Back at the Slaver world

A battalion of UNSC Marines, one of Clones and a few dozen of the Galactica's Marines braced for the upcoming ground battle. Ahead of them lay a planet of open desert dunes with a series of camps within oases. From those camps, enemy fire came, bursts of autocannon fire lighting the sky ablaze. Old gear, Johnson thought as he stared at the stuff firing at them. Looked almost like the weapons they'd strap onto old seafaring warships back during the ancient times of the Corps, when it was just a US formation.

He grabbed his shotgun off of his back and checked it over, looking at the Marines around him as they thumbed the safeties of their MA40s and BR75 Battle Rifles off. He then slid a cigar between his lips and grinned as he lit it in the red-lit hold of the dropship. The pilots of the various craft communicated via radio. The aircraft then shook as the nose-mounted 30mm rotary cannon spat a burst.

The aircraft started to shake more violently as the crews fired ordnance at the enemy's own positions and air support buzzed by them, Y-Wings and Broadsword Fighters dropping bombs onto the targets around, to thin out enemy air defense. Stacker patted Johnson on the shoulder and said, "Sounds like they really don't like us," as he hefted his own MA40.

"Sure looks that way," The dark-skinned man replied, taking a deep drag of his cigar. The two men felt pits in their stomachs as the dropships dipped in altitude, with Johnson telling his old friend, "Don't get your ass tangled in whatever rusty barbed wire they got, Marc. I ain't pullin' your ass outta it 'till after the job's done and dusted," with a joking attitude and a smirk on his face.

"Heh. We'll see who saves who," The man gave a nod.

The joint task force of Marines and Clones soon touched down, disgorging the infantry and a couple of supporting Republic walker tanks. The first shot of the battle on the ground was, in fact, fired by one of these tanks. The AT-TE strode forward on all six of its mechanical legs, its main armament, a mass driver that coated a ferromagnetic projectile in plasma, spat its first shot.

An enemy anti-air battery exploded in a flurry of flame and flashing thunder as the tank's shell struck its magazine. Whatever mass-propelling means that thing had couldn't have gone off, seeing as the technology here was relegated to Mass Effect fields, so it must've been the rounds' warheads that were touched off by the superheaded, plasma-coated shot tearing through the magazine.

The UNSC dropped a couple of Warthog squads as well. Four in each squad, with two of each squad's vehicles mounting gauss cannons while the other two rolled with the standard anti-air/anti-infantry fifty-cal gatling guns. They roamed over the desert at high speed, engines revving as the Marines pushed forward with the Clones. One of Adama's Marines joked, "Finally feels like I'm at home!"

"You're tellin' us!" A Clone from the 501st joked as they pushed up a hill. He knelt, aimed his blaster rifle and opened up at the first Batarian troop to come in their sights. Two bolts of ionized tibanna gas struck the man ahead of them. Said two bolts broke through the Batarian raider's light armor, punched clean through and burned out whatever stood for lungs in the four-eyed biped's chest. He collapsed, writing in pain.

Two of his comrades followed, though their armor was punched clean through by 7,62 Full-Metal Jacket from the UNSC firearms, including the equipment gifted to the Colonial Marines, instead of blaster fire. The troops pushed into the oasis ahead under the cover of tanks and Force Application Vehicles, while their gunships hovered at a safe distance or provided support via guided missiles.

Another enemy anti-air position to their left went up in a blaze of fire, followed by the rippling thunder of the AT-TE's cannons. The anti-infantry lasers mounted in the four ball turrets up front started firing at the defenses of the Batarian raiders, ripping through infantry that was trying to set up some sort of tubular anti-tank weapon, before the main cannon roared again and detonated yet another enemy AAA battery.

"They're pretty well-equipped for a bunch of slavers!" Stacker called out as he took cover behind one of the sandbag walls, the Batarians' retaliatory fire being sparse due to the support elements. A Warthog with a Gauss cannon rolled up behind them and the Clones and the man in the turret immediately shifted his aim. He squeezed the trigger and the shot screamed out of the barrel, hitting a Batarian center-mass and turning him into fine red mist.

Johnson looked over to the Clones, signaling to a platoon to join them up front, before pumping his shotgun and showing his boys to follow him in. The man slammed against a Batarian soldier that was trying to point a shotgun their way, then pinned said Batarian to the floor in front of his buddies, put his shotgun up to his face and squeezed the trigger without a second thought, leaving a nice dark-red smear across the sand and concrete.

A pair of UNSC Marines pushed past the man and lit the defenders up, AP rounds cutting through the armor of the Raiders, while the Clones and Colonials breached and cleared a small building with grenades. The advancing units continued making headway toward the main camp, with Johnson stating, "Don't let up on'em, boys and girls! Watch your fire if you see civvies and slaves, but wipe the rest of'em out!"

The troops pushed fairly easily past the defensive lines, the armor moving up toward the fenced-in camp set up on concrete. They could see the holding pens, though said pens had roofs. If it was practicality so the slaves didn't escape, or just them wanting to keep their products ready to ship back to Khar'shan, it mattered little. The joint task force kicked the doors in, entering the compound and gunning down any Batarian that they saw with a gun in their arms.

... The cleanup that followed was the problem, though. Johnson sat on the steps of a prefab building, watching Doc Cottle, one of the few Colonial doctors still left alive in their Fleet, clad in military gear and a white coat, tending to the injured slaves, many of which bore marks of the four-eyes' abuse. Bruises, the marks of beatings, cuts, slashes on their faces, black eyes and so many more injuries that Johnson did not want to recall.

He looked above as a pair of Pelicans bearing medical markings, those of the scepter with a snake surrounding them and the Red Cross on a white background, touched down within the massive compound and let out the staff, all of whom wore white armor. Navy Corpsmen moved in to help doc Cottle. Commander Rex approached and sat himself down next to the Sergeant-Major, taking his helmet off and revealing his bleached blonde 'hair', or what was left of it. Scratching the top of his head, Rex murmured, "I swear, I thought we'd left this stuff behind in our Galaxy."

"There'll be slaves in any damn Galaxy that lets freaks like the Four-Eyes exist, sir," The UNSC Marine replied, though his voice was slightly modified by the cigar between his lips and teeth. He took a puff, blew the smoke forward and flicked the ash off to the side as he spoke with a free mouth, "Don't mean anything if the good folk decide to act. And we did."

"The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil..." Rex pinched the bow of his nose, "I get what you mean, Sergeant. Good thing we're around..."

"Good thing the freaks shot at us, too, hah!" Johnson grinned. For a moment, Rex seemed confused, but he soon understood. Johnson, oblivious to that fact, though, quickly clarified to him anyways, "We wouldn't'a gotten here if they didn't," and the Commander nodded. The Sergeant then asked him, "You been around the bend a few times with this kind of stuff, eh?"

"General Skywalker, the overall commander of the five-hundred-first, didn't much like Slavers. Bad childhood experience," The soldier replied, "You can probably hazard a guess what I mean," and he shrugged. He continued, "You smoke often, Sarge? I don't think there's been a day, even on the Waystation, where I didn't see you without a cigar. You must really like the stuff."

"Sweet Williams," Johnson nodded, "Helped me take the edge off since my early days in the Corps. Need a couple right now?"

"I don't smoke," Rex replied, though he grinned at that, "Hell, I don't think I know a clone who does," and he snorted. Now, that was a thought. All of his brothers at least participated in drinking games and drank alcohol, just considering how packed 79's back on Coruscant was. He continued, "We drink plenty, though," as he recalled the place. It was Johnson's turn to let out a noise of amusement. Both men, however, grew a little more grim as the children that were in the pens were ushered toward a medical tent that was just set up for checkups.

As if to accentuate his previous point, the Sergeant-Major took a puff from his cigar, then paused as his com came to life. He put his hand up to his ear and stated, "Johnson on the line... Got it, Doc. We'll be on our way up, soon as the civvies are properly housed and taken care of," though he had an edge to his voice he didn't like all that much. The poor kids must've gotten a nasty rise out of him.

Rex stood up, too, putting his helmet on and listening to the transmit from Admiral Thrawn. He hummed, then nodded and rallied up his Troopers, before the two officers gave each-other a nod of respect and walked off to their respective gunships. Seemed as though the Citadel Council had just sent a message through the Alliance Representatives. They were coming over 'to talk'. It was gonna be a fun chat, Rex figured, like asking them why they kept the Batarians around at all.

The ships returned to their respective vessels, with the Galactica preparing to jump first back to the Waystation. Adama himself sighed deeply as he listened to reports of the Refugees being brought aboard. It was obviously nut just humans. A few other alien groups were brought in with them. He looked Tigh and said, "Guess you were right about 'shaking things up', Saul."

"I know," The man grumbled, annoyed at his own premonition ability. He wasn't a frakking oracle, after all, but here they were. They braced as the common fleets prepared to make their jumps the same way they had in the past after a moment's pause. It wasn't gonna be a problem, many hoped, that some of the members of the party would be late for the chat with the Galactic Government.

Collector Ship

Guns and blasters replied to the enemy's own strange mass effect weapons. The clone platoons and their reinforcing Normandy-based crew engaged Collector Forces that had set up in ambush on the mobile platforms of the ship. How the hell those antigrav systems still operated when the ship was shot with ion cannon rounds, god only knew. Shepard, however, cared little, commanding the ground team's combat operations.

Garrus's sniper rifle rang out like thunder and a Collector's head suddenly halved, followed by Ahsoka surging forward utilizing Force Speed. She slammed into the line of enemy units, igniting her lightsabers and swinging high and low. Two Collectors collapsed, marked by the burning hot plasma of the blades. Two more followed as the girl danced through the enemy's fire, blades searing what was once a fellow sentient species' flesh and bone.

Shepard joined Garrus, reloading her Mattock as she mumbled, "I'm genuinely glad they're on our side," before patting him on the shoulder and showing him to follow. He nodded, drawing his assault rifle and pushing up with her. The pair fired at flying enemies and more of the platforms, replying to the enemy's own battering fire. Shepard demanded, "EDI, STATUS!?"

"The enemy's firewalls have almost been cracked, Commander. I will need you to provide me a direct link to the computers in order to acquire the Data you want," The AI replied, though with a hint of irritation in her voice that felt slightly uncharacteristic. Then again, the group hadn't known each-other that long, honestly, so this was probably another of EDI's programming quirks.

She powered her biotics and, with a burst of energy, she sent a trio of drones over the edge. The purple 'push' helped them go over more easily as the group advanced. Shepard jumped over uneven ground between Platforms and joined the General up front as more and more blaster fire filled the coms. The Clone Platoon advancing behind them engaged targets that had landed behind them.

A pair of Troopers were cut down by beam rifle fire, but the others quickly repositioned and engaged the enemy with everything from Z6 rotary cannons to standard DC-15 rifles and carbines. One of the drones began shining and Shepard ordered, "Garrus, you and the Clones focus fire on that son of a bitch before he gets to do any damage! General, let's move up!"

"With you, Shepard!" Ahsoka replied. Her hand shot forward, then clenched shut and a drone ahead of them folded in on itself as they began to push forward. Garrus's sniper already thundered. The two women pushed forward, gunning through toward the central platform that had just settled into place. Ahsoka threw her right-hand lightsaber like a projectile and the first enemy unit on the place got its head cut off.

A bullet zinged past her face, scratching her cheek and causing her to scoff. Shepard, meanwhile, took several rounds in her barriers, but survived each shot with little more than a scratch. Ahsoka quipped, "Gotta get myself personal ray shielding at this point..." before she Force Pushed another Drone off the pad. Admittedly, they should've just been able to fly back, but these guys, whatever they were before, seemed to certainly lack their old brains.

She sliced another in half, then watched Shepard approach a flickering haptic interface and activate her Omni-Tool. The two devices touched and EDI spoke over the com, "Thank you, Commander. Access granted. File Download beginning and the Civilians are being prepared for extraction and evacuation. Hold position," all while the whirr of antigrav engines filled the women's ears.

Shepard scoffed and said, "Gonna be easier said than done," then radioed, "Garrus! Get yourself and the Clones here and form a perimeter!"

"On it!" Her lovely Turian friend replied. He barked something at the Clones and all of them formed up, Jesse and Fives leading the platoon as they moved forward. Both men fired their twin blaster pistols at other Drones attempting to flank and jumped from cover to cover, leapfrogging to ensure they kept each-other and their brothers covered. Garrus himself waited for them before they all ran together.

Garrus jumped into cover with Shepard and asked, "Missed me?"

"Like I'm missing the earth under my feet, currently!" The woman replied with a hint of joviality. She poked out from cover and fired, only to receive several more shots on her barriers and swear. The Clones all formed up around her, while the other platoons in the distance packed Civilian pods being 'flown' over by their own antigrav systems. Best to keep this crap moving, the woman thought as she reloaded her rifle and shot one of her powers over cover.

It hit center, a Singularity that lifted a trio of the bastards off the floor. She pulled her hand back and sent forth a Warp blast, which detonated the singularity and washed everything around it in rending lilac fire. Ahsoka herself continued to engage up-close, her blades singing and whirring as she cut them in halves and quarters with little mercy. No, this was a mercy. They were puppets to some greater evil. She was doing these creatures, Protheans, whatever they were, a favor.

Shepard didn't really care about semantics like that at this point, simply firing her rifle into advancing crowds, before ducking as a bullet hit right above her head. A pair of Clones focused down the bastard that had done that, with Fives jumping in and checking on the Commander. The two soldiers nodded to each-other, then continued firing, Fives showing his skills with the twin blaster pistols.

Garrus knelt as he reloaded and mumbled, "These damn things really need to calm down for once!" before he stood up and shot a burst again, nailing a pair. He gasped, however, as a simmering warp strike hit his shields. He knelt behind cover and said, "And their boss is back!" with irritation in his voice. Understandable, both Jesse and Fives thought, while the Commander simply focused on survival. She paused, however, as that same oddly blue V-shaped eye seemed to appear for a picosecond, then disappear.

Shepard raised her hand and hollered at the Clones, all of whom swiveled about and laid into the bastard with every shot in their arsenal. So many blasters focused on him that the corpse he was occupying currently evaporated under the continued fire. EDI spoke, "Data download is nearly complete. New Horizon Colonists have been retrieved in a portion of approximately ninety percent."

"Good!" Shepard replied, dropping a burnt-out thermal clip and sliding another one in before standing up and firing again, "All troops, prep to Evac! Tribunal, if you've still got weapon lock-" but she was cut off by the groan of the ship's innards slowly coming to life. She called out, "Oh, son of a... EDI!?" and her gaze swept the area. The dim lights at each end of the tube began to flicker, grow stronger.

"The ship is nearly operational, Commander. I'd suggest you start moving now," The AI replied calmly. Shepard nodded at that, rallied the boys and began a frantic rush out of the place, rifles barking, blasters roaring and hissing. Running across the same platforms they'd crossed to the center were now being washed in fire by the Enemy's flying drones and command units.

Meat mechs being piloted by psychic beings was really the last thing Shepard thought she'd be fighting in the context of the situation. And when she'd realized that was basically what she was fighting:ancient dead piloted like drones of old by an unknown Reaper, she felt a chill shoot up her spine. Just how close to that would humanity be? Would they prepare in time against this kind of monstrous fighting force?

She grit her teeth and shook her head. No, they'd make it. They had a bunch of new allies whom she was sure she could update on the situation with little issue. They persevered, their platoons of clones and soldiers pushing through while the Knight of the Republic among them utilized the Force to stave off their enemy's rounds and kept them pinned.

The Commander elbow-checked a drone, kicked it back and, with the power of her Biotics, ripped it apart at the atomic levels, roaring in fury as she did so. She lifted her rifle and fired again, while Garrus whistled and said, "Nice one, Shepard! Daily reminder not to piss you off!" which got a series of laughs out of the crew. Ahsoka looked at Shepard, then at Garrus and smiled a little, realizing just how accurate Fives had been when stating that they were probably a thing.

The Knight then swept the feet from a drone, used the Force to disarm another via Force Pull, then cut the first's head off. She lifted the second, then pushed it into a crowd of its brethren, pounced on the pile and sliced them all in half. She then surged forward toward their evacuation site and murmured, "I suddenly miss fighting droids..." while looking at Shepard. The Commander raised a brow and Ahsoka quipped, "Doesn't smell like burning flesh when you cut into them!"

Shepard snorted at that and found the humor a bit dark, but she could appreciate it.

When the squad made it to the opening, EDI reported, "Data acquisition complete and all Clone platoons report the civilian evacuation operation is complete. Helo is awaiting at the nearby junction to extract you, Commander. The ship is powering its engines and is about to depart..."

"Roger, EDI!" The woman replied. She and Ahsoka exchanged a quick look, as if Shepard asked permission. Ahsoka nodded, shutting off her blades and clipping them to her belt and used the Force to keep the enemy at bay. With intermixed blaster and kinetic rifle fire covering them at the opening, Shepard radioed, "Tell the Captain of the Tribunal to open fire! If we can't kill this damn thing, the least we can do for now is take it out of action!"

"Roger... Transmission received:Run!" EDI quipped. Shepard smirked, then felt the ground below them start to shake as the thunder of battleship-grade plasma artillery hitting the ship's side filled her ears. With one chop of her hand, she ordered a full retreat back to the evac site, which the team immediately took to heart. Pipes started to burst around them, smaller micro-explosions shattering and chipping steel and metal as the batteries of the warship focused fire.

The group ran and turned a corner as one of the massive support pillars cracked and nearly fell on top of them. Jesse spoke, "Reminds me of a couple times with General Skywalker!" as they ran, turning every once in a while to fire his pistol at Drones chasing them.

Ahsoka giggled and replied, "I remember plenty of'em!" before she led the way toward the junction. Helo's craft appeared ahead of them, already landed. The pilot and his crewmate waved them forward, pistols drawn and firing at advancing Drones as well. The group clambered on board the vehicle, Shepard gazing back at the Drones as a plasma bolt sheared clean through the hull and rock and left boiling metal in its wake.

Helo called, "GO! GO! GO!" as he jumped back into the transport and slammed his ass down into his pilot's chair, powering the vehicle's engines up. The canopy shut in the crowded ship before the man boosted them up and off the ground, turned the craft up and powered the engines to full thrust, launching them out of the hole he'd come through at high speed.

"Engines overheating! You jump-started them, didn't you!?" His co-pilot asked. The man nodded, powering them down and letting the momentum of their escape drive them forward. To their left, meanwhile, the Tribunal's turbolaser batteries laid into the enemy ship's hull in a sweeping pattern. They saw multiple hull breaches and holes as the ship powered its engines, several explosions rippling across the hull.

It, however, jumped away, leaving the crew surprised, but thankful. Shepard breathed a sigh of relief, watching the Tribunal's guns cease fire as the Normandy swept in to recover them. Helo himself breathed a sigh of relief, then said, "Well, that was something..." only to turn to Shepard and tell her, "We've got a call-back to the Waystation, ma'am... Seems like the Citadel Council sent another representative over. They wanna talk."

"... Well, this is gonna be fun..." Shepard sighed deeply. Of course, they did.