Interloper 2: Chapter 10
The crate rattled and shook, the black strapping that held it down strained to resist the motion. I keyed my mic.
"Commander, we've got movement down here, sounds like…" I didn't finish my report. The whine that was issuing from the box stopped in a series of statacco chirps. The box burst open with a resounding crash.
Mech online. Reviewing primary directives. Fifteen minute intermission, destroy Normandy stealth systems, destroy Normandy 2.
The big YMIR mech rose to its full height, thick legs stretching out to brace its large array of weapons. This weapons hung down on a pair of sturdy arms. Its broad torso was topped by a wide clamshell head in which circular red eyes burned. Its stubby rocket arm extended, pointed towards the upper balcony.
"Get down!" I made to duck away from the incoming ordinance, but the mech was faster. The hypervelocity round smacked full into the wide window. The glass spiderwebbed for a split second before shattering into a hurricane of shards. The greasy orange flower of the explosion was quickly replaced by a miniature gale as the sudden vacuum pulled the team out of the window. I felt myself tumbling through the air as the world around me blurred and rang horribly. Somewhere off to my right, someone hit the floor with a pronounced *umpth*. From the look of the blue-white smear on my vision, it had to be Garrus. Somewhere else, a gun was firing. I dragged myself forward towards a surviving crate and checked for injuries. My breath caught in my chest as I probed my previously wounded side, but I couldn't find any new breaks. That was something. My vision cleared as I injected a slug of medigel from my gunbelt, using a good portion of my emergency stock. The world grew sharper as the adrenaline additive kicked in. My small team was scattered throughout the bay. One of the Cerberus crewmen lay still, crumpled against a smashed box of ration packets. Garrus had sought cover of his own. He was giving fire in return for the YMIRs attacks. The third member was still stunned, crouching in the back of the room with his head in his hands.
"Everyone alright?" my voice sounded wrong through the haze of burst eardrums and adrenaline spike. "Report."
"Still alive here, Liddle." Garrus' voice was scratchy, but clearly in control. He continued to plug away at the behemoth between its long, driving volleys, but it did little good against the powerful shields that wreathed it.
"Ah, the day's first good news," I said, "On three we hit this thing with an overload. Ready?"
"I'm with you." The shaken turian responded. He ducked down to prepare the attack. I powered up my own combat program and selected the most powerful directed EMP I had.
"1… 2… 3… Go!" I popped out of cover at the same time as Garrus threw himself sideways from his own concealment. The combined dancing lights of our simultaneous attack blanketed the mech, blasting away its kinetic barriers. I drew my pistol with the other hand a loosed a shot at the now exposed head. The shot went wide, sparking off the high ceiling. The near miss seemed to anger the rampaging mech, because it turned to face me and put on a burst of speed. Its thick legs clomped heavily on the deck, shaking the piles of crates. I snapped of a few more shots before it was on top of me, each one ineffective against the thick armoured chestplate. The great arm lowered before whipping back slamming into my stomach. Thin emergency barriers shattered as I was flung backwards into a pile of crates, breaking them in my landing. Air left my lungs as stars spun in front of me. More rounds skittered off the back of the mechanical beast. Garrus tried to distract it with a thrown grenade. The explosive managed to stumble it momentarily, giving me a chance to stumble upright. My hand brushed against something hard and sharp as I drew myself to my full height. I looked down to find a long metal shard of the broken crate, nearly the length of a short spear, lying on the ground at my feet. As I watched the mech advance on the third crewman's position in the back of the bay, a sudden, manic idea gripped me. I took up the spear in both hands and made to charge the lumbering metal beast, aiming for the thinner metal at the join of the head and torso. The sound of my approach must have alerted the YMIR, because its torso spun on its hips to face me. The sharp barb of the splinter punched deep into the robot's neck plate. One of the baleful circles died, apparently shorted by the attack. It didn't stop the mech though. It brought its rocket arm down on the impromptu spear. The shaft bent and was jarred from my hands, cutting as it went. I drew back quickly, ducking under a blow from the other arm.
"Mike! Up here!" a shout drew my attention upwards. Elizabeth was standing behind the shattered viewing window waving. Something needlelike was clutched tightly in one fist. She motioned for me to bring the mech in closer. I nodded, moving forward as my barriers recharged. Whatever it was she had planned, it would have to work fast, the mech had almost completely blasted away the crewman's cover. Thinking quickly, I plugged all of the power cells I could find into the Omni-tool box on my wrist. As I feverishly spliced wires, there was an almighty crunch. I peeked up to see the crate the man had been hiding behind finally give up and fall apart, littering the floor with its contents.
"Hey, you, robot!" I yelled to get its attention. It swiveled back again, but I was already too close. I jammed my fist against its chest, powering up the mass effect generators in my gauntlet to their absolute maximums and extended a bubble of negative mass around the huge combat model. With the other hand, I leveled my pistol. The blast rocked my arm back, but the impact was enough to send the mech reeling. It skidded back until almost directly below the window. Liz saw her chance. She dropped from the window onto the YMIR's back, wrapping her arm around its pierced neck. With her free hand, she plunged the needle into the exposed circuitry. The YMIR spun in place, throwing the girl off. She landed hard behind a pile of barrels near the far wall. Now the YMIR rounded on me. I raised my arm to try for another overload, but the Omni-tool was well and truly cooked.
"Robot, stand down!" Liz's voice came back, sounding pained. To my astonishment, the mech obeyed, lowering its weapons and stomping back to its crate. Liz came into view, her Omni-tool aglow and her arm wrapped protectively around her side. "Begin shutdown sequence." she said. The light went out in the mech's eyes. "Pretty cool, yeah?" she asked wanly.
"Yeah, how'd you do it?" I asked, pulling myself to my feet. I winced as my side grated again, worse this time. The last of my medigel cleared my head.
"Control spike to the main transceiver," she said excitedly, "it never would have worked if you hadn't punched that hole in its neck, but since I could interface directly with its systems, it was pretty easy.
"So you control it now?"
"Like a toy car. The interface is a little unwieldy, I'll admit. It's still a work in progress. What was it doing here anyway, and what's going on with the alert?"
"I'll tell you later, first we need to find Wilson."
"Wilson? Is he okay? Did the mech hurt him?" the girl craned her neck to look for the bald-pated engineer.
"No, but I might." I moved to the nearest VI terminal and called up the ship's computer. "Normandy, locate crewman… Wilson."
"Dr. Wilson is in the cargo bay." The computer chirped in a pleasant voice. I spun around and scanned the bay. Apart from me, Garrus, two wounded guards, Liz, and the crumpled remains of a few containers, there were no signs of life. Except maybe… my eyes narrowed on the small shuttle that lay nestled off to the side. I motioned to Garrus. The turian understood, raising his rifle to shoulder and approaching the shuttle from the other side. The door shot open. I dropped to a knee and trained my sights on the ship. Wilson came tumbling out, followed by a metal boot. The boot was followed by a leg clad in dull yellow armour, which in turn was followed by a surly looking mercenary.
"Caught this guddam' coward trying to make a clean get away. Didn't expect to find little old me waiting for you though did you, eh?" he aimed a flat footed kick at the other man's ankles, tripping him up.
"Nice catch, Zaeed, how'd you know you'd find him hiding out there. Actually, how'd you know to look for him at all?"
"I didn't, I was in here doing exactly the same thing, jus' in case. Now I got this guy secured, why don't you run along and report to the Commander."
"Right," I said dubiously, "Yeah, Garrus, Lizzers, take the wounded to the infirmary, I'll head up to the bridge."
The situation was still tense as I gained the bridge. The Shadow Barge was no longer visible through the viewports, but it still hung above the galaxy map platform. Shepard still stood peering at it, as if dissecting it with her eyes. My presence seemed to jar her from her fugue.
"Deputy, report." Her tone was sharper than usual.
"There was a mech stowed away down in the hold. A big one, probably a YMIR. It was one of Wilson's toys. He programmed it to go after the stealth systems and engines."
"Probably timed to coincide with our close approach of the Broker's ship," Shepard said, "have you found him yet?"
"Yes, ma'am. Zaeed found him trying to take out one of the shuttles, he's got him secured right now."
"Good, we'll have to have a chat later, I suspect. For now, we've got bigger issues to deal with." She glanced significantly at the 3-D model of the boxy Q-ship. "We're now between it and the relay, and Joker's convinced that no ship that large can match the Normandy for speed, but I really don't want to run afoul of those teeth." She walked around the model and outlined the square hatches.
"Maybe if we had a decoy or something." I said, looking out at the star field. Shepard's eyes widened a bit, before a smile hit her face.
"That's it!" she sounded more lively now. "Liddle, that is genius." She thumbed her headset radio. "Engineer Donnelly, I need you and your team to take out the Normandy's IFF module. Also, have a man get to work prepping the shuttle for a wild weasel run."
"Aye, Commander, I thought you'd never ask." The engineer replied cheerily.
"Wild weasel?" I asked.
"Yes," Shepard replied, "back in the 20th century on Earth, during the Vietnam conflict, North American air forces developed a program for dealing with enemy anti-air defenses. They'd run in one of their fighters to bait enemy radar, then they'd take out their launch sites with radar tracking missiles. Now, we don't have something big enough to knock out the Barge, but maybe if we can bait it away from the relay…"
The shuttle jetted out of the small cargo bay, leaving a trail of mech parts and a thin streamer of curling smoke. The crew watched from the crew deck as it turned on its preprogrammed course, engaging FTL in the opposite direction.
"I rigged it up to simulate the mech attack." Donnelly noted. "A spot of extra realism to really fool the buggers." We waited with held breath. "Any minute now."
"The Barge has taken the bait, Joker, all ahead full." The intercom chirped. The crew burst into celebration as the morning's pent up stress abated in a single riotous shout.