Authors Note: The Armor worn by the UCRF marine raiders is based off the Pathfinder Armor by Anton Krasko on Artstation.
The assault rifle used in the story is based on the Sci fi assault rifle design by Michal Niemiec on artstation.
Chapter One
Arcturus Station
May 23rd, 2683
Captain David Anderson, Admiral Steven Hackett, and Ambassador Donnel Udina stood around the oval table that sat in the center of the of the office of the Citadel Council Ambassador suite on Arcturus station.
"Gentleman, we have a big decision to make, the defense committee wants us to recommend one or two elite soldiers for candidacy to the spectres." Ambassador Undina said as he stood at the end of the table with his arms folded.
Captain Anderson leaned forward and placed his hands on the table, "I still don't like this, the spectres have always been trouble."
"I know you've had bad experiences with spectres Anderson, but this is bigger than that." Admiral Hackett said.
Anderson looked over at Hackett with a confused face, "What do you mean Admiral?"
Udina was the one who responded, "We're expecting a candidate from the Republic Federation joining us."
Anderson straightened himself, "Why are they sending a candidate, the Federation isn't even a part of Citadel space?"
"Truthfully Anderson, they're scared. After the federation won the Terminus War it put them as the dominant military force in the galaxy." Admiral Hackett said.
"Yes, with the military they have if they invaded tomorrow, two-thirds of Council space would fall before we'd be able to stop them. Which is why this is so important; the Alliance wants a spectre and spectre from the federation is a step towards cooperation between the council and the federation." said Udina.
"Well then, the only question is who do we send?" asked Hackett. Silence befell the room as the three men thought to themselves.
Anderson was the first to speak, "What the Shepards? John and Jennifer are both highly skilled and experienced soldiers. Hell, they're the only reason Elysium is still standing."
"Hmmm" Udina hummed as he scratched his chin. "That could work. They were both born here on Arcturus Station. Their father is House Majority Leader in Parliament, and their mother is deputy secretary of the navy."
Hackett was the next to speak, "Their service records are impeccable, no doubt there, but they barely survived Akuze, and some still question their actions on Torfan. Experiences like that leave deep mental scars."
Udina spoke next, "Well I guess the main question is, are these the kind of soldiers we can trust to protect the galaxy?"
Anderson looked at Udina with face of confidence, "Those are the only kind of soldiers who can."
Udina nodded and looked at Hackett for his response, "He's right." Hackett answered.
Udina nodded his head in approval, "Alright then, I'll make the call."
...
May 25th, 2683.
Republic Federation Armed Forces Headquarters, Tranquility, home world of the UCRF.
Hershel Grant stood out in the hallway outside of General Stalder's office. Hershel stood out from most of the other people who were walking up and down the halls. Being a member of the SOARs military uniform wasn't mandatory. Hershel preferred his vintage square toed boots, cargo pants, button up shirts, and ball cap.
Hershel had just returned from a tour in the Terminus Systems performing search and rescue for POWs and hunting down Antonio Ivanov.
"I wonder what was so damn important that they needed to cut my tour short by 2 months?" Hershel asked himself. Just as Hershel finished his thought an Asari in blue and black digital camo uniform walked up to him.
"Colonel Grant, General Stalder will see you now, if you'll follow me, I'll show you to his office." said the Asari whose name was Sergeant Major S'Lara by her uniform nametag.
Hershel nodded his head and went ahead to follow the sergeant down the hall to General Stalder's office door. A short walk later they arrived at the door to General Stalder's personal office. Sergeant Major S'Lara waved her omni-tool across the door, and it slid open. S'Lara stepped to the side and motioned him to enter. Hershel gave a salute to which S'Lara returned and entered the room.
General Stalder was sitting behind his desk. The older man had short black hair that was starting to grey, he also had on the same blue and black digital camo uniform. The general looked up from his computer to see Hershel standing there.
"Hershel. Please have a seat." Stalder said, motioning with hand to the seat in front of his desk. Hershel took the seat, settling into it. "So, Hershel, I would say you are wondering why you were asked to come here during you tour?" Stalder said leaning back in his seat.
"You would be right sir." Hershel answered.
"Well, I'll get right to it, there's a new class of warship being deployed. Supposed to be the pinnacle of stealth technology, officially it's part of a cooperation defense research program between us and citadel space."
Hershel leaned forward in his chair, "I'm sorry sir, that's all good, but what does that have to do with me?"
General Stalder adjusted himself in his seat before speaking, "Well, Federation Congress wants you to be the XO on her maiden voyage."
Hershel raised his eyebrow in suspicion, "Excuse me sir, but I call bullshit on this, there must be more going on with this?"
"I'm sorry son, I can't tell you, it's classified." General Stalder said in a softer tone.
Hershel sat back in his chair and threw his arms in the air, displaying an angry scowl. "I don't give a damn about classified! There are still tens of thousands of POWs and enslaved citizens out in the Terminus Systems, hell Antonio Ivanov is still out there. Now, you and I both know I am much better used out there and not babysitting some damn shakedown run. I want to know the truth behind this mission instead of just some bullshit government cover." Hershel gave a huff before sitting back in his chair.
Stalder rubbed his head while giving a sigh, "Because we've been friends for so long is the only reason, I'm not having you detained for insubordination, and because you're right it is bullshit." Hershel sat up giving his full attention as the general began. "The Citadel Council reached out to the President about 3 months ago, about the same time construction on the ship was finishing. They made the offer for one of our best special forces operatives to try for the Council Spectre's."
Hershel raised his eyebrow in confusion, "We're not part of Council Space, why in the hell would they make that offer?" Hershel asked.
"Because, after we won the war against the TCU, we have asserted ourselves as the dominant military force in the galaxy. To put it in simpler terms, they're afraid of us and this is sorta like an olive branch of alliance between us. So, congress done their thing and agreed to send one soldier. You." Stalder finished pointing at Hershel.
"I guess I don't get a say in all this do I?" Hershel asked.
Stalder grinned, "You sure as shit don't. Head to barracks and pack your gear, you ship out tomorrow."
POV Col. Hershel Grant
Artemis Station, UCRF diplomatic station on border with Systems Alliance Space.
It had been a three-day journey to the station, I have been traveling on a long-range passenger shuttle. Even though the shuttle had been designed to accommodate over 30 guests, I was the only one on board besides the crew. I was currently sitting in my small cabin sitting next to the window. The cabin was tiny, all it had was a ridiculously small bathroom, you basically had to sit on the toilet to take a shower. It also had a bunk bed on each side and a four-seat booth against the wall with the window.
The intercom system chimed in, "Attention passengers, we have just executed our final hyperlight jump and are on final approach to Artemis Station." the pilot announced. Just then my cabin door opened, and an Asari steward stepped in. I looked over at her shaking my head slightly, "Why the hell he have to say that I'm the only person on this thing."
The steward covered her mouth and laughed, "It's standard procedure sir. Now, we'll be docking in ten minutes, so we ask you get all your belongings together."
I smiled at her laugh and nodded my head, "I'll be sure to do that miss. Oh, and thank Ya'll for the company, the boredom would've drove me up the walls."
The steward smiled and laughed, "You're welcome, Colonel Grant, as you called it, you were a hoot to be around these past few days." I smiled at her comment and nodded my head before she left.
Several minutes later I heard a thud as the ship docked and the airlock sealed. I got up and exited my cabin and made my way to the front of the ship toward the airlock. The steward I had talked to was by the airlock with my bags next to her. She smiled upon seeing me, "I hope your trip was enjoyable Colonel Grant."
I smiled and nodded, "I had a very good time, never had a ship all to myself before." I said with a chuckle at the end. The steward laughed, "I swear Mr. Grant you are something else." she said. The steward extended her hand with a piece of paper, I took it and looked at it, it was contact information.
"If you ever want to talk as friends that's my contact information, and please call me Aaliyah." she said with a smile on her face. I smiled and slipped the paper into my pocket, "Thank you Aaliyah, if I get time I will, and please call me Hershel." Just as I finished talking the airlock door opened. Four attendants came in and grabbed my bags consisting of two large duffel bags and four large hard-shell suitcases.
I gave Aaliyah a hug and said goodbye before walking out of the ship. At the end of the airlock tunnel was a station administrator and two UCRF marines. As I walked up to them the Marines saluted me and the administrator extended his hand which I took giving a firm handshake. "Welcome to Artemis Station Colonel Grant, the Normandy is docked on the other side of the station if you'll follow us, we'll take you there." I nodded and followed them.
The station wasn't large, so it was a short walk to Normandy. Reaching the entrance to the airlock tunnel was a Hispanic woman in dark blue UCRF naval uniform. She turned and saw us approaching and straightened herself snapping a salute, which I returned.
"Specialist Sammantha Traynor sir, I'm the chief communications officer." Specialist Traynor announced. "At ease specialist, it's a pleasure to meet you." I said, Specialist Traynor relaxed, "It's an honor to be serving alongside such a decorated officer sir, it'll be a pleasure working with you Colonel." I nodded and chuckled, "I do sure hope so Miss Traynor."
Specialist Traynor turned right face, "If you'll follow me sir, I'll show you around the ship." I nodded my head and followed Specialist Traynor.
I remember reading the information file I had been sent on the USS Normandy, she was a heavy stealth frigate measuring 343 meters (about 1125.33 ft) in length and had berthing for a crew of 150 and over a dozen officer staterooms.
We reached the main airlock for the ship, Traynor entered the access code. "Now Colonel, the ship's doctor will have to enter your biometrics into the ship database so you can get in through the ships airlocks." The airlock opened and we entered the ship.
The primary airlock for the ship was at the rear of the combat information center. The CIC was like most CICs on UCRF ships. Along the walls on each side of the CIC were 15 individual stations, 30 in total, all designed to run the communications, navigations, and defense networks of the ship. In the center was three large tables. Towards the rear of the CIC was a large rectangular table for the ship's communication center. Towards the front of the CIC was a rectangular table for the ship's navigation center. In the center of the two tables was a large octagonal shaped table, this was nicknamed the 'battle station', where the ships main officers would be during operations or combat.
"Colonel, this is the Combat Information Center, this is probably where you'll be spending most of your time when not on missions. If you'll follow me, I'll show you to the flight deck and introduce you to the flight crew."
Me and miss Traynor made our way through the CIC to the flight deck. The flight deck was the same as most ships, a pit at the front of the CIC with two flight stations.
"Colonel, these are the Normandy's flight crew, Flight Lieutenant Jeff Moreau and First Lieutenant Kaidan Alenko." The two chairs turned around to face us. The flight crew member on the right was the first to speak.
"The name is Joker, welcome to the Normandy." The man on the right followed, "Yeah welcome aboard sir, it's an honor to serve with you."
"The honor is mine as well. From what I hear you're quite the pilot Joker." I said looking over to Joker.
Joker let out a laugh, "Ha! I'm just the best damn pilot in the entire Alliance fleet! Just name the destination and I'll get the Normandy there fast than any ship in the galaxy."
I nodded my head, "Good to know, I'll let you two get back to work." I said as I turned to leave.
Traynor showed me the rest of the first deck. Behind the CIC was the main lift, to the left of the lift was a spiral staircase that went down to deck three, to the right was a hallway that led behind the lift. Me and Traynor took the hallway behind the lift which led into another hallway. There were two doors, one on each side of the hallway and a door at the end of the hallway.
The door on the left was the captain's quarters and office, on the right side of the hallway was the conference room. At the end of the hallway was the strategy center. We entered the strategy center; it was a large circular room. Along the walls were centers used for long range communications and secure access to central command. In the center was a large circular table for strategic operation planning.
We then proceeded down the stairwell into deck 3. "Colonel, this is deck three, this is where all the ship's crew is berthed and the mess hall." Specialist Traynor told me. The mess hall took up the space as soon as you came down the stairs. Off to the left was the kitchen, standard for most ships. A cafeteria style serving bar, behind the bar was a series of ovens, grills, two vats for boiling, a large fridge and freezer, warmers, and a small walk-in pantry for dry goods. Four prep tables set between the serving bar and the actual kitchen
The main area was taken up by 20 eight seat rectangular tables. Off to the right were soft drink machines, several commissary vending machines where the crew could get snacks and drinks, and several coolers full of fresh fruits, vegetables, milks, and juices. Finally, there was the most important thing on a warship: the coffee machines.
At the main back of the mess hall were two automatic sliding doors. In the middle of the two doors were big words: Crew Quarters. "Follow me Colonel, I'll show you the officer staterooms." I followed Traynor down a hallway that led behind the lift. It led to another hallway; this hallway looked to be at least a hundred feet long with five doors on either side and one at the main end.
"At the very end is the officer's lounge, and your quarters are at the end on the left. Now deck four has the gym, medical bay, and the crew lounge. If you'll follow me, I'll show you..." Traynor was cut off when the pa system chimed in.
"This is Chief Navigator Presley, we are clearing Artemis Station and preparing for our fist hyperlight jump, also Captain Anderson would like all new officers to come to the conference room."
"Well, I best get back to my station, we'll have to finish the tour later." Traynor said before hurrying off back to CIC. I made my way to the conference room, but not before grabbing a large cup of coffee though.
I made my way up to the conference room, reaching the door to the conference room, the door opened, and I walked in. Captain Anderson and several other members were seated around the table.
"Ah, Colonel you're just in time we're just getting started, please have a seat." Anderson says pointing at the seat at the opposite end of the table, I take the seat.
"Now first I believe introductions are in order, Nihlus would you like to begin?" The turian next to Anderson stood up, "My name is Nihlus Kryik, I am a member of the Citadel Council's Special Tactics and Recon division of citadel space security forces. I've been tasked to observe the Normandy shakedown run on behalf of the Citadel Council." Nihlus finished and sat back down in his chair.
"Thank you Nihlus." Anderson then gestured to the two marines on the other side of the table, "This is Lieutenant Commanders Johnathan and Jennifer Shepard with the Alliance Navy." Anderson gestured to the Marine next to the Shepards, "I believe most of you have already met Lieutenant Kaiden Alenko." Anderson then gestured to the UCRF female marine next to Nihlus, "This is First Sergeant Triniti Rodriguez, she's with the UCRF Marine Raiders." Sergeant Rodriguez gave a small wave, "Please just call me by my callsign 'Trudy'."
"Colonel, would you like to introduce yourself?" Anderson asked. I nodded and stood up, "Howdy, my name is Colonel Hershel Grant, I'm a senior special operator with the Special Operations and Recon Task Force, it is a pleasure to be here on the Normandy and I look forward to serving with you all." I finished my introduction and sat back down in my chair.
Anderson nodded his head, "Good, now to get onto business." Anderson pushed a few buttons on the table console and a hologram of a planet showed in the center of the table. "For the first leg of Normandy's shakedown run will be a simple pick up and drop off mission." Anderson then looked to Nihlus to take over.
"On the Systems Alliance colony Eden Prime, Archeologists have made an amazing discovery." Nihlus hit another button on the console and the hologram changed to an alien metallic pillar. "This is an artifact we believe to be from the lost prothean civilization, what's so special is it is one of the most intact artifacts ever discovered."
Anderson chimed back in, "The facilities on Eden Prime aren't equipped to handle an artifact of this scale, so we are transporting the beacon to the citadel for more in depth studies. We will arrive in three hours, dismissed."
The first thing I did after leaving the conference room was head to my quarters. I swiped my omnitool in front of the door and it slid open. I entered the room, on the right was the kitchen, just a fridge, pantry storage, stove, microwave, and counter space against the wall. A rectangle table with six chairs sat in the center. To my immediate left was a mud closet that had a washer and dryer in it. On the left wall was a large wall built in tv, a four-seat sofa and two recliners and a coffee table facing the wall.
I walked through the first half of the cabin into a hallway. There were two doors, the one on the right was the bathroom, the on the left was a room that had closet space and lockers for my weapons and gear. Exiting the hallway was the hallway was the master bedroom. On the left was a king xl, a regular king bed just 100 inches long instead of 84. A recliner sat on one side of the bed and a dress on the other side. On the right wall was two bookcases and in the middle was an entertainment center with a tv.
Setting on the bed was all my bags. I went to work putting all my clothes and gear away in the closet room and dresser. I opened one of the hard-shell suitcases that had all my books, medals, and pictures. I put them all on the bookcases and entertainment center.
I opened the last bag that had all my weapons. The first was the Republic Arms M72 assault rifle with grenade launcher. The rifle is chambered in a caseless 30-06, the grenade launcher is chambered in 30mm.
See, the UCRF still uses what most would consider traditional firearms. The main differences first are the cartridges, instead of gunpowder a gel-like explosive substance is used cutting the length of the round almost in half. The second is after the bullet leaves the cartridge and enters the barrel, magnetic coils wrapped around the barrel accelerate the bullet to nearly seven times the speed of sound. Some would consider it a drawback having to reload, but our weapons make up for it in better range, better accuracy, and with the carbon nanotube tungsten-rhenium barrels the weapons hardly ever overheat.
The next was the republic arms Biretta FPX Combat pistol in .45 acp caseless ammo in an 18 round magazine. I put my weapons in the locker and decided to take a shower.
POV John Shepard
My sister and I stood in the flat deck of the Normandy with Nihlus, Joker, and Kaiden. We were preparing to exit FTL.
"We will be exiting FTL transit to the Eden Prime System in three minutes." Joker said over the pa systems. Joker then turned around in his chair to face us.
"So, guys I just wanted to ask. Did anyone else notice just how damn tall Colonel Grant is?" Joker asked. My sister shrugged her shoulders, "I have to agree, the man is a mountain." I chuckled a little bit, "I mean for a human yeah, he's tall but he's got nothing on a Krogan." Joker chimed back in on that, "Yeah, but those guys are like mountains, if only we had one of those on this ship."
"I don't know about that, krogans tend to be unpredictable." Nihlus said. We all chuckled at that, "What we all talking about?" We all turned around to see Hershel standing behind us. "Oh, nothing much sir." I responded. "We're just waiting to exit out of FTL." Joker turned his chair back around, "Which should be in 10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1." The ship shuddered slightly as it exited FTL.
"Main thrusters... check, Navigation... check, dark matter drive in the green, all the systems in the green, drift... just under 1500 klicks."
"1500 is good, your captain will be pleased." Nihlus said before leaving the flight deck. Joker shook his head, "I swear that guy rubs me the wrong way." Kaiden looked over at Joker with a raised eyebrow, "Nihlus gave you a compliment, so you hate him."
"Not getting piss on your boots while in the bathroom, that's good. I just jumped us 8,000 light years and hit a point the size of a pinhead, that's damn near incredible. Besides, I don't like spectres, they always mean trouble, call me paranoid." Joker said.
"I think your paranoid, the council was part of this project they have the right to send someone." said Kaiden in response.
"I kinda have to agree with Joker on this one Kaiden." my sister said. "Yeah, they don't send spectres on shakedown runs." I also said.
"Yeah! Explain Hershel here! What is one of the best damn soldiers in the galaxy doing on this ship?" Joker exclaimed. We all turned to look at Hershel. Hershel held his hands up in defense, "Don't look at me, I'm just following orders."
Suddenly Captain Anderson's voice came over the flight deck comms, "Joker, status report."
"Everything's good cap, enroute to Eden Prime." Joker responded. "Good, have Hershel and the Shepards meet me in the Strategy center." Anderson said.
"Will do cap but look out I think Nihlus is heading your way." Joker responded. "He's already here Lieutenant." Joker shook his head in embarrassment, "You get that guys?"
Me and sis shook our heads as we turned to leave. "Wiseass." Hershel said as he turned to leave.
POV Hershel Grant
We reached the Strategy room, Nihlus and Anderson were already standing around the strategy table. Me, John, and Jennifer took places around the strategy table as Captain Anderson began the debrief.
"Alright, this should be a quick and easy mission, get in secure the area while the beacon is being loaded then we get out. Any questions?"
"Permission to speak freely sir?" Jennifer asked.
"Granted, Lieutenant Commander, what's on your mind?" Anderson responded.
"Well sir, it's just this whole mission seems off, the whole crew feels it. Why is a spectre here, why are two N7 marines here, why is a decorated SOAR operative here?" Jennifer asked gesturing to the soldiers in the room. I had about enough of this bullshit secrecy and decided to come out with it. "You might as well tell them Anderson."
Both Anderson and Nihlus looked a little shocked at first, Nihlus was clearly frustrated. Anderson sighed, "It's true this is more than a simple pickup mission. What we're picking up at Eden Prime is more than just an artifact, we believe it to be some kind of beacon or data archive."
The three of us stood a bit bewildered at this. To break the silence and tension Nihlus spoke up, "A discovery like this could change our complete understanding of the Protheans... what was their civilization like, and where did they go."
"That's not all, Nihlus is also here to evaluate the three of you, he wants to see you in the field."
"That explains a lot." John said, folding his arms.
Anderson continued, "The Alliance wants this, the UNSA wants a bigger part in government of citadel space and having two of our own in the rank of the spectres will show the council we're ready."
John and Jennifer looked at each other for a brief moment before looking back to Anderson. Jennifer was the first to speak, "We're honored sir, but you could have just asked us." John followed his sister's comment, "Yeah sir, but that still doesn't explain him." John said, thumbing to me. I looked over at John with a raised eyebrow.
Nihlus decided to answer this one, "The truth is, the Council feared the UCRF after the war. Antonio Ivanov had the largest military in history and control of nearly a third of the galaxy. Most military strategists thought it would take a united galaxy to just have a chance of defeating him, but the UCRF did it all on its own. So, the council decided that they would offer a chance to join the spectres to one of their soldiers as a start to an alliance, and to be honest I'm glad it was you, Colonel."
I raised my eyebrow in confusion looking at Nihlus, "Why?"
"Well Colonel, I would very much like to see if your performance in the field lives up to the legend that surrounds you." Said Nihlus. I looked sternly at Nihlus, I wanted to say something, tell him to piss off but the pa system beat me to it.
"Captain, we got a problem." Jokers voiced said over the intercom in a panicked toned voice. "What's wrong, Joker?"
"Transmission from Eden Prime. You're gonna want to see this sir."
A holographic video transmission popped up on the table. The video was shaky, and static interrupted the feed periodically, what we could see was a hail of gunfire in all directions. The camera panned to a female alliance marine running up to the person filming and telling them to get down. The video went back to intense fighting as the camera moved around violently. The feed cut to an alliance soldier requesting evac and saying they were being overrun. A deep and loud mechanical roar could be heard as all the marines stood still looking at the sky, the last thing before the feed cut out was a ship descending from the sky.
That ship in the last second of the video caught my attention, "Joker, reverse and hold the feed at 38.5 seconds." The video reversed and stopped to the image of the ship. I studied the picture; the ship was clearly alien in design, it looked part mechanical and part organic. The strangest and terrifying thing was its resemblance to a squid. 'Could it be?' I thought to myself.
I quickly turned and walked at the quickstep towards the CIC. "Colonel, what are you doing?!" I could hear Captain Anderson behind me, but I ignored it. I reached the operations table grabbing the cb radio mic, "Traynor, patch me into the entire ship!" I commanded Traynor. A first she was a little confused, but she hit a few buttons, "You're in sir!"
I held the mic up to my mouth pressing the button, "This is the XO, all hands to action stations, set condition one throughout the ship, this is not a drill. All combat ground personnel are to report to the hangar bay in 15 minutes."
Just as I finished Aderson, Nihlus, and the Shepards stormed into the CIC. "Colonel, what the hell are you doing?!" Anderson demanded as they all took their places around the table.
I pulled the still image up on the operations table. "There are only a handful of people who know about this. Six years ago, the Federation outrigged a Battlestar for deep space exploration. Three years ago, we lost contact with the ship about 1000,000 light years beyond the Milky Way. We received an image transmission before she went dark, it was a photo of a craft that looked similar to this one."
So, you think this could be the first stages of an extragalactic invasion?" Anderson asked. "I don't know captain, but I need to get down there and find out what's happening." I responded to the captain.
Nihlus crossed his arms and shook his head, "I don't know, sounds farfetched to me. More than likely it's some organization trying to get a hold of the beacon."
"Either way, we need to get down." John said. His sister nodded in agreement, "John is right, whether it's alien invasion or someone trying to steal the beacon we need to get stop it."
"Right, I'll lead the ground operation. Commanders, Nihlus, grab your gear." I said.
John and Jennifer gave a unison "Yes sir!" before turning and leaving with Nihlus in tow. "Presley! Find us a spot to land outside the colony. Traynor! I want you patched into my comms at all times." I ordered before walking off the CIC towards my room.
Getting to my room I enter my closet and strip down. I dawn my BRS87 suit, a thin neck to ankle gel suit with cooling inner lining, vital areas have thicker protection up to an inch thick, in all it can stop almost all handheld firearms. Next, I open my armor locker. I select my traditional solid black raider armor instead of my SOAR armor, so I won't stick out so much in the field. I put on my armor except for my helmet, load up with some ammo and head to the hangar bay.
I exited the lift into the hangar bay. It was a large area, on the right side were two rows of four Kodiak shuttles. To the left were a line of four armored trucks, next to them against the wall were two APCs armed with 120 mm cannons. Behind the vehicles was the staging area and arms locker. At the very back was an emergency lift that went up directly next to the med bay.
I walk over to the staging area where all the ground personnel have gathered. We were carrying a full ground assault unity of 40 marines, 20 from the alliance and 20 from the republic marine raiders. The alliance marines were finishing strapping on their armor over by the lockers, the marine raiders were standing over by the back of the APCs. The 10 human and 5 Asari raiders were wearing the same armor as mine, the 5 turian raiders were wearing armor similar to mine but designed to their species.
"Listen up Marines!" I ordered. All the soldiers in the hangar bay immediately stood at attention. "Alright, we will be inserting into a hot zone, so expect heavy enemy contact. Our primary priority is to get to the dig site and secure the beacon, secondary is to try and find out what the hell happened."
"What about survivors sir?!" Jennifer Shepard asked. "If we come across any alliance survivors, we'll link up with them, as for civilians, if they are in immediate danger, we'll provide cover fire. Until we complete our primary objectives, evacuations and rescue are a second. Understood!"
"Yes sir!" The platoon responded in unison, as I finished the lift opened and Nihlus walked out with a two spectre support operatives, a turian and an Asari.
"Nihlus, you not coming with?!" I asked. "Me and my team will move faster on our own, we'll recon ahead." He responded. I nodded as he and his squad went to the front shuttle next to the wall.
I hit a few buttons on my Omni-tool and the hangar bay doors started to open, simultaneously the marine raiders favorite song, 'Thunderstruck' by AC/DC started playing. All the marine raiders gave a cheer and some fist bumps as they fastened their helmets.
"Load up Marines! Time to get into the shit and do what we get paid for!" I yelled as I fastened my helmet, I got a big "Ooh-rah!" from the marine raiders. I walked to the front shuttle and hit the button to open the side door. When the door opened, I was greeted by a seven foot tall Enhanced Combat Humanoid. From the neck down it looked like one of us in our armor, but the head was a rectangular shape attached to a mechanical neck, in the front was a baseball sized blue light.
"Welcome Aboard, Colonel!" It said with a human-like voice that had a synthetic tone. I stepped up into the shuttle to greet my old friend, "Ethan, what the hell are you doing here!?" I asked enthusiastically as I outstretched my hand, which Ethan took and shook.
"I've been assigned to you Colonel." Ethan responded. The rest of the marines started piling into the shuttle, Trudy was the last to board our shuttle.
"You two know each other, Colonel?" Trudy asked as the shuttle door closed. "Yes ma'am, me and Ethan have been serving together for almost fifty years, we've been through a lot of shit together." I said, giving Ethan a pat on the shoulder.
Ethan made a small chuckle, "Yes, we have, Enhanced Combat Humanoid, Lance Corporal Ethan 24577564, reporting for duty." Ethan said giving a salute.
There was a slight jerk as the shuttles lifted off and exited the Normandy's hangar bay. The flight down was a bit bumpy, once we leveled out at 100 meters the left side door opened. I heard the pilot say over the comms, "Three minutes." I took a knee next to the shuttle door, all four of the shuttles were flying in unison, we were currently passing over a lake.
I whipped my head to the side when one of the rear shuttles exploded into fire and started spinning out of control. I could hear the pilot yell over the comms, "Normandy Actual, this is shuttle One we got a bird down, we have contact!"
I felt my get pulled hard back into the shuttle just as an enemy craft came up and strafed the side of our shuttle. Two of the marines got hit falling back into the shuttle, the co-pilot took a shot through the back of his seat killing him instantly. I immediately got up and stepped into the cockpit and grabbed the quarian pilot by the shoulder, "Get us on the ground now!"
"I'm trying, we're still two klicks from the nearest landing zone!" he responded, a panic in his voice. The shuttle was rocked by an explosion which threw my forward into the console. I quickly got up and felt us start to spin out of control.
"I've lost the stick, we're going down!" the pilot yelled. He unbuckled himself and grabbed his rife next to seat. I exited the cockpit, "Everyone out now!" I ordered. All the marines started jumping out of the shuttle, Ethan and the pilot were the last ones out before I jumped. I fell for half a second before hitting the water below me.
We had all landed in the lake about 100 yards offshore, the shuttle crashed into the lake a few hundred yards away from us. I look up to see the other alliance shuttle starting to spin out, smoke coming from its rear engines. I looked over to shore to see the other shuttle had made a rough landing on the shore.
"Make for the shoreline!" I yelled. We all started swimming for the shoreline. Reaching the shore, we quickly made it to the downed shuttle, marine raiders were starting to climb out of it.
"What's your status?" I asked. The asari staff sergeant saluted before speaking, "Four marines dead, shuttle is shot to shit sir."
"Gather everyone up and check for injuries." I looked down the beach head and saw the alliance shuttle that got hit first had crashed 300 yards up the beach. "Ethan, take two marines and check that shuttle for survivors."
"Yes sir!" Ethan said as he and two other marines took off running towards the crashed shuttle. Trudy walked up beside me, "This is a damn mess, Colonel."
"I know, but we still have a job to do. As soon as Ethan and the others get back, we need to group up and hoof it to dig site."
Me and Trudy heard a rustling behind us and turned around with our guns raised. Lieutenant Commander John Shepard came out from behind a bush, me and Trudy lowered our rifles. Jennifer and Kaiden along with seven other marines came out from behind the bushes and made their way towards us.
"Everyone alright John?" I asked.
"Two marines and both pilots are dead, shuttle's a wreck"
"Shit." I cursed under my breath, "Can this get any worse" I thought to myself. Just about then Ethan and the other two marines showed up.
"No survivors sir, it's a mess back there." Ethan said.
"Ok, everyone mount up and get ready to move out!" I ordered. I made a quick mental head check, 21 dead, 28 alive. Jennifer walked up beside me, "I just wonder what the hell that was, it punched right through our stealth tech."
"Sir, I managed to get some readings on that craft that attacked us." Ethan said.
I nodded, "What did ya get?"
"Well sir the readings came back as Geth." Everyone stood still and looked at Ethan. The quarian pilot approached us.
"Excuse me Colonel, Airmen First Class Cilo'Yaafal, that must be a mistake, no one has seen the geth outside the veil in over seven centuries."
"Either way, we need to get to that dig site. Move out!" I ordered.
We moved out in two lines of 14, John leading one and me leading the other. We came off the beach to head into the sparsely wooded area on the outskirts of the colony.
Nihlus radioed in, "Colonel, I saw your shuttles go down, is everything alright?"
"We took a lot of casualties Nihlus but we're still heading to the dig site." I responded over comms.
"Just keep your guard up, this colony got hit hard, hostiles are everywhere."
"Roger."
We continued forward towards the dig site; I heard a rumbling above and held my fist up for everyone to hold position. Above us an enemy craft soared past with two alliance fighters on its tail.
"Looks like the alliance is still in the fight" Kaiden said over his comms.
I radioed back to the Normandy, "Traynor, there's two alliance fighters in the colony airspace, patch me into their comms." After a few seconds of waiting, I heard some static over my comms as the pilot's radio connected. "This is Stingray 4-november, go ahead."
"Colonel Hershel Grant, 82nd SOAR battalion, acting xo of USS Normandy, what's your name son?"
"Senior Airmen Cole Davidson."
"Listen Davidson, I don't think either of us have time for an explanation, we're heading into the colony. I want you and your wingman to break off, no need for you two to get yourselves killed."
"Roger Colonel, send us the comm id for the Normandy, if ya'll need any close air support you let us know."
"Will do stingray, safe flying."
We continued moving through the wooded area, "Dig site should be one klick out." Ethan said. Up ahead I spotted a half dozen dead bodies and some crates that were on fire.
I held up my hand, "Hold position here. Ethan, Trudy on me." I pointed at John and held up two fingers then pointed towards the dead bodies. He nodded his head and turned, "Alenko, Jenkins with me."
Together, the six of us slowly made our way up to the dead bodies scanning the area for hostiles. We came to the dead bodies; I kneeled next to one of them examining his back. He had scorched bullet holes in his back.
"Looks like these might've been scientist from the dig site, shot in the back trying to flee." Just then I heard a mechanical whirring sound. I snapped my head to the noise, a dozen flying drones came through the trees. "Contact! Take cover!" I yelled.
We all dove for cover behind some boulders that were scattered about. Jenkins was too lake and was hit, "Ethan, get Jenkins!" I ordered. I popped up from behind the boulder and took aim at one of the drones. I pulled the trigger; the drone was hit and went down. I switched to another drone and fired, taking it down. I looked over and more drones started pouring out of the trees. We all kept popping out of cover and taking down a few drones until they were all down.
As soon as all the drones were down, I ran over to where Jenkins and Ethan were. Jekins was leaned against the boulder clutching his shoulder. "How is he?" I asked Ethan.
"Took a shot to the shoulder Colonel, went straight through." Ethan responded.
I nodded then looked over to Trudy, "Round up the others, we need to move." As Trudy left to get the others I turned back to Ethan. "Patch him up with medi-gel we gotta move."
After Jenkins was patched up, we resumed our formation and continued on to the dig site. About 600 meters from the dig site, we could hear some gunfire up ahead. I used the camera mounted on the side of my helmet to zoom in, 200 meters ahead I saw an alliance marine running towards us, behind her was a handful of drones.
I turned towards the platoon, "On the double marines!" We took off in formation towards the marine. They had taken cover behind a boulder and the drones were almost on her. We were about 50 meters out from her position, so I decided to take aim. I fired off several three-round bursts and managed to take out two of the drones. Others in the group did the same thing and we made short work of the drones.
We reached the marine, "You alright, marine?" I asked her. She nodded her head, "Yes sir, Gunnery Chief Ashley Williams, 1st platoon, Echo company, 212th Marine Battalion. You the one in charge?"
"Colonel Hershel Grant, 82nd SOAR battalion, what the hell happened here Williams?"
"It was the geth, Colonel."
"Guess that answers the question, Yaalaf." Trudy said to him.
"Me and my platoon were out on morning patrol, next thing we know geth dropships come down and geth start pouring all over the colony. We were overwhelmed within a few minutes; I barely made it out alive."
"Any idea if there are any survivors?" I asked her.
"I don't know, the geth hit so hard and fast. My entire company got wiped out, last I heard before comms went down was most of the battalion was gone and Major Andrews ordered to evacuate as many civilians as possible and retreat."
"We're heading to the dig site to try and find out what happened here, care to join, Williams?"
"It be my pleasure Colonel, I'm ready for some payback."
"Outstanding. Alright let's move!"
As we approached the dig site, we kept seeing pointed spires, each one had a dead colonist impaled on it, their bodies looked like they had been burned.
"What the hell did the geth do to them?" asked Alenko.
"I don't know, there's hundreds across the colony."
We finally reached the dig site, except for dozens of dead bodies, a few abandoned buildings, and more of those spires there was nothing.
"Where's the beacon?" I asked.
"I don't know, it was here this morning." Williams answered. Just then alliance marines popped out from behind crates and buildings with their guns drawn. All of us took aim and defensive position in response.
"Guns down marines, they're friendlies." I ordered. Both us and the alliance marines lowered our weapons. One of the marines approached me, "Captain Nathan Steele, Bravo company, you guys the reinforcements?"
"I guess you could say that." I answered, "What happened to the beacon?"
"We were ordered to move it to the spaceport early this morning, my company was guarding it waiting for pickup. Then the damned geth showed up with that mothership, attacked us with battalion strength, tried to hold them off but it was a slaughter. We're down to barely platoon strength."
"Looks like we need to get to the spaceport, we could use the guns if you'd like to join us Captain."
"Will do, Colonel."
We headed up into the main camp just above the dig site, "This place got hit hard, Colonel." Ethan said over comms. There were more of them spires with dead bodies impaled on them. "Keep your guard up ya'll" I said.
Electrical sparks started coming off the charred bodies impaled on the spikes, then they all started lowering as the bodies began twitching. "You gotta be fucking kidding me." I said, we all raised our guns prepared for a fight. A crash and loud moaning came from behind a building, well over a hundred of zombified colonist spilled out like a raging river. They all took off running full speed towards us.
"Everyone fucking run!" I ordered. We all took off running, some of the alliance marines unfortunately got trampled by packs. I took up the rear to make sure no one else fell behind. I turned and fired off a round from my grenade launcher, it took out a few of them but they were still coming at us. I decided to radio into the Normandy.
"Normandy! This is Grant, we have a massive group of hostiles on our position, in need of immediate air support!"
"Roger, we have your position marked. Ordnance incoming in 20 seconds."
"Everyone keep running, air support is coming!" I yelled over comms. We kept running, these mutated creatures were insanely fast though. Exactly 20 seconds later the two-alliance fighters came in low behind us. Each launched a missile that hit the middle of the horde. The blast sent dozens of creatures flying, when the smoke started clearing there were only a few dozen left. We formed a firing line and started taking out the ones that were left. Once the last one was down, we stopped firing.
"What the fuck was that?!" Jennifer exclaimed.
"I don't know, but we gotta get to the spaceport, let's move." I ordered. We kept moving to the spaceport, we all made sure to keep our guard in case any more of them things showed up. After several minutes of moving, we reached the top of a hill that led down into the main dock of the spaceport. "Everyone hold position, Ethan do a quick scan of the area see there are any hostiles." Ethan does as I ordered and scans the area, "Sir I don't detect any hostiles, but I see Nihlus, he's down."
"Ok, let's move people, Doc you're on me." I say, we all move down into the spaceport. "Take up defensive positions, keep an eye out for hostiles." I order. The platoon medic, I, and both Shepards move to Nihlus. The medic scans over Nihlus with his omni-tool, "He's got a gunshot wound to the lower right of the back of his head, it was close range, shields took most of it." The doc did another scan of Nihlus, "He's got a pulse but it's faint."
"Ok, take a squad and get him somewhere safe." I say, the doc seals Nihlus' wound with Medi-gel and puts him on a stretcher. He and four marines take Nihlus off into the woods surrounding the dock.
I feel a tap on my shoulder, I turn around to see Trudy. "Colonel, some of the guys found this dock worker hiding behind some crates, figured you'd want to talk to him."
"I would, go check on everyone, I'll let you know when it's time to move"
"Yes sir" Trudy said with a salute before walking off.
I walked up to the dock worker; he was sitting on a crate with two alliance marines next to him. "What's your name son?" I asked him.
"M... Miles... Miles Younce." He answered, his voice and body were shaky.
"Take a deep breath kid. Now Miles, tell me what happened here, everything you can remember." Miles took a deep breath and closed his eyes for a few seconds before talking.
"I was in the middle of my shift this morning, loading crates on the tram like I always do. Next thing I know geth just start pouring out of nowhere and started killing everyone. If I hadn't been behind the crates, I would've been dead too." Miles said on the verge of tears.
"It's ok Miles, now tell me did you see what happened to the Turian that was shot?"
"Yeah, he showed up a few minutes before you all did. He and two others were scouting the place out. Then this other Turian showed up, a big scary looking guy, your friend seemed to know him, called him Saren. When his back was turned that Saren guy shot him right in the back of the head, geth killed the other two."
Saren, I had remembered reading about him, kind of a legend in the spectres. But he is also known for his ruthlessness and cruelty, doing whatever it takes to get the job done. But why is he here and why would he try to kill Nihlus.
"One more question Miles, where is the beacon?"
"That damned thing, everything has gone to hell since they found it. It's over on dock 4, just take the tram to the end of the line. Hey, that Saren guy he went that way to."
So, Saren is after the beacon.
"Alright kid, get out of here." Miles got up and ran, probably as far away from here as possible. I put my hands on my hip and shook my head. Nothing about this makes any sense.
A low-pitched mechanical roar rang out, me and everyone else turned our heads to the massive alien ship as it lifted off into the sky. Suddenly an explosion went off a few feet from me throwing me to the ground. I was slightly dazed by the blast, but I could hear gunfire and yelling. I sat up and looked to where I had been standing, the two marines lay on the ground, blood pooling under them from the shrapnel.
"Colonel!" I turned my head to see Trudy behind a crate. "Colonel, get to cover!" I quickly got to my feet and ran over to the crate where Trudy was and took cover. "What was that?!" I asked her.
She pointed up and I followed her finger to the top of the dock crane, "Geth rocket trooper, we also got a platoon of heavy geth infantry on us!" Just then two more rockets hit exploding.
"We gotta take that rocket or we're sitting ducks!"
"We can't, it's got a stationary shield generator, and no one can get a clear shot at it!"
I looked over at the crane to see anything that might help us, at the back of the crane I saw the emergency ladder.
"I think I got an idea, cover me!" I said as I got up and started running.
"Cover the Colonel!" I heard Trudy yell. I reached the base of the ladder, I looked up, the crane must be at least 50 feet. I start climbing, thanks to my SOAR upgrades I reach the top in just 10 seconds.
At the end of the scaffolding deck was the rocket trooper. I load a grenade into my launcher and take aim. I fire and the grenade explodes killing the geths shields and knocking him forward a bit. I unholster my pistol and start running at the geth firing as I do. The geth tries to get a shot off at me, before it can I reach him and hit it in the midsection with my shoulder wrapping my arms around it.
We go off the top of the crane falling to the ground. We hit a stack of crates shattering them. The geth starts to try and get up but I quickly jump on, I force my hand into its 'eye' socket and rip it out, the geth goes dead after that. The firefight was still going on, so I get up and ran behind some crates taking cover. From then we're able to take care of the geth infantry.
After the fight we all came out of cover. Trudy called over to me, "You alright Colonel?"
"Yeah, trust me I've been through way worst." I said. I could hear Ethans synthetic laugh, "Same old Hershel, still a crazy son of a bitch." I chuckled at Ethans comment.
"Sir!" I heard John's voice. I turned to face him, "What is it, Commander?"
"This tram car can only hold about 20 of us."
I turned to Trudy and Ethan, "Get the rest of the raiders and Alenko, Williams and Jennifer on the tram." They saluted and walked off. I walked over to Captain Steele, "Captain, I'm giving you the comm frequency for the Normandy, take the wounded and rendezvous with them."
"Yes sir, you all be safe." He said holding out his hand, I took it and shook it. "Will do Captain." I sent him the comm frequency and left to get on the tram.
The tram ride was mostly uneventful, we all checked our ammo to make sure we were good. When we were just a few hundred yards out from docking bay 4 Ethan spoke up. "Colonel, I'm detecting radiological signals from three thermonuclear devices." We all instantly became alarmed. "Oh shit, they're going to blow the colony." Jennifer said.
I turned to Alenko, "Lieutenant, I want you and Ethan to disarm those bombs, everyone else cover them." We all got ready as the tram pulled in. As soon as the tram stopped, we rushed off onto the platform. "First bomb is 40 meters ahead." said Ethan.
"Everyone chose your shots and move from cover to cover!" I ordered. We started moving forward down the tram and geth troopers started firing at us. We moved slowly, moving from crate to crate, only popping out when we hand clear shots.
We reached the first bomb and Ethan and Alenko get to work disarming it as we all provide cover fire. "Bombs dead, next is 35 meters!" Ethan says. We repeat our process moving cover to cover until we reach the second bomb. When we reach the second bomb, Ethan and Alenko disarm it.
We shoot our way through to the last bomb. Alenko and Ethan get to work disarming it. "Last bomb's dead Colonel" Ethan said. There were still a handful of geth left between us and the beacon. We moved forward making short work of the last of the geth.
When the last geth was down we rushed over to the platform where the beacon was. "Set up a perimeter." I order. I open my comms and radio the Normandy. "Normandy, this is Grant, we have the package requesting pickup."
Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Williams being pulled to the beacon by some kind of forcefield. I turned to grab her, but John was already on her. "Commander wait!" It was too late; John threw Williams out of the way and was pulled up off the ground. After being suspended in the air for a few seconds the beacon exploded, and John was thrown to the ground.
Authors Note: This is the end of the first chapter. I hope you all like it, this is my first try at a Fanfiction. I'll try to have chapter two out before the end of the year. As always Mass Effect is property of BioWare.
AN: Sorry if you all see this chapter get reuploaded twice, I fixed some errors I saw and also one of the files didn't save correctly.