HOLOCAUST
CHAPTER TEN:
FROM ASHES PART TWO
June 5, 2186
1842 hours.
Cargo Storage, Normandy-Class Stealth Frigate SSV Normandy SR-2, In Orbit over Eden Prime.
The Reaper War, Alliance Space Campaign: Liberation of Eden Prime.
Captain Marcus Lee Shepard, Shadow Broker Liara T'Soni, Second Lieutenant Imogen Keeling, Soldier Javik.
Marcus waited for the elevator to ascend as he took a long winded, squaring his shoulders as best as he could do, wearing combat armor. They had only been back on the ship for half an hour, and he was already back in his Terminus armor, suited up and ready for combat. His weapons were strapped to his back, but he had decided to leave the helmet in the armoury until he had spoken with Javik; their new prothean crew member. The very discovery still sent shocks through him as he thought about it, and even now he was still trying to come to terms with what they had pulled out of the ground. Fifty thousand years...God, that's a long time to be asleep. And for him, it might as well have been yesterday.
The elevator arrived on the fourth deck, and he stepped out, turning left to head towards the Cargo Storage Bay; it had originally been the home of Urdnot Grunt, a krogan supersoldier bred from a test tube and created by a mad krogan scientist (a very rare term) called Okeer on the planet of Korlus. The krogan wasn't just normal; he was a supersoldier, with the power, strength and abilities of a krogan pre-genophage. He had been a valued crew member of the Normandy, and now he was likely on Tuchanka, helping Wrex rally the krogan clans for war. Now his old home would be the home of their new guest.
Tapping the interface, the door opened and he stepped inside, immediately noticing a major difference in the interior of the room. What had once been a brightly lit, grey steel room, with observation windows covering the right wall, Grunt's tank at the back, and a guard rail covering the central right, was now a dimly lit room with a few crates lying around, the guard railing removed and floor plating added, the windows sealed off with thick bulkheads, and Grunt's tank removed completely, with two desks in its place, and a vidscreen hanging over them from the ceiling, data of the Normandy running through it. And to be honest, he didn't like it. Was it really necessary for the Alliance to retrofit this room? It seems completely pointless. It serves no purpose but to store crates. Guess they were desperate to remove the 'Cerberus stench' from the ship, I guess.
The room had occupants, namely in the position of Alliance marines standing guard in sections of the room; namely the Normandy's entire security detail, with Keeling standing at the front, rifle harnessed around her chest while she tapped away at her omni-tool, scanning Javik, who stood inbetween the two desks at the end of the room, sitting down looking intently at all of them with a look of disgust. Liara stood next to Keeling, looking down at him, arms crossed and still gazing in awe at the person before her. He nodded to the only marine in the room who noticed his approach, and the marine immediately snapped a salute, shouting.
"Captain on deck!" he shouted, and they all turned around immediately, lowering their weapons and snapping firm salutes. Keeling did the same, before turning back to her omni-tool, and Liara merely nodded at him, not familiar with the human custom. Marcus let it slip though as he came to stand on Keeling's right; he wasn't really a big fan of 'military practice' anyway. He played loose with strictness on his ship, and he liked it that way.
Javik shifted his look to the room's new occupant, and simply shook his head, looking at the floor as he mumbled something about being surrounded by primitives. He looked at Keeling, initially shooting a confused look at Liara's irritated features. When she saw this, she quickly elaborated, turning to look at him, "Second Lieutenant Keeling won't let me talk to him. Of course, her excuse was..." she motioned to Keeling to continue, and she did so, right on cue in fact, and without even pausing to look away.
"First contact with an alien species; Alliance protocol dictates we assume hostility and until it can be proven otherwise," she stated, and Liara nodded, rolling her eyes.
"Thank you," before turning to Marcus, anger in her eyes, "Which is completely ridiculous! You can't just assume someone is hostile!"
"We learnt from the First Contact War," Keeling justified, "The turians attacked us without even scolding us, which means we can't trust anyone we haven't already put a name too. He's the first prothean anyone has ever encountered, and given his attitude towards us on Eden Prime, I'm not taking any chances with this crew's safety."
He rested a hand on the N7's shoulder, and she turned to look at him, her eyes set in her usual steely gaze, "I think we can handle this, Lieutenant. Liara is an expert on protheans, so I think she can handle one. I'm heavily-armed, and I think I can handle him if he tries anything. Have your men stand down and return to their posts; and that means you too. I need you rested before we land back on Eden Prime tomorrow."
She nodded, snapping a salute as she deactivated her omni-tool, "Very well sir, I transfer command of this to you. Anything happens, contact us; I'll have two men waiting outside just in case you need assistance."
He nodded, returning the salute before relaxing it. Keeling did the same, and quickly pivoted on the spot, motioning for the squad to leave, all of them following behind her. When the door slid shut again, the room was plunged back into silence. Marcus coughed awkwardly, and both Liara and himself turned to the seated prothean, who simply continued staring at the ground unmoving. He noticed the prothean's unique rifle laying on one of the desks, along with what looked to be a miniture prothean beacon, hovering a pedestal and no more bigger than his hand; he had no idea what it was, but it clearly held some importance to the prothean. He didn't notice it before, but he also noticed a water basin on the left, just infront of the left desk, and he frowned at it. A water basin? What use is there for that on a ship?
Don't be a hypocrite. You're the one with an aquarium. He sighed, deciding that the insanities of the Normandy were nothing to be surprised of at this point, and focused his gaze back on Javik, who remained stoic.
Clearing his throat, he spoke, "So...how do you want to start this Javik? I know its been fifty thousand years, and there's alot to fill in."
Liara nodded, "Quite alot has happened since the last cycle."
Javik continued to ignore them, and Marcus, deciding he needed to get the prothean's question, asked a more direct question, "You're not going to be a problem, are you?"
This finally caught his attention, and he fixed the captain with a venomous glare...or so he assumed it was; it looked menacing enough, and the prothean was quite intimidating. His six eyes opened and closed all at once, and then he was standing up, eyes never leaving his. When he was standing at his full height, Marcus noticed he was only slightly larger than him, and it was barely noticable; but he almost towered over Liara. He looked at Marcus for a few moments, before breaking the pregnant silence, voice devoid of emotion, "That depends on you," and before he knew it, the prothean lashed out, hands gripping Marcus' arms as he felt memories, both of his own and Javik's, flash through his mind.
"I can sense fear in you," the prothean declared, opening his eyes to meet Marcus' once more, "Anxiety and distress. The Reapers are winning," but then he seemed to lose his disgusted gaze, lips creasing in impression, "But you are holding out; batting down the fear, replacing it with determination. You are ready to give yourself to destroy the Reapers; this is good. This is the foundation of a warrior."
Then he let go of him, and Marcus took a step back, shaking his head and scrunching his eyes shut, before opening them, feeling slightly dizzy after that invasion of his mind. He glared at the prothean, but kept his anger in check at the intrusion, "What do you mean 'you sense?' That's twice you've invaded my mind."
"All life leaves clues for those who can read them," Javik explained, turning away as he walked over to the water basin, seemingly attracted by it as he braced against its edge, looking at his reflection in the still water, "It is in your cells, your DNA. Experience is a biological marker."
Marcus and Liara shared a glance, both of them intrigued by this information, and he suddenly turned back towards the ancient soldier, voice speaking his next question before his mind thought about it, "And just what was that I experienced on Eden Prime? Because that was one hell of a flashback."
"Eden Prime? That is what you call this planet now? During my cycle, it was called Olos Trak; it was one of our mining colonies. But I digress," the prothean shook his head, before nodding lightly, "The battle left its own mark on me; I communicated this to you when I touched you. It can work both ways however. When I touch you, I can sense your memories, your emotions, your immune system. But as this occurs, you sense the same, and the transfer becomes mutual."
"Like your beacons?" Liara asked suddenly, "They seemed to react to touch as well."
"Yes," Javik stated after some hesitation, as if surprised by the question, and he turned around completely, walking over until he stood half a meter from them. Then, again, he touched Marcus, grabbing his left arm, and suddenly Marcus watched the vision of the beacon flash through his mind once more, conjuring memories from three years ago; people dying, Reaper airhorns, images of Ilos, and a Reaper in the circumfrance of a planet; the prothean warning. Suddenly, the prothean let go, and he backed away. For the first time since he arrived on the Normandy, he was surprised once more, "...you found one. You saw it all - our destruction, our warnings..." suddenly his face creased in fury, grabbing Marcus by the collar and pulling him forward so he could yell in his face, "Why were they not heeded!? Why didn't you prepare for the Reapers, human!?"
Marcus growled back, swatting the prothean's arm aside with his other arm, "Its 'Captain,' prothean," he responded, deciding to fight fire with fire, "And nobody could understand your warnings. The beacon nearly killed me," he waved a hand in a dismissive gesture, "There was also these three fuckwits we call a Council, but they merely an extension of our unpreparedness. You can blame them if you wish."
Javik shook his head, some of the fury gone from his eyes, but he was still agitated as he began pacing. He snorted suddenly, looking unimpressed with what he was told, "Then communication is still primitive in this cycle."
Marcus rolled his eyes. You know, this guy is a real condescending prick. Were all protheans like this? Egotistical douchebags? Marcus quickly came to his defense, not that he needed to, hands clasped behind his back, "We pieced together what we could. Because of that, we were able to stop a Reaper invasion three years ago."
The prothean merely shrugged, "Then your extinction was only delayed."
Marcus didn't even answer that one, only giving him a steely, stoic stare. As if the moment was about to get too tense for her to handle, Liara stepped between them, moving over to the vidscreen hanging over them, "Now we have your species plans for the superweapon they were building," an image of the weapon came up on screen, a design image of it rotating on the holographic display, "We're going to build it," she looked at him, crossing her eyebrows in determination, "And we're going to destroy them. We're going to stop the Reapers, once and for all."
Javik, was once again surprised, and Marcus saw confusion on his face as he looked at Liara, meeting her kinder eyes, "Superweapon?"
Liara seemed to stutter then, taken aback by his confusion, "The weapon your people were working-we'd hoped you could tell us how to finish it. Its missing a key component, and its why your people weren't able to finish the weapon in time."
Javik looked over the designs, and simply sighed, shaking his head, "My men only heard rumors of its existence; it was a well kept secret among our people. All we know is that every resource was being pulled into it, while our worlds kept falling, one by one. In the end, my people were destroyed anyway, and it was never completed."
Marcus, growing weary of this, decided to get to the point, "Then you don't know anything about the Catalyst?"
After a moment of pondering, the prothean turned to look at him, and he swore he saw an almost sympathetic gaze, "No. I was a soldier, not a scientist," he turned away, leaning against the basin once more, "Skilled in one art: killing."
Liara, interest still peaked despite the prothean's hostile attitude, poked with more questions, "What was your mission? Why were you buried down there in that pod?"
Javik took a second to collect himself before answering, "Among my people, there were...avatars...of my many traits: bravery, strength, cunning. A single exemplar for each."
Marcus frowned, nodding along, "And which one are you?"
Javik's voice took on a dark tone, "The embodiment of vengeance. I am the anger of a dead people, demanding blood be spilled for the blood we lost," he gripped the table with a vice-like grip, one uncanny for a person with only three-fingers, "Only when the last Reaper is destroyed will my purpose be fullfilled. I have no other reason to exist," he turned around, meeting Marcus' glare with his own, "Those who share my purpose become allies. Those who do not," his eyes narrowed dangerously, "Become casualties."
Marcus nodded, "While nothing in our fight against the Reapers currently has been that cut and dried, I can understand what you mean; those who stand in the way of what I'm trying to do have become casualties; will become casualties," he breathed in, nodding as he did, "That being said, that doesn't mean I'll dumb myself down to pure, cold-blooded murder to get what I want. Only when its necessary."
Javik shook his head, scoffing, "Because you still have hope that this war will end with your honor intact," he slammed a fist into his basin, and turned back to them, canines bared as he growled, "Stand in the ashes of a trillion souls, and ask the ghosts if honor matters," Marcus simply stood there, not answering, and Javik nodded, turning away, "The silence is your answer."
Before Marcus could verbally lash out at the prothean, Liara spoke once more, drawing their attention to her, "And just what is that, hovering above your desk?"
Seeing her pointing at the hovering object he had seen before, Javik turned towards it, face emotionless, "That is a memory shard; known as an Echo Shard among my people."
Liara nodded ecstatically, "Could it help us with the device?"
And for the first time since Marcus saw him, he saw a brief twinge of pain, melancholy and fear in the prothean's eyes, before it was mixed away, eyes becoming uncaring once more, "No. It contains only pain," he turned towards Marcus with renewed vigor, teeth bared once more, "But I will help you fight. And the last thing the Reapers hear before they die, will be the last voice of the Protheans sending them to their grave."
Just as Javik turned back to his desk, obviously believing his words as a goodbye to them, Liara spoke once more, hurrying over to him, her hands wringing in an endearing way that reminded Marcus of Tali, "If you don't mind...I have a few more questions I'd like to ask."
If Marcus were Javik, he'd be sighing, rolling his eyes or groaning at this point at the idea of further interrogation by the asari, but he simply turned around, eyes meeting hers without emotion, and he made no response. Seeing his silence as a urge to continue, Liara began pacing, becoming the excited asari archaelogist he remembered rescuing on Therum all those years ago, "I've written over a dozen studies on your species. I've published several journals-"
The prothean, seemingly ignoring her, turned to Marcus, crossing his arms and looking meekly surprised, "Amusing. The asari have finally mastered writing."
Liara, her excited daze broken, suddenly stopped, hands falling to her sides as if disappointed, and eying him with a careful gaze, "Sorry?"
Javik shook his head, leaning against the basin behind him, "Nevermind. Be quick with your questions; I have much to ponder on about this cycle."
Liara, seeing it was a challenge, spouted her first question, "Well, what about this sensory ability you have? Its amazing. None of the current species have your kind of abilities."
"We evolved with it," Javik summarized, "We evolved as hunters; reading a thousand details in our environment ensured our survival. As we became more civilized, we transferred this ability and shaped our technology around it. We developed weapons that only reacted to the DNA of ourselves, beacons that could hold thoughts and memories, like a database, and complex ideas could be transferred to another in seconds. It made education much simpler; we were able to teach a child everything it needed to know with a single touch."
"Interesting," Marcus noted, suddenly interested, "What about this room? Could you read into it?"
The prothean nodded, and crouched on the floor, his hand touching it as he closed his eyes. After a moment, he stood up again, eyes opening, and leaning back against the basin, "There was...liquid. A form of incubation. The DNA of a...krogan?" he seemed interested by this, but continued nonetheless, "The DNA of a krogan who...lived here. He was powerful, prone to violence. He had a confrontation with a human in this room," he turned to Marcus, "Ah...the human was you."
Marcus nodded, impressed, "Yes...you're talking about Grunt. He used to be a part of my crew; I had to release him from a tank we had found him in, which is where the liquid came from. He didn't know who I was, so we had a confrontation until I could calm him down. I had to 'impress him' first."
"Krogan are hard to impress. It says alot about your character," Javik complimented, but quickly continued, "And if he were my enemy, I'd have given him a wide berth. There is great strength in his genes," Javik almost seemed impressed, something along the lines of a small grin crossing his face before evaporating.
"What was prothean civilization like?" Liara hurriedly asked, eager to move on, "I've always wondered! What sort of government did you have? Was it like our Council; did all the races work alongside you? And what were your religious beliefs? Or perhaps-"
Javik once again interrupted her. Verbally, "I do not know what my civilization was like. But what does it matter? We are dead now. What we once were is inconsequential."
"I apologize," Liara stated, shaking her head, "But your history has always been a lifelong passion of mine. So I was wondering...what was it like?"
"As I said, I would not know," he stated simply, shrugging, "When I was born, the Empire was already at war with the Reapers. I was born on our homeworld, Malontor. When I was born, the first thing I saw was my world on fire."
Shocked by the sudden information, Marcus took up after the stunned Liara, and spoke the question she did not utter, "What was prothean civilization like before the Reaper invasion?"
"Do you not listen, human?" Javik asked, shaking his head, seemingly annoyed by the repeated question, "I do not know. However, I can tell you were the dominant species in our cycle. We ruled the galaxy, and everyone bowed to our will; the Empire was galactic society at its highest peak."
Liara, recovering from her shock, added her own two cents worth, "My studies indicated you were the only race engaged in space travel at the time. I always found that curious," she frowned, "But what you just said insinuates there were others?"
"We were one empire, composed of many subjects. The Empire was the core of everything," Javik explained, taking pride in his words, "The Densorin were one species among many, along with the Oravores, Ditakur, Enduromi, the Synril and the Vandomar. In the end, all of them came to call themselves Prothean. Some had to be persuaded, others had to be crushed. But in the end, they accepted our rule."
"And what if they didn't wish to be part of this Empire?" Marcus asked, clearly not going to like the answer.
"They didn't have a choice," was Javik's blunt answer.
Marcus narrowed his eyes confrontationally, "Are you saying you enslaved the other species?"
Javik shook his head, "Any could have opposed us if they wished. And if they had won, they would have ruled. Many tried. None succeeded. The Empire was too vast, too strong, too numerous. We rained supreme. Our fleets were powerful, and our soldiers were disciplined warriors," he seemed to be indulging in what he would call 'nostalgia.' Not that Marcus would call it that.
"I had no idea protheans were so...severe," Liara stated, seemingly losing the awe she had and dropping into slight loathing.
"It was by necessity," the prothean justified, "Very early we encountered the dangers posed by machine intelligence; what you would call artificial intelligence. They rebelled against us."
Javik's words immediately brought an epiphany, "That sounds alot like what happened between the quarians and the geth."
Javik frowned at him, "The quarians?" he frowned even further, "And what are these geth?"
"The machines the quarians created. They rebelled against the quarians as well," his voice became melancholy, "The masters did not win. Now they wander the stars in the Migrant Fleet, and the geth rule their homeworld, although I'm currently trying to bring peace between them so I can count on them as allies to fight against the Reapers."
"Then the quarians got what they deserved. You must never meddle with machine intelligence. My people learnt that the hard way," he shook his head, "In the end, the machines, the ones we called the Zha'til, rebelled against the Empire and had to be dealt with; another race, called the Zha, were dying of a disease we had introduced to their world, and attempted to adapt by augmenting themselves with machine intelligence; this had the opposite effect, and the technology seized control of their bodies, and transformed them like
Reapers transform us into husks. Soon, the Zha were extinct, and in their were the Zha'til; and they quickly rose against us, seeking to destroy all organic life they could find," he stopped for a second, pondering, "It is by now, that I believe the Reapers were involved in some way with their motives. That the Zha'til were indoctrinated. But I cannot prove it; not that it matters anymore. What does matter is that the Empire united its citizens and urged them to fight; we triumphed, and we utterly destroyed the Zha'til. They attempted to regroup, but we managed to detonate a dark energy bomb in their home system's sun, causing to supernova. We ended the Zha's misery, and ended our enemy."
"To this day, it was known as the Metacon War," he snarled, suddenly remembering something, "Then, when the Reapers arrived, they rebirthed the Zha'til, and used them against us, along with the separatists, much like they use Cerberus against you. It was then our Empire learned one crucial fact; that machines had surpassed us eons ago, and in ways...we couldn't possibly imagine. The Reapers were the embodiment of machine evolution, as far as we saw it. Of what machines could become, if left unhinged."
"What was with the pods down in that facility?" Marcus asked, changing the subject to something less...gritty, "There had to be thousands of them, but you were the only one left."
"The Empire had fallen, and we knew our cycle was lost," Javik explained, nodding to his own words, "I was to lead a final vanguard; one million of our finest soldiers, all under my command."
"More protheans were meant to have survived into this cycle?" Liara asked, worried by that.
"Yes," he answered with long lost impression, "Under my leadership, the Empire would have been reborn. We would have evolved your races and used you to finish our weapon. You would all be trained in war, and all of you would fight alongside us, uplifted for war. We would have led the races of this galaxy to repel the Reaper invasion; and this time, we would have had fifty thousand years to prepare. But indoctrinated agents - traitors - betrayed us, and the Reapers discovered our plan; by the time we finally went into stasis, only four hundred thousand of us were left. Only a quarter of our original force."
"If your plan had worked," Marcus asked, curious, "How would you have 'uplifted' us?"
"By leaving you no other option," he stated simply, "You would have joined our army - or faced the Reapers alone."
It was Marcus' turn to deliver the questions, "What about the Prothean ruins on Mars? Were you observing my people's ancestors?"
Javik nodded, "Before the war, we cultivated species who showed potential," the prothean elaborated, "Eventually, you would have been offered a 'choice' to join the Empire. But when the Reapers attacked, we ceased all study. We had hoped the Reapers would see your species has too primitive to harvest," he nodded, "They did. It seems the Reapers only focus on the species capable of spaceflight and have evolved along their guidelines; any species that has not achieved the technological level to be perceived as a threat, are ignored and harvested in the next cycle."
"That explains why the Reapers are completely ignoring Turvess and Parnack," Liara explained to Marcus, "The yahg and raloi haven't achieved spaceflight yet."
"Hard to imagine the yahg running the next cycle," Marcus chuckled, finding some humor in the idea. Or would the raloi?
"Is this line of questioning over?" Javik asked suddenly, "I have much to think about, and I believe you are armoured up for something."
Marcus nodded, suddenly remembering why he was here, "Yes, that reminds me. I came down here to secure your allegiance Javik; but since I have that, then all I need to tell you is to get some rest and be ready for tomorrow."
Liara turned to him, worry on her face, "Tomorrow? What's happening tomorrow?"
Marcus responded quickly, having already formed the plan in his head, "I've sent a message out to Zaeed to ask him to rendevous in the Asgard System. I've also sent a message to Sayn and Aria, asking them to bring the Eclipse and Blood Pack along with them. And Hackett should be getting back to me soon on that request for Alliance reinforcement."
"You're bringing the three mercenary groups together?" she asked, incredulous, "What possibly for?"
"Cerberus cannot be allowed to keep its hold on Eden Prime," he stated simply, "We're going to take it back, and we're going to need help."
"A foolish decision," Javik piped, bringing their attention back to him, "During my cycle, we sacrifice planet after planet to stop the Reapers; you should be willing to do the same. Do not waste soldiers and resources on retaking one planet that will likely fall the next day."
"Cerberus cannot be allowed to hold Eden Prime. They already have a tactical advantage, holding Omega in the Terminus Systems," he added, shaking his head, "Holding Eden Prime would give them an unimpeded striking point from the Exodus Cluster, especially if the Reapers are using them. We need to strike hard, and show the Illusive Man he is not invincible. Show him he can be beaten. We can take back this colony from him, and deprive him of the one thing he needs; a launching point for attacks on the Citadel. And I just know that's what he wants the planet for. No, we could deal a big blow to Cerberus tomorrow. We need Eden Prime. And with Colony New Hope back in our grasp, we only need to take out that destroyer to have our FOB," he explained to the prothean. Shortly after waking him, the rest of the Cerberus battalion holding the colony detachment had attacked en masse, hoping to drive the would-be liberators out. Javik proved to be an asset to the team; with the colonists coordinating with them, they not only defeated the battalion, but completely annihilated it; Colony New Hope was back in their hands. And from what Liara's information let out, Cerberus was using Colony Ohio as a staging area; they hadn't managed to deploy troops to take the other colonies yet. If they were lucky, they could sever the head of the invasion before it can spread; but they had to take Colony Ohio, and the only way they could do that was a mass ground attack; which relied on driving away the Cerberus fleet. Which is why they desperately needed Alliance support.
Before Javik could respond, Samantha's voice came over the comm, "Captain, you have Admiral Hackett contacting you over the comm. Says he wishes to speak to you about something important."
Another voice came over the comm before he could answer, "Hey! That's my job!"
"Um...since when?" Samantha asked.
Kelly's response was immediate, "Since I became a member of his crew a year ago! Where were you? I've always been this ship's yeoman!"
"Now now ladies, don't fight," Marcus tried to calm them down, grinning from ear to ear. Of all the things to argue over, they're arguing over who gets to inform me of incoming messages. Hell, EDI could do that. Why do they need to argue over it? "It doesn't matter who tells me, only that I get the messages. Okay?"
"Human bickering over trivial matters," Javik pondered, "We observed this even during our cycle. I see things have not changed. I do hope you humans are not part of this Council you speak of."
"They are," Liara responded, "Along with my people, the turians and the salarians."
"The salarians?" Javik asked, surprised once more, "The lizard people evolved?"
"Actually, last I checked, they were amphibian," Liara corrected, glaring at him.
Javik seemed to analyze her for a second, eyes glazing over, before he simply said, "They used to eat flies."
With the image of Mordin plucking flies out of the air with his tongue now stuck in his mind, Marcus turned from the prothean, cringing, "Inform Hackett I'll be right there."
And he hastily made his exit before the prothean could inform him of any other cringe worthy things.
So far, the meeting with the last prothean had been somewhat of a disappointment. But very enlightening.
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June 6, 2186
1329 hours.
War Room, Normandy-Class Stealth Frigate SSV Normandy SR-2, Outskirts of Asgard System, Docked with MSV Sidestep.
The Reaper War, Alliance Space Campaign.
Captain Marcus Lee Shepard, Shadow Broker Liara T'Soni, Second Lieutenant Imogen Keeling, Soldier Javik, Master Thief Kasumi Goto, Military Advisor Garrus Vakarian, EDI, Second Lieutenant James Vega, Communications Specialist Samantha Traynor, Blue Suns Commander Zaeed Massani, Captain Palisus.
A day had passed, and so far, everything was going well. With the munitions supplied to them by the crew of the Normandy, the colonists were successful in holding off any Cerberus attempts to retake New Hope, which meant they still had their staging base; in little over an hour, his makeshift fleet would plow through the relay and deploy their forces on Eden Prime, before bugging out.
Marcus solidified his grip on the war room table before him, and looked up, eying everyone in the room. Liara was whispering silently with Samantha, who seemed to both get along very well, and he even saw Traynor smile; it was gentle, but filled with mirth. Keeling seemed to be entertaining James as he went on a rant about how useless heavy rifles were compared to light machine guns like his Revenant, and she didn't seem to talk or move until he stopped and she was able to respond; to which she ripped apart his argument. Kasumi and Garrus traded remarks and banter, while Javik seemed to stand right next to Marcus, hands clasped behind his back, and eying a certain person very hesitantly...the feeling was mutual.
Zaeed stood on the other side, leaning over the table as he examined the prothean, his new second-in-command, a turian named Palisus, standing beside him, Saber assault rifle on his back and holstered, arms in a relaxed pose as he wore his gleaming Blue Suns armor. Zaeed snorted, breaking the silence, "Just what the fuck am I looking at, Shepard?"
"The last of the protheans, human," Javik growled back, clearly not liking the mercenary's attitude, "An avatar of vengeance."
"A prothean?" he turned to Marcus, shaking his head with a grin, "You've fucking done it again, you goddam bastard."
"Done what?" Marcus asked, frowning with a smirk, "And you believe he's prothean? Just like that? Not a pretender?"
Zaeed snorted, standing up fully as he crossed his arms, "You don't fuck around, Shepard. You came back from the fucking dead, and led us through that goddam Omega 4 Relay. Seeing you with your own prothean," he pointed at Javik, "Does not surprise one fucking bit."
"I am not his prothean, primitive," Javik snapped, "You will not refer to me as so."
"He's a bit of a shit, though," Zaeed noted.
"His name is Javik, Zaeed," Marcus explained, "I think he prefers being called by name."
"Don't we all? The bastard doesn't hold a fucking monopoly on that, Shepard," Zaeed growled back, shaking his head, "Whatever, I don't fucking care. He's the last prothean, his name is goddam Javik, and that's about all I'm interested in. Hopefully the rest will bloody well show up soon so that we can-"
They all turned as the doors to the War Room slid open, and the familiar form of a salarian wearing Eclipse armor moved inside, Sayn taking his place on Palisus' left. They heard a loud snarling as Kreete was led in by Bray, the vorcha reluctantly coming to stand in front of Liara and Traynor, with Bray behind him to keep him in check, and finally, Aria walked in.
"Well well Shepard, I do like your ship," Aria mused as she walked down the steps with grace towards them, "It isn't filled with buearacratic shit stains like that on the Citadel, and it doesn't have the loud fucking idiots of Omega. I'd take it for my ship, if I didn't love Omega so much."
He shook his head as the asari ruler of the Terminus Systems came to push Palisus aside, procuring her stance next to Zaeed, who merely grunted at her attempts to garner his attention. Aria merely laughed, turning back to Marcus. Suddenly, Sayn spoke up, his voice full of confusion.
"Ah...Commander Shepard, could you please explain to me what that is? Some kind of experiment?" the salarian pointed at Javik, and as Marcus sighed, Kreete, Bray and Aria were suddenly looking at the prothean, eyes widening.
"What the fuck?" Aria cursed, "I wasn't aware this was a contest to see who's the ugliest piece of shit in the galaxy; otherwise I wouldn't have turned up."
"Vorcha? A batarian?" Javik muttered, shaking his head, "This cycle is full of surprises."
"Everybody calm down," Marcus reassured, standing up as he held his hands up, signalling everyone to stay down, "This is Javik...we dug up his pod on Eden Prime. He is the last of the prothean species...a soldier. He's their sole survivor, for all we know."
"A prothean?" Aria questioned, turning to him with disgust in her features, "The way the Council fucking talked about it, you'd think you were gods or something. You just look like a fucking bug to me; what a disappointment. I expected you to be slighlty more attractive too; consider that a tick off my list, too."
"Asari," Javik mouthed, completely unfazed by Aria's insults, "I remember your species when the Oravores invaded your world, and my people stopped them. You believed it was an act of the 'goddess'," he seemed to be amused by this, "Your species was primitive then, and I see not much has changed except technology."
"What the fuck did you just say?" Aria spat, "How fucking dare you!" She brimmed with biotic fury, "Fuck you, you oversized insect!"
He felt cold on his back as Javik brimmed with his own, unique biotic abilities, body wrapped in green instead of the traditional blue of biotics in their cycle, "I see the asari have finally discovered and mastered their biotics; good. But it seems your tolerance has gotten no better; you cannot even take an insult without crippling."
"Enough, both of you!" Marcus snapped, slamming his hand on the table, bringing his own biotics to bare, "Or I will toss both of you out an airlock, and you can settle this shit there!"
Aria laughed, turning her glare towards him, letting her body glow even more, "Are you threatening me, Shepard?"
Marcus remained unfazed, merely staring back at her with a steely expression; he was in Commander Shepard mode, and when he was like this, he was exactly what people believed him to be; unfazable, unstoppable fury encased in a human body, and a gaze that could melt most people instantly; not Aria though.
To everyone's surprise, Zaeed responded, "Just shut the fuck up, you stupid bitch," he snarled, quickly becoming the destination of Aria's hate train as her glare switched to him, "You could intimidate alliance sergeants, maybe. But this is fucking Shepard, you moron. He'll be using your ass to scrub floors once he's done sorting you out," he turned to Marcus, grinning, "I should know. He did the same shit to me on Zorya, a year ago."
Marcus nodded his appreciation, and turned towards Aria, who remained ficiously glaring at Zaeed, "Are we clear Aria? We're not on Omega anymore; on this ship, I reign. And there's only one rule we follow; fuck with me, or my crew, and I toss you out the nearest airlock?" His voice became a growl, accentuating every word, "Do. I. Make. Myself. Clear?"
"Fuck you," Aria spat at him, but suddenly her biotics dimmed to nothing, and he felt Javik relax, his own biotics deterring to nothing, "And fine. We'll play it your way. As long as we find out just why the fuck we are here. It took me far too much time getting this fucking idiot," he jabbed a thumb at Kreete, who seemed unaware he was the topic of discussion, "to even listen to me. Get jabbering on about how 'only Shepard will order me!' and I had to tell him, 'Well he's fucking ordered you!'" She seemed to growl at this last bit, and Kreete, finally taking notice, turned to Shepard, nodding almost spastically.
"Yes yes! Kreete loyal!" the vorcha spat, overly excited at the prospect of Marcus' approval of his actions, "Did no betrayal! Kreete good! Aria not enough to break Kreete's loyalty!"
"I'm...honored, Kreete," Marcus said hesitantly, rolling his eyes mentally. Maybe making Kreete leader of the Blood Pack wasn't just a good idea, even if its only a de facto command. But having a dumb moron is good; makes the Blood Pack easier to control, and Aria can yank the strings. Just as long as she doesn't snap those strings. He gave a weary glance in Aria's direction, but before he could begin the briefing Javik, again, spoke, obviously having examined Kreete in detail.
"My people always saw your race as pathetically stupid. You were easy to use as cannon fodder, and disposing of your populace, should it rebel, was easy, as you had the brillance to have your entire nest out in the open," the prothean dictated, having a sarcastic tone in his voice, "But your hordes make you stronger; you can overwhelm your enemy with sheer numbers. However, vorcha, I do believe you are weak. Why does this one lead? He is beyond moronic."
Deciding he wouldn't announce to Javik that Kreete was a puppet, Marcus ignored the quip and decided to get on with the briefing before Javik chose to insult someone else. One day on the ship, and he's already getting on everybody's nerves. He remembered when Javik had actually entered his quarters without permission while he was showering, and he quickly covered himself up as the prothean requested to know why the captain had such quarters. He replied that he didn't know, and Javik merely snorted and left. He hadn't been very tolerable towards the prothean after that, especially not after he threatened to kill Kasumi, and would have had Garrus not disarmed him. He had justified afterwards that 'theft meant instant death in the Empire,' and that their society was, 'devoid of morals to tolerate it.' Ever since then, Kasumi had not taken kindly to the soldier. He's a pain in the ass, but we need him. Besides, I guess its still quite the shock that he isn't quite the 'wise, old sage' we built protheans up to be; his people were tyrants, fascists and military dictators, and he has known nothing but intolerance, hatred and death.
He turned to those assembled with a nod of his head, "Most of you are wondering why you are here; I understand I summoned your presence on short notice, but this couldn't wait. This is going to be our first major offensive on this front against Cerberus, and I needed to pool in all the resources I could muster for this one."
Aria nodded, "But why the fuck are we here? What is this offensive?"
"Maybe, you fucking bitch, if you let the goddam man talk, he'd goddam tell you!" Zaeed hissed, and the asari immediately fell silent, apparently getting the hint that insults wrre pointless with the bounty hunter, and merely waited for Marcus to continue. He did so, moving over to the other side of the map as EDI, on cue, brought up a holo representation of Eden Prime, rotating slowly, and holograms of the Cerberus fleet, all in perfect formation with their dreadnought in the middle, in orbit. He leaned against the table near Victus' station, the Primarch currently in the Mess Hall eating.
"Eden Prime is our target. It has recently been attacked and occupied by Cerberus troops, their original target being the last prothean, who clearly stands before you now," he motioned to Javik, before continuing, "Suffice to say, we stole what Cerberus was looking for right from under them; but a day later, and their static presence, proves a point I've known for a bit now; Cerberus is here to stay and continues to occupy Eden Prime. The rebels on the planet currently hold Colony New Hope, and are holding off Cerberus for now, but there is only so much we can do. We're going to relieve them," he paused, waiting for his words to take affect, "And then we're taking the planet back."
"Are you fucking serious?" Aria snapped, motioning to the holo fleet, "We're mercenaries; the best these idiots can muster are a few lack-lusterly armed freighters; they've got warships. A dreadnought, and a carrier, if I can see right. An entire battle fleet, and we're supposed to engage the fucking thing? And what about the assholes on the ground, hmm? We meant to take on an entire Cerberus army, too?"
"You think I haven't figured that out Aria? Quit running your mouth, and I'll get to that," without waiting for a response, he turned and the holo loaded animations of an Alliance fleet jumping coming into view, stopping, and then firing at the Cerberus fleet from afar, "Hackett has promised me the Sixth Fleet, under Fleet Admiral Osamu Nakamura, but that's all he can spare and risk. They will 'snipe' the Cerberus ships from afar, and hopefully draw them out," he trailed off, the animation showing a few red explosions around the Cerberus fleet, also showing their retaliation as they turned to race towards their enemy, who began to back off, "And hopefully lure Cerberus into pursuit," the Alliance fleet disappeared, and the Cerberus fleet quickly did as well, leaving nothing to protect the planet, "With the Cerberus naval force distracted, our freighters will jump the relay and make best speed for Eden Prime; once we're there, our full force will deploy in New Hope, and from there, we will launch an offensive against Colony Ohio," the holo zoomed in fully, and the holographic terrain of Eden Prime appeared, a detail view of the battlefield, and even giving exact measurements; Colony New Hope was shown in the middle of a grass field, while Ohio was shown to be across from a few mountains.
"Ohio is the endgame for Cerberus. That is where they ferry in their supplies, troops, munitions, and rations. Its also the only colony they now hold after losing New Hope. Likely, they are constructing a large enough army to launch further strikes across the planet," he pointed to Ohio, and a red line appeared from New Hope to Ohio, the line wiggling around the mountain side, over it, and straight into it, "This will be our line of march. We cannot risk an aerial insertion, as they will see us coming and blow our transports out of the sky; we need to be quick, quiet and efficient. The Normandy will provide orbital support when possible, and our forces should be able to encircle Ohio, and crush the Cerberus garrison," he circled his finger around Ohio, and blue, yellow and red arrows, all representing the different merc organizations, all converged around the colony from all directions, surrounding the white arrows, "My team will lead the assault, and using blitzkrieg tactics, we will domolish them. It can, and will be done."
Everyone nodded in succession, before Garrus spoke, voice clipped as he offered his opinion, "What about that destroyer hovering over New Hope? Will the Normandy take care of it?"
Marcus smiled, turning to EDI's robotic body.
"Jeff has insisted he answer that question."
Joker's voice came over the comm, "Three Javelin torpedoes loaded in their tubes, and ready to fire. That destroyer's shields are down, so the torpedoes will make short work of it. Consider the Tennessee dealt with."
"Why not the thanix cannon?" Liara asked quizzically.
Marcus shook his head, "On a destroyer? It'd be wasted, Liara. And if we wanted to, we couldn't; I saw what the thanix did to a Collector Cruiser, and it carved right through it. If that happened with the destroyer, it would leave New Hope a smoking crater, and kill everyone down below. No, torpedoes are safer."
"And the thanix's ionized particles could potentially contaminate the atmosphere," EDI added.
"That too. All taken into account, no thanix today," Marcus sighed, feeling sad he couldn't use the death machine of a weapon, but knew it was better saved for the Reapers.
Sayn spoke up, voice concerned, "Shepard, I understand your military, and a march to you is nothing. But we are talking a four kilometer march across rugged terrain, and we're mercenaries, every one of us. We are not trained to cope with these situations."
"Then start coping," was his quick response, "The Reapers aren't going to back off and let you take a breather; you need to be able to march, and run if need be. A four klick march is nothing, and to be able to get the jump on Cerberus, we need to hit them hard and fast before they know what we're up to. If they send reinforcements to New Hope, they will see us, and that'll be soon, so we must act quickly. Besides, I'm pretty sure you can take it."
Sayn nodded his consent, carefully eying the holo infront of him.
"A quick and decisive win with minimal casualties on our side, and maximum on theirs," a voice flanged from the top of the steps, "That is very turian, Captain. I'm impressed."
Marcus smiled as Victus descended the steps, but frowned when he saw the turian wasn't wearing his casual clothes, but rather his scarred battle armor, "Thank you, Primarch Victus. Although I don't see why you're wearing armor."
"I'm getting ready for battle," he stated, but seeing Marcus look, shook his head, "No, Captain, I will not stay hiding up in this ship; that is not a turian's duty. No, I will be down there in the thick of it, the way turians like it, and I will lead the force with you. You can't lead the entire force single-handedly, and you're going to need division commanders. I was an ArchGeneral in the turian military before I was Primarch; I can do it."
"I'm sure you are Primarch," Marcus addressed, "But I cannot lose you. You're too damn valuable to this alliance for you to die to some lucky Cerberus bastard. If you die, this krogan-turian alliance has no chance, and the war summit is over. I need the turians."
"And you will get them. I am not stupid captain, I know when to keep my head low, and when I need to sight down my rifle," he retorted, making sure his weapons were strapped to his back, "But I will be leading. I have not fought Cerberus yet, and I must know what kind of enemy they are. I might be sending turian soldiers to fight them in the near future."
"Very well Primarch," he stated, turning to his team, motioning for EDI to turn off the holo, "We'll deploy evenly; the Normandy will lead the charge, and will take care of that destroyer so you have a clear path to land; a shuttle will then deploy me and my squad into the colony. Javik, you'll be with us," he stated, turning to the asari ruler, "Aria, you'll be second freighter in and with your troops. Third will be Sayn and his Eclipse, followed by Zaeed and his Blue Suns, and then Kreete and his Blood Pack. Once on the ground, I will take command of the Blue Suns and Blood Pack, while Victus takes command of the Eclipse and Aria's men. We'll march in ordered columns; Blood Pack krogan up front, vorcha in reserve. Blue Suns in the middle, followed by Eclipse; Sayn, I want some YMIRs on the flanks. And if you can, some LOKIs," the salarian nodded, and he continued, "Aria's men will be evenly distributed, and my team will take the front in a Mako."
"We'll be getting armoured support?" Keeling asked, surprised.
"Courtesy of Mr. Massani," Marcus grinned, "We get four Makos, and no more. The other three Makos will be up the back, and mostly under Victus' command; but my team will be taking one Mako and leading. I will be driving," Liara and Garrus groaned, but he elected to ignore them, "YMIRs will cover the flanks, along with any LOKIs or FENRIS' the Eclipse can spare. Obviously, gunships are out of the question, so we'll make do with some anti-aircraft weaponry; yes Vega, you get to bring the Cobra," he heard the marine fist pump, and silently shook his head, "If that's all, we only need to wait for Nakamura's fleet to arrive. Any further questions?"
Aria raised her hand, suddenly polite and he sighed, nodding, "Yes?"
"I will not take orders from a Primarch," she growled, "I rule myself, and I will not-"
"Noted. Victus," he turned to him, "Feel free to shoot her if she resists any commands," he turns back to his crew, Aria clearly incredulous, "Any helpful questions?"
Garrus simply snorted, and looked at him, "When can we start?"
Marcus smiled, turning to Traynor, "Samantha, please inform Joker to inform me when Nakamura enters the system."
"Yes captain," she replied, saluting before then skipping out of the room. He turned to the rest of them and nodded firmly.
"Everyone, dismissed."
{Loading...}
June 6, 2186
1550 hours.
The Peaks, Kethar Mountains, Colony Outskirts, Eden Prime.
The Reaper War, Alliance Space Campaign: Liberation of Eden Prime.
Captain Marcus Lee Shepard, Shadow Broker Liara T'Soni, Second Lieutenant Imogen Keeling, Soldier Javik, Master Thief Kasumi Goto, Military Advisor Garrus Vakarian, EDI, Second Lieutenant James Vega, Blue Suns Commander Zaeed Massani, Captain Palisus, Mercenary Leader Aria T'Loak, Eclipse Commander Sayn, Blood Pack Commander Kreete, Primarch Adrien Victus.
The Mako rumbled along as he continued to drive it forward, wheels kicking up gravel and grass and dirt as it padded along. It was a steep climb, but the Mako was designed to have tough grip on its tires, and be damned if the Alliance didn't lie; the Mako moved effortlessly up the hill, but at a slow pace, the engine roaring. Marcus was at the driver's seat, pushing along on the acellerator while his squad was sat in the back, James manning the turret. Behind them was a long column of mercenaries; a full regiment; four thousand men. Most of it was made up by the Blue Suns, as they were more of a private military contractor than the other mercenary companies, while Eclipse had smaller numbers due to their reliance on tech, and Blood Pack had krogan; nuff said, really.
They were making speed, considering. The Blue Suns, to their credit, trudged on, or though whether that was due to Zaeed yelling and calling them 'pussies' everytime they slowed down, or kicking them in the gut everytime they attempted to sit down, was probably a good motivator. Sayn was clearly exhausted, but kept on, and so did his men. Aria looked to be working up a sweat, but she wasn't going to show it, and she kicked her men into shape everytime they attempted to slow down. Victus looked almost unfazed, years of military experience honed into him and giving him a toleration for long marches. But the mercenaries felt safe knowing they had the hulking forms of YMIRs, the skulking forms of LOKIs, and the four-legged runners of FENRIS' protecting their flanks, and the three Makos on the rear. So far, Cerberus hadn't spotted them, and the mountains had covered their advance, leaving them undetected by any radar or scanners.
The plan had gone flawlessly; Cerberus had taken the bait, and their entire fleet was now engaging in a tag team with Nakamura's forces somewhere in the system, allowing the Normandy to move in. Joker had unloaded two torpedoes straight into the Tennessee's spine before it even knew what was happening, and the impact and caused the destroyer to break up and slam into the ground, luckily far away from the colony, but the crash had caused a tremor; suffice to say however, Cerberus were severely distracted by the crashing warship.
Their forces had deployed fast, and once assembled, had begun their march immediately. A full hour later, and they were eight minutes out from Ohio; well, sight wise anyway. Ohio was at least another five minutes.
He turned to look behind him. Garrus had left the Mako a while ago to go up a head, hoping to find a good position from which to sight down on Ohio and see what Cerberus was up to. This left Keeling, who was catching a quick nap in the back, James manning the turret, Javik numbly staring at one bulkhead, Kasumi also resting. Sitting next to him, in the engineer's seat, was Liara.
Marcus sighed inwardly, annoyed at the idea of Liara being in the engineer's seat for some reason. Maybe it was due to her lack of engineering expertise, or simply because he had associated the seat as 'Tali's seat' a while ago, and he felt that Liara was killing that status quo. Thoughts of Tali distracted him, but he quickly recovered and concentrated on driving. You're going to have to release this stress soon; her absence is practically killing me, and I can't be falling apart in the middle of a battle. Tali, wherever you are, know I hold you in my heart...I will find you, if you don't find me first. Just...where are you? Why won't you talk to me?
The march soon brought them to the top of the mountains, where he brought the Mako to a halt, and motioned for the army to stop. Moving inside, he motioned for James to wake Keeling and Kasumi up, before leaping back out, and running over to Garrus' position, who had given him the navpoint to it only a moment ago. He jogged over, finding the turian prone and wedged between two rocks in a well hidden position as he viewed down his scope, looking down at the colony below. He didn't even seem to notice Marcus approaching him until the N7 was prone next to him as well, looking over his shoulder.
"See much?" Marcus whispered in his ear, and the turian simply nodded, making no sound, and continued to watch, rotating the rifle ever so slightly to cover the area. There was a click of his mandibles as they moved together, and finally he spoke.
"Take a look for yourself," he replied, moving his head slightly to look at him, "Better if you see this for yourself."
Seeing the turian positioning the sniper rifle for him to look through, Marcus shook his head, reaching into a pouch on his armor and pulling out a pair of binoculars, grinning, "I've always wanted to use these. Never got the chance," he raised them to his eyes, and instantly felt his vision enhanced as it look into the distance, and he tapped a icon on the side, and watched it rapidly zoom in, and the features of Ohio came closer.
Marcus saw that the features of the colony hadn't changed alot since his last visit; unlike some of the other developed colonies, this one had no foundations for a floor, so there was just dirt and tall strands of grass, split up by haphazardly placed bunkers, portables and buildings. A large tower stood over them, and aside from that building, the main hall was the largest building in the colony. The other buildings were just ordinary; milky white, mixed with tinges of grey and silver. GARDIAN anti-ship guns were placed over the colony; a remnant of the Alliance attempts to protect the planet from Collector attacks a year ago; before his team sent the bugs straight to hell. But the colony wasn't empty.
No civilian life existed, that much was obvious; they had either been expelled from Ohio, or murdered when Cerberus took the colony, but either way, it was devoid of any innocent life, which would make their assault easier; no innocents to account for. His eyes travelled over the colony however, and saw that, just like New Hope, there was a fully stationed battalion serving as the garrison, along with numerous teams of builders who seemed to be building fortified walls around the colony; they were nowhere near completion, and it meant their attack would completely pass them. Then his eyes fell on the troop arrangement.
Three Atlases patrolled the colony, with one guarding the wall in a stationary position, currently unmanned, its owner being an assault trooper, helmet off, husk-like face revealed and a cigarette in their mouth, wuffing on it. The other two mechs moved along the colony heartland, moving slowly and steadily, ground shaking with every step.
Numerous combat engineers were in the colony, along with untold numbers of squads of assault troopers, with a single centurion commanding a single one of those squads, a fireteam of dragoons, and possibly more, a few phalanxes of guardian shielded infantry, and Marcus could see a few Nemesis' positioned on the rooftops, scanning the distance; they would have to go first, preferrably silently. But then his eyes landed on a very peculiar type of soldier he hadn't seen before. Like the Nemesis', they seemed to be entirely female, with curvaceous body outlines, light or prominent breasts, all wrapped in a skin-tight, armoured outfit, with the same full-head, glowing red eyed helmets that the other Cerberus soldiers had. Unlike the others however, these ones had katanas strapped to their backs; mocular blades wrapped in metal sheathes, capable of tearing through armor like paper. "Those the bogies you were referring to?"
Garrus nodded, "Sure are. No idea what they are, and why Cerberus gave them swords, but I don't think we should try and get into a hand-to-hand fight with them; won't end well for us. I can take them out from a distance...silenced, of course."
"No. Too risky; Cerberus would discover the bodies before they spotted our forces charging on the horizon," he shook his head, "No, silence your sniper rifle, and take care of those snipers; our assault loses momentum if they have already spotted our troops coming from a distance and have time to form up and defend themselves."
"Fine then," Garrus stated, turning from his sniper rifle to fix a silencer on the end as he looked at his friend, "So what's the plan for this attack? We're five minutes out."
"Victus will take his men and attack from the east," he pointed off to the right, "He will initiate a charge, and converge on them; his forces will get the Makos, which will cover the charge with an artillery barrage. I'll take my men and assault from the west," he motioned to the west, where there was less open land to charge from, "Our squad will lead the charge in our Mako, racing ahead, and the rest of the troops will follow up behind. We will breach the walls from both sides, squeeze the life out of the enemy, and take back Ohio. By the time the Cerberus fleet returns, we'll be too dug in for them to root out, and they'll have to give up the planet, especially if they think Alliance reinforcements are inbound."
"Well, let's liberate Eden Prime then," Garrus snarkily stated, grinning, "I'll make sure those snipers don't ruin the exhiliration."
When Marcus got back, he conversed with the division commanders, and so the split occured. Victus gave him a nod before yelling for his troops to follow behind him, and a great deal of tension had been released; the exhaustion had caused old rivalries between the groups to rise up, and splitting them had been a good idea; Eclipse marched off behind Victus, taking all eight of their YMIRs, all thirty LOKIs, and two of the FENRIS', while the rest stayed with Marcus' troops. Aria's men followed behind, transported by the three Makos. Once gone, Marcus took the Blood Pack and Blue Suns along with the final Mako, and marched off west. It didn't take them long to get into position, and they all formed a standard battle line; it reminded him of the American Civil War, of lines of men with muskets firing at each other; but this would be a charge, not standard engagement. But he still felt like a general, all the same.
Zaeed approached him just before the charge, stopping him before he entered the Mako. Garrus had informed him that all the snipers were eliminated, and Cerberus was none the wiser; he just had to charge. All looked good.
Zaeed sighed, scratching his face, fingernails scratching at one of his many scars, "This is fucking crazy, Shepard," he mused, grinning, "If our men even reach the walls, they'll be in for a fight; Cerberus are disciplined, mercenaries are not. This could fail in so many goddam ways. But with you in command, I think we'll succeed and kill these little bitches."
Marcus only smiled, reaching his hand out and gripping the man's shoulder, "This is the first of many battles, Zaeed. And I won't be around for many of them; these mercenaries need to be ready, and Cerberus is nothing compared to the Reapers."
"I know. But they don't," he leaned in, smirking, "But trust me, they'll learn fucking quick. I'll make sure there's no deserters."
"I'll see you there Zaeed," he replied, nodding and letting go of the man's shoulder, "It'll be just like the Collectors; side by side, guns blazing."
"Don't make me a fucking sentimental," he growled, but this one was full of mirth, "It makes people soft, and I'm a bloody hardass. The biggest, goddam hardass there is. Now go, this charge won't lead itself," and with that, Zaeed was gone, marching off across the field, back towards his men.
He reentered the Mako, taking his place in the driver's seat, with Liara still seated beside him, and James back manning the turret; Keeling, Javik, Kasumi and EDI were all ready to deploy. Just as he turned towards Liara, they all heard a distant explosion, and all eyes turned to see flames erupt and rise into the sky like a geyser from the colony, the sound of gunfire quickly following it. Another explosion, followed by several more, and the whistle of shells flying through the air could be heard, along with the shouts of men dying and shouting orders. The sky erupted in bright orange and black, and it was clear the battle had begun; Victus had initiated his artillery assault, and his men were charging; now to do the same.
He turned to Liara, a weak smile on his face, "You ready?"
She turned towards him, smiling, and her hand landed on his, squeezing it, "Yes."
He winced at the contact, and found himself pulling away suddenly, looking at her incredulously, "What did you do that for?"
"I..." she responded, shocked by his reaction, "I just did it as reassurance, Shepard."
Damn it, calm yourself, Marcus; she meant nothing by it. She knows you're married, and she wouldn't try and step in and take advantage of...her...absence. Just...ignore those impulses and focus on the mission. He smiled, nodding, "Its okay, I just..." shaking his head, he turned forward, thumbing the controls, "Its nothing. Let's do this. Keeling, contact Zaeed and Kreete, tell them to march forward, on the double-quick, but remain behind the damn Mako. We'll draw their fire," with his orders issued, he waited until Keeling finished relaying them, informed him of their compliance, and then thumbed the acellerator down lightly, moving the Mako forwardly slowly, and then steadily faster. Soon, it burst from the trees, and out into the open, moving toward Ohio. Soon, the Blood Pack followed, and then the Blue Suns. They did not shout; this pincer movement needed to be silent; it needed to be a last-minute shock tactic.
James, lining up the turret, took aim at a nearby building and awaited the go to fire; Marcus merely nodded, and felt the vehicle to thrum as the weapon barked, explosive 155mm shell shooting forward and slamming into the building, exploding with the impact and sending debris flying everywhere. Marcus turned to look at the Mako's rear camera, and saw the Blood Pack steadily advancing up behind them, krogan up front and growling while the vorcha hid in safety behind them; and behind them, was a wall of blue and white, Zaeed snarling orders at them.
They closed the distance pretty quickly, and the Mako rolled over the walls. Two of the unknown bogies with the katanas were just finishing the decapitation of an Eclipse salarian, when they turned to see the shadow of a large vehicle descending on them, before its immense weight crashed down on them, crushing them under it as it continued forward, James switching to the machine gun as he covered their advance.
There was a roar, followed by an assault trooper sent flying into a wall as a krogan plowed forward, reloading his claymore and leading a squad of vorcha with flamethrowers inside, tongues of flame licking at any Cerberus troopers dumb enough to get too close. The Blood Pack forces quickly flowed through, hordes of vorcha and krogan crashing through the Cerberus lines and quickly pushing them back. The Blue Suns pulled in afterwards, assault rifles barking and providing support for the advancing Blood Pack. A turian merc moved forward, tech armor active, but quickly had his head reduced to a fine blue mist from a lucky shot by a guardian, who quickly found his shield yanked away by a krogan, the Blood Pack merc quickly beating him to death with his own shield.
"Fall back! Move back to the hall!" one Cerberus soldier ordered, and Marcus drove the Mako towards that area to cut off their retreat. Victus' artillery had stopped, firing and now Eclipse YMIRs were locked in an epic battle with a Atlas mech; the latter was winning.
As he turned the corner, they found that two YMIRs were destroyed and reduced to molten wreckage, while another had begun tearing into the Atlas with its heavy machine gun. The high-velocity rounds pounded against the mech's heavy armor, but might as well have meant nothing as it dented off, serving only to scar the paint. The third YMIR raised its rocket arm and fired, but the blast was absorbed by the Atlas' shields as it merely raised its own arm, firing a rocket that reduced the YMIR to molten slag, spreading its wreckage out in a shotgun shell affect.
"James, get that Atlas' attention!" Marcus shouted, before driving out from around the corner, bringing them within full view of the Atlas. The pilot must have sensed their presence on their radar, as the mech began to turn around, bringing its weapons to bare; but James was faster. The turret gave a loud, thunderous retort, and the shell pierced the cockpit as the Atlas completed its turn, detonating inside, the back blowing apart and causing the Atlas to be torn asunder from the inside, the ammunition in its arm then detonating as the cascade of explosions reduced the Atlas to nothing.
Satisfied that their armoured support was gone, James switched back to the HMG, aimed at the Cerberus troops out in the open, trying to advance, and systematically gunned them down. Marcus was backing up the vehicle, shots pinged off the shields, as Palisus' voice came through his ear.
"Any units, we need immediate support! Cerberus pressing our flank!" the turian cried out in sudden terror, "We can't hold them, and our line is collapsing! We need support!"
He nodded, turning towards the back, "Keeling, you've got EDI and Javik! Get out there, find some men, and lift the pressure off of Palisus' flank! Go!" Before he was even finished, Keeling had unholstered her weapon, opening the hatch and rushing outside, EDI quickly following behind. Javik did not move, merely glaring at Marcus.
"I will not be working with a machine!" he growled, "They are untrustworthy! It would stab me in the back at its first chance!"
"She can be trusted! She saved my life more times than you can imagine! But I'm not arguing the semantics with you now!" he growled, "Now go, Javik!"
The prothean simply nodded, unholstering his particle rifle as he leapt out the hatch, giving him a single glance that said they'd discuss this later. Shaking his head, he heard the hatch close as he drove forward and acellerated towards the hall, where Victus' forces were clamping down their hold on the retreating Cerberus forces.
After surprising a few guardians by running over them, the machine gun began coughing, rounds chewing up the Cerberus troops as Victus' Eclipse and Aria's forces attempted to push forward and encircle them.
He moved the Mako through what looked to be a crowd of dead bodies; a mix of Cerberus, and of their own forces. Dozens lay dead, but still they kept pushing. Victus lead from the back, he could see; the man standing and sniping his enemy, while grabbing any attempted deserters and throwing them back into the fray, telling them to keep fighting.
The fight was going well, as James considered his support from the turret, and one of the three of Victus' Makos rounded the corner.
Then it all went to shit when the Mako rounding the corner erupted into a great fireball, flames roaring upward as the vehicle was consumed and torn apart from the blast, reducing the vehicle to smoldering wreckage. The other two Makos backed up, and then Marcus saw them; two Atlases rounding the corner, both arms drawn. He watched as one brought up its foot and stomped down, crushing two Eclipse engineers, before using its hand to swat aside three krogan attempting to climb onto it, sending them flying. LOKI mechs fired at it, but its heavy machine guns tore them apart seemlessly, and the other Atlas only continued to advance behind it, its own cannon wreaking destruction along the mercenary line. Quick victory was quickly turning into quick disaster.
What happened next however, took him by surprise. He heard a shout of anger, followed by a roar of fury as the biotically-colored form of Aria leapt out from the clashing armies and came to land on the cockpit of the first Atlas, using her biotically clenched fist to smash open the cockpit, grab the pilot and throw him out into her army's midst, where Bray quickly put a shotgun shell in his chest.
With the Atlas in her grasp, Aria climbed into the cockpit, turned the Atlas around, and brought its rockets to bare. Before the second Atlas realized it, a rocket streamed from her cannon and hit the mech's leg joint, crippling and blowing it clean off its support, causing the Atlas to topple to one side, unable to get back up. Advancing up to it, she then, with a maniacal laugh, brought up her mech's foot, and brought it back down on the enemy Atlas, crushing the Atlas, and killing the pilot. With all Atlases eliminated, and the last one in their grasp, Cerberus now had no armoured support; the fight was now fully in their favor.
"Petrovsky, I hope you're fucking watching!" Aria cried out, and turned around, stomping down on a guardian before swatting aside a group of assault troopers. With her mercenary army at her back, she raised her right arm, enabled the cannon, and began a steady beat of shots, tearing into the Cerberus line, which was now being held by a long line of guardians, backed by dragoons who launched biotic attacks at the encroaching mercenary forces, but the asari of the Eclipse battered away their attacks with their own biotic barriers.
"Aria, Aria," he mused, shaking his head as he smiled, "You actually saved the day," as he watched their forces advance, Aria's Atlas coming to meet the guardian line head on, Keeling commed him. He nodded to Liara, and opened the comm link as the two Makos started rounding the corner again, carefully going around the wreckage of the destroyed vehicle.
"Palisus is pushing forward again," the N7 informed him, "We're converging on the hall. Massani says he hopes you haven't taken all the kills."
He chuckled, "Tell him that Aria did that already, and that he'd better hurry up or be left behind."
"Roger copy," Keeling replied, "We'll be there soon, Keeling out."
The rest of the assault went rather well; the Cerberus battalion was simply being decimated. They did not have the air support Marcus was convinced they would have, and with their three Atlases gone, and their snipers disposed of, the battle easily turned in their favor. Cerberus didn't give up meekly though, and for every assault trooper they killed, they took out three mercs. It was a bloodbath, suffice to say, and Marcus could only take note of the piles of bodies, both Cerberus and merc, piling up on the grassy plains. He hoped taking Eden Prime was worth this cost.
Keeling, EDI and Javik eventually caught up and flanked the Mako, followed not long after by the Blood Pack and Blue Suns taking the rearguard, Palisus complaining that the Eclipse were taking all the glory, but Zaeed managed to shut him up, feeling especially good after having sniped four centurions in a row. Aria had been causing a path of destruction with her newly acquired Atlas, but even the hulking death machine had a limit to the amount of punishment it could suffer, and eventually the asari had to abandon it as a centurion with a rocket launcher blew off one of her mech's legs, forcing him to leap out of it as it toppled to the ground, immobilized. Unfortunately for the centurion, his victory was short-lived, as Aria quickly yanked the rocket launcher from his grip, and tore him apart with a biotic reave before using the missile launcher to kill a few dragoons. And by that time, the Cerberus retreat had become a last bastion; like in New Hope, they fought to the last man.
When Marcus emerged from the smoke, he was greeted by a gruesome sight. During the assault, they had lost a full quarter of their force; a thousand men just dead. Despite having the element of surprise, these mercs were still just that; mercenaries with no military training. Cerberus however, were augmented supersoldiers; they were stronger, faster and, due to their huskification, basically had no emotion, meaning that they felt no fear, and fought to the last man. They were relentless in taking a position, and unrelenting in holding one. So while they had eventually destroyed the Cerberus forces, Cerberus themselves had landed a heavy toll on them as well. They had lost a Mako, 70 percent of their YMIR mechs, all of their LOKI mechs, and 97 percent of their FENRIS mechs. Keeling had been hit by a piece of rubble, and it grazed her hip, meaning her hip was swollen to the point of agony; but being the special forces badass that she was, she basically waved off his concerns and said she'd 'walk it off.' Javik had drawn up a very high Cerberus kill count, while EDI's performance had been flawless; Cerberus had very rarely landed a hit on her.
Most of the casualties belonged to the Blood Pack vorcha, who had charged Cerberus like rabid varren, had the tactical expertise of a moron, and had armor so thin that it could be cut with a butter knife; the krogan only amounted to a small 0.255 percent of the kills in the entire battle, which wasn't much. Next on the kills list was the Eclipse; largely salarians, due to their weak armor and lack of ability to stand up in sustained combat, while the smaller percentage had been asari and humans. The rest belonged to the Blue Suns, who had lost alot of men, close to two hundred, but hadn't lost as much as the others, so that was an added bargain. And Aria had barely lost any men at all; Victus, to his relief, had gotten out of the battle with barely a scratch on him. Still, Cerberus had enacted a terrible toll, and they had paid it; one thousand mercenaries lay dead, and this was only the first of many major battles.
But they had done it; Eden Prime had been liberated. The Cerberus battalion in Colony Ohio had held to the last man, as he knew they would, and were totally annihilated; Ohio became theirs. And by the time the Cerberus fleet above finally responded to the distress call coming from the colony, they found it had fallen to a united mercenary force; that must have been really surprising. And if Nakamura's tale told true, they had landed one kill on the Cerberus fleet, and managed to damage two more; but their dreadnought and carrier remained intact. In the end, the enemy fleet had seen that the battle was lost, and they could not hope to retake Eden Prime, and had made best speed for the relay. When the mercenaries had been informed, they had cheered.
Much to his disappointment however, Kreete had been killed during the battle; they had found his decapitated remains beside the body of one of the dead soldiers with a katana, who had been killed by a krogan. After accessing what Cerberus files they could in the base, they had found the names for every trooper variant in the Cerberus Army, and found they were called Phantoms; stealth operatives that used tactical cloak to sneak up on their enemy and assassinate them quickly and effieciently; assassins of the highest order. And the leader of the Phantoms, was Kai Leng. He had gritted his teeth at that. The bastard who killed Byp, Shala'Raan's husband. So this asshole is a stealth operative? And he's still alive? Good. I'd hate for him to die before I kill him myself.
Kreete's death hadn't hurt Aria that much; she had merely replaced him with another vorcha puppet leader; Gryll. The vorcha was just as dumb as Kreete, although Marcus believed he looked to be slightly smarter, but he guessed stupidity was inherent in vorcha culture; something Javik seemed intent on pointing out. Sayn had survived the battle, as had Zaeed, unsurprisingly, so the Blue Suns and Eclipse leaders remained unharmed; that was good. It meant they still had secure leaders in their organizations, and men like Zaeed and Sayn were loyal; out of moral capacity, not out of stupidity like Kreete, or the new case, Gryll.
With a sigh, he stepped down from the rubble ornamenting the top of the building, and jumped down, narrowly missing a piece of blackened hull wreckage that had originally been part of a Mako. Zaeed, merely out of friendship, had decided to give Marcus one of his Makos, largely because the current Normandy was lacking a tank of any capacity, so filling it was good; even if he had preferred the Hammerhead; if not for its armor, then for its superior weaponry. I wonder if Cerberus has thought of building more Hammerhead tanks like the one they gave me? Those things packed one hell of a nasty punch.
"I knew you were loco," James' voice stated from his side, and he stood up fully to face the marine, who was still clad in his alliance combat armor, "But jumping into a pile of rubble? Come on loco, calm down."
"Just shut your mouth, Vega," he replied, but the marine saw the grin on his face and he merely grinned back as Marcus continued, approaching him, "You contacted the Normandy?"
James nodded, dropping his smile, "Yeah; he's told Esteban, and the man's taking the shuttle down to pick us up; I just hope that shuttle has heavy lift gear for our new Mako."
"'Esteban?'" Marcus quiered, but as he hit his epiphany, he raised his hand, forestalling any further comment by the marine, "Oh wait, its a nickname for Cortez, isn't it?"
"I give nicknames to those who fit them. You're completely loco, Garrus has scars on his face, and Liara does have blue skin," he shrugged, "I thought I'd call Cortez Esteban."
"My translators might be playing up," Marcus began, frowning, "But according to it, Esteban is spanish for 'Stephen,' which is just a variant of the name Steven. So I'll I can ask is; you're nickname for Cortez is just his first name in Spanish?" he cracked a smirk at James' lack of creativity.
"Hey, I did say they fit their nicknames," he laughed awkwardly, shaking his head, "But I don't see why this is important."
"It isn't, just wanted to clarify," Marcus' grin stayed, despite himself, but he quickly brushed it off when he looked back over the wreckage, "So much death...destruction. And to think this is what the rest of the war has in store for us," he turned back to Vega, sighing, "Think we can win this?"
The man's features were determined, and he nodded, "We're going to kick Cerberus' ass, and then we'll build this weapon, and destroy the Reapers. You can count on us winning. The American War of Independence looked grim at first, but the Americans won in the end; because of strength, courage and all their allies."
"Didn't know you were an historian. Or a speech maker. I should look to you for consultation," he laughed, shaking his head as he turned back, "No, you're right Vega. This battle today...it was the first victory we've had against the Reapers, against Cerberus, as the United Galactic Confederacy."
"I think its our first major victory, period," James replied, joking, "Mars not withstanding."
"True," he replied in earnest, turning back to the marine, as he placed a hand on the man's shoulder, squeezing with a tight grip, "This war is going to need alot of soldiers like you, Vega. You've got spirit. I remember what you said to me as we were leaving Earth; you were hurting, you wanted to stay and fight. That kind of valour and determination is something we're going to need from every soldier, regardless of species."
"You were right, loco," James responded, nodding grimly as he took off his helmet, swiping off the dust that had coated on it, staining its vibrant color, "Leaving Earth was the right thing to do; I was in the wrong. Leaving my home...it just pissed me off. Filled me with rage, pain...my uncle lives in Mexico, and my old man lived in New York, last I remember. Think I had an aunt in Perth, too. To think that the Reapers were likely harvesting them, while I was on a frigate pissing off to fight the war somewhere else? Hell loco, its been days now since we left. Feels like years, but its only been...what? Four days? Four days since this war began. In that time, my aunt and uncle could be a husk, and my dad could be dead. And I'm on Eden Prime, fighting Cerberus goons, far, far away. How did that make me feel? I hated you; but then I realized that this war is more than personal; its galaxy-wide. I was being selfish, completely ignoring that an entire galaxy was suffering, while I was bitching and moaning about leaving one planet. No, I was being a fool; this war isn't about me, or you, its about the bigger picture; and if I have to sacrifice myself to save it, then so be it. You were right loco, and I'm behind you, one hundred percent."
He simply nodded, smiling meekly, "I'm glad you came to realize that, Vega. I need you, and so does everyone. You're a better fighter when you're focused," as he finished, he knew he didn't really share Vega's beliefs of sacrifice. I'm glad you're ready to sacrifice yourself, Vega. I want to believe I am, but then all I have to do is mention the very word, mentally or verbally, and there pops Tali, ready to take me on a guilt trip. How could I sacrifice myself, knowing that I'd possibly hurt her in ways I couldn't imagine? He remembered her saying that he died once, and she was a wreck. If he died again, she said she wouldn't survive this time; she'd just collapse. And I don't even want to know exactly what she meant by that. But despite his selfish want, he knew the needs of the galaxy came first, and in the end, knew he'd have to choose. Do I sacrifice myself to save trillions, or live to be with the one that matters most to me?
He shook his head of those thoughts, and made his way to the extraction site. Right now, here, they had won a great victory; Eden Prime was back in Alliance hands, and Cerberus had lost its potential foothold in the region; and they had stopped them from acquiring the last prothean in existence, who happened to be a soldier. It had been the first of potentially many victories for the UGC, and in the end, Marcus couldn't be happier for that. And now, on the horizon, was a war summit that would decide the future of the Volus Protectorate, Salarian Union, Turian Hierarchy, Asari Republics and now the krogan people, for the course of the war, and whether they would join the united forces of the UGC or not. For the prothean superweapon wasn't going to build itself.
And yet a prothean had risen, awake and alive, ready to fight the Reapers and show them the protheans weren't done yet. He was their voice, and it was angry.
He had risen...from ashes.
"Javik was a very intense character, I'll admit. And I don't think I saw the Liberation of Eden Prime on the news."
- Tali'Shepard pav Rannoch.
"It was a great victory for us; it showed Cerberus could be beaten, although people didn't care; they were looking for victories against the Reapers, for which they wouldn't find any; Cerberus had our technological capability, but the Reapers? Way beyond our league."
- Marcus Shepard.
"So when did this War Summit occur?"
- Reia'Inas pav Earth.
"It officially took place on June 8th in orbit over Mannovai, in the Salarian Union owned system of Mevaro, Annos Basin Cluster."
"Two days after the Liberation of Eden Prime? Guess it took some time to form up."
- Tali'Shepard pav Rannoch.
"It certainly did, and during that time, I learnt alot about the crew. More than I thought I would."
- Marcus Shepard.
"And, of course, you deeply missed me."
- Tali'Shepard pav Rannoch.
"Enough that it hurt to think about it."
- Marcus Shepard.
A/N:
Long chapter? Yeah, that was the intention; but I hope this was epic enough for you. That officially closes the From Ashes segment, and I hope it was a nice taste of what's going to happen; there will be more full-scale battles, and they'll get bigger as Marcus gathers more of the races to join him (Which is why I can't wait for the quarian-geth conflict arc of this story. That'll be epic). So yeah.
War Summit is up soon, but that won't be until Chapter 12; Chapter 11 is up next, with some dialogue; I'm definitely going to be having Shepard talk more with Samantha and Cortez, to satisfy the fans of those characters, along with some James, and some Keeling, for those interested in her character (please tell me in your review of this what you think of her. Is she a satisfying OC? What could I do to extend her personality? Give me some ideas; they're appreciated). There'll also be more 'meanwhile, on the front' segments, along with the first of many Anderson POVs on Earth. Along with a POV on Tuchanka that I won't give away; it isn't Wrex or Grunt. So you guys can interpret that. I look forward to your guessing; trust me, you'll never find the right answer! And those who do belong in an insane asylum; nothing short of a psychic could discover what I'm talking about.
Keelah Se'lai, troopers!
On a side note: Any of those of you paying attention to the news? Seems like the Coalition is building back up just to deal with ISIS; shit's getting real.
