This is a bonus chapter for those of you wondering what happened between Garrus and Kaidan and what's with all the scars. 😉
I originally posted it as a standalone one-shot 'Blue Sand. Crimson Sand' to get feedback on the battle sequences, since that's an area I'm still working on improving.
I'm not great with war scenes, so I'd really appreciate any tips or suggestions.
Still, I hope you enjoy this one!
There was a deafening explosion of light and sound as a stun grenade detonated nearby, disorienting him and causing his ears to ring. The world seemed muffled, drowned out by the pounding of his heart. Someone was gripping at him, trying to pull to safety, but the thick smoke and flying chunks of soil made it difficult to see anything. He struggled to breathe, choking on the acrid smell of molten alloy and blood.
Williams! He tried to call out, but the voice caught in his throat as pulverized Shanxi soil filled his mouth. He struggled to push himself up in this stunned state, but feet refused to cooperate, scraping along the ground as he was being dragged through a grisly obstacle course of bodies and severed limbs, crimson and dark blue blood mixing with ochre sand.
The battlefield was a picture of pure destruction. The staccato of gunfire and the earth-shaking explosions creating a deafening symphony of war. The constant static from his comms faintly reminding that all contact with the outside world had been severed. No orders were coming in. But it didn't matter. He knew what his mission was, and he was determined to complete it.
When they finally reached cover, Kaidan saw First Lieutenant Ashton Williams kneeling in front of him. What was he saying? Why did they stop? They needed to push forward.
The smoke was clearing, revealing the path to the communications tower. That's where he needed to go. Gritting his teeth, Alenko struggled to his feet, ignoring the sharp pain in his left side. Blood covered his armor, but it wasn't his—turian blood. His shields were down, his chest piece dented. That's why it was hard to breathe. He stumbled forward.
"Captain, we need to regroup!" Williams shouted.
Another explosion erupted just feet away from their position, causing them to duck for cover. He squinted, wiping the dust from his eyes, trying to make sense of the chaotic situation around him.
"There's no one else, Lieutenant. We are all that's left."
As he looked at his men, Kaidan couldn't help but feel disheartened. What had once been a unit of forty-eight was now reduced to a meager nine. They stared back at him, faces marked with resolve he had come to expect from them. Fear was not in their eyes, only focus. They were waiting for his lead, as they always did.
"Push forward," Alenko ordered. He knew the odds were not in their favor, but the turians were just as cut off from their command. The communications tower served as a critical comms signal amplifier on the planet's surface, where strong magnetic fields wreaked havoc on long-range transmissions. By jamming the signal, aliens had severed all Alliance communications to and from the planet—but also disrupted their own.
"Understood," Williams nodded.
Alenko's boots pounded against the scorched earth of Shanxi as he led his men through the chaos. Around him, the once-pristine colony world had been transformed into a hellscape. Craters pockmarked the terrain, some still smoldering from recent impacts, and the remains of shattered buildings protruded from the rust-colored soil like broken bones.
"Move it, people!" he shouted, his voice hoarse from barking orders over the din of combat.
The comms tower loomed in the distance, a stark silhouette against the battle-torn sky.
Williams fell into step beside him.
"I've got a bad feeling about this, Kaidan," he said, using his friend's first name in a rare moment of informality. "The turians have dug in deep."
Alenko nodded grimly. "I know, Ash. But we don't have a choice. If we don't take that tower, everything we've fought for is lost."
As if to emphasize his point, another massive explosion lit the sky above them. He looked up to see the burning husk of an Alliance cruiser plummeting through the atmosphere, trailing fire and debris. The space carnage was raging just as fiercely as the ground assault, and from what he could see, humanity was paying a terrible price.
"Cortez! Chambers! Take point!" the captain ordered, gesturing to two of his most experienced soldiers. The men nodded and moved ahead, their rifles at the ready.
The unit advanced cautiously, using the wreckage of destroyed vehicles and the craters left by orbital bombardment as cover. Every few meters, they'd encounter the bodies of fallen soldiers—both human and turian. Alenko tried not to look too closely at the dead human faces, knowing that each one represented a life cut short, a family left to mourn.
The time for mourning would come. But not now. Now, his mission was all that mattered. The tower his men were tasked to recapture wasn't just any strategic point— it was Shanxi's lifeline, a digital fortress housing the colony's defense algorithms, atmospheric regulators, and the quantum encryption keys for FTL communication. Whoever held it held the colony's fate in their hands.
Captain's orders were simple: Restore communication links, disrupt turian command and control capabilities.
Failure would mean the loss of Shanxi and could potentially cut off multiple human colonies from Earth, leaving them vulnerable to further attacks, not just by turians but by any number of opportunistic factions in the chaotic frontier of space.
And just like that, the fate of countless civilian lives rested on the success of this mission.
No pressure, Kaidan thought as they neared the outer perimeter of the comms tower.
Alenko peered around the twisted remains of a shuttle, trying to get a sense of the enemy's position. What he saw made his blood run cold. The turians had established a defensive line, with interlocking fields of fire and heavy weapons emplacements.
"Shouldn't we wait for artillery or air support?" Cortez asked, his voice tight with barely concealed apprehension.
Williams's face was grim as he replied, "Comms are still jammed, and even if they weren't... Look up. There is no more air support."
They looked up.
The night sky above Shanxi blazed with the fury of interstellar warfare. Alliance frigates and cruisers engaged in a deadly dance with turian vessels, their shields flaring brilliantly as they absorbed incoming fire. Mass accelerator rounds streaked across the void, leaving trails of ionized particles in their wake. The larger starships exchanged salvos at extreme ranges, their massive guns creating temporary stars with each shot.
Fighters swarmed like angry insects. Human pilots were pushing their crafts to the limit as they dueled with the more advanced turian ships. The aliens' superior technology was evident in the graceful arcs of their vessels and terrifying efficiency with which their weapons sliced through Alliance shields.
Explosions bloomed silently in the vacuum, expanding spheres of debris and vaporized metal marking the graves of ships and crews. The burning hulks of destroyed vessels streaked through Shanxi's atmosphere like fiery comets that illuminated the planet's surface.
At the heart of the battle, the dreadnought SSV Everest, the pride of the Systems Alliance Navy, stood defiant against the turian onslaught. Its kilometer-long frame shuddered under repeated impacts, but it gave as good as it got, main gun sending hypervelocity slugs hurtling towards the enemy fleet.
But even as humanity fought with everything it had, the battle was turning. Turian reinforcements arrived through the mass relay, their fresh ships tipping the scales. One by one, Alliance vessels succumbed to the relentless assault.
Alenko cursed under his breath. He had known this mission was a long shot, but the reality of their situation was starting to sink in. They were outnumbered, outgunned, and cut off from reinforcements.
"Listen up!" he shouted to his squad. "I know the odds look bad, but remember what we're fighting for. Every minute we hold is another minute for the enemy to regroup. We are all that stands between humanity and the loss of this colony. So let's show these turian animals what we're made of!"
A ragged cheer went up from the soldiers.
"Now," Alenko started as he gathered his team around a hastily drawn map in the dirt. "We need to disable those automated turrets," he pointed to the heavy gun emplacements flanking the tower. "Chambers, I need you and Rodriguez to circle around and plant charges on the turrets' power generators. The rest will create a diversion, keep the turians focused on us. Once those guns go dark, we make our move. That's our window to breach their defenses and take the tower."
Chambers checked his demolition charges. "We'll get it done, sir."
As the squad moved into position, Alenko took a moment to study the turian defenses. The aliens were well-organized, their positions carefully chosen to provide maximum coverage. But there were not that many alien soldiers left. Their resources were also stretched thin. Alliance airpower had already scattered most of them before it was decimated by the Hierarchy's fighters.
The captain signaled, and his team sprang into action. They advanced in short, controlled bursts, laying down a barrage of covering fire. To their flanks, Chambers and Rodriguez split off, each heading towards one of the turret emplacements on opposite sides of the turian position.
"Keep them focused on us!" Alenko shouted. His team responded, intensifying their assault and drawing more turian attention. The alien defenders shifted, concentrating on the perceived primary threat.
Chambers crept towards his turret and placed the charges on its power generator. Across the battlefield, Rodriguez mirrored his actions at the second emplacement.
"Charges set on Turret One," Chambers whispered into his short range comm—the only thing that worked on this sodden planet.
"Turret Two prepped and ready," Rodriguez's voice crackled back seconds later.
They retreated to safe distances, narrowly avoiding detection by the distracted turian forces.
"All charges in place," Chambers reported. "Commencing detonation on your mark, Captain."
Alenko's terse reply came through: "Light 'em up."
"Roger that. Detonating in three... two... one!"
Twin explosions rocked the battlefield as the turrets' power supplies were destroyed. The automated guns fell silent.
With their defenses crippled, the turians were forced to stretch their line—the loss of the heavy guns left their flanks more vulnerable to the humans' assault.
The Alliance marines pushed forward. Minutes stretched into what felt like hours. Kaidan's world narrowed to a series of moments: the recoil of his rifle, the burning in his lungs as he gasped for breath, the cries of the wounded.
Slowly, painfully, they made progress. The enemy line began to waver as the humans pressed their attack from multiple angles. Alenko allowed himself a glimmer of hope. Maybe, just maybe, they could pull this off.
That's when he saw him.
Through a gap in the defenses, the captain caught sight of a turian who could only be the enemy's commander. The alien was massive, easily seven feet tall, with blue facial markings that stood out starkly in the dim light.
As if sensing his gaze, the turian turned, mandibles flaring in what might have been a snarl. Their eyes met across the battlefield, and in that moment, Alenko knew that this fight would come down to the two of them. Neither was willing to yield, both knowing that the fate of their respective missions depended on it.
His team, now reduced to six men, was nearly at the tower entrance barricade. The aliens' kinetic barriers seemed almost impenetrable to human bullets, a grim reminder of the technological gap between the two species.
Turian armor and weapons were significantly superior to those of the humans. With the discovery of element zero, the Alliance began to incorporate this new technology into their weaponry and defense systems. However, their understanding and manipulation of the dark matter was still in its early stages, leaving them far behind the other Citadel races in this crucial area of technical knowledge. And here, on the battlefield, the turians remained the clear front-runners in terms of overall technological prowess and military strength.
Kaidan's mind raced, searching for a solution. They needed something big, something that would scatter the turian forces and create an opening. His hand brushed against the grenades at his belt. Why the fuck not?
"We're closing in," Alenko growled, voice taut with determination. "Get those grenades ready. We'll shrink their breathing room and give these beasts a little surprise."
The human soldiers quickly complied, understanding dawning on their faces as they realized the plan. It was risky—they'd have to get closer to the turian lines than was safe—but it was their best shot.
They advanced further, pausing just within grenade-throwing range, waiting for the signal.
"Now!" Alenko roared, pulling the pin on his own grenade and hurling it towards the enemy position.
Five more soared over the barricades, cutting paths through the smoke. The turians, caught off guard, scrambled for cover. The subsequent detonations were deafening, shockwaves rippling across the battlefield and reverberating through Alenko's body.
The blasts were strong enough to disrupt their shields, but that was only half of the job.
"Again!" he roared, and another volley of grenades arced skyward. In rapid succession, six explosions rocked the enemy position, each blast compounding the previous one.
In the confusion that followed, Kaidan and his team surged forward. They vaulted over the shattered fortification remains. The air was filled with the stench of turian blood, with body parts and chunks of armor scattered around. He barely had time to register his surroundings. His eyes were fixed on the tower gates, so close now, and for a moment, it seemed like they might actually break through.
He heard guttural orders—sounds too low and animalistic for Alenko's translator to pick them up. Then something else, that made his blood run cold: a primal roar that signaled a turian preparing to charge. Shit, Kaidan's heart hammered in his chest, they couldn't have survived the blast.
"Move!" he shouted and sprinted forward through the smoke, only to be knocked off his feet seconds later.
The ground hit him hard. The large snarling figure rolled off his body and landed on all fours a couple of feet away. Alenko heard his team scream through the pounding in his ears as he scrambled to his feet. He had underestimated the turians' resilience and his men were paying the price.
Fuck, they got too close to at least five still very much alive aliens. And everyone knew you never get too close. Humans were simply no match for turian strength and speed in hand-to-hand.
As the haze cleared, he found himself facing the blue-marked commander. Up close, the thing was even more terrifying—all sharp angles and predatory shapes.
The alien let out a bone-chilling roar and charged. Alenko barely had time to raise his rifle before the devastating impact sent him flying. It slammed the captain into the ground, pain exploding across his body.
Gasping for breath, Kaidan looked at the turian. It was no longer an enemy soldier—it was a predator, fueled by rage and a primal drive to kill. His avian features twisted into something nightmarish. All covered in blue blood, his armor was split and torn from the blast, but the turian clearly felt no pain—the wounds only seemed to enrage him further.
The beast was taking his time, looking at the stunned human, almost savoring the sight of his prey. His eyes, once piercing blue just like his facial tattoos, now darkened to an abyss of hatred. He lowered himself into a combat stance, flexing the upper body. With practiced efficiency that made Kaidan's blood run cold, the turian took off his gloves, exposing sharp talons to tear the human apart.
And then he pounced.
Alenko rolled away, narrowly avoiding the razor-sharp claws that sunk deep into the earth where he had been moments before. Powerful arms ripped chunks of soil from the ground as the alien prepared for another lunge.
Pain lanced through Kaidan's side with every movement, but he forced himself to focus. Both through the throbbing sensation and the agonized screams of his comrades in the background that were drowning in vicious enemy snarling.
The turian's mandibles flared in what looked like a grin. He lunged again, his massive form barreling towards Alenko with frightening speed. He managed to dodge, feeling the rush of air going past him, but he didn't get far enough. The armored hand shot out with an unexpected reach, grabbing him by the chest piece collar and slamming into the ground yet again.
Alenko's lungs burned. His fingers clawed frantically at the turian's arm, but it might as well have been forged from titanium. The grip tightened, pressing deeper into his armor, slowly crushing his ribcage. Black spots danced at the edges of his vision. In a last-ditch effort, Kaidan brought his knee up hard, catching the turian in what he hoped was a vulnerable spot.
The blow connected, but the alien didn't even flinch.
More pressure followed, Alliance alloy denting and bending. Desperately, he searched for a weapon, but there was nothing.
The weight on his chest was excruciating. He let out a pained growl, as his ribs cracked under the force. With a swift motion, the turian's other hand reached for Alenko's neck, ready to rip out his throat and end the human's life.
Kaidan's fingers closed around something unfamiliar in his desperate search. A turian rifle. The handle was too big, uncomfortable to grab, trigger impossible to pull with one human hand. Yet the crushing weight on his ribcage left him no choice but to try something. With a grunt of effort, he swung the rifle's butt-end with all his remaining strength. It connected with the turian's face with a sickening crunch. The alien roared in fury, his hand slipping from the intended target that was the human's neck and slashing through Kaidan's face instead.
White-hot pain exploded across the right side as the claws tore deep into his skin and muscle, gouging the bone. He cried out. Blue streaks spurted from the turian's shattered nose, mingling with the crimson pouring from Kaidan's wounds.
Then came Williams's screams. The lieutenant's voice cut through the chaos, as he was trapped between two massive turians.
Ash! Alenko couldn't move, couldn't help, couldn't stop the slaughter. All he could do was listen to his friend's agony searing itself into his memory.
The beast on top of him snarled—a disgustingly triumphant sound.
Kaidan spat a mouthful of blood at the blue-marked face and growled, "Go to hell."
The alien face leaned in closer, fangs bared. Pitch-black wholes bored into him. "After you."
Alenko looked up at his enemy, determined to face death with open eyes. The thing on top of him made a chirping sound as if acknowledging his last display of bravery…
In his oxygen deprived state, he registered Williams roar, a sound of pure defiance in the face of certain death.
"Eat this, you piece of turian shit!"
The words were barely out of lieutenant's mouth when the world erupted. The explosion from Ash's last grenade engulfed him and the two attackers, the shockwave violent enough to separate Alenko and the beast on top of him. The blast hurled them apart, leaving Kaidan sprawled on the ground. His ears rang with a deafening, high-pitched whine, the world around him blurring and spinning in a nauseating dance.
His vision swam in and out of focus, obscured by all the blood. He could just make out the blurred outline of the turian rising. Blue streamed from multiple gashes in the alien's shattered armor, its imposing figure now unsteady, barely managing to stay upright, but still dangerous.
The alien commander stood motionless, predatory gaze fixed on Alenko, perhaps pondering if he was staring at a corpse or a barely living foe. Crimson had painted the human's face a gruesome mask, covering any signs of life.
The alien nose tasted he air. Still alive…
With visible effort, the turian took a step forward, uttering a pained snarl.
Then suddenly, he froze, head cocking as if catching a distant sound. Its posture shifted, mandibles clicking in what could be frustration.
Through the incessant ringing in his ears, Alenko caught fragments of conversation:
"...orders are to pull back
"We are to hold this position... whatever cost..." growled the blue-marked soldier.
"... they are pulling the fleet..."
"What!?" The commander's roar vibrated through the ground beneath Kaidan.
"...Hierarchy's orders, sir!"
There was a pause.
"Take the wounded. We're pulling back."
Glimpses of more turians gathering their fallen comrades.
"Captain needs medical assistance!" A dual-toned voice cut through the chaos.
"I'm fine..." A dismissive growl. "Help the others..."
The smoke grew heavier, drowning any movement and sound.
The raging fight seemed to be dying down. Or was it just his hearing leaving him?
Kaidan lay on his back, agony coursing through his ravaged body. He knew he was dying. There was nothing left for him but the endless sky above—a harrowing inferno of fiery destruction as the starship battle reached its climax. The rising sun cast an eerie gleam over the scene as blasts rocked the atmosphere and burning shells of what used to be Alliance vessels fell from the heavens.
The most devastating sight was the Systems Alliance dreadnought. Once a mighty kilometer-long capital ship, it was now a series of catastrophic explosions, shattering and crumbling, hull torn apart piece by piece before his eyes.
As the day began to break, the first sunlight sliced through the planet's ionized atmosphere, casting a surreal, otherworldly glow. The dawn on Shanxi was nothing less than breathtaking, a mesmerizing spectacle of light and color painting the sky in various hues of purple. The air shimmered and glistened with the most unnatural violet—deep and heart-wrenching, like the color of her eyes.
As darkness claimed him, her name was all there was.
Yup, Ash is a dude :)