Apartment Block 3G, Benning
Day 1, 1410
"We can't keep moving forever, Saffiya," Rafea murmured, from somewhere behind the justicar's back. "We just can't..."
Almost an hour and a half after their rather daring entry to the apartment block, the three biotics were still traipsing around inside, moving from room to room and waiting for some word from the others. The assault at the firebase had drained Saffiya's two companions, and the justicar herself was tiring too. Every step burned more calories, more calories they didn't have after such extensive use of their biotics.
"Alright," she nodded, rather quietly. Check the perimeter, and we'll stop in here..."
Her two squadmates spread out, checking the edges of the apartment they were walking through and testing every shadow. The room, like every other room, was an unfurnished cell, marked by battered walls and shattered floors. The building had been gutted by the Cerberus occupation – Saffiya suspected it had been attacked just after construction, because there were no personal affairs littered around to hint at former tenants.
A crack in the corner of the ceiling allowed cut power cables to dangle through, occasionally letting off little sparks, but more pressing was the matter of the exterior wall – they were at the very edge of the building, and the window that had once looked out over the city streets appeared to have been hit with a rocket. The window itself was gone, completely absent, and a jagged hole in the wall was sweeping a cool breeze through the room.
Once they were quite sure no-one was lurking in the corners, the trio slumped down against the three walls, and caught a few moments of rest. The other two looked incredibly grateful, gulping down oxygen with every breath. Saffiya, however, felt uncomfortable. Stopping made her all the more aware of the gnawing sensation in her stomach. Still, the summer sky was turning grey, and rain was beginning to fall – that was good. Reduced visibility made it harder for Cerberus to find them.
After a time, the peaceful patter patter of rain shooting through the hole in the wall was disturbed by a smaller, albeit more worrying noise in the street below. Saffiya was sure she could hear muttering, and the panicked expression on Manado's face told her she wasn't imagining it. Rafea, on the other hand, had slumped to the floor, sleeping fitfully in sheer exhaustion. Then, a spine-chilling shout cut across the mutters, and the justicar sat bolt upright.
"Open fire! Go, go, go!"
She span around, pistol drawn, half expecting to see Cerberus troopers flooding through the door. Manado, it seemed, had had the same reaction – she was bracing her sniper rifle in her arms, aiming at the door.
Rafea awoke with a little start, and stared in confusion at her two companions, as they aimed at nothing at all. Just as Saffiya was about to put her gun down, however, gunshots rang out, not in the apartment block but in the street outside. She quickly shuffled over to the window-hole, watched anxiously by her two companions, and rose to her knees to peer through it.
Down below, chaos was breaking out in the street. Peering over the precipice, she could make out two tough-looking troopers carrying shields, moving step by step towards an abandoned storefront as three regular troopers followed in their wake. Ahead of them were half a dozen men in what appeared to be civilian clothes, firing persistently at the advancing soldiers. As the justicar watched, one of the civilians went down, clutching his gut. Saffiya suppressed a shallow growl. Every fibre of her being – and every sutra of her code – was telling her to intervene. Common sense, however, was beginning to override duty in these dark times, even for the justicars. She couldn't land a shot from here with her pistol, and using her biotics would give away their location. It still hurt, though, to leave them to their fate...
"What is it, ma'am?" Manado murmured, from across the room.
"Civilians. They look like resistance fighters. There's a Cerberus squad pushing them back across the street. They don't stand a chance..."
"Well?"
"Well what?"
"Well, what are we going to do about it?"
"There's nothing we can do, we'd give away our location with biotics..." Saffiya sighed.
"Who said anything about biotics?" the turian replied, brow plates furrowing. "I've got this."
She waved the sniper rifle aloft, as if to prove her point, with a triumphant smile on her face. Saffiya, however, scowled sceptically.
"High calibre rifle? Much more subtle..."
"It sounds like the civilians are shooting back," Manado observed, persistently. "One shot amongst dozens? They'd just assume the resistance fired it..."
"I don't know..." Saffiya murmured, biting her lip. Eventually, however, a mixture of morality and code made her mind up. "Alright, do it. But be ready to move if they do find us."
Wordlessly, the turian moved over to the blown-out window, propping her sniper rifle on the bottom lip of the wall, and peering down the barrel. Crouching next to her, Saffiya caught a glimpse of the battle below through the corner of the hole, just enough to see what was going on.
The troopers were just clambering through the shattered entrance to the store when, without warning, Manado began to fire. For a biotic, she was scarily proficient, picking off two of the troopers at the rear almost effortlessly. Just one, two, and a pair of corpses fell to the ground.
To the justicar's surprise, the resistance fighters caught on to the trick – they had clearly spotted the sniper, but began to fire even more doggedly at the troopers, to preserve the illusion that they were causing the casualties. A moment later, Manado fired again, and the third trooper lurched, a shot passing clean through his skull and causing him to crumple to the floor.
The shield bearers didn't even seem to notice the casualties, they just ploughed on into the store. As the two biotics watched, one of them swept a resistance member aside with his shield, knocking the man to the ground. Quite to the justicar's surprise, the resistance actually did strike a blow of their own – as the Guardian loomed over the fallen fighter, he lowered his shield momentarily, one of the other men put two shots through his visor, and that was the end of him. A final, rather impressive shot from Manado, and the remaining Guardian collapsed forward, lying face down on his shield with blood pouring from his back.
As quickly as it had started, the clash was over. One of the resistance fighters raced to the front of the store, peering straight up at the biotics and throwing them a hasty salute by way of thanks. One of their number was lying dead in a pool of his own blood, and another was clutching his ribs as his friends picked him up off the ground, but one casualty was still better than six.
"Good work, Manado," the justicar nodded, stepping back from the window and slumping against the wall once more. "Now pray to the Goddess no-one else saw that..."