Ashley thought she had known what to expect when they crested the hill.
The hill where she had her squad had made a desperate last defence along with some dockworkers and scientists, large, flat and with some good cover that had been mangled and torn into shreds by the Geth firepower.
She was wrong.
The spikes were there for sure, made of some dark metal that seemed to absorb rather then reflect the light of the setting sun. There was at least thirty of them, standing on three large and clawed feet they resembled the feet of some giant lizard, but the black spike jutting up from their centres were like the end of some massive pike...pikes upon which the dead hung, skewered through the chest, held up in the air as if on display.
She had seen them become skewered, had heard their screams, smelled the blood...felt her own freeze in fear even as she ran...
Yet the picture had changed, the dead weren't...she had seen them die! She had seen their blood covering the spikes, seen their skin go pale as they were drained! It hadn't been more then an hour ago!
The black things stuck upon the spikes weren't what she remembered, their bodies of some ash-coloured flesh that weren't really flesh, a pale blue light emanating from their joints, as if they were more machines then humans any more, golems. And their faces...pale grey, eyes glowing with blue light, arcs of lightning escaping them...as if they struggled to contain the power within them.
Yet the worst thing was that they were still familiar.
The shape of the faces, the jaw lines...she recognised some of them.
Tim?
With a grinding sound of metal the spikes begun to slide down.
"My god...what is that?" Kaidan's mouth was just a distant mutter.
Jefferson?
A thump of thirty spikes disappearing within the claws, freeing the husks of men and women.
"A-are they getting up?" Kaidan's voice, the fear in it nothing compared to the horrified shiver running down Ashley's spine as she took a step back.
J-Josh?
A low growl, distorted and inhuman, escaped the face Ashley stared at, the distinctly wide mouth moving to bare glowing blue fangs.
Then the face was torn asunder, black foulness splattering across the ground as the greyish face opened like a ripe melon, spilling black and blue pieces that no human possessed over the ground.
With a thud the creature that had been Josh fell to its knees...then prone.
Michael's voice was as inhuman as the creature's before them as he took a step forward, the barrel of his assault rifle still smoking: "Eliminate them."
Hisses, growls...and the husks of what had once been men and women rushed forth, pale grey hands ending in blue claws reaching out even as the creatures set off in a looping gait.
I'm sorry...I should have...I'm sorry...
Dark blue energy arched past her, Kaidan's biotic missile slamming into the torso of the nearest husk, sending it flying into several behind it with a metallic crunch.
Jefferson...
Ashley fired, the pistol in her hands jerking twice in quick succession...and the husk stumbled, clutching its chest before being torn apart by the ones behind it as they lunged forward. Sorry...
Tim...
The blurry shape spun as the shot slammed into its left shoulder, then hissed as the second shot took it in the back, tearing right through it. Sorry...
One of the husks leapt at her, only for Ashley to slam the grip of her gun into its face, knocking it backwards as its claws uselessly scrapped at Ashley's shoulder pads. As it stumbled back she levelled the gun...
Bhatia...
A thump, the head of the husk snapping backwards, the back of its skull exploding with shards of grey plates and black gore, the flailing claws going still..as the creature fell back onto the grass. I'm so sorry...
And everything went still.
Ashley realised she was panting, breath struggling, shuddering.
Stiff as a board she lowered her gun, blinking furiously at the tears, trying to bring the world back into focus.
Before her the husks lay slain, a crater made from a grenade she hadn't even seen or heard explode was lined with the torn remains of the creature's in the centre of the dead. One was still standing, stumbling backwards with a missing right arm, its head lolling as it came to slump against the claw that had released it. Tommy...
It bared its teeth in a wordless snarl...its remaining arm reaching out towards the advancing Michael...
A stomping foot took it in the inside of its right leg, sending it down on one knee with a hiss and a crunch, it's claws uselessly flailing against the Commander's armoured chest as his icy eyes bored into it, the barrel of his smoking assault rifle coming to rest upon the back of its skull.
So sorry...
Tommy's – the creature's – skull exploded to the sound of a single shot.
Ashley looked away, down at her hands, still clutching her gun, shamefully.
I'm so sorry...
"Chief?" A hand on her shoulder, making her flinch and almost raise her gun. Kaidan raised his hands, keeping his face neutral, if tinged by sympathy, as he met her gaze. "Sorry...you're okay?"
"I'm fine!" Ashley snapped, looking away as she drew a shuddering breath. I...dammit...you're a Williams', girl!
"It's just that you..."
"I'm fine sir, really." Ashley took a step away from the far too observant lieutenant, her mouth twisting into a grimace of anger. "I just...I knew these people." My friends... She blinked again, willing the tears away even as she watched Michael step towards one of the clawed tripods, his gun lowered as a hand moved to his helmet, no doubt activating the camera in it as he muttered something under his breath.
A muted crunch told her Kaidan was moving closer, furtively. "If you want to take a moment we could perhaps..."
"No." Ashley growled the word, straightening. "We don't have time." And a Williams doesn't grieve, she gets even.
"Agreed." Michael muttered, moving away from the alien tripod, face calm as stone, eyes as cold and unfeeling as ice as he stepped over the torn remains of the husks, his heavy footsteps crushing anything getting beneath them, making Ashley struggle not to grimace. "Move out." He brushed past Ashley, unfazed by the drying tears on her cheeks, uncaring.
My hero...Ashley grimaced in irritation, embracing the emotion, more then happy to ignore the grief and shame tearing into her with anger aimed at the back of the man so incapable of sympathy...the man who was supposed to be her idol...
Still grimacing she moved to follow, ignoring Kaidan's searching gaze.
Two steps and they came to a halt as something screamed.
Screamed!
Ashley stumbled, a hand moving to her ears on instinct before her helmet's auditory pick up system muffled the painful sound tearing into her.
A rumbling, the ground beneath her heaving, shaking.
And then the sun was gone, blotted out by darkness sweeping over them, making her shiver in the sudden chill.
Something above her, moving, fast!
Ashley found herself ducking, hands coming to cover her head as the lieutenant next to her did the same, a curse escaping them both as they wide-eyed craned their heads to follow the moving shadow.
Huge...Ashley found her jaw dropping as the ship swept over them, it had to be far above them, yet it felt as if she could just reach up and touch it...and that if she did so would be torn apart by it.
Black with a slightly purple tint to it the ship sported eight multi-jointed arms along its long flanks, arms ending in slightly curved claws. Combined with its sleek shape ending in a tapering point at its back and it resembled a giant squid to Ashley's eyes, or perhaps an insect... A huge insect...
She found her jaw dropping as she saw the insecticidal ship turn sharply as it flew, banking sharply up through the clouds with something resembling a growl as it tore through the atmosphere.
And behind her she heard Michael's mutter, bringing her back to reality. "Approximately five kilometres in length, multiple limbs likely ending in weaponry, must contain a massive mass effect core to maintain altitude within atmosphere, speed and agility that of a frigate...dreadnought class."
Swallowing she forced herself to look away from where the massive...thing...had escaped...her eyes narrowing at the Commander holding his helmet steady, a small red light at the side showing that he was filming as he spoke in a low mutter, his face cold and calm as ever, despite the massive thing just encountered.
"I...don't think I've ever seen such a thing." Kaidan muttered, the man shuddering where he stood, a hand moving to rest on his pistol. "How could it move like that? And be that big? Down here? I can't...are the Geth really that powerful?"
Ashley had no answer.
Michael did though, a gruff: "Apparently." And he was turning around to lead them onwards.
Uncaring!
"Sir, I don't think you realise..."
"Silence." Michael snapped, having become still as he kept himself behind a boulder, looking down their hill, the order making Kaidan's mouth slam shut.
Oh for... Ashley felt tense as a bowstring, a string the coldness of the Commander was about to snap. "Sir, that thing was..."
"Silence." He repeated the order, danger in the tone.
I'm not to be intimidated after all this shit you son of a... Ashley took a step forward, hands closing into fists...
Then stopped, gaze following Michael's as she looked down at where they had had a loading bay for things being transported from the dock...now it was nothing but torn rubble, fire consuming most of it as more spikes holding husks of the colonists lay strewn around, a few Geth walking among them in the same unhurried matter.
But Michael wasn't looking at them, he was looking at the corpse laying face down on a loading platform, a Turian corpse.
A Turian? On Eden Prime? Ashley frowned in confusion. Eden Prime was a decidedly human world, if any aliens showed up they usually stayed momentarily at the docks before leaving, and they never sported armour!
Michael's voice was clear and calm, unfeeling as ever as his hand moved to his helmet: "Normandy command, this is Commander Shepard, we have a downed Nihlus Kryik, I repeat, the Spectre is by all appearances dead."
Spectre! Ashley flinched, staring at the corpse, realising just how little she knew of what was going on.
"Sir! Over there!" Kaidan was suddenly next to them, arm stretching out, pointing beyond the downed Turian, at two Geth walking away...between them another Turian was walking away, back towards them. Wait...a Turian working with the Geth! Is that even possible! Lousy traitorous creatures...
"Filming." Michael muttered. "Command, this is Shepard, we have another Turian fleeing the scene, can only see the back of him..." There was no frustration in the tone, only fact. "He's moving towards..." A small glance down at his glowing omni-tool...and the Commander continued: "...the tram station leading to the docks, we are in pursuit."
Ashley saw the movement ahead though, and couldn't help but pat the Commander on the shoulder as she drew her gun. "Ummm...that might take a while sir...company."
A distant sound of sliding metal and the spikes down at the valley slid down, freeing the husks even as the Geth walking around them turned as one, drawn weapons aiming up at the three.
"I think they might have spotted us..." Kaidan noted.
Michael was already advancing though, the sniper rifle in his hand cracking, sending one of the Geth flying backwards. "Noted."
8
8
8
Thanks to Abydos Jackson for being there.