Author's Note: Mass Effect and all its characters, plotlines, etc., belongs to Bioware and some really good writers who are hopefully a helluva lot richer than I am for this awesome material. No infringement is intended or implied by this respectful work of fanfiction.
TAKING COVER
As a planet, Therum was the absolute opposite of the ideal galactic vacation spot. It was a hellhole of open lava pools, blasted landscape, and geth.
They'd known about the miserable landscape as soon as the Mako had finished her usual controlled plummet to Therum's surface. They'd found out about the geth about fifteen minutes into navigating the rocky switchbacks that served as Therum's roadways. They'd finessed their way around the first strongpoint, surgically removing defensive positions with the Mako's long-reaching guns. But they'd been forced to disembark in order to open the gates to let the Mako through, and the arrival of geth reinforcements had pinned Shepard's team in less than optimal cover positions.
"Need a better vantage," the commander shouted, her strong voice ringing clear above the gunfire and small explosions. "Moving left to find a spot. Williams, cover me!"
"Roger that!" Ashley fired a grenade over her barricade and popped her head up, her Avenger assault rifle chattering in short, sustained bursts at the squad of geth they'd been engaging.
Pistol in one hand, rifle slung over her shoulder, Shepard sprinted from her position toward a stack of supply crates that would let her triangulate fire on the enemy. A geth armature chose that moment to stomp into range; tracer fire stitched low across the dusty, debris-strewn ground and took a chunk out of Shepard's leg armor. She staggered and went to one knee, right smack out in the open.
Kaidan's alarm made his biotics flare blue in a ripple across his skin. "Commander! You're hit!" Firing on the advancing geth with one hand, he twisted eezo energy with the other, forming it into an eerie, pale bubble around Shepard.
"I noticed." The commander gritted her teeth. "There are too many. Fall back to the Mako! I'll cover you!"
"Not leaving without you, ma'am!" Ashley levelled a withering stream of firepower at the advancing geth armature, slowing its march toward them. Bullets and sparks pinged off its hull plating, but slowed didn't mean stopped. She was forced to duck back behind her boulder as the armature concentrated fire on her position.
"I said fall back!" Still kneeling, Shepard yanked her sniper rifle off her shoulder, sighted and squeezed off a shot. One of the armature's supporting legs exploded, sending it down to the ground at an awkard angle.
And then an incoming missile from the squad that had arrived with the armature streaked in low and took the commander clean off her feet.
"Shepard!" Kaidan was in motion even before she hit the ground with a bone-jarring thud, a long, black-armored streak of determination and biotics. Blue luminscence haloed around him in a destructive corona and flared along his arms as he snapped out a warp. The mass effect field slammed into the armature, dark energy shredding it enough for a sustained burst of fire from Ashley to take it down. A second blast of blue screamed across the battlefield and took a geth footsoldier out of the fight.
"I'll cover. Get the commander!" Grim, Ashley stepped out of cover, tossed a grenade into an advancing knot of geth that turned at least one of them into outright shrapnel and maimed a few more.
Kaidan hauled ass to where his commanding officer lay sprawled and silent in the dirt. He skidded to a halt, dropped to one knee, hauled Shepard up and over his shoulder, and shot to his feet in one coordinated rush. "Got her."
"Get into the Mako. We're gonna get overwhelmed if we don't move. " Ashley fell into guard position, still firing.
Kaidan bolted for the Mako, slammed the door open, and slung the commander inside. "She's in! Get in here!" He fired over Ashley's head as she fell back to their position, pistol warming in his hands as he fired and vented heat in a practiced rhythm. How the hell many of these things were there? Well, a few less, now.
"Coming!" Ash tossed her final grenade and they dove inside the armored vehicle almost in concert, Kaidan slapping the door sealed as soon as they cleared the threshold.
"Head for the far gate." Shepard's already alto voice was lower than normal and gritty with pain. She was trying to drag herself upright with one hand on the gunnery chair support. Her free hand still held her pistol.
"Commander, with respect, are you nuts?" Kaidan supported Ashley as she headed for the cockpit while the Mako rocked from the impact of small arms fire. He went to his knees beside Shepard as soon as Ash was clear, digging for the medkit with his free hand.
"You want to have to punch through these defenses again? We've almost got them, and we're almost at the mining camp." Shepard groaned as she levered herself upright. There was blood on her mouth - from a smashed lip when she'd caught the rocket's impact or internal injuries, Kaidan didn't know.
His hands didn't shake as he ripped open the medkit, and he kept his voice low and firm. "Commander, you need to stay still. You got hit pretty bad."
"Armor stopped some of it. Slap some medigel on what's left." She coughed, spat out dirt and blood. "We need to get through this chokepoint and take the geth out while we do. Alenko, get me to the firing controls. Williams, you're driving."
"Aye-aye, ma'am." Ashley slid into the driver's seat and gunned the engine. The Mako lurched forward with all its considerable power and Kaidan found himself sliding across the floor, trying to brace Shepard so she wouldn't slam against anything. He wasn't sure if it was determination or sheer luck that helped him get her into the gunner's chair, but she got there.
"You drive worse than me, Williams," she grunted.
Ashley kept her eyes on the viewscreen. "Learned from the best, ma'am."
"We've got incoming!" Kaidan warned, powering up the Mako's guns.
"Not for long." Ashley brutally rammed the armored vehicle's nose into a geth that was on foot, and Shepard focused fire on the turret to the right of the Mako's position. "Straggler down!"
"Turret..." Snarling, Shepard triggered a rocket launch at the stubborn emplacement. "Turret down. Anything else pinging?"
"No, ma'am."
"OK, Chief. Find us someplace safe for a few minutes."
"Roger that, ma'am."