EDIT: Sorry about the WoT...Fixed.
Chapter 1
The shuttle bounced and shimmied, tossed around by turbulence as it descended deeper into the atmosphere.
"I hate these things," grumbled the massive, scarred Krogan Battlemaster, more than four centuries old, most of which was spent in battle. "If we were meant to fly we would have grown wings." He grew up on Tuchanka, getting offplanet by joining the Blood Pack shortly after he turned 100. With the Reaper invasion of the galaxy, he decided to turn his considerable abilities toward fighting them.
"Aw, chill out Hulk. We'll be landing soon. Then you'll be in your natural element," said Derek, a human soldier, native of St. Louis back on Earth. Formerly an elite Cerberus deep-cover operative on Omega reporting directly to the Illusive Man, he defected to the Alliance in an effort to repel the Reaper invasion through less questionable means. However, having issues with authority, he chose to freelance rather than join the Alliance Navy.
"That's not my name, whelp. And you know I'm not from this world."
"Yeah but it's fitting. Your armor is green, just like The Hulk. And you're huge. Anyway, I meant that we'd be fighting."
"Oh. Fair enough. Who is this 'Hulk' you refer to?"
"You don't know who-- oh, never mind. Just deal with it, that's your callsign now. I can't pronounce your full name anyway."
"You should be more careful, human," commented Tahak, the Turian Sentinel sitting next to Hulk, across from Derek. "He could kill you by accident and not even realize it until later." The Turian was born on the Citadel, his father the head of security for a wealthy Volus businessman. The Volus saw that his security chief's son was afforded every privilege, even pulling some strings and getting him admitted into the Alliance's Ascension project, where he discovered he had a talent for tech as well as biotic powers. He graduated at the top of his class shortly before the Reaper invasion reached Palaven, at which point he chose to freelance with the Alliance so as to see some fighting on the front lines, rather than take up a support role, removed from the fighting.
"Yeah, maybe," Derek replied. "I'm quicker than you guys give me credit for."
"Inside this shuttle it wouldn't make much difference," came the metallic synthesized voice of Tal'Riza, a Quarian Infiltrator. Shrugging, he pointed out, "There is nowhere else to move to." The Quarian was exiled from the Migrant Fleet when the Admiralty Board went through the results of Rael'Zorah's experiments with the Geth, finding that Tal'Riza's mother was deeply involved in the experiments along with Tali'Zorah's father. The Quarian's captain at his hearing was not fond of him, and he was exiled as a result. He joined the Alliance "N7 Special Forces" in an effort to help fight the Reapers.
"Good point," conceded Derek, keeping one eye on the massive Krogan.
"Let's just focus on the objective," said Tahak. "I'd really like this to be a quick in-and-out mission."
"Shouldn't be a problem," said Tal'Riza.
"Not all of us can go invisible," rumbled Hulk.
"And brute force isn't the solution to every problem, you overgrown lizard," parried Tal'Riza.
"Both of you, calm down," said Tahak. "Let's just get in, secure the objective, and get out."
"What IS the objective, exactly?" asked Derek. "Nobody back at the barracks knew anything."
Tahak glanced at the human. "We're tasked with securing some classified data that was left behind when Cerberus evacuated their Noveria facility. Resistance is expected to be minimal, but we need to be ready."
"Heh, heh, heh." Hulk laughed slowly in his deep voice. "Minimal. Last time I heard that I got swarmed by a group of those Blue Suns fools. Last mistake they ever made."
Derek was quiet at first. "Cerberus, huh? Should be interesting."
"You gonna be okay?" asked Tahak. "If you're going to have a problem with this mission, we need to know now."
"No, I'll be fine. Having me along should help, I know their tactics."
"I agree," said Tahak. "That's what I was hoping you'd say."
"Be ready for anything," said Hulk. "They evacuated for a reason. I wouldn't be surprised to find Reaper ground forces here."
"Touchdown in 30 seconds," crackled the shuttle pilot's voice over the intercom. "Good luck, fellas."
"Check your loadouts and get ready," said Tahak. "Let's make this quick and clean."
Tahak carried the only Phaeston his father gave him upon graduation from the Ascension program. Hulk had an old M-300 Claymore shotgun that had spent more time in combat than the other three squadmembers had been alive--combined...in addition, he carried the M-6 Carnifex Hand Cannon as his sidearm. Tal'Riza carried a Black Widow, essentially a heavily modified version of the famous Widow sniper rifle, modified to fire three rounds per clip rather than 1, with little to no loss in stopping power. He carried an Arc Pistol as his sidearm. Derek, though he defected from Cerberus, still carried his Cerberus weapons--a Cerberus Harrier, essentially a fully automatic version of the classic semiautomatic Mattock heavy assault rifle, and the M-358 Talon, a shotgun-pistol hybrid that packed tremendous punch in a relatively compact package.
"Hulk, you and Derek are one fireteam," said Tahak. "Hulk, take point...Derek, cover his six. Tal'Riza and I will provide support from range."
The shuttle came to a stop over an old landing pad, snowdrifts having formed in the absence of regular use since Cerberus abandoned the facility. "Go, go, go!" came the shuttle pilot's voice over the staticky intercom.
Hulk was out the door first, immediately breaking into a jog toward the nearest door. Derek was right behind him, sweeping his assault rifle left and right. Tahak and Riza were close behind, the Sentinel's armor glowing orange, the Infiltrator's sniper rifle pointing down at an angle, ready to snap up in an instant should he spot a threat.
Tahak and Tal'Riza followed a short distance behind the Battlemaster and Soldier, hearing their periodic cries of "Clear!" as they made their way into the former Cerberus base.
Hulk paused at an intersection, sniffing the air. "What is it?" Derek asked quietly.
"I don't know," replied Hulk. "Something is wrong here."
A short way behind, Tal'Riza was following Tahak and froze. Tahak heard him go invisible, turned around and took cover up against the wall next to him. "What is it?" he whispered.
"I thought I saw something down a hallway back there," answered Tal'Riza. "Then again in this room right here. But whatever it was, if it was anything to begin with, is gone now."
"Okay," said Tahak. "Keep your eyes open." They caught up to Hulk and Derek, still standing at the same intersection.
"What is it?" Tahak asked.
"Something is wrong here," repeated Hulk. "It doesn't smell right."
"Well, keep your eyes open and nose sniffing," said Tahak as he pulled out a datapad, "but we're almost to the server room. It's right around the corner up here. Let's keep moving."
"Hmph," said Hulk as he pulled out his shotgun and pumped the grip, chambering a round. "Ok. But something is going to happen soon."
"Let's just get this data and then get the hell out of here," said Derek. "You guys are making me nervous."
The squad started cautiously moving forward again, and arrived at the server room a few moments later.
"Why did they make this room with such a big window? It's cold in here," said Hulk.
"Servers generate a lot of heat," said Derek as he set up his hack module , "On an ice planet like this they can substantially reduce costs by using the natural environment to cool the equipment."
"Less talking, more hacking," said Tahak. "Tal'Riza, find a place with a decent vantage point for overwatch."
"Yeah, yeah," retorted Derek. "Downloading...now."
"I'll get up in the catwalks," said Tal'Riza. "Overwatch in 90 seconds."
"Relax, Hulk," said Tahak. "You're gonna get us all wound up and trigger happy."
The krogan was gripping his shotgun tightly, looking back and forth up and down the hallways outside the server room. "They're coming," he muttered to himself, "I smell them."
"Incoming!" snapped Tal'Riza. "Cerberus Troopers!"
Hulk let out a massive roar and charged toward the squad of troopers, a massive blue blur of biotic energy. Before he got there, the head of one of the troopers exploded. "Five!" called out Tal'Riza.
Hulk charged right into one of the troopers, sending him into the bulkhead, a sickening crack splitting the air as his back broke into multiple pieces. He headbutted a second, caving in his combat helmet, and shot a third in the face with his shotgun, completely disintegrating the man's head. "Make that two!" he growled over the comlink, as he turned toward the last two troopers, only to have a hail of automatic fire catch both of them in the face and throat.
"Clear!" called Tahak from his position in the doorway. He looked at Derek, "keep the hack going," he said.
"Download is at 10%," Derek responded."183 gigabytes per second, approximately..." he glanced at his chronometer. "...1 minute remaining."
"More coming to join the party," said Tal'Riza. "Two Guardians and three Centurions. Give me a second..."
His Black Widow boomed twice, and the Guardians' shields fell to the ground with a clang, their heads suddenly gone from their necks, arterial spray spattering the bulkheads beside them and the Centurions behind them.
"Man down," called one of the Centurions.
Hulk let loose another battle roar and charged into all three Centurions, the force of his impact causing all three of them to stagger backward. He knocked one back down the hallway as Tahak let loose a long burst on his Phaeston, making short work of the remaining two Centurions as his bullets impacted their face and shoulders, puncturing their suits and stopping them in their tracks. Hulk paused and looked back at Tahak, his question written all over his face.
"What?" asked Tahak. "I'm using armor-piercing loads, I punch right through their suits."
"Huh," grumbled Hulk. "Well, I had them handled. Save your ammunition until you need it."
"Download at 30%," called Derek. "40 seconds remaining."
"I see a Combat Engineer,"said Tal'Riza. "No shot at him, though. Looks like he's setting up a turret to keep us back here."
"Phantoms will be next," said Derek."And there will be at least one Nemesis waiting for us when we get outside, though four or five is more likely. 30 seconds."
"Phantoms!" called out Tal'Riza. "Three of them!" He used his omni-tool to scan one of the Phantoms, marking her on the HUD of the other squad members.
"Focus fire!" called out Tahak. "Take them one at a time!"
Hulk retreated from his point out in the hallway back to the server room. "Help them with the Phantoms," he said to Derek. "I'll wait here in case they get in close."
Derek moved out from the server he was next to and dove across the hallway, taking cover in the doorway across the hall. He nodded at Tahak, and they both popped out of their cover of the doorway and melted the shields of the marked Phantom in a fraction of a second with a withering hail of bullets. The Black Widow boomed again and the Phantom's head distintegrated.
"Two left," called out Tal'Riza. "Don't see them." As he spoke, he heard a noise behind him and turned, only to see one of the Phantoms bearing down on him, sword drawn and palm blaster spitting. "Shields down!" he yelled as the third blast hit him. As he turned to bring up his rifle in an attempt to get off a last-ditch shot, the air around the Phantom crackled as she was suddenly surrounded by a blue-white electrical charge and she began to spasm uncontrollably. He saw a grenade land on the catwalk behind her and took cover behind some empty crates. The grenade detonated, incinerating most of the Phantom's body but dropping a few fingers and some teeth on the ground below.
"Ew," said Derek. "That's just gross."
"There's still one more somewhere," said Tahak. "What's the status on the download?"
"She'll be waiting for us somewhere on our way out of this hellhole," Derek said. "Whe just demolished the rest of her fireteam, she won't be stupid enough to try and take us head on." He shouldered his assault rifle and walked back to his hack module. "10 seconds and we are good to go."
The time passed uneventfully. Tahak triggered his comm, "Mission complete, requesting evac. ETA..." He checked his chrono, "...4 minutes to the LZ."
"Copy your traffic," crackled the staticky voice of the comms operator. "Shuttle inbound, ETA 4 minutes 30 seconds."
"Can we go now?" asked Tal'Riza. "This Phantom's entrails smell awful."
"Yeah, we're leaving now," replied Tahak. "Ready up."
Derek shouldered his hack module, the information they had come for contained inside. Hulk moved out on point, Derek close behind, assault rifle up and ready. Tahak followed him, Tal'Riza bringing up the rear. They moved faster on the way out than when they had come in, eager to get out of the abandoned Cerberus base.
"This doesn't feel right," said Derek. "We should have encountered some resistance by now. This is too easy." The squad rounded a turn and went up some steps, popping outside into the frigid air.
"Uh oh," said Hulk. Then he laughed. "Now we're having fun."
Waiting for the squad were three more Guardians, five more Centurions, and a dozen Assault Troopers, in addition to two Atlases standing on the pad. "Enemies spotted!" yelled one of the troopers.
"Take cover!" called out Tahak. "Time to earn your pay! Let's make this fast, the our ride is going to be here in two minutes!"
"Gonna be a long two minutes," muttered Derek.
"For once, whelp," said Hulk as he peered around cover and fired off a round, "I agree with you."
"Phantom behind us!" shouted Tal'Riza.
"RAAWWGH!" Hulk immediately charged the Phantom, sending her flying away, crashing into a bulkhead with stupendous force. "Not anymore."
The three Guardians were advancing slowly up the walkway, followed by two of the Centurions and three of the Assault Troopers. Tal'Riza dropped the lead Guardian with a shot through the eye slot in his shield, and Derek threw two grenades through the gap where the Guardian used to be. They detonated simultaneuosly, killing the remaining two Guardians and the three Assault Troopers. Tahak overloaded the remainder of the Centurions' shields and proceeded to put half a dozen bullets inside each of their helmets.
"A little overkill, don't you think?" asked Tal'Riza.
"Better safe than sorry," replied Tahak.
Suddenly, a shot spanged off of Derek's armor, "Shields down!" he yelled. "Damn Nemesis! I don't know where she is!"
"I've got her," Tal'Riza replied calmly. He centered his crosshairs over her left eye, let out a breath and squeezed the trigger. "She's down."
"Tahak," said Derek, "can you drop the shields on that Atlas?"
"Of course," replied Tahak.
"Do it. Tal'Riza, as soon as he does that, I want you to put three rounds into the canopy."
Hulk started to laugh, "Heh, heh, heh, I like you, human. You're crazy."
"What..?" Tahak started to ask, then it dawned on him. "No. Absolutely not."
"Have to," replied Derek, "the shuttle is going to be here in less than 30 seconds. We need to end this now."
"Firing," said Tal'Riza. His Black Widow boomed three times in succession, the first shot cracking the canopy on the shieldless Atlas, the second punching through it, and the third catching the pilot in the throat. "Now why did I do that?" he asked.
Derek had already shouldered his Harrier, dived out of cover and was sprint toward the pilotless Atlas as fast as he could. His adrenaline pumping, it felt like everything else was slowing down around him. He saw a Guardian turning toward him, drew his M-358 Talon and fired all in the same instant as he continued toward the Atlas. His shot went right through the Guardian's eye slot, catching him in the face and killing him instantly. Derek jumped up onto the Atlas' leg and climbed up to the cockpit, raising the canopy and hurling the dead pilot onto the ground below.
The remaining troopers opened fire on him as the intact Atlas began to make a ponderous turn to face in his direction.
Hulk charged into the midst of the seven remaining Assault Troopers, hurling two of them away and over the ledge of the landing pad to their death. Tal'Riza shot one of them in the head as Tahak stripped the remaining Atlas' shields and then opened up on the remaining troopers with his Phaeston.
The Atlas saw Hulk decimating the few remaining troopers, and let off a rocket, knocking him back and depleting his barrier, then opened fire on him with explosive shells.
Derek, now settled in the cockpit of the first Atlas, smoothly turned toward the other Atlas and opened up with rockets and shells, quickly blowing off both weapon arms. He let loose one more rocket which arced around behind the other Atlas and detonated upon impact with the exhaust port on its back, causing it to explode in outstanding fashion.
The explosion knocked down the last two troopers, one of whom immediately received a shotgun blast to the face from Hulk's Claymore. Hulk then stomped on the last trooper's head, effectively executing him.
Right then, the shuttle swooped down onto the landing pad, bay door opening.
"Let's get out of here," said Tahak. "We need to get that data back to the Alliance."
Modifié par xcrunr1647, 25 juin 2012 - 05:36 .
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