(Open to any and all races/alliegances)

In the shadow of a cracked moon, the SSV Thermopylae drifted slowly, running dark. At a glance, it looked deserted, but inside, the crew was frantically at work getting everything back up and running after the recent Geth attack that had crippled it. In the bridge, 1st Lieutenant Derevai Richards stood at the center of the scrambling crew, issuing orders based on the suggestions of her second-in-command, a retired Admiral Michael Danforth, who was at the moment helping a Serviceman to bring the navigation systems back online.

The three mid-sized frigates and one small cruiser had been turned to dust in mere seconds by a Geth Dreadnought. Only the Thermopylae's superior speed and agility had prevented it from following the same fate. For the moment, the Geth had been unable to find the escaped humans, because everything but the lights and life support had been shut off, and any comm traffic was masked by the moon they'd taken shelter near.

"Well, I can get us to about 22 percent power at best, ma'am," the engineer chief said over the comm system.

"Don't worry too much about power for the moment, get us green for entering the nearby planet's atmosphere, that's our main priority. We can make repairs there," Derevai replied calmly. Scans taken before everything had been shut off had shown that the planet their moon-shelter orbited had a life-sustaining environment, a single lucky break for the Thermopylae.

"Yes ma'am, we should be good to go as soon as navigation gets everything straight. Heat shields will run at 85 percent, and our landing thrusters should work well enough. We should play it safe though, and come in real slow. I'd suggest no more than a 15 degree descent angle," the engineer chief responded.

"Noted," Derevai cut the comm channel and turned toward Admiral Danforth, "how are we on navigations?"

"It'll do for now, but it's going to take a major overhaul to get it back in order once we get down to the planet," the admiral replied.

"Very well, let's go then," Derevai turned the channel back on, "full power now, we're taking her down."

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The ship shuddered violently as it forced it's way into the atmosphere, and Derevai could hear scraping as loose parts of the hull were ripped away.

"Almost through, heat shields holding at 45 percent!" Admiral Danforth shouted, wrestling with the controls. There was a moment of complete stillness, then a fierce jerk as the ship made it through.

"Adjust to a ten percent descent angle!" Derevai commanded, taking the engineer chief's suggestion. A few moments later, the ship nearly levelled out, and it's fall slowed. "All power to the engines, now," she then ordered over the comm channel. There was another sudden jerk as the reverse thrusters recieved the power from the shields.

"Hard deck still coming up fast!" Danforth yelled.

"Is the Drive Overload system available?" Derevai asked over the comm.

"I'm not sure, we didn't consider it a priority. It might work... or it might blow the engine..." the engineer chief replied.

"Use it then!" Yet a third ferocious jerk, worse than the others, tore at crewmembers' straps, even throwing some free of their seats. It seemed to threaten to tear free the hull too, and it continued to shake after the initial jerk. The admiral seemed to relax though, before the ship slammed into the ground and all went black.

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"L-T, can you hear me? Lieutenant Richards!" Derevai could hear a dim voice, as if coming from down a deep tunnel, and her mind struggled to catch up to what was happening. A blur began to form in her vision, and a dull, nagging pain slowly grew sharper throughout her whole body. In a sudden explosion of light, everything caught up: the pain, the noises around her, the sight of one of her marines, and the strong taste of copper in her mouth.

"Oh thank God, you're still with us!" the marine said. It took Derevai a moment to recall his name, Operations Chief Jason Stevens.

"Yes, Stevens, I'm still here. A pulse is always a good indicator of that," Derevai said, pushing herself up from the ground, despite her body screaming in protest. Taking a look around, she saw that she had been moved outside, some still knocked out... or worse.

"Status?" she asked of the Operations Chief.

"Everyone's been recovered from the vessel, which is surprisingly still intact. Some of the engineers are already at work getting her spaceworthy again. It would seem that someone hit the panic button as we fell, not a smart move considering it's going to lead the Geth straight to our signal. With any luck, someone friendly will come along, but I doubt it will make much difference, considering what happened to our escorts," Jason paused for a moment at these words. "No deaths to any vital crew, but a few unfortunate people were thrown from their straps, which you undoubtedly noticed, and did not survive the crash. They were mostly extra personnel, and a couple of medics. As for the rest of our squad, they're all alive and waiting for orders now."

"Very well... ensure that the dead recieve the proper treatment, then meet with the rest of the squad," Derevai said before walking off. After getting far enough away from the ship to get a proper look at it, she realized just how bad it really was. It was hard to believe the thing would even stay together; flight seemed a ridiculous prospect for the ravaged hunk of metal. However, two engineers were stubbornly at work patching up a hole in the side of it, and a few more were seen at the stern hard at work. At the bow end, Derevai found eight of her squad formed up in two lines of four. As she approached, they all snapped to a crisp salute.

"At ease, marines," Derevai ordered, coming to a halt in front of them. The squad relaxed, and watched their commander intently, waiting for further orders. Derevai couldn't help but feel great respect for them at that moment, acting as they hadn't just looked death in the eyes. Moments later, Jason walked up, joining the second file of the group.

"Okay, first order of business is to prepare for the Geth. Stevens, I want you to take Red-Team and set up a defensive perimeter. Blue-Team, you'll come with me to scout out the surroundings. Any signs of the Geth and it's full-alert, hit the panic button, any questions?" It was a question merely out of routine, the squad knew their jobs, there were never any questions. Blue-Team ran offense, led by Derevai, and Red-Team ran defense, led by Jason. It never changed, and the two teams were excellent at their jobs. Derevai quickly consulted with a nearby navigator to figure out which way the ship had come down, and led Blue-Team in that direction.

"If they picked up the panic signal, it would have been back where it originated. Corporal Lancer, I want you to watch for any odd readings, anything that can hint at a Geth ship, Private Smith, you-"

"Lieutenant! Wait, your gear!" a voice shouted from behind the group. Instinctively, a couple of the marines turned to face the incoming crewmember, raising their weapons. The man, a medic it looked like, hesistated a moment, but continued past the raised guns to hand Derevai her sniper and pistol.

"Thanks," she said, taking the weapons. After taking a second to salute, the medic rushed off.

"As I was saying, Private Smith, you get the heavy weapons ready for action. I'm going to find high ground and watch for our friendly foes, I suggest you do the same Gunnery Chief Wince," Derevai ordered. In a moment, the squad was in action, with only one member slightly confused as to his purpose. Private Robert Smith, the Soldier of the group, got to work with some of the artillery. Corporal Kirentia Lancer, the team's Engineer, was tapping rapidly at her omni-tool's display. Gunnery Chief Rebecca Wince, the squad Infiltrator, took her sniper and headed off to a hill to the East. The last member of the team, Private Magnus Anderson, an adept, stood idly awaiting orders.

"Private Anderson, you'll be with Private Smith when he gets finished with his set-up," Derevai said, before heading off for a hill opposite of the one Rebecca had taken. Before she even reached the top, Kirentia's voice crackled over the comm.

"I've got activity, it looks like two Geth carriers, just about where we estimated the panic signal to have been sent. They're coming in fast, looks like they're eager to meet us," she said.

"Enemy sighted, two Geth carriers confirmed... they're touching down now. God, looks like they brought quite a group. I'm seeing a lot of heavy fighters: Juggernauts, Shock Troopers, Destroyers, even a few Primes, they've got the works. What did they think we were? ... Leave it to the Geth to completely exaggerate their attack force, now they've got some Geth Colossus coming out, this is gonna be one helluva party, L-T," Rebecca said over the radio.

"Looks like it's time to pray, marines." Derevai got to the top of the mountain and set up her sniper, sighting the impossible attack force.

Outside the planet atmosphere the panic signal was picked up aboard the SSV Gettysburg.

"Sarg... We're picking up a panic signal off the planet's atmosphere," said Pvt. Martinez.

Neil looked around at his crew. "Alright, Smith and Hawkins gear up," said Neil, "we're going on the planet surface."

Pvt. Gina Smith and Coropal Jeff Hawkins took off to the garage.

"Prepare the mako," Neil shouted before walking to the garage also.

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The Gettysburg flew down by the surface of the planet and a mako flew out of it landing hard on the ground.

"Hawkins, do you see anything?" Neil asked.

"Only a crashed ship and bunch of people around it," Hawkins said.

"Alright, take us there"

The mako started driving into the direction of the ship. In about thirty minutes the mako came to a stop not that far away from it.

Neil, Jeff, and Gina all got out and walked towards the ship looking for someone to ask what was going on.

"Alright, so it's not smart to tango with these beasties up close, but it's also a really bad idea to attack from afar... so what are we going to do?" Kirentia asked over the radio.

"Well, we'll probably end up fighting in close quarters, it's our best bet to survive. Those heavy Geth fighters aren't much good at firing those rockets if we get too close, and the Geth Colossus is an equal threat at either close or long range, so it doesn't matter there. That's probably a job for you two techs, Corporal Lancer and Gunnery Chief Wince, taking down a Colossus. Really, we could use some vehicular back-up with one of those, but we'll have to make do with what we have. As for the ground troops, you'll be on that Private Smith. Me and Private Anderson will help with them," Derevai said. Suddenly, the secondary team radio line crackled to life.

"Hey Lieutenant... we've got some company here. Friendlies, it looks like, but we're keeping them at gunpoint, if you don't mind too much..." Jason spoke up over the radio.

"We're on the way, Operations Chief. Let's hope they're friendlies, we could use some help, but consider them hostiles until we can verify," Derevai responded.