Chapter 9

Ashley stepped slowly down the inclined path, walking past the entrance of the ancient bunker. The construct was a massive endeavor, a massive box the length of a Frigate with high ceilings. If it weren't for those pods the science team had pulled out of it, Ashley would have called it a hangar.

The open doorway sliding past her as she walked on, Gunnery chief Williams climbed the slope opposite the one she'd come down on, summit the small hill to see farmlands before her.

Eden Prime was, and had always been, mostly agricultural. That was how these people had made their livings for the last two and a half decades, on one of the few colonies older than Human intergalactic politics.

Her patrol brought Ashley through a small field, on a thin path between tall stalks of some Corn variant, whatever they could engineer to survive in this soil. Past the field was a wide ravine, leading uphill to the science team's camp. Past that, Ashley would loop out through a small forest of native trees, or something close to it, before coming back to the science camp to start the circuit over again walking to the bunker.

The Ravine was rocky, but the low grasses about the area were beautiful, and Ash didn't mind being slowed down. It wasn't like she had to rush anywhere. She stepped carefully from rock to rock as she climbed the stony stairway, making sure not to risk a slip. Her headset sparked momentarily before she heard Corporal Marcus Green's voice over radio "Chief Williams, I have a question."

Ashley rolled her eyes. Green was on station at the camp, he'd been pestering her about weapon mods. "What Corporal?" she responded with maybe a little more edge than was necessary

"So exactly how often do ammo modifiers require maintenance? Because I feel like I'll do a better job in action if my gun sets the targets on fire, some psychological warfare, you know?"

"Corporal, I'm not an expert in ammo mods, I don't know how incendiary rounds work, so how would I know how often they need to be calibrated? Leave it. Train with your biotics, it'd be a better use of your time."

"But chief, Please? I just think that-"

Green's protest was cut short by a sudden alert from command, it took a moment for him to be quiet as the communication started, but he was silent once he realized its importance. "We have enemy ships in Orbit! Fifteen to twenty vessels, ranging from frigate to Dreadnought in size, incoming towards Eden Prime. Cruisers Beijing, London, and Rio, pull to the outer system, do not engage, repeat, do not engage the enemy, we're out gunned, calling for reinforcements now. Planetary bases deploy fighters immediately, stay in-atmosphere, repeat, in atmosphere, we can't take them on, but we can stop them landing. Frigates Fallujah, Hastings, Midway, Lexington and Gettysburg, enter the atmosphere. I want all ships either too close to the planet for those cruisers' guns, or on the edge of the solar system, A-sap. Ground teams, spread out, If they get onto the surface, I want them wading through Guerrilla strikes at every turn. Stay in small groups, hit them and run."

Ashley was almost frozen for a moment. An enemy dreadnought was in orbit. There was only one mission an army would send that powerful a ship on. Invasion and conquest. Her pace quickened to a run, racing towards the science camp, to the marines stationed there, and on patrol around it. They were going to need as many men and women as they could get.

[Author's notes, the usual.]

Well this chapter turned out short.

Whatever, that's Ash, I'm sorry, Ashley fans, but I don't think I'm going to have her reading a lot of poetry. Not because I'm changing her character, but because it's just a very low story quality-to-research effort ratio, it'd take me a lot of time to find the right poetry, and I just don't think it'll happen I'm sorry.

The stories should be colliding soon, in case nobody saw that coming.

Part of me feels like I should have had Ash appear before the attack, but I already had trouble throwing together Alenko's last chapter because I couldn't think of what to make happen for the longest time, and any Idyllic scenery chapter on Eden Prime would both feel and be completely pointless except to make you meet the division on defense, but I think that I'm getting at that fairly well. Or at least well enough.