Post by Deleted on Nov 22, 2020 22:07:06 GMT -7
Mass Effect: Front Line
Hell had come to Earth.
They’d expected it.
Prepared for it.
Yet as explosions and screams permeated the globe, Brianna Hathaway couldn’t help but wonder who in their right mind could have prepared for a force like the Reapers.
Earth
6 months before Reaper Invasion
“A doctorate in AI theory and you went through medical school to also apply your engineering classes towards biomedical engineering. And you want to work with the Alliance because…”
“Because I know what’s coming,” the raven-haired woman he was talking to responded simply. “The Reapers may not be public knowledge, but every secret gets out eventually, and you’re going to need all the help you can get.”
Never mind that she’d hacked everything she could think of to find out what had happened to her parents on Freedom’s Progress. But she didn’t plan on spending her time sitting in jail with the galaxy’s doom on the horizon. Not when she had the brains to help stop the bastards. For a second the Alliance recruiter in front of her frowned, before nodding.
“A fair point. You’ll have to go through medical testing to ensure you’re fit enough to get through basic-”
The woman raised a hand to stop him.
“I’m not here to join the military club. I’m here to offer my services. I lived on Freedom’s Progress. I know how to fight.”
Not strictly true, but she wasn’t about to own up to mercenary work. Years across the galaxy had taught her to give half-truths and always expect a knife in the back. But she wouldn’t have it any other way. Mercenary work had made her strong, and the Reapers were just another enemy to overcome. For her parents, she’d sell her soul to take them down. In a way, aiding the Alliance was kind of like selling her soul. No more bending the rules to a state of questionable legality. She’d have to adapt to a command structure and follow orders. Not necessarily while she was messing with any tech, but often enough that she was going to be reminded why she wasn’t big on militaries.
Again, the recruiter frowned.
“I don’t handle hiring consultants. But my superior should be able to help you Dr. Hathaway.”
And that was how, forty eight hours later, Brianna was on a plane bound for Germany. Inevitably, she had been found out as a mercenary, but in exchange for her volunteering free of charge, the Alliance agreed to overlook her past transgressions. As clean of a slate as she was going to get, really, and she would have been an idiot not to agree to a deal like that. She was supposed to report to a Commander Ryan Hale. While part of her time would be spent tinkering with anything mechanical or computerized, the other half would be spent running combat drills. She didn’t see it as necessary, but she wasn’t really in a position to disagree. What had her interested was the presence of other people on the plane who were headed for the same base, but clearly weren’t Alliance soldiers. They must be spooked to be turning to hiring people like me, Brianna reflected. The men and women accompanying her clearly had nowhere near the smarts she did at first glance. Not entirely stupid, sure, but there was only a couple sparks of cunning that she could see. The others, of the five, were stone cold killers. While those three would need to be kept in check, she felt more threatened by the two smarter ones, two men who clearly could survive with solutions outside of shooting.
Mercenaries in war. When survival was on the line, no amount of money would keep them loyal, and the minute one of them got spooked enough to turn on her she’d be ready. This commander has no idea the kind of scum he’s going to have to deal with.
The landing was smooth in Berlin. Brianna had visited the city for a conference on the ethics of AI once. The Geth especially were brought up as the biggest downside to creating artificial intelligence. Needless to say, her field of study hadn’t been very well liked, but everything she had learned was put to good use in the field. While dealing with Geth was an unbelievable rarity, messing with VIs was not. Her knowledge was a valuable commodity for anybody to have, and she knew it. And now her skills would be put to use defending humanity from biological and mechanical hybrid beings. There was transportation waiting for them as they filed off the plane, one Alliance shuttle, and in front of the ramp was a man in a crisp Alliance uniform. Like all military men, he had a close shaven haircut, probably an inch long, Brianna guessed, and it was brown in coloring. His facial hair was in much the same fashion, a close shave that managed to look professional, but rugged at the same time. His dark brown eyes were calm as they assessed the new arrivals. Brianna eyeballed the insignia on his uniform, narrowing her eyes. Commander. This must be Ryan Hale, Bri concluded.
“I don’t know any of you, and you don’t know me,” he said as the group stopped in front of him. “All you need to know for now is that I’m in charge, and my orders are law. Disobey, and you’ll end up in jail since all of you have enough crimes under your belts and evidence against you to be convicted. Are we clear?”
Brianna raised an eyebrow at this. It went without saying that the group muttered affirmatives, though the hacker herself stayed silent. She’d see if this commander was worth her time. If not, well, she was sure her qualifications would get her a different assignment. Her mind was too valuable to waste, unlike those of the brutes around her. It never ceases to feel good knowing I’m a rather indispensable resource. All the while, Commander Hale was watching them, no doubt gauging what he could expect. She’d been the only one not to speak up, and to Bri’s chagrin, the officer turned to her with a quirked, expectant eyebrow.
“And how about you? You’ve been quiet so far.”
Bri shrugged.
“I have nothing to add, really. I’m sure something will come up eventually that requires my input.”
That single raised eyebrow turned into both raised out of mock surprise, which made Brianna feel instant condescending amusement.
“I’ll have to think of something more stimulating to get your attention next time then. Maybe the first three laps around base will encourage something when we get there,” the commander easily retorted. “Last my squad checked, that was a distance of about eight miles, give or take. A nice warm up for your wake up call tomorrow, when the real work gets started. Let’s get going, newbies.”
And as if he hadn’t already raised enough curiosity, the commander turned his back on the six mercenaries behind him and walked up the ramp, expecting them to follow. Like lambs to the slaughter, Bri thought with a small amount of amusement. Good thing she didn’t plan on being slaughtered. She hadn’t survived in the galaxy for so long on brains alone. The commander was seriously underestimating them, and she looked forward to blowing all of the Alliance jarheads out of the water. But then, she wasn’t going to show off in front of the five other mercs beside her. If there was one thing she could count on in the Alliance, it was soldiers following orders to their deaths for the most part. So she’d impress the Alliance, but she’d leave the mercenaries in the dark about her capabilities. Despite wanting to rub it in their faces how she could outhack and outsmart them all, she’d show restraint.
At least for the moment.
Boarding the shuttle, the woman took her place near the back, toying with her Omnitool. There were a couple projects she’d been working on, namely a turret upgrade she’d been waiting to have a use for. The Alliance could probably put it to good use. The program was meant to decrease the time it took to lock onto targets, thereby increasing their combat potential. She thought it was brilliant, really. Even better if she could get ahold of them to increase their rotation speed. Turrets that could snapshot. The Reapers would be fools to try and break into anywhere with defenses like that.
“So what are you working on, gorgeous?”
From her left, one of the mercenaries had spoken, breaking the silence. This was one of the more cunning ones. Unruly blonde hair framed green eyes that sparked with amusement. But there was that hidden kernel of calculation there that put the hacker on alert. And he thinks he’s charming. How adorable. Bri knew she was in no way comparable to a large majority of the population. Her black hair was long and curly, with more split ends than she could calculate, nevermind the tangles she could never quite get rid of. While her face was clear, the most she did was slather on moisturizer when she remembered to. Makeup wasn’t even close to being a daily factor of her life. It was a waste of time. Sure, she was fairly thin and definitely didn’t lack some curves, but she didn’t go around pretending like she was some sex goddess as a plain Jane. If anybody ever were to charm her, it would be because they valued her mind, which she thought was the best thing about herself.
But despite that, she put on a winning, disarming smile. Time to find out how smart he was.
“Oh, just a modification for a couple tech abilities of mine. You ever shot somebody in the head that was frozen before? They explode like balloons.”
Her Omnitool glowed blue as she brought the Cyro Freeze program up, the air around her hand becoming frigid almost instantly. She disarmed it, figuring the best way to get shot would have been to throw the ball at the floor.
“I’m trying to make it so those shards of frozen person are cold enough to partially freeze the people they touch. But I haven’t figured out how to do so yet. It’s a pretty complicated project.”
Such a lie. She knew exactly how to accomplish it; she just didn’t have the time to do so at the moment. Maybe later that night when she got settled in whatever room they stuck her in. She half wished they’d let her make up her own space around all the mechs and vehicles, but knew no one would let her so much as look at them without supervision. The other merc nodded along, doing the chin caressing thing that men tended to do when thinking.
“That’s pretty useful. I bet you could use it to freeze door locks and bust them open if you had to, since it’s arguably harder to freeze a human body than a door.”
Not an idiot, this one. Bri had already had to use the same tactic plenty of times. Metal made brittle enough was easy to break when you had someone with enough muscle behind you.
“I’ll have to keep that in mind next time I’m out in the field,” the jaded prodigy said with a small smile. “So what do you bring to our gang of misfits?”
He shrugged. “Just your basic weapon skills, though I am particularly fond of the the Black Widow. You ever seen one of those babies? Doesn’t have the single shot stopping power of its Widow counterpart, but it has a three shot magazine that allows for more stopping power overall for the time it takes to fire and reload. Purchased one through-” he cut a look at Commander Hale quickly, who was slowly getting a cat-ate-the-canary grin, before continuing, “through totally legal means. I know a guy. Very legit.”
Letting out a genuine laugh at that, Bri shook her head. She’d keep an eye on him, and she sure as hell wasn’t going to trust him, but she was definitely amused by the guy.
“I’m Brianna Hathaway.”
“I’m Duke Winchester.”
The Alliance base on the outskirts of Berlin was huge. Bri could see how it was an eight mile run with just three laps, and she definitely wasn’t looking forward to the jog. While activity at a base this large was expected, she was somewhat surprised by how busy it was. Then again, with the Reapers out there, perhaps it wasn’t so shocking to see so much action. The tarmac was landing in shuttles with more soldiers and mercenaries alike, as well as more supplies for the war to come. How the Alliance managed to get so much done in so little time was astounding to Bri sometimes, especially when they didn’t have the best track record in dealing with people of her persuasion. Priorities she supposed.
Commander Hale stepped off the shuttle first, and motioned everyone to follow.
“Welcome to Viper Base, ladies and gentlemen. This is where you’ll be staying while you’re working with the Alliance. When the war is over, you get to return to your regularly scheduled lives. Until then, though, you belong to us. Mealtimes are at oh-eight-hundred and eighteen-hundred hours. Lights out at twenty-one-hundred hours. You’ll be woken up at oh-five-hundred and go through exercises and training with the rest of us, but after twelve-hundred hours you go to help strengthen defenses in whatever way that’s been designated. If that means continuing physical training, then so be it. You’ll be out on the field the entire day.”
He began to head towards the base, and close up she could see that the center building, probably administrative, was three stories. There were three wings attached to it, four stories a piece, that had to be the barracks, the hospital, and the armory and technical centers of it. The commander elected to go straight to the barracks, leading them up to the fourth floor first.
“Ladies, this is your floor. Go ahead and drop your bags off. All of you will be bunking with Alliance soldiers while you’re here as well. Guys, we’ll visit your quarters and then continue our tour.”
True to his word, Commander Hale led them to the men’s floor and allowed the three others to drop off their things. Duke hopped on a bed immediately, calling dibs, and Bri snorted in response. Perhaps he could get everyone else to let their guards down with the silly act, but she would not be fooled. Ironic as it was, the only ones she could trust were the Alliance, and even that was a shaky prospect. Hopefully that would be less of the case by the time the Reapers showed up, if they did, but Bri would make sure she was prepared for the worst. If disaster was what she was expecting, then she couldn’t possibly be surprised. Just one way of many to come out ahead.
“Now we’re going to head over to the armory and get you your own set of fatigues,” Hale commented over his shoulder. “It’ll just make everyone’s lives easier for laundry. As far as weapons go, I assume all of you kept your own. Like that Predator I graciously ignored when you got on the shuttle, Red,” he said wryly to the man with the buzzed red hair. It took every ounce of discipline for Bri not to laugh out loud as the guy turned as red as his hair. His hand fell on his thigh, probably right where the gun was hidden. It was ballsy, really, that he’d kept his weapon on him. Both of Bri’s were in her duffle bag. He was lucky the commander hadn’t up and shot him as an example or something. The Alliance was rather touchy when it came to mercs with guns.
The rest of the group couldn’t hide their grins or chuckles, and the flustered man shot them a glare as a whole. Commander Hale had the smallest upturn of his lips as he led the way into the armory building. While some rooms were free access for soldiers that had the proper authorization, there were a couple that were attended by Alliance personnel that clearly required special access. Namely to get at the big toys like the Cain if Bri was identifying the weapon correctly.
Deployable turrets and barricades were another heavily regulated section, and the hacker almost drooled at seeing the special operations gear. Black Widows, Paladins, Crusaders, Hurricanes… the Alliance didn’t skimp on having the best of the best for the best. Duke was like a kid in a candy store.
“Please tell me we’ll get to try out all of those bad boys?” He asked, stopping to admire the deadly arsenal just beyond the bulletproof glass.
Bri herself admired the Hurricanes resting on their mounts. Far better than the peashooter of a Tempest she was stuck with. Still my biggest purchase regret of all time. Commander Hale stopped and turned.
“Later you will. You’re going to be training alongside my squad. It’s for the best if you all get to know each other in every spare moment we have. No one knows when the Reapers will show up.”
With that sobering thought, Duke and Bri turned from the window to follow, and all the while the woman was memorizing every twist and turn so she’d be able to get back to the weapons quickly should the need arise. Plus she was really excited to get her hands on an SMG that actually had some stopping power. That quickly became the least of her worries as the Alliance soldier/tour guide led them to the section with fatigues. Bri frowned. Bland and boring next to her t-shirt and jeans.
“Get them on,” Hale ordered. “Then you’ll be meeting the people you’re working with besides me.”
Finally, some progress on this damned tour, Bri thought only half-spitefully. She’d really been hoping to see RnD, which was where she preferred to work, but she supposed she could understand why they weren’t allowed in just yet. Blazing trust issues and all that. All prettied up in her shiny new Alliance uniform, Bri rejoined the team outside, at least glad the men and women had changed in different places. The fatigues didn’t really hide the fact that they were out of place though. The group followed Commander Hale out to the grounds now, the air actually rather cool for the middle of summer. Outside there was a group of seven other soldiers, and all of them turned around and stood at attention as they caught sight of the commander.
“Sir!” they chorused, and Bri almost snorted. The parading was a waste of valuable time.
“At ease,” Hale ordered with an amused roll of his eyes. “If you’re going to salute me, Martinez, actually act like you mean it.”
“I’ll try and remember that after the hundredth time you’ve told me, Commander,” a Hispanic man said with a laugh.
“Now that Martinez has had his daily lecture, I have some newbies to introduce you all to…”
Earth
4 months before Reaper Invasion
Fireteam Chimera.
It was a fitting name, considering they all were different pieces of one wacky machine. Granted, while they were slow to tolerate each other, they couldn’t afford to be antagonistic. Two months after arriving on Viper Base, they were just an average hybrid squad on base, though there was an unspoken line that, while they’d get along, they were still just soldiers and mercs thrown together for one common cause.
Bri liked how that didn’t matter when it came down to working in RnD. Granted, she’d been the arrogant interloper at first, but an understanding had gradually evolved that yes, Bri was arrogant, but she had the brains to back that arrogance up. Standing in the workshop, the tech had deployed a turret and was fine-tuning both her new targeting parameters and trying to see if she couldn’t tinker with the rotation on the turret as well. Tools were off to her right, and from the grease on her hands and smudged on her face, it was obvious she’d been at her job for a while. But she didn’t mind the feeling. As the other personnel had trickled out, she’d opted to stay and finish her project.
Tinkering in general was mostly a hobby for her. Back on Freedom’s Progress she’d spend hours with her dad fixing the bots. Eventually, Bri had learned how to improve upon them. Her dad was gone, but really getting into a project kept her close to him.
“Hathaway.” Bri inwardly sighed. Maybe - just maybe - if she ignored the man he’d go away.
“Oh Bri…” The voice became a sing song that made her want to use the wrench in her hand to crack the offender's kneecap.
“Chimera Eleven!” She dropped the wrench at the sudden increase in volume, shock racing through her heart. She turned around to glare at Duke and Sergeant Vinny Benson, the pair smiling like they’d gotten away with something.
“What?! What could you possibly want?!” She half shouted, frustration pouring off of her.
“It’s almost mealtime,” Duke informed her with a half grin that displayed just how little he cared for her temper tantrum.
“And if you’re late again,” Sergeant Benson put it, “the commander is going to have your ass.”
Bri snorted, picking her tool off of the ground and going back to work.
“Hale can bite me. I’m so close to finishing this job up that I can taste it. Dinner can wait.”
“I almost want to stick around just to listen to Commander Hale tearing you a new one, Hathaway, but I’m starved from training. If you’re still alive after he’s through with you, I’ll save you a seat,” Duke promised with a laugh, departing with the sergeant like they were best friends. Idiots, the both of them, but they were nothing if not amusing idiots. At least they’d gone without a fight, allowing Bri to get back to work. Of course, that silence didn’t last very long.
“Hathaway!”
The bark of her name jerked the gentle twist she had with the wrench on the rotator cuff of the turret, and the thing swung around and thwacked her in the side of the head. Letting out a loud yelp equal parts pain and fury, the hacker pushed the gun away and turned as she rubbed the spot, glaring at Commander Hale.
“Seriously? Do you guys realize how delicate these things are? Son of a bitch,” she hissed as the throbbing continued. “Next time, try knocking. I might not concuss myself with a big ass gun. You’re lucky that wasn’t the firing mechanism.”
The commander looked entirely unsympathetic, not bothering to acknowledge the tirade.
“Mealtime at eighteen-hundred hours. You’ve known this for two months,” he stated, also entirely unamused.
“Yep, six o’ clock.”
“This is the third time I’ve had to have this conversation with you.”
“Yep, and the script still hasn’t changed,” Bri observed easily, turning back to fix what she had loosened.
“You do know that each time even one of you is late by a minute that we have to secure the armory, right?” he further questioned, annoyance growing.
“Yeah. Ever since the mercs from Fireteam Pegasus elected to try and steal all those sweet weapons. I’m pretty sure I warned you guys about them. Oh well, they got filled full of holes anyway.”
That had been the talk of the base for days, which had then, predictably, set back relations between the rest of the mercenaries and soldiers on base. Luckily, after one of Chimera’s crew managed to apply field aid to a soldier that fell and busted up his ankle, the dislike had mostly died down. Bri had been far more annoyed at not being allowed into RnD for a week after the fact to allow for ‘additional security measures.’ AKA the new lockdown policy and a chaperone in the room. Like Hale had said, she’d been late three times as of then, which meant three lockdowns since she was constantly getting caught up in her work.
The commander sighed a sigh of the long suffering.
“I will find someone to let you in here later if the project is that close to being-”
“Done!” Bri interrupted triumphantly. “See? Only five minutes late for dinner.” She tapped into the turret with her Omnitool and rotated it, beyond pleased at how much smoother and quicker it was.
“You’re on KP duty tonight,” Hale informed her dryly, eying the spinning death bringer. “And tomorrow you get to run an extra two miles.”
“Seriously?!” Bri exclaimed indignantly. “I just improved the efficiency of Alliance turrets and you’re punishing me for it?”
“You’re damn right I am!” he exclaimed, fire scorching the words as he turned from vaguely amused to angered in an instant. “It doesn’t matter how much you help in here. If you can’t follow a simple order to show up on time, you’re going to be nothing but a hindrance on the field! You think you know better - you think you are better - but you aren’t worth anything alone against the Reapers, and you know it. Why else give up the good life in space, huh?”
He stepped close enough that the proximity was uncomfortable, staring at her with anger that was barely hidden. “It doesn’t matter how good you are. The Reapers are better than you. They’re better than me. They’re better than every single one of us here. It’s only together that we stand a chance, working together as a unit. So long as you prioritize anything over doing what I say, you’re not part of that unit. And you’re already dead.” He let that hang just long enough to set in, then dropped a small object on top of the turret - a miniscule data drive that glinted in the low light.
“You want to leave, you take that. You take it to the administrative center. Tell the guy at the desk I gave this to you. I’ll corroborate, make sure it’s legit for him. You get to walk out of here, no strings attached. Otherwise, you give this back to me at the mess, and you start doing as I say. For all our sakes.” He offered nothing further, the anger draining away. With a slight shake of his head, he turned and began to leave, leaving her with her work.
For a moment, there was complete silence in the workshop, broken only by the angry rasps of breath that Bri deigned to take. Half of her wanted to march straight down down to the administration building and get the hell out of there just to spite him. The other half of her thought it would be more spiteful to stick around. Of course then she realized that being spiteful at all was a childish venture. The only thing that mattered was why she had elected to walk into that recruitment office in the first place. If she forgot about that, then the previous two months were for absolutely nothing. But then again, she could always go help somebody else. Integrating somewhere else would be a pain in the ass, but she could certainly do it.
Flopping back into a chair, Bri sighed and ran a hand through her hair, unsurprised to feel resistance from her curls. Damned hair. Damned Alliance. She remembered why she hated the military now. Still…
She picked up the drive, curious as to what was on it. She half-expected it be some cheesy movie-esque moment where her record was on it, but was met by the typical Alliance paperwork for dismissing ‘consultants’ such as herself.
“No strings attached,” she muttered, pocketing the device. Only until dinner ended to think of an answer too. She’d think and walk. Well, ‘think.’ She already knew what she was going to do, but she’d be damned if she showed up with that drive so soon. Talk about desperate. So she took a looping route to the mess, and fifteen minutes later, she was paused on the edge of the threshold to just look out into the soldiers still seated for dinner. Maybe half of the mess was at capacity, and it wasn’t hard to spot Chimera. Hale was seated with the rest of them, and from the ribbing his Alliance friends were giving him, his demeanor had to be a slight rain cloud. Fun times.
It was Duke that noticed her first, a lazy grin lighting up his face.
“Hey, Hathaway!”
Heads turned at that, and Bri matched Duke’s lazy smirk as she swaggered over. When she got close, she plucked the drive out of her pocket and tossed it at Hale. She wasn’t surprised when he caught it without so much of a bat of an eyelash.
“Don’t think this understanding of ours is me hoping to impress you or earn your respect like some shitty movie cliché. I’ll follow your orders, Commander, since I have a score to settle. After that’s done, you won’t see heads or tails of me again,” she said with a shrug.
A wisp of a smile crossed his face.
“Assuming we live through this war, you won’t see me crying about that,” he noted sardonically.
“Glad we had this chat,” Bri said with a too-sweet smile. “Duke, I thought you were saving me a seat you asshole!”
The blonde mercenary shrugged apologetically.
“Didn’t know if you were gonna show. We were taking bets on whether or not you were going to stay.”
“Seriously?” The hacker responded in a dry, unamused tone. “So what did you and Vinny bet then?”
“Well, I bet that you’d stay just to see if the commander got the stick-”
“I bet against you,” Vinny responded with a devil-may-care smile, tactfully interrupting Duke. “Sorry Hathaway. You just don’t tend to play nice with others. Or with orders.”
“KP duty for you too, Winchester. You can help Hathaway clean everything up tonight and still report at oh-five-hundred for the morning routine,” Hale put in, taking a long gulp of water, the slight earlier clearly not missed. Duke made a noise of indignation that immediately brought a smug smile to Bri’s lips. At least I’ll have entertaining company. Although at the same time, the solitude of the kitchen was a nice thought. Play some music on her omnitool, do the dishes, go to bed, then wake up and repeat it all the next day.
“Well, I’m not that hungry anyway,” Bri said with a shrug. “Come on, Duke. The sooner the finish, the sooner we can get some rack time.”
“Rack time, huh? I can’t say I’d mind some rack time with you, Hathaway.”
Bri snorted.
“Tell me that again, and I’ll freeze off the part of you that’s talking,” she threatened, Omnitool glowing with blue malice.
“Whoa! Not cool, Hathaway! Commander-”
“I might just let her get away with that,” the commander in question interjected. “Sure beats anything I could come up with.”
Amid Duke’s loud protests, Brianna reflected that no, she and the commander wouldn’t get along anytime soon. But even she had to admit, for all the commander’s yelling…
He did have a good sense of humor.
So this is just the first chapter of a Mass Effect fanfic I'm doing, featuring a couple of ME DnD characters my friend and I made. A third one appears down the line, but that'll be a bit later. This is more just to post cause I figure some of you ME people may enjoy it :3 obviously I would love to hear what you think, if anything, but it's more for your enjoyment!