29th March 2156
Orbit over Shanxi
TCS cruiser Roadrunner
"Give it to them! These turians bought their own tickets to hell! We are just laying down the welcome mat!" Lana tried to encourage all the coalition ships using the comm. It looked like it worked for the most part. Her cruiser already destroyed 5 turian ships and the count was about to rise.
"Captain Lana, there are too many of them close to my ships! A bit of support would be appreciated." Captain Karn said over the comm. While he and his ships tried to help as well as they could, the turians really were out for them painting them as high priority targets. Still, they served as good distractions and allowed a couple of cruisers to cripple 5 turian ships and destroy 3. Still, the turian dreadnaughts were all present and accounted for and started to get their act together, forming a defensive formation and firing anything that got close. Even the stealth frigates didn't approach them because the turians started to blind fire against them, actually hitting a few of them. To make matters worse, they were getting in position for orbital bombardment, something that could seriously affect their defences and maybe even kill civilians in the underground bunkers, something that no one wanted to happen.
"Alright captain Karn. 6 frigates will give your ships some breathing room. Orders dictate we avoid direct combat and stay in two separate groups. Head to group A, most cruisers are there holding the line."
Lana advised.
"Affirmative captain, thanks for the assist."
Karn said.
"Another one down for the count captain! The Roadrunner is really one of the finest ships out there." the XO said jovially.
Lana nodded in acknowledgement, but she couldn't help thinking that the turians would try to attack the civilians. With enough firepower, they could level the bunkers and crush the civilians underneath. Their dreadnaughts possessed that kind of firepower, but no one could do anything until the reinforcements arrived.
Shanxi, grounside
General Williams's office
"General! They are bombarding us from orbit! We need fire support ASAP!" yelled a SMACC lieutenant through the comm.
"Hold your ground troopers! If the turians break into the bunkers, the civilians are done for!" The reinforcements are coming soon, just hold out a bit longer." Williams answered.
"Sir, enemy armor is trying to penetrate our lines! Permission to use heavy weapons?" another voice asked.
"Granted, we will just rebuild later."
Williams said.
Suddenly, he had and idea that might help his troops. He opened a comm and ordered:
"To all ground forces that are under orbital bombardment threat, light fires and blow up buildings. Create a smoke screen to scramble their sensors."
"Sir, with all due and respect, we will lose our cover against ground forces if we do that..." someone tried to complain.
"I don't give a fuck if we have to level every single structure! The turians will do it anyway to flush you all out! There is no way I'm losing Shanxi to them! NOW GET BACK TO IT!" Williams barked his orders.
He sat down to calm himself a little, then asked his AI assistant:
"Gerald, what are the casualties?"
"We lost 2 cruisers, 7destroyers and 4 frigates. Also, we lost about 9000 SMACC troopers and 5000 thanatonauts, most of them due to orbital bombardment. We have no reports of CISP or psychic commando casualties. The turians lost 10 cruisers, 24 destroyers and about 40 frigates. We cannot attack their dreadnaughts directly. Groundside, they lost approximately 85000 troops."
"What the hell are the CISP and the psychic commandos doing? Sitting on their asses?" Williams asked.
"Unknown general Williams. No contact has been established with them."
If general Williams knew what the CISP and commandos were doing, he would be a lot calmer.
TCS Cruiser Centipede
"Alright ladies and gentlemen, we have been tasked with taking out the dreadnaughts. We will infiltrate them using modified stealth drop pods, subdue the personnel, eliminate any resistance and turn their weapons against them. Each team will be accompanied by 2 psychic commandos. Any high ranking officers are to be captured. Any questions?" Captain Sebastian Shepard asked his subordinates. No one had anything to say so they moved out.
Sebastian Shepard, distant descendant of famed Gregory 'The peacemaker' Shepard was a career soldier, just like his mother, Delilah Shepard, veteran of the '3 warlords rebellion', and his grandfather Warren Shepard who revolutionised the thanatonaut corps with his new techniques. Now Shepard was the last of this family with the long military tradition.
Unlike his ancestors however, Sebastian preferred to join the CISP to become one of the most feared and efficient infiltrators. He preferred finesse and speed over strength and heavy armor.
Now, his task was to cripple the war waging capability over Shanxi. He wanted to consolidate his own legacy and this operation was the perfect opportunity.
"Ready to launch the pods captain." said one of the operators.
"Everybody ready?" Shepard asked.
He saw that everyone nodded and gave his answer:
"Alright, do it."
A few seconds later, the pods, 50 in number, were launched, heading to the cluster of turian dreadnaughts and cruisers. Each pod was filled with 18 CISP operators and 2 psychic commandos.
The rest of them would chrono teleport when their destinations were secured.
Each operator was armed with a silenced 12mm or .44 cal pistol, silenced 9mm or 5.7mm SMGs and some took either silenced 12 gauge fully automatic shotguns for close combat or, like Shepard, silenced 7.92 mm fully automatic carbine rifles. Unlike the rest of the galaxy, humanity declared the mass effect guns too combat ineffective and preferred to use newer versions of the WWIII weapons, modified with fully customisable nanoforges to make new ammo of various types, magnetic accelerators to make the bullets go faster and hit harder, customisable under barrel attachements and top of the line powered scopes. The energy weapons remained largely unchanged, only with decreased power consumption, lighter weight, higher damage output and increased range and penetration.
"Captain, 30 seconds for penetration."
Everyone tensed slightly and steeled themselves for the coming fight. They had the tools to get the job done, the training and the guts, but they were the first to board and hit aliens inside their ships.
30 seconds later, they penetrated the hull. Nano disassemblers ate through it with minimal effort and noise. The hatch opened and everyone got out. Shepard's pod boarded the Hierarchy fist. Fleet admiral Julrus Marthus was inside. And Shepard wouldn't stop until he claimed the bounty. Quickly and methodically, they sweeped every room, the psychics were detecting enemy brainwaves and the CISP were dispatching them one at the time. Quick, silent and invisible, like death himself, no one saw them or heard them, no one could notice anything suspicious. Later, the Hierarchy fist's lower deck was secured. 82 more CISP operators teleported in. It was time for a hostile takeover. Meanwhile, groundside,
the SMACC were still holding off the enemy forces. The smoke screen really worked, to a point, and made the orbital strikes less accurate and frequent. However, some turians biotics managed to penetrate their lines.
"SHIT! They found the bunker entrances! Don't let them get inside. If they reach the civilians they are done for!" shouted Lieutenant Jon Grissom to his platoon.
They moved to intercept the turian cabals.
Jon carried a Grummond 18 gauge semi automatic shotgun and a riot shield, sergeant Alec Ryder a VSK .408 cal automatic sniper rifle and a FN SS90 SMG. The others had an assortment of ADK 15's, Tenzai kinetic carbines, Moskvin flak cannons, spectrum chainguns, Muramasa plasma cutters, PKX machine guns and other weapons. They were, in total, 45 heavily armed and armored SMACC troopers ready for action.
"Alright gentlemen, focus fire on combatants only. I don't want any civilians to be caught in the crossfire. Pick your targets carefully and blow these turian bastards to hell." Jon Grissom said to the troops. They all answered with cheers and woops. They marched towards the bunker entrance to find it blown open. Fearing for what they would find inside, only a squad got inside to recon, including Grissom, Ryder and 3 more troopers. Surprisingly, the bunkers were completely devoid of life and no bodies where seen:
"Sir, there are footsteps leading outside the bunker, also drag marks."
Ryder managed to see them on a thin layer of dirt which probably came from outside. The footsteps were both human and alien. This only left 1 conclusion:
""The aliens took them, I bet my life on it."
Ryder added.
"FUCK! Where?"Grissom asked, frustrated.
"Sir, I captured a live turian before. Maybe he knows." said sergeant Roland Taylor.
The rest looked him with surprise written on their faces. A turian prisoner? How did he capture him?
"Where is that prisoner?" asked Grissom.
"I left him tied to a pole a few hundred meters from here. I can call an APC to bring him here." answered Taylor.
"Alright then. Get a squad and retrieve the prisoner. I will get translation software from the command. If he doesn't squeal, I'll make him talk." Grissom said, his face becoming angrier than before. Sure, the SMACC weren't as cruel as the thanatonauts, but turians taking hostages, especially civilians, was a low blow.
"Sometimes, morality must be sacrificed for the greater good." Ryder monologued.
Orbit over Shanxi
Turian dreadnought Hierarchy fist
"Negative sir. None of the other dreadnoughts are responding. No signals sent, no maydays, they just don't respond."
said the XO.
"Spirits, what is happening?" Fleet admiral Marthus asked himself.
"I can tell you what is happening fleet admiral." said a voice.
Marthus felt a chill passing through his spine. The voice was human. It didn't come from the comm, it came from inside the room. That could only mean one thing:
"All your ships, including yours, have been infiltrated. All crew members are dead or captured. If you surrender you live. If not..."
Shepard left the threat hanging as he decloacked himself, a smile behind his black mask with the red tinted tri-visor.
"How did you get inside? Who are you?"
Martus asked the black garbed figure in front of him.
"The first question I cannot answer. Secrets of the trade, see. My name is Sebastian Shepard. Now, what is your choice?" he answered.
Marthus tried to raise his assault rifle, which was holstered next to his seat. Before he could even touch it however, an invisible force grabbed his hand. He couldn't feel anyone touch his arm, it was like his hand was inside a piece of stone.
He was then lifted in the air, again the force doing so was again invisible:
"SPIRITS! WHAT IS HAPPENING?" he shouted.
Then, more figures decloacked, 2 of them were wearing yellow tinted lenses and wore black robes with grey torso, arm and leg armor. The edges of their robes were floating, like there was a ventilator blowing underneath, but no such thing existed in the room. They were doing strange gestures with their hands, stretching them towards him and his crew members, palms open like they were trying to grab them. The turians were levitated half a meter above ground, seemingly because of these two humans. No way they were biotics cause they were not glowing.
"Impressive, aren't they? These are psychic commandos. Spawned right out of satan's thorny, black asshole. They tear apart through anything, no matter the size or strength of the opponent." Shepard said at the terrified turians.
One turian tried to lift his gun when the commando holding him was slightly distracted, only to be shot in the head by Shepard:
"True, they are a bit untrained, but this is why they put a demented, insane whackjob like me to keep them safe."
One of the younger turians had something dripping off of his armor at the last comment:
"Don't feel bad junior. You were beat by the best. Now, decide your fate Marthus, I'm tired of waiting." Shepard said with an angry voice, his previous joyous tone disappearing.
"Alright, we surrender. Just don't harm my men. They acted under my orders."
Marthus begged.
"I act under orders too. My orders dictate that only the high ranking officers of the enemy are to be captured. Any lowly grunt is to be returned if he surrenders. Pleasure doing business and have a nice day." Shepard's calm demeanor returned. He moved out of hearing range and called general Williams:
"This is captain Shepard of CISP cell Cerberus." he said, only to be screamed at his ear by his superior:
"FINALLY! WERE THE FUCK YOU'VE BEEN? These alien bastards are attacking my planet and you sit down on your asses?" Williams said angrily.
"Sir, with all due and respect, me, my boys and the psychic commandos infiltrated their dreadnoughts, captured their commanding officer and forced him to surrender. You're welcome." Shepard said, his demeanor casual and business-like.
Williams was surprised at the news. He felt a weigh removed from his shoulders. With the enemy dreadnoughts out of commission and their commander captured, he could force the enemy to concede.
"Fine job Shepard. I will handle the rest."
Williams said and closed the comm.
He could finally relax for a bit.
Shanxi, Garrison 6H
"Where did they take the civilians Saren?"
asked Taylor to the turian he captured.
He learned that his name was Saren Arterius after he got the proper translator software.
"I appreciate that you saved me sergeant Taylor, but I can't betray my compatriots."
Saren said.
"Your compatriots took civilians as hostages. They will likely kill some of them because they are synthetic. So please help me, before they are marked as war criminals. They will be executed when they are captured if they do so. You can save their lives if you just help me." Taylor tried again to persuade him.
Saren was clearly divided by the sentiment. He would be called a traitor if he talked, he would be called a coward if his fellow soldiers and his brother died as war criminals. He didn't know what to choose, until his omnitool pinged with a message:
"This is fleet admiral Julrus Marthus to all turian forces. Surrender. It's over." said the message.
Both Saren and Taylor heard it. The battle of Shanxi was over.
"Well, that was unexpected. What now?" Taylor asked Saren.
"Now that the location is not a military secret, I can tell you. The location is in a plateau, 2 miles north from here. It's the place you called Garrison 5H. My brother, his men and the humans must be there." Saren confessed.
"Your brother? Admiral Desolas is your brother?" Grissom asked.
Saren nodded.
"That makes things easier. If your brother refuses to surrender, you could persuade him, right?" Grissom asked.
"I know my brother. He follows orders, even if he doesn't like them."
Garrison 5H
"Kill the syntetics and leave the rest alive."
said Desolas to his men.
They followed the order even with the human civilians screaming at them not to. Soon, a pile of robotic bodies was lying on the ground. The other prisoners were crying. Unknown to them all, a trio of thanatonauts saw the tragic scene.
"We must fry these bastards Tadius! Look what have they have done to these poor sods!"
Zaeed said, his voice slightly cracked.
"Zaeed, if we attack they will kill the rest of them too. We have to wait for reinforcements." Ahern tried to calm the angry veteran.
"It's true Zaeed. There is nothing us 3 can do. We have to wait." Abakor said.
Zaeed huffed and growled. He never liked being unable to do what he wanted. If that turian officer fell to his hands...
He didn't manage to end his thought when he saw a platoon of SMACC troopers approaching from the south.
"Finally, some godamn backup. I never thought I would be so fucking happy to see those damn leathernecks." Zaeed said.
The 3 thanatonauts met the SMACC's a bit later and told them the situation. While it was weird for them to see a turian among them, they relaxed when they heard he was a captive. When he heard about the execution of civilians, he really was horrified:
"Shit. Let me talk to him. This wasn't supposed to happen. We don't kill unarmed prisoners." he pleaded.
"Oh yeah? Tell that to that pile of dead people over there. They could use a good laugh." Zaeed said while pointing said pile.
"Enough! Let the boy do his job." Tadius finally cracked, something that Zaeed never saw before.
Saren went down and told them about the surrender and the release of the prisoners. Thankfully, they listened and dropped their weapons. Only Desolas remained. He looked at Saren with a mix of pain and disgust:
"How could you work for the humans Saren? You know you betrayed us all?"
Desolas said.
"Brother, what you did was wrong. We don't execute unarmed prisoners like that. Synthetics are considered equal to organics for them. Please, no harm came to me or any other turian after the order.
A human saved me from death. They may imprison you, but they won't kill you."
Saren pleaded.
Desolas didn't listen. He grabbed a rifle and shot the nearest prisoner, much to everyone's shock. Before he could shoot another, a green armored glove catched his arm. Said armored glove belonged to Zaeed. He squeezed hard enough to break the bones in Desolas's hand, who screamed from pain. Then, he lifted him in the air by the broken hand, grabbed his spray hose with the other, sticked the nozzle to the turian's mouth and said:
"Burn, you arse faced bastard." and pulled the trigger. Noxious fluid started dissolving Desolas, turning him into goop, his brother screaming as he watched. Zaeed discarded the remains of the molten corpse like a garbage bag and looked towards the now grieving turian:
"I know you consider me a monster kid. But it takes a monster to take out another."
Zaeed said as he left.
Saren was crying to his brother's remains, what little there was, sobbing in rage and anger. In his mind, only one word:
"Vengeance."
AN
Hoo boy. That took longer than expected. Many characters that belonged to the standard Mass Effect universe. Also, Sebastian Shepard will be the dad of Commander Shepard. Whoever guesses who the mother will be, I will include a custom OC of his or her own preferred characteristics, physical and mental (realistic boundaries please).
