Evolution: A Mass Effect & Section 8 Crossover
Chapter 3
A/N: Be sure to check out the previous two chapters as I did some editing. Rest of my notes for you are at the end.
/Earth Date/ -01.04.2538-
/Ship/ –-Battlecruiser USIS Texas, 8th Armored Infantry Division Flagship, Taskforce 33-
/Destination/ -–New Shanxi-
/Galactic Location/ –5 Parsecs from edge of Star HD149415's system-
Following newly established protocol, General Stone had the taskforce drop out of their jump early so they were just inside New Shanxi's short range communications. No sooner than had they done so, had a data packet come in from the colony. MOTHER quickly summarized everything Stone needed to know into a few bullet points before it began to analyze the rest of the data more thoroughly.
"MOTHER," Stone looked up from his data tablet, "Give me fleet wide comms."
/Dropship Hangar of USIS Texas/
/Dropship 341/
As the newly promoted Major made his way over to 1st Recon's assigned dropship, he was surprised to see Matthews and Reyes talking with Blackburn. 3rd Recon's dropship's were on the other end of the Texas, and with 1st Recon now back up to full platoon strength, Major Blackburn could go back to leading his own platoon instead of assisting 1st Recon. Corde was also not used to seeing so many troopers around his dropship.
The joys of command...
When Corde neared the ship one of the FNG's, a Captain Hackett as the shoulder pauldron and collar ID showed, shouted "Commanding Officer on deck!"
Instantly, all of the FNG's snapped to attention and saluted. Meanwhile, Blackburn chuckled and Matthews handed Reyes a small piece of metal which Reyes stuffed into a small compartment on his forearm with a smile.
Suppressing a smirk, Corde came right up to the group of newbies, who had assembled into a single line, before speaking. "I'm only going to say this once. At ease." The group of thirteen went to parade rest. Almost all of them were fully geared up, save four who had their helmets visor and HUD plating retracted. "As you all know, I am Major Corde." Corde began to pace in front of his charges, showing them the new paldron's he was given as a symbol of his rank, which stood out on his jet black armor plating. His pacing also served the purpose of gauging their reactions and their demeanor. For the most part, the newbies all held the standard gun metal blue plating, signifying their rookie status, while only a few held officer pauldrons. As he walked by each and every one of them, nearly all of them shifted slightly. The only ones who didn't were again the ones who had their helmets open.
Hackett... Anderson... Shepard... Coré...
Corde committed their names to memory. Having gone over every single new addition to 1st Recon service history, he was able to remember that they had stood out then too. Captain Steven Hackett was a graduate of the Imperial Academies newest officer fast track course, and his scores in both planet side and space tactics put him in the same league as the Fleet's seasoned Admiral's and General's. 2nd Lieutenant David Anderson was also a part of that same program, however his skills were primarily in squad combat and platoon leadership. Sergeant Matthew Shepard had somehow managed to score high enough, as well as impress his instructors, in basic training that he was given an early commission as an officer, provided his commanding officer's approved his in-combat performance. Finally Corporal Eva Coré was one of the most brilliant engineers to have gone through the Academy, only being bested by a Kahlee Sanders who she reportedly was close friends with. The four of them together in their own fireteam, being led by Hackett, sure was going to be an interesting thing to watch unfold.
"You are the first troopers to come in and get 1st Recon back up to full platoon strength since I was in your shoes." Corde continued. "While you are in 1st Recon... You have yet to earn the respect of the rest of 1st Recon, both living and dead. We are the tip of the spear that is wielded by the Empire, as such we get the most action, and we see the most brutal side of war you can possibly imagine. We go on missions other platoons would never in their wildest dreams would accept and we accomplish those missions. No matter the cost." Corde turned and walked back to Reyes and Matthews, who had stood up and walked closer to the group of FNG's while Blackburn sat on the sideline. When Corde reached his two teammates, he nodded slightly before turning around. "If you are ready to accept the challenge and danger of being in 1st Recon and earning our respect, step forward."
Corde watched the group very carefully. Hackett, Anderson, Shepard, and Coré were the first to step forward by a fraction of second after he had finished his speech, followed by the rest of the group. Corde nodded in satisfaction.
"Alright then. You all know your fireteam assignments! Get in the bird and get strapped in!" Corde bellowed, which earned a few 'booyahs'. As the newbies walked on to the dropship, Blackburn walked over.
"Well Corde," the familiar Australian accent hit Corde's ears as he turned around to meet his old CO and now fellow Major, "I gotta say that was one helluva speech. Did you practice that or improvise it?"
"Yeah if you keep that up, you'll likely take the General's job," Matthews' own British accented voice chimed in.
Corde just smiled, "A good leader should always speak from the heart."
"I hear you boss," the normally silent Reyes joined in. "It did put the fear of god into those recruits. The four that you eyed up though, back at Fort Soloman they were working together nearly as well as we do even during base clean up from the Spear assault."
"Yeah I noticed that too," Corde looked over at the dropship, and the quartet were checking over the lower ranked recruits for any missing gear or damages that needed attention before they boarded the dropship.
Because of 1st Recon's manpower increase, they had been given authorization to use the latest dropship to be assembled by the Texas' autofab center. The new drop ship held a smaller profile width wise, which it made up for in length and height. The increase in mass though required a second set of VTOL engines to be placed towards the stern end, but the end result was actually a faster gunship capable of deploying a full platoon, sixteen soldiers, in one swoop without having to readjust its course thanks to the droptubes being placed along the belly of the craft. Also added in were improved shielding modules as well as four individually aimed missile racks to aid the dropship in landing and takeoff fire support.
"Major Corde," Blackburn emphasized the new rank, "I have to be heading to my platoon. Maybe I'll see you ground side, then we can compare whose men have the most kills." Blackburn held out his hand to Corde with a smile on his face, which Corde accepted and shook.
"Nothing crazy this time Blackburn like back on Boreas." Corde replied. Blackburn then took his helmet and attached it, letting MOTHER activate the HUD plate and armor plating as he walked away.
Turning back to Matthews and Reyes, he simply nodded before walking towards the dropship.
Hackett was just climbing in as Corde reached the ramp, he too nodded towards Corde before finding his seat. The droptubes were arranged in a four by four fashion, with each fire team taking a row to themselves. The lucky trooper, a Corporal Thomson, was already seated at the far right seat of the first row. Thomson, who specialized in demolitions, was taking the place of Graves who had died on Prometheus. While Corde held no actual dislike for Thomson, Graves had been with him since nearly the beginning of the Outer Rim War. That kind of friendship and trust was not something that could be replaced easily.
Just as Corde pulled on his helmet, MOTHER initiated a fleet wide broadcast from General Stone.
"Attention members of 8th Armored. We are currently holding approximately five parsecs from New Shanxi. As such we are within range of the fledgling colonies short range transmitters. The commanding officer planet side, Colonel Williams, has relayed to us everything they have found out about the alien invaders. They currently have orbital superiority and a presence on the ground outside the colonies main wall.
While their technology is of a different class than ours, we have superiority in firepower and tactics as Colonel Williams' men have managed to hold off the alien's assaults towards the terraforming tower and the MOTHER hubs that have been activated. It has not been without loss, as they have mourned the loss of one soldier thus far.
With this information and other tactical data sent by Williams, we are going to wipe these aliens off of our colony. MOTHER will inform all of you of the battle plans.
Remember, we are the 8th Armored and we will always protect humanity.
Stone, out."
By the conclusion of the General's speech, Corde had strapped himself into his drop harness with his helmet in place. MOTHER began streaming Stone's battle plan to his HUD, showing what would happen on the ground and in space for the upcoming battle. MOTHER also provided what information Colonel William's had managed to gather on the aliens; weaponry, armor, abilities, anything that could be useful.
As he reviewed everything, he felt the ship shudder slightly as it made the FTL jump, and a single thought crossed his mind.
I feel like lightning and my burden is awesome. I feel like lightning and down I must go.
A/N:
Alright guys this is going to be a long one. First off, I wish to thank all of you for your reviews, favorites, and alerts. Out of the five fics I've published on here so far, this one has been one of the more popular ones.
To clarify, the 'original' 1st Recon members are wearing the all black color scheme that is commonly used in Section 8: Prejudice's single player campaign but retain their officer pauldrons. The FNG's are wearing the typical gun metal blue with any officer pauldrons.
The star I mentioned in the beginning location describer is an actual star located roughly a thousand light years away. I used a program called Space Engine to find an appropriate system to mark the edge of USIF territory.
On to other stuff. If you want me to respond to your reviews, please don't submit a review anonymously. I do not reply to reviews in any format other than PM replies when I have the chance to.
Along those lines, those of you who have put reviews up asking someone else to take over this fic, please remember two key pieces of information.
1) I post updates on my twitter (Mitchell_DN7)
2) I said in the first chapter that new chapters will be few and far between. I have real life to deal with and Evolution is not my primary fic.
Even though Evolution is not my primary fic, you would not believe the amount of planning that has gone into it thus far. I have created entire unit breakdowns, fleet structures, rank hierarchies, and a timeline comparing canon Mass Effect to Section 8. All of that is the tip of the iceberg, and I'm not even close to having everything thought out for the plot of this fic.
Finally, again as fair warning I do not have any idea when the next chapter will be up. I know this one was short, but it was the best place to end it.