Thursday 22 August 2013

Part 6

Warning: May contain foul language and scenes some people may find upsetting.


Thomson awoke to the sound of a large explosion. He immediately sat up and started putting on his armour and helmet. The Falcon rocked slightly as another explosion was audible.
Something was wrong.
When he was finished, he activated the mass effect shield generator and loaded his weapons. He then woke up Emi, who had been laying next to him.
"... What's happening?" she asked sleepily as the glowing eyes behind her helmet opened.
"I don't know. Something's wrong. I heard explosions so I'm going to see what is happening."
"... I'll come with you..."
"No. If we're being attacked I'd like you to stay here to make sure you're safe." He handed her his pistol, "If anything besides me comes through the door, please use this. I know you won't want to but it's to keep you save. I love you." Thomson kissed her helmet, then walked out of his quarters. The last thing he saw before the door closed was Emi looking at the Predator pistol as if she didn't know how to use it.
He hoped she'd be safe.
Another explosion. This one much closer. He felt the vibrations through the floor. Maybe his ship was being invaded by pirates?
No... it was in council space. It couldn't be pirates.
Then what was happening?
He stepped into the Combat Information Centre, a circular table in the centre of the room. There were doors coming off at all angles, and he started to hear voices coming from behind the door in front of him.
Thomson took cover behind the table of the CIC and raised his M-8 Avenger.
The door suddenly was thrown across the room, passing over his head and hitting the wall behind him. There was a large cloud of smoke and several people entered the CIC. They were wearing white and black armour, and helmets with glowing red eyes. They had an unmistakable orange logo on their shoulder.
Cerberus.
They were Cerberus soldiers. On the Falcon. How?
He didn't have time to ask questions. He began firing in short quick bursts. Thomson could hear several pinging noises as the rounds hit their heavy armour. Several of them staggered back, but otherwise his gunfire did absolutely nothing.
He summoned a mass effect field into his hand and threw it. It hit the nearest Cerberus trooper and instantly tore him apart. The soldiers began firing at him so he ducked back into cover.
Then a cylindrical device landed in front of him. It started beeping.
"Fuck!" he yelled and rolled out of the way as the concussion grenade exploded next to him, throwing him slightly off balance as he was caught within the blast radius. He landed on his side but immediately scrambled to his feet.
He popped out of cover and sprayed all around the soldiers with rounds from his rifle. He must have hit a weak spot or something because two of them dropped, but the others continued advancing. His shield flickered slightly as it stopped enemy gunfire and began to weaken.
There was one way to stop them advancing. But if he aimed the biotic power wrong it could do untold damage to the CIC console. Was it worth it? Without question. But he didn't want to damage his own ship unless absolutely necessary.
Thomson decided to at least try.
Another mass effect field appeared in his hand - this one much more powerful. His arms had blue tendrils of energy coming from his armour and the spherical dark energy had ripples that dissipated into the air.
He moved out of cover again and sent it at the Cerberus soldiers. The mass effect field became a shockwave, that knocked over each of the troopers and sent them across the room, and on to the floor.
Thomson stood up and finished all but one with a round to the eye part of their helmets.
He approached the single survivor, and grabbed him by the chest plate of his armour and lifted him up in the air using his biotics.
"Why the fuck are you here on my ship?" he demanded.
Silence.
He asked again.
Still no answer.
"Are you fucking deaf? Answer me or I'll shoot you!"
The Cerberus soldier remained silent.
"Fine. Have it your way."
Thomson unclicked the faceplate of the soldier's helmet.
"Woah what the fuck?!"
The soldier had a normal face, but it didn't shock him. It was his eyes. They glowed bright blue like a Husk's and were the same shape. Like human eyes but with some sort of slit towards the bottom.
Had he been indoctrinated?
No. He couldn't have been indoctrinated. There were no Reapers around in the Citadel. And he didn't act like a mindless slave - he was the one who had peppered his shield with rounds from his semi-automatic rifle. Mindless slaves didn't fight like that.
Then what was wrong with him?
The soldier suddenly grabbed him by the neck and threw him across the room. He felt his back hit the hard metal wall of the CIC and he groaned in pain, stars flashing in front of his eyes. He blinked several times in his helmet and then grabbed his gun and levelled it at the Cerberus trooper who was advancing towards him, faceplate still gone.
"Stop!" Thomson yelled, "Or I'll shoot!"
The soldier didn't slow down.
So he fired his rifle once. The soldier dropped to the floor with a hole between his glowing eyes.
Cerberus must have done something to him. Maybe they were using the Reaper indoctrination ability to their own uses - maybe a different version that allowed the soldiers to be commanded. Whatever it was, Thomson didn't like it. It was creepy. And it scared him that Cerberus would do it to their own men. They must be either desperate or crazy. Or both.
He grabbed the communicator from his belt, "This is Thomson. The Falcon is under attack from Cerberus troopers. We need all crew to battle stations so we can defend. Once we have dealt with the Cerberus around us we can advance to the Citadel. Over."
"Roger that," came the reply from one of the crew members, "Message acknowledged."
A siren started wailing and a few moments later the CIC was suddenly full of activity. Most of the crew who were able to fight suddenly wore black armour and carried M-8 Avengers like he did. When he first chose the crew of the Falcon - he chose wisely. He didn't get anyone who had slow reaction times. His crew had been praised a fair amount about how fast they could react and adapt to any situation - an ability they showed in an emergency.
"Ok crew, we need to defend the Falcon. We need to move to the airlock and establish a front line. If there are no soldiers, move to the Citadel and start shooting all Cerberus soldiers in your path. If it's what I think it is - they will not have just attacked us. The Citadel must have been invaded. Has everyone activated their shield generators? If you have not yet done so, do it now."
No one moved. They were well trained.
"Move out," he commanded and the crew moved out of the ruined door. Renswick appeared next to him in full armour.
"What's happening?" Renswick asked, "I heard gunfire and explosions."
"Cerberus are attacking the Citadel. Come with me."
When the crew had moved towards the airlock, Thomson and Renswick followed. There were no signs of gunfire as they approached. The airlock hissed open and the Falcon's crew assembled defensive positions as they slowly moved into the docking bay of the Citadel.
Everything was alight. Smoke was pouring in from every direction. All the shuttles were on fire and corpses of civilians littered the floor. There was no sign of life, from friend or foe.
Luckily they were all wearing breather helmets - even if the Cerberus troopers hadn't killed them, the smoke would have. It was like a thick black blanket that coated the top half of the docking bay.
No sounds were audible from their team. The Falcon's crew slowly made their way across the docking area, their boots not making a sound on the floor. All they could hear were the crackling of flames and the distant sound of explosions and screaming.
There was a Cerberus ship parked next to the Falcon.
"Oh fuck," Renswick said as he looked in the same direction as Thomson.
Thomson smiled, "They're not going to bloody get off the Citadel."
He turned to the nearest crew member, "Assemble a team and go into the Cerberus ship. Blow it up. Make sure the mother fuckers can't get out."
The crew member nodded, "Yes sir. Bob, Steve, Jim, Fred, come with me."
The five crew members split off from the main group and moved towards the airlock seal of the Cerberus ship.
"Right," he told the rest of the crew, "Move through that door and set up defensive positions next to the elevator. Make sure no Cerberus soldiers get through here."
"What will we do?" Renswick asked.
Thomson grinned in his helmet, "You and I will go into the secondary elevator and destroy Cerberus. Deal?"
"Hell yeah. Just like old times."
Renswick reloaded his rifle with a magazine that had red tape fastened around the bottom. Probably armour piercing rounds for the heavy armour worn by Cerberus troopers. Normal rounds could get through their armour, but it was definitely harder.
He turned to Doctor Lament - one of the medics on board the Falcon. She had been on board since he had first been assigned to it by the Alliance. She was very good at healing wounds - she had helped Thomson recover from a bullet wound in his shoulder once.
"Doctor," Thomson began, "If there are any casualties we'll need your help to get them back on their feet. But you also know what to do if Cerberus comes along."
She nodded and loaded her M-3 Predator. She had a large bag on her back which carried her medical equipment - those that could be carried, in any case. Through her breather helmet Thomson could see black hair and multi-coloured eyes. Her eyes were weird, and had scared him for a while, but now he was fine with them. "Renswick and I will go and see what Cerberus are up to. See you soon."
Thomson and Renswick jogged towards the secondary elevator, leaving the rest of the crew to secure the docking area and the start of the Citadel itself. With such a large group - it would attract too much attention if they advanced any further. But a group of two could probably do better in not alerting Cerberus to their presence and penetrate further into their defences.
He activated the lift with his Omni-tool and it slowly rose to take them to the Embassies. If he was the Illusive Man - the leader of Cerberus - and wanted to cause chaos, the Embassies would be his first priority. Maybe kill some councillors to throw the Citadel into disarray. He wasn't yet sure of their intentions but he would find out.
The elevator opened but they didn't move for a moment. Enough time to gun down a Cerberus soldier who was guarding the lift. Then they stepped out into the Embassy. His Omni-tool beeped.
He checked it quickly. It was a message from Emi.
... Is everything alright? I keep hearing gunfire... I hope you're safe... xxx
Thomson replied quickly, telling her that everything was fine... but the Citadel was under attack by Cerberus. He also told her that she could explore the Falcon if she got bored since they had secured it, but she shouldn't exit the ship. And then three x's.
A Guardian approached them. A Guardian was a Cerberus soldier with a heavily armoured shield that could block all sorts of attacks.  It was pretty much indestructible and left the Guardian very, very hard to kill. But not for a biotic.
Thomson pulled the shield from the Guardian's grip with his biotics and then used it to hit the Guardian in the head several times before he stopped moving. He then poked his head around the corner of a wall and noticed at least six Cerberus soldiers guarding a door leading to Presidium Commons - the main shopping area of the Citadel. They had portable defences set up, two turrets that flanked the soldiers and several orange kinetic barriers that they could hide behind, powered by a shield generator to their left.
"Ok," Thomson whispered, "We'll roll out of cover and open fire and then take cover behind that crate."
Renswick nodded, "Nice plan. Simple, but effective."
"On three. One, two, three..."
Thomson and Renswick rolled sideways across the corridor, and began firing their M-8 Avengers towards the soldiers. The enemies immediately ducked into cover as they reached the crate. He raised his rifle and propped it up on the metal box and began firing in short quick bursts, felling three of the six.
Renswick fired a concussive shot that seemed to scramble the circuits of the turrets. The rapid-fire cannons switched off and they pointed downwards as Thomson continued firing.
He raised his hand and used his biotics to throw a Cerberus engineer against the wall, which dissipated the mass effect shield that coated his armour. He then threw the engineer against the shield generator which brought down the kinetic barriers the remaining two soldiers were hiding behind.
Then Renswick shot them both in the head.
"Come on," Thomson said, "I think they were only guards. They had their turrets and barriers secured in place as if they were supposed to hold that position. There must have been more sent after the councillors."
"Or maybe an assassin."
"Or an assassin, yes."
They moved past a C-Sec desk. Several bodies lay sprawled across the counter and the terminals were all crushed.
But there was a small floating holographic sphere. It was orange in colour and was not moving other than slight pixel flickers across its surface. It seemed to be some sort of combat drone.
"Please note," said the drone, "Alliance soldiers are approaching your position. All Cerberus troopers are dead."
"Oh thank god..." came a female voice from behind the desk. There was a slight movement before a woman stood up, face white with fear. She had long brown hair and was wearing the uniform of a nurse from the hospital, "I'm so happy you're here..."
"Who are you?" Renswick asked, keeping his gun aimed at the floor.
"My name's Aquila Felis I'm a nurse... I came to the Embassy to give a councillor his appointment details... we were short staffed... then Cerberus came in and I hid and had Butterfly protect me."
"Butterfly?" Thomson questioned curiously.
"Butterfly is my drone," she explained, "Oh my god those poor people..."
"We're here to stop the people who did this," Thomson explained to her, "If you go to the elevator and go down to the docking bay then you can meet up with the crew of our ship. You can get on board and you'll be safe."
She nodded, "Thank you..."
"Don't mention it. Since you're a nurse we might need your help to try and help the survivors - if there are any - but the crew will protect you. The starship is called the SF-2 Falcon. It's a bit hard to miss."
Aquila half-ran towards the lift with the small combat drone trailing in the air behind her.
"At least that's one survivor," Renswick pointed out.
"Yes. The first we've seen. We need to continue. To make sure the councillors are alright. If everything is fine there we need to go back to the crew and try and retake the Citadel. We don't know how many Cerberus soldiers there are so we need to take care. Make sure they don't try and ambush us. As far as I'm aware they can't and don't know we're here, but it's better to be safe than sorry. We're not exactly going silently but it might be a good idea to start."
Renswick opened the door that led into the main part of the Embassy. There was another C-Sec terminal, but this one was on fire. Bodies covered the floor and they had a hard job trying to step between them as they moved as silently as possible towards a staircase to the rear of the room. There was no sign of Cerberus. They had probably moved on after shooting everyone. They didn't even leave any human survivors - whatever their reason for being in the Citadel, it must have been serious.
They reached the stairs and they slowly began moving upwards, aiming down the sights on their M-8 Avengers to make sure that there were no Cerberus troopers lurking.
"This should be it," Thomson whispered as they reached the top of the stairs and turned towards a grey door, "If I were in the council I'd probably hide here. It's easy to defend."
"Then we should open the door. But if they have weapons we should go in unarmed - just to make sure they won't shoot us on sight," Renswick noted.
"Good idea," Thomson responded, fastening his rifle on to his back. There was a slight click as it folded in on itself slightly to aid mobility. Renswick also removed his rifle from his hands.
Renswick was the one who pressed the circular hologram in the centre of the door to open it. It whirred open and they stepped inside, hands raised to show that they were unarmed - if the councillors were where Thomson thought they'd be. In the easiest to defend room in the Embassy - Councillor Udina's office. Worth a try.
The room had a table that was turned over. It was dotted with holes from heavy rifles - Cerberus. But there were slight movements in the room.
"We're here to help," Renswick said, "We're from the SF-2 Falcon, an Alliance Frigate."
"We spoke to you the other day about Earth," Thomson added.
Two heads poked around either side of the table. One Asari, the other Turian. The councillors.
"Good," said the Turian councillor, "We're glad you're here. Cerberus have an assassin on the loose that is trying to kill the Salarian councillor. We need to get out of here."
"We can't escort you and go after the councillor at the same time," Renswick pointed out.
"We've arranged escort. Don't worry. Just make sure you're in time to save the councillor."
"We'll do our best," Thomson said, "Have you seen any other survivors?"
Councillor Udina, who had been stood behind the door with his pistol raised, shook his head, "None. You're the first. Just make sure you... stop Cerberus. Ok?"
"Will do," Renswick replied, "Let's go."
Thomson nodded then turned away from the door, walking back to the staircase. The door closed behind them and sealed shut. A woman wearing dark blue armour was walking up the stairs towards them.
"Excuse me," Thomson said to her, "Have you seen the Salarian councillor?"
She shook her head, "No, sorry. I'm just here to escort the councillors to safety. Try looking around a little bit - the councillor has a cloaking device. Just watch for the haze."
"Thanks. Just make sure they're safe. It would be a disaster if they died."
"It would. Good luck with trying to rescue the Salarian. Just watch out for the mechs."
"Thanks but uh... what mechs?"
"The Atlas mechs Cerberus have? There are a few patrolling downstairs. Don't worry though. Keep them at long range and you should be fine. Oh and remember to take cover as soon as you see it turning towards you."
"I'll try and keep that in mind," Thomson responded, and continued walking down the stairs.
When the woman was out of earshot, Renswick said, "I think I know her."
"Who was it?"
"I think her name was Ashley Williams. Rather famous if it's the same person I'm thinking about. She was appointed as a Spectre a few days ago."
Spectres were people chosen by the council for exceptional service. It granted them lots of control and they were in a position where they were practically above the law. Williams - whoever she was - must have done something extremely good for the council to appoint her like that.
"We need to keep an eye out for those mechs," Thomson pointed out, "They're deadly by themselves - and if there's more than one..."
"We'll beat them. We have to," assured Renswick, "Let's go."
They sprinted down the stairs and into Presidium Commons. The normally busy shopping area of the Citadel had a floor full of bodies. A cloud of smoke drifted up from a fire on the edge of a balcony and the terminals were all damaged, little sparks flickering across the damaged holograms and creating small black marks on the floor.
It was sad seeing so many people - so many lives - just vanquished. Several loud bumps were audible. They slowly got louder as they continued across Presidium Commons.
A giant mech came into view. It was white with an orange glass panel on the front. It was the thing making the loud bumping noises - one with every step. Behind the glass Thomson could see a single Cerberus soldier.
"Get into cover!" yelled Thomson as the mech opened fire. He dived behind a pillar that held up a ruined shop as rounds tore up the floor where he had been stood only a moment before. There were no individual shots - the mech was firing so fast that its arm-cannon was just a whir.
Thomson shot the mech several times with his rifle but it didn't even stagger and instead started shooting at the pillar that practically came apart. But he had already slid across to a desk and sustained his fire whilst Renswick crept around the side.
There was an explosion that instantly destroyed his shields - some sort of rocket fired by the mech. He immediately ducked into cover and waited for his shield generator to activate again. It took several moments - moments which the Atlas mech took to get closer to him in an attempt to flank - but at least he was fully protected once more.
Renswick threw a grenade which staggered the mech once it detonated but it still continued its advancing. Thomson tried to knock it back with a biotic shockwave but it had no effect, even though he made it as powerful as possible. The blue energy just dissipated into the air after going straight through the mech and out of the other side - with no effect.
Damn it.
Rounds from the mech flickered across the surface of his shield as it flanked him. He covered himself with a quick burst of fire from his M-8 to the orange glass dome that covered the torso of the mech - and housed the soldier within.
Thomson threw a biotic warp next - which seemed to have more effect. The mech staggered slightly and there were several large dints in its armour. There was a slight trail of blue energy originating from the dints as the metal started to be ripped apart.
He threw one again, staggering it further. Renswick opened fire and rounds flashed across the dome of the mech, driving it further backwards with the armour piercing rounds.
Then the glass fell out of place and hit the floor. Thomson pulled the Cerberus mech-pilot from his seat using his biotics whilst Renswick shot him in the head. The mech collapsed.
Renswick reloaded and so did Thomson. They split up - Thomson going one side of the pillars and Renswick going the other.
Three more Atlas mechs were in the corridor adjoining to the one they had just come from.
"How are we going to get past that lot?" Renswick asked, "One of them was bad enough."
Thomson turned to the disabled mech, "Hm... I have one idea..."

4 comments:

  1. *slow claps*

    Hey- there's me!

    *claps some more*

    ReplyDelete
  2. ARGHHHH CLIFFHANGER ENDING! :P

    They're good though. Make people want to keep reading.

    Your action scenes are good beacuse they're not too hard to follow, and I rarely have to read stuff over again to get it. :)

    ReplyDelete