Chapter 1
"First time in London?"
Tadius Silhed glanced over at the young human who had addressed him. He was laying prone beside him, one eye through a sniper scope and the other flicking occasionally toward Tadius.
"Yes."
"Earth?"
"First time, yes."
"Hell of a first impression, isn't it?"
Indeed it was. Tadius had long heard of the sprawling, sparkling cities of the human homeworld, but all he had seen since his platoon arrived was annihilation. The Reapers left nothing unspoiled.
The human seemed to be waiting for Tadius to respond in some manner. Goodness, humans liked their small talk.
"Have you ever been to Palaven?"
"No," the human replied, slightly shaking his head. "I always thought—"
Tadius' omni-tool chirped, and the human stopped talking. Tadius waved him arm, his omni-tool lighting up in a gauntlet of gold with an oscillating ring.
"Tadius, we are all clear down here. What's it look like up there?"
"Real quiet. Saw a few Husks and a Cannibal earlier, heading east. No big ones."
"East. Straight toward Shepard and the others. The Primarch wants us to loop around, head down toward Big Ben. Hopefully we can draw some of the heat off of Shepard and Anderson."
"And bring Reapers right down on us," the human muttered, shaking his head. Tadius ignored him.
"Copy that. Heading down now." Tadius waved his arm again and the omni-tool shut down. He collapsed his rifle and strapped it to his back, motioning for the human to come along. Together they slid from their perch amongst the hollowed remains of a building and jumped down to street level, eyes scanning at all times for Reaper forces.
Tadius and the human, who introduced himself as Private Cantor, quickly regrouped with the rest of their make-shift squad. The fighting had been brutal earlier in the day; of their original squad of twenty, only eight remained. Jeran Tolka, the Turian who had contacted Tadius, waved them over to where the rest of the squad crouched behind the remains of a column.
"Command wants us to head back down along the bank and rendezvous with Eclipse forces holed up there," Jeran whispered as Tadius and Private Cantor kneeled down beside him.
"Counter-proposal," piped up a bleeding Salarian, green blood oozing from a gash in his arm. "Stay right where we are. Much safer. Leave mercs to rot."
"Grow a quad," Rodat, a Krogan, growled, shouldering the Salarian. "This isn't just about some merc squad!"
"He's right, Kova," Jeran said, shaking his head. "Hammer team is trying to make a push to the Conduit. Backing up Eclipse will take some of the pressure off of them. If Shepard and the others can't reach the Citadel, then all of this will have been for nothing."
Kova seemed to contemplate this, his horns twitching slightly. "Agreed. Salarian lives short enough, anyway. Better to die a hero than a coward."
"That's more like it!" Rodat said with a chuckle, pounding his fist into his other hand. "Let's go. I'm hungry for Reaper…"
"Disturbing," Jeran replied, extending his rifle, "but I'm glad you are on our side. Alright men, let's move out."