Osh has been shot up more than a dozen times, ran over nine times, once by an up-armoured vehicle, stabbed a half dozen, blown up twice, and spaced once much to her annoyance, yet these sensations are barely a scratch on all those other times. Her tongue is dryer than the Sahara, her limbs feel nonresponsive, and everything feels bruised.
The closest she can compare is when she had numerous injections as a young child to incorporate genetic enhancements. Thinking about it, she was sick a lot back then; the drugs were horrific and would give her a hellish fever, make her vomit relentlessly, and everything hurt - from breathing too deep to laying on her back as her body grew at unnatural rates. For Osh, the treatments miraculously worked, but for many of her comrades, the concoctions pumped into their veins in Earth's relentless pursuit of super soldiers would see them buried 6 feet under or left with debilitating lifelong disabilities.
So, what is causing this discomfort now? More surgeries and genetic enhancements? No, she is too old for them to be accepted. Hit by a bus? No, definitely not that. Spaced again? No, that hurts the eyes and respiratory system the most, whereas everything just hurts equally. And why can she barely move her neck?
Slowly, as she concentrates, a few flickers of a conflict enter her mind, so she is fighting someone, but who? Blurry orange figures, a very clear Turian, but who she could not guess. So where is she now? Is she lying on her back in the middle of a battlefield, bleeding out somewhere? It would not be the first time. At the thought of being on a battlefield and bleeding out, she attempts to sit up, but the attempt is for nought. Her body moves upwards slightly, more than a jerk than anything, but her neck lulls back, the strength in it gone. Opening her eyes at the thought of being on a battlefield and bleeding out, she attempts to sit up again, but the attempt once more is for nought.
"Osh, breathe deep." A voice tells her, Pethio's voice tells her. Hearing her voice, Osh takes a deep, calming breath and forces her eyes to look around for Tevos, but it takes them a second to focus. Then, she sees Tevos sitting on the bed beside her, a hand gently resting on her shoulder and a thumb making small circles. She can also see she is on a medical bed, with numerous medical apparatus surrounding her. The roof does not cry hospital; it lacks the blinding lights, and the air lacks the distinct chemical smell one associates with clinics.
If Tevos is there, then things can't be too bad. Relaxing her muscles, she accepts she is safe for now. Moving onto herself, other than the numbness, her tongue is desert parched and feels way too large for her mouth. Her natural instinct to slam back water can only kick in. "Wa-er." It is a croak at best.
Tevos as if anticipating this requests reaches for something just out of eye reach and then brings over a glass and only gives Osh a small amount before taking it away. Still, despite the small sip, the water feels glorious, especially that cold feeling as it slithers its way down her sore throat. She recognises the pain in her throat well enough, she has had a breathing tube for some time.
"Wh-wh-what..." What is the next word she wants to say? It is on the tip of her tongue, but she can't think of it. She knows what she wants to ask, the meaning behind it, but not the word itself. Not in her mother tongue, or English, or... she knows Upper Lillith? An uncommon Asari language, and even Asari galactic, "I do?" She manages to stutter out in Lillith as it's most easy on the throat. The word is not right, but it gets her question across.
Tevos does not immediately address the question, instead she skirts around it by taking a small white block into her hand, the block is attached to the bed via cable, "Do you want to raise the bed so you are sitting up?"
In truth, Osh is grateful of the idea, as there is no way, with her body feeling the way it does she could sit up unassisted right now, so she meekly nods. The bed's movements are slow, and she hates how worthless she feels, but there is nothing she can do but wait for the bed to raise and hope her body returns to normal soon. When she is sat up at a 60-degree angle, Tevos places control of the bed's movement on the bed next to her right hand, but Osh can only look at it strangely as she tries to reach out for it and take it into her grasp. Her entire right side feels like it is out of her control. She can make small movements, but nothing large or precise. It feels like she has been lying on her arm for the past week and it has gone all floppy.
Tevos looks like she is confirming something before speaking, "You have suffered from two sizeable strokes. Your movements are going to be limited for a small while."
"Who..." Osh says before frowning, that word isn't the right one, "What..." Nor is that the right word. She must be on hellish drugs as she can barely think.
Tevos guesses what Osh wants to ask, 'How?' "Can you remember the Citadel Tower?" She asks, and from Osh's blank stare, Tevos gets her answer, "You fell at the Tower, we have since been trying to help you."
A stroke. It would figure, struggling to find words, holes in some memory, and difficulty controlling the right side of her body. In fact, where is Freya? Don't say she has also lost the connection to her AI again. "Freya?" Osh asks with haste. The sound of 'Freya' comes out distorted, almost like half her face struggled to make the lip movement. She starts to notice more of the effects of a stroke now the word has been mentioned.
Someone comes and sits on the opposite side of the bed, and slowly turning her head at a snail's pace, Osh sees Freya sit on the side of the bed, much like Tevos. "I'm here, but I'm keeping my interactions to a bare minimum. We need to understand the damage from the strokes." The AI says in a tone like she is stating any boring old fact.
Osh frowns again as she tries to remember a word, but it is gone in her mother tongue, except not in Galactic, "How long?" In Galactic standard, 'how long' is a singular word and relates more to how many solar cycles than time itself. It is a suitable alternative in such circumstances.
"Before you can get out of bed?" Tevos assumes aloud, forcing Osh to slowly turn her head again, "A few weeks. You will then be wheelchair-bound for a few more weeks." Osh can tell from Tevos's voice and demeanour that there is more to it than that, but the Asari is trying to sound positive.
"You are going to need to learn to walk again," Freya says from the other side of the bed, realising Osh knows it is not as rosy as Tevos paints, "I repaired your spinal cord. I could walk for you, but I have better things to do; besides, your brain needs to relearn the basics."
It is going to be a fun rehab Osh realises with dread. After closing her eyes, partially in tiredness and partially to refocus herself, she reopens them and looks back at the Asari, "You look..." What is the word? Nope, it is gone in all the languages she knows, "Dog shit." She wanted to word it more politically, something that Tevos may not take offence to, but the words were gone leaving her with some less favourable language.
"I did tell her," Freya says from the other side of the bed in a very condescending tone and with a pointed look to Pethio, "Wouldn't listen like the Anomeba you two are."
/.../
Seeing Osh fall back under, Tevos steps off the bed and turns to Freya's holographic form, "Is she out?"
Freya nods, "She isn't waking up for half a day as a minimum. We could hold a classic 1970s-style rock concert in here, and she wouldn't bat an eyelid."
"Hmm," Tevos grunts before walking to a 4 person's dining table, where her Estate's doctor has been carefully watching while remaining out of Osh's sight. When Freya sits down at the small table Tevos gestures to her, "Freya, if you will, tell us the whole truth." She has found that Freya has tried to dampen some bad news over the last few days. The AI is fighting in Osh's corner very much this time, more so than usual.
Freya takes a visible breath in, a strange action for a holograph that does not need to breathe, "Poor motor control demonstrated by her lack of ability to grasp the control points to partial paralysis of the right side, reinforced by no visible right leg movement when I pinched her toe," Freya begins, "I don't even think she realised I pinched her toe, or stabbed her sole with a point. Meaning the right side of her body is barely reacting. Her speech is slurred, and she is missing words. Worse yet is the evident memory loss, even when prompted by your question. All of these are classic symptoms of a Subarachnoid haemorrhage and an Intracerebral haemorrhage. In short, this is not good news, but expected news." Freya had pre-warned both Pethio and the doctor that Osh would be in a bad way when she awakens.
"No, agreed," The doctor pipes in while leaning forward slightly, "In Asari, these types of bleeds usually result in death, or brain death, even when we are prepared for it."
"Humans are surprisingly one of the more resilient races to strokes," Freya pipes up, "But even they suffer hard. This would have killed anything but an Elcor or Krogan."
Tevos does not suppress a scowl before asking, "How long are we talking for recovery? Is it possible?"
"She will make an 89% recovery through natural means," Freya promises while giving a look that Tells Tevos that she means it, "But it will take months, and it is going to take considerable work. Don't expect her to be walking unassisted for 6 weeks as a minimum. Some memories, however, I believe are lost for the ages."
"If this was an Asari," The doctor quips, "Forget getting out of bed again. This is excellent news."
"I give her 3 weeks before she is standing then." Tevos quips, "So what does recovery look like?" Tevos then asks.
It is the doctor to reply first, beating Freya to the punch, "I would expect to see physical, occupational and speech therapy as a minimum. But I can't make Osh drink the medicine."
Osh has always been a lousy patient, even a terrible patient for Tevos's medical teams. If she ever goes to the medical teams of her own free will, usually it's worth standing the entire department up and calling them into work because she is about to drop down with a severe illness. Over the years, the teams have utilised Nyx, Tevos, and Ophelia, amongst others, to be Osh's canaries, to inform when they notice something is different regarding her behaviour. Critical symptoms of Osh being unwell are missing two or more meals in a row, not exercising, and not drinking alcohol. Her first sign is not drinking, then missing some exercise. At this point, teams are warned off that something is amiss and put on 2 hours notice, if anyone then reports Osh is barely eating or stopped eating, the medical teams are called in with haste and Tevos is forcing her to the docs.
The last time Osh needed the medical teams, she was vomiting blood for the best part of a week after catching a rare bacterial infection. Tevos only learned about it because Freya told her to go investigate when Osh was conveniently throwing up. Despite the blood, Osh would not visit the medical teams without Pethio's and Freya's insistence.
"Her speech will come back quickly," Freya promises while sounding very confident, "We just need to get her talking more. She will have to accept physical and occupational as a matter of fact. What I am more worried about is her mental health; she is very independent but now can't even do the basics. No going to the toilet on her own, no dressing alone, not even eating on her own right now."
"Agreed, we need to be careful with that." Tevos blinks, "Only yourself Freya or I will help with certain tasks," Freya blinks in agreement. "For mobility, we can get her a powered chair. Luckily she is left-handed, so we don't need to teach her how to write again, but she will need to relearn eating utensils."
"I can walk for her," Freya announces, "But I am uncertain as to if she will let me, or she will demand it from me. She may prefer a chair that she can control."
"Then we will have to wait and see, but if I know Osh, she will make you walk for her, beg even."
"Hmm, we will see," Freya says not sounding very convinced, "Then, with that decided, we need to move on to the next topic."
"No," Tevos deadpans, "This gets her to 89%. What is the 11 % we are losing?"
"The worst damage is to her left hemisphere, but most of that I am not worried about. What I do not expect her to retain are some key memories, and I suspect she will often struggle to select the correct words. I can heavily assist her speech, to the point you will no longer notice, but you must accept it is me, not necessarily Osh, forming some of her words."
"How does this change from when she first learned my language all those years back?"
"It doesn't," Freya returns, "But for the last 20 years, she has known your language intimately enough to the point I haven't had to translate. So, those two issues combined make 11% in my assessments. So, can we now move onto another topic?"
Suspecting that Freya will not take a 'no', Pethio blinks, allowing Freya to say, "The next Salarians to land on my hull with espionage equipment are going to be electrocuted with 2.4 kiloamps." Freya announces, "Or, I need to leave this station, and Osh needs to go home."
"Salarians landing on your Hull?" Tevos asks sounding a little confused.
"Yes," Freya answers before raising her hand to show a video feed of some Salarians on her hull carrying some equipment. "Watch," The hull of her ship demagnetises and the Salarians that were using mag boots to stay anchored to her hull fall off. "Check," The AI then says, "Your move," and Pethio recognises it from the game that Osh introduced almost two decades ago.
"What is your plan when I take Osh home?" Tevos asks distracting Freya from her game of deadly chess with the Salarians.
"I'm getting some next-generation holographic projectors and medical equipment ready for you to equip in your home. Install the technology in your Estate, and my ship can leave, unless you want to find out the conductive properties of Salarians - which I do. My calculations suggest they will most match earth Mushrooms of the Amanita Phalloides variety, it was a fascinating conclusion requiring..."
"Freya," Tevos partly warns, using a voice she often uses on Osh when she goes a little rogue, "We will transfer Osh to the Estate at the next safe opportunity and stop the Salarian espionage. We just need to do it without the whole world seeing her so vulnerable."
"Good suggestion," Freya nods.
"Will this vessel remain local in case of complications or for when Osh decides to remove the Reaper technology?"
"For the next two months."
/.../
Meanwhile
Ja'Noir suppresses the urge to smile or lean on a hip as she watches Hackett; he has done in one week what the Asari Republic has wanted to do in the last few hundred years. Subdue the Terminus systems by taking absolute control of the Sahrabarik system. Granted, they haven't imposed their rule on Omega, any installations, or landed ground troops anywhere, but they have undisputed control. No one moves without Hacketts saying so. The few pirates who tried anything quickly learned of modern stealth tech. Instead of waging war in the fashion of Turians, they came in, said they were doing something, and then dared people to challenge their authority. A few pirates tried, and a few pirates died.
Between a Geth, Asari and Human fleet, no one has since dared even make a peep, not even the Queen of Omega herself. Ja'Noir can't help but chuckle a little at that idea, the pirate Queen must be fuming. The locals did put up an initial defence, mines, defence platforms and some ships, but when you have the best stealth tech in the known galaxy, you can disable it all without a single fleet engagement.
"Matriarch," Hackett called from his place infront of an array of monitors, observing a holographic solar system representation, "Our scouts have breached the Omega 4 Relay. Would you care to join me as I review the footage?"
Ja'Noir blinks as she follows him into his ready room where a dozen people have already gathered; there is a huge Augment whose muscles are barely contained in under armour, and a few Human specialists, from engineers to logisticians. Eventually, 5 Asari from her fleet join her, and a single Geth Prime squeezes into the room, making it feel rather cramped. A wall on the far side of the room flashes to before
The probe then pushes out of a ring of dead ships and faces a black hole, its presence only noted from the lack of anything. The radiation this close to the centre of the galaxy is enough to hide even planets from sensors. It is not exactly the grand reveal Ja'Noir was hoping for; no giant planet is filled with insectoids or anything of note.
They let the drone sit, wait, and then wait some more as its sensors scan for anything of interest. It is just shy of a week before the sensor finds something, a large station 30km long, by 10 wide, and 10 deep. It looks like a giant rock, surrounded by some metallic rings, like something intelligent insects would make. The drone watches it some more, another four days, and it is enough time to determine internal activity.
"Launch the decoy," Hackett says after letting the drone observe the station for four days, and a small white disc launches away from the drone before changing shapes and projecting a holographic image of a small Turian fighter. For the first hour, nothing happens, then some strange beams seem to intersect the decoy, destroying it outright. The drone follows the source of the beams to find some small flying orbs quickly withdrawing from their engagement and back into the graveyard of ships. "Knock knock," Hackett then says before turning to his command teams, "This is it. "I have seen enough. Any last doubts?"
"It's time," Ja'Noir blinks at him.
"Excellent," He says, "Then, as meticulously planned, the Geth fleet will lead the way and secure the bridgehead. Then the Fith will follow, then yourselves. We will each leave eight vessels behind to keep the Relay secure." After looking around the room, Hackett then nods to his operations officer, "We leave in four hours with two hours of separation between fleets. Hoist the colours."
A biotic raising drum beat would soon sound across Hackett's ship, crying havoc and letting slip the dogs of war.
/.../
18 hours later, - Citadel
It was the nodding that she first noticed; she would droop her eyes for a split second, and then her head would stoop towards her chest, waking her back up. In her mind, she was only going to finish her next few emails, directing policy to research or to find some filth on the new Turian Councillor, but before she can find a way back to bed, there is always more work to be done.
A loud fist knocking rattle on her door drags her attention away from her monitor, and wakes her up a little.
"Enter," Tevos calls and after a few moments pass for the door to slide open, an aide walks briskly into the room. The aid is one Jem-Dar from the Planet Illium, who is now responsible for looking after her wifes media image and she is carrying a data pad in hand. The galaxy is yet to find out Osh is her wife, and Tevos wants to keep that secret until her wife is back on her feet, but she recognises realities. The team responsible for her bondmate are aware of her wife now, and she can't put that genie back in the bottle.
With a sigh Tevos rubs her bloodshot eyes and then offers, "Good Morning?"
After coming to a stop at the bottom of her desk, the aide looks around confirming their isolation, then says, "So, we have a potential media problem with Lady Ladochka."
"We do?"
The aid hands over the datapad, and upon scrutinising it, Tevos finds numerous short video clips. As she scrolls through the videos, the aide says, "These videos were pulled from the extranet this morning. They are making their way around social media sites."
The videos mostly show Osh killing her way through the Citadel, and one clip shows her picking up then slamming a Krogan onto its head; the footage is a mix of Osh's defence of the Estate and the Council tower. The first question Tevos wants to ask is who has leaked the footage, but there are more important things right now, such as the Turian Councillors attempt to veto her warships, "And what is the problem? She is killing the enemy who attacked this station. I am certain there are probably thousands of videos of heroics circulating online from that fateful day."
"One of the Krogan she killed is Gatog Uvenk."
"Gatog Uvenk," Tevos repeats, rolling away slightly from her desk and forming a frown on her forehead. "That name, he is a prominent figure on Tachunka, is he not?"
"Was." The aide replies before pulling another data pad out, "He had heavy influence within the Blood packs, clan Urdnot, and held the Shaman's ear. His death wouldn't cause an imbalance on Tachunka alone, but Osh also killed Jorgal Thurak."
"Of clan Jorgal," Tevos says aloud after way too long thinking, "An older pack if I remember correctly." Her slow memory is only another sign
"Very astute. His clan is an older one with more sway than one would expect, but his real power comes from his sway within the blood packs. By killing both of these, it is evaluated that Tachunka is going to become unstable, and the blood packs will run rabid."
"So, what does this have to do with your job?"
"The Blood Packs have seen these clips on the extranet and offered a bounty of 150,000 credits on Osh's life."
Tevos taps her fingers a few times before clenching her fists slightly once she has something to say, "It's a symbolic bounty. These two Krogan have some sway with their top echelons, and they want to discourage people from killing their leaders. I am more worried about the power vacuum they are leaving behind." She makes a note in her notepad to ask her political scientists to investigate. "Is there anything else?"
"Actually, yes. Returning to the videos on the extranet, her feats are causing great discussion, but this is also the first time a Human Augment solider has been witnessed in live combat. These clips are getting more popular by the second."
Tevos breathes out a deep breath, "To be clear, Osh is not a soldier, nor has she been since she arrived at this Citadel."
"Not what the population thinks," The aid tells her, "Look at this."
The aid starts another video, which clearly shows Osh killing a glowing Collector. "Is this on the..." The aid blinks, causing Tevos to lean forward and rub her forehead; she will ask the Spectres to investigate the leak, "So she was in the Citadel Tower, so what?"
The aid flicks a video to another screen, showing a glowing Collector tearing through Asari Commandos backed up by Turian troops. "She manages to kill one, and critically disable a second abomination while heavily injured. That is not normal. These things have been tearing through troops alone, yet Lady Ladochka can kill two in her critical state?"
Tevos blinks; it would seem like Osh is dangerous, "Focus on her being a true patriot defending our station. Focus on how she is a fully integrated member of our society who is willing to sacrifice everything for our way of life."
"Madam," The aide says with a bow of her head.
"I am also interested, is there any footage of her killing a Spectre?"
"Ma'am?" The aid asks.
"Don't worry about it." Tevos then says with a curious frown.
4 days later: Citadel
After shaking her head to shake off her drowsiness, Tevos looks up to find Matriarch Sha'ira standing beside her, a hand resting on her shoulder. "You look awful and should go to bed."
Tevos rubs her bloodshot eyes before slowly standing from her chair, "I have a list of things to do that only gets longer by the second. I will rest when this mayhem and carnage is over."
"You were asleep at your desk, mouth agape," Sha'ira says, unimpressed, "A far cry from the image of a serene and ordered Matriarch in control of an entire galaxy-spanning civilisation. "
Tevos frowns before craning her neck to look at a set of clocks on the wall, it is almost five in the morning citadel time, but she thought it was closer to half-three? She fell asleep it is the only logical conclusion. "What are you doing here Sha'ira?" She then asks before settling back into her chair and logging back into her work computer. It must have timed out after she was inactive for five minutes. After logging back in and looking at her emails, she is horrified to find a few hundred awaiting her. How long did she just snooze for?
"Looking out for a friend," Sha'ira answers, "Pethio, you're working to a relentless orchestrator right now."
"Thank you," Tevos begins, before starting to read the email she was last working on; the grammar and spelling are atrocious, and nothing she could ever send out, "But, I am fine."
Sha'ira considers for a moment before changing tact, "How is Osh?"
"In a world of misery," Tevos replies over her keyboard, "Disabled on one side, struggling to remember basic things and speak." Tevos hits the send button on an email before following up with a question, "Why are you actually here?"
"A friend called. They are concerned for you."
Tevos runs down her friend list internally before sighing, "It was Freya, wasn't it?"
Sha'ira shrugs as she walks up to a set of old boots behind thick glass and studies them, "It could be one of many friends. The who is not important."
"To the contrary, I would argue it is important," Tevos replies before looking back to her screen and opening a new email. From the BLUF (Bottom line up front), the new Turian Councillor is a man who has removed most sugar from his diet and eats bland food. Interesting. She does not usually care for the habits of others, but for her fellow Councillors, little snippets of information can help her understand how they think and predict how they will act in specific scenarios. The email concludes that the Turian is highly regimented from his time in the armed forces. It is useless information to most, but for Tevos, it is a good snippet. She used to have a weekly lunch with Sparatus and get real business done over the lunch table, but she knows she will have no success doing the same with a man who finds little pleasure in eating. Osh will be pleased with this news.
"Are you going to continue to ignore me?" Sha'ira asks.
"It was Freya," Tevos then says, "Freya told you." From Sha'ira's subtle change in posture, Tevos knows she guessed correctly, "The AI has been infuriating over the last few weeks trying to care for me."
"The point is," Sha'ira begins before sitting on the far side of Tevos's desk, "Is that she is a friend, and she cares for you. And I agree with Freya, you look awful. Bags under your eyes, pasty skin, evident weight loss, and your posture needs some loving attention."
Tevos stops typing her email and looks up, she can feel herself getting more and more agitated with Sha'ira, "What do you expect? The Turians are about to declare war on the Geth, the Humans are about to stone wall us, tens of thousands of our people are dead, there is a fleet invading the collector homeworld, the new Turian Councillor wants to declare Humans as pariahs and to top it all off my wife is not even able to..." Tevos stops speaking and takes a deep breath.
"Stress affects everyone. Even you." Tevos does not respond, "And I am concerned for you as right now your usual destresser is needing you more than you need her." Realising telling Tevos to go to bed is not going to work Sha'ira understands she needs to try a different tactic, "Come with me, I have tickets to a brass band you will enjoy."
"At five in the morning?"
Sha'ira smirks, "It's nine somewhere, and I know a place that lives by that ideology."
Tevos looks like she would love to do so, but her duty holds her steadfast to her desk, "I can't, I..."
"Have aids to do your job when you are unable or incapacitated," Sha'ira finishes, "Right now, you are both unable and incapacitated; you need something to destress and sleep."
Tevos is about to argue but Sha'ira holds a hand up, "Am I wrong?"
Pethio looks at Sha'ira before nodding and blinking, "Fine, what do you want me to say? That I'm exhausted?" Sha'ira realises Pethio has just let a key wall drop, and it is an important wall, so she stays silent, "My wife is needing me every hour, yet I can't be with her. The Turian Councillor is beyond difficult, the Citadel is needing constant direction, Goddess knows CSEC is headless at the moment, Thessia is run by... fools, and most of the Matriarchs are blaming me for this as if I asked for the attack."
Sha'ira considers for a moment before standing from the desk and approaching Tevos, "I will only take an hour of your time to get out of these four walls."
/.../
Meanwhile
Maiden Fintrl hard targets (Zig zagging at speed) out of her landing pod the moment the door opens and slams herself behind some hard cover while waiting for rounds to come down range towards her. After a moment of no visual evidence of shots fired, she raises her rifle over her cover and looks for the tell tales of rounds fired her way. If she were on a planet with an atmosphere, she would be able to hear the rounds zip through the air, each making their own sonic boom, but the exterior to this Collector space station lacks any atmosphere, meaning all evidence of bullets flying is visual. As she awaits a Collector's response to her team's presence, she can't help but feel glad to be on somewhat solid ground. While the naval warfare to eliminate the Collector defences was rather minimal, with amazingly only one casualty from friendly sides, she hated every second of it. She is a commando; in ship-to-ship battles, she does nothing but sit on her hunches and wait to either be spaced, shredded from shrapnel, fight fires, or, if all goes well, board another vessel.
After waiting for five minutes, someone asks over the comms net, "0Alpha, CharlieCharlie1, does anyone have eyes on?"
"01Alpha Negative."
"02Alpha Negative."
"03Alpha negative."
The responses continue from both Human and Asari callsigns till 21Alpha confirms a negative sighting. A full platoon without a single sighting of the enemy.
With all callsigns accounted for, a 0Alpha then says, "LZ secure. 1 Section your point to the bridgehead, arrowhead formation." 7 Callsigns from 1 Section rush out of cover and adopt an arrowhead formation, 3 meters between each individual as they cover ground, approaching the bridgehead. Soon 2 section rush out of their cover and adopt the right-hand side.
The bridgehead is where the teams plan on blasting through the Collector space station and entering the insides.
Before Fintrl can stand to join the formation, a giant human comes and casts a shadow over her, offering her a hand. The human armour gives nothing about their gender away. From their juggernaut size, she guesses they are one of the Humanities prized augments, paired with an AI, and infested with mechanical enhancements. Taking their hand and getting to her feet, she makes a better judgement of this character; their armour has the code SPN TP7 07A. This individual is not a prized 2nd generation augment or a third, but a 4th gen, and 95% as lethal if the Human government-pushed narrative is to be believed, but rumours would decry those claims as overly egging them.
She doesn't believe the human governments' stories about the 4th gens having interacted with them for a few months now. She had learned first Gen augments were all too damaged after genetic treatments to be useful. 2nd gen Augments only produced a few handfuls while killing dozens to make one good product, and to this day, they are spoken about as Gods and monsters among men due to their incredible capabilities. She witnessed one put three third gens down on their own. The 3rd gen is a half-arsed second gen without half the augments, producing a hundredfold more troops. 4th Gen selected tall, strong humans post-puberty with a few genetic enhancements, then put them in fancy armour; there is little to sing about them other than said armour. She would not say this to their face, however, they could still bully her around a ring any day.
The augment above her has the call sign 07Alpha, with the personal name of Vivek - he is the man she has worked with over the last few months to refine how they will fight on the ground. He often however goes by the name of Viv, or Vive.
"Didn't recognise you there for a second Vive." She says as she steadies herself on her feet.
"No?" The man asks as he follows the trooper ahead of him, rifle raised and ready for anything, "How so?"
"Your armour isn't blue."
"No," Vive responds, "Adaptive camoflagage is active." A raised fist from the point man causes her entire team to take a knee behind cover before 0Alpha comes over the comms, "Red fireteam has encountered heavy resistance in attempting to breach this stations hull, we have been ordered to wait out."
There is a few minutes of silence across the comms until 0Alpha comes back online. "Alright, Biotics P1 mission. When we approach the breach, you are to create a biotic field around our team. Ensure birds can't fly through."
Fintrl knows better than to question the unusual order. The team leader has issued it, and he must have a reason, but that doesn't stop her from raising an eyebrow. Birds, out here on the station hull? The only way she can make any sense of it is by thinking of small bird-sized drones.
As they approach the breach, a team meets them behind some heavy cover; they look heavily shot up, and medics are attempting to treat dozens in zero atmosphere. As they watch, more injured are dragged towards their cover, and a small medical ship descends to the local vicinity, "Green team," 0Alpha comes over the comms, "Collectors are putting up incredible resistance out there. The blue team is at 20% CE (combat effectiveness), the Purple team is 45% CE, and the Orange team is what surrounds you. I'm pushing a new map to your HUDs now." Fintrl accepts the download to her suits internal combat aides by pressing a button on her armoured forearm, "In the packs you just downloaded is some information regarding small hostile birds. Biotics, if they hit our troops, they are put into stasis, so your job is to stop them from reaching us. Augments, protect the Asari or we will all die, and no matter how hairy it gets, the biotic fields need to remain raised."
"01Aplha ack."
"02Alpha ack." ...
"06Alpha ack." Fintrl says over comms.
With all acknowledging the orders, 0Alpha orders them towards the breach, and what they face is nothing short of a blood bath. Awaiting them are dead humans, Asari, collectors, and Geth. Who knows what other creatures the collectors have working for them? They make their way over the stations hull, moving from cover to cover till they reach the FLOT (front line of troops). She can see flashes up ahead as explosions and bullets are let loose. From the intensity of the flashes, the fighting is fierce.
"Green team," 0Alpha comes over the comms as they get within a hundred meters of the FLOT, "We need to make 300m. We have Dragon team coming up behind as our relief in place, RLOP (Rear line of passage) is 2 section."
The second they make contact with the enemy the horror truly starts, flying bugs needed to be constantly swatted away while strange artillery smashes them from above.
In seconds, they lose four troops to the Collectors, and by the time they have made 200 meters of territory gains, only half of the team remain. When a biotic is killed by the artillery shells, the birds swarm, and those unprotected are stunned then slaughtered. The monsters they are fighting are also horrific, grotesque mutilations of species she knows, and some of unknown donor species.
"Friendly arty inbound," she hears through her comms. She quietly sighs in relief a short minute later as brutal explosions shred through the Collector lines. The standard Collector ground troop is slaughtered by the artillery rounds, but the heavy hitters barely flinch as they absorb the shrapnel.
After gaining their 300th meter of territory gain, Fintrl releases a deep breath as another team surges through the RPOL and continues to take the fight to the Collectors.
"Regroup, my location," 0Alpha calls through the comms, and Fintrl uses her HUD to direct her to where the man has taken cover behind what appears to be a giant rock. Her team take up an all round defence, keeping rifles pointed outwards, but she remains in the middle with one other Asari, maintaining the biotic fields to keep the bugs away. She watches as a Human marine moves around the platoon counting ammunition, taking stock of injuries, and making a quick check on each of the surviving troops. There is half a platoon left by her guesses.
"Get some water onboard." Another voice comes over the comms a few minutes later, "I ain't having you drop down through bad admin."
There are a few groans and protests at the fact that the troops know what they are doing, but Fintrl is silently thankful for the reminder; she was thirsty and was simply ignoring her body's requirements to keep focused on the fight. Getting some water is as simple as pursing her lips and moving her head ever so slightly to get to the straw in her helmet, then sucking.
Four teams must pass them before it is announced they have breached the Collector ship, and then another six must pass before her team is getting ready to move again.
Following the teams that went ahead of them is rather easy work, and after entering the Collector station they make their way through 500 meters of corridors before coming to a large bulkhead that has been torn open, revealing a large open chamber inside. "Right," 0Alpha comes over the comms, "There is heavy enemy presence in there, and we are the reinforcements. We simply get in there, then fight off the hordes being thrown at the FLOT until fresh blood get here. The FLOT is 100m past this door in a straight line, 1 section take 10 o'clock position, 2 section 12, and 3 section 2 o'clock. Section commanders, you have two minutes for QBO's." (Quick battle orders)
The section commanders take their small sections away and quickly deliver some QBO's before the sections race through the bulkhead and reinforce the FLOT. After fiercely fighting their way into the large open chamber, Fintrl finds herself behind a piece of Collector tech 1.8m long, by 1.2m wide and 1m deep, and only by off chance does she peer inside it to find an unconscious Asari. Looking around the great hall she can see thousands of these pods, many of them getting shot to smithereens as they are used for cover.
The fighting continues for thirty minutes until Dragon team comes to reinforce them and RPOL through them to take up the role of FLOT. With the fighting now ahead of them, Fintrl slumps down onto the ground while still trying to maintain the biotic shield above them. She has waged battles before, battles where she has not held the advantage and taken losses, but this was brutal. Things charged them with no apparent desire for self-preservation, and monsters of all kinds attacked, some that are horrific just to look at, nevermind fight.
Vive comes to take a knee next to her, he has taken a few nasty looking rounds, but his armour seems to be dealing with the blood loss, "You good?" He asks with a croaky voice. The man may be a giant and warrior down to the bone, but he is a softy at heart who has cared for her throughout.
"I don't know how much longer I can keep the biotic field up," She tells him with a pant and a look of concern, "And there are Asari in these... things," She gestures with her head to a pod nearby.
"Yeah, Command is aware of the pods," He tells her before saying, "Keep your biotics up for two more minutes, they have established a safe space a few hundred meters back." He then pulls her onto her feet, picks her up over his shoulder and then runs with her and what remains of their platoon back to the safe space.
Getting into the safe space, Fintrl lets the biotic field collapse and feels herself start to shake as she once more collapses to the floor, all energy drained from her. She can also feel shock enter her system at what she has just witnessed and accomplished; never had she thought this battle would be so horrific. Is this what fighting the Rachni was like?
"Don't get too cosy, Orange team," 0Alpha comes over the comms after a minute, "We are REORG'ing TACOM under Salamanda team. Be prepared to move in five in support of Pheonix team." TACOM means the Salamander platoon commander has complete command of the new platoon.
Fintrl checks her wrist-mounted atmosphere sensor; the air is thick with smoke but breathable for a short time. Deciding it's worth the risk, she takes her helmet off, rubs sweet from her brow and then grabs an energy bar out of her backpack, and only now does she notice her bag has a few holes in it. Checking a computer mounted to her wrist, it reports her shields took a few rounds and multiple blasts of shrapnel, but nothing they couldn't handle; her armour batteries are still at 39%. Her bag, being outside her armour's defences, now looks tattered and shredded. With a sigh, she tears the wrapper off her energy bar and chews down, only to find she is biting down on some shrapnel a few mouthfuls in.
As she continues to chew on her snack while taking care not to eat more shrapnel, she looks around and sees most of the humans getting holes in their armour patched up and their armour batteries replaced by some engineers. She can't help but feel sorry for them; while she cowers behind cover, maintaining a biotic field, they are getting shot to shreds. Following the engineers are teams of medics who are pumping most of them full of drugs, most likely their prized omni-gel. Another Human is running around with a large hessian bag carrying ammunition and grenades to those needing it, and another is throwing water bottles and energy gels at people. By the time Fintrl finished her snack, an Asari medic has joined her side to see what aid she requires, but thankfully, she needs no assistance, not even for a cut or abrasion. Vive who has remained within a few meters of her at all times has kept her safe.
"Salamanda team," An aged Asari announces after entering the safe space, "We move in 2. Form up." With the announcement, people pick up their helmets, ready their weapons, and check their ammunition pouches.
Getting to the FLOT, Fintrl can't help but grimace at the situation, the Collectors are throwing everything they seemingly have at them, hundreds of drones, dozens of scions, and a few of those huge floating heads. After five minutes of constant heavy fighting, Fintrl sees a Geth armature slowly smash its way into the chamber, and then let loose with its numerous weapon platforms, smashing dozens of Collectors in one devastating sweep.
From her cover, she then watches as the Armature duels one of the floating heads, a collector General as the comms network is now calling them. By the time the duel is complete, the Geth armature is a show of sparks and grinding gears, and the General is no more.
"Left side breach!" A scream comes across the comms, and sure enough, dozens of skeleton-like creatures are charging them, some of them glowing and ready to detonate. Vivek, who is only a meter away from her is reloading his weapon, its barrel glowing a cherry red, but he is taking too much time.
Before she can decide if she wants to drop the biotic bubble, keeping the birds away and starting to fight, dozens of geth platforms surge into the chamber and open fire, dropping the pawns mere meters from her position.
"Arty! Get down!" Someone shouts and Fintrl makes sure she is as covered as possible when some strange Collector rounds smash through the FLOT and send four troops flying. She jumps when what must be part of a Human hand lands on her. From her own rear line of troops, black powder smart rockets fly overhead in response, causing explosions to rip some enemies to shreds, and then the lights in the chamber go out. "Illum!" Someone hollers down the comms network before something launches a small artificial star towards the chamber's roof. Of course, it is not a star but a chemical reaction that produces fierce white light. In the darkness, it silhouettes the enemy, giving her team things to shoot at, but it would seem these Collectors have better night vision than them and become twice as dangerous.
"Fix bayonets!" A call comes as yet again the lines break, and enemy troops breach them.
The fight rages for a further hour, her team getting no relief as the Collectors continue to throw bodies at them. She can see weapons glowing from heat all around her in the darkness. More than a few times the enemy get close enough to wage hand-to-hand combat.
After 1 hour and 20 of non-stop fighting, all weapons go silent as the Collectors seem to withdraw, and a few non-combat Asari push forward, allowing Fintrl to drop her own biotic field once more and slump against some cover. It feels like her first chance to breathe deeply since leaving the safe area.
"You good?" Vivek coughs as he stumbles towards her while looking very drunk. For most of the fight he remained within a few meters of her and was her primary protection. His right arm is sparking at his elbow where his armour has taken damage, and he is missing large chunks on his right shoulder guard. His abdomen is dented out of shape, and his legs are oozing red blood.
"Yeah," Fintrl tells him as she eyes the shotgun hanging down by his side, which has seen better days. From the heat, its barrel is misshapen, the body of the weapon is covered in an orange substance - collector blood, and the rear end is scratched and dented from where the man has obviously used it to bludgeon something to death. "You?"
Vive nods at her, "Somehow yeah, still hanging on." He passes her a bottle, "Energy drink?"
Fintrl grabs the bottle before removing her helmet and taking a few deep gulps, then handing it back, "How many more do you think there is?" She then asks.
"From reports," Vive begins, "A lot. The beta team hasn't even been able to breach the hull yet, and Charlie's team is facing a similar situation to ours." The plan of attack had been for three teams to breach the hull and force the Collectors into a dilemma. Which assault should they focus on? They had focussed on the Beta team's attack.
An Asari logistics trooper runs up to Vive and hands him a new shotgun, a new assault rifle, and a bag full of various ammo types. From looking around, Fintrl realises most of the Humans are receiving similar resupplies while medics and engineers once more visit them and get them back in the fight. Never has she seen people furiously welding in battle, but these Human engineers are tearing old broken armour plates off their troops and welding fresh back on. "Liquid hydrogen?" A Human runs around offering, and a most who witnessed the heaviest of the fighting rush to take it, Vive included.
"Out of curiosity," Fintrl begins as she looks around, "How much more of this can we take?"
"We've used about 64% of our allotted ammo," Vivek coughs, "We were not expecting...this," Vivek gestures to the chamber around them littered with dead collectors, "And we have two combined companies fresh behind us. So, maybe we can face One-third of what we just fought before having to make a withdrawal."
Withdrawal had been on nobody's cards; nobody had expected such brutal resistance.
"Listen up," The commander says over the comms network, "We have a package to download, supposed to stop the birds penetrating your shields."
"Huh, comes with love from Freya." A human voices over the comms net.
Fintrl looks at the blinking download package for a few long moments, considering. She had always been told to never download a firmware package during combat or from an unknown source. Too much can go wrong. "Fintrl, whats wrong?" A voice asks over comms.
"Nothing," She replies before accepting the download. After a few short seconds, her shields are adjusted, a flare much like her teamates had done moments before. Looking at her armours computer, it gives her a flashing confirmation that the new firmware is active.
"Prepare to move." A voice then calls and Fintrl groans as Vivek pulls her back onto her feet.
"I hope this means you can use your fancy biotics to attack now," Vivek tells her as they slowly prepare for another battle.
"Me too." Fintrl answers, "Me too.