Kacey tapped her foot impatiently as the shuttle moved towards Palaven, or more specifically, Meane, Palaven's largest moon. She couldn't sit still; her nerves were getting the better of her. She avoided the concerned gazes of Liara and James as she started pacing around the shuttle.
"Oh no..." Liara said as shuttle video played, "No...Palaven."
Kacey's heart sank as she saw the turian homeworld; several orange spots lit up across the planet's surface. She could see the wreckage of the turian dreadnoughts, frigates and fighters drifting through space. She looked away sharply; she couldn't stand the sight of it.
"We have an old friend down there..." Kacey trailed off, despondent.
"Holy hell." James added as he looked at the screen, "They're getting decimated."
Kacey could see Liara glare at James, while she sighed, "Strongest military in the galaxy and the Reapers are obliterating it."
"Was it like this on Earth?" Liara asked.
Kacey looked away from Liara before responding, "Yes."
"Shepard...I'm so sorry."
"Yeah."
She couldn't think of anything else to say; it wasn't Liara's fault that this was happening. Everything that Vigil had said three years ago was happening; they had every possible advantage and they squandered it. Wasted it. Liara knew it. Kaidan knew it. They all knew it.
And now they were paying for it. Earth and Palaven were paying for it.
"Commander!" Cortez shouted, breaking Kacey out of her thoughts, "The LZ is getting swarmed!"
"Wonderful." Kacey mused, "James, open the hatch. Let's get this landing zone cleared up."
He did as instructed; and once the hatch was opened, Kacey could see hundreds of husks darting up the cliffs. Without hesitation, Kacey opened fire on the husks, nailing each in the head with pinpoint accuracy. She could see from the corner of her eye a few turians on mounted turrets mowing down the incoming horde. But the husks were relentless.
"Hell of a wakeup call!" James mused as he fired on the husks.
"You get used to it." Kacey responded bluntly as Cortez landed the shuttle, "All right, get in, get out. Nothing more or less. Let's move!"
She fired a concussive shot as she bolted off the shuttle and into the line of fire, leaving James and Liara to play catch up. Her inferno shots set the husks on fire, making it easier to dispose of the husks. As the final few fizzled out in a blaze of glory, the turian soldiers nearby breathed a sigh of relief.
"If you're looking for command, it's around the corner, past the first barricade." one of the soldiers shouted, "And thanks for the assist!"
"Thanks!" Kacey shouted back as she headed around the corner towards the barricade.
The turians held their fire as they reached the barricade and entered the small camp. The place was bare, desolate and with far too many body bags for Kacey's likening. The large Reaper that was only a few miles away crawled across the surface of Menae while the skyline was dominated by the view of Palaven, which was still being scorched alive.
The sound of the Reaper screeched through the air on occasion, keeping Kacey on guard more than usual. The few turians that remained in the camp were running from one building to the next, passing and sharing information and prepping equipment. By the time she reached the guy she assumed was in charge, another fighter jet was downed a few miles away.
"Tobestik, get your men up on that north barricade!"
"Yes sir!"
"Sergeant Bartus, find a way to get the comn tower operational!"
"Yes sir!"
Kacey watched as the two turians bolted off to their respective areas to carry out their orders.
"General?" Kacey addressed the turian.
"Commander Shepard." The turian said as Kacey raised an eyebrow, "Heard you were coming, but I didn't believe it. General Corinthus."
"So you know I've come to get Primarch Fedorian?"
"Yes. However Primarch Fedorian is dead." Conrinthus explained, "His shuttle was shot down an hour ago as it tried to leave the moon."
"That's going to complicate things." Kacey mused, "How bad is it, General?"
"We just lost about four hundred men in half an hour." Corinthus said, his tone bleak, "We set up camps on this moon as an advance position, to flank the enemy. A sound strategy, just..."
"Irrelevant." Kacey mused.
"Exactly. The sheer force of the Reapers seems to make them immune to that sort of tactic. The Primarch and his men found that out the hard way."
"I'm sorry." Kacey said sympathetic, "I hear he was a good man."
"And a friend." Corinthus mused, "He would've been an outstanding diplomat. But this isn't your fault, you know."
"It's not?"
"If you ask me, the Council should've taken you seriously, especially after the Citadel got attack by one of those damned things." Corinthus mused, "Not everybody here thought you were crazy, Commander."
As reassuring as that statement tried to be, it only made Kacey feel worse. It was her fault that no one was prepared for this war. The turians were getting decimated, they were dying by the millions. And it was her fault.
"I appreciate the sentiment." Kacey mused, "So, what happens now?"
"The turian hierarchy provides very clear lines of succession." Liara explained.
"Right. General Corinthus?"
Corinthus sighed, "With such heavy casualties, it's hard for me to be certain who the next Primarch is. Palaven Command will know. However, at the moment, contacting them is impossible. The comm tower is down. We can't get close enough to repair it since the Reapers have sent their husks to swarm the area."
"Don't worry about it, General. I'll get your tower operational." Kacey said.
"Thank you, Commander." Corinthus said, grateful, "I take care of things on this end."
"All right, let's go!" Kacey said, heading towards the barricade.
…
The trip to the comm tower only took two minutes, and Kacey could see what the General meant when he said that the comm tower was swarmed by husks. There was a few hundred husks circling around the tower, rushing at any of the turians the drew too close to the tower.
But luckily, Kacey had a plan. A very explosive plan. After assessing the situation, Kacey put her plan into motion.
"Liara, set up a singularity in the middle of that horde." Kacey ordered, "James, get your grenades ready."
"Okay Commander." James confirmed.
On Kacey's signal, Liara put up a singularity right in the middle of the horde of husks. Many husks got caught up in the gravitational pull of the singularity. On Kacey's order, James threw a few grenades at the husks, which dropped their numbers significantly. Kacey fired off a few concussive shots on the stragglers as Liara opened fire using her pistol. Once the husks were dealt with, Kacey bolted to the comm tower, trying to fix it from the terminal at the base.
"Fuck." Kacey muttered, "Okay, we can't repair the tower from here."
"We can't?" James replied.
"Nope." Kacey responded, "Liara, see if you can fix the tower. James and I will cover you."
"I'll see what I can do." Liara said as she climbed the comm tower.
"Here they come!" James said, pointing his shotgun at the husks that began to swarm the pair.
"Ready, James?" Kacey smirked.
"Hell yeah! Let's take 'em."
While James got in close to the husks to blast them in half with his shotgun, Kacey kept her distance and took the more finesse option and killed each husk with a perfectly aimed headshot that took each husk down in an instant. The benefits of having heavily modified weapons. She had to hand it the salarian; he knew how to modify a weapon.
While her weapons were modified, they were designed to handle the Collectors and their base, not necessarily the husks. Her inferno bullets doused the husks in flames, overkill but Kacey didn't care. Her thoughts were starting to drift elsewhere before Liara's voice cut through the air.
"Shepard, I've repaired the tower's main satellite connection." Liara shouted over the continuous gunfire, "On my way down."
"General, do you read?" Kacey said through her comms, "The comm tower is now operational."
"Much appreciated, Commander." Corinthus replied, "I'll contact Palaven Command."
"Let me know when you've got something." Kacey replied as she knocked a group of husks of the side of the cliff with a concussive shot, "I'll help your men till I hear from you."
"Understood, Commander."
"Shepard out."
Swarms of husks made their way towards the trio, running directly to them and the turian soldiers nearby. Kacey continued to hit each one with well-placed headshots, with any coming too close getting stabbed with her omni-blade. Liara preferred to use her biotics on the husks, a lesson she learned from three years ago. She used singularity to keep the husks in a nice group for everyone to mow down with ease.
It was clear that the turian soldiers were also observing Kacey, as they began shooting the husks in the head after watching her doing it effectively. After the place was cleared out of husks, a few of the troops came over to talk to the trio. While James and Liara spoke candidly with the soldiers, Kacey stepped away from the crowd and observed the corpse of a husk that she hadn't incinerated.
They had changed; clearly the Reapers had modified the husks since the attack on Eden Prime three years ago. And while she had seen that they had been upgraded during the Collector attack on Horizon months prior, these one had clearly been worked and improved upon a lot longer. The head was still the weak point, put they were faster and able to adapt to the terrain faster than before. There were more synthetic parts on the body, and they seemed more...coordinated somehow. She took a reading on her omni-tool for later, if only to figure out how to counter the upgrades. And if the cannibals were any indication, the husks were going to be the least of their problems.
"Commander Shepard?"
She turned quickly and came face to face with one of the turian soldiers, whom she recognised from before when she met up with the general. He seemed a bit tense but nevertheless approached her with confidence.
"Can I help you?" She replied.
"Sergeant Bartus." He introduced himself, "I wanted to thank you for help."
"It's no problem, really." Kacey replied.
"You don't have to be modest, Commander. Your skills are exceptional." Bartus said, "You took out all those husks with ease."
Modesty? She didn't think that she was, yet everyone certainly thought she was being modest. The sergeant was flattering her, but she didn't nor need it.
"I just have a bit more experience is all." She replied, hiding her disdain well, "The head is the weak point. You shoot there, and they'll go down. Plus, having a powerful, wide-spread shotgun helps with crowd control."
"Definitely." Bartus replied, "I wish we had some asari with us now, if only because their singularities are pretty useful against those things."
"Absolutely." Kacey replied just as a voice rang through her comms. Bartus saluted then left as Kacey answered her comms.
"Commander Shepard, come in." Corinthus said.
"Go ahead, General."
"I have information from Palaven Command." Corinthus said, "Please return ASAP."
"We're on our way." Kacey said.
...
The camp was even more desolate than before. It seemed that even with the tiny victory, it did nothing to slow or stop the Reaper forces. Kacey was happy that the conversation with the sergeant was cut short; it was not the type of conversation she wanted to have right now.
As she approached the general, two other turians were there, standing guard. Corinthus was typing away furiously on the terminal, his brows furrowing as he kept typing.
"What have you got?" Kacey asked.
"As your comrade said, succession is usually simple." Corinthus explained, "But right now, the hierarchy's in chaos—so many dead or MIA."
"I need someone-I don't care who, as long as they can get us the turian resources we need." Kacey said frustrated.
"I'm on it, Shepard. We'll find you the Primarch." said an all too familiar voice.
She was so relieved to hear it. Kacey looked to see a familiar face arrive and stand on the other side of Corinthus, holding his trademark sniper rifle.
"Garrus!" Kacey said relieved.
"Vakarian, sir...I didn't see you arrive..." Corinthus said, saluting Garrus.
"At ease, General." Garrus said calmly.
It was her best friend standing in front of her, alive and well. The scars on his face had healed nicely, leaving only a few scrapes behind. It seemed that he had finally gotten new armour after the last one had gotten a big hole burned through it. She last saw the turian six months ago, before her arrest.
"It's good to see you again, Garrus." Kacey said, "Figured you'd be on Palaven."
"If we lose this moon, we lose Palaven." Garrus explained, "I'm the closest damn thing we have to an expert on Reaper forces, so I'm...advising."
"My bad." Kacey laughed, "James, this is Garrus Vakarian. He helped me stop Saren, Sovereign and the Collectors. He's a hell of a solider and quite a risk-taker."
"Speak for yourself, Shepard." Garrus laughed, "Lieutenant. Good to see you too, Liara."
"It's nice to see you in one piece, Garrus." Liara mused.
"General Corinthus filled me in." Garrus replied, "We know who we're after."
"Palaven Command tells me that the next Primarch is General Adrien Victus." Corinthus explained.
"Victus?" Liara mused, "His name's crossed my desk."
"Know him, Garrus?" Kacey asked.
"Yes. I was fighting alongside him this morning." Garrus explained, "Lifelong military. Gets results, popular with his troops. Not so popular with military command. He has a reputation for playing loose with accepted strategy. Sound familiar?"
"Ha ha, the irony is not lost on me." Kacey mused, "Do you think he can get the job done?"
"We both know conventional strategy won't beat the Reapers. Right now, he could be our best shot." Garrus replied, "And I trust him."
"I trust your judgement." Kacey replied, "Let's get him on the shuttle and out of here."
"Commander!" Joker screamed down the comms, "Shepard, come in!"
"You don't have to blow out my eardrums you know." Kacey responded, "Joker, we're in the middle of a warzone, can this wait until I get back?"
"No, it can't!" Joker said, "We've got a situation on the Normandy, Commander. It's like she's possessed; shutting down systems, powering up weapons. I can't find the source."
"I need the Normandy on standby in case we have to bug out." Kacey said, "Liara, can you have a look at what's going on please?"
"On it." Liara said, bolting towards the shuttle.
Kacey quickly turned her attention back to Garrus, "Garrus, you said you were with Victus this morning?"
"Yeah, but we got separated." Garrus elaborated, "He went to bolster a flank that was breaking. Could be anywhere out there."
"Any way to narrow it down?"
"We're trying to raise him, Commander." Corinthus said.
"Commander! Incoming Harvester!" James shouted, "It's headed for the airfield!"
"Okay, new plan." Kacey said as the Harvester flew overhead, "General, tell Primarch Victus we'll rendezvous here. In the meantime, the three of us will take care of whatever that thing dropped off at the airfield. You coming, Garrus."
The turian sharpshooter scoffed, "Are you kidding? I'm right behind you!"