Log 30

Date: 18TH DEC 2186

Location: NORTH SEA

So there I was, hiding in the attic of a house in Oslo. Alone but for a single wounded soldier. Somewhere in the city I knew Harbinger would be leading a hunt for me and any Marauder that saw me would become his puppet. As far as the Reapers were concerned I had the most recognizable face on the planet.

Our goal still remained the same, we needed to reach London where we would rendezvous with all the surviving members of the Resistance. I knew that many, many more of us had escaped the ambush at the station but attempting to contact them would be far too risky (frankly I was the last person you'd want with you given the circumstances). Each group would have to make their way to London separately, all I could do was wish the others luck.

The original plan (prior to us being dumped miles away from the station in Russia and then the train blowing up) was to meet up with the Norwegian resistance cell in this city who had assured us they had a means of getting us into the UK. According to their orders they would have left the city themselves at least a week ago in order to make the rendezvous (all resistance plans include strict instructions on how to precede in the event that a contact is late. After twelve hours assume death and if appropriate attempt to complete their mission yourselves).

However there was still a chance that their base hadn't yet been compromised. Most of the resistance wouldn't know where to find it but luckily I had helped advise them on the location after their previous base in Akershus Castle was discovered and demolished by Reaper forces. Given that was the case going there would be unlikely to put any any of the other groups at risk. The base offered at best a clue as to how the resistance had planned to get us into the UK, at worst a secure place to hide while we planned our next move.

The replacement base was in fact situated in the Stjernehop Operahus (an Opera house apparently). Such buildings were often used by the resistance as they went largely ignored by the Reapers who focused on destroying utilities, infrastructure and capturing population centers. Entertainment buildings generally were usually the last to be hit, a small but important advantage for us.

We did our best to make our way through towards the base. Progress was slowed down by the Reaper forces on every street corner. Frustratingly from what I'd seen so far of Oslo it's a very open plan city. Wide open roads, not too many tight corners or convenient places to hide (at least as far as I could see). We darted from building to building mostly, using them as cover.

In many ways it reminded me of that first day I had of this hell (God that feels like it was years ago now). Me, Daniels and Hetford ducking through the streets of Vancouver, trying to keep out of the Reaper's way. Daniels is even wounded again, though this time it's not from a Gunship crash but from fighting those Asari Reaper things (need to think up a better name for them, Shriekers maybe?). Anyway those Shriekers (I'm sticking with the name) have cut him up pretty bad. He got several stab wounds for his trouble after taking them on.

In truth he's never been quite right since the incident on the train. His injuries slowly healed (though you can still see some burn marks on his face and neck) but he's been quieter and more withdrawn. I got used to having him constantly at my elbow, eager for orders. Since that day on the train he's continued to do his duty to the letter but otherwise he's kept to himself. Even used duty as an excuse to avoid the rest of us at times.

"How're you holding up over there?" I'd ask him.

"Quiet sir, I think I hear someone coming," the reply came back. There never was anyone coming but I chose not to call him on it. He was right to be cautious, in fact I wondered if my concern for the boy wasn't allowing my own professionalism to slip.

In the end it took us the best part of a day to reach the base (most of it spent hiding in buildings while Reapers stalked the streets below). No sign of Reaper forces inside, no sign of resistance members either. We navigated our way through the main hall (took a while, a Reaper pot shot had caved in half the ceiling) and made our way to the basement.

There we started to see more signs that we had in fact come to the right place. Mostly noticeably the two dead Husks nailed to the wall outside the entrance to the underground complex. I sighed, war trophies weren't something I'd ever endorsed in the Vancouver resistance cell but sooner or later soldiers always find some way of keeping score. It wasn't long before they started to forget Husks had ever been human.

We left the ghoulish display behind us for the time being and entered the complex. Before the war this area had been used as backstage for the opera house. There were prop rooms, management offices and even rooms for performers to sleep in if they needed it after a late night performance. A perfect hideout for a resistance cell in many ways (I'd actually heard about it from a colleague who'd been given a tour at the opening in 2178).

We found what we were after in the main office. It was a fairly chaotic mess inside, noticeboards covered with info on Reaper movements, images of their different troop types (often with tallies scratched into the photos). At the back there was a wall covered in photos of people with the title 'Wall of remembrance' above it. I studied the photo's and read each of the name's trying to commit them to memory. It was difficult not to think that I had failed every single one of them.

The desks were cluttered with data pads and while I searched the boards, Daniels went through them one by one. To my surprise quite a lot of the intel gathered related to London. Reaper fleet movements in that direction, estimates of total strength in the region, lists of known scouts sent to take a closer look (many of which were crossed out).

Unfortunately there was still very little concrete information about what was happening within the city itself. There were references to fortifications, mention of anti-aircraft cannons being put in place but beyond the outer perimeter, nothing. There were however some hopeful (if fragmented) information on how the resistance was getting on. 'Paris, Berlin & Moscow cells reached the Hague rendezvous, still waiting on arrival from Rome, (Athens)?' and 'higher than expected number of survivors from Dublin massacre now in position on Isle of Man, awaiting further instructions'. Encouraging stuff but it left me concerned about the fate of several other resistance cells.

"I think I've found something sir," Daniels called out.

"What is it?"

"It looks like a plan of how the Oslo resistance hoped to get us into Britain."

"Anything we can still use?"

"Apparently the Reapers are still maintaining a supply line of cargo containers, across the North Sea."

"I thought the Reapers didn't bother to maintain supply lines except for troops transports."

"Apparently here they seem to be using them to transport construction materials, mostly titanium, aluminum and various carbon based alloys."

"Why don't they simply use Reapers to transfer the supplies?" I wondered.

"It's probably to do with the limitations of operating within the atmosphere. Usually Reapers have to reduce mass through their mass effect drives to enable operation in that environment, it's likely adding a lot of extra weight would put an additional strain on them."

"They can't do it?" I asked surprised to hear the Reapers still had limitations.

"I wouldn't say can't definitively, I'd need weeks to calculate a more exact answer. I suspect the Reapers avoid it as the energy drain might compromise their defense capabilities."

"Well that's certainly interesting," I commented. "I assume their plan was to try and get on one of these cargo ships? It seems pretty risky."

"Well according to this the next one leaves in three days."

"That's quite a wait," I muttered then paused glancing at Daniels wound.

"But at least it gives the others a chance to get away. Come on let's get the wound redressed and find somewhere to spend the night."

Three days in hiding, frankly I'd (almost) rather have been back down in the tunnels again. Over that short period we quickly learned where the Reapers were getting the raw materials they would be shipping to London. They were ripping the city apart. Buildings torn down and disassembled, skycars dragged off the streets and hauled away to be crushed.

Predictably the Reapers were incredibly methodical in this activity, each building in a street was demolished and then the ruins disassembled by Husks. They separated out the various elements in each case, taking what they needed and breaking the rest down until there was little or no evidence the building had ever existed.

From the limited amount we could see from the roof of the Opera House they'd already destroyed Grunerlokka and Sentrum and were now working on Majorstuen (read the names off the map in the base, I assume they're districts). Frankly we were only lucky we were lucky not to find ourselves in the middle of it while we'd been wandering around the city looking for this base. Hopefully we're safe for the time being, the Opera House is in a far less built up area of the city so we think they won't bother us here just yet.

There's no mention of any of this is the Oslo resistance's notes so we have to assume it's a recent development with prior shipments coming from the debris of other cities. If so then it looks like their rate of destruction is considerable. It's hard to pinpoint exactly when the Oslo resistance left but by my estimate the city can't have much more than three weeks left at best.

As the third day started to draw to a close I recalled the next part of the plan with some dread. The resistance cell here had come up with an ingenious plan to get us aboard the cargo transport that offered virtually no chance of being detected. All good points in its favour, the bad news came in the form of a parachute, two parachutes to be exact.

The plan was simple. The resistance cell had managed to acquire the remaining prototype UT-47A Kodiaks that were being manufactured nearby. These shuttles possess limited stealth capabilities based on the stealth systems of the SSV Normandy. In theory you could fly one of these to London undetected but as that particular experiment had resulted in the loss of a shuttle, pilot and crew their notes advised using them for short hops to avoid attracting attention. So our job would be to fly the last shuttle over the cargo ship after it had set sail and well... Like I said, parachutes were involved.

Since my last parachuting experience had ended up with me staring down the barrel of a Harvester's cannon, I could only hope it ended better this time. As the evening began Daniels declared that the shuttle's engine troubles were repaired (there was a reason the previous occupants had left it behind) and that it would be safe to take off.

We stayed above the clouds for most of the flight to avoid any chance of being seen by the enemy (the Kodiak has great enhancements to hide you from enemy scans, being actually seen less so). Well we tried to at any rate. It was very dark by then (we didn't even have the lights of the city to help us) and worse yet Daniel's repairs turned out to be less than perfect.

"What do you mean it's not working properly?" I asked.

"The number two engine isn't firing properly, we're struggling to maintain altitude."

"Can we make it to the cargo ship?"

"We'll have to unless we want to put her down in the water. We should be okay."

"Glad to hear it," I called out, crossing my fingers. I was starting to wonder if we'd ever catch a break on our journey to London. So far we'd been marooned, had a train crash, been hunted and were facing the possibility of sinking in a shuttlecraft.

"Next time stay at home," I muttered to myself and hunkered down waiting for us to get in range. As it turned out I didn't have to wait very long. About five minutes later Daniels came through into the back and opened the exterior hatch.

"This is about the best I can do sir, it's now or never."

The shuttle rocked and I was almost thrown out of the hatch before Daniels caught me.

"Steady there sir," he shouted over the roaring winds.

We jumped and began to fall towards the ship. Or were we? As we kept falling I began to see what Daniels had meant by 'the best he could do'. On one side I saw the shuttle tumbling out of the sky and directly below me the cargo ship. Too close, far too close really. Ideally we would've started considerably ahead of the ship to make it easier to land on our target, now there was a risk it could pass straight under us!

All these thoughts blew past me in about a second, years of tactical training telling me what to expect and the only way we'd have a chance of avoiding a splash down. Wait until the last second before opening our chutes. The longer we waited to open the less time we'd spend in the air, watching helplessly as the ship disappeared from underneath us. I swore and cursed as we raced downwards, fearing an injury from another bad landing. If that happened I'd be exposed and vulnerable in enemy territory.

On the deck below us there were about fifty or so Cannibals and a handful of Marauders that I could see but undoubtedly there would be more elsewhere on board. And not just onboard either, as I looked out across the sea I noticed for the first time we had an additional escort namely a flock of Harvesters flying alongside us.

Despite the clear risk of being spotted eventually we had no choice but to open our chutes and drift the final stretch down to the ship. The ship's exhaust fumes helped to hide us somewhat (even if we couldn't see much ourselves either) and we eventually landed atop a cargo container on the top deck and and breathed a sigh of relief.

"Okay then. We'll find somewhere to hide and then spend the next few hours trying to avoid Reaper detection."

Daniels nodded slowly so on that note I led us through an open door and deeper into the heart of the ship. Much as hiding well above everyone on deck had seemed like a good idea at first I knew it wouldn't take the Harvesters long to spot us. Frankly it was a miracle they hadn't already. Still day by day, hour by hour we are moving closer to London. My hometown where Harbinger currently rules from. He doesn't know it yet but I have a surprise in store for him.