A/N: Hey guys Welcome back! Sorry it took so long… to many ideas swimming in my head. Anyways to not keep you any longer I will leave you to the story. Enjoy.
Just keep moving. Move on. Don't look back. Learn. Experience. Learn. Move on. Fight Live.
Shepard kept chanting in her head. Advice she had received so long ago, still kept her vigilant and strong; Advice that was repeated maybe one time too many.
Losing Jenkins had hit the Commander hard. He was born on Eden Prime, looks like he now died on it. Such cruel irony-if it is any irony at all. Jenkins was a good man, a great soldier. Jenkins might have been a little too green for her tastes, but she thought that with experience, Jenkins could have been… great.
The commander called in the Normandy for Jenkins, while Kaidan dragged Jenkins' body onto the side, taking his tags with him before he stood up.
"Commander," the biotic held up his hand with the tags, "He was a great kid."
Taking the outstretched tags in hand, Shepard looked them over and read the name printed: Richard L. Jenkins. "A great man." She corrected. A silence fell upon the two soldiers. They will pay for this Thought Shepard. Clenching the tags in hand, the commander ordered the biotic to continue move on, continue the mission.
Quickly moving on, the duo made quick work of the incoming drones ahead. After the firefight had settled down Nihilus decided to check in.
"I've got some burned out buildings here Shepard. A lot of bodies. I'm going to check it out."
"Acknowledged," Shepard replied, "We're down one man; Jenkins-Drone fire."
There was a pause on the intercom before the Spectre softly replied, "I'm sorry Jane…He was a good kid. He-"Nihilus was silent contemplated his next words, "He would have been a great soldier."
In retaliation, Jane joked, "If only he learned to duck."
The breath-like laugh Nihilus gave way could be heard over the com. "Only you can make a dark place brighter. Ok, it's my turn." Nihilus gave a heavy sigh, "And Jane? I get it. This place, this darkness that has come over this place, it gives me the 'creeps' feeling as well, but we have to finish the mission. I'll try to catch up to you at the dig site. Nihilus out."
The commander could not help but let out a sigh at the end of the conversation. Kaidan seemed to have buised himself with lookout duty, for which Shepard was truly grateful. Signaling to move ahead, she flashed him a smile in which he quickly returned.
It was not much further till the dig site when they heard gunshots up ahead, causing the to soldiers to duck behind cover.
A colorful array of curses known only in the Alliance military escaped the lips of the marine as she ran for her life. On her tail were a couple of aerial drones, their rapid fire cannons giving the soldier's feet more incentive to move faster. A shot slammed into her shields, taking another chunk out of it and eliciting another string of curse words from her mouth. It was then that she tripped. Now at this point, most soldiers would be dead.
But Gunnery Chief Ashley Williams wasn't most soldiers.
Immediately after falling to the ground, she rolled onto her back with her pistol primed and ready. She started shooting at the recon drones, which thankfully weren't all that sturdy as they quickly exploded into showers of sparks and scrap metal. Williams took a few breaths as she got up, hearing the familiar and all-too-welcome hum of her shields recharging. However, her adrenaline began kicking in again as she saw something further up the hill.
It was another human, civilian judging from the clothes, being manhandled by two more of those...things. The civvie must've been injured, due to a pained expression, and was either too injured, too tired, or both to fight back as he was placed on top of a strange device.
Then, with a sickening sound of skin, flesh and bone being torn asunder, a long spike suddenly erupted from the device, impaling the hapless man right through the chest. The only thing keeping Ashley from vomiting at the sight was her realization that the two synthetic creatures had spotted her. Not having time to throw up, she ran off down the path and took cover behind a boulder, just as the abominations began shooting. She took out her assault rifle and got ready to return fire
The fight was impressive, to say at the least, and that counted in Shepard's books. With the threat of the Geth troopers taken care of, the biotic and the commander walked up to their fellow comrade.
"You alright, marine?" Kaidan asked.
"Just Fine. Apreciate the help though." She replied, catching her breath.
Time for introductions,. "You got a name, soldier?" asked Shepard.
It was then that she regained her composure noticing the commander and nervously saluted. "Gunnery Chief Ashley Williams of the 212, ma'am!"
"At ease." The Commander replied. "Give me a sit-rep."
"Oh man, where do I begin?" Ashley began. "My unit and I were on perimeter patrol when the attack hit. We tried to send a distress signal but they cut off our communications. I've been fighting for my life ever since."
"Where's the rest of your unit?" Kaidan asked. Ashley dipped her head in grief.
"Dead. I'm the only one left." Ashley replied. It was then that the Commander looked over her shoulder back at the downed hostiles.
"What do you think we are we fighting here?" the spartan asked.
"Geth, I think." Ashley simply answered.
"The Geth haven't left the Perseus Veil in over three hundred years. Why would they leave now?" Kaidan asked skeptically.
"They must be here for the beacon." Ashley replied.
"Where is it?" Shepard asked.
"The dig site is just over that rise. It might still be there." Ashley said as she pointed in the mentioned direction.
"You're welcome to join us, Williams." Shepard said with a nod.
"That's all I ask for, Commander." Ashley said. "It's time for some payback."
Wow. Finally got it done… ok I sorta noticed something about this chapter while I was writing it. The word count was exactly… wait for it! 999 words! OMG! Ok now to the next chapter! Thank you all for reading and please Review! It helps no matter what! sorry its short!