Hello again All!
after a very rapid writing bout that I was blessed with over the weekend it happens that I have another chapter for you. :D
I know it is quick, but I tell you no lie when I say that this chapter was written by Sunday evening. the time since has been spent doing minor repair work or tweaking. And I must say that I really like the way it turned out. I hope you do as well.
PS. I made some corrections to Chapter 8, like correcting the fact that I wrote 7 on it instead of 8 as well as a few small corrections. thank you greatly for reading and reviewing.
Now, The NRBEC...
...I'm drawing a blank. Sorry...
NRBEC done... ON WITH THE CHAPTER!
I DO NOT OWN BW OR ANY OF THEIR TRADEMARKS! (AND I STILL REFUSE TO NAME THEM!)
OH!... One more final thought. let me know what you think of this chapters codex. No one bothered to give me a hint as to what they wanted to have described so I went with the first thing that popped into my head. ENJOY! {: )
"Our Legacy"
Part Two: A Traitor In Our Midst.
Chapter 9: Traitor
Date: January 31, 2681
Time: 1054 hrs.
Location: Eden Prime Surface, Sector 7.
John Shepard watched the Marine stagger off toward the other end of the archeologist's camp and felt a small pain in his chest.
She's had a really bad day. Yes, he'd been through a whole lot of very similar situations and ones that were many times more terrible. But that was him. After what he'd been through in his life it was all common place. They were everyday nightmares for him, not the rare or occasional run of bad luck. But still, it made him want to say a prayer for it all to go a little better for her. She could use a break from this. But he didn't pray anymore. He and the Big Guy Upstairs haven't been on speaking terms for a long time.
So he just squared his shoulders and turned to the Spikes. He had seen dozens of these things since he had touched down, but he hadn't gotten an opportunity to see what they had been used for. Now that he saw, he was sickened.
That goes far beyond sick and wrong, it's wrong-sick, he thought as he neared the impaled humans. There were twenty tripods, fifteen of which had corpses suspended in the air. All grouped together on the eastern end of the camp where they were hidden from view behind the burnt out husks of the camps remains on one side, and the wall of a cliff that the camp sat under on the other. It was a rather clever place to to hide something that you don't want anyone to know about. With the rocky cliffs surrounding them on all sides save the north and the trench to the south it would be next to imposable to detect them through scanning. Anyone who didn't know it was there would have no idea where it was.
All of them wore casual clothing. He could see none of their faces, thankfully, because they had all been facing toward the rock wall of the cliff. But the nearer he got the more he noticed that all the skin he could see seemed rather dark. Which he took as rather strange, not that he was racist but why was everyone here so dark skinned? It wasn't until he circled around to their front that he noticed another identical feature of the corpses and his eyes widened in shock and remembrance of a nightmare. They all had glowing blue veins covering their dull coal black skin.
"Hell no." he whispered under his breath. He had seen this before, very far away from here. On the very furthest edge of the galaxy on a little garden world moon circling a gas giant orbiting a great red sun in a little system known only to a handful of individuals… as Zion.
That wasn't real, he told himself. It was all just a nightmare, It Wasn't REAL! But despite his denials he reached up and lightly touched the face of what had once been a woman, if the bone structure was anything to judge by. Whatever had once defined her as who she was had vanished and in its place was an empty husk of a body whose skin was glued to meatless bones by the nightmarish black skin and glowing blue lines.
The skin was pasty and lifeless and cracked under his fingertips. It was exactly as he remembered it… A husk.
He was torn out of his memories by a piercing scream that was immediately followed by rapid gunfire. He didn't wait for the scream to end before he had turned and was about to make haste to the assistance of Sergeant Williams who had walked to the other end of the camp to search for survivors. By the scream he guessed that she had found whatever was left of them.
Before he had moved though he heard a mechanical whirring and he turned to watch in near horror as the tripod's spikes retracted into themselves and the husks collapsed to the ground as their eye sockets began to glow.
They were alive. And they were standing up.
Ignoring the screams for the moment he leapt backwards and hurled an active grenade. From experience he knew that these things didn't die until enough bodily harm had been done to shut down whatever it was that gave the Horrors life. Usually it required blowing them up. If that didn't work then crushing them worked just as well. Guns usually wouldn't work. The grenade blew before he was fully clear, driving the sound from his ears in temporary deafness as he leapt again for the remains of one of the shelters and he grabbed the biggest heaviest thing he could see. There was a wall that had collapsed but the support beam that had been holding it was still there. John opted for that. It was a solid metal beam crafted from an aluminum alloy that, while not nearly as strong as steel, would work just fine in dispatching whatever husks he could find.
Now properly armed against the legions of the undead, John turned to check for any husk that may have survived the blast of his grenade. Three of them had been incinerated in the inferno and another four had been blasted into the cliffs face reducing them to little more than a blue-black pulp. But the other eight had been left relatively unharmed by the blast. And they were already almost on top of him. With a mighty swing of his impromptu club three of the decrepit creatures were sent flying into the rock wall behind them. John almost wished he could hear so that he could hear the Squish as they hit it and were flattened by the incredible impact.
He hated these thing. For months after the nightmarish events of Zion mission John had tried to forget what had happened on that god forsaken moon. Tried to forget what had happened there and what he had been forced to endure and do to survive. There had been three survivors of the event. A medic, himself, and an A.I.
Only a week after their rescue the medic had killed herself and the A.I. had gone rampant and had to be put down. Only John lasted through it. Just like so many times before he had refused to die. He survived. He hated it then, and he was fairly certain that he still hated it now. But that didn't mean that he couldn't enjoy sending these things back to Hell.
The next Husk to close the distance was a short male, his clothes far too large for the skeletal form now wearing them. John swung over his head and brought the beam straight down on top of it's head driving the creature, now a viscous blue gel, to the ground were John's now enhanced strength drove it eight inched into the dirt.
Two more made their way to him as, he was sure, they were roaring their guttural moans. He was thankful that he didn't have to hear that, but again missed his hearing when he smashed them into the remains of one of the burning buildings, he would let the fire end their existence. The last of the fifteen approached him in their staggering run one on his right the other on his left, swinging their arms that ended in inch long talons that were sharp as razors. He swept his club to the right hurling that one into the air to John didn't know where. Then he turned to meet the last one as it swung at him. But he was a lot faster than he was the last time he'd met these things. With a rapid swing of his leg the thing toppled to the ground and the massive Spartan brought his boot down on it, twice, just to make sure it was dead.
He stood steady as stone on the outside, but inside he was quivering. He took a few steadying deep breaths as the fog that covered his mind a moment earlier cleared to give rise to reasonable thinking. And with his reason, came his ability to hear. And the world was once again filled with a scream. It took him another full second to come back to reality as he realized that the scream belonged to Sergeant Williams.
Quick as he could John practically flew to the screams source and saw the Sergeant crawling backwards away from a collapsed shelter where another three husks had crawled out from. One of them was literally, in pieces and had stopped moving. But the other two, whom the Sergeant was currently firing on were clawing their way toward her.
John wasn't about to jump into view of a soldier who, at the moment, probably wasn't differentiating between friend and foe so he dropped to his knee, hefted his shotgun, overcharged it, and fired. The resulting force of the blast may as well have come from a cannon as the force blasted both Husks from their feet. They landed on the ground several yards away in a ruined heap. The blast had gotten Williams out of her blind fire stage and got her to cease her hold on the trigger of her rifle. John meet her eyes to make certain that she recognized who he was then walked over to the two Husks as they struggled to rise and stomped them into oblivion.
After he was sure they were dead he returned to the Sergeant, who looked up at him as he approached, still in shock. He gave her a few moments to clear her head than asked, "you alright, Williams?"
She answered him with an incredulous stare, "No!" she practically shouted. "What were… how the hel… Were those the..?"
She watched Shepard as he nodded solemnly. "yes… They were."
The young Marine put her head in her hands and sighed loudly. "What the hell did they do to them?" she asked after a few moments of clearing her head. "Oh my God, what did they do?" she whispered again.
"They changed them into something they could use against us." Shepard said calmly. "Probably trying to break our spirits. That's psychological warfare for you."
Williams shook her head hard, like she was trying to rid herself of a bad memory. "Hell if its not working" she whispered, so quietly John barely heard it, but he did. She must not have meant for him to hear it so he didn't reply to it. After another couple deep breaths she stood shakily and walked over to the two corpses of the stomped Husks. "Why crush them?" she asked ah she looked them over. Looked like she was trying to hold her lunch so he guided her away from them with an arm. "That seems like a little overkill to me."
"The other ones didn't go down very easily. Seems crushing them is the surest way to make sure that they stay down."
She sent a wary look over to the one riddled with bullet holes, "Yah," she agreed. "bullets don't seem to stop them very well." When she looked back at him a look crossed her face and her eyes went wide as she raised her rifle, pointed right at John's head and pulled the trigger
John saw the flair as the rifle muzzle came to life and resigned himself to death as he felt more than saw the rounds fly by his head. He was wondering why none of the bullets tore into his head. It was then that he realized that she hadn't been shooting at him, but behind him. He whirled around and saw two more Husks bearing down on him. The one Williams had shot would have been on his back right now if not for the rounds that had thrown it to the ground behind him.
Oh, John thought idly. She did say that there were twenty-two of them here, right?
With a rapid kick John threw the downed husk into the charging pair and threw his arm out. They never stood a chance as a biotic push strong enough to crush them hurled their skinny bodies against the wall of the cliff on this side of the camp. John felt a sharp pain flare and pulse in his brain and spine as the Biotics left their mark. He turned around and saw Williams doing the same to the last of the twenty-two Husks.
She looked up breathlessly to John, eyes wide. Her lower half splattered with blue gore after stomping the life out of the one under her feet. After a moment john asked, "You good?"
The Sergeant took a deep breath and nodded. "Yah," her voice quaked so she cleared her throat before adding, "Yah, I'm good."
As one they made there was to the last standing shelter. Williams made it to the door first and after checking the door panel grumbled. "It's locked."
"Not for long," Shepard moved to take her place at the door and she scooted to the side to watch out for any more husks or geth.
John pressed his left hand against the door panel and opened his mind to the influence of his ACNII. With the computer in his brain John worked his thoughts around the programs in the doors computer control and found the back door built into every computer in existence. Once in John programed the door to unlock and the red light on the door turned green signaling it was open.
A moment later he swiped his hand over the panel and the door opened. Armed with his pistol he swept inside and checked the room.
"Humans." a female voice exclaimed, "Thank the Maker!" John holstered his pistol when he saw the inhabitants. One was a red headed woman with short hair in her yearly thirties, the other was a man in his twenties. Both were curled around each other in one corner of the small shelter. They had moved everything in the room to try and hide behind, but there wasn't much besides a few boxes and a couple of tables.
When the woman saw him she stood shakily and asked, "Are we safe, can we come out now?"
Almost immediately after she spoke the young man, looking thoroughly spooked, cringed even further into their corner. "Closethedoorclosethedoorclos ethedoor! Quickly… Beforetheycomeback!... Hurry!"
Wonderful, John thought sourly, freaked out civilians, better be careful with this. He raised a hand to stall them, "It's alright, your safe here now. We've cleared out the camp and most of the patrols seem to have moved on from this area. You should be safe here till evec can come get you."
The woman visibly relaxed at the news. "thank God. We've been holed up in this shelter for hours-" Her tirade was interrupted by the Sergeant's voice as it broke through the room.
"Diane!" John heard Williams' voice behind him, as she rushed into the room. he assumed she had come in to investigate what was taking him so long. Apparently she knew this person.
The Sergeant rushed past him and grabbed the Woman, Diane, in a fierce hug, which Diane returned just as fiercely.
Strike that, John. She knows her very well.
"Ashley, I thought you were dead."
"I thought so to for a while." There was mirth behind the voice and John figured that she was smiling. "I wouldn't be here if not for the big guy behind me. How'd you manage it?"
"Oh, it was terrible, Ash… Manuel and I were sorting through some of the recent finds when we heard this terrible shrieking, we were about to run out when Kevin ran in a shouted to everyone to run for cover. We asked him what was up but he just told us the planet had come under attack. They told us to get out of sight. So I grabbed Manuel and hid. We've been here ever since…" A pleading look crossed her face and she asked, "What happened out there? Is anyone else alive out there?"
Ashley looked crestfallen. "No… Spartan and me are it. The whole planet is being attacked by some kind of synthetics. I think their called the Geth." While Ashley explained what was going on to Diane, John took the opportunity to read a little on this Manuel fellow. He had calmed down slightly when the Sergeant came in. it was good to see a familiar face he guessed. But the guy had kept whispering erratically to himself about the voices, that the end of humanity has come, and how our time was up and a bunch of other stuff that didn't make a lick of sense.
John eased himself over to the younger man. And crouched down a few feet away. Manuel quieted as he saw John move closer. "I'm not here to hurt you, I'm here to help. What's wrong?"
"EVERYTHING… can'tyousee!Ourtimeisover…OVER!" his whispers were breathless but very quiet, like he was afraid of being heard by someone.
"Who are you afraid of? Who scared you?"
"TheHERALD!...no…nono,thePROPHET!theProhpetisheretoproclameou rdestruction!" he wasn't making sense, but John got the feeling that the crazy young man was on to something important. There was something this kid knew that he needed to get out of him, and something about this prophet felt…wrong…
"Who is this Prophet? Did you see him? Is he here?"
The man nodded. Not erratic this time though. "he leads them…the machines." the whisper was plain and clear. Not fast and jumbled like before. "He leads them…"
Well, John thought, that's something I can use. "Who is the Prophet?" he asked again, more adamant.
"The Turian. We was here before the attack, asking about the Herald…"
"The Herald?"
"The messenger. AndtheMESSAGE! Itisboth… It knows…"
"But what is it? what is the Herald?"
"IT KNOWS! We have unearthed the heart of Evil, Awakened the BEAST. Unleashed the Darkness…"
John tried a few more times to get answers out of the man, but that was all he could get. At least I know there was a Turian here… A Turian is leading them… And that is from a man that has quite literally lost him mind. Yah… that's reliable. John's thoughts were interrupted by Diane. "I'm sorry." She said as she came up behind him, "Manuel has a brilliant mind, but he has always been a bit…" she searched for the right word "unstable." She concluded.
Manuel shot to his feet, anger in his eyes. "Is it madness to see the FUTURE? To see the Destruction rushing towards us? To see that there is No Escape? No Hope?" he cried. "No" he answered his own question sorrowfully. "I am the only sane one left…"
"I gave him a double dose of his medication when he… went over a bit."
"Sergeant," he decided he'd better redirect the conversation. They had been here long enough. "I think we had better head for the tram and get to the Warehouses. We need to find my team and find the beacon."
"The HERALD!" Manuel interrupted.
"Hush Manuel. Go lie down for a bit."
"You're right," Ashley conceded. "We need to keep moving."
"Thank you both for checking for us. I'm not sure what we would have done if you hadn't." Diane said appreciatively. "Good luck to both of you."
"You too," Williams replied. "Stay here till rescue comes to pick you up. With any luck we'll be out of this in no time." Both women shared another hug before the Sergeant walked out of the shelter. Before John left he heard Manuel whisper darkly. "Luck won't save you."
After sealing the door Shepard and Williams quickly made their way to the tram station. At the tram was a small settlement with a dozen building most of them being dwellings for the people that farmed the surrounding area. All of them were dead and had been changed into husks, over two dozen of them. It seemed that after the Geth cleared an area they would leave the creatures sitting in wait to ambush anyone that may come behind them, which John thought was both clever and downright devious. They were using their enemies own numbers to provide them with reinforcements. Very smart and very useful. But that was something that John considered playing dirty. Sure, kicking a guy on the crotch and throwing dirt or sand in his eyes may not be fair, but that's playing to win. Turning your enemies corpses into lifeless zombies to attack anyone that comes by them latter is sick.
After clearing the settlement and checking for survivors. Of which there were none that they could find. The pair took the tram to the Warehouses. On their way, Williams described the layout of the storage facility they were going to. A few minutes into their trip, as the Tram crested a hilltop she gasped and looked over the horizon. Far off in the distance, maybe ten miles north from their current position on the tracks was a massive construct that John recognized as clearly not human.
"Is… is that a ship?" Williams asked, in something akin to awe. "How in the hell did they get it on the ground?"
It was commonly known, even to the Citadel council races, that a ship that was more than a kilometer long was not really able to land on a planet. They were just too big and stretched too far for an earthbound landing to be possible.
This ship seemed to ignore that universal fact. It resembled a ginormous crawfish and stood straight up on a half dozen massive legs and was towering over three kilometers above Eden Primes forested landscape as well as the city skyscrapers behind it. John had served once on several of Humanities Supermassive Dreadnaughts before during heavy engagements against the Covenant. And he knew from experience that they were much larger and much more dangerous. But without one of those here to put it into perspective, the ship was horrifying… and terrifyingly familiar.
"I don't know" Shepard lied partially. It was true that he didn't know exactly what it was. But he did have something of an idea. "Looks like we could be pretty close to finding out though."
The ride went by fairly quick, and in only ten minutes after leaving the dig sight the pair found themselves standing at the dock of the Warehouses. Ashley explained on the ride that there was another tram on the far side of the facility that traveled directly to the nearest space dock three miles to the west. And that this is where the Beacon was supposed to be picked up at. But since it was scheduled to be picked up at noon she figured that it was probably still stored away in one of the warehouses. John silently agreed with her. There would be no reason to move a fragile and ancient artifact before the people that had been sent to pick it up had arrived. Why risk breaking it when it could be safely stored into a secure facility?
The Sergeant laughed at that point, "Yah right." She laughed, "As if we were secure against an army of highly advanced synthetics."
"It's better than nothing," The Spartan had replied with a shrug of his shoulders.
The banter left them as they found where the Geth had gone. It seems as if they had all moved here. They were swarming the place as if looking for something.
Spartan and Marine got down to business as they moved as stealthily as possible through the facility toward the Warehouse that Ashley had said the Beacon was being held at. It was in the middle of the facility. The way was paved with Geth patrols, and there were more than a few close calls as they had to fight their way out of more than a few dangerous situations.
As he saw her more in combat John marveled at how Williams, no… Ashley was fighting. Despite losing her entire platoon, losing a great many friends, and being attacked by what she had believed was a zombie at the time; She was handling herself very well. She was well trained and her combat proficiency was exemplary. She wielded both her rifle and pistol with the practiced ease of a master markswoman. And when she got in close, she wasn't afraid to yank out her knife and hack and slash where it was needed. And what was more; she had displayed impressive knowledge of Marine/Spartan tactics.
Contrary to popular belief, it was entirely possible, and not at all uncommon, for a Norm (what Spartans had termed people with sub-Spartan abilities) or even a team of Norms to be advantageous to a Spartan that had found themselves in their company. And with proper training they were, on occasion, actually even more beneficial than another Spartan.
Ashley seemed quite well versed on the subject. Which was actually fairly rare in the ranks of the Alliance military as Only N7's were required to train on the subject and anyone below that military classification were required to have special permission to take the training. It appears that Ashley Williams is much more than just your average Marine. John mused while they made their way through the compound.
It wasn't until they neared their target almost twenty minutes later that the Geth patrols started reducing. Apparently they had started moving out again. Which was good for them because they needed to find the Beacon. With any luck it would be here in the warehouse that found themselves about to enter.
The first door they came to, in the back of a garage hidden from plain view of the street and any onlookers, was locked tight. John unlocked it and they both stepped into the room. They were met with the sound of primed rifles and beaming lights in their eyes.
"Spartan?"
John knew that voice.
"Williams, their mine," he told her calmy before she could start shooting then looked at the source of the voice. "Lieutenant, get these lights out of my eyes."
"Yes Sir, Spartan. Men, Weapons down!" Alenko's order was immediately followed with the sound of deep breaths and sighs of relief. Sounded as if the Marines from the Normandy have had a rough go of it since he left them in the Heron.
Once his eyes cleared he could see the room and it's inhabitants. It was a small room in the back of the Warehouse. Maybe twelve yards square. Most of red team were here. John was concerned when he didn't see everyone but quickly dismissed it. Most likely split up when the army showed up to avoid detection. At least, that's what he would have done.
Shepard looked at Ashley. "Serge, take a breather, you've earned it." She nodded her thanks and moved to the furthest wall from the door at sat down on an unused crate, she looked exhausted. John then turned to Kaiden. "Lt, give me a SitRep."
Kaiden looked almost as bad as Ashley as he made his way over to him but he began explaining with a clear voice. "After you jumped we continued on and dropped about two klicks south of the compound. It was as close as we could get with all the Geth around. After we landed we made straight for here but hit a lot of resistance. " he looked down and shook his head for a moment before continuing, sounding more than a little down trodden. "We lost Jenkins on the way to a dozen patrolling drones. Then lost Mokna during our rush here. After we searched around, we found out the Beacon's been moved. Don't know were. After all that's happened we're all low on ammo and medical stuffs but we're still combat ready."
John sent a searching gaze around the room, "Where are the rest of the marines?"
"Turc and Linda still had working SFG's so their looking around the warehouse for anything useful. Nihlus and Daniel volunteered to scout around and see if he could find the beacon. Their SFG's are working too, so we figured that would be the best way to move on from here. They left fifteen minutes ago."
"Do you know where he's going?"
"He said they'd be moving toward the Tram at the other end of the compound. We found orders to move the Beacon to the space dock in the computers so he figured that would be the best place to look."
John nodded in agreement, then added questioningly, "Lieutenant, Notice any zombies around?"
"What?" the look was enough to let John know that he hadn't seen any husks.
"Never mind." He said, "If you'd have seen them you'd know."
He didn't look convinced but he took the explanation as if he was like the good officer he was. "So, what's our next step."
"Pretty straight forward if you ask me, I'll go catch up with Nihlus. You and the others are going to catch up. when you do we'll continue the search for the beacon. Do you still have radio contact?"Kaiden shook his head. "As soon as Nihlus left it went out. Geth must have set up a block."
John nodded and moved to the rest of the Marines. "Any of you have a spare headset?"
"I do, 1!" Garin, the large human marine shouted as he produced from his pockets a thick black round disk about three inches in diameter. "I always carry a spare in case mine breaks." He said as he handed it over. "Not many people wear my size."
"Thanks." John pressed it over his right ear and hear a click as it shrank around his ear and extended a green eyepiece over his right eye. A moment later a HUD sprang into his view as the earpiece powered up. The motion sensor, comm unit, and life signs were out because of the comm block. But if he looked around he could see the specs of the people that came into it's field of vision. That would have to work.
Ashley had stood up and moved over to Shepard, "What's the plan?"
"I'm going ahead to catch up with the rest of our people and get them to hold up till all of you catch up." He answered then looked between the two.
"Ah," he smiled lightly, "Introductions… Sergeant Williams, this is Lieutenant Alenko. He is the Marine commander for our team here. You will be assisting them on their way to meet myself and the rest of our squad."
Ashley looked like she wanted to object but she held it in and answered professionally, "Aye, Spartan."
John nodded and continued. "Head to the tram station. I'll meet you there."
They both acknowledged and John left through the door he and Ashley had entered through.
As he left the garage he activated his own backup SFG, his primary which he needed a full body suit to use, would render him completely undetectable to all but the most advanced sensory equipment. At least, I thought it was undetectable. Funny thing was that it's inventor, a close friend of John's had believed so as well. But that didn't seem to stop these Geth from finding him anyway.
His backup Stealth Field Generator was the same as the Alliance standard SFG it didn't do a lot more than just bend light around it's user. It wouldn't keep him off a motions tracker and a trained eye could track the blur of the field. But in situations like this, it would work just fine. After making sure the way was clear ahead of him he was off in a sprint that carried him very quickly through the ruins of the storage facility. Large warehouses were left in ruins at what looked like the attack of orbital strikes. The entire place looked to be decimated. That would explain why there weren't any Husks around. You have to have a body in order to change it. And anyone here was probably inside one of the buildings. They were probably all dead and buried under thousands of pounds of rubble.
John would have asked why if he hadn't spent the last nineteen years of his life in the military. He had given up asking why people killed each other a long time ago.
He had made it about half way to the tram before he came across his first sign of life. In the middle of a wide street was a group of three massive Geth units and a half dozen husks, all dead. One of the Mechs was a full foot taller than the others and it was painted a bright silver. The other two were red. He had fought some of these on his track to the Barracks earlier this morning. They were whicked hard to kill when you didn't fall on them or have a 'near' undetectable SFG to give you an edge. In between them was a trail of blood. Purple blood. It went from the corner of the street and moved down an alley to a small shed between two large garages. The shed was still standing so John decided it was worth a look, Maybe Nihlus and Daniel were discovered by the Geth on their way to the tram and were wounded. They could have sought shelter in the shed until their teams came to find them.
John moved to the shed and slipped inside and was surprised to find Daniel, the Sangieli Marine from the Normandy leaning against one of the walls. His eye-piece showed that he had a steady heartbeat, but only a partial one. There was a large hole on the right side of his chest were a round had torn though his armor as well as a half dozen other very gruesome looking wounds on his legs, chest, and arms. Apparently the mechs had shot one of his hearts, and it looked like the rest of the injuries were from the Husks claws. And by the bio-readings his eye-piece was giving him, Daniel had lost a lot of blood and didn't have long to live without some serious medical aid. Thankfully, John had something that might be able to fix that, if it wasn't already to late.
The Spartan kneeled in front of the young Sangheili and reached back down to his hip. His armor made a hissing noise as he removed a small vial from his armored leg. It was a clear tupe filled with a clear liquid that he knew wasn't actually a liquid at all. It was in fact a legion of medical grade nano-bots. Commonly referred to as Med-Mites, These little machines could potentially halt a life threatening injury, as long as that injury did not require the growth of a new limb. These little things could speed up the healing process by nearly hundred times and could repair almost any damaged tissue in mere moments. The only thing keeping these things from being widely used was the fact that each vial cost over seventy-five thousand Alliance Credits, or in human terms, right around fifty thousand dollars. Thankfully being a Spartan paid very well.
John knew that a Sangheili did not actually require two hearts to survive. So even if the the Med-Mites couldn't manage to get it working again, there was a very good chance that he would live through this if he injected the nanites soon.
Shepard pressed a small button on the base of the tube and a syringe grew out the top. John turned it and pressed the needle into the hole in Daniels chest. And injected the Med-mites into the Sangheili's body. John waited a few moments to see if they would work. The nano-bots were built to detect if they would be able to save the target, if the could not, they would shut down, so if you didn't see them working you knew they subject was dead and could move on. If the nano-bots could save the subject, then they would begin repairs. John didn't hold his breath as he waited; he knew that holding his breath wouldn't do a thing to help the wounded Marine. He was pleased a few moments later when he saw the skin reforming over the wound.
Good, he'll live. With that out of the way John retraced his steps to the road and kept moving forward. He didn't worry about Daniel, if there were any mechs around the area they would have found him already and the Med-Mites would keep him asleep till they had complete their repairs. And from what his wounds had looked like that would probably take a while.
Back at the street John looked back at the three mechs in the road. He kew that he shoudlprobably get moving, but something in his gut told him to pick up the big red's rifles. He had thrown away several of his smaller weapons during the massive fight he had survived at the Barracks and had yet to replace them. He really couldn't thank of any weapons better than those rifles. He had instantly fallen in love with the heavy rifle, when he had first pulled that big heavy trigger. It was practically a plasma thrower. His mind made up he reached down and hefted both of the guns that were both shorter and heavier than his own assault rifle and maglocked them to his armor. One on the outside of his right calf, the other on his left hip. He was about to head off again when he tossed a look in the direction of the massive silver mech. He wished that they carried their weapons like the red ones. He had seen their plasma cannon in action and really wished he could carry that kind of firepower around with him. But alas, it was built into the machine's right arm.
Dam machines, why do they have to make everything so difficult… after making sure the maglocks were secure he continued on.
In only a few short minutes john had traversed the remainder of the distance between him and the tram and he came up on a hill that obscured his vision of the tram. In seconds he climbed it and sent his view ahead of him to see if the way was clear. What he saw was far from what he had expected. It was just like the last tram station. Here there were a number of small buildings. Most of them probably housing for the warehouse workers.
Aw, Crap... Today just isn't my day.
He had thought most of the workers had been killed in building collapses. But it looked like most of them had been herded into the small plateau that stretched out before him. The entire small settlement looked like it was flooded with Husks. There were scores of them, easily over a hundred, more like a hundred and fifty. And all of them were scrambling to reach the roof of a small building. A small concession stand really, if the battered sign above the large window was anything to judge by. They were swarming the building swinging their arms about trying to find a way to climb up because on the roof of the small building was Nihlus Kryik. The Alliance's first visiting Spectre.
Good thing I nabbed those guns a few minutes ago.
Nihlus could honestly saw that his venture into Alliance space had held the record for most unusual events seen or participated in in his life. Usually he would tell himself that this was a good thing. But right now he wasn't entirely sure that it was.
He was standing on top of a short building that he understood to be some kind of restaurant. Hank's Hotdogs was what his translator had showed him when he saw the beaten sign. And he briefly wondered what these Hotdogs tasted like before he leveled his shotgun and fired once more into the writhing horde of… what did Daniel call them before he fell unconscious? He thought for one a moment before the name came to him
Ah, yes…Zombies… what the hell is a Zombie anyway? Nihlus had certainly never come across anything like these creatures before, and the way that Daniel had reacted was rather extreme, at least, according to his own understanding of the creatures up to that moment. Now Nihlus was beginning to understand Daniels fear. These things just wouldn't DIE! And their groaning ans screaming was deafining. He couldn't hear a thing
He had been up here for the last ten minutes firing randomly into the horde below him until he noticed that the ones he had shot had started standing up again. Nihlus has always prided himself on his ability to stay calm and controlled under any circumstance, but he had to admit that when he shot something with a weapon that had enough force to blast off an arm and head, but several moments later it would stand back up and start attacking again. It was downright freakish AND completely unnatural. Even a Krogan Warlord couldn't do that and they were easily five, maybe six times the physical size of these decayed creatures.
The more he fired into the throng below him the more he learned what it was like to truly feel terror. He realized that there was no way he would be able to fight his way out of this problem and there was no backup coming. At least, not anything that would be able to save him before these things got to him. He was almost out of ammunition. And once he was there was absolutely nothing he could do to stop the creatures that had already started tearing down the building he was on top of from tearing him to shreds. Accept activating the thermal detonator that he had maglocked to his belt. He had grabbed four of them before he left the Normandy and they had been eternally useful against the creatures below him. But he refused to use the last one just in case he needed it for something special.
And he could think of no better reason than saving himself from an excruciating death of being torn, limb from limb, by the sea of human shaped monstrosities surrounding his little island of doom.
He spared the thought only two seconds before he nodded his head in silent agreement with his dark thoughts. He would wait till the creatures had torn Hanks Hotdogs down and wait till they had converged apon him, then he would activate the detonator. That way he would destroy as many as possible for anyone that came along after him. Hopefully they would be able to fight through whatever was left of the horde.
With his mind made up he fired even faster than before, cool and calm in his thinking, he had resigned himself to his fate, there was no reason to believe that there would be a miracle here. Turians didn't believe in miracles. So he would kill as many of these things as he could before they pulled him down. He focused on one Zombie and would fire until it stopped moving then pick a new target.
Why do these dam human weapons run out of ammunition so quickly. He thought as the shotgun he was holding suddenly went empty and he slid another ammo block into the ammo slot. But subconsciously he was grateful. If he hadn't switched out his own weapons with the human weapons he knew that he wouldn't have managed to kill even one of these things. The grainsized rounds that the Citadel council races made their weapons fire, while giving a near limitless amount of ammunition, was also too small to do any sort of damage against these zombies. Well, okay, he may have managed one or two kills with his own weapons, but these Alliance guns were much more effective.
He idly wished that he had gotten a chance to test his new weapons against a Krogan before he had died. He had really wanted to see the look of confusion on his face when he realized that he was being shot by a weapon that could actually kill him with a single shot. It would have been priceless… But thus was life.
He had managed to down another three of the creatures when something strange happened. There was a shift in the creatures movements it was barely noticeable as first but Nihlus was sure of it when they started turning and moving away from his little island. He was completely confused by this but didn't let it sway his aim as he aimed and fired again, finishing off another target with a sixth shot. That was when he heard a new sound coming out over the din of screaming and chocked moans. This one was a very high pitched whine. Like he would expect to hear from a high powered machine gun, then he recognized it and looked around for the Geth responsible for it. That at least he could kill with one shot. But when he found the owner of the weapon, he was shocked.
About a hundred meters from his little island in the sea of zombies, stood seven foot human wielding a red Geths rifle in each hand. He had tried lifting one of them when he saw what they were capable of, but it was far too heavy to be able to wield comfortably in open combat. But the Spartan seemed unfazed by the added weight as he strode down the hill firing the weapons on full auto into the Horde of zombies that that had now fully turned their attention to him. But they only walked to their doom. Because when he turned the rifles upon the unsuspecting horde a glowing bright orange beam tore into their ranks, tearing to shreds anything that came into contact with the lethal orange lances for more than a second. It was simply awesome to take in. in less than a minute of constant fire the entire population of the settlement had been reduced to little more than a huge mass of burnt out husks and viscous purple gel with an arm or leg twitching here or there.
Nihlus refused to be impressed, if he could have walked so easily while carrying two of the heavy rifles he would have done the same thing.
After checking to make sure that there were no more of the creatures hanging around the bottom of Hanks Hotdogs Nihlus leapt to the ground landing lightly on his feet and waited for the Spartan to reach him.
"Thanks for the assist, Spartan." He said aloud when the large man was within speaking distance.
The large man waved his hand and replied with a big smile on his face, "Anytime Spectre. Anytime…"
"where are the rest of you marines?"
"I told them to meet us at the Tram."
"Ah, best we'd better get moving then."
"Agreed, I'd rather not stand around these husks any longer than necessary."
They started heading in the direction of the towering ship in the distance, and a question occered to Nihlus. "Is that one yours by chance?" he asked while pointing to the massive dreadnaught.
The Spartan shook his head in answer, "No, we build them bigger, and smaller than that, but that is not one of ours. I've never seen it's like before. it must be one of the Geth's ships."
"I figured as much. Did you, buy chance, find the marine that came with me, Daniel was his name. he and I got separated when we met up with those three Geth and the zombies."
"Zombies?"
"that's what Daniel called them when he saw them."
The Spartan laughed at that. "Makes sense I guess."
"Why's that?"
"Oh, that's right, you don't have zombies do you. Basically they are an imaginary creature. They're dead bodies that had come back to life used in scary stories and movies. It's for fun."
Nihlus just looked at the tall man for a moment as they walked, "Imaginary?" he asked genuinely perplexed. "these things were real, not some figment of my imagination, and who in their right mind would invent such a horrible creature for fun. I swear you Humans are stranger and stranger the more I get to know you."
"I can't say a lot against that." the Spartan replied strangely. "We are rather strange." that he added with a straight face.
"Daniel?"
"Yah, I found him, he'll life. He was pretty beat up though."
"ah, good. that makes at least one thing that has gone right today."
They moved in relative silence as they made their way up into the Tram complex till the Spartan said. "Did you hear that?"
Nihlus looked around but saw nothing to indicate anything was amiss. But he knew from experience with this human that his hearing was very fine. "what is it?" he whispered as not to impede the Spartans hearing.
He drew a large and powerful looking pistol from his side as he answered also in a whisper, "something's up ahead."
They both took to separate sides of the hall as they closed in on the source of the sound that the Human heard. A few moments later the Nihlus heard it himself. Someone, or something, was walking toward them from down an intersecting hallway.
Both, Spectre and Spartan prepared their weapons as they readied themselves for a confrontation as they rounded the corner.
Nihlus' eyes widened in surprise. "Seren!" he exclaimed.
The Turian Spectre turned in surprise. He had been walking away from the pair in the opposite direction toward the tram. When he saw the two men walking toward him he smiled a turian smile. "Nihlus.".
Though his friend looked the same as when he last saw him, he couldn't help but think something was off. He wasn't sure what it was, but there was definitely something off… It was his voice, he decided. His tone didn't sound right. He must be coming down with something. he reasoned, but he couldn't help but feel slightly reserved about finding Seren here of all places. He decided to voice his concern.
"Seren, what are you doing here. We're in Alliance space. How did you get here?"
"calm down Nihlus," Seren calmly replied. "I was on something of a vacation. Since I didn't have a lot to do at the moment I decided to visit human space and see for myself what everyone was talking about back home." He cast a look around the hall they were standing in. "and I must say. Everything I've heard has been a vast understatement." He said that with his gaze stopping on the Spartan that still had his pistol up and ready to fire if needed.
Nihlus caught himself and waved the Spartan down. "Spartan, he's fine. He's an old friend of mine."
He grunted as he dropped his aim and waved to the newcomer than stepped around the pair to check the other halls for threats.
"So…" Seren began, "You're working with the Alliance on this one are you?"
"It's sort of a mutual endeavor we have going on here, but you know I can't talk about it."
The look that crossed Seren's eyes was strained at bests. "Yes…" he sighed, "I do know that. Sorry if I scared your Human." The word was a barely concealed growl. Nihlus knew that Seren disliked human. He knew he practicaly despised them for the events of the first contact war. So he wasn't excactly buying that he had come to visit one of Humanities paradises. That just didn't line up. "Seren, we both know that you don't like humans. So what are you really doing here."
His eyes widened and a moment passed before he lifted his hands placatingly. "Alright, Nihlus." He smirked lightly if sorrowfully, "you always could read me like a book. I detected the Geth outside of Alliance space barely a week ago, I sent word to the Citedal, but wasn't sure it would get there in time. So." He shrugged, "I followed them here. I only landed a half hour ago. I may not like Humans, but that doesn't mean I can't lend a hand where it's needed." That placated him. Nihlus knew that Seren had bad history with Humans, but that story was one hundred percent Seren, despite how much he disliked someone, he was always willing to help out. Even if it was on the more shady side of the law…
He still couldn't shake off the feeling of trepidation. But he shrugged it off. This was his friend, and right now, this planet could definitely use another hero to help it out. "We'll, Good. We could definitely use the help."
Seren smiled at that. "alright then, what the situation."
"Not good." Nihlus began as he nodded to the Spartan, motioning they were ready to go, he would explain what was going on later. Right now he had to get Seren up to speed. They started down the hall toward the tram while he explained.
"The geth have shattered practically every defense this planet had to offer. We have a fleet that's saposed to show up any minute now, but they're going to have their hands full up there for a while before they can help out any of us with what we have down here."
"Hopefully that won't take to long."
It shouldn't if what I've seen of their technology so far has anything to say about it. Seren, these people have so much to offer our society. I mean, they have combat medicine that can heal wounds that would otherwise kill a man before help arrived. I don't understand why the Council is so stagnant in their endeavors for a peace. Who cares if they have A.I. when lives are in the balance?" Nihlus just shook his head in amazed frustration.
"You really think so?"
"I know so, after what I've seen these past two week I can only look back and imagine the number of lives that could have been saved if they had just signed the treaty right after the war." They walked in silence for a moment until Nihlus continued. "I do not doubt the Council Seren, but after everything, it really does make me want to ask, why?"
"Tis not our duty to ask Nihlus, only to obey."
"True, but still…"
"Anything else I should know about?" Seren questioned.
"Only one. There are these things that the Geth have been changing Humans into. They call them Zombies." He whistled shrilly in awe and continued. "Seren, you may not believe me when I say it, but they are a nightmare to kill. They look like a decaying human, but they are harder to kill than a Krogan hopped up on red sand."
Seren who had fallen slightly behind answered slowly. "guess we have our work cut out for us then."
"That we do."
"Don't worry then, I'm sure we'll have everything under control soon."
Nihlus thought his tone sounded strange in that last sentence and was about to ask what was bothering his old friend but he never got the chance. He didn't even have time to warn the Spartan as he heard the click of a Human weapon sliding a round into the chamber. Before he heard the shot. It was the last thing he ever heard. The round tore through his head an out his right eye and he collapsed. He wasn't sure how he was still seeing things. He should be dead right now but he could still see, though his body would obey none of his commands. Then was falling and he could see the Spartan ahead of him. Saw him spin then he saw the thermal detonator that had been on his belt fly past his head. Seren… what have you done?
"BOOOOOM"
His world went white.
John Shepard spun as he heard the shot but didn't even turn half way around before he heard a high pitched beep. And he knew what had happened. As he finished his turn he saw the thermal detonator that Nihlus had on his belt flying right toward him. He had no time to move as he watched it go off in slow motion, his Spartan Time kicking in. but he knew there was nothing he could do to reduce the impact of the explosion as it reached for him. He would have activated his matrix if he had enough time and any more charge in it. But there were only fractions of seconds left before the blinding flash hit him full force. It felt like an eternity, but as soon as the blast hit him, time sped up again to normal speed.
"BOOOOOM" it was all he heard as his world turned white, his shield held then faltered against the whirling inferno and John was hurled against the wall behind him. The slam was more than his energy shield could take and it flared and died. John was left in a white and soundless world as his senses fought to right themselves before whoever had thrown the bomb came to finish the job the blast had begun. They didn't come back soon enough.
The next thing he knew for certain was that someone had shot him with a human weapon right through the right side of his chest. And he knew he had been betrayed. He had listened to their conversation, and while he couldn't understand anything that Seren had said, he had heard every word that Nihlus had. Thank god for translators. Then there was another round. And another. Then three more. The last thing John was able to think before he blacked out from the pain was, why can't aliens ever learn that Human hearts are on the left! And his world was swallowed by darkness.
Citadel Codex: Aliens / Systems Alliance / Human Biology
Humans are an Omnivorous Bipedal Mammalian species of primates originating from the Planet Earth with an average life-span of 157 years. Human's bear live young who are capable of eating whole foods at four to six months of age and reach full physical maturity in eighteen years. They are Plantigrade, have five digits on their hands and feet, and walk upright and their skin comes in a plethora of shades ranging from deep reds and browns, to light tan and pink. Humans also possess the remarkable ability to grow 'hair'a trait that is a rarity among sapient species.
Humans are as strong as Drell and are capable of feats of endurance that excel those of all known species save the Jiralhanae and the Krogan. This ability however is tempered by their high water dependency. Whereas even the physically unimposing Vollus can last five days without water, humans, even in perfect physical condition, can barely last three.
Humans also possess a gland which naturally produces the Chemical Adrenalin. Something once believed to be wholly unique to the Krogan. Once brought under a situation of extreme duress this Gland had been known to provide the strongest of humans with temporary boosts in strength and endurance that meet expected Krogan standards.
But even among all these strange traits there is one that is truly unique to Humans. Human Genetic Diversity. Until their discovery, it was common knowledge that, even among ancient extinct species, most members of any species share a majority of their genetic code with most of their race; However, Humanities genetic code completely ignores this basic and fundamental fact. The Human Genome is so vast and diverse that after the first DNA scans of several different humans, it was claimed the facilities used to complete the tests were faulty and a retest was demanded. This trait marks humanity as a true genetic rarity in galactic society.
Whew... 9,656 words in there. NO LONGER the longest chapter! :D
to expand on what I said up top...
I think this chapters codex seemed a little ranty, but I think it covered everything it needed to. just seems a little long...
To answer a review I received for last chapter about the Codex organization method I use to define it... look it up on the wiki... I wrote it down as near as I was capable without a filing system built into the chapter... if it is that hard to understand just look at what the last item on the list is. that is what the codex entry itself will be covering. I am sorry if that is not satisfactory, but it is as good as i'll be able to make it without a very clear and concise description of what you are finding wrong with it. again, I apologize for that, but I am doing the best I can here... so please, work with me a bit on this. and just for vanities sake, I sorta like it :)... hehe
other than that I really don't have a lot to say except that you guys are awesome for reading and that I greatly appreciate any reviews that come my way that could potentially assist me in writing better and faster :D
Thank you all! :D