Galactic Fallout

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Chapter 4 – Crash Landing –

Liara couldn't remember the last time she had woken up to such a colossal headache. Even that of her post-graduation party paled in comparison to what she was going through right now. She was not sure what had happened, but she was certain Treeya had snuck something in her drink again. Rubbing her head, Liara slowly opened her eyes, blinking a few times to let her vision adjust to her surroundings but found it unusually dark. The Asari placed her hand down and felt cool hard metal. Wondering what happed to her fluffy bed, she started to look around and was surprised by how stiff she was feeling.

"By the Goddess" She moaned, "it's like I have been battered all over"

"That's because you have" a voice came, causing Liara to pause in mid-stretch. A Volus was standing at the entrance, pulling himself through a circular door into the pod shaped room… Pod Shaped?

It took Liara a second to realise where she was. Eyes going wide she stared past the Volus and up at the cloud covered night sky. Clouds! Clouds meant atmosphere, atmosphere meant planet, planet meant… "Oh Goddess" Liara stammered, trying to pull herself up, but stumbling into one of the life pods many seats.

The sudden crash all came back to her. The explosions that had rocked the ship, the feedback on the bridge blowing open much of the computer system, Melvia's lifeless body on the ground, people running and shouting, fires everywhere, the alarms pounding through the air, and the Quarian running in to warm them of a bomb. So it hadn't been a dream.

Turning to the Volus, Liara blinked as she reached out and grabbed the round squat alien's shoulder.

"Where are we?"

"On the planet we identified earlier mam" he said with a wheeze, "do you remember the crash" his voice more consoling and mournful than anything.

"Slightly yes" Liara said, looking at the floor in dismay, "How many people didn't make it?"

"We are unsure mam" he wheezed, "one of the Commandos are took some of the other survivors up a hill to set up a distress beacon, we should know how many made it down safely soon"

"Commander Shiala, where is she" Liara asked now getting to her feet.

"She headed to the lower decks to help with evacuation I have no idea if she made it safely off the Alronzo"

"T-that's fine" Liara said softly, giving her neck another click, "Where did you say the others went?"

"Up a Hill Doctor, you're not thinking of going with them" the Volus asked, seeing Liara nearly jump out the pod.

"I will be not sit idly by and let others do all the work" she grunted as she let her feet hit the soft dusty ground. Looking around at the night covered devastation all Liara could wonder. "What species could have done this?"

"I swear you use the Green wire at this point" Treeya asked holding up a torch on a large metallic strut

"Hey I am working with limited equipment here" stated Tali, looking over her shoulder at the concerned Asari "trust me; by installing the power regulator later we will get a better signal"

"That is of course if the systems don't give out due to your rerouting power" Treeya said getting a quick glare from within Tali's helmet.

Giving the Quarian an embarrassed smile, Treeya backed off as their engineer cautiously examined the various pieces of metal and wires at her feet, before slotting the assorted parts into place, and at times dissecting others. Catching that Tali was about to pull apart the main battery, the Asari decided to speak up.

"Err, Tali should you really…"

"Will both of you just shut up" growled Jaliruss from his crouch position several meters away "we have no idea what's out in that darkness and I do not like the idea of meeting it"

Treeya was about to utter a reply when a low growl in the distance caused her to return to the work on the relay, the whole group tensing up at the sudden unfamiliar sound.

The tension in the air was almost as thick as the darkness that surrounded them, and the faint light of the oncoming dawn did little to calm the frightened survivors. In truth the whole crew had been on edge since the crash. An unknown explosive had been smuggled on-board their vessel, killing who knows how many of their friends, their pod had crashed in the middle of an uncharted world in the arse ends of space, and to top it off none of them could see six meters in front of themselves. As such few of them felt truly safe on this hill, true it was defensible and the Commando was surveying the terrain from the highest point, but even an Asari warrior calmed their nerves/

Another low growl pierced the air.

"That one was close" Tali muttered, looking off into the darkness, her hands instinctively falling to the shotgun she had pulled from the pod.

"Keep your eyes on the task" The commando muttered from up high, the gleam of her Mantis rifle catching on Treeya's torch.

Slowly Tali began to install the last of the pieces of metal, picking up the pieces lying at her feet and slotting them into place, emptying a tube of Omni-gel onto the outer plating and rubbing it in once she was done. Although as she absently rubbed the sticky substance between her fingers she wished that she had an easier way of applying this stuff to objects. Pressing a few buttons in sequence, Tali started to enter the activation code, causing the device to steadily whir into life with flashing lights, only for it to sputter and die with a clunk and a whir.

"Work you little… grr, work" growled Tali as she wacked the side of the strut, letting out a series of curses "Dam Jacobus!"

"How is he involved" Treeya asked, raising her eyebrow at the Quarian's outburst.

"More than you think, I suspect" the engineer grumbled, pulling off a plate that had not fully sealed yet.

"By the spirits" Jaliruss snapped, pulling the pistol he was holding round to point at the two women, "shut up back their or I will make you shut up!"

"Calm down Jaliruss" said Treeya to the disgruntled Turian, "those growls are miles off, there's no way they could hear us"

"Err, Treeya, light please"

"Oh, sorry Tali" laughed the Asari as she rubbed the back of her neck, placing the torch firmly back on the constructed relay.

"Just because you can't see something, doesn't mean that…" Jaliruss began only for a huge roar from behind him to send him flying to the ground in fright.

"Run" screamed the Commando from up high, "Run"!

A trail of dust was swirling over the barren wasteland, the soot rising suddenly in an unnatural straight line, rising as suddenly as it disappeared. Even to the trained eye it would appear little more than a dust devil billowing in the wind, but only when you got close you could see the blurred outline of a person.

The transparent form of Michael Reading suddenly appeared amongst a series of rocks, his see through body briefly flickering in the oncoming light of the morning son before fading away in the inky blackness of the ever thickening twilight. All throughout the wastelands, glimmers of Michael's form would appear and disappear in a split second, and between each position a small dust devil would dance rapidly across the radioactive wastes.

Suddenly at the end of a long series of cliffs the ghostly wanderer reappeared permanently, although his silhouette almost seemed to fade into the rocky background.

Mentally patting the Stealth armour he had 'appropriated' from his little Anchorage adventure, he focused his hands on unfastening the sniper rifle slung across the holster on his back, whipping it out in record time, fixing the barrel on the horizon. Peering through the Reservist's scope, the trench coat laden man scanned the horizon, looking towards the still rising dust clouds from the crash. Hoping the darkness would hide him, he laid himself out prone, giving him a better angle on where about the space debris came down.

Twisting the sights slightly to bring his range into focus, he directed his attention towards his suspected impact site, the Deathclaw sanctuary, and as luck would have it he was right.

In the pale and dull light of twilight, Michael could make out a number of figures moving around what looked like a piece of metal. At this range it was a little difficult to tell what was going on, but he could defiantly make out a few silhouettes walking around the pod.

"Raiders" he grumbled figuring how they were this deep out in the wastes, although his mind did factor in the possibility of them being deep scavengers looking rare salvage.

Either way he figured they did not know what they had gotten themselves in for, he still had nightmares about… his abduction.

Although as he narrowed his eyes, he could not deny that one or two of the figures seemed off, they were defiantly taller than any alien he'd seen, but he could not tell as to why. Putting this issue aside he faded from view, turning transparent with the light bending suit only freeze as he heard a sharp crack.

Gunshots!

His eye placed firmly over the scope Michael checked the crash site once more, seeing three figures suddenly charging over the hill, firing widely over their shoulders. Although he could not actually hear them, he remembered the dull thudded footsteps and heavy breathing of the foul monsters that followed the new trio over the hills.

Deathclaws!

Michael needed to get down there, and fast.

Treeya let out an almighty scream as the huge forms of five creatures rose out of the darkness charging the group with ten massive claws raised. Their hunched postures and snouts filled with teeth were glimpsed only for a few seconds as Treeya fixed her Torch on them. Upon seeing the pale lizard eyes of the monstrosities though the Asari let out a scream which the monsters returned in kind. Fleeing from the frightful roar the Asari researcher turned and ran, charging down the hill back towards the pod, letting her torch hit the floor with a dull thud.

The light illuminating the legs of the abominations the three remaining survivors opened fire on the half revealed forms of the creatures, their disjointed echoes of Shotgun blasts, sniper rifle rounds and pistol fire cracking into the night. The sound however did as much to phase the beasts as the bullet fire did, with the creatures shrugging of the small arms and only raising their arms to cover their faces. As blood dripped from the leading lizards hand it let out a low primal growl as it slowly broke into a jog, which rapidly became a sprit, right at Tali.

The Quarian fired three more blasts from her Shotgun, expecting the creature to fall, but as she heard her heat sink ping in response she felt herself be wrestled to the ground by Jaliruss as the creature swung out with both arms. Despite the Turian's attempts to shield her, she first saw the warning that her kinetic barrier was gone and then the agonising pain as her suit was torn open by a single long claw. Feeling the disgruntled Turian get to her feet she did to only to collapse under her own weight as her leg gave way under the pain. Lying on her back she could see the monster now leering over her and Jaliruss, its mouth hanging open with a trickle of saliva falling onto her HUD.

A bright blue glow enveloped the creature raising it off the floor and throwing it across the hill and slamming it into it fellows, a large grunt coming from the Asari commando as she used her mind to hurl it with considerable effort. As the monster struggled to its feet the three survivors trained their weapons on it only for it to collapse, blood dripping onto its fellows. It was dead.

With a primal howl though the three crushed animals threw their former pack mate off them, one slicing its arm off with its own claws, drenching the three in more blood and gore. All at once they charged, and although one was thrown back violently by the commando's biotics, the other two closed in at a frightening pace.

"Get her out of here" ordered the commando, as she threw a second back, only for it to dig itself into the ground with its claws.

With a short nod Jaliruss took Tali under his arm and slowly began to haul her away, firing over his shoulder at the last of the creatures that shrugged it off like it was nothing.

Staring down this insane lizard creature would had made most people flinch, but an Asari Commando is trained to fight anything no matter what, raising her hands she waited for the inevitable downwards strike of the monster. As it did however she let out a colossal scream as she sent a biotic charged fist into its chest, the monocular distorting energy causing the skin to give way and allow her hand to sink deep into the monsters chest. The inevitable howl of pain broke the attack and forced the creature to stumble back in pain, the commando hanging on as she forced her other arm deep into the wound she left.

"Choke on this" spitting these words the commando leapt back removing her gore covered limbs allowing the alien clutch its chest in pain.

The low primal growl went right through the commando, but her confident smile remained fixed as the faint, beeps, beeps, beep, from within the creature's chest stopped. The explosive force of the monsters chest being torn open, sounded dull, but the bits of flesh and bone that went flying sealed the abominations fate.

Carefully watching the two remaining beasts rise to their feet, the commando braced herself for their next attack. She had taken down two of the monsters the other three would be…

"Wait…? Where's the third one" she pondered eyeing the horizon in front of her, only to hear heavy breathing from behind.

Placing the last of the supplies on the ground, Liara took a well-deserved sigh of relief, the effort of removing the emergency supplies from the pod had come as a shock to her, although considering the circumstances it was no surprise. Pausing for a second, the Doctor looked down at the crates, and then up at the stars… if she had never proposed this trip would those people be still alive?

The "Do you hear that" of the Volus's wheezy breath brought Liara back from her sudden dream, only for her to hear the pained cries of Treeya.

"Run, run, RUN" she yelled over and over, running down the hill towards them waving her hands in a wild in panic.

"What's gotten into her" asked the Commando who drew her shotgun as she approached.

Liara stepped up first to console her friend, seizing her by the shoulders, and trying to get her attention. "Treeya what's the matter?" But try as she might Liara could not get a response, beyond the fellow Asari trying to wrestle herself free from her friends grip.

"Run" she yelled again lunging forward and knocking Liara to the ground. "They're coming, RUN!"

As Treeya's last few words left her lips the first gunshots cracked the night, followed in quick by shouting, roaring and finally the forms of Tali and Jaliruss, the old Turian carrying the wounded Quarian over his arm, blood dripping from her thigh.

"Oh Goddess Jaliruss" Liara cried, running to them as another succession of gunshots filled the dark sky. "Is she alright, does she need help".

Jaliruss however did not immediately respond, with Tali briefly raising her hand and telling her she was alright. After setting the wounded girl down however the Turian looked the Dr in the eye and shook his head, "Monsters" was all he said as he pulled the pistol from his hip before moving to the cargo.

"Jaliruss what happened" the Commando barked walking over to him, and trying to grab his shoulder.

The Turian however just shook her off, and began opening both the food a medical crates, emptying their contents and grabbing ration field packs.

"Jaliruss" the commando screamed trying to now get between the Turian and an assault rifle before the pained voice of Tali cut her off.

"There were creatures" Tali breathed, her laboured panting somehow hiding her pained tone, "some giant lizards attacked us… the commando, she stayed behind to hold them…"

A loud explosion rocked the air, the sign of smoke and dust rising into the air signalling explosives residue from over the hill.

"Well we need to go help her" cried the Asari warrior, clicking her shotgun and turning to the Turian researcher, "Nuwani grab that gun we'll"

"No" came the firm reply

"What?"

"I said no" Jaliruss spat as he began to fill his clothes with nutrient paste and pain represents, "we can't hold this position we need to fall back and set up a defence"

Liara could not believe what she was hearing, Jaliruss, one of the most stubborn men she had ever known was running away. She felt something boil inside her. "And leave her to die" the Dr said, rising from where she had sat with Tali.

"I spent ten years in the Military, I know when a fight is hopeless" he barked, now fastening the assault rifle over his back, "we need to pull…"

"Like hell I am not leaving my comrade up there with any monster"

"And I am not going to take tactical advice from a spirit dammed stripper!"

The Commando took a step back momentarily shocked by the old Turian's nerve. As the researcher slowly began once again to fill his pockets she dared to reach out and seize his wrist. Her reward was a punch to the face.

"Jaliruss" Liara screamed, her body glowing blue with Biotic's

"Shut up" he cursed, closing his pockets and walking slowly away "your friend's dead" he stated as he slowly broke into a jog.

"And what makes you say that" Liara shouted, her arms wide.

Pointing up the hill Tali offered an answer. "That!"

At the summit stood three gigantic creatures, the gradually increasing light gave them some colour and form. They were hunched and dull brown, each with curved horns around their teeth filled snouts, and possessing two hands possessing five razor sharp claws. In the mouth of the leader, was what looked like a pair of legs, drenched in blue blood.

The remaining Commando stared up at the pack leader and felt her blood run cold. "No she stammered" taking a step back from the brutes, "No!" she cried this time, her whole body turning blue charging up the hill at high speed. "NO!"

The beasts saw her charging, her shotgun blasts steadily closing in and becoming more aggravating. The leader bellowed, letting the hunk of flesh fall to the ground and slowly broke into its slow heavy charge. The Asari however glow began to intensify till she was a blue blur and she catapulted into the leaders chest sending it flying back. The other two Death claws scattered, running to the side, seemingly in terror as the Commando closed in on the collapsed monster.

"You take my sister from me" she barked, raising her shotgun at its head.

The monster let out a long, continues snort, almost like a laugh.

"Look out" Tali called.

The commando felt something dig into her back seeing two long claws pierce right through her abdomen and slowly lift her off the floor. One of the two monsters had doubled back, with it skidding mid run to literally pounce behind the commando and ran its massive bladed fingers through her back.

"No" Liara yelled letting out a massive scream as blue energy enveloped the surprise attacker throwing him aside and letting the commando go free. However with a dull thud the Asari's body hit the floor, slowly rolling down the hill and lying still in the dirt.

"No" Liara whimpered as she fell to her knees, "no…"

"That's it run" Jaliruss spat grabbing a crate under one arm and heading straight towards the plains.

Treeya followed his lead, snatching up a box and charging after him, she turned around briefly to call back. "Liara come on" but her words fell on deaf ears for all Liara could do was stare blankly at the two creatures untangling themselves form the ground, Tali lying crippled beside her.

The only person remaining to follow was the Volus; he too had seized a crate, as well as a rifle and was jogging as fast as he could towards the gradually retreating forms of Treeya and Jaliruss, although he was not fast enough. Between the shouts of the fleeing Asari and the fresh roars of the monsters, the third reaming creature charged after the retreating party. Leaping through the air it came down on the Volus like a hawk pinning him to the ground with its clawed feet as it let out a deathly roar.

Tali stopped breathing for an instance, the pain and the death suddenly hit her all at once. These monsters had just taken out two Asari Commando's, some of the deadliest and best trained soldiers in the galaxy. True they had been exhausted after the crash, but these creatures somehow had taken them almost unaware, and in the space of fithteen minutes overwhelmed them. Coupled with the now obscured faint forms of Treeya and Jaliruss and the death of so many on board there was little to wonder why Dr T'soni was now blankly staring as the two creatures stared down at them.

She wasn't going to be taken so easily… her farther would never forgive her.

Raising her shotgun she pointed it at the head of the lead creature that was now advancing on her, the traces of blue blood dripping from its mouth as Tali from within her suit took what was likely her final act in life.

"I am sorry farther" she said, and with the sun slowly creeping over the hillside she pulled the trigger, the sound of the shotgun coinciding with that of a second blast.

The head of the creature came apart if it was like paper, its red blood splattering Tali's view screen and covering Liara in red gore. The two remaining creatures paused, tilting their head slightly in confusion, as Liara fell onto her back finally breaking herself from her stupor she had been held in.

"W-what happed" she asked dazed as Tali caught her with one arm.

"I-I have no idea" the Quarian admitted briefly staring at her own shotgun, and then the shattered head of the monster.

Suddenly a second shot rang out causing the leg of one of the creature to give way as the round passed clean through the knee.

Looking around both the monsters and the two survivors searched for this newest partner in their fight. Although as the sun came over a hill in the distance Tali saw it. "There" she cried, pointing with her shotgun.

Liara peered as hard as she could and, in the middle of the rising sun was a large black spec, humanoid in shape holding a long thin weapon in one arm.

The Deathclaw however simple roared and began to charge the new assailant, the remaining one having been taken by surprise by the thick smoke that was now wafting up from the Volus's body. In response however the figure raised its weapon and slowly began to advance itself, firing three shots in quick succession into the torso of the steadily increasing ball of brown lizard terror. However unlike as expected he did not reload his gun, but instead threw it aside and reached within what looked like a long coat. As the monster leapt at him the person flung his arm out and from within his jacket came a long, thin shining blade. Liara had to wince as the morning light danced off the swords steel, while Tali mouth agape saw the weapon slice in one swift blow the monsters crippled leg, the left arm and finally cement itself in the roof of the creature's mouth.

Not stopping however the strange warrior continued running, letting the freshly made kill fall where it may as he closed the gap on the remaining abomination. By the time Tali realised he was in front of him, he had passed her, and upon hearing a loud shriek of pain she managed to turn her head to see the creatures head fall from its neck to the ground, electricity arching throughout its body.

Merry Christmas everyone.

Not sure if everyone cares for this holiday as much as I do but I finished this up and here it is. I personally very happy with how the fights came out in this chapter and I feel I showed the deathclaws as smart intelligent hunters as they are in the lore, rather than the mindless brutes who rush you first chance they get. Either way I hope you enjoy and I am unsure when I will get the next chapter done, but please review and tell me what you think.

Happy holidays and a happy new year