BOLD - Author's Comments
ITALICS - The person's thoughts, always the person that is narrating.
"QUOTES" - What the person is actually saying. Italics might be used to emphasize certain words, but not all of if like thoughts would do.
Yup, some action at last. I was on a roll and decided to churn out a chapter. Will try to get as much out before the roll turns into a slump. Feedback is appreciated, it IS my first fanfiction after all.
Chapter 3: Trouble in Eden
Dakkben's Perspective
In that moment, I was both enraged and fearful. I took another look at the massive dreadnought devastating the colony with what seems to be red arcs of energy, not lasers, but something more terrifying. I saw a flash of pink and white to my left, I quickly turned to that direction and saw Ash taking over near an overturned grizzly. I break into a sprint to take cover next to her.
"What the fuck is going on, Ash!" I yell, barely making my voice loud enough to be heard over gunfire.
"We're being invaded by the fucking Geth! That's what!" she yelled back as she popped out of cover to fire on one of the Geth Troopers.
"Did we get a message out for reinforcements?" I replied back as I managed to take down two Geth Troopers before retreating back to cover just as my shields fails.
"I don't know! All communications was disabled in the initial attack!" Ash replied as she rolled out of cover to another building while I fired at the Geth to provide covering fire. She signaled me to move to her position as she moved to provide me covering fire. I ran as fast as I can, easily covering the distance before sliding to a halt to take cover alongside Ash. In almost an instant, I heard the rumbling sound of an Alliance ship, I tapped Ash's shoulder to get her attention, she looked at me, then I pointed in the direction I heard the ship from and say "I think there's a ship over there, we might be able to get reinforcements after all!" She nodded and gave a signal so we both ran in the direction I was pointing at. Several Geth Drones chased us while we were running and I flipped backwards into a slide to shoot the Drones, along with Ash. I saw two Geth Troopers dragging a man, the poor guy was blubbering until I realized it was Leroy! Shit, poor Leroy, karma's a bitch! I turn to see Ash, she was furious! I quickly moved to get Ash's attention before she does something rash. But before I could say anything, Ash suddenly screamed. I turn back to look at the Geth Troopers to see they had tossed Leroy onto some kind of metal spike, impaling him in the gut. The two Geth Troopers immediately turned to our direction and started to fire at us. Shit! They heard Ash! Shiiiiiiit! We both took cover behind a boulder, taking turns to pop out of cover to fire on the Geth, which is immediately joined by several other Geth Troopers. I heard footsteps from behind. Shit! They flanked us! I quickly turn behind to shoot, but was surprised to see two Alliance marines, one of which had a N7 insignia on his right side of his armor. Whoever this guy is, he must be a tough one! I signal him to come closer as me and Ash along with two new marines combined our firepower, easily making short work of the Geth Troopers.
I let out an exhale in a sigh, Ash glanced over to me and gave me a nod. She turned to face the N7 marine and said "Gunnery Chief Ashley Williams of the 212. You the one in charge here, sir?"
The N7 marine only replied "Are you wounded, Williams?"
She replied "A few scrapes and burns. Nothing serious. The others weren't so lucky."
The N7 marine glanced over to me and said "How about you, soldier?".
"Fine, considering that everyone else either gunned down or impaled onto those spikes" I replied as I pointed to the metallic spike behind me with Leroy's body impaled onto it. "Oh, yeah. Name's Slade, Serviceman Slade, sir." I added.
Ash said "Oh, man...We were patrolling the perimeter when the attack hit. We tried to get off a distress call, but they cut off our communications. We've been fighting for our lives ever since." I simply nodded along with her statement.
The N7 marine asked "Any idea what kind of enemy we're facing?"
Ash only replied "I think they're Geth".
"Well, flashlight heads are pretty obvious sign isn't it?" I said as I pointed at my own head for emphasis.
The N7 marine chuckled softly as the second marine said "The Geth haven't been seen outside the veil in nearly 300 years. Why are they here now?"
"They must have come for the beacon" Ash replied.
Oh, right, advanced technology, very valuable, and dangerous in wrong hands.
"The dig site is close. Just over that rise. It might be still there" Ash continued as she pointed in the direction of the dig site.
The N7 marine nodded and said "We could use your help, Williams and Slade".
I gave an affirmative nod and Ash replied "Aye, aye, sir. Its time for payback".
The N7 marine then ordered us to move out.
"Sir? You mind telling us your names though, don't want to know you as 'that N7 marine' you know?" I asked as I moved alongside the N7 marine.
He chuckled softly and replied "Name's John Shepard, he's Kaiden Alenko" as he pointed at the other marine, identified as Kaiden Alenko. I nod as we move further to the dig site.
John Shepard...isn't he the Lion of Elysium? Huh, he might be the marine the Illusive Man talked about.
As we moved closer to the dig site, we encountered several Geth Troopers. I took cover next to Kaiden, concentrating fire on a Geth Trooper. My shields started failing so I ducked back in cover in time to see Kaiden glowing blue for a brief second before the Geth Trooper I was shooting started floating! I immediately popped out of cover to take out the floating Geth Trooper. I noticed Kaiden was a bit winded.
"You allright, Kaiden?" I asked him.
"F-fine, kid. L2 implants are always a bitch when you overuse for a bit. Shepard's lucky he got L3." he replied as he stood fully upwards, gave a shrug and began to follow Shepard. I followed Kaiden but one thing that stuck. Kid? Did he call me a kid? I sighed as we got into the dig site, but there was no beacon.
"This is the dig site. The beacon was right here. It must have been moved." Ash said.
"You think there might be evidence in the research camp if they moved it?" I asked Ash.
She nodded and replied "Maybe, there might be even survivors there too. It's just on the top of the ridge. Up the ramps."
I simply nod in agreement. I heard over the comlinks, a flanged voice ordering Shepard to head to the spaceport. Is that...? A turian? Doesn't matter I thought to myself as I shook my head. We arrived at the camp.
"Shit, they hit the camp, hard" I said as Ashley nodded in agreement.
"Its a good place for an ambush. Keep your guard up" Kaiden said from behind. I looked around at the spikes with bodies impaled onto them, some of them still twitching. Suddenly, the metallic spikes retracted and the body of a dead colonist got of an started stumbling towards us. I can hear Kaiden shouting as I shouldered my assault rifle and blasted at the changed colonist roaring at us. It was ripped in half before letting out a gurgle. I can see other metal spikes retracting.
"Guns out! Not friendly! Repeat, not friendly!" I shouted as more of the other changed colonists tried to swarm us.
"What the hell is that!" Kaiden yelled at us while poking the corpse of a dead changed colonists.
"They seems to be colonists, changed somehow into husks of their former selves" I replied as I noticed Shepard signaled us to follow. I simply patted Kaiden on his shoulder and turned to follow Shepard with Kaiden close behind. We noticed the massive dreadnought and I heard Ash say "Its a ship. Look at the size of it!"
"Yeah, but it doesn't match any known Geth designs..." I commented to myself.
What if...that thing is a Reaper? Aw shit.
The dreadnought slowly raised, arcing red energy and smoke as it left the atmosphere. We ran close into the spaceport and fought several Geths and Husks as we got closer in. I noticed a dead body of a turian.
Might have been the one talking to Shepard earlier.
Kaiden crouched near the turian to check if he was alive.
"You know him?" I asked Shepard.
He nodded as Kaiden spoke up "He's a Spectre. He works with us on the Nor-". But before he could finish, Ash shouted "Something's moving! Over behind these crates!"
At these words, I immediately aimed my assault rifle to the crates.
The Nor-? Does he mean the Normandy?
"If you are friendly, show yourself!" I shouted.
A colonist quickly ran up to us shouting "Wait! Don't-dont't shoot! I'm one of you! I'm human".
"What are you doing sneaking around back there?" Shepard asked the colonist.
"I...I'm sorry. I was hiding from these creatures." he replied. I sighed as I lowered my assault rifle along with everyone else.
"My name's Powell. I saw what happened to that turian. The other one shot him" the colonist now known as Powell said.
"Wait a minute, you say he was shot by another turian? Not Geth?" I asked him, curious of his response.
"The other one got here first. He was waiting when your friend showed up. He called him Saren. I think they knew eachother" Powell answered. "Your friend seemed to relax. He let his guard down..and Saren killed him. Shot him, right in the back. I'm just lucky he didn't see me behind the crates" he added as he shook his head.
"Where'd Saren go when he killed Nihlus?" Shepard asked.
"He jumped on the cargo train and headed over to the other platform. Probably going after the beacon." Powell answered as he pointed to the cargo train. "I knew that beacon was trouble. Everything's gone to hell since we found it. First that damn mother ship showed up. Then the attack." Powell complained as he leaned on the cargo crate in front of him. "The killed everyone, Everyone! If I hadn't been behind the crates, I'd be dead, too!" Powell sighed.
"Looks like we have to hurry before its too late" I said to Shepard, he nodded and began to head to the cargo train. I turn to look at Powell "Powell, find somewhere safe to hide, ok?" I told him.
He nodded and replied "Y-yeah, I gotta get away anyway..." as he left.
I turn to follow Shepard, we took out two Geth Troopers and walked down some stairs. We got on the cargo train and had to fight to the front to activate the train. We got close to the front until I saw a Geth Juggernaut, so I switched my assault rifle for my shotgun. I quickly charge at the Juggernaut while firing my shotgun at it. When I finally got close enough to the Juggernaut, I shoved the barrel of my shotgun into its head and pulled the trigger. The shotgun blast immediately blew the head off as I kicked the Geth backwards before I scrambled to cover nearby. The last few Geth Troopers were quickly dealt with.
Shepard glared at me for a moment before saying "Kid, bold move, but next time, let us know first, ok?".
I simply nod back to him. He patted my shoulder, and that's when it hit me.
He definitely looks familiar somehow...did I see him from somewhere other than the reports?
Shepard reached out to activate the cargo train and then the train jolted forward, taking us to the other platform. As I see that we were nearing the other platform, I switched my shotgun for my assault rifle. Then we got off the train, Shepard noticed some demolition charges nearby so he moved to disarm them while I covered him. He successfully disarmed it, so then he ran up to the catwalks to cross into another walkway. "Cover me!" he ordered as he went left to disarm the other demolition charge as we held the position, taking out several Geth Troopers that was trying to disrupt Shepard. He successfully disarmed that initial demolition charge and ordered us to move up to the next demolition charge to keep the Geth away while he was disarming the third demolition charge. "Ok, last one to go" Shepard said as he signaled us to move. We managed to take out several Troopers along with a Geth Sniper and Geth Shock Trooper as we made it to the last demolition charge. He successfully disarmed it and gave us all a thumbs up.
Even in battle, Shepard tries to keep us all sane. Glad to know someone cares.
I moved to follow him down to another platform, taking cover behind some crates. I popped out to take out a Trooper before retreating to cover. I noticed a Husk trying to get Shepard from behind, I tan to the Husk as I shouted "Look out Shep-". I couldn't finish my statement before I tackled the Husk to the ground, I pulled my pistol out and bashed the Husk's head into pulp. I looked up to see Shepard staring at me, surprised. "What? You rather I let it eat your ass?" I replied.
Shepard let out a chuckle before outstretching a hand, I took it as he pulled me up. "Nah, just surprised you didn't shoot him instead." Shepard remarked. He turned to the strange object glowing with green energy "Normandy, the beacon is secure. Request immediate evac." I heard Shepard said.
Normandy, huh? Looks like my hunch was right. Ash, you shouldn't be so cl-
I couldn't say anything before Ash got too close to the beacon. She suddenly got pulled by the machine. I ran after her, grabbing one of her hands.
Damn, this beacon is strong!
I see Shepard run in to grab Ash by her waist and throw her at me. I managed to grab her and use my own body to soften the landing. I can see Shepard floating up in the air, the same green energy enveloping him. I can see him struggling as suddenly the beacon exploded, launching Shepard at me, his shoulders colliding with my stomach.
What? Seriously, God? What's with you and literally throwing people at me?
I gently roll Shepard to his back and checked for a pulse. "He's still alive! Get us to the ship, now!" I shouted at Kaiden as I pulled Shepard up, lifting him into a fireman's carry. Kaiden looked at me if I was mad. "Kaiden! Snap out of it! He needs medical attention!" I yelled at him. He quickly motioned me to follow him, along with Ash.