III: Requiem

by RedCenturionG

The Collector threat is done; and the Normandy crew survived. The Shadow Broker has eyes watching a friend of Shepard's. Loyalties will be questioned, lives put on the line. And Peta will stop at nothing to get the girl of his dreams. In this, the crew is never safe. And in the end, Marcus Shepard will have to make a decision that could cripple his resolve forever.

5. Chapter 4 Unrest

REQUIEM

CHAPTER FOUR:

UNREST

August 10, 2251

1820 hours.

Cockpit, Oceanic-Class Stealth Corvette CSV Iwojima, Hoc System, Within 100 Galactic Miles of Virmire. Ship Terminated.

Terra-Rannochian War.

Lance Corporal Thane'Shepard pav Rannoch.

The world was black. No color, no texture, no people, no society. Nothing but the black tide, all encompassing. And it was peaceful; eerily full of solace. But black was the color of death for humans; and Thane knew what that meant. And suddenly, almost as if it was yanked away from him, the black was no longer peaceful, but full of dread, and Thane felt fear. Was he dead? He tried to remember what had happened, but nothing was clear. Nothing was certain in his head.

The black was so encompassing that he didn't even feel like he was moving; yet he knew he was. He could feel his feet making the movements, his hands gesturing towards him and the feel of the air blowing on his face; almost like a cool breeze. He tried desperately to remember what had happened to spark the current events he found himself in.

It was then, as if scripted, that the memories returned. Interceptor. Virmire. Sister. Ashley. Corvette attack. Board. Killed the captain. Held crew hostage. Battleship attacks. Corvette destroyed...dead. They were dead. They had to be; who could survive an attack like that? If they couldn't during the Reaper War, then they couldn't now.

Reby. No, she can't be dead. I can't be dead. Something's not right. Should I even feel anything if I'm dead? He was answered by the sound of distant beeping and...sparks? Yes, sparks flinging against metal. If he was dead, he shouldn't be able to hear something like that. But when he turned to the source of the sound, he heard nothing. But then he heard hissing...followed by moaning; the sound metal makes when put under pressure.

He turned around more, but still couldn't hear where the sounds were coming from. He flinched when static burst into his ear, loud and harsh; the sound of a dead comm channel. Wait...those sounds...my senses must be slowly returning to me. To advocate his point, his ability to smell slowly returned, and he could smell smoke. No...he wasn't quite sure what that smell was.

Then he gasped, then groaned, then screamed as pain slowly crept up his arm and then, within seconds, completely engulfed it. He moved to cradle his arm and he quickly found it, holding it while whimpering at the pain. I've broken my arm. And I'm definitely alive; my mother always told me that you'll know you're dead when you feel nothing. She wouldn't tell me if there was an Afterlife, saying that my father never told her what death was like.

Somehow knowing he could, he opened his eyes slowly, so he could adjust to the vision. As he did so however, he was met by the ceiling of the corvette's cockpit, and all he needed to do was look at it to know the full extent of the damage; a flung open air vent, leaking gas, sparks flying from ruptured control panels and a massive hole.

Grunting, Thane sat up and immediately widened his eyes in shock at the sight held before him. Everything up to the elevator was all that was left intact; everything past the elevator had been severed and cut clean in half; hell, the elevator was completely gone, even from the other half of the ship that was now hanging loosely off the bow section that Thane occupied.

He was surprised he could breathe; the ship had no power, so therefore the mass effect fields would have failed instantly and reserve power lay in the back of the ship; which was now no longer connected; let alone existing. The first shot of the Coalition battleship's thanix had completely destroyed the rear of the vessel, the second cutting it in half.

When Thane looked around, he saw that his suit had survived the attack and his helmet was still attached, explaining his supply of oxygen. He sighed in relief as he continued to look around, further noticing that he was floating through empty void in the wreck of what used to be the cockpit of the CSV Iwojima, now a floating wreck. Maybe if he waited for a bit, a patrol vessel might come and rescue him. He still had enough oxygen to last him a week, so all he had to do was hope they'd investigate soon. Besides, it wasn't safe for shipping lanes.

Reby. No, he couldn't just sit here. He needed to find her. To know she was okay. He wouldn't label her dead until he saw her body himself.

He grunted as he tried to grab hold of something, but there was barely anything sturdy to grab ahold of. The cockpit was basically just twisted metal, and if it weren't for the bodies floating near him, he wouldn't have even recognized it. But he kept trying. He needed to get out of here and search the debris. Well, the ones that hadn't floated away already, or been caught in Nemata's atmosphere.

His three fingered hands continued to stumble, but still found nothing. Instead, he chose to look around, get a look for his surroundings. To his growing trepidation, he could see the form of Nemata, an extremely blazing planet used for mining by the Dominion, looming in the distance. It was still small enough to fit in his hand, but the fact that his part of the wreckage was floating in its direction was bad. Nemata was known for being almost as hot as the planet Mercury in the Sol System, and Thane didn't want to imagine incinerating painfully on its surface. If he made it to the surface. If he was lucky, maybe one of the mining stations in orbit would rescue him, but it was unlikely.

The cockpit was obviously a dead end; so when another piece of debris made its way over to Thane, he grabbed hold of it, placed his feet firmly ontop of it and pushed up, launching himself towards a passing piece of debris; the biggest surviving piece of the Iwojima. It looked like the rear section of the vessel and last he remembered, Reby was in that area when the shots first hit. Hopefully she was in there. And alive.

With ragged breaths, he watched as he weightlessly drifted towards the twisted hunk of crap that the Iwojima had been dumbed down too. He saw that most of the ship's paintwork had been melted off by the heat of the thanix shots, leaving blank, grey metal in its midst. The body of a dead promethean marine floated by, lifeless. The man still held his rifle, and Thane quickly relieved him of it, before quickly kicking the man's body away. Rifle gripped in his hands, he lowered it behind him and fired, letting the shots propel him through space at a faster pace.

Before he could turn around, he let out a grunt as his back hit the hull hard and cold metal met his back. Without a second thought, he reprieved one hand of its grip on the rifle barrel and quickly latched it onto anything he could find to get a grip. He found a service ladder, and quickly discovered that the hull he was on wasn't the outside of a ship; it was inside a corridor. A hull had torn through it, leaving one wall gone. Thane grabbed hold of it, strapped the gun on his back and began climbing, hoping to find a vent inside.

Luck hit him again; one of the hatches had tried to seal itself during the attack, but obviously power had failed before it could fully seal, leaving it half open. With a sigh, Thane slipped both hands inside the hatch's entrance and grabbed hold of both sides, immediately trying to push it to opposite sides. The hatch was strong, but he was stronger, and he quickly opened it, allowing himself to get inside. Unfortunately for him, the hatch wouldn't stay open, and would close upon entrance. I might need to get out this way.

His thoughts drifted to the rifle on his back and he quickly equipped it, jamming it inbetween both seals and holding it open. He slowly backed away, still weightless, and watched with a smile as the rifle held and didn't snap or float away. Satisfied, he spun himself around to find himself in a corridor. He had no idea what such a small, circular hatch could have been for, but he was past caring; he just wanted to find his friend. Please let her be alive.

As he floated through the corridor of the derelict ship, all he could see was the same dull grey walls meeting him, with the same promethean insignias imprinted upon them. But as he rounded the corner, he found engineering...or what was left of it. Not seeing Reby, he began to panic and launched himself into the remnants of the engine room, finding the drive core completely absent and replaced by the stars of space.

The bodies of the engineering crew were long gone and wires and cables floated through the void; the only thing left of engineering were the consoles that had faced the drive core, but now stood vigil in the corpse of a vessel. The corvette felt like one big grave, and he certainly hoped his name and Reby's wouldn't be added to the large number of names engraved in the ship's dead corridors.

The words 'Iwojima' were plastered on the wall when he turned the corner, and below it, translations in khelish, japanese, and multiple other languages, the last one being cut off by a scorch mark and burnt out machinery. To his brief amusement, he saw the corpse of a burnt spider floating through space, suddenly remembering his mother's logical fear of the arachnids. Score one for my mum.

His fear quickly returned however when he saw Reby was not present. A tear fell down his cheek, but as he was beginning to lose hope, he saw a three-fingered hand appear from the other corner. He immediately spun back around, and watched as Reby's body came into full view. She wasn't awake though; her suit was still intact, but she was unconscious, most likely knocked out by the blast like he was.

He also saw that her left arm had a thick looking cable tied to it; keeping her attached to the ship so she wouldn't float away. She had time enough to do that. But is she alive? She has to be. Nothing wrong with her suit from what I see. But I don't know, something doesn't look-

As he moved towards her, and her face came into view, his breath caught in his throat and a look of horror ran across his face; there was obviously a hole in her suit, recent by the look of it, and air was pouring out in white fumes and leaking into space, her life force. If he didn't stop it, she would die.

He finally stopped infront of her and grabbed her arm pulling her towards the wall with him so he could untangle her from the cable wrapped around her wrist. He held her steady while doing it, but when done, he had no idea what to do. He was on a clock, and panicking, but was clueless as to what to do next. He looked at her, and then at the hole, only to see that it was small enough to be sealed by a piece of cloth. He quickly grabbed a piece of his veil, ripped a piece off and stuffed it into the suit breach, effectively sealing it.

He sighed in relief and let her go for a moment; his fingers danced as he opened his omni-tool and patched into her suit systems, doing a check of it all to make sure she was alive. He was awarded with good news and bad news, the latter of which killed some of his joy at seeing her alive. Her heartbeat is steady, her lungs are taking in oxygen and brain activity is normal. She's got a bruised back and a broken ankle, but nothing a doctor can't fix. But her oxygen reserves.

She had ten minutes of oxygen left.

He had failed her; reached her too late. Even if a patrol vessel came to investigate, they wouldn't get there in time; the response time from Virmire to their area would definitely be more then ten minutes, and by that point, Reby would be beyond resuscitating. Even if he could resuscitate her, it would be pointless, seeing as she'd have nothing to breathe but-

His thoughts halted and he gulped, looking down at her. He suddenly felt heat rushing to her cheeks and behind the helmet, he looked into her closed eyes, listening to her light breathing over the comm they shared. He examined her body; as he, to his annoyance, did alot. But it was hard not to; she was petite young quarian woman. Balanced hips, large breasts, slim legs and a beautiful face. When Tali had met her, she had said that she reminded her of herself during her youth; when she was still a pilgrim infatuated with her commanding officer.

But as he looked at her; it wasn't out of love, it was out of nervousness. He and Reby had always been friends, closer to siblings actually, due to Tali personally knowing Reby's mother, Madi, and they were like brother and sister, almost. They had shared a bond that made their friendship that much stronger, and although Reby was his superior, she always treated him as a equal. And now he had an idea he never thought would be necessary.

Thane had plentiful oxygen supply, but Reby had none. To save her, he would need to link his suit environment with hers so he could share his oxygen with her; more than long enough to find a way off this ship, or wait for help. Thane's omni-tool could page a nearby patrol ship at a moment's notice.

Thane had been born when quarians were still getting used to not living in suits, so he knew of quarian 'flotilla traditions.' He knew of the pilgrimage, the Admiralty, the Conclave, clean rooms, the suits and of course...suit linking. A gesture of intimacy done only between lovers...and he wasd about to do it with Reby.

He didn't love her; or at least, that's what he tried to convince himself of. They were just friends; good friends. And he was linking suits with her to save her life, not to make love. Just the thought of the latter made him blush, and that hesitation was killing Reby. In the end, he knew what he had to do, and why he had to do it. He couldn't let embarassment stop him. That was childish and would cost the life of his best friend. His sister, in some respects.

So, with some hesitation, he unsealed a suit clamp and attached to both his and Reby's suits, effectively linking them. He watched as a 'Suit Docking Request' popped up on his HUD, and he accepted it, completing the link. Having saved Reby, he looked back up and thought of what to do next. Checking his omni-tool, he made sure the distress call was sent before just standing there, holding Reby in his arms. If she woke up, their linked suits would be very hard to explain.

Luckily enough, thanks to his actions, she would be waking up.

And as he looked blankly at the stars, he thought about current events. Prometheus wanting them dead. They were still alive and were targets; for now, they were KIA according to Prometheus, but when they popped up on the radar again...no, Thane and Reby were effectively fugitives now. On the run.

Question was, where could they run to?

{Loading...}

August 11, 2251

1554 hours.

Observation Deck, Avatar Gun Station, In Orbit over Gellix, Arrae System, Minos Wasteland Cluster.

Terra-Rannochian War.

Maintenance Technician Second Class Fortack Veal, Maintenance Technician Third Class Bilosa Tord.

He missed Nodacrux; his home planet. It was a small colony located in the Vostok System of the Maroon Sea Cluster, deep in Dominion territory and had originally been populated by humans and quarians, but had been abandoned and left for the krogan as a gift of appreciation for their acception of the Manifesto of the Galactic Dominion. Of course, Fortack had been an only child and already lived on Nodacrux before the manifesto, having been adopted by a human/quarian couple after his parents were killed by the Reapers in the 'Great War.'

When he had been old enough, which was after he completed the Rite of Passage, he had joined the Unified Dominion Navy under the Confederacy's alabama crimson and amber Shield of Hagalok. He wasn't a very good krogan due to the parents who raised him; his human mother was an architect who claimed to have helped build the Anderson Stadium on Haestrom and his father a maintenance tech on Epitaph Station. He got his current skills from his father.

When he joined the navy, he expected to be serving on a frontline warship, or even on the Maginot Line. He had always dreamed of serving on a respectable ship, like a dreadnought, most notably the Deep Savannah, the flagship of the defensive line. Hell, he didn't care if he served on a space station, like Epitaph, Shepard, the Orbit or Requiem. But when he asked for a frontline posting, this hadn't been part of his expectations.

He got a frontline posting alright; he had been assigned beyond the safety of Dominion space, past the Maginot Line and into Covenant territory. A small colonial group, escorted by a handful of fighters and a few corvettes lead by a frigate, bypassed the Covenant sensory network, which was mostly watched by the yahg or indoctrinated agents, which they blocked by using a stealth net and infiltrated the Minos Wasteland, heading straight for Gellix, a uncolonized garden world.

And now here he was; watching as the same, barren ships of different colors blew to and from the planet below to gather supplies and build a listening post on the planet, hoping to be able to spy on Covenant activities and hopefully gain a further military advantage over them. If the Dominion was getting this desperate, it was obvious they were planning a major offensive. Maybe they're planning an advantage on Covenant space? That could explain the need for this listening post. But why me? Standing on a space station wasn't as exciting as serving on a warship. Dangerous and risky, but hardly fun.

Avatar was one of two planned space stations to be built over Gellix as 'gun stations'. Their main purpose however was as satellites; stations used to connect Gellix to the rest of the Dominion and allow for tightbeam communications through a quantum entanglement network, allowing the listening post to relay information to the Military Board and, if necessary, the Maginot Line. Avatar and Shade gun stations were to be lightly armed; a few missile pods and two battleship main guns fueled by the station's thermonuclear reactor. In the event of station capture, francium is injected into the reactor, causing the reactor to explode with three times the force of the citybuster dropped on Hiroshima back on Earth. The ultimate failsafe.

Of course, this light armament was supplemented by hardcore heavy shielding; a new type of kinetic barrier that combined the use of Reaper kinetic technology, element zero and cyclonic barrier tech made by Tali'Shepard vas Rannoch, creating an almost impenetrable barrier. Of course, the power required for such shielding was substantial, which required the reactors to be online first. None of the station reactors were online yet; Shade Station was close to completion, but half of Avatar was still space at the moment.

"You look tired Veal," a familiar voice sounded behind the krogan, "Maybe you should take a nap. I can cover your shift; sure the supervisor won't notice."

Veal smiled and turned to see his fellow tech come out from the shadows, her drell form illuminated by the light of Arrae. Drell females were a rarity in Dominion space, as they mostly stayed on Kahje. He didn't know much about drell, apart from the drell apparently having wasted their own homeworld of Rakhana around eight hundred and seventy years ago and were rescued by the hanar before they went extinct. That had all changed now; the drell had adapted to Kahje and Kepral's syndrome was few and rare, affecting only a select few. The Dominion won the drell over by promising to help them reconlonize Rakhana, an offer which they gladly took.

Drell females weren't all that remarkable or even that different from males; they had long green tentacles that expanded from their head like human hair and softer skin, along with the telltale signs of breasts that almost all alien females did. Bilosa's weren't all that noticable and her form not as slender as most women, as she had gotten to taking food for granted. He had only just met Bilosa a day ago, but he already liked her and considered befriending her. He hadn't had the chance to talk to her at length due to work.

He let a tired smile cross his face as he looked back out the window and down at Gellix; the garden world that was never used, "Not tired, just bored. This posting is killing me with his tediousness."

Bilosa laughed, a smile creeping across her puffed, green reptilian lips, "Story of the century; everyone I've talked to love it. They say that helping the Dominion take down the 'covenant scum' is like a dream come true for them. Most them aren't even military; they're civilian contractors hired by the Dominion to perform this under military juristiction, but don't let that fool you; I'm pretty sure our guards are Blue Suns and Red Sky mercenaries. Not unreliable, but hardly military."

"They're not me. I love adventure; they love it calm and quiet, but I built my skills so I could maintain a ship during combat, not a station when its nice and quiet and the ships around us are doing the fighting."

Bilosa looked at him with a quizzical expression, like she was trying to uncover some grand mystery about his average existence, "For a krogan, I thought you'd be the one guarding us, not the other way around. Most krogan are warriors, not techs."

"And most drell are assassins, not techs," Veal harmlessly shot back, the krogan wrinkling his brow, "I'm not a very good krogan, Tord. My parents weren't even krogan. If a varren is raised by a human instead of a varren parent, is it going to become a predator or a pet? I'm no architect like my mother, but I learnt the ways of technology the way my father taught me. My mother wanted me to be the best I could be, but my father just wanted me to continue his legacy as a mechanic. He's of the Yala clan, you see."

"A krogan tech who doesn't want to be a warrior? You made my day," the drell responded, "And seriously, call me Bilosa. You're my superior, so I'm supposed to call you Fortack or something. Was your father the Fortack by any chance? The scientific chief for the Confederate military?"

"No. My parents were killed during the Reaper War during the final battle. They were being lead by Battelord Grunt himself," he responded with pride, "I was ninety-two when they died, still a child by krogan standards. I still am, but I guess human and quarian lifespans made them treat me differently. To them, I'm an old man."

"I always pitied human and quarian lifespans. So drastically short," Bilosa admitted, "We drell don't live much longer; only until we're 300 or so. It used to be until 30, 40 or 50 when Kepral's ravaged our people, but that's changed now. But I've never planned on living with a human or a quarian, so it didn't bother me. I don't expect to settle down with anyone if I'm honest; I'm a bit of a timid, woman. Asexual, if you'd like. I hope you don't find that unsettling."

"Doesn't bother me. I've bred with some krogan women, as is required of me for the Rite of Honor and I'm sure I have strong and healthy sons and daughters by now, but long lasting relationships or marriage don't concern me," Veal firmly declared, "Love is the death of duty, I heard someone once say. Said it was a quote from some popular book. Don't care what it was, but I thought it made sense. I've never been into women anyway."

"Then we share common opinions," Bilosa charismatically pointed out.

"Apparently," he grunted. With a sigh, he turned to her, suddenly having an idea, "You want to go grab a drink? The supervisor shouldn't notice."

Bilosa let a devilish smile cross her face, "Why not? I haven't had a good drink in months; always been on tour duty. Never got chance for furlough. But where would we get them?"

"I've got a stash of ryncol I brought for when I'm on break if you want some," he offered.

The drell squinted her face, "Ryncol's said to be for krogan use only; screws with the bowels and I've heard the digestion is beyond painful for non-krogan. And when it comes to letting it all out, it feels like acid travelling down your throat."

"So that's a yes?" He laughed.

Bilosa slapped him on the shoulder, "No! I'm not as tough as I may look! I am merely a tech, Mister Krogan Warrior."

He slapped her back, "Tech! Mister Krogan Tech!"

"Maybe I don't think your name is fullfilling! Maybe I want to-"

"Is everything alright in here? I heard yelling."

Both of them wheeled around to see a Red Sky merc standing in the doorway, looking at them. The Red Sky's were a mercenary organization covertly developed upon the remnants of the Lawson-Fredler Company, founded by Miranda Lawson and garnering funds for its development from the Systems Alliance, before it turned into the Systems Coalition. It had started off as an organization that was hired by multiple factions to keep other mercenary factions in check, such as the recovering Eclipse and Blood Pack. Blue Suns weren't a problem, as they were run by Zaeed Massani, an ally of Captain Shepard.

Eventually, the Post-War Apocalypse came around the corner, and Miranda's loyalty was divided. Eventually, she accepted the contract of the quarians due to her loyalty to Shepard's cause and eventually fought on the side of the Coalition in the war, but didn't get involved in periods such as the Thessian Fallout or Battle of the Migrant Fleet. Eventually, Miranda signed a final contract that meant that the Red Sky was finally recognized as a military entity, and was payed by the quarians themselves.

"We're fine," Vael began, soon wishing he hadn't, "We're-" he regretted his words; they were like a jinx, and that jinx just now came to bite him in the ass.

An explosion rocked the station and it seemed to rumble, but Vael quickly realized that an onboard explosion would have sent them to the ground; it was small, and the vibrations would have carried easily. He soon hit an epiphany; the explosion was of foreign origin. Bilosa gasped and pointed out the window, mortified by the sight she saw. By the red light and the explosion reflecting off the window, he knew something had gone terribly wrong. Red Sky and Blue Suns mercenaries alike ran into the room, looking outside at the sight.

Vael looked out the window and widened his eyes.

The lead flagship of the expedition, a geth frigate by the name of Piety, was no more; something had hit it and caused it to blow apart, debris exploding in multiple directions. Small pieces hit the station's hull and did no damage, while luckily, most of the major debris either entered the atmosphere or floated harmlessly away, but either way, something had attacked and destroyed the geth frigate, meaning only one thing; they were under attack.

It was then that the alarms blared and he looked up to see a Covenant fleet baring down on them; batarian, turian, tilthan, yahg and a few raloi. Batarians, being the leaders of the Covenant, lead the fleet with a single dreadnought, thanix cannon cooling down after it made victim of the frigate. Without it, the Dominion was severely outclassed and their communications weren't set up properly, meaning they couldn't send a distress call. The reactor still wasn't active, so their defenses were useless.

The Dominion battlegroup of corvettes and fighters rallied to their defense, but it was a hopeless battle. A yahg dreadnought, which was a common terminology considering that dreadnoughts were the only warship yahg ever made, quickly swept in from the side and made a run for Shade Station while a Tilthan carrier deployed fighters to distract their forces while the bulk of the Covenant fleet, at least thirty-six vessels in total, moved to bombard the outpost on Gellix. How did they know we were coming? We had a stealth net! Gellix should have hidden our activities from them! The Covenant couldn't have known we were coming!

Bilosa began to back slowly away from the window and the mercenaries seemed to just stand there, weapons limp in their grasp; like they had no idea what to do. Vael couldn't blame them; what would they do? They were completely outnumbered and outgunned. Escape was suicide, as the enemy fleet could capture them as POWs or simply blast their pods in midspace. They had nowhere to go, and no way to call for help. Death was their only salvation.

Vael backed way as he watched the small Dominion forces get absolutely annihilated. The battle was short; the fighters flew infront of the corvettes, which were now effectively the capital ships, to act as a shield against the enemy fire. They took the brunt of the assault and gave them time to counterattack; streaks of light arcing up towards the covenant spacecraft and impacting their shields. A couple of enemy fighters were destroyed and the shields of a covenant frigate collapsed, but that was all the damage the Dominion got to do. The corvettes did not survive the fleet's second salvo and the yahg dreadnought and already carved through their flank and was moving to fire on Shade Station.

Evacuation alarms blared all over Avatar and the mercs fled, desperately trying to reach the escape pods. Vael gulped, watching as a covenant fleet descended upon their listening post. They didn't stand a chance...

Vael immediately looked at Bilosa and grabbed her arm, motioning for her to run. But just as they did, Bilosa gasped and pointed out the window and Vael's heart stopped when he saw what she was pointing at, predatory form stalking towards them like a psychopathic murder moving in for the kill.

The batarian dreadnought spearheading the enemy fleet had turned its attention to Avatar and its main gun loomed over them. The krogan tech knew there was no escape; they couldn't make the escape pods in time and the thanix cannon of the ship would tear through the station's hull like it was paper. They could only watch.

They barely noticed Shade Station go up in a flash of light as the dreadnought charged its thanix and fired, green light piercing their side. They felt nothing as the thanix vaporized both him and Bilosa instantly and ripped the station wide open.

And the Dominion wouldn't know until it was too late.

{Loading...}

August 11, 2251

1611 hours.

Courtyard, Gellix Listening Post, Eighth Continent, Gellix.

Terra-Rannochian War.

Corporal Sheila'Piae pav Feros.

Sirens blared as Sheila was rudely awakened from her bunk and she shot up, looking around and wandering what was going on; she was having such a nice dream. She wiped at her eyes and was about to ask Reginold what the hell was going on. She leaned over to look at the bunk below her but stopped when the building shook and the lighting flickered, causing her to topple off the bed and land on the floor below, groaning.

A rough kick hit her ribs and she immediately looked up, seeing her squad leader, a geth named Jupiter, looming over her. He was a trooper unit, like most geth were, and his armor was painted with black and red stripes. Its optics looked accusing, but the message was clear.

"Get off your ass Creator-Piae," Jupiter demanded, "Get suited up. We're under attack, in case you hadn't noticed, and you lying around won't help us repel this assault."

Sheila widened her eyes and shot up, snapping a salute before being at ease, "But-how did they find us sir? We used a stealth net!"

"Doesn't matter now, does it!?" Jupiter shouted, snapping a finger at the doorway, "Now get moving! Get to your locker and lets get suited up!" The geth turned to the rest of the squad present, "Let's move it greens! Most of you haven't fought Covenant, but today is going to be your lucky day! Move it you organic maggots! The clock is ticking and the enemy aren't going to wait nicely for you to get ready! RV at the main gate! Move!" the geth quickly hurried from the room, his squad moving him, Sheila in their midst as they rushed for the locker room.

It didn't take long to get into gear; she grabbed her rifle and shotgun, stowed a sidearm, grabbed a handful of incendiary and frag grenades, a belt of coolers, a few energy bars to supplement her biotic abilities and donned her medium combat armor; they called it hoplite because it apparently looked like the armor of some old earth civilization, including the helmet, just without the crest on top. Suited up, they all marched outside and into the open world of Gellix.

Sheila took one look at the giant mountain capped with snow that rose like a giant spire before them. Sheila, at first, couldn't see where the hostiles were, but quickly felt the ground shake, meaning an enemy ship was entering the atmosphere. She rushed forward, gripping her carbine with intent and rushed for the main gate; the first and only line defense in the listening post.

Her squad reached the main gate just in time to watch the massive form of a Tilthan carrier cast its shadow over the 2000 foot tall mountain that loomed over them. The carrier looked like a floating box...except with armor. Aren't the Virtual Aliens creative.

Sheila watched with a smile as the listening posts three AAA batteries targetted areas on the carrier and opened fire, pounding the monolith's shields with heavily reinforced DU shells; a deadly weapon if in the wrong hands. The humans knew how to build weapons. Deadly weapons. Luckily, chemical weapons aren't illegal. DU shells, or Depleted Uranium shells, were exactly as they sounded. With compound traces of the uranium used to make nuclear weapons, they tipped them with enough DU to melt through armor like phosphorus. The results were terrifying; one round could melt through the hull of a Wolverine APC and the flames would burn for days on end. The side effects were that the vehicles couldn't be approached; the radioactive after effects were like that of a nuked city. If the Tilthan carrier's shields collapsed, it was finished, plain and simple. Not even a Reaper could withstand it; although they tried.

Shields flared, but the tilthan ship had already offloaded its cargo; multiple kodiak and ravager shuttle craft were descending upon them, all loaded with unknown amounts of covenant troops, indoctrinated and not indoctrinated.

"Someone man that gun!" Jupiter ordered and Sheila watched James man one of the two plasma repeaters lining the wall. She had seen them in action too; watched old geth models get torn in half from the sheer heat dissipation. Nasty business.

Her began to pound from the constant 'vavoom vavoom vavoom' of the AAA guns firing, unleashing shell after shell at the carrier to no effect. DUs were only useful against armor, but shields were too powerful. But just as the shields seemed to be bursting, a blinding flash boomed from the vessel's starboard side, followed a sound like the clap of thunder. One AAA tower blew apart in a conglomeration of fire and molten debris as it rained hell over the encampment, wreckage showering all over. She heard an unlucky technician scream as she was burned alive by a piece of the molten wreckage pinning her to the ground.

The other two guns were quickly picked off and that erased any hope of destroying the carrier. Sheila felt a spark of fear appear in her veins as Jupiter ordered her to take position, the quarian crouching behind a barricade, with her rifle lowered over the nearest shuttle she could find. A simple mission. Then I could go home. I could finally take my boyfriend on a proper date, discuss our relationship. I could talk to mum and help her with knitting. Retire and get a proper job; dad always sad I'd be a good accountant. I never thought I'd die here. I love you mum, dad, sis. I love you Nick. Keelah Se'lai. Keelah Se'lai. Keelah Se'lai. Keelah Se'la-

"Here they come! Ready your weapons!" Jupiter ordered and they did and Sheila snapped from her haze and focused her gaze down the scope.

The first shuttles landed, but noone stepped out, only a yahg with its omni-tool out and playing on loudspeaker. Its loud booming, mechanical voice echoed over the valley, "Humans! Quarians! Whatever fucking races you have holed up in there! Men and women of the Dominion! You serve false leaders and gods, but we shall amend that! Surrender this garrison and we shall let you live! Might even let you join our ranks! But you must drop your weapons and swear allegiance to the High Holy Covenant!"

I can see why they're called the Covenant. High Holy? False gods? I don't even worship a god. The ancestors protect me. Sheila waited for Jupiter's response; the post's commanding officer must have been killed in the attack, leaving Jupiter in command.

The geth's response was quick, "I'll drop my weapons when my unit is worn with rust, you overgrown walking meat sack! All I see before, what my men see, is alot of Covenant to kill. So I will continue to serve my false leaders and false gods, whilst killing you with my false rifle, in my false armor, believing in my false creators."

"Very well!" the yahg yelled back, "We will kill all your men, rape your women, and take your children as slaves! We will enjoy watching you beg for mercy!"

Sheila felt sweat collect at her brow. I'll die before I let them touch me. No batarian is going to molest me. For the Dominion. In the name of The Shepard.

Jupiter fired a few shots into the air, "You'll find no easy conquest here! You'll our men yes, but our women will to, and the only mercy our children will beg for is for that on your part, as the Dominion will wreak a righteous wrath upon you all. You should have stayed in your hidey hole, you piece of shit. Tell me, where were the mighty yahg when the Reapers scourged the galaxy? Hiding on Parnack it would seem! Tell your leaders, 'they can come and take this place!' If you're the leader, well, I think my rifle is middle finger enough! Troopers, fire!"

Sheila smiled and fired, her scope squared over the yahg's head. The first shot buried in his faceplate but stopped at the eye and the second pierced his skull and killed him instantly. Shuttle hatches snapped open and a horde of batarians, turians, tilthans in the bodies of mechs called 'Hosts' and yahg charged the gate, yelling war cries and firing at anything they could see while Jupiter and the main gate defense fired down at them mercilessly.

The plasma repeaters opened fire, cutting swaths down the enemy ranks, but only delaying the enemy advance by a slight margin. Sheila didn't stop; over and over her carbine continued to whine about being overheated, but again and again she fired and fired, taking down as many enemies as she could. She was going to die; better go down with as many kills as possible.

Jupiter's Javelin Mark IV sounded next to her and ripped the head off a tilthan host, leaving it dead. The tilthan hosts looked much like...what was that robot on robocop called? ED-209? Yeah, they looked like that, but much more powerful. Sheila was about to target a batarian heavy at the back when she spotted a vehicle appearing over the horizon; and a shout caught in her throat.

A Wraith Heavy Tank. How the Covenant got their hands on the Dominion vehicle was unknown, but they had, and now it gazed its teeth on them, twin cannons flaring.

Sheila screamed a warning but it was too late. Twin streaks of plasma shot forward with blinding speed and impacted the front of the gate, incinerating everything within five meters. James and Jack, the men manning the plasma repeaters, were reduced to atoms as Sheila watched on. Not much of the garrison survived the blast and those who had began to rout. Jupiter screamed at them to get back into position, Sheila noticing it was firing its sniper rifle one handed; one of its arms having been blasted off.

Sheila felt numb in the legs and looked down and immediately began to hyperventilate and turn pale from what she saw. Her right leg was gone; vaporized to a pulp and leaving only a bloody stump with red blood pooling around it. She realized she was going into shock and wanted to scream, but her voice failed her. Jupiter made its way over to her and pulled the quarian into cover, tying bandages around the bloody stump that used to be her right leg and she realized it was because of her adrenaline that she didn't feel any pain; that and the suddenness of the agony itself.

Covenant forces surged through the gatehouse and she knew it was over; they wouldn't live. She'd die here, or be raped, whichever came first, and she'd never see her family again. Never become an accountant. Never go on another date with her beloved Nick. Sweet human bosh'tet. If only you were here...I'd tell you how much you mean to me...

Then another sound caught her ears; a screeching sound like that of a bug. She ignored her leg for a moment and looked at Jupiter, wandering if she had heard wrong or imagined the sound. But she hadn't, because Jupiter was quickly looking at the source; the Covenant shuttles. Its flaps shifted and immediately began to thrust its arm in the air, "Yes! Take that you pieces of scum!"

Unable to hear her, Jupiter couldn't help her up, so she thrust one arm up and gripped the railing, pulling herself up and using her left leg as a support. She looked at where Jupiter was looking and stood shocked, but quite soon, a smile wiped across her face.

The Covenant Wraith had been destroyed and the Covenant forces were in a flurry; they had no idea what was going on. They were disorganized and unable to deal with the sudden threat and they were ripped apart by the Dominion troops.

Sheila and Jupiter watched in smugness as the rachni horde poured over the enemy like they were nothing but a wall to be climbed over, hundreds of the insects finding and tearing Covenant soldiers apart. Brood warriors lead the horde, using their biotics to tear yahg apart and send tilthan hosts flying through the wall. And in the midst of it all; a krogan soldier. A single. Krogan. Soldier.

When the battle was done, the krogan approached the both of them and nodded to them, looking at the destroyed listening post before turning to face Jupiter again, "You the only survivors?"

"That we know of. Who are you? Reinforcements?" Jupiter asked.

"That we are, but not ones you called for. Your orbital stations are gone and fleet decimated. A rachni queen is ready to transport you off world. Let's just say the queen knew the perils you would face and sent me with some of her children to rescue you. She has a cruiser waiting nearby. We'll head for Trebin immediately."

Before the krogan could leave, Jupiter put a hand on his shoulder and turned him around, "You haven't answered my question trooper, who are you?"

The krogan laughed and offered Sheila a hand up, which the quarian eagerly accepted, "Urdnot Mordin, at your service."

Sheila passed out as one of the sons of the great Urdnot Wrex carried her to the evacuation point.

A/N:

Yeah, I bet most of you forgot about Mordin. But I haven't. And yes, I am planning for Jessica's, Thane's and Mordin's story arcs to join together eventually. You may not be interested in this part of the story arc currently, but it will get more interesting as it progresses and I hope, I can only hope, that you'll be completely hooked by the beginning of Holocaust, and that's where the best bits will be saved.

Stay tuned; 2251 will get uglier.

And considering all the content in 2251...yeah, I think I'll make a seperate information page for that. You know, for referencing.