Disclaimer: Mass Effect is property of Bioware.

Note: This story assumes you have played Mass Effect 2. Contains spoilers for Mass Effect 2. Starts off during the Archangel recruitment mission.

START OF STORY

"Garrus! Garrus! Hang in there - "

Commander Jane Shepard aborted her shouts and flattened herself on the debris-strewn carpet, as another hailstorm of bullets ripped into the room. The ground, already trembling from the reverb of powerful gunship engines hovering just outside the building, positively shook from the punishment of the massive metal slugs. The air was growing hotter from the sheer amount of heated shrapnel all around, and the pungent smell of burnt metal, flesh, and blood was overpowering, almost nauseating.

"Damn it!" She bit her lower lip, waiting patiently from behind one of several large crates which Garrus had strategically placed all over his hideout as potential gunfire cover. She didn't know what was inside the crates, but it was damn solid, absorbing the bullets with no visible signs of degradation yet. She was glad that the contents were non-volatile. To be expected, though. Garrus wasn't an idiot who would hide behind something explosive. Unlike some of the mercs whom she had killed en route to here.

She glanced once more at her fallen turian comrade, who was lying so seemingly far away at a mere ten feet. He was bleeding very badly from the initial gunship salvo which had caught everyone by surprise, but he had managed to drag himself to cover, at least. He was unconscious now, however, from the blood loss, and unresponsive to the chaos all around him.

She was no doctor, but she was pretty sure Garrus was going to die if he didn't get medical attention in the next few minutes. So she yelled for a real doctor: "Mordin!"

That chatterbox of a Salarian named Mordin Solus, about fifteen feet away from her, called back from behind his own crate with uncharacteristic brevity: "Shepard!"

She hollered above the racket, as the gunship outside continued to spam bullets: "Mordin, I am going to distract the gunship! When I do it, get over here and check on Garrus!"

Mordin was understandably hesitant. "Distract him? How? A-61Mantis Gunship comes standard with automated infrared targeting system! Shoots anything with a heat signature that moves, and I definitely possess a heat signature – wait! Sudden thought! My forearm possesses projectile launcher equipped with mini-warheads of salarian napalm! Kinetic damage minimal, but incineration damage substantial! Capable of achieving 3500 degrees Celsius! Should be enough to temporarily confuse targeting system and inflict moderate damage on gunship's plating! Might also overheat guns temporarily, further preventing gunfire for an increased period of time - "

She had to interrupt Mordin before Garrus died of blood loss and she died of exasperation: "All right, Mordin, sounds good! This krogan merc's body is still warm! I am going to throw the corpse across the room away from you! When the gunship targets the krogan, you fire your napalm and get over here! Jacob!"

Her new Cerberus teammate, Jacob Taylor, yelled from way across on the other side of the room, "Yes, Commander!"

"See if you can put up a barrier around Mordin while he makes a break for it! That ship might still be shooting even when Mordin disables his targeting system, we need to make sure Mordin survives any bullets!"

"Yes, a barrier would be greatly appreciated! Preserve the salarian! Hmmm!" Mordin nodded in agreement.

"I'll do what I can, no guarantees I can hold off more than one or two bullets, though! That gunship hits like a truck!"

"All right! Get ready!" Shepard furrowed her brow as she held out her right hand, and the hand burst into a fiery royal purplish glow of biotic power. The nearby Krogan corpse then began to glow with a similar purple field around it. She raised her hand and the body levitated slowly until it was suspended in mid air, a foot off the ground. Her head started to throb and ache from the biotic strain, but she ignored it. Heavy bastard, this was going to require some effort.

"You guys ready!"

Mordin had double checked his launcher, and he was glowing blue with Jacob's barrier. "Ready!" they shouted back.

"On the count of three! One! Two! Three!"

With a yell, Shepard hurled the Krogan corpse as far as she could across the room, away from Mordin. The gunship's bullet stream jerked away from the center of the room and followed the Krogan corpse, dutifully tracking it all the way to the ground and turning it into bloody reptilian hamburger.

Mordin popped up from behind his crate and aimed his fist at the huge gaping hole in the wall, where the gunship hovered. "Napalm away!"

A tiny rocket, little more than a dart with blue flame coming out of its tail, shot out of his wrist and out of the building – fwooooosh! The entire gunship disappeared behind a gigantic ball of flame, and Shepard's eyes bugged as she ducked back down to avoid an incoming wave of scorching heat and flame. Holy crap, the Salarian was packing that sort of firepower on his wrist?

Whatever. She yelled somewhat unnecessarily, "Go go go go!" as Mordin was already running as fast as he could across the room. Thankfully, the gunship had momentarily stopped shooting (maybe the guns had indeed overheated as Mordin speculated), and the good doctor arrived at Garrus's body with no trouble.

"Mordin, how is he!"

Mordin was hunched over Garrus, applying medi gel to an open wound. "Alive! Barely! Need evac to advanced medical facility within twenty minutes!"

"Keep him alive, Mordin! I'll take care of the ship!" Shepard had removed her heavy weapon from its back holster, and it was humming, volume increasing as it warmed up. The M-920 Cain, a brand-new prototype rail gun with high-explosive rounds. A last-resort weapon capable of only one humongous shot. Never fired it live before, but the simulations indicated that this gun was capable of taking out big things. Very big things. Like that damned gunship outside.

"First time for everything," she muttered as she checked to ensure the weapon was primed. It was. "Let's see what this big boy can do."

She pulled the trigger, and the weapon started beeping. Four second firing delay due to charge time of acceleration fields. Four. Three. Two.

She whipped around the corner of her crate on one knee, aiming down the sights. The gunship was right there. Its miniguns, freshly frosted due to their coolant system, were starting to rotate again. No longer overheated. They would be firing in moments.

One last beep, and she whispered, "Gotcha."

The Cain fired, the recoil so violent, she thought her arm had broken off at the socket. The gunship simply disappeared before her eyes within a mushroom cloud so large, it dwarfed even Mordin's napalm cloud. The shockwave sent everything not bolted down flying. Shepard, still peering around the crate, caught some of the wave and was sent rolling facefirst into a wall with a violent smack.

Moments later, Jacob was rolling her onto her back. "Commander, you okay?"

"Ugh." Severely disoriented with her nose smashed, as she struggled to get up. "Yeah, I think so. Did we get it?"

"The gunship's down, sir. Totally vaporized."

"Great." She called out over her commlink, "Joker, EDI, is that the last of them? Are we done here?"

Joker's voice was joyous. "I think so, commander! That's all the mercs wrote!"

EDI's voice stated, "No other life signs in your vicinity, Commander. The area has been cleared and secured."

Jacob sighed in relief, but Shepard was still anxious as she climbed up to her feet. "Mordin! How is he?"

"Critical, unstable. Life signs steadily decreasing. My clinic not sufficient for bullet trauma of this magnitude. Normandy med bay required."

"You hear that, Joker? We need a pickup ASAP!"

"Shuttle already on its way, commander. Tell Garrus to hang in there."

"Damn it, Garrus, don't die on us now." She dropped down to one knee to survey his injuries, and she inwardly cringed. So much raw flesh and blue blood everywhere, and his breathing, although regular, was so weak...

"Mordin, is there anything you need, anything I can do?"

"Nothing you can do. Maybe pray to your gods. Or his gods. Maybe both. Not sure which is applicable for this situation. Need shuttle pronto."

Mordin lapsed into silence as he checked on the distribution of the medi gel within Garrus' injuries. Jacob was also silent, aware that with the violence over, Commander Shepard was fading away, and Jane Shepard was now surfacing, as she reached out to gently hold one of Garrus's hands in one of hers.

Trying to fight off the fear of loss. Back from the abyss and nothingness of death, and so alone with so few she could truly trust, truly call friend. Actually, not even a few. One. One person. Joker. And now, Garrus. So happy just half an hour ago. Ecstatic, even, to find out that he was Archangel. The familiar Turian face unmasked, the same dry wit, the same earnest attitude. Those impeccable sharpshooting skills, each shot usually accompanied by a whimsical quip.

She was almost angry now. Having survived Sovereign, only to be taken down by some lousy two-bit merc gang? No. No way! Garrus wasn't going out like this.

She squeezed his hand, watching for any reaction, hoping he could feel, hoping he could hear. "You hang in there, Garrus. You hang in there." Another squeeze. "That's an order."

TO BE CONTINUED