Love's Constant Endurance

The shuttle was quiet as they made their way down to the surface. Grunt had been working with his squad. He encouraged raw aggression in the members of his squad, and taking on long odds was good. He cared about them in his own Krogan way. It had taken a little bit for Shepard to get him the right mix for his five squad members. However, they were tuned like a fiddle and riding into combat for the first time.

The shuttle held the rest of the Marine detachment from Normandy. When they touched ground, there would be no Marines left on the ship. Although they were technically contractors, a large percentage of the crew was former alliance military. Their commander was a Alliance Marine on loan to a Spectre who himself was former Alliance. The terminology stuck.

There was a sudden massive explosion. Grunt saw two of the Marines disappear into a massive rift in the shuttle's hull. The shuttle went into an uncontrolled spin. "Mayday, mayday, mayday, We're hit, going down." The pilot said calmly as he tried to regain control of the ship. As he finished there was another jolt that sent them spinning in another direction. Someone with a weaker stomach might have been sick. One of the marines, Goldstein, was, he vomited and it went every where in the small ship.

"That's why you don't eat before you go into combat and I'd appreciate it if you didn't vomit on me." Grunt said in his gruff manner. The rest of the crew seemed to too frightened to notice Grunts levity. The pilot seemed to have regained some manner of control. He was yelling into the mike something that no one seemed to understand. Then there was something they all understood. "Brace for Impact!" The pilot shouted.

The shuttle hit a ridge and bounced into the air. It fell onto the other side of the snowy valley and flipped end over end down to the bottom before settling upside down. Even Grunt was unconscious. Legion quickly came to consensus. Cutting himself free he began to check each member of the crew. Grunt seemed fine, despite his unconsciousness. As did Jack, Kasumi, and Christine all seemed fine. Two more of the marines and the pilot were dead. Another two were seriously hurt and would need medical attention. The snow was already sweeping in from outside.

As he finished his impromptu assessment Grunt and the others began to wake up. "Grunt-Leader I have analyzed the health of crew members on board this shuttle. Jacob-Marine, Leon-Marine, and Ash-Pilot are not recoverable. Goldstein-Marine and James-Marine are both seriously damaged, however, they are likely to recover with medical attention. " He stated as he helped the Krogan down from his upside down position. The others on the ship began to wake up.

"Where are we?" Grunt asked Legion, as they helped Christine down. The temperature inside the shuttle was dropping quickly. Legion quickly briefed Christine on the damage that Goldstein and James and sustained before answering.

"We are two point seven two three seven eight kilometers north north west of our objective. two point one six four kilometers from our original landing area." Legion said as he helped Grunt get Hawthorn down so that Christine could work on him.

Grunt was quiet for a few minutes as he contemplated what to do. Legion's gestalt was that he felt the burden of his command. His body language suggested that he was angry. Although, Legion was not sure what. He wanted to rip and tear, not help the Marines out of their harnesses. Then again, he was Krogan. Grunt wanted someone to hit in the face, badly. However, he also knew the situation was bad. They were prepared for cold weather but almost three kilometers in the snow was going to be difficult especially if they had to carry casualties. Given the dropping temperature from the holes in the shuttle, staying in place was not an option.

Getting the last of the group down, he looked at Christine. "Are they mobile?" he asked Christine.

She shook her head. "Their both out of it. They both had serious head trauma. We need to get them back to the Normandy soon as possible. We can't stay here."

Grunt accepted her words. "Then we have no choice. We must assault our objective." His eyes swept the remaining Marines. "We're going into the most difficult fight of our brief lives. We will go onward to victory or death in battle. We are strong, we will crush all before us."

"You." He pointed at several of the Marines. "Will carry James first. The rest will switch as needed. Legion and I will carry Hawthorne."

"Were going to assault a fortified position carrying wounded?" One of the marines asked incredulously.

"You don't like the plan." Grunt growled at the Marine. The marine shut up, but he was not satisfied with it.

"Let's go." Grunt said. Hefting the makeshift stretcher with Hawthorne with Legion. They were the strongest and so they got the lion shares of the work. It was cold outside and the almost three kilometer trek was hard and unforgiving. They tied lines together to keep from getting lost. Legion acted as their pathfinder becuase he could not get lost in the snow. Arriving at the base of the entrance to the mine, there were no guards. Everyone was frozen and ready to get warm.

They approached the entrance. Grunt nodded to Kasumi to open the door. The door opened and the two guards inside were dropped by Grunt and Legions accurate shots before they even knew what was wrong. The group hurried in and closed the doors behind them.

"Creator-Tali'Zorah and Creator-Ziara'Palmar are this way." Legion stated, pointing down a corridor. Grunt nodded. Legion again took point. They moved quickly, reaching the rooms where the holding cells were. They were positioned so that they got as little information about the base as possible. They met no one, Grunt supposed this was because everyone was fighting the Normandy. His eyes flicked over his group of marines. He had them post security both ways down the hallway.

"Kasumi, Legion, Landon. Circle up." He said, they gathered around him. "We're going in. I'm in the number one spot. Legion, number two, Landon, three. Kasumi four. Kasumi will open the door on command and follow us in and unlock anything that needs unlocking. We have allies so get positive ID before you shoot. Got it?" He asked. Everyone nodded their understanding.

They lined up on the door. "Go, Go, Go." He said the door slid open and Grunt rolled inside. He saw a gun being raised and fired. The person went down. He finished turning right, and was hit by a shotgun blast the blew him backwards. Legion responded to the threat as he came in. He fired and the shotgun wielder was no more. Legion went to his corner like a pro. The other two did as well. It was almost textbook. The room was clear.

Grunt looked at the room for the first time. It was very efficient. A square guard area with a large cage for captives. The entire crew of the ship was there. Grunts eyes were first drawn to the Quarian laying on the floor with her faceplate smashed in. Her breathing was ragged and her beautiful, for a quarian, face was bleeding from the deep cuts that had been inflicted on it. Glass remained in some of the cuts. Her pale face was beaded with sweat. She was likely deathly ill.

He looked at the other quarian, and saw that Tali was ok. Grunt breathed a sigh of relief. Shepard would have tore him a new one for losing her. He called in the group. The sixteen marines, including Jack, Ashly, and Grunt along with Tali, Kasumi, Legion, Ken, Li,and Christine now made up the effective members of the strike force. With all of them in the jail room they stratagized what they would need to do next. Clearly Ziara's injuries meant that they would need to get off the planet quickly or get to a better equipped medical room. Getting off the planet would be difficult. There were no ships left on the ground. Their best chance would be to somehow get the Normandy to send a ship down.

However, the communications gear in the Kodiak had been destroyed. They had come here to destroy this base as well but they would need to use the communications equipment. The answer would be to take the medical and command center. However they had no idea where that was. They would have to clear the entire structure room by room until they found it.

They decided to leave Ashley along with six marines to guard their base of operations where Christine would take care of their wounded. Grunt would lead the rest of the group downwards into the mine to find the operations center, a weakness they could use to bring the mine down, and the medical center.

Stacking up on the wall, the group moved along the corridor and swept each room they came to. Mostly living quarters for people on the ships. The group was keyed up and ready for a fight. Coming to the end of the hall they turned around and went back to the main corridor that sloped sharply down.

They split into two groups to cover each side of the hallway and moved slowly down in two single file lines. Suddenly there was come commotion at the bottom. Legion saw a shot and took it. However, it was too late the Alarm had been raised. There were several more figures that scrambled into defensible positions. Grunt yelled, "Assualt."

The two lines began to run, spraying fire down the hall. They were att he bottom in moments. Legion and Grunt leaped over the barricade and into the fight. Grunt's mighty shotgun roared and kicked as he turned one of the defenders into bloody meat. There were five left.

Legion scoped and dropped a second one as the rest of the group came hurtling over the barricade. The remaining four died in a hail of bullets, but more before getting shots off of their own. One of them hit one of the Marines coming over. He fell, spasming from the pain that shot though his body. The battle was over for now.

Grunt looked around, had two of the Marines carry the wounded marine back to the rendezvous point. There was blood everywhere and little was his squads. Grunt felt good about that. Noticing that one of the pirates was merely wounded, Grunt picked him up and slammed him against the wall.

One of the pirates was merely wounded, Grunt picked him up and slammed him against the wall. "Talk." The pirate started to babble, mostly about not killing him. "Communications." Grunt directed him.

The Pirate pointed down a hall. "Thatwayguardedbyfiveorsix. Peasedontkillmeplease."

"Room size?" Grunt asked.

"Large,verylarge. Lotsofboxesofstuff. Pleasedontkillme." The Pirate said, terrified.

Grunt dropped the pirate and knocked him unconscious. He signaled for the team to move out to the door. Because the room was large they would need the whole team. They were likely waiting for them to enter. However, they needed the equipment. With everyone stacked up, Grunt took the lead.

They busted in, and as predicted Grunt was hit with a hail of fire. However, he was Krogan. Firing his shotgun, he made at least a few duck as Jack came into the room and began to let loose with biotics. The wrath of one of the most powerful and unstable biotics in the galaxy was a terrible thing to behold. She sent shockwaves though the room. Throwing hapless pirates into the air. They were skeet for Tali's shotgun.

In moments the entire group was inside. Li and Ken both had pistols and were firing over barriers. Tali took stock of the room. She was able to guess where the communications equipment was. She shouted at the others not to shoot it. To room was noisy, with almost constant fire from the marines and the now entrenched pirates. The blue glow of Jack's biotics as she sent objects and things flying helped. Tali, Li and Ken helped keep the shields of the team up.

Grunt looked at the situation. As it was, his team would win, they had firepower and the will to win. However, the enemy was entrenched and the more time that passed the more likely it was that the communications would be hit. There were two flanking paths that he could take, but they were free killzones if they were not distracted.

Motioning Tali and Kasumi over, he said. "When I give the signal, put your combat drone as far down that corridor as you can. Kasumi, I need you to cloak and take out the gut there so we can flank them." He said almost excitedly.

Tali and Kasumi nodded. "Ready when you are." Tali said. "Same here." Kasumi added.

"Do it." Grunt said. The combat drone appeared as planned. Kasumi Disspeared and Grunt started to flank. She reappeared behind the pirate that was fighting with the drone and fired a full clip into his back before disappearing again. The pirate was down and Grunt was there, with a clear lane of fire on the defending pirates. Opening fire, the fight was for the most part over moments later. There were a few who tried to hold out, but the team was too strong for them.

Tali, Li, and Ken moved to the communication array and after a few moments they managed to establish a connection to the Normandy. "Normandy this is ground team. Mission accomplished." Tali said.