cerberus would have scanners that would still find it pretty quickly.
"Wait here for the other team, I'll clear out those troops."
"I would be the logical choice to go Admiral, I am the stronger warrior," Lara stated matter of factly. Was I going to argue that point? Fat chance. I'd already dismissed the possibility of arguing fighting ability with a Justicar.
"You're right but the one's inside don't look too difficult. Stay here and protect Xi Chan in case anything else comes along."
She grudgingly agreed to this and the two of them remained crouched behind a low wall as I approached careful to stay out of view of the windows. I crept up to the front door weapon in hand, preparing to ambush them. This was slightly spoiled when they came rushing out of the building towards me. Slightly awkward but they seemed just as surprised to see me as I was them. I caught the first man off guard with a shotgun blast that flung him backwards into the second. The third trooper managed to get round them as they collapsed but took the second shot and went down. The second trooper managed to get back up but instead of attacking he began sprinting away. Leaving him for Lara to pick off I headed inside to seek out any remaining troops before I called the others inside.
I searched each room in turn until near the back of the house I heard a muffled constant beeping noise. It took me three seconds to realize why the soldiers had been running out of the building when I arrived and two seconds after that to smash my way out of the nearest window and start running away. Ten seconds later the bomb went off taking most of the house with it.
The explosion knocked me off my feet and destroyed my shields (no idea what maniac set the charges but I think he overdid it). I was knocked conscious by the blast but I've no idea how long for. When I awoke Cerberus soldiers were standing over me as I lay defenseless. To my right Lara and Xi Chan were surrounded by soldiers and Adjutants and had their hands up. I tried to count the number of dead Adjutants at Lara's feet but lost track at about a dozen.
As I looked round our militia and civilians were being loaded onto vehicles guarded by Cerberus soldiers. I let myself fall back, lying flat against the ground, not wanting to see any more. We had spent what felt like years fighting the Reapers and now thanks to these insane fanatics we had lost. I felt certain that this would cost us the war on Earth. I had no real idea what Cerberus wanted but they were throwing all of our lives away to get it. Most terrifyingly of all (particularly to anyone who has ever seen their experiments) we were now prisoners of Cerberus.