A/N: Italics indicate internal thought.
Bold indicates Reaper speech
Bold Italics indicate Reaper internal speech
Please comment and review
This is my first attempt at a story, so I am open to constructive criticism. Also If anyone has suggestions for the story feel free to give them.
Sparks of Resistance
Location: Cipritene, Palaven
Date: 6th July
Time: 2000
Inside a typical Turian apartment, a female human was thrown against a wall and collapsed to the ground sobbing. Her Turian owner stood over her scowling.
"You expect me to eat this shit, useless bitch!" He roared.
"Master….. Please I made it exactly as you asked," the woman pleaded, the Turian promptly delivered kick into her stomach.
"Don't talk back to me you filth! Looks like I need to teach you some more manners!" he roared again.
"No master…..please…. I'll do better…." she pleaded.
As the Turian pulled his arm back, he suddenly felt something metallic clamp around his hand. He swung round, directly into the faceplate of an ironman suit. The Turian didn't have time to cry out before the human's other hand clamped around his jaw. His attacker then proceeded to crush the bones in his hand, his cries muffled.
As the Turian fell to the ground he noticed another armoured human walk over to his slave and help her to her feet. The one that had injured him now had a pistol trained on his face.
"It's okay, we can take you somewhere safe," the one supporting the woman said.
"Please…please don't kill me," the Turian begged, the human delivered a metal heel into the Turian's face, "shut the fuck up hinge head!" he yelled.
"He's not going to kill you," the human woman said slowly as she walked towards the person who had tortured her for years. The Turian gave a small smile, thinking she would save him in her broken state.
The woman looked to the human holding the gun, "I'm going to kill him," she said, her voice still shaky. The Turian's expression turned to one of horror. The two armoured figures looked at each other for a second. The second one nodded and the one holding the gun offered it to the slave.
She shakily took hold of the pistol and turned to the Turian with a look of pure fury, "Please wait, if you help me I'll get you your freedom," he pathetically tried to bargain.
"Burn in hell you bastard!" She yelled. She fired until the thermal clip ejected.
000
Location: Cipritene, Palaven
Date: 10th July
Time: 1830
In another household the bloodied corpse of a male Turian was dropped to the ground by another figure wearing an ironman suit, this time without a helmet. He stepped over the body towards a female Turian who was desperately trying to crawl backwards away from him.
"Please….please, I never wanted to do it, I swear he made me hurt you…" her cries were cut off as the figure gripped her by the throat, "this is for all the pain you caused me you Turian bitch!"
She could only scream as a knife was brought down again and again.
000
Location: Murantia, Palaven
Date: 12th July
Time: 1300
As the slave trade had grown throughout the galaxy, many of the other species had recognised the profitability of the venture. As a consequence, slave auction houses could usually be found in major cities across the galaxy. Where citizens could purchase a human without having to travel to places like the Citadel or to Batarian space.
However, the people who had decided to set up an auction house in the city of Murantia were now regretting that choice.
Reaper thrust his hand forward, his claws skewering a Turian. He threw the body into a wall before drawing his guns and killing a couple of the auction houses guards.
Three more human soldiers were with him, they gunned down all the Turians working at the auction house, whether they were guards or 'salesmen'.
After easily dispatching all the slavers they quickly loaded the few human slaves they had rescued from the auction house into several of the KODIAK stealth shuttles parked in the streets.
Reaper was the last to leave, he stood in the doorway and generated one of his red energy spheres. He threw it into the building and quickly boarded the shuttle. A few moments later, the building was levelled by an explosion.
000
Location: Cipritene, Palaven
Date: 13th July
Time: 1000
Primarch Tactus slammed his fist on the table, "SPIRITS DAMN THEM!" he roared.
After taking a minute to collect himself Tactus turned back to the assembled Turians, "what is the total number of incidents?" he asked.
One of the Turians held up a data pad, "currently over three-hundred Primarch, and dozens more every day. Every time it's the same scenario: With Cerberus assistance the slave kills the master and then escapes undetected."
Another of the Turians spoke, "we've been able to keep most of these incidents secret. If the citizens believed that we couldn't protect them, it could become problematic. However, I'm afraid we were not able to hide the attack on the auction house in Murantia."
Tactus massaged his forehead, "what is the situation in the terminus systems?"
"Attacks from Pirates have risen to an unprecedented level. I believe we can no longer deny the theory of a United Terminus Clans. We also have reports that several attacks on human colonies have been thwarted by the intervention of Cerberus. Unfortunately, they are always long gone by the time we can send someone to investigate."
"There is another development Primarch," one of the other Turians spoke up, "several Admirals and Generals within the Hierarchy have already decided to act upon the Intel provided during the Battle of Elysium. They have also authorised the human fleets to mobilise," he said the last part with a hint of disgust.
Tactus growled, "Arterius and Victus," he mumbled under his breath.
000
Location: Slaver base, Terminus Systems
Date: 15th July
Time: 1300
In a hallway a Turian and a Batarian were standing guard in front of the door. "You heard what happened to Keash's group? He tried to raid some human colony. Got attacked by Cerberus before the ship even got close to the planet," the Turian said with disdain.
"Dammit," the Batarian responded, "When this thing started, we were promised no trouble from the Hierarchy. That doesn't mean shit if we are getting fucked over by a bunch a humans,"
"It hasn't been so bad," the Turian shot back, "Vrumar already scored two good hauls, Bastard already made a killing."
Unknown to the both of them, just around the corner, a female figure was pressed against the wall. She took a deep breath and raised her two pistols, in one swift move she rolled out from behind cover, ending in kneeling position. The two guards began to turn their heads, before they understood what was happening, she took them both down with well-placed headshots.
However, the gunfire alerted the slavers in the room behind the door. One Batarian cautiously made his way closer to the door. As it opened all he saw was a blur of red as their assailant front flipped through the still opening door and delivered a kick into his gut. From her position, poised on the stomach of the falling Batarian, she quickly fired a shot straight in between his four eyes, she next aimed both her pistols outwards and opened fire. She gunned down a Batarian on her left and two more Turians on her right before she hit the ground.
The remaining slavers quickly began to open fire on her, in response she quickly dived behind a nearby crate for cover. As the slavers opened fire on her meagre protection, she used the brief reprieve to load new thermal clips. She was covered in blue glow as she erected a biotic barrier around herself. She jumped over the crate and began to fire again. She took down a Vorcha and a Batarian. She suddenly struck her left pistol under her right arm and fired off three shots, killing a Salarian that was trying to flank her. The slavers tried to return fire but in their panicked state were barely able to hit her, and any shots that found their mark were easily absorbed by her biotic barrier.
There were only three left now, a Turian, a Batarian and a Krogan. They just finished reloading their weapons but as they begin to draw a bead on the human woman attacking them, she quickly holstered her left pistol and primed a grenade. She threw it at the trio and they were consumed by the explosion. She was about to turn around until she heard an animalistic roar and saw the Krogan emerging from the flames, he was badly burned and charged at her in a mad rage. With incredible athleticism she jumped flipped over the reptile and landed with a one-handed handstand on his hump, acting quickly she jammed her pistol behind his head plate and opened fire. The high velocity slugs tore through his brain and out his lower jaw. She gracefully flipped back onto her feet as the body fell to the ground.
Liz Shepard brushed her fiery red hair out of her eyes and looked around at the defeated slavers, "This is lieutenant Shepard," she spoke into her omni-tool, "the area is secure General Arterius."
000
In another part of the base, Ashley Williams stood poised outside a doorway, as multiple slavers fired at her from within. Several Turian soldiers were with her, a couple of them tending to an unlucky comrade who had taken a shot through the shoulder.
"How's he doing?" Ashley asked, "we stopped the bleeding, he should be fine now," one of them responded.
"Dammit," she mumbled under her breath," I warned him not to charge straight in like that."
"You're the ranking officer lieutenant, what's the plan?" one of them asked.
Ashley gave a quick glance back around the doorway, flinching when a high velocity slug skimmed past her face, "all right this is going to rely on you guys memorising the enemy's exact positions," Ashley said as she began to explain her strategy.
The slavers were positioned behind several makeshift barricades, firing at the doorway whenever they got even the slightest glimpse of an enemy. Suddenly the doorway began to fill with smoke. After a few moments all of the slavers ceased fire, expecting their attackers to emerge from the smoke.
What they didn't expect, was several streams of high velocity slugs to exit the smoke. The slavers immediately ducked behind their cover, but one unlucky Vorcha was hit. As they ducked under the barricades, they barely had time to react as a figure leapt out of the smoke. Ashley landed on one of the foremost barricades, catching the two slavers hidden behind it completely by surprise. Without pausing she levelled her assault rifle and gunned down two Batarians. Without stopping she spun left and opened fire again, cutting down a Turian and a Salarian.
As the rest of the slavers begin to regain their bearings, Ashley ducked back behind the cover and loaded a new thermal clip. The slavers immediately began firing on her, pinning her down. That situation was soon resolved though, as the rest of her squad began to emerge from the smoke. With their defence shaken by Ashley's sudden surprise attack the slavers quickly started to fall back.
Wanting to maintain their momentum, Ash dashed out from behind cover and flanked their enemies. A Turian turned to face her just in time to receive right hook to the face, sending him to the ground. She finished him off with a burst, before gunning down another Batarian.
Looking around she saw that the only survivors were a couple of Batarians who didn't look like they had any intention of coming quietly. "Human Bitch!" One of them roared," Ash quickly dived behind another barricade, dodging the shots. "Grenade!" Ashley yelled to her squad before tossing one, it sailed over the barrier and incinerated the two remaining slavers in an explosion.
As the sound of gunfire subsided Ashley and her squad formed up, "keep your guard up, we don't know if any of these assholes are just playing possum." Several of the Turians looked at each other confused, "What's a possum?" one of them asked. Suddenly, one of the fallen Batarians shot up and aimed his pistol at them. A hail of slugs brought him down before he could even aim. Ashley kept her rifle trained on the body, "that's a possum, something that pretends to be dead, so it will be overlooked," she stated.
000
Two hours later the group of humans and Turians were assembled outside the entrance to the base. "We didn't find anything General, from what we can tell the servers automatically began to wipe themselves as soon as we were within proximity," Garrus explained to Saren.
"Dammit, so we still have no leads on who these bastards are getting their Intel from," the General clenched his prosthetic fist, "I knew that we were dealing with a large united group Captain Vakarian, but this level of sophistication is concerning. Whoever is in charge is taking every precaution to make sure none of his underlings compromising him."
"Sir, I know it's unlikely, but do any of the prisoners know anything?" Liz asked.
"Unfortunately, not Lieutenant," Saren responded, rubbing his temples, "from what they've said they just receive their information and act on it. We know this group was part of a raid on a human colony three days ago but no captured humans were ever brought here."
Garrus looked off into the distance, he tensed up when he noticed a shuttle incoming, "I think we've got company General," he stated, "Indeed," Saren responded, in a tone that showed he was not looking forward to this conversation.
Soon the shuttle landed in front of the group and General Salvitus emerged, he glared at Saren. "What is the meaning of this Arterius?!" he bellowed, "I don't know what you mean Salvitus," Saren responded, uncaring. Salvitus bristled slightly at the response, "you went ahead with this attack without informing high command first, you even give authorisation for the Alliance to assist you," he growled.
Saren rolled his eyes at his fellow General's attitude, "I thought it imperative to act on the information as soon as possible, especially given how the last two occurrences where I took the time to inform high command, the bases were abandoned long before we reached them," he said.
Salvitus' eyes narrowed, "do not make a habit of this," he demanded, pointing a finger right in his face, before turning around and taking a slave.
"Asshole," Garrus said once he was out of earshot, "undisputedly," Saren confirmed.
Looking back at the soldiers under his command Saren noticed Liz's frustrated expression, "what's on your mind Shepard?" he asked.
"Ever since Elysium, human colonies have been under almost constant attack, and it feels like we're barely doing anything to prevent that," she said honestly. Saren just sighed, "I can't deny the validity of that statement Shepard, truthfully the attacks would be much more devastating if not for…." He trailed off.
"Cerberus," Liz sated uncomfortably, I don't know what to think about them….. I mean saving those colonies is something I am definitely thankful for… but broadcasting those brutal executions….the galaxy is just going to judge humanity as a whole by those standards.
"Yes, Cerberus," Saren responded, causing Liz to quickly look back up at him, "I will be truthful with you Shepard. The Hierarchy has deployed so many of its forces, not to protect human colonies, but in the hopes that we will find Cerberus."
Garrus looked at Saren in alarm, "Sir, considering what we've seen they're capable of. Do we really want to just run into Cerberus randomly?"
"In my personal opinion Vakarian. Hell No!" Saren replied.
000
Location: Earth, Vila Militar, Rio de Janeiro
Date: 17th July
Time: 1200
John was once again in the common area of the villa, in contact with Miranda.
"We've already rescued an impressive number of people. We helped any that wanted to return home do so, but a significant number have stated that they want to help rescue others," she said.
"That's good to hear, and we've started establishing the cells on the other large Turian colonies?" He asked.
"Yes. Additionally, there have been some interesting developments with the Turian fleet movements. As we expected they've increased the patrols in their own territory but they've also doubled the number of patrols along the Terminus border. This has actually resulted in fewer patrols through human territories. There are quite sizeable windows available now," Miranda explained.
"I see," John said, "I think we can use this as an opportunity to remove the Hierarchy's influence within the Alliance. We should send a cell to identify those in the Hierarchy's pocket…..but make sure they have irrefutable evidence before they eliminate a suspect."
"Of course, now I believe it is time for next big move," Miranda explained.
"Thessia," Shepard stated with a frown.