After receiving word that the Keelah Si'yah the quarian Ark had arrived in the Andromeda galaxy everyone who could be sparred was put into looking for it, be it on a ship or scanning for transmissions. It took another five months before even the faintest hint was achieved. Another month to actually find them. When they did find them it became clear fast that it would take a lot to help Keelah Si'yah. Ryder recruited her squad mates, Avitus the turian Pathfinder and his squad mates, the mercenary Jericho, and a few of the militia. The asari and salarian Pathfinder were left behind to protect the colonies from any kett that were still hadn't been wiped out and any Roekaar that still existed.

Along with the Temepst, Kryik, & Shadow Chaser they brought along several Kodiak Drop Shuttles for the firepower. Ryder had them modified to be controlled by her SAM. So that when it came time to evacuate or send troops instead of twelve per shuttle there could be fourteen.

"This is Pathfinder Ryder of the AISS Tempest to the Keelah Si'yah we are here to rescue you. I am sending you coordinates for our landing zone, anything alive in that area is going to get wiped out by Kodiaks." SAM sent the coordinates and Zarti'Kirtan the quarian Pathfinder pulled her people back from it. "SAM begin bombarding the landing zone with the Kodiaks. Leave nothing left alive." Once the landing zone was clear all the ships touched down." Ryder was greeted by Zarti'Kirtan and the Keelah Si'yah's captain. "Captain, Pathfinder. I am Pathfinder Ryder. We brought a dozen Kodiaks, two Andromeda Initiative Survey Ships, and a mercenary ship. We are at your disposal to finish this fight no matter how long it takes."

Cora Harper was organizing the militia they brought along with the squad mates from both survey ships and the mercenary Jericho. Avitus Rix was heading over to join Ryder and the quarian Pathfinder. Cora sent half of the militia to the western flank to shore up the defenses. The rest she spread out among the rest of the flanks with the squad mates and Jericho each being assigned to various flanks.

When Avitus learned of the Quarian distress call, he brightened up at the possibility of good news. Hope did not last long as the transmission turned out to be a warning, urging them to stay away from the Keelah Si’yah. The Initiative responded by ignoring the Quarian warnings and throwing almost everyone at the problem. He understood why, the tech savvy Quarians would likely be a big help if they could find them in time. Five months later, they were no closer to finding the lost ark than when they started until luck finally smiled upon them when a faint trace was picked up. It took another month to actually find the ark. When the news reached them, Avitus ordered the Kryik back to the Nexus to restock, including a larger-than-usual quantity of dextro-based foodstuffs and medical supplies and promptly headed to the ark’s position. A lot could go wrong, but with Ryder at the helm of the operation, Avitus felt optimistic. An unusual occurrence this past year.

Their arrival was reminiscent of the Relay 314 incident. They got the jump on their unknown foe, guns blazing, sending them back whatever hole they crawled out of in the first place. Of course during the Relay 314 incident, the Humans came back with vengeance and there was no reason to believe this would be any different. It was up to them to hold down the fort, giving the Keelah Si’yah survivors some extra breathing room. As soon as the gunfire died down, the relief ships touched down, greeted by the ark survivors. As soon as the crews got somewhat organised, he joined the other two Pathfinders and the ark captain.

“Captain, Pathfinder Kirtan. It feels like 600 years since I saw a dextro who wasn’t a Turian. I just wish the circumstances were not as grim, both here and the rest of Andromeda.” he turned to Sara, “And Ryder, of course. Shouldn’t forget the hero. So, what’s our plan?” He turned back to the Quarians “What is the opposition like, who are they? How much do you have left in terms of supplies? How many casualties? What about the ark, is it salvageable?”

He was getting restless and eager for combat. Jouric jumps from the transport just as it set down not even waiting for the other aboard. Scanning the area he sees that the area was clear of hostiles. He grumbles to himself about missing all of the fun before heading to the eastern flank with the majority of the milita to secure it.

"This seems to easy." He says to no one in particular but loud enough to be heard.

The Shadow Chaser had joined the Kodiaks in their clearing of the LZ, making sweeping strafing runs that usually picked off whatever the Kodiaks missed. Once that was done, it's pilot set down with the rest of the rescue fleet, as it was, and lowered the ramp, walking down it with his twin pistols in hand. The main LZ was secure and Cora was already sending groups of marines off to help secure the various fronts of battle. While front line combat wasn't always his favorite thing when in a group setting, there was something about just putting the person or creature in front of him down instead of trying to bring them in alive that was a nice change of pace.

Picking a direction, he headed for the west front, sliding into cover and peeking over it before adding to the fire of the Quarian and Drell who were already lighting up the area around them with gunfire.

Zarti stepped forward together with the Captain of the Keelah Si'yah. The aid could not have come in a more opportune moment. And with the added bonus that at least the Hyperion and the Natanus had survived the journey to the Andromeda galaxy. Sadly that could not be said about their original pathfinders if Sara Ryder and Avitus Rix occupied the positions. Still this was good news.

"Pathfinder Ryder, Rix, we are most grateful for your help." Zarti approached the two Pathfinders. "As you can well see we are in dire states." She paused to look about the remains of the enemy that had plagued the survivors of the Keelah Si'yah after it had crash landed on this alien rock of a planet. "Unfortunately we cannot tell you much of our attackers. They come at night when we are most vulnerable. They either don't need sleep or are nocturnal. We had to institute shifts for all combat ready personnel so that the people could get some rest and be of use during a battle."

"As for the state of our ark. I'm sure the Captain is better equipped to answer that question. But I can tell you this much. The Quarian ark was supposed to depart with the rest of the Initiative, but we encountered problems with the life support systems for all the different species we would carry, so we were delayed. We set off as soon as the complications were dealt with. But we were up for a rough awakening. Apparently upon entering Andromeda space our ark encountered this dark energy cloud or something and the Keelah Si'yah crash landed here. Our supplies are running drastically low. Up until now we were unable to explore the planet for possible resupply efforts due to these constant attacks. Moral is low. We feared we were the only ones that made it." Zarti paused to take a breath, her mask's breathing apparatus hissing quietly. "Keelah se'lai, it's good to see you!" She exclaimed and fell silent.

Zarti turned to the Turian Pathfinder. "Yes, it is good to meet a non Quarian dextro." She smiled, but her mask obscured it.

"We figured you're food supplies were running low so we brought some on...SAM which Kodak was it?" SAM flashed the lights on it. "Ah that one. There is nothing but food on it not even pilots. We made sure to have it all decontaminated so quarians can eat it. We already determined that your Ark is never going to fly again much like my own. So many Arks are beyond repair now. Clearly your enemy is not the kett, I'll explain them to you later. So three alien races in the Andromeda galaxy and two of them are hostile. One of my squad mates is a representative from the angrans." She pointed to Jamal. "Have you discovered any alien robots? We call them remnants, as in remnants of a lost alien race. Most of the time if you ignore them and let them do whatever it is they do they won't attack other times they attack without provocation kind of like a guard dog. From our scans we determined that the aliens are about 200 klicks from here. Doesn't appear to be any space ships so this is probably their home planet. If we can make it known that we intend to leave and take all of you with us then they may stop attacking. They are probably only defending their planet from alien invasion. Has your SAM been able to translate their language? Is your SAM still operational? You said they only attack at night, how long is the day/night cycle here?" The human SAM interjects. "This planet has a six hours of daylight and twelve hours of night." Sara shakes her head. "They have more time to attack than we do to recover. Any one from your Ark that needs to rest can stand down the Nexus militia and the Pathfinder teams will fill in for them. They can relax on board the Tempest & Kryik. SAM take the non-food Kodiaks and have them scout the immediate area for any potential places for the aliens to sleep during the six hours, 200 klicks is a long way to traverse every night just to attack. If you find any do your best to eliminate it. Also contact the merc and get him in on it as well. Until negotiations can begin if at all we eliminate any nearby threats." The kodiaks take off.

Avitus listened to the rundown of the ark survivors situation before responding. “Yes, we’ve encountered that cloud, too. The Scourge, we call it. When Natanus hit it, Macen- Our Pathfinder was injured. He died while trying to transfer our SAM to me. That damaged the SAM and made it focus on Barro’s last orders: Get the Natanus to our golden world and find me. Pushing through the Scourge tore the Natanus to shreds, nearly a quarter of the stasis pods are gone. Worse yet, what was our golden world six hundred years ago is now an asteroid belt. The other worlds are not much better, I’m afraid. I wish we had more good news to raise your spirits.”

Avitus activated his omni-tool and connected with the Kryik’s chief medical officer. “Verrikan? Break out the medical equipment, I’m afraid we’re sending a lot of wounded your way.” Then he switched to Morano. “Erin, start moving cargo from the main cargo bay into smaller storage compartments, even my cabin if necessary. We have a lot of tired people and they need some room to rest. Just keep the halls clear and mind the ship balance.”
“This is a pathfinder ship, not a hotel. How are we supposed to accommodate Hanar? And the Elcor? Even with all the supplies unloaded, there’s not much more room I can squeeze out of this.” Her voice came through.
“Didn’t the STG teach you anything? Adapt and overcome.”
“I can’t inflate the ship, it’s fragile enough as it is.”
“You helped steal plans for a secret frigate and managed to keep the Nexus from falling apart, yet you can’t find a bit of space to cram a few extra starving Elcor into? You’ll manage, even one is a victory.” He turned back to the group.

“I know it’s a long-term plan, but what about the Keelah Si’yah when we leave? Leaving so much of our technology in the hands of potential enemies is as far from a good thing as it gets, but stripping it would take forever. But the extra resources would certainly be of use, especially for new settlements.” Avitus paused before asking an uncomfortable question. “How many survived?”

"Ideally the Keelah Si’yah will act like the Hyperion on Meridian. If diplomacy does not win this war then we will scuttle the ship with extreme prejudice. The least ideal would be to wipe out every last one of the attackers whoever they are and the Keelah Si’yah will still act like the Hyperion on Meridian. Time will only tell."

Several Forwarding Stations came down around the camp. "I had one of the automated barges send numerous Forwarding Stations. Now no one has to go far to restock, heal, or repair their shields. As get closer to the enemy's location more will be called down."

Jericho had been on the flank for all of five minutes when Ryder's SAM contacted him with a new set of orders; find and destroy anywhere this enemy might be able to rest during the six daylight hours that this planet has. "Copy that, I'll start searching right now." Carefully moving away from the frontlines of combat, and silently wishing that this mysterious enemy would quit hiding in the foilage and come out to fight fair, he returns to the Shadow Chaser and boards it, raising the boarding ramp behind him. Taking a seat, he opens a channel to Sarah. "So, are we looking to just annihilate the forest within a, I don't know, 15 or 20 kilometer radius of us? Or more limited? Because taking out a few hidey holes won't be enough to discourage further attacks by itself."

As he finished speaking, the Chaser finished it's take off and began to fly in ever widening circles as he scanned for the hiding places it seemed these guys would need to rest during the day. Of course, he was also hoping they didn't have any anti-air capability too.

“Very well, coordinate loading the wounded with my engineer, Erin. She’s at the Kryik, pale skin, perpetually annoyed, you’ll know her when you see her. In the meantime, I’ll take a small squad and take a closer look in that direction.” he gestured towards the woods. “From the air, the foliage there seemed thicker. Contact me if I am needed for anything. If the Kryik is needed, Erin Morano is in charge in my absence.” he finished, turning away from the group and opened a line to Taras and Jouric.

“Jouric, Borodin. Meet me at the south side of the perimeter, we’re going to take a more thorough look through the forest on that side. If I was a mysterious night critter that just pissed off several thousand aliens, I’d probably be hiding there. No flamethrowers or incendiary devices, we’re not here to burn down the entire planet. Not yet, anyway, who knows what the next week might bring. Just remember we’re first and foremost trying to get our bearings straight, but I wouldn’t rule out combat.” He finished and leaned against a rock formation, waiting for his team to show up.

Jouric leaves the eastern front and heads to the southern flank to meet with Avitus. "Lucky for you I don't have either. Though if we engage the enemy I'm pinning one to a tree." He replies through the comm line.

He see Avitus leaning against a rock formation. Jouric walks up and takes a knee waiting for Borodin to show up. "What else are we looking for in these woods."

“Pinning to trees is fine, just leave them intact enough for dissection. But don’t waste too much time on just one. By the looks of it, there’s quite a lot of them.” Avitus responded to Jouric, “ Also, we’re looking for a peaceful solution if possible, try to keep that in mind.”

Avitus noticed a ship fly overhead and remembered the mercenary. “This is Pathfinder Rix. Do not engage any targets south of the Keelah Si’yah. I’ve been shot at by humans before and I don’t feel like repeating that.”

As Jouric arrived, Avitus continued. “What are we looking for? Anything that tries to kill us, anywhere they could be hiding. But if we find something friendly, I won’t complain. If we do, we’ll try to make a good impression and hopefully pick up a few more friends. It worked out with the Angarans.”

“Hey, I’ve got an idea.” Taras called out to the two as he approached, “We’ve dealt with a race of murderous psychopaths before, and the genophage put an end to them. How about we skip the pleasantries and get down to business right away?” he threw away a cigarette bud and slid his helmet on his head. “Show them we’re not in the mood for their bullshit.”

Following the automatic rifleman’s arrival, Avitus sprang up to his feet and set out into the dense foliage. “Form a line, two meters in between, keep your eyes up and noise down. If we are right and the hostiles are nocturnal, their eyes will likely be adjusted to darkness.” Avitus made sure his flashlight was working. “This could work very well against them. If we start taking fire, Taras will use his biotics to shield us while we find a half decent position and return fire. If there are no questions, off we go.”

Shortly after the Kodiaks & Jericho took off to following Ryder's order a solar eclipse began to happen. A once in a millennia eclipse. "Ryder this solar eclipse by all calculations will last a month." Just then a massive attack began. The quarian Pathfinder and her squad mates were the first victims of a month of darkness. "SAM download the night vision update to all helmets. Everyone is going to need it." Those like Jaal & Peebee who did not wear helmets were given Umbra Visors to wear which had built in night vision already.

"SAM recall the Kodiaks, Jericho too, have them provide air support." Ryder called upon Zap her Remnant VI gifted by Peebee. "Cora take command of the Militia and the Keelah Si'yah survivors and rest of my squad mates Vetra & Drack your with me. Avitus do what we Pathfinders do best. All of you hold the line, no matter what. If at all possible capture one alive."

Ryder, Vetra, Drack, & Zap jumped directly into combat to thin out the horde of attackers before. The Nomad controlled by SAM was used to run over the alien attackers and provide cover for any one who needed it.

Avitus walked towards the woods, flanked by his squadmates, when the world turned dark. He raised his fist, signalling them to stop and stared at the black sky for a brief moment. “Spirits.” he gasped. Than the realisation hit him. “Get down, COVER!”

He himself threw himself onto the ground. He remembered a piece of metal, likely a chunk of the ark’s hull, to his left, but he couldn’t get to it. He was caught by the attack in the middle of an open area with no cover, or even concealment to speak of. As his eyes adjusted to the near pitch-black surroundings, he saw bipedal shapes, dozens upon dozens of them, moving through the woods. Right where they were headed just a minute ago. Avitus could clearly see one of the shapes raise what must have been a weapon and point it his way. He pressed himself down into the dirt and covered his face with his forearm, hoping to minimize his injuries.

A loud whine approached, followed by the sound of rubber sliding on dirt and gravel and projectiles hitting something made of metal. Looking up, he saw the Nomad parked just a meter from him, between him and where he last saw the enemy. Taras picked himself up from the ground behind the Nomad’s rear wheels and unloaded his Revenant in long bursts into the foliage. Avitus could imagine the odd smile on Taras’ face. Wasting no time, he scrambled to his feet and dashed towards the wreckage he saw earlier, closely followed by Taras. Avitus couldn’t see Jouric anywhere, but wasn’t too worried about him. He had two hearts and two separate nervous systems, after all. Now that he had cover, he opened a communication line to Ryder.

“Thanks, the Nomad saved my life. Where can I get one?”

He cycled through his helmet’s vision modes. Basic light magnification provided decent enough image. Whitehot thermal imagining yielded mixed results. Background temperature was fairly low, which made the angarans and milky way species stand out. The quarians’ thermal signatures were colder due to the suits, but still noticeable. What surprised him was the heat emitted by the hostile race, or rather the lack of it. They appeared even colder than the quarians, but that could very well have been caused by their armor. He had a sudden idea. “Taras!”
“Aye?” the russian replied.
“Do you have any flares?”
“Mhm… Da.” Taras said as he realised what Avitus had in mind.
“Everyone careful with your night vision, flare coming up on the south side.” he transmitted on an open channel before switching back to Ryder, “If they’re nocturnal, maybe they won’t like the light.” He turned back to Taras. “Go.”

The flare flew up into the air and Avitus turned to observe the unknown aliens, waiting to see their reactions. When the flare reached the top of its arc, a small chute deployed as it ignited, flooding the surrounding area with bright white light.

Kaze snorted grumpily as he moved through the brush of the unknown planet. Massive feet and wings crushing the plants underneath as he moved away from his downed ship. Should have brought an actual pilot He thought while looking up at the sky. His eyes narrowed when he noticed that the moon of the planet was moving towards the sun slowly. An eclipse, something that lasted only minutes on his world. Who knew how long it would last here. Looking down a display flickered to life on his wrist, he was going in the right direction of where everyone had set down.

The pace quickened to keep up with the moon. As he moved everyone out in the cleared area was chattering, but his own headset couldn't pick it up. It was older than the humans tech and didn't have the same range. Then again his species could communicate over miles upon miles with deep sounds reverberating through their torsos. This had limited their development of communicative tech for a long period of time. While he thought and moved the sun was fully eclipsed. The trip had been peaceful until that point and now he could hear things rustling.

He didn't need communication to hear the sounds of combat up ahead. Apparently whatever had attacked was nocturnal, what else warranted two pathfinders and a bundle of kodiaks to be brought in? The sound of laser fire and exploding wood or stone was message enough for him. His pace doubled, those massive wings nearly hauling the rest of him along. To the defenders it looked like a behemoth had burst out of the tree-line. To creatures he came up behind he looked like a mountain of muscle. Not a weapon in sight, but he didn't really need one.

Those massive wings reached over and tore a youngish tree from the ground, root-ball and all, before it was swung. Shields were designed to handle a certain amount of distress before dying, if the creatures had shields the poor bubbles would have exploded shortly before the smaller beings were crushed. Shifting the mass of wood he blocked some of the incoming fire from those that turned their attention to him. The trunk had chunks torn out of it but otherwise was intact. Turning the mass of lumber in his wings 'hands' he chucked it like a spear directly along the enemy line. More enemy fire came his way and he shielded his main body-mass with one of those enormous wings of his. His shields flickered up but they wouldn't hold for long under sustained gunfire.

His other wing was used to pry up and flip flat looking boulder as temporary cover to let his shields recharge.

Jericho opted not to respond to the Turian pathfinder, not out of spite or racism, but because he had a job to do and he knew how to run danger close ops with friendly forces near the firing zone. "Try and tell me how to do my job..." he mutters, another outcrop of trees that seemed to fit the bill exploding in a mess of dirt and flaming trees and foilage. This pattern persists all around the established perimeter until the Eclipse starts. Jericho's forced to pull up prematurely from a run while his vision through his cockpit changes and at the same time orders from Ryder came in to provide air support. Gritting his teeth, he resumes the run he'd been forced to abandon before taking up a hovering position inside the perimeter, circling it slowly and firing into the trees. {Just mark where you need me most and I'll light it the hell up.}

Jouric did not have a chance to reply to the Russian or his Turian commander when the eclipse started followed by the attack. He had started firing the spike thrower at hostiles as soon as he saw them, even pinning a few to trees.

"Korbal!" He shouted as he holstered the shotgun and drew his hammer. He biotic charges into an enemy band of four and starts swinging wildly laughing when the hammer strikes one.

Though all this his shields held for a few minutes, which was long enough for him to take out the small group he engaged. When the last one fell,he ducked behind some cover to let his shields recover and assess his injuries. He had taken a few hits to his left arm and another to his chest. Neither were life threatening but needed treatment soon to stop the bleeding.

The starshell yielded mixed results. The enemies that were wearing helmets did not react. It was likely the helmets blocked out the excess light to protect their eyes. Those that did not have their eyes protected dropped their weapons and covered their eyes, some dropping to the ground, whether due to the shock or because they tripped over something. Avitus took the chance and raised his Mattock. With his left side covered by the rubble, he swept from right to left, picking off the stunned individuals, taking them out of the action before they could recover. It barely made a dent in their numbers. As he ejected the thermal clip, he realised something. Even in the light of the dying flare, the red hot thermal clip stood out like a sore thumb. Avitus slid down to fully cover himself just as a hail of fire swept across his cover. The unmistakeable sound of an M-76 Revenant answered the attack and silenced the attacker. Taras was vigilant and very good at his job.
“Careful with the clips, looks like even night crawlers aren’t completely blind.”
“So I have noticed.” Avitus barked back, “Have you seen the krogan? I lost track of him when the shooting started.”
“He was to my right. Than someone turned off the lights and I had more important things on my mind.”
“We’d better pull back from this open field. FInd yourself a better position, I’ve got your back. Onco you’re set, I’ll come to you.”

Taras picked a slightly elevated position. Tapping Avitus’ shoulder he sprinted out of the cover and headed for it. When he reached his destination he slid to a halt, only to realized his position was occupied by two quarians, their suits torn open in several spots.Taras recognized one of the corpses as the quarian pathfinder by her suit. His own armor took on a shade of red when he landed in their remains. “Ugh, der'mo, I’m here, but be careful.” he warned Avitus and turned to provide cover.

Now that the flare has died off and the world was plunged into darkness once again, the hostile soldiers were trying to close in. Some of them seemed determined to reach the position where the flare was fired from, perhaps to see who did it and make sure they wouldn’t do it again. If that were the case, it landed Avitus in a bad spot. Unable to move because of the advancing forces, yet staying would mean death or capture. He didn’t know which would be worse.

The Kodiaks turned on their headlights to full brightness. SAM contacted Jericho. "Mr. Joranis if your ship has headlights I suggest turning them on. These things seem to hate to the light." Ryder ordered anyone armed solely with a sniper rifle to get on top of the Keelah Si'yah and use the height to pick them off as far possible from camp.

Cora, Jaal, & Liam stayed reinforcing whatever section needed the most help. Cora was always the first to reach anywhere that needed help. Ryder, Nakmor, Peebee, & Vetra charged into the thickest horde. Ryder threw her Assault Drone and called upon Zap her Remnant VI drone to provide more firepower. With Ryder now in the midst of the battle SAM detoured one of the Kodiaks to back her up.

After seventeen straight hours of battle the attackers retreated. SAM alerted both Pathfinders. "I noticed this during battle any one who was hurt but not dying that could be captured was dragged off." Ryder went after the captain of the Keelah Si'yah. "Why didn't your or your Pathfinder tell us they were capturing your people?" Ryder had only one concern exaltation. She knew the kett she was familiar with but they took the DNA of other species to improve themselves. Who knew what others might look different because they adapted from other species. Why kett would want to adapt a species blinded by light is beyond strange. The captain of the Keelah Si'yah spoke up. "We didn't think it was important. We've seen them eat their dead. We figured those that were captured were brought back to the children or their command structure."

Jericho's ship didn't sprout lights from it's front like the Kodiaks. Instead, several canister shaped drones took up positions all around the outer ring and lit up with high powered spot lights, penetrating even the protective tinting of the helmets, at least for a few minutes. However, eventually it returned to only those without helmets being blind and Jericho continued firing for the full 17 hours that combat persisted. Part way through, he had to perform a sudden barrel roll as a rocket zoomed through the air where his ship had been a moment before, but he was fairly certain it had been a misfire from below, since no others followed.

Landing as the enemy force finally retreated, Jericho disembarked and immediately went out to the forest's edge, pistols drawn, and went in to search around until he found what he was looking for and delivered a blow to the alien's head, stunning it long enough to slap the stun cuffs on it and heave it up. "Welcome to being a prisoner of war, jack ass." Pushing the alien in front of him, he radioed Ryder and Avitus. {Bringing one of them in. I managed to wing him during combat and I guess his buddies thought he'd died. Well, I think it's a he.}