Conflictions Release Two

March 15th 2186 CE

Patrol Fleet - Marine Barracks

I have some time so I figured I'd continue this damn journal. It helped me calm down the last time I wrote, at least for a little while. I've been stationed with the Patrol Fleet for the time being, doing some quick operations against Geth servers in the Far Rim. Officially, we have not started the war yet, but that's bullshit. The purpose of these ops is to get some more Geth tech for Admiral Xen, as if she doesn't have enough. Call me paranoid but I think that's a horrible idea seeing as the Geth were able to take over one of our ships the last time we toyed with their technology this much. But then again, Admiral Zorah was a little crazy.

Speaking of Zorah, I'm still going mad over what happened with Tali a couple months back on the Citadel. We could've had it so good...

I cant think about that right now. I've got another briefing soon. Damn I hate this war.

March 17th 2186 CE

Gotha – Far Rim

INTELLIGENCE REPORT: GOTHA

A dwarf planet,Gotha has a pressure-cooker atmosphere that brings its surface temperature to a scorching level. Carbon dioxide and ethane are plentiful in the planet's hazy atmosphere.

There has been speculation in the mining community about whether all of the precious metals were mined by the quarians before they fled the system some three centuries ago. Rumors abound that anyone who could brave the geth in the system could find lodes of naturally occurring diamonds on Gotha, but this is likely just a starship legend.

TRAVEL ADVISORY: Gotha is in geth space. All civilian traffic is prohibited.

Kal'Reegar and his squad of five other Migrant Fleet Marines were pinned down in a cluster of rubble just outside an old mining facility used by the Quarians before the Geth drove them out three centuries prior. According to Patrol Fleet intelligence, this facility was only supposed to have minimal Geth resistance. They were wrong.

Kal's squad had made it all the way up to maybe 100 meters away from the main entrance to the facility that was mostly underground before they came under heavy fire from multiple Geth Spitfires. None of his squad were downed in the initial volley of fire, but they were pinned and suppressed in cover that was easily being chipped away by the Geth's plasma weapons.

"Nahreen! Fire smoke!" Kal screamed over to the squad's pointman who was in front of the rest. Nahreen fired a smoke round into the corridor between the rubble and the main building of the compound where the fire was coming from. The building was quickly shrouded in thick gray smoke and gave the squad a moment to dig in and catch their breath. "Ready up squad! Check clips!" Kal has counted the duration of their standard-issue smoke rounds many rounds before, he had thirteen seconds before they would be fired upon again. Kal raised his M-15 Vindicator rifle and made sure Disruptor rounds were loaded, they made combat much harder for the Geth as it messed with their vision and hearing whenever they were hit by it, in addition to the standard impact of a bullet.

The squad of Marines had their armor painted matte black, Admiral Xen thought that her Special Ops troops should be distinct. What she did not take into account was the scorching heat of Gotha. Their black suits soaked up the sun like a sponge, sure Quarian envirosuits had air-conditioning, but that can only do so much.

Soon the smoke cleared and the fire began again, but this time the Marines were dug in and could easily pick out targets. The Geth still had a better position, but the time of the smoke grenade gave the Quarians a fighting chance. Each Marine fired quick bursts at specific targets, usually destroying a single Geth unit in each burst.

The firefight went on like this for only a minute before the Geth troops fell back deeper into the underground complex, and the Quarians only took one hit. Fract'Raara, the squads engineer had a suit puncture from a Geth plasma rifle, but he would be okay. Kal signaled the squad to rally up at the large entrance of the complex, they stacked up on wither side of the towering cargo doors.

"Alright squad, our mission is to plant that explosive on the main support column, then we book it out of here. So lets get it done!" Kal shouted just before they breached the large doors and cleared the lobby. It was empty besides a few disabled Geth. Kal once again signaled his squad to stack up at the door across the lobby, that lead to the mines. They bypassed the door and it slid back into its slot quickly, revealing a dark corridor. Kal craned his head around the wall to look down it, and saw nothing. "Flashlights."

The entire squad descended the hall with quiet steps, shining their flashlights directly in front of them. There were a few side doors, none were open. They kept moving forward until they reached a massive service elevator. The platform that would descend into the mine was completely empty.

"Squad; grab anything you can use for cover and set it up in a diamond formation on the lift, those Geth must have gone down there, and you can bet your asses they have an ambush set up for us." The Quarians quickly went to work piling up crates and dollies into the diamond formation in the middle of the platform. It only took them two minutes to get it done, and they all vaulted into and crouched inside the formation. Kal went to the lifts controls and started the decent, then sprinted to the cover they had set up. He sat with his back to a large crate and reloaded a fresh Thermal Clip into his Vindicator. The lift was slow and made a loud screeching noise as it descended. At first they only saw rock walls reaching up as they went down, but it soon opened up into a massive cavern, the heart of the mine. The main column, their target, was at the far side the massive cave, that's all Kal saw before the shower of plasma flew at them from all over the cavern. The squads marksman, Atrea'Cora was killed instantly, Nahreen took a hit in the arm. The squad hunkered down and took occasional glances at their route to the column, the Geth did not fortify their positions at all, they expected to kill the Marines with no trouble because of the lack of cover on the lift. Once the lift reached the floor, the Marines would have the advantage. The lift slammed against the cavern floor with a bang, and all at once the Marines peeked out of cover to start firing bursts at the exposed Geth. With superior cover the Marines made quick work of the closest troops, but after they were taken down the remaining Geth started to find cover. The squad was outnumbered. Kal gave the signal for them to advance straight up a small corridor between two rock faces. They sprinted out of cover while firing at the Geth from the hip. The Marines filed into the small hole between the rocks, and dove into cover at the far side.

Kal looked up from behind the chest-high pile of rocks he was using as cover to see how far away his objective was. It was easily 300 meters of hell, no cover, and with Geth troopers on either side. Kal squatted back down beside his squad and looked at them. They were getting tired, and only two of them had not seen a suit puncture already.

"Alright... Suggestions?" Kal spoke directly to his squad. He only got blank stares and shaking heads. "Okay. Screw it. Fract, hand me the charge."

"Sir?" Fract placed the charge in his hand and looked at Kal.

"You heard me soldier. Do it."

"What's your plan, Sir?" Fract placed it in Reegar's hand carefully. It was a miniature Mass Effect pulse generator. It would cause an explosion that would send out massive shockwaves that would cave-in the entire mine.

"Plan?.. uhhh... You guys cover me, I'll run for the column, prime this thing, throw it, and uh, then we get the fuck out of here."

"Sir I'm coming with you." That was Nahreen, just before he peeked out and took down a Geth Hunter with one precision burst.

"Me too." That was Fract.

"I'm game."

The rest of the squad all agreed to come. Kal looked at his men, and nodded.

"Nahreen, pop all of your smoke rounds you got left, in a line right up to the hard point. I'll make a run for it, follow my muzzle flashes through the smoke if you lose me. "

Kal gave the squad the signal and ran over the rubble they were crouched behind. The smoke exploded just ahead of him, and Kal put his Vindicator on his back and pulled out his Carnifex pistol. He was soon engulfed by smoke, he just kept sprinting ahead, hoping he was still going the same direction. He could hear the bursts of rifles behind him still. He would occasionally see a Geth trooper through the smoke on his left or right, firing blindly into the smoke. Kal would fire back, but he was mostly shooting so his squad would not lose him in the cloud of smoke. Suddenly, he was out of the smoke. Sprinting straight through open air, no cover. Only 50 meters to go.

Kal pulled the charge off his belt and primed it, and put everything he had into sprinting towards the column. The Geth werent seeming to hit him, even though there was hot plasma flying through the air passed him. Shoot the ones in the back first so the ones in the front keep coming. Kal looked behind him as he ran forward and saw the rest of his squad getting hammered as they emerged from the smoke. Two fell, he didnt see who. Kal forced himself forward. He was so close, just a few more paces.

A shot of pain flew up through Reegar's body, making him fall flat on his face. It was flying through him, coming from his left thigh. Puncture warnings flashed on the inside of his visor, warning of a seal malfunction. Kal rolled onto his back and looked behind him. Two of his men were sprinting up to him, the others lay motionless in on the ground behind them. Kal rolled on to his stomach again and started to crawl towards the column. It was getting harder for him to breathe, the pain in his leg was spreading to his chest, and his vision was growing dark.

Kal reached the column and set the charge down carefully in front of him. Kal'Reegar rolled onto his back and followed the trail of his own blood with his fading vision, and saw two of his squad-mates charging to him. They reached him in seconds, bringing the volley of plasma fire with them.

It's set... GO! Kal shouted at them just as they crouched down beside him. Kal shoved the detonator at Nahreen, who was trying to help him up. GO! Thats an order!

With all due respect, sir. Fuck that. Nahreen put his arm around Kal and lifted him up. He put his rifle down and kept up the fire with his pistol.

"We'll never get out... no cover..." Kal was losing consciousness fast.

"Let's make some then!" Nahreen fired a concussive shot at the ceiling of the cavern in front of them and a shower of boulders fell down from the heavens, smashing into the open ground between them and the lift, taking out some Geth in the process. Fract ran ahead of Nahreen and Kal through the newly created gauntlet of cover, clearing it for them to proceed. Not halfway through did Kal start wheezing and tripping over himself.

"Whats wrong with him?" Fract shouted over his shoulder.

"His suit must have failed to isolate the puncture. He's getting an infection." Nahreen dropped his pistol and heaved Kal over his back in a fireman's carry. Fract reached the lift and went prone to start firing at the Geth they had passed. Nahreen ran up to the controls and started the lift. He set Kal down on his back slowly and then sat down himself to catch his breath. Kal was coughing profusely now.

The lift rose slowly above the cavern, and as soon as it was back inside its shaft above, Nahreen took the detonator off of Kal's belt and hit the switch. A loud blast flew up through the shaft, rocking the lift. Immediately after, the entire facility started to shake. When the lift stopped at the top the two Quarians sprinted through the dark hallway leading back out to the lobby, Nahreen with Kal on his back. The ground was starting to crack beneath them just as the emerged back into the lobby. Fract put his rifle on his back and started an all-out sprint towards the door, he hit the switch and it slid open just as Nahreen arrived there. Fract spun around the door and out into the scorching hot air once again, just as the floor of the lobby floor crashed down into darkness.

Kal was fading fast. The pain had spread all the way to his head, every light and sound was an explosion in his mind. A kind of black mass was sitting in the back of his head, grabbing and scratching at his mind. His vision was almost completely gone and it was getting harder to breathe. Fract gave him medi-gel but it only stopped the bleeding.

"Where the hell is the shuttle!?" Nahreen screamed at Fract.

"I dont know! It should be here!"

"Keelah..." Nahreen put his hand to his visor and shook his head. Is he going to make it?

"Not if we keep sitting here."

Just then a white shuttle with the black flotilla logo on the bottom bolted out of the clouds above and descended on the Marines. It landed and three more marines jumped out of the shuttle and gave Nahreen a hand getting Kal inside.

"How bad?" One of the new marines asked.

"Bad. Suit malfunctioned and couldn't seal his puncture."

The shuttle lifted off just as the marines started to operate on Kal. His condition couldn't be made any better on the shuttle, but they could at least keep him alive.