A/N; I noticed a lot of complaints about the MAC round and the Sevenfold. So here I am explaining it for you, after all you did ask nicely.
A MAC round fires a 600ton slug at 30,000MS-1(meters per second), now that's a lot of power (64 kilotons of kinetic energy. Now a Mass Effect Core (which also powers the weapons) would reduce the mass (say by half) and fire it at higher velocities (say four times the speed) so, there you go, go do the math and ask the question again. (Obviously it's all basic speculation and not fact, but use it as a base line and away you go.)
Now Trife this one is for you; I would never, ever do such a thing. Why on earth would I weaken the UNSC so much? Seriously I think the UNSC would never join the Citadel Council, not before the Great War nor after it. So rest assured friend, such injustice will not be committed in my story.
6tailedninja- Now, I appreciate being corrected only as long as the person correcting me is actually correct. A Lieutenant serves as the Officers on the bridge, not Ensigns (yes the guy from The fall of Reach was an exception) this is proven several times throughout the books, I would suggest reading them.
Guest-If it's so hard to follow why are you reading it this far?
Now onto other matters I do something that hasn't been done in other FFs like this, (at least to my knowledge) so read it, enjoy it and then review. I mean it REVIEW! Only 19 reviews for the last chapter, so be nice and comment on the story, (or tell me how horrible it is so I can ignore you, or listen to you depending on what you say).
Any way enjoy the chapter and remember I do not own either franchise, only characters, Ship classes and planets I invented.
UNSC Colony world Shanxi, Yamatai East End, 1321 hours, September 29, 2587
"Be advised—all stations Echo; you have enemy air and armour heading your way, ETA one minute." The voice of an officer inside the TOC on board the SkyFall reported, interrupting the sound of the rain hitting the windows and the powerful engine of the Bulldog—it gave Echo Company a brief warning before Batarian forces hammered their position. David looked over to Becky who was at the weapons station next to him.
"You hear that Becks? Get your game face on!" just as he turned to face the road again he saw the leading elements of Batarian forces open fire—a gunship fired a rocket at the leading units of Echo Company; which was him.
"INCOMING!" David yelled in warning, not just to his team that was also in the Bulldog but over the , giving the rest of Echo Company time to react. Bulldogs swerved off the main road and onto the sidewalks while Warrior IFVs activated their shields and anti-missile systems. Rockets from shoulder fired launchers or SAM systems on the Warriors fired causing smoke to spread throughout the Company, reducing their visibility drastically. Laser fire and 30mm cannon rounds were also unleashed at the oncoming battalion of Batarian Troops.
Time slowed down for David and those inside the first Bulldog; the rocket impacted the road right in front of the right wheel of the Bulldog, lifting the FAV into the air and depositing it roughly on its side where it slide to a halt after crashing into a pile of rubble that once formed part of the Yamatai Plaza. Inside the Bulldog David was pinned to his seat—a large metal pole, part of the plumbing in the Plaza, was sticking through the windscreen and had managed to lodge itself in his thigh, the awkward angle made it impossible to for him to move. Looking towards Becky he saw her limp figure leaning against the restraints, blood dripped from her dark hair and cut up face—her Bio signs were displayed on his shattered HUD, from what he could see, she was alive but unconscious.
He ripped of his damaged helmet and threw it towards his feet; his HUD flickered wildly as his neural implant stopped projecting it to his helmet and shifted it directly to his iris. Echo Company was putting out a lot of hurt by the sounds that raged around the crashed FAV. A groan from the back alerted him to the two turians in the back.
"Vakarian, that you?" David said through gritted teeth. Another groan answered him before Vakarian found his voice again.
"Yes Lieutenant, found a great place for a nap by the way." The turian managed to get out, the crash wasn't any better for them either at least.
"Good, maybe later we'll use but for now I need you to get your friend and Becky out of here, get them safe and then get your scaly ass back here, got that?" David ordered.
"Got it," David heard the snap as the turian cut through the harness and freed himself, David strained to look back and saw Vakarian open the door and lift the other turian out of it, his injuries hampered his progress but he did it. A few minutes later the door next to Becky opened and allowed David to briefly see tracer rounds from both sides fly past along with a missile that struck a nearby skyscraper—raining debris on the battle field. Vakarian stuck his head in and started to grab at Becky when he saw the pipe through David's thigh.
"Lieutenant?" he questioned.
"Get Becky out of here, GO!" David yelled but the turian still didn't move. David tapped a red blinking display, "Fuel cells are ruptured, it's gonna blow any damn second!" David thanked the Lord when the Turian hastened to get Becky out of her seat; she was slowly regaining consciousness but was still groggy and no help.
Vakarian pulled the Sargent out of the wreckage and started to pull her to safety, gunfire zipped past constantly, some rounds coming far too close for comfort. He pulled her to where the rest of the team were holding position. Eugene, the massive human known as Train turned to face him.
"Hey Blue, where the fuck is the LT!" he roared over the gunfire while running over to help,
"He's pinned to his seat, you'd need a damn cutting laser to get him out of there." Vakarian handed Becky off to Train and made a mad rush to get back to the Bulldog despite the shouts from Train and Lieutenant Victus. Running through open ground in the middle of a crossfire was not something he ever wanted to do again as he dodged enemy fire and stray shots from friendly units.
He climbed back on top of the wrecked vehicle and jumped in next to David, he activated his Omni-tool to try and use the built in cutter to get through the metal before the fuel cells detonated. David shook his head at the younger Turian.
"For the wolf to survive he has to chew off his own leg, your fancy wrist thing isn't going to cut it. Use your knife, cut off the leg—my bones are shattered Vakarian, nothing but skin and muscle holding me here."
Vakarian took his knife out but hesitated, unsure of what to do, his hands started to shake slightly as more crimson blood seeped out of the Lieutenant's armour and onto his own.
"Come on Vakarian! If you don't have the balls than get the fuck out of here!" David all but yelled in pain and anxiousness. Vakarian made his decision he plunged the knife down and started cutting the Officers leg, the shattered armour offering no resistance. David screamed before passing out from the pain.
"Ah crap, come on you stupid Pyjak, don't die on me now," Vakarian grumbled as he finished cutting off the leg, he looked over to the red display and saw it blinking rapidly. Double timing it he hoisted the human up and out the door and onto the road where tanks were parked behind whatever cover they could find and still fire their main guns from.
Rain pelted down almost as hard as Batarian fire, the cold rain just added to the scene—a dozen IFVs were nothing but burnt out husks and another dozen were using their dead companions hollow shells as cover, gunfire from UNSC and Batarian weapons filled the air, nothing else. He spotted Train and Victus moving towards him, a shell from a Batarian tank landed twenty meters away sending they synthetic road material into the air—along with two unlucky ODSTs who flew in multiple directions. Train grabbed David by his other arm and helped rush him to cover while Victus followed and provided covering fire. Just as they started moving again the Bulldog's fuel cells detonated and destroyed the vehicle.
A Challenger tank from the back of the column came crashing through everything in the street as it lined up its main gun on its batarian equivalent—the massive 120mm cannon fired, the shockwave caused dirt and small debris nearby to move violently, the cannon firing deafened Vakarian for a brief second. The batarian tank—an older model of Turian tanks, tried to use its superior manoeuvrability to dodge the shell but it was fruitless. The round struck it in its left engine—causing the left side of the tank to explode, it crashed to the ground before its ammo bank exploded, destroying it completely.
The team was taking cover behind hastily piled sandbags, courtesy of the people currently shooting at them. Becky was moving again while the only one of the other turians was present other than Victus, Felix was nowhere to be seen either.
"Who's in charge now Sarge?" Train asked as he put David down and started to stop the bleeding. Becky ran a hand over her face before replying.
"I don't know!" she yelled over the gunfire, her eyes moving rapidly in slight motions from side to side. "I—I am, I'm the most senior officer, everyone else… they're… they're dead." She stammered out, her hands started shaking slightly before she caught them.
"Get everyone to fall back, we'll find another way round!" she ordered, she looked over to Victus, "Grab Shepard, we're not leaving him here," she told him. She picked up her rifle and checked it, steeling herself for what was to come.
"All units Echo, fall back immediately, find an alternate route to the Jammer," she ordered over the , the fire teams that made up Echo Company—or what was left fell back, covering each other all the way. She led Echo 1-1, Shepard's squad, through a ruined restaurant and into a back ally where Felix joined them after a minuet, his armour full of scratches and dents.
"Where's Vyrnnus?" Vitus asked the human sniper, who shook his head.
"Gone, dead, I don't know. One second he was there, the next he was gone." Felix replied, as he came to a stop next to Becky and David who was still out of it. "Fuck what happened to the El-Tee?"
"We crashed; it was the only way to get him out of there before it exploded." Vakarian said in explanation.
"We can't keep him with us; he'll just slow us down." Victus said, only to be rebutted by the three humans.
"Hell no!"
"Fuck that bro!" Train and Felix yelled out while Becky walked up to him and prodded him on his chest to accentuate her words.
"No. Man. Left. Behind. We are not leaving him here, you don't like that? Then you can shove it up your ass Victus. He wouldn't leave any of us, we're NOT leaving him. Clear?" she growled out menacingly. He stuttered slightly, shocked at her refusal to leave the wounded man behind, before he nodded.
"Becks… he's right, I'm just gonna slow you down… get you all killed." David mumbled— his hands were shaking as he tried to get slightly more comfortable.
"No, no, no! I am not leaving you, remember Luyten? You didn't leave me, I am not leaving you here!" she almost screamed at him.
"That was different Becks! We didn't have enemy armour and air along with half a fucking battalion on our ass. Plus you could still walk!" David replied— his face contorted as his movements caused pain to shoot through his body.
"The same principle applies!" David grabbed her shoulder and pulled her close.
"If I left you there, your life would have been wasted. If you leave me here, my life will be spent. There's a difference Becks, no get out of here. When the counter attack hits the four eyed buggers are gonna come tearing through here just like you. I'll keep them occupied." David grabbed his tags and ripped them off; he placed them in Becky's hand as he said his last words to a friendly face.
"Tell… Meredith… tell her I'm sorry, I'm so sorry." He whispered to her before pushing her away, before anyone could say anything radio chatter followed by the sound of Broadswords flying overhead stopped them, explosions followed seconds later as the majority of the enemy in the street was torn apart, the survivors mad moves towards the buildings on the side of the road.
Becky cast one last look at David before she led the team out of the ally and towards the last remaining jammer. They had spent the entire morning taking out jammers and were moving to the last one when they were intercepted by Batarian forces. She heard David's gun fire several times before it was drowned out by the sound of more weapons fire from batarian guns. She would shed a tear for her friend later but right now she had a mission.
"We'll make these bastards pay, for David, for Vyrnnus, for everyone who has been hurt by these ass holes," Becky said to the group, her back turned to them.
"Hoo-rah!" Train and Felix said from their spots, the three remaining turians looked to one another and nodded before they let out their own cry for victory.
Becky led them through buildings and side streets until they came within a hundred meters of the apartment building where the jammer had been set up. Between them and it was a platoon's worth of enemy troops and a lot of open ground.
"It doesn't look like the rest of the Company made it." Felix commented, looking through his scope at the enemy emplacements.
"They made it, and we'll all have to make that push if we want to get through to the jammer." Becky replied, her eyes scanning the street for any sign of anyone from Echo Company. There! She spotted several IFF tags in the building across the street—the Yamatai museum.
UNSC Protectorate world New Babylon (Zion), Deliverance System, September 29 2587
The Capital city of Zion was as beautiful as it was deadly; the inhabitants of the planet had always built their cities like the old English castles—only these ones were made out of much stronger material and had much better defences. Towering skyscrapers glistened in the early morning sunlight as the dual suns rose up above the horizon.
The Tal'Sae were a race of tribal creatures that brought their ancient traditions in tribes into their modern society, they believed in things similar to ancient American Indians but only more… alien. Each city state was ruled by an Alpha pair while Enforcers acted as both the security and the Army for each city state, hunters were in charge of food gathering in older times but now they acted as scouts and envoys to other city states. Females were still predominantly seen as secondary citizens compared to males of the same 'rate', the majority of them looked after the younglings and organised the households and economy.
Fal'Cai knew all about the inner workings of Tal'Sae culture, it was his duty as the current Alpha male of the most powerful city state on Zion. He had asserted himself as the Alpha male less than a week before a large UNSC fleet arrived in system, the people of Zion had feared an invasion from the fleet but only the smallest vessel in the fleet came near Zion and initiated contact, the rest stayed by the edge of the system. That had been nearly ten years ago on the Tal'Sae calendar.
Fal looked up out of his office window to see the large towering tether that linked to a station in orbit, the Tal'Sae had many marvellous inventions; their skyscrapers, their first interplanetary colony on the closest moon, holographic interfaces, metal alloys for armour and construction. All of it was rendered old fashioned by the UNSC and UEG who had mastered such creations centuries before. He didn't resent the humans, his shaman had spoken to the ancestors and they guided him past resentment. No he idolised them, they were true Alpha males and females. They ruled their lands and seas with a loose enough hold that the people didn't rebel—too much, but strong enough to stop it all falling apart.
His city state, Tol'Daem—named after an ancient king that once ruled over the lands it was built on, was one of only a few states to house a tether network, but his had something the others didn't—the embassy. A large building that was constructed nearby held the UEG and UNSC flags at only 'half-mast' as it was called, they only did this when very high ranking officials in either their government or military died or on certain days in their calendar, and having spent enough time with the humans over the years he knew it was not one of those days.
In fact he was willing to bet that this was the reason he was meeting with the UEG ambassador in just a few minutes. His office was lavishly decorated; the silver, blue and gold colours lit up the room and gave it a very expensive look and to him advanced and dominating look. He had heard humans refer to it as more of an art display than an office, he had been offended at first but he quickly learnt that it was merely the difference in cultures and that he wasn't really all that impressive to the humans—they didn't fear him like or respect him the same way his people did.
The large doors opened and revealed the human ambassador and his entourage—four guards from the Army detachment who were part of a well-known unit of close quarter combat specialists, the large knifes were easily visible and reminded him of who the real power belong too in this room. That was one thing that confused him about humans; they could easily dominate the entire Tal'Sae race, they were obviously more powerful and much more advanced but yet they treated the Tal'Sae as equals, not subordinates. This was of course seen as a weakness at first by many city states but the massive forms of the UNSC Super Carriers was enough to persuade them otherwise.
"Ambassador I am honoured by your presence, I trust your journey was pleasant and unhindered." Fal greeted the human with a traditional greeting and bow. One used when a lower standing city is visited by an envoy of a higher standing city.
"Of course Fal'Cai, however I am here to inform you that we just received word from Earth; Lord Hood passed away last night. You and your wife and any subordinates you wish to bring are invited to the funeral. But that is not the only reason I am here today, I'm also here to offer you a chance to get your people more involved in the politics of the galaxy." Ambassador Erwin Chance replied, he gave a customary bow in return but he quickly rushed past pleasantries, and for good reason.
"I am saddened by Lord Hood's passing, may his ancestors guide him in the afterlife. Of course we shall attend, Lord Hood did my people a great many favours, and it would be shameful of me not to honour him in his passing." Fal offered his condolences for the loss of the human Lord, a man whose ancestry allowed him to connect with the Tal'Sae culture slightly better than others. Fal offered the ambassador a seat which he took.
"What exactly is your offer Ambassador?"
"A UNSC fleet came in contact with an alien conglomerate, the UEG are sending political envoys from all associated races that want to take part, Forerunners, Sangheili and obviously humans will be going— the offer is for you to join the envoy and potentially find new allies and recourses to expand your peoples fledging interstellar empire." Chance replied, laying all the cards on the table so to speak. One of the best ways to get the Tal'Sae to respond was to be open, honest and never hold anything back.
Fal thought about it momentarily—the potential was huge, massive even, but at the same time it exposed the Tal'Sae to other races that were centuries ahead of them technologically. Who knew what would happen, the UEG had been adamant about sharing technology, refusing to yield anything but the most basic of modern sciences and FTL travel was heavily regulated by the UNSC fleet. Humans weren't interfering with his people's natural progression, not enough to 'damage' his people. But these new aliens, they might just try that and he would upset not only his ancestors but everyone's ancestors if he allowed that to happen. He shivered slightly at the thought of all the ancestors clawing his soul apart after he passed on.
"I would have to confer with other leading city states before I can reach an answer ambassador."
"Of course Fal'Cai, this effects your entire civilisation after all. If you should decide to join the envoy send word to me and I will inform them for you. However the quicker the decision the better." Chance said, "Also the Corvette Road Runner will be here to pick you up at the end of the week to take you to Earth for Lord Hood's funeral." With that Ambassador Chance took his leave back to the embassy building.
Fal turned back towards the window and looked up at the sky, when he was a pup he used to look up at the night sky and wonder what laid beyond, what amazing things laid beyond his people's home system. When they met the humans he thought he would know the answers to the questions he would ask as a child, but now he wasn't so sure. There was so much the humans weren't telling him about the galaxy, about their history, about the Forerunners.
UNSC Colony world Shanxi, Yamatai East End, 1452 hours, September 29, 2587
Echo 1-1 made it to the museum without being spotted; they rushed through into the lobby to see Echo 1-4 and Echo 2-3, Granite and Onyx squads. Sargent Nick Medhurst stepped forth and greeted them.
"Sargent Coulson, glad to see you alive, I didn't particularly feel like leading the charge, I leave all that heroic crap to other people." He said in a surprisingly posh accent, one that didn't suit a soldier.
"Uh-huh, nice to know. Is this all that made it?" she replied, Medhurst nodded.
"Yep, we also have a Challenger out back; I've got Mac and Rocket keeping an eye on It." he said before a look of horror crossed his face, "And I am really fucking stupid for letting them look after the tank, be back in a jiffy." He quickly added before sprinting out the room. Becky shot the next highest ranking person in the room a scalding look.
"What was that all about… Corporal Mills?" she asked the man who had the decency to look sheepish before replying.
"Last time we left Mac and Rocket in charge of a vehicle… let's just say we had to walk home."
"Please the idiots got the damn Bulldog stuck in a ditch, upside down and on fire." Another Corporal added—her name came up as Lynda Bird.
"Fine whatever, but we're gonna need that tank and every single one of you to make it to that jammer."
Medhurst came back in the room followed by two other figures who were trying to plead innocent about something; she guessed that these two were Mac and Rocket.
"Listen up people; we're all that's left, other than who's still with the Captain over in the suburbs. We have to take down that jammer. The cocks have a whole fucking platoon guarding it and there's only fifteen of us and a tank—''
"Don't forget Arthur!" Corporal Bird cried out, only to be met with confused looks, "I mean the AGR," she said quietly, pointing to the small automatic drone that was armed with a small but powerful machine gun and rocket launcher, it sat there next to a reception desk almost like it was trying to hide from these idiots.
"Okay and an AGR, we'll use the tank to wipe out their primary defences and use it for cover. Once inside we'll split up and rendezvous on the top floor, from there we'll breach the roof and throw the damn thing off the roof. Any questions?"
"Aye, why can't we just blow the damn thing up? I'm sweaty enough as it is, my balls are—'' Mac started but a Lance Corporal who hadn't yet spoken interrupted the Scot with a shout.
"Now is not the time Mac!"
Becky shook her head at the group, they were dysfunctional and unprofessional but she had to make do with who she had available.
"Good, we go now, Batarians were right behind us so we need to move now or we'll be fighting on two sides."
The fifteen man strong group double checked their weapons and made their way to the Challenger before they started their assault. They prayed to whoever they believed in, desperate to live through the day and tell the story to their children.
A/N; so hope you enjoyed it, don't hate me for what I did, I like being inventive and what not. Also any of my British readers watch 'Bluestone42'? If so you probably recognise a few characters (which I don't own!)(Wouldn't it be funny to see those guys in ME? Ah the funny would be too much) Also yes I know I used scenes and lines from MW3 (slightly you might recognise it) and BF4 (only a line I swear).
Any way leave a review, it only takes a few seconds of your time to say whether or not you liked it.