Hey everybody I am back. Now I have something's to say. One, no Kevin won't pull an Irons, Manticore probably won't even be mentioned. He also makes references to Advanced Warfare as a private joke for him. The name of the colony is an example. To the guest, the Atlas Rising isn't over powered. It is actually slightly shorter then a Dreadnought and it's metal armor, while stronger against kinetic strikes, will easily be melted by GUARDIAN fire. The laser cannons are just stronger GUARDIANS nothing more. NathanHale2 I thank you for your constructive criticism and am working on it, thank you for the advice.
Now on with the show. I don't own Mass Effect or Advanced Warfare.
Lidira Atrius looked over the Atlas Corporation colony of New Baghdad, nobody could tell why that name had been chosen. She worked for Citadel News Network and had taken the assignment after Mr. Irons invited them with Westerlund News. Her co-interviewer was a Human named Alice Collin. They had a crew of two each with a six man security team of six citadel security officers. The Council wanted to send a Spectre but Mr. Irons put his foot down at that idea. She looked at New Baghdad and sighed, the trip took three months to plan since Atlas Security had to screen everyone going down to where they went for preschool.
The planet had three large landmasses on it that were primarily covered to deserts. The planet was actually strangely cooler and had a large water content in its atmosphere. The second largest landmass had a massive city covering a third of it. The smallest land mass that was covered in a large plain was being used as a testing ground for their newer tech they were developing. The planet was surrounded by destroyer wolf packs and small clusters of corvettes. There were three cruisers escorting the Atlas Rising. Other then the Atlas Rising and the three cruisers, the rest of the ships were repaired and renovated Human, Turian, and Asari ships.
As she stood there Caemus stepped up next to her, "We will be landing in a few minutes, Ms. Atrius." She turned to him and nodded, "So, Mr. Agtius, how did you come to start working for Mr. Irons?" He laughed. "I had lost my right arm and the lower half of my leg to an I.E.D from an assault on a pirate base in the Terminus for the Hierarchy."
She looked surprised and looked at his arm and leg. "You seem to have all four limbs, Mr. Agtius." He laughed, "That's how I met Kevin, he literally walked into my hospital room and laid it out flat. He offered to replace my arm and leg with Atlas's advanced prosthetics after he offered me the job as his commanding officer of the Atlas PMC forces. I agreed two days later as I was getting used to my new arm and leg. I have upgraded it since with the help of our scientists and engineers."
She smiled, "What kind of upgrades can you get?" "My computer Specialist had his left arm replaced with one stuffed to the brim inside with memory space and all the hacking and splicing gear he could which has increased his hacking skills immensely. Now I believe we are landing now."
As they disembarked from the shuttle she saw Kevin Irons standing below the landing platform next to a jeep. As her and Alice walked over him he smiled and shook their hands and spoke, "Hello women, it's a pleasure to have you here. Now we will have a short tour of the facilities and then have the interview at my office. Any questions before we start?"
They shook their heads and he grinned, "Then lets start. Please women first." They got inside the jeep and it started up and rolled forward. As they drove through the streets they could see people walking around and as they passed a courtyard they watched three VTOL transports hover as three dozen men dropped out and headed to a large building. Alice noticed, "What is that building?" Kevin smiled almost evilly, "That is the Training Dome. It uses holo-screens and changeable scenery to allow the men to train in almost any environment in the galaxy."
As a large swarm of combat drones flew over their heads Kevin started a speech that seemed to have almost a person importance to him. "We are the largest PMC force in the galaxy. We don't see policy, we sell Power. We re a super power for hire." They past a Titan tank that was marching in front of them with a trio of marines riding on it. "But power isn't just about destroying things but also creating them. Mindor, Eden Prime, and other colonies have hired us to help them either rebuild after pirate attacks when the Council or Alliance or whatever government they came from say they can't or won't help them for whatever reason. Atlas however is willing to help them."
They slowed to a stop in front of a large one story grey metal building. "Please follow me." He exited the jeep and headed to the door. "Hey Jim, how is the wife doing with the pregnancy?" "She is doing fine Mr. Irons. The babies due in two months but the doc said she was the picture of health and as long as she rested she would be okay."
Kevin smiled and nodded as he held a badge in front of a scanner that beeped then the door unlocked. Walking through they were in a large room filled with Various species working on various things. One group was watching a man climb metal wall with just gloves. Across the room a Turian in an EXO was fighting three Humans and two Turians in hand to hand and was winning. Kevin grinned, "He is wearing our new EXO the XOS-9 Assault EXO, they don't stand a chance in hell or Tartarus."
They walked through a short hallway and could see a Quarian holding a riot shield blocking the fire from a sentry gun emplacement. "That EXO-Shield can hold up to 50-caliber anti-tank rounds without breaking although of course repeated fire or a lot of it will break it eventually." Entering a room full of cybernetics and components they saw a group of Asari, Quarians, and Salarians working on various mechanical devices. "This is where most of our teams devices come from and all of our prosthetics. We work with the best materials we can get to ensure the quality of our men's gear."
They then walked to a firing range where the guards looked around excited. Kevin grinned, "Now unlike most of the galaxy we don't use venting systems to fire our guns. They fire actual bullets using a mass accelerator to allow the round to be almost as fast a mass accelerator rifle but hits harder as the bullet pierces better and is colossal compared to the grain of sand sized metal regular rifles fire." He turned to a table and picked up an assault rifle. "This is a Bal-27. It's fully automatic with a thirty round clip and a firing rate of 857 RPM. It can even increase as the trigger is held down." He turned and hit a button as several static and moving targets lit up. Firing in quick bursts he hit the targets. After he was done a mechanical voice spoke over the intercom and said, "Round one complete, you have a accuracy of 87.63%."
"While our weapons are bigger we have to use clips of ammunition. But still we have the age old idea od pouches of ammo to fall back on." He turned and they were about to leave when alarms sounded across the facility. Kevin activated a com-link in his cufflink and yelled, "What is with all the alarms? Okay start the defense protocols, I want everyone ready for them." He turned to them, "I am afraid the interview will have to wait. We have Eclipse incoming towards New Baghdad and they aren't answering hails. We are currently evacuating the civilians to the bunkers while the militia and security forces are bunkering down. Our military forces will flow between hot spots." He turned and walked down the corridor and entered a room marked "War Room". He walked around the room barking orders to the men and women sitting at stations. "I want the bunkers sealed tight. I want the T-600 hover tanks to patrol the side roads and Titans hold the main roads. Get AGRs to keep the alleyways secure. I don't want these bastards to be able to take a step without them getting a bullet in the ass."
An Asari turned from her station and yelled, "Sir, We are reading Blood Pack and Blue Suns ships behind the Eclipse. We are reading over three hundred ships, six dreadnoughts, forty cruisers and the rest are frigates with what appeared to be destroyers scattered about. We must have really pissed them off, Sir." Kevin grinned, "Indeed, Astrima, indeed." He turned to a table as it lit up and showed a 3D model of the city. There were colored symbols showing the various units and troops across the city. "Is everything ready?" Caemus's voice came out of a speaker. "Yes, Sir. We are ready to kick some Merc ass!"
Kevin nodded slightly and turned, "Hail the lead ship. I want to give them a chance to turn tail and run." A few moments later an Asari with light blue freckle-like markings across her face appeared. She was probably over four hundred years old. "What do you want, Human?" She sneered. "I will not be bothered with pathetic threats from some barbaric monkey that barely discovered fire when my people were building an empire!" Kevin sighed and spoke before she could rant more. "Shut the fuck up you old shriveled cow!" She glared at him. "You Asari are arrogant hypocritical whores who spend almost all their life shaking their asses at men for a couple credits. Now that we insulted each other's species I am giving you a chance to flee with your lives. We are prepared to wipe you out to protect our homes, our way of life and our security. So go ahead and come down here we will put a bullet in your ass and send you crying to your mothers. We will not cower in the face of invaders, we will meet you at the door and kick you to the curb!"
He flipped her off and shut off the comm. "No offense to anyone here. I just find some Asari to be like that. My apologies now get me Project Deicide. I want this bitches ass on a plate." Moments later the screen shows a Quarian wearing a lab coat over his environ-suit. "Yes boss?" "Is Project Deicide ready?" The Quarian gave a nod and Kevin grinned, "Aim at the largest ship and let her rip!"
The large mass and magnetic accelerator hybrid cannon rose up and with a earth shattering roar fired an hundred ton slug right into the leading dreadnought and ripping it in half and impacting the frigate behind it. The dreadnought was dead in space while the frigate had ceased to exist. The Atlas defense fleet took advantage of the Mercs shock to press forward and start ripping into them, the destroyers pouring fire together into the dreadnoughts and cruisers while the corvettes flittered around the rest of the fleet taking pot shots.
Kevin grinned as the Mercs were on the defensive, unfortunately he knew that hey still carried the overall advantage due to their massive numbers.
"Will, pull your fleet to the right and allow the landers through. We can deal with them. I want you to make sure they can't gain orbital dominance." Will nodded and started to reposition his fleet to decimate the enemies left wing to pull them into to save their allies.
Matriarch Destrina Noystaso of Eclipse stood on her personal cruiser watching as the unique cruiser Atlas Rising pulled to the left of her to start decimating the Blue Suns there. "Amateurs, send the landers right and get them on the planet, I want that human's head on a plate."
Moments later the landers started moving. She grinned as she felt her victory was assured, she didn't think about the fact her opponent was wanting to get the landing forces out of the way while the fleets pounded upon each other.
Kevin grinned as the enemy commander took the bait, "I think it's time we showed our true power to the galaxy, don't you think boys?" The marines in the room grinned and approached. Gun rack and put in a security code to open it. Kevin turned to the table and activated the global comm frequency. "All elite security personnel, I am authorizing the use of the Em1, the EPM3, AE4, and Tac-19. Show these bastards the true might of Atlas. Vulcan satellites are available to sergeants."
Across the city security forces rushed to armories to grab the limited amount of energy weapons, they couldn't wait to actually use the favored energy weapons especially the AE4 and Tac-19. They grinned as they saw the landers set down a couple miles outside the city. The artillery fired shells as the Mercs assaulted them with Mako tanks and other various light attack craft. The defenders fired a mix of Stinger M7s and MAHEMs. The molten balls of metal just burning through the armor as the Stingers blasting though and flinging shrapnel around.
As the two sides traded fire the Mercs on foot caught up and added their weapons to the fire fight going on. The Atlas defenders were doing well overall but were out numbered by the Merc attackers. Across the cities edge the Mercs were able to push the Atlas forces back into the city. Unfortunately the advantage slowly crawled back due to the Atlas group's knowledge of the city and the Tac-19s incredible firepower in close quarters.
In other areas the fight was still going in the Mercs favor, such as the fire fight going on at the first corner to Main Street. Marcus McKinney was crouching behind a blown apart car holding an AMR9 sub machine gun with a grip and extended mags, the main fire arm of police forces. He took a peak over the hood and saw fourteen Blue Suns running into the fight firing rifles at the officers holding the corner.
He rose up and fire three five round bursts into the nearest Turian Blue Suns trooper. His shields flared for the first burst and shattered on the second and six holes appeared in his chest with the third burst. He ducked down under the return fire as he pulled a Semtex grenade out of his pouch and grabbed the fallen rear view mirror from the car he was behind and slowly raised it as the other two officers fired in quick bursts with their AMR9s. Finding the biggest cluster of six he triggered the grenade and threw it over hand at them.
BOOM! The grenade blew and shredded four of the troopers and flung the others away like rag dolls. Hearing a rumbling he turned to see a Grizzly tank rumbling around the corner fifty feet away as it rotated it's turret towards his partners position and fired. The officers basic armor and shields weren't designed to take tank fire and they were completely destroyed. Marcus knew he was dead as he watched the Blue Suns start forward under the powerful tank's protection. He turned and saw a MAAWS launcher fifteen feet away from him but at the moment might as well have been miles away from him.
Whispering a prayer to any god listening he ran full tilt towards the launcher as the troopers yelled out surprised and fired at him. A couple rounds glanced of his shields and sparked on the ground around him. Scooping up the launcher he fling himself towards cover as the ground the launcher had been on blew apart as a tank round hit. Marcus screamed in pain as shrapnel ripped through him.
Marcus moaned in pain as he slowly forced the launcher up and aimed at the Grizzly. "Burn in Hell Mother Fucker!" He pulled the trigger and died smiling as it blew when he Mercs poured a hailstorm of fire into him.
Across the city similar fights happened as with heavy losses the Mercs pushed Atlas forces back. Kevin quickly sent reinforcements to troubled spots as he watched security cameras to keep an eye on the fighting. "Send in AGRs 44-57 to sector G-12 and push that enemy armor column back from the entrance to bunker 8. Now!"
Kevin's security had tried to get him to evacuate to safety but he had refused to leave his men. Lidira and Sarah were video taping the entire thing and streaming it to their networks.
Citadel
On the Citadel it was the usual day to day events, arrests the occasional gun fight and politics for the most part. Which is why it was surprising as Citadel News and Westerlund News come up on all channels with breaking news.
"We have breaking news as the Atlas colony of New Baghdad is being attacked by a combined fleet of Blue Suns, Eclipse, and Blood Pack forces. Currently in the second hour of combat the Atlas forces are holding their own against the invading Mercs but are out numbered."
Tevos was watching the news with the other councilors as they saw videos of Atlas troops fighting Mercs in the streets and occasionally buildings. She turned to Quintus and asked seriously, "What chance do they have of pushing back the Mercs?"
He looked at her and shook his head, "If the Mercs don't take them seriously the Atlas will keep the planet. There were barely any aerial fighters among the Merc's landers and the Atlas forces use a large amount of drone fighters, this we definitely know, that will give air control to them and they won't think they have own until the Mercs are dead."
The Salarian councilor nodded and then rewound the video and magnified a section where they could see an Atlas trooper in full armor and heavy EXO firing an actual energy weapon at a Mako, melting through without triggering the kinetic barriers.
"Atlas seems to have developed infantry level energy weapons. Most fascinating!" He spoke excitedly. The others looked at him in shock, "A Merc group has energy weapons and all you can say is fascinating!?" Quintus roared at him.
Delatros nodded, "Yes, Atlas has obviously had them for a while but haven't used them except on New Baghdad. This shows they are not fully ready. Whether that is because to cumbersome or too energy consuming they had to be authorized by Mr. Irons himself. We have no real worry right now about their use." Tevos nodded and spoke, "Yes while troubling it doesn't seem to matter right now. We need to find out if this Merc band will continue into Citadel space."
Delatros turned to her. "It doesn't seem to be the case according to STG sources." Quintus interrupted him yelling, "I say we send a fleet to crush them as they pick over the of the colony. We get rid of that upstart Merc gang and discover how they created infantry sized energy weapons." Tevos shook her head, "We just need to maintain our patrols and boost their numbers, allow the Mercs tear each other apart. They are in the Terminus edge, we don't need to start a war."
Gesrak Cosmachar walked through the street shifting irritably in the mercenary armor he was in, he was a respectable Batarian of the Hegemony and hated having to pretend to be apart of these pathetic Mercs. He was with a group of Batarian Special Intervention troopers under the order of the Hegemony to gather intact weapons and gear from the Atlas Corporation so the Hegemony could finally prove it's superiority to the lesser two eyed races. They were walking through a destroyed street and had seen no one so far, he felt it was kind of eerie with the dead silence. They spun around when they heard noise behind them, three of them opened up with their assault rifles, only to discover that it was just some loose bricks falling. Gesrak growled at the three who fired, "You imbeciles! You could have given away our position. Go check it out and make sure that it's nothing."
He turned to other five. "You two stay here and keep a look out, you three search this building for anything interesting, we could find a body with it's gear. I doubt the Mercs have had the time to loot anything yet." He walked into a store to see it was just a book store. "Who even uses physical books anymore anyway?" He whispered and he swept his rifle across the room. He stepped closer to a rack and saw it was full of hunting books, from hunting Human wolves to Krogan Klixen. He was starting to browse them to see if any were any good when one of his men called him over. "Sir, we found one!" He yelled in a light whisper.
Gesrak jogged over to see a figure in full body armor with the Atlas logo emblazoned on the left side of the chest. The figure was a Human or Asari, most likely a Human due to the Asari's preference to light armor to enhance their mobility for biotics. The armor had a fully enclosed armored body with small gaps in the armor and it painted pure matte black. He looked to see how the figure did, he didn't see any bullet holes but it seemed that they had received a stab wound to a slit in the armor. There was blood across the ground. Gesrak turned to see that the three who had went to check the falling bricks hadn't returned yet. "One of you go get those three idiots and drag them back here. We have to secure this body and see if we can find more before the fighting stops."
Two headed out side when a Crack was heard as the first took a round to the skull which shattered, splattering his partner in gore as he was jerked to the side from an unseen assailant out of view. Gesrak whipped up his rifle and he looked at his remaining three troopers when two of them were hit with a wave of energy from behind them. He whipped around to see what they had thought was a dead Human was actually alive as he tackled him and brought him to the floor as he slammed his hand against the floor causing it to be flung away.
The Human punched him in the face and pulled a knife from his belt. He tried to bring it down on him but Gesrak grabbed the arms trying to stop him. They struggled to emerge from the fight victorious. Gesrak wrapped his legs around his assailant and rolled them over so he was on top and tried to turn the knife around. He was almost able to take the knife when a shot rang out and he felt a round impact his side and fling him off. As he hit a rack he saw his opponent stand and walk over to him. The figure pulled the helmet off and he saw that it was a Human female.
Alisha looked down at the Batarian who, she admitted to herself, nearly beat her bleed out on the floor. She grimaced and turned t the door. "Let's get out of here," she said to her team as she put her helmet back on and activated her camo, "we have invaders to hunt down." Her team grinned and faded from view as they left the street with no evidence they had been there except nine new corpses and some random bullet holes.
The Atlas Stealth and Infiltration Squad prided themselves on their ability to just disappear on the battlefield, a man once said the team could vanish in sunlight and appear in shadows. They were Atlas's best stealth and infiltration unit. Alisha grinned as they resumed their hunt for the bastards invading New Baghdad. "Let's give them HELL!" she thought as they ran through the streets silently.
Well everyone that is chapter three. Sorry about the wait I wanted to make it longer but still. Also If anyone can find the reference I made in this chapter will get their own OC character. Also if anyone has any new tech ideas that could be possible, not like a plasma cannon or something crazy. It has to be believable to create in the Mass Effect or Call of Duty universes. Read and Review. Next chapter: Retaliation.