Disclaimer: Mass Effect does not belong to me. It belongs to it's respective owners, namely Bioware.
British lines around Bertincourt, France, Europe, Earth, Sol System, Local Cluster, Milky Way Galaxy.
23rd March, 1918 CE.
4th Platoon of A Company, of the 2nd Ox and Bucks, had been digging up foxholes and other defensive positions, including those for the machine gun sections to place their Vickers guns, for a good long while ever since they first arrived.
That had been twenty-two hours ago and it was now half past three in the afternoon.
Then, they came under fire.
Private Albert Tillard, who had been digging up a dugout with a entrenching tool, dived down for cover, dropping his entrenching tool before unslinging his Lee-Enfield SMLE from his back, before bringing the buttstock up to his shoulder and aligning his right eye with the weapon sights, in order to acquire targets in front of him, which were unleashing machine gun and rifle fire towards the lines.
As soon as everyone around him was returning fire, Albert lined up the sights onto one of the many muzzle flashes that were seen far off into the distance, and pulled the trigger before cycling back the bolt, then repeating the action until the weapon's 10-round capacity was spent.
With the weapon empty, Albert got out two charger clips, each filled with 5-rounds of Mark VII .303 British ammunition, from his pouch, and started loading them in, using his thumb to push in the first clip, then getting the second clip in afterwards, the same way. Then, once he removed the clips, he then pushed the bolt forward and the handle down, which then put the first of ten rounds, into the weapon chamber. Thus the weapon was ready to fire.
Upon squeezing the trigger, the round was propelled out through the barrel of the weapon and straight towards the general direction of the German gunfire that was striking them, and while it only struck the ground, Albert followed through by rapidly expelling the casing with the bolt. And soon enough, Albert was aiming the sights on the target, pulling the trigger, working the bolt and repeating this process, until the weapon became empty after firing off the tenth round.
As Albert got out two more charger clips of five .303 British rounds each, Trileena was on the ground, hugging it for dear life, as if the ground would swallow her up and protect her from all the gunfire from these, primitive gunpowder weapons that the natives were using in this conflict.
She was no stranger to war, but her enemies didn't wield firearms. Instead, all her sisters-in-arms, and all the allies of the Asari, had to contend with, were tentacles that could pierce bodies, decapitate heads, break necks, acid spit that could burn and melt through flesh and metal, and the occasional biotic ability that were possessed by Brood Warriors.
Now, all her observations could see that each side in this planetary conflict, had access to firearms, grenades and artillery, and this was all just a glimpse of what she had seen of this war so far.
All she could pretty much hear, was the screaming, the yelling, the constant whoosh and zip of bullets and the crack of machine gun fire all around her.
Corbie, France, Europe, Earth, Sol System, Local Cluster, Milky Way Galaxy.
24th March, 1918 CE.
Sergeant Kenneth Standing watched, from the defensive positions established around Corbie, as the British cavalry marched past them, and listened, as his fellow Diggers called out to the horsemen,
"Hey, stick it up at the Hun for us, will ya?"
A calm voice, with a Worcestershire accent, then responded cheerfully as he leaned over slightly from his horse's stirrups, while holding on to the reins, and waved at the Aussies, "Thank you! We will do!"
And Lieutenant William Randolph Herbert Badley soon turned his attention onto the continuing march, towards Hamel, before he settled in and made himself more comfortable on the 1912 UP Steel Arch Saddle of his dark chestnut horse, Challenger.
He'd be lying if he said he wasn't relieved to be back with his horse.
Ever since the 1st Cavalry Division was given the order to be remounted, orders that came straight from the currently located Division headquarters at Framicourt, the 11th Hussars (Prince Albert's Own) were one of the many cavalry regiments of the Division that took to their saddles once again, for since the Germans launched the offensive on the 21st, the 11th Hussars had been fighting without their horses for three days straight, at Villecholles and Sailly Laurette, trying everything in their power to stop the German advance dead in it's tracks.
Now, the 11th Hussars were now on their way to Hamel, where the German offensive was about to reach. William reckoned that the situation must have been very serious for the order to be given to remount onto horses, despite the fact that it seemed that the cavalry was long obsolete since 1914.
Over in the distance, was the constant thundering of artillery fire and machine gun fire, while close to the column of horses and their riders from the 11th, were the sounds of soldiers marching back to the rear of the lines, as they withdrew.
William did not miss the way that the soldiers were all showing signs of fatigue, dismay, and injuries (either from gunshots, artillery fire or even those struck by gas).
Turning his head away from the line of walking wounded troops, William adjusted his bandolier to shake off his unease as the 11th headed towards Hamel.
British lines around Bertincourt, France, Europe, Earth, Sol System, Local Cluster, Milky Way Galaxy.
24th March, 1918 CE.
The order to withdraw was given at around 8am.
At first, there had been a withdrawal order given last evening, but at 1:00am, the next day, the Transport Officer arrived with messages from the commanding officer of 5th Infantry Brigade, that reinforcements were expected, the Brigade would put up an all-round fight and that there would be no withdrawal.
Eventually those plans seemed to have changed, and the Battalion was given the order to withdraw and reassemble on ridge east of Barastre.
However, it was easier said than done, as despite that the withdrawal proceeded with fewer casualties than expected, the Battalion fell under long range machine gun fire as they headed towards Barastre-Haplincourt, and they were now convinced that Bus was in German hands.
But such thoughts were not on the mind of Private Albert Tillard as the long range machine gun fire caused his fellow soldiers to dive to the ground and look for whatever cover they could find.
However, Albert was not one of those people, as he felt multiple bullets then hit him all over his chest, abdomen, shoulders, collarbone and the neck, the impact of which threw him backwards, onto the ground.
Lying down on his back, bleeding, Albert idly wondered why the world suddenly felt so silent, like a ringing sensation had replaced all the screams and the gunfire of war, but he put that to one side and attempted to shout for help, only to suddenly find it very hard to actually even muster the strength to breath out a word. In fact, there was a very sharp, heavy pain on one side of his chest and he was now noticing that it was getting harder and harder to breathe, with every breath that he took.
And now, Albert Tillard, from Cowley, Oxfordshire, would die alone on a battlefield in France, forgotten in the midst of the now hectic withdrawal.
Meanwhile, Trileena saw a soldier carrying crates get killed by the machine gun fire, and instinct seemed to take her over as she discarded her hood, mask and helmet, then sprinted towards him, and checked him over, despite the handcuffs on her person. And started rummaging through the crates to find anything useful.
Her 'guards' rushed over to her position, but before they could reach her, Trileena managed to find her gear, consisted of her survival sidearm, multipurpose knife, signal mirror, compass, glow sticks and her helmet.
After using her biotics to break off her handcuffs, she put away the signal mirror, compass and glow sticks in pouches within the hardsuit, then holstered her knife by her right boot, before putting her helmet on.
But before she could grab her survival sidearm, her guards caught up with her and shouted "STOP!" while holding their rifles right at her.
However, they were soon cut down by the long range machine gun fire, and Trileena grabbed her survival sidearm, before joining in the withdrawal with the native troops, reckoning that she'd deal with getting off this planet and out of this native war when things were not so hectic.
Ship Operations Center, Estivus Erax class cruiser Estivus Erax, in orbit over Luna, Sol System, Local Cluster, Milky Way Galaxy.
24th March, 1918 CE.
They had been conducting hit-and-run attacks on the Rachni dreadnought for three days straight and the surviving crew had held their breath each time they made their attack, thinking that it would be their last.
But remarkably, through sheer grit and determination, and will to do their duty, the crew managed to enable to the Estivus Erax to survive, and their efforts in attacking the dreadnought for two days straight, were now starting to pay off.
The dreadnought, had just about enough with the lone Turian cruiser harassing them, and was now increasing power to it's engines, setting out towards the moon on a gentle cruise.
Junior 1st Lieutenant Tyven Ghyx was still performing his role as Acting Captain of the ship, while Junior 1st Lieutenant Astitus Hyrx was doing a stellar job as his Acting First Officer.
And soon, they saw the result of their fruitful actions in harassing the dreadnought, and soon Astitus conferred with Tyven, "Captain, even if we did it, successfully drawing out the dreadnought, you do realise that we cannot last long in any close up engagement. They'll destroy us..."
"Unless we close the distance".
Astitus did not like the way that Tyven said this, and asked waringly, "How close?"
It had taken a while for the acting Captain to answer, but Astitus held his silence, even after Tyven sighed, saying "You're not going to like it", before Tyven eventually answered fully, "We'll need to get to point blank range before we open fire. Hopefully, we'll cause massive structural damage to the dreadnought, enough to hurt it".
His friend had been right, Astitus did not like the plan at all.
"Are you out of your mind!? Spirits, this is seriously the worst kind of plan we can hope for!"
Tyven snapped, "I know that, Asti! It's the only way! Our only chance!"
Silence fell upon the Ship Operations Center, as every surviving crewmember took a brief moment to look up from their duties as they saw the Captain snap at the First Officer, before they returned to their duties, not wanting to endure their wrath.
It took a few moments, before Tyven took a deep breath and asked his friend, "Now, all I am asking for, is, for your help. Do I have it?"
Astitus only had one answer, "Yes", and resolved to help out in any way he can, to ensure that this plan would have at least have some chance of succeeding.
"Alright, here's what we're going to need to do, Tyven, if we're to succeed..."
Rachni Dreadnought, entering orbit over Luna, Sol System, Local Cluster, Milky Way Galaxy.
24th March, 1918 CE.
The enormous Rachni Dreadnought drifted into geostationary orbit over Luna, and started scanning the surrounding area for the lone, limping Turian cruiser that had been harassing them for two days straight.
However, their scans proved fruitless and they could not find the cruiser, so the Dreadnought, after concluding that the cruiser must be in hiding somewhere near the moon, heads towards the dark side of the moon.
They were convinced that the cruiser was hiding there, after their scans indicated heavy usage of element zero from a cruiser, that had been lingering around the vicinity of the area.
But they made one critical mistake.
The Turian cruiser was hiding indeed, but not within the shadows emitted from the dark side of the moon.
Instead, the cruiser was hiding on the moon's surface, some distance away from the dark side of the moon.
And the cruiser was now powering up, after having gone silent for quite a while, and lifting off the surface towards the Dreadnought's underbelly.
The dreadnought was so focused on the dark side of the moon, that it did not anticipate the cruiser hiding on the surface of the moon itself, and thus, they were caught unprepared when the Estivus Erax managed to get to a considerable distance to the dreadnought's underbelly.
On board, Tyven gave the order to fire, and two rounds were fired. One went straight up to impact the kinetic barriers. The other round did manage to get past and do minor damage to the underbelly of the dreadnought.
With this, the acting Captain gave the order to close in and crash onto the dreadnought's underbelly.
And as his ship closed the distance between it and the dreadnought, he looked out towards his crew and his friend Astitus, who despite his offer to leave while he set the ship on autopilot, then fire the cannons personally, all refused to leave his side.
Tyven Ghyx could not have been more proud to be a Turian than ever, right now.
Crashing the bow onto the dreadnought, Tyven immediately shouted down to the engine room, "STARBOARD ENGINE, FULL POWER!"
And the Estivus Erax's single engine roared as the cruiser's bow started embedding itself further within the hull.
Once it could go no further, Tyven then shouted to the gunnery room, "FIRE!", and the cannons were fired. At point blank range.
The explosion destroyed the Estivus Erax, but managed to rip right through the dreadnought, exposing many decks within to the vacuum of space.
It's structure heavily compromised and under intense strain, the dreadnought was now starting to break apart, and just as the Rachni were scrambling to try and save the dreadnought, it was however, too late.
The whole ship then broke apart into five segments and many Rachni were suddenly flung into the vacuum of space.
However, some Rachni still lived within those five segments, which were now heading towards the impact course with the Earth.
This took some hours, before all five of the dreadnought segments started entering Earth's atmosphere.
Despite that the dreadnought was not rated for atmospheric operations, all five segments managed to survive the burning up on entry and plummet down, leaving a trail of burning debris and smoke right behind it.
3 miles North-east of Genk, Belgium, Europe, Earth, Sol System, Local Cluster, Milky Way Galaxy.
24th March, 1918 CE.
The first segment had created such an enormous fireball, that those 27 miles away, could feel the immense heat coming off it, and those 10 miles away caught terrible sunburns on their faces and their hands.
Upon landing, the local German garrison, wondering if this was a new type of British or French aerial bomb or weapon of any kind, sent troops to the area to investigate, only to find that they couldn't get close, due to the immense heat and flames given off by the segment that only allowed them to get within 4 miles of it, before they had to stop.
1 mile West off the coast of the island of Moskenesøya, Norway, Europe, Earth, Sol System, Local Cluster, Milky Way Galaxy.
24th March, 1918 CE.
People living in settlements and towns near the island of Moskenesøya in Norway, soon saw a large fireball plummeting down off the coast.
However, they couldn't look at the fireball for too long as it was about as bright at the sun, it seemed to some people, and they had to turn their eyes away.
The second segment impacted the water, causing a massive shifting in water displacement and therefore, causing a massive tidal wave that not only managed to ravage the Norwegian coastline, as well as settlements on the coast and in nearby fjords, but also reached Scotland, the Shetland Islands, the Faroe Islands and even Iceland itself.
But at the actual crash site, the segment settled on the water, before it started slightly sinking below the waves, until it's hull reached the bottom of the ocean.
The cold of the ocean water started cooling down and extinguishing some of the fires on the segment, but not all, as the blaze amongst the waves could be seen for miles.
Zagreb, Croatia-Slavonia, Austria-Hungary, Europe, Earth, Sol System, Local Cluster, Milky Way Galaxy.
24th March, 1918 CE.
The third segment had a bit of a different entry approach than the other two.
It was picking up so much speed faster than the other two segments, that it broke the sound barrier, causing the citizens of Zagreb to stop their daily activity and look towards the sky as a massive fireball in the skies started getting bigger and bigger, second by second.
They were so memorised by this, that it took a while for them to register that it was coming straight for the capital of the Kingdom of Croatia-Slavonia, one of the autonomous kingdoms Kingdom of Hungary, which in turn was one of the two states of the union known as the Austro-Hungarian Empire, and soon enough, the whole city was within a panic as they all tried to get out.
But, it was too late, and the explosion that resulted, could be heard as far away as Berlin, with windows being shattered in Prague and Vienna.
Nearby towns and villages all looked on in horror, at the resulting devastation of Zagreb, that was much worse than the 1880 Zagreb Earthquake, before tending to the survivors who came from the outskirts of Zagreb.
They had been asked if anyone within the city had survived. Not one of them could provide an answer.
It was clear on their faces that no one did.
10 miles North of Olyokminsk, Siberia, Soviet Russian Republic, North Asia, Earth, Sol System, Local Cluster, Milky Way Galaxy.
24th March, 1918 CE.
The fourth and the fifth segments entered the atmosphere, and were heading on a collision course for Murmansk and Moscow but were very close together.
They were so close, that it was inevitable that they would collide with one another.
And the collision that followed, resulted in both segments becoming one enormous segment, that diverted massively off course and headed straight for Siberia.
The crash-landing, resulted in a massive explosion, bigger than the explosion in Zagreb, and even bigger than the Tunguska event that happened around ten years ago.
Forests were burnt down, trees were ripped up from their roots and thrown into the sky, landing 39 miles away. And the town of Olyokminsk and it's inhabitants were completely wiped out, by the shockwave from the impact, and the crater that formed as well.
Russia was too busy dealing with a Civil War, to notice or even care enough to divert their attention to it.
A fact that would would prove ultimately fatal, as Rachni got out of the segment, and started burrowing a tunnel downwards, just as an Rachni Queen emerged from the segment, took a pause to take into account, the surroundings, and then made a screech that could be heard for miles.
The Rachni, were now on Earth.
Yep, the Rachni are now on Terra Firma, and next chapter, we will be seeing their impact and all sides of the conflict reacting to them.
I've somewhat got an idea on how each and every one of the infantry and crew-served weapons of WW1 will do against the Rachni, but if you've got any opinions on how they'd perform against the Rachni, I'd be happy to welcome them and take them into account.
The Lee-Enfield was initially meant to have been replaced by a different weapon, the Pattern 1913 Enfield, by 1914, due to the fact that during the Second Boer War, the British Army with their .303 MLEs faced Boer marksmen with Mauser Model 1895s, which with it's 7mm Mauser rounds (rounds with higher velocity, flatter trajectory and longer range than the .303, which was top heavy, round-nosed with poor muzzle velocity and had poor ballistic performance), made the weapon superior on the open countryside of the South African plains.
The Pattern 1913 Enfield was to have a new cartridge, the .276 Enfield, and to have a modified Mauser bolt action, and it almost seemed like that the weapon was to replace the Lee-Enfield, until World War 1 broke out and it was impractical to continue development to perfect the weapon and it's round (it suffered from overheating and bore fouling in earlier testing).
However, the Pattern 1913 did live on, somewhat, in the Pattern 1914 Enfield, which were redesigned to fit the .303 British round, but was a mere afterthought to the SMLE (it only had the ability to hold and fire five rounds), and instead found use as a sniper rifle, as it was found to be much more accurate than the SMLE.
And the Pattern 1914 Enfield was modified by the US arms manufacturers, upon entry in the war in 1917, to become the M1917 Enfield, which fired the .30-06 Springfield round.
The US was in need of new rifles as well, but while the M1903 Springfield was meant to be in service, it was difficult to manufacture. In fact, the M1917 Enfield outnumbered the Springfield in the amount of numbers produced and units issued, to such a extent that by November 11th, 1918, around 75% of the American Expeditionary Force was armed with the M1917 Enfield.
Both the Pattern 1914 Enfield and the M1917 Enfield did see service post WW2, with the British Home Guard, US mortar men and artillery-men in North Africa, US and Fillipino guerrillas in the Philippines, and most notably, the M1917 Enfield does still see service with the Danish Slædepatruljen Sirius, an elite Danish naval unit stationed in Greenland that performs long range-reconnaissance patrols.
In regards to William Badley and the 11th Hussars, I don't really have a lot of information on the 11th Hussars' actions during the 1918 Spring Offensive, other than they participated in it and were fighting as dismounted for three days before they remounted their horses, so what I'm doing, is trying to use the little facts (that they fought at Sailly Laurette and Hamel) to make a sort of story as to what William Badley was doing in the Spring Offensive.
And that story has to also put him in a position where he mets another character. So, yeah, the part with William was quite tricky for me to do.
The locations for the landing sites of the Rachni dreadnought segments is significant for the story, especially the segment in Norway, and the segment in Belgium and Austro-Hungary, in terms of future battles.
The fourth and fifth segments were originally supposed to land in different places, with the fourth to land within the Caucasus Mountains, while the fifth landed outside Olyokminsk.
However, I then felt that the fourth segment landing in the Caucasus didn't help the story in any way, and besides, writing it was hard, so I decided to merge the two segments into one and land them in Siberia.
Anyways, don't forget to leave a review whenever you can, and see you next time!
Update (24/12/17): Added a few more lines after I realised that there were some dialogue and sentences missing. Whoops! Anyways, all fixed now.
Have a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!
