Physically speaking, the team was screwed. Split in two, they were facing a battalion-strength unit of Centurions and had just witnessed something that knocked a few of them on their asses quite severely, both mentally and physically. Tactically, however, they had the advantage of the enemy not knowing where they were and having two positions to spring an ambush from, meaning they could cut down multiple enemies in their own First Strike.
The Lieutenant seemed to know both, quietly whispering, "Let them get closer," over the com as he visibly shifted in one of the broken windows, poking the barrel of his MA40 out in preparation. The Sergeant showed this side of the team to take up fighting positions, with the Sniper, though hit hardest by that alien artifact below, quickly taking position in the rear and aiming the SRS-99 from the shadows.
Melissa, to her credit, readied her Battle Rifle and scoped in the first android ahead, her crosshair steadied on it. Grenades primed to her right and the team grenadiers clicked off the safeties of their own rotary 40mm launchers, which usually tended to have mixed payloads of EM pulse grenades and standard HEDP.
Though their fingers twitched on their fingers and the strange wails of that alien artifact still echoed in the backs of their minds, the ODSTs, trained to be disciplined soldiers by both their boot camp and the years they'd served defending Humanity, kept themselves steady as the battalion of enemy mechs marched into the place, scanning it with their burning red V-shaped eyes.
It was in the middle of that indented sensor that most of the Shock Troopers had placed their crosshairs. The HEDP Launchers clicked and cocked as the soldiers angled them for maximum damage upon impact, all while their scopes' rangefinders showed the enemy getting closer and closer. The Centurions, some more heavily armored, continued to scan the area ahead.
"Execute," The Lieutenant called out. The moment he did, Melissa's first burst escaped the muzzle of her rifle and caught the leading mech in the head, armor-piercing 9,5mm rounds ripping through the monstrosity's optical sensors. Bursts of automatic fire raked the entire enemy formation, the first line of enemy mechs being cut down, oil and blood-like substance spilling onto the cracked parking lot.
The grenade launchers echoed with their standard thunk thunk thunk, each firing three grenades that arced in and impacted among the middle and rear ranks of the enemy machines, ripping the legs off of several and scrapping others outright. One HEDP round impacted right on the breastplate of a mech and the explosion bloomed outward, staggering several others around it and even killing some of them.
Return fire soon came as the mechs found their footing again. Unperturbed by losses like a normal human military would be, they opened fire, their high-caliber automatic rifles punching holes through the sheet metal that made up the hangar and even digging into the concrete that the Lieutenant's fireteam used as cover.
The Sergeant took cover and reloaded his rifle next to Melissa, stating, "The El-Tee called for an evac Stealth Pelican, so I'd be ready to book it the moment we see something decloak," before he primed a fragmentation grenade and threw it. The detonation staggered one of the Centurions, but its comrades in arms covered it by pushing forward the wreck of a car with their strength.
A trio of Centurions moved left to try and flank, but one lost his head to the Sniper. The other two quickly found cover behind another damaged IFV, then opened up on the soldiers. One ODST took a round to the side and doubled over, but called out, "ALIVE!" as he felt the wound. The round barely penetrated the kevlar under-layer of his armor and clipped some skin.
The Sergeant barked, "Mel, take half the team and hit them from the side! EM Grenades! Hard and fast!" to which the Corporal nodded. Calmly, she rallied up her strike unit, taking one of the Grenadiers and kicking the side door of the hangar down. Priming one of her own electromagnetic grenades and pulling the proverbial pin, she threw it toward the two Centurions in cover.
One of them had noticed the team moving over to the motor-pool and aimed its rifle, preparing to put'em down. The grenade, however, landed between them, detonating in airburst. The arcing electricity that coursed through its body caused the mechanical creature to stagger, its first shots going wide and to the right.
It was then that Melissa, now settled into cover behind an armored Humvee, aimed and shot, nailing it in the chest. She saw yet more scarlet liquid pour out of the machine's chest as it collapsed. Its sibling was gunned down by the team's MG gunner, while the shotgunner loaded slugs and aimed, firing at another pair of enemy units.
The Lieutenant clicked his com twice. Bursts of automatic fire from all teams now intensified, a volley of rounds cutting down any Centurions not in cover and pinning down those who were in cover. The ODSTs began to advance, leapfrogging from cover to cover and covering each-other as they reloaded. Another volley of EM Grenades flew forward, but the Cylon adapted to it, scattering for better cover as much as their armor allowed them.
A few of them got caught in the blasts and staggered, focusing to try and keep moving even as rounds pierced their joints. One of them turned around and aimed toward an ODST, then fired. The High-cal round from its rifle found purchase, the sheer force of impact causing the Shock Trooper to fall onto his ass with a dented helmet.
His comrades pulled him into cover and the Sniper of the team snapped a shot that took the Machine's arm off. For that, it jumped to its feet and surged forward, much to the surprise of the ODSTs. Though several rounds pierced its armor, it sprinted toward the closest ODST, grabbing her by the throat with its spindly fingers and lifting her off the ground, her helmet flying off her head.
She grit her teeth, drew her combat knife and stabbed it in the arm twice. It still took one of her comrades pinning the machine down and emptying his entire AR Magazine into its back for it to fully drop the girl. She coughed, calling out, "Thanks…!" hoarsely, then grabbed her helmet and skittered into cover as more enemy mechs began to arrive.
Alongside a pair of their Raiders, which began strafing the area. Holden barked, "Get me a Spanker on those sons-of-bitches the moment they swing around again!" as the first bursts struck around them, ripping apart the husks of cars and even their dead. Melissa moved along the left side, toward the entrance with her team.
The Sergeant followed close behind her, reuniting half of the platoon. He ordered, "Grenades at eleven, one and two o'clock! MG, shift fire right!" then patted the MG Gunner, who'd set up his bipod on the hood of a Humvee and opened up. The man nodded and shifted, firing all the while, his barrel glowing slightly red.
The rocket launcher-toting trooper stepped up, took cover and aimed up, activating the weapon's heat-seeker systems. While it was a relatively old system, the lock-on potential of UNSC Jackhammer/Spanker launchers had only recently been added back on, mostly due to a necessity to engage long-distance Covenant Remnant aircraft.
Or, in this case, unshielded robot craft. As the first one swung in for another gun run, its blaring red eye glaring at the ODST team, the first missile's motor ignited, backblast spitting into the ground as it launched forward. Its tracker head locked onto the enemy fighter's silhouette, pinged it, then, before its ECM could react, struck it.
The explosion lit a second sun in the sky for a moment as the ammunition and fuel aboard the fighter ignited in a violent blast. So violent it'd been, in fact, that it staggered everyone around and even forced the still-living sibling of the Raider pair to bank hard and fast to avoid the damned fireball swallowing it, too.
The second missile screamed from its tube. Locked onto its target, it danced utilizing its fins and tracker and aimed straight for the underbelly of the bird. When it detonated, it sprayed the craft with molten metal and shrapnel that ripped into its propulsion system and sent it careening down into the ruins of the city of Delphi, far away from the base.
"So much for keeping it quiet for the most part!" Melissa quipped as she joined Holden and the others. The man let out a sarcastic 'ha ha!" as he fired his rifle. Their MG Gunner dropped onto his stomach beside them, changed out the barrel of his gun, then started laying hell down again. Melissa ducked into cover, primed an EM grenade and threw it.
The blast staggered several of the enemy's units, with Melissa sighing deeply and mumbling, "These tin cans are either EM-shielded enough to withstand a brainscorcher grenade like that," before she poked out and domed another, spraying red across its comrades. She added, "Or they're somewhat organic in there. Fuck me if the second's true."
"Considering…" Holden mumbled, "Their leader was human-looking. Confirms the intel we got with the Human Cylons having multiple models," before he dropped his own spent magazine. He told Melissa, "We'll have to send the first few reports, but our EVAC's nearly here. Ready to jump ship?" just as their helmets picked up the muffled drone of a Pelican's engines.
She nodded, speaking jovially, "Ready as I'll ever be to get the fuck outta here," before she went to check on one of their injured to make sure he was good for transport. The man waved the injury in his side off, then snapped up and fired at the drone ahead as more Raiders were descending down upon them.
As the veil of the active camouflage system peeled back, the Pelican's nose-mounted autocannon raked the two enemy fighters, ripping them apart at the seams with each high-explosive round impact. Afterward, its aim shifted downward, lighting the entire forward line of advancing Centurions up. Melissa grinned at the sight, shouldered her rifle and saw the Human Cylon in the midst of them all, surprised.
He looked down right into her scope, eyes widening. She didn't hesitate, squeezing the trigger and sending a three-round burst straight into the man's head, spraying whatever knockoff blood, brain matter and bone the copy of a human being had against the wall behind it. The Pelican hovered, firing its gun and the Crew Chief aboard barked, "GET THE HELL ON!" the moment the rear door opened.
The entire platoon filed in, helping the wounded aboard first. The Centurions, to their credit, seemed to retreat behind cover, letting the gunner rake the area ahead of the gate with HE ammo as they presumably prepared to bring on their own Anti-Air unit. Melissa was the last one on, climbing aboard and stowing her rifle as she stated, "That was cutting it close…" and turned to look at the wounded.
The Pelican's engines roared as it lifted off, door closing as the active camouflage and dampening fields activated. The Lieutenant counted the wounded and murmured, "Six wounded," before turning to face the Sergeant and Melissa and telling them, "Good op all-in-all, but the Tin Cans do have some good guns…"
"Hopefully, they won't have time to use them in our next engagement," Melissa quipped, taking her helmet off. She wiped blood from her nose, then mumbled, "Fucking alien devices, man. Hope Halsey's gonna enjoy the video we took of that thing before I thermite'd it and shot its little puppet…" only to blink as images flashed in her eyes.
… Comparing it to what Shepard had told everyone? That was Reaper tech they'd seen here.
Fuck.
Tuchanka Orbit
Shepard was on the Normandy's bridge, staring at the UNSC's finest stealth tech ahead of them. One of an unknown number of them, a Sahara-class Heavy Prowler belonging to the Office of Naval Intelligence now floated gently toward them. It had a name, though Doctor Halsey hadn't seen the need to speak of it.
Understandably, the woman thought. She arranged her armor and looked at Chief and Blue Team as they joined the crew of her, Grunt, Okeer and Mordin for the trip down below. She peered through the window again at the desolate landscape of the planet below. Tuchanka, as far as Shepard had heard, was once a beautiful planet. Lush, green and clean, though it housed the Krogan clans.
Okeer himself stared at the planet below without much fanfare, stating bluntly, "A broken tomb for a race unwilling to move forward… I hope your people are more ready to make any sacrifice to continue your existence than mine were, Commander," and he cast a glance at Shepard. The woman blinked, a little worried at the implications, but she chose to ignore it.
She turned toward Grunt and asked, "How're you doing, Grunt?"
"Angry…" The alien replied, though only his voice told of his impatience. He added, "But… Looking forward to see what is supposedly the home of the Krogan. What little I know was imprinted into me by the tank," and he crossed his arms. Okeer must've not given him too pleasant a view of their old home, considering how the tankbred stared at them.
"You'll find it disappointing," Okeer sneered, confirming her suspicions.
"That's for him to decide," Shepard replied bluntly. When Okeer huffed and turned away, angry, Shepard knew that the prick wasn't a good influence for poor Grunt. She once more gazed upon the young alien, then told him, "We'll see what's down there. I haven't been either, but I heard it's… Nice…?" she hesitated.
Garrus cleared his throat as he walked forward, then told Shepard, "I mean, if you find post-nuclear hellscapes nice, sure," with a certain joker's attitude in his voice. Tali was behind him, toting a shotgun and pistol placed on holsters of a more reinforced and armored suit. He told her, "We're gonna be joining you all down there."
"Hey, any extra gun's gonna be useful," Shepard smiled, then added, "And this way, Tali gets to stretch her legs a bit after all the boring nerd stuff."
Tali snorted, "True enough," before she looked upon the Krogan and said, "Awe-inspiring to see someone manage to actually clone a sane Krogan," before turning to look at Okeer and saying with a certain level of bluntness that made even Modern Day Liara seem calm, "Though I've not heard a lot of good things about you."
"Unsurprising," The Alien replied with some scorn. He pointed at the window, stating, "You Quarians sit there, mewling about your lost homeworld. Ours is down there, a tomb for our entire species, and you don't hear us complaining so often," before crossing his arms, "If you all are really that angry about some mechanoids stealing your planet? Fight for it."
Tali huffed, about to start again, but Shepard barked, "Alright, that's enough! Okeer, shut your trap for once, because God help me if you ain't making me reconsider keeping you aboard this ship," and she turned fully to face him as she added while pointing at Grunt, "Grunt is the only reason I am, however. Because I want to know what the Hell's wrong with him so I can fix it… Speaking of, you said you'd tell us what the issue is once we got to Tuchanka. Spill it!"
Okeer snarled, but sighed deeply, containing his own rage. He stared Shepard in the eye and said, "You do understand that he underwent a level of accelerated growth while stuck in stasis, correct?" only to get a nod out of everyone present. He grinned a little, "And what happens to any creature who undergoes a growth cycle, regardless of how fast it happens? Even a Human."
Shepard furrowed her brows, confused as she stared at the man and was about to speak. She looked over to Mordin, who seemed slightly amused by the situation, though showing an underlying layer of concern probably about Tuchanka. She blinked, was about to ask, then… it set in. Her shoulders sagged as she sighed, "Puberty…"
"... A Pilgrimage, then…?" Tali blinked.
Mordin chuckled, "Krogan puberty very different from standard human or 'mammal' ones, but yes," before looking at Garrus.
Garrus spoke, "... Can't we just buy him a couple of dances on Omega and get this over with, then? We have a bunch of stuff to handle here, I know, but…"
"As much as I would like to," Okeer replied, "There are rituals. If the Tankbred wants to become one of us as the ones on the planet below see us? He'll have to go through a specific Ritual they hold dear, one that will allow him to be inducted into a Clan," and he motioned to the boy, "Not something as temporary as this little unit of soldiers."
Shepard sighed, "Things can never be easy, can they?"
Chief hummed, to which Shepard raised a brow. Cortana appeared as a holographic projection on his shoulder, smiling and stating, "He means 'no, no they can't," while deepening her voice to sound a little like him. The rest of the crew, except maybe Grunt, Okeer and the Spartans(not for lack of Kelly holding it down) laughed.
Chief sighed and was about to say something, but the UNSC stealth vessel docked with their own. Moments later, the airlock cycled and a familiar figure walked onto the deck, under the escort of a platoon of UNSC Marine Corps members. She was wearing body armor underneath her labcoat and held a tablet in one hand and a pistol concealed underneath her coat.
"Commander, Blues," She greeted, "It has been a while," before noting Mordin, "And Mordin. Any luck on that plasma-based weaponry Research I told you about?"
"Sadly not. Been busy working on Collector situation," The alien smiled, though obviously uneasy, "Good to see you again, Doctor," and Halsey nodded, giving a quick, friendly nod in greeting. She turned to Shepard while Garrus and Tali joined the group at the front and her gaze locked onto the pair of Krogan.
She spoke, "I suppose it only makes sense that two Krogan would want to see Tuchanka," in a murmur. She eyed Okeer and seemed to immediately take a dislike to him, then cast a glance toward Grunt and hummed. She sighed, checked her tablet, then showed Shepard the data. Initial scans of the planet had apparently given the ONI crew the location they needed to go to.
"We'll deal with that ASAP, but…" Shepard stretched, "Let's get to the planet's surface, first," before she motioned for the group to follow her. While the two doctors engaged in small-talk about the alien machine that had come aboard, the team took the elevator down, once again moving a hint slower due to the Spartans' size. When they arrived, they were greeted by Jack and Fives doing some sort of PT training and by Ahsoka tending to her bird again while the Clones simply lounged about.
After waving to the crew and boarding the dropship down to the planet, the crew found their seats, readied their weapons and let Shepard work out a suitable landing site. Or, at least, she would have, if they didn't immediately get a ping on the Omni-Tool com system. She lifted the arm up and said, "This is Commander Shepard of the Normandy. We mean you no harm."
"We're well aware, Commander," A male voice spoke, "You're flying through Urdnot airspace. Follow the coordinates I'm sending you and land here. Someone wants to speak to you," and Shepard blanked. Urdnot. Wrex's Clan, then, she thought as she held onto the dropship's chair. Garrus was the pilot for this run.
The shipboard cameras allowed them to see the barren outside and the damaged ruin sprawl around them. Old, torn-down factories, high-rising skyscrapers destroyed by the heat of nuclear blasts, their metallic bodies bending, abandoned roads over which rubble and slight overgrowths had come and a sky choked by atomic air, shining a sickly yellow in the light of Aralakh, the system's sun.
It was a dishearteningly good show of a future that Humanity had luckily avoided by starting their exploration of space together. She sighed, taking a step back into the hold of the craft as it began its descent, then said, "Alright. We're landing within the territory of Clan Urdnot, it seems… Don't know what to expect."
"This should be fun," Garrus smirked, "Maybe…"
"It'd be an interesting change of pace," Tali added as she checked her gun.
Shepard saw the confusion in everyone else and said, "As unlikely as it is, seeing as I haven't heard a damn thing about him, a friend of ours shares a clan name. Heh, old man helped us two years ago and remains probably one of the few Krogan I'm ever gonna be glad to see wearing blood-red armor out there," before she felt a pit in her stomach as the ship descended.
When it touched down and the door slid open, it revealed the dim insides of an ancient tunnel. As the team stood up, moving to escort Halsey and Shepard, Shepard herself commented, "Jeez," in a murmur. Looking up, she saw the hole they'd landed into and looked around at the various supplies and equipment strewn about.
Krogan clad in their standard battle-armor, wearing various colors of it, too, stared at Shepard and her crew through their visors. The Spartans tensed, while Halsey remained unimpressed with the post-nuclear stone and steel ruins of Tuchanka. She pushed her glasses onto the bridge of her nose and activated her tablet.
A trio of Krogan in white armor approached Shepard. Their leader asked, "You Shepard?"
"Yeah, that's me," Shepard replied with a nod.
The alien huffed, then said, "Come with us. Boss wants to speak with-" only to pause as he looked past him. He pushed Shepard aside and drew his shotgun, slamming into Okeer and stating, "You shouldn't have come back, monster!" only to stagger as Grunt pushed him away and drew his own shotgun, growling at him much to everyone's surprise.
In a heated moment, guns were drawn and pointed. Shepard, who had her gun pointed at the leader of the formation, said, "As much as I dislike Okeer, he's here to help us with something. We'll get him out of your scales the moment we're done," while the Spartans, Marines, Tali and Garrus made a perimeter around Mordin, Shepard and Halsey, with the lattermost already reaching for her gun with an impassive face.
"I'd rather you killed the bastard the moment you found him," The leader snarled.
"That's on me," Grunt replied angrily, his shotgun aimed for the leader's head, "It won't be anyone else who kills him. It'll be my blade carving out his chest," he then told the elder Krogan in charge of the Urdnot squad. It was surprising to see Grunt this determined, but it made sense he was no fan of Okeer. And Okeer seemed proud of that statement, too. Eugh
The leader snapped, "And who're you, creature? You stink of his experiments!"
"ENOUGH!" Shepard barked, her voice hard and commanding. She told the leader, "That's one of my crew you're talking to. It's my crew you're threatening with a gun. My Clan. If you have a problem, you take it up with ME!" only to grab him by the shoulder and, utilizing a bit of her Biotics, causing him to swivel about, before grabbing him by the collar and slamming her head against his.
The alien staggered and the guns cocked again. He laughed a little, then said, "Cocky, for a human. I'm gonna enjoy dealing with y-"
"What the Hell is with the noise, Nur? You trying to start a shootout with our guests already?" A voice called out, familiar to Shepard. He barked again, "Lower your weapons and let'em through. We'll…" and when his steps stopped, so did his speech. With a scar across the right side of his head, going from the top of his carapace to near the collar of his own, surprisingly regal white armor, the orange-eyed large lizard grinned. He laughed, "HAHAHA! SHEPARD?! YOU NEARLY STARTED A SHOOTOUT WITH MY GUARDS!?"
"Wrex!" Shepard smiled brightly, lowering her pistol.
Despite his guard's insistence, Urdnot Wrex marched up the steps at a quick pace, then said, "I should've known the only reason a Cerberus bird would've landed at our place was you! And you come out of Death's embrace swinging!" with a smirk. He extended a hand to Shepard, which she gripped and shook.
"Glad to know you're doing well, Wrex," Garrus quipped, leaning his rifle on his shoulder as the rest of the platoon seemed to calm down. The Urdnot guards all lowered their weapons, with 'Nur', the one that'd threatened Okeer and Grunt, snarling at the two, then at Shepard as he rejoined formation. Wrex turned and saw both Garrus and Tali and his smile only grew.
"And she had to bring the only Turian with any sense of humor with her," He joked, then looked over at Tali, "And everybody's favorite Quarian."
"Good to see you, too, Wrex," Tali spoke jovially, "You, uh…" and she poked his stomach, "Got a bit chubbier? Guessing being the leader of Clan Urdnot helps keep you fed?" and that got a laugh out of everyone, sans the Spartans and Halsey, obviously. Though it wasn't for lack of Halsey trying to hide a smile.
Noticing the seven-foot tall Supersoldiers, the platoon of Marines and the doctors present, Wrex did a quick headcount, stating, "You upped your numbers some, though, that's for sure," and pausing at Okeer. He scoffed and said, "I thought the other clans agreed to banish you off-world. Guessing Shepard needs your sorry tailless ass."
"Afraid so," Okeer shot back.
"And who's this one?" Wrex pointed at Grunt.
Grunt huffed, then said, "I am Grunt, the perfect Krogan specimen. You and your squeamish little critters should be in awe," then he paused as Wrex snorted. Confused, the 'Perfect Specimen' stared at the Clan Leader of Urdnot. He took a step forward, but Okeer put a hand on his chest and shook his head.
The Urdnot leader looked at Shepard as she smiled and told her, "Lemme guess. Something Okeer was doing?" to which she got a nod. He hummed, then said, "Alright. Follow me. We've got a lot to talk about and I'd rather not do it in the open breeze of a Landing Pad," before he looked at the guards and ordered, "Nur, get your asses back to guarding the Southern Reaches."
Despite his seeming hatred for that specific order, the Krogan and his squad complied, walking off toward an exit point from the Landing Pad. Halsey followed the group as they walked and noted that the Spartans held close their rifles, same as the Marines. She sighed, checked the background radiation and such to keep herself busy and made sure she had the surface scan with the area they needed to visit tabbed and ready.
Upon arriving at the Urdnot camp, deep within the underground tunnels that ran below the city, the group was assaulted by a mix of stinking food being cooked, animals like the multi-eyed quadrupedal giant lizards, the Varren, and the overall smell of decaying infrastructure. The tunnels and catacombs stretched out far and wide.
In the middle of the area ahead, there was a stone throne placed under a hole in the ceiling from which Aralakh beat down with its radioactive rays. Wrex noticed a pair of Krogan from other Clans waiting for him and showed them to wait, before climbing up to the Throne and sitting himself down as Shepard and the others joined him. Sighing as he found a comfortable position, he asked, "Alright… I know you're not usually one for just courtesy visits, Shepard. What do you need?"
… And now, she wasn't even sure where to start…