Mass Effect: Salvage

by N00813

Chapter 11

Chapter 11

--

I remember your kind when you were still minnows in the ocean. – “Javik”, 2186 CE

--

Levin fastened the box to his back. It was full now, filled with whatever they’d managed to scavenge from the ruins of the ship; eezo, odd devices, and photonic parts being the most prevalent. Luckily, it didn’t weigh a lot, thanks to the mass effect fields generated.

He had the Avenger up and at the ready. Sev should have done his job and kept any wildlife away from them, but if he’d been overpowered – well, they would be dead.

The group stepped out of the wall breach back into the castle dungeon area. The place was clear – ah. Two unicorns stood, shaking, by the sides of the door leading out. Armor sniffed the air next to him and made a face; disgust.

The guards seemed physically unharmed, but Levin knew that the deepest wounds were usually hidden. The shaking couldn’t be because of the cold – the ambient air temperature was around 20 degrees Celsius, according to his omni-tool – so that meant fear or excitement. Suddenly, he was grateful for the gun pressed against his shoulder.

“What’s going on,” Armor barked, clearly having lost all sense of decorum. At least he knew when it was an emergency.

One of the guards, the larger one, replied, “Timber wolf. Attacked. Burning, dead,” and then he trailed into silence, before gagging.

Well, that was new.

Levin maneuvered himself to the side of the doorway and threw a glance around the corner. He heard Sev’s chuckle over the coms, and felt both relieved and annoyed at the same time. “What now, Sev?”

“Come up here and see for yourself,” Sev replied. “Huh. Looks like they are part plant.”

Levin motioned with his free talon, and Armor followed him, bringing the rest of the ponies along. The unicorns took up the rear of the group. Slinking as quietly as possible up the long corridor, he found Sev rooting around in a pile of blackened branches.

“What the hell?” he said.

Sev stood back up, holding a thermal clip in one hand. He tapped it against the wall, dislodging flakes of carbon, and replaced it in his ammo compartment. “Wildlife.”

“Looks like branches to me,” Levin replied, raising a brow-plate.

Sev made a grunting sound, and turned away, towards the shuttle. “Done here?”

Levin came out of the entranceway, and saw two wolf-like creatures – ‘timber wolves’ – seemingly crushed. There was a suspiciously large splash of greenish goo on the far wall, and leading up to it was a slowly widening cone of the same fluid.

He looked down. The pile of burnt sticks was actually another of those timber wolves, but so charred that he was surprised it wouldn’t crumble when he nudged it.

It was noon now. They’d spent two hours rummaging around in the ship, he estimated. Good time. The corvette’s cargo bay was about one fifth full by now, so they could probably only visit another large wreck before needing to find a fence to offload their loot.

Stepping past the corpses, he went for the shuttle to unload the loot. Sev was still standing there, absently stabbing a wolf corpse with the bayonet attached to his Claymore whilst he kept an eye on Riana. The asari was still chatting with Twilight at the back of the group, when the unicorn scrunched upper her nose. “What is that smell?”

Twilight gasped as her eyes fell upon the two timber wolf corpses, the splatter of wood-wolf blood on the wall and the burnt pile on the floor in front of her. She became the third pony to throw up today, Sev reflected.

As Twilight recovered, Armor looked at the two unicorn guards. “What happened here?”

“Four timber wolves attacked. He took them out,” Trace said, gesturing to the brute with his head. Name was ‘Sev’, was it not? “One of them got thrown down the entrance where we held a chokepoint. Thing was vicious though. Didn’t let up. He…he set it on fire. Watched it burn to death.” Trace shuddered as he finished his account.

Armor felt a chill run down his spine at the description of the unlucky timber wolf’s last moments, and he suppressed a shiver of his own. This brute was even more sadistic than he’d thought. The other two, however, seemed like decent people; his sister had taken a liking to one, and the other was polite, if distant. Why were they with this bastard?

Said bastard was currently slicing up one of the timber wolf corpses with a blade as long as Armor’s leg. He handled the dissection with the skill of a surgeon; slicing open organs, muscle and bone in search of… something. Apparently he didn’t find it, as he stood back up, and replaced the blade into a scabbard on his forearm.

“Done?” Armor growled at the brute.

Sev didn’t bother replying, and turned away towards the shuttle, shotgun held loosely at his side. Levin waved over in his direction – they were ready to go.

Riana bade her goodbyes to Twilight. The ponies all gave her a nod – professional, but still an acknowledgement – as she walked passed them, and she came up to the two men.

“I’m going back on their… vehicle,” she said sweetly.

“What?” both men snapped, simultaneously.

There was a short pause, before Sev broke it with a sigh. “It’s one of those hearts and minds things, isn’t it?” He didn’t sound opposed to the idea, strangely enough, just… resigned.

“You’re not serious,” Levin said, ignoring Sev’s comment. “That thing doesn’t even have a fucking seatbelt. You fall, we probably won’t be able to catch you.”

Riana nodded. “I know. I trust them to keep me safe, like I trusted you” – she pointed at Sev – “to do so at the palace, and to do so until the expedition ends. Levin, I understand the risks. But the gain would be far more valuable.”

“Just my opinion, but this ‘hearts and minds’ is useless,” Sev said, looking over the two towards the ponies, all of whom were staring at the three. “Whoever has the bigger gun wins, at the end of the day. Still, it’s your life, your decision. The bank account is jointly owned anyways.”

Just like that, the friendly atmosphere shattered, and the two unconsciously took a step away from Sev.

Levin nodded, albeit reluctantly. “Keep yourself safe. I’ll keep the side door open, so Sev can keep an eye out.”

“Thanks, dad,” Riana muttered, but her tone was light and her voice soft. “I’m five times your age.” She went off towards the carriage, whilst the two men busied themselves inside the shuttle. Sev chose the seat in the middle of the shuttle – that would be the most stable firing position. Kodiak shuttles didn’t have inertial compensators, so all the passengers could feel the shuttle’s every bank and move. To compensate, most soldiers only fired when the craft was level; otherwise, they didn’t bother at all.

Levin smiled under his helmet, whilst running pre-flight checks. It was a good thing that they’d stayed friends. How long had he known her? Nearing 30 years, it was. They’d met at university –

He frowned. That moment at university; he’d come so close to telling her what he’d done. How he’d executed unarmed civilians in the name of the Hierarchy, and gotten a shining recommendation from his superior officer as a result. He could see what would have happened, had things been different. He would watch her as she backed away from him, fear in her eyes, all their previous camaraderie evaporated and carried away by the omnipresent Serran wind. And then he’d be alone. It was fitting, now that he thought about it; for what he did, he certainly deserved punishment, not congratulations.

Sev’s voice crackled over the coms. “Pony vehicle lining to launch out of the castle. Get in the air.”

Levin did so. Others were relying on him, and he was going to deliver.

-&-

Riana remained unaware of her friend’s inner thoughts as she boarded the pony carriage. Most of the ponies seemed indifferent about it; Armor was slightly more talkative, but Twilight’s face split into a massive grin as she fixed Riana with a stare.

It was quite cute, really. The unicorn reminded her of herself, when she was younger; hungry for knowledge. Most of her friends had gone out into the galaxy in their maiden stages, to become dancers or mercenaries, but she had stayed home to study. Now that she thought back, she wouldn’t have it any other way. Experience may have been a good teacher, but so were books. It didn’t hurt that her family was comparatively conservative as well, come to think of it.

She felt a light tug in her stomach as the carriage lifted into the air. The world seemed to tilt, outside the window – but oddly, she felt the effect of gravity on her feet rather than her back. It was artificial gravity. Advanced, for a species that had not started large-scale industrialization yet.

Twilight opened her mouth for another question, but Armor cut her off. “Twiley, it’s my turn to ask,” he said, forcing a smile. It was quite obvious to spot, really – the large eyes were big tells.

Riana nodded anyways. “Go on.”

“How did you three meet?” he asked.

“Levin and I met at university,” Riana began, thinking quickly. “We became fast friends. Still are. Sev, however… we hired him for security.”

“Why do you need security for archaeological digs?” Twilight asked; head cocked to one side.

“You ever heard of Feros?” Riana said, and then slapped the faceplate of her helmet with the palm of her hand. “No, course not. Used to be a Prothean colony. Skyscrapers, reaching kilometers into the air, covered two-thirds of the entire planet’s land mass. Used to be a center for the Prothean Empire, judging from what was recovered from the ruins. Anyways, before the place was stripped, looters and archaeologists both fought over the relics. Turned out, there was something even worse hidden there. Details are covered up, but fact remains is that a colony of 300 went silent. No one really knows what happened.”

“Prothean?” Twilight asked.

“A species that went extinct suddenly 50,000 years ago. They fought the Reapers, but lost.”

“Reaper?”

“Robotic machines. Very advanced. We don’t really know much about them, but a year ago they came into the galaxy and attacked us. Entire homeworlds fell,” Riana said, face scrunched as she fought the tide of emotion. “Khar’shan, Earth, Palaven… Thessia. Billions died. And they were holding back, apparently.”

“Billions? That’s horrible,” Twilight gasped. Even Armor looked shocked.

Riana nodded, but smiled grimly under her helmet. “In the end, we won. That’s why I’m still here.”

“What exactly happened?” Twilight whispered. "For billions to die..."

Riana shook her head, and looked at her clasped hands. “I don’t really know. I’m just a civilian, remember?”

Twilight didn’t look pleased, but she held off her questions. In the meantime, Riana looked out of the carriage window. It was a tiny, circular piece of glass that was wedged in between two pieces of wood, with some sort of resin keeping it in place. Through it, she could see the shuttle hovering behind the carriage – both as a safety measure, due to the heat of the thruster exhaust, and also in case of emergency…

Armor spoke suddenly. “Is Sev always like this?”

Riana raised an ‘eyebrow’. “Like what?”

“Violent, unsympathetic, blunt…”

She shrugged. “The krogan race is like that. For them, that is normal.”

“So you’re saying this is natural. For them.”

Riana sighed. “Look, if you want to know about krogan psychology, I’m not the best person to ask. You’ll have to ask him. He knows himself.”

Armor sighed. “That’s what I don’t want to do. I don’t want a biased view.”

Riana smirked. “Hell, I’m a biased view. All you can really do is ask as many people as you can.”

“How does violence become something treated so casually?” Twilight murmured. Her eyebrows were furrowed in confusion and disgust.

“Nature and nurture,” Riana replied, leaning back on her seat. “Biological hard-wiring, and cultural acceptance. It’s like asking why a carnivore needs to kill. They need to, and secondly, no one in their culture disapproves.”

Both Armor and Twilight nodded, and out of the corner of her eye, Riana could see the other soldiers’ ears swiveling towards her, even as their eyes were fixed forwards.

“I still don’t like it,” Armor said at last.

Riana shrugged. “Perhaps. But they are still members of the galactic community. If it makes you feel any better, then consider that we couldn’t have won the Reaper War as easily without their help. They died so we could live.”

Armor shook his head a bit, and Riana could see the bruising left on his neck; ugly dark red blotches beneath the skin. “Are you trying to justify his behavior?”

“No,” Riana replied evenly. “I’m just telling you the facts.”

-&-

They landed back in Canterlot Palace without incident, although the guards left the carriage quietly and quickly. The landing area was on the multi-purpose flatland that the corvette had been parked on. They’d spent almost an hour flying, and the two pegasus guards pulling the carriage had been dismissed, smiling gratefully at Armor as they trotted back towards the barracks. Sev hopped off as soon as they touched the ground, and Levin piloted the shuttle over to the spaceship to begin docking procedures.

Riana waited next to the pony carriage, leaning against the wooden frame. “Armor still hates you.”

Sev nodded. “Can’t do anything about it.”

The aforementioned pony stepped out of the carriage, alongside Twilight Sparkle – a close relative, judging by the affectionate names they called one another. “Where is Levin?” he asked, glaring at Sev.

Sev ignored his gaze, and threw a thumb back at the corvette. “Parking the shuttle.”

The turian came out of the airlock a moment later, assault rifle strapped to his back. He walked briskly towards them.

As he slowed down, an alicorn – the dark blue one, Luna – glided downwards from her balcony, to meet the group. It was nearly night-time – the sun was casting rays of pink-red light into the sky as it set but Luna didn’t seem particularly tired. Then again, she probably spent all day sitting on her throne.

The ponies bowed, and Luna greeted them with a nod. Levin and Riana had knelt down as well, but Sev remained standing, one hand still on the grip of his shotgun. Luna bade them to rise.

“How did it go?” she asked.

Twilight was the first to answer. “It was the best day ever! Did you know that” –

Luna cut her off. “You can tell me about that later, Twilight. I meant, were there any problems with our visitors?”

This time, Armor was the one to speak. “Four timber wolves attacked. Sev” – he spat out the name – “killed them all. Trace and Metal saw it happen in front of them. They may have some issues, and I recommend they see the psychologist.”

Luna nodded. “Very well,” she said evenly.

“If I may ask; how is your sister?” Riana said, keeping her tone light despite the heaviness settling in her heart.

Luna affixed her with an expressionless gaze. “She is well.”

“Glad to hear it,” Riana replied.

Luna nodded again. “How many more dig sites will you visit?”

“One more,” Levin said. “This one is comparatively far to the east. Past the sea, in fact. Here” – he summoned an orbital image of the area, depicting a long oblong depression surrounded by low hills in a U shape. The bottom of the U was a high plateau that tilted away from the depression, at a 10 degree angle.

“That is a problem,” Luna muttered. “It’s in griffon territory.” She thought for a moment. “Guards are counted as military. If they go with you, it’s an act of war. So, only civilian travel.” She looked at Armor. “Still, I want to know what is going on.” She glanced at Twilight, then back to the sky. “How about a delay of one more day?”

“It’s not your country. Why should you care about what we do in it?” Sev butted in.

“You landed in Equestria,” Luna said, bored. “They’ll think we had something to do. That we called in a demon, or some powerful beast. Then they’ll blame us if anything happens while you three are there. Griffon-pony relations weren’t the best already.”

Levin chuckled. “Well, sometimes all you need is a war and a common enemy for two races to stand together. Never thought I’d see the day the krogan and the turians started working together. Or the geth and the quarians, for that matter.”

Luna gave him an odd look, composed of both understanding and regret. It was the look that veterans gave you when you regaled them with tales of experiences on the front-lines; they could understand how you felt better than anyone else, because they themselves had undergone something similar before.

This Princess is hiding something, Levin thought, but he remained silent.

“We’ll meet here tomorrow, to plan,” she said. “Agreed?”

Riana nodded, which meant that both the males had to agree as well.

Luna signaled for Twilight and Armor to follow her back to the palace, and they did so.

-&-

The three ponies stood around the hospital bed. Celestia lay atop it, her wound healing with almost impossible speed. Even with the pony race’s innate regenerative power, this was astonishing. Luna chalked it up to the medi-gel administered. Well, that was one good thing that had come out of this.

Celestia was already awake, and her face had broken into a small smile that Armor and Twilight returned.

She looked to Twilight. “How was the expedition, my dear student?”

Twilight nuzzled her mentor. “Wonderful! Well, mostly wonderful, at least. Did you know that us ponies aren’t the first civilizations on Equestria? Riana told me all about it! Apparently, the former civilization had spaceships that could traverse the void between stars! And then she told me all about the alien races in the galaxy, and how…”

Celestia smiled as she heard her student ramble on and on. She had known about the former civilization – she’d taken the Elements from one of their structures, after all – but it wasn’t really that important, in her view. They were gone then, and they were gone now.

She’d always wondered if these ruins were the relics of a dying, ancient race that gave sentience to them. Where they alone, or did that civilization also help others to ascend? Apparently the gift of intelligence had also been bestowed to other species across the galaxy. The existence of such aliens proved it.

According to what Twilight had heard, each of the aliens was of a different species. However, they were working together towards a larger goal. That was harmony in action. Sure, they got together not because of bonds of friendship, but it was a start.

Celestia’s wound flared as she shifted slightly, and her thoughts drifted back to that massive alien – Sev – that was the cause of it. She could take the dead manticore – after all, if any of her citizens had done the same, she’d have brushed it off as self-defense – but assaulting two guards and hostage taking, furthered by assault on her own body? That was inexcusable. She narrowed her eyes; a motion that Twilight immediately spotted, and the purple unicorn stopped her rambling. "Princess?"

"I'm fine, really," she replied, smiling. Twilight returned that smile as well, but hers was less confident. She'd seen through the mask. Really, Celestia hadn't expected anything less.

Armor waited until his sister had finished regaling her tutor with tales about the galaxy, and the he started to speak. “Two of the aliens appear to be decent people. The last one, however, is – if I may be frank – excessively violent. He also shows symptoms of classic psychopathy.”

Celestia grimaced, and pointed to her wound with a free hoof. “I think I already know that, Captain.”

Armor smiled bashfully. “He is a good fighter, though. He killed 4 timber wolves by his lonesome. His methods may be brutal, but I can’t deny their effectiveness.”

Someone like that will definitely be a problem here, Celestia thought. Best that his influence is curtailed.

“The expedition will continue into the Gryphonia later on,” Armor continued. “Then, they say they will leave.”

Good.

Luna had looked on impassively, and after sensing that there was nothing more to say, turned and walked out of the hospital wing, towards her own room. Tomorrow was going to be a new day.

-&-

Sev awoke early, as usual. He donned his armor and walked outside, only to find Levin lying down on top of the shuttle. His employer appeared to be sleeping, but the tapping of his talons on his chest discounted that theory.

Sev walked around the shuttle. He could spot nothing that spoke of foul play – no residual dark energy signatures, no heat signs nearby – and the airlock door did not appear to be tampered with. So he was out here voluntarily.

A whisper of movement caught his eye, and he swiveled around to see Luna emerge from inside of a tower onto a high balcony. Another early riser. To the left, the sun slowly began to emerge from beneath the horizon, painting the sky a light pink.

Behind her was the one he’d shot – Celestia. He could still see the orange glow of the medi-gel below the base of her neck, working its magic. What was that for – ah, right. Now he remembered. Striker rounds were deadly if inside the body, as they were essentially miniature grenades, so internal damage much greater than that caused by standard shaved rounds. Still, there was that trade-off between armor penetration and raw explosive power. The wound was healing particularly quickly, though. Much faster than he’d expect; even with the help of medi-gel. Only vorcha and krogan had this ability to regenerate tissue.

She didn’t look particularly happy, and Sev stepped behind the body of the corvette, placing the massive metal object between him and her.

Levin had noticed as well, thanks to his sharp avian eyesight, and he swung his legs over the edge of the shuttle, landing on the grass. His Avenger rifle was hanging loosely off one talon, and as he walked over to Sev he folded it and strapped it to the back of his armor.

Sev shook his head. “You’re not out of danger yet,” he said, gesturing over to the approximate location of the two alicorns.

Levin rolled his shoulders in response. “Your job is to keep me safe.”

“It’d be a lot easier if you didn’t try to endanger yourself,” Sev growled.

They heard the pitter-patter of footsteps behind them, and glanced back around to see the two alicorns approach. Both of them had stormy faces.

Sev put himself in front of Levin and the airlock door, cradling his shotgun casually. Levin, meanwhile, typed a command to set off the alarm in Riana’s omni-tool. He put it away, and then smiled.

“What did you do?” Celestia growled.

“You’ll see,” Levin replied evenly.

Strangely, Celestia seemed surprised; her jaw hung slack for a moment before she closed it forcefully. “Your voice… it’s like a griffon’s. Only the double timbre is a lot more pronounced.”

Levin did a quick codex search for ‘griffon’ and came up with a creature out of human mythology; some combination of feline and bird. He shrugged. “My species were partly descended from the birds.”

The airlock door hissed open, and Riana stormed out. “I missed my coffee for this – oh. Greetings, Princesses.”

Celestia smiled in amusement, but her scowl quickly reappeared.

“Follow me,” she said.

Levin and Sev raised their respective eyebrows and glanced at one another – if this was an invitation into an ambush, it wasn’t cleverly disguised – but Riana nodded. “Where are we going?”

“Your suspicions are not unfounded,” Celestia replied. “We wish for you to join us at the memorial for the fallen guards.”

Oh, now that definitely spoke of a trap. No doubt Celestia would have told her people that they were the cause of the guards’ deaths. The memorial would be full of ponies that wanted to kill, or worse, capture them – including the guards themselves, and perhaps even the two alicorns.

Sev looked down at his own set of armor. It was a customized set, scavenged from multiple sources and cobbled together, before being sprayed in maroon paint. Ugly as a whole, but effective. He couldn’t really ask for more. Spears wouldn’t pierce it. Biotics, however…

This expedition was sounding more dangerous by the second. Perhaps I should have negotiated a higher payment?

Still, nothing ventured, nothing gained.

He rolled his shoulders, letting the armor pieces clink as they shifted. “What for?”

Celestia glared at him. “You three were the cause, indirectly or not. You will have to face the consequences.”

“Already have,” Levin muttered.

For his part, Sev merely shrugged. C-Sec said a lot of the same shit, and he’d gotten used to it. Indifference was the quickest way for them to ignore you.

Riana sighed inwardly. It sucked, being at the beck and call of these rulers. Still, they owed the ponies that much for what they did. Or, at least, for what Sev did. She walked up to Celestia.

Celestia waited until Sev was alongside her, before the two of them started to walk towards the barracks. Riana trailed closely behind, keeping Sev in between the alicorn. Luna, meanwhile, walked with Levin, and the two of them kept 3 meters behind the larger group.

Levin wasn’t surprised. In fact, he was looking for a chance to talk to her as well. It was odd, really – a former soldier and a princess sharing experiences – but he couldn’t find the heart to care just then.

“Hello, Princess,” he said conversationally.

She nodded in response. “When you talked about a common enemy – care to enlighten me?”

“Hmm. You’re going to have to be a lot more specific.”

Luna rolled her eyes. “What common enemy did you fight? And why?”

“Ah. Well, I can remember two off the top of my head right now. Reapers and separatists. Which do you want?”

They were nearing the memorial area now; ten coffins placed in front of ten holes in the ground, which themselves were in front of ten gravestones, bearing the names of the deceased. Frost, Sword, Hammer…

“Which one had the most effect on you?”

“Separatists.”

Luna looked surprised at this. “But I thought the Reapers killed more?”

“Aye,” Levin replied, expressionless. “They did. That war was simple. Brutal, but simple. We were fighting for the survival of our species.”

“But not the separatist war.”

Levin shook his head, just as he and the Princess reached their spots. They took center stage – standing behind the gravestones of the fallen, looking down a path in which several guard ponies were in dress uniform. Leading the procession was the Captain, Shining Armor.

On both sides of the path, keening families stood.

Riana hugged her shoulders tightly. This had gone so wrong. This was supposed to be a simple operation, damn it! Get in, fill the ship, get out and sell. Now they were to be placed as murderers, even when no one had done anything ‘wrong’, per se. Poor communication did kill. Relay 314, and now this...

Sev stood alongside her, acting as a meat shield between his employer and an enemy. Celestia hadn’t tried anything yet. He could see the gravestones and the coffins, courtesy of his wide field of vision. Curiously, the burying of one’s dead was distinctly human and turian – asari and salarians tended to burn the bodies and scatter the ashes into the fields, thanks to their beliefs in the cycle of life; and the krogan preferred to leave the bodies on the battlefield to show that they had died surrounded by enemies, fighting until their last breaths. Another curious parallel between humans and the ponies.

Sev sighed. This was boring. So they were dead. The Void would take them, and that would be that. The ceremony couldn’t change that. What purpose did it have? To remember the actions of the fallen? Why the sadness, then?

If they died heroically, surrounded by enemies and yet continued to battle, never giving up; they should be admired, not mourned.

“How did they die?” Celestia hissed. Her head was still pointing towards the coffins, but everyone knew who she was addressing.

“Automated defense system,” Riana said. “Designed to kill anyone who didn’t fit have the IFF code.”

The lie was a plausible one, Levin reflected. It would place blame onto all of them, yet none of them – because it appeared they hadn’t consciously decided to kill. It also had the unfortunate effect of appearing to place part of the blame on the dead guards – that they were too stupid to move away – rather than blaming the miscommunication between the two parties.

Celestia’s eyes roved over the facial plate of Riana’s helmet – but thanks to the tinting, she was unable to see anything under it. With a huff, she turned away. “This could have been avoided.”

With a blast of trumpets, and the mournful tune of a military band, the procession started.

Armor trotted up to the caskets, before turning to face the crowd. “Let it be known, that on the fifth day of the past week, in the mission known as Operation First Contact, these fine young guards were killed in action.”

The keening increased for a moment, before falling down to a quieter level, and Armor waited until he thought the crowd was ready before continuing. Riana could see the tears in his eyes as he spoke, but he made no move to brush them away. The sun shone brightly overhead, moving of its own accord – surprisingly slowly.

“Whilst guarding an alien vessel of unknown power and strength, keeping it from harming their fellow Equestrians, they were attacked by an unknown assailant.”

The crowd roared out in a mixture of anger and sadness, fear and hatred, and the keening increased in volume yet again.

Levin’s eyes were fixed on Armor, but his mind was drifting through his memories back 25 years.

-&-

Macedon, Solregit
25 years ago

The blast rocked through the spaceport. Smoke poured out into the streets, turian families and even a few asari running away from the oncoming grey billows. The whole city could see the column of smoke, rising up from the former location of the spaceport. What had happened? No one knew, then. Not the turian father, cradling his asari daughter as they ran away from the city center. Not the newscaster, trying to keep his anger and shock in check as he relayed the events all across turian space with clenched teeth. Not Corporal Levin Risvirix, Solregit 2nd Infantry, sitting in the common room of his barracks along with his mates, all looking towards the shared TV screen.

Everything changed in the following days. As they dragged the bodies out of the ruins of the spaceport, covered in soot and the remains of flesh, with the help of the fellow turian citizens; as they dug a mass grave for all those charred beyond recognition, and for the miscellaneous body parts retrieved from the rubble; and as the most senior officer on the planet said the final rites praising the bravery of the fallen, Levin Risvirix changed as an individual.

As the separatists proclaimed their victory on galactic television – they’d crashed a freighter into the spaceport, apparently – the people all across Hierarchy space cried out for revenge. The Hierarchy agreed, and Order 227 was passed.

In the small military barracks 5 kilometers outside Macedon, Solregit’s capital, Levin walked down the narrow, dimly lit corridor towards Colonel Tavus’s office. He wasn’t the only one who had the same idea, apparently – another private walked out of the office in the opposite direction, nodding to Levin as she passed.

The office was small and cramped, with maps of the city of Macedon taking up the space of the back wall, and dimly bathed in a soft white light from the solitary fixture overhead. Tavus was slouching in his seat, supporting his face with his hands, elbows on the desk in front of him. As he heard the door creak open, he lifted his head and saw another volunteer.

Levin saluted in the doorway. “Sir, I’d like to join the hastatim.”

-&-

“They held the line, until the end, and for that we commit their names to record.”

As Armor finished, the guards lowered the bodies of their comrades into the holes. Many of them were weeping as well, and more than one casket wobbled as they were carefully lowered into the ground.

Was this how we felt, back on Solregit?

Back then, I thought we were right to hate. But now, knowing both sides… who’s wrong? Who’s right?

Captain Armor bowed his head down in reverence to the gravestones, a move soon followed by the rest of the guards and even the Princesses. The families rushed to the gravestones, ignoring the ponies by their sides, and some lay down on the freshly laid earth, their weeping turning the dirt into mud.

Riana muttered some phrases; a lilting series of sounds that were too quiet for the translator to decipher. It sounded like a prayer.

Sev merely kept silent, glancing at the guards and the Princesses in turns. Death was a natural part of life. These guards had merely encountered a superior predator.

Levin clasped his hands together, and muttered his own prayers in his native dialect.

“Spirits, guide them to where the traveler never tires, the lover never leaves, and the hungry never starve. Guide them, Spirits, and they will be companions to you as they were to their loved ones.”

He stopped. That prayer, he’d said for himself a long time ago. It helped him cope.

Sev waited with a rare patience. Other races mourned their dead, and he’d once had to act as a bodyguard at a funeral. They said it was natural to be sad. It was just one of those things he would probably never know why.

Celestia looked over the display of sadness, and her anger rekindled into a fire. As her wound sent lances of pain throughout her body, and that fire turned into an inferno.

Her body language wasn’t subtle, not to someone who’d lived as long as Sev had. He placed a hand on the grip of his Claymore. No doubt Celestia would have biotic barriers as well, but he’d be damned if he wasn’t going down without a fight.

“Let me make something understood,” she snarled. “I won’t let you harm any of my citizens.”

“You don’t harm us, I don’t harm you. Or your people,” Sev replied coolly, hand still resting on the shotgun. It was an unspoken threat, and both of them knew it.

Levin shook his head, and turned away from the memorial grounds, before starting to head back to the ship. Luna had taken no care in the sniping between the krogan and her sister – she merely took off after the turian.

Some pony had brought out a table onto the multipurpose field, and Levin sat opposite Luna as they waited for their companions to arrive.

“I used to be someone like that. A separatist leader, you could say,” Luna said suddenly, looking out towards her approaching sister.

“So you and your sister took power in a coup?” Levin replied, turning to face the Princess.

“No. We were already in power, when it happened. We had… a disagreement. And we fought. We must have destroyed half the city by the time we finished…”

“Everyone does something they’re not proud of during wartime," Levin muttered. "I’ve killed my fair share.”

“They were innocents,” Luna roared all of a sudden. “Their only crime was to be in the way, and for that, they died. Crushed under fallen buildings. Killed in the crossfire. Caught in flaming husks of buildings. Just, just bad luck.”

Levin had a sudden flashback to London, one year ago; fighting Reaper units in the ruins of buildings, watching unlucky civilians and soldiers alike incinerated unceremoniously under the red gaze of a Reaper destroyer…

He shook his head. “Collateral damage.” He gestured to the memorial. “Like them.”

Luna sighed, and chuckled darkly. “Just a few days ago, and a death on duty would have been unimaginable. Now, with ten…”

Levin chirped, emptily. “Think that’s bad? We lost entire planets. Billions of lives lost, so billions more could live.”

Luna smirked. “You’re such an optimist.”

“Yeah. Could have been worse, had things gone differently. And, we got out of the whole thing knowing that we could only have survived working together. Gives peace a chance, as well as old soldiers some time to rest.”

Luna sighed. “I see what you mean. But that war was unavoidable. It was waged in the name of survival.”

Levin snorted. “All wars are waged in the name of survival. You fought to keep your idea alive, yourself if need be.”

Luna turned her head to look at him, face to face. “So, in your separatist war… what happened?”

Levin rubbed the forehead area of his helmet. “They were unhappy with the government. Wanted to separate from them, run their own government, you know? And since every adult turian has military training and weapons… you get the idea. Fact was, they were fighting for the survival of their independent government. The overseeing government fought for the survival of its control over the colony.”

“You were government loyalist,” Luna guessed, looking towards him.

He nodded. “The separatists attacked a spaceport in the capital, Macedon. Death toll 10,000 estimated. Estimated, because some were just vaporized in the blast. We responded in force.”

“They would. Fight fire with fire, magic with magic,” Luna murmured.

Levin hummed a bit at that.

“It is what my sister did to me,” she continued.

Levin shook the pops out of his joints. “Everything’s resolved now?”

Luna looked questioningly at him. “You’re not going to ask why we fought?”

Levin shook his head. “No point. It’s all in the past, now. But feel free to satiate my curiosity.”

“And if everything was not resolved” –

“Then things can change. There’s still time to change the future. Shepard taught all of us that.”

“Who is this… this ‘Shepard’?” Luna asked, head tilted.

Levin smiled, despite the grim atmosphere. “A hero.”

Comments

[N00813]

Story may turn out really dark after this.

[Taffer]

Oh its starting to get great. Good was passed 5-6 chapters back.

[N00813]

1108725

Thanks!

[MiiaTheLamia]

1106352

Dark, you say?
DARK! DARK IS THE WAY TO GO!

[Allen H]

Just don't throw in some reapers...

[N00813]

1128033

That would probably end anti-climatically.

It took the might of the entire quarian heavy fleet to down one destroyer.

Three guys can only last a second.

[Bloodwing]

Sorry but before i start reading I just have to ask... Is there any pony-death in this fic? Maybe some gore? Plz say yes, I need some flow of blood that is a contradiction to the peaceful world of Equestria... I love contradictions and oxymorons, maybe even too much...

[N00813]

1134240

Yes, there is. No named ponies yet, though.

[Bloodwing]

1134309
HA! Awesomesauce, gore, wonderful gore ! (Yeach, I have a slight obsession...)
Gonna read till my eyes bleed BWAHAHA!

[Stofen]

Ahh Feros, good times, good times. Only place where you could find a plant that spits out blue alien women.

[MrSpartan]

1128642 don't listen to him! Throw in some husks anyway.

P.s. reading this story makes me really miss Shephard. Sheparrrrd, come back to us! Now I'm depressed.

[Gunner59524]

"Nothing ventured, nothing gained" now what is that a reference too? *sly smirk*

HALO WARS!!!!!!!!! *squeals like a gleeful kid*

[Fancies himself a lurker]

Not sure why the Turian said a Drell prayer but im a nerd so its whatever.