I don't own the setting, Bioware does.

Elysium
2 Hours Into Invasion

Smoke billowed over the capital as weapons fire was traded between its defenders and the raider forces working their way inward. The whine of alarms rang over the city as fire-teams on both sides maneuvered to counter the movements of their opponents.

What Marc Shepard was focused on however was the volume of fire being directed in his direction as he took cover behind a wall. The sound of concrete and steel being chipped away hammered into the lieutenant as he pulled up the optics attached to his assault rifle on his visor. Sticking the weapon above the lip of the wall he caught two of the raiders out of cover and snapped off a pair of shots, taking the two down.

"Nice shots," Garrus trilled as he fired one of his own down the street at another raider running towards their two downed compatriots, cracking through the unfortunate soul's armor.

"Same to you!" Shepard called back, moving behind the wall toward a shot up car. "Two more at 3 o'clock moving on your position." Grabbing a couple of grenades off Private Kearn's body, he tossed one over the wall in the direction his sensor suite indicated. And was rewarded moments later by several shouts, silenced as the grenade went off.

"Already caught sight of them on my HUD. I think they'll enjoy the trap I prepared for them." Another crack rang out over the din of battle as Garrus took care of another aggressor. Followed shortly by an explosion and rumble as the explosive device he must have set up collapsed a wall on the pair. "They aren't putting up much of a complaint from where I'm lying." Once more the sound of the Mantis sniper rifle rose above the din, accompanied by a scream.

Popping up out of cover, Shepard let loose several bursts from his assault rifle, clipping one of the raiders and sending another few into cover. Only to be greeted by a biotic charge from another one, driving him back several feet. Grunting at the impact, he activated his back thrusters steadying himself, even as the large figure charged forward.

Shepard's response was to ball up his right hand and activate the modified barrier system in his gauntlet, in a split second creating a hexagonal kinetic barrier. Dropping to his knee, he drove the barrier into the ground while sending an electric current through the shield. His opponent slammed into it a moment later, receiving a nasty shock for his efforts. And then had his body crushed as Shepard slammed the shield into him, armor reinforcing natural strength.

Grabbing his assault rifle he fired another burst at one of the raiders who was taking the opportunity to advance on him. Rolling once more into cover behind the destroyed car, he snapped off a couple more shots to keep the foe under pressure while priming a grenade with the other hand. Tossing it towards the suppressed troops he continued pouring fire onto their position, overheating the rifle as the grenade went off taking that unit out.

"Very nice. Looks like they're falling back again." Garrus called over the comm. "Any idea how Tursis and the others are holding out?"

Grabbing another power pack off Kearn and his rifle, Shepard scanned the field before replying. "It sounded like they managed to reinforce that other defense team in time. Someone else went down, but they came under fire before I could ask who it was." Glancing at the downed vanguard, he approached the body. "Keep an eye out. I want to check on something."

"Copy that. You're checking to see who these guys are?"

"Something like that." Shepard said while kneeling down to inspect the corpse before him. Clearly a batarian from the profile and stature, Shepard began fiddling with the side of its helmet. "I told you about husks right?"

"I believe the phrase was 'cybernetic monstrosities', but the idea comes across well enough. I take it you're seeing if these guys are just disguised a bit better?"

"Yeah. If Sovereign is here, then I'm wondering why we haven't seen any. Unless they're being used elsewhere." Finally Shepard found the clasp holding the helmet in place. And was disappointed when only some moderate cybernetic enhancements were apparent. "These guys aren't husks though. Or at least this one isn't, it looks like he only has some form of cyber-enhancements."

"Why would they not use husks though?" Garrus called out, even as Shepard's radar pegged him as approaching the two bodies he'd taken out with that last trap.

"I'm not sure." Shepard said while stripping the armor off the batarian vanguard. And finding only more advanced cybernetics. "It could be that Sovereign is trying to keep us off our guard by not throwing husks at us. I mean, we'd be hard pressed to hold off a couple of brutes here."

Even as he said it Shepard grimaced. Every human knew that things went wrong saying something like that. And so he immediately went on alert, scanning the area around him. And was pleasantly surprised when nothing immediately appeared to punish him for his transgression against Murphy.

He had only just relaxed his guard when a roar came from down the street, and a hulking mass appeared. It wasn't a brute, not quite. But it had clearly been a krogan at one point. Arms and legs had been replaced by cybernetics and something had been done to its hump, but analysis of the new foe could wait until later.

"Of course." He groaned out, even as he raised his rifle and began pouring fire into the beast, its shields flaring as it began moving towards him. Two sniper shots rang out, pausing its progress, giving Shepard an opportunity to launch an incendiary rocket at the thing from his left gauntlet.

But even as flames consumed the monstrosity, it leaned towards him and launch a salvo of rockets of its own from its back, collapsing shortly afterward.

"Well crap." Breaking into a run, he dived behind the wall as the rockets rained down around him. Luckily they were relatively low-yield, so he was only buffeted around a bit. Enough to knock his shields out and leave bruises for later, but not enough to cause damage to his armor.

"You alright Shepard?" Garrus called out over the channel, as another crack rang out signaling more raiders had arrived. "There's another one of those brutes, and I'd rather not have to deal with the platoon behind it while I save your ass."

"Yeah, I'll be fine." Pushing himself up, Shepard grabbed his rifle and ran to the nearest available cover. "And those aren't brutes. But we can come up with a new name later. Let's focus on holding this position for now."

"Roger." Another crack. And Shepard popped out of cover to add his own fire to the resuming battle.

"Full salvo on C-14. I want us to finally have an open firing lane on Sovereign for the particle cannon. We can only count on one shot against it." Captain Jacobs shouted out the order as Belleporphon command team bustled around their stations. Belleporphon had taken a few hits through resonance nodes, but it had fared better than Orion.

Captain Robert's vessel had been an immediate target of Sovereign's. And unfortunately it had taken damage to the primary transformers which regulated the particle cannon's channeling mechanisms. Which meant that the Orion had lost its main gun, because they would not be able to fire it without running the risk of a feedback loop to the subspace core. And nobody wanted that to occur.

With Orion crippled, the battle was not going well for either side. The Alliance and turian forces had the technical edge and were doing a number on their counterparts, when combined with the coordination both groups had with each other thanks to training exercises, they nearly managed to even the odds against them.

But only nearly. The raider ships were well armed and held the numbers advantage, but alone they would have been turned into nothing more than orbital debris.

But Sovereign was in their midst. And it was coordinating them. Using them as shields against the fire that the defending forces could bring to bear. When one of the raiders fell, another would move in to take its place without hesitation.

It was infuriating. Twice the Alliance had managed to clear a path for the Belleporphon's main gun. And both times the ship had been focused on another target, unable to bring its particle cannon on the Reaper. By the time Belleporphon had managed to swing towards the Reaper another of its escorts had maneuvered into the shot.

What was worse however was that Nazara's main gun was capable of piercing kinetic shields. Ten cruisers had already fallen to it, and they had inflicted minimal damage in return. Hermes and the other AIs in the fleet had come to the conclusion that it was due to the thermal energy accompanying the stream creating an artificial resonance node in the shield at the point of impact. Which was not information that needed to be spread around the galaxy. Fortunately the suicidal tendencies of Sovereign's escorts meant it wasn't likely to spread quickly.

That information needed to get back to Alliance Command. Already Tyson had dispatched one of its escort frigates to one of the outer planets and was relaying as much information as possible to it from their position on the other side of the planet. They hadn't been threatened by any of the attacking ships, and so were able to provide up to the second info on enemy movements both in space and on the ground.

The ground battle was fortunately tilted in the Alliance's favor. Most of the enemy had landed around the capitol of Elysium, which had managed to raise most of its defenses before the assault began. Sheer numbers however had pushed most of the defenders back with just a few bright spots scattered throughout the cityscape.

The lines were being pushed back. But if the fleet failed to keep the raider warships and Sovereign from bearing their might on Elysium… Well, Roberts didn't want to think about what would occur to the souls on its surface.

"C-14 is breaking apart Captain! C-62 is moving to replace it; and F-54, 72, 85, 114 and C-75 and C-36 are moving to intercept us." Came the call from tactical.

"Can we get a clear shot off with the particle cannon on Sovereign?" Glancing at the holo-display he watched as six of the angry red dots moved towards their position. And another of the red dots moved in to replace its fallen comrade.

"Negative Captain. And if those ships are able to focus their fire they may be able to take us out."

"Dammit. Focus on the incoming forces. Relay orders to Tyson, have a few of our cruisers start clearing away the enemy fleet from Sovereign."

"Yes Sir!"

The Belleporphon heaved once more as secondary mass-drivers began directing their fire against the incoming raiders, warding them off. Keeping them moving so they could not coordinate their movements and fire with impunity.

And Captain Roberts stared at the holographic display of Sovereign as the monster continued to tear through humanity's defenders for some inscrutable reason.

"Red-Five, Bandit 2-10 is on your left flank, take it out then form up for another run on F-23."

"Copy that Leader, they'll be debris in no time." In moments blaster fire consumed the raider fighter, melting it to pieces in moments. "Forming up."

Whereas the larger ships and ground forces found themselves evenly matched, the Alliance fighters were ripping through their raider counterparts. Slicing between the behemoths engaged in slugging matches, the Alliance fighter jocks kept the gnats from picking into their charges.

Mobility and firepower were the keys to victory at this level. Moving swiftly to neutralize threats that arose, the various squadrons were being coordinated through the Tyson's command center. Picking off the rare raider vessel that was attempting to withdraw, or pushing a cruiser into a better line of fire for the defending cruisers. All the while annihilating whatever foe their size got in their way.

Losses were few and far between, but that was due to the focus the main-line vessels drew. Should the fleet fall, the fighter jocks would be knocked out of the sky in a heartbeat.

Which only increased the importance of this particular run.

"Right, keep a few missiles in reserve, but let's knock this bastard out of the fight."

A chorus of cheers came over the comm as the squadron entered their final approach. And then proceeded to launch a wave of fire against the intruder. Missiles and fighters broke and swerved as the vessel tried to drive them away, even as they opened fire with their primary guns.

Seconds later the volume of fire unleashed tore into the hapless ship. Missiles broke against gun turrets as blaster fire slagged armor. Gouts of fire broke out as super-heated atmosphere ignited nearby combustibles. And at the rear of the ship engines flickered as fuel and power lines were disrupted by lucky blaster shots.

Cheers rose once more through the squadron comm net, even as they circled back to strike again. Other squadrons were experiencing similar successes throughout the battle. But even as they turned once more on their prey, Sovereign loomed on the horizon.

Glowing red, its tendrils extended once more toward an Alliance cruiser, Shadows at Dawn. It was already under fire from several of the raider vessels, but it had now gained Nazara's attention. A moment later, the main gun of the Reaper fired.

For a second, Shadows' shield held even as it began glowing in a bright gold hue. And then there was a flash as the shield simply shattered, releasing a wave of thermal and electromagnetic energy throughout the battlefield. Seconds later the beam of molten metal broke through the other side of the vessel, and Sovereign began carving a path through the ship. Life-pods broke away, even as it continued firing in its death throes, defiant to the end.

And then it began to break apart. Fusion core venting through the parts of the ship most damaged and close to it. Still it continued firing on the foes surrounding it, lashing out with the last of its strength and inflicting severe damage to two of them. Before the surrounding invaders silenced it forever.

Red Squadron had in that time dispatched their target, and begun working their way towards their next objective. Silencing what few raider fighters remained in their paths, the hounds of war began tracking their new prey.

Striving to do enough damage so that the fleet may hold on just a little longer.

Author's Note: I'm not dead yet. Just very busy. So back at the beginning of April, I started a new job. Huzzah! Long hours and just kind of mentally fatiguing. Couple that with some intense writer's block, and you get a chapter that refuses to be written. But hey, I get to see how sausage is made now (that's a historical reference). So the pace will be slow until November - December.

Seriously, this chapter and the other two I've been working on just haven't clicked the way that the others have. This one I just don't like where I leave it, mostly because I have more planned out for it. But it hasn't been coming out like I want, and I'd like to give you something.

Now then, on to reviews.

To the first Guest asking about how changes are going to be handled. Humanity, quarians, and batarians are the 3 species that have been most affected by the changes that have occurred at this point. The asari and salarians are next in terms of cultural and military impact, with the rest of the species relatively unaffected (Krogan are too disorganized to have been impacted). Turians just shrugged and went "We get to build more ships? Awesome, already planned on doing that." As for Shepard, different families have different opinions and such, not everyone is going to want to go into the military, especially with the crap that hits Shepard. Changes are going to start piling up, it's just that so far things have not appeared to stray too far. Well... I guess this is the tipping point.

To the second long guest review, screw off. Yes. I completed my under-grad work. I wasn't the best student, but I understood what was being talked about, the math at quantum just gives me a headache. And at that point it's all math and flipping between mathematical notations (seriously, Dirac notation is a pain to grasp for me).

As for your complaints about AI, I disagree. I don't think there is any evidence that we would simply enslave AI's in this day and age. More specifically, I like the approach that Questionable Content takes. They are people, different people, but still people. I swear, I ought to put up a fricken' bullet on my profile in bold that says "I don't agree with either Evil AI and human enslavement of AI because they are overused and obnoxiously ignorant of actual political moral theory."

As to your technology complaints, I somehow don't think you made it past chapter one. We either don't have that technology, or it simply does not use eezo to work. Laser assemblies? Regenerative armor? Neither of those appear at all. Nano-manufacturing is something which already exists in ME, it's in the damn omni-tools. Fighters in ME are insanely maneuverable thanks to manipulating mass fields. ME has laser weapons, it's just humanity here focuses them for greater range with gravitational lensing, something the ME universe could do. Physical energy barriers? Kinetic barriers. Again, humanity just does not rely on eezo when making things as we have a theoretical underpinning to gravitational manipulation in this story. Your complaint here is just that I don't use eezo.

The only exceptions to the "ME races could do it with eezo" are wormholes (which are theoretical), hyperdrive, and sub-space cores (which I have an explanation for, just have not put it in because it hasn't been necessary or proper).

Phew. Ranting done.

Reikson, just haven't hit them yet (well, Dis was hit with some Ion-Cannon strikes, but Leviathans be chillin' and humanity isn't actively hunting them yet.)