AN: Did I propose a schedule?
10 Minutes to Eden Prime
ASV Normandy, Comms Room.
"If we drop him here so he can scout, the Normandy will be able to speed up for our drop. Nihlus will be out of the way and can disperse before the Geth can catch up. If we roll out in the Mako things will be tight but we may be missed, and they'll all be looking elsewhere since it'll appear the Normandy's sped off." I marked out the path by hand, my finger trailing a yellow line across the holotable.
"Why not drop you off further in?" Nihlus' two-toned voice was already grating on my nerves.
"The trail gives us time to roll, and dropping in the centre all but guarantees we'd get seen and swarmed if they brought the sort of numbers we'd expect. If the Geth-Bots are any good, we don't want that." I stared at Nihlus, daring him to ask another stupid question.
"Good. I have no objections to your plan."
"Well I do. I still think it's stupid to send you in alone, I don't care what you say, you should at least take Gor'ria. Sure, she'll make you marginally easier to track, but you shouldn't be dropped in alone, even if you're just planning on scouting."
"You don't have operational command over me and we need to cover as much ground as possible, You're also going in loud, so you'll need the extra firepower."
"He's right Shepard."
I repressed the urge to glare at Anderson... He may be being an ass but this was his job. "… Any chance I could get a recording saying you going alone is a stupid idea and that you've refused to join the main group?"
Nihlus nodded and Anderson pressed a few buttons.
"I, Spectre Nihlus Kyrik, have chosen to drop solo on this operation despite the wishes of Captain David Anderson, and Candidate Aleandrea Shepard. Should any harm befall me, it is not to be taken as a sign of Aleandrea being incompetent."
"It's recorded… Head on down and brief your squad, I'll tell Joker his flight path."
-XXXX-
I watched Nihlus drop from the Normandy within the Mako.
"Damn… I thought you'd stop him at the last second…" Jenkins sounded concerned and awed.
"If I did, I've a feeling I'd become O class. I'd rather not become O class."
"Commander, 20 seconds to drop. I hope your brake pads are working."
"Understood Joker, don't let the Geth kick you on the way out."
"Like they could touch me." Joker answered rather seriously despite his words being of jest. Of course, the sheer fact we hadn't been tagged meant that the Geth weren't as frightening as they were made out, it seemed increasingly like only ByteGeist combat frames were the stuff of nightmares…
The 20th second counted down, and I rolled us out of the Normandy, immediately lightening the Mako as I began slowing it's descent, hitting the breaks hard… And every last metre of space was needed, we almost rammed the outlying forest.
"Everyone out, Gor you're in front, Jenkins you're a native so you're second, shout if you spot anything unusual." I jumped out of the vehicle last, taking in the lush green surrounds as my HUD began activating.
"T.W.O. HUD v11.2 engaged. Squad mode engaged. Overriding basic HUD. No T.W.O. HUD's detected. T.W.O HUDs connected. Joining."
The Alliance standard issue HUD was rather basic, which is why I gave everyone my version of the T.W.O. HUD… Small camera's showing your allies vision along with their status', probable perceived threat levels and cones of active vision. Armor status, life signs, additional Omni-Tool monitoring… It was refined gold of the digital variety.
"The HUD override is a little larger, but it's pale… Should be good."
The four moved out, each walking in near complete silence towards the dig sight as weapons swept for threats, with Jenkin's pointing out that that some floating sacks were a creature, not some sort of mine. Were it not for the fact they were ready for combat, it would be a great time to stop and look at the scenery…
"Potential drones inbound! The HUD's-"
"Marked them so fire!"
I dropped to my knee; within an instant my rifle had been set for laser and a beam of lethal light lanced out, digging a deep grove into a drone before sending it into a free fall. The lack of bloody explosion in favour of misting confirmed the HUD's prediction before the other drone opened fire on Gor'ria, his shields dropping in nearly an instant, his armour however only picking up scorch marks as he returned fire, shredding the drone.
"Some sort of disrupter ammo, exterior systems registered electrical arcing when the rounds hit my barrier. Perhaps it was some sort of plasma weapon."
"Whatever it was it wasn't rated for against Firaxite armour. Ok, everyone stop trusting your shields and stand behind the one with the proper power armour. Let's move."
-XXXX-
Drone 7 Down. Engagement time, 4 seconds.
Drone 6, no programs recovered… 75% data loss on Drone 7 programs.
Running facial match with local Alliance database…
.
.
.
No Matches. General Alliance Database…
.
.
.
.
Lieutenant Commander Aleandrea Shepard Identified.
Normandy crew facial recognition.
Lieutenant Kiaden Alenko. Other faces obscured. 99% Certainty of Gor'Ria Heshar and Richard Jenkins.
Plotting Probable path plotted.
Escape Target Spectre Nihlus Kyrik, 99% certainty.
Vote to inform Saren-Prophet?
Consensus reached, 92%. Informing.
New orders, enter fall back positions and begin departure preparations. Beacon may be left.
Altering bomb deployment.
Addendum, begin data-transfer if Normandy Team is spotted…
Spectre tracking force retasked.
… Reinforcements for militia hunt retasked.
-XXXX-
Pellets were sending up a dust cloud from my boulder.
I long ago decided it was a nice boulder. Good and round. Fairly tough.
The problem was their boulders were just as good.
"Higgs! How are you doing?"
I leant out to spray the Geth. They weren't advancing or pushing, so they couldn't kill me, only hurt my shields.
Unfortuneately, there were at least 5 of them, and I was out of clips for my laser. So, while I waited with Higgs playing the slow waiting game while our lasers cooled normally, we alternated providing supressing fire.
…
He should have said something by now.
"Higgs! You there!"
I looked at his position… I remembered their fire redirection. I chose not to remember what his corpse looked like.
"Fuck! I swear I shall use their heads as lamps! I will melt them down, and get them rebuilt so I can do it again!"
I leant out to fire. I set my comms for all frequencies as I pulled back in, my shield dropping to near zero almost instantly.
"This is Williams… I'm pinned but my position will hold as long as they can't be bothered flanking… If there's anyone around here… I could use some fucking help you slow ass pieces of shit!"
"I don't know Williams, I'm not militia so I feel pretty fast. Watch for the flying Muton."
I looked up at the sky, holding my jaw tight.
"I don't know who you are, but if it gets me out of this I'd watch for the flying Ethereal dancing on a pile of dead babies and cheer. But please keep your claims reasonable, there's no one here, let alone a-"
"Williams. Shut up or Gor'Ria won't play skeet for you."
I checked my shields. Looked up to see nothing. And leaned out to fire a burst.
And was promptly surprised as one of the boulders was turned into slag and then exploded under the heat of intense plasma fire, taking out two Geth.
The remaining Geth immediately made themselves as small as they could, which would buy them maybe another second at most.
I looked up. And there it was… A Muton wrapped in the violet of a Psi-Bi aura, Archangel thrusters burning, Plasma LMG coughing it's lethal payload.
"Ma'am… I don't know who you are. But if we ever meet in a bar, I'll skip the round and go straight buying you the whole damn place."
"Williams, I do believe my family might already own a bar, but another would be appreciated. Ok, Gor'Ria will be landing next to you, try not to shoot her."
The field around the Muton faded, and it directed itself into a nice little arc, slamming into the ground next to me hard enough to indent it, only to do what looked like a dainty little hop up onto the boulder I was hiding behind.
"So. Williams. Do you have a full name and a rank?" The Muton spoke slowly, looking further down the path as another group came from behind, likely the rest of my rescuers
"Uh, Gunnery Sergeant Ashley Williams."
"I take it the one next to you is all that's left of your patrol in sight."
"Yes..?"
"Ma'am."
"Ma'am" Oh god, a Muton and one that outranked me.
"Good to see everyone getting along. Ok Ser-"
The group's leader put her hand to her head, another hand going out to tell me not to talk.
-XXXX-
I tightened my jaw as I looked through the scope, focusing on a single form as it slowly turned.
'I was right… A Turian in Spectre armour… unmarked-Saren! What was he doing here?!'
"Shepard. We have a problem."
"On a scale of 1-10-" She spoke with mild annoyance.
"I'd say a 15." I nearly spat my response, I wasn't in the mood for games.
"You have my attention."
"There's another spectre here. Saren."
"I take it that he shouldn't be here."
"To my knowledge, he shouldn't… He also has a Geth arm prosthetic."
"Is he near any Geth?"
I sighed, shifting slightly, "Yes, they've a defensive perimeter around him, distant but present."
"Ok. The solution is simple. Eliminate him."
"It-" I began annoyed.
"Do it, don't argue. This is all being recorded, a Spectre named Saren is appearing to be colluding with the Geth in an invasion on a Human planet. Now, can you confirm it's him?"
"Yes. I know his face… Wait, one of the Geth's approaching…"
"Your sniper has a laser setting. Use it. You either kill him now, or you wound him in a highly obvious matter and flee, those are your choices."
"No. I can't-" The woman was insane.
"Nihlus. If you don't take this shot, you will be declared an enemy of the Alliance. Additionally, war will either be declared on the Turians or the Council as a whole."
"… I can see you've taken leave of your senses."
"Right now, the evidence is saying that either the Turians or the Council are supporting an invasion into Alliance space. If we declare war on an extra-terrestrial nation, The Remnant is allowed free reign. It's an open secret they've WMD's in stealth ships over many major planets. Nihlus. For the sake of the Galactic peace you're supposed to protect, take the shot, and make it wound obviously or kill so that he can be declared rogue, then run. We're on our way."
"… He's put his helmet on. This will only wound. You may wish to hurry."
I set my sniper rifle to laser and lined up a shot, examining his armour for weaknesses before I chose my shot.
A single lance of IR light reached out, burning into Saren's left knee, he flinched instinctively curling himself away as his leg buckled, knee exploding in a burst of superheated metal , bone and flesh.
Immediately after some sort of barrier went up, and the Geth that was talking to him interposed itself between me and Saren, the others immediately looking to my position as they began walking backwards towards him.
"I've hit his left knee, moving now."
Pellets began tearing through the bushes as I ran, the Geth raking my previous position.
-XXXX-
Prophet injured.
Nazara alerted.
Taking Prophet to beacon, commencing evacuation. Extraction sent for. Beacon will remain.
Heavy units will need to be left behind…
Delaying force chosen.
.
.
.
Backups made.
May you receive a favourable statistical outcome.
-XXXX-
"Ok! Everyone move out! This became a hell of a lot more complicated. Williams, fall in the back and be careful."
"How much more complicated?" Jenkins piped up, sounding eager.
"15 on a 1-10 logarithmic."
"What could-"
"A rogue Turian Spectre."
There was silence, everyone but me stilled for a moment, weapons lowering.
"The Geth are retreating so let's double time it!" I began running, taking the lead for a little before Gor'ria regained her senses.
It was then we encountered the corpses one some weird spikes.
I barely slowed, and then the people on them fell off and started getting up.
"Shoot and move people! We've more pressing things to do than look at the pych-warfare experiment."
Whatever they were, they didn't get two steps as we fired as one, their bodies perforated, exploded and slagged by a combination of kinetics, laser and plasma.
And then we got to where the Beacon was supposed to be.
"Williams, there was a-" I spoke, slowing as I looked around, several sealed Hab-Blocks around us.
"I know, I watched it for a few hours. It should be here."
"… Then it's been moved." I concluded. It was the only reasonable option. "We need to secure the spaceport now… Nihlus?!"
"Yes commander?"
"I'm safe. Beacons gone. Get eyes on the spaceport now."
"The one with the big squid-like ship standing over it?"
"Don't get caught. We've had no more Geth encounters so choose speed, we're on our way."
"On my way. Don't get too cocky, it wouldn't do for you to die right now."
"I didn't realise you cared." I spoke with more venom than I meant to, however fortunately he didn't respond.
"Ok people, let's do this quickly but remember. Gor'ria's lead, Gor'ria, try not to die."
"Shepard. In this armour I'd have to try to die." With that, she began running of.
-XXXX-
"Get to cover!"
Kinetic pellets from several LMG analogues smashed into the ground as we took cover positions.
"Big boys. Where are the little ones?"
"You're the one in charge Shepard!"
"I know. Temporary designations, Carver for the littler ones, Mechs for the bigger brothers. They're weapons have to be overheating soon."
"Nice naming system. Can't you hear? They've started cycling their fire."
"Ah, holding their position. Kaiden, prepare to help me shield Gor'ria when his shield immediately shorts."
"Not to self, begin a petition for human N forces to have Firaxite armour standard. Ducking out in three!" Gor'ria half growled the first bit, disliking her role as mobile cover and tank.
Muton combi-weapons are 3 barrelled monstrosities, compared to the usual two.
The first barrel shot plasma much like a heavy rifle, but in clumps slightly larger than a LMG, and with greater than usual sustainability.
The second was your standard human kinetic LMG, not scaled up due to the fact it was one of three weapons, Krogan sometimes carried better ones.
The third was an anti-tank laser, for targets that had barriers too strong to burn through with kinetics [Such as tanks.], and with shields or armour set up such that firing plasma at them was useless [Like tanks and some smarter infantry.].
The Geth believed from previous firefights that Gor'ria was carrying just a Plasma/Kinetic combi-weapon.
They were too surprised to figure out the problem when a Juggernaut platform was ruined.
They uploaded the new information on standard Muton armaments as the second platform, a Prime was melted.
"Gor'ria back!"
And with that, the Muton went back behind her pillar.
"Aleandrea? You ok?"
"Yea, our second shield was fading. Should last long enough to take out the remainder this tim-"
All the incoming fire stopped for a second, to be replaced by rockets targeting Gor'ria's position.
"Fry 'em! Gor' stay down!"
With only two light infantry lasers we merely managed to damage on of the remaining Carver style platform before the Geth retreated to cover.
"Gor'ria out! Lights keep them pinned, Gor'ria begin flanking!"
I sprayed for a moment before I began flicking my wrist and fingers in the motions that told my Omni-Tool I wanted a frag grenade, which I promptly tossed at the Geth as a distraction, and then a drone module, which, after a moment, I threw up into the air, only for it to be destroyed before it could deploy… I went back to tossing grenades.
"Got the shot! I hope you like your metal liquid!"
And with that, beams of UV light were marked streaking across our HUDs.
"And they're slag. Thanks for playing the distraction."
"No, thank the Geth for using sub-standard platforms and apparently being bad-AIs."
"They weren't military AI's."
"They've had 300 years to overcome that limitation, it's now an excuse. Jenkins, the Tramway should be just down there yes?"
Jenkins nodded.
"Good, let's go. Keep an eye out."
"For things like destroyed Mag-rails?"
Jenkins stopped as soon as he passed around the corner, and true to his word, the trams rails had been destroyed for quite some distance…
"Shit… Ok, begin back on the Mako… Nihlus." I switched com sets with a jaw movement as I began following my squad back.
"Shepard?"
"Mag Rails are out and there's no air-cars around here, not that I'd trust them if they were. We're going to head back to the Mako, we'll probably be 10, 15 minutes out rather than say, 3."
"… By that time he'll likely be gone. I'll take a look around at the Spaceport, but I doubt we'll be able to recover the beacon."
"… If you can damage it, that'd be nice, but don't risk yourself."
"Damage it?! I suppose. Just make your way here as fast as possible to get me out."
"Understood. Ok everyone, we need to move to extract Nihlus after he inevitably cocks everything up, everyone back to the Mako."
-XXXX-
"Shepard."
I almost jumped as I heard Nihlus over the comm, but with Jenkin's driving no one would have noticed… I wondered if he was even licenced.
"Go."
"I'm too late, just caught the back end of a shuttle heading for the ship. The beacon is being left and the Geth are setting up bombs."
"… Fuck… Well that's your job done then, can you tell what sort of bombs they are?"
"Not a clue, but they're likely non-nuclear, just trying to destroy the beacon."
"Probably only wanted to cover their tracks and just trying to deny us the beacon… Ok, head out due west, we'll meet you for pick up at… Just a second I'll send you a map instead, should reach your omni-tool within a few seconds, get running."
There was a silence, likely the Turian examining the Geth he faced and trying to persuade himself that leaving was the best option.
"The Council isn't going to like this… I'm on my-" The message ended with a muffled boom and a screetch of static.
"Nihlus!? Nihlus!? Fuck…" I clicked my mouth a couple of times, switching me over to the Normandy feed and locking my squad out of the loop, now broadcasting solely in hyper wave.
"Joker, restrict this to Anderson."
"Done."
"Knight Commander Anderson. If you're not already considering it I urge you to consider testing U rounds."
-XXXX-
"Knight Commander Anderson. If you're not already considering it I urge you to consider testing U rounds."
I paused, seriously considering Shepard's request. She phrased it not as a military request, but a Cerberus request…
"… I was already considering an attack run… I suppose it'll be worth the review. Assuming we're not reduced to slag we should be ready for pick up in 20 minutes."
"Understood, we'll find someplace to shack up. Shepard out."
I waited for a moment of silence as I considered.
"Joker, change of plans, coast until you're within kinetics range, firing a 2 cannon burst with a .7 second delay on the second round." I tapped a key, cutting myself off from the bridge and then going to the Normandy's secondary VI… The one linked to all the Cerberus top secret extras.
"Project Icarus' Javalin; U-235. Captain Knight Commander David Anderson. I walk alongside humanity, guarding them from what lurks behind hells gates."
"… Permission granted. Rounds?"
"2."
"Icarus' Javelins are loaded. Final confirmation?"
I pressed my finger to the DNA/Fingerprint scanner. "And lo, I am Death, destroyer of worlds… And grandson of Davy Crockett."
-XXXX-
'They've passed laser range. Do they plan on using Kinetics?'
Nazara was content to let the humans think themselves undetected until after they fired a volley and saw their lasers would do almost nothing, but continuing was unexpected.
'… They won't breach my Kinetic Barriers… I might as well wait and see.'
When the ship launched a pair of kinetic rounds, Nazara nearly laughed, and simply stopped paying attention. A frigate couldn't get past it's barriers, even with over-sized rounds.
Nazara didn't notice the first kinetic spin away from it as anything more than a blip on it's shields power levels…
And then it felt the EMP, knocking out several minor subsystems, but also it's shields.
The second round penetrated one of it's appendages, and then exploded internally, almost blowing off the limb and shutting off countless systems as a EMP detonated within itself, and echoed within…
It's Eezo core survived.
Nazara fled, feeling terror for the first time in cycles as it reviewed it's data feeds, feeling some slight measure of joy in the Normandy's lasers doing as little damage as it expected.
-XXXX-
Cerberus Project: Icarus' Javelin
"They're technically legal as long as they're not used on a garden world. The moment they know we have them however, they're going to shit themselves and likely make it illegal."
Unknown Cerberus Scientist, Deep Memory logs.
In space, for missiles to be useful, they've either got to be ridiculously cheap and numerous, or ludicrously expensive, and they're always more expensive than kinetic rounds. This meant, despite dreams of using nuclear missiles in space they were scrapped in favour of other, much cheaper kinetics.
And then Cerberus got it's hands on magnetic-assist mass effect rail rifles capable of launching ferrous packets of up to 40 kg at levels as low as frigate grade, almost as fast as Turin versions, coming in at 1.15% light speed. Of course, the percentage drop meant a considerable loss in force, however when someone thought to combine the system with a stealth vessel, Cerberus scientists came up with a nasty idea.
It consisted of making nuclear bullets for use in space.
Each packet consisted of two 15kg blocks of U-235 [Or some other material, however U-235 was relatively easier to store.] that would slam together on impact in a manner similar to early 'gun' style nuclear weapons, welded within a nickel-titanium irregular [So to be shaped similarly to a cylinder.] hexadecahedron. The structure of the round meant that the outer shell would fragment outwards on impact, allowing unimpeded fission.
Each round exploded with far less force than the rounds would impact with, but there were two key benefits:
-1: Each round exploded to create a powerful EMP, capable of disabling multiple ships in close proximity, also allowing single shots to facilitate capture and completely disable shields in order to increase the lethality of kinetic bombardments.
-2: Should the round explode inside the ship, it would reduce over-penetration by causing the round to burst like a bomb inside the vessel to increase structural damage instead of fragmenting while mostly continuing on it's path. Additionally, the fragments would be converted to plasma by the blast, further reducing total penetration while increasing internal damage, acting much like frangible rounds inside most organisms, while maintaining initial armour penetration.
It's been calculated that the cost to retrofit a ship to give it a good chance of surviving the packet's EMP would far outweigh the cost of each munition, which has made knowing tacticians cackle with glee, as they had in their hand the next game changer, as truly as when they introduced long ranged lasers to the council, however analysis has caused the creation of proximity-detonation packets to be created and an increasing push to produce carriers over anything larger than a frigate.
As a nuclear weapon this weapon cannot be used in such a manner where it might detonate within the atmosphere of a garden world. Furthermore, the weapon is restricted to vessels with Cerberus captains and is highly classified.
As with everything highly classified, X-Com quickly copied the data, analysed it, and on deciding the munition was worthwhile, began production. As always, they secretly handed over some reaserch in exchange for that they took, which as always the Alliance took with little more than an annoyed glance, having long since come to terms with how far ByteGeist hackers had penetrated the Alliances networks.
AN:
First, a Hexadecahedron is a 16 sided 3d shape. To imagine this specific one, imagine a can and bend the middle out. It isn't a sphere purely to facilitate the two uranium bricks slamming together and to reduce costs slightly by reducing the amount of nickel-titanium plating needed.
Secondly, did I say I'd try for mono/duo weekly? Yea… Time and I don't have that good of a relationship. Sorry.
Anyhow, I hope you enjoy, and I hope no one can spot any glaring flaws with my Icarus Javalin packets, that way I can keep feeling smart while laughing at the people who say using nuclear missiles in space in the MEverse is stupid.
Oh, and before someone comments on humanity being overpowered, I would like to say that Nazara was underestimating humanity and got hit by a top secret project, and that it's rather unlikely to happen again.