Nightmares and War Part 3

Shepard sucked at the straw linked to her armour's nutrition module as she watched through her HUD another of her drone strike at the enemy's lines. This one was even further away, dropping beyond the ridge to strike at yet another column of enemy troops emerging from their shelter to the rear.

The enemy seemed to have withdrawn its artillery and siege engines, unable to face the presence of her drones and the full fury of an Istari, something that was rare indeed. This withdrawal merely served to strengthen her worries, as she was sure they had not lost morale. Not with the way they were sending wave after wave of infantry and cavalry at the allied troops.

After the elven prince's charge, she'd dropped one of her drones to halt the first rush, protecting the section of the allied line not protected by a walking weapon of mass destruction that could call down firestorms at will, and would have certainly made Jack proud.

Hell, Shepard wished Jack was here. Shepard might be good at biotics but Jack? She was a goddess. Even Samara couldn't keep up with her, especially after Mordin and Javik had given Jack a biotic amplification suit reversed engineered from Prothean tech.

On her very first test of the suit, Jack had launched a biotic warp powerful enough to shut down the shields of a Reaper destroyer. And her following Nova had cracked its hull plating apart enough for a Pillum class tactical nuclear missile to tear it apart from within with its 10 kiloton warhead.

Jack would have made mincemeat of this enemy horde, especially with the wizard backing her up.

Instead, Shepard had to whittle away their horde in piecemeal as they tried to close the distance and overwhelm the allied troops, all the while aware of her rapidly depleting ammunition.

She was halfway through all her Sabre clips by now, having fired more than a hundred shots in the course of the battle so far. She probably had the most kill count by now, her attacks having taken out a significant number of artillery and heavy troops, and that was without mentioning the damage she'd done to the enemy with her grenades.

It wasn't even nearly enough.

The enemy seemed to have mustered every creature it could in its rank and file, and that number, according to her armour's calculation, based upon the numbers in the field it was seeing, was more than the entire army that had tried to reclaim Thessia.

There had been more than five million Asari troops alone in that assault. The rest of the races mounted to nearly five to ten million souls, between ground and space warfare units.

Not a single one had returned, including Deputy Councillor Irissa.

The Reapers had amassed over three thousand of their capital ships, and a further thousand of their harvester variants. The liberation force never stood a chance.

All of which to say, Shepard was becoming increasingly concerned that the more specialised units had been pulled off for something else entirely. She didn't know what the enemy had planned but it couldn't be any good.

And I don't know what they can do, which means I have no idea what they might be planning she thought with a low grunt of frustration.

"Ah, good, you're done."

At the sound of his voice, Shepard retracted the armoured faceplate of he armour, turning towards Bilbo Baggins to see him standing in an apron he'd somehow managed to scrounge up and sewed up the excess cloth to fit his stature, a ladle that was comically giant in his tiny stature, held in his right hands.

Seeing that he'd caught her attention, he gestured at the distant blue tinged mushroom cloud in the distant sky with the ladle, "Your work, I presume, My lady?". His tone was much more cheery than it had been the first time they'd spoken, though it could not hide the tinge of concern.

"I'm not a lady, as I've told you before, but, yes, that was indeed me." the only thing irritating about him was his insistence of treating him like some fabled hero of the land, something she tried to dissuade him from, though looking at the glimmer in his eyes, she had a feeling her efforts were for naught.

So she instead settled for an easier task. "Is that for me?"

"The ladle? no." He held up his left hand before she could retort, an amused smile gracing his lips. "You can take one of the bowls back to my bench. Its why I came. I know how hungry you heroes get."

She snorted at that, following him to the bench in question, which was on the wall, surrounded by stone blocks and guarded by two elf archers who seem to have scopes for eyes. She'd seen them take out enemy skirmishers further away than should have been possible with their bows.

"I suppose there is no point in telling that I am no hero either?"

"Lady, you halted the enemy right in its entire tracks and brought fire down on them even the Istari would find hard to match. I'm afraid the days of you being anything but a hero are gone." Bilbo replied, handing her a bowl of meat and stew.

"Fair enough", she muttered as she sat down, eating chunks of the meat and drinking the herb infused vegetable stew.

As she ate, others on the wall came and went, taking their meal and getting back to patrol..She was finishing when Gandalf strode in, a look of concern on his face.

"Old Man, you look worried. What's going on?" she asked, having decided to finally let others know that she could understand them.

He smiled briefly, a wry smile that told her, somehow, he already knew of her progress.

"Good you are here. I fear something is happening."

"What is? she asked, setting her almost finished bowl and standing up.

"I sense a being of power. In the enemy's camp."

The being known as Valkor strode into the camp with ease. Anyone daring to get close to him instantly backed away upon finding themselves the recipient of his soul searing gaze.

He walked up to the Orc in charge and as it pulled out its jagged sword to attack him, he halted him in place and dominated his mind with the power of the ring, wiping away everything but senseless obedience.

"What are your orders, Lord?"

Lord, yes. Valkor was a lord and he should be addressed as that by lesser beings. It was only right.

"Marshal your forces. I will lead them all and wipe the enemy out in one push. No more retreat."

"Yes, Lord."

"And the enemy known as Shepard is mine."

And with that the drumbeats roared and the massed army, what remained, roared towards war.