HOLOCAUST
CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE:
ICE COLD CHANGE PART ONE
June 18, 2186
2205 hours.
War Room, Normandy-Class Stealth Frigate SSV Normandy SR-2, In Orbit over Trenalan, Magna System, Zion Nebula.
The Reaper War.
Captain Marcus Lee Shepard, Primarch Adrien Victus.
"Noveria, you say?" Victus replied, leaning inquisitively against the war table as he turned his whole body to face Marcus, "You're telling me an entire Cerberus fleet is attacking Noveria? What for? Noveria has no strategic value, and its too close to Reaper territory to last long. Spirits, the Council warned them to evacuate a few hours ago. There's no reason Cerberus would want that area...unless they see a potential threat."
Marcus nodded, hitting a button on the side of the terminal to bring up a hologram of Noveria, "Exactly, Primarch. From what I can see-"
"I was woken at this ungodly hour to look at planets?" he heard Garrus quip from uptop, the turian yawning as he walked down to join them, "I do believe that's sacrilege."
"Continuing," Marcus cut off, ignoring the turian's remarks, "From what I can see, Cerberus is planning to take Noveria with massive force with no endgame reward. They've assigned an entire fleet, so I predict they'll have at least a division backing them. They'll take Port Hanshan, and from there, they'll have full control of the planet's orbital defenses and trade, and taking the rest will be piecemeal. But like you said, it makes no sense why the Illusive Man would want Noveria. Its cold, holds no potential value, and would only be good as an airbase, but even then, they have carriers to do that and they're far more effective."
Before anyone could say another word, Wrex's voice boomed as he walked down the steps into the room, Grunt and his second-in-command following in behind, "So we must assume they aren't here with the intent of keeping Noveria. They're here for a target, a high-priority one, if they've brought a whole fleet and have thrown espionage out the window."
Grunt nodded, bracing against the table, "So the question is, what's the target?"
"That would be a simple matter of hacking into Noveria's computer mainframe and simply looking for any arrivals," EDI declared, her body coming to stand next to Marcus, hands clasped behind her back in their usual manner, "Something Specialist Traynor can assist me with."
"I'll try my best," Samantha stated, coming to stand just to EDI's left, and leaning over the table with a shy look on her face, "Although I don't know what I can do that EDI can't in ten seconds."
"Don't sell yourself short, Traynor," Marcus ordered, turning to everyone else, watching the steady flow of his crew enter the room. Deciding everyone was here, he turned to Grunt, nodding as he motioned to the depicted planet before them, "And you are right, Grunt. Just who is on Noveria that has forced Cerberus to send a fleet to acquire them?"
"I honestly don't see why this is a problem," Victus spoke, drawing everyone's attention, "Our focus should be on the Reapers. Cerberus is a second priority, and I do believe Professor Solus is working on the genophage cure. The less time he has on it, the more time its going to take to get krogan troops on Palaven."
"Incorrect assumption. Underestimate my abilities. Not the point however," Mordin animatedly replied directly, crossing his arms, "Cerberus serve the Reapers. Don't know it, but they do it. Show all signs. Cerberus attempted to take Eden Prime; was within Reaper territory, tried to take it anyway, shows lack of foresight, or potentially a work side-by-side MO. More likely. Illusive Man indoctrinated. Cerberus indoctrinated. Working for Reapers. All fits. Makes sense. Reapers top priority, makes Cerberus top priority."
"We have no idea what they're after, Primarch," Marcus replied, nodding to Mordin in thanks, "Hell, I'm not going to pretend to understand the Illusive Man fully. Maybe he is down there to occupy Noveria, just like he tried with Eden Prime. Or maybe he isn't, and he's there for a reason. A target. Whatever is, it earned Noveria fleet of Cerberus warships. The Illusive Man doesn't dispense resources so casually; if they've got a fleet, that target means alot to them, which means Cerberus can't be allowed to have it."
Victus nodded, "That makes sense. But what if this turns out to be a wild goose chase, as you humans put it? What if this is all for nothing?"
Marcus shrugged, "They're here for one of two reasons, Victus; take Noveria, or take what's on it. None of them ends well for us. Sure, we lose Noveria, its just another planet fallen to the Reapers. But what about the people on it? Not only are they innocent, but if Cerberus capture them, they'll have more troops to add to their forces. Is that we want? To unintentionally strengthen them? Depriving TIM of his troops is essential to beating him. There is only so many pro-human, racist scumbags in this galaxy Primarch, and I bet you most of his troops weren't even Cerberus; probably just some poor, innocent civilian who got captured, indoctrinated, implanted and told to fight for Cerberus and did so because the Reapers told him or her to do so. If we let them take Noveria, then we've empowered them further. If we let them acquire their target, then whatever it is will mean hell for us. The Reapers are bad enough, but I don't want Cerberus running around with a potentially dangerous asset. No, Noveria is a top priority. You, as a general, should know this."
Victus nodded, turning to the hologram, "You make an excellent point. And considering that, Noveria will be a top priority. But what do we do about it? Its like you said, we don't even know what they're attempting to do."
"Actually, we do now," Samantha almost shouted. She stopped for a second, looking up sheepishly and smiling meekly, scratching her neck, "Ahhhh...sorry. But...EDI's finished her analysis."
"Wait, how did you do that?" Keeling asked, uncrossing her arms, "Cerberus would have destroyed any comm buoys in that system."
"Some packets of data are stored in quantum data banks," EDI replied, "They were designed to be totally unhackable due to the data used to store them. However, that changed when Cerberus invented the quantum entanglement communicator. Using the quantum data in the Normandy's communicator, I was able to hack into the data bank and access the information. And quantum entanglement cannot be hacked or blocked."
"That's interesting and all," James piped up, "But what did you find?"
"What Cerberus is looking for," Samantha stated, and with a flick of a few buttons on her omni-tool, Noveria disappeared and a list of 37 names appeared on the list, all with arrival numbers next to them.
"What's so special about them?" Grunt asked, confused.
"To the ordinary eye, these names seem...ordinary," Samantha stated, "But those names, and their credentials, are falsified. They smuggled themselves in, likely because they're fugitives..."
"...from Cerberus?" Kasumi answered.
"From Cerberus," the comms specialist confirmed, typing a few more buttons on her omni-tool, "I cross-referenced all the data to find their real names, and...who they used to work for. You won't believe what we found."
"They all worked for Cerberus at one point or another," Kelly finished.
"What would Cerberus want with them then?" Keeling asked. Suddenly, the N7 had an epiphany, and she looked to Marcus, meeting his eyes, "Unless..."
"They defected," Marcus concluded, turning to Samantha, "Like Kelly, Gardner and half of my crew did."
"Exactly," Samantha stated, "But there is something else. They aren't just ordinary Cerberus operatives, they were scientists. And alot of them were some of the Illusive Man's best." Suddenly, the names changed, becoming their real ones. And as Marcus read through them, he recognized one he hated.
"Gavin Archer," Marcus growled, gripping the table, "That piece of shit defected, did he? Guess TIM must have decided to use him as a guinea pig instead."
"I'm sorry?" Samantha asked, confused.
"A year ago, when we were still working with Cerberus. You know, before TIM was indoctrinated," Garrus began to explain, "He sent us to Aite to deal with this AI experiment that went wrong. He tried to create a super AI to use to control the geth, but it backfired. Project: Overlord, it was called. Anyway, we learnt that the lead scientist, Gavin Archer, had been using his own brother as a neural link. His brother was the AI. The details of that are...pretty gruesome."
"That's fucked up," James added, looking horrified as he slowly backed away a bit, "Like, seriously messed up."
"And it seems Archer himself as decided to run for it," Marcus stated in disgust, "Won't get any sympathy from me. I don't recognize the rest of these...names...though..." as he finished, his eyes were at the top, and he saw who it was.
"What?" Javik asked.
"Jacob Taylor," Samantha read out loud, turning to him, "Someone you know?"
"Someone we know? Spirits, the guy used to be a part of our squad a year ago," Garrus exclaimed, waggling his eyebrows at Kasumi, "And at the adoration of a particular thief."
"And still is," Kasumi retorted, sticking her tongue out, smiling wickedly.
"He must have seen people who needed help and decided to protect them," Marcus felt a smile grow at that, shaking his head, "This galaxy is getting smaller, and Jacob is still the man I remember. He'll have known Cerberus was onto him though; he'd have kept them safe. But there can only be one reason Cerberus would want to kill them. They weren't just defecting, they're going to try and join the Alliance."
"They could be valuable assets," Keeling added, motioning to the names, "Ex-Cerberus scientists would be invaluable to the UGC. Any information they have on Cerberus could seriously cripple their infrastructure and give us an edge in predicting their movements and get an accurate assessment on their military strength."
"Which is exactly why Cerberus would want them captured or dead. Now we know why they're there, now we need to figure out how to get there and acquire those scientists," Marcus declared, looking up, "Any suggestions?"
Javik came forward, bringing up the hologram of Noveria once more and pointing to the simulated Cerberus fleet in orbit, "We won't be able to launch any rescue mission until that fleet is dealt with. We must think about dealing with them first."
Marcus nodded, "All we'd need to do is punch a hole in any blockade they've got set up. We can't spare much, so we must find a solution that doesn't involve taking on any of the more heavily-armoured capital ships. No engaging the dreadnought, carrier or battleships. Heavy cruisers if necessary, light cruisers possibly, and everything below that is fire at will. But I don't think the Normandy will be enough."
"And Cerberus will have learnt from Eden Prime," Liara pointed out, "So a diversion is out of the question."
"So we need ships," Marcus declared, "Just enough to break through the line, get to Noveria. We've got the Normandy's thanix cannon, but that'll only have enough energy for a single shot. It'll cripple a few ships, but not enough. A few more need to go; a few frigates, maybe some destroyers. Some of the lighter ships."
"We don't have much," Victus bluntly stated, "I've already made it clear I won't be committing any of my warships. Not until the turian-krogan alliance is set in stone."
"What do we have?" Marcus asked, "Which of the UGC races have naval capability?"
"Pretty much every single one," the turian leader replied, switching the hologram to one listing the military strength of all the UGC races, "The Systems Alliance has the First Fleet, Third Fleet, Fifth Fleet, Sixth Fleet, Seventh Fleet and small remainders of the Eighth. That's all the naval strength they have left, as I'm sure you know they lost the Second and Fourth Fleet when Arcturus and Earth fell."
"I was there. I'm well accompanied with it. What else?" Marcus asked, pushing the topic to something less gruesome. Last thing he wanted to do was remember the state Earth was in. I sure hope Anderson is alright...
Victus nodded, "Well, despite the situation with Kahje and Dekunna, the elcor and hanar have pulled back most of their fleets and they remain largely intact. The Primacy Holy, Blessed, Enkindler, Home, Truth, Solace, Fortitude and Piety Fleets are ready to be used, as are the Dekunnan Judgment, Retribution, Redemption, United, Nought and Devastator, and the remnants of the Claw, Elegance and Allegiance fleets. The Hegemony has some naval capability, but not much, so using them is not recommended."
"Good. That's...good. Good," Marcus declared, regarding the numbers before him. Finally, he reached a decision, "Have the hanar send a battlegroup; a few destroyers, possibly, from their Truth Fleet, a few frigates from the Fortitude fleet."
"If we want to smash that blockade, we're going to need better firepower than that," Garrus stated, "No offense to the hanar and elcor, but you humans know how to build warships. Those Cerberus ships, spirits, just the dreadnought and those battleships, will completely smash the elcor and hanar ships. What you need are a couple of volus fleet bombers."
"Volus bombers?" James asked, flabbergasted, whistling as he did, giving Garrus a weird look, "Scars, you certainly know how to pick 'em."
"The volus won't commit until the turians do," Victus restated, "You know that, Shepard."
Marcus shrugged, waving a hand at him, "The Protectorate answers directly to the Hierarchy, yes? And you're the Primarch! Its not like we're asking for them to send the damn Kwunu! We just need bombers; two of them will do!"
Many would wander what the big deal about volus bombers was about, but that's because they didn't understand that, second only to thanix technology, volus bombers were top of the line technology because they had weaponry that only one faction had, being the geth. And that was plasma. Able to decimate kinetic barriers and completely disintegrate the hulls of ships, plasma was a lethal weapon indeed, especially if in the wrong hands.
So far however, the cost to mass-produce and harness the energy needed to build plasma weapons en masse was astronomical, and so far the turians had donated most of those resources to the volus for their bombing fleet. There was a total of 32 volus plasma bombers in existence, all of them outfitted with the Type-1 Directed Energy Ship-to-ship, orbit-to-surface launch systems. When fired, that plasma would tear ships apart like they were wet toilet paper. Not quite a thanix cannon, and it took quite a bit of punishment still to put a dreadnought or carrier down, but it did the job. And a couple of those bombers would absolutely devastate a Cerberus fleet. Punch more than a hole.
They'd tear that fleet apart if allowed to. And just imagine...all 32 of those bombers will be at the UGC's command once the genophage is cured. All to be used against the Reapers. I just wonder how effective they can be.
Victus sighed, rubbing his temples. With a final exertion of breath, he stood tall and rigid, like a proper stoic turian, and nodded, "Fine, I'll get in touch with the volus leader. He won't reject the word of a Primarch."
"Excellent," he turned to Garrus, grinning, "I'll inform Hackett and ask him to ask the hanar and elcor to send the ships I wanted. That's that sorted," he turned back to the table, exhaling, "Now, once we've smashed the blockade and made planetfall, we need a ground force. My squad isn't going to cut it against an entire Cerberus division, so we'll reinforcement."
Grunt nodded, pounding his chest, "Aralakh Company will stand by you, battlemaster. We'll crush those fleshies in their armor."
"Good to see you're eager, Grunt," Marcus chuckled, turning back to Samantha, "Send a message to Zaeed, Sayn and Gyrll. Tell them that I want at least two platoons from their respective organizations," he sighed, "But a krogan company and six platoons of mercenaries still won't cut it. What else do we have? Batarians are exhausted in manpower, I can't ask the elcor and hanar to spare anything else, so who else?"
The room was silent for a moment, and then James spoke up.
"What about the rachni?"
Marcus shook his head, "The queen hasn't had time to breed. We can't count on the rachni."
"While that is true, the queen was not the only survivor of Operation: Quarantine," EDI informed them, "To the queen's surprise, there were numerous rachni on the planet that had managed to escape the Reaper's huskification process and were out of the nuclear bomb's range. Mostly standard soldiers, but a few brood warriors managed to survive as well, and a reported two hundred workers."
"How many survived?" Marcus asked, eyes widening.
"One second," the AI responded, eyes flicking back and forth, as if reading information they couldn't see. Finally, she looked back up, eyes ceasing their rapid movement, "Around four dozen soldiers, eight brood warriors."
"Holy shit!" James exclaimed, "That's more than a few! I think we just got very lucky!"
Marcus grinned in the marine's direction, "Then it's settled. I'll ask Hackett to pass the message onto the queen to send at least two dozen soldiers, and two brood warriors. We might need a few dozen workers as well, so I'll ask for them as well."
Garrus nodded in appreciation, "Overall, we've got an excellently-sized combat force. Cerberus won't know what hit them."
"Goody, more spiders," Kasumi giggled, "Tali would be crying. And I'd be laughing. Marcus, you've made me such an evil woman."
"That was partly me too," Garrus remarked.
Marcus smiled meekly at the mention of Tali's name, but shook it away as he looked around the room, "This is a full deployment. I want all assigned forces to move to this RV point in orbit of Trenalan. We'll be deploying rapidly through use of kodiaks. Cortez, you're the designated driver."
Cortez smiled, giving a little nod, "I'm your man. I'll get you in and out, nice and safely, swiftly and quietly."
Marcus nodded appreciatively, "We all appreciate it, Cortez," he turned to everyone else, face taken on a more solemn tone, "I'm not going to lie. The battle coming is going to be bloody, fierce and full of carnage. Cerberus is there in force, and if they terminate those scientists, we won't just lose valuable assets, we'll lose innocent lives... and some of us will lose a friend. So be prepared, because many won't make it out. We're here to evacuate, extract the assets and get out; we are not here to destroy Cerberus forces. Do not engage Cerberus unless ordered or forced to, because we cannot expend the men and resources. So keep it cool, and stay safe. That's an order. This meeting is adjourned, you are all dismissed."
The room began to clear, but just as Mordin went to leave, Marcus called him back, "Except you, Mordin. I want to talk to you before I contact Hackett."
Suddenly, Garrus and Kasumi were at his side, both smiling. The turian spoke first, shaking his head, "We seem to be running into old friends way too much. I mean...Jacob? Look, me and that man weren't big on friendship, but he was...a decent man. A good...soldier. And he wasn't big on Cerberus, so there's two things we have in common. But...Jacob? I was expecting...Samara maybe, because, you know, she's a fighter of justice, and she'd want to protect those 'innocents.' Or maybe Miranda, but Jacob? Consider my surprised."
"Jacob's a good man," Marcus replied, "He knows what's right and what's wrong. Believe it or not, that's hard to find in people these days. Most of their morals are messed up. Jacob at least knows what's what."
"And he's got a nice pair of abs," Kasumi added, grinning as she crossed her arms, "Wouldn't having him on the Normandy again. Something to oggle at."
"Oh really?" Garrus snarkily replied, crossing his own arms and raising an eyebrow at the thief, "You don't think my abs are any good?"
"It's your lack of any that leaves me lacking," Kasumi giggled, poking her tongue out as she quickly ducked out of the room, cloak activating behind her, shrouding her in invisibility, "See ya, Garbear!"
"I'm going to kill that woman one day," Garrus grumbled, rolling his eyes at Marcus' unsympathetic grin as he left the room, huffing. It was when that everyone except Victus had basically left, with Mordin coming to join his side.
"Shepard, wanted to talk? Hopefully important. Much to do. Must get it done," Mordin stated as animated as usual, hands coming to lie back at his side as he finished waving them about.
"That's what I wanted to ask about," Marcus gulped, hands on his hips, "How much longer Mordin? I know you're going as fast as you possibly can on this, but we're running out of time, Mordin. Palaven needs the krogan, and Wrex needs that cure. The longer I spend running around the galaxy waiting, the more likely the Reapers will have destroyed every other asset before I can acquire it."
"Nearly completed," Mordin replied bluntly, showing no sign of offense, "Will perform tests on Eve soon; will be first krogan to be cured of genophage. Great honor for her. Have not told her. Would reject otherwise. Must be final test subject. Helped build, make sense to cure first. Almost ready, estimate two days."
Marcus' eyes widened, "Two days? That soon? Not a week?"
Mordin only smirked, "Managed to create substance for human-quarian interspecies reproduction in less time than given for cure. Should not come as surprise. STG recruit the best. You recruited the best."
Marcus only laughed, slapping the salarian's back, "You never cease to amaze me, Mordin. I'll let you get back to work. The sooner the genophage is cured, the sooner we can get onto other alliances. The turians and the krogan aren't the only ones that need to get along." The quarians and geth will be an even tougher obstacle. Probably the toughest. And I still need to acquire the salarian and asari forces.
Mordin nodded, "Will get it done. Return to work now. Much still to be done. Must get it done, nonetheless. Will see you later." The salarian made a hasty retreat from the room, leaving it almost entirely empty aside for the occassional officer on the deck, and Victus typing away at his terminal, while simultaneously observing the battle plan for Noveria.
Marcus eyed the hologram, shaking his head as he remembered his last moment with Jacob before his incarceration. The man had promised to rally whatever he could. And he had. Oh God, he had.
The best asset so far.
{Loading...}
June 19, 2186
1430 hours.
Eastern Entrance, Port Hanshan, Aleusk Continent, Noveria.
The Reaper War, Battle of Noveria.
Second Lieutenant Jacob Taylor, Captain Maeko Matsuo.
"This is Captain Maeko Matsuo!" the captain roared over her comm, barely getting heard over the roar of gunfire and battle and death, "We're are taking heavy fire in the Eastern Corridor! Cerberus troops are pressing hard and I've lost over a dozen men already! Requesting reinforcements, over! Sergeant Heac, what is your status? Somebody, ANYBODY, TALK TO ME!"
Jacob leaned out once more, fingering the trigger of his commandeered battle rifle as it bulked and fired, a shot piercing the throat of a passing assault trooper. The soldier immediately dropped his Revenant LMG that he had used to gun down three ERCS guards, clutching at his throat as red blood seeped from the wound, spitting and guzzling as he fell onto his back, synthetic gurgles the only sound to be heard.
Jacob growled as his vindicator emptied, the weapon spitting out its empty thermal clip. Dropping the useless rifle, he rolled forward, snatching the Revenant from the ground, coming back into position, and firing just as he caught a burst of fire in his shields. He winced for a second as the weapon fired, its unfamiliar recoil sending the butt ramming into his shoulder blade, but he kept it steady as he sent a line of lead down the Cerberus ranks, cutting down any idiot stupid enough to poke his head out or charge.
Unfortunately, only two assault troopers were dumb enough to attempt that, and the line of four guardians advancing were unfazed as his heavy rounds rammed into their hard shields and splintered upon impact like shattered wood. Four talon heavy pistols coughed in response, their rounds devastating his shields in an instant, as he dove back, avoiding a second talon by a hairbreadth. One of the guards next to him wasn't so lucky, her body falling into his lap as the asari's head rolled back, lifeless eyes almost jokingly looking into his, purple blood oozing from her burst eyesocket from where the bullet entered.
He rolled her body off of him, and Matsuo shouted into the comms again.
"They're still pressing, and I don't see any reinforcements!" Matsuo roared, and he looked behind him to see her lying prone behind a dead turian guard, using his body as a sandbag as bullets poured into the lifeless corpse, her weapon positioned ontop of him and spitting round after round out of the barrel, "I don't care how you do it, just do it! We can't hold this location and we have nowhere to fall back to! Is anyone even listening to me? Damn it!"
She knows she can't hold this, but will if it means protecting civilians. That'll just get us all killed. He sighed as he looked back out, covering his eyes as an explosion rocked the wall to the right, a piece of wall smashing into two of the guardians as four guards rushed out, gunning them down...
...only to be taken out as four gunshots pierced the firefight, four bodies crumbling to the ground, all with missing heads. Damn Nemesis'. Blood flowed along the ground in all directions, both Cerberus and ERCS; red, blue, purple, green...it all mixed like colors of the bloody rainbow.
We need to contact Lorik. Get him to evacuate so we can fall back into the Port itself. We can hold better there. But this fucking tunnel is a fucking slaughtering ground! We aren't even making a dent in them!
"Matsuo!" he growled into the comms, wincing as a shot pierced his Revenant and shredded the barrel, rendering his weapon useless. He angrily tossed it aside, pulling out his eviscerator shotgun, and keeping it out of range of the gunfire, "We need to retreat! Contact Qui'in! Get him to evacuate the Port so we can fall back!"
"Over this?" Matsuo shouted back, "Not a chance in hell! We have no idea whether or not Cerberus has planned for that! We could be sending those civilians into a trap! No, we hold here!"
"The corridor is lost and so are we if we stay here!" Jacob replied.
"So be it," Matsuo stated solemnly, popping out of cover as she popped off another burst, this one barely draining the shields of an advancing centurion. Seeing as he was closer to Jacob's cover, the soldier leaned out, took aim with shotgun and fired, the shell piercing the centurion's calf and blowing it wide open, bits of red viscera splling out across the floor as the Cerberus commander bent over, screeching. He made to raise his mattock, but Jacob knocked it aside, sending a biotic warp straight into his head. Reducing it to a pulpy mass, the centurion's headless body was sent reeling back, blood trailing in the air behind him, until he slammed onto the shield of an advancing guardian. The soldier almost angrily used the shield to swat the dead body away, but realized his fatal mistake too late when Matsuo got off a shot, piercing his side, before sending a shot straight through his visor, killing him instantly.
Jacob found the form of a combat engineer easily enough among the smoke and fire, the soldier kneeling down to prepare a turret. Before Jacob could take him out however, he found himself biotically thrown into a wall, eviscerator clattering to the ground. He moved to get up, but was merely picked up and tossed to the ground again, and then again. Finally, dazed, he made to get up once more, only to have a boot to his chest shove him back down again as he met the eyes of his enemy.
A dragoon loomed over him, triumphant as it prepared a biotic warp. Growling, he activated his omni-blade and hurled it at the man's leg, but he pulled away at the last second, assuming a battle posture, body glowing blue. Jacob brought up a barrier just in time to deflect one warp as he charged forward, hurling his blade at him rapidly to keep him from being able to bear his biotics and to keep him concentrated on deflecting his blows.
Just as he moved for the final swing however, a blade narrowly swung past him...the blade of a phantom.
Instead, however, of moving to deal with his opponent, he moved forward, under the arm of the dragoon, and swung around, kicking the dragoon forward as the phantom attempted to stab him, only to end up stabbing the dragoon through the belly, blade erupting out the otherside in a blur of red.
Occupied with the blade currently stuck in her ally's body, the phantom was unable to defend herself as Jacob suddenly reappeared, swung his blade, sent her head flying with a hiss, thudding against the ground as red blood poured from the wound and coated the ground in a thick blanket of crimson.
Satisfied, he moved to deal with the next threat, only to feel the ground shudder once and twice, followed by another two times, and another...only then did Jacob realize.
An Atlas.
He whorled around, retreating as the guards did, "Retreat! Atlas! Retreat! Retreat!"
He turned at the last moment to see the hulking mech arise from the flames, one foot coming down to cave in a skycar that had been parked there. Raising its machine gun, it gunned down any of the guards still in the open, and sent a rocket smashing into a skycar they were using for cover, crushing and smashing and blowing apart whatever guards had crouched behind it. The next was a methodical thump, thump, thump of its cannon, shell after shell eviscerating whoever made a run for it. The Atlas, by itself, was tearing their force asunder, one by one, nothing to oppose it. They did not have the heavy weapons to fight it.
He stuck close to cover, keeping out of the vision of the Atlas pilot. He eventually reached Captain Matsuo's position, the guard almost immediately turning towards him as he arrived, coming to crouch next to her, "Now do you think its time to fall back?"
Matsuo gave him a look akin to a glare as she finished talking with one of her sergeants, and reluctantly nodded, "You're right, Taylor. There's no way I can hold this location-" she was cut off by a shell pounding through the air to reduce the sergeant she had been speaking to to a cloud of eviscerated, blue flesh. With as sigh, she wiped it from her hair and face, what she could at least, and shook her head, "This location is compromised and we need to leave. But any retreat we make would be suicidal. That mech is cutting us down as we pop out."
"Then you need a distraction," Jacob offered, prepping his biotics, "I volunteer."
She grasped his shoulder as he made to leave, pulling him back down, "You've got an unborn child and a finance back in the port. You stay here, I'll be the distraction."
Before she could get up, he placed a hand on her shoulder, grasped it and pulled her down, tsking, "Don't you pull that excuse. I'm sure many here have wives, husbands and/or children. And besides, I've faced alot worse than an Atlas. Try storming the Collector Base in the center of the galactic core and living to tell the tale. Try storming the Shadow Broker's base and living to tell the tale. Try saving Commander Shepard from an asteroid about to collide into a mass relay and living to tell the tale. This is just me distracting an Atlas," he smiled, "I can handle it. Now take your men, and make a retreat when you see its distracted."
Matsuo nodded, shaking her head as she gave him a salute, "I could have done with a man like you in my garrison. Last person who got their job done as well as you did was Stirling, but she was a bit of a loose cannon. She died three years ago, though."
He nodded, poking his head out to see that the Atlas was practically almost ontop of them, firing a shell point blank into a skycar under it that some guards had hidden under, exploding in a gust of flame as bits of debris pounced off its armoured carapace. The pilot continued forward, unblinking, scanning the room for victims.
And, without warning, he shot out, rolled behind a toppled road freighter, and then sprinted out from behind it, directly behind the Atlas. He blinked, surprised. Must have completely skipped its vision. Got to get its attention. Without further hesitation, he found his shotgun, retrieved it and fired it at the Atlas' back, watching its kinetic barriers absorb it.
But it worked.
The Atlas halted all forward motion and rotated, coming to face him, its machine gun arm already raised and primed. He had to act fast.
He absorbed the first volley with a biotic barrier, quickly diving out of the way to avoid a rocket aimed at him, but he had not dove fast enough. The explosion threw him five meters into a jagged piece of metal, missing the sharpened tip by an inch, but slamming his back against it, causing him to cry out. But at least his distraction was working.
Even now, he watched ERCS guards arise and begin to run back down the corridor, Matsuo moving quietly alongside them, ushering them along. ERCS were not traditional military; they were just a security corporation, and they weren't supposed to fight huge battles like this. Only Matsuo seemed to resonate any sort of calm, and that's only because she was former military: the EUMC, she had been a part of (European Union Marine Corps). So the rest ran like a flock of frightened hens, desperate to reach safety.
The Atlas now loomed right over him, raising its machine gun arm for one final shot to finish Jacob off. But he wasn't going down that easily. He quickly formed a singularity and, with pinpoint accuracy, sent it flying down into the barrel.
As planned, the singularity entered the barrel, and flickered into life. The gravity well created inside the barrel caused the weapon to start to implode, folding in on itself, metal creaking, lead crushed, one by one. And after a bit, he sent a warp straight into the middle, and raised a barrier to protect himself as the warp impacted, singularity detonating as the HMG was blown apart, debris moving at heavy speeds to slam into his barrier or the area around him. When the smoke cleared, he heard a huge thud that shook the ground.
Frowning, he looked down and widened his eyes as he stood up, seeing the crumbled Atlas, smoke drifting from the Atlas' missing arm, disconnected wires lying all around. Surprised at the mech's sudden demise, he climbed up ontop, quickly finding the cause.
The cockpit glass had caved in, with a massive piece of debris from the gun currently skewered through the head of the pilot, pinning his puny body to the cockpit. Red blood pooled all over the cockpit, creating puddles all over. Its hands were clasped around the controls, unable to let go, red blood collecting inbetween his clamy, dead fingers, beginning to crust. Jacob simply shook his head, jumping off the body of the destroyed Atlas.
Thud, thud, thud, thud, thud, thud. Then shouting. Angry shouting. Multiple shouts. Growing in crescendo.
And as Jacob turned around, he began to make a steady retreat himself, cursing under his breath, "They don't just fucking give up."
Behind him were three Atlases, all side by side, moving forward. The shouting had come from a phalanx formation of guardians pressed up against each other like riot control officers, Nemesis' between them, followed by combat engineers, centurions, assault troopers, phantoms, dragoons. The whole damn division was pushing.
He just kept running, avoiding the streaks of missiles and the cacophonies of machine guns and coughs of pistols, rifles, shotguns and sniper rifles. He just kept running, but then suddenly, seemingly out of nowhere, all lighting dimmed, and then turned red, followed by bright, spasmodic yellow flashes.
And as he watched, the walls ahead began to fold in. Upon seeing them, Jacob began to run higher, seeing Matsuo waving him on. She's closing the blast doors. 30 inches of thick concrete wall. It'll take alot of firepower to break through it. More than three Atlases.
He reached the doors at the last moment, sidestepping through the tiny gap that now existed and out to the other side as it closed with a hiss, the clamps and locks moving into place as the blast door locked. And due to the thickness of the doors, the sound behind was muffled; the sound of an entire division of Cerberus troops advancing no longer heard.
Taking a second to catch his breath, he turned around to assess what was left of the ERCS forces, and it wasn't good. A large amount had been killed by Cerberus, and only nine men were left, plus Matsuo and himself. Of course, there was fresh reinforcements waiting back at the Port, and despite Hanshan having multiple entrances, the Eastern Corridor gave Cerberus the best chance for success and gave them complete access to the Port. They had to defend it at all costs if Hanshan was to hold.
But they couldn't hold it. And it was time to go.
He moved over to Matsuo, holstering his shotgun as the captain turned to him, "We need to get back to Hanshan and start the evacuation."
Matsuo looked flabbergasted, shaking her head, "Are you kidding? We cannot just let Port Hanshan fall! We've got a fresh load of men waiting at the Port, and with a single call I can have the men from Peaks 1 to 15 send their guards here, flank the enemy."
"And then they'd be butchered too. You just don't get it, do you?" Jacob asked, shaking his head as he crossed his arms, "These are Cerberus. Augmented supersoldiers. They have an entire division of heavily-trained soldiers, enough ordnance to wipe Hanshan off the Noverian map, and an entire fleet in orbit. The best we can do is evacuate to a port nearby...possibly Port Wertmore...and evacuate to orbit from there. But we can't stay here! No amount of troops will help! For all we know, all the Peaks have fallen! Cerberus could control them! Or a blizzard might cut them off! We need to go!"
Matsuo cursed as she turned away, holstering her rifle on her back. She had given her life to protecting the people of Hanshan. Noveria had been her life, and now she had to abandon it. She whorled towards him, shoving a finger in his angrily, "This is all your fault and those damn scientists you brought with you! I should have ordered you to leave the moment you made planetfall! Now you've brought Cerberus down on us!"
Jacob scoffed, "The war would have reached you eventually. The people of Noveria can't hide from it forever. Even if we hadn't come, the Reapers would have eventually and they'd have reduced all the ports to the ground, razed Noveria, and then turned all of you into husks for their army. What would you rather? Die fighting Cerberus or be captured and turned into a Reaper abomination? You can't blame us for hiding! Cerberus would have found us!"
Matsuo growled, biting her lower lip as she nodded, "You're right, I just needed to vent. Evacuation, yes. No other option now," she motioned to her men, and then to the entrance located 300 meters ahead, "Men, we're returning to the Port! Stock what you can and prepare to leave! When we get back, I want every shuttle you can find overhauled and prepared for immediate takeoff. Move it, people!" she turned back to Jacob, motioning to the door, "That won't hold forever, and someone needs to keep this corridor secure. You said it yourself; they'll fight tooth and nail to control this corridor and I'm not about to let them have it."
"They're after me and the scientists," Jacob told her, "They don't want Hanshan."
Matsuo only laughed, "To get what you want you need to control the exits to stop them escaping. To secure the exits, you secure the Port. And them wanting you is exactly why I don't need you here. Get back to the Port, coordinate with Qui'in. And tell whatever men are protecting the Port to get their asses up here and bring whatever equipment they can acquire. We'll fortify this position, set up a barricade, and hold them off. Its just us; noone's coming to help us, so we've got to do this the hard way."
Jacob looked to the door, sighing, "How long do you think that door will hold before they burst through?"
Matsuo shook her head, running the numbers through her head as she eyed the massive doors. Turning to him, she shrugged, "I'd give them roughly...an hour at best."
Jacob nodded, "Then we better get moving! You'll have your men, Captain!" he began to run down the corridor but before he reached 50 meters, he turned around and shouted, watching the form of Matsuo stand sentinel in front of the doors, a lone wolf extending her rifle into combat position as she crouched, "And Matsuo!"
She turned, "What?"
"Give them hell," he ordered.
A ghost of a smile graced her lips, "I'll make sure of it. Go, Taylor!"
Without so much as a nod in her direction, he turned around and began to sprint as fast as he could towards the Port. They were on a timer, and with noone to help them, they could only help themselves.
He just hoped Brynn and the baby were safe.
{Loading...}
June 19, 2186
1440 hours.
Cockpit, Normandy-Class Stealth Frigate SSV Normandy SR-2, Entering Orbit over Noveria, Pax System, Horsehead Nebula.
The Reaper War, Battle of Noveria.
Captain Marcus Lee Shepard, Flight Lieutenant Jeff 'Joker' Moreau, EDI.
"Cerberus Third Fleet coming into visual," EDI declared, "As predicted, they are directly within our flight path." They cannot see us, but they can see the rest of our fleet. It would be wise to act quickly before they have time to call battlestations and counterattack."
"Noted EDI," Marcus replied, placing his hand on Joker's chair, gripping it tightly, "Joker, tell Garrus to prep the thanix cannon for deployment. EDI, open the comms to the entire fleet. I'll address them myself."
The rendezvous point had been perfect. The hanar had sent two destroyers and a picket of fighters, and the elcor had sent ten heavy frigates. And, just as they had hoped, the volus had caved to the Primarch's orders and two volus bombers, about the size of a corvette, flew next to the Normandy, ready to launch their plasmatic assault. And, despite his protests, Hackett had persisted and sent four Normandy-Class Stealth Frigates of the SR-1 design, all with their own stealth drives of course, and all were going to deploy kodiak shuttles with the troops requested. And despite wanting to come, Marcus had convinced Zaeed to stay in the Terminus. He didn't need another Darner Vosque taking control of the Blue Suns and rebelling. I have the Suns, and I plan on keeping them.
Joker scoffed, shaking his head as his hands danced over the cockpit controls, "Garrus already knows. You know he never leaves his gun unless he's ordered to, right?"
Marcus rolled his eyes, "Of course I know. I'm saying it so he doesn't think I've found him out."
Joker opened his mouth in exclamation, nodding as he turned back to the front, "Okay then. I'll make sure not to pass that on and to simply fire the gun when I'm ready."
"Watch yourself Joker," Marcus jested, eyes scanning the Cerberus fleet before them. It was the size of a normal Alliance fleet, albeit slightly smaller. The flagship of the fleet, the one EDI identified as the Cerberus dreadnought CAW Nanga Parbat, which held the admiral of the fleet; Ronald Tiberius, a man who's anti-alien ideals ended with him exiled from Alliance space. Marcus knew him well. Used to be admiral of the Second Fleet before Drescher. Got to be careful with him.
Next to the dreadnought was the carrier CAW Martin Luther, followed by four battleships. Around those were numerous heavy cruisers, light cruisers, destroyers, frigates, fighters, interceptors, corvettes...the lot. It was a large fleet, heavily armoured, and they were about to enter combat.
"We'll hit the weakest spot. We won't risk battle with the larger capital ships," Marcus ordered as the comm opened, "Elcor ships move forward, volus bombers behind, hanar ships take up the rear. All stealth frigates, follow behind the Normandy; follow our comms beacon. We'll move through the hole and make planetfall while they keep them busy. Once we've landed, rendezvous with the rest and make best speed to the relay. All the stealth frigates, including the Normandy, will hold in orbit and pick us up when we evacuate. Best speed everyone. Let's do this and kick some Cerberus ass."
The fleet did as ordered, and in no time they had a working battle formation; one that steadily creeped up on Tiberius' third fleet. Marcus watched as his ships began to move into position, and he knew in that instant he had to make his move. "Elcor ships, open up! Volus and hanar, when they finish their first volley, open up! Remaining ships, open up as soon as they are finished! Joker, deploy the thanix!"
He watched the screen as the oddly tear-drop shaped elcor heavy frigates unleashed a hail of fire from their GARDIAN batteries, followed by numerous pulse lasers and gattling guns. Yellow streaks of light, tearing through space towards the enemy warships. The shots connected fairly quickly, causing mere ripples along the surface of the targeted Cerberus ships; six frigates, and a light cruiser. One lot almost penetrated the shields of one frigate, so the next volley would prove its downfall.
Next came the most devastating. For once, Marcus was grateful for the tinted windows.
The volus bombers lit up like the 4th of July as they pulsated, firing twin bolts of plasma energy forward at the enemy ships, moving with the speed of bullets. Within seconds of firing, they had impacted their designated ships. The bombers continued their volleys, firing four in total.
The unshielded frigate was annihilated almost instantly as it opened fire, getting off two missiles before its hull disintegrated, bubbled and blew apart, the ship splitting in half from where the three bolts had hit it.
Next were three corvettes, all decimated instantly from one bolt each, destroying them utterly. The last two bolts impacted the side of a destroyer, draining its shields completely. Said destroyer then opened fire, followed by the rest of the fleet.
Four heavy cruisers utterly put six of the elcor heavy frigates to ruin, utterly crippling them but not destroying them. The Nanga Parbat managed to fire and impact one of the hanar destroyers, draining its shields and scoring a hit on its port side thruster.
The bombers answered again, this time with the hanar opening fire, and the rest of the elcor heavy frigates. GARDIAN missiles, pulse lasers, gattling guns and bolts of plasma strode alongside each other until they hit the enemy ships with, what could have been, a thunderous clap, if they hadn't been in space.
The unshielded destroyer was sheared in half, another crippled, and a number of fighters and interceptors caught in the crossfire simply exploded in flight. Others, at least a few dozen, flew off to engage the hanar fighters, clashing in multiple explosions of light. Despite his orders, he watched three plasma bolts strike and disintegrate the hull of a light cruiser, followed by the rest hitting the starboard side of a battleship, all of them draining its shields to nothing, followed by the last bolt slamming into where the massive gun platform's engine room would have been, likely killing whoever was in there and leaving the ship dead in the water. The rest of the volley impacted harmlessly against the dreadnought's shields, barely making a dent.
"They've made their salvos, Shepard!" Joker cried out, speaking next with an attempt at a redneck accent, "Let's give 'em a hurtin!"
"Do it Joker," he ordered, "All ships, open fire! Disable the dreadnought if you can. If you can destroy it, even better. Target one of those ships with the thanix."
Joker didn't need any reminding and quite soon, the entire fleet was opening up again, with every thing it had, the whole fleet now racing forward to clash with the Cerberus vessels in close-quarters combat.
Most of the fire was concentrated on the dreadnought, including four of the plasma bolts. Joker whistled in triumph as its shields crumbled and a shot pierced its bow, vaporizing the tip of one of its wings, before another completely blew it off. They hadn't destroyed it, but the Nanga Parbat was disabled, for all intents and purposes. That wing had contained an awful lot of its weaponry and GARDIAN batteries, ridding it of a number of its defensive weapons.
Next was a stream of javelin torpedoes from the numerous stealth frigates, arcing towards a group of frigates and impacting hard. Bits of armor plating was blown off and disintegrated; the thrusters of one were blown off, the bridge of another totally vaporized, and one hit dead center, crippling it. When the volley was over, another two corvettes had been blown to pieces, three frigates damaged, and another destroyer crippled. And then, when the fleet had finally ceased fire and Cerberus had returned fire, most of the shots missing, the Normandy fired its thanix.
The jet of brilliant blue light pierced through space to just miss the Martin Luther, instead coming to pierce the hull of the crippled battleship, melting through the hull and blasting through the other side, splitting it in half. A squadron of interceptors that had been on the other side were vaporized when it erupted, and the shot continued until it grazed along the side of a second battleship, vaporized a destroyer and finally came to rest in the hull of a heavy cruiser, its blackened hull a testament to its now missing bridge, wing and most of its bow.
When their assault ended, the Normandy leading the stealth frigates through the gap, stealth systems reengaged, the Cerberus Third Fleet was not decimated, but had a massive dent placed in it. More than Marcus had anticipated.
Debris floated through space, flames glowing bright and then dying in the dead hulls of the destroyed ships. Dozens of fighters and interceptors had been blown apart, along with two frigates, five corvettes, two destroyers, one light cruiser, one heavy cruiser and one battleship. They had disabled the dreadnought, numerous other ships, and punched a hole in their blockade his ships could not exploit. Even now, the elcor and hanar ships were pouring through the gap, weapons lighting up as they continued to lay waste to everything they could find, hanar fighter wings keeping enemy fighters at bay. He watched three more corvettes go up, and another frigate's defenses get overwhelmed. But Cerberus was quickly rushing to close the blockade, and he watched six heavy cruisers race forward, accompanied by a battleship, the latter's enormous array of firepower utterly devastating the remainder of the elcor frigates and forcing the hanar into retreat. But that was more than enough.
The Normandy and its stealth frigates raced to the surface, shooting down towards the ice globe down below, an army in its wake.
One battle was phyrrically won, and another was on the way.
And this time, they had to face the enemy fully...and utterly devastate them if they wanted to rescue the scientists.
{Loading...}
June 19, 2186
1446 hours.
Main Bridge, Killmanjaro-Class Dreadnought CAW Nanga Parbat HA-4, Cerberus Blockade over Noviera, Pax System, Horsehead Nebula.
The Reaper War, Battle of Noveria.
Fleet Admiral Ronald Tiberius.
The ungodly red glow of the room was making it hard to see, Tiberius had concluded. And he hated not being able to see.
As he looked around the bridge, it was plain to the eye that it was total chaos. Alarms were ringing all over the vessel, ranging from fire alarms, to depressurization, to hull breaches on almost every deck. Numerous consoles had blown up, either killing their operators or injurying them, but either way, those controls were out of commission. His XO, Lucy Farwright, lay injured next to him, wincing in pain from the piece of debris winged in her midsection, blood leaking from the wound as she held onto the piece of jagged metal.
While the bridge and engineering were untouched, other sections of the mighty dreadnought were not so lucky. The entire port wing of the ship had been destroyed, all the weapons on it taken with it and now occupying the debris field. Most of its bow torpedo launchers were jammed and unable to fire, and the ship's MAC was malfunctioning, but under repairs. Aside from losing the port wing, they were relatively unharmed, but it was significant damage nonetheless. The debris from the wing had pierced the side, so whatever decks weren't decompressed by plasma, were by debris collision.
Tiberius, despite the mass hysteria in the bridge, was more concentrated on his fleet. He'd lost a large number of corvettes, even more of his fighters and interceptors, and a few more capital ships. The biggest loss was the destruction of the CAW Jericho, one of his battleships. They now only had three; the CAW Waterloo, CAW Londinium and CAW Atlanta. The Atlanta and Waterloo had since moved in alongside the Nagna Parbat in escort formation, many destroyers and heavy cruisers taking up alongside them, with the rest protecting the Martin Luther. The Londinium had shifted to close the gap left open, and had since crushed the remaining elcor fleet and chased off the hanar. But despite the phyrric victory, Tiberius couldn't help but feel like something was wrong.
Those blips on the sensors...I recognize those. They were Normandy-Class stealth frigates. Must have engaged their stealth drives and headed for the service...that's why they weren't aiming to properly engage us. They were headed for the surface...but then that means they know about the scientists...
He groaned, hitting his XO on the shoulder, coughing from the smoke filling the bridge, his crew desperately fighting the fire that had burst behind them, "Get your ass up and get to medical! Jason, you're substitute until she's healed!"
"Ye-yes...si-" she tried to finish, but eventually gave up on talking as she forced herself to her feet, limping over to the exit door on the starboard side, leaning on a bulkhead so she didn't fall. Jason quickly filled her place, his crisp white and gold Cerberus uniform almost unmolested, pristine clean and the shining gold bars of a Lieutenant Commander on his uniform easily seen.
"Should we regroup sir or continue pursuing the hanar, sir?" Jason asked.
Tiberius shook his head, rubbing his temples, "The hanar pose no threat at all, Jason. They've lost the bulk of their force, and even with their volus bombers they won't try a frontal assault again. What's got me worried were the several alliance stealth frigates that broke through our line to the surface. Any word from Peak 15?"
"Broke through sir? Stealth frigates?" Jason asked, frowning, "Sir, the sensors didn't...oh, of course. Stupid me."
"Exactly," Tiberius deadpanned, shaking his head, "Now, any word from Peak 15?"
"None sir. Operative Leng has made no attempt to contact us," Jason stated, raising an eyebrow, "Should we contact him, sir?"
"No, I think we should stay here and let whoever went down there get what they want," he punched Jason in the stomach, the officer wheezing from the blow as the air blew out of him, "Of course we should! Open a channel, and tell him he'd better respond or I'll launch 200 tonnes of molten tungsten up his ass loaded with christmas lights."
"But its June si-"
"Just do it, you fucking baffoon!"
Jason did as ordered, turning to comms, but stopping as he saw the comms officer's body slouched over the console, blood crusted on the terminal controls. Jason turned to the admiral, but he merely shrugged, motioning to the console with a 'after you' look on his face. Sighing, he moved over and shoved the body out of the chair, using the needed controls and opening a communications channel.
"Leng here," an irritated voice replied, "What the hell do you want? I'm busy making this asari plead for mercy. Its rather fun." They heard a kick, followed by an asari screaming, "And boy, does she have a voice. Her screams are like...beautiful music."
"If you're done with your psycho episode, we've got a problem," Tiberius dryly declared, leaning forward, "We've just been attacked, and I've lost a large number of my ships. We fought them off, but several Normandy-Class Stealth Frigates broke through to the surface. We think they're heading to Port Hanshan with the intention of extracting the scientists."
"Then kill them," Leng stated dumbly.
Tiberius rolled his eyes, "Like I said, they broke through. As in they broke orbit, and have probably made planetfall at this point."
"Damn it, Tiberius!" Leng snarled, the assassin sounding overly frustrated, "You had one job!"
"They had bombers and a thanix cannon," Tiberius growled, "And when you're done wasting your time torturing asari in the name of your sickened racism, maybe you can judge me for not doing my job. So get off your fucking ass and get over to Hanshan! Is Peak 15 secured?"
"You can't talk to m-" Leng began.
Tiberius didn't even register his comment, "Is Peak 15 secured? Damn it Leng, answer the fucking question!"
"Yes!" Leng snapped, "All the Peak facilities are secured and my regiment is at the ready."
"Good. That'll make this easier, and it means ERCS can't squawk for help," Tiberius noted, nodding, "Excellent work. How soon do you think you can be at Hanshan?"
"At best speed in this blizzard? Give me twenty minutes."
"You have ten," the admiral bluntly replied, "Get your job done, Leng. Kill those scientists. And the Illusive Man didn't want me to tell you yet, but it turns out Jacob Taylor is with them."
"The dog?" He could have sworn he could see Leng's sadistic smirk, "This just got more interesting. I shall have his head."
"Don't get cocky, Leng. You remember what happened during Operation: Dexterity on Sur'Kesh," he replied, carefully choosing his next words, "Make sure they're all dead, but do it without actually getting yourself killed."
"Shepard won't be there to protect him. He will be dead, and the scientists. It will be done. Leng out," and with that, the comms were cut, Tiberius leaning back in his chair.
"What now, sir?" Jason asked.
Tiberius' answer was simple, turning to the XO with a solemn gaze.
"We fix the fleet and prepare for exfil of the division and Leng's regiment. Once the scientists and Taylor are confirmed KIA, we hit the relay. Operation: Polar Fire will not fail."
"The Illusive Man doesn't like failure."
{Loading...}
June 19, 2186
1451 hours.
Main Dock, Port Hanshan, Aleusk Continent, Noveria.
The Reaper War, Battle of Noveria.
Captain Marcus Lee Shepard, Military Advisor Garrus Vakarian, Master Thief Kasumi Goto, Soldier Javik, Second Lieutenant Imogen Keeling, Second Lieutenant James Vega, EDI, Shadow Broker Liara T'Soni, Chieftain Urdnot Wrex.
Luckily for them, ERCS hadn't thought of closing the dock's doors. That would make their insertion alot easier.
The first four kodiaks shot through the open doors and into the dock, each finding its own landing zones. Another four followed behind it, then another, and finally the last two, all coming to land with their own thuds against the concrete ground, their operators ignoring the frost gathering on their screens.
Marcus' came to land more gracefully, Cortez shouting out to them, "Planetfall is made! Might want to get outside before ERCS starts shooting us up!"
He nodded, slapping Cortez's shoulder appreciatively, "Copy that, Cortez. Safe trip back to the Normandy. We'll radio you when we're ready for extraction."
"Sort of goes without saying at this point," Garrus quipped as he stepped out of the shuttle, his trusty Reaper sniper rifle that he had from the old days folding into his grip. The rest of the squad followed, all with their own weapons, and Marcus simply rolled his eyes, chuckling alongside Cortez.
"Clear skies, Cortez. Clear skies," and with that he turned, Cortez's chuckles the last sound he heard from the shuttle as it shut its hatch behind him, his newly acquired mattock falling back into his hands. Damn I've missed the feel of this rifle. Phaeston wasn't all that great in comparison.
He moved ahead of the squad, moving into a jogging pace as the roar of exiting shuttles was heard all around, "Let's get moving people! Hussle up! Move it!"
They quickly came to run past the first...fifth?...of Grunt's Aralakh Company, Grunt being with them and nodding to Marcus as he holstered his claymore and threw an Avalanche launcher at one of his men to equip. As Marcus looked around, more of Aralakh Company was deployed, along with Blue Suns, Eclipse and Blood Pack mercs, and finally, his army of rachni workers, soldiers and brood warriors. All headed towards the end of the dock, ready to engage the enemy.
Remembering the layout from three years before, he reached the end and moved right to where the checkpoint was located; the place where he had met Captain Maeko Matsuo, and Sergeant Kaira Stirling before her demise. He remembered that racist bitch well. How I tore her apart...just for insulting Tali...He shook the thought from his head, arriving at the end and ordering a halt, turning towards the head of the checkpoint, waving all forwarded, "Gather up! All of you!"
They did so, Aralakh krogan, mercenaries and rachni warriors mingling as they came to look upon Marcus and his squad, eagerly awaiting his words. Grunt stood at the front, smiling his sadistic grin as he unholstered his claymore, awaiting Marcus' next order.
The spectre nodded, looking to the rest of them, "United with you today is what the UGC has achieved! Beside you rests the rachni; thought extinct, and wanting vengeance against the Reapers! They shall start with Cerberus! This battle will not be glorious, to be sure, but it will be a true test of our strength! Of the potential that a unified UGC military could have! Aralakh Company, the krogan's finest soldiers! The rachni, some of the most brutal fighters in the galaxy and with the advantage of numbers! And the three most dangerous mercs in the galaxy; no longer fighting for money, but for survival. Today we take the fight to Cerberus, and today we will kill every single last one of them if we get a chance, but our main objective is to rescue those scientists. They could mean Cerberus' downfall, and a huge blow to the Reapers. Winning this will secure the future of the war! Will you stand with me!?"
Everyone cheered, even the krogan. The rachni merely stood, but the waves that reverbrated in his head showed they were in agreement. The krogan roared their approval, waving their guns in the air and growling in defiance. The mercs cheered in numerous tongues, all smiling and whistling.
He nodded, motioning to the room ahead, "Cerberus lies ahead and they will not surrender! They will fight to the last one! We shall give them that! Our main mission is to extract the scientists, but destroy Cerberus wherever you can find them. They will not give you any quarter, so shove them none back! Kill them all!"
They all cheered again, and he nodded with a grim look of composure, jumping down from the pedestal he was on and moving through the crowd, shouldering his rifle as he made a sweep of the stairs on each side, nodding to the rest of the unit that they could advance. Aralakh took the front with his squad, making sure to watch their steps and keep an eye on their flanks.
Just as they moved up the steps, gunfire pinged off his shields and he cried out for everyone to stay back, immediately dropping prone and taking aim with his rifle to return fire. But after a bit, he noticed that the uniform of the guard was a jet black color, and that he was a salarian...and that he was wide out in the open.
"Hold your fire! We're friendly!" Marcus shouted, standing up and holstering his mattock, holding out his hands as a sign of peace, "I'm a marine! Alliance Marine Corps! We're here to help!"
"Well, you're not Cerberus!" the guard shouted back, "But why can I see krogan? And is that a bug?"
He heard Javik sigh, "Another misconception. They begin to annoy me."
"Or bug you," James punned. Seeing Javik's glare however, he quickly shut up, absentmindedly thumbing the trigger of his Revenant in pretend interest.
"Me and these men are here on behalf of the United Galactic Confederacy!" he shouted back, ignoring the quips of James and Javik, "We discovered that Cerberus had invaded Noveria and came to assist. Are the scientists still alive?"
"Scientists?" the salarian asked, confused, "What are you talking about?"
Marcus mentally berated himself, "False credentials. Right," he sighed, reiterating his words, "We've discovered high value assets came here and Cerberus came after them, hence why they're attacking!"
"So you're here for them? Not us?" the guard snorted, "Some help you are then!"
Grunt had enough and spoke before Marcus could stop him, "Considering your situation, I wouldn't be turning away reinforcements! Cerberus will kill you all if you don't evacuate, but with us, you have a better chance of fighting them off, salarian."
There was a moment of silence before the guard replied, "You've got a point, and there is alot of you...we'll let you pass! You can find the administrator in his office, but the captain is indisposed at the moment. She's busy holding the eastern corridor."
"So I don't have to knock him out?" came Kasumi's voice as she decloaked from behind the guard, startling him and his partner as they backed into a wall. Sighing, she shrugged, holstering her SMG, "Oh well. Enjoy the time you get, frog boy. You get to stay awake for now."
Even as Kasumi rejoined them and Marcus led the troops on and into the port, the salarian still eyed her with suspicion, fingering the side of his rifle in concern.
They moved in lines of two, down the corridor and into the Port, weapons bared and ready to engage any hostiles. Marcus hit the comm, contacting one of the Blood Pack platoons, "Zeta Platoon, hold back and help defend the main dock entrance. Let nothing through and report any suspicious activity. Do not move unless ordered to do so by myself or someone appointed by me as a command figure."
"We hear you," a rough krogan voice replied, and Marcus continued, not bothering to see if they had disengaged or not. They bypassed the security field, and moved down the flight of stairs, moving around the corner until they came across an elevator.
Marcus cursed, spinning to face the salarian guard, "Anyway around this? A flight of stairs, maybe?"
The salarian nodded, motioning to a flight of stairs on the left that led upwards, "Always have a backup."
"Excellent. Let's move it!" he barked, and they continued their formation up the stairs, Marcus holstering his rifle to pull out his hurricane SMG, sweeping the area infront of him as they moved up, ever vigliant.
After a couple of minutes, they finally reached the top floor, Marcus bursting through the door with his weapon bared...
...only to find the Port basically empty, an entire squad worth of ERCS guns aimed at him and his squad.
"Don't shoot, we're friendly!" Marcus shouted, holstering his SMG, "United Galactic Confederacy. I'm Captain Shepard, and these are my men. We heard Noveria was under attack and we came to help you evacuate."
The guards immediately lowered their guns, the leader nodding, a turian guard with white facepaint and a relieved expression, "Thank the spirits you're here. Cerberus is making life hell for us, and they've got-" the building rocked, dust falling from the ceiling from a large explosion. Sighing, the turian continued, "Well, they've got artillery pounding the hell out of this place. We sealed the blast doors on the eastern corridor, you see, and they're throwing everything they have to breach it, so they're trying to soften us through artillery barrages. Didn't realize that the people who built this place built it to withstand orbital bombardment. They'll only have one option now," he motioned to a corridor at the end of the room, "The Northern Corridor. It doesn't offer as much tactical advantage as the Eastern, but its the only option they have. We sealed the western corridor a long time ago, and the southern corridor collapsed due to an avalanche a while back and we haven't reopened it."
"What about the garage?" Marcus asked, remembering how he used it to reach Peak 15 three years ago.
The turian shook his head, "Unless they want to brave the blizzard, they won't try to break in there. Besides, it only leads one way and that's the Peak 15 Facility, but they aren't coming from that direction; Eastern Corridor leads to the Peaks 4 and 7 facilities only, nowhere else. Cerberus will likely have half their division rushing the western corridor now, and Matsuo's called back most of the men to help fortify the East. We have noone!"
"You've got us," Liara spoke up, looking to Marcus for approval. He nodded, turning to the turian with a determined gaze.
"You just got your backup. But remember, we aren't here to save Port Hanshan. Its already lost," he declared, "If Cerberus doesn't take this place, the Reapers will. We've probably already attracted their attention simply by attacking Cerberus in orbit. We need to evacuate the Port while we hold Cerberus at the gates. Have you got any shuttles?"
An asari nodded, pointing to the second dock down below, "We've got some of our remaining guys fishing what they can, but alot of people live here. We're not going to have enough!"
"That'll be fine. The shuttles we used to deploy can be used," he stated, hitting the radio to Cortez's shuttle, "Normandy Shuttle Two, this is Shepard, come in."
"This is Cortez. What do you need?" the pilot responded.
"Help with evacuation required, over," he responded, "Numerous civilians, not enough shuttles. Will evacuate what we can...require additional assistance, copy. Will contact you when we need further help, over."
"Solid copy. Staying on station. Cortez out," the comm disconnected, and he turned back to them, nodding as he exhaled, facing the turian guard before him.
"Okay, you, begin the evacuation," the turian nodded, running in another direction towards the administrator's office. He turned back to the asari, "You, take us to the western corridor. Keep what men you have left here; we'll need you to protect the civilians. My men can handle the fortifications."
The asari snapped a crisp salute, "Yes sir!" she motioned to him, "Follow me."
"Wait," he ordered, turning to his squad as he crossed his arms, biting his lower lip. Finally reaching a decision, he nodded, motioning to Garrus, Javik and Keeling, "You three, stay with me, I'm going to go talk with the administrator and coordinate logistics on this," he pointed to his squad, "Wrex, you're in command. Take the squad and both Blue Suns platoons, and take point. Aralakh Company, I want you providing support, and I want the second Blood Pack platoon and both Eclipse platoons covering both flanks. Rachni, hold back and do not engage the enemy. I don't want to show that hand yet. If our line begins to get overwhelmed, then move forward and push them back. You guys will be a wildcard they won't expect, and I want to play it well. Let's do it people!" he turned to the asari, "Get them there soldier, and they'll do the rest."
"I'm...not a soldier," the asari replied, shaking her head, frowning at him, "I'm just a security guard. A temp."
"You are today," he stated bluntly, "Now get them there. They'll deal with your pest infestation."
"Heh heh heh!" Grunt cheered, "Aralakh Company, move out! Come on, hustle! I can smell battle already!"
The thunderous march of ninety krogan commandos, rachni warriors and mercenary soldiers could be heard moving across the Port as Marcus, Garrus, Javik and Keeling trailed behind him towards the administrator's office, where hopefully they'd get some answers.
Two ERCS guards stood in position, their shotguns bared and ready, both of them human. Just as he was about to address them however, the door behind them slid open, and out stood a turian in a crisp suit, and a dark-skinned human male soldier he'd recognize from anywhere.
"Jacob!" Marcus greeted, immediately gaining the man's attention as he shot up to meet his eyes, a warm smile gracing his lips.
"Shepard! What the hell!?" He moved forward, holding his hand out. Marcus eagerly took it, shaking his hand as he laughed, Jacob seeming to catch it like an infectious disease as he also greeted Garrus, "What are you guys doing here?"
"Heard Noveria needed help. And that there were some Cerberus scientists that had defected and thought we could use them for the war effort. Have them join the UGC and help us," he sighed, shaking his head, "Should have known you'd be their guardian."
Jacob creased his lips, still smiling, "Someone had to play hero while you were locked up. I did what I could to rally who I could, but not alot of them listened. Been spoonfed too much Council horseshit. Unable to see reason. Still, I guess they learned. They're probably all dead now," he lost his smile instantly, "And here I am, supposed to be protecting these scientists from the minotaur and I've lead them right into a corner."
Marcus grasped his shoulder, losing his own smile and gaining a look of solemn determination, "Don't be too hard on yourself, Jacob. Cerberus was bound to find them eventually; you know you would have to have faced them eventually. Even with the galaxy going to shit and the Reapers invading, Cerberus still wouldn't have given up the search. The Illusive Man's too tenacious for that."
Jacob nodded, snorting at that, "You're right, that bastard would never give up if he saw a threat; just like with us. Of course, I guess he did give up in the end, but that's different. He didn't have his own...personal army back then. Seriously, when did that happen? Cerberus? Militarized? Since when?"
"Since six months ago apparently. Or maybe even before. The Illusive Man's been gearing up for war a long time, and without the Alliance to check him, he's got a force to be reckoned with. Almost took Eden Prime if it hadn't been for us, and according to Aria, he now owns Omega," he stated.
"The Illusive Man owns Omega? And Aria isn't on it anymore?" Jacob looked shocked, and he had a right to be. Omega hadn't been conquered militarily in centuries. Not even Aria's conquest counted as it was more of a revolution or civil war than a military occupation, "Wow, guess he's violated its one rule then."
Marcus scoffed, "And every broken rule has a consequence. I'm sure Aria will get back at him at some point. But forget that," he motioned to the Port, "Just how did you end up here? How did you end up protecting 36 defecting Cerberus scientists, including that motherfucker, Archer?"
He scratched the back of his neck, looking almost sheepish, "Found them in an abandoned Cerberus base on Gellix. They seemed to be packing and had nowhere to go. They had this sort of assigned leader, her name is Brynn. Brynn Cole. So I decided to help them out, and I figured that Noveria was the safest place to go; I knew the Illusive Man wouldn't dare attack us in such a heavily-protected Port. But I didn't realize..."
"...that he now had proper armed forces," he nodded grimly, sighing, "We don't expect these things Jacob, they just happen. Its up to us to see it through. I'm assuming their safe? They'll need to be evacuated as soon as possible, but civilians must come first."
"I know that. And they are all safe. Even Brynn...especially Brynn..." Jacob trailed off, and noticing Marcus' face, he laughed, shaking his head, "She's a bit special..."
Oh, 'special' is she? Does that mean what I think it does? The spectre crossed his arms, smiling devilishly as he raised an eyebrow, "A bit special? Jacob, by your tone, I'd be safe to assume that you have a girlfriend. Or did you get married somehow?"
"Girlfriend, still. Although I have proposed, and she will marry me, when we're actually safe from Cerberus," he shrugged, "She's even pregnant. She's due in four months."
Marcus looked flabbergasted, and Garrus looked like his jaw had dropped.
Garrus just couldn't hold it in, "You got her pregnant?"
Jacob looked at him incredulously, "Yeah, and there's a problem?"
"No, of course not!" Garrus nervously replied, waving his hands as if trying to make him forget the off-handed comment, "Just seems...a bit fast. I don't see you as a family man."
"None of us do," Marcus sadly replied, "None of us do..." Am I a father? Will I be? He shook his head, bringing his thoughts back to the present, "Its good to see you again, Jacob, despite all that's happening. I'm glad to see you're okay," he stepped aside to introduce him to the two unknowns, "Jacob, this is Javik, and before you ask, he is the last prothean, and he can explain the rest. And this is Second Lieutenant Keeling, N7 Special Forces. I met her when the Normandy arrived at Arcturus; she helped escort me to my cell. Wasn't until the Reapers invaded Earth that I learnt her name."
"Nice to meet both of you. But the last prothean, Shepard?" Jacob laughed, unable to get rid of his smile this time, despite the grim predicament they were in, "Our lives just get more and more crazy."
"Commander Shepard," a familiar turian voice spoke from behind Jacob, coming to stand at the soldier's side and holding his hand out, "We meet again."
His eyes widened, "Lorik Qui'in. You're the administrator still? Damn, I know Parasini told me you were doing better than Anoleis, but damn. How is Anoleis by the way? Still rotting in prison, I hope."
Lorik shook his head sadly, "Not in prison, no. But he is enjoying his time as a janitor at Peak 17. I've heard its got a long and...adventurous job. He's fallen got low since his...forced retirement."
Marcus held back a chuckle, "No more than he deserves. How have you been Lorik?"
"I've seen better days. I do not enjoy this job, but I'm better suited to it than anyone else here," the turian replied, squaring his shoulders. An explosion rocked the building once more, followed by another coming from the western corridor, and shouts echoing down it. Cerberus must have breached it, "Suffice to say, I'm looking forward to retirement. This one will be forced too, but not quite as abrupt." At that moment Lorik looked very tired, and Marcus could understand why. With the war going on...the paperwork must be as high as his ceiling.
"As enjoyable as these pleasantries are Shepard, and I'd love to talk, but we've got alot of things to get doing. Like what to do about this evacuation and Cerberus," Jacob butted in, arms crossed, "They're coming through both entrances now, and while the blast doors in the East are thick, they won't last forever. We'll need to secure the west before reinforcing the East. If we're lucky, we can build sufficient force to push them back. Did you bring your squad?"
Marcus grinned, crossing his own arms, "I did more than that; having a united galactic force in the making has its advantages. I've brought an entire company of krogan commandos, six platoons of mercenaries, two being Blue Suns, another Eclipse and another Blood Pack, along with quite a sizable unit of rachni warriors, workers and brood warriors. Overall, I think we're going to kick some serious Cerberus ass. But we need to evacuate, and we need to do it now."
"Agreed," Lorik declared, moving back towards his office, "I'm going to sound the evacuation assembly. Once all are accounted for, we'll begin evacuation. Make it methodical."
"These three and myself will help," Marcus declared.
"As will I," Jacob declared, about to move forward when Marcus grabbed his shoulder, shaking his head.
"No, you need to go back to the Eastern Corridor and help hold it. We've got things covered down here."
Jacob shook his head, quick to object, "But I need to make sure Brynn and the others are-"
"We'll keep them safe. And I'll have Garrus keep a special eye on Brynn for you," he met the soldier's eyes, confidence radiating in their depths, "Trust me, I will not let any harm come to her or to them. Besides, we need them for the UGC and the Crucible."
"The Crucible?" Jacob asked, raising an eyebrow.
This time, he grabbed both of his shoulders, and smiled down at him, "We've found an ancient superweapon. We discovered the plans in the Mars Archives, and narrowly stopped the Illusive Man from acquiring them first. Hackett's named it the Crucible, and we're uniting every race we can to help build it. It was built with the sole purpose of destroying the Reapers. Do you see Jacob? We finish this weapon, we find the Catalyst, we beat the Reapers. The first cycle to do so. We can stop the cycles, once and for all."
Jacob seemed overwhelmed for a second, but quickly nodded, "The Illusive Man made them seem so unbeatable...inconquerable...but if the Crucible can destroy them..." he met Marcus' eyes and nodded, "If it means getting a chance to share my life with Brynn in peace, then all bets are on the table. Keep her safe," he rushed towards the eastern corridor, equipping this eviscerator as he moved, shouting behind him, "For victory!"
Victory at any cost. We fight or we die. Marcus simply nodded, and turned away, moving to follow ERCS into the center of the Port, ready to provide riot control if panic set in.
{Loading...}
June 19, 2186
1502 hours.
Western Entrance, Port Hanshan, Aleusk Continent, Noveria.
The Reaper War, Battle of Noveria.
Chieftain Urdnot Wrex, Lord Companier Urdnot Grunt, Master Thief Kasumi Goto, Second Lieutenant James Vega, EDI, Shadow Broker Liara T'Soni.
"Ha ha ha! Got her first!" Wrex cheered triumphantly, watching as his claymore shotgun tore the Cerberus Nemesis asunder, her mutilated body hitting the ground in a puddle of blood. He pumped the chamber again, shooting Grunt a smug grin.
The supersoldier, surrounded by five of his commandos, the rest having been spread out across the corridor, smiled back as he leapt up, shooting out his hand to grab a dragoon by the collar, pulling him up and over his cover and then smashing his claymore through his head three times, reducing his face to a pulpy mass of torn muscle and broken skull fragments. Turning, he picked up his body and tossed it at a moving guardian, forcing the soldier to stop to remove the body, only to expose himself long enough for a claymore shell to blast both legs off, and for a nearby Eclipse vanguard to finish him off with a warp. Pumping the slot, Grunt spun again, and took out two assault troopers, moving close together, with a single shot before crouching again, grinning back at Wrex, "Got four."
"Its on, welp," Wrex growled back, picking up his shotgun and standing up, firing point blank at a centurion attempting to climb over, his red blood splashing across Wrex's face and dripping between his teeth. Licking his lips dry of the human's warm blood, he sadistically turned to see a combat engineer trying to set up a turret, and ran over to him, bellowing his war cry.
The soldier saw him coming and raised his phalanx heavy pistol, managing to get off two shots before Wrex tackled him to the ground. Grabbing his head, rotating it so he was facing downwards, he smashed his face into the top of the turret. He turned to one of the Eclipse engineers nearby, shouting, "Hey! Hack into this turret and change its IFF enemy code to Cerberus."
The salarian did as ordered, and within seconds the turret was operating, turning to face an approaching Cerberus centurion, his mattock raised and a phantom moving at his side, although it thought Wrex couldn't see it with its cloak on. He'd spent enough time with Kasumi to tell.
Tossing the dead engineer aside, he moved forward and activated his omni-blade, moving forward and letting his shields absorb the centurion's fire. As he arrived, his shields burst and a shot grazed his side, the krogan simply ignoring it as he reached him, and sliced his omni-blade upwards...
...the mattock's barrel clattered to the ground, its interior red hot and glowing bright orange from the energy that just sliced it in half. The centurion simply dropped his useless weapon and moved for his stun batton, removing it from his hip and activating it, tapping Wrex on the side and sending an electric jolt through the krogan. But it was merely a tingle. Redundant systems, pyjak. My nervous system doesn't react to an electric shock unless its damn lightning.
The centurion moved to thrust it into his mouth, but Wrex merely grabbed his hand and violenty twisted it, breaking the bones in his wrist and causing him to drop the batton. With a jerk, Wrex dropped down and grabbed the batton, before then thrusting it forward with all his strength into the centurion's left armpit. It pierced through the skin, the soldier leaping backwards as blood spurted out, and then began to jerk about as he was violenty electrocuted. Eventually, his cybernetics began to short out, and just as Wrex turned to face the approaching phantom, which had now decloaked, he fell to the ground, the cybernetics keeping him alive now without power and blood still seeping from his ruined armpit.
The phantom sliced forward, but Wrex jumped back, watching it screech against the metal plating of his armor. He moved back towards the turret, and just as the phantom dove forward again, he moved forward as well, dodging the blade and grabbing the phantom by the back of her head. And without further hesitation, he stepped aside, twisted to face the turret...
...and impaled her head, mouth first, through the barrel of the turret. He watched in glee as the turret identified its target and fired, high velocity rounds blowing her skull out of the back of her head and sending bits of gore and blood flying for meters. The rounds continued, leaving little left of her decimated skull, and he simply sat there as blood and bone and eviscerated muscle dripped and hanged from the turret's barrel, the krogan taking her and tossing her away, allowing the turret to continue firing, taking with it next a squad of assault troopers led by a centurion.
Wrex turned to Grunt in time to watch three YMIRs supported by Eclipse engineers edge forward, their machine guns roaring and tearing into whatever Cerberus hostiles they could find. He watched one sniper round ping harmlessly off the YMIR's shields, draining them by half, but watched another take off the torso of one of the salarian engineers. Poor pyjak.
He laughed, the sight of him drenched in human blood looking almost demonic, he'd imagine, "Beat that, welp."
Grunt didn't even listen, simply grinning as he looked past the krogan chieftain, "I believe I've found one," and with that he sprinted forward, Wrex hearing one of the Blue Suns mercs cry out in warning before a bright flash filled his peripheral vision.
He turned in time to see one of the YMIR's explode, bits of debris raining down upon their forces, lifting two of Grunt's men off his feet and tossing one of the Eclipse engineers into a wall, his broken body falling to the ground, twisted at wrong angles. He watched another YMIR get torn to shreds, the third making a desperate last effort before falling itself. Wrex only needed to turn to see what had done it.
Two Atlases, raining death and destruction.
And Grunt just rushed right towards them.
"Woo-hoo!" he heard James shout over the din of combat, "Go Grunido! Kick their ass!"
"Don't encourage him!" Liara shouted back, "He's going to get himself killed!"
Kasumi appeared, beside her, knife embedded in the neck of a phantom that had been moving to decapitate Liara from behind. The asari nodded her thanks, before the thief disappeared again.
"There is a 50 percent chance that his attack will fail, and a 50 percent chance he will defeat both Atlases and inflict sufficient casualities on the enemy forces to survive," EDI stated, "I believe humans say 'he has a 50/50 chance of success.'"
"Not helping, EDI!" Liara shouted back, her SMG coughing as it hid a guardian's shield, before passing through the slit and splitting his head open, downing him.
"I do not understand how this does not reassure you," the AI replied, "I shall have to run a check on my emotion systems."
Wrex, while killing hordes of Cerberus troops, only watched as Grunt reached the first Atlases, absorbing its machine gun fire with a shield he wrenched from the hands of a guardian, who got killed by Wrex seconds later, holding the shield in one hand as he leapt onto the cockpit and laughed maniacally. Next, he smashed the shield through the cockpit, impaling the pilot and causing the Atlas to spin out of controls. And with the pilot still holding onto the weapons, that proved disastrous...for both sides.
Machine gun fire flew through the air, taking down a line of Blue Suns before spinning towards Cerberus, killing ten assault troopers, tearing the head from a dead dragoon and blowing apart another, eviscerating a Nemesis, and impacting the shields of the second Atlas, causing it to turn around. Rockets fired as well, explosions permeating along the corridor as Cerberus was blown to smithereens, Grunt letting go of his shield to grab hold of the rocket arm, making it aim properly.
The second Atlas took aim and fired with its rocket launcher, and the first Atlas disappeared in a cloud of smoke and debris as it was blown apart, toppling over, fire wracking its frame. But despite what would have killed a normal fleshie, Grunt erupted from the smoke, his skin charred and blackened, roaring as he entered a blood rage, pure hate and promises of destruction filling his eyes as he charged towards the second Atlas.
The pilot must have seen the hate in his eyes and panicked, trying to retreat as fast as he could in such a slow mech, firing at the krogan as he did. The bullets barely scatched the krogan as he reached him, ducking under his frame and taking aim with his claymore, rupturing the fuel tank. And with the second spread of the first shell, the fuel ignited, drenching the second Atlas in flame, and likely burning the pilot alive as the heat caused the glass to shatter.
From the smoke and ruin, Grunt emerged, a bigger grin on his face as he simply stepped on the face of a wounded assault trooper, crawling across the ground until Grunt's foot caved his skull in and pancaked it across the floor, the krogan supersoldier looking undefeatable. Without so much as ordering it, Grunt watched Aralakh Company push forward, the mercs close behind them, the rachni staying back as they weren't needed yet.
"Mierda," James exclaimed, slapping Grunt on the back and immediately regretting it as he winced from the heat still sitting on the krogan's skin, although Grunt barely seemed to feel it. When James recovered from the sting in his gauntleted hand, he laughed, "You kicked some serious ass. Two Atlases, all by yourself? Who needs the Crucible when you've got you? Harbinger should be pissing himself."
"He's alright..." Wrex grinned, "For a welp."
Grunt merely smirked back, squaring his shoulders as his skin rapidly changed back to normal colour, his faster than normal regeneration hard at work repairing his body, "And you're still in good shape, for an old man."
"Sorry to ruin the fun!" Kasumi shouted, deactivating her cloak as she finished running back from the Cerberus line, worry on her face, "But we really should seek cover!"
"Why?" Grunt chuckled, "More Atlases? Let them come! I'll turn them to scrap!"
"Not that!" Kasumi urged, reaching them just as Wrex saw multiple flashes from down the corridor, "They've got a gun-"
Wrex shielded Kasumi as multiple streaks of light hit the corridor all around them, sending up plumes of dust and debris as they tore up the ground, fire licking at Wrex's skin as he protected the little human thief from the flames. The attacks over, Wrex let go and turned, claymore raised...
...only to watch an A-67 Mantis Gunship, flying through the tight confines of the corridor, come to hover before them, chin-mounted gun tearing through whoever survived the twin blasts. Six of Grunt's krogan lay dead, as well as an entire platoon of Blue Suns and two thirds of another Eclipse platoon. They steadily fell back as the gunship continued its assault, giving time for Cerberus to regroup and push forward again.
Wrex prepared to engage when a chorus of screeches were heard, and everyone turned to the end of the corridor. There, a wreathing mass of red was moving, charging, towards the gunship. They watched as it then seethed across the walls, hundreds of tiny insects, all of them rushing towards their one goal; the gunship. And in tight quarters like this, it had nowhere to go.
The pilot saw them too late as the rachni workers all leapt at once, reminding Grunt of a seeker swarm as they swarmed upon the gunship. Its left wing practically disappeared as they landed, and they immediately swarmed all over the ship, covering it all from bow to rear. He heard the pilot scream as the workers entered his cockpit, red blood soaking the windows as the workers likely tore him apart, molecule by molecule, brutally and efficiently. Wrex winced, remembering what it must have been like for Council troops fighting the rachni during the Wars. Glad they're on our side this time.
The workers got into the rotors of the vehicle, using their intelligent little minds to completely jam them up and screw the internal workings. They clogged the engine, tore through cabling...they just watched the gunship swerve as its internal components were utterly annihilated by the meticulous worker swarm.
They finally all left the gunship, leaping off and onto the ground and all watching as the shredded gunship simply jerked backwards and into the ground, coming to a thunderous bang and skidding along the ground, crushing whatever poor Cerberus pyjaks stood behind it under its mass. Its wings caved, and when it finally stopped, its fuel ignited, and it went up in a pillar of flame, totally destroyed.
They could only cheer as the rest of the rachni troops swarmed forward, laying waste to the Cerberus forces. Their push was over. They watched as brood warriors biotically tackled dragoons to the ground and dissected them, arms first, then legs, then torsos, then heads, like a surgeon examining a body given for necropsy. Soldiers overran Cerberus troops all over; slicing assault troopers in half, workers devouring centurions, soldiers knocking aside guardian's shields to get at the person behind them, phantoms desperately trying to move only to be surrounded and melted by acid, and Nemesis' weapons reduced to nothing. They even watched an Atlas kill four soldiers before being swarmed and its pilot annihilated in an ocean of gore.
Wrex sighed, laughing at their inevitable victory.
Shepard wanted the Western Corridor secured, and they did just that.
{Loading...}
June 19, 2186
1527 hours.
Eastern Entrance, Port Hanshan, Aleusk Continent, Noveria.
The Reaper War, Battle of Noveria.
Second Lieutenant Jacob Taylor, Captain Maeko Matsuo.
Bang. Bang. Bang. On it went, a constant thrum, explosion after explosion, detonation after detonation, shouts for more explosives ever constant behind the blast door.
Up on the makeshift barricade, which was really just a stack of crates reinforced by torn steel beams and traversable by borrowed ladders, Captain Matsuo and her men stood, weapons steadied. Machine gun nests had been set up, but most of them were based on ancient technology such as the M4 Browning .50 Caliber Machine Gun, which hadn't seen service since the post-Second American Civil War period when they stopped making them pre-Jon Grissom expedition to Charon. But they were all they had, and they could still pack a punch, those Brownings.
With that said, it was funny seeing a turian and a salarian manning those human-made machine guns, weapons of which they bet thought were pretty damn primitive but what would come to appreciate their existence soon enough. Although, for ERCS, who helped build a large portion of the galactic weapons industry, you'd think they'd have more of their own weapons than those they didn't even own. Avenger assault rifles were Elkoss Combine manufactured. And the most rarest weapon in this place, a vindicator, was the only weapon actually made by Elanus Risk Control Services. The rarest weapon in an ERCS client facility. Would you believe it?
He wasn't going to complain though, and he held onto his 'rare' vindicator battle rifle with more clarity, looking down its sights carefully. There wasn't much to see but a massive set of 30 inch concrete blast doors, that were probably only now 15 inches, if the amount of explosions had done anything, but if, when, those doors burst, half a Cerberus division would come pouring through, and they'd have to hold the line.
Jacob snorted, eying his entourage. Yeah, a squad of ERCS guards who's only combat is mishandled thugs and people who didn't pay the bills. Don't heavily-armed soldiers with a fleet and enough artillery to level a small city.
He could see the fear in their eyes; the smell of sweat from the humans and asari, the subtle click of the mandible from the turians and the unique twitching of the salarians. They were all terrified, terrified of what they in store behind that store. They knew they'd all be dead soon, it was a given fact; Matsuo would give into no retreat, no surrender; she would hold this line, and all her men would follow her. That's what anchored them here, what kept them from fleeing like cravens; they were loyal, and that kept them where they needed to be, on the front lines.
As for Matsuo, she didn't flinch or twitch, and the only sweat she had was from building the barricade and killing the Cerberus soldiers from before. Her eyes marked their target, blankly looking into the thick doors as if to see Cerberus behind them, baiting them to make a move. She showed no fear, no compromise. She looked about as ready to die as could be. A hardass to be sure, but even most hardasses cracked. She didn't. And Jacob admired her.
Because for the first time since joining the Corsairs all those years ago, Jacob was afraid of death. Joining Cerberus didn't terrify him. Attacking the Collector Base didn't terrify him. Being chased by Cerberus and threatened with death hadn't been terrifying.
No, it was the thought of losing Brynn, of never being able to see her again, that had him sweating at the brow and ready to bolt. He trusted Shepard like a brother, knowing he'd keep her safe, but the same nagging feeling at the back of his head kept ordering him to go back to her, to protect her. But despite those feelings, he was too good of a soldier. The instincts were too ingrained. He held his post, and would never leave it until it fell.
He was that good of a soldier.
Which is why hearing Wrex's voice break through the comms feed brought relief to the deathly silence of men and women waiting for death, "This is Chieftain Wrex calling on the tightband, any pyjaks reading?"
The krogan sounded overly cheery. Jacob frowning, but seeing as Matsuo didn't plan on responding anytime soon, he picked up the comm, tapping his omni-tool, "This is Taylor, I read you Wrex. Why so happy? You sound like you just got the ultimate shotgun for Christmas."
"Close enough, actually," the krogan replied, the sound of cheering permeated in the background, "Just watching the rachni totally routing the enemy over here, that's all. Half of a division, if I'm counting correctly. You should see them running."
Jacob widened his eyes, but before he could respond, Marcus did, "Holy fucking shit, you're kidding! I knew the rachni would be effective, but holy shit!"
"Yep, tearing them apart. Even watched workers swarm onto and destroy a gunship. Should have seen it," Wrex sighed, "Anyway, Western Entrance is secure, and Cerberus is running. Funny, only half a division over here. The rest must still be trying to breach the East."
"Yes, but at least its only half of their original strength," Marcus responded, "Call the rachni back and set up a barricade. Have Grunt keep Aralakh Company there and take the squad, the rachni and the rest of the mercs to Matsuo to help reinforce it. Keep it secure. When Cerberus beat through, rinse and repeat. But don't get cocky. We've used our wildcard and Cerberus will know we have rachni now. They'll be extra careful. Keep them in reserve."
"Copy that," Wrex replied, "You got that, Taylor? We're on our way to you."
"Copy that. Taylor out," Jacob replied, disconnecting the comm as he grabbed at his vindicator again, turning to Matsuo, "Did you get-"
She didn't even turn towards him, "Ssshhhhhh."
He frowned, turning to the door. He was about to ask what the matter was when he realized something.
The explosions. The banging. It had stopped. All they could hear was the constant thrumming of an engine. A gunship? No, this corridor was narrower than the Western one, and that gunship would have barely fit in. What the hell was making that sound? Couldn't be a skycar, and an Atlas sounded nothing like that. What the fuck was it?
Whatever it was, it was getting louder.
"Brett!" Matsuo shouted, her human engineer turning towards her, "What the hell is that sound?"
"I don't know..."
"Then check!" Matsuo ordered. Then she stopped, "Actually, belay that order. Check the thickness of that door."
He frowned at her, as did Jacob, "Ma'am?"
Jacob halted him, confused, but wanting to see where Matsuo was going with this as he left his post, approaching Matsuo's side, "Just do what she says, Brett."
He sighed, nodding as he brought up his omn-tool and ran a scan of the blast door. When he was finished, he put his omni-tool away, shrugging, "Its about 10 inches. Cerberus needs to reach 6 to successfully breach it. That'll take another ten minutes."
"I don't like it," Matsuo shook her head, "I don't like it at all. Not a scent of it. That engine...its all wrong. We need to be prepared for it."
She turned to Jacob, giving him a hard gaze, "Get back to the Port, inform Shepard we've got a situation and to halt those reinforcements until we can assess what it is."
Jacob nodded, rushing down the stairs to the bottom and beginning to sprint.
Just as he got 30 meters however, he heard Matsuo call out to him again, stopping him in his tracks and causing him to turn.
"Yeah?" he shouted back.
"Tell Shepard to begin evacuation. I don't think we can hold this barricade," Matsuo ordered, resting her rifle against her shoulder, "Me and my men will be right behin-"
A thunderous clap shattered the silence, the sound of concrete bursting and people screaming. He watched the crates of the barricade get rendered asunder as they were crushed, the steel beams holding them tossed aside. The ladders snapped, and the soldiers manning the brownings were crushed before they knew what they hit them.
Jacob could only watch as the M36 Megalodon heavy tank/troop carrier blew through the blast door, shattered the barricade and crushed Matsuo under its tracks, her blood vomitting across the floor as her carcass was totally pancaked. The massive tracks of the vehicle continued, the vehicle looking akin to a 21st Century M1A1 Abrams Tank, but with a shorter barrel, twin machine guns in the turret, a mortar launcher on the back, kinetic barriers and covered in the white and gold of Cerberus, its insignia plastered on the side.
As he watched assault troopers, centurions, phantoms and the lot burst from behind it, a shot clipping his side before he realized his shields were gone, and he winced in pain as blood dripped from the wound in his side. But even as he looked up and began to run, he froze once more, seeing a figure he thought he'd never see again.
There, standing onto of the top, sneering at him, his katana in one hand and black hair flowing down his neck, Cerberus insignia plastered on the left breast of his black armor, was Kai Leng. And his sneer turned into a snarl, and then into a smile upon seeing Jacob.
And this time, he ran. He raised a biotic barrier to protect himself, running as fast as he could while hitting the comm to Shepard, "Shepard! Shepard, come in! The Eastern Corridor is breached! They've got a Megalodon tank! And Leng is with them! Do not come here! I repeat, DO NOT COME! Seal off the corridor!"
He just hoped his pleas were heard.
"Keelah...what did you do?"
- Tali'Shepard pav Rannoch.
"We evacuated. And I mourned. Me, Garrus, Kasumi, Wrex...we all mourned."
- Marcus Shepard.
A/N:
I'm a dark motherfucker, aren't I? Nah, I've only just begun. Hehehehe.
I actually had alot of fun writing this chapter, especially writing the rachni attacking the gunship. I could just picture it in my head...the things we all wanted from ME3, but never got. Abuse of war assets, baby! And this is nothing like what I've got planned for the final battle! These are just some of the assets fighting together! Imagine when THEY ALL fight together!
Fuck yeah!
Anyway, I'm doing the next part (not very soon) and then I'll be doing Chapter 2 for A Draconis Dierum Saeculi (I'm just going to call it ADDS for short or Wardens and a Throne). I'm still not decided on the interim, as I'm pretty you'd like a split before delving into the awesome, and depression, of Tuchanka. What do you guys think? Intermission chapter? Let me know in your review.
Keelah Se'lai, troopers!
