The three giants stood, their faces inside their helmets grim and determined as the heavy footfalls of the altered came over the storm birthed by the end of Eden Prime. They did not falter, however, did not shirk the duty they had taken, and just as the first form began to reveal itself through the dust, Jane cried out. On her shoulder, her weapon made a sharp ringing noise, and she pulled the trigger. Within the device, a whining could be heard that vanished beyond hearing, and then everything was light.
A bright flash of green filled the air. An orb of shimmering brilliance emerged from the end of the gallant, focused and refined by the launcher stock until it was death itself made manifest. It was fired into the center of the horde, and at its passage, the dust clouds parted, revealing their enemy in all their horridness, with many bodies burned almost beyond recognition, and others missing limbs or even most of their torsos and yet still coming on.
The orb of power sailed forward, the shot moving till it was beyond the range of hurting the one who fired it, and then with a sound like a great drum, the orb detonated. Garrus had promised that the weapon was enough to harm one of the great ships, and he was proven to be no liar, as the blast consumed everything around it. The ball expanding, green fire burning away the earth and foe alike, until a dome of flames roared before them, wind from it blowing away the dust for a moment, before everything settled once more.
"Not nearly enough," was all Jon said, as Jane set her weapon down beside her. The gallant was drained, needing more protoculture before it could function again. She said nothing for the moment, as those not destroyed by the shot from her weapon advanced, she placed her hand at her hip, and then whipped it out. With a metallic shink, her weapon, a massive claymore that was taller than her at a hundred feet, and heavier by even more, unfolded.
"Then we make it enough," was Jane's response to her brother, and without waiting for them to grow closer she started forward. In the same moment he began to shoot at the horde on the other side of the bowl created by the launcher's single shot. His fire wasn't as accurate as if he'd been assisted by Tali, but with as many targets as he had to choose from, he didn't need to be. Beside him, Bhatia seemed to feel the same, and the sharp retort of her shotgun echoed over the area, lines of green light coming out of her weapon to pierce the enemy.
Jane roared as she charged down into the bowl, her weapon flashing as a small shaft of light seemed to find its way through the dust clouds, giving her blade a look of a bolt of lightning, even as the enemy began to charge towards her. Luckily, the things were injured, and those that had survived the blast from the strange ship, and the launcher, moved with a shudder in their step, their bodies lacking the wild agility they'd had in their attacks before.
Jane slammed into the coming horde like a hammer, crashing through their lines, and with a spinning slash, she lopped off the heads of every altered Terran in her reach, and as the dust began to settle again, she vanished from sight. Still, the sounds of her grunting came over the comms, and the two Terrans on the side of the bowl could see her silhouette in the darkness cloud, her powerful weapon cutting down anything that came close to her, dancing in her two handed grip like it weighed less than a cloud.
Nirali, after a few more shots, cried out in frustration, and with a flick of her wrist, popped the gallant shotgun stock off, and then tossed it towards Jon, who caught it, just barely, and then began firing with it, pressing the button to cycle the power of his own weapon. Nirali, freed of the ranged weapon, put her hand at her own side, and then whipped it out in a motion as trained into her as Jane's own, her weapon slowly sliding apart until it was at its full length.
The thing in her hand was not a claymore, not the huge weapon designed to overpower a foe through raw strength. No, it was more like a spike, or rapier, thin, short, and wielded with finesse. Yet, this one seemed to have another feature that weapons of its sort tended to lack, and as Nirali joined Jane in the midst of the fray, her weapon hummed. Looking towards it, Jon took only a single scan of the thing to realize what it was doing, and nodded in approval as the chief slashed once with her weapon, her foe seemingly falling apart of its own accord as she passed.
"Vibrations with a ridged edge, designed to make the weapon saw through its target," he commented, blowing away one of the altered that was coming closer to him, bringing up his free gallant with his other hand, and resting Nirali's former weapon as he resumed firing.
"Indeed," was all she said, dancing through the horde, leaving bodies fallen to pieces in the dirt behind her. Yet it didn't reduce their numbers, which endlessly poured into the melee, grabbing hands, slowed but still powerful, trying to tear the two women apart with raw numbers.
"You dance with the grace of a human. Far more efficient than my sister's flailing," he told her, picking off one of the enemies that had been holding Jane's arm. The his sister said nothing in response, merely hurling the now decapitated body into a group of enemies, allowing her to get them with a single wide swing, before retreating backwards into the bowl.
"I thank you for the compliment, and for what you are trying to do, but there is no need for either," she said, as she leapt, Nirali's foot finding an altered shoulder, as she propelled the tons of her body skyward in a way that would have been impossible without her protoculture laced body. Her blade sang in her hands as she sailed through the sky, cutting down a dozen foes, before she and Jane stood beside Jon, their enemies advancing quicker now, as those more distant from the wash of flame came on, their less damaged bodies allowing them to move more easily.
"Still, I'm sorry it had to be like this. Fighting these things can't be easy for you," he said, letting the two women take his sides as he laid fire straight down the middle, alternating between the two pistols, trying to keep a constant stream of death going, as the three began to give ground, leaving piles of bodies behind.
"They are not the people they were. They are but husks of flesh and metal made to walk. Their souls will find peace, and we shall allow their bodies to do the same," she said, cutting down one of the most complete 'husks' since the fire wash, its leap at her causing the bits of it to fall heavily into the dust dunes, even as Jane cleaved one on her side in two down the middle.
"Husks is right. These guys barely have anything in them. How far are they away now?" Asked Jane, as she expertly spun her blade, making sure to take out the brains of her foes as she carved through them.
"About three miles. Legion's really not able to move fast. How much longer can you two hold out?" He responded, even as he was forced to bring both pistols to bare as more of their enemies began to charge, their steps surer, and their stride getting quicker with every one that fell.
"I got about fifteen left in me, you Chief Bhatia?" Jane said, as she let out a long sigh, catching her breath as her flank cleared out, holding her weapon in a ready position as she waited for the enemy.
"Nearly the same, I'm afraid," responded the Chief, as she took down the last of her foes as well. In front of them, the horde swelled, their passage over the bodies of their fallen slowing them long enough for them to gather, a tide of former Terrans, ready to wash over them.
"It has been an honor Chief. Jane...Mom would be proud of you," was what Jon side, cycling both of his weapons, waiting for the moment when the horde charged. Just before it could, however, another blast of sound echoed over the dust plain, a wave of force blowing away the clouds, and revealing above them, a shining light.
"The enemy ship?" Said Jane, doing a few quick calculations with her suit, seeing if she could leap up to the thing, maybe get a good slash in. Before she could make said leap though, another voice, a most welcome one, came over the comms.
"Normandy to Ground Team, we have arrived, please confirm what's going on down there," came Skarrde's gruff voice, and Charn's cheer could be heard, before he was cut off with a grunt as Garrus took the comm.
"This is Captain Garrus Vakarian to Normandy, situation is dire. We have two survivors, but no one else. My Gundam and Nihulus' Veritech and the SPECTRE himself are down. Only the Shepards, a Terran woman from the colony, and Legion's warframe should be moving down here. Everything else is an enemy," he said quickly, and Skarrde, deep inside the ship, looked as his display showed thousands of moving shapes.
"We have movement on our scanners, are they the ones who took out the colony?" Asked Skarrde, even as the gunners in the ship began to lock on with the smaller weapons. While the Normandy didn't have a large number of external guns beyond its big three, it still had a few, and every erg of them would soon be raining down into that horde.
"Negative. They're the colonists, killed and converted by some unknown method. They're non-recoverable, so put them out of their misery," ordered Garrus.
"And please try to avoid hitting my lab, if you could," said another voice, and Skarrde looked towards the transmission source, finding it to be right next to Garrus'.
"Who is this?" He asked quickly.
"She's Liara T'Soni, an asari researcher, I'm transmitting the coordinates she's speaking of. It would be in the best interests of the galaxy if you listened to her," came yet another new voice, but one the Normandy's AIs quickly IDed as Chief Master Sergeant Nirali Bhatia.
"Confirmed, targeting all combatants now. Shepards, Chief Bhatia, it would be best if you retreated," ordered Skarrde, and after a slight delay, the three forms on his display ran away from the horde, which pursued as quickly as it could. It wasn't fast as Terrans running all out though, and as soon as the trio was far enough from their foes, the Normandy let loose, six reflex cannons, four mass drivers, and a few missile turrets raining death down onto the world that was already pretty much gone.
The grisly work took minutes, so large was the enemy force, but aside from a few shots of mass effect fields from the horde, no weapon was fired up at them, and when the last had fallen, the Normandy descended, opening the bay to receive the ground team. Nihlus, extracted from the stasis pod on the warframe, was rushed to the med bay, even as Skarrde had everyone else come to debrief on the meeting deck. He needed details, even as he allowed T'Soni a small squad to go to her lab and retrieve whatever it was she had there.