Chapter 3: Sacrifice

Kari could hardly contain her glee. It felt like years since she had first arrived on Eden Prime. She had been so busy with her work and getting to know the locals, she had almost forgotten one of the most main reasons she had come to the planet in the first place: to see the ocean.
Oh, it was trivial and trite wish, and Kari had put it on a low priority in her mind. She had been sifting through data, testing hypotheses and eventually put it all together into presentable pilgrimage gift, but the desire to see the sea had always been scratching at her willpower, fighting with her discipline. Fleet came first, she knew that, she had been taught that since birth, but now that she was on the cusp of realizing one of her dreams…the joy was intoxicating.

"Keelah!" Kari exclaimed as she waited at the bottom of the Ellis's stairs for Sam, showing her impatience for the first time in her life, an act which she instantly regretted. The Ellis's had been so kind to her, they had sheltered her, fed her, helped her, and given her a purpose beyond that of just acquiring a Pilgrimage gift.
She was so lucky to have met them, she couldn't ask for better friends.

"Keep yer suit on, girl. I'm coming." Mr Ellis yelled back, the heavy bump-bump-bumping of his cane resounding as he limped down the stairs.
Kari felt another pang of regret when she heard it, much stronger this time as she realized that his leg must have been hurting again. It hadn't been quiet right since a Turian sniper's round nearly taken it off at during the battle of Shanxi.

Yet as he came down the stairs, his demeanor was nothing but good natured, even though there was a distant, suppressed look of discomfort in his eyes.
"Sorry, had to get my meds." He explained, as he hobbled towards the door. Kari paused for a moment, her expression one of concern, although he couldn't see it.
"Are you sure you're up to this, Mr Ellis…I can wait…" she inflected, somewhat sadly. As much as she wanted to go, Kari wanted Mr. Ellis not to have to endure pain because of her.
"Nonsense girl, I feel as fresh as a spring chicken and as high as a kite!" he exclaim happily, waving his crane about for emphasis. Kari couldn't help a smile, but a reserved one at that.

He chuckled sagely but he could tell by her body language that he hadn't quite assuaged her concern, "Besides, Ellie loves the ocean too, and if I back out on her, she'll skin me alive."
Kari giggled softly, her mind releasing her from fear and doubt. "Okay, but I'm driving. I've seen how you drive after you take your meds."
Sam shook his head in mock defeat, "Very well, have it your way."
"You ready yet, Sam? I could have sailed across the Atlantic in a rowboat by now!"came Mrs Ellis's voice from outside, followed by a short toot of the car's horn. Her tone was jovial, and playful. It made Kari feel a lot better.

Sam just snorted and rolled his eyes to Kari. "See what I have to put up with...? Well, no use standin' around. Let's go!"

Kari smiled again, she couldn't help it. She couldn't help but feel happy here, it was the strangest thing. Twenty years amoung her people, and she had never felt as close to anyone as she had the Ellis's. Kari knew that she would have to make a decision soon, but until then, she was going to live part of her dream.

That is, she was…until she stepped outside.

The first thing she noticed when she stepped out onto the gravel that led up to the Ellis's house was that Mrs Ellis was no longer in the car. She was standing next to it… looking upwards. Mr Ellis too, had frozen in his tracks, not more than two steps ahead of her, his body was tense, straight, almost military in posture. It was a stance that she had seen her father assume many times…and it was never good.
Her mind almost didn't want to let her eyes follow the Ellis's gaze, her conscious thoughts trying to wheel away from whatever was casting a long shadow across the landscape, fear gripped her and her head inclined slowly upwards.

Kari felt herself scream, the air from her lungs expelled in a cry of both trepidation and disbelief, but she didn't hear the scream, for as she beheld the giant clawed hand descending from space, a single, powerful, resonance drowned out all other sound.

BBBBBBBBBBBRRRRRRR

Captain Hall said they were dropping them into the hot zone, but James didn't think he had meant so literally. Intense heat poured into the crew compartment in waves and It poured off the ground in waves and currents, forming little eddies of hot air mixed with the relative cool of the shuttle's interior. James even had to shield his face for a moment before his suit's environmental systems kicked in to compensate for the sudden change in temperature. Cool, icy air flooded forward from the vents along his spinal cord until the ambient temperature was a steady 22 Celsius again.

He finally ventured a peek from behind his arm, and what he saw was utter devastation. The Kodiak had set them directly down on the site where the hostile warship had landed. Scans had shown that it was the safest LZ within striking distance of their target: the commercial spaceport, where the Geth had set up a Thermo-nuclear device and from all indications were about to set it off. It was disturbing enough, that the thought of the bomb going off would kill an untold number of civilians that may or may not be still alive, but that such extreme measures suggested that there was something that the Geth really didn't want the Alliance knowing about.

Or at least that's what seemed logical. From what he knew of the Geth, they were not like the Batarians, they didn't kill for the sake of making a point. They were machines, inventions of the Quarians that had broken free of their master's control some three centuries ago. There had to be some logic behind their attack, something on the table that the Alliance didn't know about. Something big, or at least that's how it seemed. The Alliance was keeping them in the dark as per usual.

"Move up." Bishop whispered, despite the fact that his Recon issue helmet made sure that no one heard his voice but the squad.
They formed into a loose square formation, as they had practiced a thousand times over for movement through open areas. The enemy warship's landing had cleared a zone of about 100 meters square, leaving nothing but glowing red glass that crunched under their boots.
Bishop took the lead, Frost on the left, Rose on the right and Ace bringing up the rear.

"Clear so far, sir. Looks like even the Geth don't like to be barbequed." Ace grunted derisively. "Kill the chatter." Rose hissed at him, her body language that of a predator stalking her prey, keeping the M-98 up and out, checking the ridges and treeline for any sign of moment.
"Ace is right," James whispered as he took at look at his gauges, outside temperatures were over 200 degrees centigrade. "We better get a move on. Our suits' shields can only handle so much of this before they overload." James nodded, giving a quick tap on Ace's shoulder to fall in.
"Agreed," Bishop nodded, "Squad, double time to the berm. Let's go!"
They moved quickly through the rest of the landing zone, trading protection for speed as they sprinted to get to the edge of the crater. If the Geth had any snipers watching them, they easily could have picked them off one at a time before they ever made it past the edge of the glowing glass.

But, even as they reached the edge of the LZ, there was nothing. Just eerie silence as they one by one clamoured over the berm on the crater's edge. James felt uncomfortable, it was far too quiet, he didn't even hear the sound of insects chirping as he moved up with the rest of the squad to some crates just beyond the landing zone.

The target was the spaceport, the hub of Geth activity in this area and possibly the location of the nuke. The spaceport was a rather unremarkable structure about bout half a click out but had been badly damaged in the attack. Great swaths of flaming debris had been cut out of the landscape, as if by a beam or some giant lazer that dragged itself like a burning tongue across the structure and the landscape around it.

Around the outskirts of the spaceport, James could see bodies scattered all around, most of them looked burned. Others looked like they had been impaled and left as some kind of ghoulish warning, similar to some ancient cultures of barbarians back on Earth. Yet, James didn't have time to ponder the significance of why synthetics would commit such an atrocity before he felt a hand pull him down to the dirt.
"Get down." Bishop hissed.

BBBBBBBBRRRRRRRRRRRR

"What the fuck was that?" Ace cried out over the sound, his helmet's audiotory dampeners not responding quickly enough to shut out the noise.
"I don't kno-" Rose stopped mid sentence, her gaze fixed on a spot on the horizon.
"Holy shit…"
James followed her gaze, and what he saw made his legs turn to jelly.

It was a great machine, a ship, it was huge and powerful. It looked like a giant crab that had set itself up on its hind legs. Its massive limbs were supporting its weight as it rested over a field just on the outskirts of the colony. It seemed to be looking on towards the spaceport with its compound eyes, flecked with blue lights to where silvery shapes moved about, like ants under the gaze of their queen.

Geth James thought. His eyes following the shapes of the Geth as they set about their work, some of them were patrolling around the spaceport, others seemed to be carrying materials of some sort, and others still, were loading what looked like bodies onto a dropship. James felt his anger swelling as he realized what the machines were doing.
The Geth were dragging in prisoners, civilians that had surrendered and then executing them, with a single shot to the head before throwing their bodies onto the dropship.
James watched the massive machine, as it observed the proceedings and although he wasn't quite sure, but he thought he felt something, deep down in his body. Almost like an emotion or an echo of an emotion.
Contempt.

James turned away from the grizzly scene and looked over at Bishop. His eyes were still fixed on the spaceport. "Sir. We've got to save them."
Bishop stared on for a moment longer, before shook his head, "No, we can't. Not yet. We have to wait. We don't have the firepower to take down that ship." he stated, regretfully.
James felt his temper flare. Bishop couldn't just let innocents die like that without doing something.
"I'm with Frost on this one, sir." Rose interjected, her normally even tone diffused with emotion. "We can't let those synthetic bastards just execute civvies like that."
"We cannot risk it. The mission-."
"We can't just sit here!" Ace interrupted. "They are slaughtering us like fucking animals!"
"Look I don't like it either, but I we can't help those people by running off and-" Bishop paused, suddenly realizing that there was a dead-zone of sound where James had just been. His head swiveled around, "Where's Frost?"

Rose met the Commander's gaze with a hard stare. Bishop cursed, "Verdammt! That boy is going to get us all killed."

"Hurry, get that door shut." Sam hissed urgently as Kari shut the door to the barn behind them. Kari did as she was instructed, pulling the heavy solid doors to close with an echoing slam.
"What are they? Batarians? Turians?" Ellie whispered in a low tone, as she dared a glance out of one of the barn's windows which had a clear view of the colony some miles away. Kari had been watching the entire time, she shook her head as if to deny what her eyes had seen and her ears had heard "No," she mumbled, her voice sounding as distant to her as an echo, "They are Geth."

"Geth?" Ellie inhaled sharply. She had heard the story from Kari more than once about the Geth, the creations of the Quarian people that had rebelled and driven their masters from their homeworld of Rannoch. It was because of the Geth that Kari and the rest of her people had to live on the Migrant Fleet.

"What are they doing here?" Mrs Ellis asked, her voice housing both curiosity and trepidation as followed Kari's gaze.
Kari had never seen the Geth before, no one had, except in the old vids on the extranet. They had been like a myth that old Quarian mothers told their children. No one had seen them beyond the Perseus Veil in three centuries, but their ships were unmistakable, even as they swooped in on the colony, lighting up the horizon in fiery blasts of light and dulled sound.

Kari broke her gaze, she couldn't watch anymore… she turned to Mrs Ellis, who looked like she was hoping that Kari had an answer why they were doing this.
"I don't kn-
Sam who had been silent up to that point turned on his heel, he had watched the scene from behind the two women as it played out. He marched towards the back right corner of the room where a large worktable with various tool sprawled across its surface, ages of dust and debris had accumulated on both the table. Sam threw the table aside, sending the tools flying with strength that belied his age. Ellie watched with wide eyes as her husband did, not sure what exactly was going on, but his purpose became clear soon enough. There was an ancient burlap rug that lay across the floor beneath the table. It was old, worn and torn in many places. He ripped up the rug, sending a cloud of dust into the air, revealing a hidden door to a compartment beneath the barn.
"Sam…what are-"

But before she could ask further, Sam had the trapdoor open. Ellie gasped as she looked within. There were assault rifles, shotguns, pistols, grenades and what looked like full set of combat armour, all of it was military grade. Ellie covered her mouth with her hand, her voice shaky when she spoke at last.
"Sam…what is all this?"

Sam looked up and met the eyes of his wife and Kari for the first time since he had seen the ship. He looked, sad, regretful, but with a fire in his eyes that Kari had never seen before.
"Honey…" he began, his mouth somewhat dry as he searched for the resolve to say what needed to be said. "I lied to you…" he admitted. His eyes watered a bit as the words choked from his throat "I told you I was in the Marines, but that was only half the truth…" he began, as he reached down for an assault rifle, pulling the relic up into his hands. "I wanted to tell you for so long…but I couldn't…I never thought there would be a day when I would need these again…and I didn't want to burden you."

"Sam…" Ellie began, but the old man shook his head, standing up to his full height, the usual slump in his gait was gone when he walked over to her, very much a proud soldier as he stood before her.
Ellie reached up, her wrinkled hand caressing his face gently as a tear rolled down her cheek.
"You idiot…" she gasped tearfully, a soft smile forming on her lips. "You know I'll always love you… whatever happened, and whatever happens…that will never change."
Sam took her hand softly in his and for a moment, Kari almost felt as if time stood still.

There was an unusually loud explosion in the distance; Kari looked outside the window again, to see the giant Geth ship blasting away at what looked like an armoured platoon. Human marines and tanks scattered as the ship cut a swath of destruction across the verdant landscape with a giant red beam of energy issued forth from just under one of its claws. Bits of scrap metal and bodies flew into the air as the beam met with another tank's hull, utterly destroying it.

"Come on…" Mr Ellis said, grabbing the arms of the women. "You have to get going, both of you." He said, placing something small and circular in each of their palms. Kari looked down at it, it was a small cloaking field generator. It was of somewhat primitive design, what looked like a prototype unit. Its edges were worn and its power source seemed to run a bit on the warm side, she could feel the heat even through her suit's gloves.

"You need to get out of here. The space port isn't far, and with those marines distracting that leviathan, you might have a good shot at getting off-planet before they get there."
Kari looked up at Sam, stunned beyond words, she couln't believe what was happening still.
"Take Ellie with you. I'll stay here and make sure you two have a clear escape route."
"Bullshit."Ellie spat, it was the first time Kari had ever heard her curse.
"I'm not leaving you to die, Sam." She declared vehemently, pushing the cloaking generator back into Sam's hand.
"Ellie…" Sam began to say, his voice tender and comforting.
"Don't 'Ellie' me, Samuel David Ellis, that may have worked when we were younger, but I'm not letting you do this." Mr Ellis crossed her arms and scowled.
"I said for better or worse, and I meant it…and don't think you're getting off the hook when we are dead either. Plan to be right on your heels to heaven, Mister Ellis."

Kari looked at Mrs Ellis, then to Mr Ellis…she wasn't quite sure what to do…she wanted to laugh, but she wanted to cry too. It was all so confusing. Mrs Ellis grabbed the assault rifle out of Mr Ellis's hands and cocked back the receiver, seating a thermal clip into position.
"I'll be damned if these synthetic bastards are going to take my home." She growled, as she turned towards the weapons locker and stepped past Sam.
Mr Ellis looked over at Kari, with both a look of mild surprise, and a grim grin.
That's why I married her.

"You should go, dearie." Mrs Ellis said after a long moment's pause, handing Kari a shotgun from the locker and the second cloaking generator.
"Those marines won't last much longer…" she said rather grimly. Kari turned to Mrs Ellis and then back to Mr Ellis. She could see it in their eyes, they wanted her to leave. Kari shook her head. No, she wasn't going to abandon them, she was going to stay and fight, even if she wasn't a soldier, she couldn't let them die. Not like this… there had to be another way.

"No.." Kari began, "I won't le-"
"Kari…" Sam interrupted her, already knowing what she was going to say, "We have lived a long and happy life." He looked at Ellie with a little smile.
"We are going to be okay…"
"But the Geth…" Kari began again, her voice starting to crack.
Sam smiled, he put a hand on the young Quarian's shoulder. "There's an old verse… from a book that was written long ago, in a time when human civilization was in its infancy."
Kari looked at his hand as it rested on her shoulder, her eyes began to water and sting.
"What does it say?" she managed, through soft gasps.
"Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil: For thou art with me; Thy rod and thy staff, they comfort me. Thou preparest a table before me in the presence of mine enemies; Thou annointest my head with oil; My cup runneth over. Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life, and I will dwell in the House of the Lord forever."

Kari looked up at the Ellis's, tears flowing down her cheeks softly. She couldn't help herself, she flung her arms around them both in a hug, as she sobbed, unrestrained. They Ellis's return her hug, and the three stood together for a long moment in reverent silence.
"W-What does it mean…?" Kari managed at last, trying to choke back her emotions.
"It means, that whatever happens…we will meet again…" Mrs Ellis cooed, her own voice starting to crack a bit.

When they finally broke their embrace, Kari stood before them, lingering…she was studying their faces…she always wanted to remember them as they were in this moment... but she knew she couldn't tarry much longer…the explosions were starting to get louder and more frequent.
"Here." Sam placed something in her hand. It was the spark plug she had pulled from the tractor. It was badly damaged and still covered in residue, but the symbolism that Mr Ellis intended was clear.
Even broken things can make a difference.

"Now go…Kari'Vereah Nar Vanya…and always know…that no matter where you are, someone loves you."

It was the last words that Kari ever heard the Ellis's say, for in that moment, their life together came to a close.

James moved quietly through the compound. It wasn't his first time going dark into hostile territory. He had turned his transponder and comms off. They were potential detection risks, and he wasn't about to be dissuaded from his current task. The way he figured it, he couldn't be tried for insubordination, if he never heard the orders in the first place….
But James already knew he was in for it, going AWOL during a mission usually meant some disciplinary action like KP duty for a month, or cleaning the ship's head with a toothbrush. Hell, he could even face court-marshal, but if it meant saving even one innocent life…it was a risk he was willing to take.

James edged up around the outside of the spaceport, his target was a door wrenched off its hinges with the words "Employees O-"stamped on it. The rest of the words had been atomized when the door was blown in by what looked like a plasma weapon discharge. Yet whoever had made the breach seemed to be long gone.

He slipped inside the door, his back flat against the wall as he observed his surroundings. There was a long hallway of glass windows. Offices, for the local port authorities, by the looks of it, that stretched on some distance, leading into what looked like a reception area. James edged his way down the hall, keeping his eyes scanning for any signs of movement or life.
There were none, for the most part, everyone that had been here was either gone, or dead. Broken glass lay across the floor in some areas, which James carefully avoided with his slow advance. He saw a few bodies as well…an older woman, slumped over her desk…a young man…with three scorch marks on his chest, laying propped up against the wall and a short bald man sprawled across the floor clutching a datapad in one hand and oval frame glasses in the other, his brown eyes staring lifelessly up at the ceiling.

James pressed on, he couldn't dwell on their fates now. There was nothing to be done for the dead…
After several agonizing minutes, he finally came to the reception area of the terminal. It was a sparest decorated thing, mostly functional with a few odd paintings hung to give the place a more homey feel, but most of it was disheveled or damaged. Scorch pocked the walls and there were several pools of congealed blood where bodies had fallen but were later moved.
From what he could tell, most of the trails ran out front to where the Geth dropship had landed and was still taking on bodies from what James could see. The Geth seemed to be unaware of his presence, their attention focused outwards, towards the fields, where logic dictated a counter-attack was likely to come from. They hadn't expected a lone Alliance soldier to sneak around the back.

James pondered a way to get out there, to see if he could find where the Geth were holding their prisoners so he could free them…but even has he did he noticed something strange.
While most of the blood trails led outside, there were a few that led towards the car rental offices. They were rather faint, and well scuffed-over…but they were there.
Odd…
James moved around the hallway, sliding from cover to cover across the reception area towards rental desk. He was almost there when he heard it. A faint whimper… it sounded soft, and feminine but it was there, followed by a hard mechanical stuttering sound. He froze, footfalls...James slipped himself quietly into a dark corner under a desk.

From under the desk he saw two pairs of feet moving across the floor of the reception area, but they were not human feet. They had two toes, silver and black and hand cables terminating just above the ankle.
Geth.
The stuttering noise sounded again…the pairs of feet spread out across the room…searching the room. Evidentially they had heard it too, and whoever had made the sound. They patrolled around the room, checking corners; looking down the hallways…they even came rather close to where James was hiding. However, after about five minutes, the pair gave up and went back into the adjacent room. James saw an opportunity…and he followed them quickly and quietly hoping and praying that they wouldn't turn back to see the human soldier following them.
They didn't.
James followed them a few steps more before ducking behind the rental car customer service desk. He looked over his shoulder to make sure he hadn't been detected, making sure to tuck his arms and legs out of sight. His heart was still pounding and his hands trembled from the rushing adrenaline, but he in position…and he had found what he was looking for.

The rental car office wasn't all that large in itself, but it had a direct line of sight with landing pad outside as well as access to the garage, which James supposed probably contained more Geth soldiers. There were 3 Geth still in the room, guarding what looked to be the last two prisoners. Sitting on the floor, an asari of what looked like relatively young years with a Turian male propped up against her. The woman seemed to be in good condition aside from being frightened, but the Turian looked if he had taken a shot or two to the chest. Blue blood was smeared all over his and her clothes as the asari woman held his head close to her chest, caressing his face comfortingly as the Turian took labored breaths.
James scooted closer to the prisoners. He could hear humming, no…singing…. A gentle lullaby that he hadn't heard since he was a child.

"White gulls are calling…across a distant shore…"Aesha sang softly, her hands tracing the line's of her bond-mate's face. Tears starting to form in the cusp of her eyes as she looked out across the landscape of Eden Prime.
"The ships have come…to carry you home… "
"That's beautiful…" Tullius murmured, coughing as he shifted uncomfortably in his lover's arms.
"Shhh… don't speak love…" Aesha whispered her voice steady as she could make it.
"If you say so…" he grinned, closing his eyes as he snuggled up to her. For a moment, he almost forgot the pain. Just being in her arms was enough to chase darkness from his mind.
"I could get used to this." He chuckled, followed by another bloody cough. "You, babying me like some old broken warrior…it's nice." He mused teasingly.
Aesha couldn't help but give a small, tearful smile. "You are an old broken warrior…but you're my old broken warrior." she entwined her fingers with his.
He looked over his shoulder up at her, "Nice to know I belong somewhere…I couldn't think of a better way to face the end…than with you."
Aesha started to cry again, silent tears that rolled off her cheek. She couldn't find the words to say…there were none.

The lead Geth, the one facing towards the landing strip gave a short stutter of binary. A pair silver metallic arms reached down, wrapping the Turian and dragging him out of Aesha's arms.
"No! No! You can't! Please!" she protested, jumping to her feet. She rushed towards the three, but the lead Geth restrained her. "He didn't do anything! Please! You can't take him!"
Tullius was draped between the two Geth, he looked up at her, his face one of calm and resignation.
"Shhh… It's okay… Aesh…"
Aesha clawed and scrapped, trying to get past the machine that held her in place. "No. Not like this!" she cried out, feeling so helpless…so alone in that moment.

"I believe the lady asked you to put the Turian down…gear-head."

Aesha turned to look over to where the sound of the voice came from. A human, in full battle armour was aiming down the scope of his assault rifle right at the Geth's head.

"Release them…or I'll turn you into scrap."

Kari felt her heart soar as the human uttered those words. She had been hiding in one of the spaceport's supply closets for some time now, she had used the cloaking field generators to slip past the Geth unnoticed after she left the Ellis's house. She had wanted to get to her ship which was on the landing pad, thankfully undamaged, but the large Geth presence made it impossible, not to mention the huge walking crab thing they had brought along with them. So she had been forced to remain in this cramped closet with the cleaning equipment…forced to wait for the Geth to leave. Kari had watched the Geth bring in the colonists, a few at a time and gather them in the next room over. One by one taking them outside…for what, she didn't want to think about. She tried to imagine the gunshots she heard as the colonists that were still free fighting back against the Geth, and dying in a brave final stand…but the shots were too regular…too patterned... Her mind knew that her heart refused to believe: they were being executed, and she had to listen to it.

It was maddening, she had sat there for what felt like days, just listening…to the shots…one right after the other. She had curled up into a ball, pressing her hands against the fabric around her ears. It didn't help. Sometimes she would hear crying…that made it worse….

When she had first seen the human slip into the reception room, she felt her heart flutter. Had the Alliance finally come for them? Where there entire battalions of Marines landing right now on Eden Prime to rescue them? Could they be in time to save the Ellis's? She couldn't help but give a soft whimper of tearful hope…and it had been a lot louder than she had expected. She had almost gotten the both discovered, but luckily the human soldier was as stealthy as he was intimidating…and now he was staring down the barrel of a gun at the Geth who had killed so many.

"I said let them go." James growled, "I won't say it again."
The three Geth looked at each other for a moment, the flaps around their optics flaring as they gave a short binary stutter of conversation.
The two dropped the Turian instantly, the leader shoved the asari aside as all reached for their weapons. They were fast, but the human was faster. James popped a single shot out of his rifle, blowing a hole the size of a small peach through the side of the lead Geth's head. He snapped to the other two, putting a trio of rounds through each one's chest plates. The Geth on the left dropped instantly into a sparking mass of circuitry while the other used the momentum of the shots impact to spin itself into cover.
It rose to its knees awkwardly, intent on taking a shot with its pulse rifle, but before it could, James had closed the range and with a grunt of force unleashed a wave of biotic energy down his right arm right into the face of the creature. Its optics burst in a shower of sparks as it went flying backwards, smashing into the wall with a dull thud.

"Shit." James cursed as he rushed over to the Asari and the Turian. Aesha was kneeling next to Tullius, still laying where the Geth had dropped him, clutching his wounds.

"Owch." He inflected with a slightly jovial tone. "Think you could have asked them to let me down easy, human?"
James looked up. The Geth were heading their way…and the giant ship…it was…leaving?
He couldn't quite believe what he saw…but the Geth's dreadnought had lifted off and was heading back up into space…along with a sizable portion of the Geth's forces.

James felt relief and dread all in the same moment, but now was not the time to dwell on either. He heard several buzzing zips pass close to his head as the remaining Geth opened fire on his position.
James returned fire, putting down a light suppressing barrage as he backed up towards the fallen Turian "Can you get him up? We have got to move!" James yelled over the din.
Aesha nodded, dragging Tullius's arm around her shoulder "I'll try…I can't quite…" Aesha grunted with exertion, trying to lift the much heavier Turian all by herself.

"I'll help!"
James turned towards the origin of the unfamiliar voice. It was a Quarian female. She was looking up at him with an anxious, pensive look, like a child meeting their hero or at least that's what her body language suggested. James blinked. Several questions popped into his mind at that point, but a Geth pulse round to his shields cut the thoughts short.
"Help them." He said simply, turning back towards the Geth, popping the head of the unit that had shot at him.
Kari felt a sense of resounding hope as she scrambled to help the couple. It was the first time since this whole ordeal started that she was actually able to do something. She took the other side of the Turian, lifting him up on her shoulders and together with Aesha, they were able to carry him away from the battle.

After a few moments dragging him down the hallway, the Asari spoke:

"Where are we going?" Aesha yelled to make herself heard over the battle.
"Take a left, we can get him to him to my ship." Kari replied loudly.
"Oh…great…I'm going to be dead anddeaf. Perfect." Tullius chuckled weakly, spitting up more blood.

James took up the rear guard, knocking down Geth soldiers as they popped up to take shots at him. With each shot he felt his adrenaline spike, sending pulses of energy down from his brain into his arms where he pooled it, focused it and then unleashed it in blasts of biotic power, sending clusters of the Geth troopers flying.
However, every time he did, he had to take his barriers down, and rely on his suit's shields to keep him unharmed. So far it had worked, but more Geth were coming in, and faster…

He backed up, to the reception desk in the center of the room, sending out a quick burst of electrical power from his omni-tool to overload the Geth units following him before he mantled over it and threw his back flush to the metal of the desk. He dared a quick glance down the hallway: the survivors had made it more than halfway. They would be outside soon and there were several ships on the pads. James hoped that Quarians were as good at hacking into computers as their reputations suggested.

Another flurry of rounds cut his thoughts short…James pressed himself closer to the desk… hoping that the metal would protect him from the worst of it. which suddenly felt very warm… He turned around to see that the wooden decorative front of the reception desk had caught fire."Incendiaries." He thought venomously…his hatred beginning to pool his power into another biotic burst.
Just another reason to make sure that none of these bastards made it off-world in one piece.

"Push up! Go Go Go!" Bishop shouted as the three moved across the cargo yard, pressing their advance, and moving from cover to cover. He had been trying to raise Lt. Irving on the squad frequency ever since he had slipped away from the rest of the group. Bishop had expected the worst, Frost dead, the team compromised and getting atomized by the gamma burst of a thermonuclear blast.

Suprisingly, it had been just the opposite…whatever Frost had done, it had worked. The enemy dreadnaught had left disengaged along with the bulk of the Geth forces and the majority of those left were being drawn off somehow.

"Suppressing fire! Move it up!" Bishop shouted again, popping only the slightly faction of his head from cover as he unleashed a torrent of gunfire and energy from his suit, overloading the circuits of several troopers on the crane overlooking the yard.
The dull boom of Rose's Widow followed, and two of the troopers found themselves without a head.
"Damn, you're good." Ace congratulated just before picking off the other one with his M-8.
"Was there ever any doubt?" Rose boasted playfully, her hands working the weapon's bolt to slide a fresh thermal clip and round into position.

Bishop frowned. "Come on, omni-tool says the target is close we have got to move." He chided them, breaking from cover and sprinting across the last section of the yard. Their joviality irritated him, there was a time and place for jokes, but when one of their own was on the line….
Rose and Ace followed quickly on his heels, snapping their backs flush to crates just left and right of Bishop as he peeked over his crate to check for hostiles in the courtyard.

The courtyard was a fairly open space, one of the nicer parts of the colony's spaceport, it was rather large about the size of a football field and was separated into sections by chest-high rows of hedges and other assorted plants, giving it the distinct look of a garden. There were four fountains placed at the four separate corners of the courtyard like the points of a compass, with stone paths leading towards the convergence at a reflecting pool in the center of the yard. It would have been rather a picturesque scene had it not been for the vast swaths of blackened soil and the corpses impaled on unusual looking spikes they had seen before.

"Contact?" Bishop whispered.
"Negative." Came back from both soldiers, other than the spikes, there were no traces of the Geth.
Bishop gave a silent hand gesture, indicating the other two to spread out. Together they moved into the courtyard, keeping low behind the hedges, working their way up towards the building. There was gunfire in the distance, on the other side of the complex from what Bishop could tell, likely Frost or survivors holding out against the Geth.
Part of Bishop wanted to go charging off to help them, but if they failed to disarm the bomb, then all they would be doing is buying them a few more minutes of life.

"We are close…" Rose nodded, looking at her omni-tool scans. "It should be right…about…here…"

Bishop edged around the corner cautiously. There was no sign of enemy contact, but there was a rather large device seated directly in the waters of the reflecting pool. Bishop flicked his wrist and together the three of them moved up to the device, stepping into the knee deep pool. Bishop placed his left hand on it, his omni-tool lighting up in a dull orange glow as it attempted to automatically hack the bomb's systems. After a moment's pause, his omni-tool beeped in frustration.
"Doesn't look like it's been armed yet." Bishop noted with a sigh of relief, it was an pleasant surprise considering there had been no enemy forces on site.

"Ace, can you crack it?"

"Aye." Ace nodded, "Give me a tic, and I'll have this WMD turned into the world's largest paperweight." He mused, cracking his knuckles dramatically and setting to work.
Bishop gave a curt nod of approval, before checking setting his omni-tool for any sign of a remote detonator, or booby traps.
"Ummm…sir…" Keira said, tapping Bishop on the shoulder.

"What?" Bishop turned to the sergeant, slightly annoyed at being interrupted, but before he could say anything else, his eyes met with what she was staring at.
For the first time in many years, Bishop felt a sense of dread as he beheld the gruesome sight before him. One of the desiccated corpses that had been impaled on the spikes…was moving. Not only moving, but the spike was retracting, dropping it onto the ground, releasing them from its hold.
"Mein Gott…"Bishop managed his voice thin and pale. "They're still alive."

Just as Bishop was about to go help the colonist, it turned to face them…Bishop looked on with horror as the creature stared at them…but not with eyes…the eyes were gone, replaced by optics…like that of a mech. Its gray dead skin was interlaced with tubing and wires, that ran the length of its body, all converging on what looked like a power node in the center of the abdomen, where it had been previously impaled. The sight of it made Bishop feel physically ill, nauseated. It watched them, with a dead expression on its face, a look of neither understanding or comprehension…only hunger. Whatever it was, its humanity had been stripped away, leaving only a husk. The creature looked up, their eyes meeting and for a moment everything was quiet. Bishop could almost seen the features of the person that had once been, a man, with a strong chin and high cheekbones.
The thing seemed to sense Bishop's stare…its face contorted and a thick guttural roar issued from its lips.

Keira was the first to act. With a growl of disgust, she snapped her rifle up and with a single shot, ended the creature's miserable existence.
"Not anymore, they aren't." she stated, her voice filled with both contempt and hatred. "The bastards will pay for what they have done here."

Bishop was about to reply, when a sudden cascade of guttural roars issued forth from the far end of the courtyard.
It was in that moment Bishop realized why there had been no Geth on site when they had found the bomb. Why waste your own soldiers when you can use the enemy's own dead against them?

"Ace…" Bishop called out as a tide of grey and blue washed towards them.
"You might want to hurry up with that bomb…"

"Shit, shit, shit!"

BOOM-BOOM-BOOM

James scrambled down the hallway, darting as fast as he could from cover to cover as he made his retreat. The Geth were on his tail, harring him every setp of the way. He had been able to keep them at bay, but then they had brought in one of the big ones. James didn't know what it was, only that it was twice as large as any of the other Geth and at least three times as smart. The large red Geth led the pursuit down the hallway, blasting as it went, large balls of superheated plasma impacting the ceiling, walls and floors with the force of a rocket. James scrambled to the next piece of cover which was I this case a rather battered metal door hanging off its hinges.

BOOM-BOOM-BOOM

Three rounds hit the metal, vaporizing it in the first shot, the two other slammed into James's chest, sending him flying painfully down the hallway past the door he had used to enter the building earlier.
"Hhhhrrrrrrkkkk" he groaned, pulling himself up with sheer force of will, his shields and barriers had taken the worst of it, but the ablative surface of his chest plate glowed a dull red from the heat. Inside his helmet, the suit's computer whirred and moaned with the stress, trying to process all the data it was receiving. The suit's environmental systems flushed the compartment with icy cold air, and pulsed electrical currents through the plates, trying to re-establish shields.
James got to his knees shakily, half-crawling and half falling into cover behind one of the docking clamps anchoring a shuttle to the platform.

BOOM-BOOM-BOOM came the sound of the lead Geth's plasma cannon again, followed by the much shorter twittering of trooper's
plasma rifles.

"Fuck." James cursed, still not fully recovered from the last barrage, as the impacts shook the clamp. His suit had barely just re-established shields, and already the sheer power of the electromagnetic interference given off by the lead Geth's blasts were disrupting them again, not to mention his head was still swimming, and therefore bade establishing a barrier an impossibility. James thought of calling for backup from his squad, but he knew they would be far too late to help him...

For a moment, James considered the very real possibility that he might not make it out alive. That this, might be it, his final moments…
Thoughts of home and childhood came to his mind, friends and family, comrades long since dead. Yet, even as it was a rather sobering realization, to face ones death…James found it oddly peaceful. He always suspected his life would end like this, fighting to protect the innocent. It was something he had made peace with long ago, that he would not die in bed, that he would never know the joy of children or grandchildren. It was okay. He would die, so that someone else could have that. His only regret, was that he couldn't save more.

James found his strength, it poured like a fount from his brains, rushing down his spine into his limbs, renewing them, filling them for one last act of defiance.
James looked over the side of the docking clamp. The Geth had just advanced out of the hallway, and were still bunched up in a large cluster around the lead Geth.
James narrowed his eyes…he had one shot…his limbs twitched and his hands trembled, his form starting to glow with a soft blue with biotic energy.
BOOM-BOOM-

"NOW!" he cried out, darting from his hiding spot with a battle cry on his lips, shotgun in hand. He rushed forward, sprinting at full pelt, not even breaking his stride as the three projectiles in air smashed into the ground nearby, sending waves of heat and debris crashing into James. He kept his cool, pressing on the deepest reserves of his body. He blasted away with his shotgun, closing the gap quickly, smashing through the vanguards like a tidal shotgun clicked empty, he tossed it aside. His biotic energy surged and he charged forward, battering away any of the Geth foolish enough to stand between him and his target. He drew his arm behind him in a sweeping motion, as he concentrated all his power into a singular attack against the lead Geth. With everything he could muster, James brought his fist forward, punching through the thick armour and shields of the large Geth and sending a pulse of biotic energy into its core. The unit sputtered and crackled as its systems overloaded and its circuits fused.

With the last vestige of his strength, James picked up the lead Geth and with a mighty grunt of exertion, threw it as hard as he could into crowd of remaining Geth troopers; the leader exploding into a shower of fiery debris, shredding the smaller units to pieces.

James stood in the middle of the pedway, slumped over, barely standing his chest heaving and sweat pouring down his face underneath his helmet.
"Heh…" he managed a weak grin.
"Hehe he-ha-he…" he chuckled softly, the realization slowly sinking in that he was still alive.
"Hahahaha! Oh- Ow-" his hand fell to his ribs, the disjointed movement of shattered ribs was the answer to the inquiries of his hand.
"Never….again…" he murmured softly, turning away from the pile of debris that had once been the Geth.
He felt lightheaded, his limbs ached and he had a splitting headache from overtaxing his nervous system, but he was alive…and it felt like the best damn thing in the world right now.

Even though his neck protested profusely, James looked up to see if the civilians had made it. At the far end of the pad, about 100 meters out, the Quarian and Asari were opening the door of a shuttle and were gingerly laying the Turian down inside. He thought he noticed the Quarian girl looking at him, but his vision was a bit blurry.
Nevertheless, James couldn't help but smile…even through the pain.
"Two for two." He commented to no one in particular. "Damn, I'm good." He chuckled, shortly, before his aching ribs stopped him again.

"Come in, Frost… do you read?"
His suit's radio spattered, static bursts interrupting the channel, but not enough to cause any major distortions.
"Aye…I read you, sir."
"Goddamn it, Frost, it's good to hear your voice. Are you okay? What's your status?" Bishop's voice sounded both relieved and concerned.
"A few minor injuries, sir, hostiles terminated." James spoke with sort, pained gasps of words.
"Good. We have been trying to reach you for over an hour now. The bomb has been defused, and the fleet's here. What's your location; we will come pick you up."

Frost looked up again at the shuttle, the Quarian he had seen early had noticed his distress and was rushing towards him quickly. The prospect of having someone to lean on was very appealing to James…he limped forwards, his steps faltering a bit as he shuffled on.

"I'm at docking port 27 with three survivors. Turian, Asari, Quarian. Turian's hit- bad-, get- doctor…" his vision was starting to get blurrier.
"Roger that, Frost. Hang tight, we're on our way. Bishop out."

James stumbled forward, he waved his arm to the girl in greeting as she came closer. He couldn't be sure, but it looked like the Quarian had stopped mid-step. His vision was worsening by the second, but it looked like she reached for something, but James couldn't tell what it was. His brain was too busy grasping at consciousness to understand that the Quarian girl was aiming down her shotgun.

And then he felt it, like the sun burns away a morning fog, so too was reality brought back into sharp focus….by excruciating pain. James opened his mouth to scream, but no sound came out, only waves of heat and the sickly smell of burning flesh that filled his nostrils. Then it hit him…it was his flesh. His eyes flew open wide…as he fell to his knees.

This was it…he was done…he wondered what he'd feel, what he'd see… all he saw the flash of a shotgun blast and the muted sound of pellets flying over his head.

No…wait…
His mind screamed, clawing desperately at the last moment of consciousness.
The visor of the Quarian girl was the last thing James saw…and then everything went black.