ButtsnBalls — Roleplayer Guild

By the time Yarik returned to the infiltration team, they were already set to destroy the enthrallment device. Kaya took out the sniper clean, and while Solveig led Kysar through the minefield, an enthralled drell engineer attempted to ambush them. Thankfully, Solveig and Kysar reacted swiftly and returned fire with deadly precision. Now, they were in the hollow belly of the wrecked cargo ship. Wind whistled through numerous holes punctured on the ship hull. Omni-tool glow lit the foreboding, cavernous interior with orange, where one container among dozens held the smooth black orb.

"The Locust is in a shack near the beach; it appears to be sleeping." Yarik announced. He brought up a snapshot from his omni-tool. "Go on, get rid of this thing, I'll keep watch."

The seemingly fragile orb did not shatter upon Kysar's first attempt. Instead, a strange hum emanated from it. Visions of somewhere distant blurred the minds of Kysar, Solveig and Yarik. In a split second, the three of them saw incomprehensible things rising from an abyss. The visions were gone as soon as they blinked again, and perhaps disturbed by what he saw, Kysar made sure the orb was thoroughly destroyed on his second try.

Static rippled across the shattered pieces of the device. Its core was a strange lattice unlike any electronic device in the known galaxy. "It's offline," Yarik begun scanning the remains—

"Out!" He bolted out of the container. "Turian, barrier!"

Yarik and Kysar threw up their biotic barriers just in time for a sudden energy pulse. There was little physical impact, but both biotics felt their barriers consumed by the sudden wave. It felt like millions of tiny needles prickling against their skins; a bit similar to how some perceived the Crucible blast. Dark energy! The enigmatic power every biotic wielded and learned to protect themselves against. Regular kinetic shielding afforded no protection against such, and speaking of...

Solveig had collapsed outside. Her shield and armor were perfectly undamaged, but her nose was bleeding. She was conscious when Yarik checked up on her, but she was heavily disoriented. At the same time, Kaya checked in over their comms. He had also felt the pulse, but was less affected than Solveig.

"Beanie, Serova, check in! We've destroyed the device!" Yarik radioed in the other team. "There was some kind of dark energy wave. Did you feel it?"

"I'm fine." Beanie reported, bubbly as always.

"They all just dropped!" Katya observed with surprise in her voice. "Whatever you did, it worked."

"Alright, hold your position for now." Yarik decided. "We'll rendezvous in a few minutes."

"The effect must taper off sharply with range. Sucks to be you here, human." Concluded Yarik, upon scanning the destroyed orb again. It was 100% down now. Pulling out a specially insulated container, Yarik used telekinesis to load several fragments inside. However, further study was cut short by a cacophony of buzzing.

"Oh no..." Yarik sounded scared for the first time. His dark gray eyes widened to big round bulbs as they locked with four yellow insect-like ones, behind the biggest hole in the cargo ship roof.

"We need to go! Now!" He practically dragged Kysar and Solveig out of the ship. When they had a chance to look their shoulder, the insect-like shape was gone. That didn't stop Yarik from hopping across the minefield as quickly as he could.

"Beanie, prepare for dust-off. Katya, get your team to the shuttle!" Yarik yelled into his comms.

"We're restraining the hostiles. What's going on?" Katya asked.

"The Locust's awake." Yarik explained, while tip-toeing between markers Solveig had left earlier. "By Arashu, it's right there!" Somehow, it dashed or floated over the minefield without setting off any mine.

A chitinous shape disappeared as soon as Yarik pointed at it. It dipped in and out of sight another time, just as Kaya met up with them. The Locust left a wisp of green energy where it dashed off. Yarik held his fire, instead opting to remotely start the shuttle engines to speed up departure. A minute later, the Locust showed up right in front of the infiltration team, between them and their shuttle.

The carapace-covered collector captain stood over two meters tall. A blinding green biotic field covered its body, and countless of micro seeker drones swarmed around it. In its hands was weapon shaped like a long claw, pointed toward the shuttle engines. Its yellow bug eyes engrossed on the engines' ignition.

"Shoot it!" Yarik ordered his team. It was already too late. A particle beam from the collector's weapon ripped through the unarmored engines. Eezo and helium-3 fuel reacted violently, blowing the entire shuttle sky high. Bullets from Yarik's SMG splattered off the Locust's barrier. Meanwhile, Solveig's sniper fire missed wildly. Still dizzy from the pulse, Solveig couldn't hit the broad side of the Citadel. Kysar and Kaya's attacks had negligible effects on target. The Locust's barrier was powerful enough to rival the strongest asari matriarch.

"Fall back." Yarik changed his mind. The Locust turned its weapon to the drell, who barely leaped out of the way when the particle beam turned the sand behind him to darkened glass. He began sprinting south, to where the other team inserted. "This way!"

"Distraction team, come it." Yarik radioed in between dogged breaths.

"We're getting ready for takeoff." Katya replied.

"No, no, wait!"

"Chert, make up your mind already!" Came Katya's annoyance.

"Get back in defensive positions; our shuttle's down and we're coming to you."

"What the hell!?" Katya cursed. "Solveig? Talk to me."

"She's with us, just a bit dazed." Yarik blurted out. "The Locust is in pursuit. You'll see it all soon enough!"

Several minutes before Yarik checked in, the distraction team was locked in an intense firefight with the enthralled drells. After one failed charge stopped by Karnoc, the remaining enemies held their positions. Still, they were fast and tricky to land shots on, though they're not particularly accurate themselves. However, a rocket launcher did not need much accuracy to do damage. As Janiri had spotted, they pointed the heavy weapon toward the krogan, the biggest presence on the field. Katya wasted no time directing the next teammate by her side, the vanguard, Sigma, to solve this problem.

Sigma's last words before charging off were something along the lines of "get down, Mr. Krogan!" Unfortunately for the vanguard, those were his last words, period. His charge trajectory intersected the rocket's. The ensuing result was a spectacular explosion mixed in blue biotic sparks and red mist. Of course, there wasn't much time to lament over Sigma's demise after (not that he's worth lamenting over anyway). One seconds the drells where fighting, the next they all crumbled like sacks of rock. All Katya noticed was a faint HUD warning for an anomalous energy pulse.

What followed were some confused back and forth running. The distraction team barely had time to restrain any of the unconscious drells. When sounds of fighting finally calmed (and they were ready to leave), the explosion of Yarik's shuttle was quick to break the repose. After that, came trouble itself. Yarik darted past shipwrecks and barriacdes like a crazed iguana running for his life. Behind him were Kysar, Kaya and Solveig, the latter two stumbling in their steps. The collector was less than 100 meters behind them.

"Kill it!" Yarik screamed. Ammunition filled the air, forcing the Locust to hide behind a dune.

One of the formerly enthralled drells stirred, perhaps woken by the sudden gunfire. Standing up groggily, this drell found themselves between the SRN and the Locust. All the drell heard was the maddening buzz of seeker swarms. Emerging from dune, the miniature drones chewed through drell's armor and flesh, before injecting lethal amount of toxin into the bloodstream. If the spine-chilling cries were any indicator, then it was a very painful death.

Having seen an informative demonstration, the SRN members were wise to protect themselves against the swarms with whatever means available. Yarik dived behind a metal shipwreck and fortified his barrier. The same shipwreck would have been Katya's choice as well, were it not for Solveig, who had stumbled and tripped near a wooden ship. With the swarms seconds away, Katya pushed Solveig behind the ship and covered her cousin with her own body. In anticipation, Katya boosted her shield over its normal capacity.

Then the seekers were upon them. Wooden planks were shredded; seekers crashed into Katya's shield. They went as swiftly as they came. Though Katya's shield had been drained, she and Solveig were unharmed, and they found themselves amid dozens of expired seekers. Other SRN members all survived without serious injuries. So when the Locust emerged from the dune, poised to mop up stragglers, it was met by a surprising counterattack.
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