Okay folks, here's the big one. The Reapers are the biggest threat the Dimensional Defense Force have yet faced, so everybody's getting involved, and because of what kind of threat they are don't be surprised to see some of the DDF's other enemies joining the fight against the giant mecha space-squids and their cyber-zombie hordes. Be sure to read through, because I have quite a few divergences from game canon planned for this Book.
What I'm really pissed about is that You-Tuber Legend-of-Mania's Mass Effect 3 Complete Expanded Soundtrack has been pulled, and I can't find the full thing anywhere else on the entire Internet…
As a side note, I have gone back and 'prettied up' Books 3 and 4 a little, as well as removing references to Yu-Gi-Oh, Sailor Moon, and Digimon characters being part of the DDF from Books 16 and on (if I missed any, let me know). They're no longer canon, since I wasn't using them much anyway. …I might make a Digimon Book later on, though; haven't decided.
DELAY CAUSED BY: After Palaven (and Eden Prime, and Grissom, and Sanctum, and…), I started Hanar Diplomat, but because I was F*CKING STUPID I saved & quit before finishing it, which triggered a bug and rendered the sidequest unfinishable. I had to go back to the last pre-Hanar-Diplomat save. Which was "Quick Save – Vancouver, Earth". So, because of one stupid mistake made because I was worried about my system overheating (I generally limit my playthroughs to 50-65 minutes at a time), I had to START THE ENTIRE CAMPAIGN ALL OVER AGAIN. Hence the extra delay before I could start this Book. At least I hadn't gone very far; if it'd happened, like, after Tuchanka or Rannoch, I'd have just said "screw it" and wrote this book solely from YouTube vids and year-old memory.
I thought that bug only happened with the "recruiting Blue Suns for Aria" mission. Guess not. So, from now on, if a sidequest on the Citadel is started, and it involves running around doing things on the Citadel, DO NOT SAVE & QUIT, AND DO NOT LEAVE THE CITADEL. Do that sidequest all in one go – no stopping, no saving, no leaving. Aria: Blue Suns, Aria: Blood Pack, Hanar Diplomat, Batarian Codes, Cerberus Retribution, Inspirational Stories, Volus Ambassador, Wounded Batarian… Do not save game, do not leave Citadel, do not pass Go, do not collect 200 credits.
Further delay caused by me taking a few days to mess around with the Citadel DLC's Armax Arsenal Arena, and by a heat-wave and our inefficient house cooling system (thing called a 'swamp cooler', combined with ancient wiring meaning we can't run more than one major appliance (e.g. any one of our house's four air-conditioner-type devices) at once without tripping the circuit breaker) meaning the hot air in my room made my 360 take longer than normal to shed its built-up heat after being turned off, which in turn meant longer wait times between playing and therefore more time needed to beat the game.
And remember: Travels-verse Shepard is an "Adept-Vanguard Engineer with Sniper Training", meaning he's got all the powers of Adept and Engineer classes, plus Shockwave and Biotic Charge.
THE FOLLOWING THINGS ARE THE PROPERTIES OF THEIR RESPECTIVE OWNERS; I DO NOT OWN THEM AND MAKE NO MONEY OFF OF THIS STORY
Mahō Shōjo Lyrical Nanoha (Teana, various other characters) – 7Arcs
Higurashi no Naku Koro Ni (Shion and friends/family) – 07th Expansion and Studio Deen
Shuffle! (Kaede Fuyō and associated characters) – Navel and Asread
Erika's New Perfume (Marie, Sarah, Erika, Timmy, Veronica) – DeviantArtist 'Lance the Young'
Mai-chan's Daily Life (Mai, Kizuna) – Waita Uziga
Star Wars (Ahsoka, Cody, Rex, Force Unleashed cast) – George Lucas, Lucasfilm
Halo (Forerunners, UNSC, Sangheili Alliance) – Bungie, 343 Industries
StarCraft (multiple characters, events, and devices) – Blizzard Entertainment
Naruto (characters, techniques, abilities) – Masashi Kishimoto
Mahō Sensei Negima (characters, spells, abilities) – Ken Akamatsu
Kingdom Hearts (characters, weapons, enemies, concepts) – Square-Enix
Neon Genesis Evangelion (characters, concepts, tech) – Studio Gainax
Elfen Lied (Kaede K., others) – Lynn Okamoto, Arms
Red vs. Blue (The Blood-Gulch Crew, the ex-Freelancers) – Rooster Teeth
My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic – Hasbro, Lauren Faust
Transformers Film Series – Hasbro, Michael Bay
Transformers: Beast Wars – Hasbro, Mainframe Entertainment
Yu-Gi-Oh! – Kazuki Takahashi, Viz Media
Sonic the Hedgehog – SEGA
Gears of War – Epic Games
Roughnecks: Starship Troopers Chronicles – Columbia Tristar (I think)
Mass Effect – Bioware
Metroid – Nintendo
Puella Magi Madoka Magica – Gen Urobuchi, SHAFT
The Legend of Zelda – Nintendo
Tōhō – ZUN
RWBY – Rooster Teeth
Pretty Cure / PreCure – Toei Animation
PLEASE READ & REVIEW, AND TEND TO THE TROPE PAGES
-BOOK 27 START-
Midchilda – Cranagan – Task Force XI Headquarters
108 Days Since Malia Abaddia's Death; 180 Days Since Destruction of Collector Base
Teana Uchiha-Lanstar relaxed as she sat in one of the lounge's big comfy sofas, one hand holding a datapad with an abridged report of recent retrofits to base auto-defenses. She reached a hand back to move her hair – formerly down to where her butt met her thighs, now recently cut to mid-back – as she adjusted herself in her seat. The TSAB military had been doing what they could to improve planetary defenses on all levels, as well as repairing & retrofitting existing ships while constructing new ones, as well as work on the captured Saint's Cradle, which was due to very soon have its restoration and refitting completed; they were going to rechristen it with a new name when it was done.
All this preparation was because the Bureau – actually, all member-states of the Dimensional Defense Force – knew that they had powerful enemies lurking in the shadows; Xehanort and his 'Seekers of Darkness', Amon and his Hybrids, Jul 'Mdama and his extremists… They never knew when any of their myriad enemies might try something. Though, their enemies had been rather quiet lately; a few minor 'trouble spots' here and there, some sightings of enemy big-wigs like Ruin or Joker, but for the most part the last three months had been peaceful. Of course, everyone in the DDF took that opportunity to prepare and train for when trouble inevitably did return.
Teana sighed as she looked around; currently, the members of Gamma, Sigma, and Theta Teams were partially split up, at various points in various DDF-controlled realms. This was nothing major; the teams would occasionally separate to handle different little things, and the higher-ups, knowing how important the teams' bonds were, never had them apart for more than 7-10 days at a time. It had been only three days since the most recent assignment-splitting. Subaru and Ginga were here on Midchilda; Mana, Kaede K., Aqua, and Anya were in their respective home realms; Kaede F. was in the Phoenix League's realm, helping the Tripartate with something; Erio, Caro, and Laicixa were on the UNSC's Earth; Ahsoka and Shion were on Shakuras, the former starting her tutoring in using Void power; Mai was with Kizuna on Equestria; and Asa, Timmy, Erika, Mariko, Marie, and Sarah were all in the 'Mass-Effect' universe – Asa assisting Liara, Marie helping Garrus with something on Palaven, and Sarah & the kids on the Citadel.
The orange-haired girl was pulled from her thoughts as Nanoha and Fate sat on either side of her, both of them giving her a smile; the three of them had gotten rather close by now.
"You okay, Tia?" Fate asked, running a few fingers through the younger girl's hair. "You look a bit tired."
"I've just been having a bit of trouble sleeping" Teana replied, unconsciously leaning into Fate's hand until she pulled away. "I just… can't shake this strange feeling that something's about to happen. And that 'something' doesn't feel like it's anything good."
"Having trouble sleeping?" Nanoha asked, a mischievous smirk on her face. "You know, I bet Subaru or Vice could help you with that, no problem, just like usual. And if they can't, well…" she caressed the girl's face. "Fate and I could, too…"
Teana blushed; that was one personality facet she'd learned that Nanoha and Subaru had in common.
"In all seriousness," Nanoha continued while absent-mindedly holding the girl's hand, rubbing the back of it with her thumb as she talked (Fate was doing the same to the other hand), "what do you think it means? I mean, you are a little bit Force-Sensitive; you can only really use it for that 'Combat Clairvoyance' trick that Jedi use to tell where & when to move their sabers, but… maybe what little connection to the Force you have is trying to warn you something's coming?"
"I hope not" Teana replied, not resisting as Fate pulled her head close to lean against the blonde's shoulder. "If it's something big enough that someone with a near-zero connection like me can feel it coming…"
"Perhaps we should call Ahsoka-chan up and ask her if she's sensed anything lately" Fate suggested.
Before any of the three girls could do or say anything more, however, their Devices chimed…
-Break-
Equestria – Canterlot – Joint Equestrian/COG Military Base, Outskirts of Capital
Shining-Armor Sparkle, Captain of the Equestrian Royal Guard, trotted through the hall of the base, occasionally taking glances out the windows as he passed. In the past few months, the people of (what remained of) the Coalition of Ordered Governments had, despite their tumultuous and battle-worn history, settled in very well on Equestria. They'd helped the ponies acclimate themselves to the new technologies introduced by the DDF at a rapid yet controllable pace, making sure everypony who got the new tech was 'ready' for it. The Equestrian military had benefitted from improved weapons, armor, tech, and training, while the COG-Remnant made good, practical use of magitech.
Of course, there'd been a few events worthy of note, especially the incident involving the chaos spirit Discord's brief escape and day of country-wide craziness about two months back. But Twily and her friends had handled that quickly enough, and the Draconequus was now back as the centerpiece in the castle's royal garden.
As Shining entered one of the base's rooms, he found Sergeant Fenix there as well, and the human veteran gave the unicorn soldier a respectful nod; the two had developed a mutual respect and a sort of camaraderie in the past few months.
"Anything new?" the man asked in his rough voice.
"Nothin' to write home about" Shining replied. "Some of the long-range scanners have been picking up weird ghost-signals about halfway between here and the Moon, but they look like sensor glitches, or maybe dust particles in the solar wind. They're going over it to see how to fix it."
Just then, Damon Baird walked in, grumbling as he worked on a datapad.
"What's eatin' ya, Baird?" Marcus asked.
"Couple of our sensor satellites are freakin' out" the engineer replied. "This data doesn't make sense; no way it's real."
"Well, our scanners are picking up weird readings lately" Shining said. "Maybe they're connected?"
"Eh, I dunno. Maybe it's just… Whoa."
"What happened?" Marcus asked.
"…We just lost all signals from three of our satellites. Wait, five. No, eight! What the fuck's going on up there?"
Shining Armor felt a chill run down his spine. Then, as he looked out a window, he saw a large shadow on the ground a little ways out, getting bigger and bigger…
-Break-
Shakuras
Shion and Ahsoka sparred, locking blades under the watchful eyes of some of the Dark Templar. Suddenly, everyone present suddenly 'felt' something; Ahsoka staggered, nearly falling over as she reached a hand to her head. The two Gamma-Team members and the Dark Templar extended their psychic senses upward, toward the source of the sudden disturbance… and Ahsoka went pale.
"Oh… Oh no…" she whispered.
-Break-
Midchilda
"Alert" Raising Heart reported. "Large-scale dimensional breach detected halfway between Midchilda and its closest moon."
"Alert" Bardiche joined in. "Multiple large objects emerging through the breach, making course for Midchilda."
"Warning" Cross Mirage chimed in. "Objects are opening fire on Bureau naval vessels. Stand by… Video feed from forward cameras of Lance-class cruiser Corona."
And as the image appeared on-screen, the three girls felt shock that quickly segued into dread and horror…
-Break-
Equestria
(MUSIC: Mass Effect 2 Combat OST – "The Human Reaper" – to 0:13)
The three men rushed outside, joined by other humans and ponies including Mai, and they looked up at the sky.
"My God…" Marcus whispered with dread.
"They're…" Mai murmured, her voice wavering. "They're here…"
(0:13 to 0:48)
Descending through the clouds were multiple giant black machines, 160 meters in size with four massive legs, their structures tapering up to a point at top, and single glowing red photoreceptors on their fronts; they were joined by a handful of utterly massive 2-kilometer versions, squid-like in design, and high up, overseeing them all, was a 2500-meter one with dark-blue 'running lights'. Already ground-based defenses were engaging, and the ancient monsters returned fire with slicing crimson beams of destructive power. High above, the planet's token DDF naval force was engaging the enemy as well; already, four ships were burning, as the wreckage of satellites began plummeting down to the planet.
-Break-
Sanghelios
A massive force of hundreds of Sangheili ships, with more arriving from slipspace every moment, stood between the huge force of invaders and their world, plasma torpedoes and particle-beam shots firing out at the horde of metal abominations emerging from the warp-rift; already, a handful of the black machines were dead in space, their advanced metal melted through, but the others were eagerly returning fire, their beams burning at the Sangheili ships' shields.
-Break-
Realm ME-N7
(ME1 OST – Sovereign's Theme – 0:51 to end)
"This is Palaven Command! Surviving hostiles have made planet-fall! Requesting assistance!"
"Urgently: our colony world is under heavy attack. Pleading: Please send help immediately."
"By the Homeworld, there are hundreds of them! Send word back to Rannoch; tell them they have arrived!"
"Everyone, move! Get to the evac shuttles!"
"Oh God, it sees us! It's gonna shoo-"
"By the Goddess, this can't be real!"
"The gates of Hell have been broken down, and the demons are streaming out…"
"It's gonna step on me!-! Somebody HEL-"
"They're here!-! THEY'RE HERE!-!-!"
(MUSIC END)
-SCENE BREAK-
Realm ME-N7 – Earth
"How bad is it?" Anderson asked.
"Bad" Hackett replied. "We just lost contact with two of our deep-space outposts. There's something massive on long-range scanners."
"Is this what Shepard warned us about?"
"I'd stake my life on it."
"How long do we have?"
"Not long. I've sent word; the fleets are mobilizing."
"God help us all…"
-Break-
Commander Jason Shepard sat in his quarters in the Vancouver military base. For the past few months, he'd been here on Earth helping oversee preparations, acting as a consultant and a trainer/instructor, while the Normandy II was examined, refitted, and ridded of its Cerberus paint job. The brass had also been keeping him here because he needed to keep a low profile; the Batarians out for his blood, thanks to the Hegemony leadership executing the survivors of Aratoht, denying the true threat's existence, and playing the propaganda story of Shepard having callously murdered the Bahak system's inhabitants 'for no good reason'. The rest of the galaxy (and some Batarians who lived and operated well outside the Hegemony, such as those in Aria's sector of space) knew the truth, but…
Shepard's attention was drawn as the door opened, and a muscle-bound marine with the Alliance symbol on his tight grey shirt walked in.
"Commander" the man saluted.
"James" Shepard nodded. "What's up?"
"We gotta go, man" James Vega replied. "The defense committee wants to see you."
"Sounds important…"
Shepard followed James out and through the halls, passing many Alliance personnel as they hustled about; there were a few Quarians here & there too, a sign of the continued strong ties between the two races."
"What's goin' on?" Shepard asked.
"Couldn't say" James replied. "Just told me they needed you, now."
Just then, a familiar face – wearing Alliance 'dress blues' with Admiral insignia – walked out through the crowd.
"Anderson?" Shepard said.
"Admiral" James saluted.
"You look good, Shepard" Anderson said, shaking Shepard's hand as the two of them started off down the hall, with James following. "Maybe a little soft around the edges. How you holdin' up since being stationed here?"
"It's not so bad once you get used to the hot food and soft beds. What's going on? Why's everyone in such a hurry?"
"Admiral Hackett's mobilizing the fleets. I'm guessing word's made it to Alliance command. Something big's headed our way."
The trio started up a flight of stairs.
"You think it's them?" Shepard asked.
"We don't know," Anderson replied, "not for certain."
"What else could it be?"
"If I knew that…"
"You know that if it is them, we're not ready yet. We've only been really preparing for less than half a year."
"Tell that to the defense committee."
"Unless we're planning to talk them to death, the committee is just a waste of time."
They moved up along a higher hallway.
"They're just scared. None of them have seen what you've seen. You've faced down one of those monsters. Hell, you spoke to one, then blew the damn thing up! You've seen how they harvest us, what they plan to do to us… You know more about this enemy than anyone."
The three continued, entering an office with a check-in desk. An Ensign looked up at them.
"They're expecting you two, Admiral, Commander" she told them.
The group kept moving down a few more halls, and soon reached the point where only the two 'big names' would be allowed to pass.
"Good luck in there, Shepard" James told him.
Shepard nodded, shaking Vega's hand.
"Shepard!"
Jason turned to see another familiar face, her hair having grown down to mid-back, and now wearing a unique-looking blue uniform.
"Ashley?"
"Lieutenant-Commander?" Anderson spoke up. "How'd it go in there?"
"I can never tell with them" Ashley replied. "I'm just waiting for orders now."
"Admiral, they're ready" a secretary called.
Anderson nodded, and he & Shepard moved on, with Shepard giving Ashley a nod as he passed. The two of them entered a large office, with a huge window overlooking Vancouver, multiple desks lining the walls, and a large table at the end with three Alliance officials seated at it, looking out over the room.
"Admiral Anderson," one of the two men on the committee greeted, "Commander Shepard."
"What's the situation?" Shepard asked as he and Anderson came closer, an aide handing Shepard a datapad.
"We were hoping you would tell us."
"The reports coming in are unlike anything we've seen" the female committee member said. "Whole colonies have gone dark. We've lost contact with everything beyond the Sol Relay."
"Whatever this is," the first man said, "it's incomprehensibly powerful."
"You brought me here to confirm what you already know" Shepard said, looking around at everyone. "The Reapers are here."
A hushed clamor rose among the people manning various consoles around the room.
"Then… how do we stop them?" the woman asked.
"Stop them? This isn't about strategy or tactics; this is about survival. The Reapers are more advanced than we are, more powerful, more intelligent… They don't fear us, and they'll never take pity on us."
"But… there must be some way."
"If we're gonna have any chance of surviving this, we need to stand together."
"That's it?" Member 1 asked. "That's our plan?"
"Yes. Every soldier, every fleet, every world, every species… It'll take the entire galaxy united for us to get out alive."
"Admiral, we've lost contact with Luna Base" an officer woman off to the side called out.
"The moon?" Anderson asked. "They can't be that close already…"
"How'd they get past our defenses?" the committee-woman murmured.
"Sirs, UK headquarters has a visual."
On the main display screen was an Alliance marine shouting into the camera, flames behind him. There was a deep metallic bass note, and a brief instant glimpse of something huge and black, and then the signal was lost. After a couple seconds, multiple screens showed up in a mosaic of sorts on the display, with various news outlets or satellite images, all showing the titanic abominations beginning to run roughshod over Earth. The screen paused and magnified a news image of a Reaper Dreadnought stomping its way through a city, fires burning all around it.
"Why haven't we heard from Admiral Hackett?" Anderson wondered.
"What do we do?" Committee Member 1 asked.
"The only thing we can" Shepard replied. "We fight… or we die."
"We should get to the Normandy…" Anderson said to him.
Suddenly, there was a rumbling sound from overhead, accompanied by clapping thunder and a faint metallic bass. The committee members got up and turned around, looking up at the cloudy Vancouver sky as flashes of light lit the clouds from above.
"Oh my God…" the committee woman breathed.
Then, a Reaper Dreadnought descended from the low clouds, setting down right in the middle of Vancouver and immediately firing its heavy weapon in a sweeping motion… right towards the base.
"Move!" Shepard shouted.
The blast shattered the large window and sent the heavy curved table tumbling clear across the meeting room, with the three committee members' bodies joining it. Shepard ducked, and came back up just in time for the shockwave from a second blast to send him flying into the far wall. He lay on the floor, dazed and ears ringing.
"…pard! Shepard!"
Anderson's voice brought him back to reality, and he groaned as he picked himself up.
"Come on, get up!" Anderson helped him to his feet, handing him a Predator pistol. "We've gotta get moving."
Shepard checked on the one committee member he could see, but it was clear the man was beyond saving.
"This is Admiral Anderson; report in, anyone. …Lieutenant-Commander Williams, is that you? What's your status? …I can't raise the Normandy. You'll have to contact them. We'll meet you at the landing zone. Anderson out."
As Shepard walked out through the broken window, he gazed out at the devastation – fires, falling buildings, fighter craft from both sides zipping through the air, and Reaper Dreadnoughts towering over Vancouver's skyscrapers. Anderson patted him on the shoulder, and the two of them jumped down to a lower pathway.
"They're massive…" Anderson breathed out. "Come on, Shepard. Ashley's headed to the Normandy. They'll pick us up if we can get to the spaceport. Let's move!"
The two of them hurried along the narrow walkway, briefly stopping to shield their eyes as a Reaper Beam cut by overhead. They moved up a level, taking a running jump across a gap, and then dropped down a level. As they headed for a ladder, an Alliance fighter flew by, being pursued by two Oculus drones; one of the Reaper fighters scored a fatal hit, and the human craft careened out of control into an office building. After climbing the ladder, they got up on top of a ventilation duct and ran along it.
"Lieutenant-Commander, do you read me? I'm patching in Shepard."
"We're almost to the Normandy" Williams reported, with gunfire in the background. "I've got Lieutenant Vega and Captain Reegar with me, but we're taking heavy fire."
"We're about five minutes out" Anderson replied. "We-… Shepard, Husks climbing the building ahead. Let's take 'em out before they realize we're here!"
Shepard nodded, and he & Anderson opened fire with their Predator pistols. The Husks, their heads shot through, plummeted. They moved down a ladder, approaching a house with the door locked, where a few more Husks were trying to break through the windows. Shepard took out one with a Warp and another with an Incinerate, and used a Throw attack to send two more climbers flying off the side of the building. Just then, the Reaper 'nearby' fired its beam in a sweeping motion, and it 'grazed' the building, knocking Shepard back on his ass and blowing the door and windows out.
"Not as clean and subtle as bypassing the lock," Shepard remarked as he got back up, "but that works, too."
The two of them headed inside, and approached a malfunctioning door. A Husk tried to claw at Shepard through the gap, but he formed his Omni-Blade and stabbed the cyber-zombie through the head. He then used his cyborg strength to wrench the sliding doors apart, holding it open for Anderson to pass through.
(MUSIC: Mass Effect 3 – "Take My Hand")
Suddenly, he heard a thump behind him. He let go of the door and turned around, just in time to catch sight of a little head poking out from within a floor-level ventilation duct. The child crawled backward further in as Shepard approached.
"Hey…" Shepard knelt down to face the boy – no older than seven or eight, wearing a light-grey sweatshirt. "It's okay."
"Everyone's dying…" the boy murmured, shell-shocked. "They turned my parents into… things…"
"Come here…" Shepard spoke softly. "I need to get you someplace safe. Take my hand…"
"…You can't help me."
"Shepard!"
(END)
He turned as he heard Anderson's voice. After a second he looked back inside the duct, but the boy was gone. Sighing, Shepard got up and followed the Admiral.
"Argh, this is a god-damned mess" Anderson growled as he started shifting rubble around to clear a path. Every minute those things are here, thousands of innocent people die. I won't be responsible…"
"It's hard enough fighting a war," Shepard replied as he followed Anderson through the crawl-space he'd created, "but it's worse knowing no matter how hard you try, you can't save them all."
"Exactly. They hit so fast… I thought we'd have more time."
"We knew they were coming" Shepard said as he moved ahead, now holding a metal beam up for Anderson. "We've been preparing nonstop for almost half a year."
"And they still just cut right through our defenses. We need to get to the Citadel, talk to the Council."
"The Citadel? The fight's here."
"It'll be everywhere soon enough. You said it yourself: the Reapers will destroy everything if we don't stop them. The Council has to help us."
The two of them came across a narrow ledge over a chasm, and started shuffling across, pressing themselves against the wall.
"You sure about that?" Shepard asked.
"No, but you're a Council Spectre; that has to count for something."
The ground trembled, and Shepard nearly fell forward into the abyss…
"Gotcha!"
…only for Anderson to catch him.
"Thanks" Shepard said. "I owe you one."
"More than one…" Anderson replied.
They finished passing through, finally reaching an area where they could move and fight, stopping to grab some spare thermal clips before heading through a broken window and down onto another improvised walkway.
"God…" Anderson murmured as another Reaper Dreadnought made landfall in the harbor, the ground shaking from the landing. "Lieutenant-Commander Williams, we're in sight of the spaceport; ETA three minutes."
"We've made it to the Normandy, taking heavy fire… Oh, God! It's gonna take down the St. Helens! Evasive maneuvers!"
Up ahead, an Alliance dreadnought was exchanging heavy fire with its Reaper counterpart, its railguns firing explosive slugs at relativistic velocity, and taking hits from the Reaper's molten-metal cannon. As Anderson and Shepard moved on, explosions ripped through the St. Helens, culminating in a brilliant flash as its reactor went up. A few seconds later, the shockwave hit, tossing Anderson & Shepard about and making the 'platform' they were standing on give way, sending them tumbling down to an area closer to the water. Shepard picked himself up, watching the burnt pieces of the St. Helens plummet into the water as the Reaper moved on.
"Normandy, we're going to reroute" Anderson radioed. "Do you copy?"
The reply over the comm. was incomprehensibly garbled, the connection out of commission. The two men moved on, soon dropping down to an area where two marines – one with his leg pinned by a very large piece of rubble that stretched across the water – were there.
"You two all right?" Shepard asked.
"Get down! They'll see you!" the medic replied.
Across the water, a squad of Husk-type creatures waited; their bodies were red-hued and bulky, with cannons grafted to their right arms and five glowing eyes.
"Those don't look like they were human" Shepard remarked.
"Yeah, looks like the Reapers have already hit the Batarians" Anderson said.
The Batarian-Husks opened fire with their arm-mounted guns, and Shepard & Anderson returned fire. Shepard took one out with a headshot, and immediately the one next to it knelt down and started eating its body. Shepard grimaced.
"Well, I know what to call these new ones now."
"You mean, besides 'abominations against nature'?" Anderson said.
"Cannibals"
"That works, too."
Shepard sent out a Biotic Pull that yanked one Cannibal into the air, letting Anderson shoot it down without popping his head out of cover. Next, Shepard fired an Incinerate that roasted another Cannibal, followed by a Warp that shredded a third and then a Cryo Blast that froze a fourth for Anderson's shots to shatter. The last one was downed by a few shots from Anderson, and then the two officers headed back over to the downed men.
"What happened here?" Anderson asked.
"Our gunship was shot down" the medic replied. "We barely made it."
"You have a radio? We're trying to contact our ship."
"No. There's one in the gunship, but it's gonna be crawling with those things."
Shepard looked across the water, spotting the tail of the crashed Mantis gunship sticking up at an angle.
"Stay here, boys" Anderson said. "We'll get you out of here."
He and Shepard then lifted the long rubble, letting the medic pull his squadmate free, and then dropped it so it formed a bridge across the water. They hurried across, moving around the rubble, and up ahead was a trio of Cannibals; Shepard sent them for a swim with a Biotic Chain-Shockwave. The duo hurried along, with Shepard blasting a lone Cannibal with an Incinerate when it tried to ambush them. They soon reached the gunship, with Shepard grabbing an M8 Avenger assault rifle from amongst the debris while Anderson hurried over to the radio.
"Normandy, this is Anderson. Do you read?"
"Admiral, what's your location?" Ashley asked.
"By a downed gunship in the harbor. I'm activating its distress beacon. Sent support; we've got wounded down here."
Ashley's next reply was garbled and distorted, and soon the signal was lost entirely.
"Let's hope that beacon does its job" Anderson remarked. "And fast; we've got company!"
(MUSIC: "Waiting for Pickup" (to 0:58))
Several Reaper drop-pods came down across a field of wreckage, deploying a large amount of Cannibals which quickly opened fire on Shepard & Anderson. Shepard deployed a Combat Drone as he & Anderson took cover, the little construct using the upgrade he recently installed into it to fire Incinerate blasts at the Cannibals. Shepard chipped in with the Avenger rifle, gunning down Cannibals or flushing them into Anderson's line of fire. He tossed out a Singularity, and Anderson quickly dealt with the three Cannibals that were lifted up by it.
Another wave of Cannibals dropped in, a few of them firing grenades at the two men. As Anderson scrambled out of the way, Shepard formed a Biotic Barrier-Shell around himself to withstand the blasts, and then launched the energy as a Shockwave that bowled two Cannibals over. He and his Combat Drone fired Incinerate blasts at the launchers, taking them out, while Anderson threw a frag grenade that killed three more Cannibals.
Over the next few minutes, Anderson and Shepard threw everything they had at the never-ending waves of Cannibals. Shepard had already exhausted almost all of his ammo, and was getting a bit tired from the Biotics usage as well.
"This is Commander Shepard to anyone in range!" he radioed. "We're low on ammo and pinned by a crap-load of Batarian Husks! We could use the cavalry right about now!"
"Cavalry's here, gentlemen!" Joker announced.
(0:58 to END)
The Normandy-II swooped in, firing a barrage of rockets that wiped out most of the attacking Reaper ground forces. The majestic 170-meter vessel, now wearing Alliance blue colors, swung around, hovering low over the battlefield and heading towards a 'platform' of rubble that stuck higher up than the surrounding areas. Shepard and Anderson ran for it as the ventral door opened, allowing Ashley, James, and a Quarian in red and silver armor-suit – Kal'Reegar – to open fire on a pack of Husks trying to intercept Shepard's path. Shepard made a running jump, landing on the outstretched 'ramp' of the ship's hatch.
"Welcome back, Shepard" Ashley said.
"Last time we were in this kinda situation, Commander," Kal remarked, "our positions were reversed."
"Shepard!"
Anderson came to a stop on top of the rubble 'platform'.
"Come on!" Shepard called to him.
Anderson looked up as an Alliance Kodiak shuttle flew overhead, the door briefly opening as two soldiers looked out at him. He turned back to Shepard.
"I'm not coming with you" he said. "You saw those men back there. There's a million more like them, and they need a leader."
"We're in this fight together, Anderson."
"It's a fight we can't win. Not without help. We need every species and every ship to even have a chance at defeating the Reapers. Talk to the Council. Convince them to help us."
"What if they won't listen?"
"Then make them listen! Now go! That's an order! You know what must be done."
"…I'll be back for you! And I'll bring every fleet I can! …Good luck."
"You too, Shepard."
(MUSIC: ME3 – "Leaving Earth")
As the Normandy II began to rise, its hatch still open, a trio of Alliance shuttles set down in a nearby courtyard, and refugees piled in. Shepard looked down, and saw the little boy from earlier, looking up at him. Suddenly, the boy flinched as a bass sound accompanied a 160-meter-tall, quadrupedal 'Destroyer'-class Reaper stomping onto the scene, its eye/cannon glowing red with charging energy. The boy stared up in stunned horror for a few seconds, and then scrambled into a nearby shuttle. He looked up at Shepard again as the door closed, and the shuttle, along with a second one, took off.
The Reaper casually, coldly focused its gaze and fired a sweeping crimson laser, slicing the second shuttle in two before it even got 100 meters off the ground. The first shuttle, the one with the boy, made it a little farther before a follow-up shot blew it to bits; the Destroyer then turned its gaze downward and began vaporizing the Alliance marines feebly trying to fire up at it. Shepard closed his eyes and looked away, as the hatch closed.
The Normandy II, got a bit more altitude over the burning city, before its thrusters kicked in and it shot up into the sky, leaving behind a swarm of Reapers systematically butchering the entire city. As they got into orbit, they saw as more cities across the entire planet burned, and the world was now orbited by the burnt, mangled wreckage of dozens of Alliance ships, some of them already beginning to fall into the atmosphere, as more Reapers descended to ravage the world. In a flash of blue, the stealth-attack frigate jumped out, leaving behind a world of wreckage and death.
BOOK 27 - INVASION
-CHAPTER END-
And so ends the beginning. Next time, we head to Mars and the Citadel, and maybe have a look at how some of the other worlds are doing.