Relevant Notes Will Be At The End Of The Chapter
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Mobile Suit/Mass Effect
Episode 15:
At The Bottom of The Gravity Well - Part 2
-000-
It was dusk when Larian was roused from his sleep by a series of unfamiliar footsteps passing through. His eyes shot open and he craned his head up from his hunched position to see who it was that was that was marching through the makeshift motor pool the MoWS pilots had set up.
It was a team of Asari Huntresses, making their way to the captured warehouse which the 2nd SNLF group had turned into a makeshift field headquarters.
"What the hell are they doing prancing around this late at night?" The Lieutenant asked himself.
Then, Larian noticed that one of the Asari in the little procession had a bag over her head, and was being dragged along by the others.
Just what in Spirit's name was going on here?
With his curiosity overtaking his drowsiness, Larian got up from his seat and went to follow the group. As he trailed the Huntresses, he saw that Taran was doing the same, though from a bit further behind. Figuring he'd know more about the situation, The Lieutenant decided to ask his subordinate.
"What's going on here?"
"Not quite sure myself, Lieutenant." Taran shrugged. "They said something about bringing that one to an interrogator in HQ."
Larian raised a browplate, confused at what that was supposed to mean. When Taran only shrugged again, the Lieutenant figured that they were both in the dark on the whole situation.
The two of them kept trailing the party of Huntresses, unsure of what was going to happen to that... prisoner. The battle had died down barely a few hours ago, with the last of the alien forces evacuating across the bridges and blowing them both behind them. Captain Corinthus then ordered for the 2nd SNLF to regroup and rest for the night... not that they really had much options, given the 2nd was entirely spent.
"Say, LT... do you really think FleetCom is gonna make us take Continent 2?" Taran suddenly asked out of the blue.
Now, Larian had his own concerns about that whole ordeal, but he also knew complaining about it was pointless. The admirals in charge of this whole expedition, Arterius especially, weren't the kind to change their minds once they've put their feet down. The best they could really do... was to try their best.
"You know how those fossils are." The Lieutenant sighed. "It's all spreadsheets and numbers to them. They see us struggling to win with a three-to-one advantage, and think the solution is to jack it up to a five-to-one advantage."
On paper, that was an entirely sound plan... on practice not so much. The 2nd SNLF faced a foe that might've been around a quarter their own number, and yet the expeditionary forces suffered a casualty rate of over half. For every alien machine they destroyed, they took three with them. It was a hideous waste of life and Larian could hardly imagine what would become of him and his subordinates had the numbers been even.
"Try not to think about it too much." Larian tried to reassure Taran. "What matters is that you do your part to the best of your abilities. Anything beyond that is out of your control."
"Tch... that's easy for you to say... uh, sir." The Ensign scoffed, though he quickly corrected himself.
The Lieutenant, more confused than offended, wondered what Taran had meant by that.
"What's that supposed to mean?" He asked. "You're not in trouble, Ensign. I'm just curious to know what you mean."
Having the worst his worries assuaged, Taran opened up.
"It's just that..." The junior officer contemplated his words carefully. "It's hard to take that sort of advice seriously when it's coming from someone who's just... so much better than the average pilot, you know? You were out there dueling with the best of them, matching them move for move. Meanwhile, the rest of us could hardly pin one down... even while ganging up on them."
That was something of a revelation to Larian. Was he really that much better than all the other pilots? With how difficult it was fighting off just one of the alien pilots, it sure didn't feel that way.
Then again, the aliens did have more experience piloting these kinds of machines... maybe the enemy wasn't exactly the most reasonable point of comparison himself to. Regardless, Larian couldn't refute what Taran had said. Just saying 'do your best' to people who weren't even capable of half the things you could wasn't the most encouraging thing out there.
The two of them were quiet the rest of the way to HQ, not saying a word as they followed the Huntresses and the prisoner they dragged along. It wasn't until they entered the HQ building and reached Captain Corinthus' makeshift office that anything of note happened.
Two of the Huntresses stayed outside of the large shipping crate that the Captain had commandeered as a war room. When Larian and Taran approached the entrance, the Huntresses stopped them.
"Hold, the Captain's in a classified meeting." One of the Huntresses said. "Whatever you've got to say to him can wait until we're done."
The Lieutenant nearly scowled at that, but didn't bother pushing further. The other Huntress was about to close the container when the Captain happened to look out and saw Larian just on the other side.
"Ah! Lieutenant Vienas, I was just about to have someone bring you here!" Captain Corinthus said. "Come in, I need you to see this."
Larian looked to Taran, then to the two Huntresses guarding the container door. It seems that only he was being invited in.
"Head back to the motor pool, Taran. I'll be back shortly."
With that, the two Turian pilots parted ways and the Lieutenant entered the makeshift office. Once the two Huntresses standing guard outside sealed the doors, only then did the Captain start explaining.
"Did you know that the Asari Navy always had Xenolinguists on board in case of first contact? I certainly didn't." He said, gesturing to the Huntresses who were now securing the prisoner to a metal chair. "In this case, the Mother's Prayer has a six, two of which are Huntresses."
The Huntresses spared no effort in making sure their captive couldn't escape. Cuffs secured the hands behind the backrest, while shackles made sure the legs couldn't move all too much. It was only once they were absolutely sure that everything was airtight that they removed the black bag over the prisoner's head.
What it revealed was...
"Spirits!" Larian gasped when realized just exactly what he was looking at. "This is one of them!"
"That's right." Corinthus said, grimly.
The two of them looked at the alien in question, observing it's features. It's shape was remarkably Asaroid. If one were to get rid of the broad shoulders, the lack of mammary glands, and tufts of fur on its head, it could very well pass as an Asari with some kind of skin disease.
These were the people who had been giving the Turians such a hard time? Larian had to admit, they were nothing quite like what he had imagined. They looked too soft. Nothing like the Krogan, Turians, even Batarians.
"FleetCom wants every advantage we can get. The Primarch has stressed that he wants us to have to crack their language before the aliens can crack ours... by any means necessary."
The Huntresses produced strange devices now, ones that wouldn't look out of place in a medical facility. They then stuck it to the head of the alien in question.
Immediately, Larian knew where this was going.
"Sir... this is-" Tried to protest.
"Yes." Corinthus sternly cut off. "Regardless, the Primarch wants it done, so that's exactly what we're going to do."
Larian watched in horror as the Huntresses injected some sort of substance in the half conscious alien's neck.
Just how many lines were the upper brass willing to cross to win this war? It was starting to make the Lieutenant ill.
Then, the Captain leaned close to Larian's aural cavity and whispered.
"I know exactly how you feel, Lieutenant Vienas." Corinthus reassured him. "I've been told this... interrogation method can be quite loud and disturbing. It would certainly... cause quite the public stir if a recording of this was ever leaked to the public."
Larian's eyes widened at what the Captain had said, then hardened as he understood exactly what Corinthus had meant. Discreetly, he turned on the audio recording function on his omni-tool. The device started recording just as the Asari Xenolinguist took a seat in front of the alien, then touched her forehead to it's own.
The screaming that followed would haunt the Lieutenant for life.
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The sun was starting to set by this point, long after the battle had ceased... but that hadn't changed how desperate our situation was becoming.
With the vast majority of our Mobile Suits no longer combat operational, and the bulk of our remaining forces made up of CDF militia running outdated hardware... well, our chances at surviving another battle like earlier was slim to none.
Which is why, all of the officers still alive are currently in a bit of an emergency meeting. None of us saw a future where we could hold on to the spaceport for long, so an evacuation plan needed to be made.
"How are we supposed to evacuate several thousand men out of this spaceport, if the Navy isn't even willing to pull up to port?" Captain Zhang argued heatedly.
"Look, it's out of my hands." One of the Gundiver pilots, a Lieutenant Wilson Gault, sighed. "It's Commodore Pike's call. If she says bringing in ships into the cove is too risky, then there's nothing I can do. The Navy's more than willing to take your men, Captain... but we can't lose our ships either."
"So what's the solution, then?" I interjected before the two of them could get any more heated. "The Navy is willing to take the men, but they can't come too close, or they're worried that alien ship up above is going to rain death on their fleet. Do we have a third option? Another way to get all these people out of here?"
"I might have something for that." One of the civilian representatives spoke. Apparently he was a mid level manager working for a local shipping company. "Sunfish Logistics still has four Super Garudas in the hangars, older models that corporate decided to leave behind in favour of saving newer ones. If we left all of your heavy equipment behind, we could probably fit all of the militiamen and civilians in them. But... most of our fuel stocks weren't evacuated in time. We only have enough to fully top off two for a one way trip to Port Tsingtao.
"Two Super Garudas are nowhere near enough to get everyone out of here." Zhang shook his head. "Lieutenant Kreusgluck, does the Squadron 13 have any aviation fuel to spare?"
"I'm afraid I'm going to have to let you down, Captain." I regrettably answered. "We're low on av-gas as well. We were actually hoping to top up on fuel, food, and spare parts here."
"Then those other two Garudas are dead weight." Zhang cursed.
"Not necessarily. I think we're looking at this the wrong way." Verns cut in. "Mister Fosh, you said you only have enough fuel for two planes to reach Port Tsingtao. How far will those Garudas go if you filled them all up equally?"
"Gah, I'd have to run the numbers to be sure..." Fosh winced out, rubbing the back of his neck as he tried to do the math in his head. "But if I'm not wrong, then hopefully halfway across the Aster."
Picking up on what Verns might be trying to lead to, I then asked my own question.
"Lieutenant Gault, how far away is Commodore Pike's taskforce right now?" I asked the Navy pilot.
"As of right now? They should be... no more than a thousand clicks away." Gault answered, piecing the puzzle together on his own.
Now everyone else in the room started to perk up, catching on what Verns and I were trying to say.
"Yes... yes! That could work!" Fosh exclaimed. "The Super Garudas can land on water. We can meet up with the Commodore out at sea and get the people to safety that way!"
"I'll contact Commodore Pike right away." Lieutenant Gault smiled and nodded, glad to find a solution to the problem at hand. "Mister Fosh, get those planes fueled right away. Let's be rid of this place before sunrise comes."
"Actually..." I then interjected. "Squadron 13 is still low on food and we could do with some spare parts. If Yuu Liang Spaceport has any they could spare..."
"Ah, thank you for reminding me, Lieutenant!" Mister Fosh nodded along. "There's a shipment of frozen goods and some engine parts originally meant for New Taiyuan, but considering we're going to abandon this whole place... well, it would be a shame to waste good merchandise. I'll get one of my boys to hash out the details with you."
With a plan quickly drawn up, we went to work.
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Larian was still shaken by what he had seen, even though it's been hours since. Night had fallen and he'd long been dismissed by Captain Corinthus, but still the shadow of what he saw hung over him. Watching his fellow Turians die in battle was one thing. Watching something... no, someone getting it's mind torn apart with his own eyes was another. It was a kind of cruelty that soldiers could never get used to. The enemy was supposed to be vanquished in battle, not in the torture chamber. That was a fate reserved for criminals, traitors... scum.
The alien's screams pierced his mind once more, causing him to physically wince at the memory. One didn't need to be a xenolinguist to understand agonizing cry of pain that alien let out, nor did one need to be an expert to see how his mind was slowly torn apart as the interrogation continued. With every passing minute that the Asari specialist spent ransacking his mind, the screaming continued, slowly but certainly devolving into babbling, until finally he could do no more than to grunt and moan.
It was a hideous display. Utterly barbaric. Nobody had the right to put another living being through that kind of torture. Reliving the memories sickened Larian even more. Anybody would be just as disgusted as h-
"Hey, LT." A voice interrupted Larian's thoughts. "You alright?"
Larian looked up from his seat and saw Taran was checking in on him. The Warrant Officer held what appeared to be two bottles of cold water, with one being offered to the Lieutenant.
"Ah, it's nothing." Larian tried to brush off while he accepted the bottle."Just... tired."
"Not to pry, but you've got the face of someone who's drowning in his thoughts." Taran pressed. "If you need someone to talk to..."
"I'll be fine, Taran. Thank you." Larian lied.
Taran seemed unconvinced, but let the matter go.
314-2's moon was high in the sky, illuminating the night sky with its dim presence. The stars shone brilliantly from the ground, an iridescent display of cosmic beauty beyond measure. The world was silent save for the waves crashing upon the waterbreak. At any other moment, Larian would have found peace at this moment, but the horror he had witnessed wouldn't give him any rest. The Turian Lieutenant tried his best to suppress it and get some rest, but it was a losing battle. The more he tried to think it away, the more it invaded his thoughts.
He felt like he was going crazy, like his ears were going to start ringing... but then an odd noise pierced his mind. It was faint, but slowly increasing in volume. Larian got up from his seat and looked up to the sky, where he felt the sound coming from. Taran too, concerned for his superior, got up and looked to the same direction Larian was.
"Sir, is something wrong?" He asked.
"Hush now... don't you hear it?" Larian silenced his subordinate. "That noise..."
It was high pitched buzzing, accompanied by low rumbling. It was strangely familiar, though the Lieutenant had trouble pinning down where exactly he had heard it before. The realization of what exactly was making came too late, however, as a pink bolt of energy flashed into existence from high above. The beam shot struck one of the motor pool's many fuel trucks, igniting the volatile fuel within and blowing up into an inferno.
The two Turian pilots dove into the ground as several of the alien bipedal machines flew close in a gun run, strafing the ground with its head mounted energy machineguns in between energy rifle shots and dropped fire bombs. Another machine -the bulky red one he had seen with that ace pilot from earlier in the day- flew close behind, riding what appeared to be a giant flying sled, scaled to the size of these walking war machines.
"They're actually attacking?!" Taran asked, incredulous. "Even after everything we put them through?"
"Looks like we're not the only ones with nerves of steel!" Larian huffed, acknowledging the bravery of his enemy. "Everyone scramble! If you have a vehicle, mount up now! We have to fight them off before the level the entire place!"
The other pilots at the motor pool, as well as the tankers and vehicle crews all ran from where they had been resting. However, the aliens seem to have planned for this as well. The red machine that flew in on the giant sled, jumped off and made landfall. The red giant turned its long rifle around and pointed its stock towards the still inactive MoWS units. In a flash, a brilliant yellow beam blazed out of the stock, and the red machine spun its rifle-turned-spear to attack.
In a single swing, two Arma Gigas units were cleaved in half, the different halves toppling down to the ground. Then in one fluid motion, the red giant deactivated the energy blade and brought its muzzle end towards a third machine... one who's pilot was trying to board and activate.
"Charon, get out of there!" Larian yelled, his voice barely heard over the carnage of the battle.
His warning came too late. The enemy biped fired its long rifle, launching a terrifying yellow bolt straight into the Charon's still open cockpit hatch. The beam shot tore straight through the pilot, then through the Arma Gigas itself, before hitting the building behind it and exploding in a violent blast of energy.
The Equitae tanks, perhaps because the enemy deemed them to be lower priority targets, managed to activate and get underway. The Peltasts SPAAs were next, then the Triari IFVs. The armored vehicles quickly formed impromptu formations, to try and fight back... but even that proved fruitless.
The tanks and IFVs were able to stop the red biped's rampage, but only by diverting its ire. Immediately, the monoeyed giant turned its attention towards the hovering vehicles and began its rampage anew.
Larian and Taran ran for cover between one of the empty buildings around the motorpool, narrowly avoiding getting stepped on by the enemy MoWS. The Lieutenant and the Ensign watched in awe and horror as the red machine seemingly shrugged off the tank and IFV shells as it closed the gap and reactivated its energy spear. The Peltasts had a better time trying to burn away the giant's armor with their GARDIAN lasers, leaving visible scorch marks on the armor as opposed to merely scuffing the surface. Unfortunately, all this did was turn them into priority targets for the enemy machine, who drove its energy spear straight through one, before swinging around and cutting another one straight down the middle. The armored vehicles exploded in a great fireball, silhouetting the monoeyed monster in the dark.
More explosions illuminated the night, this time in the distance. The other alien machines, capable of flight without the giant sled that the monoeyed machine needed, tore the 2nd SNLF and the recently arrived Asari Huntress company apart.
"Spirits..." Larian muttered, dread filling him up as he witnessed for the first time the extent of what their enemy was capable of.
All this time, the expedition had the upper hand. With numbers, with tactics, concentration of force.
Now, Larian witness what a few of the aliens could do while they held the initiative.
The Lieutenant shuddered as he thought of what horrors awaited the expedition, should the enemy get the chance to fight them on even footing.
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"Raszchack, infantry to your right!" I warned, remembering the strange weapons some of the aliens could wield. "Don't take any chances!"
"Got it!" The Warrant Officer answered, swinging his Gunstrike's head around and strafing the infantry formation with his beam vulcans.
Gunfire then erupted from one of the occupied buildings, which I retaliated against with a single shot from my beam rifle. Energy bolt flew straight through the window, burning and warping the building, before exploding in a violent burst of light and flames.
A few stragglers ran off, but we didn't make chase. Instead, Raszchak and I continued causing carnage in this particular area, targeting the few enemy tanks that were trying to rally together.
Between firing beam bolts and stomping on enemy vehicles, I peeked up to check on a timer that was running on the corner of my helmet's HUD. It's been over an hour since we started our little raid. We did good hitting their motor pool first, since that delayed the enemy's attempt to counterattack, but our little window would only last for so long. If the evacuation couldn't be done in time, we could be in serious trouble.
"Verns, it's me." I called on the Battle Network. "How's the evac going?"
"The Super Garudas should be taking off any moment now." He answered. "Keep the enemy busy."
"And our supplies?"
"The heavy lifters got here late, but we're almost done." Verns followed up, matter of factly. "Just a little more time to load the last of the ship engine parts."
I cursed to myself before replying.
"Get Byron and the boys to work faster! There's only a few of us out here and a shit ton of them Verns!"
As if the aliens had heard me, an enemy anti-tank missile narrowly whizzed past by my Gunstrike's head, close enough that it felt like it left scorched my machine. It came from my exposed right side, from an IFV that had hidden itself between the rubble of a collapsed building. Quickly, I swung around and shot the enemy vehicle dead before it could line up a second shot.
"You got that?"
"Right."
Seeing as Raszchak and I have laid waste to this whole area, we took off once more. The few mobile suits we had that were still in fighting condition were all deployed, hopping between parts of the southern sector that Captain Zhang and his staff believed were most likely to be used to concentrate enemy formations. We were slowly making our way further south, destroying not only alien machines and formations, but also leftover fuel depots, supply warehouses, and even a few office buildings. Scorched earth was the name of the game, and while we couldn't be entirely thorough, we made sure to be as destructive as we could. To that end, each mobile suit took with us a dozen super-napalm grenades in addition to our usual loadout, with a few even taking a conventional physical shield for the extra hardpoints for more grenades. The night was lit in a haunting red hue, as the roaring flames we lit started spreading from building to building, consuming much of the facility. The billowing smoke helped screen our advance, giving us cover in the air as we flew from spot to spot as we continued our carnage.
"Contact, large vehicle, right side." Raszchak called out.
"I got it." Rosen answered, firing her beam sniper from on top of the antique Base Jabber we had requisitioned from Sunfish Logistics.
The yellow energy bolt pierced right through what appeared to be a large ground transport, destroying the vehicle and anything that was inside it.
"Good hit." I confirmed.
We landed a short distance after that, close to what struck me as some sort of impromptu mobile suit repair station.
A few of the enemy mobile suits -those in a better state of repair than the rest- tried to mobilize, to fight back... but the writing was already on the wall.
Our attack was swift, first firing our beam rifles at the two machines that had moved to intercept us with their melee weapons. They were taken care of easily, but they had bought precious few seconds for their other comrades to pick up their rifles and machineguns. Beam shields activated mid-charge, blocking the barrage of shells coming our way as we charged headlong to the enemy, beam sabers activated in a blaze of light. Valiant as they were, we cut them down quickly and ruthlessly. One tried to use its rifle as an improvised club, but he was dealt with quickly with a single slash across his forearms. The disarmed enemy was finished off with a simple stab through its cockpit.
"Reactor shutdown confirmed." I reported after watching the enemy machine slump down, lifeless and unpowered. "Let's clean up here before we head to the next spot."
Raszchack headed off to check one of the hangars while Rosen and I swept through the outer section. Headlights on our respective mobile suits activated as we made sure we had done a thorough job. A few minutes or so passed by mostly in silence, occasionally broken by beam vulcan fire or distant explosion.
"Hey, Lieutenant..." Rosen suddenly spoke up.
"Yeah? What's wrong?"
"Is it wrong... to feel bad for them?" She said, somberly. "The aliens, I mean."
The question took me off guard, and I had to go into deep thought for a moment before responding.
"What makes you ask that?"
"It's just that..." Rosen hesitated to answer at first, her voice shaky. After a brief pause, she continued. "They're smart, right? They're organized and all that, so they can't be mindless... and I know they're invading us and that we have to... to defend ourselves from them... but sometimes, after seeing how easy it is to cut them down like this... I feel bad for them."
"What if they have families?" She continued, her voice cracking and emotions flaring out. "We're killing so many of these guys, but we don't even know a thing about them! Doesn't that feel wrong?!"
Sometimes I forget how young Rosen is, how impressionable she still was. She hadn't yet grown cold like Verns and I have, to disassociate and to push beyond that nagging feeling at the back of your head that your enemy is human too. Seeing her in action, one would be mistaken to think she was a veteran with decades of experience. I still don't know why it was that Father Oswin thought it was a good idea to saddle a teenager like her in a war machine... not entirely sure if I would want to know either... but regardless, the weight of her actions was starting to weigh heavy on the young pilot.
"You're not wrong for feeling that way, Rosen." I told her. "You're right that we don't know why they attacked us. You're right that we don't know if they have families from wherever they call home... but the fact remains that they came to us, attacked us, put our families at risk. If we don't do anything to stop them, then it's us on the chopping block. It's cruel, downright inhumane, but that's how war is."
My words seemed to weigh heavily on her mind. Rosen stayed quiet, probably processing what I had told her.
"Sometimes I wonder if I should be a pilot." She confessed. "All this killing... Mom was a strong fighter. She was fighting since way before I was born... She always seemed fine with it... how am I supposed to ever live up to her example, if I can't even stop doubting myself like this?"
Her mother? That's the first time I've heard Rosen talking about her. She's always dodgy when it comes to talking about her family. So she looks up to her mother... but I'm not hearing anything about a father...
I shook the thoughts away from my head. That's a question I'll have answered in another day.
"Empathy, or even pity, is just another part of being human, even if it is for an enemy we don't fully understand." I tried to reassure her. "Every soldier has their own way to carry on. Some try to smother that feeling, some let it drive them forward. I don't know for sure how you should deal with what you're going through, but I don't think you should run from your feelings."
"Run from my feelings?"
"You still have empathy in your heart, you haven't closed it off and grown cold for others... I think that's what separates a good person from a cruel one. You don't fight the enemy because you hate them. You fight them so that you can bring an end to the fighting."
"I... see..." She seemed to nod along, though I could tell she was still trying to wrap her head around the idea.
The next few minutes after that were spent in silence once more as we completed the sweep and regrouped with Raszchack. It was around that time that Verns notified to us that the Super Garudas had all taken off, and that heavy lifters had been fully loaded.
Our time on Yuu Liang Spaceport had come to an end, but I could tell what Rosen went through here would stay with her for a while... if not for life.
-000-
A/N: With this chapter done, we're halfway through the current story arc. Things will only escalate from here on out, and I suspect some of you can already see where I'm going to go with this arc.
At any rate, the next chapter will be a wider view of the war and take us back into space. We've been pretty focused on the main cast for a while so we're pulling back for a bit. The last two chapters of the current arc will be another two-parter back in Shanxi with our main cast, maybe sans Larian. I'm still iffy on his involvement for the two parter given the situation we'll be leaving the 2nd SNLF Group in after this. I guess we'll have to see how it goes.
Another thing I want to note, I've only recently realized I've done a great big oopsie with the Space Force/Naval rankings, where I've been putting Commander over Captain, when it should be the other way around. It's a bit too late to promote Bullow to (Lieutenant) Commander right now, but I will be retconning other characters previously mentioned as Commander to be Commodore instead, to better reflect their status. This will only affect Space Force/Navy characters like Magarius. Characters from other branches will not be affected. If you only started reading this fic after this chapter has been uploaded (June 5 2024), this shouldn't matter to you all that much, this note is purely for the benefit of returning readers.