by Cole Price
“Good, because that’s what it’s gonna take.” Anderson put an arm around Shepard’s shoulders. “I know you didn’t like leaving, Shepard, but I hope you see now it was for the best. Nobody else could have accomplished what you and your team have, brought all those people together for this fight.”
Shepard only nodded, catching my eye for a quick but intense look.
“There’s the FOB,” said Coats, watching the external view.
“Good,” said Anderson. “Give Hammer the all-clear. We’ve got a pile of work to do, to get all those boots on the ground and organized for the attack.”
* * *
22 June 2186, Forward Operating Base, Westminster, London/Earth V minus 1 hour, 30 minutes
It took well over an hour for Hammer to land, organize, send out scouts and gather intelligence. Shepard and Anderson seemed inseparable for all that time, working feverishly to adjust the final battle plan.
I wasn’t of much use in that endeavor. No one needed the kind of strategic or political intelligence that the Shadow Broker could provide. So instead I gave my trace to Shepard, so he could call me for the last effort. Then I found a field hospital, and Vara and I went to work. I wasn’t a trained physician any more than I was a trained soldier, but first aid and triage care fell within my scope. Vara, of course, had some medical training as part of her huntress background.
We found a lot of wounded and dead in that hospital, and the main assault hadn’t even begun.
I lost track of time, tried not to think about anything outside our work area. Tried not to think about Cortez, about everyone else we had already lost, or were about to lose. It worked. For once I didn’t even notice as Shepard walked up to me.
“How are the casualties?” he asked gently.
I glanced up at him, saw weary sadness in his face. “We’ve lost a lot of people. Hammer took almost forty percent casualties before it could even fully deploy.”
“That’s about right.” He sighed. “Scratch another one off our list of friends. Zaeed Massani’s company got wiped out in northern France, attacking an outlying Reaper strongpoint. He hasn’t been heard from since.”
I closed my eyes and took a deep breath. “I always thought that man could survive anything.”
“Apparently not.” He stepped close, put his arm around my shoulders. “Hammer is ready to fight now, but the Reapers are closing in. We’re going to have to move very soon.”
“I see. Vara and I will come, of course.”
“How are you holding up, Liara?”
My mind was a chaos. I wanted to rage, scream, break down in tears. I did none of those things.
“This is it . . . isn’t it?” I whispered.
“Yeah,” he breathed, resting his cheek against my crest. “I think it is.”
“I don’t know what to say.” I chuckled once, almost a gasp. “All those little blue children will be disappointed I didn’t have a speech.”
I could sense his smile. “We’ll make up a good story for them.”
“Shepard . . .”
“Shhh.” Then he held me in his arms, let me rest my head on his chest, and simply stood there for a long moment. Enjoying the animal pleasure of a loved one’s presence.
I looked up, caressed his stubble-rough cheek, and smelled the scent of his breath.
Sent my mind across that touch, not demanding, simply inviting.
He agreed, and our minds merged for the last time. Not a deep, ravishing merger as had so often happened in our bed. A gentler thing, a shared taste of what we felt.
On my part: fatigue, revulsion for what the Reapers had done, more than a little hatred for them. Terror, not for what might happen to me, but for what waited for him. And as always: admiration, desire, love.
On his part: bone-deep weariness, and a stress that I knew had been growing for weeks. Fear that nothing he could do would defeat the Reapers. Fear that in the end, he would let the entire galaxy down. On the other hand, strength, determination fueled by a terrible rage at the Reapers and all their works. And as always: deep respect, tenderness, passion, love.
Love, unconquerable.
I kissed him, a long and gentle thing, imprinting every sensation on my memory for all time.
Then I let him go.
“It’s time,” he said, and Vara and I followed him to the final conference. The final battle.
Chapter 56 : Advance
22 June 2186, Westminster, London/Earth V minus 1 hour, 15 minutes
Urban warfare is a horrible thing.
Let me provide an example. From the Forward Operating Base to the Reaper facility in Trafalgar Square, the distance was less than two kilometers. It took Hammer almost an hour to move that short distance, against stiff Reaper resistance the whole way.
It also cost Hammer close to ninety percent wounded and dead.
I had heard reports of such battles ever since the Reapers first arrived, especially from Earth and Palaven. That was the first time I had to live through one. There is a reason I have rarely spoken about that terrible day. Four hundred years later, I still find myself flinching from unexpected sights or sounds, and I still have the occasional bad night.
We started in Westminster: Shepard, Ashley, James, six more Marines from the Normandy detachment, EDI’s mobile platform, Javik, Vara, and me. Garrus, Tali, and Miranda remained behind once more, more valuable in staff positions than on the field. Shepard almost made the same determination for me, but I pointed out that one of my acolytes could manage what little remained of the Shadow Broker network for the next few hours. In any case, I insisted that he would not leave me behind.
It began easily enough, Hammer unrolling from the FOB and immediately smashing through a horde of husks. Our own team went right behind the first wave, entering a no-man’s-land of smashed buildings and empty streets. Once the last husks went down, we found ourselves engaging squads of cannibals led by once-turian marauders. Not a great challenge. We moved forward, taking no losses at first.
“All companies report in.”
“Artillery companies Able through Foxtrot are on the move.”
“Roger that. Golf through November taking up the right flank. Pressing forward.”
At one point we moved beside an AFV, providing infantry support. The first sign of trouble came when some kind of rocket zoomed out of the darkness ahead, slamming into the tank and setting it on fire.
“Cannibals!” shouted James, moving his men into cover.
A wave of the mutated batarians erupted out of the ruins ahead, laying down a terrible barrage of weapons fire.
“Keep your cool,” said Shepard, using biotics to telekinetically yank the enemy out of cover two at a time, picking them off with his sidearm.
One of our Marines went down, her shoulder smashed by an incoming projectile after her kinetic barrier failed. James activated her medi-gel and her search-and-rescue transponder, so the troops behind us could get her to safety.
We moved forward.
“Anyone know how the hell we’re supposed to take down a Reaper destroyer with tanks?”
“Thanix missiles can do a fuckton of damage.”
“If you say so.”
“Cut the chatter,” ordered Coats. “You heard the Admiral. No retreat.”
Our armor seemed to be having trouble advancing through the London streets. More than once Shepard moved to intervene as an AFV got stuck in a narrow passage, choked with debris, and then came under fire.
We lost two more Marines, killed when a harvester swept down out of the night sky, hammering at a trapped AFV and catching part of our team in the open. The rest of us took cover and fired back at the monster, trying to catch its vulnerable head in our fire.
Before long the harvester twisted, fell, and detonated in a flash of light and heat.
Just in time for a banshee to rise over some debris, screaming, with a small horde of cannibals in its wake.
“We’re taking heavy fire from the second story of the b
uilding at grid Bravo-Six. Request assistance.”
“Roger that,” said Shepard, taking a moment to check his HUD maps while he continued to fling biotic flares at the approaching banshee. “We’re almost there, we’ll try to clear the building for you. Hang on.”
Ashley and I exchanged a quick glance.
Just like Shepard, to promise aid when we’re under heavy attack ourselves.
I need not have worried. He concentrated our fire on the banshee, taking it down long before it could reach our position. After that, the cannibals provided no more challenge than usual.
“Foxtrot and Bravo are taking heavy fire.”
We crossed the street we had just cleared, finding a ground-level entrance to the building where Reaper forces had set up a stronghold. Inside we found a vehicle garage, a number of aircars that looked as if they had been abandoned for months.
We found husks. They went down quickly.
Then two brutes came out of nowhere and charged into the middle of our formation. One of them caught a Marine off-guard and smashed him to pulp with a single blow.
I barely avoided having my head taken off by a vicious claw-swing. I ducked, rolled under the blow, set off a biotic detonation that rocked the brute back a few centimeters. Then Ashley and Shepard hit it simultaneously from both sides, and it went down.
I looked around and saw James finish the second brute with a shotgun blast at point-blank range. Then I saw the burly human was hurt. Blood ran down his face from a nasty scalp wound, he seemed to be favoring his left arm, and his kinetic barrier flickered wildly.
“I’m okay, I’m okay. Just give me a second.”
EDI manipulated his armor controls. His barriers went back up.
“His armor needs extensive repair,” she said after a moment. “I cannot guarantee the barrier will hold.”
“Fuck that,” said the lieutenant. “I can still fight.”
Shepard gave him a grim nod. “Come on, soldier.”
We climbed out of the garage, up into the first and then the second story of the building. Around a corner, we found the Reaper stronghold: marauders firing cannon down into the street outside, a ravager pouring its own fire in the same direction, a few cannibals for support.
“Charlie Company’s been taken out.”
Shepard motioned: one, two, three.
We boiled into the room, filling it with gunfire and green-blue-white chaos. The odds seemed in our favor. Not even the ravager managed to turn and fire on us, before we reduced it to a noxious stain on the floor.
“You’re clear!” called Shepard to the Hammer companies in the street below.
“Thanks. We’re moving again.”
The battle seemed to change from that point. We had crossed the beaten-down territory, and now moved among buildings the Reapers had – more or less – permitted to remain standing. This was the old government district for the nation-state called the United Kingdom. Once a mighty empire had been ruled from this spot. Now nothing remained but ruins.
“This is Echo Company. There’s not enough room to maneuver the tanks in here.”
“Backtrack if you have to, but find another route ASAP.”
“Acknowledged.”
We came out on a narrow street, two tanks already pinned down and destroyed, Reaper forces swarming on both sides. A lone ravager held a high point up ahead, firing down into the street at targets of opportunity. A difficult fight in tight quarters. Another Marine lost. Javik took an injury when a marauder popped up and riddled him with gunfire before he could move to better cover.
“Contact! This is Delta, we’re being overrun!”
“What’s your location?” demanded Coats.
We heard nothing but a strangled scream.
“Goddamn it.”
Eight of us left. We found no way to move forward in the streets, but a ruined shop appeared to provide a way around the obstacle. We found a few cannibals occupying the place, and destroyed them almost in passing.
“Able Company’s broken through. Christ, that destroyer is huge.”
“Hold your position,” ordered Coats. “The rest of Hammer is on the way.”
We had to fight our way across an intersection, the center of the space occupied by a great crater where some explosion had taken place. Another empty shop served as a Reaper strongpoint, but its shattered windows opened on two sides. Shepard maneuvered us up to both windows, to catch the marauders in crossfire.
Again we found no way to proceed in the streets. We moved through the building we had just cleared, into an abandoned restaurant in the back. Ducking behind counters and tables, moving forward by odds and evens, we made our way through.
“The destroyer’s spotted us. We’re prepping Thanix missiles.”
“Hold your fire. You won’t do anything but piss it off.”
“Roger that, but we may have no choice.”
“Understood.”
We cleared the restaurant, emerged into an alley behind the buildings. The alley seemed less cluttered with debris, and no enemies were present for the moment. We could move forward with more ease.
“Destroyer just took out half our company. Firing remaining missiles.”
A short pause, then Coats asked: “Any effect?”
“Negative. Can’t get a lock. Some kind of interference. It’s messing with our guidance.”
“We’re almost there, Able. Hang on.”
“We’ve got to hurry,” muttered Ashley.
“Not if it causes us to rush,” said Shepard. “Stay frosty. Watch your quarters.”
“We’re at the rendezvous point,” said Coats. “All Hammer companies, report in.”
“Alpha and Delta companies have sustained heavy casualties. No word from Bravo or Charlie. Echo, Foxtrot, and India are here, but are severely damaged. Lost contact with Golf.”
“All companies, prep Thanix missiles. Be ready for a coordinated volley.”
“How are we supposed to take that thing down?”
“We wait for it to get close, and then we hit it with everything we’ve got.”
“I dunno. Our guidance systems are buggered.”
“Roger that. Our engineers are on it.”
“Think it’s got something to do with the beam.”
We probably should not have kept the general comm channel open. It distracted us from watching for an ambush. Of course, none of us expected an ambush to arrive through the thick stone walls of the buildings on either side.
A bestial roar. The sound of shattering stone.
“Brutes!” I screamed.
They already raged in the middle of our formation.
“Fall back. Fall back!” shouted Shepard.
Too late. Most of us managed to disengage and perform a frantic fighting retreat back up our alley. For a fatal instant, Vara went the wrong way. She jumped ahead of me the moment the brutes appeared, moving on sheer reflex, trying to place herself between the threat and her principal.
One of the brutes grabbed her.
I heard a moment’s scream, and then it smashed her through the stone wall on one side.
“Vara!”
Just like that, I went incandescent with fury. My corona lashed out, hammered at the brute, then again, rocking it back on its heels.
The rest of the team put down a storm of gunfire, grenades, and incendiary charges. Shepard flash-charged the beast, then flash-charged the other brutes when the first went down.
Suddenly I felt as terrified for him as for Vara. I sprinted forward, my sidearm forgotten, flinging warps with both hands as quickly as my mind could cycle through them.
The last brute turned and stared at me. It rose on its haunches, beating its breast with both claws, and then set itself to charge.
Wait a moment, Liara. What happens when a brute charges a slender asari like you?
You break, that’s what.
It hurled itself into motion. Straight at me.
I slammed down my strongest barrier.
/> Then a flash of light cannoned into its side, Shepard in a fierce flash-charge, and it lost its momentum.
A moment later, it went down, its turian head nearly torn from its krogan shoulders.
I whirled, ran for the gap in the stone wall where Vara had vanished.
To my horror, I didn’t find a simple room or chamber behind it. The building on that side had been reduced to a mere shell. Most of it had collapsed into its own basement level, or perhaps into some under-works far below the street level. I saw nothing but a deep pit, full of rubble, and no sign at all of where my acolyte had gone.
“Vara!”
Then Shepard stood at my back, shining a light into the gap and down into the pit. He moved it back and forth, looking for displaced stone, dust still in the air, any clue at all. Neither of us could see anything.
“They’re sending in more ground forces!”
“They’re coming in behind us.”
“They coming from everywhere! They’re going for the tanks!”
“Protect the tanks at all costs!” Coats ordered. “Without those missiles we’ve got no chance!”
“Liara.”
I turned, stared into his face with wide eyes, and he went a little pale.
“Where is she, Shepard?” I could hear panic in my own voice.
“I don’t know, Liara.” He put a gentle hand on my shoulder. “We’ve got to go.”
I gaped at him, and then something in his voice got through to me. “Oh damn. Yes. I understand.”
We hurried.
We emerged out onto the intersection of Whitehall and Downing Street, not far from the ancient dwelling-place of the British prime ministers, and there we found chaos.
Two Thanix missile trucks remained in the intersection, pointing north to where a Reaper destroyer defended Trafalgar Square from our forces. I could see the destroyer in the distance, moving violently, firing its weapon and smashing its legs down on unseen foes. Behind it the Reaper transport beam rose up into the sky.
We had arrived just in time to see the last of the Hammer artillery forces cut down by Reaper troops.