Author's Note: I apologize to those of you who'd been reading this fic. I didn't mean to take so long the fourth part, but between having a horrible case of writer's block and crap piling up the past month or so I've just been uninspired. So again, sorry for the wait, hope you enjoy this and reviews are always appreciated!

Disclaimer: This story is based in Bioware's universe of Mass Effect. I do not own any of the characters, names, or places from the Mass Effect universe. This is simply my interpretation of the events that took place on Elysium during the Skyllian Blitz. All original characters and places are of my own creation, and all errors or inconsistencies are of course my own fault.

Traffic Jam

Just outside the Alliance Goldfield Hotel, Elysium, 1036 hours, GST

There were bodies in the street outside the shattered revolving doors of the Goldfield Hotel. Some were burned, having been caught in the open when the spaceport was attacked; the heat of the blast and the enormous shock wave hadn't been enough to vaporize at this distance, but without the aid of combat armor, nearly impossible to survive. Several of the bodies were unburned though, and bore the gaping holes of assault rifle fire. Killed after the blast, gunned down as they ran into the street in a panic. The smoke and stench of burning flesh, oil, metals, plastics and a dozen other things never meant to burn choked the air. Elin was finding it very hard to breathe.

There were several overturned vehicles in the road and on the sidewalks; one was a mountain of fire sending a black fountain of smoke skyward like a miniature volcano. Shepard hunkered down behind a speeder that was lying upside down nearly ten yards away from the fuming wreck to her right. It felt like she was standing next to a sun. Beads of sweat formed on her face and then dried before they had a chance to roll down her forehead and cheeks. She scanned the road ahead, peering over the top of the speeder towards the sound of the firefight that pierced through the steady roar of flame nearby.

There were two men pinned down inside the lobby of the Goldfield, firing sporadically at the small group of mercenaries in the street. She caught a glimpse of the letters EPF as one of them popped into the doorway to send a salvo of bullets out into the street. Elysium Police Force, she thought quickly as the man jerked back around the corner to avoid the return fire. There were six mercs, all armored and armed with assault rifles and several had shotguns hooked onto the backplates of their armor as well. Two of them were distinctly turian. The rest of the mercs could be human... or they might be batarian... that thought was a bitter one. They had flipped several of the empty vehicles over and formed a barricade so that the cars and speeders were facing towards the cops. They were obviously lacking in any heavy ordnance, otherwise they would have just lobbed a couple grenades or launched a rocket or two into the lobby to get rid of the pesky EPF officers. Instead they seemed content to trade potshots, confident their numbers would eventually wear the other men down. Or they have more people on the way, or even a group headed around to the back of the building to take the officers from behind.

Shepard had two advantages, the first being the mercs had no idea she was there, and the second was that they ALL had their backs to her. Neither point was a comfort considering the only thing protecting her from gunfire was her fatigues, and her only weapons were her standard issue sidearm, the Hahne-Kedar, Kessler I and her omni-tool. That gave her fourteen rapid fire shots before the pistol would over heat, a few more if she lengthened the time between those shots, and a single incinerate blast with the omni-tool that would require six seconds to recharge enough to be useful again. If she concentrated on one of the mercs she could drop his shields with the omni-tool and hopefully pierce his armor and do vital damage before the pistol overheated and the others turned around. Of course, when they did turn around she would be positively screwed. Simple as that.

"Well, shit." Elin muttered to herself.

A strangled yell cut through her thoughts as one of the officers staggered sideways, his shields had been dropped and he'd taken a round in the shoulder. His partner pulled him back before any more shots could strike home. His shout was answered by derisive laughter from the mercs, and safely hidden behind a turned over car, one mockingly imitated the cop flailing around in pain. Shepard grimaced at the display and her fingers tightened on the pistol, the smooth grip slick with sweat from her palm. The car... that was it. Decision firmed as she prepped the omni-tool, and it sprang to life, glowing a golden orange around her left hand and forearm. She couldn't hit too high, or too low... she only had one shot.

Elin ducked out from behind her cover, taking careful aim. The omni-tool flared to life, plasma energies gathering along its length then surging forward as she punched her left fist towards the car and the mercs with a small grunt of concentrated effort. The volatile ball of energy hissed away from her, trailing long golden streaks in its wake. An instant later it impacted into the fusion containment cell on the exposed underside of the vehicle and the explosion sent all six of the mercs flying backwards.

One, one-thousand.

Their armor flared with light as their shields overloaded and she opened fire, concentrating on one of the turians who'd hit the ground with a painful crunch.

Two, one-thousand.

Two shots busted the protective faceplate and the third exploded into his nasal cavity. He went limp, quite obviously dead.

Three, one-thousand.

Shepard switched targets, still moving towards the next downed speeder. It seemed a lot further now that she was out in the open.

Four, one-thousand.

The second turian was down after three more shots. But there were only three targets left when there should have been four.

Five, one-thousand.

Bullets whipped by her head uncomfortably close and she fired wildly in the direction they were coming from. She was still feet from the nearest cover. The fourth merc dropped and she hadn't even been shooting at him.

Six, one-thousand.

The omni-tool beeped, signaling it was recharged and she launched another incinerate blast at the merc who was firing at her. Elin didn't watch its trajectory but turned to dive behind the overturned speeder. A startled gasp escaped her lips as pain pierced the back of her left leg and she rolled into cover. She could hear and feel return fire from the last remaining merc impacting into the speeder she was hiding behind, then all of a sudden it stopped. She checked her leg, blood was oozing out of her ripped fatigues, but she'd been lucky, the bullet had grazed deeply along her calf, instead of impacting. She didn't dwell on how close it had been though.

"EPF armed police!" The shout broke the silence. "Identify yourself or we will open fire!" Elin let out an irritated sigh before replying.

"I'm Lieutenant Elin Shepard with the Alliance. I thought you boys could use the help." There was a seconds delay.

"Come out with your hands where we can see them!" This is not my day, she thought as she holstered her pistol and gingerly got to her feet. Testing her leg she was pleased to find she could put all her weight on it, though it did burn like fire. Elin inched out from behind the vehicle holding her hands up and in front of her. The cop in riot gear kept his assault rifle trained on her for a moment before deciding she obviously wasn't a mercenary and lowered the rifle.

"I'm Sergeant Raimey with the Elysium Police Force. It's damn good to finally see someone from the Alliance ma'am." The officer said as she walked with a small limp towards him. "Did you catch our distress call?"

"Afraid not Sarge." They made their way to the entrance of the hotel. "What's your status?"

"We've got a hundred and seven civilians holed up inside and not a damn one of 'em knows anything about fire arms." He growled. "Most were injured in the initial explosion. We got 'em out of the street and inside right before those bastards showed up and took us by surprise. I've lost four men, Lieutenant and I've been unable to contact my precinct captain on the wireless. Hell I thought we were toast til you showed up and provided such a lovely distraction for those mercs." They stepped inside and she saw the other officer who'd been shot, sitting on the floor with his back to the wall. "How's that shoulder Dennings?" The injured man looked up, he'd taken his helmet off and his sweat slicked hair was hanging in his eyes.

"Managed to stop the bleeding, Sarge." He huffed out, obviously in pain. "Bastard hit me right between the plates." Raimey clapped him on his good shoulder before turning back to Elin and motioned her to walk a little further into the disheveled lobby so they couldn't be overheard.

"I ain't gonna lie Lieutenant, the situation's bad." This man's a master at understatement, she thought. "I got a lotta people here who need medical attention, and the hotel didn't have much of a medi-gel supply to start with. I can't reach my superiors, there's mercs shooting everything that moves in the streets, and I've lost over half my squad. Now what I need is for someone to tell me what the hell is going on here."

"I'd love to Sergeant." Shepard started, trying to keep her temper on a short leash. He's having a bad day too after all... "But thirty minutes ago, I was reading a private message and drinking coffee in the cafe down the street, while enjoying my shore leave. I'm in the dark on this as much as you are. I only came this way so I could grab my gear and try to contact my superiors." This obviously wasn't what Raimey wanted to hear.

"Son of a bitch." he muttered. "What the fuck are we supposed to do?"

"Stay inside, fortify your position and wait for the Alliance to send help."

"I've got people dying here Shepard, they need doctors."

"We don't have any doctors Sergeant. You'll have to make do with what you do have."

"We don't have anything." He all but shouted. Elin grabbed him angrily by the shoulders and pulled his face close to hers.

"Well what do you want to do Raimey, herd all one hundred and seven unarmed and injured civilians out into the street and across town to the medcenter?" She growled quietly. "It's about a twelve mile hike east, once you get past the burning spaceport and trigger happy mercenaries." She let go and he jerked back with a glare. Raimey opened his mouth to say something, but was interrupted as his communicator cackled to life.

"This is... enant Plunkett, Allianc... avy... vo, tango, niner, to any... liance personnel groundsi... ease respond, I repea... se respond."