Chapter 12: Caedes.
"A good plan today is better
Than a perfect one tomorrow."
-George S. Patton
UTC Headquarters:
The light in the room was low, a small bulb above a table gave off just enough light that the people seated around the table could see each other as they planned their next move.
"This is the territory under our control," said a Saryn named Yerik as he brought up a three-dimensional map of Palaven, showing the Pact territory in blue and the rest in red. "We've had frequent raids in these areas." The map zoomed, now focusing on the Pact territory, then three arrows appeared indicating the places from where the raids occurred. "But that is not the problem." The hologram moved to another location. "This is a hill about 300 meters tall, flat ground up to five kilometers around, and a city two kilometers away. Vector calculations show that almost every artillery strike has originated from this area. Any ideas?"
"What about drop pods?" said his Saryn colleague, Mirka.
"No," replied Sofia sternly. "The drop pods are very imprecise, they usually miss the target by half a kilometer."
"And helicopters?" proposed Zan.
Sophia shook her head. "If the drop zone has an encampment of artillery, it would be suicide."
Silence followed her words.
"Why don't we just make it a flat piece of earth?" suggested Yerik after a few moments.
"Again the imprecision problem comes into play," she said as she brought up a meteorological map of the area. "Of all the cities on Palaven, this one has the more dramatic weather; thunderstorms are a near constant presence. There are hour long breaks but the cloud coverage and electric storms play havoc with our satellites."
"Hill 400?" asked Viktor.
"Hill 400," replied Sofia and Esteban in unison.
"Hill what?" asked Zan raising an eyebrow.
"An old human battle," said Esteban. "We take the city first, then we make a full assault against the hill."
"How will we take the village?" asked Mirka.
Esteban considered that for a moment. "We're going to need the 2nd Battalion of the 75th Ranger Regiment to take the village, for the hill assault we'll use the 3rd Army Corps of the UTCMC, the 11th and 12th quarian battalions, and the entire 22nd Saryn Division."
"76,400 soldiers," said Zan uneasily. "Don't you think that is a bit excessive?"
"I'm expecting a complete fortress when they arrive: bunkers, machine gun nests, sniper nests, mines, the works."
"Was that the layout on Hill 400?" asked Zan.
"Worse," commented Viktor, remembering his history lessons.
"How much worse?"
"Let's just say that 81,000 soldiers lost their lives in a 129 square kilometer space."
"Keelah," Zan whispered.
"Artillery would be very imprecise, given the current weather patterns, unless the soldiers gave us the exact coordinates themselves."
"So we are talking about null artillery support," said Mirka thoughtfully.
"Or very limited," corrected Sofia.
Viktor stood. "If there's nothing else, I'm going to contact the soldiers, the attack starts in 48 hours. Dismissed."
Two Hours Before the Assault:
Major James Campbell sat down in one of the dozens of chairs of the V-22 Osprey transporting them to the target. He looked outside and saw how terrible the weather outside of the plane was; raindrops drummed against the metal outer shell, the sound occasionally interrupted by someone's sneeze or cough. He glanced around at the other Rangers on board, mentally calculating how many there were total between the thirty-six planes en-route for the same city. Campbell sighed heavily as he returned his attention to the world outside of the plane. It was going to be the longest two hours of his life.
30 Seconds Before the Assault:
"Prepare for evasive maneuvers!" the pilot shouted, as the Osprey violently pulled to the left, almost ejecting the soldiers from their seats.
"Here Razor 3-3, we're going down! I repeat, we're going—" The incoming transmission was cut short by an explosion and screams.
"Everybody grabs your weapons!" shouted James on the battalion link as he ran to the door. "We're going down hot! Be ready to do a hell jump." He arrived at the ramp and slammed his fist on the button; it opened slowly and revealed to him the rain, AA fire, and one of the Osprey exploding in the distance. Turning around, he saw his men standing behind him, ready to jump.
He gestured at them to begin exiting the plane, and they did so without hesitation. The soldiers leapt from the plane and activated their newly designed kinetic barriers, the only thing standing between them and a final resting place on the ground. James was the last to jump and as he did, his barrier automatically deployed; he watched as the world around him streaked by in a darkened blur, he tried to locate his men but he was traveling too fast to see anything clearly. It was only when he hit the ground did his senses fully return to him.
James slowly stood up and cleaned his dusty visor before walking out of the small crater he had made. Sporadic gunfire was already sounding off in the distance as he brought up his radar and surveyed the area.
"All units converge on my position."
"Aye, sir!"
James then looked around at the buildings, noticing one that towered over most in the vicinity.
"I want a sniper nest at the top of that building," he said to a nearby sniper, who nodded.
The sniper patted the shoulder of two of his companions and pointed to the top of the building, his companions nodded and the three headed for the door of the building. After making sure that a firefight wasn't going to commence, James ordered to his men to check the surrounding area, and as he and a small group of his men rounded a corner, they found something unexpected.
A turian female was leaving a nearby house, when she looked up and saw the five human soldiers, all of them pointing their weapons at her she didn't even blink.
"On your knees, now!" James roared as she reached for something in her pocket. Then a deafening shot was heard and they were drenched in bits of flesh, brains, and a sprinkling of warm blue blood. It took them a few moments to realize that the woman's head had exploded.
"Mom!" came a shout from inside the house. They turned and saw a boy, no more than twelve standing in the doorway, the boy looked at the corpse then at the humans, his face contorting with grief and anguish not unlike a human.
"Murderers!" he shouted, as he drew out a knife. "Murderers!"
A single shot rang out as he ran towards them.
Half an Hour Later:
The last of the resistance was obliterated, and within a number of hours four battalions arrived on the scene.
"It's worse than we expected," said the leader of the Rangers as he entered the tent where the other leaders had gathered. "Machine gun nests, snipers, mines, artillery, everything you could expect for a fortress."
"So we are completely screwed?" asked the leader of the quarian battalion.
"Well, not exactly. We have skill, and numbers, and this hill will fall at any cost."
"So, how do we take the hill?" a saryn asked, activating a 3-D map of the area.
"We'll distribute our forces along the perimeter of the city, leading up to the hill," replied the Ranger as he pointed at the map. Overhead a distant thunder echoed. "After that, we run to the hill and fight our way up."
"It will be a two kilometer run," said the Saryn, crossing his arms as he looked at the map. "With artillery, snipers, and machine guns biting our ass all the way." He looked at the ground. "Are you sure this is our best option?"
"It's the only one we have."
"When do we start?" asked the Marine Commander.
"We move our forces now, and the attack is in three hours."
"Wouldn't it be better to wait until tomorrow?"
Another clap of thunder.
"We can't."
The sound of an explosion outside roared through the camp, followed by the screams of the soldiers. The sounds served as a reminder to all just how little time they had left before they were completely obliterated.
Exterior Perimeter, Less Than a Minute Until the Attack:
James and his battalion were at the front of the Army, the thunderstorm had stopped fifteen minutes ago but the clouds were showing signs of a continued assault. Behind them, the sounds of artillery slugs rang out, a good sign.
So they waited. And waited. And waited.
A lightning bolt flashed in the sky, then an instant later thunder rolled in, and five seconds later the downpour started.
"For the homelands!" he shouted as loudly as he could, using his voice amplifiers.
The cry of almost 80,000 souls answered him. Then James began to run, the rest followed him, and the slaughter began. Enemy artillery rained down on them, hitting the soldiers as they ran, their final resting places where they had been standing in formation. The bodies piled up behind them, one by one until there were almost as many standing as there were on the ground. James made the mistake of looking away from the front line, glancing over at his second who fell moments later, and as he looked back to see the blaze of gunfire darkness shrouded him.
Two Hours Later:
Lieutenant Jek Vinográdov was supervising the execution of enemy personnel at the top of the hill, rifle in hand, just in case that someone tried to run.
"Hey, Jek," said an approaching Marine. "We found an elevator inside a nearby building, the Commander wants us to investigate."
"How many are going?" he asked.
"The whole platoon."
Jek shook his head. "Alright then, let's go."
He nodded at his men before heading back down the hill with the Marine, where they were greeted by the platoon already prepared for the mission. The Marine that fetched Jek signaled to his men and they began walking towards the building, they kept point as they marched, wary of a potential ambush. They entered and headed for the elevator, Jek pressed the button and they waited for it to arrive. When it opened, he, the Marine from before, and three other soldiers entered.
"We'll send for you," he said sternly to those they were leaving behind.
They rode down and when the doors opened, they were greeted to a pitch-black corridor.
"Activate night vision," he instructed before advancing down the corridor. His men followed him, their weapons drawn, and they slowly went around corners until they arrived at a large metal door at the end of the slightly winding corridor.
Jek signaled for them to halt and he approached the door, he reached out and gripped the handle, he pulled on it and it opened with surprising ease. Once it was open, they hurried inside, weapons still raised and they crept through the room, spreading out to cover more ground. Jek continued to walk, moving his weapon around as he anticipated an attack.
"Sir, I think you should see this," said a soldier a few minutes later.
Jek went over to the soldier, and as he looked in the direction the soldier was looking in he saw what had him concerned. There was a small, metal cylindrical container just sitting on the ground.
"Thermonuclear device," he said and they both started backing away. "We need to get the hell out of here, now!"
The men abandoned all pretense of being careful in favor of racing for the elevator. Jek activated his omni-tool, hoping to get through to someone who could help.
"Command, we've found a thermonuclear bomb," he said as they ran.
"Repeat Delta, static interference."
"We found a thermonuclear device!" he repeated as he punched the button to summon the elevator. "Powerful enough to—"
Moments later, the building and the hill were rendered to a pile of steaming ash.
Five Hours Later, Venus, City of Fraga:
Sofia sat down in front of her desk, it was very late on the night, but duty came first. She turned on her computer; seeing the wallpaper of she and her deceased husband always managed her to smile. After staring at it for a few minutes, she pressed a few keys and the picture was replaced with one of a smoking crater. Her mouth dropped open in shock, they had not mentioned this during the phone call. Pressing another key, a loading message appeared, then a list appeared and she began to scroll down, as she read it her eyes began to moisten, thousands and thousands of names appeared. She saw human names, Saryn names, and quarian names all with the same three letters at the end: KIA. A single tear found it's way out of Sofia's eyes.
The Army had been annihilated.
Ten Hours Later, Aurora, City of Quarian Pride (Pard'kizk):
Bran'Deis Zar Aurora was a happy guy, he was going to a good university, he have a loving mother and little sister, he was proud of being the son of one of the first quarian Marine whom had achieved the N5 classification. With his father gone on deployment, he felt a sense of duty towards protecting his mother and little sister, which explained why he was there when someone knocked on his mother's door one afternoon. He had been the one who answered, and he was more than surprised when he saw a Saryn in full military dress standing on their doorstep. His stomach dropped.
"Can I help you?" he asked carefully, eyeing the deep scar on the man's cheek.
The saryn considered him carefully. "Do you live here?"
"This is my mother's house," replied Bran carefully.
"This matter concerns you as well as her," said the Saryn sternly. "May I please come in? I would rather discuss this inside and with your mother."
Bran nodded and stepped aside, the saryn then entered and gestured to Bran to lead the way. He did so reluctantly, knowing that with each step towards where his mother was sitting was one more towards what was likely terrible news. When they entered the living room, his mother and sister both looked surprised to see the Saryn but they did well at covering up their shock. His mother went to stand but she was directed by the Saryn to remain seated.
"Please ma'am, no need to raise on my account," said the Saryn gently and then he looked at his omni-tool. "You're Shila'Deis Zar Aurora, yes?"
"I am," she replied more bravely than Bran expected.
The Saryn let out a sigh. "I'm sorry to be the one to deliver this news, but I'm here to tell you that your husband died during a recent incursion on the turian home world."
Bran's mother held her head in her hands while his little sister burst into tears. Bran was numb to the news, he could not believe that his father was really dead, he had just spoken to him last week and all seemed to be going well.
"I know this is difficult to hear," continued the Saryn slowly, "but I hope you take some comfort in the fact he died bravely, defending his men and home."
Bran could not handle this, not now. He had so much on his plate, he could not, would not accept the fact that his father was actually dead. If he did, then that would mean everything was different and he would have to really become the man of the house. He listened to his sister's cries and looked at his mother's grieving posture, and then he took off to his room. He locked himself in and dove onto his bed, ripping off his helmet before burying his face in his pillow, muffling his cries. What was he supposed to do now?
A Day Later, Unknown Location:
Sparatus lost all sense of time; being in a barely illuminated cell without any window into the outside world had seen to that. He had no idea what day it was, no idea where he was, and no clue when he was going to be released.
"Put your back to the door, and your hands behind your head, now!" a voice shouted, and he did as ordered. He heard the door opening, then there was a gun barrel at the back of his head, someone handcuffed him shortly after that, then he was thrown into complete darkness thanks to a bag placed over his head. Shortly after, whomever was there began to drag him away from his cell to spirits know where. The journey did not last long or perhaps it did but he was not paying much attention, when he was thrown up and onto a chair, the bag was removed moments later and after a few moments, his eyes adjusted to the bright light and he saw a human wearing what appeared to be formal attire.
"Mr. Turian," said the human smugly.
"Human," growled Sparatus, then the human grabbed the back of his head, digging his fingers into the soft spots between the plates. The quarians had obviously informed them of turian weak points.
"My name is Viktor, and while we're on the subject, I will call you Sparatus."
"Someone such as you doesn't deserve to speak my name."
"Who will care if I say the name of a traitor?" asked Viktor and he smirked when he saw the fear in Sparatus' eyes. "Enough on that, I don't feel like discussing the finer points with you." He then brought up his omni-tool where images of a smoking crater were already waiting. "Now, explain to me how the hell a piece of land becomes a pile of ash?"
"It's not possible," said Sparatus slowly, he was aware that the Hierarchy still possessed old, unsophisticated weapons but he could not believe they would actually stoop so low as to use them. Then again, they were in a desperate situation.
"Evidently it is," snarled Viktor as the images cycled. "Now tell me who has the access to these kinds of weapons or I will personally remove each and every plate on your body."
Sparatus tried to move away but Viktor held him fast. He did not want to betray his people but if he did not then he was going to be slowly and brutally killed in a way unheard of since the krogan rebellions. He now understood why the man had called him 'traitor' just moments ago. "The Primarch," he replied, his eyes downcast. "He's the only one with access."
"Good, Estefan!" shouted Viktor at the ceiling.
"Yes, sir?" answered a voice.
"Grab a team of AIs and find everything you can on the Primarch," ordered Viktor.
"At once, sir," said the voice.
"You did well," said Viktor, patting Sparatus on his left mandible before looking at the two guards standing in the wing. "Take him back to his cell, I'm done with him."
They stepped forward and before Sparatus could protest, the butt of a rifle made contact with the back of his head and he was out cold.
Five Days Later, UTCF Midway, Somewhere in the Trebia System:
"So what are our orders?" asked Zak, a Death Claw, as he checked over his armor.
"Our priority target is to capture Primarch Fedorian," replied his companion Jack, another Death Claw, who was loading his weapon, a P90 sub-machine gun. "Alive."
"Alive? There's nothing fun in that," sighed Zak as he put his M4 on his back and a 9mm pistol in the holster on his right thigh.
"Why do you always use an ACOG sight?" asked Jack, after catching a glimpse of Zak's weapon mods.
Zak looked over his shoulder. "Why? Is it against regs?"
"Well, no," said Jack, rubbing the back of his neck. "I was just curious."
"Oh, well, I just like it more," said Zak as he started picking up the antimatter shields. "What's the secondary objective?"
"Destroy the space station they're using as their HQ," he replied, double-checking his grenade stash.
"Stealth?" asked Zak, putting on his helmet.
"Complete stealth," replied Jack.
"Boring," he said, stretching needlessly. "And how we destroy the station?"
"With this baby," said Jack, holding up a small metal briefcase. "The latest version of the antimatter bomb, an O'Connor original design."
Zak let out an appreciative whistle. "Can I carry it?"
"No."
"Spoilsport."
"You're welcome," he snapped. "So, where do we cut?"
"Let me look," said Zak as he activated his omni-tool and checked the map. "It appears there's a cargo area in that direction." He pointed at his two o'clock. He then turned off his omni-tool. "Let's go."
Minutes later, they arrived at the designated area, and as Zak readied the cutter on his omni-tool, Jack took out a portable mass effect field generator and placed it where Zak was about to cut.
"I'm assuming you've deactivated the security system?" asked Zak as they polarized their visors.
"Yeah," he replied as he activated the generator.
Zak began to cut, and less than two minutes later Jack grabbed the piece of metal before it fell to the floor and held onto it. Zak slipped through the hole, and activated the sticky component on the knees, feet, and hands of light armor and moved quickly to the side. Then he motioned for Jack to come through and as he did, he put the piece of metal from before back in place; using the same component on his armor, Jack held onto the wall and the metal while Zak welded it seamlessly back into place.
"Where we go next?" asked Jack as they began their ascent.
"To the main chamber; that's where Primarch Fedorian should be."
"And where's the main chamber?"
"Let me check," he said as he stopped and brought up his omni-tool. He sighed as he looked at the map. "He's on the other side of the station."
"I hate you."
Somewhere in the Trebia System, Unknown Space Station, Main Chamber:
Fedorian cursed again, he had been trying for hours now to find someway to get a message to the Citadel, each time without success.
"Damn the spirits!" he shouted, and the platoon of soldiers protecting him turned to look at him. He stared them down with a callous expression and they turned back to their duties, leaving him to work again. Finally, he found a secure channel, he could not tell where it was connected to but he was desperate. Static crackled as the line was established.
"Hello," he shouted, gripping the table. "Can anybody hear me?"
"Who is this?" asked a clearly feminine voice.
"Tevos?" he said, his hope increasing by the second.
"Fedorian?" she asked incredulously.
"Tevos, I don't' have enough time-"
"What's going on?"
"Don't interrupt me," said Fedorian sternly, not caring about the ramifications of speaking to a councilor that way. "Listen, I'm not sure that Palaven can be saved."
"Don't say that Fedorian," she pleaded desperately. "If you lose hope, then Palaven truly is lost."
"Tevos, we both know they can isolate a system and attack, how do you think they attacked Palaven so easily?" he demanded. "My soldiers are starving down here, while they use FTL to bring food and fresh troops. We don't stand a chance so long as this blockade persists."
"They've done something similar here on the Citadel-"
"They what?" he asked, almost shouting.
"They've isolated the Citadel, we can barely maintain communication with the rest of the galaxy, and we're fairly certain that Palaven is not the only planet they have invaded."
Somewhere in the Trebia System, Unknown Space Station, Ventilation Duct above the Main Chamber:
"Why in the hell don't we stop him?" whispered Jack through clenched teeth.
"We're waiting for the right time," replied Zak, sipping from his water tube.
"Right time for what?"
"To make our entrance," replied Zak with a cunning smile as he put away his bottle.
"You've got to be shitting me," groaned Jack, but the smile on his face betrayed his true thoughts.
"I understand Tevos," they heard someone say below.
"It's time, activate thermal vision," said Zak as he rapidly unscrewed the rack, letting it fall to the ground with a loud 'clank'. He looked down below and with the help of thermal vision in his mask, saw the enemy converging in a circle around the rack; he smiled as he grabbed a flashbang, and then dropped it.
"Grenade!" someone shouted, and a second later the explosion of the flashbang was heard, followed with the pained screams of the turians. Suddenly both cloaked Death Claws dropped through the hole, and as they landed, they raised their weapons and fired on the stunned turians.
The Citadel, Tiberius Tower, Silversun Strip:
Tevos watched on in horror as the explosion unfolded before her very eyes. She could hear the turians crying out in agony as they perished and her legs nearly gave out then and there, but she had to remind herself that she needed to be strong for the weak. That was the only thing keeping her from completely crumbling, at the moment. The silence that greeted her was almost deafening and she was about to speak when she heard an unfamiliar voice.
"Primarch Fedorian."
She could not bring herself to speak, and as she looked at her translator, her mouth went completely dry as a shiver ran up her spine.
"Wha-what the hell do you want?" she heard Fedorian ask, the fear evident in his voice.
"You," the human said icily, his English tongue translated to a common alien one.
"Why?"
"We don't have time for this," said another voice, then a punch was heard, followed by a thud that sounded like something heavy falling to the ground.
"Oh, look at this, a dead turian baby," said the same voice from before, clearly amused. "Hello Councilor, I know you're listening, and I hope all of you are enjoying being stuck onto the Citadel. Don't worry, we're going to free you all soon enough. See you soon."
The call was then cut off and Tevos finally collapsed to her knees, the terror and fear that coursed through her body rivaled anything she had ever felt in her long life. Covering her face with her hands, she finally allowed the dam to break and tears streamed down her face like twin rivers. As she sat there, she wondered if these were the last weeks of her, and the galaxy's, life.