Here is the next installment of Soldiers and Cops. I wanted to give a different feel to the final fight. Please let me know what you think. Read, review, and let me know what you think. Enjoy!
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The Normandy led the attack toward the Citadel engines burning in the hazy mist of the Widow Nedula. Joker maneuvered past the wreckage of several turian dreadnaughts putting the Normandy into a barrel roll to avoid the drifting tombs. He punched in a few codes activating the targeting matrix for the main gun as the arms of the massive station before him opened slowly.
"Why does it feel like I'm flying into the gates of hell?" Joker asked.
"Because I'm pretty sure we're fighting the devil," Mallory replied.
"Great that makes me feel really confident. Thanks for that," Joker retorted locking on to Soveriegn's IFF signal. The fleet closed in on the enormous reaper as it clung to the tower like a terrifying parasite.
"Look at the size of that thing," a voice said over the radio.
"Stay focused," Admiral Hackett replied over the same channel. "All ships concentrate your fire power on Sovereign. Weapons free."
"Hell yeah!" Joker shouted as he fired a blast.
"All fighters, this is Lieutenant Shepard of the Normandy. Form up on us. We will lead the strafing runs," Mallory ordered.
Joker knew that the fighters were far more maneuverable than his frigate, but the Normandy was no slouch. She could fly with just as much grace as the fighters could as long as she had a pilot who knew her, and Joker knew the Normandy better than her knew himself. He fired the main gun before launching a barrage of interceptor missiles. Normally the weapons would have been used to knock incoming torpedos out of commission, but they were up against a reaper. Why use anything for its intended purpose?
Red energy began to build at the end of the finger-like appendages. Joker leaned forward in his seat as he watched the energy reading on his console sky rocket.
"What the hell is that?" Kaidan asked as he ran an analysis scan on the reaper looking for a weak point.
"Lt. I'm getting a lot of energy build up coming from that thing. I think the fleet should probably avoid that. You know, just thinking out loud," Joker said veering to port and firing the main gun once more. Mallory watched it for only a second before she grabbed the radio once more.
"Attention all ships, Sovereign is preparing to fire its main weapons. Divert all power to your kinetic barriers and weapons, and brace for impact." Yet her warning would do nothing.
The energy blast from Sovereign ripped through the kinetic barriers of the Cairo and ripped the dreadnought in half. Joker's eyes were fixed as he watched debris and bodies floating helplessly away from the wreckage. He could not let that happen to the Normandy. Not to his ship.
"Emergency rescue craft, head for the Cairo and tow it out of the line of fire. All other ships, divert all power for the rear barriers and engines to the forward kinetic barriers," Hackett ordered.
"I really hope that the commander and the others are having an easier time than we are." Joker said as he turned the Normandy starboard and led a strafing and bombing run on Sovereign.
"You and me both," Mallory responded.
000
The corpse of the dead spectre crawled along the wall and ceiling like an insect possessed, metallic claws digging into the metal resonating a sound more shrill than nails on a chalkboard. It did not seem to matter how many bullets the team fired at it, the enemy would not fall. Bullets either ricocheted off its barriers or fell to the floor crushed from the impact. Biotic detonations, grenades, not even explosive rounds pieced the creature's barriers.
"We're going to have to get close. Kill this thing with bug bites!" Tali shouted as their opponent fired at her knocking her to the ground. Luke started to move toward her but stopped seeing that her shields were still up. Luckily, the blast had done nothing but knocked her over.
"I like it! Liara, Wrex, launch a biotic throw at my back. I might be able to get through that barrier with the extra power," Luke shouted as he squared up in the middle of the room. He fired his pistol a few times at the enemy just to try and keep its attention on him, but there was no need. Those soulless red eyes were burrowing into Luke's soul, ripping his courage apart inside him.
I've got to shake this feeling. Come on Luke. Charge… Charge… MOVE YOUR ASS! Luke launched himself forward ripping his knife from its sheathe hoping to drive it straight through the orb of red light that was obviously the hideous creature's power source. The detonation of the two throws rocketed him forward. The detonation sent tingles of the familiar energy through his body mixed with slight pain from the sudden acceleration.
Luke watched as the corpse lifted its long dagger like talons. Luke pulled his knife back into a striking position and thrust it forward with his own biotic power behind it. He gained more speed yet the creature did not move. The moment Luke as in arms reach of the beast, it lashed out with its raised hand and swatted him away like a fly. The cracking of the titanium composite chest plate of his armor sounded and felt as if the creature had ripped his sternum out of his chest. Not only did his armor crack, but his direction was altered as well sending him full force into the wall.
It took Luke a moment to really figure out what happened, but the throbbing pain in his chest hit the message home. He had failed.
Damn it. That should have worked. How the hell are we suppose to beat this freak now? Luke lifted his head as he watched the agile opponent leap from wall to ceiling and back to the wall once more. How could they fight something that was not affected by their weapons, biotics, or even their tactics? What could hurt it? Sure bullets seemed to annoy it but that was pretty much it. He wondered if anyone else was feeling as hopeless as he was.
"Corner it!" Claire shouted as she advanced with Wrex and Garrus, their assault rifles blazing. Liara and Tali joined the fray with their pistols. The constant barrage of bullets, although obviously not destroying it, was pushing the creature back toward the corner of the atrium.
Luke scrambled to his feet and joined the barrage. Each pistol blast sent a shockwave through his arm that resonated painfully in his chest. He took a step forward trying to get a little closer, but the creature immediately turned its attention and him and rocketed forward. The force of the lunge knocked Luke back several feet and the curved talons of the enemy ripped through his armor. Luckily there was very little blood, but the creature had escaped the cage of fire Claire had tried to forge. It fired a massive pulse of energy into the middle of the group as it landed on the other side of the atrium. The pulse sent the team flying backward, knocking their weapons from their hands.
"Any other ideas?" Luke asked pulling his rifle and tossing it to Claire before pulling his shotgun. He fired an explosive round at the corpse, but, yet again, it did nothing.
"Well, cornering it worked a hell of a lot better than throwing yourself biotically at it!" Claire responded firing a burst from the rifle.
"If the damned thing hadn't been able to move, it would've worked!" Luke shouted as he fired a blast from his shotgun.
Luke started and looked over at his sister. Her mouth turned up in one corner in a fiendish smirk as she looked over at him. He knew that look and exactly what she was thinking. She wanted to take another shot at their foe, and this time as a team rather than one on one.
"Everyone pull your blades. I want this thing pinned down like a frog in bio class!" Claire shouted.
Luke smirked. He remembered bio class from Mindoir. Of course he was the student the put a robotic skeleton in one of the frogs and made it jump off of another students work station. Claire thought it was hilarious. Mallory told the teacher on him, ever a stickler for the rules.
Same situation except I'm chasing the frog this time. Luke pulled his tactical knife from the sheathe on his thigh and scrambled across the atrium to retrieve the knife he had dropped during his failed attack.
"Garrus, take the right arm and try to pin it to the wall. Wrex, back him up and make sure it can't use the left. Liara, Tali, right foot. Luke, left foot. Once we have him pinned, all the biotics will pull me. I have to lock the joints in my armor so I can push straight though the thing."
Wrex roared and charged the creature. Garrus hurled a grenade causing it to attach to the ceiling. The being took one step toward the device and the blast knocked it to the floor where Wrex met it at full speed slamming the mutilated body into the wall.
Within half a second, Garrus had driven his knife straight through their opponent's right hand and into the metal wall. Luke leapt forward burying his own knives in each foot. He held on as tight as he could using everything including his biotics to act as an anchor until Liara and Tali could add their weight to the right foot and he could concentrate on the left.
The struggle was in no way easy. Saren's body while it was alive had been strong, tough, and capable, now with Sovereign's upgrades and all the organic attributes like fear, pain, and doubt purged from it, the only more Claire and the her team had was to use brute force and destroy it. Luke knew this just as well as Claire. They would need every ounce of strength they could muster to hold the Saren hybrid down.
"NOW!" Claire shouted. Luke reached back with his biotics. Out of the corner of his eye he could see Liara and Wrex reaching out as well. Luke was worried about this. Claire did have the armor and the joint support upgrades to thrust her blade through Saren's chest, but with the added biotic power, she would probably end up putting her knife all the way through and into the wall. Not that he minded but what if their pinned frog got loose like his robotic puppet? Why couldn't he have been the one taking the risk?
As Luke ripped his hand back, Claire rocketed forward. Luke felt the foot under his blade move slightly and immediately turned his full attention back to their victim. He had done everything he could to help Claire's attack. All he could do now was keep the foot impaled on his blade and pinned firmly to the ground. He set his jaw and closed his eyes hoping that this might be it. That this might end the fight and the threat.
The impact shook the entire atrium. All the resistance the corpse had been putting up against the Normandy ground team vanished. Luke opened his eyes as the blackened, metallic foot below him turned to ash. He allowed the remains to fall through his fingers as he looked up at the rest of the team.
"So..." Luke said looking around at everyone. "Does anyone want to explain out this…thing just turned to ash in front of us? I'm kind freaking out a little here." Luke pulled his knife from the ground and replaced it in its sheathe and team slumped to the ground exhausted.
"My hypothesis is that the molecular transformation that we witness at the onset of the engagement stressed the molecular bonds that held Saren's physical form together. Once the commander disrupted whatever was holding the transformation steady, it continued to change until the integrity of the physical form gave way," Liara said kicking at the ash. She appeared too tired to lean forward and examine the ash by hand.
"Okay, can someone translate that into tech please?" Luke asked looking over at Tali.
"I think Liara is saying that Saren's body could not support the form it took without Sovereign's consciousness inside it. When Claire ruptured the core that we saw in its chest, it must have cut off the connection causing it to fall apart, like a fragmenting decoder algorithm for maintaining the visual display of a VI." Claire looked over at Luke.
"See, why can't you explain stuff like that?" Luke asked. Liara looked over at him with an eyebrow raised in obvious confusion.
"I don't know about the rest of you, but I'm lost either way," Wrex replied. Everyone laughed and stood heading for the exit. Luke stayed where he was. Claire sat down next to him as he unlatched his chest plate.
"You did good today," Claire said patting her brother on the back. Luke winced and held up a hand.
"I think that thing did some damage when it hit me. Handle with care please," Luke said laying back and trying to take a deep breath. With the adrenaline from the fight wearing off, all the pain that got pushed to the back of his mind so he could keep fighting suddenly surfaced in crashing waves of searing, stabbing pain.
"Come on. Let's get you to a clinic. I'm running low on medi-gel, and if you can fight like this, I'm pretty sure you can walk to the rapid transit station," Claire responded standing and offering Luke her hand to help him get to his feet.
"No sympathy. None at all. Man, are you sure you aren't a machine?" Luke asked accepting her hand groaning as she pulled him gently to his feet.
"Claire, this is the Normandy. I don't know what just happened but Sovereign's barriers went down. We are finishing him off now. Luke looked up and out the large window that was behind the Council podiums. He could see the brilliant flach of blue as the Normandy's main cannon punched a hole straight though the Reaper's hull detonating its mass effect core.
"Reminds me of the fireworks on Founding Day back on Mindoir," Claire said standing next to her brother as the reaper was consumed in bright explosive flashed that tore its metallic body to pieces.
Luke said nothing. All the destruction of Sovereign reminded him off was the promise he made to Ash. To read Charge of the Light Brigade to her once everything was over. It was then that he noticed it. The massive spiraling piece that seemed to be getting closer and closer to the tower. In fact, the distance was decreasing very fast.
"Take cover!" Claire shouted. "GO!"
Luke suddenly grabbed his sister and used every ounce of biotic strength he had left to hurl them both into the small maintenance corridor everyone else had used to get down to the atrium.
The collision caused quakes that rattled them from their injured bodies to their very souls as Reaper metal, Citadel glass, and fire rained down on the team. Luke looked up just in time to watch the jagged edge of reaper debris bearing down on him and his sister.