Mass Effect - A Hero Rises Ch. 62

Book 3, Chapter 13 - The Lost Platoon

*****

"Javik is in there, Grunt. You can't have your old room. Look, once we've sorted out the issue on Tuchanka for the Primarch, we'll find a way of getting you off the ship."

"I'm getting itchy, Shepard. You know how I get when I'm itchy."

"Look, if I have to get the sedatives out..."

"Go down to the armoury. Plenty there to expend energy on," Miranda added.

"Once Shepard has done whatever he needs to do, we'll go to the Citadel. You can get laid," Wrex suggested, "Haven't been to the Citadel myself since my time on the old ship. The consort still working, Shepard?"

"Last I heard, she was in a bit of trouble for some reason. Haven't been to see her in years."

"Ah, I remember my visits. Some very young, flexible asari on offer." Miranda scoffed. Wrex laughed. "Shepard nailed the Consort, so there is that."

"It was in his file. All his conquests were." Then she paused. "And Annie."

She grabbed my hand for some reason. I still thought about her all the time, but the wound had long since healed. It was the dying and coming back, yet not remembering a damned thing from between those two points. If there was a heaven or a hell, I certainly didn't remember it. And I certainly didn't remember reuniting with her. Still, I appreciated the fact she considered Annie different. She wasn't any different to Kelly, Gianna, Shiala... and Miranda herself. I think if I told her that, considering what she was like nowadays, Miranda would end up crying for a week.

"Want to join us on the ground?" I wondered, "Have a good idea we'll end up fighting Reapers or some other sort of monster."

Grunt looked at Wrex. Wrex nodded immediately. "Just like old times, battlemaster."

"We should be in orbit around Tuchanka tomorrow morning, ship-time. EDI will assess the situation, Victus will give us any last minute intel, then we'll have boots on the ground."

The ground team assembled in the war room with Victus as we approached Tuchankan orbit. He still couldn't tell us much, answering with most questions with 'It's classified' and leaving it vague as to the intention of the mission, but at least he could provide coordinates, the number of turians aboard the ship and... the fact the officer in charge was his son.

Could have heard a pin drop after that admission. "Sir, with all due respect..."

"I know exactly what you're going to say, Garrus," Victus said. Already, the weight of the galaxy and the fate on his people was resting heavily on his shoulders, "But there were few I could trust with this mission. My son is a fine soldier."

Garrus appeared to have a million and one questions and retorts to that statement, but for some reason, seemed to swallow every single one of them down. I think it was due to respect. Garrus had little time for most serving members, but I'd walked into the same room when they were chatting and I could see Garrus not only respected but liked his fellow turian.

With at least an hour or so until we dropped, Miranda and I headed to our office. I stopped by Kelly for a moment, appreciating the short skirt and the stockings she now wore. She glanced and smiled as approached, cuddling her from behind. Kissing her cheek, she kissed me back before heading to the office.

"You two are very cute sometimes," I heard Traynor say. That brought me to a halt at the threshold of the door to my office.

"He's always been very sweet with me," Kelly answered. That made me smile, and I didn't need to hear anymore.

Miranda was looking over datapads full of information about what to expect on Tuchanka. We knew about the Reapers now present on the planet, but Liara had provided more than one message suggesting Cerberus was also sniffing around. What for, we simply couldn't figure out why. I assumed it was to do with the genophage. Considering their human-centric viewpoint, keeping the krogan neutered did make sense.

I did find myself distracted by Miranda being bent over her desk. She giggled as I grabbed the hem of her skirt, enjoying the thigh highs she was now wearing every day. Pulling the hem up and over her bountiful behind, I gave each of her supple cheeks a caress. "You'll take this out, won't you?" I asked, fondling the base of the toy inside her.

"Of course. But I keep it in until the last minute, sir."

"Good girl." I felt between her legs and enjoyed the fact she was wet. She was always wet nowadays, constantly horny and ready to be fucked. If I was the only to fuck her, I'd have never got anything else done, but Miranda had proven rather popular with my girls. I gently pulled her back so she rested against my chest, turning her head so I could kiss her. "Still happy?"

"I've never been happier, sir. What we share is everything I want." She kissed me again, taking my wrist and ensuring my hand ended up between her legs again. "Just thinking about your touch... I love teasing you all day in return." She moaned as I kissed her while fondling her pussy, though I stopped quickly, as we simply didn't have the time. Even a quickie for us would take far too long. Removing my fingers, I slid them into her mouth, and she sucked on them eagerly as always.

"Better calm down, I reckon. Want me to take it out?"

"No, sir," she breathed, "If you do, I'll want you to fuck me."

"And if I watch you do it, I'll want to fuck you. So I'll head downstairs to get ready." She turned and sat on the desk, leaning forward to kiss her again. Took her all of thirty seconds to start whimpering into my mouth. I pulled back with a smile. "How horny are you right now?"

"If we start, I won't want to stop, sir. And taking me down there as distracted as I will be in that event."

I kissed her cheek. "I'll see you downstairs, Miri."

"Thank you, sir."

I was downstairs before nearly everyone else, joining up Vega and Cortez, shooting the shit as Vega and I assembled ourselves in armour, slowly but surely joined by everyone else I planned on taking. As always, I was taking everyone as I didn't see the point in leaving talented companions back on the ship. Not knowing the situation on the ground, and with no LZ to keep safe, the marines wouldn't be joining us this time. I had called my ships to join us in orbit around Tuchanka as I had a feeling events were going to develop rapidly and figured their assistance would eventually come in handy.

Everyone was downstairs when Joker reported in that the ship was now within shuttle range. Victus wished us good luck over the radio, and as we stepped onto the shuttle, the mood was rather good as we began our descent to Tuchanka. Taking a look at the video screens to either side, it gave a view of the harsh planet on which we would soon set foot. It was one of the deadliest places in the galaxy. Nearly everything was capable of killing you.

Looking around the shuttle, I couldn't help but marvel at all the talents I had at my disposal, whether it was with weapons, biotics or technological expertise. As they liked to say, I was the glue that held it all together, the leader that helped meld their talents into a cohesive unit. I did wonder from time to time what they'd all be doing if I was still dead, or if we'd never met at all? I guess they'd be dead too as Saren might never have been stopped. Maybe everything was fate...

Cortez had the shuttle on the ground, stepping off first as always, Vega and I securing the landing zone. Soon as everyone was off, the door was shut, hearing a couple of firm slaps to indicate the shuttle was clear, glancing back to see Cortez already had the shuttle up and away. With the Reapers in the area, I didn't want to lose our only way off the planet.

"Lieutenant Victus, this is Commodore Shepard. You read me? Lieutenant Victus, this is Shepard. You have a copy?"

Bit of static for a few seconds before a tinny voice came through all our ear pieces. "Reading you, Commodore."

"What's your situation?"

"Platoon strength Reaper forces currently engaging our perimeter. Holding fast, but we're taking wounded and our ammo reserves are dwindling."

"Copy that, LT. Send up a signal flare, we'll make haste for your position." The flare appeared quickly, no more than five seconds later. "I estimate our position as being south-east of yours by around three clicks."

"Shit, this won't be easy," Vega muttered. I didn't blame him for it. We all knew this was going to be a real bitch of a mission.

"Hold the line, LT. We'll be there shortly." Cutting the link, I looked around. "Okay people, Reaper forces will be between our position and those of the turian platoon. Therefore, the standard rules of engagement regarding the Reapers apply."

"Shoot the fuckers?" Vega asked.

"Damn right, LT. Lock and load, let's go."

The Reapers knew we were coming. Nothing particularly difficult at first, just a horde of husks and cannibals. A couple of charges sent many of them flying, and we simply overpowered them otherwise. Grunt had a great time, shotgun blasting away the same time as mine, but he enjoyed grabbing husks and just hurling them away, generally giving our colleagues plenty of time to shoot them instead.

"Survivors, Shepard!" Garrus called, "Over there, by the escape pod!"

I noticed them too and we quickly tried to get close to them. But what took my eye was the creature in the air nearby, raining some sort of fire down on them. My team wasted no time firing at whatever the creature was. Grunt was the one to tell us the name. A harvester. "Thought they looked familiar," I said, "Didn't we fight one?"

"Nah, that was a thresher maw, but there are plenty of these things across Tuchanka. But this thing has obviously been corrupted by the Reapers."

"Let's kill it," Javik added. That was an idea we could all get behind, our team standing in a line and opening up on the flying monster. In addition to the gunfire was the thump of biotics, Liara, Miranda and Javik unloading, yelling at them not to drain themselves too early. We didn't kill the harvester, but we did force it to fly away, the surviving turians stating they'd find their way to Victus and the others.

"Was it like this during your time?" Liara asked Javik.

"Of course. The Collectors you saw, they were but one variant of what the Reapers did to my people. Turned into mindless, grotesque abominations. The Reapers believed we would hesitate in killing our own kind. But they forget to realise we no longer saw them like that. We did not hesitate."

"Goddess, and you did that for so long."

"These are early days yet, asari. You have yet to see what cruelty, what depravity the Reapers are capable of."

What I'd seen on Earth had been bad enough, and I'd only experienced that for a couple of hours. But we all remembered what we saw on that derelict Reaper. Garrus had also seen his own homeworld burn, and the Reapers inflict horrific casualties on his people within a few short days when they arrived in orbit around Palaven. But I had a feeling Javik had seen horrors we simply couldn't comprehend yet.

The Reapers definitely knew we were there, Victus reporting in over the radio that the pressure had eased slightly, though he also figured out why immediately, no doubt hearing the gunfire as we dealt with even more husks and cannibals, and also a few marauders. Garrus didn't hesitate for a second whenever one appeared in his crosshairs, but I still glanced back and met his eyes. He returned my look and nodded. "They're not turians," he said.

"The right way to think, turian. They are abominations," Javik said, "But when you are victorious, you will honour the memories of all those fallen. But for now, you must harden your hearts."

We found a second crashed escape pod with survivors. The harvester had returned, wasting no time unloading on it again. Within thirty seconds, it attempted to attack us. A few shots into its head almost put it on the ground, but it managed to turn and fly away just in time to save itself.

"Commodore, this is Victus. What is your ETA?"

"Miranda?" I asked.

"A click at most, sir. Just depends if it's a straight line to his position or not, but I've got his coordinates." She showed me her omni-tool and a map of the region. "Hopefully these ruins here won't delay us too long."

"Fifteen minutes' tops, Victus. Okay team, double time."

We were making even better time, barely a hundred metres from the turian position when the harvester returned again, and this time he returned with a lot of friends. Cutting us off from the turians, we used that to our advantage, flanking the Reaper monsters, swinging around to almost come in from their rear, capturing them in a near pincer movement.

But the harvester was the prize. It flew it more than once, dropping more monsters for us to deal with, but whenever it got close, we unloaded everything we could at it. Each time, there was no missing the wounds it was taking, and the last time it flew in and dropped more monsters, it barely got away. I wondered if it would return again.

Thankfully, it did. I only say that because we finally killed the bloody thing, watching in surprise as it simply exploded into a million pieces of flesh and tech, its blood and guts soaking the ground and us as it covered most of the battlefield. That didn't stop all of us from hollering, high fives and slaps on the back at the fact we'd finally killed the fucking thing.

The exhausted turians were encamped nearby. It had been a battle for their lives. Many had scarred weapon and armour, most of them seemed to be carrying at least one wound. Garrus recognised Victus, bumping my arm and gesturing with his head. Victus seemed to recognise me in return, standing and approaching. He came to attention and saluted. "Commodore Shepard. My men and I are in your debt. Thank you for your timely arrival. You've helped save many of my men."

I glanced at Garrus. Considering his position nowadays, he held particularly authority. Victus noticed my glance and he stood ramrod straight again, palm at him forehead. "Legate Vakarian. I did not recognise you, sir."

"Report, soldier," Garrus demanded.

To my absolute surprise, some of his men let their opinions be know. "The Lieutenant screwed up!" one of them called.

"Our men are dead because of him!" another shouted.

I noticed many of his men walk towards our position. None of them looked happy. In fact, it seemed they were on the verge of mutiny. I knew what turians were like. For them to be acting like this suggested something had gone terribly wrong. And when they actually started to jostle the lieutenant, who tried to exert his authority, I shared a concerned glance with Garrus.

"Stand down!" Garrus barked. Dead silence immediately. "Form up!" The men formed in lines behind Lieutenant Victus. "You are turian soldiers, proud servants of the hierarchy. Act like it!"

As one, they came to attention, chins raised, not moving, but eyes observing. Garrus walked in between the lines of soldiers, meeting nearly all of them in the eyes. "Lieutenant, I don't like what I'm seeing here. Insubordination. Possible mutiny. These men are soldiers. Drilled to respect order. Authority. Such words are not uttered without being aware of the consequences. Report."

Victus stood at attention even more, if possible. "I made a bad call, sir. This one is one me."

Garrus met my eyes. He couldn't hide his surprise. For a turian to admit something like that in front of all of us. "Clarify," Garrus demanded.

"I chose caution and clever tactics over a head on attack. And my men paid the price for that caution." Victus explained further why he had chosen the cautious approach. I could understand why. Even Garrus did. The only one who probably didn't appreciate caution was Javik. He would have happily sacrificed every turian if it meant killing Reapers.

But there was one thing I still didn't know. Why was Victus here in the first place? So that's exactly what I asked.

"There's a bomb on the planet. We were sent to defuse it."

"What sort of bomb?"

"A big one. The sort that will piss off the krogan while also killing a lot of them. But there's something even worse. Cerberus has it."

"You will continue with your mission, Lieutenant," Garrus ordered, "But you will have our assistance."

Victus looked at Garrus, no doubt wanting to argue. I could understand why he would. His unit had just taken tremendous casualties. Many dead and wounded. Any other time, they'd be taken out of the line to refresh. But because of who he was, and the nature of the mission, a replacement unit simply wasn't possible. Victus was stuck until the mission was complete.

"Yes, sir," Victus replied. He knew what he had to do. His men were tired, sore, demoralised. Now was the time to prove he was worthy of his leadership position. I noticed his men remained at attention, watching him intently. "Men! I own what happened here today, but we have to carry on!" There were a few grumbles, but they all remained at attention. I think the fact he admitted fault earned a modicum of respect. But he had to appeal to their honour. "We are turians, we are the hierarchy, and we will not let Cerberus succeed. Our sacrifice is the difference between life and death between life and death for this entire galaxy! Let the heroes of the Ninth Platoon be remembered for performing their duties with bravery!"

He certainly had a way with words. Every single turian saluted. Victus turned to us and saluted again. "The Ninth Platoon are ready to fight, Legate Vakarian."

"Good to hear, Lieutenant. Call in your shuttles, return to your ships in orbit. We will be in contact regarding this bomb. Send all the information you have to our ship."

"My father..."

"We'll talk to him when we return to the Normandy," I said, keeping my tone neutral. To say I was pissed off about this whole thing was an understatement.

Calling in Cortez, EDI reported that Reaper forces had retreated for the time being. Apparently losing the harvester had caused them to rethink their strategy. Last to step onto the shuttle, I felt it take off as soon as I shut the door. Garrus knew I wasn't particularly happy about what we learned. Earned one or two smiles from my lovers, I guess to make me smile. Must have had a face like thunder.

Soon as we were back on the Normandy, I marched straight to the elevator, Garrus matching my stride, and we headed the CIC. Bursting into the war room, Victus was waiting for us. He knew exactly why both of us were in a mood.

"Clear the room!" I ordered. My crew made haste for the door. EDI was eavesdropping, and would know I wouldn't want to be interrupted, glancing to see her lock the door once only three of us were left. "Okay, Primarch, I'm going to do my best to remain respectful here..."

He stood tall. "That respect is returned, Commodore, I assure you. I assume you have learned the reason for the mission of my son?" I nodded. "Surely you then understand why I cannot just hand over privileged information. The sort of information which impacts not only our relations, but the future possible relations between the krogan and hierarchy. How do you think they'd react to this news?"

I glanced at Garrus. "Sir, if I may, Shepard has been honest with you from the get go. Can you see his reasoning?"

Victus nodded. "These decisions are not easy, and they rest heavily. Each decision does. When I was just a general, I could pass things like this up the chain of command. But now, I'm all I've got. Know what I mean?"

I knew exactly what he meant. He had the weight of his people on his shoulders. I seemed to have the whole galaxy. "I understand, Primarch. But..."

"Thank you, Shepard." I raised eyebrows at that. "Thank you for saving my son."

"If word got out, sir, he'd be looking at a court martial," Garrus stated, "And you..."