Sorry this took a little while... as usual, any comments and reviews are welcome. I hope y'all like it.
"Alright, this is the main base for this incursion. Equip disrupter rounds to your assault rifles and armor piercing to your pistols. Garrus, I want you to hang back and provide sniper cover. Wrex, Luke, and I are the assault team." Claire said as the Mako rumbled across the terrain.
"We should keep an eye on the scanners. Geth like to set up jamming towers so we'll know we are close if we loose the signal." Garrus said calibrating the scanning equipment.
Luke looked through his scope and panned across the area in front of them. As he did, he saw a small gleam on the horizon. He maximized the zoom on it and focused the lens. As he did, the top of a transmission tower came into view. "Claire, I got a visual of a transmission tower at one o'clock, just over the crest of the second hill. I'll bet you it's in the valley. Range about 700 meters."
Claire nodded and turned the Mako to face the tower. "Alright, I got it. Locking in on the coordinates. When we get close, Garrus and I will scout from the hill top while you and Wrex cover us with the Mako's weapon systems."
Luke smiled. An intelligent order. This is why I have no problem following you.
"We got you covered Shepard." Wrex responded.
The Mako settled on the side of the hill and Claire shut down everything but the weapons systems. As she and Garrus gathered their gear, Luke used the scope to scan the hill side for any enemy scouts.
"So if we see you running back to the Mako screaming, we'll just start up the engine for you." Luke said as he completed his scan. He looked down at his sister and friend as they locked their helmets into position.
"If we come running down the hill screaming, you take the Mako and you come and save our butts." Claire said nudging her brother.
"What? Risk my tank? Garrus and I work too hard on this baby to risk her like that." Claire smiled as Luke winked and settled into the driver's seat. He diverted control of both the cannon and machine gun to Wrex's seat.
"Ready?" Claire asked Garrus.
"Always." Garrus responded.
The two exited the vehicle and started making their way up the hill. Garrus had his sniper rifle out as did Claire. As they reached the top, they laid down on their stomachs and peered through their scopes.
"Spirits! Are you seeing this?" Garrus asked.
"Seeing…not quite sure if I'm believing." Claire responded. Through the scope and less than 150 meters away in the valley, three sniper towers surrounded the entrance for an underground facility with two colossus walkers patrolling the perimeter.
"What's going on up there, you too?" Luke asked over the radio.
"You're not going to believe this, but there are two colossus down there with three support sniper towers. Oh, and to top things off, it's an underground facility." Claire said as she scanned the surrounding terrain.
"Well, I'm looking at a terrain scan of the area and it looks like there is a wide plain to the south. We can use the hill for cover and maneuver the Mako down there. If we can keep it moving and avoid enemy fire. We could draw the colossuses' attention while you two take out the snipers. Once the snipers are down, use disrupter rounds on the colossuses' shields and Wrex and I will move in to finish them off." Luke said. Claire turned and looked back at the Mako. Luke wasn't moving yet, he was waiting for her go ahead.
"What do you think Garrus?"
"I'm not sure there is any other way to do it. It is the best plan that keeps us from being spotted and accounts for the enemy strength. The southern plain is the only option with enough room for maneuvers anyway. Unless you want to charge in with no support and all of us in the Mako?" Garrus chuckled a little after the last statement. He knew Claire was going to approve of Luke's strategy. It was the best option.
"Alright Luke, move into position, and start your diversion as soon as you get there." Claire said turning back over and gazing through her scope.
"You got it. Wrex and I will try and take out the transmission tower so they can't signal for reinforcements."
"Good luck." Claire responded.
"Don't need any Claire. I'm just that good." Claire looked over at Garrus who was shaking his head. Claire muted her speaker for the radio between her and the Mako, leaving only the helmet to helmet transmitters in her and Garrus' helmets.
"Was he like this when you met him?" Claire asked.
"Absolutely. He was always confident. He had to be." Garrus answered. Claire looked over at him.
"Why?"
"Luke was a good officer, don't ever doubt that. But he was never one about following the rules. He did whatever he had to do to make sure the guilty were locked up and the innocent were safe."
"Sounds kind of like you." Claire responded zooming in on the geth sniper with her scope. Garrus chuckled slightly and glanced over at her.
"You know, the first case that Luke and I worked together as going after this doctor named Saleon. He was growing parts inside his employees to sell on the black market. We weren't exactly sure of what the other was willing to do to bring that sick bastard in and so we both played by the rules. Near the end of the investigation, Saleon had taken thirty of his employee or living test tubes and taken a ship. Luke was already in the traffic control tower when I got there and we ordered the turret defenses to shoot him down, but C-Sec brass belayed our orders. They said that it was too big of a risk with the hostages on board." Claire looked over at the turian. It was hard to imagine her brother as a vigilante cop even with everything she had read in his files.
"I don't know. Shooting the ship down while inside the citadel, debris could easily have hit one of the arms. It might not have just been the hostages on board that might have gotten hurt."
"All they had to do was disable the engines. Maybe the hostages die, maybe they don't. But now that that son of a bitch escaped, they're dead for sure." Claire nodded. She saw the reasoning on both sides of the argument but she had to admit, she sided with Garrus and Luke more so than C-Sec brass.
"That must have been rough having a case end like that right off the bat."
Garrus nodded and released the safety on his rifle. "Luke and I got a drink that night and made a deal. We would not rat each other out on anything the other did as long as it was within reason and was to catch a criminal. We never had a case that did not close with either a suspect in shackles or a bag. Made us the best in a way." Garrus breathed slowly and glanced to the south. "Here we go."
Claire caught a glimpse of the Mako pulling into position at the far south end of the field. The cannon fired and hit one of the colossus' legs. The mech stumbled and collapsed to the ground. The Mako roared forward across the field firing wildly at the geth defenders. The other colossus fired its main cannon. Claire was shocked to see Luke handle the Mako so well. He used the thrusters lifting the vehicle off the ground just enough to avoid the blast and fired them again right before hitting the ground to soften the impact. She looked back to her scope and watched at the report of Garrus' rifle coincided with a geth sniper's head exploding. He fired hitting in it central ion pump under the main chest plate.
"Ten credits say I can hit the last one before you can." Garrus said playfully. Claire fired hitting the last sniper in the arm only a half second before Garrus fired taking off its head.
"I think you owe me ten credits." Claire said.
"Doesn't count, it didn't go down until I finished it off." Garrus replied shifting his aim to one of the colossuses
"Bull shit, you're just crabby because I hit it first." Claire answered playfully shifting her aim to the colossus that had taken the first hit from the Mako. The mech was struggling to get to its feet again, the shot had damaged the hinge in one of its legs.
"Claire, its Luke. We're circling the facility. Try and take down the crippled colssus' shield. Wrex and I will handle the rest."
"You sure, Luke? You might want to handle the fully operational one first." Claire responded.
"You have a point. Okay, let's take that one first. Whenever you're ready." Claire glanced at Garrus. The turian nodded and looked back through his scope. The two sniper rifles fired taking the shields of the colossus almost completely down. As the metallic beast turned to get a shot at Claire and Garrus, the Mako roared over a hill top and opened fire. The tank sped forward firing both the cannon and machine gun into the mech until an explosion of blue flame cracked the armor and the colossus collapsed.
"Killing stuff with big guns, there's nothing like it." Wrex said letting out his fractured, rascally laugh.
"Damn straight. Now let's get the other one." Luke answered. Claire watched as the Mako swung around the facility and came up behind the damaged mech. The tank stopped and fired straight into the back of the colossus' firing chamber in what looked like its head. The machine exploded violently and the legs gave out as the body collapsed.
The team reassembled at the entrance to the geth strong hold and inspected their weapons. Claire patted her brother on the back as he checked his pistol.
"Nice driving speedy."
"And the only damage taken was to the shields." Luke said proudly.
"I'm trying to pay you a compliment, Luke. Don't ruin the moment." The group laughed and before looking at the door. "Well, might as well announce ourselves." Claire opened the door and slipped inside with the squad right behind her.
