"So they came after me because-"
"Our biological father was a textbook ego-maniac who wanted to make a dynasty. Something perfect. Something that would last the rest of time immemorial." Miranda replied, wringing her hands. "But he couldn't see that people weren't statistics, or numbers."
"And you saved me from him?" Oriana asked, trying to wrap her head around the whole situation.
"I-" Miranda sighed. "Yeah."
"Then all I can say is 'thank you.' From the bottom of my heart." Oriana reached out, and enclosed her sister in a tight hug, despite the armor plates and not-quite-dull edges. "You can repay me by letting me get to know you." she joked, smiling wide. "Surely there's more to you than the whole 'tentative older sister' role. You're wearing combat armor- wanna tell me how you learned to use it?"
"I... can't." Miranda sighed, staring plaintively at Harry. "I'm on a mission."
"Bullshit." Harry grinned, removing his own helmet. "You stay with your sister, and get to know her and her family. I've called in some security to keep you guys safe. They should be arriving soon."
As if on que, a massive salarian in heavy armor rounded the corner at speed, followed by two salarians, both armed and armored.
"Tazzik! Good to see you again." Harry greeted the approaching salarian. "The boss-" the wizard winked at Miranda-"wants these VIPs extracted to the Penthouse. I'm on exfiltration, you're on guard duty." he added, before looking at the two shorter aliens. "Spectre Jondum Bau, Specialist Meirin Sallics. I trust that everything is going well?"
The alien that Harry called 'Jondum Bau' stared in surprise, as Tazzik spun around, raising his weapon.
"He's a Spectre?" Tazzik mumbled. "Shit."
"Fuck!" Bau yelled. Oriana started laughing. "You always manage to see through my disguises…" the salarian almost pouted.
"Do all salarians use human expletives?" Oriana managed, between her laughter.
"Most of them do, actually." Meirin muttered. Oriana only laughed harder.
"Guns down." Harry warned everyone, while pointedly gesturing towards Tazzik.
"Harry Potter. It's certainly been a while." Bau announced. "Last time we met, you were flying us out of the blast zone of an improvised warhead on Virmire."
There was a tense pause, as Tazzik and the Spectre examined each other.
"He's friendly." the wizard said to Tazzik. "That's the phrase Bau uses to tell me that he's not on official business."
"So have you really..." The massive salarian began, clearly curious.
"Yes, I really flew Bau and the rest of an STG infiltration team out of the blast zone of a nuclear warhead." Harry confirmed.
"That gunship of yours really is impressive." Jondum Bau added. "I don't suppose I could examine it again?" he grinned hopefully.
"Not unless you want plausible deniability." the wizard replied. "I'm about to use it to do some possibly dangerous things that could hypothetically make the Council and the entire Matriarchal Senate very worried."
"Oh, hell. You're about to complicate my day job, aren't you?" Bau replied.
"I'm going to avert a hypothetical assassination attempt." Harry grinned. Bau groaned.
"Why hasn't Spaceport Security arrived yet?" Miranda interjected.
"Spectre authorization." Bau waved a hand. "I'm 'investigating'." he air-quoted. "They'll be fine with leaving this entire wing empty for an hour or so, now that the officer over there is stabilized."
"Alright. There's a landing pad this way." Harry gestured, and beckoned for everyone to follow him. Oriana's adopted parents followed slowly, still trying to process everything. Clearly, the Lawson sisters' genetic perfection extended to more than just physical attributes, as they were already engaged in a quiet convesation.
Soon, the group was hurrying down another hallway towards one of the many landing areas. Eventually, they passed a series of windows, and Harry pointed out his ride.
"Before you say anything," the Spectre interjected, "I don't want to know how you got a gunship this size past the orbital defense screens."
"Can we trust the Spectre?" Tazzik suddenly asked, making sure everyone heard him. "I don't think we should be taking a Council spy to a safe-house."
"We won't be taking him to a safe-house. You'll be getting out at a 'rented apartment.' I'll be dropping him off somewhere else." Harry stated. "And you can trust that he'll have to tell anything incriminating to the Council, if they ask." the wizard explained. "He's a good friend of mine, and an even better asset to have on call. The trick is that you don't tell him anything incriminating."
"Do you trust him?" the burly salarian reiterated. "Will he be a liability?"
"I trust him with my life." Harry replied. "Honestly. We've got a few areas that both of us refuse to talk to each other about. Outside of those few areas, he and I help each other."
"What do you mean?" Tazzik queried, suspicious.
"I don't talk to him about most of the jobs I take, I don't tell him who hires me, and I don't tell him anything that will incriminate me, my friends, or my allies." the wizard explained. "He won't tell me state secrets, other Spectres' current investigations, identities of living Spectres, and how some Spectres got selected. Outside of that? We share information over drinks every couple months. He helps me with my own investigations, and I help him with his. Sometimes I lend a pair of hands, and sometimes he does. We're friends. That's what friends do."
"Harry?" Miranda whispered, tentative. "Are you sure you want to share that sort of information in front of civilians?" she gestured towards Oriana and her adoptive parents.
"Hey!" Oriana interjected.
"He parents probably can't hear this conversation too well," Harry explained, "because I think their ears are still ringing up a storm. And Oriana can handle herself. She's a biotic too, you know." he added. And then the Lawson sisters were embroiled in a whispered discussion, filled with smiles and delight.
And then, moments later, it seemed- the group was walking out onto the landing pad, where an angular gunship idled, humming softly.
"There she is." Harry gestured expansively. "All aboard!" the hatch opened as he strode forwards, stepping into the cockpit. Bau took the copilot's seat, while Tazzik, Meirin, Miranda, and the rest moved into the troop-transport section of the craft.
With the push of a button and a loud whoosh, Harry took off. The gunship hovered over the landing pad for a half-second, before connecting to traffic control, and activating afterburners. Trailing blue flame, the craft launched itself through the air towards a blinking waypoint atop one of Ilium's taller buildings.
Moments later, and with an expert twist, Harry spun the gunship around, landing on the penthouse's landing pad. Only slightly too large, the gunship's nose and tail protruded slightly over the edge of the building. "Tazzik, Meirin, you're on guard duty. Everything is authorized, except for WMDs. Miranda here will be supervising."
"That's a lot of leeway." the smaller salarian replied. "What are our options?"
"There's a terminal in the walk-in closet just inside the master bedroom." Harry spoke, grinning. "That's where you'll see the control panel for the Panic Room elevator, as well as the security mechs, automated turrets, and external GARDIAN lasers. The armory is hidden in the big wooden wardrobe, and there's an 'ornamental' escape pod next to the panic room's roof exit. If you really need to bug out, it's airtight, and capable of single-stage-to-orbit flight. All you have to do is hop in, and push the big red button."
Miranda raised her eyebrows. "You've prepared well." She sounded surprised. Harry nodded his assent.
"Tazzik-" Harry began, "this time we're on a civilian world. This won't be another-"
"-Korlus." the massive salarian finished Harry's sentence. "I know. Since there's an actual civilized population here, I can't call in orbital bombardment." He seemed genuinely saddened by that turn of events.
Miranda's eyebrows rose higher still.
"I plan to drop off Bau somewhere useful, then pick up Shepard and co." Harry explained. "Then we're heading for Nos Astra Spaceport, where the Matriarchal Senate convoy is supposed to start."
"Harry-" Miranda looked him in the eyes. "Good luck."
"You too." he replied. "If we need backup, I won't hesitate to call."
Harry waved goodbye as the the hatch slid shut. The gunship took off, whisper-silent. Instead of trailing blue flame like it had when traveling towards the penthouse, it cloaked, disappearing from the visible spectrum. And then it was gone.
Everyone stared for a few silent seconds.
Silent, at least, until Oriana practically squealed in excitement, and dragged her sister off to ask her some pointed questions about Harry.
….
Jane couldn't stop grinning. She'd just gotten off the shuttle, and she already knew this would be an issue.
It was a fairly insignificant problem, but the symptoms- Her thoughts drifted back to Harry's face, and the sexy smirk he wore when laying waste to something- ...The symptoms would definitely prove to be a distraction in a fight. Jane marshalled her emotions, calmed herself- and immediately started grinning again. "Ah, fuck." she mumbled.
There was an explosion over the other side of the facility. She looked up, and watched the magnificent fireball.
"Harry and Miss Lawson exited the vehicle before its destruction." EDI transmitted through her earpiece. "Do not worry. They are both more than capable of handling themselves."
"Wonderful, EDI." Jane replied absently. "So where's Kai Leng?"
"Tracking. Please proceed to this waypoint with all possible speed."
"The security office?"
"Yes." the AI confirmed. "His plan appears to include the removal of all security footage, as well as purging the spaceport's records of Oriana Lawson's existence."
"What about my clone?"
"She appears to be following Kai Leng, and transmissions show that she's working closely with him. It is likely that you may have to use force to subdue her."
"That might not be an option." Garrus muttered. "Shepard, will you…"
"If it comes down to it," Jane swallowed. "I can deal with her."
"Good. That's all you need." Jacob interjected. "That's all we're asking."
"Alright." Shepard shook off the thoughts rushing through her brain, and took off running. "Let's go."
Shepard and her team rounded a corner, and came face-to-face with Kai Leng, Shepard's clone, and a squad of Cerberus Phantoms. Both parties were surprised, but Shepard's team reacted first. Too close to find cover, Garrus whipped up his rifle, and vaporized most of Leng's shields with a burst of high-power gunfire. Mordin's overload took care of the rest of the assassin's barriers, while Tali tossed a handful of proximity mines into the ranks of the squad of phantoms. Her other hand gripped the handle of a hungry-looking shotgun, which she brought to bear with a roar. Liara's singularity lifted a few of the phantoms into the air, where Jacob's warp caused it to explode with a bang.
Liara unleashed her own biotics, but noticed a strange color to Jane's singularity. She'd never seen biotics like that. It appeared that Jane Shepard was unique.
From Shepard's palm emerged a blue singularity, shot through with jagged gold energy as if infused with lightning. It impacted Kai Leng barely a quarter-second after Mordin's overload vaporized his shields. The singularity lifted the assassin into the air, as if he was no longer under gravity's effects.
Then Shepard charged.
...
A biotic charge is a terrifying attack. Your enemy is approaching- you've got time to aim as they run, and maybe get a clip or two downrange- and then, with a blast of blue-purple energy they're in your face, usually with a shotgun.
The more worrying aspect of such an attack is that it detonates some biotic abilities. Standard attacks like a 'Pull' or a 'Singularity' created a lattice of shifting mass effect fields around a target, lifting them from the ground. This is sometimes called 'priming' a target. When a more focused attack is introduced to those same fields, it usually causes an explosion. Detonating primed targets is standard procedure, as the damage that results is generally much greater than either attack on it's own. A 'Throw,' a 'Warp,' a 'Lance,' and of course, a Biotic Charge, all detonate biotic fields in a spectacular manner.
...
Jane Charged, detonating her singularity with a thundering crash of noise and energy. Kai Leng was bounced violently off the wall behind him, cracking the marble stonework. He snarled, and was back on his feet. With a yell, Jane unleashed a biotic nova, blasting blue energy in every direction. Most of the Cerberus phantoms suffered the same fate as their leader, but none of them fared nearly as well. Tali's proximity mines detonating in their midst certainly didn't help their case. Most of the phantoms never got back up.
Leng stumbled back into the wall from Shepard's nova, and reached for a mono-molecular blade on his thigh. Pulling it from an old-fashioned sheath, the assassin sprinted towards Shepard, preparing to impale her.
Jane activated her omni-tool, flash-forging a weapon of her own. Glowing red-hot, the diamond-sharp surface sizzled through the air.
Leng stabbed with his blade, simultaneously activating an overload module on his omni-tool. The super-charged dart, designed to overload someone's kinetic shielding generator, suddenly flew off course, and the blade slammed into into her barriers. Leng cursed. If he'd been using a normal sword, it would have gone straight through Shepard's shields. Instead, the weapon merely chewed into her barriers with a screech.
The assassin swung again- But Shepard caught his hand, and Charged from extreme close range. Her omni-blade, outstretched on her leading fist, punched straight through Leng's armor. Blood welled out from the massive hole under his ribcage, as Jane pulled the blade out of his body. Kai Leng collapsed to the ground, barely breathing.
Then Jane pulled out her Carnifex hand-cannon, and unloaded into the assassin's head.
Shepard's clone barely moved, doing nothing but remove her helmet.
Jane stepped towards her clone, removing her own helmet as she walked. As she approached, she noticed foam accumulating at the corners of the clone's mouth. The clone staggered back, until it collapsed, falling to the floor. Its helmet rolled across the ground, as it blinked slowly. Feeble twitching movements slowed, until they were barely noticeable.
"It appears that your clone has taken a lethal dose of some sort of poison." EDI announced, transmitting through the speakers in Shepard's helmet. "I suspect cyanide. Death will likely occur within the next minute."
"Damn." Jane bowed her head. "I wanted to know more about… well, a duplicate me."
"That's not accurate." EDI replied. "This clone was grown in a vat over the course of the last year. It contains a computer for a brain, programmed to generate responses similar to those you would give. There is no comparison, Shepard. This is not a 'duplicate' of you. It is merely a copy- but a very well-made one, nonetheless."
Jane's team quickly cased the area, making sure everything was safe. They made their way towards the nearest landing pad, watching for more hostile forces. Despite hoisting her clone's corpse over her shoulder, Jane still arrived first. Only then did Garrus step up to Shepard, and speak up.
"Shepard, who were you just talking to?" he asked, curious. "You had your helmet off, so it wasn't EDI-" Garrus' own helmet's speakers crackled, then EDI's voice emerged from them.
"I've been communicating with Jane through her biotic implant." EDI explained. "The modified implant Harry replaced her burned out L3 with is significantly more powerful, as well as much more flexible. Theoretically, I could increase your reaction times, Jane, as well as directly modify your body's processes from your implant. For now, I've simply been communicating non-verbally. On a private channel, you could say."
"We can go over that another time." Jane made a note on her omni-tool. "When we're not-"
"Shepard!" EDI interrupted. "I'm detecting a significant mercenary force making their way towards Nos Astra spaceport. This is most likely the assassination attempt that Harry was worried about."
"Where's our extraction?" Jane queried. "We need to stop them."
"It appears that Harry is on his way." EDI's voice sounded happy, all of a sudden.
"Hey, Shepard!" Harry's voice transmitted, a few moments later. His gunship shimmered, then decloaked. It made a slow pass, and landed just across the pad from Jane and her team. Everyone climbed aboard, and Harry took off. "I assume EDI already briefed you on the situation?" the wizard questioned, hopeful.
"Yep." the corners of Jane's mouth twitched upwards. "So here's what we're going to do…"
She turned around, but her clone's body was gone.
…...
Matriarch Aethyta scowled. Something wasn't right, she knew. A feeling deep in her gut told her that this was the calm before the storm. And for the first time in decades, she felt like she was in real danger.
Aethyta sighed, and slouched lower in her chair. It was a very un-asari-like motion, the matriarch mused. But she felt justified. She was technically off-duty right now, at least. And she did need time to process some of the more important changes that were occurring. To her, it seemed as if they all involved Illium in some way.
Both the Citadel Council and the Matriarchal Senate were on Illium, for differing reasons. The Council had been debating on a referendum to repeal the Treaty of Farixen. It had gained enough signatures that the petition had made it all the way to the uppermost echelons of political society, and had been passed into law not four hours ago by popular vote.
Unfortunately for Aethyta, she'd been the Matriarchal Senate-member in charge of all ground-side security measures, meaning that she'd actually been required to pay attention through the entire debate.
She had found herself seated by a matriarch in desperate need of a reality-check, and had been practically forced to listen to her ranting complaints. The combination of inanity and annoying conversation had taken its toll, and by the end of the conversation, Aethyta wasn't certain what she wanted more- to leave, or shoot the offending asari in their goddess-damned face. And after she (thankfully) disengaged, Aethyta knew she couldn't stomach any more politicking. So she went and got a drink. (nothing alcoholic, though she could always engage in some wishful thinking.) Unfortunately, the upcoming convention of the Matriarchal Senate wasn't going to be any better. She slumped further down in her chair, wishing once more that her drink was alcoholic. Security Advisor, she mused. It was a worthless title. A formality. It wasn't like anyone with any sense would attack such a large gathering of high-ranking officials.
And then her omni-tool beeped, and announced, "Attention, all combat-capable personnel. This is Matriarch Lidanya, interim orbital security director. I'm declaring threat level yakshi-two. Multiple launches of anti-air missiles have been detected within Nos Astra city limits. All civilian and diplomatic air-transport is hereby suspended. Tactical-net is online; switch to channel Aegohr-grey-six to interface."
"Shit!" Aethyta spat. Then, standing quickly, she paid for her drink, and left at a jog for the rapid-transit station. "This is Aethyta," she scowled, as she interfaced her omni-tool with the emergency channels. "I want a status update ten minutes ago." Seconds later, the reedy voice of a wet-behind-the-ears salarian combat analyst stuttered static through her ear-piece. A half-second later, the matriarch hung up, and called again. "Give me an analyst who won't make me want to kill somebody any more than I already do." she snarled, before the operator could get a word in edgewise. "Or I swear the term 'Diplomatic Incident' will be such a monumental understatement-"
"This is Jondum Bau, Council Spectre." a voice interrupted, amplified across the whole emergency channel, "How can I be of assistance?"
In the background an asari voice warned, "We've got reports of gunfire and explosives within Tel'Amarr spaceport!"
Lidanya's distinctive voice cut through the comms chatter, silencing everyone. "There aren't any Senators there. So find out who's shooting, and why." there was a few seconds of silence, before the Spectre spoke up.
"The situation at Tel'Amarr has been resolved. There was a kidnapping attempt by Cerberus, a human-supremacy group." Bau announced. "But we've still got problems. One of my contacts said that there are three separate anti-air missile batteries watching Illium's airspace. They're apparently located in hotels, to prevent an overwhelming military response."
"By the goddess." Lidanya cursed. A rapid conversation followed. A few officers weighed in, and a counter-terrorism manual from the turian separatist revolts was pulled out. A few combat analysts, in between an elcor quoting wholesale from the aforementioned manual, engaged themselves in a frustrated debate over the meaning of the audacity of the Tel'Amarr kidnapping attempt.
"Do they have such a large force here that they can just…" the asari waved her arms, in a vaguely offensive manner, "That they can attack? Just like that? Or is-"
The other spoke up then, stating, "I think they're just brazen. They couldn't possibly-"
And then another alarm started blaring.
...
A few minutes later, Aethyta was in sight of the terminal, and just as Lidanya had stated, the public transport system was locked down. A harried security guard repeated, half an apology, and half an order, that "There's been a security lockdown," and that everyone was to "leave, so we can actually figure out what happened." A few moments later, the same officer added, "A message will be broadcast across all public access channels when the suspension is lifted."
"'Scuse me." Aethya pushed her way not-so-gently through the crowd. "Pardon me." Then, as she reached the officer, she pulled her omni-tool, and transmitted her security clearance.
"Make way!" she barged past the officer, giving her barely enough time to acknowledge her existence. At a light jog, she headed towards the corner of the platform, where she'd landed her personal shuttle not an hour ago. Although 'shuttle' was a bit of a misnomer. It wasn't a bulky-looking troop transport, or anything similar. It was sleek, and chrome, and slim and pointed at the front, tapering back to heavy-set engine cowlings at the back. And, underneath the aesthetic properties, it had an electronic warfare suite of the same caliber usually found on small cruisers.
Quickly, Aethyta uplinked her omni-tool with the craft, and took off. She pointed the vehicle's nose towards Nos Astra Spaceport, where the Senators had been engaged in last-minute preparations for the upcoming session, and activated her afterburners. Acceleration slammed her back into her seat -an honest-to-god acceleration couch-- as she rocketed off towards her destination.
A warning beep from her dashboard alerted her to the pair of missiles that had targeted her vehicle, and were closing fast. Aethyta grinned, and activated a sophisticated communications-scrambler. Her connection to the Illium tactical-net fizzled out immediately, but that was a small price to pay. The two missiles that had been closing on her a few seconds ago immediately exploded, activating a failsafe to prevent short-range electronic countermeasures from completely negating all damage. Thankfully, her ECM suite was considerably longer-range, leaving her safe from the twin blasts.
She shut the scrambler off. If the attackers had any sense, they'd whitelist her ship to prevent themselves from wasting any more of their precious munitions. With a static screech, the Illium emergency-channel resumed its constant noise through her speakers.
"-Aethyta, come in, dammit!" Lidanya's voice called out, more frustrated than worried.
"I'm listening. Speak." Aethyta practically ordered.
"We're tracking a massive number of shuttles heading towards Nos Astra Spaceport, and one smaller craft a few miles out." Lidanya explained, "The smaller craft is a bit of a mystery- Cerberus troops fired a few missiles after it, but it appears to have dodged-"
"That's me." Aethyta couldn't help but smile a little. "Hypothetically, I might have an STG-grade scrambler."
"Aethyta…" Lidanya growled half-heartedly. "Alright. If somebody-hypothetically- had access to a scrambler capable of diverting the Cerberus missiles, it would be wonderful if they would fly in tandem with five shuttles full of asari commandoes disembarking from the Destiny Ascension."
"If I happen to know somebody like that, I'll be sure to pass the message along." Aethyta grinned, despite the danger on the ground. She changed her heading, adjusting to join the troop-transports' simulated flight-plan. "Are your commandoes dropping in, or are the shuttles landing?" the matriarch asked, trying to better understand the plan of attack.
"It'll be a full landing, and then they'll be under your purview." Lidanya replied. "So you'll be in charge of coordinating them."
"What about the unidentified shuttles heading for the Senators?"
"They'll be landing in a few minutes. Scans show that they're full of mercenaries. We're not sure of the composition of their forces, so we'll just have to pray that Nos Astra security, as well as the bodyguards you assigned, can hold them long enough for friendly reinforcements to arrive."
"That isn't a pretty scenario, you're painting." Aethyta mumbled. "And how many hostile shuttles are there?"
"My analysts can't seem to get an accurate reading." Lidanya admitted, after a few seconds. "But they're estimating somewhere between thirty and fifty."
"Thirty to fifty shuttles!?" Aethyta coughed. "So we're up against anywhere from one hundred to six hundred hostiles." she laughed a little, almost hysterically. Yep. This was real danger, right here. "I assigned enough bodyguards to stop a few squads of assassins. I didn't prepare for an army!"
There was an ominous silence from Lidanya, the captain of the Destiny Ascension. Then there was a burst of static, and her voice- now panicked and angry, shot through the speakers. "We have a Cerberus fleet in high Illium orbit! I repeat-" she was cut off by another burst of static. "-m orbit!"
"What the hell do you mean?" Aethyta yelled. Her vehicle shook, as she guided it through turbulent winds. "How big is the fleet? How many ships?"
"They've got a goddess-damned dreadnought!" Lidanya cursed. "twenty-something cruisers, and maybe forty frigates. It's thirty percent larger than the section of the Citadel Defense Fleet that we've got here, plus the Senate entourage and Illium Defense fleet."
"How-"
"They're hailing the Destiny Ascension!"
"Put it on screens, then. What do they want?" A new voice spoke up- the voice of Matriarch Vellis, the governor of Illium. There was a scramble of activity, as a few beleaguered technicians struggled to follow her directions. Moments later, a visual of a figure in heavy orange and white armor appeared, broadcast across the emergency channel.
A few breathless seconds passed, before the Cerberus officer turned his head to gaze at the camera. He spoke up, voice distorted enough to be unrecognizable.
"Give us Harry Potter." the figure said. "Give us the wizard, and we will leave peacefully. You have one hour. If he is not delivered to us, we will fire on Nos Astra spaceport with our dreadnought's main cannon. You have-"
"I don't negotiate with terrorists." Vellis growled, and severed the comms channel. "Lidanya, send the activation codes for the planetary defense grid. I want all available firepower focused on that fleet. Spool up the surface-to-orbit anti-ship batteries, and launch all fighters. Target the dreadnought's maneuvering thrusters, and scramble all ground-based ECM teams and cyberattack specialists. And somebody get me a direct line to Aethyta!"
There was a crackling noise, as one of Vellis' technicians opened a private channel between Vellis and Aethyta. "I appointed you as head of security for all ground-level operations in Nos Astra because I know you're competent." Vellis began, voice hoarse. "Now I want those shuttles of mercenaries heading for the spaceport gone. I don't care what you need to do. Remember that this is Illium, not Thessia. We're allowed to do all sorts of things that those prissy bitches on the homeworld can't stand. So use some old-fashioned batarian radiation-beams, or pull out a localized EMP. I don't care how you do it. Just shoot those shuttles down before they reach the spaceport. You've effectively got carte blanche, as the humans say. Now go do your job." And the call cut out.
Aethyta grinned, and broadcast the standard 'requesting citizen aid' message on all frequencies. This was her favorite part of the job.
On almost all non-turian worlds, law enforcement and military forces requesting active-combat assistance from the civilian populations they were supposed to be defending was nigh on unheard-of. On Illium, however, where almost any weapon in existence was legal, it was one of the first lines of defense. Everyone who helped the planet in its time of need would receive wonderful rewards, whether they be large sums of money, hard-to-get data, blackmail material, or anything from exotic guns to weak WMDs.
Civilians would respond to the message with the level of destruction they would be able to produce, along with a list of all weapons they were willing to commit. Most of the notifications were from mercenaries, willing to work for the law (briefly) to make a quick buck. Some were from wealthy individuals lending large numbers of defense mechs, or swift sport-craft shuttles. And a rare few were from the significant players in the galactic economy, Aethyta mused, as she looked at a message detailing two batteries of eight GARDIAN laser point-defense and anti-fighter beams. Her smile only grew wider when she noticed that the weapons themselves fired lasers in the ultraviolet spectrum- making them much more deadly (but much more expensive to use).
With a few keystrokes, the matriarch interfaced her omni-tool with the GARDIAN laser batteries, and started designated hostile targets among the swarm of troop-transport shuttles ferrying mercenaries towards the spaceport. Thankfully, the VI in her own craft kept her steady, automatically changing course to avoid hitting any buildings.
…...
Miranda, back at Harry's safe-house, was confused, and briefly worried when a muffled buzzing sound hissed into existence, pervading the entire apartment. She stepped over to the nearest window, and immediately noticed glowing sparks tracing lines in the sky. "Harry has activated the GARDIAN laser arrays," EDI's voice played through Miranda's earpiece. "Neutralizing hostiles."
…...
Off in the distance, the swarm of mercenary-filled shuttles began to melt and fry, as sixteen laser point-defense turrets popped out of the roof of a skyscraper labeled 'Kechlu Industries.' Aiming carefully, EDI made sure to minimize collateral damage. Beams of energy blasted through the sky, vaporizing a few shuttles each and every time they passed into view between the towering spikes of other skyscrapers stabbing up into the clouds. Normally, as the lasers were in the ultraviolet spectrum, they'd be invisible to the eyes of most Council races. In an atmosphere, however, they left flaming trails of excited hydrogen in their wake. As the last mercenary shuttle's panicked evasive maneuvers finally came to a molten end, Aethyta turned her attention towards the brewing fight in orbit.
...
The battle above was not going well, murmured a little voice in the back of Lidanya's head. Blinking once, she mercilessly squashed that thought.
The Cerberus ships were proving to be harder nuts to crack than she had estimated, and it showed. That wasn't the only issue, though. For some unfathomable reason, -Lidanya assumed sabotage- Illium's defense grid hadn't gone up. It wasn't the end of the world, as the city was safe, at least for the moment. Thankfully, the Cerberus dreadnought's main cannon wouldn't be such a massive advantage for the hostile fleet- the ship's maneuvering thrusters had been disabled by automated torpedoes in the first few moments of the battle, but not before a blast from the craft's main cannon had passed through a turian cruiser like a bullet through a watermelon. That still left the cerberus ship capable of using every weapon other than its axial mass-accelerator cannon, which required the entire ship to turn in order to aim. The dreadnought's GARDIAN point-defense systems were wreaking havoc on asari fighter-wings, and barrages of missiles targeted the inactive anti-capitol stations in Illium orbit. Matriarch Vellis was distantly audible through a technician's microphone, calling for a "hard-reset of the security grid- We need that fleet in pieces!" More alarmingly, the anti-ship coilguns mounted planetside remained ominously silent. All transmissions to or from the emplacements received only static.
Even worse, it now appeared that many Cerberus vessels were fitted with fusion warheads, if the Ascension's scans showing radioactive material were right. Thankfully, Illium had multiple batteries designed specifically to deter attack by warheads. The only things getting past those would be large asteroids, and dreadnought-level axial cannons.
Sadly, the defending fleets in orbit were not protected from that sort of nuclear attack. It was just one more thing Lidanya had to worry about.
With a blinking light, and a worrying staccato beeping noise, a few more warship signatures began appearing on long-range sensors. Quickly, they engaged FTL engines, and appeared in Illium orbit with a flash of blue light. A message arrived, resounding across the emergency channels.
"This is Fleet Admiral David Anderson. I'm here to help with your Cerberus problem. Where do you need us?" Seconds later, sensors identified them as Alliance Navy vessels. "We've got sixteen frigates, twelve cruisers, and a carrier. Give us some waypoints."
Lidanya audibly sighed in relief, and added them to the tactical-map of the battle. Soon, data from their sensor arrays and information about their armaments began appearing on her screens. "Alright. Your point-defense systems have much better traverse times than the ones on my cruisers. I want you-" she indicated a few points on the three-dimensional map. "-Here. Try and take out those Cerberus fighters and gunships. And if you can, stop the boarding craft heading for the Cybaen. They've got a lower than average combat-capable crew supplement."
"Understood, Matriarch." Anderson replied. "Activating sub-light engines. We're making a burn for your indicated positions now. I estimate we'll be arriving in around forty seconds. My carrier will deploy fighters from behind one of Illium's moons."
"Wonderful." Lidanya suddenly felt weary. She just wanted this day to be over as soon as possible.
…..
"Jane, the mercenary shuttles are down. But-"
"They're going to send more." she replied with certainty.
"Yeah." the wizard transmitted. "They won't just give up, not when they've just pulled a stunt like this."
"Then I'll defend the spaceport." Jane replied. "You deal with the fight in orbit."
"Got it. Stay safe."
"Hah! Not likely."
…
Anderson checked the tactical-map again, and frowned. He'd been chasing Cerberus troops and vessels across the galaxy, yet he had no idea where they could possibly have built a dreadnought. The Systems Alliance made a point of watching planets rich in minerals, so as to have an early-warning system of sorts if any other race suddenly decided to build a bigger navy. Lots of planets had signs of mining expeditions, but most were from ages past. The turians, asari, and salarians had been putzing around the galaxy for a thousand of years. Mining companies could always be moderately profitable, and so had been good investments for centuries. Everyone wanted to make their mark on the galaxy. Some had even succeeded.
Cerberus must have mining facilities somewhere, Anderson mused. It would be far too expensive for them to legitimately purchase such an incredible quantity of refined alloys and Eezo. He made a note of that thought, and turned his attention back to the tactical map. His ships were finally interpolating themselves into the portion of the Citadel Defense fleet in orbit of Illium, opening fire on wings of fighters and heavier anti-ship bombing craft.
Aboard the Destiny Ascension, Matriarch Lidanya struggled to keep her scattered fleets organized and intact. "Have those human frigates pick up the escape pods from the Sells and the Bellum!" she called. "Their frigates are much more agile than our own." She cursed, as the Cerberus Dreadnought engaged a previously un-noticed set of backup maneuvering thrusters, bringing it ponderously into view of an asari cruiser. Moments later, the Cerberus ship's main cannon fired, with a flash of excited atoms in Illium's high atmosphere. The mass-accelerator slug blasted through the sky, vaporising the aft quarter of the asari cruiser it had been aimed at. Lidanya winced as the ship's reactor went critical a half-second later, blasting static across all frequencies. The rest of the craft, irradiated and glowing molten from the explosion, was just as much debris. Sensors fizzled and distorted, as the data they received was overridden by the blast of radio noise.
"That was the AML Thessian Sunset. Sensors read lost with all hands." her vice-admiral murmured. She, at least, had paid enough attention to continue reading individual combat-reports as they came in.
Ten thousand tons of starship rumbled beneath Lidanya's feet, as the ship's main guns blasted four twenty-kilogram slugs of steel into space. A hostile cruiser staggered sideways, venting atmosphere. Strangely, no escape pods emerged from the wreckage.
"Detecting nuclear launches!" an analyst yelled out. The asari stared at her viewscreen, and cried, "They're firing all of them!" Another analyst, equally terrified but much more composed, added, "I suggest we focus all laser batteries on the fusion warheads. Otherwise-"
"Just do it already!" Lidanya barked. "I'd rather not subject my ships to nuclear fire." A few tense minutes passed, as the warheads accelerated. They were too slow, the admiral mused, as the last nuclear signature disappeared from her screen. Her fleet had stopped the oncoming wave of nukes, but her gut told her that something was wrong. Scanners soon revealed that the so-called warheads were just missiles emitting enough radiation to convince less focused scans that they truly were nuclear explosives. With a start, Lidanya realized that the hostile dreadnought had turned itself to face the Destiny Ascension. "They needed a distraction-" she spat. "And I think we just fell for it." Her sensors displayed a flash, as the enemy ship's main cannon fired.
"Brace-" the vice-admiral screamed, but was cut off as the ship shuddered. Lidanya was nearly launched out of her seat, as she watched her ship's shields deplete to just above half-strength.
"Damn!" she cursed. "All cruisers outside knife-fight range with hostiles, focus fire on that dreadnought!" Another flash heralded a second shot. "Take evasive maneuvers, goddess-damnit!" Another more violent shuddering movement heralded a second hit from the Cerberus dreadnought.
"Barriers at twelve percent!" the vice-admiral called out. The Ascension's thrusters activated, pushing everything sideways as the ship shied away from the hostile dreadnought's guns. The Ascension's guns fired, blasting to smithereens a hostile frigate that had interposed itself between the gun and a Cerberus cruiser.
A fresh wave of Cerberus missiles -not nuclear, thankfully- launched towards a turian warship. The craft's point-defense suite activated, blasting first one, then three, then nine of the missiles into molten scrap. But still twenty more halved the distance with the cruiser. Lidanya clenched a fist, as more missiles closed in, overwhelming the turian ship's defenses. She was sure the ship was about to be enveloped in flame, before a lone frigate of a strange design -and one that wasn't on the tactical-map- blasted by. Corkscrewing through the swarms of missiles, the frigate's own point-defense suite opened fire, leaving the turian craft unscathed. Lidanya took a second look at the frigate, displayed fleetingly on her sensors. She recognized the design almost immediately. So too did the Alliance Admiral, it seemed, as an incoming message displayed itself on her screens.
"I think we might've won." Anderson grimaced. "Cerberus just doesn't know it yet."
"I'll be the judge of that." she replied, too busy watching as a blast from the hostile dreadnought's axial guns passed perilously close to one of the four 'arms' of the Ascension.
"We've got a part of the discretionary fleet here, matriarch," Anderson replied, with respect. "Let's just keep an eye out." He closed the channel.
"Matriarch!" Lidanya's vice-admiral tried frantically to get her attention. "We're getting reports that a Cerberus stealth ship just dropped a significant number of troops planetside, just outside the spaceport. We just received reports of heavy fighting as of ten minutes ago, but now we're just getting static from the area. They're being jammed."
"They never got the security grid working?" Lidanya asked, almost rhetorically.
"Reports are saying that the Cerberus ship was undercover a few miles outside the spaceport. It's been on Illium for months." the vice-admiral clarified.
"Cerberus bastards must have been planning this for a long time." Lidanya murmured. She thought for a moment, and sent a quick communique to the human Admiral.
-Who is Harry Potter to Cerberus? What would they need from him badly enough to attack the Citadel Defense Fleet?-
Anderson replied a minute later. -I'll make his dossier available through the human councilor. For now, it should suffice to say that he's one of the most effective soldiers in the galaxy, and he's got a serious vendetta against Cerberus. The things he knows...-
Lidanya frowned. Then, as if the universe was taking advantage of her momentary lack of concentration, another blast emerged from the Cerberus dreadnought's main weapon, as the onslaught of weapons-fire from the massed allied cruisers thundered into the kilometer-long vehicle's sides. The shot blasted through the Ascension's shields, impacting one of the ship's four outstretched 'arms'. The entire ship jerked, as a good portion of that 'arm' of the craft was simply blasted off into space. "Hull breaches, decks ten through thirty-eight!" Lidanya's vice-admiral read off. "Sealing bulkheads, releasing spare oxygen, and activating emergency shield capacitors." Almost immediately, the Ascension's shields jumped back up to ten percent. A stray shot from a Cerberus cruiser made it drop three points not a second later. The vice-admiral pointed out a new threat, while gripping a railing with a white-knuckled hand. Hundreds of red dots on the tactical-map massed into a loose formation, and launched themselves forwards.
A massive wave of hostile fighters -almost every single one Cerberus was able to muster, it looked like- blasted their way towards the Destiny Ascension. More than four hundred of the vehicles slammed on their afterburners, swarming through the waves of point-defense lasers and missiles. Barely containing her own profanity, Lidanya stepped back to her chair, and strapped herself in. She braced for impact, but the impact never came. Nearly two-hundred enemy fighters were still functional, as the swarm closed on the damaged Destiny Ascension. Just as the Ascension was entering the edge of the fighter's maximum range, a vast wave of missiles and gunfire appeared from behind the asari ship, devastating the oncoming horde of strike-craft.
The Alliance fighters had arrived.
Another barrage of anti-fighter missiles followed the first, dropping hundreds more red dots from the tactical-maps as each missile struck true. Then the Alliance fighters moved in, unloading mass-accelerator fire from extreme close range. All that soon remained of the hostile fighter wings was a slowly-expanding sphere of debris.
Withering gunfire from turian, human, and asari cruisers slammed into the Cerberus dreadnought's shields, depleting them rapidly. They soon failed, and molten steel and alloys began sloughing from the superstructure of the hostile ship as half the fleet's mass drivers unloaded on the beleaguered dreadnought. A pair of lucky shots from a turian cruiser blasted into the firing arrays of the dreadnought's axial gun, denting it inwards. One last shot from the Cerberus flagship hit the side of its own barrel, blasting a jagged line through the armor covering the area. Continued fire bore deep into the guts of the ship, until a stray shot hit one of the kilometer-long craft's armories, which went up with a blast that shook the craft from aft to bow. Venting atmosphere from hundreds if not thousands of ruptures, it was clear that the dreadnought was doomed. Stray bursts from GARDIAN point-defense systems streaked across the ship's hull, boiling away the top layer of ablative armor. Lidanya watched an Alliance fighter wing as they took themselves perilously close to the hostile ship to deliver a devastating cluster of disruptor torpedoes, which exploded moments later in a spectacular blaze of purple eezo-fueled explosions across the ship's ventral point-defense hardpoints.
Lidanya gritted her teeth, as she stared once more at the tactical-map. Her tactic of focusing fire on the dreadnought had worked, but it had also opened many of her cruisers up to counterattacks from the enemy ships her gambit had freed up. In the last ten minutes, she'd lost another five cruisers, and nine frigates. Now, she turned the Ascension's guns on another Cerberus cruiser. Her own ship's shields dropped a percentage point.
The same strange frigate blasted deep into the Cerberus formation, engaging ships twice or three times its size at knife-fight range. Staring more closely, Lidanya couldn't believe the kind of firepower fitted onto the diminutive ship. Missiles blasted from the craft's underbelly, while an axial gun opened up on more distant targets. What looked like some sort of plasma cannons sprayed gouts of brilliant energy across the battlefield, where it melted through shields, and then armor and bulkheads in seconds. An array of GARDIAN lasers ran down the ship's spine, like a deadly string of vertebrae. Cerberus frigates pursued the craft relentlessly, but Lidanya was sure that they were just heading to their deaths. She confirmed that thought, as she watched one of the frigate's lasers cut straight through one of its pursuers, and into another one behind it. A missile pierced a Cerberus cruiser's armor, and turned it into an expanding ball of flame as the frigate sped by. The name 'Nyx' was barely visible across one of the ship's broadsides, as it seemed to have taken a hit or two from one of the Cerberus ships' point defense suites.
The rest of the Council Fleet opened fire on the Cerberus craft, slowly whittling them away. A few of the more intact ships turned, and vanished into FTL. Lidanya watched them escape with a profound sense of relief. Her part in this was done. Now it was time for the commando squads to go into the spaceport.
She noticed the Nyx turn, adjusting its heading to face straight downwards, towards Illium. A burst of blue announced the ignition of the craft's afterburners, as it entered the atmosphere.
…
Alec Ryder knew something was wrong as soon as hundreds of nearby omni-tools started beeping. Call it a hunch- his gut was rarely wrong. He opened the message on his own device, finding an uplink to Illium's unique emergency-access channel. A brief bit of text explained that he'd gotten the link because he'd registered as a bodyguard as he passed through customs. His boss, Jien Garson, stared worriedly over his shoulder. He was seated- otherwise, she'd have been too short.
Ryder didn't remain seated for long, as he read through the bulk of the emergency message. He checked his pistol, and murmured a quiet thanks that everyone and their pet fish was able to own and wear heavy armor and military-grade weapons anywhere on Illium. (For exorbitant rates, of course.) "We've got hostiles incoming." he announced. More beeping filled the room, as a few more bodyguards checked their omni-tools. Alec would later swear blind that he'd heard a muffled intake of breath, and a drell voice giving a quick prayer.
A group of quarians -and wasn't it strange, to see quarians willingly land on Illium. The migrant fleet wasn't welcomed in the entire Tasale System, much less in Illium's orbit.- spoke up, as a tired voice tried to pacify a more quarrelsome one. Both voices carried an electronic buzz, as they were passed through their environment-suits' speakers. "They were right, Rael!" the angry voice hissed. "We shouldn't have even landed on this accursed planet of lawyers and mercenaries. No good can come of this."
"Rann, I understand your concern. But we'll be fine. We did bring a squad of marines, after all." Twelve heavily armed quarians did their level best to puff out their chests.
"We should have just waited for the next council-session on the Citadel." the first voice mumbled, now sounding tired, instead of angry.
"We had no way of knowing that all this would happen." The second voice replied. "It's not as if-"
"Yes, Rael, we did know something was happening." the formerly combative voice -A quarian by the name of Rann- interrupted. "And we chose to land here of our own volition." Ryder's ears perked up. It seemed that the quarians had been forewarned of the attack.
"Hah!" an ancient-looking Krogan grunted. "First time any of these things has ever happened near me. Maybe I'll actually be able to kill something on this planet."
"Drack," another krogan voice mumbled, exasperated. This one was female, and sounded much younger. A female turian sat by her side, caressing an assault rifle's stock. "We're not here to kill things. We just want to push the senate for some research on the Genophage."
"You are, maybe." the older krogan grumbled. "These Asari witches won't touch the topic with a dreadnought. I'd kill to get some excitement here. It's too boring."
Alec Ryder looked down, as Jien Garson tugged on his armoured sleeve. "Let's go talk to them." she murmured.
Ryder exhaled. "You want to play politics here?" he whispered. "While we're under attack?"
"We're not under attack. Not anymore, at least." Garson pointed towards his omni-tool, still outstretched. He turned his head, to see a live-feed of the approaching shuttles. He watched for a few seconds longer, and made the same observation that she had.
"GARDIAN lasers." Ryder suddenly recognized the style of destruction unleashed on the hapless mercenaries. "Somebody's eager to protect their investments." He looked down, and Garson was gone. He scanned the room with his eyes, as his heartbeat accelerated. A second later, Ryder spotted her halfway to the krogan delegation.
"Jien!" he protested, catching up to her with a few quick strides. "Don't run off like that."
"Why not?" she huffed. "Illium is one of the more secure places we've been."
"Well-" Alec considered. "It makes me nervous." was the reason he finally settled on.
"Then I'm sorry to hurt your nerves, but I'm going to keep on doing my level best for the Initiative." Garson replied, voice terse.
"Is something wrong?" Ryder guessed, grasping at straws. To his own surprise, it appeared he'd struck a nerve.
"Yes, something's goddamn wrong." Garson hissed, perhaps louder than she'd meant to. She glanced around, and then added in a more sedate tone, "Here. Take a good goddamn look." as she held up her omni-tool. Displayed in the main screen, in tiny letters, was a bank statement. In small print, it read, 'Credits: 132,769, 242 and .51'. And then a massive list of deductions, and all sorts of data that Ryder could only barely understand. But it all amounted to the fact that Jien Garson's funds were running dangerously low.
"Didn't you once tell me that upkeep on all the research and development projects the Initiative was running led to expenditures around forty million credits a month?" Alec asked, cautious. Garson remained silent, not meeting his eyes. "Jien, is the Initiative running out of money?" he finally put the pieces together. "That's why you wanted to come here." he speculated. "You wanted to try and obtain funding from the Council, or the Matriarchal Senate."
A voice, distorted and foreign, suddenly rang out through Garson's omni-tool. Alec's hand shot to the butt of his pistol, while Jien let out an involuntary gasp. "While all of this has been highly informative," the voice drawled, "I plan on alleviating your money problem." A blinking light over Garson's bank statement accompanied millions upon millions upon millions of transactions, all for less than a credit. "Do with this what you will," the voice stated seriously, as if he'd done anything other than throw more than a billion credits at a cause whose results he may never see. "Build a Drell ark, add nuclear armaments to the Nexus, build automated mining-drones. I don't particularly care. But be aware," there was a brief pause, " that something is coming. This is the calm before the storm, and when the storm arrives, it will be one like nothing that has ever been seen before, by any creature living or dead. So I would advise, with the greatest vehemency I am able to convey, that you and the rest of your Andromeda Initiative leave the Milky Way galaxy within the next six or eight months. Otherwise, you may be too late." And then the voice disappeared with a *click* that signalled that the caller had hung up.
"SAM!" Ryder hissed. "Can you trace that caller?"
The AI in his head was quiet for a moment, before speaking up. "No, Alec." SAM said, speaking with audible regret. "The call's signal bounced off of more than sixty different communications towers across the planet before I lost it. I apologize."
"Damn." Ryder cursed half-heartedly. "Jien, we need to talk." he added. "Somewhere private, away from prying eyes and ears. Because I recognize that style of communication."
"What," Jien scoffed, clearly shaken, "Dumping insane amounts of credits into what could be a fool's errand?"
"No." Alec replied, face a mask of concern. "Negotiating from a position of absolute power, while remaining anonymous. And because that's one of the same vocal scramblers I've heard used by the Shadow Broker." Garson shivered. She remained almost unnaturally still, her face the picture of contemplation. The rest of the dignitaries and petitioners in the waiting room kept talking, some about topics more serious than others. The ancient krogan gave a quick recap of the history of the Rachni war, while the quarian delegation huddled together. A pair of Drell had a murmured conversation, too low to hear.
The room fell silent, and the lights flickered. A muffled explosion from the building's lower levels shook the floor, and a ringing thud came from the elevator-shaft. Seconds later, the elevator came screaming downwards, out of control. A sudden wrenching screech heralded its violent arrival at the bottom of the elevator-shaft almost thirty seconds later.
Ryder flexed his dominant arm, activating a set of magnets in his palm. The electromagnet keeping his pistol attached to his thigh reversed polarity, pulling the gun into his waiting hand. His combat-HUD engaged, showing him anything and everything he could use to his advantage. Water mains, power lines, and weapons lockers lit up with a dull orange glow. "Jien-Get down!" Ryder yelled, as gunfire broke out behind the doorway at the end of the hall. The door suddenly sealed with a clang, as emergency-procedures went into effect. Dull emergency lighting came on at foot-level, as the sea of delegates burst into chaos. Frantic civilians ran every-which-way like headless chickens, while harried bodyguards did their level best to calm or restrain their employers. In the corner of Alec's vision, a squad of mercenaries -wait a moment, that one's wearing N7-standard biotic armor!- repelled down the inside of the now-inoperable elevator shaft. "Identify yourselves!" Ryder called to the leading member of the incoming group, as the figure touched the floor.
"Jane Shepard, Council Spectre!" a feminine voice yelled in reply, struggling to be heard above the cries of frightened civilians, gunshots from the other room, and muffled explosions from all around. "I could use a hand?" she added. Alec stepped over to her, and quickly began to help her as she untied her squadmates from the ropes traveling down the elevator shaft.
"Harry?" one of them -a quarian, and a fairly young one- asked, looking at Alec. Or, more accurately, looking at his armor. "I thought-"
"That's not him." Shepard cut her off. "EDI says he's Alec Ryder, ex-alliance special forces."
"Oh." the quarian shrunk back. "The guy who got too interested in artificial intelligence for all the politicians. I've heard about you."
"Tali, now isn't the time." the next squadmate -an asari- coming down the elevator shaft interrupted. "Let's deal with Cerberus first."
"I've been waiting quite a while for a decent fight." yet another alien announced. Untying himself from the improvised harness, a turian with a massive sniper rifle swiftly unlimbered the weapon, covering the doorway at the other end of the room. Now, no gunshots were audible from the other side of the door.
"Careful," Ryder cautioned. "I think the security forces on the other side of the door-" he gestured towards the structure at the other end of the room, "-just got wiped out. They'll probably start cutting through the locks soon." As if on cue, the top of the two doors began to glow a dark cherry-red. The electronic lock hissed and crackled, giving out brief warnings and alarms. "We've got thirty seconds, tops!" he yelled, ushering Garson into cover. "Stay here." he murmured in her ear. "The Initiative would be dead in the water without you." Then he stood, and joined Shepard in pushing civilians off to the sides of the room, where they could find cover behind planter boxes and ornamental statues. A few more members of Shepard's squad made their way down the ropes. A tall black human, and a deceptively-frail salarian in a lab-coat took cover, while readying military-grade weaponry.
The mass of bodyguards, on the other hand, found their own cover, and pointed their guns at the door. By no means were they the galaxy's most hardened forces, but perhaps they would have been able to prevail alone through sheer number of bullets. At the other end of the hall, the door's locks now glowed bright orange, and the electronic alert system sputtered frantically.
"Get behind something solid," Garrus warned. He knelt behind a steel podium, with his gun steadied across the top. He gazed down the rifle's sights, as the door's locking mechanism glowed white, dripping molten metal. "Here they come!"
And then both doors were launched off their hinges, as if hit by some massive battering ram. The doors screeched across the floor, bouncing off the stairs that led up to the elevators, at the other end of the room. A mech, almost twenty feet tall, squeezed through the doorway. Sparks flew, as it scraped the top of the doorframe, bending it out of shape. The designation 'Atlas' was printed across one of the thing's shoulders, while a pilot was visible behind an orange screen of some sort. A mass-accelerator cannon graced one of the vehicle's arms, while a missile launcher made itself visible on the other.
There was a stunned silence, before an almost inaudible tinkling heralded the arrival of five or ten cylindrical objects. A flashing light on each end identified them immediately. "GRENADES!" Shepard yelled, voice carrying through the air. There was a hissing sound, and then white gas and black smoke began pouring from each grenade. "Helmets on, that's tear gas!" Ryder yelled.
And then the fighting began in earnest, as everyone with a weapon opened fire.
...
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