77 – Priority : Thessia (11)

What do you think differentiates machines from humans? Is it their lifespan? No.

Is it their appearance? No, it's not.

It's feelings. Sure, machines could imitate human feelings to a certain degree, but at the end of the day, they are not the same.

So, a machine can't feel fear thanks to that... Or so it should've been.

50 Geth ships, counting 10 Geth inside each ship, attacked a temple that was far away from their goal. Their God told them it was their mission to kill as many organics as possible, and they listened.

Based on their calculations, the place they would attack had a maximum of 300 people, so they had the number and the element of surprise.

It was supposed to be easy...

BOOOM

A Singularity hit a Geth, who was experiencing something akin to fear for the first time, and what followed was an explosion, thanks to a combo between Samael, Samara, and an explosive round from his gun. That Geth was good as dead, not even dust remained.

'' HOLD!'' Samael shouted as he tried his best to maintain the line of defense.

Only 10 minutes passed since the Geth arrived and of the initial 500 Geth, only 250 remained while the forces from the temple suffered 'only' 50 casualties. Still, they killed 250 Geth.

It was a war of attrition, with the majority of the Guards defending the Ardat-Yakshi inside the temple, barricaded, while few of them were outside, with Samael, Grunt, and Samara, dealing with the frontline and providing covering fire.

The trio, by the way, was annihilating the Geth like they were nothing. It was almost like they had a telepathic connection with the way they were fighting. They complemented each other to such a degree that the Geth had no chance of getting close to the temple. And as time passed, the Geth were losing their numbers rapidly.

After saying 'hold' to the Guards, Samael rushed ahead, towards a group of Geth who were separated from the main group, with Grunt following right behind.

'' Grunt! I need an impulse!'' Samael knew they would eventually be attacked by this group after they joined the main one, so he would deal with them now.

'' Got it!'' Grunt screamed a response as he grabbed Samael and threw the human right in the middle of that separate Geth group. It was a little difficult to do that, thanks to the weight of the Krogan Armor Samael was using, but he managed to do it.

Samael landed in the middle of that separated Geth group and was met with a few shots, which were blocked by the armor shield, and rushed to the nearest Geth he could find. He then grabbed the hand of said geth, who was firing at him, and with a push, ripped its arm off.

Before the Geth could do anything, Samael used its own gun to shoot him dead.

BREAK

Samael's shield broke before he could shoot the others, after being hit so many times. Before the shot could test the armor beneath the Shield, Grunt arrived in front of him and tanked the hits.

'' Thanks.'' Samael thanked Grunt as he stayed behind the Krogan, catching his breath and waiting for the shield to recharge. It was taking a while, seeing as the armor was old and hadn't been used for a long time.

''Don't mention it.'' Grunt was having the time of his life today. The Krogan continued shooting at the Geth close by, while still getting hit.

BREAK

Grunt's shield also broke and he and Samael were forced to take cover nearby. They rushed to the cover all while shooting at the Geth.

BANG BANG

By the time they arrived at the cover, they had killed the initial group of

10 Geth, but the shots didn't stop coming. Samael looked around his shoulder and noticed the main group, consisting of at least 100 Geth, had arrived. With them, a few dozen husks.

' Fuck!' Samael cursed as he watched the scene.

While Samael was a good soldier, the sheer amount of enemies was difficult even for him to handle.

Still, he wasn't alone and he would still fight.

'' Ready?'' Samael asked Grunt after he checked that his shield regenerated and all his equipment was good. While at the beginning he only had one gun, he stole a few from the Geth and was good in that department.

'' I can do this all day!'' Grunt said with a smile. His shield also regenerated and he was itching to return to the fight.

BANG

All this while, the duo received covering fire from the guards inside the temple and those outside. The firing proved enough distraction.

When Samael noticed that, he said while charging at the Geth, '' Let''s go then!''

Samael and Grunt jumped out of their cover and charged at the Geth. Their goal continued the same: Help deal with the Geth here and then join the main fight.

BANG

Human and Krogan were at the frontline, while the others Asari used their guns to somehow slow the movements of the Geth. Samael grabbed a Geth carcass, used it as a shield, and rushed to the main group.

Grunt also didn't want to be left behind and joined the fray. Samara eventually joined too and the trio battled the enemy forces.

Samara used Pull in one of the Geth and as soon as the machine got close to Grunt, she released the biotic power, allowing Grunt to smash the machine's head to pieces.

The trio worked together flawlessly, The combos they did were perfect.

Samara was the main initiator, as she was the only one of the trio that possessed biotic powers. She was pushing it to her limits, throwing Singularities, using Pulls, and even some Stasis.

That allowed both Samael and Grunt to do what they did best, destroy their enemies.

When one of their shields broke, one of them would protect the person until it recharged. While the others shot towards the Geth, to cover them.

That process happened a few times, and their armor had to take a few shots, but no one was seriously injured, just bruised.

After what felt like hours of battle, the number of the Geths and Husks had diminished considerably and Samael heard a familiar sound getting close.

Sure enough, when Samael looked up, the SSV Phoenix had finally arrived.

BANG BANG BANG

Veronica used the ship's guns to kill all the Geth remaining and their ship.

Seeing that, Samael sighed in relief. While he was sure they would've won anyway, it was nice to save energy. Now, the only enemy force remaining were a few husks.

The main problem of said Husks was their numbers, which came from the fallen soldiers of the Reapers' enemies, and seeing as only 50 guards of the temple had fallen and the temple was located in a secluded region, there were few husks left.

Veronica was looking for a place to land while the guards of the temple came out after seeing the main force dying and were now killing the remaining husks.

Samara made a difficult expression while she killed a nearby Husk. She knew that her sister was long gone, but it still wasn't a nice feeling.

'' Don't think about it too much... sometimes, the best we can do is just that.'' Samael offered a piece of wisdom he acquired after so many cycles. He had lost count of how many Husks he killed, even more so those who were once his friends.

Another Husk came running at Samael and he kicked it towards Grunt, and the Krogan killed it.

'' That was the last one.'' Grunt said as he cleaned his boots.

Samael lookeda adoun the place. What was once a breathtaking scenario thanks to its beauty was now a battlefield, filled with Geth's carcass, the item that transforms others into Husks, and blood.

While they had won against a force triple their size, they still suffered a lot of casualties and destruction.

Out of the 300 guards, 150 died in battle, while 100 of those transformed into husks. The majority that died were the ones that stayed outside the temple, helping Samael, Grunt, and Samara hold the line. None of the civilians in the temple died.

'' Now what?'' Samara was burning with the need for revenge, but she was too old to let that cloud her judgment. While Samael had given the defense of the temple to her, now that they defended the place, she looked at him once more for guidance on what to do.

'' Now we will go help. While this place had guards, can you imagine those that didn't?'' Others place also had guards, yes, but only 50 ships attacked the temple. By Samael's rough calculation, the Geth attacked Thessia with 1000-2000 ships + Sovereign. And the temple had him to defend, other places weren't so lucky.

Safe to say, the situation of Thessia wasn't looking good. Just then, Veronica used her omni tool, '' Captain .... I looked around when flying and there's no place nearby that needs help... everything is already destroyed.''

Meaning she didn't land just to give him armor and guns but to take him to the main fight.

'' Got it. I'm coming.'' Samael looked at the Headmaster, who survived and now was close by, tending the wounded, '' Can you handle here?''

He didn't ask for her help because he knew everyone had their role and hers was to stay here. The Headmaster looked somlnley, '' Go. Take Samara and a few guards with you. We can handle with just a few.''

Samael nodded. He knew it was almost impossible for the Geth to attack this place once more, as they were busy destroying other places. Before leaving, he said to the Headmaster, '' Don't forget to destroy that device. Don't try to grab a single screw out of it, otherwise, you will regret it.''

He was talking about the device that transforms others into Husks. It had Reaper technology and even though the chances of being indoctrinated just for that were slim, it was still a chance.

The Headmaster nodded, '' Got it. May the Goddess be with you.''

30 of the remaining 150 guards volunteered to go with Samael and the others to the main fight.

After saying goodbye to the Headmaster and the Guards that would stay behind ( the reason they stayed behind was because the majority of them were wounded), the trio + the volunteers rushed to where Veronica and the SSV Phoenix were parked.

The group immediately entered the ship and Clare was there to welcome them with Samael Armor and guns.

Samael took out the old Krogan Armor and put his own, '' How are things?''

He was in the dark about a few things, as when the battle began, he didn't pay attention to the Omni tool channel, as he was busy fighting. When he checked after the battle at the Ardat-Yakshi temple ended, he realized the situation wasn't looking good for them.

Clare looked pale but no fear in her expression. LD and Samael had prepared her for this moment, '' It's not good. 1400 Geth Ships + the Reaper attacked the temple. The Asari managed to hold them back but after a while, the Geth started to attack anyone close by, forcing the Asari forces to engage them ... they transformed the dead civilians and attacked the Asari.''

'' The temple still stands, but we fear not for long. And the Reapers still hasn't moved.'' That was something that sent shivers down Clare's spine. The Asari, one of the most powerful species in the galaxy was being pushed back, on its own home planet, and the main enemy didn't move.

Tevos, Benezia, and the rest of the Matriarchs were doing their best to fight this sudden war, but it was clear they were disorganized and it would not take long for their line of defense to collapse.

'' Veronica, lead us to the fight.'' Samael ordered as soon as Clare finished reporting the situation.

'' On it.''

Samael then navigates the ship, followed by the rest. Not even one hour had passed since the Geth arrived at Thessia but things weren't looking good.

''Casualties on our side?'' Samael asked Clare. He was talking about his and Shepard's crew.

Clare understood that, '' None... but there have been reports of a Geth which was fighting against others Geth, protecting civilians.

' Legion.' Samael connected the dots immediately. He knew the Geth was around the galaxy, but he didn't pay much attention to it. Who would've thought he would be here on Thessia, and even helping.

Regardless, the whole situation now got complicated for the Geth, as Samael now had another obstacle to overcome if he wanted the machine to coexist with the rest of the galaxy. But, that was a problem for the future, first he had to survive today.

'' Tell them to keep an eye out on that Geth and help him if the need arises.''

Clare nodded and relayed that information.

Samael was still refraining from talking to his friends because he knew how much influence he had over them. He might distract them unnecessarily, so asking Clare to do that for him was normal.

'' 5 minutes until the drop-off.'' Veronica's voice blasted through the ship.

Silence dominated the Phoenix. The people there were few, but they all looked downcast.

Samael knew they needed a boost, so he channeled his inner Shepard.

'' A lot of people said a lot of things about LD.''

Everyone looked at Samael, their attention easily grabbed, as they didn't want to think about reality, even if for a minute.

'' They said that the Reapers were a fairytale and that we invented everything for profit. I would love to see their face when they found what happened here... but for that to happen, we need to survive today.''

'' That's exactly why I created LD. The Last Defense, in case the whole galaxy falls. But, our goal isn't just to be that. We want the galaxy to win, to live, without LD staying true to its name.''

'' We gathered the best of the best, to help with that goal. And today is the beginning of the end. Today, even without others of knowing, the galaxy has forever changed.''

'' And, we will win today.'' Samael's voice was firm, not a single doubt. This wasn't just his feelings, it was a certainty that came with his age. He had faced the Reapers before, with worst odds, and survived.

Everyone had their eyes glued on Samael, their entire focus on him.

'' Not only for Thessia but for the whole galaxy. We will save all those we can while giving the Reapers a reminder: Don't fuck with us!''

Grunt was already up and raring to go, and the morale of those on the ship rose a bit. Even Samara looked impressed.

'' WE HAVE ARRIVED.''

Along with Veronica's shout, the others could hear a lot of gunfire.

Samael looked at them, '' Let's do this!''

Round 1 had ended and Round 2 was about to start!