Chapter 3
The Protheans are back.
Rarely one sentence has the power to petrify forty million people. Yet the declaration of the long gone race coming back made it possible. Every man, woman, and child stared at the nearest communication or audio device in shock, terror and fear. None could believe that it was actually happening.
"I initiate Rug Protocol, and declare martial law." Williams announced, his voice sounding grim. "All citizens move to the nearest shelter. All troops prepare for the oncoming battle. This is not a drill, I repeat this is not a drill. Shanxi is under attack…God have mercy on us all, Williams out." The general cut the broadcast. Three other generals were already on screens, waiting for him.
"What the hell is going on here, Williams?" Obsman rumbled.
"Just got word from SD station, apparently we're under attack. We lost the contact with them just after they sent us the warning. We have a Black Sun situation here gentlemen." He rubbed the scar that went vertically through his right eye. Every time something bad was going to happen it started to itch. Now it felt like it was going to burst out blood.
"Unbelievable. It seems that those skeptical of opening mass relays were right. We've finally gone one too far." Taylor furrowed his eyebrows. "Do we know how many of them are attacking?"
"No, we have nothing." Williams sighed.
"Damn it, so we're going in blindly eh? I'll get my boys ready." Hetfield announced.
"My soldiers will move to fortify the cities." Obsman said.
"Mine as well." Taylor added.
Before anyone managed to say anything more an attendant burst into the room, clearly out of breath. Williams was about to lash at him for this disrespect, but the man was faster.
"General! A shuttle from SD station managed to contact us! The enemy fleet is over twelve hundred vessels strong! They using mass effect tech more advanced than anything we have!" He took deep breath. "They are vulnerable to energy based weapons, sir! That's all, sir!"
"At ease solider." Williams said numbly calculation the odds. 'Twelve hundred vessels. That's two fleets combined…' He felt his throat go dry. "You said they are vulnerable to energy based weapons?"
"That's what the shuttle pilot said. Apparently their shields do not stop that kind of attack." The man nervously explained.
"Thank you for that, dismissed." Williams turned to face the generals again, and noticed that all of them had paled.
"How the hell are we supposed to defend against that?" Hetfield mumbled, rubbing his temples. "That many ships can transport a half million soldiers at the least….not to mention total orbital control."
"We have about two hundred thousand regular soldiers at our disposal." Taylor said. "If we conscript civvies we might even the numbers."
"We do not have enough weaponry to waste on untrained civilians. Even if we arm the police forces with military grade equipment, it will make a sizeable dent in our supplies, but it would boost our forces by fifty thousands of relatively trained men." Obsman stated. "But we cannot stretch too thin and waste resources to protect everything."
"You want to abandon other continents!?" Hetfield snapped.
"The settlements there are barely developed and strategically unimportant. With such odds we have to focus on protecting this city, New Wien and the dam." He said calmly. "I don't like that anymore than you do, but that's the hand we have. Only New Honkong and New Wien have arc towers, which will allow us to decimate their space crafts, forcing them to conduct a ground offensive."
"How do we know that they will attack by ground instead of just orbital bombing us to hell?" Taylor asked.
"They'll need a bridgehead, all armies do, and to do that they will need to conquer this planet, not randomly bomb it hoping to erase all enemy forces." Williams explained. "Concentrating our armies seems like the most sound tactic, but it will make us easy targets." He started to formulate plans to defend the continent.
"General Taylor I believe that your soldiers are capable of fighting in jungle terrain, yes?" He asked.
"Not preferred, but they will manage." He caressed his mustache. "How many do you want?"
"You will give ten thousand of them under general's Hetfield command, and they will help setting ambushes around the city and the smaller settlements. I want alien's blood on every inch of the ground they step on. General Obsman your men will solely focus on defending the cites, since that's the type of warfare they excel at. I want them to fortify the Hawks."
"What about the dam?" Hetfield asked.
"While it's crucial for the civilian parts of the city, all military facilities have their own independent power sources, and defending it would cost us to many resources." Taylor told him. "On the other hand it would cut a road between two cities and separate our forces, making it easier to surround us."
"We're going to get surrounded either way. How long till help arrives?" Obsman asked folding his arms.
"If they managed to send a distress call soon, we would have to hold for six days." Williams rubbed his chin. "If not, then well…"
Grim silence filled the room. All of them knew what failure meant.
"Let's not waste any more time on what if questions." Hetfield said. "SD station and the fleet won't held them off forever, but they should buy us a few hours."
"True. I'll move to the central bunker and lead things from there. Will you join me there?" Williams asked. All of his colleagues shook their heads, indicating that they would stay with their men. "Very well then, good luck to you all gentlemen."
Space Port
The sirens wailed loudly as the whole place bustled in activity. Personnel were running back and forth, carrying supplies and parts, sending smaller crafts with troops and supplies to the more remote outposts.
Amid that organized chaos Hannah and Nina stood in a state of shock, not believing what was happening.
"Freakin' alien invasion…" Nina mumbled nervously. "I can't believe this."
The Grey Dawn had been held inside the space port, per General Williams order, and her men conscripted to the local military, leaving only skeleton crew. They guessed that the ship would support the defense on the ground and act as the communication hub. "Hannah are you ok?" Nina asked seeing her friend even more pale than usual.
"They're not ready Nina." She choked. "They're just recruits, barely out of boot camp."
"Hey you've trained them well." Nina put her hand on Hannah's shoulder.
"To fight against pirates, rebels, and bandits! Humans, not Aliens!" She raised her voice. "Hell even we are totally unprepared to fight them!"
"Chill Hannah, we fought Helghast. Surely these Aliens can't be worse." She said with a cheerful smile, which ended with her being smacked in the back of the head. "That hurts!"
"As it should! You're an idiot, why the hell am I even speaking to you!" She snapped in righteous anger.
"Hey knock it off you two!" An officer walked up to them. "Names now!"
"Colonel, Hannah Shepard."
"Lieutenant Colonel, Nina Vancover."
They man quickly typed in his data pad.
"You're being relocated to the 5th Rangers regiment base. Take your gear and move to Gate 13. The transports will move within the hour. "The man marched off hurriedly to his next assignment.
"Well we better move out Hannah, or we'll be late." Nina began walking. The other woman nodded and moved with her to collect their gear.
They quickly changed into their combat suits, and grabbed their guns.
Hannah put her modified Helghast Commando armor on. In comparison to the standard version it was lighter and less bulky, sacrificing protection for mobility. The changes almost made it look skin tight, yet it hadn't restrained the flexibility even a bit. The suit was like most of Helghast uniforms was a mixture of black and grey, yet Hannah decided to add some slivers stripes going down her arms. Her weapon of choice was LSR44 Spoor and LS12 Ripper secondary weapon, and a few spider mines for good measure
Nina's Armor was the standard blue and silver HSA combat suit, with a bit of personal tough, manifesting as a small red heart beneath her left eye. A ME-01 rifle hung from her shoulder, as well as few grenades, and two kukri knifes on her back.
"Looking sexy GF." Nina leered, eyeing Hannah's curves. "It's been some time since I've seen you in full gear."
"I guess hoping not to wear it for some time was futile after all." She pulled on her helmet, and instantly an orange-red light flashed to life.
"Ok now you look less pleasant." Nina chuckled looking at her "pissed off" helmet. She shook her head and put her own flashing blue light.
Both marched out of the building, and saw neat line of troops entering Overlord Dropships and Amphibious Assault Personnel Carriers or AAPC's for short.
They marched to the Dropships and got on board, taking their seats and waiting for take off.
Hannah looked at Shanxi's sun slowly setting. She felt a bottomless pit form in her stomach as she watched the preparation for the oncoming battle.
She almost filched when she felt a hand on her shoulder.
"It's will be ok Hannah, we'll make it and your trainee's too." Nina smiled at her from beyond the helmet.
Suddenly the whole port was illuminated by light. Not the natural one, being almost red in nature. Both ladies jumped out off the ship and started at the sky, their mouths agape, not that anyone could see it. Considering everyone had the same expression on their faces.
A ball of fire lit the evening sky, like a miniature sun.
Hannah felt her throat was dry as paper. Only one thing could cause such an explosion in space.
"Those bastards took out the SD platform." She uttered, making everyone who heard her, turn their heads toward her.
The whole area was filled with crushing silence. For a few moments everyone stared at the sky, and some of them could swear that they had seen small dots in the surrounding sky.
Aboard BHS Khar'shan Might
Eva Core blew a stray strong of her blonde hair off her face. She was in nasty mood. But what could anyone expect from a person that was shot by paralyzing round and tossed into a cell, but not before that thing groped and poked in every place possible.
Now two four-eyed aliens were leading her somewhere, with her hands bound behind her back. All the other aliens she passed stopped and looked at her. Some with a look that deeply disturbed her. Not that four pitch black eyes weren't disturbing enough. After walking through few decks and riding in a ridiculously slow lift, Eva was brought to what she guessed was a Command Desk.
One of those four eyed aliens dressed in a finer uniform, with lots of attachments that looked like distinctions, spoke to her.
"Aro hok donowun ubek irad."
"Yeah sure I got all of that." Eva spat, making the alien frown. With a few quick barks in his throaty language he made the blue skinned, almost human female, walk to and put something inside Eva's ear. "What the hell'd you do to me!?"
The blue skinned woman took a fearful step back, seeing pure fury and hate on the alien face.
"I-I-I merely gave you translator device." She stuttered, making Eva blink.
"Huh? I can understand you?" She asked carefully.
"Hmm seems the translator still has a few glitches, these humans don't understand the word translator." Arnak rubbed his chin.
"I can understand fine, jackass! I was just surprised." Eva shot back. Instantly she felt all eyes on her. She looked at the blue skinned female and saw what looked like fear in her eyes. Apparently insulting the man in front of her wasn't a good idea.
But apparently the alien was more amused than angry.
"Are all of your kind like this or it's just you?" He asked.
"Well I have to say I'm special among my people. So got a name, or you just go by Prothean?" Eva asked.
"Prothean? You think I'm Prothean?" Arnak chuckled. "That's amusing, but no I'm not."
Eva felt relieved. She hadn't pictured humanity's chances against a race that could travel across the fifty thousand years ago optimistically.
"Then who the hell are you, and why are you attacking us?" She asked.
"I'm Admiral Arnak Tornak, of the Batarian Hegemony, and we've come to conquer your primitive race." He announced with an air of superiority. "We'll crush your fleet and soon we will crush your home world."
'Good they still think that Shanxi is our home world.' Like every single soldier, colonist and scientist that traveled through space, she was drilled in how to act if the first contact would be hostile.
The Rug Protocol was more than just hiding the location of other planets and systems. It was a literal purge of any info that might lead potential invaders to any other planet. All humans were taught that upon their capture that it was their duty to fool the aliens as long as they could.
"You will never conquer our planet!" She shouted in dramatic manner. "Shanxi will never fall to the likes of you!"
Arnak walked closer and moved his hand to caress Eva's cheek, making her shiver. Then he gave her a look that chilled her to the very bone.
"That planet is already ours, and for your peoples' sake, pray that they surrender peacefully, or I'll break them by any means necessary." He grinned cruelly. Eva felt her fake bravado crumble. Shanxi was doomed, that much was given, but what if this alien armada were mere scouts? What if thousands more ships waited beyond relay, ready to pour into the human systems.
"You will never defeat us." She growled, glaring at the alien. She took the merc work to support her family back on Vekta, and she'd sooner be damned than to submit to some alien. "Your ships will be shot down, and your soldiers will be slaughtered. You have no idea who you just fucked with." And for good measure she spat in his face.
Arnak recoiled from her in shock and began to furiously wipe his face. Then he harshly struck Eva's face making her head whip back.
"You primitive slut! You will regret this!" He struck her again and again, cutting Eva's lips and giving her black eye.
After few more hits he calmed down.
"Take her to the cells, I'll deal with her later." He ordered and the guards dragged the dazed human out of the command deck.
"Give me a status report." He ordered.
"We have total orbital control. No signs of humans forces, and our men are scavenging their ships to discover the secrets of their energy weapons sir." He typed on the console, and the scan of Shanxi's landmasses appeared on the screen. "The planet has four main continents, and a smaller island. The world is levo-amino based, if those creatures are any indication sir. We also localized what we think is the capitol city of that planet. Radio chatter is the most frequent there in comparison to the rest of the planet." The screen moved to the largest continent, and closed in showing the river's delta where New Honkong was built. "Surprisingly there is little radio activity on the other continents. Probably jamming devices, sir."
"I see. Hack into their communication systems. They know we're here so we might as well make a grand entry." He felt the corners of his mouth lift. He lived for such moments when he could trump over lesser beings. He already imagined that these humans would cower in fear, just by the sheer of his presence. That he would return in glory to Khar'shan, not losing single ship from the Batarian regular army, and with tens of thousands slaves in his cargo.
Not to mention that after he was done here, he would pay a visit to the female that spat on him earlier.
Arnak licked his lips in anticipation.
"Have you hacked their systems yet?" He asked impatiently.
"No sir, they are quite resilient, and actively opposing our VI's. It will take some time to overcome it." One of the specialists replied.
"I'm surrounded by incompetent fools. How hard is to hack a primitive's communications channels?" He shook his head. "I'll give the speech now. Record it and when you finally manage to break their firewalls, play it."
A small drone flew before his face, and gave the signal that it began recording.
"Dwellers of the Planets Shanxi, humans! I Admiral Arnak Tornak have a wonderful message for you! A grace has befallen on your backwater species. We, the proud people of the Batarian Hegemony, have come to bless you with honor of joining our grand empire!" He felt he couldn't keep the poker-face anymore, and grinned viciously. "Your fleets and the defense structure were regrettably destroyed in sad misunderstand. To prevent any more accidents I request that your leadership surrender unconditionally. I'll guarantee that the planet's population nor infrastructure will be harmed. However, failure to comply with my request will result in immediate and total planetary domination. You stand no chance so do the smart thing that give up, before there are more casualties. You have half your planetary rotation's time to surrender, and if not then…." He showed the line of sharp thin teeth to the camera. "Pray to whatever you believe, because you will not survive what's coming."
The camera stopped recording, and Arnak turned to his Eri.
"How was that, Eri?" He asked.
"It was a splendid speech, Master." She bowed. "They will surely be intimidated."
"Thought so, you have the deck now. I'm going to get more acquainted with our guest, if the primitives responds contact me immediately." He told her with a cocky smirk.
"As you wish, Master." She dully replied, her face impassive. Yet very deep inside she felt pity for the female with blonde fur on her head. A long time ago she too got acquainted with Arnak's predecessor.
Suffice it to say she bore scars from that encounter to this day.
Both inside and out.
Black Raider's HQ
Hector felt like he was in a dream…or rather nightmare.
"Boring two years my ass Rick, had to jinx it you bastard." He mumbled. He was a bit lost now. No sooner did he get his face patched with medi-gel, then General's Williams announcement shook the whole HQ into frantic movement, similar to that of an ant hill when you thrust a stick there.
He was supposed to get his room assigned to move his stuff to, but looks like that notion was shot to hell.
So now he stood on the side, alone and forgotten.
'Another day from a loser's life.' He thought dryly. He hoped that someone would finally come for him and tell him where to go, since no one he asked had the time for his questions.
"Hold the damn crate!" Hector's head snapped to the side. He saw two soldiers that were about to drop the crate with explosive marks. He ran to them and caught the side of the crate just before it fell out of their hands.
"Thanks kid, appreciate it." One of the soldiers said. "I don't think I've seen you before?"
"I'm actually new here, I'm Hector Visari." He introduced himself, almost making the soldiers drop the crate again.
"For real?!" The other solider exclaimed. "It's an honor to meet you!"
"Errr…thanks I guess?" Hector said awkwardly. He wasn't good at dealing with the fact that he was apparently famous. "So where we're carrying this crate?" He asked wanting to change subject.
"There's no need for your help, we'll handle this." The first one said quickly.
"It's ok I want to." Hector replied politely.
Even through their helmets he could see that they were giving his quizzical looks. With a shrug they moved to the lifts and places the crate there. Then one of soldiers pressed the button and the lift started up.
"So got any names guys?" Hector asked.
"1st Class Private, John Aquila." The more enthusiastic one replied. Because of his combat gear all his features were obscured. The only notable thing about the man was that he was short.
"Corporal, Julius Setus." The other said. Like his comrade his features were covered. Though he was about Hector's height. "What's your rank?"
"3rd Class Private." Hector replied. "Fresh out of boot."
"Really? Then why aren't you with the rest of the rookies?" John asked.
"Well General Obsman beat the crap out of me, so I had to go to the medic and get myself patched, then the alert started, and I got lost." He explained sheepishly.
The elevator's door opened, revealing a landing pad with an Overlord Dropship awaiting departure. The trio packed the crate into it, and the ship took off moments later.
"Ok, John take private Visari to the Captain Roch. He will give him his unit's allocation." The man snapped, salute, and walked away. The two men returned to the lift and rode to the ground floor to collect Hector's baggage. After that John lead Hector to the Captain's office, bombarding him with questions.
After a while the young Visari decided that he hated fans with a passion. While answering all his questions politely, he felt an urge to stab his arm-blade into man's throat to shut him up.
"Thank's for everything John." He shook the man's hand. "I'll manage from here on."
"No problem. In case you need something just find me." John nodded and left to help with preparations.
Hector knocked.
"Enter!" Came a sharp reply.
He opened the doors and saw a man in spartanly furnished office, consisting of a desk, two chairs, and a computer.
"Who are you and why aren't you helping with the preparation of our defenses?" He growled. The man could be the very definition of the Helghast of old. Bald with ghastly pale skin and dark lips. His face was marred by a web of scars, and the coal black eyes told volumes off the things this man saw.
Hector nervously gulped.
"I'm 3rd Class Private Hector Visari, and I'm awaiting for assignment to my new unit, sir!" Visari said without wavering, while snapping a salute.
The man eyed him for a moment.
"Take off your helmet Private." He ordered. Hector immediately took his helmet off, showing his still slightly bruised face. "What the hell happened Private?"
"General Obsman saw fit to test my hand to hand skills, sir."
"How long did you hold out?"
"Three minutes." Hector replied with shame, blushing ever so slightly.
"I see, so that's why you aren't with the rest of the rookies, right?" Captain Roch asked.
"Yes sir, I got lost in the commotion."
Roch started typing something into his computer.
"Let's see Hector Visari, son of Chancellor Maya Visari and Lucas Viasri." Hector furrowed his eyebrows when the man skipped the Kellan part of his Father's name. "Twenty-two years old, excels in close to mid-range combat, decent at longer range, and the best hand to hand in his squad." Roch eyed his blade arm. "Recommendation, Hunter Troopers."
Hector withheld his smile. He remember to send Hannah something nice later.
"So do you really think that you're ready to join the Hunter Troopers? They don't screw around kid. A fancy name won't give you any leeway with them."
"I do sir. I've trained hard to prove myself worth to join that formation." Hector replied.
"You think of yourself as worthy? On what basis?" The man growled, boring holes into Hector's skull.
"I managed to withstand General Obsman's assault for three minutes." He knew that aside from that he had nothing to prove that he was qualified.
The man looked at him with stoic face, examining him before he cracked the faintest of faint smiles.
"Very well, I approve your allocation to…." He rubbed his chin. "3rd Capture Troopers Regiment, 13th Platoon. Lieutenant Livia Ortac will be your commanding officer."
Hecotr arched his eyebrow.
"Do you have any problem with being ordered by a woman?" Roch asked sharply.
"No sir! The last five years I have been, but it just surprised me that a woman would join the Hunter Troopers sir."
"Wait till you see her in action, then report back and tell me if you're still surprised. Now go to the building D, floor 3, room 302. That's your platoon's room, dismissed."
Hector snapped a salute and left the room, hurrying to his building. After a few minutes of wandering he finally found the right building and room.
"Ok here goes nothing." He entered the room and saw a straight line of men, all rigid and standing at full attention. The room itself was nothing extraordinary. Two lines of bunk-beds on each sides of the walls, and a screen for the announcements.
"…I will expect your absolute best at the least! Is that understood!" A medium height woman called out. Her gear was clearly modified Hunter Trooper armor, designated for females. She had midnight black hair tied in neat pony-tail, and chocolate brown eyes. Like all Helghast her skin was pale and lips black.
"Yes ma'am!" The soldiers replied in unison. Then she turned her attention the newest arrival.
"And who are you?" She asked not too pleasantly.
"I'm 3rd Class Private Hector Visari ma'am." He saluted. "I've been assigned to this platoon."
"And why the hell you are late Private? Think that fancy name gives you privileges over us common grunts?" She growled.
'Not good.' Hector thought. He met a few people with grudges against his family, but none of them were his commanding officers. He had a nasty feeling that aliens would be the least of his problems.
"No ma'am, I've-" He tried to explain.
"Bah! I don't care about your pathetic excuses. On the ground and give me fifty!" She ordered.
"B-But-" He tried again.
"One hundred now!" She snapped again.
Dropping his bags, Hector began doing push-ups in front of his new squad.
'Fucking great first impression.' He thought dryly.
"This is just a taste of what will happen to any who break the rules and disrespect your superiors. It doesn't matter if you're pretty, rich, intelligent, or have parents in high places." She spat the last part. "Rules apply to everyone equally!"
'Yep definitely a grudge.' Hector cursed inwardly.
"Learn from Private Visari's punishment!" She continued.
'Please just shut up, they get it already.' He begged. He knew he would hate this bitch already. 'Hannah I'm missing you like so much now!'
Hector finally finished his push-ups and stood up straight.
Livia looked at him, giving him long critical once over. She felt only disgust looking at the state of art Hunter Trooper armor on Visari, still shiny and clean. To get into the Hunter Trooper you had to work you ass off just to get accepted, but it looks like some have it easier than others. Her eyes moved to his helmet and saw the vertical scratch going through his left visor.
"Where'd you got that scratch rookie?"
"In fight with General Obsman ma'am." He replied in a neutral voice.
"How long did it take for the general to beat you?"
"Three minutes."
Murmurs spread through the lines of soldiers, even Livia rose an eyebrow.
"Take off your helmet."
Hector followed the order and showed everyone his face. He stared into Livia's eyes brown eyes with his intense green.
For few seconds they bore into each other in silence, assessing, probing for any weakness. But their standoff was interrupted by something neither of them expected to see.
Out of blue a screen activated and showed a face so bizarre….a face so alien, that it chilled the gathered soldiers to the very bone. Just like it did to the rest of the Shanxi population, since every single audio devise was now showing the alien's face.
"Dwellers of the Planets Shanxi, humans! I, Admiral Arnak Tornak…." The alien continued his speech in a synthetized voice.
During his speech Hector felt anger bubbling just beneath his skin. He didn't know if it was the alien's smug and arrogant attitude, or just its hideous face, but he really wanted to stab him in the eye.
A low grow escaped him mouth when Tornak mentioned the destroyed fleets and ships. Over ten thousand people were already dead because of them.
After the speech ended the room was filled with tense silence.
"We have about ten hours until they hit." Livia said. "Men, give Private Visari a quick intro about how our platoon works. I'm going to the officers meeting that will be announced-" She lifted her arms and heard a beep with a message appearing on it. "- right now." She turned on her heel and walked toward the doors. But before she left the room she gave Hector one last cold look.
"I'm Lieutenant Livia Ortac, welcome to Black Riders, Private."
She slammed the doors behind her.
Hector turned to his squad mated who all were watching him with open curiosity.
"Hey?"
New Honkong's West Side-Suburbs
"You know we shoulda got discharged when we had the chance, Niko." Adrian grunted, lifting another crate. "I mean What. The. Hell? First a damn ball of fire in the sky, which would be cool if it wasn't our best defense, and then Admiral Stick-In-His-Ass giving a god damned speech."
"Well at least it won't be boring here." Niko replied. After being assigned to the their squad, they moved to fortify the suburbs of the Shanxi. Setting heavy machine guns and AA-guns nests. The work was tiresome, but time was working against them. At dawn the aliens would strike, and they had to be ready.
Throughout the capital city preparations were made. The last report said that the Helghast part of the city was already at the end of the fortification process, and soon Hawks would get some support from them.
Helghast had easier jobs, since those districts tended to be made in a tightly packed style. Leaving narrow streets and lots of back alleys, in comparison to the more loose architecture of the Vektan parts. So making any good defense position here was a really tiresome job. But nothing that a few old fashioned bags of sand and barbed wire wouldn't fix.
Some old solutions were simply too good to abandon. But that didn't mean that the shield generators and instant made steel walls weren't used.
"Ok we've secured the perimeter boys." Their lieutenant announced. "Now we'll move you deeper into the city. Get to the Intruders and they will take you and the rest of rookies there."
"We won't be fighting on the front lines?" Niko inquired.
"You really thought that we would let a band of greenhorns take the first wave? Ha good one. Now go, you'll be needed elsewhere." With that he left to coordinate the defenses.
Adrian and Niko moved to the drop ship with the rest of the rookies.
"I hate Intruders, damn flying trays." Niko grumbled, quite accurately describing the vehicle. And indeed the Intruder drop ships where nothing more than flying pieces of metal, with no protection what so ever. "Damn cheapskates."
"At least where not under fire, yet." Adrian hopped on the board. There were three more recruits there. All of them were nervous as hell, if their tense faces were any indication. "Hey guys what's up?" He greeted casually. "Why the long faces? Name's Adrian btw."
They all looked at him like he was insane.
"You are aware that we're about to be hit by an alien armada?" One of the recruits, a tan skinned blue eyed brunette, asked carefully. She had a round face and shoulder-length hair. "Name's Judy by the way, I'm from Sorin." She offered him a small smile.
"Nice to meet you. The big guy behind me is Nikolaj, but you can call him Niko." He told her.
"It's a pleasure." Niko said. "What about you guys?" He addressed the other two.
"Roman, from Gyre." The short, white skinned, green eyed ginger said. He had freckles on the bridge of his nose, and a small scar on his right cheek.
"Dave, from Hope." The man grumbled. He was about Ardian's height, but way more bulky, even more so than Niko. His skin was slightly tanned, and he was looking critically at the pair with his brown eyes. "Aren't you the two that got in late for selection?"
"Not our fault." Adrian said instantly, plopping down next to Judy. Niko did the same next to Dave. Then the Intruder took off, flying them towards the city.
"Suuuure." Roman chuckled. "Anyways we're lucky that we're getting off the front lines, we'll live a few days longer."
"I'm not so certain. They have the goddamn orbit. They can basically drop their troops anywhere." Arian stated.
"Yeah, but we have Arc Towers all over the city. They would have to drop their troops outside their range." Judy stated. "Or they simply orbital bombard us to hell."
"Quite the optimist, aren't you?" Niko inquired. "Is it just you or all people from Sorin are like that?"
"Ever since the civil war, well yeah we prefer the somber approach to things." She replied.
"What civil war?" Dave asked.
"It was a long time ago, just before the second extrasolar war. You see the communists-" She tried to explain.
"-Gasp!- Niko look out she will kill you!" Adrian exclaimed.
"Not all Russians are communists you bastard." Niko growled.
"Could've fooled me. So Judy how'd you defeated Niko's comrades?"
"Like I said it was a war that resulted in over half of the colony being dead. I guess creating a utopia never works." She shook her head. "But now we're better."
"That's reassuring. So we won't have a resurrection of the Neo USSR anytime soon?" Adrian wiped his forehead.
"I really about to punch you now." Niko threatened.
"Ok, ok, I'm done with the jokes." Adrian looked at the night sky, and soon the others followed his gaze, observing it in silence.
After half an hour, they landed at the Hawks HQ. They disembarked the Intruder and walked towards the building, but before they reached it they were stopped by a man.
"Do you have your squad assignment yet?" He asked.
"No sir we're about-" Judy started.
"Frigging great! Then you're with me now." The man gave them a grin that chilled them to the very bones. "Names Zaeed, Captain Zaeed Massani, it's a goddamn pleasure rookies!"
Shanxi's Wildness, Near New Wien
Hannah sometimes wondered if God hated her.
Firstly, she was sent to the VEKTAN army. Secondly, she was given a platoon, a fucking platoon for an officer with the rank of Colonel! A battalion would be bad enough, but a platoon?
She grit her teeth. To add the salt to the wound, her men were mostly the very recruits she came with.
Mostly Helghast, since apparently Vektans didn't want to have anything to do with them. The rest were packed in one battalion and dumped on Nina, since she very verbally commented the decision of the Vektan's leadership.
To make the matter even worse, yes it was possible…
"Hannah have I told you that your ass looks fabulous in that suit?" Rick asked with a face splitting grin, leaning causally on against a tree.
"Yes, thirty seven times." She growled. "I dare you to say it one more time, Verdon."
"Is that a challe-gyah!" He cried in pain when the butt of a rifle hit his side.
"Much obliged Michelle." Hannah thanked her.
"No problem, Colonel." The petty blonde smirked, and then glared at the suffering man. "The pig deserved it."
"I-I can still hear you…hell my liver." Rick groaned. "I know I haven't been giving you as much attention as I have since Hannah arrived, but.."
"I dare you to finish that sentence, Verdon." Michelle said acidly. "Or you will find my rifle in the place you least want it to be."
"Ok, shutting up." He replied, raising his hands in defeat.
"First wise decision this day. Ok listen up rookies, while Shanxi was supposed to give you two additional years to gain some experience, looks like life had other plans for you." Hannah addressed her soldiers. "As you probably noticed, most of you are Helghast or those that somehow didn't pass I'm good enough to be in 5th test. Anyways since it look like we'll be left on our own by them, we need a plan on how to survive." All of them looked at her with hesitation, some even with fear, making her sigh. "None of you are trained to combat enemy in jungle terrain, so we would normally all just die here." She said bluntly. "What I'm planning is to get to New Wien, since it's closer, and join the Hawks or Raider forces. We'll be more useful there."
"But wouldn't be that breaking the general's orders?" One of the recruits voiced their concerns.
"Do you want to die here because you basically got suicide orders?" She asked rhetorically. "We're about fifty kilometers from New Wien. If we're lucky and move now, we might be able to get the in three days. Ok gear up ladies, we're moving in five!" She announced, and the squad began packing their belongings.
The group was ridiculously humble. Just a few heavy machine guns, anti-tank rifles, and explosives. Not even one vehicle to aid them. Hannah promised herself that if she survived, that she would do everything she could to have General Hetfield court marshaled for this stunt.
"Hey Hannah, I've got something for you!" Rick suddenly appeared next to her, literally.
"Where the hell'd you get a cloaking device?!"
"I stole it." He gave her a mischievous grin. He handed her the device, which she quickly accepted. "Michelle's got one too. We'll act as scouts and check the path before us, if that's ok with you?"
Hannah rubbed her chin.
"Report every two hours, and don't get farther than three kilometers from our group. She pulled out a small device and started to rapidly tap on it. Then she handed it to Rick. "It's linked with my suit, so you will know how far away I am. Also it has a map of the terrain."
"Nice, but what about you?" He asked.
"I've got a spare one here." She tapped one of her pouches. "Now go, let's not waste any more time, and good luck." She said seriously.
"Likewise." Rick replied solemnly, putting his helmet on. His blue eyes came to life, and he turned back to Hannah. "Michelle let's go."
"Don't order me around jackass." She snapped back, putting her helmet on too.
"I know you love it."
Command Bunker
Deep beneath the surface of the New Honkong was the true command center of the army. Built of the most resistant steel and concentrate, the construction could withstand a full bombardment from a cruiser without a scratch.
General Willams stood, leaning on the tactical display, showing a map of the planet. For now it was all blue, but his tacticians hadn't left much hope that this situation would remain like that. He was surrounded by his tacticians and aids. The room they were in was round with the decrease taken by the holo-projector. Around it where rows of computers, gathering all the data from various garrisons.
"We estimate that the aliens will take control of the other continents within a day or two." Three out of the four continents changed to red. "With small pockets of resistance they won't need many men to keep them in check." The display zoomed to the continent that they were on. "The shores, aside from New Honkong's, will be lost instantly too. As soon as their ships enter the atmosphere the settlements are as good as lost." He said grimly. "But the situation changes when they enter the jungle. The reports from the 5th says that they turned the majority of the area into death trap, and set camouflaged AA nests, but that is only temporary."
"How long till they pass through it?" Williams asked.
"We don't know sir. We never faced such a foe before. Could be a day or a week, it depends how advanced they are, but at the least we know that they're not Protheans. So we might actually stand a chance."
"What about the smaller settlements, can they be turned into temporary bases?"
"Most of them are rigged with explosives so those Batarians will only have ruins. But the problem remains that they are much closer the cities. This shortens the time of their advance, but trying to hold them would be a waste of resources. None of them have an Arc Tower, and we can't waste the Arc Cannons on them." He said grimly.
"How many men do we have at our disposal?" Williams rubbed his scar.
"Around three hundred thousand sir." That response made Williams arch his eyebrow.
"We have fifty thousand from the police forces, and around the same number of volunteers from the civilian population….We grossly overestimated the capacity of the shelters sir. We barely managed to fit in seventy percent of the population…."
"What?! Are you telling me that we have ten million people outside of the shelters and bunkers?!" He exclaimed. "How the hell is that possible?!"
"Sir…The shelters on the other continents are empty…We made a logistic error with the arrangement of the civilian population."
Williams felt the urge to strangle the Chief of the Settlement Department.
"I'll kill that idiot." He growled quietly. "Where are those people now?"
"Some decided to stay home, others ran to the jungle…" One of the tactician's replied, wiping his forehead.
"So you mean that you don't have the faintest idea where the hell these people are?"
"Sir we were not ready for this." One of the braver ones decided to say.
"Tell me something I don't know!" He snapped. He dearly hoped that his son managed to move his family to the bunker. Benjamin Williams was a solider, but not like his Father. He specialized in cyber warfare. But since times were peaceful, he hadn't had much of a job to do. So under the persuasion of his Father, he moved to Shanxi and took care of its cyber defense. A testament to his skill was that the massive alien attack only managed to broadcast one speech, before being deleted.
Williams's fist clenched at the memory of the arrogant alien. He was so sure of his victory…and he had the right too. The orbit was theirs, and they could bomb most the planted to oblivion if so inclined. But Shanxi was nothing but a mere colony, barely decades old. A defeat here would mean nothing, except for angering the HSA. But it was not like he was about to offer the colony up on a silver platter.
"How long till the deadline?" He asked.
"One hour sir."
"Patch me through to the alien commander in forty five minutes." He ordered and moved to read through the reports, and to plan the last details of his defense strategy. The time flew much faster than he would've liked it to, and the officer came to inform him that they had alien admiral on the line. Williams walked to the command room and saw the same four-eyed alien on the screen.
"You're the leader of human race I presume?" Arnak asked with a hint of a smile.
"I'm General Henry Williams, the leader of our world." He replied.
"Ah perfect. I guess you've contacted me to discuss terms of surrender." He took Williams silence as an indication to continue. "You will surrender all your forces peacefully, and none of them will be harmed. Also you will give us all your weapon blueprints, including that of the structure formerly in orbit. And you will select one million inhabitants of your planet, and send them to the location we give you for transport. Since we're doing this like civilized beings, I'll allow you to remain in your position, but now you report to me. How does my offer sound, Mr. Williams?" Arnak smirked.
"Before I reply…what do you plan to do with all the people you take?" He asked stone faced.
"We'll take them as token of gratitude, and a sign of good will of your people, for bestowing you with the honor of joining the Batarian Hegamony." Arnak replied casually.
"You mean as slaves?!" Williams eyes widened in shock and disgust.
"I prefer the term indentured servant. Slave has such pejorative sound." He chuckled good-naturedly.
"Then let me give you a counter offer, oh Grand Admiral." Williams spat, his voice dripping with sarcasm and detest. "You will take those rust buckets out of my orbit and never come back, or we'll blow them out of the sky. How's that sound?"
"Hmph. Looks like I was speaking to a fool all along. You will regret declining my generous offer, primitive." He snarled.
"Rot in hell or wherever alien scum like you go. Cut the transmission!" He ordered. "Send the word, the aliens are coming!"
The sun was slowly rising above the colonial world of Shanxi, signaling the beginning of a new day. High in the sky the dwellers could see descending alien crafts of all shapes and designs, with their eerily blue glowing engines. Neither side could even in their wildest dreams imagine the backslash and the significance of the event that would take place on this planet.
On an order of one Batarian, the fleet began dropping its troops to the ground. On the order of one Human thunder cut the sky, ripping Alien ships apart as the Arc Towers started to play their melody.
The First Contact War had truly began. A war unlike any other humans had waged before.
But one thing remained the same.
War, war never changes.
A/N
And here you go! the end of prologe! Next chapter true battle will began! Let's see how the defenders will fare against the alien armada!.Also sorry for the long wait but I've been busy as hell during this time.
So I hope you enjoy and don't forget to Review&Review
Stephen: yup it is just didn't have the time two write.
Steve: yep.
guerilla sam: you will see very soon.
SharkmanGorilla: thanks and I'll move it when I get some proper audience, KZ/ME cross over section is still too small to get any proper audience.
RoyalTwinFangs: thanks.
Darkerego: thanks
NathanHale2: Thank you and well answering your question would be spoiling wouldn't it?
Ozymandeos: here you go.
Jabbarulez: They both are.
The Hero named Villan: Oh there will be more fun with Jack and Wrex to come.
horus100: Don't worry I won't.
ultimate idiot: thanks and I'll move it there in time.
six samurai of dragon order: thanks.
OMAC001: Oh trust me he's not a pushover either and well I always hated the over powerd humanity, felt like needless glorification of our race.
Dghornick: well then good you didn't, sorry for long wait.
Guest1: good to hear, I was looking for it to then I've got pissed off about the lack of such stories.
Ghost132: thanks dude.
edboy4926: heh indeed.