War Stories: Palaven (Part Two)

A lone band of Turian soldiers sit behind makeshift barricades, taking potshots at the scurrying husks in the rubble. The commanding officer holds out his omni-tool, attempting to raise anyone in the city. "This is Commander Raxir. If anyone in the city can read this, you must give us your location, we haven't much time."

"Commander! We have incoming!"

A havoc trooper in red and black armor raises his Phaeston rifle and opens fire on a small group of Cannibals. A series of well-placed shots, drop each monster. He turns to his comrade, this one wearing ebony Ghost tech armor, "Sarina, got a big one coming fast. Got anything in your suit to help?"

The black armor glints in the fires, as the Turian rises to her feet, her clawed right hand glowing with green electricity. Holding it out at the oncoming brute, she clenches her hand tightly and unleashes the viridian lightning at the monstrosity. The lights in the brute's eyes go dark as the bolt strikes home, and causes it to slump to one side mid-charge, rubble flies in all directions from the impact of the Brute's weight. Sarina turns to his compatriot, "Is that good enough for you, Xael?

"Good thing we found that Elkoss Combine transport, otherwise you wouldn't have that shiny new toy."

Another Turian sits atop an abandoned supply truck, an omni-scope in her hands, scanning the surroundings. "Commander?"

Raxir looks up at his recon officer, "Report, Gizelle."

"Saw an Alliance shuttle land in the city. Scanners show a small squad of Quarians. Orders?"

The commander clenches his fist in frustration, "Damn it. They don't know what they're walking into down there."

Sarina steps up beside her commanding officer and pulls out her dual Hexan hand cannons. "What should we do sir?"

Raxir looks around at his small squad and sighs. "Spirits. We really don't have a choice do we?"

He closes his eyes for a moment before reopening them again, a new fire in his eyes. "We head for them. Hopefully we can reach them before they do. Xael and Sarina will take point. Gizelle, you're with me."

He opens his hand and the faint azure glow of biotics materialize around his fingers. "For Palaven. Let's move!"

"Aki, will you stop fidgeting?"

"Leave me alone Kiril. You know I get twitchy when I get bored."

"Just stop it for a moment, hearing you constantly messing with your rifle is distracting me."

"Ooooh, I'm sorry."

"Cut out the sarcasm, sis."

"Make me."

Kiril'Rao sighs to himself as he sets a few Cain mines around the area of the shuttle. Ria'Vael pokes her head out from the shuttle's bay door. "Guys, we got a reading from the scanners finally."

Aki backflips and lands in front of her, "Finally! What's it say?"

"Got a faint life sign. Less than five hundred meters that direction."

She points to the north, where a pile of rubble strewn buildings barely stand. Picking up an emergency med-kit as well as her trusty plasma shotgun, she looks over her shoulder at the twins, "You coming?"

Kiril frowns from behind his visor, "Aren't we supposed to stay with the shuttle?"

Aki pushes past him, "Shut up Kiril and gather your gear."

"Sir, what do make of these?"

Radin crouches next to the corpse of an insect-like being, its weapon laying not far away, its thick brown carapace littered with burns and bullet holes, its four eyes devoid of all life. The courtyard is littered with the corpses of Turians and more of these insect-like creatures. The Turians obviously gave a valiant fight against them for as long as possible....but in the end, it seems they were overrun. Kal'Reegar steps up and examines the body, "Oh.....Kee'lah."

Morte stands a few yards away, his thermal visor scanning the courtyard. His voice comes out quiet and grave, "Collectors, Radin. They're called Collectors. Pretty much the scavengers for the Reapers. What they lack in durability, they make up for in sheer numbers and a hive-mentality."

Radin looks over at the towering Quarian, "What are they doing here on Palaven?"

Kal'Reegar shakes his head, "The bigger question is where have they gone?"

Morte's head suddenly jerks to the left, his visor showing a small red dot in a large pile of rubble in front of the remains of an Armax Arsenal supply depot. He sprints over to the rubble and activates the strength enhancers in his arms. A slight golden sheen spreads over his muscular arms allowing him to start lifting the oversized pieces of metal and rock off the pile. Radin watches the giant work for a moment before moving over to him and gently pushing him aside. "Let me have a go big guy."

Taking a crystalline blue capsule from his belt, he cracks it open and dumps the contents over as much of the rubble as he can. A few moments later Morte could feel the air visibly freeze around the metal and rock, ice crystals over it all. Radin steps back and turns to the big Quarian, "Have at it. Be careful though."

Morte pulls back one fist and brings it down hard on the metal. Blow after blow he rains down on the pile, shattering piece after piece into a fine powder. Looking down in the crater, Morte looks over at his commanding officer, his breath catching a little, "Sir.....you may want to see this."

Kal'Reegar steps up and joins his men. The breath leaves his lungs at the sight. A Turian woman lays curled up, visible burns from laser fire on her corpse. In her arms, shielded from harm is a tiny Turian child....no more than two years old. The woman must have tried her best to shield him from the falling debris.....even at the expense of her own life. His eyes stay closed but the sounds of labored breathing can be heard from the child. Kal springs into action, sliding down the side of the shallow crater to the child, his omni-tool activating, a dose of medi-gel already ready to go. "Radin, call Ace. Tell it that we've found a survivor but he needs medical attention."

Morte's head tilts to one side. "Wait-a-minute. Do any of you hear that?"

Radin looks at him quizzically, "What are you talking about?"

"It sounds like...........buzzing."

Thunder claps overhead as the skies begin to darken, green lightning crackling overhead. Morte steps back and stares straight upwards. The clouds darken as the nose of a large cylindrical ship appears from the black clouds, a cloud of millions of tiny buzzing insects pouring forth from the front of the ship. He watches as the ship fully pulls out of the clouds and begins to descend. The big Quarian has rarely felt terror in his life, but the sight of this makes his insides grow cold. "Sir. You need to take the kid with us if he's able."

He unslings his Storm rifle again as his fortification tech shimmers across his entire body. Radin snags a Collector assault rifle and particle beam, attaching them to his belt as he pulls out his Avalanche, the chamber glowing with a crystalline azure light. He nods to Reegar, "We'll cover you sir."

Kal nods, carefully extracting the child from the cold embrace of his mother, omni-tool giving the tiny Turian a dose of dextro-medi-gel. Clutching the child carefully against his armor, he scales the side of the shallow hole and nods towards the shuttle. "We get back to the shuttle and we get this kid off this planet. Morte, keep scanning the environment for any other survivors. Radin, if those swarms start down on us it will be up to you to keep them off our backs. Let's move!"