Hey guys, it's been a while. Quite a while. Finally found the time to continue writing. This chapter isn't as long as the previous ones, but it's kind of an interlude.
Anyway, I'm back, and I'm going to try and get back into a regular writing pattern.
"―today marks the third day since the attack on Remnant by batarian pirates and slavers. Since the attack was successfully repelled by the United Nations Defence Force garrisons, albeit at great cost to the defenders, many have asked 'why weren't there more casualties during the later stages of the invasion?' Many of the survivors of Mindoir have also questioned the batarians motives behind their removal of troops during the later stages of the invasion.
An anonymous source forwarded this exclusive footage, taken from the surviving surveillance systems at the Mindoir Aerospace-port. Be warned that this footage is highly graphic. It shows a single UN Army A-21 Ravager decimating batarian forces attempting to capture the spaceport, most likely in an attempt to prevent the escape of civilian aircraft. The pilot of the Ravager managed to hold off the batarian forces in the vicinity, who at the time numbered approximately one hundred, while simultaneously intercepting missiles and gunships attempting to down the escaping civilian transports. This caused the batarians to move larger numbers of troops to the spaceport, almost a battalion worth, something that was noticed by defenders elsewhere in the city.
Eventually, the Tactical Surface Attacker was taken down by massed heavy weapons fire, but not before the all of the heavy vehicles brought against it were destroyed. The pilot survived, and single-handedly held off the batarians massing against her, literally one handed at one point, due to an injury sustained. The pilot, who has yet to be identified, held off dozens of batarians with just a rifle, and what appears to be a wrench of some sort, until support arrived in the form of the relief force detached from the 17th Fleet out of Terra Nova. The pilot then succumbed to her injuries immediately afterwards.―"
Sol News Network report, 19th June, 2172.
"―Since the news about the unknown pilot who has since come to be known as 'The Saviour of Mindoir' broke, journalists here at Sol News Network have discovered the identity of the unknown pilot, and we have received permission from the UNDF to reveal this information. Contrary to popular belief, the pilot that single-handedly broke the batarian invasion is not a skilled pilot, nor a veteran soldier. Rather, the soldier in question is Engineers Assistant Second Class Theresa Shepard, a Navy TSF mechanic who had been stationed at Surface Naval Station Atlas outside Mindoir. The 18 year old mechanic has since been confirmed to be the daughter of Captain Hannah Shepard, who was the Executive Officer on the UNS Athens during the first contact with the Citadel, and Rear Admiral John Shepard, who commanded the relief force that was sent to Shanxi. Both were unavailable for comment. Shepard's commanding officer, Engineers Mate First Class Rupert Gardner, was able to give us a brief interview. 'Shepard...crazy kid. Never met anyone with enough guts to do something like that. Honestly speaking, who in their right mind thinks that it is a good idea to take on a thousand angry pirates alone? TSF training? Nah, Shepard ain't a pilot. She couldn't even drive a car, let alone a high performance machine like a Ravager. Heck, we put her in a Hardiman once, just to see how bad she was, and she tripped over the first step she took. But she's amazing with tech. That Ravager she was piloting, the one in the video that seems to be on the front page of everything on the net, that thing was disabled to hell. Everything was busted, neural-link, AI core, targeting computer, and Shepard still managed to kill over a thousand angry batarians with it. It took her all of two minutes to jury-rig a makeshift targeting system in that cockpit. We looked at it afterwards when we salvaged the Ravager. Command wants it written into the operation manuals. Crazy thing is, she had it set up for complete manual control. Hell, I don't think anyone is capable of simultaneously aiming six guns with that level of precision. But Shepard did it. Probably saved the whole city. Kid deserves a medal... Hero? Damn right she is.'
The current whereabouts of Engineers Assistant Shepard are unknown, but it believed that she is being treated for her injuries at the Jon Grissom Naval Hospital on Terra Nova. We have reached out to the UN Navy High Command for further information. The original pilot of the A-21 Ravager, Lieutenant Mihael Kantor, is set to receive funeral with full military honours, along with all of the men and women from the Army, Marines, Navy and Aerospace Force who fell during the battle. Now, on to Farid with the sports."
-Sol News Network, 21st June, 2172
24th June, 2172
"EA2 Shepard? There's a Colonel Albrecht here to see you."
Theresa Shepard sat up slowly in her hospital bed. She'd only been awake for a day so far. The shoulder wound was healing quickly, but the punctured lung had taken several days in a recovery coma to fix. The door opened, and in walked an balding middle-aged man wearing a uniform that she didn't recognise.
Shepard moved to salute, the healing wound in her shoulder aching as she did so.
"No need for that, EA. You're still recovering." The man pulled up a chair and sat down. "Now, I'll get straight to the point. I've come here with an offer for you. How would the Saviour of Mindoir like to join my program. That is, Nexus Special Operations Project 7."
Shepard's jaw dropped. "S-sir? N7?" There wasn't anyone in the military who hadn't heard of the Nexus-7 programme. The joint Marine-Navy program was where the best of the best got better. Definitely not the place for an 18 year old repairwoman. "Yo-you're kidding, right? I'm a TSF mechanic, not a soldier. I just fix things..." she mumbled.
The colonel frowned. "Shepard, I don't know if anyone told you or not, but the whole United Nations knows what you did on Mindoir. I'm talking front page news, on literally every news distributor. Hell, you're even trending on the Citadel Extranet. Congrats, kid. You're a hero." Shepard's jaw just about hit the floor.
Albrecht gave her a few moments to collect herself before continuing. "Should you accept, a few things are going to change. First, you'll be going back to school. OCS, back on Earth, to be specific." His expression changed to an evil grin. "I've left orders for the instructors there to pay special attention to vehicle training. I only accept the best in my program, and being able to drive is one of those requirements. Afterwards, you'll be put through the grinder of the N7 Project."
Shepard nodded slowly. "What's the training there like, sir?"
"It'll be hell, that's for sure. We have a very high casualty rate. So what do you say?"
Shepard thought for a while; the seconds blurred together as the memories flashed past. The thrill of combat, the brief rush of flying that Ravager, the feeling of knowing that she had done some good. The answer was obvious.
"When do I start?"
"Next week, once you've been discharged. Now, I should probably get to the official reason for my being here." Albrecht pulled a case from his jacket and opened it, revealing two small medallions. "Engineers Assistant Second Class Theresa J. Shepard, I hereby award you the Order of the Purple Heart and the Defiance of Terra for your actions during the defence of Remnant." He handed her a case containing the medals.
"Thank you sir."
Albrecht stood up."Humanity expects a lot from you, kid. Oh, and during your selection for the program, I spoke to your mother. She mentioned that you were quite the trailblazer when you were younger. I think you'll fit right in with our Infiltrator group. Speaking of which, you do look quite a bit like your mother; right down to the hair." He smirked. "You might want to do something about that, though. People might think you're getting old like me." Albrecht let out a laugh, before stepping out of the room.
Theresa raised an eyebrow, before reaching up and running a hand through her waist length hair. "Huh? What?" She lifted a few of the silver strands. WHAT?
Mars, 17th August 2173
The newly-commissioned Ensign Theresa Shepard stepped off the shuttle with the other N7 recruits. She had spoken to some of them on the shuttle, and had found they were from all over the place. Lieutenant Riley and Staff Sergeant Hendriks were Marine infantry, 1st Lieutenant Hassan was a Force Recon pilot, Flight Lieutenant Jie was a Navy TSF driver, and there was also 2nd Lieutenant Fukai who was a strike pilot of all things.
As they stood at attention on the landing pad with the men and women who had been dropped off by previous shuttles, a dark-skinned man wearing a Navy uniform, but with a Marine Corps soft cover on his head, walked towards them, robotic arm glinting in the sunlight. His eyes passing over them, taking the measure of his new meat. As he walked past her, Shepard took a quick glance at his uniform. The rank insignia on his collar marked him as a Commander in the UN Navy, and the name 'Anderson' was stitched into the name patch on his chest. Anderson seemed to pause as he passed her, eyes fixating briefly on the name 'Shepard' on her uniform. There was a hint of recognition in his eyes, although his face remained emotionless.
After finishing his inspection, Anderson moved back so he was facing the entire group. "I'm Commander David Anderson. Former Force Recon Marine, now Navy Commander and N7. Welcome to the N7 Program. Welcome to Hell."
"In retaliation to the batarian attacks on Remnant and Terra Nova, the United Nations Security Council has declared its intentions to 'bring the Batarian Hegemony before the might of humanity'. This comes in the months since the decimation of a major pirate base in the region at Torfan by the combined forces of the UN Navy's 5th and 12th Fleets, and the 22nd Marine Division. It is believed by both UN analysts and Citadel observers that the continuing attacks on human space lanes and colonies are being funded and supplied by the Batarian government, in an attempt to force an end to human exploration in the Skyllian Verge. The Navy has since announced the acceleration of battleship, light carrier, and frigate production, and further upgrades to existing vessels.
In other news, the Fythern elders of Tribute have announced their desire to integrate their people into the United Nations, to repay the debt they incurred when human forces liberated the Epsilon Indi system from a BETA incursion in 2103."
-Colonial News Network, 3rd August, 2176
Torfan. 31st May, 2176
"You know the drill Marines, GO, GO, GO!"
The rear hatch of the D-22F Sabertooth dropship slammed down, and Navy Lieutenant Theresa Shepard was already halfway down the ramp, firing her M-8 Avenger at the batarian slavers who began emerging from the tunnel entrance. Behind her, the Marines who her team darted charged after their attached special forces squad leader.
Above them, the ships of the 5th and 12th Fleets were plastering the area around the slaver bases, preventing any avenue of escape. They were so prepared that even a pair of the still top secret Dreadnoughts, which were almost never moved from their concealed positions in their home systems, were lying in wait at the only two relays that went in and out of the star system. Any ship that tried to escape would be completely obliterated by a force 32 times that of the nuclear bombs that had flattened Berlin two centuries ago. The rest of the assembled fleet, a half a dozen battleships and their attendant cruisers and frigates, bombarding the surface defences, and three whole destroyer squadrons, which were hunting down slaver ships throughout the system.
Outside the mass effect atmosphere shields, Marines, three companies worth, stalked across the barren ground in their Hardiman Assault Armour, SABRs picking off anything that moved. Ahead of them was a company of Archer tanks, which were firing their cannons at targets somewhere over the horizon; such an act required the tanks to sync their fire control systems to that of the massive G-75 Athena Gravity Fortress that was hanging over the battlefield, which was saving its big guns for other more important targets. By now, several pirate bases had been attacked, and thousands of slaves freed from captivity, all over the small moon. But those had been the small bases. The one Shepard's group was aiming for was the big one. Big enough to commit one of the enormous Athena's to. We're unveiling too many super weapons today, aren't we? Dreadnoughts? Grav-Forts? The higher ups must really want to show off the "might of humanity".
Shepard checked her HUD for the location of the advance platoon from the 23rd Light Infantry Battalion. The first platoon to enter the base had gone missing somewhere in the tunnels, and they were too far underground for their IFF signals to penetrate the surface. So the Marine squad under Shepard's command had been tasked with finding them.
Shepard felt around the corner, searching. Clear again. This entire section is dead. She looked down. There were spent ammunition blocks and and blood all over the ground. She motioned the rest of her unit forwards, and they quickly took inventory of the room. Dammit, another one. That's nine so far. There were twenty two in the platoon. She bent down and placed a marker next to the dead Marine, before placing the deceased man's rifle on the ground next to him. It had been lying on the floor in a small puddle of blood at the other end of the room.
Shepard let out a quiet sigh, and silently brought up the roster for the missing platoon. Corporal Chester M. Fa, KIA.
Shepard took one last glance at the body as she signalled Sergeant Norten through the next door.
Nineteen. Nineteen bodies. Not a single survivor yet. Dammit. It had gotten to a point where Theresa had given up on using her abilities, since they hadn't seen a single living thing since entering this region of the tunnels. Not a single living Marine, slaver, or slave. Just bodies. Bodies. Bodies. Bodies. From what they had pieced together, the Marines had pushed too far into the tunnels, and had been cut off from the surface. Judging from the increased number of batarian corpses on the ground, the next room was where the Marines had made their last stand.
Shepard's team stacked up on the door. "Go."
The Marines fanned out into the room, Avenger rifles at the ready.
"Clear."
"Clear."
"Clear."
Sergeant Norten turned to her. "All clear LT."
Here we go again. "What have we got, Sarge?"
"All Marines accounted for. The last three are in here. Looks like they put up a hell of a fight, ma'am. The other entrance is completely backed up with corpses. Looks like the four-eyes gave up on taking back this compartment and tossed a grenade in. Finished off our boys, at least an hour ago. They would have died quickly. PFC Gantz was only identifiable by the fact that the other two were female. Too mangled to be properly identified."
Theresa closed her eyes. Dammit. Dammit. DAMMIT. We couldn't save any of them. Reopening them, she turned to Norten as she updated the list in her head.
"We're heading back to the surface to report. Get everyone ready to move. We'll link up with the main force on the way out."
Norten was about to respond when one of the other Marines gave a shout.
"Lieutenant, we've got a live one! Malfunctioning biometric sensor."
Shepard's eyes went wide, and she ran over to where Corporal Shanks was kneeling over the small-framed Marine. The small body was unmoving, but Shanks had taken her helmet off, and Theresa could see the cuts and bruises all over the Marine's face, signs of a concussion grenade detonation. But the young girl was breathing. We did it. We found one. Shepard fell to her knees and bit her lip. It was all she could do to keep herself from breaking down into tears.
We saved one we saved one we saved one…
Slowly, Theresa brought up the list and found the Marine. Private Ashley Williams, Alive.
Shepard spent a few moments collecting her thoughts, before taking a look around the room again. Around her, there were over a dozen batarian corpses, some killed with a bayonet. She did this?
She reached down and put the young Marine's helmet back on, before hefting the girl over her shoulder.
"Alright Marines, everyone back to the surface. Move!" No one else is dying down here.
Codex:
Humanity and the United Nations - The Navy and Marines:
Despite being separate service branches, the Navy and Marines are very closely linked, given that any ground force requires transport to its objective. The two branches are so closely intertwined that it is not uncommon to find officers and enlisted personnel from one branch transfer to the other. There have been several cases where enlisted Marines have become the Captains of Naval warships.
So, short chapter over. Next chapter, we reach 2183. Hooray.
Please review guys, I honestly have no idea if I'm doing this right.