A/N: Sorry about the long wait, and the chapter that was posted last time. I hope this one is better, though if anybody can give me a few tips on writing combat scenes,, or find any inconsistencies or typos, could you please PM me? Thanks.
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3025 C.E
Planet Aephus
Outskirts of Industrial Facility 5
The sharp cacophony of gunfire filled the night air, intermingled with the deep bass thudding of alien weaponry. Aircraft screeched over the darkened ground, engaged in a battle of life and death in the air, while smoke and debris clouded the air, fires burning from bodies and industrial chemicals illuminating the desolate landscape, revealing the wreckage of buildings along with the still bodies of dead beings. Beleaguered Turian soldiers, trapped between advancing enemy formations, desperately holding out against the encroaching tide alien soldiers, their screams, cries, and shouts drowned out by the stomping of gargantuan war machines. Alien troops, clad in jet-black armour, advanced steadily amongst the tide of guns fire, illuminated only by the dim red glow of scattered chemical flares.
A group of Turians, their weapons overheating rapidly from their prolonged periods of sustained fire, began to move back steadily, covering each other as weapons fire streaked by them, missing by centimeters. "Fall back!" one shouted above the din and chaos. "We're cut off!"
"Belay that order!" screamed Saren Arterius, the youngest specter in history, veteran of hundreds of combat operations across the Skyllian Verge. "Hold your ground!"
The Turian didn't have time to reply as a series of pulse rounds thudded into his body, tearing him apart, before a green bolt of plasma came streaking from the distance, vaporising his chest. He fell to the ground dead, body parts rolling across the debris-strewn terrain. Nearby, what appeared to be a flying orb smacked into another soldier dead center, the Turian and several of his comrades disintegrating before his very eyes.
"INCOMING GUNSHIPS AND MORTARS!" another Turian spat out, ducking wildly as stray shots narrowly missed his head. "EVERYONE GET DOWN!"
Like some heavenly bolt of lightning tasked with annihilating anything in its path, streaks of bright blue ethereal energy came smashing into the Turian formation. Unlucky Turians, caught within the blast radius of the strange mortar rounds floated up in defiance of gravity, before their bodies turned black and crumpled into nothingness. Above the unrelenting barrage of mortars, a high pitch whining noise could be heard, and Saren's vision was temporarily blinded, as two gunships swooped down upon the encircled Turians, anti-gravity pods mounted on their wings kicking up dust and debris. Picking out the disorientated Turians, the gunships opened fire.
Thankfully, the industrial jungle that Saren and his soldiers were currently trapped in provided plenty of cover; steel pipes, concrete walls and pillars, piles of rubbles and trenches provided plenty of space to hide. The stability and strength of them was another matter though.
While the industrial structures that the Turians were using as cover had been strong enough to the fire power of the enemy infantry and barely weather their heavy energy weapons, they were no match for the heavy duty weapons mounted on the gunships. Pulses of blue energy and volleys of rockets ground whatever cover there was into dust and small chunks of debris.
"Move move move!" he yelled, sprinting from cover to cover, doing his best to avoid the lethal barrage of death homing down on him. "Move the rockets up, get those gunships down!".
Amidst the chaos and panic surrounding them, four Turians moved into position, nestling their ML-77 missile launchers on their shoulders. Taking careful aim, the Turians locked on to the hovering gunships, and let loose 4 glowing missiles that streaked towards the night sky. The ML-77 missile launcher was the most advanced piece of missile weaponry fielded by the Turian army; of particular notice was its cryogenically cooled infrared tracking systems and dedicated tracking VI systems that ensured that no target would be able to evade its missiles.
But to Saren's surprise and growing sense of horror, the alien gunships didn't even bother moving or deploying countermeasures; instead, automated turrets mounted on their hulls swiveled around and let loose a burst of laser fire that instantly vaporized the incoming missiles. Before another round of missiles could be fired, the gunships locked onto the Turians and reduced them into a pile of cinders.
Half an hour. That was all it had taken for what should have been an orderly and quick engagement to turn into a bloody fight for survival. Hours before, an unknown alien fleet had abruptly entered Aephus orbit, smashed their planetary defenses and home fleet, before leaving as suddenly as they arrived. There had been no indication that any alien forces had landed on the planet; no dropships, aircraft, or spacecraft had been detected descending into the atmosphere. Planetary command had been mystified and puzzled, but shrugged it off as an amazing stroke of luck, and stood down the general alarm.
Then of all the things that could have happened, half an hour ago, several coastal factories had reported seeing massive submersible vessels emerging out of the ocean, landing sizable invasion forces onto the beaches and deploying swarms of aircraft. Aephus Planetary Command had immediately declared a state of emergency, which required every able-bodied Turian to pick up arms and help the local military garrison to repel the invaders. Thousands of Turians had heeded the call for battle and marched off, confident that the well-oiled Turian military juggernaut would easily be able to repel this new species, which had the audacity of invading a Turian world. They had marched towards their deaths.
The aliens possessed and utilized military technology never before seen of or even conceived off. For one thing, not a single piece of equipment seemed to use mass effect technology: their shields dissolved and vaporized projectiles, not block or deflect them like kinetic barriers; their weapons either fired some sort of projectile that easily passed through Turians protective equipment, or utilized directed energy weapons that could vaporize beings at a mere touch or blast them back meters, something thought impossible by the various scientific and research institutions in Citadel space. Their armour was made of some formidable material that outclassed Turian armour considerably, and was apparently some form of power armour, something that was available to Citadel militaries, but prohibitively expensive and clunky. Their soldiers reacted faster and quicker the should be possible, with no vocal or radio communication between them; their aircraft were faster, more agile, and deadlier; war machines were terrifying harbingers of death, with uncountable numbers. Most terrifyingly of all, before long range communications had gone down, security personnel within the factories had reported enemy soldiers materializing out of thin air and using pairs of "orange and blue" portals to go anywhere they wished.
And it wasn't just one species of aliens: there were three. A bipedal species similar in height and exterior appearance to Turians (it was hard to tell underneath their full-body armour); another shorter, hunchbacked species with two arms and another arm protruding from their chest, that could unleash devastating energy attacks from their hands; and most shocking of all, what appeared to be a race of AI's, that reacted far more life-like and adaptable than even the most sophisticated VI combat systems. Rumours of that these new invaders were actually Geth had spread like wildfire throughout Turian ranks.
Asymmetrical warfare also seemed to be a strong suit for them. Whatever technology they had used to "appear out of thin air" within the compound Saren didn't know, but what he did know was that every single Turian was trapped between two advancing enemy lines; one line pushing inwards from the coast, and another line pushing outwards from the factory, pincering the Turians and cutting them off into reinforcements. Saren had already tried calling for air evac with a flare: the only thing that had happened was that their transport had been shot down by AA fire, and made them a target for even more accurate mortar and artillery fire.
There still was some hope. Periods of rapid fire would quickly wear down their shields, something mass effect weaponry was very good at, leaving their armour vulnerable; tough as it was, it wasn't impenetrable and good tactics could easily take down an alien soldier. Heavy weaponry such as missile launcher, autocannons, and vehicular support, while marginally effective against enemy vehicles, were especially deadly against ground infantry, and had been repurposed as such; however, even with those counters, the aliens still possessed a significant tactical and technological edge, far offsetting whatever weaknesses they had. Finally, it was to Saren's great surprise that biotics were the most effective tool; a solid biotic attack somehow interacted violently with alien shields, causing them to short out with larger units, and in the case of smaller vehicles and infantry, explode spectacularly. Unfortunately, Turian biotics were rare; aside from Saren, there were only 6 other Turian biotics on the entire planet, and none of them were trained to use their talents in combat.
"Sir!" someone shouted, his voice barely heard over the roaring of gunfire. "We have to move from this position! We're getting massacred out here!".
It was true. Out of the company of 80 he had been assigned, Saren only counted 20 survivors, 6 of them heavily wounded. 65 good Turians, dead within half-an-hour. A 75% casualty rate for his squad along. If the rate held for every Turian unit on the planet, this would be the bloodiest battle in Citadel history, even more bloody than the Rachni Wars and the Krogan Rebellions.
"There's no where else to go!" he yelled over the din. "We're trapped here!"
"We'll have to break out of their formation!" came the answering shout, interspersed with gunfire and streaks of missile fire. "Oh shit, we have….arrrgh!"
Like some demonic spider straight from the depths of hell, a swarm of what appeared to be mechanical spiders came pouring over the battlefield, leaping over cover and launching themselves on top of the heads of Turians, driving wicked-sharp blades into their skulls, their speed and agility making them difficult targets to hit; disorder spread throughout the company, as Turians struggled to avoid the sinister machines. Orders to stay together and group up were heard but not heeded; the already fractured unit began to disintegrate, individual Turians easily picked off by the surrounding hostile infantries and hovering gunships. There was a thump besides Saren, and he turned around to see what appeared to be a flechette imbedded within the concrete; a laser grid sprang out of the projectile, scanning the surrounding area. He barely had time to wonder what the device was, before he was momentarily blinded by a flash of light.
When his vision cleared, he was shocked and terrified to find himself confronted with the sight of a towering war machine, with a blocky head mounted onto two sturdy legs. The head swiveled around to face him, blue optics regarding him, before it let out a mighty roar, a variety of deadly weaponry extending from its body. Apparently, the aliens did have teleportation technology. And apparently, they possessed it to a degree that they could teleport mechanical monstrosities anytime they wished.
A well aimed biotic attack slammed into the machines shields, flaring out brightly and stunning its electronic brain, giving Saren precious time to escape. Sliding and leaping over rubble and dead bodies, running deeper into the factory complex, desperately trying to reach the missile launcher of a fallen soldier; against something of that size, his assault rifle would be useless, and even a missile launcher wasn't guaranteed to do any damage.
There was no such luck for him.
A kick from the machine's leg sent Saren soaring into the air, crashing unceremoniously into a support pillar. Dazed and bleeding, Saren tried to stand up, only for a large chunk of pipeline to come crashing down on his legs, pinning him with a sickening crack. Howling in pain, Saren collapsed onto the ground, his sense clouded with red-hot pain. From where he was laying, he could see the approaching black armoured figures of alien soldiers, and feel the stomping of the machine as it approached him. Unable to reach for his weapon, he could only look on helplessly as an alien walked up to him, its glazed visor staring unemotionally at him, before driving the butt of an assault rifle into his head.
He fell unconscious immediately.
3025 C.E
Serpent Nebula
Citadel
Citadel Tower
"So what do we do now?"
The question lay unanswered within the empty confines of the Council Chambers. Tevos looked around expectantly at her fellow councillors: Sparatus had his head down in defeat, a hollow look in his eyes, while Valern fidgeted around, looking at the holographic display of Turian space in front of them.
Normally, all of Turian space would be coloured green, signifying that that space was in the possession of the Turian hierarchy, and by extension, the Citadel council. Now however, there was a bright red wedge going straight throughout, starting all the way from Aephus, and nearly reaching Palaven itself. That wedge represented the territory seized by the unknown alien species that had attacked the expeditionary fleet at Relay 314.
"So again, what do we do now?" Tevos asked again. Sparatus sighed and turned to look at her.
"We've lost contact with a good chunk of our industrial and colony worlds." he said slowly. "There have been no communications from them, and every probe we send through a mass relay towards those systems either can't get through because those mass relays are shut down, or are instantly destroyed upon arrival. We have no idea who these people are: whether they are protheans or some other race; what kind of technology they have; what do they want; their military capabilities; we don't know anything about it. People are terrified that their homes will be next; rioting has broken out across Palaven. Our fleets have been shattered, our armies decimated. All our remaining forces are being pulled away from the Terminus systems and back to the core worlds."
She turned towards Valern. "And what about you Valern? What does STG have to say?"
Valern shifted nervously. "Nothing. STG has not been able to ascertain any information so far. No relays lead back to their territory; vectors are unable to be traced. Also, we will need to deal with our citizens as well."
Tevos groaned internally. The news that an unknown aggressor was simply smashed its way through Hierarchy space had not been well received by the public; civil unrest and rioting had spread throughout Citadel space, and local state of emergencies had been declared across hundreds of worlds. CSec had even gone so far as to lock down the Citadel: until otherwise notified, all traffic to and from the Citadel was to be suspended.
"What are the latest reports?"
"As you all know, rioting and civil disobedience have spread throughout Citadel space." Valern reported. "Several Hanar and Drell groups have declared that the 'end days' are here, and that the Protheans have returned to render judgement upon us. Pirate activity along the Terminus systems and the Attican Traverse had picked up, and STG teams report that Batarian slaver activity is also increasing."
"Any suggestions?"
"Pacification of our citizens is crucial, especially for the Turians." Valern replied, glancing over to Sparatus. "We'll need to convince them that the situation is under control, and that we are mounting an immediate response."
"I for one suggest diverting our fleets to Palaven." Sparatus announced. "We'll need every ship and fleet we have if we are to successfully defend it."
"Sparatus, even you know that that would be a horrible idea." Valern interjected. "Diverting all our fleets to Palaven would leave Sur'kesh, Thessia, and the Citadel undefended. If Palaven falls, that would strike a deep blow against our military force and Turian moral. But if these aliens take the Citadel, it would spell the end of galactic civilization: the Citadel is the nerve center and focal point of our society. I suggest reinforcing the Citadel fleet."
"And leave Palaven to these xeno mongrels?" Sparatus snapped. "Leave or homeworld to burn and our people to suffer, while the Asari and Salarians cower behind their fleets!"
"Sparatus, calm down!" Tevos shouted forcefully. "We're not talking about abandoning Palaven and your people, but Valern is right. The Citadel must be defended at all costs: if it falls, then everything, interstellar communications, our economy, transportation networks, the extranet, logistics centers, everything will fall. I agree with Valern; we should divert some of our ships to reinforce the Citadel fleet. But we're not leaving Palaven defenseless; we'll send a few task groups to Palaven to assist in its defense."
Sparatus folded his arms, and turned his gaze back to the holographic display. "Your task groups won't be enough." he spat out contemptuously. "While your worlds are safe and secure, ours are under siege and attack. Casualties are estimated in the hundreds of millions; faith in our leadership is at an all time low. Mark my words, if Palaven falls, the Hierarchy will leave the Citadel races."
On the holo-display, another star system turned red.
3025 C.E
Planet Aephus
Location Unknown
Saren woke up suddenly.
He was naked, with the exception of a thin white sheet covering his body, his bare back pressed again a table of metal. The air was cold and chilly; he shivered. Looking around, he found himself in a clinical looking white room, smelling of what appeared to be disinfectant. He tried moving his arms and legs; they were clamped to the table by a series of cuffs, securing him solidly.
Footsteps approached him, and Saren found himself staring at one of those abominable AI's, an orange optic staring unblinkingly at him. It turned around to face another alien, this time one of the hunchback ones, dressed in a white jacket adorned with logo that looked like a segmented circle. The aliens multiple red eyes stared at his face; there was a brief burst of an unintelligible alien language, before the aliens nodded to each other, and walked over to a floating computer display. A gesture was made and there was a deep humming sound.
Looking up, Saren was horrified to find himself confronted with the sight of multiple mechanical arms, each one bearing saws, blades, laser cutters, and syringes. The device chittered and clattered gleefully as it moved down towards his head, a red dot tracing a path along his forehead. There was a whining noise as the blades started up and began descending rapidly towards him, ready to saw through his bones.
He opened his mouth, and found that he couldn't scream.