Thunderbird: Chapter One

 

Starting File Sequence…  Thunderbird

Loading Digital Data…    Chapter One

Initializing Play Back…  Invasion

Galaxy:   Milky Way Galaxy

Cluster: Omega Nebula

System:   Sahrabarik

Location: Omega

Date:     2186 CE

Omega

Tasi ran through the streets of Omega. Monstrous screams called behind her as bipedal monsters known as Adjutants ran after her. Their bodies glowed blue as they fired shots from the cannons attached to their arms. The Adjutants’ mouths appeared disjointed and distorted as they screeched throughout the streets.

The quarian leapt and ducked out of the way. Scorched marks marred the walls and ground around her as the attacks missed. She cried out in pain as a stray blast grazed her arm. Red warning lights lit up on her visor indicating a suit breach.

“Administer immune-boosters,” Tasi said as she drew her weapon and turned.

She fired her handgun twice, blasting the closest Adjutant to pieces. The creature dissolved into a pile of blue slop. The others behind it started to frantically eating their former ally’s remains as it disintegrated.

The quarian turned back and ran through the streets, frequently glancing behind her. Up ahead, she stopped and swore. Before her, blocking off one of the other districts, was a tall wall of red light. Tasi looked down at her left arm. A purple device formed around her forearm and she started typing on the device. Beside her an orb appeared, also purple in color.

“Hack me an opening,” Tasi motioned toward the wall. Her voice vibrated slightly as she spoke through her visor. The orb floated passed her and hovered in front of the wall. A pulse of light emitted from the orb to the wall causing an alarm to ring. Nearby, several rose from their slumber and approached her, armed and ready for combat.

“UNAUTHORIZED ACCESS DETECTED,” the mechs chanted.

Behind her, Tasi could hear the Adjutants growing closer as well. To her left, Tasi saw several mechs closing in.

“Try a taste of this,” Tasi said as she reached out her arm. Her omni-tool activated. The furthest mech stumbled a moment before regaining its composure. Its usual red eyes turned purple. It raised its shotgun and fired at its former allies. The shot rang out as they twitched and collapsed into a heap of sparking metal.

Tasi turned to the right and fired several shots downing many of the mechs. A large blue explosion flew passed her and struck the wall. Tasi aimed her pistol and fired.

The first shot ruptured the sack on the Adjutants back. Its scream was cut short as the second shot took out half of its face resulting in its death. Several Adjutants crouched to feed while others walked passed it and continued forward.

Tasi looked over her shoulder. Her drone was halfway through the wall, a ring formed around the drone as it bore into the wall of red light. It wasn’t large enough for Tasi to pass through yet. She activated her omni-tool and motioned forward. The mech she controlled turned its attention to the incoming Adjutants.

More mechs filtered onto the streets as the alarm continued to ring. With her omni-tool, she controlled a second mech and the three of them fought off the Adjutants. One of the creatures, blasted one of the mechs. The blue cannon fire melted the mechs circuits, causing it to crumble and fall apart. Again, Tasi looked behind her. The ring was bigger, but not quite stable.

The second mech Tasi controlled was shot in the head by one of its former allies. Tasi reached out to another one, omni-tool activated.

“HACKING ATTEMPT DETECTED,” the mech said, “SHARING COUNTERMEASURE WITH NEARBY ALLIES.”

Tasi swore under her breath. The mech learning algorithm resisted her hacking attempt. She shot several of them with her pistol instead. With her pistol in one hand, she backed toward the red wall of light shooting at threats coming from all sides. Mechs shambled in from her sides while Adjutants shot at her from the front.

“Bosh’tet!” Tasi cried as she shot at the closing ring of enemies around her. The Adjutants screamed with their distorted mouths while the mechs marched steadily toward her.

One of the Adjutants raised its cannon arm. Quickly, Tasi looked over her shoulder. Her drone had eaten through the wall and created a decent sized hole. The cannon fire struck close to the drone. It was now or never. While Tasi was distracted, an Adjutant charged her. It pushed her to the ground close to the wall, her pistol clattered just out of reach. The Adjutant bellowed as Tasi struggled to get out from under it.

Tasi used one hand to hold off the beast while she reached for her pistol.

“Rahh!” she shouted in a panic, grabbed her gun and propped the muzzle against the monster. With a pull of the trigger, the gun shredded through the Adjutant. She continued until she emptied the entire clip and its lifeless body draped over her. Tasi threw it off. Blue liquid spilled onto her visor. With her hand, Tasi wiped enough away to see her surroundings.

The mech and other Adjutants were already much to close for comfort. Tasi clambered to her feet and made a dash for wall. With a grunt, Tasi jumped through the hole as an Adjutant shot at the drone.

Tasi collapsed to the ground on the other side. She turned around and scooted away from the wall. With the drone destroyed, the wall repaired itself. Any Adjutant that touched the wall burst into flames. The mechs all lost interest in her.

“Keelah Se’lai,” Tasi sighed. She allowed herself to calm down and regain her composure. Her visor displayed several warnings. Tasi winced, “Administer immune-booster.”

Tasi slowly got to her feet and assessed her surroundings. She found herself in front of Afterlife, the club and unofficial throne room of the Pirate Queen herself. Normally bustling with drunken activities, the area around the club was eerily silent. She caught a brief motion in the corner of her eye. Tasi raised her gun at the figure.

“Woah! Hey!” a turian walked out into the clearing, her hands raised in surrender. Tasi immediately noticed the lack of facial markings common to most turians. The top of the turian’s carapace was a creamy color that faded into beige, the color of her leathery skin. Her face was a dark rocky brown with tan accents. Her green eyes glittered like gems. She wore green armor, with a golden collar. Heavy gauntlets covered her forearms. Imbedded in each gauntlet was a vial of bright green liquid.

Tasi kept the gun level.

The turian continued walking toward her, “You handled yourself surprisingly well there.”

“I manage,” Tasi said.

“Look, you want off this asteroid?” the turian asked. She smiled, “I’ve been trying for a while now. Cerberus has this whole station ready for a blockade. Most of the ships left in the early stages of the invasion. There are a few ships scattered around, left by those killed in the initial assault. How about you and I—”

The front entrance of the Afterlife exploded. A force like blue flames blew the doors and a portion of the entrance into the empty street. Amid the destruction an Asari leapt forward, landing on the ground and creating a shockwave. The Asari glowed with biotic power, the bluish tint around her faded as she continued to run away from Afterlife. Behind her, Cerberus operatives stepped out of the Club.

Six of the Cerberus agents wore black armor with orange patterns. Their leader wore silver with black. They all wore helmets that covered their faces. He motioned three of his men to go after the Asari while the other three turned their attention to Tasi and the turian.

Their Sentinel, a was a tall sturdy man, activated his omni-tool. A large shield appeared as he drew an assault rifle. The woman was their Infiltrator, armed with a baton, pressed a button on the Cerberus symbol on her chest and faded into the background. Another man, their Vanguard was smaller than the first, slapped his hands together then drew them apart. Between them, an orb of biotic energy formed and brightened. Their leader stood back and watched.

Tasi glanced over at the turian she only just met.

The turian nodded back at her, “Get down!”

The Vanguard unleashed a beam of biotic energy. Both Turian and Quarian ducked and rolled. The beam seared just above their heads. The Turian rolled to her knees. A pair of claws appeared from each of her gauntlets.

“Το άυλο είναι ασταμάτητο!” she shouted before throwing herself into battle.

She charged forward, running at the Vanguard from the side. Moving fast the Sentinel crashed his shield into her, throwing the turian to the floor. The turian slid some ways before getting to her knees.

She recoiled the claws on her right hand as is started to glow a fiery blue. In a blink of an eye, she warped forward decreasing the distance between her and her target in an instant. Using both the force and her anger she slammed her fist into the Sentinel’s shield, cracking it and pushing the man back on his knees.

To her right, the Vanguard drew one of the swords from his back and swung at the back of her head. The Turian ducked letting the blade sail over her and strike the shield. She sidestepped and with her clawed left hand punched out at the Vanguard stabbing him in the upper thigh. She withdrew her claws and kicked him back.

Tasi stared in amazement at the Turian warrior went to work. She didn’t notice the in Infiltrator as she appeared behind the Quarian and struck her behind her head with her baton. Quickly, the Infiltrator used her baton as a choke hold around Tasi’s neck from behind and lifted the Quarian slightly off her knees.

The Quarian dropped her gun and clawed at the baton pressed against her neck. She felt her consciousness fading. Tasi activated her omni-tool, her finger strained to press the right buttons.

Her drone appeared behind the Infiltrator. The drone discharged an electrical shock causing the Infiltrator to cry in pain. The woman let Tasi go just as her baton crackled with electricity. Tasi rolled out of the way as the Infiltrator jabbed her baton into the drone. The drone cracked and started to glow red before it exploded. The Infiltrator flew back toward the red wall. Her left arm passed through the barrier. She let out an ear-splitting scream as her arm was seared off.

“Let’s go!” the Turian called before she turned to run down the street.

Tasi grabbed her gun and left. As they ran down the street where the Asari went, there were obvious signs of a struggle. Gunshots riddled the walls along with several shadow rings from explosives. Some of the rings shimmered blue with residual biotic power. The destruction continued toward the docks for smaller vessels.

As they neared the docks, there were sounds of fighting. They turned the corner into an opened room. The Turian placed a hand out, stopping Tasi from moving forward. The large room had access to the cold reaches of space. Only a thin kinetic barrier kept all of them from being pulled out into the vacuum. Four figures fought around a lone ship as it prepared to launch. It was just under 28 meters in length and stood at 10 meters high. The ship sat on its two extended landing gears and ramp platform. Its colors were beautiful. Its cold metallic core moved into an electric blue over the wings. The tips of its wings and tail end were a bright yellow. Its engines slowly came to life as it prepared to take off.

The Asari was holding her own against the three that were after her. One of them, the female Adept, threw out a singularity that pulled everything close by into its center. Their Solder pulled a grenade from his belt and threw it at her.

The Asari glowed bright with biotic power. She focused her attention on the grenade and infused it with a sudden burst of biotics. The explosion knocked the Soldier back. Without skipping a beat, the Asari reached out for the Adept and leached off of the human’s life force. Behind her, their female Engineer, charged at the Asari with her omni-tool activated and primed. The Asari turned and created a rope out of her biotic power, lashed it around the Engineer and pulled, throwing her into the Adept. With her enemies downed, the Asari ran for the ship as it prepared to leave.

“Now’s our chance! Let’s go!” the Turian said to Tasi as she ran for the ship.

Tasi charged forward as the ship started to hover slightly above the ground. The Turian leaped onto the ramp. She turned and extended her hand as she coaxed Tasi into hurrying. Tasi saw the Soldier start to get to his feet. She ran passed him and leapt. The Turian grabbed ahold of her arm and pulled her onto the platform as it collapsed into the belly of the ship.

It was dark for a moment as Tasi’s vision adjusted. She slowly got to her feet. Tasi struggled a bit but the Turian walked over and helped her up. Together they headed aft toward the stern. Ahead of them the Asari walked confidently ahead of them.

They walked out into the open belly of the ship, the cargo bay. A mech, a different model from the ones Cerberus had on Omega approached them. The female mech raised a heavy pistol at the three of them.

“You are not permitted on this vessel,” the mech said. “Please remain where you are and wait to be forced off at the nearest port.”

The Asari pushed passed her, “Don’t fuck with me, Mech. Where’s you captain?”

The mech kept her attention on the other two, “I have been given permission to use lethal force if necessary. I recommend not causing trouble.”

Tasi’Vanya nar Nedas

“Hey! There’s no need for that,” the Turian tried to broker peace as she took a few steps forward, “We just wanted a ride off the station. We’ll be happy for a ride to the nearest station. Right?” she looked back at Tasi.

Tasi felt the floor beneath her feet shift. The lights grew bright and warm. Her breathing was short and her knees felt weak. A warning appeared on her visor indicating that her body temperature was through the roof. Several ruptures in her suit had gone unnoticed allowing foreign bacteria to seep in.

“Ad—administer immu—immune…” Tasi’s vision went black.

“Hey! Catch—”

Tasi stumbled back before losing consciousness and collapsed onto the cold floor of the cargo bay.