A/N: This chapter and the next were meant to be one chapter but it was too long (13'500 words) so it has been split. This chapter has 2 POVs, line breaks will signify when they change.
The warning chimes droned out common sense, the volume of people overwhelming me in seconds. With mum in surgery to remove the read-write device, Uncle Julian stood guard, jaw taut. Cops rushed to the bridge, prepping the ship for take-off. If this was a pure ground assault, the Starquake would take to the stars and disappear until everything calmed down. Sassy dragged me through airlock, Daemon on my back and Paladin at the hip. The stars twinkled through the haze of clouds and radiation. The warmth from the hot day already spent, the cold night air pushed through the layers of armour, Kala's visor tracking every movement. Out here, the commotion was worse; gunfire cracked the air, a Reaper's roar overpowering even that. Explosions and the shuddering ground made travel hazardous. Sassy kept a hand on my shoulder, steering me around the crowds. We kept a moderate run, my throat rasping by the time we reached our assigned location. Kala ran behind me, avoiding the stamping feet and risk tripping someone. The elevator carried us up, the platform packed. At the top, a sea of people waited to board, people behind me shoving us forward. Sassy left me, finding his spotter as His Black Widow extended out. It left me alone on top of this rock – albeit not as windy – with people shoving me left and right. A hand grabbed me from behind, snapping my head over my shoulder. Zyverion hoisted me through the crowd, his tall frame poking out over the crowd. We found an empty sniping spot, escaping the bustling crowd.
"W-What's going on?" I asked, the Daemon slipping free. Zyverion pinned his mandibles, setting himself up.
"From what I could tell, enemies dropping from everywhere," he said, omni-tool alight. A box landed with a thud beside me, ammunition overflowing. They were normal bullets, nothing special. In my armour's pouches, 10 shots of the Anti-Reaper rounds. It was all I could carry in the hurry. Sassy would have more, but who knows where he was. "Line up, we've got an active battle down there,"
The night scope snapped on, the green hue picking out heat as white. A switch would alternate through the spectrums; infrared, ultraviolet, even radio. Zyverion told me night vision, so the scope stayed on night vision. A sandbag before me didn't inspire confidence; the Daemon's kickback and anchors would rip through it. But we didn't have time, and from the vantage point, the battlefield below was alive with fire. All around Nyryntha, husks leapt towards the barricades, an army of indoctrinated servants punching through any weaknesses. The radio cried of swarms from behind, the fighters taking to the sky to deal with incoming boogies. The fires blinded my eye through the night vision, but the thick mist of Wraiths masked them from view. And the Wraith Mist was thick. It covered everyone from sight, only the biotics bubbles poked through the top. Sassy had trained me to follow Spotter's instructions; he had been my spotter during training. Zyverion crouched beside me, eyes narrow as he calculated everything. He pointed me to my target, a bulky krogan smashing through our front lines. The Daemon pivoted, making the corrections as Zyverion called them. He gave the numbers, wind speed and distance. Kala sat behind us, watching the six. Zyverion gave the go. My heart thundered, jittering with every bang. Between those thunderous beats, the trigger pulled. The Daemon launched back, slicing through the sack and tumbled sand down the abyss before me. The krogan dropped, the left side of his upper body gone. Our forces refortified as another krogan rushed them, but another sniper took him out.
As our fighters organised, the chaos lessened, our forces now in position and dealing the damage. Fighters swarmed over the sky, their shells landing around and on the Reaper in droves. This was a Reaper strike; husks from Nyryntha rushed our lines in numbers not seen since her capture, more dropped from fighters, shuttles and frigates of indoctrinated servants, armed soldiers dropped with the husks, enemy frigates tore part of our attention away by aiming for our outermost defences. They surrounded us on the outside and inside. The sniper beside me dropped, tumbling down the edge with his head and upper torso missing. The Reavers were working. Zyverion dropped to his belly, cursing as we sought cover. We had the high ground but they had more powerful snipers. Well, unless you excluded the Daemon. A fighter swung around to shoot at our sniper position, releasing a round before a friendly shuttle slammed into and the two careened towards the ground. Our men leapt out and used jump jets to land. My heart crashed against my ribs, eyes trained down the sight. Zyverion lined me up with another target. Through the thick mist, my eyes only caught glimpses. A salarian pushed through the mist. He didn't run, didn't hurry, he strolled through without a care. His eyes raised, catching mine in the mist. My heart stopped. The salarian smiled. My finger pressed the ear piece until it threatened to punch through my eardrum.
"Saboteur on scene!" I screamed. "Sitoln Noverok, Mental Assault!"
"He's running!" Zyverion warned.
I knew who he wanted, I knew and it sent adrenaline running through me. The Daemon ripped free from the anchor, Zyverion gawked. But Zyverion was right; he was running. Reaper plates covered him head to toe, huge rams forming on his arms as he hurled people out of his war path. Cables whipped and ripped. Bullets bounced off him, but his focus never changed. There was no time to change ammo and line up a shot, not at the rate he was running at. He would be too close to the pillar. With Daemon in my arms, my legs kicked me up, running towards the centre of the rock. Zyverion was a heartbeat behind me, Kala behind him.
"W-What's going on?" He asked, my eyes on the elevator, the only way down.
"He's after me, dammit he's after me!" I said. "Sassy!" I screamed, seeking the salarian.
The organisation of the rock deteriorated as people caught wind the Saboteur was coming for us. People grabbed close combat weapons, sprinting everywhere. A second cry for the salarian died in my throat as screams rang from the snipers. All I saw was 4 pairs of legs disappear over the edge before the cables threw Sitoln over the edge. Those cables pounded three more into the rock, crushing their skulls as he landed. His eyes landed on me, a cold smile growing. No bullet punched through the armour; the only thing that could was the Daemon and the Anti-Reaper rounds, but Sitoln had learned his lesson from our earlier encounters. He charged, not bothering to stand and chat. Kala shoved me to the side, taking the full brunt of the assault. My back crashed into the ground, Daemon primed in my arms as Sitoln turned. He was inches from the Daemon's barrel when it fired. The force sent him flying, but his armour only dented. It gave me enough time to scramble back onto my feet. The elevator would take too long and this rock pillar wasn't big enough to lose him on. Zyverion grabbed me, sprinting towards the edge as Sitoln regained balance. A scream clogged my throat as Zyverion leapt over the abyss. My stomach joined the scream in my throat as we fell, dropping towards the growing blue mist.
Zyverion's jump jets thrust hard, just metres from the bottom. It took the sting from the landing, but we still crumpled on the ground, smothered in the mist. The scream in my throat wheezed out as the impact stole what little air remained. Yells echoing through the mist like ghosts, chilling my nerves, trembling as my feet pushed me off the dust laden ground. We couldn't see more than 2 metres around us. The Daemon hoisted back into my arms as Zyverion grabbed me and hurled me into a sprint. Sitoln crashed into the ground behind me, the earth shuddering. Zyverion's tall frame gave my sole guiding post through the mist, sweeping over my head. A Husk reared from the blue fog, hands grappling for my throat. Before a panicked scream sounded, a pistol blew an ear drum out, the Husk's head exploding. Zyverion reloaded the pistol, dragging me back into a mad sprint through the freezing night. The Daemon was useless here, even with a Saboteur in hot pursuit. It snapped together, slipping into the holster before Mum's Paladin folded out in my hands. The orange haze of Incendiary ammo stained the thick fog purple.
A Hunter leapt at Zyverion. He ducked, a squeak of surprise sounding as he stumbled for footing, leaping over a krogan thrashing under an Abomination. It erupted in fiery blood seconds later. A Quake from a Scion thundered a second behind me, shields cracking under the force. The scream of a Praetorian drained my blood, a fireball bursting through the fog soon after. The beast whined in complaint, the blue beam punching through the darkness before us. A drell sprinted past us, a Hunter close behind. The peel of a bullet skimming overhead from a Reaver worsened the panic. My shields trembled with each bullet and close call. A Saboteur cable slammed into the ground behind me, missing me by hairs. The Paladin thundered behind me, bullets pinging off something hard. A krogan roared, charging through the mist towards us. We side stepped, avoiding being crushed by a second before pressing on with our mad run even as a robotic snarl sounded behind us and wet, sloppy sounds followed.
We dived around three corpses, friend or foe, as a metal wall loomed up before us. A shuttle, the engines humming but was empty. It looked like it could fly, despite the strange whine from the starboard thruster. Zyverion leapt inside, diving into the controls. The shuttle lifted seconds after I leapt up, spinning around. The Paladin snapped to my hip, Daemon back out. Climbing from the mist, Sitoln launched up, cables reaching. The Daemon fired, not bothering with the scope at this range. The power shoved Sitoln back towards the ground, his frozen glare quivering my soul even as the kickback threw me deeper into the shuttle. Now if only that had been an Anti-Reaper round! Zyverion pulled free from the mist while a heatsink slid into the chamber, the lights decorating the flank of the Daemon in blacklight. The shuttle swayed, banking hard to starboard as a rocket flew past. The shuttle flew on its side, my hand grabbed a dangling support above my head as feet dangled above the drop to the starboard door. Zyverion cursed, but coaxed the shuttle into a steep turn to find somewhere to shoot from and not get our faces mauled.
The battlefield looked worse from the sky. The area around Nyryntha was a haze of blue and explosions. Fire and smoke poked above, but even with the thermal vision scope, the fires froze beneath the fog. Reavers would have no problem seeing through the mist, our snipers wouldn't be so lucky. Nyryntha writhed under the chains, the highest parts of her body mounds piercing the fog. The area near the docks was ablaze with fire and explosions, the sniper points overrun by Husks and Hunters. The radios droned with chatter, impossible to hear a word of sense from anyone. Biotic quakes rippled through the mist, revealing a fraction of the Reaper army. The sky burned with shells, smashing through anything in their path. The Corvus twirled through the air, a fire burning on the port wing. A fireball ignited above us, the remnants of an enemy frigate tumbling towards the ground. Zyverion swerved wide, flaming fuel slapping the roof of the shuttle. The smell of burning kerosene burned my nose hairs. The landing resulted in another explosion, the shuttle bouncing up from the force. Before we could get stable, a high pitched whistle punched through the shuttle's drive core. The power died, the shuttle waggling for a few seconds before belly flopping through the air. Oh great… my second shuttle crash. And this time I didn't have a harness. Zyverion lost control, the shuttle smashing tail first into a cliff.
Before we hit the ground, we smashed into something, bouncing us away from our initial impact zone. My hands released the loop dangling from the ceiling to grab the chair and cling on. The shuttle slammed on its back, riding up the cliff until my grip failed and the dirt ground smashed into my face. Not hard, mind you, but enough to make my head spin. Zyverion struggled out the cockpit, shoving the windows out as the escape route jammed. He coughed as smoke whipped around, the freezing mist failing to abate the growing fire. Flames burned through the mist, lost in a purple fog. Zyverion shambled over, hoisting me onto my feet. This time, the Daemon stayed in my grip. We drew pistols, weaving around the pockets of flame at a brisk jog. My coarse throat ached, begging for an end.
A salarian flew in our direction. We squealed and ducked, eating dirt as a biotic quake shattered by. The Quake coaxed the mist back, enough to see mechs crumpling to the ground and Diri dancing around a huge krogan, her teeth grit and brows drawn down. The krogan, towering 2 heads taller than Raisha, smashed the ground near Indira as a FENRIS mech charged. A cable whipped out from the beast, smashing it to pieces. People shambled to the feet, shaking their heads as their senses cleared. The krogan was a Saboteur. Seconds later, my sight blurred, almost blackened. A LOKI mech snapped it back with the bug bites from the pistol. Zyverion gawked, quivering beside me as Indira hurled a singularity towards the krogan. Cables slammed into the ground, holding the krogan still. An opportunity. The Daemon pulled free, the blacklight decoration glowing. Zyverion, noting my plan, grabbed a piece of wreckage, a broken 100mm wide pipe, before jamming it into the ground behind the anchors. He pushed it as deep as the hard ground allowed, forcing his weight over it to keep it in place.
The Daemon fired, the huge bang pulling both Diri and the Saboteur's attention. The anchors dug, jerking Zyverion back as the pipe shifted. Half a second later, through the mist, Sitoln appeared, eyes glowing with anger. The bullet slammed into the blue-crested krogan, hurling him off his feet and ripping his anchors clean off. It nailed him in the chest. Diri caught sight of the salarian Saboteur, throwing a quake in his direction. The krogan stumbled to his feet, a fierce snarl on his face. Zyverion shoved the Daemon forward, releasing the anchor holds. Just in time to move before the krogan charged. We split, leaping in different directions through the flames. It would take a minute to take effect, a minute we may not have. The krogan charged after me, but a rocket launcher masked his view, enough for me to sprint away. Sitoln fought around Diri, the drell throwing biotic attack after biotic attack towards him. Zyverion fired his pistol, knowing it would do little. Sitoln snarled, face twisting. The krogan charged again, but in the final few steps before contact he stumbled. A smirk lit my lips, reloading the Daemon with a new round. A robotic flurry of sound rumbled free, the krogan shambling as the cables twitched.
Sitoln stared, Diri forgotten as he watched the krogan tumble to one knee, sparks leaping from the hole in the chest. His eyes trailed to me and the Daemon as my hand tightened on the barrel. He understood. The Daemon fired, but Sitoln moved, the bullet slamming into a raised plate on his arm. In an instant, the piece tumbled free, exposing his arm as new plate formed. My teeth grit, now arse in the dirt from the kickback force with the third round snapping into the chamber. Diri stole Sitoln's attention with another singularity, but his eyes drifted back to me and the Daemon. Another shot lined up, Zyverion stumbling to my side with pistol drawn and ready. He snarled, backing away into the mists. Shit, now our secret weapon was out. Zyverion pulled me back onto my feet as Diri sprinted for krogan Saboteur.
"Get out of here!" she yelled. "They're not the only Saboteurs here!" My blood froze. More Saboteurs?
"Stay safe!" I called, sprinting through a path in the flames. Zyverion followed, eyes flicking over his shoulder as Diri launched onto the krogan's back.
The remnants of a barrier poked through the fog, our men hauling what remnants of wreckage they could salvage to block the holes. Guns flew to their eyes as we stumbled towards them, but my smaller size and the Daemon stood out. The weapons lowered, hands back to yanking metal across the breeches. They yelled something about trouble by the docks. Zyverion and I shared a look, a silent agreement. The Daemon slid back onto my back, Paladin back in my hands. This close to the front line between us and Nyryntha, people squeezed together. We ducked, dodged, weaved and leapt over the bodies around us. Husks screamed, launching from the fog. Indoctrinated servants fell from the sky, guns blazing even as their shuttle burned above their heads. A bullet slammed into the back of Zyverion's knee. He stumbled, but his shields took the brunt. The Paladin swung around, firing at the asari who charged behind us. She faltered long enough to have a turian shoulder her to the ground with an omni-blade.
Closer to the docks, burning tarps that once protected us from the sun highlighted the path to the ships. Not that it was necessary, the whole thing was burning. To make matters worse, enemies assaulting our backs pressed closer, their bullets flying through the smoke. Our helmets sealed, the oxygen generators kickstarting to help us breathe through the black haze. The heat from the dock drove us back, circling around to find safety elsewhere. The Paladin reloaded another clip, the empty heat sink forgotten on the ground. Despite all the clips I packed, there wasn't much left. We needed to find an ammo depot, but in this smoke and chaos, there was no guarantee would find one. The Daemon had 8 shots of Anti-Reaper left, one already in the chamber and it required an entire heat sink to fire one shot. No, the Daemon was too costly just now. Mum's Paladin burned through ammo too, which didn't help. We sprinted up an embankment, my head flying over my shoulder. Through the flames, one ship burned, trapped in dock. It wasn't the Starquake, she was gone. She must've gotten airborne.
Before my shoulders could sag, Zyverion cried out, dragging my attention back. Sitoln pounced through the darkness, cables primed and aimed for me. Zyverion kicked himself forward, shouldering the Saboteur off his attack path. Sitoln snarled, grabbed him by the throat as they crashed into the ground. The Paladin snapped back, Daemon freeing itself. Before it could full extend, a Hunter screeched, leaping onto my back. The scythe dragged down my right arm, pain splintering my vision and my hold on the Daemon released. It was too heavy to hold with one hand. It tumbled to the ground. My left hand, my weak hand, grabbed a blade from the back of my boot as the scythe raised. The blade swung back, catching the metal plate on the torso. Cables ripped free, cut clean like warm butter. The beast screeched, tumbling back, stammering for balance. Before the blade could land back in the sheath, a cable snapped around my good arm, hauling me off my feet to crash into the ground, blade ripped from my grip. My right arm twitched, desperate to find feeling but nothing. Sitoln charged, raising an armoured fist to crush my skull.
My old blade twirled through the air, slicing through the cable around my arm. Sitoln twirled, catching sight of Marruns before the turian slammed into him, omni-blade glowing. Sitoln snarled, the pair tumbling apart on the ground. Sitoln lurched forward, a blade sticking out of his shoulder. He twirled around, Sassy jumping over the corpse of a Scion, shotgun in hand. Marruns leapt forward for the blade, but Sitoln whipped around and smashed a cable into him, taking him off his feet. My head shook, my left shoulder aching, right arm nigh on useless. With difficulty and pain, my knees kicked me off onto shaken feet. From the corner of my eye, Zyverion crawled towards the Daemon, blue blood trickling down his face. Marruns and Sassy held Sitoln's attention, even if he followed me with his eyes walking around the fight to join Zyverion. He grunted as he pulled the gun onto its anchors.
"You can't fire it," I wheezed, dropping to one knee beside him.
"I can," he said through grit teeth. His hand reached up and yanked me onto my belly. Pain shot up my arm until my eyes stung. He dragged my right index finger over the trigger. He adjusted the scope. "Get another heatsink ready, just in case," he said.
Half pinned under the turian, my left arm snaked back to the pockets, dragging another Anti-Reaper round free. Zyverion lined up a shot through the fight, teeth grit hard as he waited. My arm burned, fingers twitching in response. Sassy and Marruns flew back from the Saboteur, a flurry of cables forcing them away. Zyverion's eyes tightened. His finger pressed mine deeper into the trigger. It clicked, bullet flying from the barrel. Sitoln raised an arm, kicking back from his current position. The bullet crashed into his armour, once more dumped on the ground with a robotic snarl. He stopped his charge, noticing something behind us. The ground rumbled, my stomach dropping. My head wheeled around behind us as a roar screeched out, a thousand voices thundering. A swarm of krogan rattled down the mound, weapons cutting through any husks who stood in their way. A silver crested krogan, brilliant blue eyes gleaming with battle lust, lead the assault. Sitoln snarled, backing away until the smoke took him. Sassy and Marruns rushed back to us, grabbing us off the ground and sprinting for cover. The krogan stampeded past, the screeches of husks cutting short as they died. The stampede thundered for a full minute, rugged tanks crushing everything in their way. Friendly forces ducked out of the way, running for cover as the krogan charged. Enemy indoctrinated servants screamed and charged against the krogan. They tumbled by the hundreds. Behind the krogan, a fresh swarm of soldiers rushed down; the outer most defence teams. They must have the outside controlled now. We stayed ducked behind our fragile cover, listening to the slaughter. A soldier leapt around the cover, gun primed. Sassy punched the gun out of the human's hand.
"We're friend, you fool," he snarled. The human trembled, looking around our group. Sassy grabbed the gun off the ground, shoving it into his hands. "I am Commander Mat'al Delern of the Starquake. Get out there and make yourself useful!"
"S-Sir, yes sir!" he stammered, sprinting towards the fight. Sassy sighed, watching the haze of people sprint past.
"We'll buckle down here until the area is clear," he said.
"Fine by me," Marruns grunted, checking Zyverion's hips. "Damn lucky he didn't break one of these,"
"I-It was a good idea at the time," Zyverion said, teeth grit through the pain. Marruns moaned, shaking his head.
"And this is why kids shouldn't be on bloody battlefields," he rumbled.
"Agreed," Sassy said, clipping my armour free to check my arm. My eyes trailed over the scene, the rising smoke and blinding flames burning into my memory.
All I saw was Gideon's spotter grabbing the boy and leaping for the edge. My heart stilled, Black Widow heavy in my arms as the screams around me deafened me. Sitoln hurled people away, eyes on the boy as he charged for the edge. My jaw clenched, Widow straightening in my grip. A bullet flew, crashing into Sitoln's left hip. The Saboteur snarled, twisting to catch me through the mass of bodies. His eyes glowed, anger bubbling. A cable flew out towards me, to shove me off the edge just a metre behind me. Instinct threw me down, my spotter wasn't so lucky. The quarrian screeched, flailing over the edge as panic set in. Sitoln disappeared as the crowd towered above me, gone over the edge before I could stand once more. Sitoln gunned after Gideon, Wheel forgive, I had to-
"Commander, we've got incoming husks!" a voice called in my ear.
"Hold them off! Switch to short ranged weapons!" I called back, shoving my way through the crowd to the edge.
Even with the scope, Gideon and his spotter disappeared into the mists. Wheel knows where they went. My grip on the Widow tightened, worry sliding through the cold exterior. A scream behind me snapped me back to the battle, the Widow collapsing and sliding back onto my back. The shotgun snapped free. Hunters crawled up the vertical rock face, slicing through people's armour and hurling them off the edge. Even with jump jets, activing them while tumbling through the air would either save your life or kill you faster. People sprinted for the edge, the rock face overrun in seconds. No shotgun could gut so many Hunters at once. My order cried out, evacing the area. We lost the sniper post before the battle had kicked into full swing, the order to abandon the post died along with the rest of the panicked messages flying on the frequencies. My feet pushed me over the edge, shotgun firing down as a Hunter rushed up to meet me. It fell, others crawling up to replace them. Some leapt to follow us, making a precarious shootout even worse as those below shot up to kill Hunters above them and people shot down to the Hunters aiming for those lower down. The ground proximity warning blared, the jump jets pushing back against the ground to slow the descent.
The mist screamed with death and war, the pops of guns and explosions from mounted cannons and rocket launchers adding to the disorientation. Gideon stumbled through this, somewhere. I knew I should have pushed to pair him with a more experienced soldier! But no, 'captain knows best'. Damn that turian! A Praetorian emerged from the mist, a blue beam electrifying the air. My shields shattered even after sprinting away, a voice screamed behind me. The Praetorian's cries faded with distanced, but indoctrinated servants jumped out, raving and armed. A turian dropped with a shotgun to the head, a salarian tumbled to the ground before flying from a Throw. The cry of a thousand husks echoed around me, worsening the adrenaline flowing through me. There was no way I would find Gideon is all of this. Unlike Gideon, however, I had memorised the layout of everything knowing full well Wraiths would flood the area. A fighter smashed into the ground before me, the fireball blinding me, ezzo tingling my skin. Weaving around the fire and flying wreckage, a turian soldier grabbed me, bleeding from a large wound to the head.
"Commander, you gotta get to the Central Air defence systems!" he wheezed.
"What's going on?" I asked, ducking from a high pitched whistle. Damn Reavers.
"Saboteur! I-It's Tech Incap, it's taking everything out! We can't get the frigates out until we get those cannons online, the sky is too hot! The docks are burning!" he cried over the noise. My stomach twisted. Dell.
"Understood, get to safety and find a place to give cover fire!" I ordered, pressing deeper into the mists.
Central Air Defences was an area located to the south east of the battle field, hidden beneath the rocks. From its underground location, the area acted as a control space for the air defence cannons. With a Tech Incap Saboteur even near the area, they couldn't coordinate the systems, leaving everything up to the manual controllers. Assuming husks hadn't overwhelmed those areas either, another reason the automation was so vital. The mist thickened, if that were possible, the closer you came to the area. Fighting intensified, the wreckage of an enemy frigate acting as a large shooting platform. The frigate, ruptured into 4 pieces, lay strewn, parts still burning. A Scion lumbered through a gap, an asari hurling it off its feet and into a flaming hole in the hull. Eyes swivelled as they spotted me, shotgun erupting an Abomination before it launched towards an armoured elcor.
"What's the situation, where's the Saboteur?" I asked.
"Frustrated, inside the building. We are trying to slow the husks pouring inside, but the mist and smoke is making it difficult," he said. Great, just what we needed.
"Keep trying, I need to get to that Saboteur," I said.
"We'll back you up, Commander," a quarian cried, ducking from a Reaver bullet.
The soldiers around me rallied, focusing fire to clear a path through the noise and rabble. Husks tumbled, Hunters screeched, a Praetorian exploded, a Scion collapsed. No matter the foe we pressed on through the mist and smoke. Burning ezzo stank, like burnt rubber as it crackled along the skins of the biotics. A Reaver bullet felled the elcor in our charge to the building, the creature roaring as an asari opened fire with a Mattock. An indoctrinated krogan rushed us, looming from the mists. He crashed into a rocket, fired by a pissed off human. The doorway to the building poked through the smokescreen, but the interior help us apart from protection from falling shells. The Tech Incap Saboteur knocked the power out, leaving us in the dark without the multiple fires to guide our way. Torchlight failed to burn through the blue mist swirling about our heads before they too died. Our omni-tools useless, dying as we got close. The guns slipped away, some still held mechanical backups, loading them as the rest pulled out blades. Hunters chattered in the halls, the sounds of the war raging behind us fading. And eerie silence took over, only the rustle of husks in the dark. Someone dragged out a lighter, throwing it forward with the naked flame. The angry face of a Praetorian greeted us.
We scattered in seconds, diving down hallways as the creature screeched. The blue beam provided enough light to see a Hunter launching through the mist towards me. The blade sliced it across the torso. Down the hall, a swarm of husks tore after us, escaping a small room unnoticed. My eyes adjusted to the gloom, but without a single light source, it was too hard to see. We burst into a room, forcing the door closed to keep the husks away. A krogan, female turian, asari and male human huddled around me. The human grabbed my shoulder, turning me around to face the room. A single light burned, blinding my night-adjusted sight. The turian hurled her blunt blade, jamming it in something. The lights flickered, an angry click filling the air. With the lights returning, a red geth stared us down. A large, Geth Prime with black and light grey parts decorating his joints. Well, at least we know what the Saboteur was.
The lights died again, plunging us into darkness. To make matters worse, the Saboteur twitched off the light, stealing our target. The asari beside me gurgled. The krogan roared and charged. Seconds later, a loud clang sounded, the lights flicking once more. The krogan drew a large hammer, smashing it against the Saboteur as dark, Reaper armour covered the vulnerable joints. The asari wheezed, biotic sparks dancing along her body. All the while, the human and turian aimed their mechanical weapons, the guns popping louder than any modern gun. The Saboteur clicked, a Reaper like growl emerging as the lights flickered, but the krogan smashed him once more. My hand dropped to my pocket, drawing out a blacklight coloured topped heatsink. With heatsink in hand and blade in the other, I joined the flurry. With the Saboteur distracted by both mechanical guns and the krogan, the asari slid a lighter from her pocket. It seemed to be standard equipment for Julian's crew. She sprinted to the far end of the room, igniting office chairs. Ah ha, so that's why. The lights flickered off again, but the fires gave enough light to see our target, much to the Saboteur's displeasure.
The creature swung an arm out, a mass of metal on its arm as the krogan flew back. It flinched as a bullet crashed into the flashlight head, growling. The krogan clambered back up, smirk on his face as he raised the hammer and charged again. The Saboteur swung for me, my lithe frame leaping out the way. An opportunity struck, the heatsink flew as the hammer fell. The pair connected, the heatsink smashing into the back of the Saboteur. The heatsink erupted, a blinding flash of light that sent the krogan stumbling back with a hand over his eyes. A squeal filled the air, the Saboteur whipping around to face the krogan. My feet kicked me up, the blade slicing into the back, finding space between the plates. The Saboteur spun, hurling me off. My back slammed into a bank of computers, pain radiating up. My lungs wheezed winded. The Saboteur clicked, cables reaching for my neck. The krogan slammed his broad shoulder into the Saboteur, giving me time to limp off the computer and compose myself. Damn, these old bones wouldn't hold much longer. My head shook, clearing it before focusing on the Saboteur. The heatsink worked its magic, just as Gideon said an exploding heatsink did at close range. The Saboteur stuttered, the cables twitching as it fought to control them. Satisfied, the asari leapt in, blades drawn. Her blades weren't as sharp as ours, she struggled to use her bodyweight to cut through the cables and machinery holding the spine in place. The Saboteur staggered, a wild beast losing its fight. The asari grabbed my belt, holding me when I joined her on the back, grabbing my blade still jammed in place. My blade sliced clean through, metal plates falling off and clattering on the floor. The krogan's massive hands grabbed the spine, pulling hard. Even now, the sharpness of the blade fascinated me, cutting through the connection to the head with ease, slicing down the left side. The Saboteur flailed, tumbling to the ground as the spine sparked. With one final slice and pull, the spine snapped free, hurling the krogan flat on his ass. The power surged, computer screens flaring to life once more. The human grabbed a fire extinguisher, dealing with the temporary fires in the room. Radios crackled back to life, the cannons booming overhead.
"Air Defence systems back online," I said, panting. The fallen geth twitched, but it resulted from the ammo's EMP detonations, not from conscious movements. "Get crews back in here and hold this place. The Tech Incap won't hold us back now,"
"Aye, aye, Commander," the asari wheezed, stumbling to the controls to resync the systems. The screams of husks dwindled as the teams rushed back in, their weapons and powers restored. Now the frigates could escape the burning docks. I hope it wasn't too late…
"I need to get back out there. Hold this place with your lives. We lose this place again and we lose this fight!" I ordered.
The 'aye, ayes' cried but I paid no heed, my feet already out the door with the shotgun back. The blade that killed the Saboteur was dull and thus useless. Another long blade satin my right leg and shorter ones on my upper arms, but still, to be any weapons down unsettled me. The Praetorian cried, but the creature lay on its side with a hail of bullets pummelling it. It exploded just as the doors closed behind me, leaving me under the mist and smoke once more. The chaos around me seemed more organised now, or maybe that was the fire giving light to the area. Fighters squealed overhead, the lower hum of frigates roaring past a welcome sound. The wrecked frigate soon faded into the fog, pushing deeper into the battlefield in some feigned hope of discovering the boy alive. In the radio chaos, he would never hear me. Did Kala even still have a link to him? The mech was still on top of the rock as far as I knew. Biotic shields caught my attention, the shrill of Indira's voice hailing through the fog. It drew me closer. The drell limped behind the shield; using her biotics to buffer a weakening biotic until fresher blood stepped in. Red blood coated her head to foot. She spotted my approach, noting the layer of oil coating my armour.
"Mat'al," she wheezed, throat parched.
"What the hell happened, are you hurt?" I asked.
"Fine, fine, it's mostly his blood," she nodded her head to the form of a fallen krogan. A spine lay tucked behind a folded and battered barrier "My nerves are still tingling,"
"Saboteur?" I asked. She nodded. The biotic squads released a synchronised quake, the Wraith mist parting over a large area for a time. Snipers above our heads fired, Wraiths and Reavers falling first before the mist swallowed them again.
"Sensory Overload. Damn near killed me had Gideon not come along," she said.
"He was here? Where is he?" I asked, heart thundering. She raised her hand, pointing towards the dock.
"He and his spotter went that way. Mat'al, there's other Saboteurs here-" she said.
"I know, I just killed one," I grunted.
"Sitoln's back-" she said.
"I know, he tried to shove me off the sniper point," I said with grit teeth.
"The entire dock is on fire, we've lost complete control over it. Sitoln went after Gid, he won't survive over there, we don't have any forces over there!" Indira snapped, brows dropped low over her face. My mouth opened, but paused. Ok, I didn't know that one.
"I'll grab him," I said, running towards the docks.
"Releeva is sending backup! She sent people to rally the krogan!" Indira called after me. My hand raised, not caring if she saw it before the mists took me.
It wasn't hard to find the docks, just find the massive fire. Husks ran rampant in the area, few friendly forces daring to traverse so close to the intense flames. Fuel storage erupted, ground and air trembling from the explosions. The shotgun tore a chunk out of a Husk, ducking to avoid the swipe from a Hunter and sprinting forward to dodge the quake from a Scion. Burning husks tore through the area, leaping at anyone close before the fire destroyed them. Smoke ran thick, worse than any Wraith smokescreen. Another quake thundered by, pushing the mist away enough to spot a white gun gleaming in the distance. The Daemon. The shotgun roared in my hands, sprinting towards the white gun even as the smoke smothered it once more. A screech was my only warning. A Hunter leapt at me, scythes missing by hairs. It took me to the ground, scythes raised overhead. It flew back, landing hard on the ground. Hands grabbed me, hoisting me up. Marruns grunted.
"Delern-" he said, raising the sniper in his hands to blast another Husk away.
"Gideon's that way!" I snapped. Marruns pinned his mandibles. "Sitoln's after him!"
"Oh good, I needed round three with the fucker!" Marruns snarled, sprinting ahead of me.
The mound to the west of the dock held the shuttle docks, albeit hard to see in this smoke. Indoctrinated servants charged, mindless with their master's orders ringing in their heads. Marruns sprinted on ahead, less winded than I after a Saboteur fight. Marruns felled a Scion before charging, gun slipping away. All I saw before the top of the mound took him from sight was him bending down to grab something. By the time I entered the scene, Gideon lay on the ground, wounded and dazed with a cable slipping off his arm, his spotter crawling towards the fallen Daemon. Marruns charged into Sitoln, the pair tumbling to the ground as the turian tried to stab the Saboteur with an omni-blade. Sitoln's armour deflected the blow, rolling back onto his feet as Marruns stepped back up seconds later. The last blade in my legs slid free, flying towards the distracted Saboteur. It slammed into his left shoulder, Sitoln's molten glare finding me a second later. Marruns dived for the blade but Sitoln turned, keeping the weapon from his grip and forcing him away, a large cable hurling the turian across the dirt.
The shotgun slipped free, firing at the Saboteur. Sitoln raised his arms, large plates acting as shields protecting him from my attempt. A cable shot out, forcing me to dodge. Another grabbed me, the shotgun tumbling from my grip. Marruns leapt back into action, his own blades glinting the amber hue. Sitoln kicked out, Marruns side stepping as the blade caught Sitoln in the left shoulder. It hit plate under the gap and couldn't dig deeper. The shorter blades slid free, leaping at the Saboteur. He shoved us both back, giving him breathing space. Before he could launch his attack though, a huge bang erupted. Sitoln side stepped, a bullet slamming into the shield around his arm. The metal ejected from the Saboteur, tumbling to the ground. His attention found Gideon and his spotter, lying on the ground with the Daemon primed. The turian slid a new heatsink in. He looked ready to charge, but eyes turned up, further up the mound to the shuttle docks.
Indira mentioned Releeva rallying help. It seems the thought of a good fight on home turf dragged every krogan this side of the planet here. The krogan roared, a stampede of ground shattering battle lust. Sitoln snarled, realising he was outgunned, alone and with Gid and the Daemon here. He turned and disappeared into the smoke. My attention returned to Gideon, gawking at the landslide of death running towards us. My teeth grit, covering the distance in seconds to pluck him off the ground. Marruns snatched up his spotter, the boy yelping and hanging onto the Daemon as we ran for cover, activing our friend beacons. An old barrier used to stop the slope collapsing acted as a shield as the krogan thundered past, dust adding to the smoke and mist thick in the air. The radio hail from Releeva came through; the outer defences were secure, the Reaper forces were falling back. Members from the exterior force charged inwards, looking to help support us here. The krogan ignored us, spotting the green beacons blinking on the ground around us. But not everyone was as keened eyed. A trigger happy human dropped from above, giving Gideon a heart attack. He floundered as his gun tumbled out of his hand, frozen by glare.
"We're friend you fool," I said, struggling to lift my teeth apart. The human paled, noticing the beacons. Dammit, he would get shot by me in a few minutes if he didn't get lost. My hand grabbed his gun, shoving it against him. "I am Commander Mat'al Delern of the Starquake. Get out of here and make yourself useful!"
"S-Sir, yes sir!" he cried, disappearing down the slope. With luck, he'd get shot in the ass. Gideon and his spotter gawked.
"We'll buckle down here until the area is clear," I said, dropping to one knee beside Gideon. He didn't complain as my hands reached for the armour on his right arm, red blood trickling down.
"Fine by me," Marruns grunted, checking the younger turian's hip. "Damn lucky he didn't break one of these," the young turian raised a sore smile.
"I-It was a good idea at the time," he said, gritting his teeth as pain took him. Oh great, another one who acted before he though, just what Gideon needed.
"And this is why kids shouldn't be on bloody battlefields," Marruns groaned.
"Agreed," I said, rolling back the under armour to study the skin. A long gash ran from wrist to shoulder, a Hunter attack. My eyes narrowed, applying medi-gel to the area and grabbing a combat bandage to stop the bleeding. Gideon didn't complain, he watched the dock burn, left arm holding the Daemon folded on the ground. A harsh breath rushed through my nose. No child should have to see this. Yet here he was. Yet another reason to hate the Reapers and myself for allowing this. We had to wait for the fighting to calm down before someone made an evac point. We'd also need a new dock. Preferably one not so easily burned.
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