HOLOCAUST
CHAPTER ONE:
APOCALYPSE
June 2, 2186
1000 hours.
Main Bridge, Killmanjaro-Class Dreadnought SSV Aconcagua HA-1, In Defensive Line over Arcturus Station, Arcturus System, Arcturus Stream.
Fleet Admiral Adina Netanyahu.
All had been normal operation. The admiral had woken up at 0700 hours to a mug of hot coffee and a breakfast of strawberry porridge. She would check her terminal for news from her homeland, Israel, and then she would have a shower, dress, and make her bed. Once done, she would head to the medical bay for some of the annual shots, before heading up to the bridge and signing in, relieving the captain of the command while they went to the mess hall for a break. The Aconcagua, as usual, was in an orbital position just above Arcturus Station, serving as its primary defense. She had corvettes, backed by a couple of frigates, patrolling the system, whilst the rest of her frigates and her destroyers monitored the relay. The cruisers surrounded the station, the three battleships she had on the other side, and the carrier docked with the station, as it was not needed unless launching an assault.
All had been normal operation, and she would have been gazing upon stars and reading reports today.
But today was not a normal day. That had ended four hours ago when they first got the reports.
The Kite's Nest, the home cluster of the batarian species, had come under attack from an unknown foe. They had no idea what it was, and they couldn't identify it, but before the Hegemony had even mobilized its navy, most of their systems had been overrun, the enemy fleet having been reported to number in the hundreds. By the time the Hegemony's Navy had assembled over Khar'Shan, the enemy force had already entered the system, and had systematically obliterated every defense station the batarians had active, blew past their outer colonies, and headed straight for the batarian homeworld.
It was a bloodbath, from what she heard. The attack was so swift, sudden and out of nowhere, that the batarians simply hadn't stood a chance. By the time all contact finally ceased with the Kite's Nest, three quarters of the batarian navy had been wiped out, and the rest was completely routing. What happened to Khar'Shan was up to the imagination, but it wouldn't be pretty, if the destruction of the Hegemony's military was any indication.
The Council didn't know what to make of this threat, and the Parliament was terrified. For two reasons. One, they knew exactly who the enemy was and who had warned them about it.
Two, the enemy, one Adina knew simply as the Reapers, was now heading straight for the Arcturus System. To Arcturus Station, and to Earth.
Once the Kite's Nest was overrun, reports stated that the Viper Nebula had come under attack, before all contact with that nebula was lost as well. With the Batarian Hegemony now defeated, the Reapers had clearly moved to step two; using the mass relay network, their fleet was now heading to deal with the Systems Alliance. It was with that, that the Parliament declared a DEFCON 1 red alert. Every single navy, marine and army unit was being mobilized, and their defenses bolstered. They believe the batarians lost because they were unprepared; but the Alliance wouldn't be.
Even now, the Aconcagua sat in defense position next to Arcturus Station, capital of the Systems Alliance, with her First Fleet's carrier, SSV Benjamin Davis, along with all three battleships covering her flagship's flanks. The rest of the fleet was in an arrowhead formation, with corvettes, fighters and frigates at the front, interceptors and destroyers in the middle, and light and heavy cruisers taking the back; and behind them, her dreadnought, and the ships supporting it.
Nitesh Singh's Third Fleet had been ordered to bolster hers, and had arrived in system an hour ago, quickly spreading his ships out. His flagship, the Killmanjaro-Class SSV Logan, had moved to the far side of Alcyoneus, an asteroid orbitting the star Arcturus, and his three battleships supported him. His fleet's carrier, the SSV Thomas Edison, had taken position near the system's outer edge, but not too far away from the station, and the rest of his ships were spread out. Four of his heavy cruisers waited near the relay to surprise the enemy, and the rest of his ships surrounded the relay, whilst also bolstering her forces as well.
The rest of the Alliance fleet was all over the place. The Second, Fourth and Fifth Fleet were tasked with defending Earth, the Sixth Fleet was defending the Asgard System of the Exodus Cluster, while the Seventh defended the Utopia System. The Eighth Fleet is currently in charge of acting as reserves for both the Sol, Utopia, Asgard and Arcturus Systems, and was merely waiting. The Parliament, in its entirety, was trapped on Arcturus Station, but they were confident that her fleet and Singh's would fight off the Reaper attack. Garrong wasn't available to coordinate them, as he was trying to keep the panic from brewing back on Earth. It was up to them now.
And now they waited.
The captain, Yanis Petry, spoke, noting the lack of reports of engagement from the Utopia and Asgard Systems, "We should have heard something by now. The enemy would have to come through those systems to reach us. Why haven't we-"
"Admiral, ma'am!" The communications officer exclaimed, "We've got Fleet Admiral Nakamura on the line. Says its urgent."
"On screen," Adina ordered in her commanding voice, and she watched the wrinkled mess that was Nakamura's face pop up on screen, the man never failing to unimpress her. But he was one hell of an admiral; days she wondered why he wasn't helping guard Earth. He was a better Admiral than bloody Viktoriya Arefyev.
Osamu was speaking instantly, "Admiral, you better gear up and batter down the hatches. The enemy just jumped in system, but they completely ignored Terra Nova and Teoh's fleet at Eden Prime. They're headed straight for Arcturus and...nanite koto! Look how fast they move! For ships of their size, they should not be able to move at speeds like that! Admiral, those ships, by our calculations, will reach the nearest relay connecting to Arcturus in...5 minutes!"
Adina's eyes widened instantly, "Five minutes!? Nakamura, stay where you are and inform Teoh he is to hold position over Eden Prime until he is ordered otherwise. We'll hold off the enemy," she told him, before he cut the comm, the screen splitting back to the void of space before them; a view now filled with that of warships preparing for battle. She turned to her comms officer, "Relay commands to the fleet and inform Admiral Singh; enemy forces," oh to hell with it, "Reaper forces will hit the relay in five minutes. Inform all captains of the First Fleet to assume battlestations. Sound the General's Quarters. Tactical, get the MAC loaded and coordinate fire with the Logan! Ready our point defense weapon systems, and tell the Benjamin Davis to deploy a screening of bombers around our frigates; have their interceptors prepped for launch on my mark!"
Exclamations of "Copy that ma'am!" came from the Tactical and Comms officer, and the bridge came chaos as officers moved from positions and prepared for battle, the bridge's color turning blood red as alarms sounded all over the ship, the VI's emotionless voice coming over the PA System, "General's Quarters, General's Quarters, all hands, man your battlestations. This is not a drill. This is not a drill. Incoming enemy forces inbound in five mikes. General's Quarters, General's Quarters, all hands, man your battlestations. This is not a drill."
Adina Netanyahu simply stood there, alliance cap on him and over her head, and hands clasped behind her back, simply standing there, eyes blank of expression. She seemed to be unfazed; but deep inside, her mind was at war with itself, and full of anger. If only we'd listened! If we had gotten our heads out of our asses, and just listened, and prepared! Shepard warned us, and we dismissed him, and now they are here. The Reapers are here. Here to prove us wrong. Damn it! Hashem, if you're listening, please have mercy on your people. Please, do not just protect Israel, but the entire galaxy as well. I cry for your protection...
The Reapers had essentially defeated the batarian hegemony in four hours, scattering its military to the wind. Whatever was left of their fleet was likely fleeing into the Terminus Systems, with their homeworld and home cluster now in rapidly expanding Reaper-occupied territory. And now they come to claim Earth and Arcturus. Over our dead bodies.
Two minutes passed. Three. Four. Until only 30 seconds were left.
They sat there, waiting patiently, Singh's ships at the relay ready to engage the Reapers as soon as they came through the relay. Maybe they would be able to snag a few kills, cripple a few capital ships, allowing the rest of the fleets to move in and defeat the Reaper fleet before they can close in on Arcturus Station. They simply could not afford to lose the Parliament. Their very leadership was on the station, and losing them would be anarchy. The Alliance would fall apart. Just like the Hegemony. And their lack of organization is only what made them easier to conquer.
Time was up. In the distance, she saw flashes of blue light, knowing that the Arcturus Relay was active and the enemy was coming through. The telltale yellow explosions signalled the engagement of battle, and they all sat back and waited. She gulped, and sweat pooled at her brow, just waiting for Singh's ships to announce their victory. But nothing happened. No announcements over the comms. Just deathly silence.
Finally, Admiral Singh's voice came over the comm, but it was not the words she had wanted to hear, and it sent shudders down her spine, "Fall back to the station! Fall back! Helm, get us out of here! Netanyahu, enemies coming your way! We couldn't hold them! They were too powerful, we had to break off! We'll bolster as best we can!"
Adina weakly nodded, "Copy that, Admiral. Get the Logan to my position." She then cut the comms, and waited for the Reapers to descend upon them. She watched the Logan into a firing directly above her, and watched in shocked awe as the Thomas Edison limped away, two of her engines blown completely apart by a grazing shot, and a large section of hull blasted away, exposing four decks to space, and one of its hangars looked to be completely destroyed. It cruised at half its normal speed, followed by the rest of the Third Fleet. She noted that half his corvettes, a tenth of his frigates, five of his heavy cruisers, and two of his battleships were missing. Her eyes only widened further. My god...
"Ma'am! We have a visual!"
"Enhance!"
Enhance he did, and as the camera zoomed in, they watched the forms of the Reaper vessels encringe upon them. They were beyond massive; they were simply gargantuan. The capital ships were easy to pick out from the smaller vessels, and they were definitely the biggest; far bigger than any of their dreadnoughts, and she saw at least seven of them. They looked exactly like the 'geth dreadnought' at the Battle of the Citadel three years ago. Infront of them were ten smaller versions, of a type she didn't recognize. They looked like scorpions with their back jutting out like a scorpion's tail, and a red eye in the middle. But the rest of their small body resembled a crab; with four legs to support it, but now folded in as they travelled through space. Small by Reaper standards, but those things are still at least the size of a turian cruiser...
As the camera zoomed into normal view, the captain informed her that the entire fleet could now hear her. She had to give the order to open fire before the Reapers were upon them. But there were seventeen of them. Singh had more ships than them; easily bested them 5 to 1. But she could surmise just how many he had destroyed. I bet he never even pierced their shields.
A flash of brilliant yellow, followed by a heated tungsten shell shooting forward through space signalled the firing of the Logan's MAC gun, followed by the rest of his ships opening fire; the blues and reds of heated tungsten, missiles, ICMBs, ballistic rockets and pulse lasers lighting up the void as they travelled towards the incoming force. Adina nodded, practically shouting.
"FIRE! ALL OF YOU, FIRE DAMN IT! EVERYTHING WE HAVE!"
Her fleet delivered. The opening of the attack was sounded by the thunderous boom of the Aconcagua's MAC cannon, followed by the rest of her fleet. Two ICMBs erupted from one of her battleships, followed by a steady, almost non-stop salvo, of javelin torpedoes from a destroyer. The Benjamin Davis unhinged its cargo, and swarms of fighters shot out to meet the enemy, but seemed to be destroyed in the dozens as spherical drones shot into the field, particle beams firing and impacting the fighters, destroying them with one hit.
The Logan's MAC round hit one of the smaller ships, the ones she had taken to calling Destroyers, and she watched as its momentum seemed to slow slightly, a blackened piece of armor showing up on their visuals she frowned, "Do a scan of the smaller vessels."
The scans were done, and confirmed her suspicions. The capital ships seemed to yield extremely powerful kinetic barriers, whilst the smaller Destroyers didn't possess any at all, and only had thick armor. That was something they could exploit, "Tell Admiral Singh to have his ships focus their fire on the Destroyers, whilst her fresher ships concentrated on the bigger capital ships. Again and again, her dreadnought's cannon reported, hitting Reaper after Reaper, and only then did she realize that the capital ships weren't even slowing down, and simply sped towards her fleet's center line. Oh shi...!
Two frigates attempted to steer out of the way, but were too late as the first Reaper slammed into them, the two ships shattering like glass in their path, their crews scattered to the wind as their ships blew apart. The second one extended one of its legs, wrapping it around a corvette and crushing it in its grip as its shots harmlessly pinged off its armor, and from deep inside, she watched as a eerily familiar, blood red glow built up, before spilling out hot death, the kinetically sped-up thanix cannon firing a tongue of red flame that impacted the hull of a nearby light cruiser, severing it completely in two with one shot; seemingly ignoring its kinetic barriers like they didn't exist. The battle was quickly turning into chaos as her numerous fleet captains panicked, trying desperately to protect Arcturus Station in the disorganized combat.
"Bring us on a full broadside! Show them our guns; coordinate firing solutions, and fire at will," she ordered, watching as her ship swung to the starboard side, their guns now facing the enemy as they opened fire; missiles, lasers, two ICBMs and multiple rotary cannons. The Logan joined in the combat, and the Benjamin Davis fell back as it was swarmed by drones, the carrier's cruiser escorts trying to pick them off to give it a clear line of retreat.
The Reaper assault was relentless, and they didn't stop for a second. They seemed to know every tactic before they made it; using overwhelming force on them was pointless, as they would either speed up and ram any ships in their way, or they'd fire their thanix cannons, sometimes cutting through three ships in a row. It was a slaughter house, and their forces still had yet to do any damage.
She watched steadily in astonishment as a Normandy-Class Stealth Frigate, the SSV Washington, shot past like an arrow, narrowly missing the beam of a Reaper Destroyer as it latched onto a fleeing heavy cruiser, and it did a piercing dive, before unleashing a flurry of javelin torpedo strikes onto said Destroyer. Apart from shaking alittle, the Reaper barely noticed, and seemed to not be able to see the frigate as it flew past. Adina smiled. Those stealth drives are coming in handy. The Reapers can't see through them.
A piercing beam of light from the Destroyer marked the end of the SSV Warsaw, the ship gutted by the beam and spilling its contents into open space. Its eezo core followed the detonation of the vessel's drive core, the combined explosion engulfing the Reaper, but it soon emerged from it unscatched, the Destroyer gracefully lifted off the wreckage and up, only for the Washington to bombard it again. Adina continued to smile...
...only to drop it as the Washington went in for another strike, only for the Destroyer's thanix to light up and fire again. The stealth frigate practically barrelled into the shot, and the entire front half caved in from the impact, and the beam erupted out the other side. Still flying, the Washington's ruin slammed into the Reaper, exploding in multiple directions from the impact, before the Destroyer casually flew off, moving to gut its next victim. Adina could only watch in sheer shock, as even the state of the art Tantalus Drive Core and Stealth Drives failed to give them an advantage.
"Ma'am! The station!" The comms officer shouted in panic, pointing at the station on the screen, "Enemy forces converging on it!"
She turned in a hurry, and watched as three Reaper capital ships (or Sovereign-Class Reapers, or simply Sovereigns, as she called them) broke off from the main assault to move towards Arcturus Station, who lay forgotten in the battle. She immediately hailed the Benjamin Davis, ordering it to fly alongside her, followed by her next two battleships. With her ships beside, and quickly joined by some ships from Singh's fleet, and they sped towards the station at full military thrust.
This battle is quickly going North. Damn it, we need reinforcements. I should call in the Sixth and Seventh Fleets...
Yeah, only for them to be slaughtered too. If they survive this battle, then humanity isn't out of this yet. I won't call them into the butcher. At least this gives them a chance to regroup.
It wasn't long before the two forces clashed between Arcturus Station, opening fire once more. Two of the Third Fleet's destroyers attempted to circle around them, but were quickly spotted by one of them and swatted one aside like an irritating fly, the hull tearing from the impact. The other barrated it with javelin torpedoes, but quickly fell victim as well to the Reaper.
Her dreadnought's main guns fought the enemy pound for pound, but they simply were not doing enough damage to amount to anything. And just as the Aconcagua was preparing to launch an ICBM, the Benjamin Davis came into view...
...only to light up as it was gutted by one of the Reapers' thanix cannons. The red light broke through the carrier's kinetic barrier, melted straight through the armor plating, and erupted out the other side, splitting the carrier clean in half. Unlaunched fighters, interceptors and bombers spilled out of its gutted hangar bays, exploding in space, colliding with each other, or simply impacting the hulls of nearby warships. She was simply forced to watch as the two halves that once represented the First Fleet's carrier floated off into space, destroyed.
And as she watched in horror, two of the Reaper Sovereigns ignored her counteraction completely, and closed the distance between them and Arcturus Station.
The station's defenses opened fire, GARDIANs alight and point defense lasers impacting their barriers, but it did nothing but irritate them. She ordered her ship be brought about, but it was too late, and she watched as the first thanix beam cut through space and sliced through the station, tearing a clean hole right through it, the second Reaper following suit.
It's over. I can't stop them. None of us can. They're too powerful.
All around her, the First and Third Fleets were laid to waste. The hulks of dead starships floated through space, their crews long dead, bodies gliding through the void. The Third Fleet's battleships were non-existent, and the Thomas Edison, before limping, could now be found being torn apart by the legs of a Destroyer. Frigates fled the scene, trying to regroup, never giving in, but even their spirit in battle couldn't win. We've lost. We can't hold this position. The only hope now is to...is to...
She turned back to the bridge, seeing that Arcturus Station was flying away in parts, the space station being torn asunder by the Reaper assault, which was now being joined by two Destroyers. She had no other choice, "Head for the relay. Get us to the Asgard System. Link up with the Sixth Fleet."
The crew merely looked at her slackjawed. But she couldn't afford to be weak. She could only hope that the three fleets protecting Earth could hold the Reapers off. And even that is a false hope.
"You heard me," she growled, "Arcturus Station is lost. There is nothing more we can do. If we hold this position, we lose the entire fleet, which means humanity has a few less ships to help in the continuing war. We'll link up with Nakamura and Teoh. Now. Get Admiral Singh on the line...if he's still alive."
The bridge crew slowly nodded their reluctant agreement, their minds slowly coming to realize the hopelessness of their situation. The captain looked defeated, and merely watched with a blank, horrified stare as Arcturus Station, capital of the Alliance, was ripped apart, slowly and surely, piece by piece. And to think, over 400,000 people lived on that station. And with them, the entire Alliance Parliament. Even the Prime Minister was on that station. And now they'll all die...because we simply couldn't protect them.
Singh's voice came over the line, and he sounded tired and defeated, "This battle is not going well, Admiral. And...and...Arcturus Station...it has fallen..."
"Which is why we can't stay here anymore. Ever heard of the saying 'live to fight another day?'" she asked, and seeing his reluctant nod, she gave a weak one in reciprocation, "Then that is what we must do. I recommend taking what's left of our fleets and making for the relay. We'll regroup in the Asgard System with Nakamura and Teoh, and we'll work out what to do from there. I recommend you send warning to Garrong on Earth; Arcturus Station has fallen, and the Reapers are on their way to Sol. Be ready."
"Ma'am, new contacts at the Arcturus Relay," the comms officer declared, and her eyes only widened in horror as he spoke, "It's...more of them, Admiral. I count at least fifty-two capital ships, and sixty-two smaller destroyers. I'm also counting one larger signature; it appears to be bigger than the capital ships; holy shit, its six kilometers in length. Look at the size of that thing!"
'...he's six kilometers in length. He's their leader, and the biggest Reaper I've ever seen.' Those had been Shepard's words, and she instantly knew who it was. That's the one called Harbinger. Their leader.
"That's their flagship. If their force is that big, the one that attacked us must have been a screening force. A scout," she shook her head. We were defeated by a scouting force. How do we hope to beat these things? "Which means making for the relay will now be suicidal. Make for the system's outer rim; once we reach the nearest relay to this cluster, we'll use that to head for Asgard. Inform the Logan of this as well," she also had to make a difficult decision. The rest of her fleet couldn't escape without a distraction, "Have the Tokyo, Nairobi, Baghdad, Darwin and Los Angeles cover our escape."
Noone even blinked. Not a flinch. They just carried out their orders; they had seen alot worse today. So they merely watched as the ships moved forward, the heavy cruiser Darwin leading, to delay the Reapers, whilst the Aconcagua and the rest of the fleet pulled out, followed by the Logan and the rest of Third Fleet. By the time they reached the outer rim, and the Admiral ordered the cameras turned to face Arcturus Station, she was horrified even further by what she saw.
The Los Angeles, Baghdad, Tokyo and the Nairobi were destroyed, and the Darwin and Los Angeles were desperately trying to hold them off, but were fast losing. Arcturus Station was a floating ruin; pieces of metal and hull floated in the abyss, with fires being blown out by the lack of oxygen. What had once been the beating heart of human civilization was now a smoldering ruin. The mass relay, meanwhile, continued to flash as more and more Reaper forces poured through, and by the time they left the system entirely, over one hundred and ninety-six capital ships had poured through, along with two hundred and forty-five destroyers.
And the relay kept on flashing.
The war was looking bleak for them. She ordered a message sent to Earth to warn them of what was coming.
She didn't want to even think of what they were going to do to Earth.
{Loading...}
June 2, 2186
1106 hours.
Living Quarters, Systems Alliance Defense Committee Vancouver Facility, Vancouver, United North American States, Earth.
Marcus Shepard.
He danced around the garden, swinging his arms up high as he held the toy alliance fighter craft in his hand, running around as if to put the vessel to flight. He laughed and giggled, while also trying to imitate the sounds of the fighter flying. He smiled, large and wide, and seemed to be in perputual bliss as he moved around the garden. He wore a large, wooly jumper, and his tiny, but long, legs were wrapped in skin-tight, blue jeans. His hair was a combed blonde, and his eyes turqouise, radiating a sense of innocence. His smooth cheeks radiated in the brilliant sun of Sol, and his environment was surrounded by the giant skyscrapers of Vancouver, standing vigil over him like tall sentinels.
His environment was a bright greenery, with lime grass and dark plants of many different shapes and sizes. He watched even further as the kid seemed to stop his motion, looking up as the continuous howl of a UT-47 Kodiak Shuttle, covered in Alliance blue and white, shot over his location, and he smiled as he watched it go by, as if in awe. Once the shuttle had disappeared behind the Committee building, joining the traffic of skycars up above, he turned back to see four children joining him, all of them boys and girls, and all holding toys of their own; alliance frigates, turian cruisers and asari dreadnoughts. Two more kids appeared, one holding what looked to be a...geth cruiser, while the other held...
He cringed at the sight of a child wielding a model of Sovereign, holding it up and making terrible horn sounds with her mouth, "The geth have come to deztroy you all!" the two kids shouted out, and one kid from the larger group stood out, holding an action figurine of...who else? Himself. He only watched with a growing smile as the kid charged forth, waving Commander Marcus Shepard in the air, cheering, "I am Commander Shepherd! Saveor of the Sitadell! And I will DEZTROY YOU!" They charged forth, and the kids pretended to do battle, with the one wielding the action figurine shouting words like 'I will destroy you!" "I'll kill you!" "Enemies everywhere!"
He liked watching the children outside play, but sometimes, it made him sad. He thought about this as he leaned against the window with his arm bracing against it, other hand wielding a forgotten datapad. He could have had children of his own. Could have been a father. But the call of war had called to him, and he had answered.
The life he could have had if he hadn't chosen the Marine Corps. If he hadn't joined the Alliance Navy.
It would have been a short lived life. I would never have found out about the Reapers and stopped the attack on the Citadel and Saren. I would never have landed on Eden Prime, or served on the Normandy, or met Anderson. Or Joker. Or Kaidan. Or Garrus. Or...Tali. My Tali.
Damn it. Why couldn't he forget her for a few moments!
The six months they had been seperated without contact had been unbelievably agonizing, but he had learnt to cope with it and found other things to preoccupy himself with. But no matter what he did, she always worked herself back into his mind. God he missed her. He wondered when he would see her again. Wherever you are, sweetheart, please be careful. Please...stay safe.
The bliss of watching the children play down below ceased as he heard the door open behind him with a mechanical sigh, one he returned in full as he left the window's side, arm falling to his side as he turned towards the marine named James Vega, who still wore his standard issue alliance white singlet, insignia woven in on the front, and dogtags hanging from his neck, black hair formed in an almost mohawk fashion, but too short. The tattooes on his broad, thick, muscled arms told everyone who saw him that he was of Mexican descent. That, and his curse words. He had alot of those.
He snapped a salute upon getting inside, "Commander."
He exhaled, tossing the datapad of information he had onto the desk infront of him before taking a seat behind it, leaning back, "I told you not to call me that anymore, Vega. Not only am I not even military anymore, but I'm not a Spectre either. Cut the 'Commander' crap. And drop that damn salute too." He said it with a little bit more harshness in his tone than usual, but he really was sick to death of the respect he was getting from the marine he had only known for six months. I don't even deserve that title. I'm just a relic of times long past.
James shrugged, let his hand fall to his side, "I'm trying my best to remember that," he motioned to the corridor waiting outside, door still opened as he spoke, "I've been assigned to come get you. The Defense Committee wants to see you. Desperately, from what I've heard."
He raised his eyebrows, turning to follow James out the door, and in the first time since he arrived, "Sounds important. Lead the way, Vega."
He followed James through the door and out into the corridor, only to immediately run into one of the officers currently running down the hallway. He muttered quick apologies before turning and continuing his sprint, Marcus merely frowning as he saw Alliance officers and the like running down the corridor like crazed rabbits.
He managed to finally catch up to the bulky marine, his brows fused in a look of severe confusion as he eyed James, matching his steps, "What's going on? Everybody seems to be in a hurry."
James turned to him, a look of severe concern in his features, "Its bad, Shepard. Anderson can explain more. Let's just say that the situation is so bad that they've just declared a DEFCON 1. All the fleets have been mobilized, and the Marine Corps, Army and CEMA are on high alert. SEMA have even begun sending emergency broadcasts globally; the'yve ordered mass evacuations. You should have seen the streets out there Shepard; people are evacuating en masse.
Marcus remembered the children outside. They don't even know. He knew exactly what was going on, but it still shocked him, and fear creeped into his mind. I thought we'd have more time. A year at least, but six months? They've reached us farther than anticipated! I just hope my team has done their jobs...
He had been about to ask James what the DEFCON was about when they reached an archway at the end of the corridor, where a weary-faced Rear Admiral David Edward Anderson was waiting; his father figure, mentor, ex-N7, and newly instated Rear Admiral. Marcus couldn't help but smile as he reached the admiral. He wanted to hug Anderson, as they're bond was that close, but decided to remain professional, holding out his hand, to which Anderson took and shook eagerly. His expression wasn't as comely, as Marcus expected, but he remained cordial, "You look good Marcus," he shook his head, patting Marcus' gut, "Maybe alittle soft around the edges."
Marcus chuckled lightly, James almost forgotten as he stood there in a salute. Anderson nodded, snapping a crisp salute of his own, or as best he could in his officers' uniform, "As you were Lieutenant. You can follow us, just try and keep up," with the formalities done, his arm fell back down and he waved Marcus to follow him, the two soldiers moving into another intersecting corridor, moving towards a pair of stairs, the flow of officers still relentless as they ran to and from the area, "How have you holding up after being relieved from duty?"
The question took him by surprise, but Marcus answered nonetheless, "Well, my mum came to visit me at one point when she was off duty and finally given permission to do so. Otherwise, it's not so bad after you get used to the hot food and the ridiculously soft beds. You'd think I'm in a hotel suite," he turned to Anderson, the admiral's features worried and creased. He had to ask, "Anderson, that's besides the point. What's going on? Vega tells me we're at DEFCON 1."
"Trouble. I'll give you the short version," Anderson stated bluntly as they began to jog up the steps on their way to the building's conference room, "The entire galaxy lost contact with the Kite's Nest. The batarians mobilized their navy and troops at Khar'Shan and before we know it, three quarters of their navy no longer exists and the Kite's Nest falls to an unknown enemy. Then they...the unknown enemy...started heading for us. We initiated DEFCON 1, and the First and Third Fleets were assigned to protect Arcturus, while the Second, Fourth and Fifth defended Earth, the Sixth and Seventh defended the Exodus Cluster, and the Eighth waits in reserve. Garrong is still here, trying to keep panic from brewing. And to make matters worse, we lost contact with Arcturus Station and the Parliament half an hour ago. Then, Garrong received a message from Netanyahu that Singh and herself had initiated a complete tactical retreat and had left the system to regroup. So now the enemy is bearing down on Earth."
By the time Anderson finished, Marcus had stopped moving, causing James to stop and look at him with a frown, while Anderson stopped as well, slowly turning to meet his eyes, recognition in them. Marcus didn't need to say what they were both thinking, but he said it anyway.
"The Reapers. They're here. They destroyed Arcturus Station, they wiped out the batarians, and now they're coming here. To finish us."
Anderson gave him a scowl, but it was one of internal debate, not scolding, "The Defense Committee is...not quite as convinced. They're in fear, and I think denial is getting to them. They don't want to believe a galactic apocalypse is upon us."
Marcus shook his head, continuing his jog as he passed Anderson, "I'll make them believe. Too many have died to keep batting the bush now."
"Agreed," Anderson stated, moving to jog alongside him, James in tow behind them. They reached the top of the steps, and began moving down a long, large corridor with observation windows giving a beautiful view of Earth and the city of Vancouver outside. Just as they began to move down the hallway, Anderson spoke up again, "You'll need to get the Committee talking Shepard. Especially Fleet Admiral Garrong. He's still not convinced this threat is as you say it is."
He rolled his eyes, "Unless we're planning to talk the Reapers to death, those morons are a waste of time," he kept up his pace, eyes narrowed as he dove his way through the crowds of officers jogging by, "I'd have more luck trying to convince a rock to fight for the galaxy. Garrong should know better than this."
Anderson grabbed his arm, bringing him to a full stop. He turned to face Anderson, who still held firmly on his face as the admiral spoke once more, voice conveying the shock and understanding he felt, "They're just scared, Shepard. The galaxy has never faced an adversary like this before; not even the rachni managed to overwhelm us this quickly. In just four hours, the Batarian Hegemony was in ruins. And in the space of half an hour, two alliance fleets are in full retreat, and Arcturus Station likely destroyed, and our entire government dead. None of them have seen what you've seen. That's why they're so desperate to talk to you; hell, I heard Garrong suggest it. You've faced down a Reaper. Hell, you even spoke to one. Then you blew the damn thing up! You've seen how they harvest us; what they plan to do to us. You know our enemy better than anyone."
Anderson moved up ahead, letting go of his arm, allowing Marcus to slowly catch up. Just as Anderson was about to reach a door at the end of the hall though, Marcus spoke up, his mutter turning into loud words full of acid, "Is that why the Committee imprisoned me? Took my ship, painted it in Alliance stripes, and gave it SSV? Is that why my ship no longer belongs to me?"
Anderson whorled around to face him at that, but his face wasn't angry, merely annoyed, "You know that's not bloody true! You handed yourself over, don't forget! And you agreed to have the Normandy impounded!"
"Yes, impounded, but not given a new job and affiliation!"
Anderson sighed, shaking his head, as he turned to look at the man he considered a son, "When you blew up the Alpha Relay, three hundred thousand batarians died. Aratoht ceased to exist. I know you did it to delay the Reapers, but they didn't believe you. But now they know you were right, and they need your help. They're terrified. And quite frankly, so am I. None of us have encountered an enemy like this before. Before, humanity's biggest fear was nuclear war. Now we have alot more to worry about than some moron pressing the wrong buttons at a ICBM silo."
Marcus jammed his eyes shut upon hearing about the Bahak Incident again. He had wanted to avoid speaking about that. It was a memory he did not remember fondly, and it had lead to his seperation from his wife, crew and ship. But Anderson had been right; he had handed himself over willingly, and only because of his own guilt. I murdered every single one of them. And if my squad hasn't prepared the galaxy in some form, their deaths will have truly been for nothing.
But he was quick to defend himself, but it was in a less acidic tone, and more melancholy, "It was either that, or let the Reapers walk in through our backdoor. And Earth would be laid waste to then, not now. I gave our people time to prepare, and the Parliament and the Council squandered it, as per usual. Now we'll all pay the price for their fucking incompetence."
"I couldn't agree more," Anderson replied, motioning to the door near them, "But tell that to the Committee, not me. They're the ones in need of a wake up call."
He nodded, and they both moved towards the door, James moving with them. The door was guarded by two marines, and as they moved inside, Marcus noticed that the female N7 from his trial on Arcturus Station was posted inside, ordering troops around. He gave her a respectful nod, to which she returned within the confines of her helmet, and they moved inside into some kind of reception area, where chairs were stacked.
It was then he heard a familiar voice shout orders at the female N7, "Keeling, make sure the Committee is adequately protected. I don't want anyone getting in or out after we're set up."
"Copy that, Major," she responded, before turning away.
Marcus watched as Kaidan Alenko came into view, one of his best friends, going way back from the days of the Eden Prime War. He wore full alliance combat armor, complete with Navy blue and white finish, and he saw the golden bars of a Major in the Marine Corps etched onto his armor's shoulder pieces, the soldier obviously having had a promotion. He smiled at Kaidan as they approached, and the soldier returned it in kind, helmet pinned under one arm.
"Shepard," Kaidan greeted, taking Marcus in a friendly handshake before pulling back, "Didn't think I'd see you here. I thought you'd be out, back in our ranks, and leading troops around. Or at least, that would have happened if Anderson had his way."
Marcus grinned at the admiral, who merely shrugged before turning back to Kaidan, eyebrow raised, "So, Major now is it? Where did that promotion come from?"
Kaidan grinned, rubbing the back of his neck, "Necessity, don't worry. Although I'm a Major now, and in temporary command of the Normandy, so at least no greedy bastard is getting his hands on your ship. I've been keeping her warmed up for you," he jabbed a thumb at the door at the end of the hall, "Just...be careful in there. I've never seen them so scared before. Even Garrong seemed a bit...twitchy, I'll admit. Deliver the hard words, but steer clear of talk on Arcturus Station. That was a real blow to the Alliance."
Losing our government, and four hundred thousand people? Not to mention the countless hundreds serving aboard warships that no longer exist? I can imagine. He patted Kaidan's shoulder, squeezing it, "It'll be fine, Kaidan. I'll be fine. You just be ready for anything. If intelligence is right, the Reapers will be heading for Earth next. Be ready when they do. And it was good to see you again."
Kaidan nodded, stepping to the side, snapping a salute, "Likewise, Shepard," he dropped his hand, smiling, "Good luck." He quickly turned to James, holding out his arm out and shaking his head, causing the Lieutenant to stop dead in his tracks, "Oh no you don't. That's a classified conference meeting in there. You'll be lining up with the rest of us jarheads. Get to your locker and stow your weapons and armor. You'll be with Keeling's platoon."
Marcus barely heard the conversation as he followed Anderson into the conference room.
The room seemed to be one of deathly silence; so much so, it almost deafened him. As they moved into the center of the massive complex, they could see the numerous vidscreens along the walls, displaying news reports on the CNN and the Galaxy Wide News about the sudden Reaper invasion, although the name Reaper was not mentioned. Behind them was a massive vidscreen covering the entire wall, but it was currently blank, with the feed at the top right saying 'Disconnected.' A desk sat on the left, where a ginger-haired woman in alliance uniform stood, and a huge table sat at the back of the room where a massive observation window allowed a clear view of Vancouver around them; it was currently where the Defense Committee sat, along with Garrong sitting in the middle.
Upon seeing them enter, Garrong immediately spoke, all members coming to stand as Anderson and Marcus both saluted the Fleet Admiral of the Navy. Garrong nodded to both, telling them to be at ease before speaking, "This session is now officially classified. All monitoring devices are to be switched off immediately. Let this session begin," all members present sat, with the exception of Anderson and Marcus, who merely stood in the middle of the room.
As the room came to be quiet, Garrong eyed Marcus with a calm, steady gaze and narrowed eyes. When he was done surveying him he spoke, his voice speaking of defeat in the years of experience he had in the Alliance military, "I...Shepard, this Committee, and myself, find ourselves in desperate need of your help. We're facing the biggest threat we've ever encountered. The batarians are finished. No use trying to ask them for help; Khar'Shan has likely already fallen. And now Arcturus Station is laid to ruin, our leadership murdered, and two of my fleets are now limping away with lots of broken bones. They barely got out of there with their lives. Admiral Singh even told me over the comms, to quote, 'I've never encountered anything like it. They had broken the spine of my fleet within ten minutes, followed by Adina's moments after, and that had only been the screening force.'" He faced Marcus, leaning back and wiping his brow, "Shepard, just what the hell are we facing here?"
"Yes, we've lost contact with every beyond the Sol Relay," one woman on the Committee stated.
"Whatever it is, it must be incomprehensibly powerful," one man gasped.
Marcus shook his head, hold up a hand to deny one woman who had been handing him a datapad, and his eyes met those of all the Committee members, especially Garrong, "I don't need to see the reports to know just what enemy we face. Its the same enemy I've warned you about for three years. The same one you thought had been swept under the rug and forgotten. But Harbinger hasn't forgotten, and now he is here, and he is only giving you a taste-tester of what's to come," his eyes finally landed on Garrong's, "I'll tell you what you already know. The Reapers are here."
Murmurs of descent entered the room, and he picked out choice sentences. "He was right." "They're here." "What, like Sovereign?" "God save us."
Garrong managed to bring order in the room with a wave of his hand, and he eyed Marcus for a few more moments before giving in with a exhale of breath and, in a surprising moment of defeat, took off his cap, placed it on the table's surface and let his head fall into his hands. As he spoke, his voice had lost the strength that it had once had, "For once, Shepard, I'm going to say it. You were right. You were always goddamn right, and we were bloody fools not to see it. Now we've dug our graves, and the Reapers have come to push us in," he inhaled, worried eyes coming to meet Marcus', "So I'm going to ask you; what the hell do we do? How do we stop them?"
In a moment of confusion, Marcus laughed. Everyone looked at him with angry glares and some of misunderstanding, and Garrong looked as humorless as usual, but when Marcus finally wiped the smile off his face, he stood forward, seriousness in his expression, "Stop them? Have you been fucking listening? This isn't about strategy or tactics, this is about survival! The Reapers are simply more advanced than we are. More powerful. More intelligent. They don't feel fear, their ships could chop ours like a axe does wood, and they know the mass relays and the Citadel inside and out. They won't accept surrender; they will not stop until every single one of us is wiped from bloody existence. They won't blow us back to the stone age; they'll send us into the jaws of death, only to snap them shut. They are every nightmare you've ever had. They aren't an enemy that can be fought, but merely one you run from."
The Committee looked desperate for answers, and the woman spoke once more, her grey hair tied in a bun ontop of her head, "But...there must be some way!"
He turned to her, no pity in his eyes. If you had listened three years ago, maybe you'd be fucking ready. Maybe, you wouldn't be shitting your pants right now. No words came to him in that moment, and he knew that no inspirational speeches belonged here; only cold hard facts.
"You want a way? Fight or you die. That's the only way any of us will survive. We fight them, we destroy them, or they'll destroy us. I'm not about to give you the Sun Tzu; I don't know their tactics, or their weaknesses. Only that they believe us inferior, and will not take pity on us. Ever. Fight or you die. That's the plan. How's that sound?"
Garrong stood up from his seat, glaring angrily as he spoke to Marcus in a booming tone, "We want answers, not speeches! Is that your plan? Because right now, you've helped us diddely squat! How the hell do we fight them!?"
Marcus moved to respond, stepping forward with balled up fists. Before he could however, the orange haired female stood forward, reading off a datapad. When she looked up, she spoke to the infuriated Garrong, her voice full of terror, "Admiral we..w...we just lost contact with...with Luna Base."
All eyes turned to her, and only Anderson's shocked, "The moon? They can't have gotten that close already!" could be heard in the room as silence took over. Garrong's anger faded and he quickly sat down, all eyes landing on Anderson as he spoke again, "We would have heard from Hackett if the Reapers had gotten that close. Why haven't we heard from his fleet, Drescher's and Arefyev's?"
The woman with a bun stood up, her eyes conveying her denial as she shouted, "Poposterous! They can't possibly have breached our defenses! We have three whole fleets up there, along with Jump Zero and our orbital defense platforms!"
The woman spoke again, terror ever evident, "Sir!" she yelled, "We've just received a communique from the Defense Committee in London! They have a visual! Transmitting now."
All eyes turned to the massive screen above, and watched as it came to life, displaying real time data instantly. They watched as blood instantly splattered the screen, followed by the screams of panicking civilians and the familiar airhorns of Reapers in the background. The sound never failed to send a shudder down his spine. They continued to watch as a British soldier dressed in the Alliance blue and white picked up his dead comrade's helmet and held the visor near his face, showing the panic on it. They could see a severed skyscraper in the middle, along with what looked to be three Reapers, exactly the same as Sovereign in shape, size and design, dotting the landscape, firing their thanix cannons into London's streets, with one being literally right over the soldier. They watched in the distance as a gunship flew by, only to be destroyed as what he recognized as an Oculus, a Reaper fighter that was spherical in shape, flew by and destroyed it with its own particle beam.
The soldier spoke, terror in his voice as the sounds of gunfire, explosions and sirens sounded in the area around him, "Buckingham Palace is gone! The Parliament, everyone, dead! London has fallen to an unknown enemy! They overwhelmed our defenses! We cannot hold them! We can't-" Marcus heard a familiar moan and the soldier turned in time to watch as a husk, followed by four more, barrelled into him, the husk clasping its mouth around his throat. The soldier screamed, "ARGH!" before the visual changed to multiple other news outlets, showing Reapers landing all over the world. Marcus recognized all the locations in an instant.
Berlin. Moscow. Tokyo. Beijing. Bahgdad. Gaza. Tela Aviv. Washington D.C. Los Angeles. Denver. Phoenix. London. Paris. Amsterdam. Athens. Belgrade. Brussels. Budapest. Madrid. Luxembourg. Prague. Kiev. Rome. San Francisco. Every single one of them came under Reaper attack, and he watched as a Reaper Destroyer climbed onto the Eiffel Tower, tearing it apart with a thanix cannon blast, followed by the destruction of the Kremlin in Russia.
"Sir!" the woman spoke again, "Russia, wait, Israel too! And China! And India! And Britain! Sir, they've all gone nuclear! They're preparing to launch every nuclear weapon they have!"
Garrong immediately stood, cheeks going red as he shouted, "Stop them! Stop them no-"
"Wait," the woman stopped, and her look turned into even bigger horror, "That can't be. Sir, it seems the Reapers are actually landing forces right ontop of the silos and have...taken the missiles. They can't go nuclear!"
"Those nukes could have dealt a blow to the Reapers," Marcus told him, eying him, "Which is why they're so desperate to make sure they're neatralized as a threat."
"Bloody hell!" Garrong cursed.
"You know what to do," Marcus told him, moving forward and pointing at the screen where a Japanese reporter was now speaking, in Japanese of course, a picture of Tokyo being ravaged by Reapers in the background, "Fight or die. That's the choice. Make sure you choose wisely, because even as we speak, Earth is falling."
Garrong looked defeated, without anything else to say. But before they could speak, Marcus felt a presence in his mind. A familiar, dreaded presence. One that filled him with fear and disgust, hatred and agony. He had felt in the Prothean beacons with Sovereign, but this one was different; he had felt it in his fight with the Collectors, and during his battle on the Project Asteroid. He recognized it well, and he knew it was close. No...
"Shepard?" Garrong asked, voice laced with acid, "Are you even bloody listening to me?"
He turned to the Committee, and was about to shout them for them to get down when a loud, familiar airhorn was heard, the sound shattering the glass of the windows behind them instantly and sending it showering all over the Committee members. Garrong and all of them turned towards the source, and Marcus as the six-kilometer tall form of Harbinger landed in the Fraser River, the impact sending a tremor through the ground, its orange eyes looking into his own, and legs stretched out.
"Shepard," it boomed across the city towards him, as if it was able to see him, and even now, he saw three of its thanix cannons charging up, "Your time is at an end. You will be harvested."
It musn't be in his head, but Garrong seemed to widen his eyes at the Reapers' words, "My god...god save us..." he was frozen in fear.
Harbinger seemed to hear him, "Your god will not save you. He will end you." And with that, its thanix cannons fired, all aimed at the Defense Committee building.
Marcus felt the heat impact his face as he was thrown away like a rag doll by the sheer force of the blast, his body barrelling into Anderson's as they were both sent flying into the wall, and went tumbling onto the ground. The Defense Committee, Garrong and everyone else shared a similiar fate, except Marcus merely watched as the Defense Committee was practically vaporized by the impact of the shot hitting the conference room, with Garrong managing to evacuate in time to only be thrown into one of the vidscreens, and to plop down on the ground, unmoving.
The red haired woman tried to run, only to be torn to bloody ribbons as the table splintered and fell apart, sending splinters shooting forward like bullets, all of them riddling her body as she fell to the ground in a bloody mess. As Marcus' vision began to blur and he lay motionless on the ground, all he saw was the shattered glass littering the ground, the flames licking at the broken interior of the building, and the many dead bodies around the room.
He heard a voice calling his name, but he merely recognized it, as his ears were ringing. Popping one, heard his name fully this time, and recognized Anderson's voice. He felt himself quickly helped to his feet, and Anderson was in his face, his uniform torn in multiple places, ripped and some of his officers' bars having fallen off. He had a large cut across his forehead, but ignored it as he picked up the predator pistol of a dead marine, handing it to Marcus as he equipped his own carnifex, "We need to get moving. Check the room; see if anyone's alive. I'll try and raise Alenko and the Normandy."
Marcus nodded, quickly checking the chamber of his pistol was full before he began searching the room, checking for pulses. To his disappointment and regret, noone had survived the attack, and he wasn't surprised. Harbinger's thanix shot had absolutely gutted the room, with the kinetically powered shell only ending once it had cut through the conference room, the reception area behind that and the end of the corridor near by. The room was a mangled, unrecognizable mess when he was done.
He finally came upon Garrong's limp form, who seemed to be stirring. He rushed over and rolled Garrong's body over, and immediately saw the damage. The front part of his uniform was seemingly gone, with a large, piece of blackened muscle in the middle where skin used to be, blood oozing from the wound, the skin around the gaping hole blackened to the point of absolute darkness. His face was several different shades of pink, and he was blood leaking from his mouth. Marcus quickly made a move to apply medi-gel, only for Garrong to grab him around the collar and pull him forward. He looked into his eyes, those eyes that had sent him to prison, eyes now filled with terror and, simultaneously, a fierceness he didn't feel. When he spoke, it was ragged, but intelligible, "Stop...them...save Earth...no matter...the cost...do not...let them...win. You're...humanity's...leader now," and with that Garrong's breathing stopped, and his hand fell from Marcus' collar, body going limp as his head lulled backwards and impacted the ground, eyes gazing blankly at the ceiling; the life drained from them.
Marcus sighed, using his hand to close the Admiral's eyes. Another death in the growing war. And its only just begun. Hackett must be dead too; if the Reapers got to Earth, the fleets up above must be gone. He remembered just who Arefyev's flagship was captained by. Mum...no...you can't be...I'm not jumping to conclusions! She's still alive, I know she is! She's a Shepard!
Anderson came to his side, and Marcus got up, standing and facing Anderson as the admiral solemnly nodded, "I've tried contacting Alenko and the Normandy. There's too much going on and the Reapers must be jamming us. Our only hope at the moment is to get the hell out of here. No doubt this building will be overrun with husks soon, and we'd best not be here when they turn up."
Sparing Garrong's body one last look, Marcus followed Anderson out to the observation window, where even the frames for it had melted away. Harbinger, obviously believing them dead, had now turned to the otherside of the city, on the otherside of the river, and he watched in awe as the Leader of the Reapers charged up six different thanix cannons and fired them into the city, gutting four skyscrapers, and incinerating two streets worth of civilians down below. Even Sovereign only had two thanix cannons. Harbinger is so powerful...
He turned, wondering where the other two shots he had fired had gotten too, and saw two more quickly large holes in the building's structure. Looking down, he saw they towered over the city, and it would be a long way down. Turning to Anderson, he merely nodded, pointing to what looked to be some pipes and they leapt down, the city burning around them.
{Loading...}
June 2, 2186
1149 hours.
Security Facility, Systems Alliance Defense Committee Vancouver Facility, Vancouver, United North American States, Earth.
The Reaper War, Battle of Earth.
Marcus Shepard, Rear Admiral David Edward Anderson.
The city was in ruins, and in chaos. Two more Reaper capital ships had landed soon after Harbinger, along with three more on Harbinger's side of the river. He watched in the distance as skyscrapers crumbled, skycars were shot out of the sky, kodiaks blown up, and people ran screaming in the streets, desperately trying to escape the carnage. It was a literal bloodbath.
A Reaper airhorn tore through the air as Marcus and Anderson slid down a piece of the ruined building, moving towards what looked to be the Security Facility; where a ladder would take them to the building connected to them; a Safrax Industries skyscraper that hadn't yet been damaged. Smoke clogged the air around them, and fires raged around them as they moved along.
"Marcus, I'm getting a signal," Anderson declared, and they both stopped, lowering their pistols slightly as Anderson spoke into his open omni-tool, "Normandy, this is Rear Admiral Anderson, do you read?"
"This is...Major...lenko, we...you. Got Lieut...ga with me, and Keeling. The Reap...got to...shit, evasive...!"
"When can you pick us up? Are with the Normandy?"
"Cop...that," Kaidan replied over the radio, the static almost unbearable, and he could hear the sound of Joker cursing in the background as he avoided the rays of death spat at him by the Reapers below, "We'...assisting the ev...tion. Cannot...too much...just flying around. Anderson, you need-" then, just as quickly as he came up, he disappeared, and Anderson cursed silently to himself.
Turning to Marcus, he motioned to the security bunker up ahead, "Come on, we have to keep moving. There's a harbor down near the river where the Normandy can pick us up."
Just as they turned to continue, they watched an alliance interceptor shoot past, pursued by two Oculi. The interceptor was hit by two particle bursts, that sent it careening into the nearest skyscraper, with it basically exploded with the impact. The building groaned but did not fall, and the two Oculi seemed to move on. Shaking his head solemnly, Marcus merely continued on, Anderson not far behind.
Just as they reached a ladder reaching down to the security building, they both heard a familiar, but shiver-inducing, group of moans. Turning back left, they watched as a group of seven husks leapt down by one of the buildings, and started sprinting at them, jaws open wide and showing mangled, blackened human teeth. Both men turned and fired their weapons, and they managed to drop the mindless creatures with relative ease, allowing them to slide down the ladder and continue.
They found the security bunker in one piece, with tinted glass windows and a sealed door. Anderson moved up to it, beginning to hack it with his omni-tool while Marcus moved over to the railing, and looked down below. He saw a sight he wished he hadn't. Hundreds of men, women and children fled down below, and pursuing them was a horde of husks, hungry and demanding something to kill, driven on by the instinct the Reapers honed into them. Some of those people will become husks themselves. Others will just be killed. If I had to choose, I'd rather the latter. Anything's better than becoming...becoming those things.
The same moans he had come to dread sounded nearby, and looked to the source, only to widen his eyes as he saw four husks climb through the railing and head straight for Anderson. Before Marcus could shout a warning, the admiral had swung around, omni-blade alight, and sliced the head clean off one of the husks, followed another swipe to the second one's legs, chopping them off. Turning to the last two, he was about to finish them when Marcus' predator barked, downing both, before killing the legless one on the ground. Anderson nodded his thanks, before pressing a single button on his omni-tool, opening the door instantly.
"Come on, we have to keep going. Can't stay here."
Marcus nodded, finding nearby thermal clips on a dead marine and relieving her of them, before closing her eyes and stuffing the spare clips in his pocket, using one to reload his pistol. They both moved inside, both hearing only deathly silence in the building; that, and the screaming of people down below, the echoes of gunfire and explosions outside, the constant report of the Reapers' many thanix cannons and of course their occassional airhorn.
Moving over to another door, they managed to open it, only to find the other half of the building wasn't undamaged. Two large steel beams had collapsed from the ceiling and slammed into the ground, displacing some of the tiles where they impacted and flames licked at the area inbetween them. Anderson, grunting, holstered his pistol quickly and moved under one steel beam, pressing his weight into it to lift it, but only managing to lift it slightly. Knowing he was stronger, Marcus took the beam and picked it up, throwing it away, giving them a path to the next. Anderson nodded his thanks, shaking his head, "This is a goddamn mess. Every minute those machines are here, thousands of innocent people die. I won't be held responsible for this. I did everything I could to warn them, so did you. So did your crew. So did Hackett and your mother. Noone listened. None. And now we've brought this upon us."
Marcus shook his head, both of them sidestepping the flames on the ground to reach the next beam, the both of them lifting it and tossing it aside before clearing the path and moving on. The ground up ahead had caved in, and they would have to use the sides to sidestep to the other side, but they could do it. Marcus, in response to Anderson's statement, merely shook his head, hardly believing the words that came out of his mouth, "You can't be held responsible for the ones who die. We fight for the ones left standing when this is all over." Did I just say that? What part of me died when I dictated that those who die are to be forgotten and ignored?
Anderson merely nodded, moving to stand on the edge of the caved platform and beginning to sidestep to the other side, quickly joined by Marcus, "They hit so fast. I thought we'd have more time," Marcus commented.
Anderson shook his head, looking at him with mild agreement. He moved to open his mouth, but stopped just as he was about to stumble and fall. Marcus grabbed hold of him, pulling him back up, and the admiral nodded his thanks, speaking again as he remained still, "What you need to do is go to the Citadel. Talk to the Council."
Marcus scoffed, "The Citadel? Talk to the Council? What help will those morons be? I'm done trying to convince them of anything. The fight is on Earth, not on a space station in the middle of nowhere. I can't leave."
Anderson shook his head, and they continued across the gap, "The fight will be everywhere soon enough. You said it yourself; the Reapers will wipe out all life in the galaxy if we don't stop them. Khar'Shan, Earth...we're only the beginning. Many more worlds will fall if we don't find a way to defeat these bastards. And it all starts with you talking some damn sense to the Council," he leapt across the gap, landing on the other side, and was quickly joined by Marcus, who nodded as he pat himself down. A blast shook the building, causing Marcus to almost fall off the edge, but Anderson pulled him up.
"Thanks. I owe you one."
"I don't. That made up for earlier. Come on."
They reached a shattered window frame, where they watched a skyscraper burning in the background, accompanied by the rumble and eventual collapse of the one next to it; steel, concrete and people collapsing to the ground, fires ablaze in the streets. They watched three kodiaks fly by, the roar of their engines reverbrating the room they stood in. Marcus, leaning over, spotted a landing three meters below and jumped down, followed by Anderson.
He chanced a look up, and Marcus felt his breath taken away; not in awe, but sheer horror. The sky seemed to be falling; jets of orange light shooting from the sky to land on the ground, the orange flames evaporating as they passed the clouds to reveal themselves to be Reapers. All over the city they landed, including types he didn't recognize, including a crab/scorpion like Reaper that was far smaller than the capital ships; these ones were roughly 160 meters in height, putting them at a total standing of 524 feet in total height. They're huge, but by Reaper standards, so small...
They rained from above, impacting the ground with a tremor before they emerged, raining death on the area around them, knocking skyscrapers aside as they moved their goliath legs. One of the smaller ones landed in the river, sending a gigantic stream of water shooting up into the air, before the mechanized starship stood to its full height and climbed up onto the harbor, before walking away and disappearing into the city.
As Marcus and Anderson approached a large platform, with the harbor being roughly 100 meters below them, they both fell to the ground as a Reaper capital ship landed in the river, a massive quake ripping through the area and shaking the building, causing it to groan and creak. They looked up to see the gigantic monolith standing over them, easily towering over the tallest building, and communicating in high-pitched electronic screeches, mechanical whirs, and the familiar airhorn. Oculi danced around it, and as he watched, it launched multiple orange streaks of light, obviously pods, into the city, where they crashed, and husks spilled out of them. That's how they managed to deploy them so quickly.
It seemed to stand in the river, and Marcus found his attention drawn back to Harbinger, who had now left the river and stomped into the city on the otherside of the river, a trail of destroyed buildings left crushed or destroyed, its many beams blowing multiple fighters out of the air, while simultaneously raining death around it. Ignoring the Reaper now towering over them, Anderson and Marcus got back to their feet, raised their pistols, and continued for the nearby platform, hoping they weren't spotted.
Only to stop again as the Reaper in the river let out a hyper-electronic screech, the impact of a MAC round bouncing harmlessly off its kinetic barriers; its shields shimmering. The sound of the MAC cannon had left both their ears ringing, and as they looked up, both of them were flabbergasted to see a Systems Alliance Battleship, the SSV Olympic, sitting over the city, its many weapons; missiles, point defense lasers, ICBMs, javelin torpedoes and its rotary cannons desperately tore into the Reaper's shielding, trying to deal damage, but failing. Marcus recognized the vessel; it had been part of the Fourth Fleet. Well we know what happened to them, then.
"A battleship?" Anderson asked, confused, "Those ships aren't rated for atmosphere."
Marcus watched as the Reaper lifted one leg out of the air, a jet of water coming out with it before it thrusted the leg back in, parting it as the Reaper began to slowly turn and face the warship, "And will be a deadship very soon. We've got to get to the other side. That Reaper is about to cut into that ship."
Anderson nodded, and they both sprinted towards the edge of the platform, and were about to make a run for a stairwell leading down to the harbor when they both heard the familiar boom of the Reaper main gun, and they both looked up in time to see a bolt of red energy slam into the battleship's shields, breach them in seconds, and then tear into the ship. They could only watch as the heavy, 100 megaton slug tore the vessel wide open from bow to stern, and its eezo core detonated, consuming it in a blash of brilliant blue that was so powerful he had to cover his eyes. When he opened them again, he only saw the massive shockwave from the explosion that hit the already unstable platform they stood on...
...causing it to cave in below them, and sending Marcus and Anderson sliding down a piece of bulkhead and steel supports to land in the harbor below. Marcus' head bumped against a piece of bulkhead on his way down, and he felt a bruise already forming on his forehead as he slammed, stomach first, onto the ground, winding him. Anderson landed nearby not long later, and Marcus merely looked up weakly, his blurred vision watching as what was left of the battleship collapsed into the city below, its stern bashing aside one skyscraper, before crushing another. Shaking his head to let his vision clear up, Marcus fumbled for the pistol he had dropped, finding it covered in dust next to a collapsed, yellow crane.
Slowly hopping to his feet, he picked it up and ignored the sore bruise on his head, the injury throbbing incesantly. If I hadn't had my cybernetics, that hit would have killed me. Would have cracked my skull wide open.
Standing on both feet, he moved over and held out his hand, helping Anderson to his own feet and allowing him to retrieve his weapon. Looking up, he saw the Reaper turning away, before his eyes locked onto the harbor itself.
It was a bloody mess; it looked like a nuclear bomb had just flattened the place. Fallen cranes lay all over the place, the walls of buildings and structures covering the ground, creating a mismatch of many different disjointed ground blocks. Dust covered them, while others were scorched from the heat of a thanix cannon hitting them. He noticed a few crashed fighters, what looked to be a few destroyed skycars, a crashed shuttle, and just near the water's edge, a crashed A-67 Mantis Gunship. The harbor itself; the decking in the water, looked unharmed, and most of the boats and even a cargo ship, still lay in port.
As they moved forward and towards the crashed gunship, they heard pained cries, along with soothing words, the voices indicating males. Marcus, sharing a glance with Anderson, quietly moved over and looked down, seeing what looked to be a artificial creek of water that had splashed in, the gap covered by the dismembered part of a crane. But stuck under that dismembered part was the leg of an alliance officer, a pilot by the look of his helmet, and his uniform was torn and bloodied. The man next to him was sitting in a crouch, applying medi-gel with his omni-tool. Seeing that the close was clear and he saw no husks nearby, he leapt to land near them, Anderson quickly joining him.
"You okay, pilot?" Marcus asked, and both men turned to him, the pilot in the process of biting back a cry of agony as his leg was slowly crushed by the crane part. By the looks of it, the sheer size would mean that his bone would be cracked, or even crushed. The officer tending him shook his head, turning back to him.
"No sir, he most certainly isn't. Getting shot down was bad enough, but now his leg is trapped, and I haven't been able to get him out."
"I told you, just leave me," the pilot ordered, hissing through his clenched teeth, "Those damn...creatures, will be here soon, and better they kill me than both of us. I ain't going anywhere in a hurry, so what's the point. Just make it quick. And preferrably painless."
A Reaper screech in the background, and Marcus crouched next to him, laying a hand on the pilot's shoulder, squeezing it, which grabbed his attention as he looked into the man's eyes, "You're not dead yet, pilot. This war is only just beginning, and the Alliance isn't done with you yet. We serve until we're no longer needed, you here? What's the Navy's motto?"
The pilot sighed, shaking his head and muttering, "What was that?"
The pilot spoke louder, with more confidence in his voice, but still with the lace of pain hidden behind it, "Serve until you're needed no more. Even in death, you can serve."
"Damn right," Marcus enforced. Forgot to mention that that motto is more for morale, than realism. Being dead means your dead. Anderson taught me that when I ignorantly joined the Navy. Even after that, I still signed up, "Which means we're going to get this damn thing off of you, and you're getting out of here," he turned to look at the soldier next to him, "Where's your vehicle, trooper?"
"Over there," he shakingly pointed, obviously scared. Marcus was surprised to see his finger land on the crashed gunship, "He was the pilot. I was the gunner. We got shot by one of those...dragon like creatures. We tried to make it across this gap, but once we did, one of the tremors brought a crane down, and part of it landed on his leg. And now...here we are."
"Don't worry, we'll get you out of here," Anderson assured them, moving over to the other side of the crane. Marcus nodded, holstering his pistol and helping lift it. Once lifted, they hung it in the air until the pilot could pull his leg from under it before dropping it again. They both grunted with the effort, slapping their hands together to clear the dirt as they joined again, pistols in their hands. The pilot nodded his thanks, before Marcus turned to Anderson.
"We need to keep going. Their gunship could have a working radio. The Reapers can't jam that."
Anderson nodded his approval of the plan, quickly checking the thermal clip counter on his carnifex before turning back to him, lowering the weapon, "Alright. But we need to work fast. The Reapers are working quickly, and this city will soon fall. We need to-"
An unfamiliar, but very horrific, electronic screech sounded through the harbor. He knew it wasn't a husk, or a Reaper, as it wasn't loud enough for the latter, and husks didn't screech. And as they both turned, Marcus and Anderson saw a group of seven creatures they had never even seen before.
They were ugly, and definitely of Reaper origin, that was for sure. They had obviously once been something else, if the dried out looking skin and cybernetic and synthetic implants all over their bodies were any indication. Their backs were a dark orange, black and brown in color, mixing into a disgusting hybrid as said back warped the body and even rose in height, moving to cover and actually merge with the back of the head, making their bodies seem like a body with a face. They waddled as they jogged towards them from the flames, and they had long, stubby legs, and incredibly thick arms, with their right holding what looked to be some kind of assault rifle of Reaper design molded into their arm, and aimed forwards. And as he looked at the face...oh god, their faces...
They were tormented faces; ones that were no longer organic or remotely sentient. Their mouths were stretched ridiculously low, and they had four eyes, two on the left and right, all aligned vertically, with a glowing at the front of their temple. All of these emitted an intense, perputual blue glow, and it showed even more as they screeched. And what shocked Marcus the most wasn't how they looked, but who they looked like. The four eyes, the mouth, the overall body structure...
"...The batarians mobilized their navy and troops at Khar'Shan and before we know it, three quarters of their navy no longer exists and the Kite's Nest falls to an unknown enemy..."
His eyes widened in realization. No, not husks, he mused, batarian husks...those were once batarians...
Another screech, followed by a flurry of fire. Marcus immediately leapt behind a steel beam, remembering he had no shields, followed by Anderson, who had his carnifex steadied in both hands. The admiral turned to him, apparently coming to the same conclusion, "You saw those things? They looked like-"
"-batarians. I know," Marcus gulped, "Now we know what the Reapers did to them."
"Poor bastards. Noone deserves that, not even those SOBs," Anderson cursed as another burst pinged off their cover and he leapt from it, taking aim with his small hand cannon and firing, his shot connecting with the batarian husk and blowing through its mouth, tearing apart its cybernetically upgraded brain and causing it to just tumble to the ground, dead. The other six reacted fast, opening fire on Anderson, but Marcus quickly joined the defense. His predator coughed four times, two of them connecting with the belly of one abomination, before the next two shots hit its face and killed it. The other five attempted to keep them pinned with a non-stop assault of gunfire, but it didn't work, and the two of them managed to sneak left and rise up, using what time they had in the distraction to take down as many of the things as possible. Which was all of them. With the battle over, they reloaded, turning to each other.
"I have a feeling we'll be seeing more of them. Still, its kinda new having husks actually carrying guns for a change," Marcus pointed out, shaking his head as he slammed a fresh thermal clip into the chamber of his pistol.
One of the men behind them spoke, "We got word from some of the other systems they came in that they devoured the flesh of dead men to regenerate themselves," he stated, "It was horrific."
"Cannibals," Anderson declared, turning to Marcus, "They're cannibals."
Nodding with agreement, Marcus faced the two men, pointing to the gunship, "You two stay here and try to remain scarce. We're going to go the gunship to radio for evac."
Both of them simply nodded, not making a sound. Turning back to the crane part, both himself and Anderson walked across it, making their way to the other side where they equally wheeled around and moved to find a way into the gunship, moving around the left side.
A few more cannibals, and some husks, were deployed infront of them, and it took some time before both of them cleared the enemy and moved on, and they both had a feeling that wasn't the end of their new enemies. Just as they moved down a slope towards a clearing where the gunship lay, they heard another kind of screech, and looking up, saw a great winged beast, with a cannon fused into its mouth, two eyes on stalks, and great wings propelling it through the air with each flap. They had obviously been another type of creature, now twisted by Reaper tech, and Marcus immediately recognized it as one of the Harvesters he had encountered on Tuchanka when helping Grunt with his Rite of Passage. Damn, they make husks out of animals too? What's next, cybernetically enhanced varren?
He heard twin screams coming from the two men they had left behind as the Harvester pounded their position with high-velocity plasma bursts, and Marcus had almost run over to their position before Anderson reminded him how moot it was. They were gone, and there was nothing they could do but continue. Reluctantly, he turned, and they moved into the wreck.
The gunship was barely recognizable, with its nose seeminly fused with the ground. The bodies of three marines lay about, one of them with an avenger assault rifle in his dead grip. Moving over to his body, he said a silent prayer for the man before holstering his pistol and relieving him of his rifle, finding a few grenades and tossing them to Anderson, who caught them easily. Checking the chamber was full, Marcus lowered his newly found assault rifle, turning to Anderson as the admiral crouched before a radio, one the marines must have been trying to use before being overwhelmed, judging the cannibal corpses also among them.
The holographic interface lit up bright orange, and Anderson was quick to speak, "SSV Normandy, this is Rear Admiral Anderson. Do you read? Moreau, Alenko, anyone? If you can hear this, we're down in the harbor, near the Defense Committee facility. We need immediate evac. Enemy forces are converging, and the area is hot. Repeat again, requesting immediate extraction. How copy?"
The response was Kaidan's voice, so hurried that it was obvious the Normandy was currently engaged, "This is Major Alenko, we copy you. You're in the harbor, you say? We read you. Is Shepard with you?"
Anderson smiled. That crew's loyalty knows no bounds, "He's fine; and kicking ass. He really hasn't gotten old. Or soft."
He heard Marcus chuckle softly, glad to relieve himself with some form of humor, however misplaced, "If anything, six months locked up has just left me with some irritated rage that I've needed to vent. Husks are perfect for that sort of thing."
"We copy you," Kaidan chuckled half-heartedly, before shouting, "Damn it, Joker!"
"I'm flying as best I can, but this damn bugger won't get off our tail! He's damn persistent! EDI-" then the comms went to static and Anderson cursed loudly, slamming the thing with his fists as the radio died.
"Damn it, radio's dead."
Marcus shrugged his shoulders as the admiral came to stand, "They know where we are now. They'll come for us. The Normandy always does."
The sound of rumbling thunder answered them as multiple pods slammed into the area behind them, causing them both to look at the source in a hurry. Out of the smoke came numerous cannibals and a few husks.
"Well they better," Anderson declared, priming a grenade and then throwing, "Because we're about to get busy."
The grenade detonated just as Marcus reached cover, the explosion tearing apart two of the approaching cannibals. The rest simply opened up on them, pouring everything they had into killing these two individuals. Their assault was absolutely relentless, but seemed entirely focused on Anderson; that was, until Marcus peeked over, assault rifle raised and spat a few bursts into a flanking cannibal, downing it, and causing the enemy fire to shift focus onto him, and he crouched back into cover. They're aren't much more intelligent than normal husks. Their tactics are fundamental, and they don't have any organization, battle order or command structure. They rely on sheer numbers, which is our one advantage over them. That, and they aren't biotics...
With a grin, he summoned his dark energy powers, his body enveloped in blue, liquid fire as he stepped out and shot his fist forward, sending a massive cascade of dark energy towards their enemy in a colossal shockwave. It hit the cannibals with the force of a freight train, cutting a straight line through their ranks like a knife does butter, and sending them either flying into the water, or flying into walls; either way, it severely weakened their numbers.
Only for those numbers to be replenished as more pods landed, returning their strength to full. With a growl, Marcus crawled back into cover, but not more putting two bursts into a charging cannibal and reloading, "These damn things will overrun our position fast."
Anderson nodded his agreement, tossing another grenade at the enemy and waiting for its detonation, before thinning out their ranks a little more by claiming three, clean headshots on three of the enemy foot soldiers, downing them quickly before he rushed back into cover, eying Marcus, "You're right. We simply can't keep this up, and we're running short on clips."
What I'd do for a good old weapon of 2183. I hate thermal clips.
Without answering, he stood up and launched another biotic assault, this time forming a singularity in their ranks, causing all of them to be sucked from the ground and pulled in, killing them very quickly, before the gravity well exploded, ripping the cannibals apart. And before you knew it, more pods landed, but instead of cannibals emerging, a far more memorable sort of enemy appeared. Or she he say, enemies.
First came the glowing husk, the ones he had come to know as Abominations, who weren't the ordinary husk; they exploded once they were close enough. Then came the Scion; the size of a krogan, with the armor of one, and the cannon that fired biotic shockwaves with the force of a claymore shotgun. And then one single Praetorian; a large vehicle made out of dozens of fused husks, with glowing, purple eyes capable of delivering powerful beams of death, along with the ability to fly. He had enough experiences fighting these things, and quickly hissed as the Praetorian fired its beams into his cover, followed by the Scions. He made sure to focus on the abominations, not letting them get close.
"What are those things!" Anderson exclaimed, "More husks?"
"You could say that," Marcus replied, "I encountered them during my mission against the Collectors; apparently the Reapers gave them to them to use in their war to abduct human colonies. I've fought my fair share, but I didn't think the Reapers still made them."
"My shots are just pinging off its shield!" Anderson informed him, firing his carnifex and watching his shots ping harmlessly off the Praetorian's shield as it slowly approached; scions, abominations, husks and cannibals flanking its sides. Marcus had been about to order a retreat, when he heard the sound of a fast approaching ship.
He was almost knocked from his feet as the entire ground shook, huge explosions consuming the ground where their enemy had once stood as heat brushed his face, causing him to stumble back. Anderson did the same, looking on in sheer disbelief at the double decker explosions, and watched, as the smoke and fires cleared, that the enemy was nowhere to be found. The Praetorian had been vaporized in the twin blasts, along with the rest of its reinforcements. Marcus grinned even wider as he watched the Normandy appear not long after, and realized that Joker had bombarded them with two javelin torpedoes. That's my pilot.
He watched as Joker slowly brought the stealth frigate around, its shuttle bay door slowly opening as it came to connect with the harbor dock, Marcus looking at the Systems Alliance colors of blue and white that once covered his ship, and the Alliance insignia at the tip. The Alliance own her now, not me. Kaidan is in command now, not me.
He lamented at that, but as soon as he heard more pods deploying behind them, knew now was not the time, "Come on," he urged, and he ran forward, jumping over wreckage as he dumped his assault rifle and ran for the open shuttle bay doors, Anderson not far behind. He saw Kaidan, Keeling and James appear in the shuttle bay opening, weapons brandished and wearing full combat armor, their weapons barking as they provided covering fire for the two of them as they ran full pelt for the frigate's open bay.
Just as Marcus reached the edge of the harbor, he leapt, landing on the Normandy's opened door and moving a meter inwards, greeting Kaidan, helmet on and his vindicator at the ready, with a smile, "Good to have you back, Shepard," the soldier replied, and Marcus returned his greeting with Keeling, also in full armor and James, who wore bulky looking alliance heavy armor, but without the helmet, and holding what looked to be a Revenant Light Machine Gun in his grip, the weapon spitting hot death and taking down dozens of husks as they rushed for the vulnerable frigate. The city burnt around them as Marcus turned to Anderson, his smile fading as he saw the admiral just standing there, making no effort to enter the Normandy.
"Come on Anderson!" Marcus shouted at the admiral, brows furrowing in confusion, "We've got to get out of here!"
As they stood there, they watched four alliance kodiak shuttles arrive, their hatches opening as they hovered and marines pouring out, opening fire on the husks below. With the enemy finally cleared out, the shuttles began to land, and it was then that he noticed the crowds of civilians crowding around to be evacuated as marines signalled them into their assigned shuttles. It's an evacuation...
Anderson looked at the grouping for one more second, before solemnly shaking his head and turning to Marcus with a sad expression, "I'm not going."
Marcus' expression became just as solemn, and he opened his mouth to protest when Anderson continued, pointing his finger at the marines evacuating behind him, "Those men over there? There are a million more like them, and they need a leader. Our Parliament is gone, Garrong is dead, the many nations are being overrun, and the Alliance Navy likely no longer exists. That leaves only a short few, and I'm prepared to step up to the plate. If humanity needs a leader here on Earth, and if it has to be me, then so be it. But you need to go. The galaxy needs a leader, and you're the only one willing to stand up to the plate."
Marcus shook his head, unable to believe what he was hearing, "We're in this fight together, Anderson! You and me against an army of Reapers. If you stay here...Earth's already fallen, and there's a good chance all these men could be dead or turned into husks tomorrow," he felt the words to be acid on his tongue, but knew it to be true, "We can fight this enemy together. You and me, like it could have been with Saren."
Anderson smiled sadly, shaking his head as he holstered his carnifex, "It won't be like that, Shepard. I'm sorry. Those men may be dead tomorrow; I acknowledge that. But what's the point of fighting for a galaxy that might be gone next month? The rate they're invading, it'll be that way. No, Earth needs a leader, and I need to be that leader. The galaxy needs you, and you have a squad ready to back you. Get out there, find them, and fight this damn threat. This is a fight we can't win; not without help. You and I knew that from the beginning. We need every ship and every soldier to even have a chance at defeating the Reapers."
He looked away, eying the deck below him like it was fascinating, but he just couldn't bring himself to meet Anderson's gaze. To agree. To leave my mentor behind to die on a world that is already doomed.
Anderson, oblivious to Marcus' thoughts, stepped forward on the harbor, talking, "Go to the Citadel. Talk to the Council. Convince them to help us. Convince them to help themselves. We can't win this war unless everyone is united. 'United We Stand, Divided We Fall.' Remember that. Bring help not only to retake Earth, but to save the entire galaxy from annihilation!"
Marcus snorted, meeting Anderson's gaze with narrowed eyes, "And what if they won't listen?"
Anderson merely chuckled, waving a dismissive hand, voice raising in volume, "Then you damn well make them listen! Bash them over the head the Reapers if you need to. And if they won't listen, go to the Migrant Fleet. Contact the geth; make that peace you talked about. Go into the Terminus Systems; hire Aria T'Loak and her armies. Vorcha. Elcor. Hanar! Whoever you can muster; if they can fight, get them to fight for our cause! The entire damn galaxy! Our fate is in your hands; you decide! No GO! That's an order!" His voice was serious to the core, offering no argument.
But Marcus knew the gesture was moot, "I don't take orders from you anymore, remember? I'm just a gun-toting maniac who just happened to be right all along."
Anderson sighed, his hands drifting to his pocket as his hand drifted inside, pulling out something and clenching it in his fist. He seemed to ponder what he was doing, thinking it over, before finally giving in, looking up and meeting the soldier's eyes, "Now you do. You deserve this, you always have," he tossed the bars of a Commander towards Marcus, who caught it without hesitation, placing it in his pocket. Commander Shepard was now a Commander once more.
They both gave each other a look, and Marcus realized what he must do. I must abandon another friend to save the galaxy. Why is this so familiar?
He had left Ashley behind too. And that decision had haunted him to this very day.
With a final sigh, Marcus gave a reluctant nod, and Anderson saw the trauma and debate in his eyes. He knew this must be painful, but for the good of the galaxy, it had to be done. He nodded his agreement, speaking to Marcus for the final time in what he expected to be a long war, "You know what you have to do."
Marcus nodded solemnly, nodding as he began to back up the ramp; James, Keeling and Kaidan still waiting for him, but with weapons inactive and simply held in lower parry. As he backed up, he met Anderson's eyes one final time, putting as much determination into his voice as possible, "I'll be back for you. And Earth. I'll bring every fleet I can," he remembered Sovereign's words on Virmire, "Our numbers will darken the skies of Earth, and then they'll know that the galaxy is united. I'll be back, and I'll bring the help of an entire galaxy. I promise," before he turned away, he muttered loudly enough for the admiral to hear, "Good luck."
"You too Marcus," Anderson farewelled, and the Commander watched as the admiral turned around, walking back down the harbor and towards the evac site, and without looking back. Marcus sighed melancholy, and he turned back to Kaidan, who was ordering Joker to leave Earth and take them to the Sol Relay. Just as he finished these orders and deactivated his omni-tool, James appeared, weapon holstered on his back, "Wait, we're not seriously leaving! We can't-"
"Stow it marine," Marcus growled, glaring daggers at him, "That's an order. Get back inside. Joker...leave the bay door open until we've cleared the city. I need to see this. I need to know what we're fighting to stop."
"Copy that...Shepard," Joker replied, "And...its good to have you back."
He made no reply, and merely smiled grimly at Kaidan as he turned to walk back down the ramp, standing on the edge of it as the Normandy slowly began to pull away and ascend. Kaidan watched his back turn before moving into the ship, followed by Keeling pulling away an angered James. Marcus couldn't blame him, but in the end, there was no choice. They were leaving Earth.
Whether they liked it or not.
He watched with weary eyes as two shuttles took off and flew away, only to be replaced by two more. As he watched, terrified civilians, either weeping or crying out to their savior, were herded into the nearest shuttle as marines from both the Alliance Marine Corps and UNAS Army tried to save as many people as they could, amidst the chaos of the city's destruction.
He immediately recognized four of the children as being the ones from before, all of them with tears in their eyes and clutching to their mothers and fathers just alittle bit tighter everytime they heard an airhorn reverbrate through the city. Then the blonde-haired boy, the one who had carried the alliance fighter, appeared, standing beside an alliance marine, who seemingly ignored him, firing burst after burst at an approaching husk. The marines shouted at the people to hurry up, and as the blonde-haired child turned, both their eyes met in an instant. The child held up his hand to him, as if in slow-motion, only to drop it suddenly to cover his ears as an airhorn sounded through the air, this time alot closer.
Both, Marcus and all the civilians turned in an instant as one of the smaller Reapers, the ones that walked as tall as 160 meters, came around the corner, red eye radiating death. One leg lifted up, sending nine destroyed skycars flying, before it landed again, crushing a Mako that had been harmlessly firing at it. Turning downwards, it noticed its victims below, and screeched again, the red glow increasing in color.
Everyone screamed and the marines were overwhelmed as people rushed onto the shuttles en masse, overcrowding them. He watched two children fall to the ground in the chaos, before being silenced as their necks were snapped by the people stampeding over them, desperately trying to escape. A tear fell down Marcus' cheek before he realized what had happened, and he just wanted to turn away, but he forced himself to watch.
Like scared animals trying to escape a predator...
He watched as one shuttle took off, people falling out of it in droves as the hatch closed. He watched three people crushed by its closing, and the shuttle tilted as it took off, packed beyond its capacity. As it slowly lifted off the ground, it gained more and more ascension. The blonde-haired child's eyes met his one more time before he disappeared inside another shuttle, this one less packed as it took off with more ease, ascending quickly into the air.
As the two shuttles slugishly took off, the third shuttle was still being packed when the Reaper fired its beam, a constant stream of molten metal impacting the ground and tearing it asunder, vaporizing civilian upon civilian, marine upon marine when they came into contact with it. It slid across the ground, devastating more of the harbor, before hitting the shuttle on the ground, blasting it apart in one shot. More tears fell as he watched the two shuttles try to escape, only for the Reaper to divert its attention, firing again at the tilted shuttle, which immediately exploded upon contact. The shuttle containing the blonde-haired child managed to acellerate across the river...
...only to be blown apart as the Reaper shifted focus, and fired on it. Marcus finally turned away, wiping his tears away and waiting for them to dry, before turning away and walking up the ramp, ordering Joker to speed up their leave. As he stopped inside the shuttle bay, he heard the bay door begin to close, and he simply stood there, looking at his pocket. His Commander's bars...they felt bigger than normal. Feeding his hand inside, he took out the bars, opened his fist, and watched them in the palm of his hand.
"Now you do. You deserve this, you always have."
His hand clenched again, and he placed the bars back in his pocket, looking back up just as the Normandy entered the atmosphere and the door sealed behind him. He inhaled, before moving into a fast walk, heading towards Kaidan, Keeling and James.
He wasn't just a Commander anymore. No, what Anderson had meant was that he was now promoted.
He was Captain Shepard now.
And the Reaper War had only just begun.
"The Fall of Earth really hit you hard. You never liked talking about it."
- Tali'Shepard pav Rannoch.
"Of course not. No one wants to see their homeworld fall before their eyes, and then be forced to leave it to save it. Especially when you must leave your life's mentor behind."
- Marcus Shepard.
"If its as you describe, then the Fall of Earth was truly only the beginning. I'm assuming you headed to the Citadel next?"
- Reia'Inas pav Earth.
"That had been the plan when we left Earth, but there was a...course deviation."
- Marcus Shepard.
"Course deviation? What kind?"
- Tali'Shepard pav Rannoch.
"An important one. Without it, we could have lost the entire conflict. It was a game changer. It changed the course of the war in our long-term favor."
- Marcus Shepard.
A/N:
There's the first chapter. And yes, the second chapter is Priority: Mars. Don't know, I will provide an explanation for just how Vigil didn't know or mention the 'magical weapon that kills all Reapers and solves all the game's challenges.' But now, its time to discover that the Reapers really aren't the only enemy in this war...
Keelah Se'lai! This story is going to be one hell of a ride, so I'd buckle your seatbelts.
