This Doom of Ours

Chapter: 13

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On the outskirts of Eden Prime:

"This is not going into the official report" stated Chan unhappy as she and Nihlus bounced from side to side in the rear compartment of the garbage truck, each with a hand on the unconscious krogan that the pair had somehow managed to manhandle in with them. "We already look like dumbasses as it is."

"Could be worse." said Nihlus tired as he wiped imp brains off the side of his helmets visor. "At least we're still breathing… even if it stinks." the vehicle suddenly shuddered violently to one side as the reluctant occupants desperately clung for dear life. "Vasir... Vasir you crazy bitch, what the fuck are you doing!?"

But before they could get an answer there was a long burst of gunfire that drowned out the sound of the trucks engines followed by Bo's voice answering them.

"Hold on, we're going off road!" the pair exchanged looks of disbelief before grabbing onto whatever they could, the lumbering rust bucket jolting around violently all around them.

The next few minutes were a nightmare as the as the pair were launched around the cabin of the APC.

"I'm going to need an ass transplant when this shit is all over!" shouted Chan over the deafening din as for umpteenth time they were slammed back down into the deck plating. "Bo where the fuck are we going!?" she shouted into the comms.

There was a noticeable pause before anyone answered, this time it was Vasir. "You still alive back there?" the stream of curses that thundered back towards her drew a chuckle out of the asari. "Good, was getting sick of talking to Bo." the line crackled slightly.

"I can hear you, you know" stated the salarian in a disinterested tone. "How's Paramo?" the OSI operative glanced down at her alien colleague, who was still unresponsive but breathing on the floor of the truck.

"The big guy's still out, must have been some kind of sedative in the emergency ejection to prevent him from blood raging." stated Chan "I could hit him with a stim if you want." the turain next to her snorted in disbelief.

"Yes, because doing that in a confined space, with us being the closest beings near him when he wakes up is such a good idea." he criticized before the vehicle swayed one more time, returning back towards what felt like a tarmac surface. "Before we do anything stupid, I for one would like to know where the spirits we're going."

His fellow spectre's let out tired sighs over the link before Bo spoke up "As of right now our goal is to evacuate from the city limits, or at least clear the primary blast zone." that got the turian's attention on the OSI operative.

"How long do we have?" Chan could be seen grimacing behind her visor at the question.

"Depends on what's waiting for DG inside." she muttered "But judging from what's been happening already then..."

She could almost see the gears inside the spectres head slowly turning as he pieced together what that meant "Then it's likely he's walking into a trap." stated Nihlus "Okay, so I know that I'm the last person to say this, but shouldn't we go back and make sure that he succeeds?"

"It depends." suddenly declared a new speaker from below them as Paramo slowly cracked open his eyes "On how much you want to die, because as it stands there's only one way that anyone closing the gateway is getting out alive; you two talk too loudly by the way, I was trying to nap." the last part of that statement earned the krogan a hard smack on the shoulder from his fellow operative as she let out a loud huff.

"You could have told us you were awake; I was about to give you a stim to get you up!" the krogan shrugged as he glanced around him as if he was looking for something.

"Hey, where the hell is my gun!?" he glared at the duo "What the fuck Chan!" but all that got him was a dismissive shrug from the human.

"What where you expecting?" countered Nihlus "We had trouble getting your heavy ass into this garbage truck as it was, no one had time to pick up your fucking cannon." Paramo muttered something under his breath before letting out a frustrated huff

"Wondered why it stunk so much, could be worse I suppose" said the krogan as he flexed his right shoulder. "Anyone hurt besides me?" when he heard the positive responses to his question he let out a somewhat contented huff. "Good."

There was an uncomfortable silence for a few minutes before Chen finally spoke up "Okay I'm going to say it if no one else will, we got our backsides handed to us people, the fact that we're escaping in a fucking garbage truck should speak volumes."

"Does anyone get the feeling that something strange is going on here?" added Bo "The timing of this incursion, combined with what's happening on the citadel along with the other incidents lately, something big is going on." everyone nodded grimly.

"This attack does seem far more organized then the last one I witnessed." commented Nihlus "I would even hesitate to added that who've is leading them is rather competent" again more nods "What does that mean for us?"

"It means..." But Vasir's counter went unanswered as the truck suddenly swerved violently to one side as Bo started cursing out loud about something as he quickly lost control of the vehicle.

Not so long ago:

An ear-splitting shriek echoed out from behind the young sergeant as she sprinted through the woodland, with what was left of her squad right behind her and the unresponsive form of their Lieutenant slung across the marines armoured back, there was another guttural scream mere moments later from somewhere nearby.

"Oh shit oh shit oh shit!" muttered one of Ashley's subordinates as he frantically glanced over his shoulder. "What the fuck!"

"Shut up and run Wood's!" barked the woman as she vaulted over a fallen tree. Everything had gone to shit, whatever the hell that thing was back there, it had almost completely wiped out her squad. Their only saving grace was a lucky shot from their heavy weapons specialist, it had taken out the things flight system and given them the crucial time needed to retreat.

There was a burst of rifle fire that shredded a nearby tree as something came dashing over a ridge line. It looked like a human, but the body was horribly deformed and it let out a gurgling bellow that put Ashley's hair on edge as one of her marines fired of a few shots that sent whatever it was crashing into the ground, only for it drag itself upright mere moments later.

"What are these things!?" yelled Corporal Fenning as he covered the rest of the teams escape with a burst of fire. "Our weapons aren't doing anything to them!" and he wasn't wrong, it took nearly a dozen more rounds for the abomination to let out a gurgling splutter and slump to the side dead.

The sudden silence wasn't reassuring, there was an unmistakable feeling in the air, a mixture of fear and death that put everyone on edge, they could almost hear the screams on the breeze, to say that it was unsettling would be a massive understatement.

"Okay people, catch your breath for a moment. Fernández I need you working on the lieutenant yesterday!" the corpsman was beside her in mere moments as the pair carefully eased the unconscious man onto the ground.

"Do what you can for him corporal, but we can't stay here long." the marine nodded quickly before turning his omni-tool to the task at hand. "Fenning, Woods with me, form a perimeter, eye on every approach." there was a low mutter of confirmations from her teammates as the three of them took up positions.

The next few minutes felt like hours as the soldiers held their breath, half expecting another wave of attackers to come over the hill. But to everyone's surprise it never materialized, the sounds of fighting and general panic did though, whatever was happening must have spread to the rest of the colony.

"How are we doing Fernández?" questioned Ashley quietly into her helmets microphone. "Because we've got noise moving in our general direction." there was a short pause before the line cracked back into life.

"He's still out but I've given him some medi-gel. He'll come around soon but we'll need to get him to a medical centre, it's likely he has a serious concussion." stated the medic, "But besides that we should be good to move." the sergeant nodded in understanding before glancing back towards her subordinates.

"Alright people let's move, stay sharp and we'll get through this." the grim faces of her men were the only answers she received as the battered and blooded group of soldiers fell in behind her as she took responsibility for carrying the lieutenant once more.

The next half an hour didn't make their mood any better, as they drew closer to the colony they could see the columns of black smoke reaching into the sky, agonizing screams carried on the breeze.

"What the fuck is going on!?" she muttered to herself as the four marines ducked down below some dense shrubbery as some kind of winged being came flapping overhead, a half-eaten carcass hanging from one clawed talon. "What are these things?" they'd already killed a number of lone attackers only to find them wearing alliance clothing, some of them even had on planetary defence forces hard suits.

"Got to be some kind of bio weapon." had stated Fernández uneasily after they'd stop to examined the last poor shod that had attacked them "Just look at that things face, that isn't normal." Ashley had outwardly agreed if only to keep that lone, inner voice inside her head quiet, the one that kept whispering that she knew exactly what these things where, after all she'd been warned about them every time she went to church or read the bible, but that was impossible, they couldn't be real could they?

There was a bellowing roar from nearby as the ground started shaking underfoot, this was quickly followed by the unmistakable cracking of tree trunks as something bore down on them.

"Move, get to cover!" snapped Ashley as her teammates hastily darted in different directions as something massive came lumbering into view, it's massive, distended stomach almost dragging along the floor as it let out another guttural bellow, what was more worrisome were the massive pair of glowing red cannons that had seemingly been fused onto its arms.

"You've got to be fucking kidding me." muttered Woods over the comm "What the fuck is that thing!?"

"I don't know, but just keep your heads down and for the love of all things holy don't do anything stupid!" snapped Ashley as she gingerly repositioned herself behind a large outcrop of rock. "It hasn't seen us, let's keep it that way." there where whispers of agreement as everyone held their breaths as the lumbering creature began stalking around the general area, stopping every once in a while to seemingly sniff the air like some kind of massive, slobbering dog before continuing on to the next spot.

For the briefest of moments it almost looked like the marines had gotten away with it, but then the wind changed direction and the towering abomination suddenly came to a halt as it slowly turned it's large, single emerald green eye towards where Corporal Fenning was hunched over, hiding behind a half fallen tree stump.

"Fenning, Fenning listen to me, that things got your scent." whispered Ashley as calmly as possible into her comms. "Just stay still, I'm going to distract it and give you a window to move away." you could just about hear the quiet cursing coming back over from the other end of the line, she glanced over towards Corporal Fernández, who was kneeling down next to her in case they needed to move the lieutenant quickly. "Take him, I'm going to sprint right, keep quiet and make sure he makes it out." the man nodded as she passed the unconscious man over. "Get ready."

She bolted from cover, her rifle coming up as the monstrosity shifted its weight to face her, following her movements with its massive eye. "Come and get me you fat bastard!" the weapon in her hands roared as rounds began slamming into the target, for all the good it did, the layers of rancid fat somewhat acting as natural armour, the creature raising its cannon arm to protect its face.

Unfortunately, it still had another weapon and this one lit up with an unnerving red glow as it jerked it around to bring it to bear on the new target. The marine barely had enough time to dive out of the way as a ball of hellish energy evaporated the patch of ground she'd been standing on.

"Oh shit oh shit oh shit!" Ashley repeated that tried and true mantra again and again and again as she darted from one side to the other as the lumbering monstrosity blasted away at her. "Get the fuck out of here, I don't know how long I can keep this thing distracted!" if her subordinates answered she didn't hear it as the beast let out a deafening roar before slamming both barrels of its weapons into the earth and unleashing a wave of energy that sent the gunnery sergeant crashing into a nearby tree.

She could feel her joints pop slightly on the impact, a metallic taste flooding into her mouth and a dark haze creeping into the corners of her vision, moments later there came the familiar thuds as the lumbering creature moved closer to her. She stared it in the eye as it raised its weapon, the barrel glowing red as it prepared to discharge its energy.

Ashley struggled to her feet, determined to die standing. 'Yea though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for thou art with me. Thy rod and thy staff they comfort me.' she thought as she struggled to raise her weapon.

Apparently God really was with her as a garbage truck came thundering out of nowhere and nearly slammed into the monstrosity, which managed at the last moment to swing its hefty weight to one side as it slammed into the ground.

"Who the fuck taught you how to drive Bo!" an angry voice echoed from the back of the truck as the alliance marine looked on in disbelief and a human, krogan, and turian came scrambling out, weapons lifted and at the ready.

"Just shut up and shoot the fucking thing!" rumbled the giant lizard as the trio quickly surrounded the downed opponent and unloaded on it until it was reduced to a pile of meat and metal.

There was an uneasy silence that quickly descended as Williams dragged herself upright as she quickly found herself facing off against the truck's occupants, all of them extremely heavily armed and armoured.

"Okay, this is all nice and all." stated the only asari in the group as she cast a critical eye over the grim covered marine in front of her. "But us standing here with our asses hanging out is going to get everybody killed so let's go." the blue skinned alien jerked a thumb over her shoulder at the truck. "If you want to continue living get in the back of the truck human."

"Oh, wow, way to play the race card Vasir." scoffed the other human in the group as the asari let out a dismissive snort as she walked back to the truck. "But as much I want to disagree with the blue bitch, we do need to get moving so clamber in the back with these two meat heads." she indicated at her companions that still had garbage hanging off their armour "And try not to breathe through your nose." But Ashley had more pressing concerns then her own safety and she didn't hesitate in speaking them out loud.

"I'm not going anywhere without my men!" she stated sharply, only to be meet with a dismissive eye roll from the imposing Krogan as the individual stomped past her.

"Then I would use that communicator of yours," he rumbled "And contact them." the woman that had been talking to her earlier slapped disapprovingly on the alien's arm as she angrily glared at the brute.

"And you wonder why people think you have no tact." she snapped before grinning in clear embarrassment at Ashley. "Sorry about Paramo, he can be a total ass at times, you said that you have men in the area, do you have their comm frequency?" the marine nodded uneasily, but something must have shown on her face as the fellow woman let out a long sigh. "Look I can see that all of this is confusing as shit, but we do need to move, so please contact your people." there was a long pause before Ashley reached a hand up to her helmet.

Inside the power plant:

"Warning, the breach has expanded by five percent, Argent readings are currently at one hundred and twenty percent above recommended safety levels." V.E.G.A's monotonal voice echoed out of the operatives internal speakers as the man himself slammed an armoured fist through the front of a Hell Razer's gaping maw and out the other side in a shower of crimson.

The enter power plant was already lost, its metal frame was slowly warping under the influence of the demonic energy. The mortal cultists, those that hadn't been massacred by the newly arrived monstrosities, were slowly being consumed by the smaller gore nests springing up all over the place.

"Noted, what's our ETA to the plants core?" he emptied an energy cell into the nearest hell knight, the energy bolts ripping chunks of flesh from its bones and quickly decapitating the beast.

"At our current pace we should arrive in less than fifteen minuets barring any delays." the remark was almost drowned out as operative ripped the jaw off a nearby imp that was trying to get in his way, before coating the nearby walls in a possessed workers brain matter. "Warning, scans are picking up a large number of gamma level threats converging on this location." Doom Guy glanced over his shoulder as bellowing cries started to reverberate all around him.

"Find me a new route." he rumbled as the first foe came charging at him.

"I think I'm going to be sick sarge." declared Corporal Woods from somewhere behind Williams as the now cramped compartment jerked around uncontrollably as the lumbering truck hit something that made an uncomfortable squelching sound as it when underneath the front wheels.

"If you puke on my armour I'll tear your arms off." snapped the krogan from underneath a mound of stinking garbage that had recently relocated itself atop of him.

This statement was quickly reinforced by a number of threats from the other occupants of the truck, none of which wanted fresh vomit anywhere near them as the vehicle jerked violently to one side as it took a corner at top speed.

"Keep it down back there." shouted Vasir from up front as she managed to tear her gaze away from the rapidly passing landscape to glance down at her Omni-tool with tired frustration. "Come on, come on damn you!"

"Still not able to get in touch with the ship in orbit?" challenged Bo as he thundered down an empty side track. "Must be the background radiation levels in the upper atmosphere." he muttered. "Personal transmitters are likely too weak to cut through the interference."

There was a low curse as the angry asari slammed a hand on the dashboard in exasperation. "Thank you for that glowing insight Bo, your tactical mind is outstanding." she glared daggers at the holographic display before snapping her gaze away as her mind started to churn out potential solutions for the problem. "Most civilian made transmitters will be lacking power as well so we'll need to be gunning for a military grade communication system, something with the kick to get through the interference."

The salarian driver nodded in agreement. "I've been keeping an eye out for any kind of working alliance vehicle, all of their in service models should have what we need for broadcasting, if that fails we could always locate a nearby military installation, but I wouldn't recommend it as such locations will likely be heavily overrun by enemy elements." Vasir let out a dismissive snort at the statement as she leaned out the passenger's side window to get a better view of the road ahead.

"Like that would be an issue of us, even in our current state." she muttered before letting out a frustrated sigh "This whole mission is a fucking cluster fuck, the Council is going to skin us alive, and that's after Director Shore has taken his pound of flesh." her fellow Spectre nodded evenly as if acknowledging the death sentence hanging over their heads.

"That can't be helped unfortunately, the loss of their top OSI agent was always going to have consequences. But as it stands I do believe that our superiors decision was the right call, a stable breach would have led to the total loss of the planet, and let's not forget that the operative in question has a track record in surviving such undertakings, it will turn out fine in the end."

"That is surprisingly optimistic view for you Bo." stated Vasir as she glanced back towards her colleague. "Given the current series of events." the salarian shrugged.

"I've found that in situations like this the enemies most powerful weapon in their arsenals is our own mental state." explained the specialist a he took another corner at high speed. "So until I can get back to civilization, I will continue to have a positive outlook on things." he let out a chuckle as he caught sight of the look of total disbelief that was currently plastered across his co-workers face. "We'll see if my idea is successful." their theoretical discussion was quickly interrupted by the sudden sound of raised voices that echoed out from the rear compartment.

"By the goddess are all of you infants!?" snarled the purple skinned individual angry as she reinstated the group channel, only to be greeted with a torrent of bickering and accusations from multiple different sources. "Shut the fuck up!" and to give them credit they did rather quickly obey, or most of them did, there was the still the low grumbling from a certain krogan in the background but no one was really paying him any attention. "Good, now since that I'm here I'm going to ask our tag along some questions."

"What exactly is it that you want to know?" challenged Williams. "I can't tell you anything that breaches Alliance security protocols." Vasir snorted dismissively at the remark.

"Please honey, normally what someone of your rank would know wouldn't even be worth my time or effort, but right now none of us can be picky so I'm going to play nice and ask you marines where the nearest long-range communications transmitter is located so we can get the hell out of dodge." there was a long silence before there came any response over the comms.

"There should be one at the dig site." stated one of the other soldiers crammed into the back.

"What the hell Fenning!" shouted his commander, but she was quickly calmed down by another one of her subordinates.

"Ma'am," muttered Fernández tiredly "We no longer have a choice, the lieutenant needs professional medical attention, not my improvised work. There is no chance that's what left of our squad can retake any location that has the necessary facilities, we need to cooperate with them." there was another long silence before the woman let out a sigh.

"Fine, there's an archaeological dig site nearby that should still have a functioning long-range transmitter," that got everyone who wasn't wearing alliance colours full attention. "I'll send you the coordinates."

Long time no see folks, I know it has been some time for this chapter to come out but with everything going on in the world at the moment it was hard to find the time and the motivation to sit down at my keyboard and finish this chapter off and as such it has taken until now to happen, I hope to be back to a better uploading rate soon.

As always [PLEASE READ AND REVIEW] it helps me a lot and keeps me going, so if you enjoy please leave a review.

Thank you all for reading and I'll see you all next time.

Gods-Owns