Hello and welcome back. As I said last chapter, I will be introducing some Ancient Human tech for Lorent, and some other things before we get to "Earth". So I hope you enjoy this chapter, please give me some feedback on how you like/dislike it. Thank you for reading!(Edited to proper format.)
Yprin lead Lorent down a long stretch of hallway. Unlike the first corridor, this one was wider, and had more doors on each side. Eventually it ended, bringing them to a large room, something akin to a hangar. As Yprin "walked" Lorent asked with curiosity "What was this world in your time?" She smiled and replied "This was an experimental weapons and technology station we had made during the war. We made the best innovations in weaponry and armor here than we had in a millennia. See, unlike the Forerunners who lived in their armor, we could shed ours at any time. Our armor works like a second skin, it is made with a highly resilient alloy that only the Precursors could make. It also had three layers of shields to protect the user. The inner layer was comprised of a crystalline reactive layer. This augmented the user's actions tremendously. The suit also has a compliment of self-renewing nanites within it. They will be able to repair most damage that would occur. The suit itself is powered by a small artificial star, that has been sealed with a dyson sphere." Lorent looks on at her, widening eyes behind his helmet. "They used a star to power their armor…" he thought dryly.
They continued walking towards their destination, which appeared to be some sort of medical bay. Lorent stopped before entering, having a flashback of his augmentation procedure at Onyx. He shook his head, abolishing that memory back into the deep recesses of his mind. As he cast his gaze over the room, he noticed the "beds" were actually tubes, with a black padding inside them. He walked over to one and looked at it quizzically. Until Yprin appeared beside it. He focused his attention to her as she spoke "This room is where we made our soldiers better. Naturally we were strong. Stronger than your generation. But the Forerunners knew this, and began making their Soldiers stronger, forcing us to follow suite. These augmentations were chemical based, as opposed to your own of course; We had cybernetic implants, but most turned them down. On average, we used to stand around 3 meters tall. While our soldiers exceeded that, they were around 5 meters tall. If you choose to do this, these augmentations should be able to make you stronger by a factor of 10. Your speed will be unrivaled, your reactions would not be seen. These should be able to blend with your current augmentations, and since you are still a boy, your body shall grow to our standards. It will take a while, but it will happen. Do you wish to have this done to you?" She asked looking at Lorent's visor. He sat still and thought of the benefits, running his finger over his armor as he remembered the pain of his augmentations, his bones still ached to some degree. He thought about what Kurt had told him at Onyx. "Son, you will need every advantage you can get. Spartans live to win. By any means necessary." This is what Kurt had told him before his augmentation procedure. Clenching his fist, Lorent replied "I will do it."
A few hours later
Lorent blinked a few times, the ceiling of the room coming into focus as his senses rebooted, so to speak. He tried to raise his torso up, but found himself restrained. Looking around, he saw Yprin looking at him with a look of confusion. He returned the look and replied "Why am I restrained?" he asked. She blinked a few times and stood with a surprised posture. "Your… your body. It grew at an exponential rate. Your muscles tripled in density and mass, it was… surprising. I restrained you because I didn't want you to be harmed by your own movements." As she said this, the restraints lifted up and off of him. Lorent sat up, looking down at his body. He was taken aback by what he saw. His already impressive build had become (to Yprin's word) triple what it had been. He then slid out of the pod, his legs touching the ground as he swung them over. The cold metal surface of the floor surprised him. Shaking his head, he began to slowly stand up. Only to fall forward, catching himself on the adjacent pod. Breathing heavily, he began standing up again. As the dizziness passed, he turned and looked down at Yprin. She in turn, looked up at him with widened eyes for a few seconds before they returned back to their normal gaze.
"Incredible, your body seems to have taken the augmentation well; You have grown approximately two meters in height, your bones have not taken any damage from the sudden growth, and your musculature is still intact. How do you feel?" Lorent looked down at his hands, and clinched them. "I feel fine. And stronger." Yprin smiled and nodded "Well, come young soldier. I will give you the tools you will need for this mission." He nodded and followed her out of the room back into the main atrium.
Walking was somewhat difficult. As he had stumbled a few times, his muscles spasming with each step. He managed to keep pace with her despite his troubles. They walked for what seemed like ages. Lorent was about to speak up in protest until they suddenly halted. They were standing at a dead end. At least it appeared that way. Yprin held out her hand and touched the wall. Almost immediately it receded back into the wall, and slid out of view. She stepped through it, her luminous form lighting the dark space. She walked for about ten paces, she then stopped and raised her arms forward, causing the room to be bathed in a blue light. Stepping in himself, Lorent noticed that they appeared to be in some sort of armory, with sleek weapons levitating in place, and multiple rows of armor. Looking back to Yprin, he saw her motion her left arm to the right, causing a set of armor to appear from the floor. It looked menacing; it was black in color, with red lights running up and down the upper body, and most likely, around to the back of the legs from what he could see. The armor looked heavy, yet sleek at the same time. It had no protrusions coming from it. Unlike the Mjolnir armor series, it was all flat. Excluding the helmet, which appeared to have no visor, only sloped armor and two curved lines running from the top to the bottom neck guard. On the back it had what appeared to be a EVA kit of some kind. That was his best guess at least.
He stepped forward to the armor, looking up and down it as he inspected it. He was interrupted as Yprin spoke "This is the diekdikitis, or challenger armor. The mainline of armor sets in our time. Like I said before, it carries three layers of shields; the outer layer is comprised of highly excited photons, or hard light, the middle layer is a magnetic field of plasma, the final layer is a form of particle shielding that was developed later in the war against the Forerunners." she said, pausing for him to absorb the information. She then continued. "This armor is slightly different from the others in three ways: It is equipped with an optical camouflage emitter, usually only reserved for Elite units. The second, in the forearm sections of the armor, there are hard light emitters, which you can use as a shield, or they can be formed into a pair of blades." Lorent inwardly smirked at that piece of information. "And the final way this armor is different, is that it has a gravity well emitter. This means you can directly control the gravity in a finite area, and you can also use it to boost or propel yourself to places you can't reach, as well as lifting things." Lorent was amazed by the power of this one armor set, running his right hand over the breast plate. He turned to her and asked "What about weapons? And if I am staying for a prolonged amount of time, how will I have enough ammunition?"
She just simply smiled and replied "I have the solution to both problems, my dear soldier." She raised her right hand, her palm and fingers facing upward, slowly turning them to the right. As she did this, a series of weapons came up from the floor, and a small device along with them. She walked forward to the weapons, pointing at the first, a sleek weapon that looked as if two isosceles triangles had been stacked together.
"This is what was known as the Type 2. It is a versatile plasma weapon. It is powered by a micro plasma reactor in the internal housing of the weapon. It should run indefinitely, so long as the weapon is not damaged." She explained, so far he was impressed by its design and the prospect of unlimited ammo. "It is capable of changing the way it fires plasma, whether it be a continuous beam, or tiny molts moving at staggering speeds. It is also capable of firing hard light jacketed plasma, which when it penetrates armor or skin, explodes on the inside."
She stepped to the right, and pointed at the next weapon."This is known as the EV14, a shoulder mounted plasma lance. Like the Type 2, it is powered by an internal plasma reactor. It generates a lance of ionized plasma, capable of firing a beam that can turn anything in its path to molten slag."
She moved onto the next weapon. The weapon itself looked like a very advanced SMG; It had no sight from what he saw, a very short barrel, and some kind of port."We called this, the LHL. It is a small weapon that is capable of firing a smaller hard light projectile at a greater velocity. It shreds shields in seconds, and is most effective at close range. It is powered externally through a ion battery, as it is too small for a plasma reactor to be an effective power source." Lorent nodded in approval, eager to hear about the last weapon.
"The last one here is known as a LR20. This is something akin to a sniper rifle. Like the Type 2, it fires a hard light jacketed plasma round, with more kinetic energy. The plasma is highly volatile, so it will explode on impact, creating a melting effect on whatever it touches or penetrates." she finished explaining.
All the weapons she had shown him were very deadly in their own way. Lorent was feeling rather excited about the thought of turning them on the Covenant. Meanwhile Yprin looked at the small device at the end of the row. She interfaced with it. For a few seconds nothing happened. Then a small slip space like portal appeared, the weapons and device being sucked into it in a flash. The portal disappeared as quickly as it came.
Lorent looked at her in bewilderment. "What the hell was that?" he rasped. Yprin just stood there and replied. "My solution. All the weapons including that device are now within a slip space bubble, it acts as storage, which you can call upon at any time. Now you can carry a vast array of weapons into battle." She said. He blinked a few times before shrugging.
He walked forward to the armor again, speaking as did. "Now how do I get this on?" he finished. Standing in front of the armor again. He felt a mild burning sensation in his neck, and it slowly progressed into a fiery pain. It caused him to drop to his knees, screaming in agony. As he screamed with his eyes closed, Yprin watched as the armor began to attach itself onto Lorent's legs, working its way up his body, the armor shifting and locking onto him with clinks. Eventually the helmet came out, two halves linking themselves around his head with a hiss. As the armor was finally locked in place, the red lines running along it began to glow, the ones on his face plate shining a blood red light down onto the floor.
Yprin watched as he shakily got to his feet. The armor appeared to have successfully attached out of slip space. "I am sorry, your neural interface had trouble adjusting. I have calibrated it, so that shouldn't happen again." she said with a tinge of sadness for causing him pain. He looked down at her. He nodded in acceptance and replied. "It's fine ma'am, I've felt worse." he replied stoically.
Yprin smiled at his bravery. "A true soldier of Humanity... How are the armor systems functioning?" Lorent looked at his HUD. It had allot of new features, such as the gravity well emitter, Optical Camo, hard Light emitters, and what appeared to be a menu of some kind. He tried to blink to activate it, and was surprised when he was propelled twenty feet in the air. He landed with a crash. "Ow."
Yprin chuckled "You must use your neural interface, young one. Just think of what you want to do, and the armor will make it so." He nodded, closing his eyes in concentration. He felt the armor send a chill down his spine, and he opened his eyes; He was greeted with a myriad of settings, displaying the armor's status, and the rate of fusion in the reactor. Closing the menu with a thought, he finally looked back at Yprin. "Everything appears to be green ma'am." She smiled. "Excellent, come. Now that you are equipped, I can send you on your way." Lorent nodded, following her again out of the room and back into the corridor.
He followed her through a series of hallways, until they had finally arrived at a very large room, big enough to fit a Strident Frigate with room to spare. It was very confusing to Lorent, as he had suspected he would be going by ship."Where is the ship?" she smiled mischievously "You won't need one." and true to her word, a bright light suddenly was cast across the room. He didn't have to shield his eyes due to the armor already doing it in milliseconds. In the center of the room, was a man-sized slip space portal.
He turned to her and looked down into her eyes. "Where does this lead?" She raised her right arm, flipping it palm side up, and a picture of Earth was displayed. "This is their home world. Like yours, they call it 'Earth'. I suspect the Precursors have something to do with it, as my scans haven't detected anything artificial, other than the settlements on the planet. I will try and get you on the planet. Unfortunately, silp space seems to be more erratic here. Making portals like these is highly unpredictable. Worst case scenario, you end up in orbit around it. Your Armor is suited for EVA operations for more than eight hours, so you should be fine."
He didn't feel reassured in the slightest, but he had no choice other than to trust her. So with that in mind, he took slow, cautious steps towards the portal, pausing his approach to the spiraling portal, he looked back at Yprin. "What if these people don't believe me?" She smiled, her eyes glowing with… hope? "I have provided you with sufficient data. Go now, help them any way you can. Goodbye, young soldier." He looked back at the portal, staring ahead. "My name is Lorent." he said before stepping through the portal. As it closed, Yprin smiled and whispered to him, even though he couldn't hear her. "Good luck… Lorent."
Location: Earth Sol system
Date: 2186, 6 months after the attack on the Citadel.
Time: 1400 hours GMT
Lorent came tumbling out of slip space. He began tumbling uncontrollably. He began to realize he was somewhere in space. Thinking quickly, he activated the EVA pack on his back, producing his own gravity bubble, and stopping immediately. Using the tiny RCS thrusters, he turned around, his breath hitching in his throat. Sitting before him in the void, was the unmistakable blue marble Humanity had called home for its entire existence. Earth. Though not his own. He didn't see the ODP array that would have surrounded it. In its place however, were dozens of ships, all mobilized in battle formations. "Did they detect my portal that fast?" he wondered.
While he mused with his own thoughts, his comms began to pick up a garbled message. Adjusting them via neural lance, he could steadily hear voice saying "Re-at th- is th- ss- Kilimanjaro. What is your status over?" Satisfied he had adjusted his comms to be compatible, he responded. "I read you Kilimanjaro, currently drifting on an uncontrolled vector how copy?" The voice responded immediately. "Copy on your last. Dispatching a drop ship to your position. Hang tight." "Copy that." he then shut off his comms, already seeing a tiny spec leaving the largest ship of the fleet.
Five minutes later, the drop ship was less than a kilometer away. Lorent deactivated the gravity bubble, as to not throw the ship off course. His comms chimed again, this time a different voice came on. "This is Kodiak 2-3-bravo. I am beginning my approach." As he said that, the Kodiak slowed down, rotating forty degrees to its left, revealing the open troop compartment. Lorent straightened his body facing towards the shuttle, activating his RCS in a short burst, which carried him into the troop bay. The door closed behind him. After he was sure he was secure, he commed the pilot. "I am secure. We can proceed." The pilot chirped back "Roger that. Getting us out of the cold. Most ricky tick." Lorent just sighed. He tried to stand up, only for his head to hit the sealing with a light 'thunk'. He hadn't even began to un-arch his back. Sighing in annoyance, he chose to crouch back down.
Another five minutes passed by before he could feel the aircraft begin to land, in what he guessed was the Kilimanjaro's hangar bay. After he was sure they had landed, he turned around towards the troop bay door. It slid open, allowing him to slide back out. Looking around, no one had noticed him yet, which surprised him quite a bit. He turned around after hearing a hiss come from the cockpit. A young man stepped out, his helmet cradled under his arm. He dropped down from the Kodiak, dusting himself off. He turned around to greet the person he had just saved, he had expected to see a man in a normal EVA kit, but all he saw were a pair of legs… At eye level no less.
He slowly began to look up, until the back of his head was pressed against his neck. To say he was surprised is an understatement. He began stuttering, slowly walking backwards and tripping clumsily. His helmet dropping with a loud 'bang!'. Some other crewman began to walk over to see what the commotion was, and they stopped cold in their tracks when they saw Lorent towering over the lone pilot. One of them drew their side arms, shouting. "What in the flying fuck is a Geth doing here!? Someone call fucking security!" he yelled. Lorent was confused, and tried taking a step forward, only to be shot by the crewman. The round only caused his hard light shields to flare lightly, having not taken a percentage of his shields. Lorent stopped, and turned his head to the crazed crewman. "What the hell is a Geth? And why did he shoot me?" he asked himself. He decided to take a step back towards his previous position. The crewman didn't fire again, which confused Lorent, until his augmented hearing, picked up a cacophony of footsteps closing in on his position.
In a matter of seconds, a dozen individuals rushed from around the corner, all armed. When they reached his position, the crewman backed off, including the pilot, who had remained on the floor throughout the whole ordeal. With them out of the field of fire, the squad of what Lorent assumed was an spec-ops unit, considering the way they moved, trained their respective weapons on him. He tensed and readied himself for a fight until a deep voice called out."Hold your fire men! I said hold your fire dammit!" They look among each other, nodding and lowering their weapons. But not low enough where they couldn't be brought back up again.
They parted in the middle, and he saw a middle-aged African-American man walk through. Lorent could tell he was a battle-hardened veteran just by watching him walk. He strode through the line of soldiers, stopping when he saw the red glow from Lorent's armor. Craning his neck up, he looked at Lorent with no sign of fear visible. He then began to speak. "My name is Admiral David Anderson, and who might you be?" he asked with a calm and even tone. Lorent however, after hearing his rank stood at full attention, going into a crisp salute.
"Sir! I am Chief Petty Officer Spartan A-219. Sir!" Anderson was taken back by this creature's military response. Returning the favor he saluted him back. "At ease. Why and how can you speak our language? No known race is as tall as you and speaks our language. Also, what is that armor? I have never seen it before."
Lorent nodded. "Believe it or not sir, I am Human." he began. The Admiral was skeptical until Lorent's helmet began to clink, the sloped facial plates folding into the armor. Revealing a very young man, maybe in his twenties."Just no Human you have ever seen before. I have come here with a warning, if at all possible, we must talk in private." Anderson scratched his stubble in deep thought, eventually nodding. "Very well, we can talk in the bridge. But my men will be watching your every move." Lorent nodded. "Affirmative Admiral. On your lead."
A few minutes into the trek to the bridge, Lorent had already noted key differences between this Humanities military and his own. For one, the UNSC designed their ships with a utilitarian design in mind, from what he could tell this Humanity prefered sleek curves and aesthetically appealing designs. The second, the crewman were much more relaxed, lacking a discipline that he would have normally seen in UNSC crewman. He watched as they passed multiple crewman playing cards, or simply relaxing. "I thought they were in battle formation? That usually means all hands on deck." he disbanded these thoughts as they approached what appeared to be the bridge, with two men, one on either side of the door.
They snapped to attention as Admiral Anderson walked through the door. Then back at rest as the rest of the group walked through. Lorent was surprised; The bridge was utter chaos, crewman yelling and running to either side of the bridge. Admiral Anderson yelled out to someone. "Admiral Hackett! What the hell is going on?" The person he called out to turned around, he was an old Caucasian male. He had tired, yet alert eyes, with a set of crow's feet in the corner of his eyes. He stared at Lorent for a few seconds, then turned his gaze to Anderson. "We have lost contact with everything beyond the sol relay. The rest of the fleets are mobilizing back here at Earth. I need you to get down to Vancouver with Shepard, and talk to the defense council." Anderson seemed to grimace for a moment before looking at Hackett. "Alright, I'll get down there." He turned his attention to Lorent "I believe I know what you were warning us about, will you help us in Vancouver?" Lorent nodded "Yes sir." Anderson smiled and nodded. "Come with me, we need to get back to the hanger bay. Bravo team, you're dismissed." The squad saluted him as he made haste back to the hangar bay, with Lorent in tow.
Down in Vancouver, Lorent followed Anderson, getting many stares as he walked, causing some already rushing people to stop what they were doing, or in some cases people falling over or hitting objects objects in the hall. The scene would have been comical, had the situation not been so dire. Lorent looked back forward, finding Anderson conversing with someone. He walked behind him, stopping a few feet away. A large Hispanic man stared at him wide eyed, forcefully nudging the man talking with Anderson. He seemed annoyed, until he looked to where the man was gesturing.
He opened his mouth in surprise. Looking to Anderson for an explanation, Anderson smiled and said."Commander Shepard, meet Spartan A-219. Found him drifting in his armor only five kilometers from Earth. Can you believe that? He says he is here to warn us. I believe it's the Rea-" "Reapers." The man called Shepard finished for him. He then walked up to Lorent, extending his hand towards him. "Thanks for coming, even though it may already be too late." Lorent shook his hand, careful as to not accidentally crush it. "It's my duty commander." Shepard nodded. "Glad to hear it. We are going to need all the help we can get against the Reapers." looking back to Anderson he spoke "Let's go, the council must be warned." Shepard continued walking side by side with Anderson, discussing Shepard's discharge.
The big hispanic man walked behins Lorent, trying to keep up. Eventually he catched up. He looked up at Lorent as they walked, attempting to talk to him."Hey, my name is Lieutenant-Commander James Vega." Lorent, still looking forward, replies with "Chief Petty Officer Spartan A-219." James gave a thoughtful nod. Asking another question. "So I take it you're not part of the Alliance? Because I've never seen armor like that, or heard of a Spartan branch." He nodded. "That is correct. I have yet to debrief your commanding officer on the entire situation. Until then, I can not reveal anything."
Vega frowned at that. He had hoped to find out more. As James and Lorent rounded the corner, they saw Shepard and Anderson talking to a woman in a slender and form fitting uniform. It appeared as if they had just finished. She walked away from Shepard and Anderson, only to stop as she saw Lorent walking past her, casting a shadow over her form while he walked towards the briefing room. She continued to stare as he walked away, slack jawed at the sheer size of him. James came up and tapped her on the shoulder. She faced James and asked a little too loudly. "Who or what the hell was that thing!?" She exclaimed.
James just shrugged. "I dunno. Apparently he is a Human. Admiral Anderson saw his face. Anyway, he said he came here to warn us about something. Shepard already knows, and I think the brass knows it too. They just can't believe it." The woman just shook her head. "Typical Shepard, he's always bringing around the weird stuff." James raised his eyebrow. "You know the Commander?" She smiled and looked at the doors to the council."Yeah, I used to."
In the Defense Council chambers, the four arranged counselors were pacing about, bickering among themselves. The doors opened and they all shut up. Shepard walked in first, Anderson following, then. To their surprise, an armored figure crouched down through the doorway, the colossal being caused them to widen their eyes in fear. Before they could jump to conclusions, Anderson stepped up to placate them. "Counselors, he is a friend. He came to warn us. But I believe he is too late in that regard." The counselors regained some of their composure."Very well then." The Counselors turned their attention to Shepard and Anderson. They begab arguing back and forth about these "Reapers", which apparently Shepard had tried warning them about years ago.
Internally Lorent scoffed."If the UNSC had such a warning, they would've taken the threat seriously, and at least prepare. This council wouldn't even listen to one of their own'" he was brought out of his thoughts as he heard Anderson called his 'name'. "Yes sir?" Anderson asked. "The counselors wanted to know what you came to warn us of." Lorent turned and looked down upon the counselors. He was going to speak, but one of the counselors gasped. "That's impossible! We have lost contact with Luna." The council woman yelled. "They can't be that close already!" Anderson said in disbelief One of the officers then spoke up. "Counselors! We have a visual from the U.K!"
All eyes turned to a video screen. A video showed an alliance soldier in a beret. His voice not heard amidst the screams of civilians, and the staccato of weapons being fired in the background. There was a loud fog horn like noise, then an explosion behind the soldier. The video went dark. Then switching to a news broadcast, it showed what appeared to be walking cuttlefish like ships firing blue beams of light at anything around them. It switched until multiple newscasts showed the same ships laying waste to cities around the world. Anderson turned to Shepard. "Why haven't we heard from Hackett?' Shepard doesn't reply. Instead, he look towards the sky.
Lorent followed his gaze, and saw dark storm clouds with red crackling lightning. A loud thrumming could be heard, and caused everyone else in the room to kook up as well. A Reaper descended down onto the city, immediately it's beam discharging, cutting down a swath of buildings. It changed course, heading directly for the Alliance HQ.
Lorent reacted faster than anyone, his movements a literal blur as he slung both Shepard and Anderson behind him. He stepped forward and knelt down. He crossed his forearms over each other, erecting a square barrier of hard light in front of him. The weapon struck the HQ seconds later, propelling the counselors forward and across the room, their large desk flipping towards Lorent, who held his ground. The desk impacted his shield, shattering into two halves that continue rolling to either side of the room.
After the room stopped shaking from the attacl, Lorent stood up. Scanning around him, his HUD only picked up two life signs. He turned around and made his way to where he had thrown the two back, finding Anderson already standing, only having a few minor facial lacerations. Shepard appeared to be dazed as he stumbled around for a bit. Eventually he shook his head. He slowly walked to the window, watching silently as the Reapers tore apart Vancouver. Anderson walked up beside him, watching with him. Lorent then spoke. "Door is blocked by debris, we need to go down." Shepard nodded and jumped down on some scaffolding below, followed by Anderson. Lorent used his gravity well emitter, slowing his fall so the weight of the armor wouldn't cause it to collapse.
As they walked on the scaffolding, a red beam of light halted their progress. It hit the scaffolding ahead of them, creating a ten foot gap. Anderson crossed first, just barely making it. Shepard followed next. Lorent barely exerted any effort with his jump, clearing it with ease. He saw Anderson and Shepard climbing up a ladder. He looked up to the ledge it led to. It was only a couple of meters high. He bent his knees slightly, then pushed off of the scaffolding, soaring up and over the ledge. Landing with a dull thud. He scanned the rooftop, then looked back to see Anderson and Shepard staring at him.
Anderson was the first to speak. "How in the holy hell did you get up here so fast?" Lorent just shrugged."I jumped sir. We should keep moving." Lorent said. He walked ahead, still unarmed. Shepard just looked at Anderson with a raised eyebrow. "Where did you find him again?" Anderson just shook his head, and followed Lorent. Shepard eventually followed suit. As Lorent walked, keeping a vigilant eye out, he heard what sounded like scampering up ahead. Quickening his pace, he saw what appeared to be a hunched over human. But as he approached it, it turned to face him.
Lorent stopped immediately. "What in the hell is that?" he thought. The thing started snarled at him as it crawled out from the dark, revealing its grey gunmetal skin, and dead white eyes. It reminded Lorent of the Flood Yprin had showed him. Dismissing his thoughts, the thing had crept closer. Then in an instant, it had leaped at Lorent, bearing some disfigured claws. Lorent watched it in slow motion, as he crossed his right arm over his torso, and backhanded it. The thing's head was instantly pulverized, and the body flung off of the roof, due to the raw force. Black blood splattered on the ground. Lorent heard more scampering to his right. He looked over and saw a dozen more crawling up the wall. He heard Shepard shout. "Husks! Take them out Spartan!" Shepard and Anderson then discharged their respective small arms at the horde.
Most went down in one or two shots, while another hoard of the Husks came for Lorent. He in turn activated his wrist mounted hard light emitters. forming a pair of three feet long hard light blades. He ran forward to meet the Husks head on. The Husks showed no fear, still charging headlong at him. Lorent bulldozed into the horde, knocking some of them off the roof, while the ones still alive screeched at him. Two leaped at him from behind. Lorent saw them on his motion tracker. He let them get closer, before spinning around, using his right hand to slice through one, bisecting it as it landed with a 'splat'. He then did a reverse roundhouse kick into the other one's face, causing it's head to explode in a black mist. The body flew back and tumbled past Anderson and Shepard, who had just finished killing off the Husks that were climbing up the. They both watched as Lorent faced down five more to his front.
One lunged at him from his side. That proved to be a mistake as lorent delivered an open palm strike to its chest, caving its chest in, and sending it flying off of the roof. From there, Lorent went on the offensive, rushing toward the two in front of him faster than the Shepard or Anderson could process. They watched as Lorent bisected the two, the four halves falling down with a pool of black fluid gushing from them. The last two decided to try and run, but he was already on them. Lorent grabbed both of their heads, and smashed them together in gruesome fashion.
Lorent turned to the commander and Anderson. "Area secure. Hostiles eliminated." Lorent said. Shepard nodded uneasily. "He made their heads explode with just his hands... What the hell is he?" Shepard thought to himself. A loud whine caught everyone's attention, as a Reaper began to discharge it's weapon in their direction. "Everyone down!" Shepard yelled, taking cover with Anderson. Lorent deactivated his blades, changing them into a shield. The weapon rocked the rooftop, causing a room to explode next to Lorent. He let the pressure waves from the explosion wash over him. The hard light shields taking all of the force. Lorent stood up, checking on Shepard and Anderson.
"Are you both ok?" They both nodded "We're green, Spartan." Lorent nodded, and looked at the destroyed room. "We will have to cut through the building here, and find a way to rendezvous with your ship. Do you know where we could do that?" Shepard replied. "Yeah, it should be safe enough down in the river. The city is a no-fly zone with the Reapers walking around. Follow me." Lorent let Shepard take point, and followed behind him. They moved through the building without encountering any more Husks, but they were halted by a door. It had been jammed a quarter of the way open.
Shepard tried to open it, but it didn't budge. "Dammit, looks like we need to find another way." he said, but Lorent stepped up to the door. "Allow me sir." He put his hands between the doors, pulling them apart from each other, which caused the mechanism that kept them stable to break, sending the doors receding into the wall. Lorent stepped back to allow Shepard to walk through. Shepard nodded in approval and moved into the next room, Anderson following him. He was about to follow suit, but he heard a noise behind him: It was coming from an open ventilation shaft. It sounded like a child crying?
Lorent walked over to the vent, his armor's red lights lighting the darkness within the shaft. Kneeling down, Lorent saw a little boy curled up in the corner. He shrieked when he saw Lorent. "Get away, you monster!" he yelled at him. Lorent in turn just willed his helmet away, showing him he was human. "I am here to help you" Lorent stated. The little boy just crawled back. "Everyone is dying." He said, looking down. Lorent tried to extend his hand to the boy. "Take my hand, I can keep you safe from the monsters." he said. A passing Reaper caused the building to shake, each step making the boy gasp. "You can't help me. No one can."
Lorent was about to try and forcefully grab him until Shepard yelled "Spartan. We're moving out." Lorent nodded to him and looked back to the shaft, only to find the child had disappeared. Lorent frowned, and willed his helmet back on. Standing back up to follow Shepard. After about ten minutes of traversing the broken building, they had finally made it to the riverfront. Shepard and Anderson were communicating with a woman who was going to be their ride. But as they walked along top the side of the building, a Reaper dropped down into the river., causing a tremor to shake the building.
It appeared to be targeting what the Alliance called a 'dreadnought', firing at it twice with it's main weapon, the dreadnought began to list. Then there was a bright, blinding white light, and an explosion was seen. The one kilometer long ship caused a gigantic shock wave. The building giving out from under them, causing the trio to fall. Lorent slid down the slope of the building, propelling himself off of it with a kick, landing on a knee and a fist below. Shepard and Anderson were less graceful; They fell down tumbling most of the way. Lorent went to secure them. "Are you two alright?" Shepard was the first to respond. "Just a few more bruises. Nothing serious." Anderson breathed heavily. "I'm good too." Lorent nodded in satisfaction. Looking forward, his augmented vision saw two Alliance marines. One appeared to be injured. He looked back at Shepard and Anderson.
"I've got eyes on two Alliance marines, approximately thirty meters ahead." Shepard stepped up, seeing the figures up ahead. "Lets go, they could have a radio we can use." Lorent and Anderson followed him, reaching the two in seconds. Jumping down into the cover they had taken, Lorent kept a eye out while Anderson and Shepard talked to the two marines. Lorent saw a group of bulbous creatures at the end of the broken dock, they appeared to have five eyes, one centered in the middle of their head. The weirdest thing Lorent saw was their gaping maw. He signalled Shepard."Commander, i see a squad of what appears to be more Reaper ground forces." Shepard nodded and said."Those are Cannibals, they are armed unlike the Husks, they can be deadly in groups, but a lone Cannibal is not a challenge. We have to get to that gunship, it has an emergency beacon we can use to contact the Normandy." Lorent nodded.
He used his neural interface to open the slip space storage, the Type 2 flying out of it, and into his outstretched arm. He quickly activated the weapon, it pulsed a deep vibrant blue, and hummed softly in his hands. Shepard was taken back by the weapon appearing out of nowhere, but quickly hid it. "Getting off Earth is priority one. I will find out about him soon enough." he thought, bringing his Predator to bear. Anderson stacking up behind Shepard."On my mark" Lorrent said, changing the Type 2 to fire HLJP."Mark!" He jumped over the wall they had been hiding under, charging the husk. Already letting loose a flurry of shots. All of them hitting the Cannibals. The results were devastating. The hard light jacket easily penetrated the chitinous armor of the Cannibals, the plasma expanding alarmingly as it's casing was lost. Essentially exploding inside the heads of the Cannibals. Burning their heads into pools of a disgusting brown liquid.
Shepard and Anderson quickly moped up the remaining stragglers. Announcing the area was clear, they began to activate the beacon, briefly communicating with the Normandy. Shepard suddenly yelled "We got company!" taking cover, a series of pod came crashing down from the sky. Depositing cannibals around the gunship .Lorent kept most of them at bay, the Type 2 making quick work of them in only one shot. While Shepard used his Avenger and singularity attacks to gun down and throw the Cannibals about. Lorent was surprised at the display of biotics, noting to ask about them later. A few minutes later into the fight, a sleek ship came down, Dropping a trio of missiles on the Cannibals. Swinging back around to the gun ship, lowering a ramp. The Hispanic marine James was standing there, along with the woman dressed in a blue uniform.
"Alright! That's our ride, let's go." Shepard boarded first, then Lorent. As soon as he boarded, he turned around to cover the Admiral. Only to see him standing there."Sir?" Shepard turned around, running back to the end of the end of the ramp. "Anderson! What the hell are you doing?" Anderson just looked down. "You saw those men Shepard! There are millions like them. They need a leader. I'm not going." Shepard replied evenly."We're in this fight together Anderson." Anderson shook his head. 'It's a fight we can't win. Go to the Citadel, get us some help." Shepard was clearly conflicted. 'What if they don't listen?" Anderson yelled "Then make them! Now go!" Shepard nodded, and Anderson nodded back. Lorent yelled for him.
"Admiral Anderson!" Anderson turned towards Lorent. "Good luck sir!" Anderson smiled and nodded, running back to a group of kodiak shuttles. As the Normandy climbed higher, Lorent and Shepard watched as a group of shuttles evacuating civies, was being attacked by a Reaper. Lorent zooms in with his HUD, the child he had tried to save looking right at him. Then running to a shuttle and boarding. Unfortunately, the Reaper strikes down the craft, and the one adjacent to it. Lorent and Shepard lower their heads, walking back into Normandy.
That took longer than i thought it would. I forgot about all the dialogue in Mass Effect. A gross oversight, i know. But i cut most of it out, i hope that is okay. If you guys want, i will start writing the dialogues down too. And i should have gave a description of Lorent before he got augmented(Again) Lorent is 20 years old, before he was augmented by Yprin, he was 6'10" or 2.083 meters tall and 280 pounds. Now he is 13'4" or 4.083 meters, and 840 pounds. Let me know what you think of his new augmentations, weapons, and armor. Thank you for reading! I would also like to thank Apollonir for helping me out with the formatting. Along with others who pointed out the problem to me. I hope this revised version is much better to read. Thank you to BOTB for giving me some helpful advice about writing this story better. I ask that everyone be patient with me, as i continue writing.