Where Kal'Reegar takes decisions into his own hands
Well, there are worse worlds to die on. Definitely better than dying in space. Though did the sun have to be to so damn bright?
Kal'Reeger slapped his third and last missile pod into the launcher, and watched the ammo indicator flick from red to green with grim satisfaction. The only question left to answer now would be how many geth platforms would his funeral bier be made from.
Enough for all of us, I hope. Keelah se'lai, brothers.
Kal looked up over the edge of the stone wall, his mask automatically darkening to shield his eyes against the blazing light of Haestrom's star. He still had to squint, even through the polarized faceplate, and his HUD flickered as the radiation beat down on him. He ducked back as the duracrete half a meter away exploded, a hunk torn out of the edge. Shards of stone skipped off his barriers, and he grimaced, clutching at the launcher.
"Commander Shepard, if you can still hear me, my position is about to be overrun. My squad is down, and I'm hit. Tali'Zorah is in the building a hundred and fifty metres north of my position. Get to her if you can." He closed his eyes taking a deep breath. "Tell her we held as long as we could. Sorry we couldn't do more."
Kal flicked the safety off and rose quickly, sighting down the missle launcher as the weapon acquired a target. The lock on toned in his suit comms, and he pulled the trigger without really bothering to identify what kind of Geth platform he'd focused on. The missile streaked away, sending a crack through the air as the rocket broke the sound barrier just before slamming into it's target.
More Geth opened fired on his position, chunks of metal splinters and bits of stone skipping around him as shots struck nearby. His shields flared as one shot hammered into him, throwing him to his back.
Well, I'm still not dead yet.
Heavy footsteps hammered on the stone and Kal rolled over, leveling the launcher back the way he'd come. His finger twitched on the trigger as a tall figure stepped into view.
"Woah, friendly!"snapped the turian as he ducked, sliding down against the wall. Several humans appeared, crowding into cover to either side of him. One knelt before him, red and white N7 patch stark against jet black armour.
"Kal'Reegar? Sorry we're late, we got a little held up," the man said as he extended a hand.
Relieved, Kal relaxed, his muscles sagging with exhaustion as he traded grips with him.. "Commander, good to meet you in person. Was starting to think I wouldn't get the opportunity."
"Garrus, Jacob, make them keep their heads down or lose them." Shepard said, glancing down the line.
"On it, Commander," another dark armored human answered as he popped up to one knee and started shooting.
Shepard nodded then turned back to Kal. "Mr. reegar, where is the rest of your squad."
Bitter bile twisted in his stomach. "Dead. They tried to flank across the right side and while Mel'Tranni and I covered them. I got hit and Mel was killed outright. The rest got cut to ribbons before I could do anything."
Shepard went still as a statue. "I'm sorry. Where's Tali?"
"Building dead ahead. They've been trying to cut their way in to her, but it's awful hard when someone keeps shooting rockets at you. The Colossus up there is a problem though." Kal waved a hand towards the doors. "Standard protocol for armature-class units is to take out its shields and whittle it down, kill it with bug bites, but it's got an auto-repair subroutine that blows that plan straight to hell."
Shepard peered across the gap, ducking back as a shot tore another hole in their shared cover. "Alright, so we have to get in close, drop it fast."
Kal nodded and slapped one hand against the rocket launcher. "I'm not moving so well, but I can still pull a trigger. I'll provide cover from here, maybe even drop it's shields."
Shepard shook his head. "You've done enough. We can take it from here. Just keep your head down."
Right, the fragile quarian has to keep his head down and let someone else do the heavy lifting? Fuck that.
Kal'reegar growled and shoved himself back up. "Wasn't asking your permission. I'm still in this-"
Shepard pinned him to the wall in a vise-like grip, and knelt so his helmet almost touched Kal's mask. A blazing red monster's glare seared at him through the visor of Shepard's helmet. "Stay here, stay down, and cover our back. We'll get to Tali."
If he lived through this, those eyes would feature prominently in his nightmares. Kal suppressed the shiver that ran through him as Shepard pulled away and started issuing orders to his team. They split, sprinting out from the high cover of the balcony, leaving him alone.
He looked down at the body of Mel'Tranni. The younger marine would never see his family, his child again. None of his team would, except for maybe Tali.
And me, if I had someone to go back to. The Fleet Marines are my family. I owe them all better than standing aside.
Kal counted to three, then hefted himself up, bringing the missile launcher down to point at the biggest threat on the field. The weapon cycled, the tone locking in place again and he squeezed the trigger, sending the missile streaking away. Kal cycled a second missile and sighted down range.
Cracks spiderwebbed across his hud and his ears rang, warnings flashing across his suit, as it registered multiple breaches. A strange sense of weightlessness gripped him for a handful of heartbeats before he crashed to the ground. Pain streaked from the small of his back to his shoulder as something cracked. "S-sorry, Shepard. Should have listened to you. Make the bastards pay. Keelah se'lai."
Tali'Zorah's voice echoed in his ear as darkness swept in. "Kal! Hang on, we are coming!"
He smiled and closed his eyes. Mission accomplished.
A/N: I don't normally do AU drabble kind of things, but hey, contest, so why not! This is just a slight AU variation as set up. We'll see just where the ripples go from here.