SSV Cambrai, Nevos
Day 1, 1450
A bright red flare burst into life over the heads of the ground team, spiralling up into the air before bouncing down onto the battered husk of one of the trucks. The world was moving in slow motion, even as alarm bells began to ring.
"Fuckin' light up our position, why don't you?" Alec bellowed, frustratedly.
"Marking for friendlies!" one of the asari replied, from somewhere around the corner. "Visual, our nine o'clock!"
"Can't see you missy, where the hell's your nine o'clock?"
"Our six!" Ethan barked, pausing on his feet just long enough to impart that information before charging headlong at another husk, producing by-now-familiar results with his omni-blades - a severed cybernetic head and a lifeless body.
Whoosh! A dark shape swung overhead, and in Andersen's head it was a triumphant roar that echoed out of the Cambrai's engines. She flew low over the highway, hauling on the brakes to turn on a dime a little ways down the road. As the frigate hovered around-
Crack crack crack!
"Down!"
Clang. Alec shoved the engineer none-too-gently into the wreckage of the truck behind them, bowling both of them out of the way as a burst of enemy fire raked through the space they had occupied a moment prior. Two Cannibals came lumbering over, and the marine went for his knife-
Before he could use it, a blue flash of biotics had sent both creatures hurtling away to one side, quite silently on account of the Cambrai's engines drowning it out. Aeryn came rushing in from the left, arms still flickering with the afterglow of her efforts, and the justicar was close behind - bleeding, Andersen couldn't help but notice, a set of ragged slash-marks visible on her flank.
"We need to go!" she screamed, not looking perturbed by her injury in the slightest as she waved for the squad to follow with one arm, the other still clutching her borrowed sword…
"Move!" Andersen nodded, bellowing as best he could and waving frantically back up the highway, the way they'd come - the Cambrai was hovering down over the road now, only Alpha's own truck between them and the frigate. Tarenna's platoon was bailing out to their left, and the two human commandoes set off after Aeryn and Saffiya-
Thud. Alec hit the ground, a burst of rifle fire catching him as he ran and knocking him flat on his ass. No blood or dramatics, just an impact like a punch to the chest, and a grunt from the marine as he went down.
"Alec!" Aeryn cried, noticing him drop in the corner of her vision. She made to double back, but Andersen waved her away, stooping to grab the marine's shoulder himself and drag him to his feet…
"M'fine!" Alec barked, stumbling upright and sounding groggy. "Shields took it!"
"Well get moving, then!"
They set off at a sprint once more, darting down the left side of the truck, ducking as another burst of fire rattled off the framework… as they cleared the vehicle's nose, the lieutenant whirled around, checking for the rest of his squad.
The four remaining of them were sprinting down the truck's right side, close on their heels, but a pair of human husks were charging into their path. Before the engineer could even pull up his omni-tool, they had collided. Zel hit the first one headlong, tripping for a moment, but as the husk attempted to grab for her throat she swung around, grabbed it under the arm, and pulled it into some kind of spinning throw, slamming it against the truck cab.
Sam threw himself at the second, grappling with the creature and taking a few raking blows across the visor, but buying enough time for Kan to spin around, pull out an omni-blade, and drive it into the husk's spine. As it recoiled, with a screech, the quarian decapitated it in a single, ruthless blow. He clapped Vimes on the shoulder as the detective passed, and they set off at a sprint once more, catching up on the rest of the squad…
"Drones!" screamed one of Tarenna's maidens, close enough to be heard without the radio. "Four o'clock, incoming!"
Boom. The first drone soared overhead, four o'clock to ten o'clock, blowing a crater in the road with its beam weapon somewhere between Alpha and the Cambrai's hovering form. The second dove in screaming-
And disintegratedbefore it could fire a shot, scrap metal raining down onto the highway with an unearthly screech. The first Oculus swung high, looping over for another run, but a moment later the Cambrai's GARDIAN batteries took another scalp, tearing a chunk out of the small silver drone and sending it spiralling off into the bay, never to resurface. The frigate swung around, cargo ramp dropping down towards the highway, and suddenly there was a curtainof suppressing fire issuing out above the heads of the commandoes. The lieutenant felt rather than saw a harpoon round go sailing past him, and a dull chatter of machine gun fire broke out a moment later, cutting swathes across the road.
"Move, now! And help them with the wounded!" he bellowed, gesturing towards the limping remnants of Tarenna's platoon. Aeryn and Saffiya darted over, swiftly followed by a few more members of the squad. Andersen stuck to the centre course, grabbing Alec by the shoulder just long enough to propel him towards the cargo ramp.
Crack, crack, crack… a group of Cannibals on the right went down screeching, as a series of short, controlled bursts from a rifle whizzed down from the top of the cargo ramp. A lone husk veered away from the ragged survivors to charge the ramp, only to be sent tumbling back down it by a loud rattle of shotgun fire. Andersen hopped over it, sprinting as he hit the ramp and throwing one arm up over his head, shouting:
"Friendlies, incoming!"
A rifle round or two whizzed by his ear as he hollered, but a moment later the fire from the top of the ramp relented. He saw vague figures, obscured by the lip of the ramp, shifting places and finding a better angle as the first volley died away, leaving only the machinegun rattles and the loud whip-cracks of sniper rifles to sound out over the roar of the engines.
With a sudden rush of movement and a hastily barked order, two figures came bolting out from the cargo hold, clutching loaded rifles and sprinting to the base of the ramp to secure a perimeter. Kamur and Victor barely shot the engineer a glance as they passed him, but as he drew up to the top of the ramp, Alec at his side, two more welcoming faces were waiting.
"Catch!" Araya yelled happily, throwing a pistol of some description into the air. He caught it, spun on his heel to join their makeshift firing line, glanced down once to inspect the gun - Phalanx, fully loaded, regular mag…
Bang, bang, bang. He placed three heavy shots into a pack of Cannibals nearing the base of the ramp, and Kamur wiped the rest with a spray of MG fire. A moment later, the blare of an Avenger rang out next to his head, as Lynus pushed a rifle into Alec's hands and the marine stepped up to his side once more. The rest of the squad was trickling in from the right, some lashing out with tech or biotics, others dragging wounded asari in… a couple of Tarenna's operators still had ammo in their shotguns, and were blasting away with Kamur and Victor as they backed up slowly.
"Thirty seconds!" Kamur hollered, waving for them to get a move on. "That's a Reaper up there, people, we need to be gone in thirty seconds!"
That certainly put some haste into them. Captain Tarenna physically dragged two of the braver souls back before their heroics could get them in trouble, and the rest were scrambling up the cargo ramp, most abandoning any pretence of putting up a fight and just rushing for cover. Many were propped up on the shoulder of a colleague, two or three more were carried aloft by their squadmates… the wounded were being rushed towards the back of the hangar bay, including one maiden slung unconscious over Zel's shoulder.
Crack crack crack. Crack crack crack. Captain Tarenna let off two final bursts from her rifle, then tossed it off to one side, empty. At the base of the ramp, Kamur and Victor were now the front line of defence, cutting down Reaper creatures as they approached, rifle fire and sniper rounds clattering down around them…
There was a slight thud as Kamur's shields flared, a dull impact ringing off the collar of his armour. He staggered back, and Victor shifted back with him, his bearing nervous, free hand searching for a sidearm as his rifle mag ran dry-
"We're all in!" Alec barked, finding his voice again as he shouted over the intercom. "Lift the goddamn ramp!"
There was a metallic clunk, and a rumbling of machinery as the cargo ramp began to rise off the highway. Kamur and Victor finally abandoned their positions, sprinting back along it as it rose and stumbling to a halt on the solid ground at the base of the ramp. The steady ping, ping, ping of shots ricocheting off the hull could be heard even over the rumble of the Cambrai's guts, and the panicked chatter of the survivors now flooding the hangar bay.
It took a moment for reality to sink in, and the adrenaline to subside. As the Cambrai swung upwards into the air, spinning on a dime and flaring her engines, Andersen let his borrowed pistol drop to the floor, and then dropped with it, sitting right down on the deck and burying his head in his arms until his breathing steadied. Alec thudded down next to him, leadenly, and it was left to Kamur to actually check their situation.
"Helm, all survivors aboard…" he reported, quietly. "Sitrep?"
"Stealth systems engaged," Akito replied. "Clear for now… but let's not jinx it."
"Understood."
Another few moments of silence, as the turian let the radio drop. Sam and Kan were wandering back over to re-join them, the human looking tired and beaten up, the quarian looking… well, masked as ever, though even his body language was weary. Ethan and Zel were in the background, the former inspecting a bullet hole in the latter's pauldron, and the squad's two asari were lingering with their compatriots, somewhere near the aft.
Andersen hung his head, rubbing his brow blearily. The whole damn thing had been a blur, one big, chaotic, fast-moving blur… his attention was only drawn again by a clatter from amidst the crates, as the two snipers emerged from their cover positions. He was mildly surprised to see Vor as one of them, Kishock in hand. He was far more surprised to see the captain next to him, rifle slung up over one shoulder, still clad in a crew shirt with bandages poking out…
"What I want to know…" Murphy chuckled, breathlessly, "is how you managed to make that big of a shitstorm out of a supply run."
"With the greatest respect, sir…" Alec laughed, "…screw you."