This is my first action scene in a fanfic, so any constructive criticisms are welcomed. I hope I haven't made too much of a mess of it - enjoy!
Disclaimer: ME isn't mine. :D
I ran my fingers down the length of my Naginata rifle, checking it for damage while I watched the squad begin their stealthy approach to the oblivious synthetics.
There wasn't any point in shooting before they reached the geth. If I did, I'd lose all the advantage we'd hoped to gain from the distraction. So I waited, and concentrated on finding my centre of focus.
Every sniper has a little trick they do to calm them down. Sometimes it's meditation, sometimes it's simply breathing in deeply. Mine is straightforward – just talking to myself.
"Calm, Sally," I muttered, closing my eyes. "Focus."
As if by magic, a familiar calm settled over me. I looked down the scope, saw that the others had nearly reached the geth, and began to aim.
I sighted my first target and pulled the trigger. One geth dropped. I flicked the barrel of the gun towards another target and fired again as soon as my hands had primed the next shot. Within moments, three geth were down and my rifle had overheated, despite the upgrades I'd attached.
Some of my calm washed out as I watched the fight continue without me. The coronas of Jen and Captain Alenko seemed almost permanently alight, and Green's assault rifle was mowing the geth down, but there were still more and my squadmates were in constant danger of being overrun. I realised with dread that my overheated rifle was costing valuable time when I should have been taking some of the pressure off them.
A beep from my rifle warned me that it was nearly cool. Go slower this time! I composed myself once more, then aimed and downed two more geth, taking the third shot after a larger pause to allow for cooldown.
I'd taken down six or seven geth in a close-knit group, my gunfire disciplined this time, when a scream pierced the air, shattering my calm.
"Jen," I whispered with horror.
I swung the rifle around and peered down the scope. Jen's shields had faltered and she'd taken a blow in the left arm – the one she used for her mnemonic gestures. Her shotgun was up and firing, but without her left hand to steady it, its aim was erratic and kept missing the geth. A moment later, a second impact in her leg brought Jen to her knees, crying aloud with the shock and pain.
I saw someone – the Captain, maybe – pick Jen up and heave her to some better cover, while the other kept the geth at bay with a couple of grenades.
With a lurch, I realised that I had stopped firing. I tried to aim my rifle at the geth, but my fingers trembled and the scope wobbled.
I closed my eyes, breathing through my nose. "Focus, Sally, damn you! Focus. Focus." The calm suddenly enveloped me and I coldly killed more of the geth that were threatening my team.
'Killed'? They're robots. Synthetics. Stupid tin-men, playing at being sentient. My anger fuelled my concentration. Soon, between my sniping and the others' close-range attacks, all but one of the armatures had been dropped.
As soon as I saw that, I collapsed my rifle and swung it onto my back, taking out my pistol instead and opening my omni-tool. There was no point in staying still – the armature had finally located my position and was slowly turning towards me.
I broke cover and ran towards it. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw the captain make a mnemonic gesture similar to what Jen called her 'throwing' technique. The armature slid backwards under the force of the blue energy, its legs leaving furrows in the ground, but it continued its turn towards me.
Quickly I called up a tech mine to overload the armatures' shields, a basic programme I could do in my sleep. I flung my omnitool arm out at the geth creature, causing its right side to explode. It staggered, but stayed upright. The armature lifted itself up onto its forelegs, its head beginning to glow.
"Get down, Kirk!" yelled Green.
I flung myself to the side just as the armature sent a blazing ball of energy at me. As I lay in the dirt, stunned from the force of the blast, a round of assault bullets soared over my prone body into the armature, followed by another of the captain's biotic pulses.
The strain was too much for the armature. It shuddered, its head moving from left to right in what seemed like denial or desperation… before finally toppling over, its bulk crashing into the ground and becoming still.
"Done," Green said in satisfaction, his voice loud in the sudden silence.
I stared at the synthetic lying in the dust, unsettled by how human its final movements had been. Then Green was at my side, lifting me to my feet.
"Are you hurt?"
"No, I'm fine," I said, giving him a grateful smile. "Thanks, Chief." Then my face fell as I remembered Jen. "Where's the corporal?"
He pointed over to a knee-high natural barricade of debris. I hurried over, calling up my omni tool up as I did so, but Captain Alenko was already bent over my friend and administering medi-gel.
Jen saw me and gave a weak smile. Her armour was dented from where some bullets had thudded into her chestplate, blood was leaking through perforations in the ceramic above her shoulder and knee – and on top of that, whatever ammunition the geth had been using had left acid eroding the paint around her injuries.
It was difficult to keep the concern from my face. Those were nasty injuries, right near the joints. She had to be in a lot of pain.
"Great work out there, LT," she said hoarsely. "You kill half the geth, then throw yourself into the path of an armature. Real smooth."
I smiled with an effort. It's always been difficult for me to see injured marines when I spend so much of my time sniping at a safe distance, but it was harder seeing a close friend so badly hurt. "I just did it to make you feel better, Jen. I figured it would take a spectacular show of stupidity to soothe your ego after stealing all your kills."
Jen laughed, but it turned into a splutter. I looked at Alenko worriedly.
He stood up, his face sober. "Bruising around her ribs, possibly a fracture," he said. "Her breathing suggests intact lungs, but she really needs proper medical attention. We should head into the main building." He jerked his thumb at a large structure looming out of the surroundings, the typical colony base that, funnily enough, seemed to always remind me of a big grey skip.
Green nodded and picked Jen up, slinging her over his shoulder in the classic fireman's lift. He headed off towards the base, and I started to follow him.
"Lieutenant?" said the captain from behind me. I winced, and then turned around slowly in dreadful anticipation of a severe dressing-down.
I'd forgotten he was inspecting me! Why'd I have to face-off with an armature today, of all days?
"Nice shooting," he said with a smile. "I haven't seen someone with your talent in a long time."
My eyes widened in surprise, then I smiled. "Thank you, sir."
He moved off and I followed behind him.
Seems like I passed his inspection after all…
