Chapter 50
A new weapon in the Alliance Arsenal was a class of shuttle called a breacher, and the frigates were all equipped with one. Normally shuttles had comfortable seating for around eight fully equipped marines, but a breacher could accommodate twelve if they all stood. It was equipped with extremely sophisticated inertial dampeners, primary and secondary shielding, and the front of the hull was heavily reinforced with extremely tough alloys and structures made from carbon nano tubes. In addition to a next generation micro fusion reactor and propulsion system it also featured a scaled-down version of the same kind of element zero drives that Quarian ships used to use on the flotilla.
The reason for this was that the breacher was designed to ram into the hull of an enemy's ship and deploy the marines aboard, and that last mass effect push helped to punch through tougher armor. Aboard all of the frigate class ships, marine teams were pouring into their breachers as they made their way towards their high-value targets.
"Make for the dreadnought, full stealth." Shepard ordered to Joker.
"Aye Commander." He said, as he engaged the stealth systems and set a course.
"Lieutenant Commander Williams, Once we're underway I want you to take the Normandy and assist the Asari in controlling their attack ships. Keep me appraised of everything." Shepard said.
"Yes Ma'am, Commander Shepard." Ash said, and took Shepard's position at the CIC. Shepard made her way down to the docking bay, stopping at engineering on the way.
"Tali..." She said.
"I know, Jane. Come back to me. You understand?" Tali said, walking over to her grasping her hands.
"I promise." Shepard said, bending slightly down to kiss her. She made her way to the Docking bay to find her marine contingent in varying states of dress. The Krogan who had all except Kurg earned the rank of Private after passing simple knowledge exams, the alliance considered their performance during the last Batarian attack as well as their training records from Tuchanka as equivalent to the rigorous training undergone by Marines. Kurg, who had shown additional aptitude at leadership had been instead granted the rank of Private First class. Everyone stopped what they were doing to salute when Shepard entered the room. She returned the salute and immediately started changing into her armor. She went through her mental checklist, and was ready to snap the seal on her helmet shut when she was interrupted.
"Commander, there's something wrong with that helmet." Grak said.
"What do you mean?" She asked, handing it over to him. He sniffed at it, then pried an access panel off it, which allowed a small puff of smoke to escape.
"Shit." Shepard said.
"Couple blown capacitors on the visual scanner it looks like. You got a spare?" He asked.
"Yeah, thanks for that private, good catch." She said. He nodded, going back to his own prep. Not for the first time Shepard was thankful that Humanity had brought in their new friends. Every one of the races that had joined the Alliance seemed to bring something to the table that the others didn't know they were missing. The humans, Quarians, Geth and Rothschild had potent weapons and strong armor, but their spatial awareness was limited to their comparatively dull senses, Krogan on the other hand could smell a struck match head a mile away, and had extremely good hearing and sight as well. Nothing in the galaxy that they had encountered, biological or mechanical, with the exception of bloodhounds on Earth could match a Krogan's nose.
"Everyone ready?" Shepard asked, slamming a heat sink into her assault rifle.
"Yes Commander." She heard a dozen times over. She felt the deck plates vibrating under her feet and turned to one Geth prime and four standard geth platforms march into the docking bay.
"Shepard Commander, these platforms have been provided to support your boarding party." The prime said.
"Excellent, thank you. This will definitely help. You, however I'm afraid will have to guard our escape. The corridors on the Batarian ship are too low for a Prime." Shepard said, gesturing at the hulking construct.
"Understood, we will wait by the shuttle and prepare for extraction." The prime said. Everyone loaded onto the breacher, and they waited confirmation from Joker that they were clear to launch.
"We the only ones taking on the Dreadnought?" Baxter asked
"Negative, got the Midway, and the Little Bighorn meeting us inside." Shepard said.
"Little Bighorn eh? Let's hope that's not an omen." Jameson quipped.
"Was Little Bighorn a big loss?" Kurg asked.
"Depends on whether you ask Custer or the Lakota." Reegar said, getting surprised looks from the humans.
"What? I like reading." Reegar said, grinning. A red klaxon lit above them, shutting down their conversation as they all lined up automatically and filed into the breacher, Shepard walking in after and closing the door behind her. They heard the telltale grinding of scraping metal as the breacher was deployed, then the air took a light blue tint as the eezo-driven inertial dampener systems took hold. Shepard stood her eyes fixed on the output of her omnitool.
"Fifteen seconds." She said, and the cabin of the breacher erupted in the sounds of last minute weapons checks.
"Five." She said, and everyone got into position. Shepard, Reegar and Baxter knelt in front, allowing the marines behind her a clear shot over her head, Reegar was behind standing on a seat, his sniper rifle fixed at the entrance.
"Hearing protection." Shepard said, prompting everyone to tap the side of their helmet. This many firearms going off inside a tin can would likely result in more than one ruptured ear drum without it.
"FUCK 'EM UP!" Shepard yelled as the doors burst open into a corridor on the dreadnought swarming armed Batarians. The Marines opened fire killing dozens of Batarians in seconds, shepard slowly advanced allowing the rest of the marines to exit the breacher to assess their situation.
"We're near the main battery." Reegar reported, looking at his omnitool.
"Remember to watch out for mechs." Jameson said, her normally bubbly demeanor completely gone.
"Kowalski, set up prox sensors around this location in a 10 meter radius. Prime I want you to tie into the prox sensors and keep us posted. Everyone else, on me. We're going to take the battery." Shepard said. She got "yes ma'ams" in response and they marched forward.
"That shit was too close." Joker said, as the Normandy rolled to avoid a an exploding Batarian fighter.
"Damage report!" Ash bellowed. Tali responded.
"Superficial ma'am, but there are fluctuation in the antimatter core and the heat sinks are approaching saturation.
"Shit, kill the stealth, shunt any available power to barriers. " Ash ordered.
"Lieutenant Zorah, vent the sinks as soon as possible, and what's going on with the core?" Ash asked into her communication panel.
"Already on it Ma'am. There's a design flaw in the antimatter containment grid that didn't appear during shakedown. I've got a fix but we'll need an overhaul after this is over" Tali reported.
"Understood, good work Tali. Keep me posted." Ash said, then ran over to Joker.
"How we looking?" She asked the pilot who was deftly maneuvering the ship in wild evasive patterns.
"Well we got a big bullseye on us without the stealth, but Batarians apparently suck aiming mass accelerators. We're good for now." He said, his eyes never leaving his display.
"Lieutenant Commander! We're getting a distress call from an Asari fighter." one of the bridge crew.
"Joker bring us in, let's see if we can rescue." She said. Joker nodded and set a course.
Aboard the maelstrom class fighter, Captain Ria Lenna was cradling the stump where her left arm had been, praying to the Goddess for help.
"Asari Fighter, this is the Alliance Frigate Normandy, we are inbound, hold position." A stern female voice came over her comms.
"Thank the Goddess. Understood, standing by. I'm in need of medical assistance." Lenna said.
"Understood, Doctor Chakwas will be waiting in the docking bay." the voice said. Lenna leaned back and closed her eyes, letting the bigger ship's computer guide hers into the bay. The pain in her arm was horrible, and she was unable to reach her medkit, so she'd have to bear it. The cockpit canopy opened, and the Human doctor began working before it had risen completely. Lenna sighed as the sweet magical narcotics flooded her bloodstream dulling the searing pain in her stump to a distant ache. Then the tiny, older woman in a feat she thought impossible reached around the injured Asari and hefted her out of the cockpit, carrying her back to a stretcher.
"Goddess you're strong." She muttered, drooling slightly.
"I think I went a little to hard on those pain killers." Chakwas said, grinning.
"Ohhhh no I think you used the perrrrrfect amount..." She said, slumping back and falling asleep.
"Lieutenant Commander Williams, the Asari pilot is safely aboard." Chakwas reported to her communicator.
"Acknowledged. Jettison the fighter and move out." Ash ordered, as Chakwas moved her lightly snoring patient into the medbay. Aside from the missing arm her injuries were mostly superficial. Chakwas was able to stop the bleed, but she was not out of the woods yet.
"Vil, would you please dress the stump, I need to contact one of the Asari ships and look for a blood donor." Chakwas asked.
"I'd be happy to donate." Vil said while working.
"Unfortunately your blood is not suitable." Chakwas said. Vil's expression fell at that. Chakwas reached over and tipped her head up to look her in the eyes.
"Wrong blood type dear. A transfusion from you would probably kill her. Has nothing to do with your status." Chakwas elaborated. Vil blushed, embarrassed at having drawn the incorrect conclusion. She nodded and continued working.
"That does remind me however, it's likely that the ship will be hosting a few more Asari as her crew will want to check on her and she'll need a blood donor. They may be aware of your condition, and if they say something I'd have to pistol whip them, then we'll have to stitch them up and we'll be here all day." Chakwas said smiling. Vil nodded gratefully.
"THEY'VE GOT KROGAN!" A Batarian trooper screamed as he desperately tried to flee from Grak who was swinging one Batarian by the ankles at group of other Batarians.
"We did give you a shotgun, Grak." Shepard said.
"Why waste perfectly good ammo on these pyjaks?" Grak asked, grinning.
"Also, six o'clock." Grak added, Shepard didn't even look she just pointed her rifle back behind her and shot, dropping a Batarian who was about to pounce from three meters behind her.
"Baxter what's your status?" Shepard asked as Baxter poked his head from underneath the main battery's control panel.
"Yeah this gun ain't shooting shit any more. The Geth are up in their OS fucking around with the firing protocols and I just fused their reload circuitry." He reported.
"Cool, get out of there I hear something I don't like. Kurg?" She asked, Kurg casually walked over with a Batarian arm hanging off his armor, its hand clasped in a death grip.
"Sounds like machines. The mechs maybe?" Kurg said.
"That's what I Was thinking. Everyone get ready, we got incoming!" She yelled just in time for a group of twenty vaguely humanoid robots stomped into the room. Shepard's squad didn't hesitate to open fire, and immediately three had been reduced to pockmarked, blackened heaps of steel and ceramic.
"Geth, what are their firewalls like?" Shepard asked.
"Shepard Commander, they are... inadequate." One of the platforms said. Suddenly its lights dimmed and the platform collapsed, at the same time two of the mechs shuddered and began firing on their compatriots.
"Check your fire we got two friendlies in there." Shepard said, and they pressed forward making quick work of them. This gave Shepard an idea. After the last mech dropped she turned to one of the Geth platforms.
"Can you guys take over the rest of the mechs?" Shepard asked.
"Negative, would need direct access to control core, Shepard Commander." It responded.
"Where's that?" She asked.
"Twenty meters that way, and one floor down." It responded.
"Baxter in your opinion is this battery secure?" Shepard asked.
"Yes Ma'am." He said.
"Alright we've got a secondary objective, let's go." She said, everyone replaced their heat sinks and followed suit. There was little resistance between the battery and the mech control core, so once they arrived they plasma cut a hole in the ground and dropped in, surprising the Batarian soldiers operating the machines.
"Boo!" Shepard shouted as they all scrambled away to find their guns, not in time however all were dead before any had fired a shot. The Geth immediately went to work installing programs directly from Rannoch via QEC. While it was at work, Shepard and Baxter were working on hacking the internal communication. They found what they were looking for and waited for confirmation from the Geth.
"We are in, Shepard Commander." The Geth unit said.
"This is Commander Shepard of the Alliance Navy. All Alliance boarding parties, check your fire. We have control of the mechs." She ordered, and chaos erupted all over the station as the mechs started mowing down what remained of the Ship's crew. Shepard smiled at her squad, looking over at Kurg.
"What next, the bridge?" She asked.
"The bridge!" he confirmed, and everyone shouted in agreement. Their way was completely unimpeded, between the other alliance squads on board and the Geth controlled mechs, all Batarians on the ship were either dead or bound, gagged and awaiting collection. Shepard ordered Kowalski, Reegar and the Geth to watch their back as she, Kurg, Grak and Baxter made their way onto the bridge. At first the bridge appeared abandoned. Kurg and Grak walked around checking under tables and in compartments but found nobody.
"I don't like this..." Kurg said.
"Me neither. Keep your eyes open." Shepard agreed, sweeping around looking for anyone.
"Kowalski, hit up their computer, see what you can find." She said, Kowalski nodded and walked over, breaking into the computer console with little effort.
"Commander, It looks like someone engaged the..." Baxter reported, whoever it was cut short as a bullet ripped through his cranium splattering his brain all over the bridge.
"BAXTER!" She screamed bringing her gun up just as an armor-clad Turian crawled out of a ventilation duct that nobody had noticed near the command console.
"Humans have such ugly names." Admiral Cavitus said, before sprinting over to Shepard and relieving her of her rifle. In a reciprocal motion, Shepard kicked his pistol out of his hand and the two squared off in unarmed combat. Cavitus attempted a punch but Shepard ducked under it in time, grabbing a hold of his arm and using his forward momentum to throw him. He crashed hard into a console but rose to his feet as though he hadn't felt it. He leapt towards Shepard and caught her in the face with a savage kick, knocking her to the ground. She got up with little effort and tried a punch but was easily blocked, he countered with a knee that hit its target but the blow was mostly absorbed by Shepard's armor. Shepard used their proximity to come down with a massive headbutt, that once again knocked him to the floor. Immediately after he hit the ground, the Krogan were on him emptying their shotguns into his chest.
"FUCK!" Shepard yelled. She took a moment to compose herself and brought up ship-wide comms.
"Alliance Personnel, we have the ship." She reported dully. She then ordered Kowalski to bring down the ships remaining weapons and drive systems.
"Shepard Commander, incoming communication from Hackett Admiral." one of the platforms from outside reported. She entered in some commands on her omnitool and forwarded the call to the Batarian bridge display.
"Commander Shepard, we just saw the dreadnought's weapons and drive go down." He said
"Yes Sir. We have control of the ship. We lost Baxter, sir." Shepard reported.
"Goddamn these Batarian bastards.. Shepard, It might ring hollow right now, but he was a damn fine marine and he will be honored and remembered." Hackett said.
"Yes, Sir." Shepard said
"Get back to your ship, Commander, we'll have a team come and finish securing the Dreadnought." Hackett said.
"Aye sir." Shepard responded.
"Damn fine work you've done again Shepard. Hackett out." He said, severing the communication.
"Geth, please destroy the mechs and then return to the consensus for now. Thank you for your help." Shepard said.
"Shepard Commander. Before we go, know that Corporal Baxter was a friend to the Geth, his memory will live on forever in the Consensus." It said before it turned and stomped off to the breacher. Shepard turned to order the rest of the crew to return to the Normandy when she saw Kowalski and Reegar standing off to the side as Grak and Kurg kneeling over Baxter's body, their hands clasped together, their heads bowed and their eyes shut. Reegar went to go console them, but shepard stopped him.
"Let the be." She said, looking at them sadly.
"Understood Commander. Are you going to be ok, ma'am?" Reegar asked.
"It never gets easier Tuuv. If it ever does you're in the wrong line of work." She said, before turning and walking away down the hall.