Chapter 6

March 3, 2158, 13:52 Standard Earth Time (SET)

Orbit above Shanxi

"Comms! Is the mesage out?"

"Sir! Just got affirmation that the comm-buoy has sent it out of the system", responded Charlotte Stenson, the comms-officer of the 'SSV Athens', the only cruiser-class starship belonging to the Shanxi-defense-fleet, back to her captain.

"Good, Alliance-Command will probably send the first FRF supplemented by ships from the Arcturus-Defense-Fleet," Captain Salah said more to himself than to the crew but still loud enough so that everyone could hear him.

"But it will still take almost two weeks until they are here and ready to kick ass."

A shudder went through the 'Athens'.

"Shields down to 59%, Sir!" exclaimed Tommy, the Weapons-officer.

"So be it" finished Captain Salah and an expression of determined acceptance settled on his face. "Redirect energy from the engines to shielding. We will not go anywhere soon. Coordinate with the frigates. I want concentrated fire on that dreadnought. Take it out. Comms. Relay that all Marines present on any of our ships are to board the Pelicans and fly down to Shanxi. There they will be of more use than up here."

A second of silence packed the crew after the captain gave his orders.

Then everybody went back to their work and to fulfill their orders but now every single one of them shared the same expression as their captain.

The expression of someone who knew that he was going to die, but also determined to make his enemy work for it.

Charlotte connected back into the network that all communication officers in the fleet were connected to and were always listening to, even if it was just with one ear.

"Attention. New orders from Captain Salah to the whole fleet. I repeat. New orders to the whole fleet. All Marines on board are deployed planetside. I repeat. All Marines on board are to head planetside."

After relaying the orders to the other ships, she checked if all had received the message. 11 green lights greeted her view, normally it would have been 15.

To avoid crammed comm-lines and cacophonies of responding voices, comm-officers would just send a green light if they got the message or a red light if not or the message had been fuzzy.

"Orders relayed to the other ships, Sir!" said Charlotte without looking away from her console and opening a ship-wide channel to inform the Marines on board the 'Athens' to head to the hangar bay and deploy planetside.

"Enemy dreadnought destroyed!" exclaimed Tommy and for a short moment, the whole bridge cheered, even Captain Salah had the ghost of a smile wash over his face before it disappeared.

"Good, concentrate fire on the largest ships first and work your way down. Hurt them as much as you can" ordered the captain.

"Frigates 'SSV Danzig' and 'SSV Marseille' have been destroyed" stated the sensor officer, Arnold Lowland.

"Casualties?" inquired Captain Salah.

" 'Danzig' lost with all hands, 'Marseille' got one Pelican off, full with Marines, currently headed towards Shanxi."

Only grim acceptance filled the crew when they heard the report, they all knew that such announcements would be heard again before they would be reduced to one as well.

"How long until our Pelicans start?"

"20 seconds for the first one, 50 seconds for the second one."

"Tell them to hurry up!"

"Sir!"

"Shields down to 37%"

"Two enemy cruisers destroyed."

"'SSV Dakota' and 'SSV Portland' are down, they got all Pelicans off."

"Enemy is trying to intercept Pelicans."

"Redirect our remaining fighters to distract the pursuers. Make sure that the Pelicans can arrive safely. When all are out of range, they are to head down as well. General Williams may have some use for air support."

The communication on the bridge flowed between the crew members like water in a small creek. Steady and without interruption.

Charlotte knew that she was taking part in it but if she would have been asked, she would not be able to tell what exactly she had said.

"All Pelicans are off the ship!"

"Shields down to 18%. Minor damage to the main battery and other non-critical systems. One direct hit and our shields are down completely."

"Sound evacuation for all non-essential crew members, they are to head to the escape pods first."

"Orders relayed, Sir."

"Shields are down!"

"Get the pods out!"

"Pods away!"

"Enemy shot coming at us!"

A moment of silence engulfed the bridge once again before Captain Salah saluted and spoke for the last time.

"It has been an honor to serve with you. Let's hope we gave the boys down on the ground enough time to prepare and that they unleash hell onto these bastards. First round on me."

-------------------------------------------------

1st Lieutenant Charlotte Stenson

Born: October 5, 2128

Died: March 3, 2158

1st Lieutenant Charlotte Stenson served on the Alliance cruiser 'SSV Athens' during the conflict known to humanity as 'First Contact War'.

She and 27 additional crew members died when the 'Athens' had been destroyed by the 27th Patrol Fleet of the Turian Hierarchy.

---------------------------------------------------

March 3, 2158, 23:29 SET

Outer edge of Taiyuan, Capital of Shanxi

7km away from Turian staging ground

For almost four months nothing had happened and now Shanxi was under siege by an alien force. Two months ago, there still had been an entire battlegroup of Alliance ships above Shanxi per the newly minted protocol that had come into effect two years ago.

Did these fucking aliens wait for an opportunity to shoot them in the back or what?

Whatever the cause, Staff Lieutenant Gregory Barnes was pissed.

Because of those alien fuckers, his upcoming vacation would be canceled and he could not visit his family on Terra Nova. His son's birthday was soon and he wanted to be home for that.

And now?

Now he was en route towards the location where the enemy was landing his troops.

He and his squad had orders to gather intel on the manpower and equipment of the enemy forces and relay that information back to HQ so that a more accurate battle plan could be concocted.

They were a small unit, only six people including Gregory but more would be too conspicuous.

Besides, a second unit would make its way towards the enemy on a different route to ensure the success of the mission.

With a hand signal, he directed his unit to move forward and use the proximity of the buildings as cover.

The sun had set down only an hour ago, the day-night-cycle of Shanxi was longer than the one on earth.

While that meant that they had to wait longer to have the cover of the night, it also meant that they had approximately two more hours of operational time.

But what worried Lieutenant Barnes was that the enemy had more time to secure a perimeter as well before the recon-op even started.

They already had to take a small detour to avoid a scout group of these alien bastards. Who knew how many of them were out there?

Only one more kilometer and they would arrive at the previously picked observation point. One of the multi-floored houses that were built only two hundred meters away from the city limits. From there they would have a good vantage point.

Preparations to fortify the city were already ongoing. Especially the three natural choke points, which were the bridges that crossed Li-river, which separated the city itself into two parts.

Normally it would have been seven but the two bridges that were either on the north side or the south side had been detonated to funnel the enemy forces directly through the city to make sure that there was enough cover for their soldiers and that the Alliance troops would not be too thinly spread throughout the city.

The aliens could try a pincer attack but would have to go through the jungle that was growing on the west and north side of the city

And a flanking maneuver from the south would be suicide or at least very costly.

As if nature had known that at this position a city would one day be constructed at this location, the southern side on both sides of the river was an open, flat field and was perfectly suited to accommodate the growing capital.

No military commander would take this route and those who did would be greeted fast by sniper and artillery fire.

Nonetheless, they had to find out how strong the enemy forces were.

Only three hundred meters left.

Right now, he and his unit had a direct view of the building that would serve them as the vantage point but they would have to cross almost a hundred meters before they reached suitable cover again. And any optional route could have even less or had a possible enemy presence.

Two short flicks of his hand signaled his unit that they would have to move fast and a third gave the command to go.

All six of the Alliance soldiers were moving out of cover fast and over the short distance towards the next one.

Fifty meters had been crossed with Gregory at the helm and he knew that...

The soft echo of a crack reached his ears.

------------------------------------------------------------

Staff Lieutenant Gregory Barnes

Born: December 15, 2120

Died: March 4, 2158

Staff Lieutenant Gregory Barnes had been ambushed during a recon-operation in the 'First-Contact-War' by a Turian sniper unit.

None survived.

He leaves a wife, Victoria Barnes (36), and a son, Laurence Barnes (9).

--------------------------------------------------------------

March 6, 2158, 11:08 SET

Taiyuan, Shanxi

Calinco-Highway

Seargent Verdis Million of the Turian Hierarchy clutched his standard-issue Phaeston Mk.VII assault rifle as he walked beside one of the two APCs, that had been added to his platoon.

Currently, they were making their way towards the biggest of the three remaining bridges that crossed the river.

Their way led them along the highway, which went through the whole city in a straight line, at least that had been the intel from the light cruiser 'THS Malak', which provided overwatch from low orbit.

These 'humans', as they called themselves, had been smart. While the Turian forces were preparing the first day for the march on the city, they had blockaded several of the side streets by either blockading them with transports or downright destroying the street.

Of course, it wouldn't hinder them to get through them but they would slow them down and the commanding officers wanted this operation to be over fast.

Verdis wondered if some of his commanding officers were as uncomfortable with this operation as he was.

It had started with the encounter of an unknown ship in proximity to Relay 314 that had been destroyed by the patrol fleet when it didn't respond to their hails and tried to flee.

Further investigation brought to light that Relay 314 had been activated and it had been theorized that the group of pirates, that had been reported to cause trouble in the adjacent systems were behind the activation.

The 34th-Patrol-Fleet of the Turian Hierarchy went through the now open relay to eliminate the pirates and any operation that they may have set up in the system.

Above the only hospitable planet in the system, they encountered the presumed pirate fleet.

Sixteen ships and among them one even fit the classification of a heavy cruiser.

Per Turian doctrine the vessels of the Hierarchy had opened fire immediately on the opposing fleet. The laws of Citadel-Space were clear. Piracy and the opening of a relay were capital offenses, punishable by death.

That the opposing ships hadn't been your average pirate group had been clear fast and nobody would have been able to refute that claim after the leading dreadnought 'THS Spirit of Kalidor' had been destroyed.

Nevertheless, the patrol fleet fought on, and shortly after, the opposing fleet had been destroyed but some smaller transports had made their way towards the planet.

Those transports had indicated that there probably was a pirate base on the planet and Verdis and his fellow soldiers had been given the call to prepare themselves for a ground operation.

When the first scans of the planet surface, where the transports had landed, came in it had become pretty clear to all Turian forces that this wasn't a pirate group, which used unknown ship-designs, no, the 34-Patrol-Fleet had made first contact with a previously unknown species. Violent first contact.

Because which pirate group would build a whole city instead of just some bases?

Verdis had thought that the Commander in Chief would halt all ongoing operations and contact the Citadel with this discovery but instead, he ordered the preparations for combat to continue.

His reasoning had been passed down the command chain, citing that these aliens had broken Citadel-Law by opening Relay-314.

Personally, Verdis thought that his reasoning was Varren-shit.

How could a new species know about Citadel-Law when they didn't even know that the Citadel existed?

But maybe that was just his mother's voice in his mind.

She was a lawyer on the Citadel and had studied existing Citadel-Law extensively.

She had told him once that among all the laws that governed Citadel-Space the one about the opening of Mass-Relays had no subsection on how to proceed when a relay was opened by an unknown species. To her, this law left too much room for individual interpretation.

Like what was happening now.

Verdis and his comrades were scanning the buildings that surrounded the highway, searching for anything that could denote an enemy presence.

But the potential places for enemies to hide were just too many to check them all.

Even those four-wheeled vehicles that were abandoned all along the way towards the city center could be used as hiding places for enemy soldiers.

Yesterday, only small units had been sent to scout ahead and one or two got into firefights taking some casualties.

But today would be the real start of the Turian operation.

And so, Verdis' platoon marched on.

Twenty minutes later and the platoon still hadn't made any contact with enemy forces.

Tension and anxiousness were running high and every little sound was making the soldiers skittish.

If Turians had been their enemy they would have been attacked long before they would have made so much distance towards their target.

Maybe these humans were cowards and weren't brave enough to stand up to the Hierarchy?

These thoughts were forgotten fast when the head of the platoon commander exploded in a gory mess.

Suddenly, the whole platoon was under fire from all sides and the Turians were jumping behind anything that could be used as cover.

Verdis had positioned himself behind one of the abandoned vehicles, not very far away from the APC, which was firing its turret into one of the surrounding buildings.

He could out vague moving shapes in some of the building's windows and fired his Phaeston as well in their general direction.

Just as he was ducking back into cover to give his rifle time to cool down, he heard a loud whistle flying through the air and heard someone shouting: "Missile!"

The APC close to him exploded in a fiery show and the shockwave of the explosion hit him head-on.

He was thrown away and landed on his back a few meters from his previous position.

Before he blacked out, he asked himself why again they were doing this.

----------------------------------------------------

Seargent Verdis Million

Born: April 5, 2133

Died: -

Seargent Verdis Million was a Turian infantry soldier during the 'First-Contact-War', or as commonly known in Citadel-Space the 'Relay-314-Incident'.

He was one of the first Turian soldiers to march into the city proper before his platoon was ambushed by human forces.

He survived the ambush but lost his left arm to shrapnel of an exploding APC, he never replaced the arm with a prothese, saying it would always remember him that justified orders weren't always right.

Later on, he would contact other veterans of Shanxi, Turian and Human, and write the book 'The Calinco Highway; A straight Line of Hell'.

---------------------------------------------------------------------

March 7, 2158, 18:42 SET

Taiyuan, Shanxi

HQ of Alliance Forces

"Excuse me, could you please repeat that Sir?"

Major Thomas Ferguns couldn't believe what General Williams had just uttered.

The major had just been cleared by one of the civilian doctors, that had volunteered to help with the wounded soldiers of the Alliance.

There had been an attack by the aliens on the defense post at the northernmost bridge, that remained, while he was checking in.

Only his new M2-Phalanx had stood between him and the approaching aliens at one moment during the attack and if the pistol had broken the personal shield of the alien just a moment later, he wouldn't have made it until one of the men manning the post could drag him back inside.

The doctor had said that his left ankle was broken and several muscles were strained but he could leave the medical wing under the condition that he would stay away from the frontline.

Major Ferguns swore to himself that he would send a thank-you-letter to Hahne-Kedar for developing that wonderful piece of a death-dealer.

"As I said, Major. I am considering the option of surrender" repeated General Williams without any emotion in his voice.

It seemed like Major Ferguns didn't mishear the first time.

Still, he couldn't comprehend why the general even considered the option.

Anger lacing his voice, Major Ferguns asked through clenched teeth: "And why, Sir, are you even considering this?"

When the general turned around, all anger left the major.

General Williams looked old, old, and tired.

It just hit him that the general had already been an adult when the first colony on mars had been founded.

"I'm old Major," said General Williams as if reading Ferguns' mind.

"I'm tired of sacrificing soldiers for a greater cause. I saw comrades die in my arms as a grunt, I led units into their death, and later on I never even knew the faces of the soldiers I sent to their death.

For every soldier comes the time when he just can't go on and it seems like my time has come. The only thing I really want to do right now is go home and back to my new granddaughter."

A minute came and went without any motion from the two men until Major Ferguns opened his mouth.

"Personally, Sir, I don't care what you want."

A small widening of General Williams' eyes was the only reaction to Ferguns' statement.

"What I care about is you spitting on the bravery and the will to fight of our men and the sacrifices of those who gave everything! The whole Shanxi-Defense-Fleet has been destroyed to give us and the Alliance time and did you notice that any of them ran? I did not! And those out there" the major gestured into the general direction of the heavily defended bridges "are still fighting. And not just Alliance soldiers! Mercenaries, who normally fight for whoever pays most, are fighting alongside us, without having to ask them to. Civilians volunteered en masse to help in any way they could to defend their homes. Those who know how to use a gun are helping defend the Beta-Line and those who don't are transporting supplies to the frontline. Do you want to be the one to tell them that we're giving up their home so that you can go to your own home where it is safe? Because I do not!"

General Williams just stood there with an unreadable expression while the major continued, his voice rising ever so slowly.

"And we're not just fighting for Shanxi here, no, we fight for all human colonies! We're not even a week into this fight and you're already thinking of giving up? What does that say about the Alliance, about humans? That we're giving up in the face of adversity? That the Alliance can't keep its promise of defending its colonies? The fleets are preparing for a counterstrike as we speak and I don't want them to see that we gave up!"

Ferguns took a few deep breaths after he had finished his rant.

It felt like an eternity to the major before General Williams showed any reaction and shockingly it was a small smile that graced his lips.

"Good God, I needed that. Someone telling me I'm behaving like a fucking cunt before I made a mistake."

"Sir?"

Major Ferguns expected much from his commanding officer. Screaming, anger, being thrown into a holding cell but not the quiet chuckle that came.

"Do not mistake me, Major, I'm old and tired but sometimes someone with energy and fire in him is all that is needed to give an old-timer like myself a reason to continue. You're right, we can't give up now, the Alliance is coming.

And I don't want to tell my granddaughter that I was the first human to give up against alien invaders.

Come with me Major, I'll show you why I became a general in the first place."

"Sir!"

Ferguns saluted and watched as General Williams made his way towards the Command-Information-Center, his gait having more energy than the major had ever seen before.

Those alien bastards would not like what had just been unleashed on them.

----------------------------------------------------------------------

Major Thomas Ferguns

Born: August 12, 2120

Died: -

Major Thomas Ferguns was one of the last surviving officers on Shanxi.

Under his command, the Defense-Line-Beta held longer than any expected and the Defense-Line-Charlie stopped the Turian advance until reinforcements from the Alliance arrived.

Later on, he would be promoted to the rank of general with glowing recommendations by the retired General Williams.

He would lead the ground forces during [Operation: Cold Vengeance].

----------------------------------------------------------------------

March 11, 2158, 15:47 SET

Taiyuan, Shanxi

8th-floor, unnamed apartment building, Alliance-side of the river

Breath in.

Hold.

Trigger.

Breath out.

For the 5th time this hour alone, Olivia watched as the head of an unsuspecting alien soldier exploded. He had been unlucky that he took his head out of cover only for a moment too long to scan his surroundings while Olivia's scope went over his area.

In her mind, he was just as unlucky as any other who had even just a pinky-toe out of cover while she was on duty.

You just don't take any chances when there was an N5 with advanced sniper training around.

She stooped her regular sweeping of the opposite riverbank when 'Nancy' her CFTI-drone highlighted a target.

The Combat-Field-Tactical-Information drone had become something that Olivia never wanted to part with ever again.

These handball-big drones could be linked directly to the specialized scope of a sniper rifle and displayed all information any professional sniper would need and could be further customized.

Wind speed, air humidity, distance, and her favorites, the highlighting and tracing of enemy forces even behind cover, and the notification that a high-valued target appeared.

Of course, you had to identify targets first and then give them a value-priority but after that, the CFTID used its visual sensors to scan for reoccurring identification markers like red paint around the collar of the alien armor, just like the one Olivia had her sights on now.

After taking two or three of these marked aliens out, she deduced that they were seemingly higher in the chain of command.

During an attack on Defense-Point-Charlie-3, she took one of them out and noticed that the other attackers faltered for just a moment and retreated a few meters before renewing their attack.

But before she could make a clean shot, Olivia got another notification from 'Nancy'.

She moved her position a few meters left to get a better look at the new targets and what she saw made her cringe.

Two tanks were coming slowly through one of the side-streets together with a whole new platoon of enemy soldiers.

She guessed that the aliens felt more secured now because they had taken out the artillery on the Alliance's side of the river.

That victory had cost them more than a few aircraft that had been shot down by Anti-Air-turrets.

With a small gesture, she opened a comm-channel to command to relay her information.

"Two tanks an' a full platoon coming towards Charlie-1. Seems like they wanna try a push-through. Charlie-Central must give 'em hell for them to try to flank."

The last sentence had been more to herself than to command but it summed her thoughts up nicely.

Charlie-Central was the most heated battle-theater in the city, mostly because of the Calinco-Highway that led over the biggest of the remaining bridges.

Beta-Central had fallen first out of all Defense-Points on the Beta-Line but had also been the one under the heaviest attack.

While the defenders were falling back to Point-Charlie-Central they had taken the heat of Beta-1 and Beta-2 to let them retreat towards the Charlie-Line orderly and without many casualties.

"Copy" answered a female voice with a slight Scottish accent "The general ordered an 'uppercut' on the position. Your orders are to halt the advance. AP-shot to the leading tank."

"Understood."

An 'uppercut' was a tactic that General Williams had devised to simultaneously attack enemy forces and to let them think that an attack could happen anytime and anywhere without them knowing.

Small units crossed the river under the cover of night with salvaged equipment from the sea rescue service, which had been tasked before the invasion with the rescue of anyone who fell into the river.

From there they entered the sewer systems to plant bombs directly under the street or enemy staging areas to attack them from underground.

Olivia did not envy those poor souls who had to crawl through the sewer right now.

Yesterday night she had been on a recon mission beyond the enemy lines and had used the sewers to get there.

Only a twenty-minute shower had helped to get rid of the stench and her clothes had to be burned.

She was sure that some of that stench still wasn't gone from her equipment, even while she had cleaned them for two hours.

Her scope was now directed at the leading tank, directly where the driver should sit.

Some Marines had taken a scan of a tank that had been destroyed in the first days of the invasion and the techies had analyzed its composition and where the driver would sit.

'Nancy' helpfully laid the stylized picture of a sitting alien over the position of the driver.

While her left hand held the rifle in position, her right grasped a bullet in one of her supply bags and pulled it out.

By hand, she inserted the bullet into the chamber and waited for the power to reach the necessary level to fire it.

Her sniper rifle, the 'Halycon', was one of twelve, a prototype, and Olivia had been selected among the best snipers of the N-school to test it.

Now it was getting a field test.

The rifle could change its rate of fire from one shot to a maximum of five, to either take a target out or lay down suppressive sniper fire.

But her favorite function was the AP-shot.

An armor-piercing bullet could be inserted into the chamber, one much heavier and bigger than the usual shrapnels that were shaved off of an ammunition block.

To fire an AP-shot the rifle had to generate the needed power first what could take up to 40 seconds before firing.

After firing, the rifle was put on a forced cooldown for almost five minutes before any shot could be fired again, not that it bothered Olivia much.

After all, any self-respecting sniper would change locations after firing a shot like that, the volume of the shot and its accompanying flash of light was like a billboard sign with the label 'Sniper is here' and a big glowing arrow onto the position.

Nevertheless, the sheer power of the shot made it worth it.

Shields, armor, nothing would stop it and the effects on organic targets were nothing that could be told in polite company.

"'Uppercut' ready," came over the comms and Olivia prepared the shot.

Breath in.

Hold.

Trigger.

Breath out.

Olivia winced when the pain from the kickback registered to her but she continued to watch the target.

The bright light of the kinetic shields of the tank flared before stuttering out and if she interpreted the abrupt halt of the vehicle right, she had hit the target.

Knowing the longer she waited the more time the enemy had to fire a tank shell into the building, she stood up, grabbed 'Nancy' and sprinted towards the stairs and rushed down.

Just when she had arrived on the floor below, an explosion hit the one above her, followed by a second explosion and then silence.

Carefully she made her way down one more floor and then slinked to one of the windows.

The platoon she had watched previously had been thrown in disarray with both tanks destroyed and more than half its soldiers dead.

The survivors were retreating fast, no doubt to meet up with other forces.

But that wasn't Olivia's problem, for now, her shift would be over in an hour and she was looking forward to a two-hour break before being deployed again.

Her gaze went towards the north where the jungle met the city.

On her way back from behind enemy lines, she had observed how at least 200 aliens went into it, probably trying to find a way around Defense-Line-Charlie.

Those poor souls.

She hoped the aliens had good asylums.

The plan the General had plotted had been absolutely terrifying and would probably break even the hardest veterans.

------------------------------------------------------------------

Lieutenant-Commander Olivia Dare

Born: March 5, 2134

Died: -

Lieutenant-Commander Olivia Dare was an N5 during the 'First-Contact-War'. Her skill with a sniper rifle got her the infamous name of 'Far-Seeing-Spirit-of-Shanxi' by the Turian forces after she killed a Turian Field-Marshall from a distance above 4000 meters.

After the war, she got a promotion to N6 and has been transferred to [Project Artemis].

---------------------------------------------------------------------

March 13, 2158, 01:09 SET

Shanxi

Jungle north of Taiyuan, somewhere

'It's an honor to be part of a mission behind enemy lines' they said.

'You are part of a mighty Cabal unit, nothing can stand in your way' they said.

'The Hierarchy knows that you will lead us to victory!' they said.

What they didn't say was that this jungle was cursed by malevolent spirits!

Because what else could it be?

People, especially soldiers didn't just disappear as it had been the cast among all six platoons that were part of this operation.

Some just went around a tree and disappeared. Not a single body was ever found.

Sadara knew that logically these humans had to be behind the attacks, that they were responsible for everything that happened to the Turian troops.

But not everything in this jungle could be explained by logic!

All knew that some malevolent spirit must live here, awakened either by the humans or by the Turians, she didn't know, didn't want to know, she just wanted it to be over.

Sleep hadn't come to her or her whole unit for more than 40 hours.

Sounds echoing through the jungle, sometimes far away, sometimes far too close for comfort.

Shots and explosions in the distance, her cabal unit had lost a member after a grenade landed in front of him. Where it came from could nobody tell.

And the traps! Don't forget the traps! Those primitive traps were definitely the work of a spirit. These pitfalls filled with sharpened wooden sticks were much too primitive of a species that achieved spaceflight, so it had to be a spirit!

All of this during the bright light of the day!

But, even after all of that, Sadara still preferred the day to the night.

Because the night was much, much worse.

She was a mighty Cabal, she had taken part in countless missions against pirates in the Terminus-Systems but right now she was gripping her Phaeston like a rookie on her first mission.

The whole unit sprang to their feet, weapons directed into the dark as it happened again. Those terrifying noises.

If she had to liken it to something it would be the giggle of an Asari child but much more sinister.

Was it maybe the malevolent spirit making fun of them?

A cold shudder went down her back at this thought.

"I can't take it anymore!" cried the young Turian who had been added to their unit just before their deployment to the 34th-Patrol-Fleet.

He stood up and ran into the dark, not hearing Sadara's shout 'Stop!', firing his rifle wildly around.

The rest of the unit could hear how the sounds of rifle fire got more distant before a blood-curling scream echoed through the trees and then silence.

Absolute silence.

It was like the whole jungle took a moment before resuming its normal state.

And before it could, it happened again.

The giggle.

The jungle returned to its normal level of noise as if it had never been silent.

She shared a glance with the rest of her unit.

They all understood.

This jungle was their grave.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------

Lieutenant Sadara Kedoros

Born: February 4, 2127

Died: March 14, 2158

Lieutenant Sadara Kedoros was a member of a Cabal unit during the 'Relay-314-Incident'. Her unit had been chosen, as well as other units and platoons, to traverse the jungle on the north side of the capital of Shanxi and flank the human forces.

Of over 250 Turians who went in, less than forty returned.

Those that did, told tales of how the jungle was the territory of a malevolent spirit and had cursed them and played with them to its amusement.

Some went even so far as to claim that the spirit was the spirit 'Vahadr', the Turian spirit of madness.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------

March 15, 2158, 14:43 SET

SSV Everest

15 minutes till transit to Shanxi-Theta-System

"We hit the relay in 15 minutes, Admiral," said Amanda DeBreau, the pilot of the 'SSV Everest'.

Well, she wasn't the only pilot but she was the one with the most experience and could fly the Alliance dreadnought by herself if she pushed herself. In her mind, her two co-pilots only made her job somewhat easier.

"Acknowledged, comms, open a fleet-wide channel," ordered Fleet Admiral Wright.

Amanda was happy that the commander in chief of all Alliance military forces was leading the counterattack on the alien invaders at Shanxi.

His sheer presence that radiated confidence and calmness, had a positive effect on the whole crew present on the bridge.

She was sure that even the Servicemen in the furthest ship felt safer knowing that the Fleet Admiral himself was leading the liberation.

"Fleet channel open, Sir. All personnel can hear you."

Admiral Wright closed his eyes for a moment and took a deep breath before opening his eyes again.

Amanda could feel rather than see, as she was still watching the controls, how everybody straightened their stance at the steely determination in the Admiral's eyes.

"Attention," his voice was steady and radiated power that filled everyone with confidence which assured them they would come out victorious from the coming battle.

"Approximately twelve days ago, Shanxi had been attacked by aliens. The defense fleet above Shanxi has sent a call for help and we're here to do exactly that. Help our fellow humans, the brave men, and women who are still defending the colony. They count on us to kick those aliens back into the hole they crawled out. And that is what we will do!"

A cheer erupted on the bridge and over the fleet channel, everybody was prepared and motivated to do their part.

"The 'SSV Sahanna' has been deployed to gather information on the enemy's strength and position, she is in the system since yesterday evening. Her onboard VI-systems will transmit firing solutions to every combat ship on entry into the system. If the identification code checks out, I want everybody to upload the solutions immediately. Get to your positions and fire on my signal. The alien fleet will get a nice greeting from us before they even know that we're there.

Wright out."

"Hitting relay in five," Amanda said after a short pause.

Only marginally turning her head to her co-pilot on her left she added: "Lieutenant Hackett, prepare to transmit weight data to the relay, I want to get through the moment we get close enough."

"Aye Ma'am" responded the young lieutenant.

Amanda liked the young second lieutenant, he was hardworking and polite while he showed a spine even in the face of superiors.

He was slated for a promotion to first lieutenant in the next month, not that he knew it.

She only knew because she had talked with Admiral Wright and recommended Hackett for promotion.

Being the helmswoman of the fleet admiral's flagship for four years had its perks sometimes.

The admiral even let show through that he was keeping Hackett on his ship and personal assistant, he had seen something in the young man and would be probably tutoring him to one day take over his position as fleet admiral.

Not that she cared about that she was possibly sitting next to a future admiral, no, what was important, laid directly in front of her.

If they didn't survive the coming battle it would be meaningless.

"We're in proximity of the relay."

"Sending data now."

"Energy levels are rising. We're going through."

The stars of the universe elongated as the 'SSV Everest' accelerated to speeds that had been decried as impossible not even two decades ago.

"All readings clear, no problems with the activation. ETA to Shanxi-Theta, two minutes," Amanda told the Admiral after she checked the monitors for any kind of anomalies that could hinder the ship in battle.

"Are all systems online?" the Admiral asked the whole bridge to get a status check.

"Weapons online and ready."

"Sensors online."

"Shields online."

"Reactors online an' ready to divert energy if needed."

All stations gave the all-clear and Admiral Wright nodded.

A notification on Amanda's main terminal informed her that they would drop out of FTL shortly.

"Dropping out of FTL in 4.. 3... 2..., dropping out. We've arrived," she narrated the countdown on her console.

"We're getting hailed from the 'Sahanna', codes approved, transmitting data to Weapons and Helm," announced the communication officer who got transferred to the 'Everest' just before deployment.

"Got it," said Weapons.

"Got it," repeated Amanda when the coordinates appeared in front of her and a small calculation later she added:" ETA to firing position three minutes."

"Sensors," asked the Admiral "have they noticed our arrival in the system?"

"It seems like they did not. At least not yet, the interference from the magnetic field of the gas giant 'Eridan' is reported to disrupt the detection of incoming ships."

"It seems like the element of surprise truly lies on our side. I want the Fast-Ground-Deployment ships on our right flank. When we engage the enemy I want them to make a run for the planet, if they have to, they are to go into low orbit on the far side of the planet and fly around."

"Message sent, they replied affirmative, Sir."

"ETA thirty seconds," said Amanda.

"Enemy lines are reorganizing themselves, they noticed us."

"So be it, ready yourself, it will begin shortly."

"Ten seconds!"

The last ten seconds until the 'Everest' and the rest of the fleet were in position were agonizing. As if time itself was slowing down, every second felt longer than the one before.

But even if it were so, the moment when the countdown hit zero still came.

"Zero!" Amanda exclaimed.

"All ships fire!" ordered Admiral Wright and the shudder that went through the 'Everest' signaled the first shot of many that started the battle for the liberation of Shanxi.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------

Flight Lieutenant First Class Amanda DeBreau

Born: November 29, 2114

Died: -

Flight Lieutenant First Class Amanda DeBreau was the pilot of the 'SSV Everest' the flagship of Fleet Admiral James Wright before, during, and after the 'First-Contact-War'.

Under her guiding hand, many officers and future pilots learned how to operate Alliance warships.

After she retired as an active helmswoman, she began to teach at the Flight Academy on Reach.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------

March 15, 15:17

FGD ship en route to Liyuan

ETA 90 seconds

"All right, guys, this is it. Drop in ninety. Check your gear again and then to your coffins."

Operations Chief Lesko checked his rifle once again to make sure that everything would work as needed and then made his way to his assigned Drop-Pod.

The Fast-Ground-Deployment ships were glorified transport ships that couldn't even land on a planet's surface.

Well, they could, but they were designed to do so.

Instead, they would fly over the deployment area and release the Drop-Pods in its bay from the bottom of the ship.

The marines that were trained to be deployed in them called them lovingly 'Coffins'.

Not because it was a death-trap for the marines inside but because they brought death to their enemies when they were deployed.

Airborn Marine Divisions were specially trained to be deployed in them and every soldier who got through the N1 course was familiar with them.

And now a whole team of N-soldiers was going to bring death to their enemies.

As Lesko climbed into his pod and secured his rifle, he let his gaze sway around the dropping-bay, as they called it.

Everyone here was an N4 or higher, Lesko himself was an N4, and they were led by two N7!

The best of the best, or so it was said.

And Lesko knew it to be true.

He and his squad had been pitted against an N7 during a training exercise and the N7 took them apart like children.

There was no doubt that those two could do so as well.

Lieutenant David Anderson and Commander Alec Ryder.

At least now he could enjoy watching it when they destroyed these aliens.

"Twenty seconds till drop," announced Commander Ryder "close your pods and make sure you're secured inside. I don't want to lose a man because he was an idiot."

The hatch of the 'coffin' closed and sealed shut with a hiss. A moment later Lesko was secured and opened the comm-channel for listening only.

"I will repeat our objectives once again," began the commander "Defense-Point-Charlie-Central is being overrun. We're deploying right over it. Once on the ground, we're clearing an LZ and push the enemy back onto the bridge. When the LZ is secure, Pelicans with Heavy-Troopers will land and support us in our push-back. Copy?"

"Aye!" was the answer from everyone.

"Good. Rember your unit designation, either you're with me or with LT Anderson."

"Drop in ten" came a synthesized but distinctive female voice over the comms.

"You heard the lady. Get ready!"

"Drop in five."

"Marines what do we do?"

"Four"

"Feet first into hell!"

"Three"

"And what then?"

"Two"

"Tell the devil to fuck himself!"

"One"

"Good boys!"

"Drop"

For a moment Lesko felt weightless before the gravity of Shanxi kicked in and that with force. The G-Force pushed him deeper into the belts as the Drop-Pod accelerated towards the ground.

On the window of the pod appeared information on the altitude the pod was, a map with the estimated point of impact and the countdown when the small mass effect generator would kick in to decrease the mass of the pod so that the deceleration systems had an easier job of letting him land safely and alive.

When he looked down he could already make out where he would land and he also could see small figures hushing around on the ground.

A smile broke out on his face when he thought of how the enemy must be panicking, seeing how comet-like objects were coming down towards their position.

Oh, how right they were to be afraid.

Especially, when the Heavy-Troopers were landed. Then they would have no chance.

The Heavy-Troopers would bring, as their name implied, the heavy guns to the field.

Guns big enough that no soldier could even lift them without help.

And the help of the HT came in the form of the Force-Multiplier-Exoskeleton, which had been adapted from the exoskeletons that had been used for hauling cargo around.

Man, these aliens were fucked.

The countdown on the window screen reached zero and Lesko was once again thrown around in his belts when the speed of the pod abruptly lessened.

A few seconds later the 'Coffin' hit the ground and the hatch sprung open.

A "Go go go" sounded over the comms and Lesko opened his belts, grabbed his rifle, and got to work.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------

Operations Chief Timothy Lesko

Born: December 13, 2137

Died: -

OP-Chief Timothy Lesko was an N4 and one of the veterans of the 'First-Contact-War'.

He survived the liberation of Shanxi but had been wounded during the push-back at Defense-Point-Charlie-Central.

Nevertheless, he continued to serve the Alliance-Military and would get the promotion to N6 later on.

------------------------------------------------------------------------

The liberation of Shanxi would take over a day and end only after half of the Turian patrol fleet would be destroyed and the last remaining Field Marshall of the Turian ground forces surrendered.

A few Turian ships retreated through the Relay into Citadel-Space.

The casualties would total 6108 Turian and 3975 Human lives.

While the total number of lives lost didn't even come close to 0.01% of either race's population, everyone who fought in the two weeks agreed on one thing.

It had been hell.