Reunited

 

Author’s notes: Hello hello guys and gals, welcome to chapter 39 of Reunited! Megan meets the dethroned Aria in this chapter and the crew finally goes for the Primarch’s son! If any of you have suggestions on what I could write in future chapters please don’t hesitate to PM me. As usual, here’s the link to my adult-fanfiction.org account: http: //members. adultfanfiction. net/profile. php? no=1296890817&view=story (just remove the spaces between the periods and you’ll get there).

 

Miranda yawned, stretching her back and arms in the chair she’d been sitting in for the past 3 hours, compiling after-action reports, along with organizing the requisition orders so she could hand them off to Cortez, who was also doing his own requisition orders so as to cross check with Miranda’s and see if either of them missed out on anything. The cabin doors slid open to allow Megan entrance and the redhead strode through the door, carrying 2 mugs of steaming hot coffee. “Hey Miri, got you some coffee. I think you need to take a break right now.”Megan smiled at her beloved wife, kissing the brunette as she set down the mugs on the table.

 

“Sounds good Cassie. I swear that everytime I do the reports, I’m reminded about why so many Alliance soldiers jump ship to Cerberus.”The Sentinel sighed tiredly, relaxing in the chair and sipping her coffee as Megan stood behind her and began to massage her shoulders. “Well honey, you should relax. Your shoulders are so tense.”The redhead admonished her wife as Miranda laughed. “It’s quite hard to relax when you’re not helping me do the requisition orders…”She teased. “…And here we are with me giving you a massage, and you trying to blackmail me into doing requisition orders.”The Vanguard rolled her green eyes as she squeezed Miranda’s shoulders, getting a relieved hiss out of her.

 

“Think of it as me motivating you to do something. You have a few messages on your account, by the way.”Miranda retorted sassily as Megan reached for a datapad on the desk with one hand and grasped her mug of coffee with the other. Logging in, she saw that she had one message from Admiral Hackett, one from Admiral Anderson, one from her mother and one from Aria T’Loak. “Aria? Why the hell would she want to meet me on the Citadel instead of her hideous club?”Megan wondered as she cycled to her mother’s message. It was short, but it effectively drove home the point that the battle for Elysium was heating up real quick. The Alliance fleets defending Elysium had lost 14 frigates, 10 cruisers and one dreadnought, and not to mention several squadrons of fighters.

 

The Cerberus ships supporting the Alliance fleets had gotten off a little easier, but considering that their navy was a tiny fraction of the Alliance’s, losing 3 cruisers, 2 frigates along with several support ships was a major loss for them. Grissom Academy was now in danger of falling to Reaper forces, but evacuations were going slowly thanks to a Reaper ambush that cut off the evac lines and effectively ensured that they were in control of Grissom Academy’s space traffic. However, the Alliance garrison, which had been reinforced by Cerberus ground forces before the ambush, was making damned sure that the Reapers wouldn’t have total control of the station anytime soon. Hannah Shepard ended the message by making Megan promise that she would take care of herself and that she loved her.

 

“I love you too mom.”The redhead whispered as she dictated her reply. “Hey mom, I’m doing fine. Been better, but then again, we’ve all been. I’m heading to the Citadel right now to resupply and talk to Aria T’Loak. Yeah, the crime lord. Big twist, right? Anyways after that, we’re going on a highly classified mission to extract the turian Primarch’s son. The Primarch stonewalled me about op details and even when I pressed him for it, he wouldn’t say. God I hate all this secretive bullshit. Although I’m an N7, classified crap still bugs the hell out of me. I love you, and Miri sends her love. Take care out there. Stay safe out there and give the squids hell mom.”Megan finished her message and sent it to her mother before reading Hackett’s message.

 

“Well, Grissom Academy it is then. Right after sorting out the Primarch’s mess.”The Spectre hummed as she read through Admiral Hackett’s request. “Miri, we’re going to evac Grissom Academy after getting the Primarch’s son out. Make sure we’re well stocked with medical supplies when we dock.”Megan ordered as Miranda looked up from her terminal. “We’re needed for an evac at Elysium? Why?”She asked. “Apparently, our stealth system is the only one capable of sneaking past the Reaper blockade at Grissom. They’ve tried several approached but were repelled, and the last attempt cost them 2 curisers. The other Normandy class frigate is tied down doing hit and runs on Camala, so we’re the go-to team.”Megan explained.

 

“I see. Well, I’ll fit that in for later. And…done! Requisition order is finally ready for issue. See you later babe.”Miranda proclaimed in relief as she stood up, tapping a few keys and sending the order to Cortez before leaving the cabin. “See you later babe.”Megan bade goodbye, sitting down on the couch as she read Anderson’s message. Miranda headed down to the crew deck, her coffee mug in hand as she chuckled upon seeing Jacob and James arm-wrestling. The massive Latino was evidently winning as Jacob grunted, putting every ounce of his own considerable strength to work. “Hey Miri. Love how your uniform highlights your cute ass.”Jacob grinned as Vega’s concentration broke as he turned to look at Miranda, who was opening her mouth to retort.

 

“Hey! What the-”Vega spluttered in shock as Jacob soundly slammed his hand down on the table. “And that, James, is what I meant by strategy.”The black armorer chuckled as Miranda just sighed and shook her head, brushing off the chuckling of the surrounding crewmembers as she walked into the med lab where Doctor Jensen was bent over her terminal with Wiks looking on and Mordin was peering into his microscope intently. “Doctor? I’d like to hear the song.”Eve asked meekly from her cot, where she was hooked up to an IV drip. “Again? Trying to calculate amino acid decay rates.”The salarian genius replied, not looking up from his microscope. “You said you would once the tests were done.” That got Mordin’s attention as he looked up from his microscope and sighed.

 

“Oh, better to die to a thresher maw, with shotgun blasting roaring roar, than to play ambassadorial games, with the blood of Shiagur in her veins…off to fight, since turians can’t, with diplomats instead of a krantt. But she’ll be true to Tuchanka’s dream, and live and die a krogan queen! For…she is the krogan queen! Hurrah, hurrah for the krogan queen! And it is, it is a glorious thing to be the krogan queen!”Mordin sang, much to Eve’s and Meg’s amusement.  The petite brunette researcher was giggling as she continued typing and Eve was chuckling. “Still prefer patter songs.”Mordin sniffed as he returned to his work. “Of course. I really had to twist your arm.”The krogan shaman replied.

 

“Professor. How’s the genophage cure coming along?”Miranda asked, setting her mug of coffee down on a nearby empty table. “Ah, Lieutenant Commander Shepard. The cure is coming along well, but will take some time to go through rigorous testing. Also, must find a way to disperse the cure on Tuchanka.”Mordin replied as Miranda nodded. “Hmm…you’ve done it before, so can’t you just do it again? Sorry Eve.”She asked as Eve just waved it off. “No-no-no, completely different. Previous work was merely a modification to previously successful work. This…it’s a reversal to it. Will need to study details on previous genophage to get better idea on dispersal method.”Mordin explained as Miranda nodded, understanding the situation. Even though I’m a genius myself, it’s amazing how much Mordin knows. Miranda thought to herself.

 

“So, did saving the data when we found Maelon help?”The brunette XO asked. “Yes. Eve’s blood work showed significant stress on her system. Maelon’s data thorough. Fortunately detailed as well. Have used the notes to improve her condition.” “So we did the right thing by saving the data?” “Indeed. Would be much harder to treat Eve without it. Maybe impossible.” “And all those experiments we saw back on Tuchanka?”Miranda pressed. “Monstrous. Repulsive. But now with purpose. Victims didn’t die for nothing.”The salarian professor rebutted. “I see. So the end justifies the means…I just hope that it will be a bloody good justification though. I’ll let you get back to work Mordin.”Miranda said as Mordin nodded. “Of course. Will be here if you need me.”

 

“Hey Meg, how’s your research going?”The Sentinel asked. “It’s frustrating but at least we’ve made some breakthroughs. Wiks and I, with the help of Professor Solus, have discovered that the Reapers use subliminal messaging in the form of electromagnetic waves to manipulate higher brain functions of anyone within a certain radius. The interesting thing is, different Reapers have different effective mind control radiuses. Also, Reapers can target a single subject, focusing a large amount of EM waves on it and instantly gaining control over the subject. The problem is, this leads to extremely rapid mental degradation. I’m talking about days or even hours here.”The petite brunette researcher informed Miranda as she thought about it.

 

“Wait…if they’re using EM waves, doesn’t it mean we can block them? Effectively preventing indoctrination?”The brunette asked. “It does, but only for a short period of time. Somehow, the EM waves are always able to get through any barriers we put up. Also, there doesn’t seem to be any kind of range limitation as long as the subject has come into contact with a Reaper or any Reaper objects.”Wiks hummed, fingers stroking his chin as he pondered this mind-boggling puzzle. “So it can be blocked right? For how long?”Miranda pressed. “The longest we’ve managed is 75 seconds. After that, containment just…fails. It’s extremely odd.”The salarian researcher replied. “Hmm. Good job people. Keep up the good work.”Miranda encouraged as she turned to Eve.

 

“Hello Eve. How’re you feeling?”The brunette asked the krogan shaman kindly. “I’m excited and nervous at the same time. I haven’t felt like this in a very long time-too long, to be honest. I never dreamt that the genophage would ever be cured; let alone a salarian being the one curing the genophage.”Eve replied. “It’s amazing how things can change under duress. I just hope we’ll live long enough to see a new generation of krogan children, otherwise this will all have been for naught.”Miranda agreed. “Don’t worry. When we have the cure, I can assure you that we krogan will fight alongside the galaxy. We will fight for our children. Call us whatever you want, but we krogan will always repay a debt.”Eve said resolutely as Miranda took a seat beside the krogan on her bed.

 

Meanwhile, Captain Megan Shepard tapped the button on the QEC to allow the Illusive Man through. As usual, he was sitting on his chair, smoking a cigarette. “Shepard, we have a situation.”He began. “What, you need me to save you from another one of your projects gone wrong?”Megan sighed in exasperation. “No. One of my top assassins, Kai Leng, has gone rogue. He was last reported hijacking an asari convoy bound for Nevos from the Citadel along with Reaper troops…and he killed everyone. Even the commandos on the 3 escort frigates. I’m sending you his Cerberus personnel files.”TIM explained. “Wait, he’s working with the Reapers? How the hell?”Megan wondered.

 

“2 years ago, he was on a black op that went south and nearly died. So in order to save his life, we implanted him with the Reaper tech. He somehow got into close contact with a Reaper, and now he’s become their thrall.” “Great…implanting Reaper tech to save a life. That’s like calling in a hurricane to put out a forest fire.”Megan snorted. “We implanted you with tech we recovered from Sovereign to resurrect you. And yet here you are, alive and well despite having Reaper picotech and implants in you. Granted, we implanted Kai Leng with newer components that we developed, but it’s saved your life. Enhanced it, even.”The tycoon argued. “That’s true, but you didn’t think to test it before allowing him onto the field?”Megan asked, incredulous.

 

“There were no Reapers around then to test it out on! And Reaper artifacts just don’t have the same effect. They can’t indoctrinate; but the Reapers can. That’s what happened.”TIM defended. “Alright, whatever. Now, is there anything else?”The redhead asked impatiently. “Yes. I just got the data from Doctor Jensen, and I’d appreciate it if you could tell her well done for me. Also, her son is doing very well and he made it into the school’s skyball team.”The leader of Cerberus replied. “Well, why don’t you tell her yourself?” “I don’t wish to distract her from her work which could very well win us this entire war. And you keep up the good work as well Captain.”The Illusive Man concluded, signing off as his image faded into nothing.

 

“Well, guess I’m gonna have to check up on this Kai Leng guy. If he can take out 3 frigates full of asari commandoes, he’s definitely a threat.”Megan muttered to herself as she headed down to the shooting range, where she planned on spending the remaining time till docking sharpening her aim. As the doors to the shooting range opened, she saw Jade, Nyla, Jacob and Kirrahe busy firing their selected weapons at their individual firing lanes, taking down their holographic targets, while Michael was sitting at a bench, cleaning out his Widow sniper rifle as his omnitool blared a rock song Megan had never heard before.

 

Jade was training with the M7 Crusader shotgun, Nyla with her biotics and an X7 Hurricane SMG, Jacob with his X60 Harrier assault rifle, and Kirrahe with his X90 sniper rifle. As Megan approached Michael, she noticed that he had Alliance News Network showing on his terminal, and it was showing footage of the carnage of the defense of Terra Nova. The song he’s playing suits the news piece disturbingly well. Megan thought as she heard the lyrics before being brought out of her musing by a loud boom from Jade’s shotgun before listening intently to the lyrics of Michael’s song.

 

Thousands of machine guns

Kept on firing through the night

Mortars placed and wreck the scene

Guns in the fields that once were green

Still a deadlock at the front line

Where the soldiers die in mud

Roads and houses since long gone

Still no glory has been won



Know that many men has suffered

Know that many men has died

Six miles of ground has been won

Half a million men are gone

And as the men crawled the general called 

And the killing carried on

And on 

What was the purpose of it all

What's the price of a mile



Thousands of feet march to the beat

It's an army on the march

Long way from home

Paying the price in young men’s lives

Thousands of feat march to the beat

It's an army in despair

Knee-deep in mud

Stuck in the trench with no way out

 

“Hey Michael, nice song. Fits the current situation of this war, depressingly enough.”Megan greeted as the Cerberus sniper turned around to face her. “Hey Captain. Kinda sad how a song about World War 1 is still relevant today, huh?”Michael snorted. “It’s about World War 1? What’s it called?”Megan asked. “It’s ‘The Price of a Mile’ by Sabaton. Old Swedish metal band back in the 21^st century that usually sang about historical battles. My uncle from my mother’s side was Swedish, and he introduced me to their music when I was 14. Haven’t stopped listening since. I can pass you a few of their albums later.” “Well thanks, I’ll give them a listen. Catch you later.”Megan thanked as she walked off to the armory, grabbing her usual X7 Valkyrie rifle along with a few thermal clips.

 

Her omnitool pinged and she saw that Michael had sent her the music files and she linked it to her earphones, playing the song as she loaded a thermal clip into her rifle before starting the training simulation. How appropriate this song is. Especially the chorus. Megan thought wryly as she gunned down a holographic commissar before biotically throwing a charging husk at a scion, ducking to avoid the scion’s explosive shockwave and to reload. She popped back up to take down 3 more holographic cannibals before focusing all her energies on the last scion, which was still stubbornly firing at her. Finally she took it down with a combination of a reave field and liberal applications of gunfire, just as she felt the distinctive shudder of the Normandy exiting FTL. “We’ll be docking in 10 minutes.”Joker announced over the PA as Megan stowed her rifle away and headed up to her cabin to change.

 

As soon as they docked, Megan reviewed the message that Aria had sent her just to confirm the meeting location. “Afterlife…where is that?”Megan muttered. She’d been to a lot of clubs and bars on the Citadel, but she’d never heard of Afterlife before. “Avina, where is Afterlife?”The Spectre asked the holographic VI. “There are many locations for the afterlife across different races-” “No-no-no, I meant the club on the Citadel.”Megan interrupting. “The Citadel Entertainment and Tourism Board has no registered establishment of that name.”Avina replied. “Well, crap. Maybe the C-Sec guys will know. Excuse me officer, where’s the nightclub called Afterlife?”She asked, turning to a turian C-Sec cop.

 

“It’s at level 16 of Bachjret Ward.”The turian replied before resuming his patrol. “Thanks. I need to hail a cab to level 16 of Bachjret Ward.”Megan thanked him before hailing a cab on her omnitool. After jumping into the cab and inputting her destination, Megan sat back and wondered what Aria wanted and what she was doing on the Citadel. There was no love lost between the crime lord and Megan, as the Captain found the asari to be a self-important egomaniacal criminal. Plus, she ran her own personal kingdom on Omega, which was nothing more than the galaxy’s drug smuggling, slave trafficking, and gun running hub. If you wanted to witness all the crimes of the galaxy in one place, Omega was the place to go.

 

Her questions were soon answered when she spotted Aria talking to a hologram of Councilor Irissa before a pissed off looking human woman stormed off. “Enjoy the show, Shepard?”Aria sneered at Megan as the Spectre just casually plonked herself down on Aria’s couch, earning an irritated glare from Aria. “The Queen of Omega, out here on the Citadel. What gives, T’Loak?”Megan shot back. “I hate this place. So sickeningly uptight.”The asari seethed. “Well, then scram. You have your own little kingdom back in the Terminus.” “Cerberus stole Omega from me. The Illusive Man is now squarely at the top of my shit list. And he will pay for every second I’ve spent in this bureaucratic hellhole.”Aria spat.

 

“How’d Cerberus defeat you? I thought you had the backing of Omega’s merc groups especially after you purged the leadership after I passed you the intel.”Megan asked, referring to her passing on a datapad with plans to assassinate Aria. “Deceit. Distraction. Betrayal. And a big fucking army. They lured me away from Omega and ambushed me. I escaped, but Cerberus had already laid siege. By the time I could launch an assault, they were too entrenched. All thanks to Patriarch. That sad excuse for a krogan actually had the quads to betray me. Now he’s in charge of Omega, listening to the Illusive Man while I’m here.”The Queen of Omega snarled. “Aw, that’s sad. Wonder why Patriarch betrayed you after how well you’ve treated him.”The Captain taunted in a falsely sweet tone.

 

“I’m glad you find all this very amusing. I didn’t call you here to listen to your feeble-witted taunts, but I called you here because I have a proposition.” “Well shoot. I have galaxy saving shit to do.”Megan retorted as Aria sat herself on the L-couch. “The way I see it, if you don’t defeat the Reapers we’re all dead. Won’t matter where I’m sitting. It’s in my interest to help you.”Aria said. “So, what’re you offering that can help me?” “On Omega, I kept the Blood Pack, the Blue Suns, and the Eclipse in check. Now they’re running amok while Patriarch and Cerberus establish their dominance over Omega. Nobody wants that. Unite them under my rule, and you’ll have a powerful and ruthless force for your war. I’ve laid the groundwork with all 3 groups. I just need you to close the deals.”Aria began as Megan sighed internally. And here we go with playing diplomat again…

 

57 hours later

 

“I still can’t believe that we had to give up 2 crates of Hornets and an entire frigging crate of Incisor sniper rifles and another crate of Indras to that salarian gun dealer just to get him to release a bunch of Argus rifles, Vipers, Carnifexes and Scimitars to C-Sec just to get that general, who is bloody retired, I might add, off the Suns’ back. Sure, C-Sec now has some decent toys, and the Blue Suns are on our side, but Incisors and Indras going on the black market is not a good idea.”Thomas ranted as the 2 shuttles descended towards the crash site of Lieutenant Tarquin Victus’ dropship on Tuchanka. “It was either that, or kill General Oraka myself. Killing Oraka wouldn’t benefit anyone besides the Suns. This trade is a better solution.”Miranda explained as she gently worked the bolt of her X7 Valkyrie to triple check whether the rifle was loaded with a fresh thermal clip.

 

“Hey man, it’s still better than what the Captain had to do to secure the loyalty of the Blood Pack. Heard she had to pretend to be a captive to a batarian she’s known for all of 10 seconds, get smacked across the face by the batarian to show the Blood Pack vorcha that she’s completely compliant before she takes out 2 of them.”Michael replied, pausing his music as he joined in on the conversation. “Heard she betrayed the founder of Eclipse to get the Eclipse on board. Must’ve been some devious shit.”James commented. “Well, getting the Eclipse aboard wasn’t that hard. I just had to convince the second in command to man the hell up, and then left Sederis to rot in jail. She actually threatened to kill me once I freed her! Bitch please, I’m Captain Shepard!”Megan joked, transmitting from the Normandy to their radios.

 

“This crash site’s a bloody labyrinth. EDI, keep trying to raise Lieutenant Victus .”Miranda ordered with a smile. “Yes ma’am.”The AI replied. “What would turians be doing on Tuchanka? Unless I missed something, turians and krogans wouldn’t even be within a system of each others’ homeworlds. They really hate each other.”Jade wondered as she pumped her M7 Crusader shotgun, loading a fresh thermal clip. “Even a turian and a krogan catching a glimpse of each other on the Citadel ended up in a fight or even a homicide back when I was just starting out in C-Sec.”Garrus noted dryly. “That’s pretty much how the Kithoi Ward riot of 2146 started. I was just out getting dinner when I got caught in the thick of it.”Nyla noted.

 

“LC, I have to land well back from the main crash site.”Steve spoke, piloting the shuttle through a tight turn as he brought up a hologram of the drop zone. “Is that the nearest you can go?”The Sentinel asked. “This is the nearest drop zone that's big enough. The reapers don't seem to be aware of our presence yet, so you can get the jump on them.”Cortez voiced his opinion. “Alright then, set us down. EDI can’t get a solid fix on Victus’ position as there are multiple groups scattered here and there, and there’s too much debris in the way. So we’ll have to find him the hard way.”Miranda informed everyone as the shuttle came in to land.

 

"Damn. This place is a complete mess."James remarked as Danner, the last one out of the shuttle, tapped the side door, signaling for Steve to take off. "Alright, Danner, Michael, you two pair up and take the high ground to provide sniper support and scout ahead. Nyla, James, Garrus, you're with me on Team One. Major, you'll lead Thomas, Jade, Viktor and Nicole on Team Two. My team will take that route while the Major will lead Team Two straight through the ruins. Clear?"Miranda delegated as everyone nodded. "Lieutenant Commander, I've managed to raise Lieutenant Victus."EDI chimed in as static sounded over their earpieces. "This is Lieutenant Tarquin Victus of the 9th Platoon! Is there anyone on this frequency?"The static laced message pleaded.

 

"Lieutenant, this is Lieutenant Commander Shepard of the SSV Normandy. Send up a signal flare so we can spot your exact position."Miranda instructed. "Copy that."Tarquin responded as a few seconds later, a bright red flare shot up into the sky, visible for miles. "Got your position. We're on our way to extract you."The Sentinel assured as EDI updated everyone's tacmaps with a waypoint marker of where Tarquin's platoon was. "Please hurry! My men are badly pinned and we've taken heavy casualties!"The Lieutenant pleaded over the sounds of heavy gunfire. "Okay move out fast everyone! They sound like they're nearly overwhelmed."Miranda ordered.

 

"Got it. Moving to higher ground now."Michael nodded as he jumped onto a column nearby, climbing his way up to a higher level on the ruins. "Are you sure you can climb that?"Nicole asked as the Cerberus sniper hoisted himself up further. "Don't worry, this is a walk in the park. I always climbed trees when I was a kid-oh shi-"Michael cursed as his handhold crumbled in his grip, sending him falling down 2 and a half floors to the ground. "Ow. Fuck!"He cursed, more annoyed than hurt as everyone started sniggering, and Reznov burst into a bellowing laugh. "Told you."Nicole giggled as Danner helped him up. "I'm no expert, but I'm pretty sure that wasn't a tree bro."Danner guffawed as Michael gave him an open handed smack on the back of his head.

 

"Fuck off, Danny."Michael grunted as Thomas stepped forward, still chuckling. "I'll boost your dumb ass up with my biotics. No way you're going to make that climb now."The Brit offered as Michael just grunted in agreement, letting himself get lifted up to the 4th floor before Thomas lifted Danner up to join him. "Alright everyone, enough laughs for now. We'll regroup at Victus' position. Move out."The brunette rallied her team as Kirrahe nodded. "We're moving out. Good luck."The STG major wished Miranda's team as his team moved out. "You too."Miranda replied as they carefully climbed over the piles of debris and up a ladder before encountering their first group of hostiles.

 

"I got them."Nyla whispered as she cast a singularity right in the middle of the 4 unaware husks before Miranda detonated the unstable dark energy with a warp bolt of her own, splattering Reaper gore over the walls. The biotic explosion was not as loud as an explosion caused by plastic explosives, so the team weren't too worried about being compromised. "James, you're up."Miranda instructed him as he climbed up the rubble to the next floor. "Clear up here. Come on."The muscle-bound lieutenant urged as they climbed up one by one before heading deeper into the ruins, hearing the faint sounds of gunfire and the occasional explosion. “Commissar. I got this one.”James piped up as he dashed forward, his combat knife cleaving straight through the mutated turian’s spine and neck.

 

“Alright, we have overwatch on an escape pod. Looks like a bunch of turians got separated from the main platoon and they’re pinned down here. Uploading coordinates to the tacmap. LC, you’re closer, so I’d advise that you come over and provide some support.”Danner reported as the distinctive boom of Michael’s X98 Widow rang out through the ruins. “Copy that, moving to engage. Alright team, move up quickly and keep your eyes open.”The Sentinel hurried them along until they found the rear line of Reapers, consisting mainly of cannibals and scions, but had a few commissars in the ranks. They quickly hurried to cover in a good position to lay down fire on the reaper troops, still unnoticed by them.

 

“Alright Garrus, I need you to hit those scions with your sniper rifle while James throws a few frags at them. Nyla, you’ll trap the cannibals in a singularity while I take down the shields of the commissars. On my go.”Miranda whispered as all just nodded. She initiated the attack with an overload pulse, short circuiting the shields of one commissar before warping it into nothing before opening fire on another, just as a few cannibals fell down dead along with 2 scions thanks to James’ grenades, and one more scion quickly joined the dead as Garrus’ Krysae blew its sac apart. Nyla trapped a good few cannibals in her singularity field, picking off a few with her submachine gun before detonating the field with a warp, killing a couple of other cannibals nearby.

 

The numerical advantage of the reaper troops was lost to the fact that Miranda’s team had taken them by absolute surprise, and that they were now trapped in a vicious crossfire with Michael and Danner picking off troops with ease along with the downed turians chipping in, and not to mention Team One hitting them at their unprotected rear. They were soon disposed of, and Miranda looked up to where her tactical display showed Danner and Michael’s markers, but the snipers were so well hidden she couldn’t spot them. “Thank you for the assist! We’ll be regrouping with the rest of our platoon. There are other survivors scatted among these ruins. You should go find them.”One turian yelled across the chasm.

 

“Thanks for the heads up! Sending you the coordinates to Lieutenant Victus.”The Normandy’s XO replied as she sent the data to the turians, who just nodded, pulling their wounded and dead comrades out of the escape pod before heading off. “Well, that’s one pod down. EDI, how many more pods are there?”Michael asked as he moved out with Danner in tow. “There are 6 more, not including Lieutenant Victus’ escape pod. Their locations have been highlighted on the tacmap. 2 of them are already empty with no corpses around them. One pod has turians taking cover inside it and the Reaper’s seem unaware of their presence, while the other has turians currently engaged in combat with reaper forces.”EDI replied. “What about the other 2 pods?”Kirrahe asked over comms.

 

“I detect no life signs from the turians in and around the pods.”EDI finished, and everyone silently moved forward, not needing to ask about the fate of those turians. “We just found one of those pods EDI mentioned. They’re all dead.”Nicole radioed in a few minutes later. “Were they dead on impact, or were they dragged out and mauled to death by husks?”Reznov asked grimly as they moved on. “Let’s not think about that, shall we? I see another pod up ahead. No gunfire. Probably the pod where all the turians are hunkered down in.”Thomas changed the subject as they moved in. “Yeah I see it. Looks clear from here.”Danner reported as Kirrahe’s team moved up to secure the pod. “Is there anyone in there? Major Kirrahe, Salarian Special Tasks Group. Area’s clear of reapers.”The salarian major assured the occupants before opening the door.

 

They opened the door to reveal 3 turians tending to another 5 wounded turians, while another 6 were still strapped to their harnesses, clearly dead. “Thanks for getting here Major. If you hadn’t arrived so soon, we would probably be stranded in here till we die.”One of the turians spoke up as they started filing out of the shuttle, taking the wounded with them. “I’ve uploaded Lieutenant Victus’ coordinates to you. Regroup there.”Kirrahe ordered as the turians nodded and headed out. “Okay, I got eyes on the final escape pod. There’s a flying dragon thing right on top of them. Uh…Major, you’re closer, so you can get there before Team One.”Michael reported as he sighed down the scope of his X98 Widow, lining up the harvester and squeezed the trigger with the words of his currently playing song echoing in his ears.

 

Fire at will

Aim for their cannons

Counter attack

Thunder of guns

Gott mit uns

as we all stand united

All together Gott mit uns

 

“Another pod full of dead turians. If only we were here earlier.”James lamented. “It wouldn’t matter even if we were here earlier. It took us a few days to triangulate their crash site down to this zone and we launched as soon as we got their location.”Nyla reasoned. “She’s right. They died from the crash impact, not the Reapers.”Miranda interjected. “A secret turian mission on Tuchanka is especially odd. Thoughts?”Garrus asked as they surveyed the escape pod. “You’re the turian, you tell me.”James returned. “I got nothing, Lieutenant. Primarch Victus was stonewalling me when I tried to ask him about this mission. Being the son of Adrien Victus is a lot to live up to. It’s a big military name on Palaven. War’s expected to run in the Victus blood.”The turian marksman replied.

 

“It doesn’t always work that way. You gotta make your own name.”The Latino soldier disagreed as they finished searching. “Hang on…”Miranda muttered as she pulled a datapad from inside the pod and played the last recording. “Marnek! How’s our velocity?”A turian barked. “Deceleration online. We’ll survive.”A turian, supposedly Marnek, replied. “Victus is going to pay for this.” “Court martial or hanging?”Marnek snarled before a crash was heard, and the audio cut out. “How’s Victus going to live this down?”Garrus muttered. “From what I know about the turian military, he’s probably going to do something ridiculously heroic and die in order to atone.”Nyla prophesied with a shake of her head.

 

“We’re at the other pod engaging the reaper forces to take some pressure off the turians. What’s your status, Team 1?”Kirrahe asked over the radio, his voice laced with the background sounds of gunfire. “We’re closing in on Lieutenant Victus’ position and it sounds like intense fighting. No resistance here for the time being.”Miranda reported back as her team kept making their way through the ruins until they reached the end of a ruined building that overlooked a courtyard and a smaller ruin. “Goddess, these turians are taking some serious punishment.”Nyla commented upon seeing husk corpses piled at the foot of the building killed as they tried to get to the turians as both she and Miranda hit a brute with simultaneous warp bolts, causing a biotic detonation that staggered the krogan reaper.

 

James tossed another grenade while yelling “Frag out!” It detonated; turning 4 cannibals and a commissar into bloody giblets while Garrus added to the carnage with his Krysae, the explosive rounds turning a scion and a couple of cannibals to bloody pulp. “Michael, we need sniper support now!”The Sentinel yelled into her comm. “We’re on our way! Give us 30 seconds!”Michael panted as James spoke up. “Hurry up Magic; we won’t last long without support!”The Latino lieutenant yelled as he poured round after round from his X77 Typhoon machinegun, which he’d set up on its bipod on a shoulder-high piece of rubble just as Miranda’s warp killed the brute. “We’re hustling as fast as we can pendejo!”Danner shot back as there was a particularly loud explosion from the position of the last escape pod.

 

“We took down one of those dragon things and it’s clear over here! Christ, they go up like a bloody nuke when they die.”Thomas reported in. “Then hurry over here! Our AO’s overrun with reapers and there are more reinforcements inbound!”Miranda yelled as a burst from her X7 Valkyrie put down a commissar hard. “We copy Shepard. Moving there as fast as we can.”Kirrahe reassured Team 1 as they continued battling the reaper troops, who were now caught in the crossfire between the turians and Team 1. However, the brutes still refused to go down, thanks to their thick armor plating. “One more down!”James crowed, the steady stream of gunfire from his machinegun finally killing a brute as he switched targets and suppressed a cluster of cannibals and commissars.

 

Nyla finished off a scion with a combination of fire from her X7 Hurricane and a warp, switching targets in the blink of an eye and killing 2 cannibals with precise bursts of SMG fire before she crouched to reload. Finally, the welcome boom of Michael's Widow was heard and a scion dropped dead, and the distinct reports of Danner's X99 rang out over the battlefield and more cannibals dropped dead. "Someone called for sniper support?"Danner wisecracked as he rapidly took down cannibals and commissars with ease. "You missed out on most of the fun. Don't worry; we saved some scraps for you."Garrus chuckled as he eliminated another scion. Kirrahe's team set up in the same ruins on Team 1's west and began raining down fire on the reaper troops.

 

Just as the tide of battle was turning, a harvester swooped in and dropped off the troops it was carrying before settling down and blasting the turians with its rockets. "Ah crap, won't these wankers just die already!"Thomas cursed as his Widow removed the head of a brute while Reznov fired the grenade launcher mounted on his suit's left shoulder, the X202 cluster fragmentation grenades blew up, killing 2 scions before the Russian mowed down a few more cannibals with his X77 Typhoon. Michael had focused fire on the harvester, along with Nyla, James, Kirrahe, and Jade, who fired 6 homing grenades from the gauntlet on her arm before ducking down. 

 

"Dispenser going up!"She yelled as she leant down to grab some grenades, loading up her gauntlet before pounding the harvester with more grenades. Jacob let out a joyful "Whoo!" as he gunned down a mixture of cannibals and commissars, the shields of the latter troops already overloaded by him and Miranda, with his X60 Harrier. Nicole snuck up with her tactical cloak and was now slashing through reaper troops, taking out the last scion with her unique move, slamming her biotically charged fist into the ground that caused a shockwave. "That's how you do it! What attack is that?"Reznov roared in approval as he filled another commissar full of bullet holes. "A biotic Nova!"Nicole exclaimed as she quickly cloaked and jumped behind cover, barely avoiding a brute's claw strike.

 

Said brute slumped to the ground dead thanks to a shot in the chest from Thomas’ X98 rifle as the others cleared up the rest of the stragglers. However, the harvester was proving to be an absolute bitch to kill and it was still firing upon the turians. “Man down! We’re down to 16 men!”Victus yelled in despair as Reznov keyed in something into his omnitool as his armor flashed red before loading up grenades into his grenade launcher. “Cover me!”He bellowed as he jumped out from cover, spraying machinegun rounds at the harvester. “What the fuck is he doing?!”Nyla yelled in shock as she detonated her own singularity field with a warp, killing 2 cannibals and one commissar trapped in it. “The shields on his T5V battle armor can be overclocked to 250 percent capacity.”Jade explained.

 

“That’s still bloody suicide!”Miranda exclaimed as she overloaded the shield of a commissar before taking its head off with a 5 round burst from her rifle. “”Don’t worry; he knows what he’s doing.”Jade assured them as she picked off another scion with her homing grenade and X7 Hurricane. The Russian man was simply ignoring the other troops firing at him and he was firing round after round at the harvester, finally diverting its attention away from the turians to himself. “I am bulletproof!”Reznov bellowed as his shields and armor simply shrugged off the gunfire from the cannibals and commissars. He finally got close enough and began firing his grenades. However, the harvester finished its reload cycle and began firing rockets at the Operations Chief.

 

Reznov grunted, reloading his machinegun as his shields dropped to 50 percent power when the barrage was over. He jammed the trigger of his X77 once again as he fired off the last of his grenades. Finally, his grenade barrage and gunfire killed the harvester and it hit the ground hard. “Ah, der’mo-”He cursed, turning and running away but he was too late as the Harvester blew up, sending him flying from the shockwaves. He landed in the ground hard with a grunt just as the rest of the team regrouped on him. “That was needlessly reckless Reznov!”Miranda snapped at him as James helped him up. “Da, but I knew I could survive the barrage. The turians could not, and they are the mission priority.”The Russian explained apologetically.

 

“Lieutenant Commander Shepard, thank you for saving my men. We’re in your debt.”Victus thanked them as soon as he jumped down from the ruins along with another turian with the insignia of a sergeant. “Just following our mission. What happened here?”The XO asked, but was taken aback as the sergeant grabbed Victus by the armor collar. “He screwed up!”The sergeant snarled as Victus grabbed him by the shoulders. “Stand down sergeant!” “Alright, stop it! I just rescued the both of you, so try not to kill each other now.”Miranda snapped as she shoved the both of them away from each other. “I chose caution and clever tactics over a head on assault and my men paid the price.”Victus began as Thomas radioed for a shuttle pickup.

 

“Caution and tactics are always better than a frontal assault. What happened?”Major Kirrahe asked. “I saw that this AO was overrun by reaper forces and that staying on course was guaranteed to inflict heavy casualties. So I took the safe route skirting through these ruins low. When the Reapers spotted us, we didn’t have time to react and we were in a fight for our lives. A lot of my men lost that fight.”The Primarch’s son said mournfully. “I see. So what was your mission here?”Miranda asked. “We were sent here to defuse a bomb. The Reapers have it.” “A bomb? Doesn’t sound like the Reapers usual MO.”Miranda thought aloud. “You’re right Shepard. It’s…turian.”He admitted as the Normandy ground team whirled to face him in shock.

 

“What? Turian bomb?”Thomas asked incredulously. “It was planted as a safeguard against another krogan uprising after the Krogan Rebellions. Now the Reapers have it.”Victus sighed in defeat. “A turian bomb in the Reapers hands…Lieutenant, if the Reapers have that bomb then you’ve got to stop them!”Miranda said. “How can I? Haven’t my men lost enough already?”Victus asked in despair. “I know that your platoon has lost a lot today. But if that bomb is not defused and the Reapers set it off, the krogans will refuse to form an alliance, or worse yet, retaliate, then Palaven is gone, and this war is lost.”The brunette reasoned. “But how do I get my men to fight on? They’re demoralized and on the verge of mutiny.”

 

“You remind them of their duty as some of the most disciplined soldiers in the galaxy. They’re the ones who never give up even when the odds are against them.”Miranda replied. “Yes. You’re right. I’ll go talk to them.”Victus nodded as he went over to talk to his platoon. There were some raised voices of dissent and arguments, but eventually the turians found it in themselves to complete their mission just as the 2 shuttles came in to land. “I’ve sent the coordinates of the bomb site to you. We’ll meet up there.”The turian lieutenant said. “Negative, we’re going now. The longer the Reapers have the bomb, the more likely it is they’ll detonate it. The wounded go on the shuttles first before the shuttles return and pick us up.”Miranda overrode him as Victus simply nodded.

 

“No Lieutenant Commander Shepard, you go to the bombsite first. It’s nearby, and this area is clear. The shuttles can come back for the wounded later. We’ll leave some men here with them.”The sergeant from earlier protested. “You sure about that?” “Yes ma’am. We’ll be fine down here in this place after you cleared out those reaper troops.”The sergeant assured Miranda as she turned around to face the ground team. “Alright everyone, load up on Private Campbell’s shuttle. Victus, you’ll take some of your men and board the other shuttle. We’re moving out now.”Miranda ordered as she and the Normandy team loaded up onto one shuttle while the Victus’ platoon, now consisting of 10 men, boarded the shuttle piloted by Cortez. The wounded turians were guarded by 6 other members of Victus’ platoon.

 

“ETA to the bomb site is 5 minutes LC.”Cortez reported from the lead shuttle. “Copy that. Megan, what can you tell us about the bomb site?”Miranda asked her wife, who was the mission overseer on the Normandy. “The bomb has been dug out of the earth, and it’s huge. The reaper troops are clustered around a raised platform, and EDI has identified a console that’s functioning as the control panel on the platform. I’d advise a strafing run from one shuttle while the other drops troops in the courtyard before the next comes in to drop.”Megan advised before lowering her voice. “So…a turian bomb on Tuchanka. Because the genophage wasn’t a big enough ‘fuck you’.”The redhead snorted in disbelief. “I’ll take the strafing run while Campbell lands the shuttle.”Cortez volunteered.

 

“Alright Lieutenant. Don’t get shot down.”Miranda approved before turning to Campbell. “Campbell, land the shuttle here.”She sent the location of the drop zone from her omnitool to the Private’s HUD. “Copy that, ma’am.”  Soon, the 2 shuttles split, Cortez firing the cannons on the shuttle and clearing up the drop zone while Campbell quickly landed the shuttle and Miranda’s team quickly bailed out, eliminating any straggling reaper troops that survived Cortez’s strafing run. Campbell lifted off, firing her shuttle’s own cannons and providing cover for both Miranda’s team, who was now running forward and taking out more reaper troops, and Cortez, who had just landed the shuttle and the turians quickly bailed out.

 

Together they ran forward, eliminating every reaper trooper along the way to the control panel, taking no casualties until they reached the raised platform. “Okay Shepard, I’m going to need some time to disarm this bomb.”Victus said intently as he tapped away at the interface. “Okay we’ll cover you, but make it quick! Danner, Thomas, Michael, stay up here and provide sniper cover! Kirrahe, you take your team and take right while my team takes left! Go!”Miranda barked as everyone just wordlessly complied, smoothly slipping behind cover to take down the reaper reinforcements that were beginning to arrive as Victus’ platoon split up to join the 2 Normandy ground teams. It was intense battle as the turians took a few casualties, but their defense line held firm.

 

“Spirits! They’ve hacked the trigger mechanism! It’s set to detonate! Only way to defuse it now is a manual defuse!”Victus exclaimed as one of Victus’ charges was killed by a blast from a scion, which dropped dead within the same second thanks to a headshot from Thomas, right next to Miranda, whose shields had depleted to quarter strength from that blast. “A manual defuse? How does that work?”Miranda yelled back, lifting a cannibal into the air with her biotics, but before she could slam it down onto the ground, Nyla detonated the biotic field with a warp, sending cannibal gore splattering everywhere. “I have to get up there and removed the arming charges! Cover me!”He yelled, climbing up the massive superstructure as Miranda gunned down a commissar after overloading its shields.

 

The Reaper hordes were getting thicker and thicker now, and a harvester joined in the fray, only to be taken out relatively quickly as everyone switched targets and concentrated fire on it. The death blast of the harvester knocked everyone flat, and the superstructure buckled precariously, nearly causing Victus to fall to his death. However, he swiftly regained his footing as the defenders got back up and killed as many reaper troops as possible before they could get back up. Victus leapt over the side of the superstructure, hanging precariously as he yanked the metal panel containing the arming charges off, swiftly yanking one of the arming charge tubes out before the structure buckled again, causing him to barely hang on to the safety rails.

 

“Lieutenant! Hold on tight!”Miranda screamed upon seeing the turian’s precarious position as she finished off a scion that Jade had weakened with a warp. “Victory…at any cost!”Tarquin Victus yelled, pulling out the last arming charge and tossing it down into the crater below. He then regained his handhold on both safety rails, but it was too late. The structure, already buckled in a position where failure was inevitable, finally collapsed, taking Lieutenant Tarquin Victus with it. “Victus!”Miranda yelled helplessly as there was an almighty crash of the structure slamming onto the hard ground. “Jesus Christ! He’s down!”Thomas bellowed. With the shielding structure collapsed, the bomb was now plainly visible to everyone.

 

The 2 shuttles swooped in from the sky, firing their cannons and blasting reaper troops asunder. One even took out a harvester in a low altitude dogfight before they came in to land at the now clear courtyard. “My God…no way he could’ve survived that fall.”Nicole murmured as she stared at the behemoth of a bomb. “A bomb that size could’ve leveled this entire valley. It’s overkill.”James commented.  “Oh God…no…fuck! We were supposed to extract him!”Miranda swore helplessly as she stared down at the crater which was now Lieutenant Victus’ grave. “Hey, the mission parameters changed. He did what every turian would’ve done; he put the needs of the many before himself. He did it to save the alliance which we desperately need right now.”Garrus consoled the brunette.

 

“Dammit…if only that bloody harvester hadn’t swooped in…the structure would still be intact.”The Normandy’s XO sighed, rubbing her forehead as Reznov stared down into the pit. “He died for a good cause. Let’s remember him as a hero! Lieutenant Tarquin Victus! The Hero of Kelphic Valley!”Reznov declared as the turian troops cheered in agreement. “He made a mistake, but he more than atoned for it with this action. He’s truly earned a place in history as a hero. C’mon now, let’s go. We still got Grissom Academy to save.”Thomas said gently as he guided Miranda by the shoulder to the shuttles. “If only heroes didn’t always end up dying.”Miranda lamented as everyone piled into the shuttles, leaving behind the dusty ruins of Tuchanka.

 

Final notes: Well, sorry it took so long to get here, but since I’ve just graduated from polytechnic, I got me some spare time now! Also, a quick fact about explosives: Most explosives to detonate even when shot or burned as it requires a chemical/electrical reaction to set it off. A bomb the size of the Tuchanka one would most likely be armed by a series of smaller charges that set off the main charge. Also, let’s play a game: Guess which character is a reference from which game! Hint: They’re the newest crewmembers. As usual, thanks for reading, and do drop a review on the way out! This is t3HPrO, signing out!